Artemis Fowl
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Artemis Fowl and the Arctic Incident (Artemis Fowl: The Arctic Incident in the US) is the second book in the Artemis Fowl series written by Irish author Eoin Colfer.

Although the Artemis Fowl film release was announced as being solely based on the first novel, material from The Arctic Incident was nevertheless adapted for the film.

Blurb[]

Artemis Fowl is at boarding school in Ireland when he receives an urgent video email from Russia. It's a plea from his father, who has been kidnapped by the Russian mafia. As Artemis rushes to his rescue, he is stopped by Captain Holly Short. This time, instead of battling the fairies, he's going to have to join forces with them if he wants to save one of the few people he loves.

Plot[]

Two years before Artemis Fowl stole a substantial amount of gold from The People, his father, Artemis Fowl I, went missing after the ship he was on, the Fowl Star, exploded and was sunk by the Russian Mafia. Artemis Sr's presence in Russia was to complete the establishment of new shipping lines there, which would've been profitable for decades to come, both for Russia and the Fowl Criminal Empire; However, The Mafia decided to destroy the ship and kill Artemis Sr, not wanting him to successfully muscle in on their market.

Two members of the Russian Mafia look around for any remains of the Fowl Star and its contents when they find a survivor, Artemis Fowl the First, in terrible condition. His hands were undergoing frostbite, while a leg was snapped below the knee and his face was badly burnt. They identified him by looking at his wallet and grin to themselves before calling their boss.

About two years later, thirteen-year-old Artemis Fowl Junior is sitting in the counselor's office at Saint Bartleby's School for Young Gentlemen, his mother had enrolled him in private sessions with said counselor as she had been worried about his mental health as a result of his father's disappearance and his feverish attempts to find him, something he had spent the last two years doing. He despises the sessions because, in his mind, his mind can never be read or penetrated, and he believes himself to be better than the counselor because he believes he has read more psychology textbooks than him, plus he had, under the pseudonym, Dr. F. Roy Dean Schlepp, written and contributed an article to a book called The Psychologists' Journal. The counselor, Dr. Po, got farther than the last half dozen that have tried to counsel Artemis, (And failed to) having seen that Artemis's primary problem is that he respects no one enough to see them as an equal. Po believes that Artemis Sr, whose disappearance has fueled Artemis's attempts to rebuff the counselor, is truly dead. Despite Artemis's belligerent attempts to convince him otherwise, Po tells him that not only could Artemis end up going down the same dangerous road he did before he disappeared, he will never find peace at all if he continues to flee from his problems, much less confront and make peace with them. Artemis is interrupted by a phone call from Butler, who is calling about news of the Fowl Star; Artemis flees the session, much to Po's anger, and meets Butler at the school's main gate.

Meanwhile underground, Captain Holly Short, after the Artemis Fowl incident, is sent to surveillance duty along with Sprite Chix Verbil, who spent a fair amount of the time trying to impress Holly. Holly was assigned to that duty following the fallout of the Artemis fowl affair; the Fairy Council and Internal Affairs wanted Holly suspended, but Commander Root's threat to retire from the force and his strong case in Holly's favor saved her. The council, however, miffed that they lost their gold to Artemis to get Holly back, took her off Recon and sent her to Customs and Excise. Since then, Holly has been livid at Artemis and has dreamed of stealing back the gold to get back her job at Recon.

Chix conducts a thermal scan for signs of life and is injured by B'wa Kell Triad goblins with Softnose lasers, which were supposed to be outlawed and burnt by Foaly the centaur years ago. Holly, despite Commander Root's orders to stay put, goes to rescue Chix and manages to defeat most of the goblins in the abandoned shuttle terminal she and Chix are staking out. She also discovers a shuttle manufactured by goblins that is greatly beyond their technology. She reveals her findings and the entire quardant is shut down.

During the investigation, Foaly reveals to her that the Softnose lasers have been hugely altered and are now powered by human batteries, a 'Class A' non-tradeable item, meaning that the goblins, who have cornered the underground smuggling market, are in league with a 'Mud Man' (aka humans). Remembering the previous year's events, Holly quickly blames Artemis Fowl for the creation of the shuttle, which annoys Foaly and especially Root, who reports that Chix will live, but his damaged wing means his flying days are over. After voicing her theory after Artemis's involvement; Root gives her his co-sign and she flies to Fowl Manor to get Artemis, who isn't home; before she leaves, Root orders Holly to not injure Artemis, as they only mean to interrogate him.

Back in the Fowl Bentley, (Artemis's usual car) Butler hands Artemis a laptop containing a video of his father, who is alive, yet injured and captured; he and Butler put together a plan to travel to Russia and find a way to rescue him, which isn't easy; According to Butler, they can't track the video, as after Butler downloaded it into the laptop, a decay virus in the email destroyed the original; Butler says he tried to send a screenshot to his friend in NASA but he couldn't help to due to the video's low definition. Artemis proposes they travel to Russia itself and find his father; Butler reveals that he has passports and visas for them; they choose the cover they chose on their previous search mission, Artemis as Stefan Bashkir, a european Chess champion, and Butler as his uncle, Konstantin. their window is eight days, due to Angeline Fowl and Juliet Butler (who is also Angeline's bodyguard) being away in Nice, France, where is former is on holiday. Butler reveals the best way for them to get to Russia is for them to Fly the Fowl Lear Jet to Scandinavia and, from there, take a boat from there to Russia. After agreeing on the plan, Butler heads to Fowl Manor to pick up some weaponry for their trip, but Holly is waiting for them. She mesmerizes Butler and puts him and Artemis unconscious, taking them underground to Root and Foaly. Foaly uses his Retimager on Artemis and proves that he is innocent, as is Butler; but before he can wipe them, Julius realizes that Artemis could be useful in discovering the true culprit, much to anger of Holly, who belligerently claims that Artemis is not to be trusted and that if they give him a chance, he'll be an even worse problem that the goblins; Root orders her to squash her vendetta against him and think about the people.

In exchange for assisting the LEP in finding the rogue trader, Artemis wishes for Holly and Julius to help him rescue his father from the greedy boss of the Russian Mafia Britva, in the Arctic Circle in Northern Russia; despite not being able to use much of their fairy powers in Northern Russia, due to the freezing cold weather and radiation levels, Root agrees. Holly is removed from stakeout duty on Root's orders and she, Artemis and Butler are ordered to travel to Paris aboard the Goblin Shuttle where PI Luc Carrère, the gluttinous human mesmerized to give the B'wa Kell batteries and materials for the shuttle, is hiding. They are forced to take the Goblin shuttle since, according to Foaly, the shuttle was built in the terminal and installed there, plus, it would take too long to install a new one.

Industrialist pixie Opal Koboi and disgraced LEP Lieutenant Briar Cudgeon are revealed to be the masterminds of the smuggling operation, with the mesmerized Luc Carrère supplying the contraband. Cudgeon is out to get back at the LEP for two main reasons. One: during the Artemis Fowl Affair, his attempt to back-stab Root and become an LEP Commander backfired miserably, causing the council, who didn't appreciate this act, to strip him of his title as acting Commander and demote him back to Lieutenant. Two: the council didn't punish Root for humiliating him when his plan blew up in his face, not to mention that Root accidentally-not-so-accidentally shot him in the face with a poison tipped dart that reacted badly with some mind accelerating drugs he had been using, which ended up deforming his face. 

As for Opal; Her father, an extremely wealthy industrialist, treated Opal badly during her childhood when she did not fall under the 'dream daughter' mold he wanted her to maintain throughout her life (i;e; Complete private school, get an anonymous art degree and marry a fairy who is wealthy. All the while remaining moderately pretty, mildly intelligent and completely complacent.) As a result, she hugely resented him; graduated from college with an engineering degree and destroyed her father's business, using her own business to do so. All out of sheer spite. Opal later accomplished many milestones and became a successful innovator; however, she held a hatred towards Foaly, one of her old classmates, for allegedly "cheating" her of a few rewards that he ended up winning. She dreamed of someday ruling Haven City and heard of Cudgeon thinking the same, so she tracked down Cudgeon at a restaurant, caught wind of his plan and agreed to finance the goblin triad with her absolutely massive fortune. 

A flashback details Cudgeon recruiting Luc Carrere, who is a disbarred Attorney turned small time Private Investigator; Cudgeon tracked him down in Foaly's database six months earlier and targeted him due to his greedy nature, his stupidity and his side hustle as a wheeler dealer. Using the mesmer via a strange device sent to Carrere and thousands of fake euros, Carrere is made their slave; he uses a contact of his to supply the batteries for the Goblins in exchange for millions of Euros. After learning about Artemis, Butler and Holly's jaunt to Paris; Cudgeon sends Carrere a Laser Gun called a Bouncer to kill them. Carrere is unconvinced until, under the mesmer, Cudgeon frames the weapon as a special camera.

During the trip to the surface, Holly relates to Artemis whatever info he needs about Russia; She tells about how the fairies left Russia behind, since they never liked cold weather and thus never bothered to build up a resistance and says that there's an unused terminal outside of Murmansk, which Artemis's father is held captive. Upon their arrival on the surface, Butler is sent to track down Carrere since Artemis can't do it and Holly is ordered to not leave the shuttle. Butler tracks down Carrere at his new penthouse apartment in Downtown Paris in the St. Germain district. Butler enters his apartment to find him mesmerized and aiming the blaster at him. Holly, who is speaking to Butler via a hidden microphone, reveals that Carrere has been mesmerized so any times that his retinas are ragged. Butler succeeds in taking out Carrère using a watch gadget Foaly gave him called "The Safety Net"; The gadget envelopes the blaster in a small force field which allows Butler to incapacitate Carrere, which breaks the Private Investigator out of Cudgeon's mesmer.  Butler interrogates him with Holly mesmerizing him via an iris cam contact lens in Butler's eye. They learn that Carrere and the Goblins never actually made official contact and the people are safe. Butler flees the apartment as the French police arrive.

With Artemis's side of the deal done, they proceed on to the rescue mission. Root orders Captain Trouble Kelp to send LEP teams to scour the tunnels for Goblin gangs; Foaly manages to trace the spiked email to Murmansk and to to the apartment of Mikhael Vassikin, an ex-KGB agent who is now working for the Mafia; he and his partner, Kamar, are the ones who destroyed The Fowl Star and captured Artemis Sr., all on Britiva's orders. Holly, Root, Butler, and Artemis immediately begin the operation. Root commandeers the Atlantean Ambassador's Shuttle and the group travels to an unmanned shuttle terminal in Russia.

Opal and Cudgeon learn of all this and Cudgeon meets with General Scalene, one of the Triad leaders, and tells him to send a team to ambush them. a flashback is shown detailing Cudgeon enlisting the B'wa Kell Triad; he meets with the three Triad leaders, Scalene, Sputta and Phlebem, he buys their help with Gold and the promise of the release of their captured brothers once the LEP is destroyed.

The rescue group arrives in Northern Russia on the outskirts of Murmansk; Holly asks Artemis about his father, who is revealed to have one strong moral about him; despite his unethical activities, he will never resort to murder. Holly is somewhat relieved by this.

They are then ambushed by a goblin hit squad; Holly and Root try to fight back but their weapons malfuction and the group shelters beneath an overhang;  Butler realizes it was a trap, so he pushes Holly and Artemis out just before the overhang collapses. Butler is knocked unconscious, but Commander Root is okay. Then Holly tells Root to fire out a piton, so Holly can attach the piton to something to pull Butler and Root out. Then, Holly spies a train (which Artemis reveals to be a train carrying radioactive chemicals) and they jump on it. They succeed in pulling Root and Butler out, but a crack in the tracks makes the train jerk. It causes Holly to lose a finger, which is later healed magically after an improvised Ritual involving a contraband acorn. Also mentioned is a statement from Artemis which Holly interpreted as sincerity, rare for Artemis, and another sign of his continual mental change throughout the series.

At the same time, Briar Cudgeon ambushes and locks Foaly in the Operations Booth, while the rescuers escape from the goblin; when aksed about his motivation, (apart from the aformentioned one revealed eariler) Cudgeon reveals that before the Artemis Fowl Affair, he was the council's golden fairy and would've become Chairman of the council, had his career continued on as such, until the Artemis Fowl affair come along and everything, for him, went up in flames. He leaves the booth after revealing that he has usurped control of all of Foaly's systems, especially in the booth, Foaly manages to use Artemis's laptop to send him a text message telling him about the revolution going on underground. Root and Holly are shocked to learn that Cudgeon is involved.

The revolution had started around the time Foaly had been trapped, leading the fairy Council to think that Foaly was behind the revolution. In Foaly's text message, information that had already been shown to the reader are again revealed, including that all weapons and communications are controlled by Opal Koboi, who originally supplied new guns, cars and communication devices to the LEP and secretly installed hidden Cameras to spy on their goings on. She neutralized them all thanks to a special chip in each new item she sent them.

In light of these events, Artemis decides on a new course of action: take over Koboi Laboratories and return control of all weapons and communications to the LEP, interrupting the rescue mission. Artemis is reluctant to abandon the mission but Holly frames it as them 'regrouping', implying that they will resume as soon as the revolution is thwarted. Root notes the impossibility of the plan, due to the Facility's recent security upgrades. (Root had signed off on a special weapons permit that allowed Koboi to install the upgrades.) Holly reveals that Foaly had a hunch that Mulch Diggums, the criminal and kleptomaniac dwarf that had been presumed dead after the Fowl Manor siege, was still alive and in Los Angeles. As he had broken into Koboi Laboratories before, they go to apprehend him once again.

Mulch Diggums is indeed in Los Angeles. Using the money stolen from the Fowl Manor siege, he had rented a penthouse apartment in Beverly Hills; After spending many months relaxing in his apartment watching movies, paticularly James Bond movies, he decides to resume his criminal ways. The book documents his theft of several Oscars before being apprehended in his apartment by the rescuers.

Captain Kelp, his brother, Corporal Grub Kelp, and the LEP fight back against the Goblins using electric stun guns; Cudgeon is re-instated as Commander and is gleeful that his plan is nearly complete. It is revealed he hated the goblins, he only hired them as dumb muscle and plans to kill them when their goal is complete.

After Root promises him a two day head start on escaping, Mulch guides them into the caverns underneath the facility. They then break into Koboi Laboratories through a hollow titanium foundation rod in the foundation. Butler, Root and Holly fight the Goblins in the corridors while Artemis crawls through a plasma pipe into the inner sanctum, where Cudgeon, Opal and the Goblin leaders are. He manages to turn both the goblins and Koboi against Cudgeon by playing messages pre-recorded by Foaly; the messages reveal Cudgeon's intent to Betray the Goblins and kill Opal after the takeover of Haven. Cudgeon has the golbin generals knocked out by the DNA cannons and tangles with Opal, who is enraged at her partner's betrayal, and is killed when he is thrown into the open DNA cannon plasma feed (activated seconds before by himself), which simultaneously blacks out Opal Koboi. The restored power activates the DNA cannons in Police Plaza, neutralizing all goblins there and saving the LEP officers; Mulch begins his two day head start. Foaly is still trapped in the Operations Booth, as the LEP outside, commanded by Trouble, still thinks he is to blame for the revolt. Foaly decides to stay there until Root clears the air, which he does.

The rescuers then go to Murmansk to rescue Artemis Fowl I; The two Russians, (Vassikin and Kamar) on Britva's orders, had moved Artemis Sr. to an old Russian submarine. His goal is to lure Artemis Jr. to the sub after the Russians send him the ransom message; after he pays up, he wants them to kill both of them and dump them in the water, which ends the family bloodline and ensures no survivors can start a vendetta. If they succeed, Vassikin and Kamar will be promoted to higher positions in the Mafiya. Artemis Jr. puts his rescue plan into action. It goes well, although Artemis Fowl I is dumped into the water, complicating things; he is successfully retrieved and healed. Vassikin and Kamar are lured away with a flare attached to a briefcase supposedly containing the money. The money was mentioned to be fairy-counterfeit, high enough quality to fool all but the most professional examination--and designed to dissolve after seventy-two hours.

The story then ends there, with a dual epilogue. The first deals with the return of the Artemis Fowl II and Artemis Fowl I to Fowl Manor and Helsinki, respectively. Artemis Sr. is sent to the hospital there to receive treatment for his injuries. Directly before, Artemis thanks Holly. Holly also takes a gold coin, shoots a hole in it, and lets Artemis catch it, as a thank you for the successful re-attachment of her trigger-finger, as well as to remind Artemis that "deep beneath the layers of deviousness, you have a spark of decency". The moment was described as "the first cool moment of Artemis' young life". The second epilogue has Artemis returned to St.Bartleby's by Butler and he is back in a second counseling session with Dr. Po. This time, when asked whether he had "found anyone worthy of your respect", thinking of his father, Holly, and Butler, he answered yes, further showing his continual change from bad to good (a central theme of both the book and the entire series).

Secret Message[]

For an unknown reason, the publisher of the US edition of this book chose to remove this {C code.

For the UK and other countries, each page had a set of symbols along the bottom. Using the guide on "www.artemisfowl.co.uk", this can be translated. From scratch, the code, written in Centaurian, can be deciphered because in the book there is a translation on Foaly's computer screen for the following poem:

Fairy creatures heed this warning, on Earth the Human era is dawning

Eoin Colfer writes prior to this passage that it is an "illuminated Centaurian manuscript" from "The Scrolls of Capalla". The code is slightly easier to translate than Gnommish because many of the symbols look similar to their English counterparts. It can be read fluently once familiar, and is more like a recognizable font than a language.

The final message is as follows:

Congratulations Human. If you have cracked this code then you are more intelligent than most of your species. This is a message from the Fairy People. We are seeking out our allies among the Mud Men. Though most Humans are dullwitted creatures there are exceptions. You for example. The reason for your intelligence is that you have Fairy ancestors. Do you feel different from those around you? Are your ears a bit pointier than most? Is your tongue long enough to touch your nose? Do you dream of flying? Have you ever thought that you do not belong among the Mud Men? That is because you have Fairy blood in your veins. So young Mud Fairy I have a mission for you. As one of the People it is your duty to protect the Earth from those who would destroy it. You must become one of a new race of Mud men who love this planet as much as the Fairy Folk. There is one simple rule. Use only what you need and use it wisely. Do this and the Earth will survive. Go now and begin your quest. I shall repeat this message for those Humans whose Fairy intelligence is buried a bit deeper than yours. The same message is then repeated, up until "Do you feel different from those around you?"

In the republication of the book, the Centaurian code is changed to the Gnommish cypher used in the first book.

One of these Goblins is named Niall, after Eoin Colfer's brother. Through the book, this Goblin is mentioned several times, and each time it is spelt differently. First, the original Irish spelling, Niall, as Colfer's brother spells it, then Nyal, then Nyle.

There is also a rewrite that features a different message at the beginning it is as follows.


One of the strangest creatures on the earth (or more accurately below it) is the common stinkworm. Stinkworms can only survive below the earth's crust and so have never been seen by humans. The stinkworm can grow to a length of fifteen centimetres and a diameter of up to eight centimetres.

The bigger a stinkworm is the more meat there is on its soft boned skeleton and the more valuable it is to a merchant. Stinkworms are big business in the fairy world and have been for thousands of years. They are very versatile creatures and can be boiled, fried, baked or even eaten raw - though this sushi approach can be difficult to swallow as the stink associated with the worms does not disappear until they are cooked. The current favourite way to eat the stinkworm is in a dish similar to bolognese, substituting stinkworms for spaghetti. Deep fried on a skewer is popular among the younger generation.

What makes the stinkworm so delicious is its juices. When the worm is heated in a pan or oven it bastes itself in a delicious spicy juice which even the best chefs have failed to reproduce. This juice is in fact earwax from the hundreds of ears that cover each worm's body. Some more sensitive fairies cannot forget that they are eating earwax and do not enjoy eating stinkworms, but most are so entranced by the flavour that they are quite prepared to ignore where it comes from.

Goblins in particular love stinkworms and are constantly inventing new ways to consume them. The rarest and most prized stinkworm dish is a stir fried bowl of stinkworm ears. The ears are shaved from the worm's body, rolled in flour and then lightly fried. This dish takes hours to prepare and costs a fortune. Goblins believe that if you eat a bowl of worm ears then you absorb the worm's memories of the places they have visited. This is not an appealing thought when you consider that a stinkworm's favourite environment is fresh troll dung.


Books
Main Stories :
Artemis FowlThe Arctic IncidentThe Eternity CodeThe Opal DeceptionThe Lost ColonyThe Time ParadoxThe Atlantis ComplexThe Last GuardianThe Artemis Fowl Files (contains The Seventh Dwarf)
Fowl Twins Books:
The Fowl TwinsThe Fowl Twins: Deny all Charges
Graphic Novels:
Artemis FowlThe Arctic IncidentThe Eternity CodeThe Opal DeceptionArtemis Fowl (2019)The Arctic Incident (2021)
Film Tie-in Books:
A Fowl AdventureArtemis Fowl Movie Tie-in EditionGenius at Work: Codes, Activities, Puzzles, and MoreGuide to the World of FairiesHow to Be a LEPreconThe Art and Making of Artemis Fowl
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