The Davinci Code

Robert Langdon-A well-respected professor of Religious Symbology at Harvard University. At the beginning of the story, he is in Paris to give a lecture on his work. Having made an appointment to meet Jacques Sauniиre, the curator of the Louvre, he is startled to find the French police at his hotel room door. They inform him that Sauniиre has been murdered and they would like his immediate assistance at the Louvre to help them solve the crime. Unbeknownst to Langdon, he is in fact the prime suspect in the murder and has been summoned to the scene of the crime in order that the police may extract a confession from him. It might be no coincidence that a John Langdon was the real graphic artist who designed the ambigrams in Brown's novel, Angels and Demons, the first of the Robert Langdon trilogy.

Jacques Sauniиre-the curator of the Louvre, head of the secret Priory of Sion and grandfather of Sophie Neveu. Before being murdered by Silas (an albino monk) in the museum, he reveals false information to Silas about the Priory's keystone, which contains information about the true location of the Holy Grail. After being shot in the stomach, he uses the last minutes of his life to arrange a series of clues for his estranged granddaughter, Sophie, to unravel the mystery of his death and preserve the secret kept by the Priory of Sion. Sauniиre's name may be based on Bйrenger Sauniиre, a real person who was extensively mentioned in Holy Blood, Holy Grail.

Sophie Neveu-the granddaughter of Jacques Sauniиre. She is a French government cryptographer, who studied at the elite Royal Holloway, University of London Information Security Group. She was raised by her grandfather from an early age, after her parents were killed in a car accident. Her grandfather used to call her "Princesse Sophie" (as is revealed later, she and her grandfather are descendants of the Merovingians) and trained her to solve complicated word puzzles. As a young girl, she accidentally discovered a strange key in her grandfather's room inscribed with the initials "P.S.". Later, as a college student, she made a surprise visit to her grandfather's house in Normandy and observed him participating in the Hieros Gamos, a sex ritual. The incident led to her estrangement with her grandfather for ten years until the night of his murder.

Bezu Fache-a captain in the Direction Centrale Police Judiciaire (DCPJ), the French criminal investigation police. Tough, canny, persistent, he is in charge of the investigation of Sauniиre's murder. From the message left by the dying curator, he is convinced the murderer is Robert Langdon, whom he summons to the Louvre in order to extract a confession. He is thwarted in his early attempt by Sophie Neveu, who knows Langdon to be innocent and surreptitiously notifies Langdon that he is in fact the prime suspect. He pursues Langdon doggedly throughout the book in the belief that letting him get away would be career suicide. "Bezu" is not a common French personal name, but "le Bezu" is the name of a castle in Rennes-le-Chвteau with Cathar associations; Rennes-le-Chвteau is the town in which Bйrenger Sauniиre served as Catholic priest. When we first encounter Fache, he is compared to an ox; note that "Bezu" is an anagram (and the spoonerism) of zebu (zйbu in French), a type of ox. Fвchй is French for "angry", but "Fache" is also a reasonably common French surname, although it is pronounced differently from fвchй.

Silas-an albino devotee of Opus Dei who practices severe corporal mortification. He was orphaned in Marseille as a young man, fell into a life of crime, and was imprisoned in Andorra in the Pyrenees until freed by an earthquake. He finds refuge with a young Spanish priest named Aringarosa, who gives him the name Silas. (Aringarosa eventually becomes the head of Opus Dei). Before the beginning of the events in the novel, Aringarosa puts him in contact with the Teacher and tells him that the mission he will be given is of utmost importance in saving the true Word of God. Under the orders of the Teacher, he murders Jacques Sauniиre and the other three leaders of the Priory of Sion in order to extract the location of the Priory's clef de voыte or "keystone". Discovering later that he has been duped with false information, he chases Langdon and Neveu in order to obtain the actual keystone. He does not know the true identity of the Teacher, but is willing to go to any lengths to fulfill his requests. He is reluctant to commit murder, knowing that it is a sin and does so only because he is assured his actions will save the Catholic Church. Silas' name is a pun on cilice used by himself and members of the Opus Dei in the story.

Bishop Manuel Aringarosa-the worldwide head of Opus Dei and the patron of the albino monk Silas. Five months before the start of the narrative, he is summoned by the Vatican to a meeting at an astronomical observatory in the Italian Alps and told, to his great surprise, that in six months the Pope will withdraw his support of Opus Dei. Since he believes that Opus Dei is the force keeping the Church from disintegrating into what he sees as the corruption of the modern era, he believes his faith demands that he take action to save Opus Dei. Shortly after the meeting with the Vatican officials, he is contacted by a shadowy figure calling himself "The Teacher", who has learned somehow of the secret meeting. The Teacher informs him that he can deliver an artifact to Aringarosa so valuable to the Church that it will give Opus Dei extreme leverage over the Vatican. The name "Aringarosa" seems to be the (approximate) literal Italian translation of "red herring" ("aringa rossa"; "aringa rosa" means, literally, "pink herring"), although this is not the expression used in Italian for "red herring" in its figurative sense. It could have a loose relation to "A Ring Around The Rosies" (A-Ring-a-Rosa) where Rosa could refer to the rose line, or the various other rose symbology in the novel.

The Teacher-a shadowy figure who drives the plot of the story. He has learned not only about the plight of Opus Dei, but also the identities of the four leaders of the Priory of Sion, who in turn know the location of the keystone. He contacts Aringarosa and agrees to supply him with a fantastic artifact that will give Opus Dei great power, namely documents that, if released, would destroy the Church. Aringarosa, acting out of self interest and piety, agrees to his offer in order to save both Opus Dei and the Church. The Teacher uses Silas, Aringarosa's protectee, to carry out his plans.

Andrй Vernet-president of the Paris branch of the Depository Bank of Zurich. He is informed