History Characters / AngelsAndDemons

Characters from the novel and [[TheFilmOfTheBook film adaptation]] of ''Literature/AngelsAndDemons''.

[[foldercontrol]]

[[folder:Robert Langdon]]
!!Robert Langdon
[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/robert_langdon.jpg]]
!!!'''Played by:''' Creator/TomHanks
!!!'''Dubbed by:''' Creator/JeanPhilippePuymartin (European French)

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* {{Claustrophobia}}: Not completely explained in this book[[note]]The backstory that led to this is explained in The Da Vinci Code though, both book and film[[/note]], but closed spaces are not his style.[[spoiler: We are informed of this when he gets locked in a library with a limited supply of air. He still manages to keep his cool to escape, thankfully.]]
* InformedAbility: Langdon is supposedly a Harvard professor of "symbology" (the closest real-life discipline is ''semiotics'', a subfield of linguistics and anthropology) and expert in religions. However, in ''Angels'', he mistranslates "Novus Ordo Seclorum" as "New Secular Order", when any high school Latin student would know that it means "New Order of the Ages". This guy is supposed to be this huge expert on da Vinci, but he misses the simple "it's written backwards" code, which da Vinci famously used in all of his personal notes. As a supposed scholar of European history, his inability to read Latin, French, or Italian makes doing first-hand research difficult.
%%* InsufferableGenius
* IvyLeagueForEveryone: Langdon is a professor of Religious Iconology and Symbology at Harvard University. He also graduated from Princeton University, where he played water polo.
* TheSmartGuy: He is a symbologist, which helps a lot when a murder involving a weird symbol happens.
* SupportingProtagonist: Despite his knowledge of religious symbolism, he's more or less an accessory to Victoria's quest for {{Revenge}}.
* UnfazedEveryman: The world can crumble along him, but he manages to keep his head cold to survive. The only moment he really feels desperate is [[spoiler:when the cardinal of "Water" dies.]]
* WhyDidItHaveToBeSnakes: Langdon is severely claustrophobic as a result of almost drowning in a well as a child. He regularly has to enter confined spaces in the novels, including being imprisoned in a coffin in ''Literature/AngelsAndDemons'' and actually faces drowning in tiny space in ''Literature/TheLostSymbol'' [[spoiler: it turns out to be a total liquid ventilation system, but he didn't know that]].
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Maximilian Kohler / Maximilian Richter]]
!!Maximilian Kohler / Maximilian Richter
[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/angels13x.jpg]]
!!!'''Played by:''' Creator/StellanSkarsgard

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* AcquittedTooLate: [[spoiler:The Camerlengo successfully frames him, which leads to him being killed, but he still managed to secretly record the Camerlengo's EngineeredPublicConfession to him and gave it to Robert in his last moments, ensuring his innocent post-mortem]].
* AdaptationNameChange: His name is changed to Maximilian Richter for TheFilmOfTheBook.
* AssholeVictim: He acts like a {{Jerkass}}, so much that his colleagues fear and hate him; and at the moment of his death, his death seems even more satisfying because he appears to be the BigBad at that time. Downplayed when it's revealed [[spoiler:that he's innocent, and he redeems himself (post-mortem) by revealing who the ''real'' BigBad is.]]
* BestFriend: He's best friends with Leonardo Vetra, who is ironically a priest. He's the one who finds Leonardo's body and contacts Robert to bring his friend to justice.
* CompositeCharacter: His character in the film is merged with Commander Olivetti and Captain Rocher, being the Swiss captain of the Guard instead of the director of CERN.
* TheDreaded: He's one of the most respected and is feared even amongst other members of CERN.
* EnemyMine: Thanks to his past, he has nothing but hate and disgust for everything religious. But he can't just let people die as a result of a terrorist attack.
* HandicappedBadass: Being a paralytic stuck in a wheelchair doesn't stop him from being an excellent marksman, and his wheelchair actually comes equipped with a [[HiddenWeapons hidden gun]].
* HollywoodAtheist: Kohler's reason for being an atheist was that his parents, instead of getting him the right medicine for a crippling, life-threatening illness when was young, decided to pray over him. He only survived because a doctor injected him with the medicine without his parents' knowledge. The whole ordeal left Kohler paraplegic. To top it all off, when his parents took him to a Priest to ask why their son is crippled, ''[[KickTheDog the priest berates him for not having enough faith.]]'' He became very bitter, to say the least.
* GeniusCripple: Kohler is a brilliant scientist and director of the CERN facility, while also being stuck in a (highly modern) wheelchair.
* {{Jerkass}}: Has such a, to put it mildly, short temper that he's hated and feared amongst his colleagues. He also acts like a jerk towards everyone from the Vatican (though that's also explained by his rabid atheism stemming from a childhood trauma).
* RedBaron: His colleagues at CERN nickname him ''König'' (German for "King") because he acts like a king sitting in an electronic wheelchair.
* RedHerring: [[spoiler: The whole chapter before he talks with The Camerlengo hints that he's the Illuminati leader. Turns out his aggressive thoughts towards the church are the result of a FreudianExcuse.]]
* TheStoic: He's described as having an icy demeanor and an emotionless tone of voice.
* SuperWheelChair: His wheelchair is equipped with all sorts of electronic gadgets such as a computer, telephone, pager and even a hidden gun. Most notably it also has a hidden SpyCam that allows him to record things secretly, which naturally comes in handy when you're dealing with secret conspiracies.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Vittoria Vetra]]
!!Vittoria Vetra
[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/vittoria_vetra.jpg]]
!!!'''Played by:''' Creator/AyeletZurer

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* ActionSurvivor: She manages to use her yoga training to help Robert take down the Hassassin.
* AlliterativeName: After her adoption by Mr. Vetra, since she already had the first name of Vittoria, her first and last name both start with a "V".
* BrainyBrunette: A highly intelligent woman with long dark hair.
* DaddysGirl: She was very close with her father, to the point they even worked together in secret on the {{Antimatter}} project.
* DamselInDistress: Later in the novel, she is kidnapped by the Hassassin, who takes her to his Illuminati hideout where [[IHaveYouNowMyPretty he plans to rape her]]. However, he gets [[NearRapeExperience no further than tying her up and groping her]] before Langdon arrives to save her. But she actually manages to be a DamselOutOfDistress in the end, using her yoga flexibility to escape her restraints while the Hassassin is distracted fighting Langdon, and [RescueReversal ultimately saving Langdon by taking out the Hassassin]].
* {{Deuteragonist}}: She assists Langdon for most of the book, and is the one who actually has personal stakes in the plot, given her father got murdered and she was the scientist working on the {{Antimatter}} project.
* FlexibilityEqualsSexAbility: In the novel, Vittoria openly boasts that the flexibility she acquired as a yoga master makes her a SexGoddess.
* GoGetterGirl: Has always strived to better herself, both intellectually and physically, being a strict vegetarian, a guru in Hatha yoga, and devoting her scientific career to creating a clean energy source.
* GratuitousForeignLanguage: She often speaks in Italian when upset.
* HappilyAdopted: She was an orphan that got adopted by Leonardo Vetra when she was young, and they lived very happily together.
* HotScientist:
** In the book, her khaki shorts, and [[ShesGotLegs exposed legs]], cause the [[PleasePutSomeClothesOn expected reactions you would see from members of the conservative Vatican]]. Also, Langdon's first thought upon first seeing her is that she's [[HeadTurningBeauty much more attractive than he would have imagined]]. And the book makes a point of how smart of a physicist she is.
** In the movie, {{downplayed|Trope}} as [[TamerAndChaster she's dressed very formally]] and Langdon doesn't express romantic interest in her... but, well, she's played by the attractive Creator/AyeletZurer.
* ItsAllMyFault: She feels responsible for her father's death as she was the one who convinced her father to create the {{Antimatter}} specimen that got him killed.
* ItsPersonal: In the novel, she has personal enmity with [[ItsPersonalWithTheDragon the Hassassin]], since [[YouKilledMyFather he's the one who killed her father]], and gets her {{Revenge}} by [[EyeScream stabbing him in the eye]] and sending him to a DisneyVillainDeath.
* LoveInterest: For Robert in the novel, who even ends with a SexyDiscretionShot. By the next book, it's mentioned they had an OffscreenBreakup and she doesn't appear again as it's [[GirlOfTheWeek common with all of Langdon's love interests]]. The film omits this aspect entirely.
* NervesOfSteel: PlayedWith. While her father's death has greatly shook her, she uses some breathing techniques to quickly get her emotions under control, which Robert describes as quite a sudden transformation.
* MsFanservice: [[MaleGaze The narration]] constantly drawing attention to the reader about how attractive and sensual she looks, especially frequently describing [[ShesGotLegs her toned legs]].
* NotThatKindOfDoctor: Dr. Vittoria Vetra is a physicist who knows more about medicine and poisons than physics. She knows the medical symptoms of the Pope's poisoning but needs Langdon to explain to her that a low-oxygen environment can cause light-headedness. [[note]]{{Justified|Trope}} in the book because she's worked as a marine biologist in the past and dealt with whales who have been poisoned with the same drug as the Pope had been poisoned with and both exhibited the same symptoms.[[/note]]
* {{Omniglot}}: She has a natural knack for languages, being fluent in English, French, Italian, and Latin.
* SequelNonEntity: Vittoria doesn't appear in ''Literature/TheDaVinciCode''--the last time Langdon saw her is mentioned vaguely and that they had an OffscreenBreakup, but after that she's just plain forgotten and is never mentioned in future books.
* SexGoddess: She openly boasts that [[FlexibilityEqualsSexAbility being a yoga master]] makes her an extraordinary lover and making love with her is described as being "glorious rapture".
* UnrelatedInTheAdaptation: In TheFilmOfTheBook, she's no longer Leonardo's daughter (who is actually named Silvano Bentivoglio in the adaptation) but still worked alongside him on the {{Antimatter}} research.
* WhatTheHellIsThatAccent: Vittoria in the film (played by Israeli Creator/AyeletZurer), when speaking in English, has an accent that wanders from American to British to Italian and from there halfway around Europe. Ayelet Zurer stated that she wanted the character to seem international, and given that she's an Italian citizen who works in Geneva and is shown speaking Italian, French, and English and reading Latin, it's somewhat justified.
* WiseBeyondTheirYears: She was very smart and mature when she was young, which is what got her Leonardo's attention and eventually got her adopted by him.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:The Camerlengo]]
!!Camerlengo Carlo Ventresca / Camerlengo Patrick [=McKenna=]
[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/camerlengo.jpg]]
!!!'''Played by:''' Creator/EwanMcGregor

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* AdaptationNameChange: His name is changed from Camerlengo Carlo Ventresca in the novel to Camerlengo Patrick [=McKenna=] in TheFilmOfTheBook
* BadassLongRobe: The Camerlengo in the movie, those are some ''banging'' priest robes. Behind-the-scenes material states that they wanted to somehow emphasize his authority despite being just a simple priest, so they went with [[https://www.bandjfabrics.com/fabric/italian-wool-satin-faille-black Italian Wool Satin Faille (which is about one of the most expensive ways to weave merino wool)]].
* TheBadGuyWins:
** [[spoiler: Sure, he didn't plan on dying in the process, but the Camerlengo does manage to achieve pretty much all his primary objectives. He successfully jump-starts a worldwide renewal of faith in Christianity's power, while simultaneously causing popular distrust of the scientific community. In the book, as far as the masses are concerned, he even goes down in history as miraculously ascending to Heaven. And Langdon and Vittoria can never tell the world the Illuminati were a sham and the entire drama was a dog-and-pony show by the Camerlengo, because disillusioning the people just as they've had their faith restored would do more harm than good.]]
** The movie sidesteps this one, [[spoiler:Langdon manages to save Baggia, who later becomes pope under the name Luke (after the physician and evangelist). The movie manages to have it both ways, a pro-science pope and the renewal of faith.]]
* BigBad: [[spoiler: He manages to be this with his incredible capacity for manipulation.]]
* BitchInSheepsClothing: [[spoiler:''God damn''. The trope should be renamed The Camerlengo. He would have played everyone for fools if Kohler (Richter in the movie) hadn't been recording their conversation.]]
* ChekhovsSkill: The Camerlengo is trained as a medical helicopter pilot. [[spoiler:This comes in handy later, when he disposes of the {{Antimatter}} bomb.]]
* TheChessmaster: [[spoiler:There's no Illumminati. There's only him and the Hassassin, and the Hassassin thinks he's working for the Illumminati.]]
* DrivenToSuicide:
** In the book, [[spoiler:when he discovers that ''he'' is the Pope's son.]]
** In the film, [[spoiler:it's the failure of his plan and his near-arrest inside the Vatican that cause him to perform SelfImmolation]].
* FreudianExcuse: [[spoiler:{{Averted|Trope}} with his mother's death as the result of a terrorist attack. What truly sets him in the path of unspeakable evil is discovering that the Pope had a son(that to his own horror is him) and the discovery of Vetra that launched him on a crusade to make science look evil and religion good.]]
* GambitRoulette:
** [[spoiler:The plan depends on the Camerlengo being NOT seen by Langdon and getting to the {{Antimatter}}, which he placed on Saint Peter's catacomb, on time. Needless to say, he's spotted by Langdon, and was interrogated by Kohler (who caught the whole thing on tape) before Kohler was shot.]]
** It's Even less plausible in TheFilmOfTheBook, where ThePlan is [[spoiler:for ''Langdon'' to find the {{Antimatter}} mere minutes before it detonates. A few minutes too soon, and the bomb is easily defused. A minute too late, and St. Peter's is destroyed, along with the Camerlengo. And that's just the most obvious flaw in the hilariously roundabout plan. Spotting the rest makes for one Hell of a drinking game.]]
%%* GenghisGambit: [[spoiler:What the Camerlengo does in the movie with the Illuminati.]]
* GoMadFromTheRevelation:''Two times'', surprisingly so.
** The first one [[spoiler:happens when the Pope reveals to the Camerlengo that science allowed him to have a son. Cue murder and conspiracy.]]
** The second one makes The Camerlengo [[spoiler: go a little whacked at having found out the Pope's innocent of his accusation of breaking the vow of celibacy ''and'' is his father.]]
* TheHeart: If not for the good guys, for the Catholic Church itself as temporary leader of Vatican.[[spoiler: He is doing this to divert the attention of himself.]]
* KnightTemplar: [[spoiler:He believes his actions will at the same time save the Catholic Church and at the very least prejudice the image of science on the public.]]
* TheMessiah: Plays it straight,as weird as it sounds.[[spoiler: Turns out he deliberately invoked this on himself to renovate faith on the Church. Talk about being blasphemous.]]
* MotiveRant:
** In the film, the Camerlengo gets one to the Cardinals about how the Church is just trying to be a beacon of salvation and solidarity in a world growing increasingly amoral under the influence of technology, and that world outside needs to realize the Church for this and not see them as some sort of archaic cult. [[spoiler:[[BitchInSheepsClothing Subtle, isn't it?]]]]
** [[spoiler: And another one in the movie when he's confronted by Richter. By the Camerlengo's twisted morality, science shouldn't be allowed to prove the God Particle's existence and "reinvidicate the miracle from creation from God", which makes his previous speech to the cardinals even more bullshit. In both cases, he's basically spouting that science should only be allowed to work under religion's thrall.]]
* PoorCommunicationKills: [[spoiler:If the poor Camerlengo had ''really listened'' to the Pope's full story, none of this would have happened.]]
* RaceLift: He's Italian in the book, and, judging by his name, an Irish in the film (his actor is Scottish).
* ReligiousStereotype: He averts this completely, being a kind and respectable member of the Church, and he is such a HopeBringer that [[spoiler:the cardinals even think of making him Pope, and in fact do it through proclamation. Then he plays it so straight that it makes the Hassassin look moderate.]]
* VillainWithGoodPublicity: [[spoiler:He certainly is inspirational.]]
* WalkingSpoiler: Do you think you know everything about him? Think again.
%%* WellIntentionedExtremist: [[spoiler:See KnightTemplar.]]
* XanatosSpeedChess: Indicated in the movie when [[spoiler:the Camerlengo says to Richter "I was planning on doing this alone, but perhaps it's better that you're here." Just before branding himself with the upside-down papal symbol.]]
[[/folder]]

[[folder:The Hassassin/The Hitman]]
!!The Hassassin/The Hitman
[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/the_hassassin.jpg]]
!!!'''Played by:''' Creator/NikolajLieKaas

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* AdaptationalNiceGuy: He is a villain in both the book and the movie, but the book version is an AxCrazy PsychoForHire PoliticallyIncorrectVillain, while the movie version is a ConsummateProfessional who goes out of his way to avoid harming unarmed non-targets.
* BadHabits: The hitman dresses as a priest when dumping a fatally stabbed victim in the middle of St Peter's Square.
* ConsummateProfessional: In the movie, he points out that he could have killed the protagonists on several occasions, but didn't as they weren't armed and he hadn't been ordered to.
* DisneyVillainDeath: [[spoiler:In the book he gets thrown from the top of a castle after receiving an EyeScream from Vetra, whom he was planning to rape and kill.]]
* TheDragon: To Janus, as the guy responsible for disposing of the preferiti.
* EnemyMine: He is much of a radical Muslim as you can imagine in the book. He is only fighting for the Illuminati because he sees the Catholic Church as a bigger threat to eliminate. Averted in the movie, where [[spoiler: he's very much aware that he's working for a member of the Catholic Church, as the Church has already hired him to kill people before and doesn't seem to be Muslim, though he mentions having worked for Muslims and Jews as well as Catholics.]]
* EvenEvilHasStandards: Not present in the book, but it's there in the film. See ConsummateProfessional above. If you aren't a threat to him or are not getting in his way, and if he hasn't been paid to kill you, he'll leave you alone even if there's a good chance you could screw things up for him later.
* FourEyesZeroSoul: In the film, the Assassin wears glasses, which give a more "civilized" or intellectual appearance. He's also a (mostly) remorseless, cold-blooded killer for hire.
* TheHashshashin: He ''is'' a Hashashin, though the book portrays him as a crazed, chaotic PsychoForHire.
* HeManWomanHater: In the novel, he's a misogynist who only sees women as "tools of pleasure" and takes a perverse pleasure in breaking those he finds are too "independent".
* TheHeavy: Since the BigBad is a HiddenVillain, the Hassassin is the most present antagonist force that Langdon and Vittoria deal with for most of the story.
* InNameOnly: If the hitman didn't fulfill the exact same role of The Hassassin, they wouldn't share a character sheet in first place.
* IShallTauntYou: Taunt the heroes over the {{Antimatter}} bomb and what will be the effects of the explosion on the financial existence of the Catholic Church around the world, and the fate of the prefertiti, and Vittoria in special over her father.
* LightIsNotGood: Movie version only, in which he wears white.
* OneManArmy: The movie's assassin and the book Hassassin would give the hitman from ''Film/{{Collateral}}'' a run for his money.
* OutWithABang: The Hassassin's ''final'' atrocity was to be [[spoiler:forcing Vittoria to give him head and [[SlashedThroat slitting her throat]] as he came]]. Foiled, thank God.
* PoliticallyIncorrectVillain: The Hassassin in the book is portrayed as a violent misogynist that loves abusing and degrading women - such as one prostitute whom he hired and proceeds to violently abuse that she pretends to pass out just so he'd stop, and he briefly considers offing her mid-coitus. He also refers to Christians as "Crusaders", which is often a disparaging term used by radical Muslims.
* ProfessionalKiller: In the book the Hassassin is, well, a Hassassin, which is equal parts contract killer and religious zealot. In the film, the Hitman seems to be a professional contract killer who specializes in doing wetwork for high-ranking religious figures of many different faiths.
* PunchClockVillain: The hitman in the film. With one exception, he tries to avoid harming anybody except his contracted targets and people directly trying to stop him. In one scene, he has Langdon and Vittoria at gunpoint and tells them that he won't kill them unless they keep interfering.
* QuickDraw: Part of his shtick in the film.
* RaceLift: The assassin, a suave and sophisticated Arabic (and Muslim) Hassassin with an addiction to sadism, killing, and rape in the book, was changed into a European professional with some mercy and honor who is only in it for the money in the film, probably because the political climate had changed between the 2000 book and 2009 film.
* SelfSurgery: The hitman treats a gunshot wound in the back of a van, while monologuing to a victim he's got trussed up in a sack.
* SerialRapist: He sees women as tools for his own pleasure, and has kidnapped and raped several European women just because they defy his worldview.
* SexIsViolence: His idea of maximum pleasure in the book? Having sex with a woman and [[OutWithABang killing her in the moment of orgasm]]. Urgh.
* TooDumbToLive: In the movie, [[spoiler: is there anyone who ''couldn't'' predict that his car was rigged to explode?]] Somewhat justified in that, for him, [[ButForMeItWasTuesday the day's work was just another of many similar jobs he's done in the past]], but for the person who hired him, it was a special conspiracy that required [[HeKnowsTooMuch leaving no witnesses]].
* VillainousValour: In the film, the assassin tells Langdon that while he had multiple opportunities to kill him, he didn't because he's unarmed and it wasn't asked of him.
* WesternTerrorists: The very Middle Eastern character The Hassassin is replaced in the movie by a generic (though very creepy) Caucasian villain for hire in the movie version.
[[/folder]]

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'''Played by:''' Creator/StellanSkarsgard

'''Played by:''' Creator/AyeletZurer

'''Played by:''' Creator/EwanMcGregor

'''Played by:''' Creator/NikolajLieKaas

'''Played by:''' Creator/TomHanks
'''Dubbed by:''' Creator/JeanPhilippePuymartin (European French)

** In the book, her [[WhoWearsShortShorts khaki shorts]], and [[ShesGotLegs exposed legs]], cause the [[PleasePutSomeClothesOn expected reactions you would see from members of the conservative Vatican]]. Also, Langdon's first thought upon first seeing her is that she's [[HeadTurningBeauty much more attractive than he would have imagined]]. And the book makes a point of how smart of a physicist she is.

* OutWithABang: The Hassassin's ''final'' atrocity was to be [[spoiler:forcing Vittoria to give him head and [[SlashedThroat slitting her throat]]as he came]]. Foiled, thank God.

* OutWithABang: The Hassassin's ''final'' atrocity was to be [[spoiler:forcing Vittoria to give him head and [[SlashedThroat]] slitting her throat as he came]]. Foiled, thank God.

* OutWithABang: The Hassassin's ''final'' atrocity was to be [[spoiler:forcing Vittoria to give him head and [[SlashedThroat slitting her throat as he came]]. Foiled, thank God.

* InformedAttribute: Langdon is supposedly a Harvard professor of "symbology" (the closest real-life discipline is ''semiotics'', a subfield of linguistics and anthropology) and expert in religions. However, in ''Angels'', he mistranslates "Novus Ordo Seclorum" as "New Secular Order", when any high school Latin student would know that it means "New Order of the Ages". This guy is supposed to be this huge expert on da Vinci, but he misses the simple "it's written backwards" code, which da Vinci famously used in all of his personal notes. As a supposed scholar of European history, his inability to read Latin, French, or Italian makes doing first-hand research difficult.

* TheSmartGuy: He is a symbologist, that helps a lot when a murder involving a weird symbol happens.

* SelfStitching: The hitman treats a gunshot wound in the back of a van, while monologuing to a victim he's got trussed up in a sack.

* DaddysGirl: She was very close with her father, to the point they even worked together in secret on the antimatter project.

* {{Deuteragonist}}: She assists Langdon for most of the book, and is the one who actually has personal stakes in the plot, given her father got murdered and she was the scientist working on the antimatter.

** In the movie, {{downplayed|Trope}} as she's dressed very formally and Langdon doesn't express romantic interest in her... but, well, she's played by the attractive Creator/AyeletZurer.
* ItsAllMyFault: She feels responsible for her father's death as she was the one who convinced her father to create the antimatter specimen that got him killed.
* ItsPersonal: In the novel, she has personal enmity with the Hassassin, since [[YouKilledMyFather he's the one who killed her father]], and gets her {{Revenge}} by ripping out his eyes and sending him to a DisneyVillainDeath.
* LoveInterest: For Robert in the novel, who even ends with a SexyDiscretionShot. By the next book, it's mentioned they had an OffscreenBreakup and she doesn't appear again. The film omits this aspect entirely.

* NotThatKindOfDoctor: Dr. Vittoria Vetra is a physicist who knows more about medicine and poisons than physics. She knows the medical symptoms of the Pope's poisoning but needs Langdon to explain to her that a low-oxygen environment can cause light-headedness. [[note]]Justified in the book because she's worked with whales in the past who have been poisoned with the same drug as the Pope had been poisoned with and both exhibited the same symptoms. [[/note]]

* UnrelatedInTheAdaptation: In TheFilmOfTheBook, she's no longer Leonardo's daughter (who is actually named Silvano Bentivoglio in the adaptation) but still worked alongside him on the antimatter

* AdaptationNameChange: His name is changed from Camerlengo Carlo Ventresca in the novel to Camerlengo Patrick McKenna in TheFilmOfTheBook

* ChekhovsSkill: The Camerlengo is trained as a medical helicopter pilot. [[spoiler:This comes in handy later, when he disposes of the anti-matter bomb.]]

** In the book, when he discovers that ''he'' is the Pope's son.
** In the film, it's the failure of his plan and his near-arrest inside the Vatican.
* FreudianExcuse: [[spoiler:Averted with his mother's death as the result of a terrorist attack. What truly sets him in the path of unspeakable evil is discovering that the Pope had a son(that to his own horror is him) and the discovery of Vetra that launched him on a crusade to make science look evil and religion good.]]

** [[spoiler:The plan depends on the Camerlengo being NOT seen by Langdon and getting to the Anti-Matter, which he placed on Saint Peter's catacomb, on time. Needless to say, he's spotted by Langdon, and was interrogated by Kohler (who caught the whole thing on tape) before Kohler was shot.]]
** It's Even less plausible in TheFilmOfTheBook, where ThePlan is [[spoiler:for ''Langdon'' to find the antimatter mere minutes before it detonates. A few minutes too soon, and the bomb is easily defused. A minute too late, and St. Peter's is destroyed, along with the Camerlengo. And that's just the most obvious flaw in the hilariously roundabout plan. Spotting the rest makes for one Hell of a drinking game.]]

* IShallTauntYou: Taunt the heroes over the antimatter bomb and what will be the effects of the explosion on the financial existence of the Catholic Church around the world, and the fate of the prefertiti, and Vittoria in special over her father.

* TooDumbToLive: In the movie, [[spoiler: is there anyone who ''couldn't'' predict that his car was rigged to explode?]] Somewhat justified in that, for him, [[ButForMeItWasTuesday the day's work was just another of many similar jobs he's done in the past]], but for the person who hired him, it was a special conspiracy that required leaving no witnesses.

!!Kohler
* AssholeVictim: He acts like a jerkass, so much that his colleagues fear and hate him; and at the moment of his death, his death seems even more satisfiying because he appears to be the BigBad at that time. Downplayed when it's revealed that he's innocent, and he redeems himself (post-mortem) by revealing who the ''real'' BigBad is.
* EnemyMine: Thanks to his past, he has nothing but hate and disgust for everything religious. But he can't just let people die as result of a terrorist attack.
* HollywoodAtheist: Kohler's reason for being atheist was that his parents, instead of getting him the right medicine for a crippling, life-threatening illness when was young, decided to pray over him. He only survived because a doctor injected him with the medicine without his parents' knowledge. The whole ordeal left Kohler paraplegic. To top it all off, when his parents took him to a Priest to ask why their son is crippled, ''[[KickTheDog the priest berates him for not having enough faith.]]'' He became very bitter, to say the least.
* {{Jerkass}}: Has such a, to put it mildly, short temper that he's hated and feared amongst his colleagues. He also acts like a jerk towards everyone of the Vatican (though that's also explained by his rabid atheism stemming from a childhood trauma).
* [[spoiler: RedHerring: The whole chapter before he talks with The Camerlengo hints that he's the Illuminati leader. Turns out his aggresive thoughts towards the church are result of a FreudianExcuse.]]

!!The Camerlengo

** [[spoiler: Sure, he didn't plan on dying in the process, but the Camerlengo does manage to achieve pretty much all his primary objectives. He successfully jump-starts a worldwide renewal of faith in Christianity's power, while simultaneously causing popular distrust of the scientific community. In the book, as far as the masses are concerned, he even goes down in history as miraculously ascending to Heaven. And Langdon and Vittoria can never tell the world the Illuminati were a sham and the entire drama was a dog-and-pony show by the Camerlengo, because disllusioning the people just as they've had their faith restored would do more harm than good.]]

* BigBad: [[spoiler:He manages to be this with his incredible capacity for manipulation.]]

* FreudianExcuse: [[spoiler:Averted with his mother's death as the result of an terrorist attack. What truly sets him in the path of unspeakable evil is discovering that the Pope had a son(that to his own horror is him) and the discovery of Vetra that launched him on a crusade to make science look evil and religion good.]]

* GenghisGambit: [[spoiler:What the Camerlengo does in the movie with the Illuminati.]]

* TheMessiah: Plays it straight,as weird as it sounds.[[spoiler: Turns out he deliberately invoked this on himself to renovate faith on the Church. Talk about being blasphemic.]]

* XanatosSpeedChess: Indicated in the movie when [[spoiler:the Camerlengo says to Richter "I was planning on doing this alone, but perhaps it's better that you're here." Just before branding himself with the upside down papal symbol.]]

* AdaptationalNiceGuy: He is an villain in both the book and the movie, but the book version is an AxCrazy PsychoForHire PoliticallyIncorrectVillain, while the movie version is a ConsummateProfessional who goes out of his way to avoid harming unarmed non-targets.
* ConsummateProfessional: In the movie he points out that he could have killed the protagonists on several occasions, but didn't as they weren't armed and he hadn't been ordered to.

* OneManArmy: The movie's assassin and the book Hassasin would give the hitman from ''Film/{{Collateral}}'' a run for his money.
* PoliticallyIncorrectVillain: The Hassassin in the book is portrayed as an violent misogynist that loves abusing and degrading women - such as one prostitute whom he hired and proceeds to violently abuse that she pretends to pass out just so he'd stop, and he briefly considers offing her mid-coitus. He also refers to Christians as "Crusaders", which is often an disparaging term used by radical Muslims.

* SexIsViolence: His idea of maximum pleasure in the book? Having sex with a woman and kill her in the moment of orgasm. Urgh.

!!Vittoria Vetra
* ActionGirl: Her yoga training has...interesting uses in the book.
* AlliterativeName: After her adoption by Mr. Vetra, since she already had the first name of Vittoria, her first and last name both start with a "V".
* HotScientist:
** In the book, her shorts, and exposed legs, cause the expected reactions you would see from members of the conservative Vatican. Also, Langdon's first thought upon first seeing her is that she's much more attractive than he would have imagined. And the book makes a point of how smart of a physicist she is.
** In the movie, downplayed as she's dressed very formal and Langdon doesn't express romantic interest in her... but, well, she's played by the attractive Ayelet Zuhrer.
%%ZCE * ItsPersonal: With the Hassassin.

* YouHaveOutlivedYourUSefulness: He's eliminated by the Camerlengo as soon as he's fulfilled his tasks, presumably so as to leave no living witnesses who may double-cross him.

* AdaptationalNiceGuy: He is an villain in both the book and the movie, but he is so much worse in the former where he is a PoliticallyIncorrectVillain.

%%* DisneyVillainDeath: [[spoiler:In the book.]]

* EnemyMine: He is much of a radical Muslim as you can imagine in the book. He is only fighting for the Illuminati because he sees the Catholic Church as a bigger threat to eliminate. Averted in the movie, where [[spoiler: he's very much aware that he's working for a member of the Catholic Church, as the Church has already hired him to kill people before and doesn't seem to be Muslim.]]

* TooDumbToLive: In the movie, [[spoiler: is there anyone who ''couldn't'' predict that his car was rigged to explode?]]

* EnemyMine: He is much of a radical Muslim as you can imagine in the book. He is only fighting for the Illuminati because he sees the Catholic Church as a bigger threat to eliminate. Averted on the movie, where [[spoiler: he's aware that he's working for a member of the Catholic Church, as the Church has already hired him to kill people before and don't even seems to be Muslim.]]

* EnemyMine: He is much of a radical Muslim as you can imagine in the book. He is only fighting for the Illuminati because he sees the Catholic Church as a bigger threat to eliminate. Averted on the movie, where [[spoiler: he isn't only aware of working for a member of the Catholic Church, as the Church has already hired him to kill people before and don't even seems to be Muslim.]]

* TheDragon: To the unseen Illuminatti.[[spoiler:That by the way, don't exist. He's not aware of this in the book.]]

* TheMessiah: Plays it straight,as weird as it sounds.[[spoiler: Turns out he deliberately invoked this on himself to renovate faith on the Church. Talk about being blasphemic.]]

* EvenEvilHasStandards: Not present in the book, but it's there in the film. See ConsumateProfessional above. If you aren't a threat to him or are not getting in his way, and if he hasn't been paid to kill you, he'll leave you alone even if there's a good chance you could screw things up for him later.

* BadassLongRobe: The Camerlengo in the movie, those are some ''banging'' priest robes. WordOfGod states that they wanted to somehow emphasize his authority despite being a just priest, so they went with [[https://www.bandjfabrics.com/fabric/italian-wool-satin-faille-black Italian Wool Satin Faille (which is about one of the most expensive way to weave wool)]].

* BadassLongcoat: The Camerlengo in the movie, those are some ''banging'' priestly robes.