The Dan Brown Enigma

by Graham A Thomas

  Carlo’s motivation for carrying out his evil deeds stem from when the Pope sent him to CERN to investigate Vetra’s claims that he’d made a discovery of deep religious significance. Ethically disturbed by the discovery Carlo reported his findings to the Pope, who saw it as positive. Shocked by this response Carlo thinks he receives a message from God telling him to kill the Pope, which he does.

  As Janus, Carlo hires the Hassassin to kill the four Cardinals and steal the antimatter. He dies after he is exposed as Janus and learns the Pope was his father. He is overcome with guilt and burns himself alive on the balcony of St Peter’s Basilica.

  Cardinal Saverio Mortati: The most senior cardinal in the conclave, and the current Dean of the College of Cardinals. He was the Devil’s Advocate for the late pope.

  Commander Olivetti: The commander of the Swiss Guard in Vatican City, he is responsible for protecting the Cardinals during the papal conclave and he discovers that a security camera has gone missing, but when Langdon and Vittoria arrive explaining the real danger, he refuses to believe it. Four cardinals are also missing and the commander is searching for them. Even when The Hassassin contacts them Olivetti has a difficult time trusting Langdon, but he eventually does.

  He is killed by the Hassassin helping Langdon find the third cardinal. However, in the film, Olivetti is much more sympathetic to Langdon and Vittoria and believes them straight away. He fights The Hassassin at the scene of the third cardinal’s death and has his throat cut.

  Captain Rocher: The second in command of the Vatican Swiss Guard after Commander Olivetti, in charge of the search for the antimatter canister. Brown describes him as being barrel-chested with ‘putty-like features’ and a little flamboyant due to the red beret he wears with his uniform. Rocher only searches the public access areas because he firmly believes that the Swiss Guard are incorruptible.

  When the Swiss Guard break into the Camerlengo’s office after hearing him scream they discover the Camerlengo has been branded with the Illuminati logo. He accuses Rocher of being ‘Illuminatus’ and Lieutenant Chartrand shoots Rocher; in the film, Rocher has been changed to Father Simeon, who is shot after the Camerlengo calls him ‘Illuminatus’ along with Commander Richter.

  Hassassin: A killer of Middle-Eastern origin hired by ‘Janus’ to carry out his plans against the Vatican. Throughout the novel the killer has a sadistic lust for women. He kills Leonardo Vetra to steal the antimatter canister in the underground vault of Vetra’s lab. He cuts out Vetra’s left eye, brands his body with the Illuminati symbol and uses the eye to get past the retina scanners and steal the canister.

  The Hassassin contacts Langdon, Vittoria and the Camerlengo in Vatican City, telling them that a cardinal will be killed every four hours and they will be branded Earth, Air, Fire and Water in four churches across Rome. He tells the BBC crew this as well.

  After killing the fourth cardinal the Hassassin heads back to his hideout and fights Langdon and Vittoria who together push the Hassassin over the balcony where he falls to his death.

  In the film he dies when the getaway car that has been set up for him by Janus explodes when he starts the car.

  Maximilian Kohler: The director of CERN, he is paralysed from a childhood illness and gets around in a high-tech wheelchair containing a computer, telephone, pager, video camera, and a gun. Kohler blames religion for his paralysis because his religious parents denied him treatment when he was a child, believing his illness was a sign from God but he survived when he was treated by a doctor without his parents’ knowledge, accounting for his hatred of religion and love of science. In the film his character becomes Commander Maximilian Richter and shares many of Kohler’s characteristics.

  Gunther Glick and Chinita Macri: Respectively a reporter and camerawoman who work for the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC). They are in the Vatican to cover the papal election that forms the backdrop of the novel. Glick is slim with a thin face and Brown describes him as looking odd while he describes Macri as being of African/American descent, a little overweight, but of a very sunny disposition. Of the two, Macri is the conscience while Glick is more of a sensationalist and conspiracy theorist. For most of the novel they hinder the protagonists and are only useful at the end.

  The Hassassin contacts Glick to give him a scoop on the murders of the four cardinals as well as telling them about an impending bombing of the Vatican. These two provide live updates on the action to the rest of the world through the BBC, capturing the final actions at the end of the novel and finish by announcing the new pope, Cardinal Saverio Mortati.

  Lieutenant Chartrand: A young Swiss Guard. He, together with Commander Olivetti and Captain Rocher, search desperately for the antimatter hidden somewhere in the Vatican. He shoots and kills Captain Rocher after he is mistaken as an ‘Illuminatus’. Near the end of the novel, he is sent by the new pope to give the Illuminati Diamond as an indefinite loan to Langdon.

  Cardinal Ebner: One of the four cardinals who dies in the book. He is originally from Frankfurt, Germany. The Hassassin asphyxiates him by putting dirt and soil in his mouth. The killer brands him ‘Earth’.

  Cardinal Lamassé: Another of the four cardinals killed in the book. He is from Paris and is killed when the Hassassin punctures his lungs which fill with blood. He is branded ‘Air’ by the Hassassin.

  Cardinal Guidera: The third of the cardinals to die and he is from Barcelona in Spain. The Hassassin burns him alive. He is branded ‘Fire’ and his death is the most horrific of them all.

  Cardinal Baggia: From Milan, Italy, he is the fourth cardinal to be killed in the book, though he is nearly saved by Langdon. His chest has been branded with the ‘Water’ sign by the killer and he is drowned by the Hassassin. He is the favourite to be elected as the new Pope.

  DECEPTION POINT

  Rachel Sexton: She is one of the main protagonists in the novel and is very similar to Susan Fletcher. She is highly intelligent, lithe, dark-haired and slender. She works for the National Reconnaissance Office (NRO) in Washington and is the chief Intelligence Analyst to the White House. She is also Senator Sexton’s estranged daughter. She blames him for her mother’s death, which she still feels very deeply.

  Michael Tolland: He is the second protagonist and becomes Rachel’s love interest as the novel progresses. He is a famous television celebrity-scientist and an oceanographer and has his own research vessel, the Goya. He is deeply affected by the loss of his wife.

  President Zachary Herney: The embattled President of the United States, currently involved in a bitter re-election campaign which is going very badly as the book opens. He supports NASA despite their many setbacks, and hopes the find in the Arctic will vindicate his campaign.

  Senator Sedgewick Sexton: He is one of the antagonists and Rachel’s estranged father. A deeply selfish man he treated his ex-wife, Rachel’s mother, very badly and Rachel blames her death on him. The Senator is running an anti-NASA campaign which is doing very well, his main platform being the privatization of the space agency. Everything he does is for political gain.

  Corky Marlinson: Brown has this character as a world-renowned astrophysicist called in by the President to authenticate the NASA find in the Arctic. He has no social skills and does not know how to engage with people.

  William Pickering: Director of the NRO, Pickering is the main antagonist and has hired Delta Force to monitor the find and kill anyone who tries to expose the hoax. His motivation is complex. Rachel sees him as a father figure and is shocked when he turns out to be her enemy.

  Gabrielle Ashe: Senator Sexton’s beautiful aide, who had a sexual liaison with him but as the story unfolds she begins to see the Senator for what he is and also decides that she must do the right thing.

  Norah Mangor: She is a glaciologist and one of four scientists called in to authenticate the Arctic find by NASA. She is killed by Delta Force.

  Dr Wailee Ming: A paleontologist, he is one of the four scientists the President brings in to authenticate NASA’s d
iscovery along with Tolland, Marlinson and Mangor. He is one of the first to realize something is wrong, and dies as a result.

  Charles Brophy: Brophy is in the opening of the book and is forced by Delta Force agents to send a bogus message. He is a Canadian geologist and is pushed out of an aircraft to his death after he sends the message.

  Chris Harper: He is the mission director of the Polar Orbiting Density Scanner (POLADS) that, it transpires, does not work.

  Yolanda Cole: Gabrielle Ashe’s friend and employee at the Washington news branch of ABC TV, covering the election campaign. She encourages Gabrielle to expose Senator Sexton for what he is.

  Katherine Wentworth Sexton: Rachel Sexton’s deceased mother and Senator Sexton’s wife.

  Celia Birch: Michael Tolland’s deceased first wife.

  Marjorie Tench: Senior Advisor to the President she appears to be an antagonist suspicious of Rachel. She is described as being an ugly woman, a chain smoker but extremely intelligent and perceptive.

  Lawrence Ekstrom: He is the embattled NASA Administrator.

  Diana Pickering: William Pickering’s deceased daughter.

  Xavia: She is a marine geologist and a colleague of Tolland, working on his research ship the Goya. She helps Tolland and Rachel when they land on the ship.

  The Controller: he is the head of the Delta Force team but turns out to be William Pickering in disguise.

  THE DA VINCI CODE

  Bishop Aringarosa: Head of Opus Dei he is the patron of the albino monk Silas. Before the story begins he learns that the Pope will be withdrawing his support for Opus Dei, which he believes is keeping the Catholic Church from being corrupted by the modern era. He is contacted by ‘The Teacher’ who tells him he can help ensure Opus Dei retains the Vatican’s support by providing him with clues leading to the Holy Grail. The Bishop accepts readily. The Teacher tells the Bishop he can’t communicate with Silas. The Bishop later learns from police captain, Bezu Fache, that the albino monk has killed Sister Sandrine Bieil. He tells Fache what has gone on and heads to London to track down Silas. At the London Opus Dei Centre, Silas accidentally shoots the Bishop, who recovers in hospital.

  Sister Sandrine Bieil: The Sister works and lives at Saint Sulpice and is a member of the Priory of Sion, there to warn the members of the Priory if the false keystone is ever found beneath the Roseline. When Silas comes to the church in search of the keystone she tries to warn the four guardians but, unable to reach any of them and before she can raise the alarm, Silas kills her.

  Jérôme Collet: A lieutenant in France’s Direction Central Police Judiciaire (DCPJ) he is Captain Bezu Fache’s second-in-command. He brings Langdon to the Louvre where Jacques Saunière has been murdered and manages to slip a tracking device into Langdon’s pocket. Collet manages to track down Langdon and Sophie to Leigh Teabing’s villa and after hesitating to wait for Fache he finds that everyone has fled. At the end Collet credits Fache on TV for the arrest of Teabing, while also stating that the pursuit of Langdon and Sophie was a ruse to bring out the real killer.

  Bezu Fache: Captain in the DCPJ, he is shrewd, tough and persistent as he investigates the murder of Jacques Saunière. Convinced that Langdon is the killer by the clues left by the dead man, he relentlessly goes after Langdon and Sophie. But after he is contacted by Bishop Aringarosa about the murder of Sister Sandrine Bieil, he realizes Langdon is not the killer but Silas is. Fache follows Sophie and Langdon to London, where Teabing is arrested.

  Robert Langdon: He is the main protagonist and a highly respected and intelligent professor at Harvard University. Together with Sophie, he unravels the mysteries of the Jesus bloodline.

  Rémy Legaludec: He is Teabing’s butler and has a shady past. He is the only one who knows Teabing’s secret identity as The Teacher. He flees along with Langdon, Sophie and Teabing to London in Teabing’s private jet with Silas, who they captured at Teabing’s house and tied him up.

  Jacques Saunière Saint-Claire: Curator of the Louvre, he is also Head of Priory of Sion and Sophie’s grandfather. Before Silas murders him in the museum he gives the monk false information about the keystone. Saunière uses the last minutes of his life to leave clues for Sophie to de-code. The woman and her grandfather are estranged because when she was young she witnessed Saunière perform a sex ritual named Hieros Gamos, which she misunderstood. His character, while small, sets the whole story in motion.

  Sophie Neveu Saint-Claire: A French National police cryptographer she is also Saunière’s granddaughter, as stated above. When she was young her parents were killed in a car crash and she was raised by her grandfather but, as explained above, became estranged from him when seeing him perform a ritual sexual act with his own wife whom she believed to be dead. She misunderstood the meaning of this ritual, and as a result became estranged from him, then later saw the truth. He trained her to solve complex puzzles which help her in decoding her grandfather’s clues. At the end of the book she discovers that she is a descendant of the Merovingians and subsequently of Jesus. She agrees to spend a week in Florence with Langdon.

  Silas: An albino monk who practices severe corporal mortification. When he was seven his father killed his mother, so Silas killed his father. He ended up living on the streets in Marseille and in Toulon where he killed a sailor and was sent to prison. He was befriended by the Spanish priest named Manuel Aringarosa who later becomes Bishop and head of Opus Dei. It was Aringarosa who named him Silas.

  Believing that he is saving the Catholic Church Silas kills Jacques Saunière and the other heads of the Priory of Sion under orders from The Teacher, (Leigh Teabing) who later tells him to go to the London Opus Dei Centre, where he ends up getting shot by policemen and accidentally shooting Aringarosa. He dies in Kensington Gardens.

  Sir Leigh Teabing KBE: The main antagonist, Teabing is also The Teacher. He is a Royal Historian, a Knight of the Realm and Grail scholar as well as Langdon’s friend. Teabing’s wealth comes from the fact that he is a descendent of the Duke of Lancaster and he lives at Château Villette with his butler Rémy Legaludec. He is crippled from polio and uses crutches. Fanatical about the Holy Grail he blames the Catholic Church for not revealing the truth so he schemes to find the documents that show Jesus and Mary were married and had a child whose descendents are still alive. As The Teacher he instructs Silas to carry out the killings.

  Teabing pretends to help Sophie and Langdon when he realises he needs them both to unlock the keystone. But after they arrive in London he confronts them at Westminster Abbey threatening to kill them if they don’t join him. He is arrested and taken away without ever knowing what was in the keystone.

  André Vernet: President of the Paris branch of the Depository Bank of Zurich he is told that Langdon and Sophie are wanted by the police so when they arrive at the bank he wants no adverse publicity and wants them gone as quickly as possible. He helps them escape in one of the bank’s trucks but turns against them. Langdon and Sophie steal the truck and head for Teabing’s place.

  THE LOST SYMBOL

  Robert Langdon: A professor of symbology at Harvard University and the main protagonist of the novel.

  Mal’akh (also known as Dr. Christopher Abaddon/Andros Dareios): The antagonist, he is a Mason and his body is covered in tattoos. He is revealed by the end of the story to be Zachary Solomon, the estranged son of Peter Solomon, long believed to be dead, whose appearance was made unrecognizable to his family, in part due to the use of steroids. He is quite insane, believing that the Masons hold the key to him becoming a demon, to rule the world.

  Peter Solomon: He is Langdon’s closest friend and mentor. Also he is a billionaire philanthropist, Smithsonian secretary, Freemason and father of Zachary Solomon.

  Katherine Solomon: A noetic scientist she is Solomon’s younger sister, being in her forties and becomes the love interest for Langdon. Beautiful and intelligent, her lab is in Pod Five of the Smithsonian spill-over complex.

  Isabel Solomon: She is the mother of Peter and Kather
ine Solomon, and grandmother of Zachary Solomon.

  Trish Dunne: Peter and Katherine Solomon’s lab assistant, she is killed by Mal’akh who dumps her in a vat with a giant squid, where she drowns.

  Mark Zoubianis: A computer hacker, he is a friend of Trish.

  Warren Bellamy: A fellow Freemason, like Peter Solomon, he is also the Architect of the Capitol.

  Inoue Sato: Director of CIA’s Office of Security, she is a tiny, dangerous, withered Japanese lady with no sense of humour, but is highly intelligent and very suspicious.

  Nola Kaye: CIA analyst.

  Rick Parrish: CIA security specialist.

  Turner Simkins: CIA field operations leader.

  Reverend Colin Galloway: A Freemason like Peter Solomon and Warren Bellamy, he is also the Dean of Washington National Cathedral.