| “ | This takes a steady hand, a confidence. He's killed before, but not like this. This is a skilled musician trying a new instrument. | „ |
| ~ Will Graham describing Tobias' methods. |
Tobias Budge was a serial killer in the first series of Hannibal. He was a musician who attempted to create a new sound by using human vocal chords as the strings of a string instrument.
He is portrayed by Demore Barnes, who was also the first of the two actors of portraying Raphael in Supernatural.
Story
Tobias is first seen attending an opera performance with his friend Franklyn. After the show, he is introduced to Hannibal Lecter, Franklyn's psychiatrist. He then begins plotting to kill Hannibal but changes his mind one night after he follows Lecter and witnesses him commit a murder.
When a trombone player for the local orchestra is found murdered, Will Graham and the FBI are called in to investigate it. The victim was cut open at the throat and had his vocal chords treated with chemicals to be capable of playing like a string instrument. Using his empathy disorder to help understand the scene, Will comes to the conclusion that the man responsible had killed before, but never in the same manner as the victim they found. He believes that the killer wanted to "create a new sound".
Later, Franklyn informs Lecter that Tobias has been saying strange things, things that describe the recent murder in almost perfect detail. Lecter persuades Franklyn not to inform the police about Tobias.
Hannibal then visits Tobias at his string shop, where they converse shortly until Hannibal invites him to dinner. Over dinner, Tobias admits that he had killed the trombone player. Tobias then tells Hannibal about how he had planned to kill him as well, but changed his mind when he saw Lecter commit a murder too. He offers his friendship to Lecter, but is refused. He then flees dinner when the doorbell rings, which happens to be Will coming to visit Hannibal. During this visit, Hannibal informs Will of Franklyn's suspicions of Tobias' involvement in the trombone player's murder.
Will and two Baltimore police officers then pay a visit to Tobias at his shop, where he is showing his student out the door. Tobias asks Will if the rumors of the victim being cut open and played like an instrument were true. Will tells Tobias that the rumors are true, but is suspicious of how Tobias could have known that since the details were kept out of the press. Will becomes distracted and leaves the shop when he hears the sound of an injured animal outside. When he returns, he finds one of the officers dead with a rebar pipe stabbed through his throat. He then finds Tobias' lab in the basement, where he chemically treated the guts of his victims to be playable. He finds the other officer dead and is attacked by Tobias. He manages to shoot Tobias in the ear before he escapes.
An injured Tobias then interupts Franklyn's appointment with Hannibal. Franklyn tries to talk Tobias down, but is killed by Hannibal. Tobias expresses his anger at Hannibal due to his desire to kill Franklyn himself. The two then engage in a brutal fight, which ends with Hannibal breaking Tobias' arm and killing him by hitting him in the back of the head with a heavy metal statue. When the police arrive, Hannibal says that it was Tobias who killed Franklyn, leaving himself seemingly innocent.
 Villains
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