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aka: Angels And Demons

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Character page for Dan Brown's literary universe around symbologist Robert Langdon and the Ron Howard film adaptations of it.

The TV series adaptation of The Lost Symbol has its own page.

Beware of spoilers!


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    Robert Langdon 
https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/robertlangdon_7.jpg

Played by: Tom Hanks

Dubbed by: Jean-Philippe Puymartin (European French)

A Harvard professor in symbology. He considers himself agnostic/atheist but is deeply fascinated by religious symbols from an academic point of view. Due to his skills in those academic fields, he finds himself entangled in some far-reaching mysteries and conspiracies.


  • Adventurer Archaeologist: Well, symbologist, but he still fits the "adventurer" and "solving lost ancient secrets" side of things.
  • Badass Bookworm: Robert mostly relies on his brains to get through things, but proves capable of some physical feats from time to time.
  • Claustrophobia: Does not like tight spaces. This is introduced early in the book when he has to step into an elevator and asks to take the stairs. Later, the childhood trauma that led to his claustrophobia is explained.
  • Clear My Name: How the Da Vinci Code plot kicks off, with Fache suspecting him of murder.
  • Informed Ability: 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 Leonardo da Vinci, but he misses the simple "it's written backwards" code, which Leonardo 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.
  • Ivy League for Everyone: Langdon is a professor of Religious Iconology and Symbology at Harvard University. He also graduated from Princeton University, where he played water polo.
  • The Smart Guy: He is a symbologist, which helps a lot when a murder involving a weird symbol happens.
  • Supporting Protagonist: Despite his knowledge of religious symbolism, he's more or less an accessory to Victoria's quest for Revenge.
  • Unfazed Everyman: The world can crumble along him, but he manages to keep his head cold to survive. The only moment he really feels desperate is when the cardinal of "Water" dies.
  • Why Did It Have to Be Snakes?: 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 Angels & Demons and actually faces drowning in tiny space in The Lost Symbol it turns out to be a total liquid ventilation system, but he didn't know that.

The Da Vinci Code

    Sophie Neveu 
https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/sophieneveu.jpg

Played by: Audrey Tautou

A woman working for the Paris police as a cryptologist. She was brought up by her grandfather, SauniĆØre, after her parents died in a car crash. She's been fascinated by cryptology since early childhood, mostly because it was so important to her grandfather. She later had a falling out with him and hasn't been in contact with him for over a decade by the time he is found murdered.


  • Brainy Brunette: In the movie, she's a brunette note  who shows herself to be intelligent and clever throughout the story. An upbringing full of puzzles, courtesy of SauniĆØre, may have sharpened her intellect.
  • Deceased Parents Are the Best: Her parents were killed in an automobile accident when she was a child. Afterwards, Jacques SauniĆØre raised her.
  • Royal Blood: She is a descendant of Jesus of Nazareth and Mary Magdalene. Though not a king in the secular sense, He certainly is religiously, often even referred to as "the King of Kings".

    Silas 
https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/silas_0.jpg

Played by: Paul Bettany

A monk who adheres to a radical form of Catholicism and is a member of Opus Dei. He was born an albino, which led to him being abused by his peers and hated by his own father. He ran away until Bishop Aringarosa took him in and he found faith.


  • Abusive Parents: His father killed his mother when he was young. Consequently, Silas murdered him and ended up on the streets.
  • Black Cloak: Wears one, as a monk.
  • Dies Differently in Adaptation: In the film, he commits Suicide by Cop after accidentally shooting Bishop Aringarosa
  • Even Evil Has Loved Ones: He sees Bishop Aringarosa as a father figure.
  • Freudian Excuse: Everything going wrong in his childhood led to his imprisonment and eventually resulted in his becoming an assassin.
  • Heel Realisation: After shooting Aringarosa by accident, he realises that he has done wrong, carries his father figure to hospital and then dies praying for forgiveness.
  • Hypocrite: He believes himself to be a devout man, but he commits several murders through the movie, in violation of his religion's teachings. Sophie calls him out on his hypocrisy.
    Sophie: You believe in God? Your God doesn't forgive murderers. He burns them.
  • In the Hood: Wears a hooded robe.
  • Knight Templar: Seems to believe that everything he does is just and that his enemies are immoral monsters. He calls himself a "messenger of God" and genuinely believes he is committing murders in God's name.
    Silas: Each breath you take is a sin. No shadow will be safe again, for you will be hunted by angels.
  • Meaningful Name: He doesn't even remember what his actual birth name is by the time Aringarosa takes him in. Aringarosa thus renames him Silas, a name from the bible, of a man whose backstory is similar to his.
  • Only a Flesh Wound: He gets shot in the climax, but keeps fighting and only stops when he accidentally shoots Aringarosa. Deconstructed when he eventually bleeds to death.
  • Pay Evil unto Evil: He killed his emotionally and physically abusive father.
  • Pet the Dog: Years before, he saved Bishop Aringarosa from robbers who were beating him and stealing the church's valuables.
  • Redemption Equals Death: After getting Aringarosa to help in time and praying for forgiveness, he bleeds to death.
  • Self-Harm: Part of how he punishes himself. Complete with an added taste of religious fanaticism.
  • Warrior Monk: Both an assassin and a monk.
  • Well-Intentioned Extremist: Zigzagged between this and Knight Templar. While he believes his actions are just and that his enemies are all wrong, he also hates having to murder people because he knows it's wrong, and only the belief that it's for the good of the church keeps him going.
  • Would Hit a Girl: One of his victims in the book is a woman.

    Sir Leigh Teabing 
https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/teabing.jpg

Played by: Ian McKellen

Dubbed by: Bernard DhƩran (European French)

An affluently rich British aristocrat, living in France, who's obsessed with the legend of the Holy Grail. He's a friend Langdon turns to in his time of need.


  • Affably Evil: All said and done, he actually is a fairly polite gentleman.
  • Big Bad: He's the reason that Silas killed the Priory members and kicked off the plot.
  • The Chessmaster: He played everyone like a fiddle, up to and including his own manservant.
  • Evil Cripple: He walks on crutches and is revealed to be the big bad.
  • Handicapped Badass: Despite suffering from polio, Leigh essentially sucker punches Silas with his crutches.
  • Quintessential British Gentleman: Polite, serves tea and loves his money.
  • Walking Spoiler: The sheer amount of blanked text should be a clue.
  • Well-Intentioned Extremist: His aim was to expose the Church as liars by exposing the truth about the Grail. To that end, he manipulated a man with a Knight Templar assassin at his command.

    Bezu Fache 
https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/bezufache.jpg

Played by: Jean Reno

A Paris police detective trying to solve the murder of SauniĆØre. Since he's convinced Langdon committed the murder, he's determined to catch Langdon. He's also a devout Catholic and a member of Opus Dei.


  • Determinator: With regards to his work. He goes to great lengths pursuing Langdon and Sophie, violating all kinds of police rules. In the movie, he even violently beats up an ATC employee who doesn't help him fast enough.
  • Inspector Javert: To Robert Langdon, who he believes is responsible for the murder.

    Bishop Manuel Aringarosa 
https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/aringarosa.jpg

Played by: Alfred Molina

A Spanish bishop and the head of Opus Dei.


  • Big Bad: The one ordering Silas around and kicking the plot off. Except it's a lie. He was manipulated.
  • Even Evil Has Loved Ones: Years before, he was grateful when Silas saved him from intruders, calling Silas an "angel". Afterwards, he took in Silas, mentored him, and treated him like a son.
  • Large Ham: He's loud and dramatic when making a point. In one scene, he splashes wine on a table in anger.
  • Meaningful Name it means Red Herring- well more accurately "pink herring", but this is Dan Brown...
  • Well-Intentioned Extremist: His aim was to stop anyone finding out about the grail. He wasn't doing this For the Evulz, but genuinely believed it was misinformation that could damage the Church.

    Jacques SauniĆØre 
https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/jacquessaunire.jpg

Played by: Jean-Pierre Marielle

A Frenchman who works at the Louvre Museum and brought up his granddaughter Sophie after her parents died. He also secretly is part of a pagan coven, and leader of the Priory of Sion.


  • Couldn't Find a Pen: Invoked Trope—in his last moments before his death, he writes a message not with a pen, but with a special marker the writings of which only show up in UV light. Justified, as he didn't want just everyone reading that message, but only the Paris police, and specifically his granddaughter Sophie.
  • Dying Clue: He manages to leave a message for his granddaughter Sophie in his dying moments. It tells her to find Robert Langdon note  and helps her find the key and bank account number that lead to the Grail.
  • Parental Substitute: He raised Sophie after her parents' deaths, and he's the only parental figure she knows.
  • Plot-Triggering Death: Because of his death, Langdon and Sophie meet and start finding out his backstory, which sets the plot in motion.
  • Posthumous Character: He is only featured very shortly in the brief first scene of the film / prologue of the book. He's dead throughout the vast majority of the story otherwise, but he still plays an important role, seeing how he set the plot in motion, and he's frequently thought of by Sophie, and we get to know him better, despite him having died already, through Sophie's memories of him.

Angels & Demons

    Maximilian Kohler / Maximilian Richter 
https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/maximilian_kohler_richter.jpg

Played by: Stellan SkarsgƄrd

Dubbed by: Jacques Frantz (European French)


  • Acquitted Too Late: The Camerlengo successfully frames him, which leads to him being killed, but he still managed to secretly record the Camerlengo's Engineered Public Confession to him and gave it to Robert in his last moments, ensuring his innocent post-mortem.
  • Adaptation Name Change: His name is changed to Maximilian Richter for The Film of the Book.
  • Asshole Victim: 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 Big Bad at that time. Downplayed when it's revealed that he's innocent, and he redeems himself (post-mortem) by revealing who the real Big Bad is.
  • Best Friend: 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.
  • Composite Character: 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.
  • The Dreaded: He's one of the most respected and is feared even amongst other members of CERN.
  • Enemy Mine: 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.
  • Handicapped Badass: Being a paralytic stuck in a wheelchair doesn't stop him from being an excellent marksman, and his wheelchair actually comes equipped with a hidden gun.
  • Hollywood Atheist: 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, the priest berates him for not having enough faith. He became very bitter, to say the least.
  • Genius Cripple: 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).
  • Red Baron: His colleagues at CERN nickname him Kƶnig (German for "King") because he acts like a king sitting in an electronic wheelchair.
  • Red Herring: 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 Freudian Excuse.
  • The Stoic: He's described as having an icy demeanor and an emotionless tone of voice.
  • Super Wheelchair: 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 Spy Cam that allows him to record things secretly, which naturally comes in handy when you're dealing with secret conspiracies.

    Vittoria Vetra 
https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/vittoriavetra_8.jpg

Played by: Ayelet Zurer


  • Action Survivor: She manages to use her yoga training to help Robert take down the Hassassin.
  • Alliterative Name: 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".
  • Brainy Brunette: A highly intelligent woman with long dark hair.
  • Daddy's Girl: She was very close with her father, to the point they even worked together in secret on the Antimatter project.
  • Damsel in Distress: Later in the novel, she is kidnapped by the Hassassin, who takes her to his Illuminati hideout where he plans to rape her. However, he gets no further than tying her up and groping her before Langdon arrives to save her. But she actually manages to be a Damsel out of Distress in the end, using her yoga flexibility to escape her restraints while the Hassassin is distracted fighting Langdon, and 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.
  • Flexibility Equals Sex Ability: In the novel, Vittoria openly boasts that the flexibility she acquired as a yoga master makes her a Sex Goddess.
  • Go-Getter Girl: 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.
  • Gratuitous Foreign Language: She often speaks in Italian when upset.
  • Happily Adopted: She was an orphan that got adopted by Leonardo Vetra when she was young, and they lived very happily together.
  • It's All My Fault: 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.
  • It's Personal: In the novel, she has personal enmity with the Hassassin, since he's the one who killed her father, and gets her Revenge by stabbing him in the eye and sending him to a Disney Villain Death.
  • Love Interest: For Robert in the novel, who even ends with a Sexy Discretion Shot. By the next book, it's mentioned they had an Offscreen Breakup and she doesn't appear again as it's common with all of Langdon's love interests. The film omits this aspect entirely.
  • Nerves of Steel: Played With. 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.
  • Ms. Fanservice: The narration constantly drawing attention to the reader about how attractive and sensual she looks, especially frequently describing her toned legs.
  • Not That Kind of Doctor: 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 
  • Omniglot: She has a natural knack for languages, being fluent in English, French, Italian, and Latin.
  • Sequel Non-Entity: Vittoria doesn't appear in The Da Vinci Code—the last time Langdon saw her is mentioned vaguely and that they had an Offscreen Breakup, but after that she's just plain forgotten and is never mentioned in future books.
  • Sex Goddess: She openly boasts that being a yoga master makes her an extraordinary lover and making love with her is described as being "glorious rapture".
  • Unrelated in the Adaptation: In The Film of the Book, 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.
  • What the Hell Is That Accent?: Vittoria in the film (played by Israeli Ayelet Zurer), 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.
  • Wise Beyond Their Years: 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.

    Camerlengo Carlo Ventresca / Patrick McKenna  
https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/camerlengo_patrick_mckenna.jpg

Played by: Ewan McGregor

Dubbed by: Bruno Choƫl (European French)


  • Adaptation Name Change: His name is changed from Camerlengo Carlo Ventresca in the novel to Camerlengo Patrick McKenna in The Film of the Book
  • Badass Long Robe: 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 Italian Wool Satin Faille (which is about one of the most expensive ways to weave merino wool).
  • The Bad Guy Wins:
    • 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, 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.
  • Big Bad: He manages to be this with his incredible capacity for manipulation.
  • Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: 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.
  • Chekhov's Skill: The Camerlengo is trained as a medical helicopter pilot. This comes in handy later, when he disposes of the Antimatter bomb.
  • The Chessmaster: There's no Illumminati. There's only him and the Hassassin, and the Hassassin thinks he's working for the Illumminati.
  • Driven to Suicide:
    • 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 that cause him to perform Self-Immolation.
  • Freudian Excuse: 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.
  • Gambit Roulette:
    • 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 The Film of the Book, where The Plan is 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.
  • Go Mad from the Revelation:Two times, surprisingly so.
    • The first one 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 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.
  • The Heart: If not for the good guys, for the Catholic Church itself as temporary leader of Vatican. He is doing this to divert the attention of himself.
  • Knight Templar: 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.
  • The Messiah: Plays it straight,as weird as it sounds. Turns out he deliberately invoked this on himself to renovate faith on the Church. Talk about being blasphemous.
  • Motive Rant:
    • 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. Subtle, isn't it?
    • 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.
  • Poor Communication Kills: If the poor Camerlengo had really listened to the Pope's full story, none of this would have happened.
  • Race Lift: He's Italian in the book, and, judging by his name, an Irish in the film (his actor is Scottish).
  • Religious Stereotype: He averts this completely, being a kind and respectable member of the Church, and he is such a Hope Bringer that 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.
  • Villain with Good Publicity: He certainly is inspirational.
  • Walking Spoiler: Do you think you know everything about him? Think again.
  • Xanatos Speed Chess: Indicated in the movie when 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.

    The Hassassin/The Hitman 
https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/the_hassassin_3.jpg

Played by: Nikolaj Lie Kaas


  • Adaptational Nice Guy: He is a villain in both the book and the movie, but the book version is an Ax-Crazy Psycho for Hire Politically Incorrect Villain, while the movie version is a Consummate Professional who goes out of his way to avoid harming unarmed non-targets.
  • Bad Habits: The hitman dresses as a priest when dumping a fatally stabbed victim in the middle of St Peter's Square.
  • Consummate Professional: 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.
  • Disney Villain Death: In the book he gets thrown from the top of a castle after receiving an Eye Scream from Vetra, whom he was planning to rape and kill.
  • The Dragon: To Janus, as the guy responsible for disposing of the preferiti.
  • Enemy Mine: 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 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.
  • Even Evil Has Standards: Not present in the book, but it's there in the film. See Consummate Professional 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.
  • Four Eyes, Zero Soul: 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.
  • The Hashshashin: He is a Hashashin, though the book portrays him as a crazed, chaotic Psycho for Hire.
  • He-Man Woman Hater: 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".
  • The Heavy: Since the Big Bad is a Hidden Villain, the Hassassin is the most present antagonist force that Langdon and Vittoria deal with for most of the story.
  • In Name Only: If the hitman didn't fulfill the exact same role of The Hassassin, they wouldn't share a character sheet in first place.
  • I Shall Taunt You: 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.
  • Light Is Not Good: Movie version only, in which he wears white.
  • No Name Given: He remains unnamed both in the book and in the film.
  • One-Man Army: The movie's assassin and the book Hassassin would give the hitman from Collateral a run for his money.
  • Out with a Bang: The Hassassin's final atrocity was to be forcing Vittoria to give him head and slitting her throat as he came. Foiled, thank God.
  • Politically Incorrect Villain: 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.
  • Professional Killer: 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.
  • Punch-Clock Villain: 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.
  • Quick Draw: Part of his shtick in the film.
  • Race Lift: 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.
  • Self-Surgery: 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.
  • Serial Rapist: He sees women as tools for his own pleasure, and has kidnapped and raped several European women just because they defy his worldview.
  • Sex Is Violence: His idea of maximum pleasure in the book? Having sex with a woman and killing her in the moment of orgasm. Urgh.
  • Too Dumb to Live: In the movie, is there anyone who couldn't predict that his car was rigged to explode? Somewhat justified in that, for him, 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.
  • Villainous Valour: 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.
  • Western Terrorists: 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.

Inferno

    Dr. Sienna Brooks 
https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/siennabrooks.jpg

Played by: Felicity Jones

A doctor who helps Langdon escape in Florence, and much more than it appears...


  • Adaptational Dye-Job: Her character is a blonde in the book; even when she's revealed to be currently wearing a wig, it's explicitly told she chose the colour of the wig to match her previous natural hair. However, in the movie she's brunette Felicity Jones, and unlike in the novel, doesn't wear it in a ponytail.
  • All of the Other Reindeer: She never fit in as a child and couldn't get along with other children, even was bullied. Part of the reason she turns out to be a villain.
  • Bald of Evil: Her signature blond note  ponytail is soon revealed to be a wig, as part of her tragic backstory is that she went completely bald in her 20s. As explained in her back-story, the period in her life when she went bald (when she was recovering from an Attempted Rape) also coincides with the moment she went from a lonely, extremely intelligent girl to a bitter Well-Intentioned Extremist, and eventually the (surprise) villain in the story.
  • Dark and Troubled Past: Starts the story as simply a doctor who was a child prodigy, but later is revealed to have had many bad things happen to her. Amongst others: being bullied as a child, suffering major depression both as a child and as an adult, surviving attempted rape, feeling rejected by everyone else her whole life and never having any friends (well except Zobrist, eventually). This past is the reason she turns out to have made a Faceā€“Heel Turn, and is now a villain.
  • Death by Adaptation: She dies in the film, whereas she gets to live in the novel.
  • The Smart Guy: Had an extremely high IQ as a child, and now as an adult, is represented as being even smarter than Harvard professor Robert Langdon.

    Bertrand Zobrist 
https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/zobrist.jpg

Played by: Ben Foster

Dubbed by: Alexandre Gillet (European French)

A billionaire transhumanist scientist who is bent on solving the world's population problem. To accomplish this, he created the eponymous Inferno virus to cause a massive population culling. He dies at the beginning of the story, leaving it to his fanatical accomplices to carry out his nefarious plan.



Alternative Title(s): The Da Vinci Code, Angels And Demons, Inferno 2013, Origin 2017

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