Angels and Demons
This article is about the book Angels and Demons; for other meanings, please see the articles on angels and demons.
Angels and Demons (2000) by Dan Brown is the lesser known, first novel in the series, followed by The Da Vinci Code.
Plot
Spoiler warning: Plot or ending details follow.
Angels and Demons features Harvard symbologist Robert Langdon as he tries to stop the Illuminati, a legendary secret society, from destroying the Vatican City with the newly-discovered power of antimatter.
CERN researcher Leonardo Vetra is found murdered in his secured, private quarters at the research facility. On his chest is branded a symbol— the word "Illuminati". After researching the Internet, Director Maximillian Kohler contacts Professor Langdon, who is an expert on the Illuminati and has written a book on the subject, and requests his assistance in uncovering the murderer.
What Langdon discovers at the murder scene frightens him: the symbol appears to be authentic, and the legendary secret society, long thought to be defunct, seems to have resurfaced. The Illuminati has also appropriated CERN's supply of antimatter, the ultimate weapon, and have their sights on fulfilling a centuries-old dream: to destroy Vatican City.
Time runs short as Langdon and Vetra's adopted daughter, Vittoria, race to stop not only the Vatican's destruction, but to save the life of four cardinals who have been kidnapped by a deadly assassin.
Comparisons to The Da Vinci Code
Spoiler warning: Plot or ending details follow.
The Da Vinci Code is undoubtedly Dan Brown's breakthrough novel. However, upon close examination, there are founded allegations that The Da Vinci Code was largely based off Angels and Demons. Similarities between the two books include the following:
- The male protagonist, Robert Langdon, unravels a trail of mystical, ancient clues which leads to his discovering the truth about a legendary, secret society and its relationship to the Vatican.
- A prologue depicts the assassination of a murder victim, which results in Langdon having to be awakened by a telephone call by the relevant authorities, asking him to offer his assistance in symbology.
- Events take place during the course of not much more than one day, where Langdon is teamed with a beautiful, highly intelligent woman who is closely related to the murder victim.
- The prominent assassin of the book (i.e. the Hassassin in Angels and Demons and Silas in The Da Vinci Code) commits the murders under the impression that he is doing so for an organisation which is apparently involved in but actually framed for the murders (i.e. the Illuminati in Angels and Demons and Opus Dei in The Da Vinci Codes).
- At one point along the way, Langdon makes a mistake whilst following the trail of clues and is directed to the wrong place.
- The mastermind behind the killings turns out to be a salient figure for most of the book, and supposedly against the motives behind the murders. The camerlengo, for example, is thought to be against the existence of the Illuminati, while Sir Leigh Teabing's motives appear to be parallel to those of the Priory of Sion.
- Langdon and the female protagonist end the story with the implication of a sexual relationship.
Main characters
- Robert Langdon: Protagonist, symbologist.
- Vittoria Vetra: CERN physicist.
- Leonardo Vetra: Murder victim, CERN physicist.
- Maximillian Kohler: Director of CERN.
- Commander Olivetti: Head of the Swiss Guard.
- The Hassassin: Killer hired by the Illuminati.
- Carlo Ventresca: Camerlengo (Papal Chamberlain).
- Saverio Cardinal Mortati: Member of the College of Cardinals and participant in the papal election.
- Gunther Glick: BBC reporter.
- Chinita Macri: Glick's videographer.
Facts & Mythology Behind The Book
