Angels & Demons (2000) (edit title/settings)

Ridiculously Simplified Synopsis edit see section history

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Summary edit see section history

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Characters edit see section history

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• Robert Langdon: A professor of symbology at Harvard University and the main protagonist of the novel. He is flown to CERN to help investigate the murder of Leonardo Vetra. He is described as wearing a pair of chino pants, turtleneck, and tweed jacket.
• Leonardo Vetra: A scientist working at CERN and a priest. He is researching on antimatter when he is murdered by the Hassassin. He is also the adoptive father of Vittoria.
• Vittoria Vetra: The adopted daughter of Leonardo Vetra. She, like her father, works with CERN. Her research focuses on biology and physics. She worked with her father in their research of antimatter.
• Camerlengo Carlo Ventresca: The Pope's Camerlengo and the one performing the rites during the conclave. The youngest Camerlengo.
• Cardinal Saverio Mortati: The most senior cardinal in the conclave, and the current Dean of the College of Cardinals. He was the Devil's Advocate for the late pope.
• Maximilian Kohler: Director of CERN has a wheelchair
• Commander Olivetti: Head Officer of the Swiss Guard.
• Cardinal Aldo Baggia: One of the four Preferiti and a cardinal from Milan, Italy and the favorite to succeed as the new pope.
• Bob Brownell: A physicist at Cambridge.
• Lieutenant Carlo Ventresca: Vatican Swiss Guard.
• Chinita Macri: Camerawoman, BBC. contacted by the Hassassin regarding the events happening in the Vatican.
• Captain Elias Rocher: The second in command after Commander Olivetti. He is contacted by Max Kohler telling his knowledge on the real cause of the events. He is killed by Lt. Chartrand, who was under the impression that Rocher was an Illuminatus.
• Sister Francisca: Add a description of this character.
• Galileo Galilei: Astronomer who was severely punished for implying that God had placed mankind somewhere other than the center of His universe.
• Georges Charpak: Inventor of the multiwire proportional chamber.
• Gunther Glick: Journalist for BBC. Contacted by the Hassassin regarding the events happening in the Vatican.
• Henry Wallace: VP who chose the design for the Great Seal.
• Janus: Name used by the person who hired the killer
• Kelly Horan-Jones: MSNBC news reporter.
• Sylvie Baudeloque: Secretary to Maximilian Kohler of CERN.
• Hassassin: Killer Hired by Janus.
• Lieutenant Chartrand: A young Swiss Guard.
• Cardinal Ebner: One of the four Preferiti and a cardinal from Frankfurt, Germany.
• Cardinal Lamasse: One of the four Preferiti and a cardinal from Paris, France.
• Cardinal Guidera: One of the four Preferiti and a cardinal from Barcelona, Spain.

Quotes edit see section history

• “Leading us from temptation.”

  Camerlengo Carlo Ventresca

• “One does not need to have cancer to analyze its symptoms.”

  Maximillian Kohler

• “Science seems irrelevant. Science can heal or science can kill. It depends on the soul of the man using the science. It is that soul that interests me.”

  Camerlengo Carlo Ventresca

• “A promise to God is the most important promise of all. Never break a promise to God.”

  Camerlengo Carlo Ventresca

• “Tonight we change the world.”

  Camerlengo Carlo Ventresca

• “Who is the God who offers his people power but no moral framework to tell you how to use that power? What kind of God gives a child fire but does not warn the child of its dangers?”

  Camerlengo Carlo Ventresca

• “"Science and religion are not at odds. Science is simply too young to understand."”

  Leonardo Vetra

• “Have we become so spiritually bankrupt that we would rather believe in mathematical impossibility than in a power greater than us?”

  Camerlengo Carlo Ventresca

• ““Whether or not you believe in God, you must believe this: when we as a species abandon our trust in a power greater than us, we abandon our sense of accountability. Faiths … all faiths … are admonitions that there is something we cannot understand, something to which we are accountable. With faith we are accountable to each other, to ourselves, and to a higher truth."”

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• “Science tells me God must exist. My mind tells me I will never understand God. And my heart tells me I am not meant to.”

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• “Religion is like language or dress. We gravitate toward the practices with which we were raised. In the end, though, we are all proclaiming the same thing. That life has meaning. That we are grateful for the power that created us.”

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• Remembrance was a Buddhist philosopher’s trick. Rather than asking her mind to search for a solution to a potentially impossible challenge, Vittoria asked her mind simply to remember it. The presupposition that one once knew the answer created the mindset that the answer must exist . . . thus eliminating the crippling conception of hopelessness.

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• “Sometimes, divine revelation simply means adjusting your brain to hear what your heart already knows.”

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• Faith is universal. Our specific methods for understanding it are arbitrary. Some of us pray to Jesus, some of us go to Mecca, some of us study subatomic particles. In the end we are all just searching for truth, that which is greater than ourselves.”

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• Each of us is a God, Buddha had said. Each of us knows all.We need only open our minds to hear our own wisdom.

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• “Concisely put. Quite simply, the goal of terrorism is to create terror and fear. Fear undermines faith in the establishment. It weakens the enemy from within . . . causing unrest in the masses. Write this down. Terrorism is not an expression of rage. Terrorism is a political weapon. Remove a government’s façade of infallibility, and you remove its people’s faith.”

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• “Mr. Langdon, I did not ask if you believe what man says about God. I asked if you believed in God. There is a difference. Holy scripture is stories . . . legends and history of man’s quest to understand his own need for meaning. I am not asking you to pass judgment on literature. I am asking if you believe in God. When you lie out under the stars, do you sense the divine? Do you feel in your gut that you are staring up at the work of God’s hand?”

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• SCIENCE AND RELIGION ARE NOT AT ODDS. SCIENCE IS SIMPLY TOO YOUNG TO UNDERSTAND.

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• ekuaba from Ghana, a gold cross from Spain, a cycladic idol from the Aegean, and even a rare woven boccus from Borneo, a young warrior’s symbol of perpetual youth.

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Setting & Locations edit see section history

• Vatican City: Religious place for Catholics, home to St. Peter's Square and the Vatican Archives.
• Rome: Capital of Italy
• CERN: Scientific reserch lab in Europe

Organizations edit see section history

• The Illuminati: An ancient secret organization run by scientists, including Galileo and Bertolli. The Catholic church banned them because of their radical thoughts about religion and science. To find their secret lair people need to follow the clues and find the four churches of illumination, technically the "Path of Illumination."
• The Opus Dei: Opus Dei, formally known as The Prelature of the Holy Cross and Opus Dei is an organization of the Catholic Church that teaches that everyone is called to holiness and that ordinary life is a path to sanctity. The majority of its membership are lay people, with secular priests under the governance of a prelate (bishop) appointed by the pope.
• CERN: A scientific organisation based in Europe.

First Sentence edit see section history

Table of Contents edit see section history

Glossary edit see section history

• Antimatter: the most powerful energy source known to man.
• Ambigram: a typographical design or artform that can be read as one or more words not only in its form as presented, but also from another viewpoint, direction, or orientation.

Themes & Symbolism edit see section history

• Chalice: Religious symbolism.
• Opposites: Science vs. Religion, matter vs. anti-matter.

Series & Lists edit see section history

Followed by The Da Vinci Code.

Preceded by To Kill a Mockingbird, and followed by The Alchemist.

Preceded by The Clan of the Cave Bear, and followed by Little Vampire Women.

Preceded by Glorious Appearing, and followed by State of Fear.

Preceded by To Kill a Mockingbird, and followed by The Alchemist.

Preceded by The Alchemist, and followed by To Kill a Mockingbird.

Preceded by To Kill a Mockingbird, and followed by The Alchemist.

Preceded by Jurassic Park, and followed by A Time to Kill.

Authors & Contributors edit see section history

1. Dan Brown (Author)

First Edition edit see section history

Classification edit see section history

• Library of Congress: PS3552.R685434 A82
• Dewey: 813.54

Notes for Parents edit see section history

Lots of complex ideas and some gruesome scenes. Suitable for adults and mature teenagers

Subjects edit see section history

• Books › Mystery & Thrillers › Authors, A-Z › ( B ) › Brown, Dan
• Books › Mystery & Thrillers › Thrillers › Suspense
• Books › Literature & Fiction › World Literature › United States
• Books › Literature & Fiction › Genre Fiction › Action & Adventure
• Books › Literature & Fiction › Contemporary
• Books › Mystery & Thrillers › Mystery
• Books › Literature & Fiction › Genre Fiction › Men's Adventure

Links to Supplemental Material edit see section history

• The Official Website of Bestselling Author Dan Brown

Movie Connections edit see section history

• Angels & Demons (IMDb): 2009

More Books Like This edit see section history

Books with Additional Background Information edit see section history

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