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I have not read all the books, and those I read, I did so long ago. I just can’t find out whether Ender ever knew he killed Stilson and/or Bonzo. On the one hand, it would play along with his guilt feelings. On the other, it would be symbolically sound that he did not know about these “steps” toward xenocide.

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Yes. He saw videos of the fights and the aftermath.

And there was the matter of the court martial on the crimes of Colonel Graff. Admiral Chamrajnagar tried to keep Ender from watching it, but failed -- Ender had been awarded the rank of admiral, too, and this was one of the few times he asserted the privileges the rank implied. So he watched the videos of the fights with Stilson and Bonzo, watched as the photographs of the corpses were displayed, listened as the psychologists and lawyers argued whether murder had been committed or the killing was in self-defense. Ender had his own opinion, but no one asked him, Throughout the trial, it was really Ender himself under attack. The prosecution was too clever to charge him directly, but there were attempts to make him look sick, perverted, criminally insane.

Ender's Game - Chapter 15: Speaker for the Dead

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  • 14
    And that of course was Peter pulling the strings.
    – Spencer
    Commented Mar 15, 2019 at 10:01
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    I have listened to the audiobook about 5 times in the past year, and I had never heard this part. I had to go back and try to find it, the funny thing is, I missed it this time too! I had to go back again. There must have been something that triggers me to zone out around this part.
    – Dylan
    Commented Mar 15, 2019 at 14:41
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    @yrodro Wikipedia says Chapter 15 in particular was rewritten at some point, maybe the version you read was another edition? en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ender%27s_Game#Revisions
    – Milo P
    Commented Mar 15, 2019 at 15:25
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    Speaker for the Dead also makes it clear, although indirectly: after someone comments on his ability to remain calm, he makes a comment to the effect of "when someone kills two people with his bare hands before the age of twelve, he either learns self-control or he loses his humanity".
    – Mark
    Commented Mar 15, 2019 at 19:49
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    @MiloP - I'm afraid that's incorrect. Every version of Ender's Game published so far has had the same text for chapter 15.
    – ibid
    Commented Jun 24, 2019 at 9:47

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