Holly Short

Captain Holly Short is a main character in the Artemis Fowl series by Eoin Colfer. An elf reconnaissance officer of the Lower Elements Police, she was created for the first novel in the series, pitched as "Die Hard with fairies", as the equivalent character to both John McClane and Holly Gennero McClane, and named after the latter, with her full name derived from its phonetical similarity to the phrase "holy shit". The first female LEPrecon, who initially faces sexism in the workplace, Holly is initially kidnapped for ransom by billionaire Artemis Fowl II before making her escape through Fowl Manor; subsequent books in the series explore a cat-and-mouse dynamic between Holly and Artemis, the two often forced to work together against mutual enemies, with their adversarial relationship eventually giving way to firm friendship, the two being briefly merged in The Lost Colony, and an A.I.

based on the two's brain and voice, NANNI, being a supporting character in the sequel series The Fowl Twins. The character was portrayed by white actress Lara McDonnell in the 2020 direct-to-Disney+ film Artemis Fowl, whose casting was criticised as whitewashing. The book character has received a generally positive critical reception.