Character Analysis
(Avoiding Spoilers)
Grew Up… an only child. He greatly respects his father, who taught little Artemis how the stock market works and how to run the family business. Artemis Senior also shared his love of gold with his son, emphasizing the family motto “Aurum Est Potestas” (gold is power).
Living… with Butler, Juliet, and his sick mother in Fowl Manor, a giant mansion not far from Dublin. While the Fowls are rich because they have accumulated a lot of wealth over generations from the family business (crime), Artemis Senior has been missing for a couple years, and a substantial part of the family fortune disappeared with him. Artemis’ mother hasn’t coped with the stress very well, and has become increasingly withdrawn and difficult to understand.
Profession… criminal mastermind. Officially, Artemis is a student and heir to the Fowl fortune. However, through his dense collection of aliases he continues to run much of the Fowl family’s criminal business.
Interests… gold, challenging himself, and fairies. His love of gold is inherited from his family, and has only grown more pronounced since his father’s disappearance, an event that precipitated the (relative) collapse of the Fowl’s fortune. The family still has more money than most people will ever see, but Artemis is determined to restore the Fowl name to its full, gilded glory. His love of a challenge arises from his genius – normal people and things bore him. Lately he’s taken a particular interest in fairy-tales and folklore – tall tales that Artemis is beginning to suspect hold a grain of truth.
Relationship Status… well, he hasn’t hit puberty yet, and honestly, he’s much more interested in the family fortune. A lonely and disconnected genius, Artemis’s only close relationship is to his manservant and bodyguard, Butler.
Challenge… restoring his family fortune after his father’s disappearance and his mother’s withdrawal and depression. In order to get his hands on gold Artemis has hatched a daring plan to rob a group of people that most people don’t even know exist – fairies. His plan is to kidnap and ransom one of the immortal fairies, threatening to expose their hidden society, unless he receives a tremendous payment of gold. But even the brilliant Artemis can’t plan for everything, and the fairies soon prove themselves to be capable adversaries as they launch a mission to rescue their imprisoned comrade. The whole thing is a gamble, but Artemis understands that’s just the way of the world: “If I win, I’m a prodigy. If I lose, then I’m crazy. That is how history is written.”
Personality… a lonely, calculating, and smug genius. Artemis doesn’t believe that he needs anyone’s help, and has difficulty relying on others. An uncanny student of human nature (and everything else) he is able to plot ridiculous schemes and understand exactly how they’ll play out, accounting for the smallest details. While he seems cold and almost sociopathic in his relationships, in truth Artemis cares deeply for his friends and family. The boy genius just isn’t sure how to show it.
Get to Know him in...
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After being held prisoner for years, Artemis Fowl's father has finally come home. He is a new man—an honest man, much to Artemis's horror. He makes his son promise to give up his life of crime, and Artemis has to go along with it. But not until he has completed one last scheme.Artemis has constructed a super-computer from stolen fairy technology. Called the C Cube, it will render all existing human technology obsolete. He arranges a meeting with a powerful Chicago businessman, Jon Spiro, to broker a deal for the C Cube. But Spiro springs a trap—he steals the C Cube and mortally injures Butler. Artemis knows his only hope of saving his loyal bodyguard is to employ fairy magic; so once again he must contact his old rival, Captain Holly Short of the LEPrecon fairy police. It is going to take a miracle to save Butler, and Artemis's luck may just run out. . .
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Thousands of years ago, fairies and humans fought a great battle for the magical island of Ireland. When it became clear that they could not win, all of the fairies moved belowground—except for the 8th Family, the demons. Rather than surrender, they used a magical time spell to take their colony out of time and into Limbo. There they have lived for decades, preparing to exact their violent revenge on humans. Now the time spell is unraveling, and demons are beginning to materialize without warning on Earth. If humans were to find out about them, all fairies would be exposed. To protect themselves, the fairies must predict when the next demon will materialize. But in order to do so, they will have to decipher temporal equations so complicated; even a great brain like Foaly can't understand them. But he knows someone who can: Artemis Fowl. So when a very confused demon imp appears in a Sicilian theater, Artemis is there to meet him. But he is not alone. There is someone else who has unlocked the secrets of the fairy world and managed to solve complex mathematical problems as only a genius could. And she is just twelve years old. . .
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This young criminal genius is no stranger to trouble. In fact, he's a magnet for it. Man-eating trolls, armed and dangerous (not to mention hi-tech) fairies, flame-throwing goblins—he's seen the lot. He had decided to forego criminal activity of the more magical kind. However now his mother is gravely ill. Artemis Fowl must travel back through time to steal the cure from the clutches of the devious mastermind: Artemis Fowl. That's right. With fairy ally Captain Holly Short by his side, Artemis is going back in time to do battle with his deadliest enemy yet. Himself. Let the misadventure begin.
