Origin

Above the church is a sign that reads Barcelona Supercomputing Center. Langdon and Vidal enter, more assured than ever that Winston is here. They are buzzed inside, where they view a massive display of Conway’s Game of Life followed by music and a visual display that includes the Tree of Life. Winston reveals himself as the source of the show.

Winston claims he can now open Kirsch’s file. They follow his instructions to Kirsch’s office. Winston says over 200 million people are following the story, and that they should release at exactly 3:00am. He sends out a press release. In the center of the church sits a large glass box housing a two-story supercomputer, the fastest in the world, known to Langdon as Winston.

ConspiracyNet announces that Kirsch’s discovery will shortly go live, and that Langdon and Vidal were seen at the Barcelona Supercomputing Center.

Prince Julián and Bishop Valdespino enter the passage into the mountain below the massive cross and monument built by Franco’s political prisoners. They walk beneath several Francoist structures and symbols, the massive room lit by bowls of fire along the edges. Julián recalls his father saying, “look carefully son,” and “one day you’ll tear this down” (366). They approach the secret church within the massive chamber, where Prince Julián finds his father slumped in his wheelchair.

Langdon and Vidal approach Kirsch’s office and read a Winston Churchill quote about persistence on the door. Winston insists they look inside the cube housing the computer, which he says is E-Wave. Though Kirsch claimed it was a failure, the fastest supercomputer in the world, capable of Quantum computing, is a reality. Kirsch’s breakthrough came when, like Gaudí, he studied nature for the perfect computing design. The computer is modeled after the bicameral mind. With four minutes until their 3:00am release time, Winston turns on the computer for the password entry and shows Langdon and Vidal security footage of the outside of the building, where police are gathering.

With four minutes to go, Langdon sits at the desk and Winston tells him it’s the wrong computer. He’s to input the password on an old TRS-80 computer further down the desk. He types in the code only to find it is incorrect. Vidal tells him Caps Lock was engaged, and he enters again.

Inside the mountain, Prince Julián rushes to his father, who says he is ready to confess a secret that he has kept from Julián his whole life and that he needs his priest present.

ConspiracyNet reveals that the Spanish police are attacking the building where Langdon and Vidal are trying to release Kirsch’s presentation. Viewership increases for the presentation.

Vidal embraces Langdon when the computer screen reads, “PASSWORD CORRECT” (381). Winston directs them to the lab to watch, where they see security forces outside have all pulled out their phones to view the announcement.

Langdon stands beside Kirsch’s desk and is transfixed by a test tube that reads MILLER-UREY, a reference to the failed 1950s experiment to create primordial ooze and force the spark of creation. Just then, the broadcast begins and he replaces the vial and sits by Vidal.

Kirsch explains that his discovery begins with primordial soup. Evolution can only be traced back to the smallest organism, and not beyond, to the spark. The failed vials of ooze from the MILLER-UREY experiments went into storage, only to be retrieved and tested years later, revealing the building blocks of life. Kirsch claims time is the only missing ingredient in that experiment. He built a time machine to analyze the MILLER-UREY tubes to see how the experiment ends with the ingredient of time added. Mathematical modeling, he claims, allows for accurate predictions of future outcomes. Kirsch uses the example of predicting pool ball outcomes to explain how modeling works. He introduces E-Wave and explains that he modeled the same five-test-tube scenario as MILLER-UREY using the supercomputer. Kirsch fast-forwards the experiment millions of years, resulting in nothing. The model failed.

With a sly grin, he claims to have left out another, essential ingredient.

Vidal watches Kirsch’s presentation with rapt attention as he explains the concept of entropy as the roadblock to humans creating life. Order versus chaos is the central question of nature, to which Kirsch claims a young MIT professor holds insight. His name is Jeremy England, a Jewish professor whose work might destabilize religion itself.

Jeremy England’s theory “was that the universe functioned with a singular directive. One goal” (396). That goal is the dissemination of energy. The universe is creating chaos through small acts of order. England claims life started as a means of dispersing energy. Kirsch takes this theory to his supercomputer modeling software and orders it to run the simulation on the ooze again, dispersing energy at all costs. He fast forwards and finds DNA millions of years into the model: “Life is not the point of the universe. Life is simply what the universe creates and reproduces in order to dissipate energy” (400), he concludes. This satisfies Kirsch on the question of humanity’s origin.

In the secret subterranean chapel, a guard arrives to tell the king that Kirsch’s announcement is playing. Beside the king, Bishop Valdespino is shaken as he worries about the future of humankind.

Langdon listens as Kirsch explains how he narrowed the model’s scope to see where humanity is going. Kirsch discusses the process of “tweening” or filling in the space between images, to create his model of the future. E-Wave is instructed to map human evolution using existing data, filling in the gaps using “tweening” in order to find patterns to project into future models. In all models, the same outcome confuses Kirsch.

Another species emerges in 2000: “The human species evolved to our current point in history, and then, very abruptly, a new species materialized, and erased us from the earth” (407). He claims that upon closer inspection, the new species absorbs humanity instead of simply destroying it.

Langdon struggles to understand what species will absorb and nearly irradiate humanity, and then realizes Kirsch is discussing the Seventh Kingdom, a kingdom of non-living, but nevertheless evolving species called technium. Kirsch explains how survival of the fittest applies to technology, how rapidly technology evolves, and how it has merged with the dominant species, humans. Humans will become hybrids with technology, which Kirsch views as deeply optimistic and hopeful. He bids farewell with a closing humanist prayer, and the broadcast ends.

Commander Garza watches the announcement with Mónica Martín under heavy guard. Valdespino calls Garza, freeing him and apologizing for the king’s error. He claims that he is innocent and asks Garza to find Vidal only so the prince can speak to her.

From Valdespino’s perspective outside the mountain sanctuary, he recalls that Kirsch did not play the hopeful conclusion of his presentation to the religious gathering, only that humanity would be wiped out by another species. Prince Julián took his father’s confession well, and now Valdespino wants nothing more than to rest.

Langdon and Vidal watch a post-presentation back-and-forth between atheists and religious followers arguing on various networks, the ardent of both parties vying for attention. Winston lets the police into the building, along with two royal guards who have a phone for Vidal to speak to the prince. When she is gone, Langdon asks what will become of Winston, who replies that he will self-destruct. They say goodbye, and Winston offers Langdon Kirsch’s backup phone as a means of communication.

At Hospital El Escorial, the king declines treatment and rests in his bed. Valdespino comes to sit by his side, and their secret is revealed to be a lifetime of secret love and affection—an illicit love for both a king and a priest. Before leaving the Franco monument, the king asked Julián not to destroy the monument, which would erase history. Instead, the king wants him to keep it and remember the dark days as a warning. Julián considers if the monarchy should be abolished. Vidal calls, and he apologizes.

Ambra speaks with Prince Julián, who apologizes for the pressured marriage proposal and says he had nothing to do with Kirsch’s murder. He says he will call off the engagement, with hopes of proposing again later in a more appropriate way.

ConspiracyNet reveals that the Palmarian pope admitted the church was a scam and a fraud, and that the church is now under heavy scrutiny. Further, the report claims the royal palace has cleared Garza and Langdon of wrongdoing and that the king is near death. Finally, the report proposes that the informant Monte might be Mónica Martín.

Ambra Vidal meets Langdon in the garden outside the church and tells him about Julián’s apology. She asks if Langdon believes in God, to which he explains that DNA is more of a code than a pattern, and thus he remains open to the idea of a creator. Vidal and Langdon hug farewell, and Vidal thinks she has feelings for the professor as well as her prince.

Mónica Martín prepares to address the media. The prince already informed Spain of the king and Valdespino’s passings, and he will now assume the throne.

From the prince’s perspective, he reveals that Bishop Valdespino consumed a bottle of morphine in the king’s hospital room, dying by suicide beside the king. The prince removed the evidence, preferring to keep the bishop and king’s love private, something he failed to do in his relationship with Vidal.

The following morning, Langdon tours a historical building while thinking about the events of the past few days. He realizes that Monte is Winston, and calls Winston to confirm. Winston also confirms that Kirsch was within days of dying and ready to die by suicide if needed. Suddenly, Langdon realizes that it was Winston who hired Ávila, Winston who acted as the Regent, and thus Winston who orchestrated Kirsch’s murder, and the subsequent fallout.

Langdon tells Dr. Mateo Valero, leader of the Barcelona Supercomputing Center, everything Winston did for Kirsch. Langdon wants to go public, but Valero knows E-Wave is such advanced AI that the story won’t be believed, and because Winston has self-destructed, there is no evidence.

Langdon recalls the final moments of conversation with Winston before he shut down. Winston revealed how he hired and managed Ávila, the innocence of Valdespino, and how he arranged for the religious leaders to be murdered. After Winston shut down, Langdon smashed Kirsch’s phone and threw it in the trash.

Langdon returns to the La Sagrada Família and discusses the events of the previous night with Father Beña. Langdon says he does not see William Blake as against religion but rather for a tolerant, creative, and open form of religion. Beña agrees. Langdon sits in the cathedral and imagines a better future.