Commander Julius Root

[close] Of the Fairie world.

Julius Root was the commander of the reconnaissance division of the Lower Elements Police. Root was frequently angry, and when angry, he became extremely frustrated and his face generally turned red. This trait earned him the nickname 'Beetroot', although he is almost never actually called that by another character. In the first book, the author mentioned that there is an office pool going on how long he has until his heart explodes. He hated his first name, and got very angry whenever someone called him 'Julius'. He often acted annoyed and impatient with many members of his staff, including Foaly the centaur (although without Foaly the humans would have rediscovered the fairies long ago) and, at some points, Captain Holly Short, although he and Holly eventually develop a close relationship.

In the first book he is backstabbed by Briar Cudgeon, someone he grew up with since childhood. However, Cudgeon botched his attempt to remain commander in the first Artemis Fowl book and Root was quickly reinstated. Root smokes fungus cigars and has no sense of humor. In Root's interview in The Artemis Fowl Files he says that he has not laughed out loud for 200 years, though in later books he is seen laughing multiple times. In the same interview, he mentions that he rarely smiles and hardly chuckles. He adds that he would like the name and rank of anyone who says that they have heard him laugh. At first he despised Artemis Fowl and his accomplice Butler, but by the second book they have respect for each other. Commander Root preferred a tri-barrelled, water-cooled blaster in a firefight.

Julius Root was a field fairy, and when necessary, he didn't hesitate to go out into the fray himself. In the first book, he set out to save Holly from Artemis himself. In the second book, he and Holly accompanied Artemis and Butler to the Arctic to save Artemis's father. Root had a brother named Turnball who once almost flooded half of Haven City. After being on the run for many years, Turnball was brought into custody by his brother and a rookie, Holly Short.

Commander Julius Root played a minor role in the third book, Artemis Fowl: The Eternity Code (simply helping to organize the plan for the C Cube's retrieval and then overseeing the mind-wipes of Artemis, Butler, and Juliet) and finally in the fourth book, Artemis Fowl: The Opal Deception, when the returning villain Opal Koboi strapped him to a detonation bomb with octo bonds (used for containing criminals), killing him in the resulting explosion. His last order was for Captain Holly Short to rescue Artemis and Butler before Koboi exacted revenge on them as well.[1] Root was succeeded by Ark Sool, who is not at all well-liked as his predecessor. It is later revealed that Commander Root was in fact supposed to be promoted to the Council before his tragic murder. It is also learned that Ark Sool was fired during Artemis's time on Hybras when he decided to let the Eighth fairy family (demons) die off.

In the sixth book, Artemis lies to Holly in order to get her to help him cure Angeline Fowl. To make up for lying, he manages to project Holly into the past, giving her a chance to finally say goodbye to Root. It is then discovered that Root thought that Holly would make a great commander.