Harrison "Harry" Morgan is the overarching protagonist of the Showtime TV series Dexter. He is the foster father of Dexter Morgan who took him in after the death of his mother Laura and taught him how to be an effective killer after he displayed sociopathic tendencies, thus kickstrarting the events of the series and Brain Moser's villainy. Ultimately, Harry came to regret this and took his own life out of guilt.
He is played by James Remar in Dexter and Christian Slater in Dexter: Original Sin.
His Evil Ranking[]
What Makes Him Heinous?[]
- Cheated on his wife with numerous women, including Dexter's mother Laura, which is doubly questionable as she was working for him as an informant. It was also revealed that Harry had slept with other informants and not just Laura.
- Though he took Dexter in after Laura died, he did absolutely nothing to help his brother Brian who was equally traumatized. He also kept Brian's existence hidden from Dexter, to the point where he immediately destroyed a medical record that had information on Brian's relation to Dexter.
- Trained Dexter to be an effective killer and how to fake emotions which makes him partly responsible for the 100+ people Dexter killed, and all the lives ruined by this which includes Dexter himself.
- Encouraged Dexter to murder the nurse that was poisoning him in the hospital.
- Whilst she deserved it, he could have turned her over to the authorities instead.
- Gave Dexter permission to murder Tony Ferrer after Dexter showed him the evidence that he had acquired about Ferrer's kills.
- When told by his good friend Thomas Matthews that Juan Reyness had been released, Harry lost his temper and inadvertently directed Dexter to kill him.
- Due to his neglect and abuse on Brian Moser, Harry is responsible for shaping him into the monster he is today and making him responsible for his worst crimes such as murdering Dexter's father and trying to manipulate Dexter into trying to kill Deb.
- Due to being busy training Dexter as well as his job with Homicide, he was rather neglectful of Deb.
- After he inadvertently caused a criminal, Levi Reed, to walk free, Harry got drunk and later approached Reed's house with a suppressed handgun. He was prepared to pull the trigger and kill Reed, but he was prevented by his own intoxication and by Dexter drugging him with M99.
- Harry would give Dexter explicit permission to kill Reed after Dexter demonstrated to him how his kill room works, and even gave Dexter a tip to use smelling salts so he wouldn't need to wait for his victims to wake up.
What Makes Him Inconsistent?[]
- He genuinely loved both of his children, comforting Dexter in several flashbacks, being motivated in part by a desire to protect his son and asking his friend Tom Matthews to take care of them before he killed himself.
- Harry was also revealed to have had a son before Debra or Dexter, Harry Morgan Jr. Tragically Junior drowned in the Morgan's swimming pool and this loss haunted Harry even years later. This may have also motivated his decision to adopt Dexter.
- He cared about both of his two lovers, Laura Moser and Doris Morgan, and felt guilty for mistreating them.
- He cared about his friend Aaron Spencer and supported him when his son was kidnapped. When Dexter tried to convince Harry that Spencer was behind his sons kidnapping and the previous kidnapping and murder of a young boy, Harry refused to believe it due to his trust and care in Spencer, believing Dexter was projecting his own darkness onto the captain.
- He is honorable and has standards as the code forbade harming innocents, thus saving Dexter from truly going off the deep end. Harry also made a point to go over any evidence that Dexter acquired on his targets on his first few kills, only allowing Dexter to proceed once he was satisfied with their guilt (but still being uncomfortable with what Dexter was doing). He also found it repulsive when seeing Dexter dismember one of his victims, claiming that nobody deserved that and to have their remains put in trash bags, even killers.
- Harry was also disgusted by the notion of trophies from kills. When Dexter let slip that he'd taken a pair of the Nurses earrings to relive the kill, Harry was outraged and made sure to reinforce that Dexter was not to take trophies from his kills.
- When Dexter had messed up with what would have been his third kill and his target escaped but was killed in a hit and run, Harry was further outraged and 'grounded' Dexter. He discreetly stepped into the investigation of the hit and run as well to check if there was any evidence against Dexter, doing his best to protect his son.
- He kept his word to send a thank you letter to Dexter's biological father Joe Driscoll after Joe saved him with a blood transfusion and stopped Dexter from killing a boy who bullied him.
- He is a well-intentioned extremist as he wanted to protect his son and ensure criminals got the justice they deserved. He even commented on disliking being the reason that any criminal walks free.
- He is a villain by proxy, as he never wished to be unethical but was put in a situation that he didn't know how to properly handle.
- He felt immense remorse for his training of Dexter and mentioned feeling guilty about killing a man on the job.
- He has insecurities about being a poor father and husband.
- His death where he kills himself is played for sympathy.
Trivia[]
- Harry is one of two Dexter villains to be Inconsistently Heinous, alongside his foster son Dexter Morgan.
External Links[]
- Harry Morgan on the Villains Wiki
- Harry Morgan on the Heroes Wiki
- Harry Morgan on the Dexter Wiki
- Harry Morgan on the Wikipedia