I think he'd have sex with anything, yet appears asexual at times too.

The existence of this thread and its varied replies just highlights one of the many brilliant textures of TSOTL.
Everyone has his / her own interpretation and source on Lector's sexuality, it seems.
In the self-contained world of "The Silence of the Lambs," (pre-dating all subsequent projects) viewers in the 90s who hadn't read the books nor seen "Manhunter," are left in the dark.
I could never be sure whether Lecter is heterosexual, homosexual, bisexual, sexually fluid, or asexual.
Was he attracted to Clarice? Was he trying to figure out if she was a "good" or "bad" person placed on a scale of morality despite his own perpetual transgressions? Was she a "project" for him? Was she replacing an estranged or passed daughter or younger sister? Was she being manipulated - nothing more than a toy for a bored sociopath?
In fact, until the movie's conclusion, I could not ascertain and settle on exactly what he wanted from Starling. After
the Miggs incident,
I was fairly confident that Starling would never be harmed at the hand of Lecter (directly), but that's about it.
This ambiguity throughout is precisely why the dialogue and character interactions were so fascinating to me. I paid rapt attention and tried to read between the lines, but what existed was nebulous.
Many things in this film are never "explicitly stated" - and that's part of the allure.
My own interpretation (in the self-contained world of TSOTL) is that Lecter is either asexual or heterosexual. He could also, perhaps - outside of the TSOTL universe - temporarily assume any other sexual orientation as long as the means suited his endgame, just like a sociopath can fake an external display of empathy or emotions he / she doesn't feel inside
The moment Starling
reluctantly discloses the farm story is the moment something changes inside him. He approves of her motivations and he becomes full tilt "Team Help Clarice Help Others To Help Herself."
But I also would like to believe that he only sees himself as a paternal figure, like the Judge pervading the atmosphere of Kieslowski's "Trois Couleurs: Rouge." And, like the Judge, Hannibal (due to practical application of his IQ) is given an eerie, almost semi-omniscience over the movie's proceedings - as if he has the ability to see most of the end at the very beginning.
[This accounts for why Lecter seems to be in the film for much longer than just his screen time. Not only does he get in the heads of Clarice (and the audience) , but he always seems to be lurking "around," a hovering parent or jump scare waiting to happen, checking to make sure things are turning out the way they should.]
Even if Lecter were attracted to Starling, he understands that it is "inappropriate" i.e. "rude" Miggs, and they are mismatched in this lifetime unless there were to be a cosmic shift in the time-space / universe making them both born of the same generation.
I know follow-up project$ would $ugge$t otherwi$e but I prefer my own take
Lecter, as a character, works much better for me when he seemingly comes out of nowhere, an established figure shrouded in a modicum of mythology / mystery , and leaves just as suddenly - as opposed to having his whole life outlined by some tediously traumatic and unnecessary - if trendy - "Origin Story" and "Epilogue."
No to, "Hannibal Begins." No to "The Dark Hannibal." No to "The Dark Hannibal Rises."
In my own take, we never know if
that planned dinner visit is a success or fatal failure (leaning towards the former) , whether he contacts / visits Clarice ever again after the credits roll (leaning towards never, perhaps an occasional handwritten letter in the years that follow.)
In my universe, he never
kisses Clarice in the future, and he never convinces a star federal agent to abandon a career she's half-obsessed with, only to run off with him, together forever, into the sunset. (pffft)
He's more like the out-of-town stranger at a bar who strikes up a brief but impactful conversation, or someone on public transit who says something profoundly healing in passing to a visibly distressed stranger on the subway, and then he gets off at his stop and they both never see each other again for the rest of their lives.
We don't need to know if he is angel or demon, Boogie Man or night light. We don't need to know who he wants in his bed; for me, that's what makes his TSOTL incarnation so disturbing, haunting and timeless.

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I never really picked up in the film that Lector was gay.
If it suited him, he would psychologically toy with a gay guy Heck He psychologically toyed with everyone, depending on the time of day and how "bored" he was. I think that Lector only murdered people he was contemptuous of, which was pretty much everyone he came into contact with. Except for Clarice of course. Oh, and I don't think he would have touched those innocent tourists, as he had his sights set on his "old friend".

Hannibal is likely heterosexual in the books and movies, but this is never explicitly stated. In the films and books, we only see him sexually attracted to or involved with women (namely
Lady Murasaki
in
Hannibal Rising
and
Clarice Starling
in
The Silence of the Lambs
and
Hannibal
). Paul Krendler theorizes that Hannibal is homosexual in
Hannibal
, though this is only because of his refined and artistic tastes. In the novel
Hannibal
, Clarice interviews a woman who was romantically linked to Hannibal. At the end of the novel
Hannibal
, Hannibal and
Clarice
become lovers. He also kisses
Clarice
in the film version of
Hannibal
, but she doesn't return it. He pretends to be gay in order to attack Mason Verger.
According to Bryan Fuller, in the TV series
Hannibal
he is "omnisexual". In Season 2, we see him in a sexual relationship with his
student and colleague Alana Bloom
. In Season 3 while in
Florence
, he and his
psychiatrist Bedelia du Maurier
are eating dinner with an acquaintance of Hannibal's named Anthony Dimmond, who wonders if they're planning on having a threesome, Hannibal is clearly open to the idea.
Bedelia
and Hannibal are seen in clearly sensual or sexual situations while in
Florence
, and they are pretending to be husband and wife. When
Jack Crawford
and
Will Graham
figure out Hannibal is
in Florence
, Hannibal and
Bedelia
kiss. I don't believe they were truly in love though either, they were just using each other.
Will Graham
asks if Hannibal is in love with him, and Bedelia responds, "Could he daily feel a stab of hunger for you and find nourishment at the very sight of you? Yes. But do you ache for him?" This doesn't necessarily mean that Hannibal is sexually attracted to
Will
. I don't believe their relationship is sexual or romantic in the traditional sense, but it's certainly possible.
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In the TV series Hannibal, he is a pansexual.
http://www.g7gaming.net/

In the movie, they establish that Lecter is straight. When Claire first went to visit Lecter, Dr. Chilton says that the FBI purposefully sent her because she's Lecter's type and he hasn't seen a woman in 8 years.

n the books it discusses him being gay, but also going out w/ women who are socialites. her name was "Rachel" to b exact
"Come here, my piggy. I've got some gingerbread for you. -Freddy Krueger

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I think some of the bisexuality or homosexuality assumptions came from Hannibal (of am I thinking of the wrong movie?) when he seduced Mason Verger who was homosexual. I see Hannibal as heterosexual, and he does have romantic interest in clarice.

We've become a race of peeping toms.

Actually in the second installment in the series, Hannibal, in the book, after Clarice is disgraced by her colleagues in the FBI, her and Hannibal run off together and the book actually explains in detail the sexual relations they share, they live happily ever after, no I don't believe Hannibal was a baloney smoker

They don't have a name for what he is.
^^^^^^^^^ yes!
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They don't have a name for what he is.
You are gonna like these tacos boy, they taste just like steak.

He falls in love with Clarice in 2002's Hannibal. There's a particular scene where he runs his hand through her hair when he's on a merry-go-round
Nobody has mentioned the scene in SoTL where she runs back to his cage to grab the case file off him, and he gently strokes her hand for a moment.

He falls in love with Clarice in 2002's
Hannibal
. There's a particular scene where he runs his hand through her hair when he's on a merry-go-round and
he cuts his arm off to avoid hurting her.
I don't know what the books says (haven't read it yet). But in the movies, he's clearly heterosexual.

I think he's either gay or asexual.

Hannibal Lecter is 100% heterosexual. It is pointed out in the books.and ofc especially in the third, Hannibal.
It is only the homosexual Bryan Fuller, the creator of the Hannibal tv series, that is playing around with the issue of Lecter being bi/gay. I guess it is just that Fuller himself possebly have a huge fanfic-crush on the Doctor.
And hello..the erotic undertone in Sotl.sais it all.

Pretty sure Miss Moffet was a male transexual, not a woman at all.

Wikipedia:
Hannibal[edit]In the third novel, 1999's Hannibal, Lecter lives in a palazzo in Florence, Italy, and works as a museum curator under the alias "Dr. Fell". The novel reveals that one of Lecter's victims survived: Mason Verger, a wealthy, sadistic pedophile whom Lecter had drugged and mutilated during a therapy session. Verger offers a huge reward for anyone who apprehends Lecter, whom he intends to feed to feral pigs specially bred for the purpose. Verger enlists the help of Rinaldo Pazzi, a disgraced Italian police inspector, and Paul Krendler, a corrupt Justice Department official and Starling's boss. Lecter kills Pazzi and returns to the United States to escape Verger's Sardinian henchmen, only to be captured. Starling follows them, intent on apprehending Lecter personally, but is instead also taken captive. After escaping the trap, Lecter convinces Verger's sister Margot to kill her brother as revenge for the years of sexual abuse she suffered at his hands, and leaves a voice mail message taking responsibility for the crime. He then rescues the wounded Starling and takes her to his rented lake house to treat her. During her time there he keeps her sedated, attempting to transform her into his dead sister Mischa through a regimen of classical conditioning and mind-altering drugs. One day, he invites her to a formal dinner where the guest and first course is Krendler. She joins him in eating the still-living Krendler's brain, but refuses to allow Lecter to turn her into Mischa; she says that Mischa can instead live within him. She then offers Lecter her breast, and they become lovers. Three years later, Lecter's former guard, Barney Matthews, sees the pair together in Argentina, and flees the country, fearing for his life.
Do not want.

And when does this happen? I do not recall that in any of the movies or books I have read.

Excuse u, but in the novel Hannibal, lecter and Clarice do in fact run off together, and it also implies that they had sexual relations

In the novel Hannibal.
All that we see or seem is but a dream within a dream.

Where the heck do you get that Hannibal & Clarice became lovers??
That was not in the film nor the novel.
I'd say this cloud is Cumulo Nimbus.
Didn't he discover America?
Penfold, shush.