Personal Views

My personal views on this book were that it was very interesting, and it kept my mind constantly thinking, and moving at a rapid pace. I found this book very fun to read, and hard to put down, it is one of my favorite books that I have read. Though this book was very interesting, it also had some far fetched ideas. The amount of antimatter which the Vetra's created was so enormous, nobody has gotten anywhere close to this kind of knowledge yet, and this part of the novel was slightly futuristic, though it made for a very good story. Also I thought that Langdon seemed "indestructible" he had so many near death experiences, that he got out of every time, for example when he used his coat as a parachute to jump out of a helicopter. This was a little bit of an extreme event, that likely would never have worked in real life, but once again, it made for a great, intense story. All in all, I really enjoyed this book, and found it really easy to read. It was written well, kept your mind going, was fast-paced, filled with intensity, and had a totally original story line.

Impact on Society

The impact which this book has on society is, when you read it, you escape into a totally different way of thinking. Your mind continues on thinking, and just wants to keep reading until you get to the bottom of things. As you are reading, you are putting yourself in the position of one of the main characters, and are trying to solve the mystery yourself. This has an effect on the way that society thinks, and may change the views on religion and science of the readers. This book has some very controversial parts, and could create an uproar with the Catholic Church if it were all taken literally. The main impact that this book has on society is that it changes your views on many things, and opens your mind to new ideas about religion, and science. This book was very interesting, and I enjoyed it very much, it really made me think, and allowed my imagination to run wild!

Section Fifty-Seven

After this unexplainable event, the Cardinals finished their conclave and elected a new Pope. Langdon and Vittoria had made their way to a hotel where they could finally relax after what was quite literally, the longest day of their life.

The book ends with the same dream which occured in the beginning, only this time, the woman in his dream was Vittoria, and she did not turn into anything, but just stayed as herself.

Section Fifty-Six

By the time Langdon had made it to the Vatican, all of the Cardinals, and Vittoria had made it back inside of the Chapel and were gathered to finish their conclave shortly. Langdon barged through the doors and played the tape for all of the Cardinals to see. As Langdon was doing this, the Comerlegno walked in and also saw what was going on. On the tape was the private meeting of Kohler and the Comerlegno before they had been interrupted by the Guards, along with Vittoria and Langdon. On the tape, was Kohler trying to figure out why the Comerlegno had done what he did. It turned out that the Comerlegno was the man behind the terrorism. He had set everything up himself, and had it all perfectly planned out.

When hearing this, the Comerlegno demanded that he had a chance to explain. Reluctantly, the Cardinals, and everyone else let him explain. He said that he had poisoned the Pope because he was a liar, that he had a child, and that was a major sin that he had kept that a secret, and that he was not a pure Pope. After this, he knew he had to do something else to ensure that none of the "chosen four" Cardinals became the next Pope, because he did not think that they were worthy of that position, and he himself wanted to be Pope. So he set up this huge terrorism act and put his plan into action. The reason he knew where the antimatter was hidden was because he had hidden it himself so that he could make himself look like a hero when he found it.

After hearing the Comerlegno's story, one of the oldest Cardinals explained that the Pope did indeed have a child, but he had it through artificial insemination, and that his child was the Comerlegno himself. The Pope had always called the Comerlegno his son, but he never knew he meant it literally. At this the Comerlegno broke down, he ran outside into Saint Peter's Square, and jumped onto the roof of a building. Moments later, he burst into flames and was gone.

Section Fifty-Five

Moments after arriving in Saint Peter's Square, the Comerlegno began talking towards the heavens. He appeared to be having a conversation with himself to by standers, but insisted that he was talking with God. He said that God had told him where the antimatter was hidden, and that they needed to go quick in order to save the Vatican.

At this, Vittoria and Langdon, along with Macri and Glick (the BBC reporter and his camera woman) followed the Comerlegno back into Vatican City. All of the power had been shut off inside of the city, and this is why the BBC crew followed, or at least one of the reasons. On their camera, was a large, bright light witch would light a path for the others in hopes of finding the antimatter. They knew they only had minutes to find the antimatter, but had no idea what they would do with it once they found it. They tried to stop the Comerlegno who had seemed to have lost his mind, but he assured them that he had a plan. They followed him into the center of the city, underground to where the Pope had been buried, and on top of the casket, was the canister of antimatter.

After finding the canister, they rushed out of the tunnel while the Comerlegno explained his plan. They ran to the helicopter on the Vatican Helipad. The Comerlgno jumped into the drivers seat, and Langdon, without the Comerlegno realizing jumped into the passenger's seat with the Comerlegno. This was different than what the Comerlegno had planned, but Langdon felt that he should help him, and find a place to throw the antimatter at a safe distance away from everything. When Langdon realized that they were only climbing higher, and not going anywhere he began to get worried. The Comerlegno then looked at him and said that he was sorry, and it was not supposed to be this way, and he parachuted out of the helicopter. In a panic, Langdon grabbed his coat and jumped out only seconds later, realizing that he had interpreted the Comerlegno's plan incorrectly. Langdon knew that it only took a little bit of resistance to slow his fall, and thought it was worth a try to jump, for if he didn't, he would die anyways.

He fell quickly, and knew that his landing was not going to be good. He soon realized that he was over top of water, and he fell into a roaring river. A crew of emergency workers were gathered outside to see the explosion of the antimatter, and saw Langdon in the water. They got him out quickly and rushed him to a hospital. When he woke up, they had told him that they found a little tape player in his pocket, but the screen was broken, and you could only hear what the tape was saying, that he would have to find a new screen in order to see the image on the tape. When Langdon heard what was on the tape he shot up and demanded they let him go. After much struggling, he finally managed to get out of the hospital, and was taken by helicopter to Vatican by the emergency helicopter.

Mean while, back at Saint Peter's Square, the Comerlegno had created quite an up roar as he landed gracefully in the Square. Everybody gathered was yelling his name and praising his actions, he had saved the city.

Section Fifty-Four

Vittoria and Langdon ran through the hallway from the Library of the Pope to the Office of the Comerlegno. When they got there, they were told that the Comerlegno was inside alone with Kohler, who recently was considered to be behind the whole terrorism act. Hearing this, Vittoria and Langdon demanded that they got let in, and witht he help of the Swiss Guards, they busted their way through the door.

When they got through the door, Kohler and one of the Guards were accused, and made out to look like the "bad guys" and were shot. Laying on the floor near Kohler was a metal rod with the Illuminati diamond ambigram on one end. This was the thing that made them all think that he was the man behind all of the crimes.

Just before Kohler took his last breaths, he gave a tape to Langdon and told him to give it to the media. Langdon was not going to do this though, because he thought that Kohler was bad, and did not want him to have any more glory.

After this crazy event, Langdon, Vittoria, the Comerlegno, and one of the Swiss Guards ran out of the Vatican with little time to spare. The Comerlegno was dazed and confused from the previous events. He gave off the impression of a crazy person as they ran into Saint Peter's Square where a crowd had gathered on the outskirts of the Vatican City.

Section Fifty-Three

As Langdon approached the secret hide out of the ancient brotherhood in hopes of finding Vittoria, he knew he was at the right place because he saw the same van that was at the previous destination. Langdon went inside and tried to find Vittoria and the Hassassin. This time, Langdon was successful in defeating the Hassassin. After a long, intense battle, Langdon, with the help of Vittoria, (who had gotten herself out of the ropes which she was tied in) finally got the Hassassin in a place to defeat him, and he pushed him over the open balcony.

Langdon and Vittoria ran quickly now to try and get back to the Vatican in time to evacuate everybody from the city before the antimatter exploded. They did not think that they would have time to make it there, but then they found an old tunnel which lead to the Vatican. This was the same tunnel which the Hassassin had used earlier to kidnap the four Cardinals. They ran through the tunnel, but when they got to the other end, they realized that the door was only accessable from the other side. They immediately started yelling and banging on the door to try and get the attention of somebody on the inside. A young Guard on the otherside of the door had heard all of this commotion, and opened the door after hearing the names Langdon and Vittoria.

Section Fifty-Two

When Langdon arrived at the final destination, he saw a van. The van had the Hassassin and the fourth Cardinal in it. Langdon new he had to be careful, and sneaky to try and stop the Hassassin.

Langdon had a chance to kill the Hassassin and save the Cardinal, but he tried to get where he had Vittoria hidden out of him, and he lost his chance. The Cardinal was stripped of his clothing, and branded with the word water as an ambigram on his chest. He was tied in ropes, and pushed into a fountain where the van was parked beside. Langdon and the Hassassin had an intense battle, but Langdon was unsuccessful in stopping the Hassassin. The Hassassin had Langdon pinned under the water, luckily, Langdon had found an air pump to keep himself alive. He had faked a death, and the Hassassin finally left. Langdon shot to the surface quickly for more air, and to try to find the last place on the Path of Illumination. The only place left to find now was the ancient hide away of the brotherhood.

Langdon struggled to figure out the last clue, but his knowledge of symbology helped him greatly, and he knew where he had to go.

Section Fifty-One

When they were just around the corner from their next location, they saw just a little ways away, flames coming from the inside of a church. They knew that was where they had to be. They ran into the church, and an immediate feeling of horror came upon them. Vittoria and Langdon saw, hanging from the ceiling, a man, stripped of his clothes with the ambigram of fire burned onto his chest. Beneath the man was a pile of benches which were lit on fire. The fire was climbing quickly up towards the man. Vittoria and Langdon did all they could to get the man down, but they could not get to him in time as they heard the screams of excruciating pain, and smelled the terrible scent of burning flesh.

The difference between this situation, and the last two were that the Hassassin was still there this time. Landgon and Vittoria tried to stop him, but the Hassassin had Langdon trapped, and he took Vittoria.

When the fire crew got to the church, they heard what they thought was a bomb, and went towards the sound. When they got closer, they realized that the ticking was from a watch. The watch which was attached to Langdon's wrist. This is the reason that he got found, and survived the fire. When Langdon got up, he searched for Vittoria, but soon realized that she was gone, and that the Hassassin had taken her. Langdon new that the Hassassin would be "saving" her until the end of the night, and that he had one last chance to catch him.

Langdon scrambled to find the clue which would lead him to the destination of the final killing. Finally, after searching frantically, Langdon was on his way to the place where the last killing was going to take place.

Section Fifty

As they came around the corner to their next destination, they saw a girl screaming in horror. When they finally realized what was going on, they realized that there was a man, stumbling around in agony struggling to breath. He then collapsed to the ground and stopped breathing. At this, Vittoria tried to give him CPR to bring him back, but when she did, blood started spewing out of two holes just beneath his rib cage. When they looked to see why this was happening, they saw that his lungs had been punctured, and that he had been suffocating. Also, when they looked at his chest, they saw an ambigram of air branded into his flesh. Once again, they were too late.

Once again the team of the Swiss Guard cleaned up the mess which was created by the Hassassin. This time, they realized that the reporters from BBC had been broadcasting this event live.

After cleaning up, Vittoria and Langdon once again, searched for the next marker on the Path of Illumination. After much searching, they finally knew where the next killing was going to take place, and they were on their way.

Analysis Part Three

Once Langdon and Victoria are let into the Vatican archives, they have a great lead in where the murders are going to take place. At first, they go to the wrong destination, but they figure out where they actually are to be. After going to the new destination where the murder is actually going to occur, they are able to follow the ancient markers of the Path of Illumination. Though they come across many hurdles along their path, Vittoria and Langdon are able to follow the ancient path, and make it all the way to the end. Langdon rescues Vittoria from the Hassassin and they make their way back to the Vatican to try to stop the mayhem. When they get back a series of crazy, and intense events occur but once they get the problem of the hidden antimatter under control, and everybody is back at the Vatican, something even crazier happens. They find out that the person behind all of the terrorism events is the Comerlegno which is very unexpected. This played a huge factor in the whole book, it made everything possible. This was the way that the Hassassin was let into the Vatican City, and the whole time, the Comerlegno did such a great job at hiding that he was behind it all. He made it very believable that he nothing that was going on, and was worried out of his mind for the city and for the four Cardinals, when really, he had it all planned out.

Section Fourty-Nine

Langdon slowly descended into the Demon's hole. When he got to the bottom, his foot hit on the slippery decay. He felt a bolt of fear sent through his body when he found himself face-to-face with skulls. As he looked around, his eyes came across the body, stripped naked, standing upright, buried up to his waist in dirt. His hands were tied behind his back with a red Cardinal's sash. His mouth was filled with dirt from the earth, and on his chest he was branded with an ambigram which said, earth. They were too late, the first killing had already occured.

After the Swiss Guard team came and got the body cleared out, Langdon and Vittoria searched for a sign that would point them to their next destination. When they finally realized that it was a statue outside, they looked up all of the churches which were in the direction of the pointed finger of the angel on the statue. Once they knew where they had to go, they were on their way to the next destination to try and stop the Hassassin.

Section Fourty-Eight

Glick and Macri had recieved another phone call, this time the man told them that inside of a church there would be evidence to prove his last phone call. They made their way to the destination that the caller had told them. On their way, a line of dark cars which were all the same rushed passed them, and they decided to follow.

Section Fourty-Seven

The inside of the chapel was dark and gloomy, and under construction. As they looked around the chapel, they searched for the Chigi Chapel (a certain part of the whole chapel itself). There were four different recesses, meaning eight chapels, which were all covered with plastic making it harder to figure out which one was the right one, and easier for the Hassassin to hide. Vittoria saw a plaque on the wall which helped them immensely, it read;

COAT OF ARMS OF ALEXANDER CHIGI

WHOSE TOMB IS LOCATED IN THE

SECONDARY LEFT APSE OF THIS CATHEDRAL

They made their way over to the tomb, it was now 8:06, they wondered if the killer was still in there, or if he had been punctual and been in and out already. When they got over to the Chigi tomb, Vittoria realized they were too late. As they looked around the room they gasped as they saw the demon's hole. The top was off of the pit and a terrible stench was coming up from the whole under neath. At first when they looked in the whole it was so dark they could not see anything, so Vittoria went to search for some sort of light. After Vittoria came back with a blow torch. This time when they looked down, as Vittoria held the light, Langdon saw a figure stripped of his clothing, standing up right, and lifeless. They began yelling down to the man, but got no response, so Langdon decided that he would go down and check things out.

Section Fourty-Six

Back at Vatican City, the Swiss Guards were sweeping the buildings for any sign of a magnetic field, but got absolutely no signals at all.

Section Fourty-Five

Langdon and Vittoria's taxi ride took them just under a minute to get to their new destination. When they saw the building, they knew that this time, they were at the right place. Langdon, hoping that Olivetti would hurry up and get there, made his way over to an entrance, which because of construction was not able to be entered through. Immediately, they began looking for another entrance to the church. They moved to the alley along side the church, it was dark and smelled of urine, then they came across another door. This one too was locked. The two of them began looking yet again for another way in. Just then, they heard bells ringing eight o'clock. At this, Vittoria whispered intensely to Langdon, she had found a way in. As Langdon explored the entrance, he noticed that it had been broken into.

Section Fourty-Four

Glick and Macri were in the van staring at their computer, they had done a search on the Illuminati. They saw that there had been many articles written about them by news companies all over. They discussed the ancient brotherhood, and the facts they new about it. Macri was skeptical that the man who had called them earlier really was a messenger of the Illuminati, preparing to kill four Cardinals, Glick on the other had, was hoping so for the good of his career.

Section Fourty-Three

gLangdon's progress in his search had been somewhat at a halt because of the guide who would not stop talking. Suddenly, Vittoria was behind him tugging at his shirt. She demanded to see the Diagramma, and searched for the date which it was published. As she deciphered the Roman numerals she discovered that it was published in 1639. At finding this out she knew that they were in trouble, the dates didn't match. She told Langdon that Raphael was not buried at the Pantheon until 1759. They were in the wrong place.

At this they asked for the guide's help, as he was still hovering around them trying to figure out what was going on. They asked where Santi's original tomb could be, and after much thought they realized that it was not his tomb that they were looking for, but rather, one that he had designed. After much thought and debate, and with much of the guide's help, they had figured out what the part in the clue about the demon's hole meant. It was referring to an ossuary annex, which was a large whole under the chapel near a family tomb where they buried the "less worthy" family members when they did not have room for them in the family tomb. Langdon asked the guide if he knew of any tombs designed by Raphael with one of these "demon holes." The guide replied with, "Actually. I'm sorry... I can only think of one." At this, Vittoria was so excited, she shouted out where! The fact that the guide could only think of one tomb was perfect. The guide told them the name of the tomb was, the "Chigi Chapel." It was the tomb of Agostino Chigi and his brothers, wealthy men who supported the arts and sciences. Langdon and Vittoria asked where it was located, and were just about to be on their way when they were stopped one last time by the guide. He told them that the Chigi Chapel had not always been called this, and that it used to be known as Capella della Tera, which meant Chapel of the Earth. This fit perfectly with the part in the clue about Santi's earthly tomb.

After finding this out they ran out of the building. Vittoria called Olivetti immediately and said that they had to move, that they were at the wrong location. They ran out to a line of taxi's and were on their way to the new, correct location with only minutes to spare.

Section Fourty-Two

As Vittoria and Langdon walked up to the Pantheon hand in hand, trying to portray the image of newlyweds, they were let into the building with absolutely no trouble at all.

They scouted out the inside of the building looking for anything that could be related to the killing that was about to happen in ten minutes. They looked for the exact placement of Raphael's tomb. When they looked around, they saw nothing and decided to search the recesses in the wall. The two of them went their separate ways to search for the killer, or anything that had to do with the killing. They now only had eight minutes until the killing would occur, so they knew they had to move quickly. As they were looking, Langdon happened to come across the "cicerone" of the building, meaning the guide. The man started talking to Langdon, and went on and on with information about the building. Langdon finally just blocked out the man's talking and kept looking around the building.

Across the room was Vittoria, deep in a search of her own. When she finally came across the grave, it said;

RAPHAEL SANTI, 1483-1520

She read it over and over again, and a moment later, she was running over to Robert in horror.

Section Fourty-One

Two guards, Rocher and Chartrand were back in Vatican City left in charge of the search for the antimatter.

Section Fourty

It's now 7:46 and all of the guards were in place, and Vittoria and Langdon, after much debate were going inside of the Pantheon. Vittoria had her cell phone programed with Olivetti's number on speed dial. Olivetti had also given them a gun just in case, then the two were on their way to the inside.

Section Thirty-Nine

When Kohler finally woke up, he got off of the examination table and left the room.

Section Thirty-Eight

Four cars rushed down the streets of Rome, filled with Swiss Guards, as well as Langdon and Vittoria. Olivetti demanded an explanation from the two of them. All Langdon knew was that Raphael was buried in the Pantheon, and that was what the clue was the first place on the Path of Illumination. Olivetti did not understand how anybody could get away with a murder in the Pantheon, but went along just in case Langdon was right. They were convinced that this was their one chance to catch the killer, and rescue the Cardinals. At this, Olivetti wanted to end the mission of going to the Pantheon to try and stop the killer, if that was their only chance to catch him, it could be very critical time in searching for the antimatter instead. After much convincing, they kept on with the mission and drove quickly to their destination. They figured they only had one chance to catch the Hassassin because they were not sure if the original path would still be intact in this day. As they got close to the Pantheon, they parked a coulple of blocks away to avoid being seen, and began their mission.

Section Thirty-Seven

Langdon and Vittoria were still looking for some kind of sign, they didn't know what, all they knew was that it was something that would not be written in Italian. Finally, Vittoria came across something on folio 5, it was a foot note, or so she thought, it said "The path of light is laid, the sacred test." The most interesting thing was that it was written in English, not Italian. Nobody in the 1600's spoke English in Italy, this is what made Langdon realize that this must be part of the clue. After examining the document many times, Vittoria realized that this was not the only hidden message on the page. She knew they were nearly out of time, and in a hurry she took the piece of paper and headed for the door before Langdon could stop her.

As the two of them rushed out the door, the fresh air filled their lungs immediately, giving them a head rush. As they ran out of the archives, headed for Olivetti's office, they discussed what the riddle meant. Langdon thought that he already had it figured out, and knew where the first killing was going to take place. The poem read as follows,

From Santi's earthly tomb with demons hole,

'Cross Rome the mystic elements unfold.

The path of light is laid, the sacred test,

Let angels guide you on your lofty quest.

They knew that the mystic elements were earth, air, fire and water, and they knew that the path started at Santi's tomb. Santi was the last name of the well known Renaissance artist Raphael. Langdon knew that Raphael was buried in the Pantheon, and they figured that this would be the place of the first killing.

As they got to Olivetti's office he was furious to find out that they were in the secret archives, but when Langdon explained that they had good news, his eyes narrowed, saying "It better be damn good."

Section Thirty-Six

As the Hassassin prowled through the ancient tunnel, on the other side were the four Cardinals, exactly where he had left them. The killer looked to the frightened men, and asked which one of them would be first.

Section Thirty-Five

After searching for a while, Vittoria finally cried out that she had found the Diagramma. It was in a folio bin, they quickly pulled it out of the bin and began looking for their clue. After searching the document many times, they still could not find any sign of a clue. They were beginning to run short on breath, and knew that they were running out of time.

Section Thirty-Four

When Glick got off of the phone with the anonymous caller, he told Chinita what the man on the other end said to him. He said that four Cardinals had been kidnapped, and that they are going to be murdered at four different churches that night. He said that the man will be calling him again just before eight o'clock to let him know the exact location of the first killing.

Section Thirty-Three

Vittoria and Langdon now stood outside of the double doors entering into the inner area of the archives. The room was dark, large, and full of glass-walled enclosures. The enclosures were called "hermetic vaults" and they were used to store and preserve the books and scripts within. There were hundreds of books within the archives, and the computer which had the information of where each was had a user password, both of these factors made it very difficult to locate the book that they were looking for. Inside of each glass enclosure, were book shelves, parchment bins, and examination tables. As they looked at the labels on the enclosures, they finally came across the one containing Galileo's work, there was a whole vault filled with his works. Inside of the glass room, they were looking for a book called "Diagramma dela Verita" which meant "Diagram of truth." Langdon was sure that this was the book that held the clue to the first marker on the Path of Illumination. When they got into the vault, it was very hard to breathe and they had limited time to find what they were looking for, they new they had to look fast, for time was not a luxury they had.

Section Thirty-Two

On the eastern edge of St. Peter's Square sat BBC journalist, Gunther Glick along with his camera woman, Chinita Macri. They sat talking in the van when suddenly they were interrupted when Glick received a phone call. The man on the other end of the phone said, "Listen carefully. I am about to change your life."

Section Thirty-One

The Comerlegno gathered his thoughts before he entered the chapel for the opening prayers of Conclave. He flashed back to when he was a child, he could remember clearly the walls of the church crumbling around him. He would always ask his mother where his father was, knowing full well that he had died before he was born. His mother would always tell him that his father is God now, that he is a son of the church. Carlo; the Comerlegno, had been the sole survivor of a terrorist bombing of the chapel which him and his mother had attended while on a vacation. Carlo's mother lost her life that day, along with 37 others. When Carlo had recovered from this devastating incident, the bishop of the church arranged for him to live in a small monastery attached to the church which he over saw. Carlo became an altar boy for the bishop, who was his new protector. At sixteen, Carlo was obligated to serve in the military by Italian law, unless he entered seminary, then he would be exempt from serving. He explained that he did want to, and would enter seminary, but first he had to understand evil, and therefore decided to serve his two years in the military. Carlo said that if he was going to spend his life fighting evil with the church, that first he must understand it.

At his time in the military, Carlo refused to fire a gun, in turn, they taught him how to fly an emergency helicopter. He had to learn how to parachute in case of an emergency which terrified him, but he knew that God was with him, and he did it anyways. He hated his experience in the military, but he was determined to understand evil, and stick it out.

After bouncing back from his flash back, he was now at the doors of the Sistine Chapel, about to enter to give the opening prayer.

Analysis Part Two

When Langdon is flown out to see Kohler at CERN regarding the death of Leonardo Vetra everything starts moving suddenly. He arrives there, talks with Kohler for a little bit and is shown the mangled body within minutes. After they discuss this, Vittoria Vetra arrives at CERN and they discover that a large sample of antimatter is missing which is a huge hazard. They soon find out that the missing canister of antimatter is in Rome at the Vatican City. At this, Vittoria and Langdon are flown to Rome to try and help find the antimatter, and get matters under control. It is known that they are very well educated in science and symbology which turns out to be a huge help for the Swiss Guard team. Vittoria and Langdon's huge knowledge for science and symbolism helps them to get a lead on the situation of the missing Cardinals, and in turn helps to lead them to the Hassassin. Langdon plays a very large part in locating the places in which the Cardinals are going to be killed, and flying him over to Europe has been very beneficial for CERN and the Swiss Guards. Vittoria and Langdon work quickly and intensely together and feed off of each others knowledge to try and stop the terrorism which the Hassassin in creating.

Section Thirty

Vittoria knew that even if the Swiss Guards could filter electronic interference that they would not be able to detect the canister of antimatter. She also feared that not evacuating the city immediately could be a very bad thing that might not end well. Suddenly, Langdon jumped to his feet, he had an idea. He said that he needed access to the Vatican archives, that the answer to where the Hassassin is going to kill the four Cardinals could be in there. After much convincing, the Comerlegno hesitantly allowed Langdon access to the Vatican Archives.

On their way to the archives Langdon explained to Vittoria that they were looking for a little book that was written by Galileo. The book that they were looking for contained "il segno" which was a clue to finding the Church of Illumination, the secret meeting place of the Illuminati. The brotherhood of the Illuminati was so secret that they had to find a way to recruit members so that they could grow as a brotherhood. The Illuminati created a kind of map that would lead scientists to their secret hideaway. The map was a trail of symbolic markers across the city which were strategically placed to point the scientists on their way to the Church of Illumination. Each marker pointed to another, and finally to the hideaway. The Illuminati used the trail as a kind of test for anyone who wanted to join the brotherhood. They had to follow the "Path of Illumination" which was so well hidden in order to join. The path was a puzzle constructed so that only certain people would be able to understand and follow it. They used the path as a screening process to ensure that only the smartest scientists made it to the final land mark, the Church of Illumination. The Illuminati called upon one of their artists to carve four sculptures which camouflaged in with all the other religious art in the city of Rome. The sculputures also had to have specific themes, each with one of the four elements of science, earth, air, fire, and water. This was the one thing that allowed the scientists on their quest to know whether or not they had the right sculpures, and if they were on the Path to Illumination. The places where the sculptures were placed were known as the "Altars of Science" by the Illuminati. These four Altars of Science were where the four Cardinals were going to be killed. After Langdon had explained all of this to Vittoria, they were finally at the archives. A Swiss Guard had met them there in order to let them in. The Guard guided them into the building and then left them to look for the book.

Section Twenty-Nine

A woman at the BBC office received a phone call from a man who claimed he had a headline story for her. He refused to tell her any information other that there was a threat to conclave. He asked for one of the reporters personal phone number, and she knew she was not entitled to give out that information, but after careful consideration, she looked up a number for him. She had found the reporter who was already at the Vatican for them, and she gave the man on the phone his number.

Section Twenty-Eight

As the four individuals stood in the Office of the Comerlegno, himself and Olivettie discussed the different options of what to do. They thought about evacuating the whole city immediately, or to just wait and try to find the antimatter canister. In the end they decided it would be much worth doing a search, and later, if need be they would evacuate everybody. Vittoria said that they had four hours to find the antimatter in order to get it back to CERN to put it on the charging podium before it would explode. Olivetti said that they had to focus on finding the antimatter, and would have to accept that they could not do anything about the missing Cardinals.

Analysis

When Langdon receives the phone call, at first it seems like a joke, and he does not take it seriously at all. When he gets more evidence to prove that the man on the other end truly does have quite the scenario on his hands, then he believes him. This section in the book is very important because it does not waste any time in getting to the case. The problem is addressed right off the bat, and progresses from there. It hooks the reader in, and gives good detail, but leaves you in suspense. He develops his ideas quickly and thoroughly, but always leaves you hanging, and that is why the first section of the book is so important.

Literary Devices

In this novel foreshaddowing is used very much to progress the book and make it more interesting. An example of foreshaddowing is on page 92, it says, two weeks ago, he would have considered the task awaiting him at the far end of this tunnel impossible, a suicide mission. This statement is talking about the Hassassin going through the ancient tunnel from the Illuminati's secret hide out, to the library of the Pope in the Vatican City. This tunnel used to serve the purpose of an escape route for the Pope incase of an emergency, it was a one way door, only able to be opened from the inside of the library for saftey reasons. The Hassassin would have considered his task impossible because it would have been impossible to gain access to the inside of the library through the tunnel, unless there was somebody on the other side to let him in. Also if he were to try and take the four Cardinals from the Vatican, it would have been impossible again without the help from somebody on the "inside." Since the Hassassin did have somebody on the inside, it made his task possible, and less risky. This is a thought that is brought into the book at an early stage, but you do not know what exactly it is meaning until later on. As you read, you find out that the tunnel is one that leads to the Pope's library in the Vatican.

Another literary device that Dan Brown uses a lot throughout this novel is imagery. He does such an amazing job at creating a visual image in the mind of the reader. He uses great word choices, and detail in order to slip your mind right into the book. When you read the book, you enter into a new world, and you see, and think as if you are one of the characters.

Brown also uses great diction. He fills every part of his book with strong word choices that add so much detail to the book. This detail keeps you reading, and makes it difficult to put the book down.

Important Quotes

Vittoria, Page 88

"My dad wanted to bring science to a higher level, where science supported the concept of God."

This is an important quote for the book because it explains that Leonardo Vetra was a man of both science and religion. It showed that religion does not always contradict science, and vice versa. This is important in the book because the thing that is causing all of the conflicts in the story are science and religion, and how they do not go hand in hand, when in fact they do. Vetra was trying to prove that science and religion compliment each other, rather that contradict each other.


Olivetti, Page 193

"You yourself had tea with them only hours ago."

Olivetti is saying this to the Comerlegno when the four favorite Cardinals have gone missing. He is saying this to reassure him that nothing is wrong, and that they will be able to find them no problem. This quote is so important, because later on in the book we find out that the Comerlegno is behind it all, and we know that the time when they were having tea is the time that they went missing.

Comerlegno, Page 670

"I shared their pain."

This quote is important because the Comerlegno is saying this as he motions to his chest at the ambigram of the Illuminati Diamond branded on his chest. He says that he too suffered like the four Cardinals did, and that he also would have died for God, like they did. He himself was behind their deaths, and thought that he was doing the right thing, and therefore, they died for God, and he also would have done the same thing.

Page 672

"Why did they hide that which inspired fear? Fear brought people to God!"

This quote is very important because in this book, much fear is created by the Comerlegno. The Comerlegno creates fear to try and bring people to God. He digs up ancient history, and brings it back to live. By bringing back an ancient satanic cult, the Illuminati, he finds a way to gain control, and try and bring people to the religious community.

Cardinal Mortati, Page 680

"The pope created no sin, Carlo. He was chaste."

This is when we find out that the Pope did indeed have a child, but he had it through artificial insemination with a woman from the church whom he loved, but could not be with. This is very important because the whole reason all of this terrorism starts is because the Comerlegno (Carlo) thinks that the Pope was a liar, and impure. If the Camerlegno would have just listened to the Pope's story in the first place, and not jumped to conclusions, none of this would have started in the first place, and many lives could have been saved.

Section Twenty-Seven

Conclave was about to start in twenty minutes, and there was still no sign of the missing four Cardinals. The other Cardinals in the Sistine Chapel were talking now and beginning to question where they were. Nobody had any idea where they were, and they were beginning to worry.

Section Twenty-Six

Moments later, in the Office of the Comerlegno, a Swiss Guard paged Olivetti and told him that they had recieved a bomb threat from a phone call. He explained that the person on the other end mentioned something about antimatter, and asked if they had seen it there yet. At this Olivetti was very thankful for the Guard letting him know, and demanded that if he call back he pages him. The Guard told Olivetti that the person on the other end of the phone was still on the line, but they were not able to trace him. At this, the Comerlegno grabbed the walkie talkie and told the Swiss Guard to transfer the line up to his office.

Everyone in the room listened as the caller spoke. He told them that he was the messenger from the Illuminati. He told them not to speak, and that they will all be better off if they just listen to him. He said that they have planted the bomb (antimatter) inside of the city, and that at midnight, the whole city will be demolished. He said that they have somebody on the inside walls of the Vatican to make all of this possible. He also told them that he had the preferiti, the "chosen" four Cardinals. The man on the line said that he was a descendant of the Hassassin, which explained what his plans were for the four missing Cardinals. The Hassassin said that he planned to kill the men in public in churches, and that he would do to them what the churches had done to four scientists long ago. The churches killed the men in public and branded their chests with the symbol of the cross on their chests. The Hassassin planned to brand the four missing Cardinals on the chest with symbols of the Illuminati, and kill them in the churches of Rome. This would be considered payback for what the church had done to the four scientists years ago. He said he would kill one an hour, every hour from 8PM until 11PM then at 12 midnight, the final act would occur, the destroying of Vatican City.

When the Hassassin mentioned something about Leonardo Vetra, Vittoria suddenly became outraged. She snapped at him, saying "I swear on my life, before this night is over, I will find you. And when I do..." the killer laughed and replied with, "A woman of spirit. I am aroused. Perhaps before this night is over, I will find you. And when I do..." And then he was gone.

Section Twenty-Five

In another room, the operator sat, feeling privilaged to be one of the few people still allowed in the Vatican City, when he recieved a phone call. The call was coming from inside of the City which seemed peculiar. When he picked it up, on the other line was a woman speaking quickly and urgently, yet she still sounded composed. After hearing Vittoria's argument, the operator told her to hold before she could say anything, he was in disbelief that there was a woman in Commander Olivetti's office. He put her on hold, and called Olivetti's office, frantically, and frustrated, Vittoria picked up the phone. Before she knew it, Olivetti was ramming his key into the door, came storming into the room, and ripped the phone from her hands. He put the phone to his ear and began yelling at the person on the other end, then quickly he stopped. On the other end was the Comerlegno, he wanted to see Langdon and Vittoria.

Vittoria and Langdon followed Olivetti in silence to the Office of the Comerlegno. As they approached the door, Vittoria knocked on the door loudly, then it opened. The Chamberlain introduced himself, and the four of them all talked about the matter that was concerning them. The Comerlegno said that he was not impressed with the fact that he had not yet been informed of the serious security issues which was taking place there at the Vatican. Langdon began to explain the incident that had occured back at CERN and that it had to do with the Illuminati. Langdon went on to say that he thinks that the Illuminati are resurfacing to carry out an ancient pact, a pact to destroy the Vatican City.

In shock the Camerlegno looked around at the people standing before him. Olivetti explained that they could see the image of the antimatter on the missing camera #86. The Camelegno was outraged to find out that the Swiss Guard had not yet sent out a search to find the canister of antimatter. Vetra and Langdon explained how dangerous the antimatter was, and that they needed to find it as soon as possible. The Comerlegno demanded that the Guards began a search immediately.

Section Twenty-Four

As Vittoria and Langdon landed on the Vatican's hellipad, they had one thing on their minds, finding the stolen antimatter. Looking around, it seemed as though nobody else but them were present in the area. The Guard explained to them that all of the Cardinals were in the Sistine Chapel for Conclave was about to start in under an hour, and the rest of the staff was ban from the city for secrecy and security reasons.

When the two of them approached two guards, they gave Vittoria and Langdon some trouble for getting in due to Vittoria wearing some shorts, but the pilot told the guards who they were and to let them in. As they walked in, they got to a set of stairs, when they approached the bottom, the guard put in a code and let them into a room full of mayhem.

When they got inside the Office of the Swiss Guard they saw a collage of many different things. There were many peices of technology inside of the office. The pilot, who had led them to the Office instructed them to wait there, and that Commander Olivetti would be there soon to talk to them. Olivetti was the man who had called Kohler earlier on that day. The man led Vittoria and Langdon to an area with the servalence monitors. He demanded an explanation for the image showing up on camera #86, and sure enough, it was the canister of the stolen antimatter. Vittoria was told that they had not begun looking for the canister yet, and at this she was in shock, for the lives of the Cardinals and everyone in Vatican City were in danger. When Langdon explained that the Illuminati were responsible for this act, the Commander did not believe it and said that he did not have time for any games. Even when Langdon showed Olivetti the image on the fax, he did not believe him. When the Commander would not believe the two individuals, they demanded to see the person who was in charge, they wanted to see the Chamberlain, the one person ranked higher than Olivetti himself at the time being. At this time, they were interrupted by another guard who was coming to get Olivetti to go "sweep" the Chapel for any electronic bugs. As the Commander left, he locked Langdon and Vittoria in his office and left one of the Guards there to watch the door to ensure they did not some how escape.

Vittoria contemplated calling Kohler from her cell phone, but quickly deserted the idea for she knew that he was probably still recieving medical attention, and that the Swiss Guard would come in there at take it from her. Vittoria knew she had to somehow get ahold of the Camerlegno (who is the Chamberlain). She decided to do something risky and try to get ahold of him from the phone in Olivetti's office. Vittoria knew that they were locked in, and the Guard on the other side of the glass walls was locked out. She knew that Olivetti would be the only one with a key to the lock, and therefore knew that the guard would not be able to stop her from making a phone call. The first line she tried was not the Pope's office, and she knew she had to act quick to get it because the guard on the other side was now on his walkie talkie with Olivetti.

Section Twenty-Three

Inside of the Sistine Chapel the Cardinals had gathered to prepare for Conclave, and the electing of a new Pope. It was two hours before the election was to take place, and the men were taking some time to talk and catch up before Conclave took place. At 7PM the previous Pope's Chamberlain would come into the chapel, give an opening prayer and then leave the men to make their decision. When the Chamberlain left, the Swiss Guards would lock the Chapel, as they have done for many years. Conclave was a "vacuum" and was not to be influenced through the outside world. The men inside the Chapel were not permitted to have any kind of contact with others outside of the chapel what so ever. This ensured that the Cardinals kept "only god before their eyes" when making their decision.

The Conclave that was going to occur in about an hour was expected to be brief, and unified. But now an unexpected situation had occured, four of the Cardinals, "the chosen Cardinals" had gone missing.

Section Twenty-Two

As they made their way to the Vatican City, they could see so many beautiful things as they flew over. As they flew over the city, they could see many trailers and trucks belonging to television stations, and news crews. Right now in the Vatican City, Conclave was going on. This was the process of choosing a new pope after the most current one had passed on. 165 Cardinals from around the world had gathered at the City to elect their new pope.

Section Twenty-One

When Kohler heard Sylvie over the intercom saying "Maximilian Kohler. Kindly call your office immediately." he was outraged. Hearing his own name on the intercom startled Kohler. Kohler buzzed into his office, and was connected on the phone with the person on the other line. He told the person that they could not speak of this over the phone, and that he would fly there to meet him so that they could discuss the matter.

Kohler, having forgotten to take his medication that day went into an attack. He was unable to meet the person himself, for he needed medical attention, and therefore sent Langdon and Vittoria. The two of them were off to Rome to see the Swiss Guard, who were the sworn sentinels of Vatican City.

As the two of them boarded the plane, all sorts of thoughts came over them, but were quickly woken from their daydreams. There was turbulence on the way to Rome which made Langdon feel uneasy and question what the hell he was doing going to Rome now, and how this had all came to be. Vittoria began to make conversation with Langdon, sensing his uneasiness, and to make the time pass. They discussed many things about science, religion, symbolism and the Illuminati.

As they reached the end of their flight, they got off of the plane and were met by a Swiss Guard who was to take them by helicopter to Vatican City. When Vittoria asked the Guard about the canister, he had no idea what she was talking about, and clearly had not been informed of it. His job was to pick them up from the air port, and that was all.

Section Twenty

Sylvie Baudeloque, a secretary at CERN had become worrysome now. Earlier that day, Kohler had demanded her to find Leonardo Vetra for him, and when she was unable to get a response from him, Kohler was forced to go look for Vetra himself. When Kohler had returned from his search he looked particularily unwell.

Later on, Kohler failed to show up on time for his daily injections, which worried Sylvie. She put these worries aside when she found out that Kohler was wanted on the phone by someone of high importance, but had no luck when she tried to page him. Sylvie new the man would not be willing to wait long, and had to somehow get ahold of Kohler. Running out of options and time, Sylvie went into Kohler's office and made an announcement over the intercom.

Section Nineteen

As they went up the levels in the elevator, they discussed why it would not be appropriate to get the police involved in the case. Vittoria was still convinced that they needed to get the officials involved, but Kohler finally caught her attention when he said that he would tell her what she wanted to know. He told her that they knew that the Illuminati had murdered her father, and how they had done it.

Section Eighteen

The Hassassin waited at the end of the tunnel for somebody on the other side to open the door. Within minutes he could hear the locks on the door being unlocked, then waited five minutes, and the door swung open.

Section Seventeen

When Vittoria looked down at the eyeball she fell back in shock, but was worried for what layed behind the doors. Uneasily, she stepped up to the retina scan, as the doors opened she saw an empty recharging podium, the canister of antimatter was gone.

The three individuals found themselves pondering the thought of who may have stolen the antimatter, and for what reason. Langdon asked himself if it could possibly be the Illuminati, and if somehow it was, why they would possibly do this.

Vittoria wanted so badly to get the police and other officials involved in this case, but Kohler quickly explained explained to her why they couldn't do this. It was bad for CERN, and the case itself, making it a public ordeal was completely the wrong thing to do at this stage. Vittoria took complete disregard for Kohler's case, and went to her phone to make a phone call to the officials, then realized that they were too far underground to get any service, and therefore was not able to do so.

Section Sixteen

The security guards in the other country were staring at the image on the other end of the missing camera. They were looking at a clear canister, but of what, they did not know. They saw a droplet of something floating in the middle of the canister, and a red LED light counting down on the outside of it, and that was all.

Section Fifteen

The three individuals went on to talk about antimatter and what it was. Kohler wondered how they managed to store the antimatter, for if antimatter and matter were to come into contact with each other there would be a very large explosion for the amount of antimatter present. Vittoria explained that her father had built a mechanism from her design for storing the antimatter in which ensured that it did not come into contact with matter.

Langdon asked what it would look like if the antimatter came into contact with matter, if there would just be a tiny puff of light or what would happen. At this comment, Vittoria began to take off one of the canisters containing the antimatter from its charging podium. As a result of this, Kohler shouted at her thinking that she was completely insane, and that it was too dangerous. Vittoria told him to relax, that each canister had a back up battery that lasted for 24 hours, and that it was completely safe. After explaining this, Vittoria put a specimen of antimatter in a safe area and showed the two men what an antimatter explosion looked like. They were shocked at what a large explosion had occured from such a miniscule sample of antimatter, and what huge damage it had the potential to do if in a larger dose.

After showing Kohler and Langdon the antimatter, Vittoria demanded to see her father. She had shown them their experiment, and now in return she wanted to see her fathers body. Kohler tried to sway her from this thought and asked her questions about why she and her father kept their project a secret, and if she was sure neither her, nor her father had told anyone about it. She assured him that they were the only two who knew about it.

Kohler asked Vittoria if anything were to be missing, what would it be? Vittoria snapped back with "I have no idea. Nobody came in here, everything up here looks fine." At this Kohler said "Up here?" questioningly. Vittoria told him that they were using the lower lab to store a specimen of antimatter. Kohler was outraged to find this out, and to hear that it was a larger specimen that could be extremely hazardous, an amount so large that it could demolish anything within a half-mile radius of it.

Kohler demanded she take him and Langdon to go and see this specimen, and they immediately headed toward the elevator. When the three of them reached the lower lab, they walked over to the entrance, but something was wrong. The retina scan, like the one on the above floor, was spattered with blood. Vittoria followed the path of blood from the retina scan to the floor, then jumped back in horror before Kohler could stop her. There, staring up at them was a bloody eyeball which was unmistakably the missing eyeball of Leonardo Vetra.

Section Fourteen

Phase two of the killers mission begins.

Section Thirteen

As the three of them walked into the entrance of the lab, they all looked around for signs of an intruder. They moved slowly and skeptically, but saw nothing that pointed to intrusion. Kohler asked Vittoria if anything had been stolen, and Vittoria snapped back with "Stolen? How? The retina scan only allows entry to us" but Kohler insisted she looked around. Everything had appeared as normal, and nothing seemed to be missing.

Kohler told Vittoria that this was not the time for keeping secrets and that he needed to know about she and her father's secret experiment. As Vittoria took the time to gather herself, she gained control of her emotions and began to explain the experiment that she and her father had been working on.

Vittoria explained to the two men that they had proven the "big bang theory" and that they created something from nothing. She said that matter could be made simply from a large source of energy, and in this way, science actually supported religion, which was one of her fathers main goals to prove. Vittoria said that she and her father had created a type of matter. She said that everything in the world had an opposite, light and dark, heaven and hell, good and bad... and like all of these things, matter also had an opposite. Vittoria and her father had created the worlds first specimen of "anti-matter."

Section Twelve

For the Killer, killing was like a drug, it was addicting and rewarding. He found himself struggling to resist killing the woman, for he had killed last night, and killing was his heroine.

Section Eleven

Vittoria Vetra had always been very inquisitive since a young age. She had lived in a catholic orphanage, and that is where she met her adopted father, Leonardo Vetra. She had been at CERN with her father since she was twelve, and now was returning home to a world which seemed like nothing with her father no longer there.

As the three of them walked together to the lab, Kohler pointed out that the original security systems of CERN had been replaced with a retina scan security system for the Vetra's lab. Langdon stood there horrified when finding this out, as he flashed back to the image of the victim's body laying on the floor with only one eye.

Section Ten

In the other country, two guards paged back and forth to each other. One was in an office, while the other was in a hallway looking for camera #86. The man in the hallway said that the camera was not there, but he could see where is was supposed to be, and that somebody must have moved it.

When hearing this the guard thought it could take weeks to lacate the missing camera, but this was the least of his concerns. His main worry was the image that the camera was showing, it looked like some new form of technology, but nothing like he had ever seen before. He had no idea what the object on the camera was which made him worrysome for security was very important to him and one of his main concerns.

Section Nine

As they walked into the study, Langdon stared wonderingly. The room had such a mix of things in it Langdon didn't know what to make of it. As he looked around he saw on one side of the room religious artifacts, and on the other, scientific wonders. Kohler explained to Langdon that Vetra was a Catholic Priest. He was a man of both religion and of science. When Langdon heard this he thought about the Illuminati, he asked himself if they would have killed Vetra to avoid him bringing his religious message to the masses? Quickly he shook the thought from his head convinced that the ancient brotherhood is long gone, far into history. Kohler went on to explain that Vetra had many enemies who were scientists. As the two men went on to talk, they were interrupted by an intercom message saying that Leonardo Vetra's daughter had arrived. Kohler was pleased to hear this, and intended to ask Vittoria Vetra some questions about their secret project before informing her of the terrible news. Langdon wondered why Kohler wanted to know about the Vetra's project, but then Kohler explained that it might be able to help explain Leonardo's murder. As they went on to talk about this, Kohler told Langdon to look at Vetra's face, which Langdon found hard to do since it was turned toward the ground, but then Kohler turned it over. Kohler mentioned to Langdon that something had been stolen of Leonardo Vetra's, so why Langdon was instructed to look at his face did not make any sense to him. When Kohler turned over the victim's head, Landon jumped back in shock noticing what had been stolen. Staring up at Landon was a bloody face with one eye gouged out.

The two men rushed out of the study in a hurry to go meet Vittoria Vetra, discussing the Illuminati brotherhood and whether or not it could be resurfacing. Langdon was now undecided about the matter, and had no idea what to make of it anymore. Langdon states that he stays with his original thoughts that this is not the work of the Illuminati, because they were not people of random mutilation, but everything they did, they did for a purpose. Langdon thought that the removal of the eyeball served no purpose at all, and therefore, this could not be the works of the brotherhood. When Kohler heard this he disagreed, and assured Langdon that the removal of the eyeball did indeed serve a purpose, and a very important one at that.



Just as the two men were discussing this on there way down to meet Vittoria, they saw the helicopter landing. When Vittoria jumped out of the helicopter to meet the two men, Kohler greeted her, and she introduced herself to Langdon. Kohler explained to her that he is a specialist from the United States and that he is there to help to find out who has done this to her father. When Vittoria asks about the police Kohler says nothing, and she demands to see her fathers body. Kohler said to her, "your father was brutally murdered. You would be better to remember him as he was" Vittoria begins to say something but is interrupted by other scientists at CERN greeting her. Vittoria realizes by their positvity that nobody there knows about the death of her father, and is outraged at finding this out. Kohler explains to her that they cannot tell people yet for privacy issues, and for the safety of Vittoria and her fathers secret experiment. Kohler tells Vittoria that he needs to know what she and her father were working on in their lab. When Vittoria hears this she says "The lab is irrelevent. Nobody knew what my father and I were doing. The experiment could not possibly have anything to do with my father's murder." Kohler tells her that evidence would suggest otherwise, and leaves Langdon and Vittoria questioning what he means by this statement.



As the three of them walked back into the building Langdon wanted to wish Vittoria his sympathy, as he too knew how it felt to lose a parent, but decided against it. As they continued walking, Langdon felt an uneasiness come about him as they went to enter an elevator to the Vetra's subterranean lab.

Section Eight

This section brings a new part of the book once again. In another country was sitting a guard looking at many servalence monitors. As he looked through the screens, he noticed something unusual. As he examined it closer he saw that it was camera #86, but the image was not of the hallway which that camera usually overlooked.