John Paul Wiggin

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John Paul Wiggin (Polish: Jan Paweł Wieczorek) is a fictional character from Orson Scott Card's Ender's Game series. He has appeared in novels Ender's Game, Shadow of the Hegemon, and Shadow Puppets, and is a central character in a prequel to Ender's Game - short story "The Polish Boy".

John Paul is the father of Peter, Valentine and Ender Wiggin, and the husband of Theresa Wiggin. He is named after "the great Pope, Saint John Paul II".

John Paul was the seventh child born to a family of nine in Poland, which at the time, during the Formic Wars, was against the Hegemony's overpopulation control laws. This caused his family to be labeled non-compliants, because they had more than the maximum of two children. However, they felt that staying true to their Catholic faith, which stated that each child sent to them was a gift from God, was more important than listening to any government, including the international Hegemon. In spite of this noncompliance, he was tested and considered for Battle School. He did not attend Battle School, primarily so that, through a convoluted series of events, his future child would do so instead.

John Paul came to the United States and lived there as a student, under a completely rewritten account of his life. Among other things, his name is changed to "Wiggin" and his academic background states that he graduated with valedictorian honors. In his classes, he meets Theresa Brown, a teacher. He successfully courts her and they later marry. A short story of their meeting was published recently by Card, "Teacher's Pest".

Orson Scott Card's Ender's Game series
Battle School	Petra Arkanian  · Bean  · Han Tzu  · Alai  · Achilles de Flandres  · Ender's jeesh and other Battle School students
Ender's family	Ender Wiggin  · John Paul Wiggin  · Peter Wiggin  · Theresa Wiggin  · Valentine Wiggin
Other	Han Qing-jao  · Si Wang-mu  · Jane  · The Hive Queen  · International Fleet personnel
Books  · Characters  · Concepts