#eternity code

(Stock photo today~)

The rules for literary food prompts aren’t perfect, but in general:

1) Anything humans eat in the course of the book goes on the list, non-humans case by case.

2) Duplicate meals are not required to be made twice.

3) Reasonable substitutions are allowed insofar as I don’t actually have access to all the same foods as my favorite characters!

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In Artemis Fowl: The Eternity Code, we ate:

Earl Grey tea, no sugar

Tea - Not Earl Grey

Rice, fish, protein shake

Martini w/ olive

Peanuts & champagne

Disaster of a roast turkey and mustard sandwich

Vegetarian spring rolls, mushroom risotto, creme caramel

Caviar, mineral water in a crystal flute, bone in chicken

Chips, smoked bacon curls, BBQ chips

OCG: ETERNITY CODE

ETCO-JP001 | Parallel eXceed

Cyberse/Effect, WIND, Lv 8, ATK 2000, DEF 2000

You can only use each of the 1st and 2nd effects of this card’s name once per turn.

(1) If you Link Summon while this card is in your hand: You can Special Summon this card to your zone that Link Monster points to.

(2) If this card is Normal or Special Summoned: You can Special Summon 1 “Parallel eXceed” from your Deck.

(3) If Summoned by the effect of “Parallel eXceed”, this card’s Level becomes 4, also its original ATK/DEF become halved.

ETCO-JP046 | Accesscode Talker

Cyberse/Link/Effect, DARK, Link-4, ATK 2300, T+L+R+B

2+ Effect Monsters

Your opponent cannot activate cards or effects in response to the activation of this card’s effects.

(1) If this card is Link Summoned: You can target 1 Link Monster used as material for its Link Summon; this card gains ATK equal to that monster’s Link Rating x 1000.

(2) You can banish 1 Link Monster from your field or GY; destroy 1 card your opponent controls, also you cannot banish another monster with the same Attribute to activate the effect of “Accesscode Talker” for the rest of this turn.

ETCO-JP047 | Proxy F Magician

Cyberse/Link/Effect, FIRE, Link-2, ATK 1400, BL+BR

2 Effect Monsters

You can only use each of the 1st and 2nd effects of this card’s name once per turn.

(1) During your Main Phase: You can Fusion Sumnon 1 Fusion Monster from your Extra Deck, using monsters you control as Fusion Material.

(2) If a Fusion Monster is Fusion Summoned to a zone this card points to: You can Special Summon 1 monster with 1000 or less ATK from your hand.

ETCO-JP048 | Splash Mage

Cyberse/Link/Effect, WATER, Link-2, ATK 1100, TR+BR

2 Cyberse monsters

You can only use the effect of this card name’s once per turn.

(1) You can target 1 Cyberse monster in your GY; Special Summon it in Defense Position, but negate its effects, also you cannot Special Summon monsters for the rest of this turn, except Cyberse monsters.

ETCO-JP049 | Linkross

Cyberse/Link/Effect, LIGHT, Link-1, ATK 900, B

1 Link-2 or higher Link Monster

You can only use the effect of this card’s name once per turn.

(1) If this card is Link Summoned: You can Special Summon “Link Tokens” (Cyberse/LIGHT/Level 1/ATK 0/DEF 0) up to the Link Rating of the material used for this card’s Link Summon, also you cannot use “Link Tokens” as Link Material for the rest of this turn.

ETCO-JP050 | The Arrival Cyberse @Ignister

Cyberse/Link/Effect, DARK, Link-6, ATK 0, T+L+R+BL+B+BR

3+ monsters with different Attributes

(1) You can only control 1 “The Arrival Cyberse @Ignister”.

(2) This card’s original ATK becomes the number of materials used for its Link Summon x 1000.

(3) Unaffected by other cards’ effects.

(4) Once per turn: You can target 1 other monster on the field; destroy it, and if you do, Special Summon 1 “@Ignister Token” (Cyberse/DARK/Level 1/ATK 0/DEF 0) to your zone this card points to.

ETCO-JP056 | Ai – Contact / A.I. Contact

Normal Spell

You can only activate 1 card with this card’s name per turn.

(1) If “Ignister A.I.Land” is in your Field Zone: You can reveal 1 “Ignister A.I. Land” in your hand; place it on the bottom of the Deck, and if you do, draw 3 cards.

ETCO-JP073 | Ai-Q/A.I.Q

Continuous Trap

Activate this card if you control a “@Ignister” monster. Once per turn, during your Standby Phase, you must Tribute 1 Link Monster or destroy this card.

Holly teases about keeping an eye on him and Artemis laughs it off; he's already got his parents and Butler doing that. And then Holly says something utterly profound and compelling: "Well then, maybe it's time you let them."

I have always seen The Eternity Code as Artemis' key turning point from villain/criminal to hero/anti-hero. I was wrong. While it was undoubtedly a big step in the right direction, Artemis does not fully embrace the new direction -he did, after all, make that massive charitable donation irreversible in case he became weak later and decided to steal it back. Before he could try embracing it, the mindwipe robbed him of further improvement in that area. Basically, his development in The Eternity Code was the foundation for the actual key turning point of his character that we see in The Opal Deception.

When he tells Holly that he already has two parents and one bodyguard trying to keep him on the straight and narrow, it's got a weight to it; I picture him sort of scoffing at it, implying they're efforts are not only unsuccessful, but a wasted effort. Useless. Holly's reply is so profound and so obvious I expect it hit Artemis upside the head. "Well then, maybe it’s time you let them."

Up to now, Artemis has paralleled the patterns of every villain he's faced to some extent. Ever since the first book, our favorite genius has been stuck in the same vicious cycle, maybe learning new lessons and strengthening his conscience each time, but always falling victim to the same basic flaws and cycling through the same mistakes, despite the helping hands and watchful eyes of his loved ones. So far, every villain Artemis has faced has been a friendless, ambition-at-all-costs kind of bad guy. And so far, Artemis has been the same way himself. But what if he wasn't anymore? What if he came to value friendship above greed and ambition? What if he took the chance to become the hero? What if he let Butler and Holly and his parents help him?

I was reading Artemis Fowl: The Lost Colony again and I noticed an exchange that is really making me wonder now that I think about it. On p.129-130, Artemis and the others have tracked down Minerva to her home/headquarters, and it is described to be a virtual fortress. There are cameras everywhere, several guards, etc. I won’t explain everything, but Butler goes as far as to say, “I think I saw this place in a Bond movie once.” But then there’s this exchange:

Artemis: No problem for you, surely?

Butler: I’m a bodyguard, Artemis. A human bulletproof vest. Breaking into fortified castles is not my speciality. 

Artemis: You have rescued me from more secure locations than this one. 

Butler: True. But I had intel, an inside man. Or I was desperate. 

This got me thinking. The first time I had read this exchange, I had assumed that the previous rescues that Artemis was mentioning were just the rescues we see with the fairy folk, but once I started thinking about it, I’m not so sure now. See, up until this point, the four times that could be considered rescue scenarios for Artemis are 1) Cudgeon holding him hostage in Arctic Incident, 2) Blunt’s attack in the beginning of Eternity Code, 3) the entire plan involving Spiro in Eternity Code, and 4) Opal’s revenge plot against Artemis and Holly in Opal Deception.

The problem is that none of these situations sound like what Artemis and Butler are talking about in the above conversation. With Cudgeon, yes the situation was dire there for a few moments, but a reinforced door was the only thing keeping Butler from Artemis when the danger arose, and comparing that to a “fortified castle” is a bit of a stretch. 

Blunt’s attack is even more of a stretch. There’s no denying that Butler was desperate when that happened, but the public restaurant it took place in was hardly a secure location, and Artemis wasn’t rescued from the location so much as rescued from the event that just happened to take place there. It wasn’t a retrieval mission like their above conversation alludes to.

The Spiro mission would probably be the most like the situation Butler and Artemis are talking about, but the problem is that Butler wasn’t involved in that plan at all. He wasn’t even there, much less actually doing the rescuing like the incident they’re talking about. 

Finally, with Opal’s revenge plot with Artemis and Holly, it always appeared to me that Mulch and Butler’s real struggle to rescue them wasn’t actually getting into the theme park so much as getting there in time. Butler and Mulch spent much more time getting a vehicle to take them there than it did for Mulch to tunnel through the ceiling and... use his talents to help Artemis and Holly. While the theme park was definitely a dangerous place to be, it wasn’t exactly secure like other locations like the Spiro Needle were, seeming much easier to get in than get out.