Professor 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).^[1] He is a Harvard University professor of history of art and 'symbology' (a fictional field related to the study of historic symbols, which is not methodologically connected to the actual discipline of semiotics).

Apr 16, 2018 - While in Paris on business, Harvard symbologist Robert Langdon receives an urgent late-night phone call: the elderly curator of the.

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.^[2]

• 2Storyline

Character development[edit]

Dan Brown created the character as a fictional alter ego of himself 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,^[3] 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[edit]

Robert Langdon, born in Exeter, New Hampshire, United States, is described as looking like 'Harrison Ford in Harris tweed',^[5] with his standard attire being a turtleneck, Harris Tweed jacket, khakis, and collegiate cordovan loafers, which he wears in all instances, from lectures to social events.^[6] A frequently referred to accessory is his Mickey Mouse watch, a gift from his parents on his ninth birthday.^[7] He drives an automatic Saab 900S.^[8][9]

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,^[10] Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution.^[11]

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 A&D, he mentions to the Camerlengo that faith is a gift he has yet to receive.

In the movies, the events of The Da Vinci Code follow those of Angels & Demons; this was reversed in the books, where the latter's adaptation is written to be the sequel to the former.^[12]

Angels & Demons[edit]

In Angels & Demons, Robert Langdon is called to CERN headquarters in Switzerland to find about the religious symbological 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 for the subject 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 to unlock the mystery behind the Illuminati, an anti-Catholic 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^[13] 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[edit]

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.

He 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). He also seems to fall in love with Sophie Neveu and marry her, at the end of the book, his 'love of bachelorhood (having been) severely shook up'.

The Lost Symbol[edit]

In The Lost Symbol, Robert Langdon has an adventure with the concepts of Freemasonry in Washington D.C. Tricked into visiting the nation's Capitol, 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 younger sister), Warren Bellamy (the Architect of the Capitol) and Inoue Sato (the director of the Office of Security).

Inferno[edit]

In Inferno, Langdon wakes up in an Italian hospital with no memory 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 group 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 The Divine Comedy, around which much of the plot revolves.

Origin[edit]

The fifth book in the series, Origin was released on October 3, 2017.^[14] Robert 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.^[14]

Bibliography[edit]

Between The Da Vinci Code, The Lost Symbol, and Inferno, Langdon is said to have written six books:

• The Symbology of Secret Sects
• The Art of the Illuminati: Part 1
• The Lost Language of Ideograms
• 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 reportedly been denounced by the Vatican, 'which, in the aftermath, promptly became a bestseller,' as quoted by the AI assistant Winston.

References[edit]

1. ^Associated Press (January 15, 2013). 'New Dan Brown novel 'Inferno' coming in May'. Yahoo!. Retrieved 2013-01-15.
2. ^Gregg Kilday. 'Tom Hanks' 'Inferno' Shifts Opening to 2016'. The Hollywood Reporter.
3. ^Naughton, Philippe (March 13, 2006). 'Dan Brown sprinkles statement with clues about next book'. The Sunday Times. Retrieved March 1, 2008.
4. ^'Dan Brown: By the Book'. The New York Times. June 20, 2013. Retrieved June 23, 2013.
5. ^'Robert Langdon Biography (Fictional Adventurer) —'. Infoplease.com. Retrieved 2013-01-10.
6. ^TLS, p. 8
7. ^TLS, p. 25
8. ^A&D, p. 26
9. ^DVC, p. 227
10. ^TLS, p. 7
11. ^TLS, p. 15
12. ^Ian Freer (May 2009). 'Critical Mass'. Empire. pp. 69–73.
13. ^Brown, Dan (2000). Angels & Demons. New York: Simon and Schuster. p. 5. ISBN978-0-7434-1239-1.
14. ^ ^ab'Origin'. Danbrown.com.

External links[edit]

• Bos, Carole (May 1, 2009). 'Angels & Demons - ROBERT LANGDON and HIS AMBIGRAMS'. AwesomeStories.com. Page 2 of 8.

Publication Order of Robert Langdon Books

Publication Order of Standalone Novels

Publication Order of Non-Fiction Books

About Dan Brown:

Dan Brown, the Author of the Fastest Selling Adult Novel in History.

Presenting the audio song of 'HUMSAFAR' from new hindi movie 'Badrinath Ki Dulhania' starring Varun Dhawan, Alia Bhatt. Humsafar song download mp3.

Early life

The author of the best-seller “ The Da Vinci Code ” was born on June 22, 1964 in Exeter, New Hampshire.

His father being a mathematics teacher at the Phillips Exeter Accademy, the young Dan Brown grew up in the Campus with his two younger siblings and his mother, a singer and musician.

In the year 1986 he graduated in English and Spanish at the Amherst College. The will to establish himself as a singer and songwriter brought him to move to Los Angeles, where he worked as a Spanish teacher at Beverly Hills Preparatory school and where he met his wife to be: Blythe Newlon.

Despite Dan Brown’s talent as a songwriter he never seemed able to gain sufficient appreciation as a performer, so in 1993 he decided to go back to New Hampshire to work as an English teacher at the Phillips Exeter Academy.

Writing career

About the start of his writing career, Brown himself tells that after finishing “ The Doomsday Conspiracy ” by Sidney Sheldon during an holiday in Tahiti he just thought “ I can do that ”. It was 1994; four years later, in 1998 Dan Brown was already a full time writer and had his first thriller published with the title “ Digital Fortress ”. Blythe, who had become his wife in the year 1997 was an enthusiastic promoter of Brown’s work, she organized interviews, wrote press releases and booked talk shows.

In 2000 and 2001 “ Angels and Demons ” and “ Deception Point ” were published and Brown’s best known character, the symbology expert from Harvard David Langdon, had already done his first appearance.

However, Dan Brown hasn’t reached great success till the publishing of his fourth novel, the second featuring Robert Langdon as main character: “ The Da Vinci Code ”, published in 2003 to become one of the best sellers in history. About 40 million copies were sold by the year 2006, also pushing the selling of Brown’s earliest novels which all entered The New York Times list in the same week in the year 2004. The success of the book was followed by the success of the movie inspired by The Da Vinci code, released in 2006, directed by Ron Haward and featuring Tom Hanks in the role of Robert Langdon.

In the year 2009 “The Lost Symbol” sold over a million copies on its first day, in the same year the movie “ Angels and Demons ” was released reaffirming the revaluation of Brown’s earlier works and his role as one of the best thriller writers of our times.

His last novel “Inferno” , a mystery thriller on Dante’s Divine Comedy, was published on May 14, 2013 and was predictably a best seller from its first week.

Although his novels have already been translated in 52 languages and sold a total of 200 million copy as for 2012, Brown doesn’t look willing to stop writing, during an interview in the year 2006 he affirmed that he has ideas to have Robert Langdon as main character of more 12 novels.

The Da Vinci Code

In Dan Brown’s novels recurrent themes such as cryptography, symbology, codes and conspiracy often find links to historical and religious themes.

The Da Vinci Code, published in 2003 starts with a man, the curator of the Louvre, found dead in the museum with strange symbols written all over his body. The Harvard symbology expert Robert Langdon is called to investigate on the murder and to guide the reader through a perilous journey across symbols, puzzles, codes and a battle between the Opus Dei and The Priority of Sion at the end of which there is an explosive and hidden truth which could waver the solid tenets of Christianity.

Da Vinci, who gives the novel its title is believed to be part of the conspiracy guarding the secrets about Jesus Christ’s possible progeny. Robert Langdon and the cryptologist Sophie Neveu embark in the difficult task of decoding the puzzles and secret symbols that could be hidden in Leonardo’s pieces. The central point of the alternative religious history would see the Merovingian kings of France as descendants of Jesus Christ and Mary Magdalene.

For its controversial content the book has been denounced to be anti-Christian and to represent an attack to the Catholic Church and Dan Brown was accused of having been inaccurate as far as history and science are concerned. Nonetheless the novel also encouraged popular interest in the Holy Grail legend and Mary Magdalene role in Christianity.

As of 2013 “ The Da Vinci Code ” sold 81 million copies and has been translated in 44 different languages.

Inferno

The fourth book of the Robert Langdon series was released in 2013 to be an immediate best seller, when he was asked to comment it he said: ” With this new novel, I am excited to take readers on a journey deep into this mysterious realm … a landscape of codes, symbols, and more than a few secret passageways.”

From Dan Brown’s words the most affectionate fans can already understand that the recurrent elements are there and they probably will not be disappointed: Professor Robert Langdon travelling the world to untangle world historical mysteries is a must in Dan Brown thrillers.
This time the set is Florence and the code to decipher is in Dante’s Divine Comedy Inferno.

The novel opens with Robert Langdon waking up in a hospital in Florence and trying to remember what happened to him during the previous few days. The main character is followed by a mad-scientist villain who also is a fanatical of Dante’s Inferno. The two establish some kind of communication based on the interpretation of Dante’s text that lead to a fast paced chase full of accidents and exotic locations which really grab the reader from the cover to the end.

Inferno is rich in historical and cultural references, from Florence architecture, to classical art, to the allegories of Dante’s masterpiece, elements that show a great work of research from the author. The great ability of Dan Brown is to always keeping the story in the first place, never making it stop completely to give space to long explanations or dissertations. The result is a novel easier to read, entertaining but with a lot of cultural and historical information and sparks for further research on the reader’s part.