The Lost Symbol

“Langdon felt a deepening chill. This strange response was an ancient Hermetic adage that proclaimed a belief in the physical connection between heaven and earth. As above, so below.”

The connection between heaven and earth is mentioned multiple times as Langdon struggles to decipher the pyramid and figure out what the Ancient Mysteries truly entail. The adage, “As above, so below” is also used often in this novel to connect humanity with god and vice versa. Langdon interprets this saying as reflecting a literal connection with a heavenly god, but at the conclusion of the novel, this interpretation proves to be a misunderstanding of the far more abstract “truth” that underlies the plot of the novel. Thus, the transformation of readers’ understanding of this adage speaks to the novel’s ongoing theme of The Value of Changing Perspective.

“In short, the Ancient Mysteries refer to a body of secret knowledge that was amassed long ago. One intriguing aspect of this knowledge is that it allegedly enables its practitioners to access powerful abilities that lie dormant in the human mind. The enlightened Adepts who possessed this knowledge vowed to keep it veiled from the masses because it was considered far too potent and dangerous for the uninitiated.”

In explaining what the Ancient Mysteries are, Langdon explains to Sato why Mal’akh is interested in them. As the novel progresses, Mal’akh reveals his desire to transform into a god by using the Ancient Mysteries, or the Lost Word: the word that protects those mysteries. Mal’akh clearly believes that this knowledge will allow him the ability to use parts of his mind that he can’t otherwise access, and he takes the idea literally by deciding to tattoo the Lost Word on the top of his head in a special spot that will supposedly aid this transformation. This explanation also foreshadows Peter’s more detailed interpretation of what the Ancient Mysteries truly are.

“Now, centuries later, despite America’s separation of church and state, this state-sponsored Rotunda glistened with ancient religious symbolism. There were over a dozen different gods in the Rotunda—more than the original Pantheon in Rome. Of course, the Roman Pantheon had been converted to Christianity in 609…but this pantheon was never converted; vestiges of its true history still remained in plain view.”

Brown uses the history of the Capitol’s Rotunda to explain how it might be considered a sacred place, even in this modern age. Brown’s explanation touches on the fact that the founding fathers originally wanted to invoke the imagery of ancient Rome, thus creating a new Rome in the newly formed United States. To this end, the design of the Capitol was meant to mimic the Temple of Vesta in Rome. Brown’s explanation allows Langdon to explain to Sato why Mal’akh left Peter’s hand in the Capitol’s Rotunda.

“Female intuition was a potent instinct that she had learned to trust, and something about this place was making her skin crawl. She saw nothing that looked anything like any doctor’s office she had ever seen. The walls of this antique-adorned living room were covered with classical art, primarily paintings with strange mythical themes. She paused before a large canvas depicting the Three Graces, whose nude bodies were spectacularly rendered in vivid colors.”

This quotation reflects Katherine’s first visceral misgivings as she visits the home of a man she knows as Dr. Abaddon, but whom she later learns is Mal’akh, and feels uncomfortable for reasons that she cannot pinpoint. She studies the painting of the Three Graces, unaware that it is really a door to a secret basement room where her brother is likely, at that moment, being held. Another hint to the doctor’s identity is also the mythical themes that pervade the art in his house: all themes that support his studies into transformation and the Ancient Mysteries.

“I know you well enough to know you’re not a man I can ask to believe…only to trust. So now I am asking you to trust me when I tell you this talisman is powerful. I was told it can imbue its possessor with the ability to bring order from chaos.”

When Peter describes the capstone to Langdon, he calls it a talisman, an object with magical powers. This is not the first time that Langdon expresses doubts about the existence of the Ancient Mysteries, but it is his first direct rejection of the pyramid and its secrets. As a scholar, Langdon tends to be a literal person, taking things on face value and focusing only upon scientifically verifiable facts. In this way, Langdon interprets Peter’s explanation literally and therefore sees it as nonsense when he should approach it in a more abstract way. He will learn this new approach at the end of the novel, when he finally learns the subtler secrets of the pyramid.

“Thankfully, this particular crypt contained no bodies. Instead, it contained several statues, a model of the Capitol, and a low storage area for the wooden catafalque on which coffins were laid for state funerals. The entourage hurried through, without even a glance at the four-pointed marble compass in the center of the floor where the Eternal Flame had once burned.”

In this quote, Langdon describes the crypt underneath the Capitol’s Rotunda and gives a quick description of what is and is not stored there. Langdon’s comment on how his group rushes past the area where the Eternal Flame once burned touches again on the theme of The Value of Changing Perspectives. By contrasting past realities with present perceptions, Langdon’s observations show how people sometimes overlook elements of history in favor of what is most important to them in that moment. This draws an unspoken connection back to the author’s earlier comment about the unknown history of enslaved people laboring to place the Statue of Freedom, suggesting that people see only what they want to see.

“The discovery of Isaac Newton’s secret papers in 1936 had stunned the world by revealing Newton’s all-consuming passion for the study of ancient alchemy and mystical wisdom. Newton’s private papers included a handwritten letter to Robert Boyle in which he exhorted Boyle to keep ‘high silence’ regarding the mystical knowledge they had learned. ‘It cannot be communicated,’ Newton wrote, ‘without immense damage to the world.’”

Considering Isaac Newton’s thought on mysticism and ancient alchemy gives credence to the idea that there is a body of knowledge hidden from the world somewhere. Langdon reflects on this concept as he thinks over Mal’akh’s insistence that there is a portal that reveals the location of the Ancient Mysteries. Although the novel has revealed a significant amount of evidence suggesting that there may be some truth to this idea of a Masonic pyramid hiding great secrets, Langdon remains skeptical. Even so, this quote does support the philosophical concepts that Peter reveals to Langdon at the end of the novel.

“He suspected America’s ‘thirteen’ conspiracy theorists would have a field day if they knew there were exactly thirteen storage rooms buried beneath the U.S. Capitol. Some found it suspicious that the Great Seal of the United States had thirteen stars, thirteen arrows, thirteen pyramid steps, thirteen shield stripes, thirteen olive leaves, thirteen olives, thirteen letters in annuit coeptis, thirteen letters in e pluribus unum, and on and on.”

Langdon mentions conspiracy theorists in this quotation, and not for the first time. In Langdon’s flashbacks to one of his Occult lectures, he remembers how the students used the conspiracies surrounding the Masons to argue with the premise of his lecture. Later, Katherine will also use a well-known conspiracy theory as a ruse to escape the surveillance of the CIA. There is a thin line between conspiracy theories and truth, and it is a line that Langdon walks in many of his adventures; thus, Brown finds a way to playfully explore the conspiracy theories that surround the Masons even as he expresses respect for Freemasonry as a modern organization.

“It’s called a Chamber of Reflection. These rooms are designed as cold, austere places in which a Mason can reflect on his own mortality. By meditating on the inevitability of death, a Mason gains a valuable perspective on the fleeting nature of life.”

When they enter SBB 13, Director Sato and Anderson are overwhelmed by the symbols of death, misunderstanding their meaning due to popular definitions rather than Masonic definitions. The fact that Director Sato and Anderson see death in a place meant to contemplate life is ironic and reveals a stark difference between the two definitions of the symbols in this room. This is another example of how perspective changes the way in which a person might view something.

“Many people have pursued the Ancient Mysteries and debated their power. Tonight, I will prove the mysteries are real.”

Mal’akh reveals his intentions cryptically as he talks with Langdon about deciphering the pyramid. It is clear that Mal’akh thinks he knows something no one else does, but his cryptic discussions only leave those he encounters with the belief that he is insane, and perhaps he is. It is ironic that Mal’akh is one of the true believers, but when it comes down to it, he doesn’t actually prove the power of the Ancient Mysteries because he never learns the true nature of what they are. That honor, of course, is reserved for Langdon.

“Known as the Freemason’s Cipher, this encoded language had been used for private communication among early Masonic brothers. The encryption method had been abandoned long ago for one simple reason—it was much too easy to break. Most of the students in Langdon’s senior symbology seminar could break this code in about five minutes. Langdon, with a pencil and paper, could do it in under sixty seconds.”

The symbols on the pyramid are written in a simple code that calls into question the security of the secret that the pyramid reportedly holds, forcing the protagonists to wonder why the men who carved the stone would use a code that is so easy to break. However, this question is quickly answered when Langdon breaks the code and finds chaos in the result rather than a clear message. Again, perspective is called into question as Langdon realizes there must be more to these symbols.

“Zachary had been a late bloomer, frail and awkward, a rebellious and angry teenager. Despite his deeply loving and privileged upbringing, the boy seemed determined to detach himself from the Solomon ‘establishment.’ He was kicked out of prep school, partied hard with the ‘celebriti,’ and shunned his parents’ exhaustive attempts to provide him firm and loving guidance.”

This description of Zachary depicts a person who is rebellious and self-centered, someone who is immature and incapable of understanding the good intentions of his parents. This description also explains why Zachary’s decision to transform his appearance through steroids causes him to become unrecognizable to the people who once knew him best. Although Zachary is deeply loved, he has higher expectations of those around him that are impossible to meet, and this allows him to believe himself abandoned and unloved despite his father’s good intentions.

“Although she had never seen this engraved stone pyramid, she felt her entire body recoil in recognition. Somehow her gut knew the truth. Katherine Solomon had just come face-to-face with the object that had so deeply damaged her life. The pyramid.”

Katherine’s visceral emotional response to the pyramid draws a strong connection to the intruder who murdered her mother years ago. Her almost violent reaction to the mere sight of the pyramid brings a whole new meaning to Brown’s ongoing emphasis on the significance of symbols. Although the pyramid is a stone object that holds no power of its own, it is both a symbol of loss for Katherine as well as a symbol of the secret of the Ancient Mysteries.

“Tonight was not the first time Warren Bellamy had been blindfolded. Like all of his Masonic brothers, he had worn the ritual ‘hoodwink’ during his ascent to the upper echelons of Masonry. That, however, had taken place among trusted friends. Tonight was different. These rough-handed men had bound him, placed a bag on his head, and were now marching him through the library stacks.”

Warren’s reflection on the experience of being blindfolded is important because it describes part of the Masonic rituals, something that will become an issue later in the novel. It has already been established that many of the Masonic symbols can be misinterpreted when looked at from an uneducated perspective. The fact that Masons “hoodwink” each other before rituals could appear strange to outsiders, and this foreshadows the potential for disastrous misunderstanding that lies in the video that Mal’akh threatens to release to an uneducated public. The release of such a video, without proper context, would incite a national scandal.

“He drank two glasses of water to calm his starving stomach. Then he walked to the full-length mirror and studied his naked body. His two days of fasting had accentuated his musculature, and he could not help but admire that which he had become. By dawn, I will be so much more.”

Mal’akh’s thoughts again reflect his many transformations and the one that is yet to come. Although Mal’akh achieves an impressive array of transformations over the years, but there is some irony to his admiration of his physical body when everything he is trying to accomplish focuses upon achieving a mental transformation. In the end, Mal’akh wants to become a god, which means leaving his physical body. His admiration of his body therefore seems counterproductive to this spiritual goal.

“The term magic square referred not to something mystical but to something mathematical—it was the name given to a grid of consecutive numbers arranged in such a way that all the rows, columns, and diagonals added up to the same thing. Created some four thousand years ago by mathematicians in Egypt and India, magic squares were still believed by some to hold magical powers. Katherine had read that even nowadays devout Indians drew special three-by-three magic squares called the Kubera Kolam on their pooja altars. Primarily, tough, modern man had relegated magic squares to the category of ‘recreational mathematics,’ some people still deriving pleasure from the quest to discover new ‘magical’ configuration. Sudoku for geniuses.”

Katherine’s explanation of a magic square allows for the understanding of how Langdon decrypts the cipher on the side of the pyramid. This magic square will also play an important role in the final decryption of the pyramid when the symbols are found on the bottom of the structure. Comparing the magic squares to Sudoku puts this foreign concept in a context that most people can comprehend, and thus, even when he plays upon the background knowledge of his readers, Brown invokes the importance of shifting perspectives and viewing things from different angles to improve one’s overall understanding.

“Freedom Plaza is a map.”

While Freedom Plaza itself is not important to the decryption of the pyramid, it represents a way in which Katherine schemes to save Langdon and herself from the surveillance of the CIA. The use of Freedom Plaza is coincidental to Katherine and Langdon’s location at the moment when Katherine realizes that the CIA has located them through their cab driver. The location also has a strong connection to both the architect of Washington, DC—Pierre L’Enfant—and to Martin Luther King Jr., for whom it is named. The connection to Martin Luther King Jr. is more significant, given Brown’s comment that the Statue of Freedom was raised by enslaved people decades before Martin Luther King Jr. gave his “I Have a Dream” speech not far from the Capitol Building.

“Mal’akh’s private work space was a suite of small rooms, each with a specialized purpose. The area’s sole entrance was a steep ramp secretly accessible through his living room, making the area’s discovery virtually impossible.”

Mal’akh describes the hidden area in his basement where he will take Katherine and Langdon later in the novel. This area’s design implies that it is a space for clandestine activities, suggesting that this is the place where Mal’akh kept Peter during his time in captivity. It also suggests that this area holds other things related to Mal’akh’s planned transformation, a fact that is proven correct and gives Langdon the crucial information he needs to understand Mal’akh’s true purpose.

“For Mal’akh, the reasons were of the highest nature. Like the mythological self-castrated Attis, Mal’akh knew that achieving immortality required a clean break with the material world of male and female.”

Mal’akh explains why he had himself castrated, suggesting that this dramatic physical alteration was meant to further his attempts to transform into a god. However, the fact that Mal’akh is constantly admiring his physical beauty, there is a disconnect between Mal’akh’s desire to be something more than just a physical body and his desire to be handsome. This contradiction draws a connection to the detail that Zachary was originally a frail child, a late bloomer. Perhaps this late start in life is causing Mal’akh some difficulty in letting go of society’s focus on physical beauty.

“Sato turned to Langdon. ‘I’ll see you shortly, Professor. I know you think I’m the enemy, but I can assure you that’s not the case.’”

Throughout the novel, Director Sato appears to be an antagonist, for she constantly questions Langdon and stands in his way as he attempts to help Peter. There are some surface-level similarities in the plot between her and Mal’akh, such as their use of power to manipulate those around them. In this moment, Director Sato reveals to Langdon that she is not the enemy, but it will be a while before Langdon finally understands Sato’s motivations and understands that she is, after all, a friend.

“Robert Langdon had often heard it said that an animal, when cornered, was capable of miraculous feats of strength. Nonetheless, when he threw his full force into the underside of his crate, nothing budged at all. Around him, the liquid continued rising steadily. With no more than six inches of breathing room left, Langdon had lifted his head into the pocket of air that remained. He was now face-to-face with the Plexiglass window, his eyes only inches away from the underside of the stone pyramid whose baffling engraving hovered above him.”

Langdon shows his very human vulnerabilities as he fights his impending drowning, struggling to survive despite the impossible task asked of him by Mal’akh. This moment shows the depth of Langdon’s personality because he continues to look at the world around him through academic eyes even as his own death is a near certainty. Although he is frightened, Langdon takes the time to study the pyramid and attempts to give Mal’akh the answer he wants in order to save his own life. Not many men could do that. At the same time, this moment reveals what Mal’akh likely did to Peter to learn the location of the pyramid and its capstone.

“‘You remain incomplete,’ Peter said, gently placing his palm on top of Mal’akh’s head. ‘Your work is not yet done. But wherever you are going, please know this…you were loved.’”

Peter’s final words to his son are both harsh and kind. Peter has been tortured by this man, and he clearly recognizes the mental instability that has overtaken his child. At the same time, he recognizes that Mal’akh is still his son, and he expresses his love for the man even as he makes it clear that Mal’akh did not achieve his goal. It is a mixed message, but a compassionate one, especially considering the situation. Peter’s reaction thus demonstrates the depth of his character as both a man and a father.

“I now realize that the Masonic Pyramid’s true purpose was not to reveal the answers, but rather to inspire a fascination with them.”

Throughout the novel, everyone believes that the pyramid will reveal some great secret, even those who do not completely believe in the Ancient Mysteries. However, once the truth is revealed, it is almost a disappointment to know that the location is unreachable. However, the secret itself has been out in the open all along. Not only does this revelation touch on the theme of perspective, but it also allows for Peter’s explanation that it was not meant to provide anything, but to encourage humankind to keep searching, to continue to enlighten themselves through curiosity and knowledge.