Robert Langdon, #2
The Da Vinci Code
by Dan Brown
Contents
CHAPTER 78
Overview
Sophie opens the first cryptex with SOFIA, but Saunière’s puzzle deepens when the prize inside proves to be a second, smaller black cryptex rather than the final Grail map. The vellum clue redirects Langdon, Sophie, and Teabing toward a knight’s tomb in London, confirming that Teabing’s decision to fly to Britain was correct. At the same time, police are already converging on their destination, raising the danger as the next stage of the search begins.
Summary
Sophie enters the newly discovered password, SOFIA, into the cryptex while Langdon and Teabing watch anxiously. Because a wrong password could break the vinegar vial inside and destroy the hidden message, Sophie pulls the cylinder apart with careful, steady pressure.
The cryptex opens successfully, and Sophie finds a scroll-like wrapping inside. However, the material is vellum rather than papyrus, which makes Sophie realize it is not meant to be dissolved by vinegar. Instead, the vellum is padding around another object.
Sophie unwraps the vellum and reveals a second, smaller cryptex made of black onyx nested inside the first. Langdon interprets the paired white and black cryptexes through Saunière’s symbolic pattern of dualism, seeing another deliberate layer of male-female and paired imagery.
Langdon hears liquid inside the smaller cryptex, confirming that the true vinegar trap remains within it. Teabing then points Langdon to the vellum, which contains another four-line verse. The first line says that in London lies a knight interred by a pope, indicating that they are indeed flying in the right direction and that the next password must be found at a knight’s tomb in London.
Langdon asks Teabing whether he knows the knight’s identity. Teabing does not, but he says he knows exactly which crypt they should search. Meanwhile, ahead of them, Kent police cars race toward Biggin Hill Executive Airport, tightening the pursuit.
Who Appears
- Sophie NeveuOpens the first cryptex and discovers the nested black cryptex inside.
- Robert LangdonInterprets the symbolic dualism and reads the new London-focused clue.
- Leigh TeabingRecognizes the clue confirms London and identifies the crypt to search next.
- Jacques SaunièreAbsent puzzle-maker whose layered design forces the group into another test.
- Kent policeRace toward Biggin Hill Executive Airport, increasing pressure on the fugitives.