Red Dragon is a psychological horror novel by American author Thomas Harris, first published in 1981. The story follows former FBI profiler Will Graham, who comes out of retirement to find and apprehend an enigmatic serial killer nicknamed "the Tooth Fairy". The novel introduces the character Dr. Hannibal Lecter, a brilliant psychiatrist and cannibalistic serial killer to whom Graham reluctantly turns for advice and with whom he has a dark past.
The title refers to the figure from William Blake's painting The Great Red Dragon and the Woman Clothed with the Sun. The novel was adapted as a film, Manhunter, in 1986, which featured Brian Cox as Hannibal "Lecktor". Directed by Michael Mann, the film received mixed reviews and fared poorly at the box office, but it has since developed a cult following.
After Harris wrote a sequel to the novel, The Silence of the Lambs (1988), that was turned into a highly successful film of the same name in 1991, Red Dragon found a new readership. The film featured Anthony Hopkins in the role of Hannibal Lecter, for which he won an Oscar for Best Actor in 1991. Due to the success of the film and its sequel, Red Dragon was remade as a film directed by Brett Ratner in 2002, this time bearing the title of the original novel and with Hopkins playing Lecter. Elements of the novel also influenced the NBC television series Hannibal, while the plot was adapted as the second half of the series' third season.
