US/UK Version Differences: Book 3
Forget the cube color. Is Butler Asian or isn't he?
Welcome back to the monthly version comparison series! Today we’re looking at The Eternity Code.
If you’re new to this series of articles, check out the introductory article which lays some groundwork for how these comparisons work.
Biggest changes first
The Cube’s Color
Getting this out of the way: It is relatively common knowledge in the AF community, but in case you hadn’t heard, the Cube, the central plot point of the book, is described as red in the UK and blue in the US. I typically assume the UK text of the book is closer to the original manuscript Eoin Colfer wrote, so I’m guessing it was red originally and changed to blue in the US, and not the other way around.
However, the 2013 graphic novel, which was made in collaboration with Eoin Colfer, depicts it as blue in all regions, so perhaps I am wrong. If I ever see Eoin Colfer on a future book tour, perhaps I’ll ask him which color was the original.
Incidentally, it’s gold/orange on the covers of the 2009 and 2018 new cover arts the US got, gold on the cover of the 2022 graphic novel, and black (when inactive) or blue (when active) inside that graphic novel.
It was gold on the preview image we saw of the new 2026 edition some months back, but changed to red for the final revealed cover. This edition is out this fall.
A follow-up question we don’t know the answer to is: In 2003, was the US book cover decided to be blue, deviating from the UK’s red cover, after the cube was changed in the text, or was it decided the book should be blue instead of red and then the cube’s color was changed in the text to match the cover?
If I had to guess as to why the cube was changed from red to blue at all, perhaps there was concern that a red cube was too evil of a thing for our protagonist to create? Who knows.
Hearing several years ago that the cube is a different color in different regions’ editions of the text is what motivated me to do these full version comparisons in the first place, to see what else might be different in the different entries in this series.
Anyways, when I got to book 3 here to do my full comparison, I was expecting more mentions of the cube’s color throughout the text, but as it turns out, the color of the cube is barely touched upon. Many of us have a clear image of its color thanks to the color of the cover of the book you grew up with (blue or red) but if you had no visual reference going in, it’d be pretty easy to skip over the scant references to its color if you’re not paying attention. They’re not constantly talking about its color in the story.
In the first chapter, both versions say the cube is nestled in blue foam, regardless of the color of the cube itself. In the UK, the cube itself is said to be red 3 times in those opening pages. In the US, one of those mentions of its color is cut (UK says Artemis “addressed the red box again,” US says Artemis “held the omnisensor close to his mouth”) so it’s described as blue 2 times in the opening of the US edition. Then after that, neither version mentions its color at all, until near the end of the book, when we get 1 reference in each edition, and that’s it.
This is the most well known change from US to UK in the whole series, but it’s far from the only change. Let’s look at what else is changed…
Location Text Specificity
In the UK, section headings with the location of the scene are consistently more specific than they are in the US. This didn’t really happen in books 1 & 2.
For example, Fowl Manor’s location text heading includes Dublin, Ireland in the UK. The US just says Fowl Manor, Ireland. And on the first page of the story, the name of the restaurant is included in the location heading.
During the heist when cutting between Mulch/Juliet and Artemis/Holly, the section heading will include Team One or Team Two
Similarly, when cutting between Loafers and Mulch when they go to Fowl Manor, the section headings say “The Metal Man” and “The Monkey.” That’s only in the UK.
There are even location scene headers in the UK that are totally absent in the US, not just more or less specific.
The Butlers being Asian
In both versions of book 1, Butler is described as Eurasian. The UK edition of book 3, now, has several mentions of the Butlers being Asian (or sometimes more specifically Eurasian), but a few of these references are cut in the US. But not all of them. They are described as Eurasian 6 times in the UK and only 3 in the US.
On page 21, Arno says to Butler in the UK edition, “That's your Asian code of honour, I suppose.” The US edition just says “That’s your code of honor, I suppose.”
On page 46, the UK describes Butler as Eurasian but the US cuts that second reference.
And later, on page 215, when Juliet is outsmarting Pex & Chips, she is described by the narrator as “a stunning blend of Asian and Caucasian.” In the US edition, it just says she was “stunning.” But both editions say she’s a mix of Asian and European in the earlier chapter where she’s being tested by Madam Ko.
Cutting 3, but not all 6, references to the Butlers’ ethnicity kinda stumps me ngl
Plexiglas vs Perspex
I am not a chemist or materials specialist, but Wikipedia says that Perspex and Plexiglas are 2 different brand names for the same hard material, which makes it interesting to me that all references to things being perspex (lowercase) in the UK are all changed to Plexiglas (capitalized) in the US. It’s throughout the entire book, several different things actually. Beginning on page 27 with “perspex/Plexiglas vacuum cuffs” which the LEP has for use on goblins, then describing the material of an aquarium on page 40, a box the Cube is in on page 194, Arno Blunt’s teeth on page 264, and then the keyboard that slides out of the Cube which Artemis uses to hack Spiro’s accounts on page 287.
Lack of Censorship this time
In books 1 & 2, we found out that “bum flap” as it’s said in the UK is consistently changed to “back flap” in the US edition. That has ceased with book 3! US readers are now treated to the scandalous term “bum flap.” Will that continue into book 4 and beyond? We’ll find out over the coming months.
Chronological Text Changelog
By the way, when I say “In the US” or “In the UK” I am always referring to editions of text, not locations within the story. This is a rare AF book where scenes take place in both the UK and US but I’m not talking about story location when I say “In the US,” I’m talking about the version of the text that was published in the US.
Anyways, with those bigger changes now covered up front, I shall now run through the text and mention briefly many of the smaller changes found throughout:
Chapter 1
Right off the bat on page 1 in the UK, Artemis says “my father was a bigger crook than me.” In the US, it’s “my father was a bigger crook than I.” So in one of these editions, Artemis is using improper grammar. I want to say that “I” is correct, but me could be wrong.
The US makes Artemis’ intimidation of the waitress more complete by specifying his ordering his vegetables julienned. In the UK he just asks for vegetables.
“the Cube” is capitalized in the UK; in the US it’s “the cube.” Also, Artemis says he built an Eternity Code, capitalized. In the US it’s lowercase eternity code.
Chapter 2
The van Holly drives is a “curry van” in the UK, and a “fast-food van” in the US.
Page 30 says the goblins’ cuffs have popped open due to lack of power, in the UK. In the US it says the goblins melted through their cuffs. Same result!
Holly’s hair is described as auburn in the UK, and red in the US. Page 34.
Chapter 3
A couple semi-substantial sentences after Butler is shot are absent from the US text: Right after he’s shot, the narration says “A fatal wound. And this time Captain Short was not around to save him with her fairy magic.” In the US, it stops after “A fatal wound.” Then, in the US, it says “Artemis wasn't just a principal. He was his only true friend.” The UK says all that, but also includes “He was part of the bodyguard's life” in the middle there.
Butler’s last words, “Artemis, call me Domovoi,” are mostly unbroken by punctuation in the US. In the UK, it’s a more realistically staggered “Artemis, call me — Domovoi.” So no, it’s not just AI-composed text that uses m-dashes…
Beluga dripping from the ceiling is changed to caviar dripping from the ceiling, page 48.
“Butler's blank face was just visible through a layer of ice” is changed to “Butler’s blank eyes stared at him [Artemis] through a layer of ice.”
The receptionist at the cryo institute is “manning” the desk in the UK, and “supervising” in the US. Is this part of the same removal of gendered language I noted in book 2?
On the drive from the cryo institute to the restaurant to retrieve Butler, the UK edition says traffic was chaotic because Harrods was running a one-day sale, and the “block was crowded with droves of tired customers on their way home.” The US says the “block was besieged by droves of eager customers lining up for access to the luxury store.” In this case, the UK makes more sense because it’s already the evening at this point.
Artemis’ description of Arno Blunt includes “rings in his ears” in the UK, but that particular descriptor is absent in the US.
On page 79, when starting to heal Butler, Holly thinks of him as “an old friend” in the UK. That’s cut in the US.
In Artemis’ diary entry on page 86, he says “My mother was perched on the armrest, resplendent in white faux fur.” In the US, Armani is added to the description of the faux fur. Much later, on page 198, the same thing happens. Artemis’ “usual designer suit” is mentioned in the UK, but it says “usual Armani suit” in the US. But bewilderingly, it’s the other way around on page 178: the Butlers are dressed in “black Armani suits” in the UK and just “black designer suits” in the US.
Also in that diary entry, Paralympics are referenced by that specific name in the UK text, while changed to “special Olympics” in the US text.
The Fowl family motto is arranged differently. In the UK, it’s “aurum potestas est.” In the US, it’s “Aurum Est Potestas.” I don’t speak Latin so I can’t say which is correct.
The Moonbelt reduces weight to one fifth in the UK, and one sixth in the US.
An idiom adjusted: Foaly says “tip of the iceberg” in the UK, and “tip of the pyramid” in the US.
Chapter 4
In the UK, it says “by eleven years of age, she [Juliet] was beyond belts.” The US says ten instead of eleven.
On page 106, the UK text says, “not Madame Ko, but some other tiny Oriental lady.” The US changes Oriental to Asian.
Chapter 5
nothing of note (when I say this, there are still copyedits and word tweaks but nothing impactful in the slightest, even by my standards)
Chapter 6
nothing of note
Chapter 7
In the UK text, Holly says Artemis is “well known for his part in the B’wa Kell uprising.” This could make it sound like he was part of the uprising and not the stopping of it, so the US makes an unusual helpful change so Holly now says Artemis is “well known for his part in suppressing the B’wa Kell uprising.”
Page 161 says Nikes in the US and just “trainers” in the UK. But on page 159, both editions say Nikes so I guess they’re both allowed to mention the brand? Or the UK editor missed one when trying to remove the brand references? Sometimes I just don’t understand things.
Chapter 8
On page 159 in the US, Butler is referred to as an ex-bodyguard. The UK (which is at 169 by now thanks to different text flow and such; usually I do say the UK page number if you’re wondering) does not refer to Butler as an ex-bodyguard.
Arno Blunt’s toothless speaking pattern is rendered a little differently in each edition. For example, “shod him in de head” in the UK is “sho' him in de har” in the US.
When considering whether she wants to be a bodyguard as a lifestyle, in the US, Juliet says “Where else would I get to bodyslam people?” The UK includes a clarifying clause: “Where else would I get to bodyslam people outside of a wrestling ring?”
When Artemis touches down in Chicago on page 184, the UK text specifies 11pm and the US text doesn’t.
On page 197, it says in the UK text that Spiro is “lovingly caressing the C Cube.” The US text just says he picks it up.
Chapter 9
Chips eats “barbecue Ruffles” while dealing with Mulch. The US text specifies “BBQ Blast Ruffles.”
When Artemis tells Blunt that Butler is coming for him on page 208 in the UK, it says “Artemis paused to give him the full effect of his words.” In the US, it says “Artemis looked him in the eyes, so Blunt could see the truth there.”
When Juliet is talking to Pex and Chips outside the surveillance van, in the UK she says “Daddy is so not here. And I mean that spiritually.” The US makes an addition so it reads “And I mean that literally and spiritually.”
On page 218 in the UK, Holly feels Juliet “should not be in this line of business [bodyguarding].” The US does not have this line.
Someday I may do an article on fairy religion. In later books, Eoin establishes “Thank Danu” as a fairy expression, but at this point, they’re still saying things like heaven. For example, on page 219 in the UK, Holly says “Thank heavens.” I don’t know if this means anything or is just a grammar edit, but the US text has her say “Thank heaven” instead.
On page 222 in the UK, Foaly mentions the vault is on the 85th floor. However, he had not yet received the X-Ray scan of the building so I don’t think he should know that fact at this point. In the US, Foaly does not mention what floor the vault is on at this time.
On page 235 is a classic Eoinism, but only in the UK. It’s the sentence “And in order to do the moment justice, it has to be described in slow motion” prefacing the description of Juliet squeezing Mulch’s toe to make him expel gas.
The US on page 222 mentions Juliet is wearing a visor/helmet while she clips Foaly’s camera sabotage device onto the tower’s cameras, but I don’t think that’s correct? Mulch is definitely wearing one as they sneak into the tower, but not Juliet. The UK does not make mention of her helmet at this point and instead mentions she has a wrist computer on.
Chapter 10
A continuity error that’s not in the UK: On pages 248 & 256, it says there are six guards doing rounds on Holly’s floor. The US says eight the first time but six the second time.
There’s a whole thing about how the thumb has to be reattached within 4 minutes after they cut it off of the sleeping guy in the bed. In the UK, when Holly arrives to the bedroom to reattach it, it says her stopwatch says 4:57, “just in time.” But it isn’t ‘just in time’ if it’s been 5 minutes. The US gets it right here for once, saying 3:57 instead of 4:57.
On page 275, rye sandwich is changed to ham sandwich
Another instance the US is absolutely correct and the UK is wrong: In the UK, on page 283, Artemis says to Spiro “About my name — Artemis — you were right. In London, it is generally a female name…” which is weird because it’s not just in London that it’s a female name. The US edition provides clarity: “About my name, Artemis. You were right in London, it is generally a female name…” So it’s a callback to when Spiro insulted Artemis in chapter 1.
The US text says, “Pex’s brain was churning. This was an operation akin to a blender mixing concrete.” Which is not particularly notable or strange imagery, as cement mixers are pretty normal… But in the UK it makes more sense as a funny visual metaphor because it says “akin to a food blender mixing concrete.”
A strange typo in the US when Artemis is using the cube to crack the LEP password: “It took ten valuable seconds per minute.” Huh? The UK has it correct here: “It took ten valuable seconds per character.”
Chapter 11
One more bit of gendered language: In the UK sentence, “If anyone passed on his or her way down the corridor,” “his or her” is changed to “their” in the US.
Arno Blunt is not worried about being held by the authorities, thinking in the UK text, “How long could you be held for having novelty false teeth, for heaven’s sake?” In the US text, it is different: “How long could you be held without charge, for heaven’s sake?” (I think the answer to that second question here in the US is 24 hours if movies and TV have taught me correctly, but Blunt is being held in the UK so I don’t know the answer to either of his questions)
Chapter 12
In the US, when Artemis is under the mesmer, Holly asks him if there are any memory recall devices/tricks he doesn’t expect Foaly to find, and he lists the buried storage capsule and the internet storage file. But he had just revealed the buried storage capsule a few paragraphs earlier. In the UK, he only lists the internet storage file at this point since he had already revealed the buried capsule.
A visual formatting quirk from a copyedit: Artemis hands Mulch a handwritten cursive note, which is printed in full, with a fancy looking font in the UK and regular italicized text in the US. In the UK, uselessly, it’s interjected with a plain text “the note read” clause. Not so in the US.
You can also see that how he signs his name is a spelled-out Artemis Fowl the Second in the UK, and Artemis Fowl II in the UK. I didn’t mention it earlier because it’s basically just a copyedit, but the same difference exists when he mentions his father by name in his written diary earlier, and then again a few pages after this when he writes his own name in his final printed diary entry on the last page of the book.
Epilogue
Artemis mentions his interest in art in his final printed diary entry, specifically the “fairy creatures depicted by Pascal Hervé in his Magical World series.” That’s how it is in the UK. In the US, he says, “the fairy creatures depicted by Arthur Rackham,” no mention of Magical World series.
Copyedit Notes
Softnose is now capitalized in both editions after being lowercase in the US in book 2.
Mud People is how they’re referred to in the UK text. In the US, it always says Mud Men. There are 11 instances of this.
Artemis mentally compares Pex & Chips to Rottweillers. That is how it is spelled in the UK text. The US text says Rotweillers. I am not a dog person, so a quick internet search reveals both are wrong and it is actually Rottweilers? Later US editions, like the paperbacks, correct it to Rottweiler, but it’s still Rottweiller in current UK editions.
I again re-iterate that there are hundreds and hundreds of tiny edits, most of them additions and removals of commas from sentences or compound word discrepancies, or regional word differences. I only report on the most interesting changes.
Non-Story Changes
The UK edition continues to have the squares at the start of each chapter that have the chapter title in Gnommish, while the US doesn’t have this. The UK has this even though the message at the bottom of the pages is Eternity Code script.
The UK again has a table of contents the US doesn’t.
Eternity Code
You can read more about it in my article on Gnommish, but in case you didn’t know, the UK edition contains a coded message running along the bottoms of the pages that the original US editions don’t have. In book 2 which was the same way, there was a page within the story exclusively in the UK edition that explained some background behind the secret code since it was UK-only; not so with book 3. There’s no interjected context about the message that’s included in book 3.
Closing Thoughts
If you enjoy seeing this kind of stuff, subscribe to see more of it delivered straight to your inbox. No algorithm will prevent you from laying eyes on it.
Like in books 1 & 2, I’d say the majority of these changes make the UK text the favorable one, but also like in books 1 & 2, there are a solid few things that the US has in its favor, making it not easy to recommend a particular version to a first-timer. I wish they’d put out an updated, master edition that has fixes from all editions incorporated into it. I doubt the upcoming special editions from LitPins&Co will do that. I messaged them asking if I could provide assistance with the copyediting to fix some known mistakes in the text, but I got no response.
Next up will not be book 4, because there was another Artemis Fowl book between 3 & 4: The Artemis Fowl Files! Will the constant and sometimes nonsensical editing between editions continue? Find out next month.
These articles are free, but require much effort and will never be written by AI. To support human-created content, you can contribute to my mission to build a focused Fowl fan community by leaving a comment (even if you don’t have much to say) and sharing this however you can. The more activity can be seen here, the better the chance that we as Fowl fans are treated to more stuff to enjoy.
I studied Latin in high school, and I can attest that the UK version of the Fowl family motto is the correct one ! The verb is always at the end of the sentence - so it is “Aurum potestas est” indeed :)