Previous
Chapter 8
Themes
and Colors
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Artemis Fowl, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Good vs. Evil
Nature vs. Technology
Greed
The Meaning of Family
Summary
Analysis
Artemis realizes that Holly shot the doorknob of his room to weld it shut, so he’s currently trapped. He knows the fairies sent the troll to try to make him ask for help, and he’s proud to see that Butler fought the troll off. Artemis turns on a radio that he has with him, trying to see if Root is monitoring the channel, but he gets Foaly instead. Artemis says he has a way to avoid the bio-bomb, but Foaly thinks he’s bluffing.
Artemis continues to realize that in spite of his efforts to portray himself as a self-sufficient criminal mastermind, he is nothing without the help of people like Butler and Juliet. This makes Artemis a more sympathetic figure, while also highlighting his close relationships to these people who form his chosen family.
Active
Themes
Root interrupts Foaly on the radio line. Artemis says that after the troll, he doesn’t trust Root anymore. He says if the gold doesn’t arrive in 30 minutes, he’ll leave and keep Holly in the manor, to be disintegrated by the bio-bomb. Root promises to have the gold. Shortly after this call ends, Butler shoots down Artemis’s jammed door to free him. Artemis tells Butler that he expects the fairies to bio-bomb Fowl Manor the second Holly is clear.
The tension in this conversation between Root and Artemis comes from the fact that neither can be sure of the other’s true intentions. While fighting the troll helped to bridge some of the gap between the fairies and humans, Root and Artemis’s negotiations show that there is still tension between the two groups.
Active
Themes
Root and Gudgeon argue about how to proceed. Root accuses Gudgeon of trying to use the whole affair to advance his career, rather than helping Holly. In the middle of the argument, Root accidentally fires the finger tranquilizer that Foaly gave him earlier. With Gudgeon unconscious, Root prepares to give the gold to Artemis, while also readying the bio-bomb.
Active
Themes
When Holly learns via her helmet communicator that a bio-bomb will drop after the gold exchange, she doesn’t care much about Artemis but fears that Juliet is innocent. Holly confronts Artemis, asking him if he’s told Juliet about the incoming bomb. He hasn’t. But he says he has a plan, and Butler says he trusts it, even with Juliet’s life.
Active
Themes
Get the entire Artemis Fowl LitChart as a printable PDF.
"My students can't get enough of your charts and their results have gone through the roof." -Graham S.
Just then, a floating trolley comes into the mansion bearing the ransom gold. Artemis and Butler inspect it for traps but find none, aside from a camera that they remove. They unload the gold and try to send Holly back on the trolley. She warns Artemis that no human has ever been able to keep fairy gold. Artemis says he has things under control. But before Holly goes, Artemis asks if there’s anything he could give her in order to buy a wish from her.
Monitoring by video, Root and Foaly are surprised to see Holly coming back out on the trolley with a lot of gold. Some fairies rush her over to a debriefing with Root in person. Holly doesn’t want to drop the bio-bomb on Artemis, saying she has permission to re-enter the manor (where Artemis still has about half the gold). But Root says the Council will never allow that—the bomb has to be used. Holly protests about Juliet, but Root says she’ll have to be a “casualty of war.”
Active
Themes
Foaly points out that according to the Book, if Artemis lives, he can keep the gold. But he doesn’t expect Artemis to survive the bomb. He pushes the button on the bomb.
Active
Themes
Artemis tells Butler about giving up half the gold but doesn’t reveal that it was for a wish from Holly. He, Butler, and Juliet all toast with champagne. Butler seems suspicious but drinks it anyway, and it does indeed contain a sedative that knocks him and Juliet out. Artemis’s own glass also has a sedative in it, and he’s the last to pass out.
Active
Themes
Foaly, Root, and Holly watch as the bio-bomb heads toward the lobby of Fowl Manor and detonates. Holly and Root suit up to go look for corpses, along with Trouble and Grub. Root warns them to watch for traps as they search for the gold. But as the fairies search, all of a sudden, they start to vomit. Holly realizes that it’s because they’ve entered a human house without permission—which means Artemis must be alive. Only Holly has permission, so she continues. Holly finds the gold but no corpses. Root orders her to hurry back without the gold, since the time-stop will soon be over.
Active
Themes
Stepping back in time, the narrator explains that when Mulch surfaced, he happened to see the trolley of gold going by. He stole several ingots and buried them underground, eventually planning to come back for them and live a new life posing as a human with an aversion to sunlight.
Active
Themes
Artemis wakes up, thinking at first he hears the voice of Artemis Senior, but it’s just Butler. Butler asks Artemis to finally explain himself and why he drugged everyone. Artemis says that it’s morning and they’ve won—per the Book, the fairies can’t just come back the next night. He explains that he had a breakthrough while researching Santa Claus.
Artemis says that modern Santa Claus is based on a fairy named San D’Klass who futilely believed that giving gifts to the Mud People might stop their greed. D’Klass used time-stops to give the humans gift while they were asleep. Artemis got the idea that a time-stop might trap a human in a state of consciousness, and so either falling asleep or waking up would undo the trap.
Active
Themes
Butler thinks Artemis acted recklessly on a theory, but Artemis say he had proof. Artemis says he saw the theory in action: Angeline. Pills caused her to fall asleep, though she was still able to move about normally in time, so Artemis decided to try the pills on himself, Butler, and Juliet.
Active
Themes
Just then Angeline comes down the stairs, out of bed for the first time in a while. Angeline is lucid again and apologizes to Artemis for being out of it lately. She reminds him that it’s Christmas Day, which Artemis had seemingly forgotten. She wants to decorate the house, but she asks why it’s in such a destroyed state. Artemis says it was remodeling. Angeline asks Artemis questions about school, and he is glad to feel like a boy again.
