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“ | Every day, I'll feed Mason some new part of you. Don't worry, doctor. You will always be cooked to perfection. | „ |
~ Cordell taunting Hannibal Lecter |
Dr. Cordell Doemling is an antagonist in the Thomas Harris' book Hannibal. He served as the secondary antagonist of the 2001 film and the first half of the third season of the NBC series Hannibal, in which he is portrayed as the caretaker and henchman of Mason Verger.
In the TV series, he was portrayed by Glenn Fleshler, who also portrayed Errol Childress in True Detective, Randall in Joker and voiced Timur in Grand Theft Auto IV: The Ballad of Gay Tony. In the film, and was portrayed by Zeljko Ivanek, who also portrayed Andre Drazen in 24 and Mark Jennings in Tex.
Biography
Novel synopsis
In Thomas Harris' novel Hannibal, Cordell is a minor antagonist. He is Mason Verger's personal physician, and a sex offender. (It is implied that he is a pedophile.) Mason’s sister Margot kills him with a hammer as he and Clarice Starling escape from Verger's farm.
Film Synopsis
In the 2001 film adaptation of the novel, Cordell is Mason Verger's doctor and much-abused right hand man. He reluctantly goes along with Verger's plan to kidnap Lecter and Starling. However, when Lecter suggests that Cordell kill Verger, he pushes his hated boss into the boar pen in which Lecter was intended to die, where Verger is devoured by wild boars.
TV series synopsis
Cordell Doemling was hired by Mason Verger to become his cartaker in place of his sister Margot. When Mason had Hannibal Lecter kidnapped along with Will Graham as part of a revenge plot, he wanted Cordell to cut off Will's face and graft it to Mason's own, and then over a period of time feed each part of Hannibal to Mason. Cordell was all too happy to comply with the deed.
However Alana Bloom released Hannibal in order to save Will, and stopped Cordell who was just about to cut off Will's face. Cordell was killed and his face removed, and placed over that of an unconscious Mason who woke up and was horrified to discover Cordell was dead. Mason was later killed by Alana and his sister Margot.
Trivia
- Unlike his film counterpart who carried out the deed of murdering Mason after getting fed up with his abuse, the TV version is a sadist who is all too happy to comply with Mason's schemes.
- The original Cordell from the books is similar to his TV series counterpart. However, even the book version, who was fully on board with Mason and implied to be a child molester, never showed his TV series counterpart's level of sadism.
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