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Artemis Fowl
, humour can be mainly found in statements of the funny characters, situational 
comedy and the often ironic and witty comments made by the third-person narrator.
The humorous character Foaly, famous for his bone-dry black humour, distinguishes 
himself particularly by his statements. With them, the centaur is walking a tightrope; always 
on the limit between decency on the one hand and respectlessness and tactlessness on the 
other. Due to his amiable nature at heart and his eccentricity one cannot really be cross with 
172
Ibd., p. 398.
173
Stroud, Bartimaeus: Ptolemy’s Gate, p. 12.

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him for long. Since the centaur works for the intelligence service, he is right at the source of 
the information. His knowledge gives him a sense of superiority, which he tries to bring to 
bear with his comments. Prone to using irony and sarcasm generously, Foaly can be very 
annoying if he so desires. However, Foaly’s critique is not limited to actions. His attention – 
and with it, his teasing - are also easily drawn by the outer appearance of others.
In the Artemis Fowl novels, situational comedy is inseparably connected with the 
dwarf Mulch Diggums and his body functions. Among the latter range the amazing qualities 
of dwarf hair, his ability to bite through rock or jaws which can be unhinged. Mulch’s diet of 
earth, rock etc. entails extreme side-effects during digestion, above all explosive gaseous 
mixtures set free via the dwarf’s bumflap. Unaware of Mulch’s explosiveness, his adversaries 
are easily put out of action by means of the surprise effect. This discrepancy between 
expectation (harmlessness) and actual result (high danger) ensures situational humour. 
Furthermore, the comments made by the third-person narrator contribute decisively to 
the overall humour in the novels. As with the centaur’s comments, the narrator’s remarks 
employ irony. With his comparisons and assessments, the narrator seems to be a soul mate of 
the centaur. Thus, a similar tenor is maintained.
In other corpus novels, we can find more single humorous characters or couples who 
work on the same principles. Amongst others, such characters providing comic relief are the 
anarchic twins Fred and George in Rowling’s Harry Potter heptalogy or even the comic 
situations arising in parodies of known works by clashing with the original. Here, it is the 
knowledge of the original and its adaptation which create tension that often is resolved by 
laughter. Examples for this kind of humour are Stewart and Riddell’s Muddle Earth, Bored of 
the Rings
or Gerber’s Barry Trotter and Blarnia novels. In chapter 6.8, the issue of parasitical 
literature and its humour will be addressed in more detail.
As we have seen, not only duos or individuals provide comic relief and humorous 
situations, but also the way in which the narrator, if applicable, tells the story. Humorous 
commentaries can thus be made by the narrator, by the characters themselves or a 
combination of these two possibilities. Pratchett for instance introduces his very own 
variation. On the one hand, his eponymous Wee Free Men, the Nac Mac Feegle, form a large 
and rather confusing group. On the other hand, this is compensated for by single individuals 
who set themselves apart from the mass of Pictsies. This way, in contrast to other authors who 
tend to settle for a either a duo, a single comedian and/ or a humorous narrator, Pratchett can 
combine humorous collective actions with those of single characters and small teams of one 
group. Against the background of the collective and with the use of narrator commentaries, 

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the author draws on plentiful resources. With the actions of the Pictsies entire novels could be 
filled without a problem - and without the need of any supplementary characters, too.
Pratchett puts remarks into the narrator’s mouth that can be quite daring at times and 
often are very cheeky – or cheesy, as in Horace’s case – yet, these images are not only 
original associations but also easy to understand. Whereas the author can state things quite 
bluntly, he also wraps brilliant pieces of humour in subordinate clauses, where they acquire a 
terse effect. As complex and varied as their occurrence are the situations in which humour 
plays a key role. From the author’s inexhaustible cornucopia also spills non-aggressive black 
humour.
So far, Pratchett has published three novels featuring the Nac Mac Feegles: The Wee