Darkly Dreaming Dexter

Deb Morgan is Dexter’s surrogate sister. She is a police officer at the Miami Metro Police Department. A good cop, Deb is insightful, intuitive, and dogged in her pursuit of criminals. She has a strong work ethic and sees her job as a way to honor her father and fight against evil and injustice. Although Harry came to see good and evil with more nuance, Deb maintains a strict worldview that does not allow room for moral relativism. Much like Dexter, Deb abides by a rigid moral and ethical code. When she begins to suspect Dexter as the Tamiami Slasher, she tells him she will bring him in for questioning, proving that she is even willing to arrest her family members to further an investigation.

Despite her dedication to her job, Deb is not adept at playing the political games that make and break careers in the Miami Police Department. She is loud, foul-mouthed, and often borderline unprofessional when communicating with her colleagues and superiors, and she cares little for what other people think of her. She struggles to advance her career in part because her behavior has earned the ire of Lieutenant LaGuerta, but even though Deb knows that LaGuerta dislikes her, she cannot quite alter her behavior in ways that would help her career. Deb unashamedly is who she is, faults and all.

Though a good investigator, Deb is blind to her brother’s serial killings. Dexter notes that she “believes what she wants to believe” about him and that she often ignores his suspicious activities (44). It is not until she sees video evidence of a man who resembles Dexter that she begins to suspect something is not quite right with him, though Dexter has always had a keen insight into criminal activity. Despite Deb’s flaws and her laser focus on work, she cares deeply about family. She adored Harry when she was growing up and remains Dexter’s closest confidante. Although he lacks empathy, Dexter often notes that he does care for Deb. She returns his affection and loves him as though he were her biological brother.

Harry is Dexter’s adoptive father and Deb’s biological father. As a police officer in Miami, Harry once held black-and-white views on criminality and morality, adhering to the letter of the law in his arrests and investigations. However, as the years passed, Harry saw countless criminals evade arrest and prosecution and eventually came to see good and evil in a more nuanced light. He noticed Dexter’s penchant for violence early on and tried to steer him away from it, telling his surrogate son, “I’ve tried to straighten you out, but it was too strong” (43).

Because Harry could not make Dexter renounce violence, and because he knew so many criminals were never held accountable, he encouraged Dexter to harness his violent impulses, “controlling and channeling” them for good (43). This suggests a certain darkness lies in Harry too: Rather than ensure Dexter received therapy and counseling to cope with his childhood trauma and violent impulses, Harry took a different path. Disillusioned with the criminal justice system, he took justice into his own hands through Dexter: He developed a moral and behavioral code to guide Dexter, encouraging him to fit in with his peers, lead an outwardly law-abiding life, and only kill other killers and serial predators. In this way, Harry enabled Dexter’s career as a vigilante and provided him the skills and mindset needed to avoid detection.

In Darkly Dreaming Dexter, Harry is a kind and sympathetic mentor to Dexter. His early intervention prevented Dexter from becoming a remorseless, cold-blooded killer like his biological brother, Brian. Harry is thus one of the key ways the author engages with The Impact of Childhood Trauma on Adult Behavior. Though trauma can damage children irreparably, with love and guidance from parents and adult figures, those children can go on to lead functional, happy lives.

Lieutenant LaGuerta heads the Miami Metro Police Department. She is “hard and ambitious in the most self-serving way” (27). LaGuerta’s top priorities are departmental politics and career advancement, and she is adept at managing and manipulating her officers, her superiors, and the press. LaGuerta often intimidates individuals to control and shame them, and much of her wrath lands on Deb. LaGuerta’s use of pejorative nicknames for Deb and her refusal to take Deb seriously speak to her difficult personality and the toxic work environment she creates in the department.

LaGuerta is also an unskilled officer. She lacks the “gut” instinct that many of her detectives have and is often off-base in her investigations. She cares more about appearances than truth and rushes to arrest suspects so she will look good in the eyes of the press, the public, and especially her superiors. Because of this, she arrests the wrong man in the Tamiami Slasher case, impeding her own investigation.

LaGuerta also uses her appearance and sexuality to further her career. She routinely flirts with coworkers to extract information or garner favor, and Dexter is often uncomfortable in her presence. Although not a true villain, she is an antagonistic character because of her self-serving, arrogant, bullying nature and her opposition to Dexter and Deb.

Brian is Dexter’s biological brother. He does not play a large role in the narrative but is nevertheless an important character. Brian was a year older than Dexter, and the two were close as young children. Their mother was involved with drug trafficking and murdered, likely by a cartel operative, in front of the boys. After she died, they sat in a pool of her blood for two days before rescue.

Like Dexter, Brian is traumatized by this experience and develops a Dark Passenger. He grows up with uncontrollable urges to kill and is entirely devoid of empathy. When he is revealed as the Tamiami Slasher and finally meets Dexter in person, he remarks, “We can’t actually feel anything, can we” (276). Despite their similarities, the two brothers are foils, representing different outcomes for children who bear witness to horrific violence.

Dexter, with the care and guidance of a loving mentor, comes to harness his evil for “good,” only pursuing targets who are themselves serial predators. Brian was not adopted or taught to control his impulses. Because of this, he does not particularly care who his victims are and feels no remorse. While Dexter envisions his Dark Passenger as a separate entity that dwells in his mind, Brian does not hold any of his violent impulses at a remove. He and his Dark Passenger are one, demonstrating what Dexter could have become without Harry’s mentorship.

Rita is Dexter’s girlfriend. She is a survivor of domestic and sexual abuse whom Dexter describes as “almost as badly damaged as I am” (55). Rita was married to a violent man who is now incarcerated; because of the abuse, she now struggles to form and maintain relationships. She is slow to trust people, especially men, and is initially uncomfortable engaging in any sexual activity. Because Dexter finds sex unpalatable, he is willing to forgo physical intimacy in their relationship. Despite her traumatic past, Rita is a figure of strength and resilience. She is hardworking, owns her own home, and has done her best to return to normalcy after her tumultuous marriage. She is kind and sensitive and tries to understand everyone around her, including Dexter.

Rita is a loving mother to two children, Astor and Cody. She strives to provide her children with the safety, comfort, and stability they lacked when living with their father. Her children are quiet and withdrawn, but she encourages them to build a relationship with Dexter and is happy that Dexter takes such a keen interest in their well-being. She does not know Dexter is a killer of killers, but she admires his work as a blood spatter analyst with the Miami Metro Police Department. Because of her past, she has a vested interest in the capture and prosecution of violent men, and she sees Dexter as working on the front lines of that fight.