Questions tagged [enders-game]

The first in a series of science fiction novels by Orson Scott Card as well as a 2013 movie of the same name. A child prodigy is trained nearly from birth to defend mankind from a formidable alien enemy. Use this tag also to refer to the whole series.

Filter by
Sorted by
Tagged with
1 vote
0 answers
90 views

Ender's Game - Where to find author's introduction?

I remember reading the author's introduction to Ender's Game where Orson Scott Card depicts his struggles with getting the book published. He would bring the manuscript to publishers who would reject ...
QuietInMontana's user avatar
4 votes
2 answers
3k views

Why does Ender Wiggin win all the time if he is always outnumbered, weaker, and physically/materially inferior?

Why does Ender Wiggin win all the time? He is always outmatched, and yet he always wins. His strategy seems to be based on completely destroying the opponent, but that strategy is usually used by ...
rakob1203's user avatar
1 vote
1 answer
174 views

Immature or wise beyond your years quote from the Ender's Game books

I've been searching for tens of minutes for this quote from the Ender's Game series of books by Orson Scott Card, but can't find it. The son of the family Ender befriends is mentioned by the elders to ...
Darryn Brisdaz's user avatar
-2 votes
3 answers
399 views

What did it mean in the actual battle when Ender froze his own legs to make shields?

So in Ender's Game, at a certain point, Ender figures out he can shoot his own legs to turn them into shields using this strategy to win the “war games” he was participating in. When Ender employed ...
Blin's user avatar
  • 693
37 votes
3 answers
8k views

What does Ender's Game (the book) teach about strategy?

Ender's Game is required reading for some military organizations. What does it actually teach troops about tactics and strategy?
user avatar
27 votes
3 answers
7k views

What does Mazer Rackham (Ender's Game) mean when he says that the only teacher is the enemy?

Mazer Rackham says “There is no teacher but the enemy. No one but the enemy will tell you what the enemy is going to do. No one but the enemy will ever teach you how to destroy and conquer. Only the ...
user avatar
3 votes
1 answer
734 views

In Ender's Game, who fired the Little Doctor?

At the end of Ender's Game, Ender and his squadron commanders use a fleet of ships to attack the Bugger homeworld with the Little Doctor ('Molecular Disruption') device. Then he whispered a command ...
Valorum's user avatar
  • 691k
0 votes
1 answer
407 views

In Ender's Game, how do the kids control the ships?

In the final battles, how do the kids like Bean, Petra, Dink, etc. control the fleet's ships?
C-rad's user avatar
  • 37
6 votes
1 answer
309 views

Is the "I Ya" myth in Xenocide based on a real Chinese myth?

In Xenocide by Orson Scott Card, Jane tells the myth of I Ya to Qing-jao to ask her if she is a slave similar to the character of this myth. "Remember the story of I Ya, the great cook," ...
dlq's user avatar
  • 163
34 votes
3 answers
6k views

Is Ender's attitude shown to be wrong?

I only know the Ender's Game movie, so please use the movie as context. One of the first things we see about Ender is him defending himself against bullies. He wins, but keeps kicking the bully for ...
kutschkem's user avatar
  • 1,755
44 votes
1 answer
6k views

Did Ender ever learn that he killed those two boys?

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 ...
yrodro's user avatar
  • 3,477
2 votes
2 answers
984 views

Using Ansible during near-FTL travel

I just finished Ender's Game. In the book there is the concept of an Ansible, a device that allows for instantaneous communication across the universe. Traveling to the stars still adheres to the laws ...
Lodewijk's user avatar
  • 213
5 votes
1 answer
300 views

The founding of Starways Congress

The Starways Congress has always seemed a bit weak to me- there is no way to enforce their policies without taking decades, as demonstrated in Speaker for the Dead. It was formed sometime after ...
regionalsky's user avatar
  • 1,228
5 votes
2 answers
811 views

Is the Descolada based on an actual virus?

I have been reading the Ender quartet and was wondering if the Descolada, a disease introduced in The Speaker for the Dead, was based on a disease in the real world. Is there a virus that goes around ...
Rebel 42's user avatar
  • 1,230
3 votes
1 answer
632 views

Do Peter and Ender forgive each other in Ender's Game?

Do Peter and Ender forgive each other at the end of Ender's Game? When Peter confesses to Ender, was that his way of forgiving Ender? When Ender wrote the book for Peter, was that his way of forgiving ...
char's user avatar
  • 31
-6 votes
1 answer
540 views

Is Ender's game inspired by 1984?

I read Ender's Game recently and found that Ender reminded me of Winston in 1984. I was wondering if this was a coincidence or not.
Rebel 42's user avatar
  • 1,230
20 votes
4 answers
8k views

Did any of the fleet survive the final attack in Enders Game?

I have not read all the books but did any of the space fleet crew come home after the final attack? Mazer Rackham comments about it being the last exercise could be interpreted as these are the only ...
Chris Bermingham's user avatar
2 votes
0 answers
362 views

Ender's Game movie Battle School dimensions and floor plan?

Do a floorplan, dimensions, rotation rates, max population, docking specs etc. exist for the Battle School space station in the 2013 movie version of Ender's Game? I've found a few deductions based ...
MikeC's user avatar
  • 726
75 votes
6 answers
17k views

Is anyone else not buying the Buggers' story?

I never really bought the Buggers' story that they didn't realize humans were thinking creatures. The quote the queen uses is something like "We never thought intelligence could arise in a species ...
akaioi's user avatar
  • 2,135
4 votes
1 answer
897 views

Expected consequences of the Little Doctor from Ender's Game [closed]

Perhaps this is a question better suited for the physics exchange but maybe someone here would know. I was reading Ender's Game and I was trying to imagine what would happen physically after the ...
tcallred's user avatar
  • 141
7 votes
1 answer
457 views

Why didn't Jane just create a body for herself from the Outside?

In the fourth book of Ender, "Children of the Mind", So why didn't Jane just imagine herself a (not necessarily human) body in the outside and pull it in in order to live in it?
M.Herzkamp's user avatar
76 votes
7 answers
14k views

Why does Battle School train kids in physical combat when it's irrelevant to the ultimate goal?

In Ender's Game, promising children are taken to Battle School to be groomed as potential military leaders. The primary method of training is a team-based sport in zero-gravity. The kids train to ...
Thunderforge's user avatar
  • 51.5k
8 votes
1 answer
580 views

Why was Jane's aiúa so powerful?

The Hive Queen teaches us that aiúas are called from the Outside to fill a form that is appropriate to their abilities. A small and lowly aiúa would form a subatomic particle. A greater, but still ...
BlackThorn's user avatar
  • 4,499
12 votes
0 answers
571 views

What is the format of Ender-universe email addresses?

From Ender in Exile (the only sequel I have to hand), Ender gets a different email address on practically every email: GovNom%[email protected] GovDes%[email protected]/voy Gov%...
Wolfgang's user avatar
  • 221
5 votes
1 answer
349 views

Are the other children on Eros during the final training and battles?

In chapter 14, Ender is training in the "simulator", communicating with the others via "headphones" (communicating to the real ships via Ansible). Are the other children on Eros in their own ...
wulfgarpro's user avatar
10 votes
3 answers
4k views

How old were Bean and Petra when they got married?

In Shadow Puppets, Bean and Petra got married before they became adults, or so it appears. This is never explicitly stated, but Shadow Puppets only takes place a few years after the Formic War, so ...
Neithan's user avatar
  • 2,794
11 votes
2 answers
3k views

What was the Philosophy from the Ender's Game series about interacting with intelligent alien races?

I don't remember which book this was in. I believe it was a theory proposed by Valentine. Basically it summarizes the idea that some alien races view humans as lesser life forms, and we view other ...
Jim McKeeth's user avatar
13 votes
2 answers
923 views

Where to get replacement chapters for "Ender's Game"?

Is there somewhere I can read the final chapters to "Ender's Game"? Card said that he rewrote the last couple of chapters to mesh better with his later books and also do Ender justice. Where can I get ...
Padawan's user avatar
  • 311
6 votes
1 answer
170 views

Help finding a passage from one of the Ender Wiggin books

In one of the books in the Ender Wiggin series, a character is using a computer that is dynamically changing to accommodate his physical disabilities. The passage describes in some detail how the ...
Bobwise's user avatar
  • 491
9 votes
3 answers
750 views

How old is Hyrum Graff?

I read The Polish Boy (part of First Meetings) by Orson Scott Card, which is located in the Ender universe. It tells us that Graff tried to recruit Ender's father John Paul Wiggin, who was only 5 ...
Chris's user avatar
  • 1,179
8 votes
2 answers
433 views

How old is Han?

I'm not sure if his age was ever made clear. I think there is a spin-off about him, but I'm not so sure as to how it relates to the main narrative. How old is Han Tzu, aka "Hot Soup", in Ender's Game?...
ibid's user avatar
  • 93.8k
7 votes
2 answers
396 views

Are Formic queens the only fertile females?

We know that Formics supposed to be similar to our ants, which have only one fertile female - the queen - that is a mother to the whole swarm. Is the same true to the Formics as well? I remember that ...
Yasskier's user avatar
  • 29.5k
7 votes
2 answers
479 views

Do Buggers go to heaven?

Orson Scott Card is a Mormon. Has he ever explained the status of Formics/Buggers in terms of having souls, going to heaven/hell, or any other aspect of how they fit into his religion?
zipquincy's user avatar
  • 13.1k
3 votes
1 answer
832 views

Ender's Game Series - IF Common/Starcommon Rules

Does anyone know the rules for how the language "Common" differs from American English? If I remember correctly, there are a few rules given in Ender in Exile like at least one of our letters is ...
Padawan's user avatar
  • 311
21 votes
1 answer
2k views

What is Orson Scott Card's position on discrepancies between various Enderverse books?

It's well known that there are many discrepancies between various books in Orson Scott Card's Enderverse. Did Card ever address those inconsistencies and discrepancies?
DVK-on-Ahch-To's user avatar
5 votes
1 answer
1k views

When was Eros used by the Buggers?

From Ender's Game: Ender, look around you. Human beings didn't carve this place. We like taller ceilings, for one thing. This was the buggers' advance post in the First Invasion. They carved this ...
ibid's user avatar
  • 93.8k
2 votes
1 answer
476 views

Why does Pol Slattery switch Armies after becoming a commander?

When Ender first encounters Pol Slattery, he is in command of Leopard Army. The enemy was Leopard Army. It would be easy. Leopard was new, and it was always in the bottom quarter in the standings. It ...
ibid's user avatar
  • 93.8k
13 votes
2 answers
2k views

How many armies are there in Battle School?

Ender encounters many different armies during his stay at battle school. Is there ever any indication of the number of Armies at Battle school? How many armies were there in Battle School?
ibid's user avatar
  • 93.8k
2 votes
2 answers
2k views

At which point in time did Ender start using the video room to study Bugger tactics?

Ender is said to have started using the video room for tactics after Dragon Army's seventh battle. At the end of the week Dragon Army had fought seven battles in seven days. The score stood 7 wins ...
ibid's user avatar
  • 93.8k
7 votes
2 answers
2k views

Why does Bean think that Ender grew up in Greensboro?

In several places in Shadow of the Hegemon, Bean asserts that Ender grew up in Greensboro. "We'll buy you new clothes in Greensboro," said Sister Carlotta. Greensboro. "The place where ...
ibid's user avatar
  • 93.8k
4 votes
1 answer
554 views

Why does Ender think Bonzo was the one who had made Ender jump through the gate immediately?

When Ender is observing Rabbit Army's instantaneous emergence from their gate during Dragon Army's their first battle, he thinks to himself that this was learned from when Bonzo Madrid had done this ...
ibid's user avatar
  • 93.8k
5 votes
1 answer
3k views

What is the cover of the Ender's Game depicting? [duplicate]

I'm asking about the main cover used by the novel (found on most of the 1985 and 1991 editions), not about the movie tie-in cover. The four individual items that I notice: The planet (Earth? Bugger ...
ibid's user avatar
  • 93.8k
5 votes
1 answer
946 views

How did the launch leader usually get the lower bed by the door if there were no extra beds?

When Ender comes into his dormitory he sees that the other nineteen kids in his launch already took their beds leaving only one bed for Ender: The other boys had already chosen their bunks when ...
ibid's user avatar
  • 93.8k
-2 votes
1 answer
239 views

How was Ender already 10 while on the lake?

Ender was promoted to commander of Dragon Army, when he was nine and a half. "Content. He's doing well. His mind is keen, his play is excellent. Young as he is. we've never had a boy better ...
ibid's user avatar
  • 93.8k
2 votes
1 answer
301 views

Where did Ender spend his first month of Earthside leave?

We know that he spent his last two months in "the house that Medly's Mist-E-Rub built", between Lake Brandt and a "five-acre private lake". "You said he built the raft. How ...
ibid's user avatar
  • 93.8k
3 votes
1 answer
352 views

Why does Ender's launch group eat their first meal with everyone else?

The description of Ender's first meal in the Battle School, (as found in Ender's Game) shows them eating their meal at the same time as the rest of the school. Ender even talks to an older kid. (Mick) ...
ibid's user avatar
  • 93.8k
1 vote
2 answers
2k views

What are the things that the title "Ender's Game" refers to?

I am not asking what are all the different works titled "Ender's Game". (If I was asking that then the answer would be: 1977 novella, 1985 novel, and 2013 movie. The comic and audioplay have slightly ...
ibid's user avatar
  • 93.8k
3 votes
2 answers
519 views

Why does Bean get homesick if he didn't have a home?

In Ender's Game (at the end of Chapter 12): Bean wondered about it as he walked back down the corridor to his own bed. The lights went out just as he reached his bunk. He undressed in darkness, ...
ibid's user avatar
  • 93.8k
8 votes
2 answers
970 views

Why doesn't Ender have to eat all of his food?

In Ender's Shadow Bean is informed that everyone in Battle School must eat all of their given food: Your portions are scientifically calibrated to meet your dietary needs, and in the future you will ...
ibid's user avatar
  • 93.8k
4 votes
2 answers
422 views

Are socks worn in Battle school?

Several passages in War of the Gifts would imply that socks are worn in Battle School: But even as a joke, it was a gift, wasn't it? Santa Claus was giving gifts all over Battle School within days. ...
ibid's user avatar
  • 93.8k