"I grew up reading Irish myths and legends, so I had great fun putting a spin on them. I knew that there was no point in regurgitating other people's stories, so instead I gave them a technological makeover." Eoin Colfer.
Eoin Colfer has been asked about the influence of Irish mythology on his writing during various interviews, and his response is usually a sort of permutation of the above answer — "I grew up reading Irish myths and legends, [and] I… put… a spin on them" (Colfer). He admits that he was influenced by Irish mythology, and this admission of influence is usually enough to get interviewers to move along to the next question. I've looked through many of the interviews that he's done, and I think I can say with confidence that there is not currently any interview available in which an interview presses him to be more specific and point to the myths and legends in question by which he was influenced. In all likelihood, I think that this is because once Colfer confirms that he did, in fact, take inspiration from Irish mythology, the interviewers think of pop culture Celtic mythology and move on. They're likely aware of the fairy tales that have made their way into an outsider's perception of Irish mythology, and as the series does pay homage to this genre of fae folk — the People follow the old fairy tale archetype of being clever, at various ends of the morality spectrum, and not too fond of humans — the mythology to which Colfer refers is actually more specific than this broad conception of what the canon of "Irish fairies" encompasses.
It makes sense that if an interviewer didn't take courses specifically on Irish mythology, they'd have a limited idea of what that mythology describes. Irish history and mythology are intertwined, and before I attempt to break down the influence of Irish mythology within the book series Artemis Fowl, I will first give some background information about Irish history.
History
The British first arrived on Ireland during the Norman Invasion of Ireland in the 12th century (well, not technically British — although the people who came to Ireland were from England, many other barons came from France. The Normans, the Northern French, had taken over the English government only 100 years before. The people who arrived on the shore of Ireland in 1169 are generally categorized as Anglo-French, but the rule of the island remained in the hands of the British once the French were kicked out of British politics). Before this point in time, Irish history, laws, religion, and so on were kept by high-class bardic poets, the fili. Their history, culture, and tradition were kept orally, and with the arrival of the Anglo-French, this history was threatened. Bards were threatened or killed due to anti-pagan sentiment — pre-invasion history was so intertwined to Irish mythology that in the attempt to Christianize the island, history and mythology were lost or edited. When myths and history were written down by monks who came over from Britain, deities within the mythology would be made less powerful or erased due to the monks feeling squeamish about transcribing this pagan mythology. The written history that has survived from this era is therefore limited, and what does exist, may exist in various forms due to myths being transcribed in various different ways by different monks who chose to include different elements from the same myth. Any history that would've survived orally is limited, too, due to the speaking of the Irish language and practicing of pagan religion being criminalized. Sean Cahill recounts what life was like under British rule in his essay, "The Politics of the Irish Language Under the English and British Governments"
"The Statutes of Kilkenny in 1366 commanded that "if any English, or Irish living among the English, use the Irish language amongst themselves, contrary to this ordinance, and thereof be attainted, his lands and tenements, if he have any, shall be seized into the hands of his immediate lord" (Cahill)
Within Ireland, the keeping of pre-Christian mythology and history was either left in the hands of the monks from Britain who brought their cultural biases, or the keeping of this history was in the hands of seanchaidh (pronounced shananchie), whose name translates to "bearer of 'old lore'" (old lore = seanchas).
How does this history connect to Colfer and the series as a whole?
As aforementioned, what Irish myths survived, did so either through word of mouth within communities (the seanchaidh route) or through written accounts of the myths that never gained real traction in Britain within literary circles due to an aversion to the pagan elements of the myths and anti-Irish sentiment. As such, when Colfer says in interviews that he was influenced by Irish mythology, he knows what specific myths he is referring to due to hearing the myths from his father as a child, or from reading them in books in primary school. Unless the interviewer is familiar with the history that I just mentioned surrounding Irish mythology and its suppression, they most likely assume that their view of it as "fairy tales, but Irish, I suppose?" is complete, which is not the case.
As someone with a rough background in Irish history and mythology, I am aware of some of the specific myths that the series is influenced by, and I will break this essay up into three parts to attempt to provide a holistic perception of the relationship between Irish mythology and the lore of Artemis Fowl. Part one will deal with when Colfer referenced Irish myths or history by name, part two will deal with when Colfer references Irish myths or history by content, and part three will be a brief overview of some interesting facts surrounding mythology, history, and names in the series.
I. References to the names in Irish mythology and history
The first book of the series and the eighth book of the series have the most frequent examples of names from Irish mythology. In the first novel, the most notable example of this is when Holly runs out of magic and is forced to complete the ritual by Root. As she flies over the Irish coast, she remarks:
"Finally the coast loomed ahead of her. The old country. Éiriú, the land where time began. The most magical place on the planet. It was here, ten thousand years ago, that the ancient fairy race, the Dé Danann, had battled against the demon Fomorians, carving the famous Giants' Causeway with the strength of their magical blasts. It was here that the Lia Fáil stood, the rock at the center of the universe, where the fairy kings and later the human Ard Rí were crowned."
Éiriú, Dé Danann, Fomorians, Giant's Causeway, Lia Fáil, Ard Rí. I shall go over each of these terms in order.
Éiriú is just the Irish name for Ireland, and it is derived from one of the matron goddesses of the Island.
The Dé Danann, or the Tuatha Dé Danann (nation of the Goddess Danu), were the godlike figures that ruled the island in mythology. They were the fifth group of invaders to attempt to invade the island, and they came to Ireland from the "northern isles of the world, where they had been learning lore and magic and druidism and wizardry and cunning until they surpassed the sages of heathendom" (O'Conor). Once they reached the island, they fought over the control of Ireland with the Fomorians, a similarly powerful race of peoples who are portrayed as being either giants, sea raiders, or monstrous beings who came from the sea/underground. Whereas the Dé Danann have dominion over light, civilization, order, knowledge, and so on, the Fomorians are considered to be gods over chaos, darkness, death, blight, and drought. Eventually, the Dé Danann replaced the Fomorians as rulers of the island, and their relationship from that point was sort of… complex. Members from the groups will intermarry or strike up allegiances when necessary, and their relationship can thus be said to be similar to that of the Asgardians (Dé Danann) and the jötnar (Fomorians) from Norse mythology.
So, these two groups do fight with one another, yet their rivalry is not attributed to the creation of the Giant's Causeway. Now, what is the Giant's Causeway? The Giant's Causeway is 40,000 interlocking, hexagonal basalt columns that start in North Ireland and stretch over across to Staffa, an island off the coast of Scotland. Irish mythology attributes the creation of this beautiful part of the Irish landscape to Fionn mac Cumhaill (spelled/pronounced Finn McCool), a legendary hunter whose stories are contained in the Fenian Cycle of Irish mythology.
There are three versions of the myth that describe the creation of the Giant's Causeway. In the first, the myth describes Finn, who is described in some legends as being a giant or, at least, supernaturally strong and tall, creating the land bridge in order to travel between Ireland and Scotland.
In the second, Finn falls in love with a giant woman over in Staffa, and he creates the Causeway to reach her.
In the third, Finn notices a giant named Benandonner (or the Red Man) over on Staffa, and the two men throw insults at each other. Finn starts throwing rocks and bits of land into the water in order to create a land bridge so that he can fight the giant, but Finn notices once he's started across the sea that Benandonner is far bigger than he initially assumed. As such, he flees back to Ireland, were his wife Oona, is waiting for him. Together, they rearrange the house in order to trick Benandonner, who is coming to fight Finn, into thinking that Finn is an even bigger giant than the other man. Eventually, they trick Benandonner, and this giant flees back to Staffa, destroying the land bridge to prevent Finn from following him home.
Next, the Lia Fáil (pronounced Le-ah fall). When the Dé Danann arrived in Ireland, they brought with them four gifts for the island. One of these gifts is the Lia Fáil, the singing stone in Tara where each of the high kinds of Ireland would be crowned.
The final example in book one is the Ard Rí (pronounced Ard ree). Ard Rí is just the Irish word for high king of Ireland.
Finally, the eighth book. Although the books in the middle of the series tend to name-drop Irish mythology less frequently than the first book, Colfer brings the series full circle with the eighth book.
In the following quotation, Holly is describing how the ritual Opal is attempting to complete at Fowl Manor could destroy the world.
"If that lock were to be opened, then Danu, the Earth mother, would surrender her magic to the air in a blast of power that would annihilate every human on the surface, and the People would be safe forever."
As previously mentioned, the Dé Danann received their name from the goddess Danu, the mother goddess of all the Tuatha Dé Danann. As I will describe later, the People, just like the Dé Danann, were driven underground into a less powerful state after a war with the humans.
II. References to the content of Irish mythology and history
The most obvious reference to Irish mythology is the story of the People. In Irish mythology, eventually, the godlike Dé Danann are vanquished by the human armies of Ireland. The Gaels (human population) form a treaty with the immortals (a cairdes-relationship). The Dé Danann end up fleeing to live underground in fairy mounds, and morph into the Aos Sidhe (pronounced Ow Shee), a new existence in which they have gone from being gods to being fairies. Similarly, the People were far more powerful when they lived above ground before the war (as indicated by the power level of Qwan as opposed to the power level of general warlocks in Haven) and now have been driven to live below the Earth in Haven.
The next characteristic of Irish mythology that pops up is the power of invisibility. In Irish mythology, the Dé Danann were said to be able to summon the Féth Fíada (pronounced Fey Fadda). Féth denotes mist whereas Fíada translates to knower/lord/master, essentially meaning that this is a magical mist that allows the Dé Danann to cloak themselves from mortal presence. This mirrors the People's ability to shield themselves from mortal eye.
Finally, the time stop is the most easy-to-discern influence from Irish mythology on the People's abilities. In an old Irish anecdote entitled, "The Taking of the Otherworld Mound", the story follows the Dé Danann man, Oengus/Mac Óc, as he attempts to find a fairy mound for himself in the final days of the rivalry between the Dé Danann and the humans. The Dagda, the king of the Dé Danann, tells him that there are no more fairy mounds available, and Oengus pleads with him to allow him to stay in the Dagda's mound for just one day and night. The Dagda agrees, but when he returns during the next day, Oengus bars the door and slyly tells him, "that the whole world is day and night, and that is what has been granted me [in this fairy mound]". By interpreting a day and night to mean all eternity (as day and night make up all of time), Oengus has tricked the Dagda into giving up his fairy mound, forcing the other to roam the Earth (side note: the Dagda was Oengus' father so… the holidays might be a bit awkward). In John Carey's essay on this tale and the role of thaumaturgy, or time magic, in Irish mythology, Carey writes:
"[There are other versions of this tale, and] the differences between the... versions are significant, but a basic theme is common to them all: that Oengus won the [fairy mound] from its former owner through the power of the word, whether by verbal dexterity or magic... Furthermore, the speeches through which Oengus gains his triumph all have to do with the manipulation of time: in the Old Irish tales, he tricks the incumbent into granting in perpetuity what he thinks he has only yielded for twenty-four hours; in Altram Tighe Da Mheadar, he places Elcmar under an enchantment which will last until the end of time (the fusion of moon and sun). Similar formulae occur elsewhere in the literature, indicating that the underlying concepts had a broader significance in the tradition."
In short, a common theme in Irish mythology is the manipulation of time, which is similar to the time stop in the first book of Artemis Fowl, and world play, such as how the series is full of puns, Artemis besting people through exploiting the loophole in an agreement via a technicality of language, and the importance of the orders given by a human to a fairy once the fairy has been given permission to enter a dwelling.
In terms of the fairies' ability to heal, speak any language, aversion to the day, and the mesmer, those are more difficult to find direct influences. In the case of healing, an argument could be made that there is a connection to the rejuvenating powers of the Lia Fáil, or the healer god, Dian Cécht. One cannot be sure. In the case of the gift of tongues, perhaps Ogma, the Dé Danann god of tongues, could be an influence, or perhaps the Aos Sidhe form of the Dé Danann where they exist as the fae could be where Colfer draws inspiration. In the case of the aversion to the day, the Dé Danann/Aos Sí took great care not to be sighted by humans after their defeat, and as such, tended not to go out during the day, despite having the gift of the Féth Fíada. Finally, the mesmer. As the Dé Danann were so powerful, the could influence the will of humans. In terms of the role of eye contact, perhaps Balor, the one-eyed Fomorian giant who could freeze a man by transfixing him in his gaze, played a role; Colfer does describe humans who are under the mesmer as feeling unable to move. However, these are areas where the source of Colfer's inspiration becomes difficult to pinpoint, and it is just as likely that these elements of the People sprung from Colfer's imagination rather than the pages of Irish mythology.
III. Names and fun facts
This is the portion I was most excited to write!
First, I shall go over a cool consistency in the books. When Colfer introduces the entangled family history of the Fowls and Butlers, he describes the first Fowl as being Lord Hugo de Folé, a man who came to Ireland during the Norman crusades mentioned in the history section. Due to that invasion from Normandy, about ⅙ of modern Irish last names have a Norman origin. Included in this ⅙ of names is Fitzgerald, Burke, Power, Grace, and Butler. Not only does Butler's name check out as a pun on his profession, his name checks out as also being of Norman origin! Of course, it would make sense for both the Fowls and the Butlers to have Norman roots last-name-wise if their ancestors came over to Ireland during the Norman invasion, and it's cool that Colfer kept that legacy consistent.
Next, the last name Fowl. Okay, I know that Colfer specifically stated that he chose the last name because he wanted a memorable name, and he thought that the phrase, "Fowl by name, foul by nature", was funny.
However, even if he didn't choose the last name on purpose, there is another root that could be interesting to explore, fanfiction-wise.
In Philip Luckcombe's, "A Tour Through Ireland", he describes that Ireland went through various name changes over the years. Even though "Éire/éiriú" is generally thought of as the "'''old'''' name for Ireland, there were many, many more! About fourteen more, in fact. The fifth name of the island was Fódhla, and this came from a queen of the Dé Danann who was a patron goddess and protector of the island. The Irish name Fódhla is pronounced foe-lah, which isn't terribly far off from the last name Fowl. In fact, if Folé was the pre-anglicised version of the Fowl name, then Fódhla and Folé are an even closer match for pronunciation, actually! I know it's not intentional, but the idea of Artemis having both his first and last name come from two protector/hunter goddesses (one from Greek mythology, one from Irish), is rather neat, in my opinion.
I suppose those are all my thoughts on the matter. If you have anything you'd like clarified, please let me know! I am always available to go over one of the myths, clarify pronunciation, or talk about the series. If you have a fanfiction in the works where you'd like to draw from Irish mythology, then I'd love to read it, too!