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Chapter 102
Themes
and Colors
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in The Da Vinci Code, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Conspiracies and Secrets
Art and Symbolism
Faith vs. Knowledge
Sacred Femininity and Revisionist History
Power and Manipulation
Summary
Analysis
Fache finishes interrogating Teabing, who claimed innocence but ranted incoherently about the Holy Grail. Fache believes Teabing exploited the Vatican and Opus Dei for his own purposes, covering his tracks carefully. Still, Collet has found information at Teabing’s château linking the knight to hidden surveillance devices, which were discreetly planted in his target’s belongings. Now, Fache visits the hospital, where Aringarosa has miraculously recovered. The bishop feels guilty for involving Silas, whose body has been found. Until Fache reached out about Sister Sandrine’s death at Saint-Sulpice, Aringarosa hadn’t known the Teacher instructed Silas to kill people. He knows now Teabing demanded payment in Vatican Bonds (Opus Dei’s severance pay) to lead police back to the Church if he was found out.
Coming so close to finding the Grail and losing it leaves Teabing furious, which in turn derails his attempts to appear innocent. Fache proves himself to be a good detective after all, reasoning through Teabing’s manipulation of Silas and Aringarosa while covering his tracks. Aringarosa’s ignorance of Teabing’s violent plan exonerates him, since his remorse here suggests wouldn’t have agreed to the scheme had he known Silas would be murdering people. Not only was Teabing planning to use the Grail to undermine long-held Christian doctrine, he also intended to pin Saunière’s murder on the Vatican. Here, it becomes clear that Teabing was trying to spread a narrative of the Church’s contempt for knowledge to cover his own motives.
Active
Themes
Fache returns the bishop’s briefcase of Vatican Bonds. Ashamed, Aringarosa asks him to disperse the 20 million euro among the families who have suffered because of Silas’s actions. On the hospital TV, Collet delivers a press conference at the château. When asked if Fache’s false accusations of Langdon and Sophie will end his career, Collet graciously implies Fache’s manhunt was part of a plan to discover the true killer, who is now in custody. Fache says Collet is a good man. He returns the bishop’s amethyst ring, which he bribed from the pilot earlier. Aringarosa considers his path forward uncertain, but he encourages Fache to have faith.
Active
Themes
