The existence of the cornerstone is historically accurate, as the Freemasons of Virginia and Maryland conducted ritual ceremonies for the first foundation marker stone of Washington D.C. Here’s the true story behind The Lost Symbol, and what’s mostly real and fake about its key historical and cultural elements.īrown places the Freemasons front and center in The Lost Symbol, as it is the foundation cornerstone hidden beneath the depths of the Capitol Building that propels Mal’akh (Keenan Jolliff) to kidnap Peter Solomon and blackmail Langdon in the process. Artistic liberty plays a key role here, as Brown takes certain tenets of a school of thought and adds his own twist, making it difficult to differentiate between what’s real and what's made up.

It is important to understand that while Brown borrows from historical records and architectural evidence to breathe life into his tales, a major chunk of his creations are fabricated exaggerations, created for the sake of narrative impact. RELATED: Dan Brown's The Lost Symbol Cast & Character Guide Freemasonry is featured heavily in the plot, as it hinges on the disappearance of 33rd degree Masonic member Peter Solomon (Eddie Izzard) who happens to be Langdon’s friend and mentor. While Brown explores a wide range of religious, scientific, and spiritual ideologies and schools of thought in The Lost Symbol, his approach is much more cautious and measured, possibly due to the controversies caused by The Da Vinci Code and Angels and Demons in the past. Like all Dan Brown novels, The Lost Symbol features a plethora of symbolism, essentially driving the plot forward, with Langdon at the nexus of the narrative.

Dan brown the lost symbol series