oh the irony
Has anyone else noticed that villains managing to ironically screw up their own schemes is a running theme in the Artemis Fowl series?
Artemis Fowl: Cudgeon goes to extremes for promotion which ultimately leads to his demotion.
The Arctic Incident: Cudgeon thinks himself unbeatable, and the inevitable 'I'm untouchable' monologue is what Foaly uses to turn Opal against him.
The Eternity Code: Jon Spiro's hatred of Phonetix is how Artemis orchestrates his downfall, while Artemis' own greed leads both to Butler's death and the loss of his memories -two of the things he values the most in the world.
The Opal Deception: Opal humanizes herself to conquer the world, which overrides her magic, but not before she's trapped herself with the very last vestiges of the mesmer. Before this, her greed for decadent chocolate is exactly what Artemis uses to trick her. Or, as Artemis so aptly puts it, "It's human nature, and Opal is a human now, remember?"