Artemis Fowl

"Artemis Fowl" redirects here; for the first novel in the series, see Artemis Fowl (novel), for the character of the same name see Artemis Fowl II, for his father see Artemis Fowl I.

Artemis Fowl

File:JacketArtemisLRG.jpg Cover of the first book in the series, Artemis Fowl (UK first edition).
Author	Eoin Colfer
Language	English
Genre	Fantasy
Publisher	Viking Press
Publication date	2001
Publication place	Ireland
Media type	Print (Hardback & Paperback)

Artemis Fowl is a series of fantasy novels written by Irish author Eoin Colfer, starring the teenage criminal mastermind Artemis Fowl. The series is written in half-serious language, alternating dark moments with humorous ones, a style favored by a number of popular children's authors, including J. K. Rowling (Harry Potter) and Roald Dahl (The Witches).

Artemis, the main character, is a ruthless and extremely intelligent young criminal whose main goal is the acquisition of money through a variety of schemes (although his values change towards the 5th book). The author of the series summed up the series as: "Die Hard with fairies."

Main characters

• Artemis Fowl II, the central character, is a child prodigy who utilizes his mental and material resources towards crimes for financial gain. A year after his father's disappearance, Artemis has taken charge of rebuilding the family fortune, and put his plans into action by kidnapping LEPrecon captain Holly Short in order to gain gold which the fairy government has set aside as a ransom for any captured officer. In spite of such a beginning, Artemis would later work with Holly to save their worlds from impending doom on several occasions, and little by little, his moral character and emotional disposition improves. Most readers, although Artemis is never fully described in the books, think that he is mysteriously handsome, in that he is pale, cold, but charismatic. On more than one occasion, he has been likened unfavourably to vampires.
• Domovoi Butler, is Artemis's butler and bodyguard. The Butler family has served the Fowl family for generations with a Butler being assigned to a new Fowl at birth. In Book III, he reveals his first name to Artemis, even though it is against protocol, when he believes he is near death. He has a comprehensive knowledge of numerous weapons and extensive training in martial arts, enough so to be able to survive an encounter with a troll. In the second book, The Arctic Incident, it states that, "There were only two men on the planet better educated in the various martial arts than Butler, and he was related to one of them". Butler is more than what he seems and follows Artemis around the world on his adventures. He is also one of Artemis's only friends.
• Juliet Butler is Butler's 'baby sister' and was, until Book III, a bodyguard in training. The following quote from the third book seems to describe Juliet's departure from the normal teenage girl's standard quite well: "For her eighteenth birthday she asked for, and received, a ribbed Judo crash vest, two weighted throwing knives and a World Wrestling Grudge Match video". She "could hit a moving target with any weapon you could care to name and she could throw most people a lot further than she trusted them."
• Captain Holly Short is the only female LEPrecon (Lower Elements Police Reconnaissance) officer so far. She's very tough and has more field experience than most. While Holly shares Opal's misfortunes of having her talents derided due to her gender, Holly had the guidance of Julius, her father figure who expected more of her, in contrast to Opal's father, who didn't. Holly has a strong sense of morals and usually works based on intuition rather than protocol, a quality that often gets her into trouble. She was captured by Artemis in the first book but her ability to take advantage of what she has, helped her escape her cell if not the Fowl Manor. Through out the series Holly and Artemis came to understand each other better and eventually recognized each other as friends.
• Foaly, the lone centaur in Holly's department, is the LEP's technological genius. He is paranoid about discovery by humans, choosing to wear tin-foil hats to protect his brain from the mind-probing rays he believes are following him, although he knows they have yet to be invented. He is also quite vain about his work and appearance. His inventions keep Holly one step ahead of the game.
• Commander Julius Root of the LEPrecon has the personality of an old soldier, and was a father-like mentor to Holly Short and many others who he had supervised. He had the habit of smoking noxious fungus cigars, and a short temper had earned him the nickname of "Beetroot". Julius follows protocols more closely than Holly, but is driven by his concern for his subordinate and The People he serves, he 'bends rules' where necessary.
• Mulch Diggums is a kleptomaniacal dwarf with explosive flatulence. He was brought in by Julius to break into Fowl manor, having already lost his magical abilities due to entering human dwellings without invitations. Like all male dwarves, Mulch is adapted for tunnelling, and his unhingeable jaw and accelerated digestion have proved vital on many of his criminal ventures. An amoral thief who loves luxury and cares little for the law or the environment The People hold dear, he nevertheless develops sentiments towards Julius, Holly, and Artemis, people that he had chose to risk his life to avenge and save, albeit grudgingly.
• Minerva Paradizo, is a second teenage criminal genius who captures the imp N^o1 and tries to present him as her project for the Nobel prize award in Stockholm. She is younger than Artemis and believes she can outsmart him when he tries to save the magical world from discovery. According to Butler at the end of book five, she has a developed feelings for Artemis.
• N°1, a very powerful imp warlock (Qwan's apprentice as of Book V) who helped to save Hybras. Before saving Hybras, however, he got involved with Artemis Fowl, and was kidnapped by Minerva Paradizo.
• Qwan was the most powerful of the original seven full-fledged warlocks who lifted Hybras out of time. The only warlock who survived in his petrified form, he brought Hybras back to the real world outside the Limbo with help from Artemis, Qweffor (his apprentice who was believed to be deceased, but actually trapped in N'zall (a.k.a. Leon Abbot)

Villains

There is no obvious villain for the first book, as it is Artemis Fowl vs. the LEP; Artemis Fowl could himself be considered the villain or hero/anti-hero, an unusual stance for a children's book. A minor villain is Briar Cudgeon, who tries to kill and/or injure Artemis, Butler and Juliet with a troll.

• Briar Cudgeon An officer driven by ambition, he was once a centuries long friend of Julius and was planning his way up into the council. By the end of the original Artemis Fowl incident, however, Cudgeon was disgraced, demoted and deformed physically and mentally when the dart Julius shot him with reacted badly with the illegal brain enhancing chemicals he had been taking. In Artemis Fowl: The Arctic Incident, he co-headed the B'wa Kell rebellion, where Opal had presented him as a leader of their new world, but he had boisterous plans of eliminating her rather than retain her as 'his princess', knowing that she would not be satisfied to remain at the side of power.
• Opal Koboi was the mastermind behind the Goblin uprising in The Arctic Incident, but by The Opal Deception, the collapse of her previous plan and her year long coma had reduced her to a paranoid pixie bent only on revenge. Opal had formed Koboi Laboratories after bankrupting the company of her father, who had expected little of her, and drove him into insanity. Opal was a rival of Foaly, with whom she held a bitter grudge over her loss of a contest much earlier in their lives. Opal was what Artemis could have become, in Book IV, where Artemis' loss of certain memories had reverted him to a cold and self-centered state, he was paralleled by Opal's childishness in behavior and appearance.
• Jon Spiro is the villain of Book III. A shady and powerful businessman from Chicago, he formed and head the company Fission Chips which was backed by the mob. Instead of paying Artemis off to with-hold the C-Cube from immediate market, he instead robbed Artemis of the mini-computer while critically injuring Butler in the process. Spiro captured Artemis when he could not crack its "Eternity Code" encryption, but ended up playing into Artemis and LEPrecon's plans to recover the C-Cube which had been built from stolen fairy technology.
• Goblins are the species of fairies who have lizard-like bodies and can conjure fire. In spite of their incredible lack of intelligence, they have a highly competitive gang, B'wa Kell, which does pose some threat to the tourists who stray into their paths. They become a threat in The Arctic Incident', with the aid of Opal and Cudgeon who supplied the brainwaves of the revolution along with the weapons that would keep working when the LEP's goes off line.
• In the book Artemis Fowl: The Lost Colony, demons such as Leon Abbot are arguably antagonists, but characters like N○. 1 and Qwan are ambivalent due to the aid they render to Artemis and all inhabitants of the Earth, magical or not and for the fact they are Warlocks.
• Ark Sool replaces Julius Root as the new Commander of the LEP. Foaly holds him in high contempt, and his distrust for Holly drove her to quit the LEP. He was sacked as LEP Commander during the time when Holly and Artemis were at Hybras (the demon island, lifted out of time by the demon warlocks) in Book V.

Minor characters

Humans

• Artemis Fowl I is the father of Artemis the Second and lost his leg in an incident with a ship loaded with cola during his latest and last scheme in the Bay of Kola, Russia. Artemis fears that if his father returns, Artemis will no longer be permitted to continue his various illegal enterprises.
• Angeline Fowl is the mother of Artemis the Second. She was driven to insanity after her husband, Artemis Fowl the First, went missing. LEPrecon Captain Holly Short restored Angeline's sanity by making a deal with Artemis in Book I. The deal consisted of Artemis returning half of the ransom gold he recieved after Holly's kidnapping and Holly granting Artemis one "wish" which was apparently the returning of his mother to a normal state.
• Arno Blunt is Spiro's bodyguard wears a cut off t-shirt and silver pirate earings not a man who wants to be forgotten or ignored (imprisoned in Book III).
• Fowl twins, Miles and Beckett, to whom Artemis becomes an older brother after his ordeal in Hybras, (mentioned very briefly in the end of the 5th book).

• Jonah Lee, A.K.A Billy Kong is a ruthless killer who tries to hunt down demon N°1 to avenge his older brother who was supposedly killed by demons, an excuse his older brother made to keep Lee inside their house as a child.

• Giovanni Zito is a dedicated and rich environmentalist. He is chosen by Opal Koboi as her adopted parent in book IV which she uses to achieve her evil scheme and is mentioned very briefly in the 5th book.

• Pex & Chips, Some of Spiro's "henchmen". Their nicknames result from Pex's large pectorals, and Chips's liking of chips. Both strongly lack intelligence.

Fairies

In the Artemis Fowl series, "fairy" is a generic term for all supernatural creatures.

• Trouble Kelp is an LEP major, who appears to be a good friend of Holly. His younger brother gave him the nickname "Trubs".
• Wing Commander Vinyáya is the head of Section Eight. A supporter of Julius Root, she offered Holly a job in the secretive Section Eight department in Artemis Fowl: The Lost Colony. She was one of the first to believe that Holly did not kill Root in Artemis Fowl: The Opal Deception. She was also Holly's flight instructor in the LEP academy and said that Holly "could fly a pod through the gap in your teeth". During the B'wa Kell uprising and attack on Police Plaza, she was the only council member not to retreat to the operations department; she demanded to be given an electric rifle and didn't miss once.
• Corporal Grub Kelp is Trouble's younger brother who is a coward and often refers to his "Mummy."
• Chix Verbil is a sprite in the LEP whose life was saved by Captain Holly Short in Book II. He also lent his starter chip for his shuttle to Mulch Diggums in Book IV in order to save Holly, somewhat reluctantly but understandibly so.
• Doctor Jerbal Argon is a psychiatrist in Book I and the owner of a medical clinic in Book IV.
• Doodah Day is an illegal fish marketing pixie. He took a great disliking toward Mulch, due to being swallowed up and cocooned inside slimy Dwarf spittle. He was later granted amnesty. He worked as Mulch's PI partner during the time period when Holly and Artemis disappeared in Book V.
• Leon Abbot is also known as N'zall (meaning "Little horn" in ancient Demon tongue), and the supposed saviour of the demons. He caused the time-spell to go awry, throwing him into the human's world and when returning bringing with him a book and a crossbow.
• Mervall (Merv) and Descant (Scant) Brill (referred to as the Brill Bros.) are the fairy twins that are accomplices to Opal Koboi. Working as janitors of the medical institution at which Koboi was kept, they helped wake her from her self–induced coma, just as she had instructed prior to her "condition".

Dwarves

In a rather more creative reworking, the Artemis Fowl series' dwarves act as a sort of earthworm, tunnelling through soil and loose rocks and getting nutrition thereby, excreting it just as fast as they eat it except when they need to build up pressure to break through a layer of solid rock. They are short, round, and hairy, have large tombstone teeth, unhingible jaws, sensitive beard hair, suction-cup-like pores, luminous and hardening spit, and are incredibly foul smelling. They are sensitive, intelligent, and have tendencies for being criminals. The most famous one is Mulch Diggums. Dwarves are also known for loving gold and gems, tunnelling, and the dark. They are very sensitive to the sun and can burn in mere minutes. They absolutely hate fire.

Books in the series

1. Artemis Fowl
2. Artemis Fowl: The Arctic Incident
3. Artemis Fowl: The Eternity Code
4. Artemis Fowl: The Opal Deception
5. Artemis Fowl: The Lost Colony
6. Artemis Fowl: The Time Paradox

Additional books

• Artemis Fowl: The Seventh Dwarf is a special mini book (written for world book day) set between the first and second books.
• The Artemis Fowl Files
• Artemis Fowl: The Graphic Novel

Upcoming film

An Artemis Fowl movie has been confirmed by Eoin Colfer. It is scheduled to be released in 2008.

In a recent AFC interview, Colfer stated that the screenplay was still being written, but pre-production was at a standstill because of the recently-ended WGA strike.

Colfer stated at a book signing in 2006 that he would be writing the screenplay, admitting with a little annoyance, after the company searched for five years for a writer, they finally asked him.

External links

• Official website
• Eoin Colfer's website
• Artemis Fowl wiki