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Recently re-watching Dexter I've noticed that Harrison Morgan sometimes seems to have information and motivations not entirely aligned with Dexter's.

Is it an actual ghost, or is it all in Dexter's head?

Moderator note: whether or not this is actually relevant to this site is dependent on the answer. Please show latitude.

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  • By your "moderator note" are you saying that if the ghost is "real" then Dexter can be classified as sci-fi, and would therefore be on-topic?
    – Beofett
    Dec 27, 2011 at 18:41
  • @Beofett: Indeed. Well, Fantasy. Dec 27, 2011 at 18:42
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    @TangoOversway: Wrong Dexter. Dec 27, 2011 at 20:03
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    @WillihamTotland You mean Dee Dee didn't date the Ice Truck Killer?
    – Beofett
    Dec 27, 2011 at 20:55
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    Generally the show refers to the ghost as Harry, and Dexter's son as Harrison. I'm suggesting an appropriate edit. In addition, referring to specific instances where Harry's ghost acts against your expectations would be very helpful in addressing the question.
    – Standback
    Dec 28, 2011 at 9:48

2 Answers 2

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The show generally portrays Harry's appearences to Dexter as being a representation of Dexter's memories and subconsciousness, rather than a supernatural occurence of any kind. Some support for this statement:

  • Dexter never treats Harry's appearances as odd or strange; he doesn't think of himself as being haunted nor insane. Hence the appearances are more representational than literal.
  • The show has never ventured into the supernatural in any other way. Dexter's setting is realistic, with no supernatural elements lacking a mundane explanation. (Sometime events are fortuitous or even miraculous, and this ties in with characters' faith, and some characters believe in supernatural elements. But the setting itself remains mundane.) Hence seeing Harry as a "real" ghost would be extremely out of place.
  • The show has repeatedly and unsubtly implied that Harry is a figment of Dexter's subconsciousness - see, e.g., the season 6 episodes "Just Let Go" and "Nebraska," when Dexter considers himself lost to the Dark Passanger, and Harry's ghost is replaced with Brian's, urging him to murder and callousness instead of Harry's well-ingrained philosophy.

Harry really represents several sides of Dexter:

  • He reminds Dexter of Harry's Code, frequently urging him to be more cautious.
  • Harry remains a monumental figure in Dexter's life, whose approval he seeks despite mounting friction and disillusion. The ghost lets Dexter play that relationship out.
  • Harry's goals and hopes for Dexter have been unclear; the ghost sometimes expresses what those hopes might have been, and how Harry might have reacted to Dexter's growing character. Did Harry have any hope Dexter might gain humanity and compassion? Or did he prefer him as a well-aimed psychopath? Harry's ghost lets both these extremes be expressed and considered.
  • As a representative of Dexter's subconsciousness, Harry sometimes knows "clues" or has noticed details that conscious Dexter hasn't yet. Similarly, he can represent Dexter's "better judgement." See e.g. season 4's "Remains to Be Seen," where Dexter suffers memory loss, and Harry hints at things Dexter doesn't remember. In this role, Harry isn't really representing Harry at all - he's "just" a face for Dexter's subconsciousness.

I do feel that after season 4, one of the (many) changes in tone the series took has been to treat Harry's ghost as more of a character in his own right. He's present more, and it's harder to explain some of his behavior as originating from Dexter. Take, for example, the season 5 primiere "My Bad," where Dexter's rage eventually prompts him to murder a random bully in an isolated restroom. Harry's ghost says "That's the first human thing I've seen you do since she died," which seems impossible to attribute either to Dexter himself (his own humanity hardly seems to be a concern of his at the moment) nor to Harry (who would never have condoned the murder of someone who wasn't a serial killer, certainly not one so careless and serving merely to let out pressure). If such cases become more frequent and more clear-cut, there might be room to argue that Harry's ghost is something more than a figment of Dexter's imagination. At the moment, I don't see that coming across very strongly, and I really wouldn't attribute it to anything more than local cases of sloppy writing.

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  • Good analysis, although if we consider the book that shall not be named, Dexter's dark passenger could be considered an independant malevolent entity, using Harry as a guise. Dec 28, 2011 at 20:49
  • I hear the books are very different in tone and style from the TV show. I've read the first, which already posits a significant mental bond between Dexter and Brian; I've heard about other elements of the novels, and I agree they probably dip much more deeply into the supernatural than the TV show does.
    – Standback
    Dec 28, 2011 at 21:29
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    For people reading this comment in the future. The books don't go deeper into the supernatural than the TV show, with the exception of the third one (which is largely ignored in subsequent books) :-) Jun 12, 2017 at 15:04
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I think Harry is real.

My examples:

  • S6:E1: Harry gives Dexter advice on how to play football, when Dexter obviously only has the rudiments he obtained from the webpage of terms.
  • S5:E9: When Dexter stands up for Astor and her friend by threatening the step dad, Harry tells Dexter he's proud of him.
  • S5:E1: When Dexter's rage eventually prompts him to murder a random bully in an isolated restroom, Harry's ghost says, "That's the first human thing I've seen you do since she died."

These feel out of character for a conscious or psychotic hallucination to have said.

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  • Do you have any evidence beyond speculation?
    – Edlothiad
    Jan 19, 2018 at 22:56
  • I don't think I've watched these episodes yet, but the first one could be solid. If Harry gave Dexter advice that clearly exceeded what Dexter himself would know, then logically it couldn't be simply Dexter talking to himself. That said, I'm no football fan, but I've osmosed a fair bit of knowledge over the years (my dad and brother both enjoyed watching the game); so (without having seen the episode) it's hard to judge if this would exceed what he might know subconsciously.
    – RDFozz
    Jan 19, 2018 at 23:17
  • Everything is speculation. As outlined in rule number one there is no solid evidence. Jan 25, 2018 at 19:23

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