Artemis Fowl II
| Artemis Fowl II | |
|---|---|
| Artemis Fowl character | |
As seen in Artemis Fowl: The Graphic Novel.
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| First appearance | Book 1: Artemis Fowl |
| Last appearance | Book 8: Artemis Fowl: The Last Guardian |
| Created by | Eoin Colfer |
| Information | |
| Species | Human |
| Gender | Male |
| Occupation | Criminal mastermind |
| Family |
Artemis Fowl I (father) Angeline Fowl (mother) Beckett and Myles Fowl (youngest twin brothers) |
Artemis Fowl II is the title character of the Artemis Fowl series by Eoin Colfer.
Colfer has said that he based Artemis on his younger brother Donal, who as a child was "a mischievous mastermind who could get out of any trouble he got into". A childhood picture of his brother in his first communion suit caused Colfer to think of how much Colfer's brother resembled "a little James Bond villain" and "how funny...a twelve-year-old James Bond villain" would be, inspiring Colfer's creation of Artemis.
Colfer planned for Artemis to have been called Archimedes but changed the name due to an interest in using a "classic Greek name" and trepidation that "people would think [the series] was about [the historical figure] Archimedes". Artemis is a notable choice for a name because while it is traditionally a female name, it "was [historically] sometimes…given to boys as a kind of honorific if their fathers were great hunters". Fowl was derived from the Irish name Fowler as a play on words to convey the characterisation that Artemis was a nasty or foul individual at the beginning of the series.
Prior to the events of the first book, Artemis's father, Artemis Fowl I, imperils the family fortune by investing "a huge chunk of the Fowl fortune in establishing new shipping lanes" to Russia, following the breakdown of Communism there. The Russian Mafia retaliates by sinking a shipping vessel Artemis I was travelling on, the Fowl Star, leading to his disappearance, the loss of a substantial amount of the Fowl fortune, and the mental breakdown of his wife Angeline Fowl, Artemis's mother.
In Artemis Fowl, which is set two years after those events, the 12-year-old Artemis decides to regain the Fowl fortune by following leads on the Internet that refer to an underground world of fairies collectively called the People. Artemis manages to blackmail a member of the People into giving him what they call "the Book" which is like their Bible, holding all their secrets, customs, rules, and history. This leads him to ransom Lower Elements Police (LEP) Captain Holly Short for a portion of the People's gold. Artemis and Holly agree a deal whereby Holly retains half the ransom fee, while Artemis gets one wish from Holly and gets to keep the other half of the gold. After recovering Holly, the LEP attempt to permanently eliminate Artemis by setting off a biological weapon, but are thwarted when Artemis discovers a way around their attack (something not even the People had been able to develop).
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Wikipedia