History Headscratchers / ArtemisFowl

* Why does Artemis' characterization seem to be heading more and more toward {{Flanderization}} with each passing book? For this troper (and other readers), Artemis' sudden onset of puberty in ''The Lost Colony'' where he's noticing how ''hot'' some women are came off a failed attempt at humour, and ''The Time Paradox'' read more like well-written fanfiction than a book in the series -- CharacterDevelopment shifting into {{Flanderization}}. My first thought upon reading the summary for ''The Atlantis Complex'' was that Artemis being afflicted by an Atlantis Complex felt more like an [[AuthorsSavingThrow Author's Saving Throw]] and a cop-out than anything else, but [[ComplainingAboutShowsYouDontWatch I'll reserve judgement until actually reading the book]].

** How dark your skin is is not just a question of tanning, it's also how much melanin you have naturally occurring in your skin. How many black people do you know who turned white after moving to England? And it also says that sprites
and goblins are green.

** When have we ever actually seen the potential combat application of fairy magic? Fairy magic is implied to be far more powerful than shown in the books, and presumably has a bad case of HoldingBackThePhlebotinum with magic. If the GodzillaThreshold was passed on a fairy-society-wide scale, they could throw down some serious firepower. In the first book, the Sprite Artemis interrogates threatens to "kill him in a snap of her fingers". This is clear hypoerbole on her part, but still relevant as it shows magic can be used offensively. In most of the scenarios involving fairy magic being accessible to the protagonists, the said fairy is [[DramaPreservingHandicap low on power]], and more often than not blows it in a big healing. The [[AGodAmI empowered Opal Koboi]] can use magical stunning bolts sufficient to cut through a horde of animals. The demon warlocks induce a volcano and channel its power, as well as channeling the power of a presumably very high-yield bomb. No1 can summon an illusion of a dozen human soldiers. Summoning energy bolts is a frequently mentioned magical power. Not to mention the potential HeartIsAnAwesomePower uses for their shown magic powers and technologies. Mass mesmerization using broadcasting technologies, anyone (not everybody has the HeroicWillpower to stand up to the Mesmer)? Or creative uses of time travel?

*** Holly could easily be the human equalivant of 18 at 60 and not be much older when she's 80. Healing undos damage, it doesn't slow growth (because that;s natural and may well be accelerated by magic the same way eating lots does) and would extend a fairy's ''adult'' life.

*** Umm, no. He asks Holly, and she says that the code is three digits long. And the script the numbers were written in doesn't affect how many bttons there are, just means he couldn't see which is which. If you had a Cyrillic keyboard in front of you, you could tell that there are 36 characters even if you can't read all of them.

*** I think this is going a bit far. Demons are implied to still be the same as 10000 years ago we all of the fairies were more violent. Since Abbot to me it was implied time past at a different rate in limbo. Either that or demons were really waiting 100000 years to return and start a war. Gnomes and dwarves we do not know enough about. Goblins as a race are too stupid to be more evolved. The rest seem to be more of the occasional rogue or crazies so trying to use Opal as an example does not work. The choices the Council made were for the survival of the people and were far less questionable. The fairies are only more willing to use violence because their have stun weapons. In the end, they will use lethal force because they have absolutely no reason to trust humans. Pixies, sprites, centaurs and elves, being perhaps the more developed intellectually or emotional of the races are more against violence.

* When have it been impied that fairy magic is more powerful? The Sprite in first book was probably just lying as a last resort to scare him. Opal Koboi was only been able to get her super-charge magic was only because she was taking the fairy-equivalent of magic steriods. And when is it mention that energy bolts is a magical power, as its not use by the LEP or anyone at all. Also there is only ONE island of demons. humans have spread across the ENTIRE GLOBE.Time-Travel is shown as incredibly dangerous, and not always successful, and Mass Mesmerization wont work because you not everyone will be looking at a screen, and given on how a mesmerized person is portrayed in the book, can be easily recognized.

*** I was talking about right before they put her in the reactor, when they DID know what she was planning. Why let her live when her options are death or godhood? And if there was nobody to threaten her henchman then they might have backed down and the paradox destruction could have been avoided as well!

*** I was talking about right before they put her in the reactor, when they DID know what she was planning. Why let her live when her options are death or godhood? And if there was nobody to threaten her henchman then the paradox destruction could have been avoided as well!

*** I was talking about right before they put her in the reactor, when they DID know what she was planning. Why let her live when her options are death or godhood?

* Why are all the readers sympathetic towards Turnball Root? I can understand the characters being sympathetic--they don't know what the reader knows--but how is the audience? He used ''mind control'' to force an innocent woman to live with him for the rest of her life, depriving her of her base freedom, her chance at a happy life (happiness through magic doesn't count), and any sapient company besides his own and his lackeys. That isn't love! That's a StalkerWithACrush that actually got the girl! That's DomesticAbuse! It's controlling behavior of the highest degree! That doesn't make him sympathetic, it makes him a CompleteMonster! (The things he does to all those people, Vishby, the prisoners, Artemis, Holly, Vinyaya... [[MoralEventHorizon none of it helps his case.]]) This troper didn't have one iota of sympathy for him and actually relished his death at the end, and she could count all the characters that have inspired those feelings in her on one hand. She doesn't understand why that isn't how everyone else feels.

** On top of that, it ''is'' possible to feel sorry for a character without liking them or approving of their actions. I, personally, have sympathy for him without actually sympathizing with him, if that makes any sense. Plus, I imagine that many readers either conciously or unconciously compare him to Opal, the closest thing the series has to an overarching BigBad. ''Anyone'' would seem sympathetic compared to ''[[CompleteMonster her]]''.

* Why didn't they just kill the future Opal BEFORE she became all powerful? Are they just unwilling to kill? Even a dangerous psychopath who will definitely kill if she gets free.

* In Book 2 I believe it was, Artemis claimed he couldn't make a fingerprint copy with his perfect memory gel. Why couldn't he make the inverse copy, and then press gel against that copy to reverse the inverse copy? It would create a fingerprint identical to the original.

** Book 3, by the way. ''The Eternity Code''.