Harry Morgan

Lore & Background

In the novels, Harry Morgan is a detective and highly respected member of the Miami Police Department, and a close friend of his immediate superior Lieutenant Tom Matthews. In the course of a high-stakes drug case, Harry begins an illicit relationship with Laura Moser, Dexter's biological mother, to gather information and evidence on the drug lord in question. The drug dealers eventually find out she is informing on them, and make an example of her; they brutally murder her and three others with chainsaws in a shipping container.

Her sons Brian and Dexter Moser are left in the container for two days, sitting in blood, until Harry and a police team rescue them. Harry takes both Dexter and Brian home. Because Brian was old enough to actually have memories of the murders, he begins exhibiting dark tendencies, particularly when exposed to loud noises such as crying babies. Brian almost kills Debra when she is just a few months old, so Harry adopts Dexter while Brian is sent into a mental facility; Harry believes that the older Brian is permanently traumatized by the event and is "unsalvageable", but that Dexter is still young enough to be "saved".

When Dexter is around 10 years old, Harry discovers that he has been killing neighborhood pets, and realizes that the boy has an innate need to kill. At first, Harry attempts to manage Dexter's violent urges by only allowing him to kill animals, but he eventually comes to the conclusion that Dexter's pathology cannot be repressed, only controlled. Harry decides to train the boy as a vigilante, to hunt and kill murderers without leaving any clues.

Dexter prizes these lessons as a means to satisfy his homicidal urges with his father's approval, dubbing the rules as the "Code of Harry". Harry's relationship with his biological daughter Debra, meanwhile, is more complicated; she craves her father's approval, but feels that he favors Dexter. (Harry keeps her in the dark about Dexter's "training".) When Dexter is 20, Harry falls seriously ill and gives Dexter "permission" to kill Mary, one of his nurses, who is intentionally poisoning him with morphine.

He dies a year later, supposedly of heart disease. In Darkly Dreaming Dexter, Harry is deeply alarmed when Dexter nearly kills the school bully, and takes him to visit a serial killer incarcerated on death row, hoping the condemned man will serve as a living example of the importance of not being caught.

Reader's Guide

In the novels Harry is a detective and highly respected member of the Miami Police Department; his wife Doris died of cancer. Upon discovering Dexter's dark urges, Harry did not seek help from professionals but instead created 'The Code.' This set of rules dictated that Dexter could only kill those who are already guilty and have evaded the law. It required absolute certainty of guilt and strict adherence to stealth to avoid detection.

Did You Know?

• In the TV series, Harry dies by suicide three days after seeing Dexter's dismembered body of Juan Ryness, deliberately overdosing on his medication.
• Harry confided in Dr. Evelyn Vogel about young Dexter's homicidal urges, and she helped create Dexter's 'code'.