Angels & Demons

This article is about the novel Angels & Demons. For the film, see Angels & Demons (film). For other uses, see Angels & Demons (disambiguation).
Angels & Demons

First edition cover
Author Dan Brown
Country United States
United Kingdom
Language English
Series Robert Langdon #1
Genre thriller novel[*], science fiction novel[*], horror novel[*], crime novel[*]
Publication date
 May 2000
Media type Print (hardback & paperback)
Pages 616
ISBN 0-671-02735-2 (US) / 9780552160896 (UK)
OCLC 52990309
813/.54 21
LC Class PS3552.R685434 A82 2000
Followed by The Da Vinci Code

Angels & Demons is a 2000 bestselling mystery-thriller novel written by American author Dan Brown and published by Pocket Books and then by Corgi Books. The novel introduces the character Robert Langdon, who is also the protagonist of Brown's subsequent 2003 novel, The Da Vinci Code; his 2009 novel, The Lost Symbol; and the 2013 novel Inferno. Angels & Demons shares many stylistic literary elements with its sequel, such as conspiracies of secret societies, a single-day time frame, and the Catholic Church. Ancient history, architecture, and symbolism are also heavily referenced throughout the book. A film adaptation was released on May 15, 2009. The Da Vinci Code film had been released in 2006.

Background

The book contains several ambigrams created by real-life typographer John Langdon.[1] Besides the "Angels & Demons" and "Illuminati" designs, the title of the book is also presented as an ambigram on the hardcover book jacket (see illustration at right on this page), and on the inside cover of the paperback versions. The book also contains ambigrams of the words Earth, Air, Fire, and Water, which has served to bring the art of ambigrams to public attention by virtue of the popularity of the book.[2] The "Illuminati Diamond" mentioned in the book is an ambigram of the four elements arranged in the shape of a diamond.[1]

Plot

CERN director Maximilian Kohler discovers one of the facility's physicists, Leonardo Vetra, murdered. His chest is branded with an ambigram of the word "Illuminati". Kohler contacts Robert Langdon, an expert on the Illuminati, who determines that the ambigram is authentic. Kohler calls Vetra's adopted daughter Vittoria to the scene, and it is ascertained that the Illuminati have stolen a canister containing antimatter—a substance with destructive potential comparable to a nuclear weapon. When at CERN the canister is stored in a unique electrical charger which ensures the antimatter's stability but when removed its back-up battery provides power for 24 hours after which the anti-matter will self-destruct. The canister is somewhere in Vatican City, with a security camera in front of it, as its digital clock counts down to the explosion.

Langdon and Vittoria make their way to Vatican City, where the Pope has recently died. They are told that the four Preferiti, the cardinals who are most likely to be elected pope, are missing. Langdon and Vittoria search for the Preferiti in hopes that they will also find the antimatter canister. Their search is assisted by Camerlengo Carlo Ventresca (the late pope's closest aide) and the Vatican's Swiss Guard.

Langdon attempts to retrace the steps of the "Path of Illumination", a process once used by the Illuminati as a means of inducting new members; aspirants to the order were required to follow a series of subtle clues left in various landmarks in and around Rome. The clues indicate the secret meeting place of the Illuminati. And in the process he gets his long awaited wish of visiting the Vatican Archives granted. As the Illuminati indicators are placed inside Galileo's famous book called 'Diagramma'. Langdon sets off on the Path of Illumination in hopes of delivering the Preferiti and recovering the antimatter canister.

Bernini's Habbakuk and the Angel, and Agostino Chigi's pyramidal wall tomb.

The Path leads Langdon and Vittoria to four locations in Rome, each of them representing works of art by Baroque artist Gian Lorenzo Bernini and each associated with one of the primordial elements: 'Earth', 'Air', 'Fire', and 'Water'. Langdon finds one of the Preferiti murdered in a way thematically related to each location's related element. The first cardinal was branded with an Earth ambigram and had soil forced down his throat, suffocating him; the second was branded with an Air ambigram and had his lungs punctured; the third was branded with a Fire ambigram and was burned alive; and the fourth was branded with a Water ambigram and was wrapped in chains and left to drown at the bottom of a fountain.

During their search for the Illuminati Lair, Langdon and Vittoria are seen getting closer to each other.

West Ponente at Saint Peter's Square.

After finding the bodies of the first two Preferiti, Langdon hurries to the Santa Maria della Vittoria Basilica and finds the Preferiti's abductor in the act of setting the third cardinal on fire. The kidnapper is an unnamed assassin who is working under the orders of the Illuminati master "Janus", whose true identity is unknown. Commander Olivetti is killed, and the assassin kidnaps Vittoria. Langdon escapes and accosts the assassin at the final element's landmark (Water), but is unable to save the cardinal.

Ecstasy of St Teresa.

Langdon must complete the Path of Illumination in order to find the assassin and rescue Vittoria. His search leads him to Castel Sant'Angelo which he realises was the Lair of the Illuminati, which hides a tunnel leading directly into the pope's chambers in the Vatican. Langdon frees Vittoria, and together they send the assassin falling several hundred feet to his death. The two hurry back to St. Peter's Basilica, where they find that Kohler has arrived to confront the Camerlengo in private. Langdon and Vittoria fear that Kohler is Janus and that he has come to murder the Camerlengo. Hearing the Camerlengo scream in agony from being branded with the Illuminati Diamond, the Swiss Guards burst into the room and open fire on Kohler. Just before he dies, Kohler gives Langdon a videotape that he asks him to show to the media.

The Fountain of Four Rivers.

With time running out, the Swiss Guard evacuates the Basilica. The Camerlengo rushes back in, claiming that he has received a vision from God revealing the location of the antimatter canister. With Langdon in pursuit, the Camerlengo ventures into the catacombs and finds the canister sitting atop the tomb of Saint Peter. Langdon and the Camerlengo retrieve the antimatter and get in a helicopter with only minutes to spare. The Camerlengo manages to parachute safely onto the roof of St. Peter's just as the canister explodes harmlessly in the sky. The crowd in St. Peter's Square look in awe as the Camerlengo stands triumphantly before them. Because of this "miracle", the papal conclave debate whether to elect the Camerlengo as the new Pope. Langdon manages to survive the explosion by using a window cover from the helicopter as a parachute, a trick he learned while touring the CERN with Maximillian Kohler and lands in the Tiber River.

As Langdon regains consciousness, he finds himself in a hospital situated on an island. He is given the video recorder placed in the pocket of his tweed suit. He gets a shock when he sees the footage and becomes desperate to head back to the Vatican. The video shows the Camerlengo branding himself with the Illuminati diamond and confessing that he is Janus, the assassin who has plotted all this to sabotage the Vatican. He also confesses that he poisoned and killed the Pope because the Pope revealed he had a child.

After viewing Kohler's tape, Langdon, Vittoria, and the cardinals confront the Camerlengo. Shortly before the beginning of the novel, the Pope met with Leonardo Vetra who believed that anti-matter was capable of establishing a link between humanity and God. Vetra's beliefs caused great discomfort to the Camerlengo. While discussing Vetra, the pope reveals that his support is due to science having given him a son. Without waiting to hear the explanation (that the child was the result of artificial insemination), and horrified that the Pope appeared to have broken his vow of chastity, the Camerlengo plots to "rectify" the situation. He poisoned the pope and, under the guise of an Illuminati master (Janus), he recruited the assassin to kill Vetra, steal the antimatter, and kidnap and murder the Preferiti. The Camerlengo planted the antimatter in St. Peter's, feigned his last-minute vision from God, and retrieved the canister just in time to save the Vatican from the ensuing explosion. This was in hope to unite the struggling Catholic Church. The Illuminati "involvement" was merely a plot engineered by the Camerlengo to cover his own plans. Upon the discovery and the Camerlengo's attempts to justify his killing of the Pope, Mortati, Dean of the College of Cardinals, reveals that Carlo Ventresca (the Camerlengo) was in fact the biological son of the late pope, conceived with a nun through artificial insemination. Overcome with guilt, Ventresca soaks himself in oil and sets himself on fire before a crowd of onlookers in St. Peter's Square. His ashes are recovered by Mortati, who places them in an urn inside his father's sarcophagus. It is revealed that the Cardinals' endorsing of him would in fact have made him Pope by acclamation. Mortati is elected his successor by the conclave, and Langdon and Vittoria reunite at Hotel Bernini where they share an extensive meal before making love. The last brand, the long-lost "Illuminati Diamond", is delivered by a Swiss Guard to Langdon on an indefinite loan, provided he would return it to the other Illuminati brands—long-since owned by the Vatican—through his final will.

Characters

Inaccuracies

The book's first edition contained numerous inaccuracies of location of places in Rome, as well as incorrect uses of Italian language. Some of the language issues were corrected in the following editions.[3]

Aside from the explicit introduction, the book depicts various fictional experts explaining matters in science, technology, and history in which critics have pointed out inaccuracies. An example of this is the antimatter discussions, wherein the book suggests that antimatter can be produced in useful and practical quantities and will be a limitless source of power. CERN published a FAQ page about Angels & Demons on their website stating that antimatter cannot be used as an energy source because creating it takes more energy than it produces.[4]

Angels & Demons Decoded, a documentary on the American cable television network, The History Channel, premiered on May 10, 2009, shortly before the release of the novel's film adaptation. The documentary explores the various bases of the novel's story, as well as its inaccuracies. A CERN official, for example, points out that over the last 20 years, approximately 10 billionths of a gram of antimatter has been produced at the facility, whose explosive yield is equivalent to that of a firecracker, far less than is needed for it to be the threat depicted in the novel.[5]

According to The Boston Globe language columnist Ben Zimmer, the Devil's Advocate, which is indicated in the novel to have a role in the selection of the pope, has nothing to do with the papal conclave, and was instead employed to present arguments against the proposed canonization of a person as a saint. Zimmer adds that the Devil's Advocate was abolished by Pope John Paul II in 1983, 17 years before the novel was published.[6]

Throughout the narrative, the front runners in the election of the new pope are referred to as Preferiti, i.e. those who are preferred. In actual fact, they are known as Papabile, literally "popable".

See also

Notes

  1. 1 2 "Angels & Demons". www.johnlangdon.net. Retrieved August 26, 2013.
  2. ↑ "The Ten Most Famous Ambigrams". Ambigram Magazine. April 20, 2009.
  3. ↑ "Angeli e Demoni di Dan Brown". Il Piacere Della Lettura. 2006. Retrieved August 26, 2013.
  4. ↑ "Can antimatter be used as an energy source?". CERN. Retrieved August 3, 2015.
  5. ↑ Comtois, David; Hartford, Scott (Writers). Angels & Demons Decoded. May 10, 2009. The History Channel.
  6. ↑ Martin, Rachel (March 3, 2013). "Who Is The 'Devil's Advocate'?". NPR.

References

External links

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