Ender's Game (Characters)

Characters

Alai

A member of Ender's Launchy group, Alai is originally Bernard's best friend. Alai comes to appreciate Ender's many talents and becomes leader of a group that includes both Bernard's in-group and Ender's outcasts. When Ender gets assigned to Salamander Army, Alai reveals his true friendship in a hug and a whispered "Salaam": "Whatever it meant to Alai, Ender knew that it was sacred; that he had uncovered himself for Ender, as Ender's mother had done, when he was very young." Alai's voice is the first Ender hears when he is finally allowed to work with others at Command School.

Major Anderson

Major Anderson assists Colonel Graff in commanding the Battle School. Anderson runs the "games," and is upset when Graff disturbs their rules in order to develop Ender's potential. After Ender's fight with Bonzo, Major Anderson is promoted to colonel and takes over command of the Battle School. After the war, it is implied he will become commissioner of a football league.

Petra Arkanian

The only girl and the best shooter in Salamander Army, Petra possesses enough courage to stand up to Bonzo. She befriends Ender and teaches him her sharpshooting skills. She later commands Phoenix Army while Ender is a member. She is a very good soldier, but cracks under the pressure of the Command School battles anyway. Her collapse reminds Ender he must remember the limitations of his commanders: "As he eased the pressure on them, he increased the pressure on himself."

Bean

Bean, the smallest soldier in Ender's Dragon Army, gets Ender's attention immediately by demonstrating his quick adaptation to instructions in the Battle Room. Not only is Bean smart, he is cocky and rebellious. Recognizing Bean's leadership potential, Ender treats Bean the same way Graff treated Ender — to toughen Bean and force him to separate from the others. Ender recognizes this, however, and thinks of Bean, "When the time is right you'll find that I'm your friend, and you are the soldier you want to be." Bean becomes one of Ender's best soldiers and leads one of his best platoons. Ender later reveals some of his worries to Bean and entrusts him with a special squad of Dragon Army. Bean joins Ender in the final game.

Bernard

Ender first meets Bernard, a fellow Battle School candidate from France, on the shuttle transport. Bernard targets Ender for punishment because Graff has spoken so highly of him. Bernard attacks Ender on the shuttle, but Ender has adjusted more quickly to the null gravity conditions. As a result, Ender accidentally breaks Bernard's arm in reaction to Bernard's blows. Bernard and his sadistic friends quickly become Ender's enemies at Battle School. Ender fights back using the computer, and later Bernard becomes one of Alai's group. His resentment continues, however, and he is present during the confrontation with Bonzo in the showers.

Buggers

"Buggers" is the name humans have given to the insect-like organisms who have twice attacked the Earth. While they evolved on another planet, they could easily have developed on Earth, having a genetic makeup similar to that of Earth insects. They look like Earth insects but have internal skeletons. During the Second Invasion, Mazer Rackham discovered the key to defeating them was to destroy their queen. Their starships represent great technological know-how, but there is no evidence that they use any communication devices. They seem to be able to communicate with each other telepathically. Ender discovers this is true when he discovers the queen egg they left behind for him. He cannot reawaken her yet, however, for everyone fears their capabilities. Instead, he writes her story for all to understand.

Carn Carby

Carn Carby commands Rabbit Army, the first one Ender's Dragon Army faces in battle. Ender is impressed with how honorably Carn accepts his defeat at Ender's hands. Carn helps command in the final battle.

Dap

Dap is the "mom" assigned to Ender's Launch group. He introduces the Launchies to how things work at the Battle School, and comforts some of the boys on their first night. Ender makes sure not to show any sign of weakness before him.

Colonel Hyrum Graff

Colonel Graff directs primary training at the Battle School. Ender thinks of him as the principal of the Battle School and likes him right away. He believes that because Graff is honest with him, he will be Ender's friend. Colonel Graff, however, soon shows Ender that he should trust no one. Graff praises Ender so much on the shuttle to Battle School that he turns all the other boys against Ender. He also engineers Ender's isolation at the school. Even though Colonel Graff does consider himself the students' friend and truly worries about their mental welfare, he has to keep his mission in mind. As a result, he is gruff with the students and demanding of them, trying to teach them to be tough. Colonel Graff faces a court-martial after Bonzo's death in Battle School, but is acquitted.

Hot Soup

See Han Tzu

Locke

See Peter Wiggin

Bonzo Madrid

Commander of the Salamander Army, Bonzo Madrid stands tal and slender, with black eyes and delicate lips. His beauty hides his cruel nature. He resents Ender's being assigned to him from the beginning and forbids him to participate in the group's battles. He rules Salamander by fear, not respect, and Ender observes that his desire for total control makes him a less effective leader. Bonzo particularly hates it when Ender rescues Salamander from total defeat during a battle; afterwards, he trades Ender to Rat Army. His resentment grows after Ender's Dragon Army humiliates him. He meets Ender again in a deadly battle in the showers.

Dink Meeker

Dink runs the platoon to which Rose the Nose assigns Ender in Rat Army. Dink respects Ender's abilities and has asked that Ender be assigned to him. Dink has turned down command of an army twice before because he fears what it will do to him. Dink knows there is more to life than the Game; he has recognized that the School "doesn't create anything. It just destroys." He also tells Ender of his belief that the I.F. has blown the Bugger menace out of proportion in order to retain power. Nevertheless, Dink leads his platoon well, and he and Ender become friends. Not only does Dink support Ender when Bonzo attacks him in the shower, he assists him in the final battle.

Fly Molo

Fly Molo leads Dragon Army's A platoon. He reappears in the final battle to help Ender fight.

Mazer Rackham

Mazer Rackham commanded the Strike Force, which shattered and destroyed the buggers during the Second Invasion. A half-Maori New Zealander who seemed to come from nowhere, Rackham succeeded in saving the world from destruction. Ender watches the censored films of hero Rackham's battles, continually frustrated that the events of the final battle are kept secret. After the I.F. promotes Ender to commander and Ender masters all the simulator games, the I.F. assigns him a teacher: Mazer Rackham. Rackham shares the secret behind his defeat of the buggers that Ender has already inferred.

Rose the Nose

Rose the Nose is commander of the Rat Army when Ender joins it. Rose is proud of his Jewish heritage and lets everyone know it by mocking himself — partly to forestall anti-Semitic remarks and partly to remind people that all the former military leaders of the International Fleet have been Jewish. His army has little discipline, but it stands in second place when Ender joins it. Nevertheless, he too provides Ender with valuable lessons about how not to command. As Dink says, "He's winning, but that scares him worst of all, because he doesn't know why he's winning."

Shen

One of Ender's first real friends in Battle School, Shen gets tormented because he is "small, ambitious, and easily needled." Bernard and his group make fun of the way Shen walks, saying he wriggles like a worm. Ender helps Shen retaliate by using the computer, and later he and Ender join Alai's group and take away Bernard's followers. Shen also joins Ender in the final battle.

Stilson

The first school bully Ender faces, Stilson teases Ender because he is a Third. After Ender's monitor is removed, Stilson leads a group of boys against Ender. Ender fights him, and beats him severely in order to forestall future retaliation. He does not learn until much later that Stilson died from the assault.

Crazy Tom

Crazy Tom leads Dragon Army's C platoon. Ender is pleased to have his assistance once again in the final battle.

Han Tzu

Hot Soup leads Dragon Army's D platoon. Hot Soup fights along with Ender in the final battle.

Andrew Wiggin

Even from an early age, Andrew "Ender" Wiggin knows he is different from all the children around him. He is the third child in his family, something rarely permitted in his overpopulated country. At six years old, he still wears the monitor the government has implanted to assess whether he is a good candidate for the International Fleet's Battle School. Only children whom the Fleet considers geniuses are so monitored. Because Ender is not just different but also smarter than his peers, he inspires their jealousy and harassment. To survive, he must learn to deal with a series of bullies, beginning with his older brother Peter and continuing with his schoolmate Stilson, his fellow Launchy Bernard, and finally the Battle School commander Bonzo. While he can outwit them one-on-one, when faced with a group he has to resort to physical force. To not just win but to prevent future attacks, Ender ruthlessly assaults and defeats these enemies. It is a lesson the military wants him to learn. As Ender thinks after fighting Bonzo: "Peter might be scum, but Peter had been right, always right; the power to cause pain is the only power that matters, the power to kill and destroy, because if you can't kill then you are always subject to those who can, and nothing and no one will ever save you."

Ender is not like Peter, however, although this is his constant fear. Peter had been too merciless and cruel to enter Battle School, while his sister Valentine had been too sensitive. Ender is like a combination of the two: ruthless enough to earn total victory, but compassionate enough to hate the methods needed to gain it. He is also different from Peter in that he does not always feel the need to win. He only fights when forced to, and takes little pleasure in his victories. When Valentine explains to him how he can defeat his oldest nemesis, Ender replies: "You don't understand. I don't want to beat Peter. I want him to love me." Ender continually experiences emotional conflict between his need to protect himself by winning and his fear of becoming a killer. This conflict often manifests itself in Ender's fantasy computer game, an intelligent program that responds to the player's feelings.

Ironically, it is Ender's ability to understand and empathize with other people which makes him such a brilliant strategist. From his first days in Battle School, he observes the other children. He studies the commanders, learns their strengths and weaknesses, and uses this knowledge to defeat them. This ability does not comfort him, however. As he tells Valentine: "In the moment when I truly understand my enemy, understand my enemy well enough to defeat him, then in that very moment I also love him. And then, in that very moment when I love them I destroy them." After he discovers his final "game" was actually the battle that exterminated the bugger species, Ender is not sure how to live with himself. It is his empathy which shows him a way: he will join Valentine on a colony ship to a bugger planet. "Maybe if I go there I can understand them better," he tells Valentine. "I stole their future from them; I can only begin to repay by seeing what I can learn from their past." He does so by finding the Hive Queen egg and telling her story. His dual nature allows him to relate "all the good and all the evil" he finds in her story and the stories of those he will understand as a Speaker for the Dead.

Ender Wiggin

See Andrew Wiggin

Peter Wiggin

Ender's older brother, Peter, scares him to death. He is sneaky and manipulative and delights in threatening his younger siblings. Peter is particularly hostile towards Ender, jealous that the I.F. considers Ender superior after his own intelligence was unrecognized. (The Fleet eliminated Peter from their roster of Battle School candidates because of his sadistic nature.) At school, Peter torments other children by finding "what they most feared and [making] sure they faced it often." Peter's cruelty is disguised by his dark and handsome appearance and his ability to hide his actions. After Ender leaves home, Peter learns to act like adults expect him to. Valentine knows he has not really changed, however, for she sees evidence he has been torturing small animals. As he matures, however, Peter learns to be in total control of himself; he only acts out of self-interest, not anger or passion.

Peter understands how to use people's fears to get them to do what he wants. At first he uses this power to bully others, but then he learns to use it to influence people. Although manipulative, Peter is highly intelligent and ambitious. He tells Valentine that having control is "the most important thing to me, it's my greatest gift, I can see where the weak points are, I can see how to get in and use them." At twelve years old he knows that he wants to have control of "something worth ruling," and envisions himself as the person who can save mankind from self-destruction. He forms a plan where he and his sister will influence political opinion through their writings. Ironically, the identity Peter adopts, the pseudonym "Locke," is more understanding than he really is. The subterfuge eventually mellows Peter, and later in life he does become ruler of Earth.

Worm

See Shen

Media Adaptations

• Mark Rolston narrates Ender's Game in an abridged three-hour audiotaped version adapted by Audio Renaissance Tapes, Inc., in 1991.
• Card has authored a screenplay based on Ender's Game; as of 1998 he was working with Chartoff Productions and Fresco Pictures to produce the film.