Artful

**Artful** was the First Lioness of Titanpride. She was the mate of Titan, and mother of Ruthless and Menace.

## Appearance

As is usual to lions, Artful had a tawny-gold coat. Her exact eye color is unknown, though it may be amber like most lions in the Bravelands. She had rounded ears and a long tail, with a paler underbelly and muzzle. Due to how lazy and well-fed she was, Artful was plump, and not as lean and muscular as other lionesses.

## Personality

Artful was lazy and a lousy hunter. She used to be jealous of Swift's hunting skills, which motivated her to blind the other lioness. However, she was fiercely protective of her son, Ruthless, before he turned on Titanpride and deserted them, and she have done almost anything to keep him safe. As Ruthless was leaving Titanpride to join Fearlesspride, however, she told him that if he left, he could never come back. Like Titan, Artful also looks down on those who follow the code, including other lions, as she thinks code-followers are inferior. In *Shifting Shadows,* she pleads for death during the battle against the Thunder's Herd as her mate had gone insane and was turning on all of Titanpride, including his most loyal followers such as herself, so he could become supposedly immortal by killing any animal in his sight.

## Biography

### *Broken Pride*

Sometime after Titan murders Gallant, he takes over Gallantpride and renames it to Titanpride. The ex-members of Gallantpride are forced to live under Titan's rule. During this time, Artful becomes Titan's mate. Swift and Valor are spared when Swift convinces Titan that if he lets her live, she'll teach the rest of the pride to hunt better, as she is a great hunter. During one of Swift's hunting lessons, however, Artful sees how good a hunter Swift is and gets jealous of her hunting skills, since she herself isn't a good hunter, and is too lazy to make an effort. Out of jealousy, she attacks Swift and blinds her by taking out one of her eyes while severely damaging the other. This forces Valor to hunt for both of them, as if she doesn't, she and Swift will be driven out of the pride.
Sometime during these events, Artful also gives birth to Titan's son, Ruthless. Fearless spots her and her cub when he goes near Titanpride's territory to spy. Soon after, cheetahs invade Titanpride and attack it. Artful and Ruthless were in the middle of the battle when one of the cheetahs captured the young cub, and ran off with the rest of the cheetahs. Artful then goes to inform her mate about this, who has caught Fearless in his territory and is confronting him. After she informs Titan about their son's capture, Fearless offers to find Ruthless and makes a deal with Titan to spare his mother and sister's lives, who he planned to kill to punish Fearless for trespassing into his territory, if he succeeds in finding Ruthless and returns him back to Titanpride. After Fearless returns with Ruthless, Artful is overjoyed to see her cub safe and unharmed.

### *Blood and Bone*

When Fearless attempts to sneak into the pride to rescue his sister and recruit her into his pride, Ruthless sees him and unintentionally serves as an obstacle for Fearless by giving away the former's position. When Artful and Titan berate Fearless for trespassing once again, Ruthless defends his friend by pointing out that Fearless had done nothing wrong.

### *Shifting Shadows*

When meet up with Fearless, Ruthless reveals that ever since Menace has been born, his status of the leader's son no longer grants him privilege as Titan and Artful favor Menace out of him. Ruthless states that he's being treated no better than the pride-mates his father favors the least. Ruthless, however, his confident that he'll regain his privileged status as Titan's heir once Menace gets older. When Fearlesspride rescues Ruthless, Artful warns that if he deserts Titanpride, he'll never be allowed to return before leaving him to his fate. Later on, she leads the attack on the Thunder's Herd. After an inevitable defeat and wounded beyond hope, Artful begs Sky to kill her so that she'll be free of Titan. Sky refuses because she doesn't want to break the code. As Sky flees from the scene, Artful gets her wish at the feet of Dune.

## Trivia

* Artful originally lived in an unknown pride before joining Titanpride.
* Artful's name means being especially clever or skillful in a crafty or cunning way.
	+ Despite this, she is not known to have any actual artistic talent. However, she was rather cunning.
* Her son, Ruthless Titanpride, should have been named Artfulcub after her. However, Titan chose to name him Ruthless Titanpride instead.
* In The Spirit-Eaters, Sky once falsely claims that Artful was killed by the Bloodheart Pack, despite seeing Artful killed by Dune.