# Is Dan Brown's description of the Holy Grail in Th Da Vinci Code accurate? (Spoilers)

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-dan-browns-description-of-the-holy-grail-in-th-da-vinci-code-accurate-spoilers/234213>\
**Category:** Cafe Society\
**Created:** [March 14, 2004, 8:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-dan-browns-description-of-the-holy-grail-in-th-da-vinci-code-accurate-spoilers/234213 "2004-03-14T08:05:10Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![BrianS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/c6cbf5/32.png) [@BrianS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrianS)\
**Post date:** [March 14, 2004, 8:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-dan-browns-description-of-the-holy-grail-in-th-da-vinci-code-accurate-spoilers/234213/1 "2004-03-14T08:05:10Z")

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How much poetic license does Dan Brown take with his description of the _Holy Grail_ in his novel _The Da Vinci Code_?

[spoiler]Dan writes that the word _Sangreal_, from which we derive Holy Grail, is generally believed to be derived from the collusion of two words: “San” and “Greal,” literally “Holy Grail.” He then goes on to claim that the two original words were misinterpreted, and that they really were “Sang Real” or “Royal Blood.”

Dan claims that the Holy Grail is really a metaphor for Mary Magdalene and that she was JHC’s wife and mother of his children. He also claims that JHC intended her to cary on his teachings and “build his church”. [/spoiler]

Anyone care to punditificate?

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**Author:** ![BrianS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/c6cbf5/32.png) [@BrianS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrianS)\
**Post date:** [March 14, 2004, 8:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-dan-browns-description-of-the-holy-grail-in-th-da-vinci-code-accurate-spoilers/234213/2 "2004-03-14T08:06:35Z")

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Drat! I thought I was in Cafe Society. I had too many tabs open, I guess. Sorry, Mods, please relocate.

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**Author:** ![Walloon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/fbc32d/32.png) [@Walloon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walloon)\
**Post date:** [March 14, 2004, 8:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-dan-browns-description-of-the-holy-grail-in-th-da-vinci-code-accurate-spoilers/234213/3 "2004-03-14T08:11:59Z")

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Do a search on the words _Brown_ and _grail_ in the SDMB archives, and you’ll find plenty of reading material on this question.

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**Author:** ![bibliophage](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bibliophage/32/7615_2.png) [@bibliophage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bibliophage)\
**Post date:** [March 14, 2004, 2:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-dan-browns-description-of-the-holy-grail-in-th-da-vinci-code-accurate-spoilers/234213/4 "2004-03-14T14:52:53Z")

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Off to Cafe Society.

This column of Cecil’s may be of interest: [What is the Holy Grail?](http://www.straightdope.com/columns/030404.html)

bibliophage  
moderator GQ