The Da Vinci Code

As Aringarosa drives away from Castel Gandolfo, he worries about the Teacher’s silence. Phone service is unreliable in the mountains. Aringarosa worries that the Teacher will think he fled with the money if he has been trying to call him and getting no response.

Langdon pulls off the road to try to repair the truck’s front bumper, damaged in the escape. He considers various courses of action: if all the top-level Priory members are dead, they cannot return the keystone to the brotherhood; the organization may have been infiltrated. It seems likely that Sauniére wanted Sophie and Langdon to take possession of it since, as outsiders, they have not been compromised. As fugitives, however, their options are limited. Langdon decides to seek help from Leigh Teabing, a British historian living in Versailles.

Inside the truck, Sophie tries various five-letter words to open the cryptex, but nothing works. As they drive to Versailles, Sophie questions whether or not they can trust Teabing, an expert on Grail lore. Langdon believes uncovering one of the most closely guarded secrets in history will be enough incentive for Teabing to offer his help.

They arrive at Teabing’s estate, Château Villette. An irritated staff member answers the intercom at the security gate, telling them that “Sir Leigh” is sleeping and in poor health and to call again in the morning. When Langdon mentions the Grail, the staff member rouses Teabing from bed. After asking Langdon a series of coy questions—which Langdon answers—Teabing grants them entrance.

Vernet calls the bank’s night manager and tells him to activate the transponder on the armored truck. The manager reminds Vernet that activating the transponder will inform not only the bank but law enforcement of the truck’s location. Despite Vernet’s desire not to involve the authorities, he orders that the transponder be turned on.

Langdon and Sophie pull up to Teabing’s estate. Langdon conceals the box in his jacket. A butler ushers them into the drawing room and lights a fire in the fireplace. Sir Leigh will join them momentarily. After the butler leaves, Langdon hides the box under a divan cushion, and Sophie wonders if they should tell Teabing about the cryptex. Moments later, Teabing greets them from the top of the stairs, descending slowly, his legs in braces from a childhood bout with polio. Langdon asks Teabing to explain to Sophie the true nature of the Grail.

Teabing begins by clarifying Da Vinci’s views on the Bible—a decidedly human text which is used to mislead the masses. The historical Jesus, he continues, was a descendant of the King of the Jews. More than 80 gospels were written about his life, but only four (Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John) were included in the Bible. The Roman emperor Constantine the Great, a pagan, made the decision of which stories to include and which to omit. In 325 A.D., three centuries after Jesus’s death, Constantine united Rome under one religion— Christianity—to prevent the empire from being torn apart by warfare. Constantine converted the pagan Romans to Christianity by melding elements and symbols of each, creating a “hybrid” religion that was acceptable to the masses.

Modern Christianity, Langdon claims, is full of appropriated symbols: Egyptian sun disks (halos), Isis nursing her newborn child (the virgin birth), the pope’s miter, the church’s altar, and Holy Communion (adopted from pagan rituals). Constantine held a gathering of Christian leaders—the Council of Nicaea. Here much of officially sanctioned Christian policy was adopted, including the question of Jesus’s divinity. Until then, he was considered a mortal prophet. By ordaining Jesus, the Son of God, Christians had only one path to redemption—the Catholic Church.

In order to burnish Jesus’s divine reputation and downplay his mortality, Constantine ordered gospels that didn’t conform to the new standards to be collected and destroyed. Some historical records survived, such as The Dead Sea Scrolls and the Coptic Scrolls, both of which the Vatican has tried to suppress and discredit. Teabing then shows Sophie a picture of Da Vinci’s The Last Supper. Contrary to Sophie’s assumption, the painting contains 13 stemless cups of wine rather than a single chalice. The Holy Grail, Teabing says, is not the cup of Christ; it is a person.

Langdon explains the symbology behind Teabing’s revelation. Ancient symbols for male and female were more rudimentary than they are today: ^ (male) and ^ (female, also known as “the chalice”). The female symbol represents fertility, the womb. The myth of the Holy Grail is a metaphor for a woman whose ability to create life was once considered sacred. In order to protect its male-dominated power, the Church’s creation myth gave the power to Adam, who created Eve from his rib, and demonized the first woman as the instigator of original sin. Legends of Holy Grail quests, Teabing says, were actually stories of those seeking to restore the divine feminine. Indeed, the Holy Grail is a well-known historical figure, one painted by Da Vinci himself.

Meanwhile, in the kitchen, Teabing’s butler sees Langdon and Sophie’s faces on the news and alerts the police.

Lieutenant Collet receives the butler’s warning and speeds toward Teabing’s estate. Meanwhile, on a tip from the Teacher, Silas pulls up outside Château Villette, hops the security fence, and walks toward the house, a loaded gun tucked into his robe.