'' is a Mystery / Detective Novel by American author Dan Brown , published in 2003 by Doubleday .
The novel has provoked popular interest in speculation concerning the Holy Grail legend and the role of Mary Magdalene in the history of Christianity. According to the premise of the novel, the Vatican knows it is perpetuating a lie about Jesus' bloodline and the role of women in church, but continues to do so to keep itself in power.
Dan Brown's novel was a smash hit in 2004, even rivaling the sales of the highly popular '' by Michael Baigent and others, and Umberto Eco 's '' Foucault's Pendulum '', has also spawned a number of novels that have a striking resemblance to ''The Da Vinci Code'', including Raymond Khoury's '' The Last Templar '', and ''The Templar Legacy'' by Steve Berry .
It is a worldwide Bestseller with more than 60.5 million copies in print (as of May 2006) and has been translated into 44 languages. It is thought to be the fourteenth Best-selling book of all time. Combining the Detective , Thriller and Conspiracy Fiction genres, the book is the second book by Dan Brown to include the character Robert Langdon , the first being Brown's 2000 novel, '' Angels And Demons ''. In November 2004 , Random House published a "Special Illustrated Edition", with 160 illustrations interspersed with the text.
In 2006, a film adaptation, '' The Da Vinci Code '', was released by Columbia Pictures .
This book describes the attempts of Robert Langdon , Professor of Religious Symbology at Harvard University , to solve the murder of renowned Curator Jacques Saunière (''see'' Bérenger Saunière ) of the Louvre Museum in Paris . The title of the novel refers, among other things, to the fact that Saunière's body is found in the Denon Wing of the Louvre naked and posed like Leonardo Da Vinci's famous drawing, the '' Vitruvian Man '', with a cryptic message written beside his body and a Pentacle drawn on his stomach in his own blood.
'', by Leonardo Da Vinci .]]
The interpretation of hidden messages inside Leonardo's famous works, (which relate to the concept of the Sacred Feminine ) including the '' Mona Lisa '' and '' The Last Supper '', figure prominently in the solution to the mystery.
The novel has several concurrent storylines that follow different characters throughout different parts of the book. Eventually all the storylines and characters are brought together and resolved in its Denouement .
The unraveling of the mystery requires the solution to a series of brain-teasers, including Anagram s and number puzzles. The solution itself is found to be intimately connected with the possible location of the Holy Grail and to a mysterious society called the Priory Of Sion , as well as to the Knights Templar . The story also involves the Roman Catholic organization Opus Dei .
The novel is the second book by Brown in which '', and it is understood to concern Freemasonry .
These are the principal characters that drive the plot of the story. It seems to be Dan Brown's style that many have names that are Pun s, anagrams or hidden clues:
- Apparently, the relationship between Langdon and Vittoria Vetra from ''Angels and Demons'' has ended. This prompts the question of whether his budding romance with Sophie at this novel's end will also have fallen by the wayside by the next novel, The Solomon Key .
- The full message Saunière wrote on the floor of the Louvre contained the line "P.S. Find Robert Langdon ". This was the reason Bezu Fache suspected Langdon of being the murderer. Fache had erased this line before Langdon arrived so that Langdon would not be aware that the police suspected him. Sophie Neveu saw the entire text of the message when it was Fax ed to her office by the police. Sophie realized immediately that the message was meant for her, since her grandfather used to call her "Princess Sophie" (i.e. "PS"). From this, she also knew Langdon to be innocent. She informs him of this secretly when they are in the Louvre by having him call her personal Voicemail box and listen to the message that she had left there for him.
- At the end of the book, Robert Langdon and Sophie Neveu seem to be falling in love. They arrange to meet in Florence , the same way he did with Vittoria from ''Angels and Demons''.
- Jacques Saunière was the Grand Master of the Priory Of Sion and therefore knew the hidden location of the "keystone", which leads to the Holy Grail and documents which would shake the foundation of Christianity and the Church . He was killed in an attempt to extract this information from him and eliminate the top members of the Priory of Sion.
- The reason that Sophie Neveu disassociated herself from her grandfather is that she discovered him participating in a pagan sex ritual ( Hieros Gamos ) at his home in Normandy , when she made a surprise visit there during a break from boarding school. (That she had observed something was mentioned but what it was that she saw was revealed to no one, including the reader, until near the end when she revealed it to Robert.)
- The other three lines of Saunière's blood message are anagrams. The first line are the digits of the Fibonacci Sequence out of order. The second and third lines ("O, Draconian devil!" and "Oh, lame saint!") are anagrams respectively for "Leonardo da Vinci" and "The ''Mona Lisa''" (in English). These clues were meant to lead to a second set of clues. On the glass over the Mona Lisa , Saunière wrote the message "So dark the con of Man" with a curator's pen that can only be read in Ultra-violet light. The second clue is an anagram for '' Madonna Of The Rocks '', another Da Vinci painting hanging nearby. Behind this painting, Saunière hid a key. On the key, written with the curator's pen, is an address.
- The key opens a safe deposit box at the Paris branch of the Depository Bank Of Zurich . Saunière's account number at the bank is a 10-digit number that consists of the digits of the first eight Fibonacci Number s, arranged in the correct order: 1123581321.
- The instructions that Saunière revealed to Silas at gunpoint are actually a well-rehearsed lie, namely that the keystone is buried in the Church of Saint-Sulpice beneath an Obelisk that lies exactly along the ancient "Rose Line" (supposedly The Former Prime Meridian which passed through Paris before it was redefined to pass through Greenwich ). The message beneath the obelisk simply contains a reference to a passage in the Book Of Job (38:11a, KJV) which reads "Hitherto shalt thou go and no further". When Silas reads this, he realizes he has been duped.
- The keystone is actually a Cryptex , a cylindrical device supposedly invented by Leonardo Da Vinci for transporting secure messages. In order to open it, the combination of rotating components must be arranged in the correct order. If forced open, an enclosed vial of vinegar will rupture and dissolve the message, which was written on Papyrus . The Rosewood box containing the cryptex contains clues to the combination of the cryptex, written in backwards script in the same manner as Leonardo's journals. While fleeing to England aboard Teabing's plane, Langdon solves the riddle and finds the combination to be "S-O-F-I-A", the ancient (and modern) Greek form of Sophie's name, also meaning wisdom.
- The keystone cryptex actually contains a second smaller cryptex with a second riddle that reveals its combination. The riddle, which says to seek the orb that should be on the tomb of "a knight a pope interred", refers not to a medieval knight, but rather to the tomb of Sir Isaac Newton , who was buried in Westminster Abbey , and was Eulogized by Alexander Pope (A. Pope). The orb refers to the apple of knowledge which marks the downfall of the sacred feminine and thus, the combination to the second cryptex is "A-P-P-L-E".
- The Teacher is Sir Leigh Teabing. He learns of the identities of the leaders of the Priory Of Sion and bugs their offices. Rémy is his collaborator. It is Teabing who contacted Bishop Aringarosa, using a phony French accent to hide his identity, and duped him into financing the plan to find the Grail. He never intended to hand the Grail over to Aringarosa but is taking advantage of Opus Dei's resolve to find it. Teabing believes that the Priory of Sion has broken its vow to reveal the secret of the Grail to the world at the appointed time; thus, he plans to steal the Grail documents and reveal them to the world himself. It was he who informed Silas that Langdon and Sophie Neveu were at his chateau. He did not seize the keystone from them himself because he did not want to reveal his identity. He summoned Silas to seize the keystone in his house, but himself thwarted Silas, in order to gain Langdon and Sophie's further help with decoding the cryptex. Subsequently, the police raided the house, having followed the GPS device in the truck Langdon had stolen. Teabing led Neveu and Langdon to the Temple Church in London, knowing full well that it was a dead end, in order to stage the hostage scene with Rémy and thereby obtain the keystone without revealing his real plot to Langdon and Neveu. The call Silas received while riding in the limousine with Rémy is in fact Teabing, surreptitiously calling from the back of the limousine.
- In order to erase all knowledge of his work, Teabing kills Rémy by giving him Cognac laced with Peanut powder, knowing Rémy has a deadly allergy to peanuts. Thus, Rémy dies of an Anaphylactic Shock . Teabing also anonymously tells the police that Silas is hiding in the London headquarters of Opus Dei.
- In a showdown with Teabing in Westminster Abbey , Langdon secretly opens the second cryptex and removes its contents before destroying it in front of Teabing. Teabing is arrested and led away while fruitlessly begging Langdon to tell him the contents of the second cryptex and the secret location of the Grail.
- Bishop Aringarosa and Silas believe they are saving the Church , not destroying it.
- Bezu Fache figures out that Neveu and Langdon are innocent after discovering the bugging equipment in Teabing's barn.
- Silas accidentally shoots Aringarosa outside the London headquarters of Opus Dei while fleeing from the police. Realizing his terrible error and that he has been duped, Aringarosa tells Bezu Fache to give the Bearer Bond s in his briefcase to the families of the murdered leaders of the Priory of Sion. Silas dies of fatal wounds.
- The final message inside the second keystone actually does not refer to Rosslyn Chapel , although the Grail was indeed once buried there, below the Star Of David on the floor (the two interlocking triangles are the "blade" and "chalice", i.e., male and female symbols).
- The docent in Rosslyn Chapel is Sophie's long-lost brother.
- The guardian of Rosslyn Chapel, Marie Chauvel, is Sophie's long-lost grandmother, and the wife of Jacques Saunière. She is the woman who participated in the sex ritual with Jacques Saunière.
- Even though all four of the leaders of the Priory Of Sion are killed, the secret is not lost, since there is still a contingency plan (never revealed) which will keep the organization and its secret alive.
- The real meaning of the last message is that the Grail is buried beneath the small Pyramid (i.e., the "blade", a male symbol) directly below the ''inverted'' glass pyramid of the Louvre (i.e., the "chalice", a female symbol, which Langdon and Sophie ironically almost crashed into while making their original escape from Bezu Fache). It also lies beneath the "Rose Line," which is similar to "Rosslyn." Langdon figures out this final piece to the puzzle in the last pages of the book, but he does not appear inclined to tell anyone about this. See La Pyramide Inversée for further discussion.
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