Cryptex Unlocked

The final unlocking of the cryptex—the keystone of the Priory of Sion—takes place in the Chapter House of Westminster Abbey, under the gun of Sir Leigh Teabing, who has just revealed himself as the mastermind behind the night's murders. With Sophie Neveu held at gunpoint, Langdon is forced to choose between collaboration and destruction. The pressure of the moment, combined with the clues he has absorbed from Newton's tomb, drives him to a sudden insight: the missing orb is the apple that fell from heaven, struck Newton's head, and inspired his life's work—the Rosy flesh with a seeded womb, the symbol of the fall of the sacred feminine. The password is APPLE.

The Password and the Throw

Langdon, having realized the truth, does not surrender the cryptex. Instead, he hurls it high toward the cupola of the Chapter House. Teabing, desperate to save the keystone, fires his Medusa revolver but misses; the bullet explodes in the floor near Langdon's feet. Teabing's eyes follow the airborne cylinder, and he releases the gun, dropping his crutches, and lunges forward to catch it. He snatches the cryptex from midair but falls heavily, the cylinder striking the stone floor. The glass vial inside shatters, and the acrid tang of vinegar fills the air. Teabing, believing the papyrus scroll is dissolving, pulls the ends of the cylinder apart in despair—only to find it empty except for shards of wet glass. The dials, no longer at random, spell APPLE.

The Map and the Arrest

Langdon, having already removed the delicate rolled papyrus from the cryptex before the throw, now extracts it from the breast pocket of his tweed coat. He unrolls the scroll and reads it, a knowing smile crossing his face. Teabing, still on the floor, begs to know the location of the Holy Grail, but Langdon slips the papyrus back into his pocket. The doors burst open, and Bezu Fache enters like a bull, his eyes finding Teabing helpless on the floor. British police follow, seizing the anguished prisoner and placing him in handcuffs. As Teabing is carried out, he howls for Langdon to tell him where the Grail is hidden. Langdon replies, "Only the worthy find the Grail, Leigh. You taught me that."

The Poem and the Orb

The password APPLE is the culmination of a chain of clues that began with the poem on the rosewood box: "An ancient word of wisdom frees this scroll... and helps us keep her scatter'd family whole... a headstone praised by templars is the key... and atbash will reveal the truth to thee." The Atbash Cipher, applied to the Hebrew spelling of Baphomet, yielded the password SOFIA, which opened the first cryptex. Inside was a second, smaller cryptex of black onyx, nested within the first, accompanied by a new verse: "In London lies a knight a Pope interred. / His labor's fruit a Holy wrath incurred. / You seek the orb that ought be on his tomb. / It speaks of Rosy flesh and seeded womb." The "knight a Pope interred" is Sir Isaac Newton, whose funeral was presided over by Alexander Pope. The "orb" is the apple of Newton's discovery—the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge, whose eating incurred the Holy wrath of God, and whose Rosy flesh and seeded womb symbolize the sacred feminine and the fall of the goddess.