The Lost Symbol

Langdon spends much of the novel attempting to decipher the symbols on the sides and bottom of a stone pyramid and its gold capstone. This pyramid and capstone become a symbol not only of the map it is rumored to hide, but also of Katherine’s determination to save her brother, for she is the one who opens the capstone’s package after it was sealed for a century. Katherine believes that the only way to save Peter from his captor is to give Mal’akh what he wants, so she pushes Langdon into solving the cryptic message carved into the pyramid’s surfaces.

The pyramid and capstone are also symbolic of the secret the Masons have been hiding since July 4, 1848. Hidden on this pyramid and capstone is a map that leads to the cornerstone of the Washington Monument, where a copy of the Bible is hidden. This map’s secret is surrounded in myth, creating a mystery that allows Mal’akh to believe that the secret hidden at the map’s end will transform him into a god and allow for his ascension to a divine state of existence. While the truth does illuminate the theme of The Process of Transformation, it is not the great truth or the Lost Word that Mal’akh imagined it to be.