The Hero's Journey - Dexter Morgan

“I love Halloween. The one time of year when everyone wears a mask... not just me. People think it's fun to pretend you're a monster. Me, I spend my life pretending I'm not. Brother, friend, boyfriend - All part of my costume collection. Some people might call me a fraud. Let's see if it will fit. I prefer to think of myself as a master of disguise.” - Dexter Morgan

A forensic blood splatter analyst at the Miami-Metro Police Department by day, serial killer who kills other murderers by night. Dexter only kills people that have escaped the justice system and fit a code of ethics that his adoptive father made for him to keep Dexter off of death row. This 'Code of Harry' only allows Dexter to kill someone after he has found evidence that they are guilty and more importantly, to never get caught.



“With the solve rate for murders at about twenty percent, Miami is a great place for me. A great place for me to hone my craft. Viva Miami.” - Dexter Morgan

Dexter lives in Miami with his sister Debra, who is a Detective at the same Police Station, and his one year old son Harrison. His wife Rita was murdered by The Trinity Killer, another serial killer who Dexter thought he could learn from. Dexter also has two step children from his marriage, Aster and Cody, who live with their grandparents now after their mother's death. Dexter originally thought that he couldn't feel emotions like everyone else but he would do whatever it takes to protect Harrison, Aster, and Cody.

“She's the only person in the world who loves me. I think that's nice. I don't have feeling about anything, but if I could have feelings at all, I'd have them for Deb.” - Dexter Morgan

Dexter was born in 1969 to Laura Moser, who was a police informant to, and secret lover of, Harry Morgan, Dexter's adoptive father. On October 3, 1973, Dexter, and his older brother Brian, were witnesses to their mother's murder by a trio of drug dealers. The men left Dexter and Brian locked in the shipping crate alone where the murder took place with their mother's body and a pool of blood. Dexter often refers to this as him being “born in blood.” They stayed there for two days until Harry, a cop, and other police officers found them. Harry carried Dexter out and adopted him, Dexter was still young and was able to repress the memories of his life before his adoption but the psychological damage was already done. Harry discovered that Dexter was killing pets neighborhood pets at the age of seven. Realizing that Dexter is a sociopath, Harry decides to teach him a code of ethics in order to keep Dexter safe and out of jail. Harry teaches him to only kill people who deserve to die, murderers that have been set free or that have eluded the police.

“Harry was a great cop here in Miami. He taught me how to think like one; he taught me how to cover my tracks. I'm a very neat monster.” - Dexter Morgan

Dexter's code keeps him from getting caught and only allows him to kill someone who deserves it. In order to find out if they deserve it or not, Dexter looks for evidence like blood, the truth is always in the blood. He also meets his potential victim beforehand to see if they are likely to kill again and when he is sure they are, he ritualistically prepares a kill room. The location of the kill room is different for each victim, it is somewhere secluded and symbolic to who his victim is (such as killing a truck driver in his truck). Once the kill room is selected, it is covered in plastic so it will catch all the blood so there won't be any evidence left. Dexter puts up evidence and photos of the killers victims so they can see why they are going to die. In order to get the victim to the kill room, Dexter stalks them until they are alone and then sneaks up on them from behind and injects them with a tranquilizer called M99, which knocks them out for several hours. When the victims wake up, they are trapped in the kill room, naked and secured to a table with plastic wrap, or duct tape in some cases, in the center of the room. Dexter collects 'trophies' from each of his victims, he slices the victim's right cheek and collects a blood sample. Dexter keeps a box of blood slide hidden in the air conditioner of his condo. He talks to his victims before he kills them, explaining why they are going to die and usually gets them to confess, then he uses a knife to stab them in the heart, but in some cases he may use a different method depending on its symbolic relevance. Dexter then dismembers the bodies and wraps each part in plastic and places them into biodegradable garbage bags filled with rocks. He then goes out on his boat, the Slice of Life, and dumps the bodies into the bay. Dexter does all of this alone, but is assisted by a fantasy of his dead adoptive father, Harry, who gives him advice and encouragement throughout all areas of Dexter's life.



Dexter and his fantisized father

In 2006, Dexter was already working at the Miami-Metro Police Department as a forensic blood splatter analyst and is in a superficial relationship with Rita, who has two children – Astor and Cody. There is also a new murderer in Miami, The Ice Truck Killer, who's victims were all prostitutes and drained of their blood. They all wonder what the Killer is doing with the blood and it eventually turns up in a motel room, the blood of all the Ice Truck Killer's victims all over the room, and it triggers long repressed memories for Dexter and he recalls that he witnessed his mother's murder, and that he also had a brother, Brian... The Ice Truck Killer, the man who has is engaged to Dexter's adoptive sister. Brian abducts Debra and lures Dexter to their childhood home and attempts to persuade Dexter to kill her ao that he could be free from his old life and be with his real brother, someone who is exactly life him and knows who he really is. Dexter rejects his brother's offer, sets Deb free (she was unconscious so she didn't see what went down), and in order to stop Rudy from killing anyone else, Dexter slits his brother's throat and leaves him for Miami-Metro to find, and they write it off as suicide.

Dexter and his biological brother, Brian

When the bodies of over thirty victim are found in a harbor in Miami, Miami-Metro decides that there is a new serial killer reeking havoc in Miami, The Bay Harbor Butcher, better known to them as Dexter Morgan. And if that isn't enough for him to worry about, Sergeant James Doakes, a detective at Miami-Metro, suspects that there is something not right about Dexter. Therefore, Dexter must keep a low profile in order to keep off the police's radar. Also, Rita suspects that the reason Dexter is always out late is because he is a drug addict, and so he can keep the truth, that he is a serial killer, from her, he allows her to believe that he is and he begins going to drug rehabilitation meetings. He meets a woman named Lila who becomes his sponsor and she helps Dexter learn more about his addiction, not to drugs but to killing. Dexter learns that he doesn't need to kill, but he wants to. As all this is happening, Miami-Metro, with the help of an FBI serial hunting expert, and getting ever closer to finding out who the Bay Harbor Butcher is and found that he has a law enforcement background and Doakes, going rogue after being suspended, has discovered the truth about Dexter and attempts to bring him in. But Dexter has plans of his own, he intends to plant evidence so that Doakes is found to be The Butcher instead, and has Doakes locked away in a cage. Lila also learns the truth about Dexter and she finds where Dexter has locked up Doakes. She then blows up the building, killing Doakes in the process, in order to protect Dexter. Miami-Metro finds the body of Doakes, who they believe to be the Bay Harbor Butcher. When Dexter refuses to run away with her, Lila kidnaps Rita's children, Astor and Cody. Dexter finds them and Lila locks them in her flat and sets it on fire but Dexter is able to get the kids and himself out in time. Lila then flees to Paris, France but Dexter finds her and kills her.

Dexter and Lila

When Rita tells Dexter that she is pregnant, Dexter considers leaving her since he doesn't think that he would make a good father What kind of dad would a serial killer make? Debra convinces that he would make a great father and so Dexter decides to stay with his girlfriend and even proposes to her, although it takes a few attempts before she finally agrees. After killing a man in self defense, who turns out to be the assistant district attorney Miguel Prado's brother, Dexter helps Miguel coop through his loss since he feels bad for killing someone who doesn't fit his code. Also, Dexter notices a man talking to Astor at the super market and them sees him again, taking pictures, while they are at the beach. A quick scan of his license plates reveals who this man is and Dexter uncovers that this man is pedophile and Astor is is next target. Although pedophiles don't fit The Code of Harry, Dexter kills him anyway in order to protect Astor. Furthermore, an old friend of Harry's and of Dexter's, Camilla Figg, is in the hospital and she asks Dexter to pull the plug on her in order to save her from the pains of her terminal cancer. But when Miguel comes across Dexter right after he kills a drug dealer named Freebo, he learns Dexter's secret and promises that he won't reveal it. They become friends as Dexter begins to teach Miguel the code and also asks him to be the best man at his wedding, which Miguel accepts. However, the two of them participate in a power struggle and Miguel kills a woman who doesn't fit Dexter's code so now Dexter has to kill Miguel now that his darkness has been unleashed. With Debra as Dexter's new best man, he and Rita are married.

Tired from his responsibilities as husband and father, and his son Harrison having been born, Dexter has not killed anyone in months and due to conflicts with Rita, they have started couples therapy. Frank Lundy, the FBI serial killer hunter from two years ago, returns to Miami in pursuit of a serial killer who has been eluding the authorities for thirty years, The Trinity Killer. Trinity kills in threes, hence his name, starting with a young woman bleeding out in a bathtub, then an older woman jumping off a tall building, and ending with a man being bludgeoned to death. Later it is discovered a young boy has disappeared in each of the cities Trinity has been to and the missing boy is what starts the string of murders, making four victims a year for thirty years. Which totals to one-hundred-twenty victims, making Trinity the most successful serial killer to have gotten away with it since no one has found the evidence to link the four people. After Lundy if shot and killed, Dexter continues the pursuit of Trinity and eventually discovers his identity. To Dexter's surprise, Trinity (Arthur Mitchell) is a well respected man with a wife and two teenagers. Dexter takes up the false name of Kyle Butler and introduces himself to Arthur and befriends his rival serial killer in hopes of learning how he is able to handle being both a family man and a serial killer. Being so close to Trinity, Dexter has had several opportunities to kill Arthur but keeps postponing it, thinking he can still learn more from him. To that end, he learns that Arthur's family isn't has happy as they pretend to be and they are actually terrified of him. Not wanting his relationship with his family to end up like Trinity's, Dexter plans a belated honeymoon for him, Rita and Harrison, while Astor and Cody are staying with Rita's parents. Rita left for the honeymoon on an earlier flight at Dexter's encouragement, telling her he had some work he had to finish up and would meet her there. With Miami-Metro getting ever closer to finding Trinity, Dexter catches Arthur as he attempt to skip town and finally kills him. As Dexter returns home from dumping Arthur's body in the bay, he finds Harrison sitting on the bathroom floor in a pool of his mother's blood, Rita having bleed out in the bathtub as Trinity's one-hundred-twenty-first victim. Dexter blames himself for Rita's death and fears that Harrison will turn out like him, having both been 'born in blood.'



Arthur Mitchell (Trinity) and Dexter Morgan
Husbands, Fathers, Serial Killers

Dexter walking in on Harrison sitting in his mother's blood



 “Harry was right. I thought I could change what I am, keep my family safe. But it doesn't matter what I do, what I choose... I'm what's wrong. This is... fate” - Dexter Morgan

The FBI has taken over the Trinity case, and Dexter appears to be a suspect for Rita's murder. Dexter comes across a rude hillbilly man at a boat shed and kills him when he loses control and let's out his rage from Rita's death. The FBI clears Dexter of suspicion but Quinn, Debra's partner at Miami-Metro, still feels that Dexter is somehow involved in the Trinity case and suspects that Dexter is Kyle Butler. With Rita's death, Astor and Cody go to live with their grandparents and Dexter hires a nanny to look after Harrison so he can attempt to fall back into his old routine. He targets Boyd Fowler, who is connected to a series of missing women and is a known sex offender. After killing Boyd, Dexter discovers a young woman, Lumen Pierce, Boyd's current rape victim, saw what he did. Dexter takes her somewhere safe and tends to her wounds but doesn't know what he is going to do with her since she is a witness. He can not let her go since she saw what he did and he can't just kill her since she doesn't fit the code. Lumen is afraid of Dexter at first, thinking that he is going to kill her too, but, slowly, she comes to trust him and she reveals that Boyd wasn't the only man who raped her. She asks Dexter for help in finding and killing these men but he refuses and tells her that she would be better off just going home to her family. Thinking that she got on a plane home, Dexter receives a call from Lumen asking for his help in disposing a body. She found and lured one of the other men, a children's dentist named Dan, to a harbor and shot him thinking he was dead. When Dexter arrives, Lumen is outside waiting for him and she takes him to the scene of the crime but Dan the dentist is gone, not actually being dead he struggled away and hid. Dexter found him but refused to kill him without any proof. The two of them overheard Dan make a phone call, while they were in another room, to his other accomplices, hearing him say, “that last fucking bitch is still alive.” With this being all the evidence of Dan's guilt that dexter needed, he snapped his neck right there.



Dexter and Lumen

Dexter then agrees to help Lumen track down the rest of The Group and the find a photo of five young boys, Boyd and Dan are in it and the other three are the rest of The Group and this shows that they have known each other since childhood. They discover that the third boy is Cole Harmon, the security guard for famous motivational speaker Jordan Chase. Dexter allows Lumen to help him prepare the kill room and kills Cole in front of her. As they leave the hotel where they killed Cole, Dexter runs into Jordan and he tells Dexter something that inadvertently proves he is a part of The Group, “tick tick tick, that's the sound of your life running out,” which is what one of the men often said to Lumen during her captivity. Not known to Dexter, Quinn has hired an ex cop, Stan Liddy, to spy on Dexter and find out what he's up to and Liddy has bugged Dexter's condo and obtained photo's of Dexter and Lumen dumping a body into the bay. After getting close to Jordan Chase, Dexter finds a necklace with a vial of blood in it. He secretly takes a sample of it and finds that it belongs to a woman named Emily, who was the first rape victim of The Group and that she is actually still alive unlike the twelve girls after her. They visit her but she wasn't willing to help them. Dexter and Lumen continue to work on finding the people in the photo and learn the identity of boy number four and after abducting him, Dexter allows Lumen to make her first kill. And after they dump his body into the bay, the two of them begin a sexual relationship. As Dexter prepares Lumen to kill Jordan Chase, he discovers that his place is bugged and that someone has been watching them. Dexter locates the surveillance van but no one is inside and Liddy sneaks up on him with a taser. Liddy takes Dexter to an isolated location by the harbor and Dexter ends up killing him in self defense in an attempt to escape. While Dexter was in this situation, Lumen received a call from Emily saying she had a change of heart so Lumen went to see her but it was actually a trap set up by Jordan Chase, the last living member of The Group. When Dexter receives a call from Jordan and learns that Lumen is gone, he finds a property that Jordan owns under a different name, an abandoned summer camp where the rapes first began. Dexter goes there and finds Jordan with Lumen, after a struggle, Dexter is able to knock Jordan out. Shortly after he wakes up, Lumen confronts the ringleader of her rapes, finally in a position of power over him and she stabs him through the heart, killing him, with Dexter's approval. The following day, Lumen tells Dexter that she no longer feels the need to kill since all of her attackers are now dead, and that she is finally returning home to her family. Dexter is upset about this but knows that this is best for her. With the lose of someone that he became so close with, Dexter is still not alone despite how he might feel. He still has his son, Harrison, and his sister, Debra and his step-kids, Astor and Cody.

“Lumen said I gave her her life back... a reversal of my usual role. Well the fact is, she gave me mine back too. And I'm left not with what she took from me, but with what she brought. Eyes that saw me, finally, for who I really am. And a certainty that nothing... nothing is set in stone. Not even darkness. While she was here, she made me think for the briefest moment I might even have a chance to be human. But wishes, of course, are for children.” - Dexter Morgan