Sophie Neveu

Character Analysis

Crack Analyst (Clarification: She's Good at Cryptology. Not Analyzing Crack. Crack is Whack.)

Thanks to her unorthodox upbringing by the eccentric Jacques Sauniére, Sophie Neveu is a master cryptographer. And that's a good thing, too, because she doesn't necessarily make a ton of allies in her field of work.

According to Bezu Fache:

Sophie Neveu was one of DCPJ's biggest mistakes. A young Parisian déchiffreuse who had studied cryptography in England at the Royal Holloway, Sophie Neveu had been foisted on Fache two years ago as part of the ministry's attempt to incorporate more women into the police force. The ministry's ongoing foray into political correctness, Fache argued, was weakening the department. Women not only lacked the physicality necessary for police work, but their mere presence posed a dangerous distraction to the men in the field. As Fache had feared, Sophie Neveu was proving far more distracting than most. At thirty-two years old, she had a dogged determination that bordered on obstinate. Her eager espousal of Britain's new cryptologic methodology continually exasperated the veteran French cryptographers above her. And by far the most troubling to Fache was the inescapable universal truth that in an office of middle-aged men, an attractive young woman always drew eyes away from the work at hand. (9.9-10)

Yeah. To quote every reality show ever, Sophie's not here to make friends.

But we can tell that, if she weren't a woman, maybe Fache would see her more as a trailblazer in a field of intellectuals rather than a thorn in his side. Her mastery of cryptology is pretty impressive, after all. Some of her talent comes naturally—her grandfather being quite the riddler himself—but a lot of it comes from her training, both at school and at the hands of Sauniére himself.

Langdon looked incredulous. "And you say your grandfather built these for you when you were younger?"

"Some smaller ones, yes. A couple times for my birthday, he gave me a cryptex and told me a riddle. The answer to the riddle was the password to the cryptex, and once I figured it out, I could open it up and find my birthday card […] the cards always contained another riddle or clue. My grandfather loved creating elaborate treasure hunts around our house, a string of clues that eventually led to my real gift. Each treasure hunt was a test of character and merit, to ensure I earned my rewards. And the tests were never simple." (47.33-36)

That's, um, not normal. But it's convenient, because Sauniére's untimely death and subsequent treasure map towards the Holy Grail sounds awfully similar to Sophie's birthday tradition, doesn't it? It seems like he may have been grooming her for this particular scenario her entire life, perhaps. He was one crafty guy.

But she's equally crafty. And her ability to decipher her grandfather's clues turns out to be particularly helpful on their quest. Sometimes even the superbrains of Langdon and Teabing were no match for that of Sophie.

When they're trying to decipher Sauniére's first clue, the two academics are completely stumped. The cypher is in a language that confounds even these two eggheads:

"I don't know," Langdon whispered intently. "My first guess is a Semitic, but now I'm not so sure. Most primary Semitics include nekkudot. This has none."

"Probably ancient," Teabing offered.

[…]

Langdon was still hovering over the script. "A Sephardic transliteration, perhaps…?" (71.6-9)

But then they finally let Sophie take a look, and she's able to decipher the clue instantly, recognizing it as mirror writing.

"You're saying you can read this text?" Teabing exclaimed.

"Quite easily," Sophie chimed, obviously enjoying herself now. "My grandfather taught me this language when I was only six years old. I'm fluent." (71.23-24)

Ha. Take that, pompous old men.

She Is Woman, Hear Her Roar.

If you're willing to overlook the rampant misogyny in Fache's opinion of Sophie from the previous section, it's obvious that her tenacity and inclination to go against the grain of her superiors ends up serving her pretty well.

After all, she's an attractive young woman, which allows her to get away with some things that other people couldn't exactly pull off. Even Langdon, the seemingly asexual being that he is, was stunned by her first impression:

Langdon turned to see a young woman approaching. She was moving down the corridor toward them with long, fluid strides…a haunting certainty to her gait. Dressed casually in a knee-length, cream-colored Irish sweater over black leggings, she was attractive and looked to be about thirty. Her thick burgundy hair fell unstyled to her shoulders, framing the warmth of her face. Unlike the waifish, cookie-cutter blondes that adorned Harvard dorm room walls, this woman was healthy with an unembellished beauty and genuineness that radiated a striking personal confidence. (9.15)

Translation: daaaaaang.

It's hard to tell whether Langdon's more impressed by her hair or her confidence, but we're going to go with the latter. Sophie's one of those people who just projects competence. She's super smart, analytical, and yet intuitive as well. These traits all serve her well in her field of work, for sure, but we're more interested in the fact that she's all these things while being a woman.

You know how Hollywood movies tend to give us totally stunning protagonists and then dilute their personalities with flaws like being super-clumsy? Or how women in literature that have high self-esteem are usually portrayed as being needed to be taken down a peg ( *cough Taming of the Shrew *cough cough)?

Yeah: historically, confidence and poise aren't held up as female character-defining traits. (Which is part of a major problem.)

But The Da Vinci Code gives us Sophie, and it's so refreshing it is to see a character so comfortable in her own skin. Much of this is probably attributable to her grandfather, seeing as he wanted to instill respect for the sacred feminine in his impressionable young ward. What better way to raise a feminist than to impart the idea that women were not just equal to men, but potentially more important?

That's Sophie in a nutshell: she knows she's important…and she's right.

Little Orphan Annie

On the other hand, though, Sophie's got some doubts. The more she learns about her grandfather's role in the Priory of Sion, the more she regrets that she let one creepy event lead to over a decade of silence between them.

Because, despite her strong will and innate self-confidence, she also suffers from the unshakeable loneliness of being an orphan.

Sure, she had a pretty cool childhood with her grandfather, but her whole life is overshadowed by the tragedy that took her parents and her little brother. Throughout the book, she is haunted by what her grandfather could have meant when he said, "I must tell you the truth about your family."

Check it out:

"Princess…" Her grandfather's voice cracked with an emotion Sophie could not place. "I know I've kept things from you, and I know it has cost me your love. But it was for your own safety. Now you must know the truth. Please, I must tell you the truth about your family."

Sophie suddenly could hear her own heart. My family? Sophie's parents had died when she was only four. Their car went off a bridge into fast-moving water. Her grandmother and younger brother had also been in the car, and Sophie's entire family had been erased in an instant. She had a box of newspaper clippings to confirm it.

His words had sent an unexpected surge of longing through her bones. My family! In that fleeting instant, Sophie saw images from the dream that had awoken her countless times when she was a little girl: My family is alive! They are coming home! But, as in her dream, the pictures evaporated into oblivion. Your family is dead, Sophie. They are not coming home. (16.12-15)

Poor Soph. What kind of kid wouldn't fantasize about their family like that? It's a completely normal thing, to wish that a tragic accident had never occurred. And the fact that she kept the newspaper clippings shows that every once in a while, she probably needed reminding that it really had happened…and that it wasn't just the world's worst nightmare.

So, in the end it's a nice, neat little bow Dan Brown ties on Sophie's story when we discover that her grandmother and little brother have been alive all along, hiding out by Rosslyn Chapel:

When Langdon walked across the lawn to join them, Sophie could not imagine that only yesterday she had felt so alone in the world. And now, somehow, in this foreign place, in the company of three people she barely knew, she felt at last that she was home. (104.111)

Aww, shucks. Sophie goes from being a bad mama jama even as an orphan…to being reunited with her fam, finding love, and continuing to kick butt and take names every step of the way.