Robert Langdon is a fictional character created by author Dan Brown for his Robert Langdon book series: Angels & Demons (2000), The Da Vinci Code (2003), The Lost Symbol (2009), Inferno (2013) and Origin (2017).
Tom Hanks portrays Langdon in the Robert Langdon film series, starting with the 2006 film adaptation of The Da Vinci Code, reprising the role in the 2009 film adaptation of Angels & Demons, and again in the 2016 film adaptation of Inferno,
Character development
Dan Brown created the character as a
author surrogate or "the man he wishes he could be". Brown himself was born June 22, 1964, in Exeter,
New Hampshire, and the fictional Langdon is described as having been born on June 22, also in Exeter, and attending the same school as Brown did, Phillips Exeter Academy. Initially it is established that Langdon is a successful scholar who Brown named after John Langdon,
a professor of typography at Drexel University who is known for his creation of
ambigrams. An example of Langdon's ambigrams appeared on the cover of the first edition of Brown's novel
Angels & Demons, and other ambigrams featured throughout that novel were also designed by Langdon. On the acknowledgments page, Brown calls Langdon "one of the most ingenious and gifted artists alive … who rose brilliantly to my impossible challenge and created the ambigrams for this novel". John Langdon also created the logo for the fictitious Depository Bank of Zurich, which appears in
The Da Vinci Code film. In an interview, Brown said that
Joseph Campbell was an inspiration for the character of Langdon:
Storyline
Robert Langdon, born in Exeter, New Hampshire, United States, is described as looking like "
Harrison Ford in
Harris tweed",
with his standard attire being a
turtleneck, Harris Tweed jacket,
khakis, and collegiate
loafers, which he wears in all instances, from
lectures to social events.
[TLS, p. 8] A frequently referred to accessory is his
Mickey Mouse watch, a gift from his parents on his tenth birthday.
[TLS, p. 25] He drives an automatic Saab 900S.
[A&D, p. 26][DVC, p. 227] Langdon was a diver at Phillips Exeter Academy in prep school and played
water polo at Princeton University where he went for college. He suffers from
claustrophobia, as he fell into a
well when he was 7 years old. His father died when he was 12, and his new mentor father-figure became Peter Solomon,
[TLS, p. 7] Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution.
[TLS, p. 15]
Known for a brilliant problem-solving mind and his genius, Langdon has an eidetic memory. As professor at Harvard University, he teaches religious iconology and the fictional field of symbology. As a hobby, it is specifically mentioned that Langdon is a great swimmer and swam laps (50) daily, a "morning ritual", at Harvard's athletic facilities (hence the lap swimming scene in Angels & Demons). Langdon also mentions he was raised a Catholic, but that he will never understand God; in Angels & Demons, he mentions to the Camerlengo that faith is a gift he has yet to receive. In the books, the events of The Da Vinci Code follow those of Angels & Demons; this was reversed in the movies, where the latter's adaptation is written to be the sequel to the former.
Angels & Demons
In
Angels & Demons, Robert Langdon is called to
CERN headquarters in Switzerland to find about the religious
implications of the death of CERN's finest and best-known
physicist, Leonardo Vetra, a Catholic priest who has been branded with the
Illuminati symbol. When he starts to investigate the murder, his obsession with history comes into play. Langdon is later joined in the investigation by Vittoria Vetra (Leonardo's adopted daughter) and they start their journey to the
Vatican City to unlock the mystery behind the Illuminati, an
Anti-Catholicism secret society which, according to the plot, has deeply infiltrated many global institutions, political, economical and religious. Langdon and Vetra solve the mystery of the Illuminati by following the
Path of Illumination,
and in so doing explain the disappearances of four Cardinals during a
papal conclave, the murder of Leonardo Vetra, and the theft of
antimatter (a substance that can be used for mass destruction). At the end of the novel, Langdon ends up having a relationship with Vittoria Vetra. In the last few sentences of
Angels & Demons, Vittoria Vetra asks him if he has ever had a divine experience. When he replies in the negative, Vittoria slips off her
terrycloth robe, saying, "You've never been to bed with a yoga master, have you?" Their relationship, however, is only referred to in
The Da Vinci Code, mentioning the fact that Langdon had last seen Vittoria a year previously.
The Da Vinci Code
In the beginning of 2003's
The Da Vinci Code, Robert Langdon is in Paris to give a lecture on his work. Having made an appointment to meet with Jacques Saunière, the
curator of the
Louvre, he is startled to find the
French police at his hotel room door. They inform him that Saunière has been murdered and they would like his immediate assistance at the Louvre to help them solve the crime. Unknown to Langdon, he is in fact the
prime suspect in the murder and has been summoned to the scene of the crime so that the police may extract a
confession from him. While he is in the Louvre, he meets Sophie Neveu, a young
cryptologist from the
DCPJ. When Langdon and Sophie get the chance to talk in private, he finds out that Jacques Saunière is her grandfather. Saunière instructs Sophie to 'find Robert Langdon', according to the message he left for her in the floor. Hence, Sophie believes he is innocent of her grandfather's murder.
Langdon spends the rest of the novel dodging the police and trying to solve the mystery of an ancient secret society, the Priory of Sion, which was once headed by Leonardo da Vinci. At the end of the novel, Langdon uncovers the mystery behind Mary Magdalene and the Holy Grail also called Sangreal, derived from either the Spanish "San Greal" (the Holy Grail), or the French "Sang real" (royal blood). Slightly before the moment he discovers the final resting place of the Holy Grail, he is seen in a romantic light by Sophie Neveu, and two agree to meet again in Florence, where Langdon will be for a lecture. The two share a kiss after which, in the epilogue, Langdon unearths the mystery of the Sangreal.
The Lost Symbol
In
The Lost Symbol, Langdon has an adventure with the concepts of
Freemasonry in Washington, D.C. Tricked into visiting the nation's
Capitol Hill, Robert Langdon spends twelve hours racing through the monuments and buildings of the USA's forefathers, searching for the truth about the secret society of the Masons. Behind new doors lie secrets that promise to change the way people view science and politics, now threatened by Zachary Solomon, the renegade, estranged son of Robert Langdon's friend, Peter Solomon, who has himself been kidnapped by Zachary, now going by the name "Mal'akh". Robert Langdon is the last line of defense. With help from Katherine Solomon (Peter's sister), Warren Bellamy (the Architect of the Capitol) and Inoue Sato (the director of the Office of Security).
Inferno
In
Inferno, Langdon wakes up in an Italian hospital with
Amnesia of the events that led him to be in
Italy. Soon he realizes that someone is trying to kill him. Langdon travels from
Florence to
Venice, and
Istanbul with Doctor Sienna Brooks to prevent a biological attack by looking for a deadly
virus that was planted by a client of a shadowy
Consulting firm called The Consortium. In the course of this, Langdon must decipher clues employing allusions to the works of Sandro Botticelli,
Giorgio Vasari and
Dante Alighieri, the writer of
Inferno, the first chapter of the epic poem
Divine Comedy, around which much of the plot revolves.
Origin
The fifth book in the series,
Origin was released on October 3, 2017.
Langdon arrives at the ultramodern Guggenheim Museum Bilbao to attend a major announcement—the unveiling of a discovery that "will change the face of science forever." The evening's host is Edmond Kirsch, a forty-year-old billionaire and
futurist whose dazzling high-tech inventions and audacious predictions have made him a renowned global figure. Kirsch, who was one of Langdon's first students at Harvard two decades earlier, is about to reveal an astonishing breakthrough, one that will answer two of the fundamental questions of human existence. As the event begins, Langdon and several hundred guests find themselves captivated by an utterly original presentation, which Langdon realizes will be far more controversial than he ever imagined. But the meticulously orchestrated evening suddenly erupts into chaos, and Kirsch's precious discovery teeters on the brink of being lost forever. Reeling and facing an imminent threat, Langdon is forced into a desperate bid to escape
Bilbao. With him is Ambra Vidal, the elegant
museum director who worked with Kirsch to stage the provocative event. Together they flee to
Barcelona on a perilous quest to locate a cryptic
password that will unlock Kirsch's secret. Navigating the corridors of hidden history and extreme religion, Langdon and Vidal must evade an enemy whose power seems to emanate from Spain's Royal Palace itself, and who will stop at nothing to silence Edmond Kirsch. On a trail marked by
modern art and enigmatic symbols, Langdon and Vidal uncover clues that ultimately bring them face-to-face with Kirsch's shocking discovery.
Bibliography
Between
The Da Vinci Code,
The Lost Symbol, and
Inferno, Langdon is said to have written seven books:
-
The Symbology of Secret Sects
-
The Art of the Illuminati: Part 1
-
The Lost Language of
-
Religious Iconology
-
Symbols of the Lost Sacred feminine
-
Christian Symbols in the Muslim World
-
Christianity and the Sacred Feminine
At that same point in the trilogy, Langdon is preparing the manuscript for his fifth book, to be titled Symbols of the Lost Sacred Feminine. It is later revealed in The Lost Symbol that Symbols of the Lost Sacred Feminine was published and created "quite a scandal". The book Christianity and the Sacred Feminine, mentioned in Origin had been denounced by the Vatican .
External links
