The Da Vinci Code Chapters 68–75 Summary & Analysis

Summary: Chapter 68

Langdon calls Jonas Faukman, his editor, who admits that he sent a copy of Langdon’s recent manuscript to Saunière in order to get a blurb for the back of the novel from him. Teabing asks whether the novel was critical of the Priory, and Langdon says it takes a neutral stance. Teabing thinks the Priory should have revealed where the documents were hidden. When they reach the airfield, the pilot does not want to transport Sophie and Langdon, but Teabing threatens him with the gun and offers him a bribe.

Summary: Chapter 69

In the jet, Teabing asks Sophie if she understands the gravity of her own position. If she can find the Holy Grail, Teabing says, she will have the power to reveal the great secret to the world. He wants to know what she plans to do with that power. Sophie says that when she finds the Grail, she will know what to do.

Summary: Chapter 70

At Château Villette, Fache is furious with Collet. André Vernet calls the police and tells them that contrary to what he said, Sophie and Langdon were at the bank that night. He says they took something from Saunière’s account. At the same time, another agent has gone through Teabing’s speed dial numbers and spoken with the airfield. He has discovered that Teabing spoke with them that night.

Summary: Chapter 71

On the plane, Langdon and Teabing try and fail to decipher the text on the back of the rose. Sophie takes the text from them and says it is simply written backwards, the way Da Vinci used to write in his notebooks. One can read it in a mirror.

Summary: Chapter 72

Langdon, Sophie, and Teabing copy down the four-line poem inscribed in the box. It includes references to Mary Magdalene’s family, the Knights Templar, and the Grail. It is written in iambic pentameter and in English, which the Brotherhood considered the only language uncorrupted by the church. The poem instructs them to find a headstone “praised by Templars” and then use another code, the Atbash Cipher, to decode the password. They feel a bit daunted about the prospect of tracking all this down.

Summary: Chapter 73

At the airfield, Fache cannot find out who is on Teabing’s plane with him, but he does manage to determine where the plane will land. He tells his police to have the Kent local police, not the British intelligence service, to surround the plane.

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