Jorge eats the book and starts the fire

In the final confrontation of the novel, the blind librarian Jorge of Burgos, having been cornered by William of Baskerville in the secret room of the library known as the finis Africae, destroys the only surviving copy of Aristotle's second book of the Poetics by tearing out and eating its poisoned pages. When William and Adso try to stop him, Jorge knocks over their lamp, starting a fire that rapidly consumes the entire library and much of the abbey, leading to the destruction of the greatest Christian library and the death of Jorge himself.

The Confrontation in the Finis Africae

William and Adso, having finally deciphered the secret of the library's labyrinth and entered the finis Africae, find Jorge waiting for them in the darkness. The old man has already killed Abbot Abo, who had tried to enter the room through a secret passage, by breaking the mechanism that controlled the entrance, trapping the abbot to suffocate. Jorge admits to having manipulated the events of the past week, using the poison he stole from Severinus's infirmary years ago to protect the forbidden book. He reveals that he had spread the poison on the pages of the manuscript, knowing that any curious reader would moisten their fingers to turn the pages and ingest the lethal substance. This is how Venantius, Berengar, and Malachi died. Jorge tells William that he has been waiting for him, knowing that the Franciscan's intellect would eventually lead him to the truth.

The Destruction of the Book

William, wearing gloves, takes the volume and begins to read the Greek text, which is indeed the second book of Aristotle's Poetics, a work believed lost forever. The book argues for the philosophical value of comedy and laughter, proposing that laughter can be a tool for revealing truth and purifying the passions. Jorge, horrified by this idea, explains why he has spent decades suppressing the book: he believes that laughter is a base, corrupting force that undermines the fear of God and the authority of the Church. He argues that if laughter were elevated to an art and a philosophy, it would destroy the very foundations of Christian order. As William reads, Jorge suddenly seizes the book and begins to tear out the pages, stuffing them into his mouth and swallowing them, determined to consume the forbidden knowledge rather than let it survive. The poison, which he had applied to the pages, now enters his own body.

The Fire and the Fall of the Library

As William and Adso try to stop Jorge, the old man, guided by the heat of their lamp, knocks it over. The oil spills onto a pile of loose parchments, and the fire immediately takes hold. The dry, ancient pages blaze up like tinder, and the flames spread with terrifying speed through the room and into the adjacent chambers of the labyrinth. William and Adso are forced to flee, leaving Jorge behind. The fire, fed by the wind and the vast quantity of dry books, quickly engulfs the entire Aedificium. The scriptorium, the refectory, and the kitchen are all consumed. Sparks from the burning library land on the roof of the abbey church, which also catches fire. The stables, the forges, and the novices' house are soon ablaze. The monks and servants, leaderless and in panic, are unable to stop the conflagration. The greatest library in Christendom, with its thousands of irreplaceable manuscripts, is reduced to ashes over the course of three days and three nights.

Consequences and Aftermath

The destruction of the library marks the end of the abbey as a center of learning and power. The surviving monks scatter, and the abbey is abandoned as an accursed place. Jorge dies in the fire, having achieved his goal of destroying the book he so feared. William, having solved the mystery, is left with a profound sense of disillusionment. He realizes that his brilliant deductions, which led him to Jorge, were based on a false pattern—the apocalyptic sequence of the seven trumpets—that the murderer himself had not intended. The only truth he has discovered is that there is no ultimate order in the universe, only a chaotic web of causes and effects. The novel ends years later, with an elderly Adso returning to the ruins of the abbey and finding only scattered fragments of parchment, a ghost of the great library that once stood there. He reflects on the nature of truth and memory, concluding with the famous line: "Stat rosa pristina nomine, nomina nuda tenemus" (The rose of old exists only in its name; we possess only naked names).