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Foaly is a fictional character in the Artemis Fowl series written by Eoin Colfer. He is the technical consultant to the Lower Elements Police (LEP). He is the most intelligent centaur on and under the Earth, considers himself to be an unappreciated genius and is the inventor of most of the advanced technology possessed by the fairy world, rivaled only by Opal Koboi.

Little is known of Foaly's earlier life. There is no obvious indication of his age though he seems to be older than Holly Short. In Artemis Fowl, Foaly is said to have been designing transport pods for over a century, and in Artemis Fowl: The Lost Colony Holly states that she is only in her eighties. It is revealed in Artemis Fowl: The Arctic Incident that Foaly cannot dance well (four left hooves) and is single, although it is later revealed he has a girlfriend called Caballine in Artemis Fowl: The Lost Colony.

Foaly has a terrible case of paranoia and in the first few books wears a tinfoil hat to avoid having his brain read by aliens or Mud Men (humans). In The Artemis Fowl Files, his interview states that he is aware that those rays have not yet been invented, but you never know if they might soon be. He is extremely clever and admires Artemis Fowl for two reasons:

1. Artemis Fowl is a child genius who is smarter than most, if not all, adult geneii.
2. Artemis Fowl is the only one who ever understands his technological explanations.

These "explanations" usually end up with the person he is talking to more confused about the device in question than they were before he explained it, which, of course, was his intention the whole time. It is explained in Artemis Fowl and the Lost Colony that he has met a female centaur, Caballine, who he bumped into at an art gallery. She is a researcher with PPTV (a popular television network in the Lower Elements) during the daytime and a sculptor at night. Caballine is a big fan of one of Foaly's centaur-specific inventions, the "mood blanket", a "multi-sensor massage and homeopathic garment", so typically Foaly has to brag about it. The two apparently go jogging every evening, as long as there is no Artemis or Holly needing assistance.....

Foaly loved to annoy Commander Julius Root, and considered it a perk in his job because everybody but him is replaceable. He delights in bragging and boasting and making sure he is smarter than the general populace and makes sure other People or Fairies know it. Foaly enjoys keeping track of various humans, keeping track of human technologies, explaining his technological marvels to others, and researching conspiracy theories. He also seems to like human soap operas, western films, and Star Trek as is stated in The Eternity Code and the Artemis Fowl Files. Anything that does not involve his "genius mind" and that the "normal individual" can accomplish he calls "grunt work." This is demonstrated in the second Artemis Fowl book, when Commander Root orders him to disassemble and scan various pieces of a shuttle.

In The Artemis Fowl Files, in an interview with Foaly, he states that he has recently taken up line dancing. He also says that he enjoys watching videos or reading articles of himself, an example of a centaur's natural arrogance.

In the first Artemis Fowl book, Foaly's main role is to set up electronics, research, to supply comic relief and to annoy Commander Root.

Foaly is the only fairy to think that perhaps Artemis Fowl II was one step ahead of the LEP the whole time, which, incidentally, he was. Eoin Colfer further develops Foaly's character and background in the next Artemis Fowl books.

In the second installment, Foaly is framed by former LEP commander Briar Cudgeon and the genius pixie Opal Koboi, who have wrongly accused Foaly aiding the B'wa Kell (a goblin triad association) in their goal of LEP destruction.

In the third, initially, he recognizes the emergency call and sends Holly to investigate, and then coaches her through the arduous healing that ultimately saves Butler's life. Later on, he illegally helps Artemis by giving him fairy technology to use against Jon Spiro and by playing the voice of the C Cube to help deceive Spiro.

In the fourth, he figures out that Commander Julius Root was killed by Opal Koboi. He uses the Retimager, an invention from the second book that matches images with those on the retinas of one's eyes (allowing Foaly to effectively see what the person has seen), to persuade the LEPrecon to search for Holly Short. She was presumed dead and solely responsible for Root's death, though Foaly helped prove that she had in fact been framed.

In the fifth, he aides in infiltrating the Paradizo estate and reclaiming the kidnapped demon, N°1, from Minerva. He is also solely responsible for discovering the information about the Paradizo in the first place, mostly because they had erased proof of their existence. While he wasn't a huge help for the last half of the book, except when he organizes the rescue team for Artemis and Holly and the demon pride, his prior help was enough to crash major websites, such as Google and Yahoo.

Foaly has invented many useful things, including:

• Camfoil
• Time-Stop Towers
• The Neutrino Series Guns
• Iriscam
• Retimager
• L.E.P. Helmet
• Dragonfly Wings
• Pod
• Plasma Tiles
• Voice Activated Laser
• Sleeper Deeper
• Throat-Mic

There is a short invention guide, including blueprints and images of some of Foaly's better known inventions, in Eoin Colfer's book, The Artemis Fowl Files. He also is rumored to be the administrator of www.horsesense.gnom, a fictitious fairy website.

A list of all of Foaly's inventions, including a description of each, can be found at [1].