The Authorized Ender Companion (52 page)

Yasunari was a well-respected citizen on the Japanese planet Divine Wind. He and his servant helped his friend Aimaina Hikari search for the true identities and whereabouts of Peter Wiggin II and Si Wang-mu.

Younger (EGS)

Younger, who went by his last name, was a soldier in Ender Wiggin’s unbeatable Dragon Army. Because the army was so dominant, several soldiers—including Younger—were promoted to command their own armies. These promotions came three years earlier than usual, when Younger and his colleagues were only nine years old. He was later assigned to Command School where he worked in the simulators with Ender, Bean, and the rest of his Dragon Army colleagues.

Yuan Shikai (CH)

Yuan Shikai was an ancient Chinese general and ancestor to Han Tzu.

Yuan-xi, Colonel (SH)

Colonel Yuan-xi was a leader of the Chinese army and helped his military take over India after that nation had been weakened by the manipulations of Achilles Flandres. Achilles had been working with the Chinese and Russian governments to help them take over Europe and Asia respectively.

When Bean Delphiki confronted Achilles in India, trying to rescue Petra Arkanian from his clutches, Yuan-xi helped broker a deal that let Petra go free and Achilles live. The Chinese government had issued orders that Achilles was to return to China. Yuan-xi, loyal to the government, agreed to let Petra live if Bean let them take Achilles unimpeded.

Achilles wanted no part of this deal and tried to kill Yuan-xi, but Yuan-xi broke Achilles’s arm before Achilles had a chance to kill him. Yuan-xi refused an offer of asylum from Bean, stating that he was loyal to China and would suffer whatever consequences Achilles had in mind for breaking his arm. Bean was certain it was death, but what actually occurred is presently unknown.

Zacatecas (SD)

Citizen of the planet Moctezuma, Zacatecas’s death was Spoken by Ender Wiggin.

Zeljezo, Mayor Kovano (XN)

Mayor Kovano Zeljezo became mayor of Milagre, the colony on the planet Lusitania, replacing Bosquinha sometime during the thirty years that the colonists were waiting for the congressional fleet to arrive to destroy their planet.

He called and conducted a contentious meeting concerning how to best serve the people of Lusitania in light of the revelation that the piggies were planning to leave the planet and what to do about the Descolada.

After it was learned that the piggies had killed Ender’s stepson, Quim, Mayor Zeljezo refused to enforce martial law as suggested by Valentine Wiggin. He felt that the citizens of his colony wouldn’t retaliate against the piggies. He was wrong, and many pequeninos were killed in a fiery riot.

Mayor Zeljezo had another of Ender’s stepsons, Grego, arrested and took responsibility for not preventing the murderous riot. As the jailer, he was present when Grego and his brother Olhado developed their theory for faster-than-light travel. He was intrigued by the idea, but focused on his role as the political and legal leader of the colony.

The colony’s leader had a good relationship with Peter Wiggin II, the accidental re-creation of the beloved, albeit angry and aggressive, Hegemon. Peter II used flattery to get in Zeljezo’s good graces, and the two aggressive leaders built a nice rapport with one another.

Zenador (SD, XN, CM)

“Zenador” was a term used by the people of Lusitania to refer to the xenologists on their planet.

Zofia (English: Sophia) (Does not appear in any stories)

Zofia was John Paul Wieczorek’s mother’s favorite sister. John Paul gave his daughter Valentine Wiggin the middle name, Sophia, in tribute to her.

The Books and Stories of the Ender Series

“The Polish Boy” (Short Story)

Year published: 2002

SIGNIFICANT CHARACTERS
: John Paul Wieczorek/Wiggin, Hyrum Graff

SPECIAL NOTES
: Short story published in
First Meetings in the Enderverse
.

SYNOPSIS
: Representatives from the International Fleet visit the home of
the Wieczorek family in Poland to test several of their nine children for possible entrance into Battle School. When one of the youngest—too young for testing—John Paul, shows the greatest aptitude, additional testing officers are sent to recruit him. Against his father’s wishes, little John Paul meets with these additional officers, including a brash lieutenant named Hyrum Graff. John Paul agrees to move to America but not go to Battle School, in exchange for his family’s exemption from the strict population laws. Graff agrees, knowing that John Paul would never attend Battle School. However, Graff hopes that by making this deal, the young prodigy will grow up, marry someone of equal brilliance, have a child of superior capacity, and turn him over to the Fleet and into Battle School.

“Teacher’s Pest” (Short Story)

Year published: 2003

SIGNIFICANT CHARACTERS
: Theresa Brown Wiggin, John Paul Wiggin, Hinckley Brown

SPECIAL NOTES
: Short story published in
First Meetings in the Enderverse

SYNOPSIS
: Theresa Brown is a brilliant grad student who meets her match, an impetuous student named John Paul Wiggin. John Paul challenges Theresa on many of the topics she discusses in her university class, which John Paul is taking. After learning that the university is pulling her research funding in reaction to her famous father’s politics, Theresa encounters John Paul outside of class. He has prepared a picnic lunch for her, hoping to win her affections. Though Theresa is initially irritated with the act, she soon comes around and falls for her annoying student.

“Mazer in Prison” (Short Story)

Year published: 2005

SIGNIFICANT CHARACTERS
: Mazer Rackham, Hyrum Graff

SPECIAL NOTES
: Story first appeared in
Orson Scott Card’s InterGalactic Medicine Show
online magazine.

SYNOPSIS
: Exiled to near light-speed travel, Mazer Rackham, the hero of the first two Formic invasions, has lost touch with his life on Earth. He starts receiving messages by ansible from his ex-wife and their children. He learns that he has grandchildren, too, which is a bittersweet experience. At this time Mazer is contacted by Hyrum Graff of the International Fleet and is asked to return to Earth to help train the new leader of the fleet. Rackham is mixed about returning to his home planet as several decades had passed on Earth,
though because of his relativistic speed, only a few months had passed for him. But he decides to return anyway, for the good of the planet and to protect his grandchildren by training the new military mind.

“Pretty Boy” (Short Story)

Year published: 2006

SIGNIFICANT CHARACTER
: Bonzo Madrid

SPECIAL NOTES
: Story first published in
Orson Scott Card’s InterGalactic Medicine Show
online magazine.

SYNOPSIS
: Little Bonzo Madrid loves his father and mother. His world is turned upside-down, though, when his father is exposed to having an affair. Bonzo and his mother leave his father. Bonzo’s heartbreaking experience with his dad leads him to be a prime candidate for the International Fleet’s Battle School.

“Cheater” (Short Story)

Year published: 2006

SIGNIFICANT CHARACTER
: Han Tzu

SPECIAL NOTES
: Story first appeared in
Orson Scott Card’s InterGalactic Medicine Show
online magazine.

SYNOPSIS
: Little Han Tzu is the hope of China—at least he is according to Han Tzu’s father, who wants his son to become a great warrior and ruler of the Chinese people and their nation. He has hired tutors to prep Han Tzu on the Battle School screening tests, an act that is against the law. Han Tzu learns well and excels at the tests. However, his father’s cheating is exposed. The International Fleet arrests Han Tzu’s father and recruits the little boy, shown to be brilliant, to Battle School.

“Ender’s Game” (Short Story)

Year published: 1977

SIGNIFICANT CHARACTERS
: Ender Wiggin, Hyrum Graff

SPECIAL NOTES
: Story first published in
Analog Science Fiction and Fact
; republished in
First Meetings in the Enderverse
(2002).

SYNOPSIS
: In command of an undefeated combat unit, preteen Ender Wiggin is moved from Battle School to Command School, where he is trained to fight the Formics by his mysterious mentor Mazer Rackham. With the help of several of his Battle School colleagues, Ender commands squadrons of spaceships in simulated attacks on the Formics, even destroying the aliens’
home planet. He is shocked and saddened to learn that the simulations were real, and he has wiped out an entire species.

Ender’s Game
(Novel)

Year published: 1985

SIGNIFICANT CHARACTERS
: Ender Wiggin, Hyrum Graff, Mazer Rackham, Peter Wiggin, Valentine Wiggin, Bonzo Madrid, Bean Delphiki, Petra Arkanian

SPECIAL NOTES
: Won the prestigious Hugo and Nebula awards. Translated into more than twenty languages. Feature film in development. Earned the Margaret A. Edwards Award, presented by the American Library Association’s Young Adult Library Services Association, honoring Orson Scott Card’s lifetime contribution to young adult literature.

SYNOPSIS
: Little Ender Wiggin is chosen to receive a monitor from the International Fleet, which will track and record his every move. He shows a great level of intelligence and aggression (he killed a student at his elementary school) that makes him a strong candidate for the Fleet’s Battle School. Leaving behind his parents, brother Peter, and sister Valentine, Ender goes to Battle School. There he is the smallest and youngest of the students to be recruited, and is bullied. He is assigned to an army, and disobeys the orders of his superior. He gets transferred around armies, but thanks to his own practice, and with help from his friend Petra, he perfects the combat strategy necessary to command an army of his own. The administrators at Battle School give Ender an impossible schedule of battles, but his army goes undefeated. When his life is threatened by his former commander Bonzo Madrid, Ender kills the older boy while trying to defend himself. With a proven track record, Ender is transferred to Command School, where he learns the strategies necessary to fight the Formics, aliens who had previously attacked Earth. Joined by some of his colleagues from Battle School, Ender leads squadrons of spaceships against Formics in simulations, even destroying the Formic home world. He is shocked and dismayed to learn that the simulations were actually real and that he caused the destruction of an entire species. He discovers one remaining Formic Hive Queen and becomes the “Speaker for the Dead,” promising to find a new planet whereon the Formics can be reborn.

Ender’s Game
(Comic Book)

Year published: 2008–2009

SIGNIFICANT CHARACTERS
: Ender Wiggin, Hyrum Graff, Mazer Rackham, Peter Wiggin, Valentine Wiggin, Bonzo Madrid, Bean Delphiki, Petra Arkanian

SPECIAL NOTES
: Marvel Comics published a series of comic books based on the original
Ender’s Game
novel. The adaptation was written by Christopher Yost, with art by Pasquel Ferry, who had worked with Orson Scott Card on another Marvel Comics series,
Ultimate Iron Man II
.

SYNOPSIS
: See novel entry.

War of Gifts
(Novella)

Year published: 2007

SIGNIFICANT CHARACTERS
: Ender Wiggin, Dink Meeker, Hyrum Graff

SPECIAL NOTES
: Includes small portion of short story “Ender’s Stocking.”

SYNOPSIS
: In Battle School, religion is forbidden. But when Dink Meeker gives a traditional Dutch Christmas gift to one of his friends, another Battle School student, Zeck Morgan, causes a religious revolt. The son of an abusive evangelical preacher, Zeck incites a short-lived religious riot on the space station, encouraging Muslims to pray five times a day. Hyrum Graff is frustrated with Zeck’s shenanigans, but knows things will work themselves out. After a conversation with Ender Wiggin, who exposes Zeck’s father’s abuses to the boy, the religious observances settle down. Zeck had once been ostracized by his colleagues, but now was slowly being welcomed as one of the Battle Schoolers because Ender reached out to him.

“Ender’s Stocking” (Short Story)

Year published: 2007

SIGNIFICANT CHARACTERS
: Peter Wiggin, Valentine Wiggin, Theresa Wiggin

SPECIAL NOTES
: Story first appeared in
Orson Scott Card’s InterGalactic Medicine Show
online magazine. Small portion of story also appears in novella
War of Gifts
.

SYNOPSIS
: Peter Wiggin hates everyone. Or at least he seems to. But this Christmas, he decides to treat people nicely and see what it gets him. He is shocked to see how much respect and loyalty it gains him, particularly in light of the fact that he does not feel sincere in his attempts to befriend others. Nonetheless, he is successful in gaining trust, and promises himself to stick to appearing nice to gain the loyalty of his subjects.

Ender’s Shadow
(Novel)

Year published: 1999

SIGNIFICANT CHARACTERS
: Bean Delphiki, Petra Arkanian, Achilles Flandres, Peter Wiggin

SPECIAL NOTES
: Some story points overlap with original
Ender’s Game
novel and short story, but are told from a different perspective.

SYNOPSIS
: The boy named Bean is an orphan in the streets of Rotterdam in the Netherlands. He, like most of the children there, must fight for survival. He is smaller and younger than all of the other children, but he is smarter, too. He joins a gang under the direction of a girl named Poke. They are fed by a soup kitchen. A bully named Achilles joins the gang and assumes its leadership. Bean tries to have him killed. A nun named Sister Carlotta takes Bean under her wing after Achilles kills Poke, and she has Bean sent to Battle School where he would be trained to fight the Formics, aliens who had twice attacked Earth. In Battle School, Bean is rejected and mocked but befriends a boy named Nikolai Delphiki. Bean proves himself to be a talented soldier and is assigned to an army commanded by Ender Wiggin. The army goes undefeated, and Bean is given an army of his own. Soon thereafter, Achilles comes to Battle School, but is quickly dimissed when Bean and his army expose the boy as a murderer. Bean moves on to Command School where he will help Ender Wiggin in the “simulated” combat with the Formics. Bean figures out they are real battles and is the back-up man in case Ender fails. Ender does not fail, and with Bean’s help he destroys the Formic home world. Sister Carlotta has learned that Bean’s biological family are the Delphikis, and after the war he returns home with his friend and brother Nikolai.