Origin

Dan Brown’s seventh mystery thriller, Origin (2017) is the fifth book in his series about the character Robert Langdon. Brown’s books have been major commercial successes since the release of The Da Vinci Code in 2003. Two of his books have been made into major motion pictures.

Eccentric billionaire Edmond Kirsch asks to meet with leaders of three major world religions: Christianity, Judaism, and Islam. A staunch atheist with a hatred of organized religion, Edmond has called the religious leaders in order to preview for them an announcement he plans to make to the rest of the world in a month’s time. The religious leaders are shocked by Edmond’s findings, which remain mysterious for the first part of the novel.

A month later, Edmond invites his former teacher Robert Langdon as well as many others to Spain so he can make his announcement official. Robert meets Ambra Vidal, the curator of the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao and fiancée of Prince Julian. Robert is given a headset that connects him to Winston, an AI created by Edmond. Before the official announcement, Edmond tells Robert that his presentation will answer important philosophical questions about where humanity comes from and what its purpose is.



Edmond intends to usher in an era of science rather than religion. However, before he can announce his discovery, he is shot and killed. The assassin, Luis Avila, is a Navy admiral who has been recruited by the Palmarian Catholic Church, a schismatic branch of Catholicism that rejects the Holy See of 1978. Luis has already killed two of the religious leaders who previously heard Edmond’s announcement. He says that he is working for a handler named the Regent.

Luis escapes from the police. Robert meets with Ambra who tells him that Luis was put on the guest list at the last minute by someone from the palace. Robert decides that Julian is not to be trusted, especially after the Royal Guards try to pin Edmond’s murder on him and Ambra. The two of them escape with Edmond’s phone, which contains information about his discovery.

They decide to release the discovery to the public, but first, they must crack the password on Edmond’s phone. They have a clue as to the password but must go to Edmond’s home for more information.



As information about the murders leaks to social media, suspicion falls on Bishop Antonio Valdespino, who was present at Edmond’s initial meeting and is the only person still alive who knows about his discovery. Antonio has close ties to Prince Julian. Ambra admits that she suspected Antonio was up to something as she once saw an incriminating text on his phone. The Spanish government frames Diego Garza, the head of the civilian police force for Edmond’s murder and attempts to incriminate Robert as well.

Before Robert and Ambra can finish cracking the password on Edmond’s phone, Ambra’s guards arrive and the phone is destroyed. Ambra convinces the guards to take her and Robert to Sagrada Familia. Once there, Robert finds the password, but Luis ambushes the group, killing Ambra’s guards before being killed himself.

Without the phone, Robert and Ambra decide to find where the Winston AI is being housed to retrieve Edmond’s announcement from him. Winston reveals that Edmond had proved that humans were created by a natural biological process rather than by divine intervention. In addition, humans will soon merge with technology to create a techno-utopia. This is in contrast to Edmond’s earlier findings which he shared with the religious leaders, where he stated that humanity would end violently.



Winston broadcasts the announcement to the world and then prepares to delete his own programming as per Edmond’s orders. Robert and Ambra are cleared of all charges and Diego is released from jail. People around the world debate Edmond’s discovery.

Prince Julian meets with his father, who reveals that he and Bishop Antonio have been secret lovers for much of Julian’s life. The terminally ill king dies, and Antonio commits suicide. Since the king provided an alibi for him, it is clear that Antonio was not involved in killing Edmond. Julian reconciles with Ambra and the two make an effort to repair their damaged relationship.

Robert reviews in his mind everything that has happened, and he realizes that Winston was the Regent all along. The program wanted to ensure that Edmond’s announcement had the most publicity possible, and so he orchestrated Edmond’s death as well as the deaths of the other religious leaders. The program was also responsible for leaking key information about the case to the public. It had tried to arrange for Luis to be arrested after the murder, but Luis managed to evade the police.



Though Robert is shaken by what he has learned, he is encouraged by the fact that people around the world are hopeful about the future.