Angels & Demons characters

Appears from the start

A Harvard professor of religious symbology, an expert in the history of secret societies and their hidden iconography. Summoned unexpectedly to investigate a shocking murder marked with an ancient symbol, he is drawn into a race across Europe. Rational, knowledgeable, and slightly out of his depth in the field, he relies on his scholarship to decode clues under intense time pressure.

Appears from the start

A gifted physicist at CERN, the great European research laboratory, and the daughter of a murdered scientist. Poised, athletic, and scientifically brilliant, she has worked on cutting-edge experiments with her father and joins Langdon to pursue the people responsible for his death and for a dangerous theft.

Appears from the start

A respected CERN physicist who is also a Catholic priest, seeking to reconcile science and faith through his research. He is murdered at the very start of the story, his death branded with a strange symbol, and it is this killing and the theft connected to it that set the entire plot in motion.

Appears from the start

The director of CERN, a brilliant and coldly rational man confined to a wheelchair by illness. Nicknamed for his forbidding manner, he is contemptuous of religion and fiercely protective of his laboratory's work. He summons Langdon and pushes the early investigation with impatient intensity.

Also known as The Camerlengo

Appears from the start

The camerlengo, the late Pope's devoted chamberlain, who assumes temporary stewardship of the Vatican during the crisis and the papal conclave that follows the pontiff's death. Young, humble, and passionately faithful, he appears as a calm, sympathetic figure trying to protect the Church through a terrifying threat.

Appears from the start

The commander of the Swiss Guard, the elite force that protects the Vatican and the Pope. Disciplined and skeptical, he is reluctant at first to believe the scale of the danger and wary of outside interference in matters of Vatican security.

Appears from the start

An elderly, level-headed cardinal charged with overseeing the conclave that will elect the next Pope. Thoughtful and devout, he serves as a steady presence among the assembled cardinals as the election is thrown into chaos by unfolding events.

Appears from the start

A ruthless, professional killer carrying out a series of murders and abductions on behalf of a hidden master he communicates with only by phone. Cold, sensual, and proud of his lethal craft, he claims descent from an ancient order of assassins and takes cruel pleasure in his work, remaining a step ahead of Langdon throughout the pursuit.