Hester Shaw
Fictional character from the Mortal Engines quartet
title: "Hester Shaw" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["characters-in-british-novels-of-the-21st-century", "child-characters-in-film", "female-characters-in-film", "female-characters-in-literature", "fictional-assassins", "fictional-aviators", "fictional-characters-with-disfigurements", "fictional-suicides", "literary-characters-introduced-in-2001", "mortal-engines", "orphan-characters-in-literature", "predator-cities", "teenage-characters-in-literature"] description: "Fictional character from the Mortal Engines quartet" topic_path: "arts" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hester_Shaw" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0
::summary Fictional character from the Mortal Engines quartet ::
::data[format=table title="Infobox character"]
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| name | Hester Shaw |
| Hester Natsworthy | |
| first | Mortal Engines |
| last | A Darkling Plain |
| gender | Female |
| creator | Philip Reeve |
| portrayer | {{Plainlist |
| * Hera Hilmar<ref name | "HilmarCast"/ (adult) |
| family | {{Plainlist |
| significant_other | Tom Natsworthy |
| origin | Oak Island |
| lbl21 | Age |
| data21 | {{Plainlist |
| :: |
| name = Hester Shaw Hester Natsworthy | image = | caption = | first = Mortal Engines | last = A Darkling Plain | gender = Female | creator = Philip Reeve | portrayer = {{Plainlist|
- Hera Hilmar (adult)
- Poppy Macleod (child) | family = {{Plainlist|
- David Shaw (adoptive father)
- Pandora Shaw (mother)
- Thaddeus Valentine (father)
- Katherine Valentine (half sister)
- Wren Natsworthy (daughter) | significant_other = Tom Natsworthy | origin = Oak Island | lbl21 = Age | data21 = {{Plainlist|
- 15 (Mortal Engines)
- 17 (Predator's Gold)
- 33-34 (Infernal Devices/A Darkling Plain)
- Twenties (film)
Hester Shaw, later known as Hester Natsworthy, is the lead heroine of Philip Reeve's Mortal Engines Quartet.
Background and life
Hester Shaw, aged around fifteen at the beginning of the Quartet, is the daughter of Thaddeus Valentine and Pandora Shaw. She was raised by Shrike.
Hester is portrayed as having copper hair and a gray eye. She has a scar which cut her face from forehead to jaw, a wrenched mouth, a stump nose, and a single eye.
The character's surname comes from Shaugh Prior.
Role
In the first novel of the Mortal Engines Quartet (known in the US as The Hungry City Chronicles), Mortal Engines, her botched assassination attempt on Thaddeus Valentine led to her meeting Tom Natsworthy and set off a chain of events that would change the course of history. She is a key character in each book in the Quartet, often in the center of conflicts that occur. She is the mother of Wren Natsworthy.
In other media
In the Mortal Engines student short film made in 2009, Alyssa Burnett plays Hester. One of her photos in the role has been mistakenly identified as a cosplay.
There is a 28mm figure based on Hester Shaw.
In Mortal Engines, the film adaptation of the first book, Hester is portrayed by Icelandic actress Hera Hilmar as an adult, while the young Hester is played by New Zealand child actress Poppy Macleod. Her scar is heavily toned down, and she is aged to her twenties. Hilmar described her character as challenging to play. Christian Rivers, the director of the film, addressed the fan criticism over Hester's scar, stating that audiences would be "put off the film" if it were more true to the books. The author acknowledged the difference. Reviewers from FilmBook, Screen Rant, and USA Today remarked that this rendition of Hester lacks character development. Other changes include: she lost her mother when she was eight and she fought Valentine aboard his airship.
References
References
- (July 2017). "Philip Reeve discusses the influences on the Mortal Engines books".
- Reeves, Philip. (February 27, 2011). "It's alive".
- "Alyssa Burnett photos".
- "I was curious and I actually found a hester shaw cosplay??? oh wow!".
- Reeves, Philip. (February 24, 2014). "Wargaming the Traction Era".
- (February 7, 2017). "Peter Jackson's 'Mortal Engines' Sets Hera Hilmar As Female Lead".
- Leadbeater, Alex. (June 5, 2018). "The 7 Biggest Changes Mortal Engines Makes To The Book".
- Bryan White. (December 12, 2018). "'Mortal Engines' Star Hera Hilmar Says Filming Was Like "Being in an Amusement Park"". The Hollywood Reporter.
- Christina Radish. (December 13, 2018). "Hera Hilmar on 'Mortal Engines' and the Challenge of Bringing Hester Shaw to Life".
- Romano, Nick. (October 11, 2018). "Peter Jackson, Mortal Engines director discuss fan pushback over Hester's scar". [[Meredith Corporation]].
- Truitt, Brian. (December 10, 2018). "'Mortal Engines' star Hera Hilmar wears her heroine's controversial scar proudly". [[USA Today]].
- Philip Reeve. (2018-06-06). "Mortal Engines: Trailer 2".
- (30 December 2018). "Why Audiences & Fans of MORTAL ENGINES Decided to Skip the Film In-theater". FilmBook.
- Schaefer, Sandy. (14 December 2018). "Mortal Engines Review: Peter Jackson's Mad Max is Surprisingly Bland".
- Truitt, Brian. (December 5, 2018). "Review: Peter Jackson's 'Mortal Engines' dazzles with spectacle, falls flat with character". USA Today.
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