The Lost Symbol: The 8 Best Characters

Bestselling author Dan Brown’s Robert Langdon series started out over a decade ago to become a film trilogy starring Tom Hanks. With the movies done with, The Lost Symbol is set as the prequel that explains Robert Langdon’s roots and how he became the ace symbologist fans know of.

Langdon faced off against the villainous Mal’akh’s elaborate puzzles to find his mentor in the story, which brought in a variety of supporting characters. Interestingly enough, some of the cast were more engaging than the protagonist, so it’s worth looking into how much the audience would have been inclined to like everyone involved.

8 Samyaza

As the mentor to Mal’akh who got the antagonist into his villainous ways, Samyaza was never supposed to be likable. However, he also didn’t possess any of the antagonistic charms that many baddies generally enjoy, as Samyaza was ultimately a rather pointless character.

His appearance was hyped as a big deal but he was killed off by Mal’akh himself rather tamely. Samyaza didn’t give any real reasons for fans to take note of his villainy, which not makes him unlikeable, but also encourages a sense of apathy from viewers who just wouldn’t really care about him.

7 Warren Bellamy

As the Architect of the Capitol, Warren Bellamy was there mainly to provide assistance to the protagonists. He was an overall welcoming presence, whom fans could place their trust in and Bellamy would sometimes even be the audience surrogate when things were explained to him.

All in all, Bellamy was a good addition to the cast, yet lacked the personal connection that viewers needed to truly find him as their favorite. He was a good enough character by all means, so there’s no reason not to like him. The problem with his likability factor is that the other characters had more going for him than Bellamy had.

6 Peter Solomon

Eddie Izzard’s role was a far cry from the stand-up comedy specials fans are used to, with Peter Solomon being the mentor to Robert Langdon. Peter’s history with Robert is what would make fans like him, as he had a big impact on carving out the man that Robert ultimately became.

Peter wasn’t as sympathetic when viewed from Mal’akh’s point of view, which some fans might be inclined to agree with. The fact that he was captured for quite a large portion of the story also denies him from being considered as the most captivating people to be onscreen.

5 Mal’akh

Mal’akh might have been depicted on shows that are like The Lost Symbol because there was potential to dig into his true identity as Zachary Solomon. However, The Lost Symbol was focused totally on his negative traits, so it’s hard to like someone who was willing to kill his father and sister.

Some fans might still sympathize with the identity crisis that had plagued Mal’akh, which offers a little sense of attachment toward him. He was also engaging to follow, as viewers would have been inclined to see if he could go through with his radical beliefs of sacrifice. Overall, though, most will have breathed a sigh of relief when he was eliminated for good.

4 Inoue Sato

The chemistry between Sato and Langdon was such that they briefly resembled a crime TV cop duo who would solve the mystery. The show chose to go a different route midway through, where Sato became more connected with Mal’akh’s side of the story.

At one point, Sato could be seen as a candidate for the villain herself based on certain suspicions, while many would have been concerned if Mal’akh really had offed her, as had been implied. The downside to Sato was that she largely had to rely on Robert to spell things out, but there’s definite potential for her to return to team up with Langdon again.

3 Robert Langdon

Robert Langdon isn’t generally included in Tom Hanks’ most likable roles because of his habit of keeping things to himself, which makes the other characters feel silly. Similarly, the younger Robert also tended to tell people off by claiming they wouldn’t understand what he knew, which was slightly frustrating.

On the other hand, he had a heroic spirit that is hard to deny, with Robert going the distance into finding Peter Solomon and thwarting Mal’akh’s plans. It was very impressive the way he would solve clues to twist the story in single scenes, as best seen when he revealed to Mal’akh that his faith had been misguided all along and the villain was emotionally crippled.

2 Katherine Solomon

Robert Langdon’s adventures largely place his female sidekicks in precarious positions for him to rescue. While Katherine was held captive in the end, her role prior to that was to show her as a competent person in her own right.  She even had her own arc of investigation midway through, which allowed fans to see Katherine as a protagonist as well.

Her crowning moment might just be the fact that she was the one to take down Mal’akh for good, something that fans would have found cathartic since they were siblings. Katherine’s status as a more hands-on counterpart to Robert made her a standout character in the season.

1 Alfonso Nuñez

Despite the fact that Alfonso Nuñez was mainly there to act as comedic relief, he would have been the character that viewers were most inclined to like. It comes down to Alfonso being the one character who behaved the way a normal person would, given the extent of Mal’akh’s crimes.

His role generally had him question things that the others would answer as a way of handing plot exposition to viewers, yet Alfonso also had the habit of asking the right questions that steered the story in a different direction. He was the contrast the show needed to have some light moments in what was an overall dark series to follow.

About The Author

Saim Cheeda
(1348 Articles Published)

Saim Cheeda is an entertainment writer covering all of Film, TV, Gaming and Books. He’s been a writer for Valnet since 2017, contributing 500+ articles for The Gamer, The Things, Game Rant, Comic Book Resources and Screen Rant. Apart from freelance writing, Saim is a lifestyle blogger, co-owning the blog 3 States Apart.

http://3statesapart.com

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