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Welcome fellow reader of The Da Vinci Code.
Leonardo was a known trickster who liked to hide secrets in plain sight... often encoded in his artwork. Now, like the secrets hidden in Leonardo's art, a series of codes has been hidden for you.
These codes are visible to the naked eye... and they are already in your possession. Disguised on the jacket of The Da Vinci Code, numerous encrypted messages hint at the subject matter of Dan Brown's next Robert Langdon novel. And while their ultimate meanings will not be revealed here, we will give you clues as to how to locate and decipher them.
May your eyes be sharp... may your mind be strong.
This book has many secrets to impart, (Like codes disguised within its cover art). For you, these hidden codes we shall expose. But first, three testing questions we will pose.
[Now the FUN begins. The first test would go like this:]
A Florence wife possessed a knowing smile,
And dark mysterious eyes that did beguile,
Her portrait "La Giaconda" rose to fame,
Although we know her by another name.
What is the more common name of Leonardo Da Vinci's famous painting "La Giaconda?"
[This one's pretty obvious, right? It's The Mona Lisa. Type each of the three words in each box respectively and click on submit, it will prompt the next question:]
Indeed, dear friend, you've made a solid start,
And earned a second question de l'art,
Does Mona hang in Venice or in Rome?
(Or is it somewhere else that she calls home?)
In what city does The Mona Lisa reside?
[This one's as easy as the first, where else but Paris. Put that in the box to reveal the final test question:]
Correct again, you're very nearly there.
One test remains - concerning Jacques Saunièe.
A man of art, he garnered deep respect,
Among the brethen of a secret sect.
To what secret society did Jacques Saunièe belong?
[Ah yes, Mr. Jacques Saunièe, grandfather of Ms. Sophie Nevue, renowned curator of the Louvre Museum, and the grand master of a secret society known as the Priory of Sion. Place that chunk of words in the box and voila! You've passed the test and get this message:]
Well done, my friend, you prove that you're prepared.
And so we'll keep the promise we declared.
A slash of hidden codes we now unveil.
Five authors brave gave quotes to DVC.
Look closely to their left and you will see,
A string of backwards symbols heading North,
(Beginning near the quote occurring fourth.)
Gaze long and hard, have faith, there's something there.
When it appears, reflect on it with care.
Once you see the hidden code, you must answer this question:
What enigmatic sculpture stands one degree North of the location indicated in the code?
[Prepare to do some research for this. The first line refers to the five authors that gave reviews and comments for DVC, Da Vinci Code. So the place to look for is on the back of the book jacket. It is very much visible when you're looking for it eventhough it is written backwards. When you spot it, you gotta work it, put your thing down, flip it and reverse it (hehe). It clearly say 37?57' 6.5" N and 77?8' 44" W, which are obviously coordinates. Now, get a hold of a map but keep in mind that you are looking for a sculpture one degree north of the given coordinates, which means you are actually looking for 38?57' 6.5" N and 77?8' 44" W. The map I had was slightly inferior, I was only able to get Langley, Virginia but with the help of trusty ol' Google (search for Langley Virginia Sculpture), I was able to get Kryptos, a sculpture located on the grounds of CIA Headquarters in Langley, Virginia. If this is any indication of what the next Dan Brown novel will be about, I'll bet it'll be as exciting and thrilling as The Da Vinci Code...or even more. Anyway, continuing:]
Fact: Located in the courtyard of CIA headquarters is a sculpture entitled Kryptos. This enigmatic sculpture bears several strange messages written in code. While some sections of the code have been deciphered, other parts remain a mystery to this day.
One deciphered portion of Kryptos offers the enigmatic message:
"They used the earth's magnetic field. The information was gathered and transmitted underground to an unknown location. Does Langley know about this? They should: it's buried out there somewhere. Who knows the exact location?"
According to Kryptos, what are the initials of the person who "knows the exact location?"
[If you would click on the first link that google was able to produce, you'd be at a Kryptos website. Now if you would scroll down you will be able to find that same enigmatic message, but it continues on. The whole message was deciphered to state:
"It was totally invisible. How's that possible? They used the earth's magnetic field. x The information was gathered and transmitted undergruund to an unknown location. x Does langley know about this? They should: it's buried out there somewhere. x Who knows the exact location? Only WW. This was his last message. x Thirty eight degrees fifty seven minutes six point five seconds north, seventy seven degrees eight minutes forty four seconds west. ID by rows."
Yes, the initials of the man, or woman, who knows the exact location are WW. Who is WW? Uh, I don't know either, I think it's one of those mysteries that has yet to be solved. So anyway, enter WW in the box and you will be able to proceed.]
The cover flap describes the novel's plot,
But simple words can often hide a lot.
Within those paragraphs (and shrouded fast),
Resides a mystic phrase from ages past.
To make your quest... abandon any fears,
If you are bold, the font of truth appears.
[I love this one. If you'd look closely at the cover flaps of the book where tells about the plot of the novel, you'd actually see random letters in bold text. Start from the cover flap to the back, make sure to jot down those letters in bold text. Once you've done that, start encoding each letter into the clue boxes and you'll get this phrase: Is there no help for the widows son. Once you've got that the next puzzle is revealed:]
Before we continue, you must prove your worthiness by answering this one simple question:
For which ancient brotherhood (still active today) does this phrase have special meaning?
Enter name of brotherhood here:
[I was stumped here. I've never heard of this phrase before and no idea what was the name of the brotherhood. I tried Priory of Sion again, but it was wrong. So I took the whole phrase and searched Google again, ah...what would I do without you. There were two things I found out at this point, first was the name of the brotherhood that I was looking for was the Masons, second is that there are already walkthroughs and spoiler sites for this mini game, and here I am building another one. So enter Masons in the box and the game will make you proceed:]
The Masonic Brotherhood is ne of the oldest fraternities still active today and is often defined as: "A system of morality, veiled in allegory, and illustrated by symbols."
A dolphin and an anchor (but no sea),
A triangle on white is also key,
Between the two you'll find a crimson field
Upon it printed faintly is a seal.
Each number to a chapter points the way
Each chapter starts with words in muted gray
The letter that is first is what you seek
Thirteen of them (and though it all looks Greek)
Add three all-seeing-eyes - a perfect square
Begin at E, and Caesar guides you there.
[Sounds complicated? Well not as much. The first line talks of an anchor and a dolphin, it's obviously the Double Day seal. The second line I don't get. It speaks of a triangle in white but all I saw was the barcode, which is a rectangle in white. Nevertheless, you'll see something faintly printed between the seal and the barcode. Looks like random numbers and 3 triangles, right? That's because they are numbers, numbers to chapters from the book. 5 8 73 11 20 11 11 68 1 10 11 61 15. Find each chapter and seek for the first letter of each chapter and you'll get:
M L B U E U U N R S U P I
Makes sense? Ofcourse not yet. You have to add the three triangles - Perfect Square. And the last part says to start at E.
E U U N Δ R S U P I Δ M L B U Δ
It took me quite a while to get this, I had to use Google for the last time using the words Perfect Square and Caesar, this is how I found out about the Caesar Box. A Caesar Box is a method of simple encryption invented by Julius Caesar. The concept is to have a string of letters whose sum of the total number of characters is a perfect square. You then take the square root of the sum of the string and divide the string equally to form a Caesar Box. It is then read from top to bottom and from left to right.
E U U N
Δ R S U
P I Δ M
L B U Δ
You'll get E Pluribus Unum. Pop that in the box and you've just cracked the code...well...almost. I'll leave the last parts for you to read and discover. Don't confuse your right and your left (hehe).]
E Pluribus Unum is a Latin for:"Out of many...one." The phrase appears on the Great Seal of United States and is believed to be a reference to the unification of the thirteen colonies into one nation.
Both sides of the Great Seal -- the obverse (eagle) and the reverse (pyramid and eye) -- appear on the back of the one dollar bill, and many theories exist as to the meaning of their symbols...
But those are secrets we will leave for another day.
At the moment, you are only inches away from victory...
The eyes of Mona Lisa launched this quest.
And now her knowing gaze lays it to rest. The French would say her "OEIL DROIT" holds the key. Just point and click on it -- and you are home free!
http://www.randomhouse.com/doubleday/davinci/index-utc.php
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