Magic in Artemis Fowl

In the book series Artemis Fowl, by Eoin Colfer, magic is an integral part of the world, although most humans do not have the ability to use it. Its use is almost completely restricted to the seven families(or groups) of fairies. As revealed in the fifth book, Magic is another type of energy, like its counterparts kinetic energy and light energy (among others) It is subject (like every other type of energy) to the law that "Energy cannot be destroyed, only converted into another form." When it is active, it is visible in the form of blue sparks.

Common Abilities

Some common abilities among the fairies are the Mesmer, shielding and healing.

The Mesmer This is the ability to hypnotize humans, fairies and possibly other creatures (although mesmerising another fairy is illegal according to the fairy book); and is available to every fairy, even the ones most drained of magical energy. Some humans are more resilient to the mesmer than others, and wearing a pair of sunglasses makes you unable to be mesmerised, because the magic is reflected away.

Shielding This is a bit of a misnomer, as it actually is simply a cloaking device (although it is not referred to like this in the series) When a fairy shields, they simply increase their heart rate to vibrate at such high speeds that the human eye cannot see them. However, only rats, two species of monkeys and high speed cameras can see through fairy shields.

Healing This involves a fairy injecting magic into a wound (such as a scar or broken bone) and it being healed instantaneously. Even fatal wounds can be healed, but, as shown in Book III (The Eternity Code) It takes years off the victim's life.

Human ability to use Magic

As far as we know (so far) Artemis Fowl II is the only human ever to possess the ability to control magic. This is because he stole some pure magic while traveling to the "timeless" place called Limbo, in which the land of Hybras, home to the seventh fairy family, the demons, is imprisoned.

During the first few chapters of the sixth book, however, Artemis uses up all of his magic in attempting to heal a fairy illness that his mother has contracted. Unfortunately, the disease is the magical illness Spelltropy, as diagnosed by the centaur Foaly.

Some humans are known to possess the mesmer as it is the lowest form of magic. These humans may quite obviously be hypnotists or psychics.