Cherry_draws posted this great fan art sketch of Hester Shaw as they were inspired by a reading of Mortal Engines.

Something about that right eye is quite disturbing and really captures some of that fierce "intent" Hester has before she goes off and kills a few people...

The Lore Behind the Scars

For those diving into Philip Reeve's original lore, Hester is far from your typical, polished YA heroine. She is an anti-hero driven by pure, feral vengeance, shaped by a profoundly traumatic past. As a young child, Hester witnessed the dashing London historian Thaddeus Valentine murder her mother, Pandora Shaw, in order to steal a devastating piece of Old-Tech (the computer core for the MEDUSA weapon).

When young Hester tried to stop him or escape, Valentine struck her down with his sword, leaving her for dead. That blade caused her horrific, defining disfigurement. In the books, her injuries are brutally described—the strike cleaved her face from forehead to jaw, destroying her eye, removing a portion of her nose, and leaving her with a twisted, permanent sneer. It's a physical manifestation of her internal trauma and the ugliness of the Traction Era.

After being rescued and raised by the undead Stalker, Shrike, Hester learned to be cold, ruthless, and unforgiving. She is morally gray, prickly, and profoundly broken, which makes her eventual journey and bond with the naive Londoner Tom Natsworthy so compelling. This sketch perfectly channels that dark, haunted, and dangerously unpredictable survivor spirit.