Robert Langdon
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Robert Langdon is a fictional Harvard University professor of religious iconology and Symbology who appeared in the Dan Brown novels Angels and Demons (2000) and The Da Vinci Code (2003). He is scheduled to be the lead character in an upcoming third novel tentatively entitled Widow's Son: The Solomon Key.
Tom Hanks portrayed Robert Langdon in the 2006 film adaptation of The Da Vinci Code.
Little background detail is given by Brown about Robert Langdon. In The Da Vinci Code, he is described as looking like "Harrison Ford in Harris tweed" [1]. He was a diver at Phillips Exeter and in college and played water polo collegiately as well.
Arguably, it is likely proper to attribute Dan Brown's place and date of birth — June 22, 1964 in Exeter, New Hampshire — to his creation.
Robert Langdon was named after John Langdon, a professor of typography at Drexel University who is known for his creation of ambigrams, typographical designs that can be read in multiple ways; for example, both right side up and upside down. An example of Langdon’s ambigrams appeared on the cover of the first edition of Brown’s novel Angels & Demons. 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.”
Drexel’s Langdon also created the logo for the Depository Bank of Zurich, which appears in the movie
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[edit] Background
[edit] Angels and Demons
Robert Langdon is called to CERN headquarters in Switzerland to find out the religious symbological implications of the death of CERN's finest and most well known scientist, Leonardo Vetra. 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 daughter) and they start their journey to the Vatican to unlock the mystery behind the Illuminati, an anti-Christian secret society which, according to the plot, has deeply infiltrated many global institutions, political, economical and religious. Langdon and Vetra solve the mystery of the Illuminati by following the Path of Illumination and in so doing to explain the disappearances of four Cardinals during a papal conclave, the murder of Leonardo Vetra, and the theft of antimatter (a weapon that can be used for mass destruction). At the end of the novel Langdon ends up having a relationship with Vittoria Vetra. This relationship, however, is only mentioned briefly in the Da Vinci Code, mentioning the fact that Langdon had recently felt as though he was drifting apart from Vittoria. In the last few sentences of Angels and Demons, Vittoria Vetra asks him to make love to her.
[edit] The Da Vinci Code
In the beginning of The Da Vinci Code, 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. He spends the rest of the novel dodging the police and trying to solve the mystery of a secret ancient society which was led by Leonardo da Vinci himself, the Priory of Sion. At the end of the novel, Langdon uncovers the mystery behind Mary Magdalene and the Holy Grail.
[edit] Trivia
- The fictional character Robert Langdon attended Phillips Exeter Academy boarding school, the same one that author Dan Brown attended. Another fictional protagonist attended Exeter: Patrick Bateman of American Psycho. He also played water polo at Harvard University.
| Preceded by: David Becker |
Dan Brown Male lead Angels and Demons |
Succeeded by: Michael Tolland |
| Preceded by: Michael Tolland |
Dan Brown Male lead The Da Vinci Code |
Succeeded by: Unknown |
[edit] External links
- [2]Robert Langdon's Website
- Official site of John Langdon, the ambigram artist
[edit] See also
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