Mason Verger was left disfigured and paralyzed by Hannibal Lecter. Later, he sought revenge against Lecter for his condition.
In Thomas Harris’s novel “Hannibal,” Mason Verger is introduced as a wealthy, sadistic pedophile who was a former patient of Dr. Hannibal Lecter. During a therapy session, Lecter drugged Verger and suggested that he peel off his own face and feed it to his dogs, which Verger did. He survived the ordeal but was left severely disfigured and quadriplegic.
Verger’s obsession with revenge drives the plot of the novel. He maintains his vast fortune and uses it to plan an elaborate scheme to capture and kill Lecter. Verger’s plan involves using Clarice Starling, the FBI agent who has a complex relationship with Lecter, as bait to draw him out. However, his plans are ultimately foiled, and Verger meets a grim end at the hands of his own henchman, Cordell Doemling, who is manipulated by Lecter into killing Verger. In the film adaptation, Verger is portrayed by Gary Oldman, and his demise is slightly different, as he is pushed into a tank of man-eating pigs that he had intended to use to kill Lecter.
