Reacher: E Unum Pluribus' Secret Meaning Explained
Warning: Contains spoilers for Reacher season 1.
In Amazon’s Reacher, the team find a note that reads “Operation E Unum Pluribus” but the meaning is never fully explained, despite it playing a central role in the book. Reacher is based on Lee Child’s 1997 book Killing Floor and is a relatively faithful adaption of the text. While there are some major changes to update the story for television, most things remain the same, but the E Unum Pluribus explanation seems to have been lost.
The first clue in Reacher is revealed to be a phone number and the world “Pluribus” on a scrap of paper found in the dead Joe Reacher’s shoe. The phone number leads the police to Paul Hubble and Reacher’s investigation slowly uncovers a huge counterfeiting ring that has become central to the small fictional town of Margrave, Georgia while having international implications. In Reacher episode 4, “In A Tree,” Reacher finds the rest of Joe’s notes, they fit with the scrap of paper and reveal a set of initials and phone numbers topped by the heading “Operation E Unum Pluribus.” Finlay translates it as “out of one many,” and Roscoe points out it is backward and should be “out of many one,” referencing the motto “E Pluribus Unum” which is the traditional motto of the United States and has appeared on US coins since 1786.
Related: Will Finlay & Roscoe Return In Reacher Season 2?
Roscoe suggests that “E Unum Pluribus” being backward might simply be a mistake, but Reacher is quick to state that Joe Reacher never did anything by mistake. While the motto itself is never revisited in Reacher, the meaning of this reversed Latin phrase is explained in Killing Floor chapter 27. “E Unum Pluribus” is a clue to how the counterfeiting operation works and was
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