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Artemis Fowl is often praised for its originality, and by that most critics are implying that it is not like a poor derivative of JRR Tolkien: a criticism that can be levelled at a surprisingly large share of the modern fantasy market. But AF actually had a surprising amount of similarities with LOTR, while not in the stylish sense that most properties use, instead in an ideological sense.
LOTR is a conservative work, with a very traditional view of man’s relationship to Nature. Despite seeming more progressive in many ways, AF has inherited/shares many of Tolkien’s views on Nature and society.
Nature is distinct, but important to “man’s” society
Different races are fundamental different
Some races are “better’ than others
Some “races’ are inherently ‘better’ at living in nature that others
Humans , when left on to their own devices will be corrupted by the world
There are distinct ideas of Good and Bad that provide all of Reality and some things tend towards good and some towards bad
Grief is the sole cause of mental illness and magic is what is necessary to cure it
AF isn’t necessarily intentionally copying LOtR in these respects: EC is after all from a similar background as Tolkien; both are white, well-off, well-educated men. Many of these views are and were completely pervasive in the cultures that these two authors grew up and wrote in. That said, the strong focus on environmentalism, or pastoralism, that is evident in both texts is something that is distinctly more pronounced from the general cultural attitudes of their respective times.
One notable element of the Conservatism of Colfer’s work (NB: only the OG AF series is being discussed in this post, not the spinoff series), is Colfer’s uncritical upholding of oppressive systems of power. Fairy society’s sexism is lightly analysed and criticized in the first book of the series, but many aspects of it’s cultural norms-- most notably it’s racism, that is the belief that each fantasy race will inherently behave differently and have some races will be “worse” than others-- are reproduced unthinkingly in fairy society, which implicitly legitimizes there validity in the real world. Holly clearly believes in elf supremacy, and believes that the over-incarceration and stigmatization of the goblins are the natural result of the goblins inherent character, rather than the result of the regressive police attitude. Holly, while being stigmatized for being a woman, still experiences privileges as an elf, and it is notable that the three female officers we see throughout the series-- Holly, Lilly and Vinyaya-- are all elves and Lilly is notably from an influential and wealthy family.