I needed a break from reading about the writer Jean Rhys, which is even more depressing than reading about Stella Benson and Antonia White! I decided to renew my acquaintance with Artemis the young Irish prodigy and his fairy friends.
I found that there are now eight Artemis Fowl books. I am reading my way through them all. I didn’t expect to find anything that would inspire any articles, and I was right - until I reached Artemis Fowl and the Lost Colony (2006), the fifth book in the series.
The Lost Colony contains some material that immediately reminded me of what I have read and written about cult leaders and people who feel different on the inside from everyone around them.
The Artemis Fowl books contain many supernatural entities, including elves, dwarves, trolls and goblins; The Lost Colony features demons. One of them reminds me of certain writers who felt different right from the start and went on to develop a special gift, and another one behaves exactly like a cult leader.
Something about Eoin Colfer’s demons
Eoin Colfer’s demons begin life as imps. They go through a process called ‘warping’, which turns them into demons. It sounds similar to the way in which a caterpillar builds a cocoon then emerges as a butterfly.
A very few imps never warp into maturity. While ordinary full-grown demons have no magic of their own, these special imps become warlocks who can perform magic.
Most of the demons are collective-minded, bloodthirsty and aggressive with few redeeming characteristics, but there is one exception.
This special, different demon is called Number One.
Number One the different demon
Eoin Colfer’s character Number One is still at the imp stage.
He is bullied and persecuted daily because at 14 he is the oldest imp not to have warped.
He has never experienced a feeling of belonging. He has known for a long time that he is not like the other imps on the inside, but he imitates his classmates to avoid even more persecution.
He observes the others and their words and actions objectively; he is not impressed, but he wisely keeps his criticisms, reservations and sceptical comments to himself. He is rarely confrontational outside his head, and unlike some of the writers mentioned on here he doesn’t keep a journal or write letters and books in which he can express his real self.
His vocabulary is much more extensive than that of the other imps, whose grammar he mentally corrects; he tries to keep his knowledge to himself because revealing it means incomprehension and yet more persecution.
He has imaginary friends in the form of book people, and he has conversations with them in his head.
If people such as Stella Benson and L. M. Montgomery could have read about Number One, they would surely have recognised a kindred spirit!
Number One’s unhappy life
Number One is repulsed by the desire of his kind to return to Earth and take revenge on humanity. He has no bloodlust, no desire to hurt any other creature. This absence of anger in him explains his failure to warp, which anyway seems a nauseating process to him.
He suffers from headaches and nervousness, which is not surprising considering the persecution he endures and how he is forced to pretend to be something he is not and keep his real thoughts and feelings to himself.
He copies his classmates when they howl and chant, but he is just going through the motions with no genuine feeling in his voice:
“The imps screamed and stomped, bashed their desks with weapons and clattered each other on the shoulders. No.l avoided as much of the consternation as possible while doing his best to seem involved. Not an easy trick.”
This reminds me of Richard Hannay’s difficulties when leading a double life in Greenmantle!
Number One hates his surroundings and his life in general:
“No.l longed for light and fresh air. He was uniquely different, a brand-new point on the compass. Or maybe an old one. No.l often thought that perhaps he could be a warlock. True, there hadn't been a warlock in the demon pride since they lifted out of time, but maybe he was the first, and that was why he felt so differently about almost everything. No.1 had raised his theory with Master Rawley, but the teacher had cuffed his earhole and sent him digging grubs for the other imps.”
Number One wants proper cooked meals!
Number One is a very endearing character who deserves much respect. Next comes a demon who is the exact opposite.
One of the many editions of The Lost Colony:
