Artemis Fowl by Eoin Colfer (series)

From Book Trigger Warnings

Note: This page is currently under construction as of July 27, 2021 and needs to be edited to match BTW's page formatting for series. Please see Talk:Artemis Fowl by Eoin Colfer (series) for more information.

This article is about the series. For the book, see Artemis Fowl by Eoin Colfer.


Artemis Fowl (series)
Cover of Artemis Fowl by Eoin Colfer (series)
Author(s) Eoin Colfer
Published 2001-2012
Publisher Viking Press
Disney Hyperion
Puffin Books
Genre(s) Fantasy
Age group Middle Grade
Young Adult


Artemis Fowl is a middle grade/young adult series by Eoin Colfer that follows the namesake Irish teenaged criminal mastermind and his growth from a ruthless thief to a more benevolent person. Artemis manages to kidnap Captain Holly Short of the Lower Elements Police, who is a member of a secret race of hi-tech fairies who live underground. He transitions from a antagonistic role to a protagonistic one, working cooperatively with the fairies to curtail human and fairy mischief.

The series takes cues from suspense, action, "heist" crime films, and James Bond-Esque spy movies and transplants them into a modern fantasy setting. Artemis' character growth and redemption arc is commended as one of the best in children's literature.

Books

Book # Title/Author
0.5 The Artemis Fowl Files by Eoin Colfer‎
1 Artemis Fowl by Eoin Colfer‎
1.5 The Seventh Dwarf by Eoin Colfer‎
2 The Arctic Incident by Eoin Colfer‎
3 The Eternity Code by Eoin Colfer‎
4 The Opal Deception by Eoin Colfer‎
5 The Lost Colony by Eoin Colfer‎
6 The Time Paradox by Eoin Colfer‎
7 The Atlantis Complex by Eoin Colfer‎
8 The Last Guardian by Eoin Colfer‎

Needs To Be Moved to Appropriate Book Pages

The second half of the series, though still as humorous and enjoyable, does delve into more complex and darker themes. As such, most of these trigger warnings apply to books 5 through 8.

Trigger Warnings

  • Alcohol
  • Amputation
    Artemis's father's leg has to get amputated (off-screen); he uses a prosthetic for the rest of the series.
  • Animal abuse and death
    A group called the Extinctionists have caused multiple species to go extinct for "the greater good of humanity," as described in the sixth book.
  • Anxiety
    In the 7th book, Artemis struggles with a fictional illness shown to be a combination of OCD/DID/paranoia/anxiety/extreme guilt. but is treated later on. Throughout the series, Artemis tends to deal with symptoms reminiscent of anxiety attacks when nervous, more so than the average person. Though it may just be the writing style, some may still find it mildly triggering.
  • Being buried alive
  • Blood/Violence
    Characters get hurt and bleed often. Blood is often described in moderate detail. Injuries are described in moderate detail.
  • Body dysmorphia
  • Bones
  • Child death
  • Child neglect
    Artemis' father is largely the reason why Artemis turns to a life of crime- to sustain the family wealth. Even after his parents make an effort to be more present in their sons' lives, they are completely unaware of most of Artemis' activities. This is shown to have taken an emotional toll on him throughout the series.
  • Cursing
    Mild language- damn, crap, hell, ass and its variants.
  • Death
    Artemis' father is missing and presumed dead during the first few books. Multiple characters, major and minor, die. Main characters die onscreen, which is either reversed for various reasons or done permanently.
  • Demons
    Demons are a type of fairy. They are not Biblical demons, but some do play an antagonistic role in the 5th book.
  • Drowning
    Holly and Artemis almost drown in the fourth and seventh books, though neither sustained any injury.
  • Drugs
  • Electrotherapy
    Not electro-therapy per se, but in the seventh book, electric bursts from a gun are used to summon/de-summon the alter ego of a character multiple times.
  • Emesis
  • Emotional abuse
  • Explosions
  • Fire
  • Gaslighting
  • Gun violence
    A fictional series of guns, called Neutrinos, are used by fairies. Multiple characters use guns, and one is often mentioned. Artemis' bodyguard Butler is shot, almost fatally, in the 3rd book. There are most likely more instances of this which escape my mind at the moment.
  • Hallucinations
  • Hospitalization
  • Hostages
  • Kidnapping
    The entire plot of the first book revolves around the kidnapping of Holly Short. This event is crucial to the series and is mentioned multiple times.
  • Mental health
    Multiple times, characters are seen in mental institutions/therapist's offices. Characters are shown to have depression and schizophrenia. Artemis himself suffers from a fictional syndrome in the 7th book which is a combination of OCD/DID/paranoia/anxiety/extreme guilt.
  • Misogyny/Sexism
    Holly Short faces numerous setbacks in her career as a Captain for the fictional Lower Elements Police due to sexism in the workplace.
  • Murder
    In every book, there is always some party who wants Artemis (and his friends) dead. This does happen a couple of times.
  • Needles
  • OCD
  • Plane accident
    In the sixth book, a plane is torn apart and eventually crash lands.
  • Poisoning
  • PTSD
    Artemis suffers from a PTSD-like illness in the seventh book.
  • Schizophrenia
    Artemis' mother is shown to struggle with schizophrenia, both in the 1st book (until she is cured by fairy magic), and the 6th book (through time travel). In the 6th book especially, the severity of her condition is made apparent as well as the emotional damage it had caused to her son.
  • Skeletons
  • Torture

Controversy

All of the fairies are canonly people of color, despite the movie and book covers whitewashing them. For example, Holly is described to have nut brown or coffee brown skin, but the movie casted her as white, and the new covers by Goni Montes depicts her as white. Many fans have called for Disney to acknowledge their whitewashing of a main character/deuteragonist.