Butler family (Artemis Fowl)

The Butler family is a family of martial arts masters in the fictional series Artemis Fowl by Eoin Colfer. There are only four characters who are mentioned: Domovoi Butler ("Butler") and his younger sister Juliet,^[1] who are major characters, and Butler's uncle, known only as "the Major", and Virgil Butler.

Relationship to Fowls

It is revealed in the first book that the Butler family has been serving the Fowl family as bodyguards for centuries. The first ever pairing was of Virgil Butler as a servant, bodyguard, and cook to Lord Hugo de Fóle for one of the first Norman Crusades. It may actually be the origin of the term butler.^[2]

It is mentioned that a pairing of a Butler and a Fowl lasted for life. It is not known what happens if the Butler dies in the middle of his service, except that his/her family receives a "six-figure settlement plus a monthly pension". The job is described as demanding and lonely, but with high rewards.^[3] A Butler never reveals his or her first name to their employer in order to avoid personal attachment; this is demonstrated in Book 3, when the only time (Domovoi) Butler reveals his first name to Artemis Fowl II is when he was about to die. But Butler gets revived later in the story due to the use of Holly Short's magic.

Training

The children of the Butler family underwent training starting at the age of ten. The training took place in various private training centers, (such as one in Japan), known as Madame Ko's Bodyguard Academy, where they were taught Cordon Bleu cooking, marksmanship, a blend of different martial arts, emergency medicine, and Information technology.^[2][3] If there was no Fowl to guard at the end of training, he/she was quickly taken as bodyguards for "various royal personages, generally in Monaco or Saudi Arabia".^[3]

Domovoi Butler

Domovoi Butler, known simply as "Butler", is a large man of Eurasian descent.^[4] Well-known around the world as one of the strongest men and one of the most skilled in martial arts, he is also the only man in history to have taken on a troll and won (Albeit in a rematch and wearing a suit of armor; the first such clash resulted in fatal injuries that Holly was able to heal). Butler stands approximately 6 feet 10 inches tall (about 210 cm). He is described as "the essence of understated efficiency", favoring a simple black suit. He usually wears his hair either close-cropped or completely shaved. Due to an injury sustained when he took a bullet meant for Artemis, he has Kevlar permanently fused to his torso, which makes his chest capable of stopping small-caliber bullets. The healing that saved his life on this occasion aged him 15 years, but in later books he reveals that fairies gave him an overhaul of his body, so his exterior seems younger. In The Last Guardian, he is severely injured by a bolt of black magic, which permanently cripples his heart.

Butler is the bodyguard to the teen criminal mastermind Artemis Fowl II, a position that he assumed the day the boy was born, having trained at Madame Ko's academy and undertaken various assignments for intelligence services and governments around the world. He has earned the admiration of their various allies for his dedication to Artemis's goals and his sheer power, his strength having played an important role in many of their adventures and his human contacts being highly useful to Artemis. Although the magical nature of later threats has rendered him less useful than he was previously, he remains one of Artemis Fowl's main assets, his staunchest ally, and his closest friend.

Although quite lethal with his bare hands alone, Butler is proficient with weapons of all description. A typical combat load for him would include a 9mm SIG Sauer pistol (probably a P228), a two-shot derringer, throwing knives, garrote wire, and a ball bearing cosh. He has, at various times, also made use of a medieval-era mace, a dart rifle configured like an AK-47 (a souvenir from an ivory hunter he killed in Kenya), and a number of weapons of fairy manufacture.

Juliet Butler

Juliet Butler
Artemis Fowl character
First appearance	Artemis Fowl
Information
Species	Human
Gender	Female

Juliet Butler is Butler's little sister.^[1] It is mentioned that Juliet is the only person to laugh at Butler multiple times. Juliet is the only mentioned family of Butler who appears in the series, and whom he is extremely fond of, regarding his happiest childhood memory "as a teenager, teaching his baby sister how to do spinning kicks in her sandbox". She is 4 years older than Artemis,^[5] making her 16 at the time Artemis II decoded the Book of the People.^[6] Juliet also has blond hair that some people find extremely attractive.^[7] In the first book, she is given large blue eyes. She won the fictional "Miss Sugar Beet Fair 1999", but only revealed this when Holly Short places her under the mesmer.^[8] She has an adoration for wrestling, most likely inherited from her martial arts training.

Juliet has a major role in The Eternity Code in comparison to the other books because of (Domovoi) Butler's sudden aging and incapability to fulfill his usual, physically demanding role in Artemis Fowl's master plan. She returns to help Artemis Fowl in the middle of her training at the mention of Butler's first name, which indicates that Butler's life was in critical danger. She was attempting to match Domovoi Butler's record of graduating from Madam Ko's Academy at the age of 18, but failed due to her childish kindred spirit. In terms of physical ability, however, outstanding. Juliet gives up the career of a bodyguard after the events of The Eternity Code in order to become a professional wrestler under the ring name "Jade Princess" with an American wrestling troupe. The name originates from her jade hairpiece, with which she smacks opponents. Many fans say that Juliet was the only character in the graphic novel that looked like they imagined it.^[9]

Juliet is not in Artemis Fowl: The Opal Deception, due to the fact she was in a Mexican wrestling team. But, she returns in The Atlantis Complex, where Butler travels to Mexico after he is told that Juliet is in danger. This was a diversion set up by the already-paranoid Artemis, who suffered from Atlantis Complex, and had reached the stage of the disorder where his paranoia is extreme. She was not, however, in any danger prior to Butler's arrival, but was placed in danger after Turnball Root, villainous older brother of the late Commander Julius Root, mesmerized the fans at a wrestling show where Juliet was performing into attempting to kill them. The mesmer triggered total recall of all the events involving fairies up to The Eternity Code.

The Major

'Butler's uncle, simply known as "the Major", was bodyguard to Artemis Fowl I.^[10] He also attended and graduated from Madame Ko's Bodyguard Academy.^[10] It is revealed in the first book and in more detail in The Arctic Incident that he died in the explosion of the Fowl Star.^[10][11] He wound up in the Tchersky morgue.

Virgil Butler

Virgil Butler was the manservant of Lord Hugo de Folé. The first Butler ever to be paired with a Fowl.

References