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[[quoteright:299:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/dbinferno.png]]
->''"There's a switch. If you throw it, half the people on Earth will die. But if you don't, in a hundred years, the human race will be extinct. I gave you a path. The hardest one yet. Only you can finish it. You are humanity's final hope."''
-->-- '''Bertrand Zobrist'''
''Inferno'' (2013) is Creator/DanBrown's sixth published novel and the fourth to star Robert Langdon, the protagonist of ''Literature/AngelsAndDemons'', ''Literature/TheDaVinciCode'', and ''Literature/TheLostSymbol''. As the title suggests, the plot is very heavy on references to Creator/DanteAlighieri's ''Literature/TheDivineComedy''.
Langdon wakes up in a UsefulNotes/{{Floren|ce}}tine hospital with a gunshot wound in the back of his head and a [[AmnesiacHero complete blackout about the last couple of days]], including such important details as who shot him and how he ended up in Italy without any documents in the first place. Before long, [[TheSyndicate the sinister Consortium]]'s hitwoman catches up with the wounded professor, who barely escapes with some help from [[HotScientist Sienna Brooks]], a visiting ER doctor from Britain. Together, they have to uncover the truth about why Langdon is being hunted and what the whole thing has to do with Creator/DanteAlighieri and a prominent biologist who committed suicide a few days earlier in Florence.
Then, in the course of the novel, the entire premise gets turned on its head.
A film of the book, directed by Creator/RonHoward and with Creator/TomHanks reprising his role as Robert Langdon, was released on October 28, 2016. The cast includes Creator/FelicityJones as Sienna Brooks, Creator/IrrfanKhan as Harry "The Provost" Sims, Sidse Babett Knudsen as Dr. Elizabeth Sinskey, Creator/OmarSy as Christophe Bouchard and Creator/BenFoster as Bertrand Zobrist.
'''Spoilers ahead.'''
----
!!Tropes found in the novel:
* ActionizedSequel: The movie features much more action than ''Literature/TheDaVinciCode'' and ''Literature/AngelsAndDemons''.
* AdaptationalBadass: In the books, the Provost is a NonActionGuy that [[spoiler: ''attempts'' but fails to perform a VillainExitStageLeft and gets arrested.]] In the movie, he is a deadly assassin that [[spoiler: dies in the heat of combat.]]
* AdaptationalVillainy:
** Except for Langdon and Sinskey, every character from the book is made significantly more villainous in the film, especially [[spoiler: Sienna, who willingly sacrifices herself to execute Zobrist's scheme rather than finding it monstrous like in the books]].
** Zobrist's plague, rather than being [[spoiler: a SterilityPlague, is strongly implied to actually be a deadly pathogen. Unlike in the book, however, Langdon and the WHO successfully prevent it spreading.]]
** [[GreaterScopeVillain The Consortium]], while still ''specializing'' in [[spoiler: grand-scale deception, is actually not afraid to really eliminate perceived liabilities.]]
* AlasPoorVillain: [[spoiler:Vayentha's]] death becomes this in retrospect, after it's revealed that [[spoiler:she never actually tried to kill Langdon, that Sienna has been the BigBad all along, and that she killed Vayentha mainly to keep Langdon working for the wrong person]]. It's made even worse by the fact that this murder is never brought up again after TheReveal. In the movie, however, [[spoiler:she ''does'' eventually receive the order to kill Langdon]].
* AmnesiacHero: Langdon wakes up in a hospital with a LaserGuidedAmnesia about the last couple of days. [[spoiler:Much later, it is revealed that the trope was specifically {{Invoked|trope}} on him by the provost's men, who drugged him with a substance that wipes a person's short-term memory clean in order to try to gain his trust with an elaborate ruse.]]
* AntiVillain: [[spoiler:Sienna may be the BigBad of the story, but she is clearly against Zobrist's scheme and wants to find his research so that she could destroy it]]. [[AdaptationalVillainy This is averted in the film adaptation]].
* ArtisticLicenseLaw: The movie is set in a world in which the WHO is a combination of the FBI, Interpol, CIA and some private research lab. In reality the WHO is a bureaucratic mess with a laughable budget and little to no influence.
* AttemptedRape: Part of Sienna's BackStory and the reason why she gave up charity work and plunged into her second major bout of depression.
* AuthorFilibuster: Besides the central GreenAesop, there are Robert Langdon rants about [[VanityPublishing e-publishing]], although he later admits there are gems in them.[[note]]Then he makes it ''really'' clear ''Literature/FiftyShadesOfGrey'' is not one of them [[/note]]
* BaldWomen: Sienna is actually wearing a wig because a medical condition cost her most of her natural hair. Helps her and Langdon escape their pursuers later, when she gives him her wig so they look like a young punk girl and an aging [[MetalHead rocker]].
* BigBadFriend: [[spoiler:Sienna is actually one of the people behind the whole Inferno scheme.]]
* BigGood: Dr. Elizabeth Sinskey, chief of the WHO and the woman who appears to Langdon in visions, pleading for his help.
* BookcasePassage: When the Palazzo Vecchio is surrounded by police, Sienna is impressed when Langdon quickly finds a hidden doorway to an escape passage, only for Langdon to point out that it was in the official tour.
* ChildProdigy: Both Sienna and Zobrist were this back in the day.
* CompositeCharacter: In the film, Agent Christoph Bouchard is a composite of Jonathan Ferris and Christoph Bruder. [[spoiler:Unlike his book counterparts, Bouchard does not live.]]
* DeathByAdaptation: The film has a much higher body count than the book, with [[spoiler:Bruder, the Provost, and Sienna herself]] all dead by the film's end.
* DepopulationBomb: The Inferno virus.
* DepravedHomosexual: Subverted. [[spoiler:They make Zobrist look like one briefly. See GenderMisdirection below.]]
* DownerEnding: [[spoiler:Zobrist succeeds in his plan to make one-third of the world's population infertile. Strangely enough, the main characters seem to take the stance that this is not such a bad thing. Granted, they were mentally preparing for a second Black Plague killing billions all around the world, so at least their relief at that moment is understandable. And considering that the alternative to the villain's success was humanity's extinction in about a hundred years, it was not that much of a downer ending, after all. This is averted in in the movie where they do succeed in stopping the plague from unleashing.]]
* DropDeadGorgeous: Averted. [[spoiler:Vayentha's face is shown to have been smashed after her fall, and Sienna is brought out in a body bag -- as she activated a bomb at close range, presumably her body was pulped by the explosion.]]
* EvilutionaryBiologist: Zobrist, who believed humankind cannot evolve without most of its population dead.
* [[invoked]] FakeAmerican: In the film, [[spoiler:the US consulate man turns out to be a Brit working for the Consortium faking an American accent]].
* GenderMisdirection: At least twice:
** [[spoiler:When Agent Brüder reports to "his superior", you assume it's the provost, who is also on the phone around the same time--but it's actually Elizabeth Sinskey, which you are not supposed to learn until much later in the story.]]
** [[spoiler:When "FS-2080", whom you probably identified as Jonathan Ferris, describes "his" first encounter with Zobrist (which results in a supposedly homosexual relationship), it's actually Sienna's memories you are reading.]]
* GoodAllAlong: [[spoiler:Agent Brüder and his team]].
* GreaterScopeVillain: The Consortium are the ones behind the Inferno virus and the employers of Sienna Brooks.
* GreenAesop: Done [[{{Anvilicious}} very blatantly]]. "Overpopulation leads to human extinction" is repeated many times.
* HotScientist: Dr. Sienna Brooks and Dr. Elizabeth Sinskey.
* IncrediblyObviousBomb: The viral containment box in the film takes on the appearance of this trope, with a red bar countdown showing when it's likely to have a containment breach.
* InformedAttractiveness: We are repeatedly told in the book that Dr. Sinskey, [[SilverVixen who's over 60]], is very beautiful.
* LectureAsExposition: In the true Langdon fashion, he uses his PhotographicMemory to recall his own lectures on Dante in search for clues about the Shade's riddle.
* LinkedListClueMethodology: For once in a Dan Brown novel, this is fully justified: [[spoiler:Zobrist never intended to give Sinskey, his perceived ArchNemesis, any chance of stopping his plan by solving his riddles in time--he only wanted to have a last laugh at her attempt, even if he doesn't get to see it. Therefore, he arranged his riddle to be delivered to her by the time the Inferno has long been released into the wild.]]
* MadeOfIron: A gunshot wound to the head stops bothering Langdon (well, except the amnesia part) by the time the anesthetics wear off. [[spoiler:Turns into FridgeBrilliance when it's revealed that he was never shot in the first place and that his wound was actually just a shallow cut inflicted for verisimilitude.]]
* MakeItLookLikeAnAccident: The Provost suggests they wrap matters up by making it look like Langdon was killed in a mugging. [[spoiler:Later Langdon has a front-row seat on the Provost arranging a similar scenario with Agent Bouchard's body.]]
* NoNameGiven: The provost is just... the provost for the entire novel.
* ThePlague: The eponymous Inferno, with parallels constantly being drawn between it and TheBlackDeath. [[spoiler:Or so it appears.]]
* PlagueDoctor: The origins of the plague doctor are discussed, and Zobrist wears the iconic mask in his video message and in the alteration he makes to the ''Map of Hell''.
* PosthumousCharacter: Bertrand Zobrist.
* {{Pride}}: The Shade freely admits to be guilty of it.
* RedHerring: Hoo boy. Dan Brown has really outdone himself on this one.
** The scary biohazard-marked cylinder that Langdon finds on his person? [[spoiler:Actually, its contents aren't dangerous at all; Sinskey just needed to place the object in a secure container before giving it to Langdon.]]
** The Consortium's killer squad that storms Sienna's apartment? [[spoiler:Actually, an emergency response group of the WHO, ostensibly the good guys for whom Langdon was working before his amnesia and who desperately tried to establish contact with him, not to kill him.]] Why did they keep Sinskey locked up and drugged, then? [[spoiler:She has a rare medical condition that required it, and they were just taking care of their boss.]]
** The menacing hitwoman Vayentha who nearly offs Langdon twice? [[spoiler:Actually, the Consortium's specialist on DeathFakedForYou called in to make Langdon believe he is targeted and solve the riddles for the Consortium.]]
** [[spoiler:The poor, unfortunate Dr. Brooks whom Langdon drags into this mess? Actually, a DoubleReverseQuadrupleAgent who dupes Langdon, the Consortium, and eventually the WHO to keep her lover and mentor Zobrist's research out of their hands--and to destroy it herself. Basically, she is the BigBad of the story.]]
** The plague-infected spy who stalks Langdon and Sienna in Florence? [[spoiler:Actually, he is just with the World Health Organization and merely has a bad case of contact allergy that looks like plague symptoms to the uninitiated--oh, wait, that's not true, either...]]
** The mysterious FS-2080 who gains their trust en route to Venice? [[spoiler:Actually, FS-2080 is Sienna herself, see above, while Jonathan Ferris works for the Consortium, and is basically the same guy whom Vayentha "killed" in the hospital earlier.]]
** The sinister [[ThePlague Plague]] that the Consortium's client plans to unleash on the world? [[spoiler:Actually, a "mere" SterilityPlague to control the world's population growth. Also, he is not "planning" it. He already unleashed it [[ThirtyFiveMinutesAgo six days ago]].]]
* ShaggyDogStory: The whole plot of the book involves Langdon trying to follow the clues that the BigBad The Shade intentionally left behind in order to try to prevent ThePlague from being released to the atmosphere, and find the Ground Zero where the pandemic would begin. On the other hand, The WHO is trying to do this very same thing, the Consortium is trying to stop these from finding it, because they work for the "now deceased" BigBad without even knowing a plague was involved, [[spoiler: and Sienna is using everyone to find ThePlague for her own personal plans.]] On a HeelFaceTurn, [[spoiler:The consortium decides to team-up with the WHO when they discover that they were actually helping to produce a global epidemic and a possible genocide, thus making all of their previous efforts of hiding the truth from governmental agencies, useless]]. When they finally find the location a day before the day the plague was supposed to be released, [[spoiler:the BigBad had already released the plague a week before, thus manipulating everyone into a useless journey of chasing their own tails, while the real plague was on its way to infect everyone on Earth.]] Most readers actually believed The Shade would [[spoiler:leave a chance for the heroes of stopping his plans]].
* SheIsNotMyGirlfriend: When Langdon introduces Sienna as his "niece", Marta just smirks and says they're in Italy, [[NotWhatItLooksLike so they don't have to bother with such fictions]]. The two confusedly mumble this trope.
* SilverVixen: Dr. Sinskey is in her sixties and is described repeatedly as very beautiful with her long, overflowing white hair.
* StartsWithASuicide: The prologue concerns the last moments of the Shade's life (actually, [[spoiler:Bertrand Zobrist's]]).
* SterilityPlague: [[spoiler:What the eponymous Inferno actually is: a virus that randomly renders a third of the world's human population infertile.]]
* SuicideAttack: In the film [[spoiler:Sienna tries to activate the bomb that will burst the bag of viral agent with her cellphone, but can't get reception. So she dives into the water and sets it off manually.]]
* TheSyndicate: The provost's Consortium. [[spoiler:It's not so bad, however, since it basically concerns ''deception'' on a grand scale, rather than outright assassinations and other obviously criminal activities.]]
* TitleDrop: The references to Dante's ''Inferno'' are dropped constantly throughout the novel, both literally and metaphorically, but it actually refers to ThePlague about to be unleashed on humanity.
* VanInBlack: In the film the SRS team has this, which initially gives them a villainous appearance, causing Langdon to flee.
* WellIntentionedExtremist: The Shade, a.k.a. [[spoiler:Bertrand Zobrist]]. Even his lover and closest confidante agrees that his methods are monstrous.
* WeNeedADistraction: Langdon fakes a collapse and Sienna asks Bouchard to get some water, so they can slip away.
* WhatHappenedToTheMouse: Before his injury, Langdon had a partner in deciphering the puzzle - one Ignazio Busoni - who sends Langdon a cryptic email, but never appears on-screen, and is effectively forgotten. In the book, it's discovered that he died of a "[[MakeItLookLikeAnAccident heart attack]]" just after sending the email.
* WhiteAndGreyMorality: Apart from [[spoiler:the Consortium, a PunchClockVillain group by itself]], the story really does not have a real bad guy as such. Even [[spoiler:the Shade/Zobrist]] is portrayed as merely a WellIntentionedExtremist--although most of his posthumous characterization comes from his lover and apprentice, whose views are naturally skewed in his favor.
* YouAreTooLate: [[spoiler:Zobrist's SterilityPlague was quietly unleashed in Istanbul a week before the book's events take place (except for the prologue). The much touted date one day after Langdon's awakening is not the day the virus is ''released''--it's the day it finishes spreading and infects every human being on Earth.]]
----
%% Please do not replace or remove without starting a new thread.
%%
[[quoteright:299:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/dbinferno.png]]
->''"There's a switch. If you throw it, half the people on Earth will die. But if you don't, in a hundred years, the human race will be extinct. I gave you a path. The hardest one yet. Only you can finish it. You are humanity's final hope."''
-->-- '''Bertrand Zobrist'''
''Inferno'' (2013) is Creator/DanBrown's sixth published novel and the fourth to star Robert Langdon, the protagonist of ''Literature/AngelsAndDemons'', ''Literature/TheDaVinciCode'', and ''Literature/TheLostSymbol''. As the title suggests, the plot is very heavy on references to Creator/DanteAlighieri's ''Literature/TheDivineComedy''.
Langdon wakes up in a UsefulNotes/{{Floren|ce}}tine hospital with a gunshot wound in the back of his head and a [[AmnesiacHero complete blackout about the last couple of days]], including such important details as who shot him and how he ended up in Italy without any documents in the first place. Before long, [[TheSyndicate the sinister Consortium]]'s hitwoman catches up with the wounded professor, who barely escapes with some help from [[HotScientist Sienna Brooks]], a visiting ER doctor from Britain. Together, they have to uncover the truth about why Langdon is being hunted and what the whole thing has to do with Creator/DanteAlighieri and a prominent biologist who committed suicide a few days earlier in Florence.
Then, in the course of the novel, the entire premise gets turned on its head.
A film of the book, directed by Creator/RonHoward and with Creator/TomHanks reprising his role as Robert Langdon, was released on October 28, 2016. The cast includes Creator/FelicityJones as Sienna Brooks, Creator/IrrfanKhan as Harry "The Provost" Sims, Sidse Babett Knudsen as Dr. Elizabeth Sinskey, Creator/OmarSy as Christophe Bouchard and Creator/BenFoster as Bertrand Zobrist.
'''Spoilers ahead.'''
----
!!Tropes found in the novel:
* ActionizedSequel: The movie features much more action than ''Literature/TheDaVinciCode'' and ''Literature/AngelsAndDemons''.
* AdaptationalBadass: In the books, the Provost is a NonActionGuy that [[spoiler: ''attempts'' but fails to perform a VillainExitStageLeft and gets arrested.]] In the movie, he is a deadly assassin that [[spoiler: dies in the heat of combat.]]
* AdaptationalVillainy:
** Except for Langdon and Sinskey, every character from the book is made significantly more villainous in the film, especially [[spoiler: Sienna, who willingly sacrifices herself to execute Zobrist's scheme rather than finding it monstrous like in the books]].
** Zobrist's plague, rather than being [[spoiler: a SterilityPlague, is strongly implied to actually be a deadly pathogen. Unlike in the book, however, Langdon and the WHO successfully prevent it spreading.]]
** [[GreaterScopeVillain The Consortium]], while still ''specializing'' in [[spoiler: grand-scale deception, is actually not afraid to really eliminate perceived liabilities.]]
* AlasPoorVillain: [[spoiler:Vayentha's]] death becomes this in retrospect, after it's revealed that [[spoiler:she never actually tried to kill Langdon, that Sienna has been the BigBad all along, and that she killed Vayentha mainly to keep Langdon working for the wrong person]]. It's made even worse by the fact that this murder is never brought up again after TheReveal. In the movie, however, [[spoiler:she ''does'' eventually receive the order to kill Langdon]].
* AmnesiacHero: Langdon wakes up in a hospital with a LaserGuidedAmnesia about the last couple of days. [[spoiler:Much later, it is revealed that the trope was specifically {{Invoked|trope}} on him by the provost's men, who drugged him with a substance that wipes a person's short-term memory clean in order to try to gain his trust with an elaborate ruse.]]
* AntiVillain: [[spoiler:Sienna may be the BigBad of the story, but she is clearly against Zobrist's scheme and wants to find his research so that she could destroy it]]. [[AdaptationalVillainy This is averted in the film adaptation]].
* ArtisticLicenseLaw: The movie is set in a world in which the WHO is a combination of the FBI, Interpol, CIA and some private research lab. In reality the WHO is a bureaucratic mess with a laughable budget and little to no influence.
* AttemptedRape: Part of Sienna's BackStory and the reason why she gave up charity work and plunged into her second major bout of depression.
* AuthorFilibuster: Besides the central GreenAesop, there are Robert Langdon rants about [[VanityPublishing e-publishing]], although he later admits there are gems in them.[[note]]Then he makes it ''really'' clear ''Literature/FiftyShadesOfGrey'' is not one of them [[/note]]
* BaldWomen: Sienna is actually wearing a wig because a medical condition cost her most of her natural hair. Helps her and Langdon escape their pursuers later, when she gives him her wig so they look like a young punk girl and an aging [[MetalHead rocker]].
* BigBadFriend: [[spoiler:Sienna is actually one of the people behind the whole Inferno scheme.]]
* BigGood: Dr. Elizabeth Sinskey, chief of the WHO and the woman who appears to Langdon in visions, pleading for his help.
* BookcasePassage: When the Palazzo Vecchio is surrounded by police, Sienna is impressed when Langdon quickly finds a hidden doorway to an escape passage, only for Langdon to point out that it was in the official tour.
* ChildProdigy: Both Sienna and Zobrist were this back in the day.
* CompositeCharacter: In the film, Agent Christoph Bouchard is a composite of Jonathan Ferris and Christoph Bruder. [[spoiler:Unlike his book counterparts, Bouchard does not live.]]
* DeathByAdaptation: The film has a much higher body count than the book, with [[spoiler:Bruder, the Provost, and Sienna herself]] all dead by the film's end.
* DepopulationBomb: The Inferno virus.
* DepravedHomosexual: Subverted. [[spoiler:They make Zobrist look like one briefly. See GenderMisdirection below.]]
* DownerEnding: [[spoiler:Zobrist succeeds in his plan to make one-third of the world's population infertile. Strangely enough, the main characters seem to take the stance that this is not such a bad thing. Granted, they were mentally preparing for a second Black Plague killing billions all around the world, so at least their relief at that moment is understandable. And considering that the alternative to the villain's success was humanity's extinction in about a hundred years, it was not that much of a downer ending, after all. This is averted in in the movie where they do succeed in stopping the plague from unleashing.]]
* DropDeadGorgeous: Averted. [[spoiler:Vayentha's face is shown to have been smashed after her fall, and Sienna is brought out in a body bag -- as she activated a bomb at close range, presumably her body was pulped by the explosion.]]
* EvilutionaryBiologist: Zobrist, who believed humankind cannot evolve without most of its population dead.
* [[invoked]] FakeAmerican: In the film, [[spoiler:the US consulate man turns out to be a Brit working for the Consortium faking an American accent]].
* GenderMisdirection: At least twice:
** [[spoiler:When Agent Brüder reports to "his superior", you assume it's the provost, who is also on the phone around the same time--but it's actually Elizabeth Sinskey, which you are not supposed to learn until much later in the story.]]
** [[spoiler:When "FS-2080", whom you probably identified as Jonathan Ferris, describes "his" first encounter with Zobrist (which results in a supposedly homosexual relationship), it's actually Sienna's memories you are reading.]]
* GoodAllAlong: [[spoiler:Agent Brüder and his team]].
* GreaterScopeVillain: The Consortium are the ones behind the Inferno virus and the employers of Sienna Brooks.
* GreenAesop: Done [[{{Anvilicious}} very blatantly]]. "Overpopulation leads to human extinction" is repeated many times.
* HotScientist: Dr. Sienna Brooks and Dr. Elizabeth Sinskey.
* IncrediblyObviousBomb: The viral containment box in the film takes on the appearance of this trope, with a red bar countdown showing when it's likely to have a containment breach.
* InformedAttractiveness: We are repeatedly told in the book that Dr. Sinskey, [[SilverVixen who's over 60]], is very beautiful.
* LectureAsExposition: In the true Langdon fashion, he uses his PhotographicMemory to recall his own lectures on Dante in search for clues about the Shade's riddle.
* LinkedListClueMethodology: For once in a Dan Brown novel, this is fully justified: [[spoiler:Zobrist never intended to give Sinskey, his perceived ArchNemesis, any chance of stopping his plan by solving his riddles in time--he only wanted to have a last laugh at her attempt, even if he doesn't get to see it. Therefore, he arranged his riddle to be delivered to her by the time the Inferno has long been released into the wild.]]
* MadeOfIron: A gunshot wound to the head stops bothering Langdon (well, except the amnesia part) by the time the anesthetics wear off. [[spoiler:Turns into FridgeBrilliance when it's revealed that he was never shot in the first place and that his wound was actually just a shallow cut inflicted for verisimilitude.]]
* MakeItLookLikeAnAccident: The Provost suggests they wrap matters up by making it look like Langdon was killed in a mugging. [[spoiler:Later Langdon has a front-row seat on the Provost arranging a similar scenario with Agent Bouchard's body.]]
* NoNameGiven: The provost is just... the provost for the entire novel.
* ThePlague: The eponymous Inferno, with parallels constantly being drawn between it and TheBlackDeath. [[spoiler:Or so it appears.]]
* PlagueDoctor: The origins of the plague doctor are discussed, and Zobrist wears the iconic mask in his video message and in the alteration he makes to the ''Map of Hell''.
* PosthumousCharacter: Bertrand Zobrist.
* {{Pride}}: The Shade freely admits to be guilty of it.
* RedHerring: Hoo boy. Dan Brown has really outdone himself on this one.
** The scary biohazard-marked cylinder that Langdon finds on his person? [[spoiler:Actually, its contents aren't dangerous at all; Sinskey just needed to place the object in a secure container before giving it to Langdon.]]
** The Consortium's killer squad that storms Sienna's apartment? [[spoiler:Actually, an emergency response group of the WHO, ostensibly the good guys for whom Langdon was working before his amnesia and who desperately tried to establish contact with him, not to kill him.]] Why did they keep Sinskey locked up and drugged, then? [[spoiler:She has a rare medical condition that required it, and they were just taking care of their boss.]]
** The menacing hitwoman Vayentha who nearly offs Langdon twice? [[spoiler:Actually, the Consortium's specialist on DeathFakedForYou called in to make Langdon believe he is targeted and solve the riddles for the Consortium.]]
** [[spoiler:The poor, unfortunate Dr. Brooks whom Langdon drags into this mess? Actually, a DoubleReverseQuadrupleAgent who dupes Langdon, the Consortium, and eventually the WHO to keep her lover and mentor Zobrist's research out of their hands--and to destroy it herself. Basically, she is the BigBad of the story.]]
** The plague-infected spy who stalks Langdon and Sienna in Florence? [[spoiler:Actually, he is just with the World Health Organization and merely has a bad case of contact allergy that looks like plague symptoms to the uninitiated--oh, wait, that's not true, either...]]
** The mysterious FS-2080 who gains their trust en route to Venice? [[spoiler:Actually, FS-2080 is Sienna herself, see above, while Jonathan Ferris works for the Consortium, and is basically the same guy whom Vayentha "killed" in the hospital earlier.]]
** The sinister [[ThePlague Plague]] that the Consortium's client plans to unleash on the world? [[spoiler:Actually, a "mere" SterilityPlague to control the world's population growth. Also, he is not "planning" it. He already unleashed it [[ThirtyFiveMinutesAgo six days ago]].]]
* ShaggyDogStory: The whole plot of the book involves Langdon trying to follow the clues that the BigBad The Shade intentionally left behind in order to try to prevent ThePlague from being released to the atmosphere, and find the Ground Zero where the pandemic would begin. On the other hand, The WHO is trying to do this very same thing, the Consortium is trying to stop these from finding it, because they work for the "now deceased" BigBad without even knowing a plague was involved, [[spoiler: and Sienna is using everyone to find ThePlague for her own personal plans.]] On a HeelFaceTurn, [[spoiler:The consortium decides to team-up with the WHO when they discover that they were actually helping to produce a global epidemic and a possible genocide, thus making all of their previous efforts of hiding the truth from governmental agencies, useless]]. When they finally find the location a day before the day the plague was supposed to be released, [[spoiler:the BigBad had already released the plague a week before, thus manipulating everyone into a useless journey of chasing their own tails, while the real plague was on its way to infect everyone on Earth.]] Most readers actually believed The Shade would [[spoiler:leave a chance for the heroes of stopping his plans]].
* SheIsNotMyGirlfriend: When Langdon introduces Sienna as his "niece", Marta just smirks and says they're in Italy, [[NotWhatItLooksLike so they don't have to bother with such fictions]]. The two confusedly mumble this trope.
* SilverVixen: Dr. Sinskey is in her sixties and is described repeatedly as very beautiful with her long, overflowing white hair.
* StartsWithASuicide: The prologue concerns the last moments of the Shade's life (actually, [[spoiler:Bertrand Zobrist's]]).
* SterilityPlague: [[spoiler:What the eponymous Inferno actually is: a virus that randomly renders a third of the world's human population infertile.]]
* SuicideAttack: In the film [[spoiler:Sienna tries to activate the bomb that will burst the bag of viral agent with her cellphone, but can't get reception. So she dives into the water and sets it off manually.]]
* TheSyndicate: The provost's Consortium. [[spoiler:It's not so bad, however, since it basically concerns ''deception'' on a grand scale, rather than outright assassinations and other obviously criminal activities.]]
* TitleDrop: The references to Dante's ''Inferno'' are dropped constantly throughout the novel, both literally and metaphorically, but it actually refers to ThePlague about to be unleashed on humanity.
* VanInBlack: In the film the SRS team has this, which initially gives them a villainous appearance, causing Langdon to flee.
* WellIntentionedExtremist: The Shade, a.k.a. [[spoiler:Bertrand Zobrist]]. Even his lover and closest confidante agrees that his methods are monstrous.
* WeNeedADistraction: Langdon fakes a collapse and Sienna asks Bouchard to get some water, so they can slip away.
* WhatHappenedToTheMouse: Before his injury, Langdon had a partner in deciphering the puzzle - one Ignazio Busoni - who sends Langdon a cryptic email, but never appears on-screen, and is effectively forgotten. In the book, it's discovered that he died of a "[[MakeItLookLikeAnAccident heart attack]]" just after sending the email.
* WhiteAndGreyMorality: Apart from [[spoiler:the Consortium, a PunchClockVillain group by itself]], the story really does not have a real bad guy as such. Even [[spoiler:the Shade/Zobrist]] is portrayed as merely a WellIntentionedExtremist--although most of his posthumous characterization comes from his lover and apprentice, whose views are naturally skewed in his favor.
* YouAreTooLate: [[spoiler:Zobrist's SterilityPlague was quietly unleashed in Istanbul a week before the book's events take place (except for the prologue). The much touted date one day after Langdon's awakening is not the day the virus is ''released''--it's the day it finishes spreading and infects every human being on Earth.]]
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[[quoteright:299:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/dbinferno.png]]
->''"There's a switch. If you throw it, half the people on Earth will die. But if you don't, in a hundred years, the human race will be extinct. I gave you a path. The hardest one yet. Only you can finish it. You are humanity's final hope."''
-->-- '''Bertrand Zobrist'''
''Inferno'' (2013) is Creator/DanBrown's sixth published novel and the fourth to star Robert Langdon, the protagonist of ''Literature/AngelsAndDemons'', ''Literature/TheDaVinciCode'', and ''Literature/TheLostSymbol''. As the title suggests, the plot is very heavy on references to Creator/DanteAlighieri's ''Literature/TheDivineComedy''.
Langdon wakes up in a UsefulNotes/{{Floren|ce}}tine hospital with a gunshot wound in the back of his head and a [[AmnesiacHero complete blackout about the last couple of days]], including such important details as who shot him and how he ended up in Italy without any documents in the first place. Before long, [[TheSyndicate the sinister Consortium]]'s hitwoman catches up with the wounded professor, who barely escapes with some help from [[HotScientist Sienna Brooks]], a visiting ER doctor from Britain. Together, they have to uncover the truth about why Langdon is being hunted and what the whole thing has to do with Creator/DanteAlighieri and a prominent biologist who committed suicide a few days earlier in Florence.
Then, in the course of the novel, the entire premise gets turned on its head.
A film of the book, directed by Creator/RonHoward and with Creator/TomHanks reprising his role as Robert Langdon, was released on October 28, 2016. The cast includes Creator/FelicityJones as Sienna Brooks, Creator/IrrfanKhan as Harry "The Provost" Sims, Sidse Babett Knudsen as Dr. Elizabeth Sinskey, Creator/OmarSy as Christophe Bouchard and Creator/BenFoster as Bertrand Zobrist.
'''Spoilers ahead.'''
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!!Tropes found in the novel:
* ActionizedSequel: The movie features much more action than ''Literature/TheDaVinciCode'' and ''Literature/AngelsAndDemons''.
* AdaptationalBadass: In the books, the Provost is a NonActionGuy that [[spoiler: ''attempts'' but fails to perform a VillainExitStageLeft and gets arrested.]] In the movie, he is a deadly assassin that [[spoiler: dies in the heat of combat.]]
* AdaptationalVillainy:
** Except for Langdon and Sinskey, every character from the book is made significantly more villainous in the film, especially [[spoiler: Sienna, who willingly sacrifices herself to execute Zobrist's scheme rather than finding it monstrous like in the books]].
** Zobrist's plague, rather than being [[spoiler: a SterilityPlague, is strongly implied to actually be a deadly pathogen. Unlike in the book, however, Langdon and the WHO successfully prevent it spreading.]]
** [[GreaterScopeVillain The Consortium]], while still ''specializing'' in [[spoiler: grand-scale deception, is actually not afraid to really eliminate perceived liabilities.]]
* AlasPoorVillain: [[spoiler:Vayentha's]] death becomes this in retrospect, after it's revealed that [[spoiler:she never actually tried to kill Langdon, that Sienna has been the BigBad all along, and that she killed Vayentha mainly to keep Langdon working for the wrong person]]. It's made even worse by the fact that this murder is never brought up again after TheReveal. In the movie, however, [[spoiler:she ''does'' eventually receive the order to kill Langdon]].
* AmnesiacHero: Langdon wakes up in a hospital with a LaserGuidedAmnesia about the last couple of days. [[spoiler:Much later, it is revealed that the trope was specifically {{Invoked|trope}} on him by the provost's men, who drugged him with a substance that wipes a person's short-term memory clean in order to try to gain his trust with an elaborate ruse.]]
* AntiVillain: [[spoiler:Sienna may be the BigBad of the story, but she is clearly against Zobrist's scheme and wants to find his research so that she could destroy it]]. [[AdaptationalVillainy This is averted in the film adaptation]].
* ArtisticLicenseLaw: The movie is set in a world in which the WHO is a combination of the FBI, Interpol, CIA and some private research lab. In reality the WHO is a bureaucratic mess with a laughable budget and little to no influence.
* AttemptedRape: Part of Sienna's BackStory and the reason why she gave up charity work and plunged into her second major bout of depression.
* AuthorFilibuster: Besides the central GreenAesop, there are Robert Langdon rants about [[VanityPublishing e-publishing]], although he later admits there are gems in them.[[note]]Then he makes it ''really'' clear ''Literature/FiftyShadesOfGrey'' is not one of them [[/note]]
* BaldWomen: Sienna is actually wearing a wig because a medical condition cost her most of her natural hair. Helps her and Langdon escape their pursuers later, when she gives him her wig so they look like a young punk girl and an aging [[MetalHead rocker]].
* BigBadFriend: [[spoiler:Sienna is actually one of the people behind the whole Inferno scheme.]]
* BigGood: Dr. Elizabeth Sinskey, chief of the WHO and the woman who appears to Langdon in visions, pleading for his help.
* BookcasePassage: When the Palazzo Vecchio is surrounded by police, Sienna is impressed when Langdon quickly finds a hidden doorway to an escape passage, only for Langdon to point out that it was in the official tour.
* ChildProdigy: Both Sienna and Zobrist were this back in the day.
* CompositeCharacter: In the film, Agent Christoph Bouchard is a composite of Jonathan Ferris and Christoph Bruder. [[spoiler:Unlike his book counterparts, Bouchard does not live.]]
* DeathByAdaptation: The film has a much higher body count than the book, with [[spoiler:Bruder, the Provost, and Sienna herself]] all dead by the film's end.
* DepopulationBomb: The Inferno virus.
* DepravedHomosexual: Subverted. [[spoiler:They make Zobrist look like one briefly. See GenderMisdirection below.]]
* DownerEnding: [[spoiler:Zobrist succeeds in his plan to make one-third of the world's population infertile. Strangely enough, the main characters seem to take the stance that this is not such a bad thing. Granted, they were mentally preparing for a second Black Plague killing billions all around the world, so at least their relief at that moment is understandable. And considering that the alternative to the villain's success was humanity's extinction in about a hundred years, it was not that much of a downer ending, after all. This is averted in in the movie where they do succeed in stopping the plague from unleashing.]]
* DropDeadGorgeous: Averted. [[spoiler:Vayentha's face is shown to have been smashed after her fall, and Sienna is brought out in a body bag -- as she activated a bomb at close range, presumably her body was pulped by the explosion.]]
* EvilutionaryBiologist: Zobrist, who believed humankind cannot evolve without most of its population dead.
* [[invoked]] FakeAmerican: In the film, [[spoiler:the US consulate man turns out to be a Brit working for the Consortium faking an American accent]].
* GenderMisdirection: At least twice:
** [[spoiler:When Agent Brüder reports to "his superior", you assume it's the provost, who is also on the phone around the same time--but it's actually Elizabeth Sinskey, which you are not supposed to learn until much later in the story.]]
** [[spoiler:When "FS-2080", whom you probably identified as Jonathan Ferris, describes "his" first encounter with Zobrist (which results in a supposedly homosexual relationship), it's actually Sienna's memories you are reading.]]
* GoodAllAlong: [[spoiler:Agent Brüder and his team]].
* GreaterScopeVillain: The Consortium are the ones behind the Inferno virus and the employers of Sienna Brooks.
* GreenAesop: Done [[{{Anvilicious}} very blatantly]]. "Overpopulation leads to human extinction" is repeated many times.
* HotScientist: Dr. Sienna Brooks and Dr. Elizabeth Sinskey.
* IncrediblyObviousBomb: The viral containment box in the film takes on the appearance of this trope, with a red bar countdown showing when it's likely to have a containment breach.
* InformedAttractiveness: We are repeatedly told in the book that Dr. Sinskey, [[SilverVixen who's over 60]], is very beautiful.
* LectureAsExposition: In the true Langdon fashion, he uses his PhotographicMemory to recall his own lectures on Dante in search for clues about the Shade's riddle.
* LinkedListClueMethodology: For once in a Dan Brown novel, this is fully justified: [[spoiler:Zobrist never intended to give Sinskey, his perceived ArchNemesis, any chance of stopping his plan by solving his riddles in time--he only wanted to have a last laugh at her attempt, even if he doesn't get to see it. Therefore, he arranged his riddle to be delivered to her by the time the Inferno has long been released into the wild.]]
* MadeOfIron: A gunshot wound to the head stops bothering Langdon (well, except the amnesia part) by the time the anesthetics wear off. [[spoiler:Turns into FridgeBrilliance when it's revealed that he was never shot in the first place and that his wound was actually just a shallow cut inflicted for verisimilitude.]]
* MakeItLookLikeAnAccident: The Provost suggests they wrap matters up by making it look like Langdon was killed in a mugging. [[spoiler:Later Langdon has a front-row seat on the Provost arranging a similar scenario with Agent Bouchard's body.]]
* NoNameGiven: The provost is just... the provost for the entire novel.
* ThePlague: The eponymous Inferno, with parallels constantly being drawn between it and TheBlackDeath. [[spoiler:Or so it appears.]]
* PlagueDoctor: The origins of the plague doctor are discussed, and Zobrist wears the iconic mask in his video message and in the alteration he makes to the ''Map of Hell''.
* PosthumousCharacter: Bertrand Zobrist.
* {{Pride}}: The Shade freely admits to be guilty of it.
* RedHerring: Hoo boy. Dan Brown has really outdone himself on this one.
** The scary biohazard-marked cylinder that Langdon finds on his person? [[spoiler:Actually, its contents aren't dangerous at all; Sinskey just needed to place the object in a secure container before giving it to Langdon.]]
** The Consortium's killer squad that storms Sienna's apartment? [[spoiler:Actually, an emergency response group of the WHO, ostensibly the good guys for whom Langdon was working before his amnesia and who desperately tried to establish contact with him, not to kill him.]] Why did they keep Sinskey locked up and drugged, then? [[spoiler:She has a rare medical condition that required it, and they were just taking care of their boss.]]
** The menacing hitwoman Vayentha who nearly offs Langdon twice? [[spoiler:Actually, the Consortium's specialist on DeathFakedForYou called in to make Langdon believe he is targeted and solve the riddles for the Consortium.]]
** [[spoiler:The poor, unfortunate Dr. Brooks whom Langdon drags into this mess? Actually, a DoubleReverseQuadrupleAgent who dupes Langdon, the Consortium, and eventually the WHO to keep her lover and mentor Zobrist's research out of their hands--and to destroy it herself. Basically, she is the BigBad of the story.]]
** The plague-infected spy who stalks Langdon and Sienna in Florence? [[spoiler:Actually, he is just with the World Health Organization and merely has a bad case of contact allergy that looks like plague symptoms to the uninitiated--oh, wait, that's not true, either...]]
** The mysterious FS-2080 who gains their trust en route to Venice? [[spoiler:Actually, FS-2080 is Sienna herself, see above, while Jonathan Ferris works for the Consortium, and is basically the same guy whom Vayentha "killed" in the hospital earlier.]]
** The sinister [[ThePlague Plague]] that the Consortium's client plans to unleash on the world? [[spoiler:Actually, a "mere" SterilityPlague to control the world's population growth. Also, he is not "planning" it. He already unleashed it [[ThirtyFiveMinutesAgo six days ago]].]]
* ShaggyDogStory: The whole plot of the book involves Langdon trying to follow the clues that the BigBad The Shade intentionally left behind in order to try to prevent ThePlague from being released to the atmosphere, and find the Ground Zero where the pandemic would begin. On the other hand, The WHO is trying to do this very same thing, the Consortium is trying to stop these from finding it, because they work for the "now deceased" BigBad without even knowing a plague was involved, [[spoiler: and Sienna is using everyone to find ThePlague for her own personal plans.]] On a HeelFaceTurn, [[spoiler:The consortium decides to team-up with the WHO when they discover that they were actually helping to produce a global epidemic and a possible genocide, thus making all of their previous efforts of hiding the truth from governmental agencies, useless]]. When they finally find the location a day before the day the plague was supposed to be released, [[spoiler:the BigBad had already released the plague a week before, thus manipulating everyone into a useless journey of chasing their own tails, while the real plague was on its way to infect everyone on Earth.]] Most readers actually believed The Shade would [[spoiler:leave a chance for the heroes of stopping his plans]].
* SheIsNotMyGirlfriend: When Langdon introduces Sienna as his "niece", Marta just smirks and says they're in Italy, [[NotWhatItLooksLike so they don't have to bother with such fictions]]. The two confusedly mumble this trope.
* SilverVixen: Dr. Sinskey is in her sixties and is described repeatedly as very beautiful with her long, overflowing white hair.
* StartsWithASuicide: The prologue concerns the last moments of the Shade's life (actually, [[spoiler:Bertrand Zobrist's]]).
* SterilityPlague: [[spoiler:What the eponymous Inferno actually is: a virus that randomly renders a third of the world's human population infertile.]]
* SuicideAttack: In the film [[spoiler:Sienna tries to activate the bomb that will burst the bag of viral agent with her cellphone, but can't get reception. So she dives into the water and sets it off manually.]]
* TheSyndicate: The provost's Consortium. [[spoiler:It's not so bad, however, since it basically concerns ''deception'' on a grand scale, rather than outright assassinations and other obviously criminal activities.]]
* TitleDrop: The references to Dante's ''Inferno'' are dropped constantly throughout the novel, both literally and metaphorically, but it actually refers to ThePlague about to be unleashed on humanity.
* VanInBlack: In the film the SRS team has this, which initially gives them a villainous appearance, causing Langdon to flee.
* WellIntentionedExtremist: The Shade, a.k.a. [[spoiler:Bertrand Zobrist]]. Even his lover and closest confidante agrees that his methods are monstrous.
* WeNeedADistraction: Langdon fakes a collapse and Sienna asks Bouchard to get some water, so they can slip away.
* WhatHappenedToTheMouse: Before his injury, Langdon had a partner in deciphering the puzzle - one Ignazio Busoni - who sends Langdon a cryptic email, but never appears on-screen, and is effectively forgotten. In the book, it's discovered that he died of a "[[MakeItLookLikeAnAccident heart attack]]" just after sending the email.
* WhiteAndGreyMorality: Apart from [[spoiler:the Consortium, a PunchClockVillain group by itself]], the story really does not have a real bad guy as such. Even [[spoiler:the Shade/Zobrist]] is portrayed as merely a WellIntentionedExtremist--although most of his posthumous characterization comes from his lover and apprentice, whose views are naturally skewed in his favor.
* YouAreTooLate: [[spoiler:Zobrist's SterilityPlague was quietly unleashed in Istanbul a week before the book's events take place (except for the prologue). The much touted date one day after Langdon's awakening is not the day the virus is ''released''--it's the day it finishes spreading and infects every human being on Earth.]]
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A film of the book, directed by Creator/RonHoward and with Creator/TomHanks reprising his role as Robert Langdon, was released on October 28, 2016.
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A film of the book, directed by Creator/RonHoward and with Creator/TomHanks reprising his role as Robert Langdon, was released on October 28, 2016. \n The cast includes Creator/FelicityJones as Sienna Brooks, Creator/IrrfanKhan as Harry "The Provost" Sims, Sidse Babett Knudsen as Dr. Elizabeth Sinskey, Creator/OmarSy as Christophe Bouchard and Creator/BenFoster as Bertrand Zobrist.
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* WeeNeedADistraction: Langdon fakes a collapse and Sienna asks Bouchard to get some water, so they can slip away.
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* WeeNeedADistraction: WeNeedADistraction: Langdon fakes a collapse and Sienna asks Bouchard to get some water, so they can slip away.
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* GoLookAtTheDistraction: Langdon fakes a collapse and Sienna asks Bouchard to get some water, so they can slip away.
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* WeeNeedADistraction: Langdon fakes a collapse and Sienna asks Bouchard to get some water, so they can slip away.
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''Inferno'' (2013) is Creator/DanBrown's sixth published novel and the fourth to star Robert Langdon, the protagonist of ''Literature/AngelsAndDemons'', ''Literature/TheDaVinciCode'', and ''Literature/TheLostSymbol''. As the title suggests, the plot is very heavy on references to ''Literature/TheDivineComedy''.
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''Inferno'' (2013) is Creator/DanBrown's sixth published novel and the fourth to star Robert Langdon, the protagonist of ''Literature/AngelsAndDemons'', ''Literature/TheDaVinciCode'', and ''Literature/TheLostSymbol''. As the title suggests, the plot is very heavy on references to Creator/DanteAlighieri's ''Literature/TheDivineComedy''.
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*** Arguably averted for Sinskey since in the book she's agrees with Zobrist's plans (essentially eco-fascism) while in the movie she does her utmost to stop his plan.
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* FridgeBrilliance: in the movie, [[spoiler:Sienna Brooks telling Langdon he can help her save "half" the world is an early sign that she's actually a bad guy]]
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* FridgeBrilliance: in the movie, [[spoiler:Sienna Brooks telling Langdon he can help her save "half" the world is an early sign that she's actually a bad guy]]
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* ArtisticLicenseLaw: The movie is set in a world in which the WHO is a combination of the FBI, Interpol, CIA and some private research lab. In reality the WHO is a bureaucratic mess with a laughable budget and little to no influence.
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*** Arguably averted for Sinskey since in the book she's ok with what is essentially eco-fascism and agrees with Zobrist's plans in the end while in the movie she does her utmost to stop his plan.
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*** Arguably averted for Sinskey since in the book she's ok with what is essentially eco-fascism and agrees with Zobrist's plans in the end (essentially eco-fascism) while in the movie she does her utmost to stop his plan.
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*** Arguably averted for Sinskey since in the book she's ok with what is essentially eco-fascism and agrees with Zobrist's plans in the end while in the movie she does her utmost to stop his plan.
