Alexander Stowe is the current head mage of Artimé, following the death of Marcus Today. He is known for talent in visual art, combat, and leadership. He has given up on everything after a terrible injury to his left/dominant arm in the last book of the series, The Unwanteds.
Appearance
Alex in The Unwanteds
Alex has long, wavy dark brown hair. His eyes are a warm brown. After Mr. Today's death, he begins wearing the colorful robes previously belonging to Mr. Today since Mr. Today had chosen him to be the next head mage. In a situation when combat may be necessary, he wears his enchanted component vest, which is used to store spell components and protect from Quillian weapons. Under his robes, he wears casual clothes. He has a scar on his chest from a scatterclip thrown by his identical twin, Aaron Stowe. When Kaylee attempts to guess his ancestry, she says that perhaps his father came from somewhere in Southern Europe, like Italy, and that perhaps his mother came from somewhere tropical, like Tahiti or Morroco. Alex and Aaron are said to mostly resemble their father.
Personality
Alex is smart, considerate, hardworking, and selfless. He is a problem solver and a natural leader, despite claiming otherwise. He is very empathetic and is known to try to bear others' burdens, even when there is no way he can help. He can be impatient and under frustrating circumstances does not deal with his emotions well and can become rash and take out his feelings on others. He is known to be oblivious to others emotions, especially when romance is involved. As the series goes on he matures and becomes more self-confident as well as perceptive.
History
Prior to the Books
When Alex was ten years old, his parents told him that he would be an Unwanted after his twin brother Aaron was caught drawing in the mud with a stick and mistaken for Alex. Alex was always a creative child and had encouraged Aaron to draw a house in the mud at his example. Aaron let Alex take the blame, which immediately marked Alex as an Unwanted.
The Unwanteds
On the day of the Purge when Alex and Aaron were 13, Alex was Unwanted as he expected, and Aaron was admitted to the university for Wanteds. Alex was put on a bus with the other Unwanteds, including his best friend at the time, Meghan Ranger, a girl named Lani Haluki with whom he becomes fast friends, and Samheed Burkesh, a boy he dislikes at that time.
Alex enters the Death Farm terrified but prepared for death but finds that instead of the Great Lake of Boiling Oil, a magical realm known as Artimé lies beyond the fence surrounding Quill. He discovers that rather than killing the Unwanteds, Artimé's head mage Marcus Today had been saving the Unwanteds in Quill and bringing them to Artimé, which Mr. Today himself created. Apprehensive, Alex enters the mansion and explores his room, which is full of art supplies and similar conveniences. He is unaware of how to use them until he meets Meghan's brother, Sean Ranger, who has been a resident of Artimé for five years.
Sean briefly explains the inner workings of Artimé. Alex is then introduced to his art teacher, Ms. Octavia (an alligator with eight tentacles, otherwise known as an "octogator"). Alex begins to learn about art and quickly discovers a talent for it. As he continues his training, his friends Meghan, Lani, and Samheed join the Magical Warrior class, which is a class where teachers tell the students how to use their skills as weapons for defense.
However, Alex is not moved up to Magical Warrior Training Class, because Mr. Today worries he'll try to find Aaron and expose Artimé in the process. Alex doesn't know this and isolates himself, breaking contact with his friends and skipping classes. Soon Mr. Today realizes there's nothing he can do about the bond between Alex and Aaron, he allows Alex to begin Magical Warrior Training. During this time, Alex discovers a talent for magic and also develops subtle romantic feelings towards Lani. After using an invisibility spell during Magical Warrior Training, Alex kisses Lani on the cheek, flustering both of them.
Later, Alex finds Mr. Today's office, which is hidden by magic to most Artiméans. When the glass shield that protects Mr. Today's room is down, he enters and sees that Mr. Today's blackboard/TV has a camera hidden in Aaron's dorm in the Wanted university. Alex becomes desperate to bring Aaron to Artimé and begins painting a 3-D door that leads to Aaron's dorm room. He then discovers that evil Will Blair, accompanied by Samheed, is planning to kill Aaron because Aaron reported his infractions. Will is also making a 3-D door so he can reach Aaron. Alex completes the door first and enters the Wanted university, and brings Aaron to Artimé.
Aaron is tempted to join the Artiméans but decides to return to Quill, appreciating his status there. Aaron exposes Artimé and war begins. Alex is nearly killed by a lethal scatterclip thrown by Aaron. As the fight continues, Alex witnesses the death of the High Priest Justine, and victory is won against Quill.
Island of Silence
Mr. Today prepares Alex for mage duties. He believes Alex has great magical abilities and leadership potential. When Mr. Today planned to have a holiday, he made Alex his temporary replacement and told him some of his secrets.
Afterward, two silent, orange-eyed teenagers were found on the shores of Artimé. This sparks the interest that there may be other islands and Alex's friends planned to have an adventure. They go to Warbler, the 'Island of Silence', since the majority of the citizens on the island has a thick band made of metal thorns that weaved in and out of their necks making them not able to speak.
When his friends went missing, Alex and Simber go out to the nearest island, Warbler, to seek out their friends. They found Meghan and as they were on their way back, Simber froze and fell into the sea. The crash sent Alex and Meghan into the sea. He swam back, dragging Meghan with him and found that Artimé had disappeared. At the end of the book, Alex finds that Aaron had killed Mr. Today, using the 'heart attack' spell Alex had created.
Island of Fire
Alex becomes the new mage as Mr. Today had died following the fall of Artimé. He struggles to restore Artimé using the riddle Mr. Today had left him. During this time, he learns the names of the two orange eyed teenagers, Sky being the girl's name and Crow the boy's name. He falls in love with Sky, which leaves him confused about his feelings, due to the fact that he feels that he is still in love with Lani. He keeps trying to solve the riddle, even when many people deserted him and eventually manages to restore Artimé with help from Sky.
Then, he and Henry went and saved Claire after Haluki managed to get himself through the tube in his house. When he got back, he removed Meghan's thorns using the 'Dissipate' spell Ms. Morning taught him. Afterwards, he removed Sky's and Crow's as well, after some convincing.
Later, after much planing and preparation, he gathered all the statues and head out to the Island of Silence using the ship from the Museum of Large. The ship was actually an enchanted ship and it instead headed towards another island, a volcanic island that Will periodically sink beneath the sea. Sky calls it the Island of Pirates. There, they find no sign of life.
Alex decides to explore the island and soon finds that the residents live underwater in a reverse aquarium. They find Sky's mother, named Copper, and she told them the spell to disenchant the ship. They set out again, Alex promising Sky that he would save her mother. In the Island of Silence, they managed to save Lani and Samheed and escape. However, Alex had been fatally wounded and as they returned to Artimé, he almost died. He awoke again eight days later. One day, he sees Sky trying to leave Artimé to save her mother but he managed to bring her back after she realized that she would die if she went because she couldn't swim at the time.
A year later, Artimé held a masquerade party. An explosion in the sea nearby stopped the party. Aaron, his twin brother, appears and demands to know what happened. Alex, Simber and Sky finds an air vessel with three dead people in it. And behind it, an army of the people from Warbler.
Island of Legends
After saving Sky's mother, the team discovered the Island of Legends. It is an island with a handful of weird creatures. There is a statue named Talon, a floating snow lion named Lhasa, and many others. They soon discover that the island itself is a giant living crab named Karkinos.
They survived an attack from the Island of Pirates because they "stole" Sky's mother. They had to sail with caution afterward, eels lurked in the waters and they were strong enough to kidnap even the ebony statue, Florence. They sail on but are soon caught in the middle of a hurricane that leaves them shipwrecked.
Island of Shipwrecks
Alex and his team crashed on the Island of Shipwrecks after going over the mysterious waterfall. The island was plagued by a never-ending hurricane that lessened for only one hour in the morning every day. Three astonishingly old men lived there as well, having crashed on the treacherous rocks years ago.
Henry, Lani's younger brother, found out from Ishibashi, one of the three men, that the reason they lived so long was because of a blue, glowing seaweed that granted them a longer life, though they didn't know whether that was all it did or whether it granted the ability to live forever. Alex and the others eventually got home by repairing the ship using bits and pieces of other sunken ships.
Meanwhile, Aaron had enlisted the help of the Quillitary, finding out that General Blair, whom everyone had thought dead, was alive. The General told him that the reason they lost the first battle against Artimé was because of the wall, so Aaron tore it down, and the day the General launched the attack, he locked Aaron in the palace. The parents of Alex and Aaron died when a part of the wall toppled on them, leaving Alex and the rest of Artimé to care for the twin boys' baby twin sisters. Near the end of the story, Aaron is kidnapped and sent to the Island of Shipwrecks by pirates who mistook him for Alex, wanting revenge on Alex for "stealing" Copper, Sky's mother.
Gondoleery, noticing him gone, declared herself High Priest. Aaron was released upon the rocks of the hurricane island by the pirates, giving Alex a sharp pain in his side, but then he was revived by Ishibashi when the man gave him the life-giving seaweed, and Alex was cured of his pain. He impulsively set out to find his brother aboard Claire's ship.
Island of Graves
Alex saves Kaylee, an American, from the Island of Graves, an island inhabited by carnivorous gorillas. He and Sky begin a relationship. He picks Aaron up from the Island of Shipwrecks after the pirates dumped him there thinking he was Alex. Aaron is now a much better person. Aaron helps Artimé win the war against Gondoleery Rattrap, who has taken over Quill. But Gondoleery uses fire and kills Simber. Alex is devastated but then Aaron uses his magic and re-creates Simber.
Island of Dragons
Alex creates wings for Pan's babies with the help of his friends. He also helps Artimé win the battle against the pirates and Warblerans. After the battle, he loses the use of his left arm (the arm he draws and throws spell components with) from fighting Queen Eagala (whom he thought was dead) and her minions aboard Artimé's ship. Alex's left arm was badly injured and Henry Haluki tells him he will be unable to use the arm he uses for everything for the rest of his life. After, Alex attempts to make Aaron the Head Mage of Artimé since he thinks he's now useless. Aaron refuses.
Relationships
Sky
Alex and Sky are both in a romantic relationship as of Island of Graves. Since Alex first began to communicate with Sky (before she had her "Thornament" removed) they maintained a friendly relationship, eventually discovering mutual attraction for each other. They have had difficult times, however, since they realized they like each other. In Island of Legends, they become distant, as Alex believes that as head mage he cannot maintain a romantic relationship. They remain coldly distant on and off, until they decide to talk again and just be friends. Sky can't take the awkwardness anymore and confesses that she loves Alex in Island of Graves. right after she confesses, she claims she meant it in a sisterly way, since she is embarrassed, and their relationship remains awkward until they make up. They offically put an end to distancing themselves and focus on only being together in a romantic way. They have been together since then.
Lani Haluki
Alex and Lani became fast friends after meeting on the bus to the Death Farm. During the first book, they were shown to have mutual romantic interest towards each other. Alex, not as much, but Lani having a huge crush on him. Near the end of the first book, Alex starts to like her more in that way. At the end of the first book, they are not officially together, but considered an item of sorts. After Lani is taken to the Island of Silence with Samheed, she becomes closer with Samheed, and they form a deep, strong bond that goes much further than friendship. Alex is confused and a little upset at first, but he comes to accept Samheed and Lani's relationship and realizes his feelings for Sky. Since then Alex and Lani have remained platonic best friends.
Gallery
Alex and Aaron hanging on the dragon's tail. Alex is the one with the red robe.