| "Ender's Game" | |
|---|---|
| Author | Orson Scott Card |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Series | Ender's Game series |
| Genre(s) | Science fiction |
| Published in | Analog |
| Publication type | Periodical |
| Publisher | Dell Magazines |
| Media type | Print (Magazine) |
| Publication date | 1977 |
"Ender's Game" is a story by Orson Scott Card. It first appeared in the August 1977 issue of Analog magazine and was later expanded into the novel Ender's Game. Although the foundation of the Ender's Game series, the short story is not properly part of the Ender's Game universe, as there are many discrepancies in continuity.
Contents |
This story begins as Ender is made the commander of Dragon Army at Battle School, an institution designed to make young children into military commanders to fight in the next interstellar war against an unspecified enemy. Armies are groups of students that fight mock battles in the Battle Room, a null gravity environment, and are subdivided into squads known as "toons". Due to Ender's genius in leadership, Dragon Army goes on to dominate the competition, despite the teachers' attempts to put obstacles in their way. After his nineteenth consecutive victory, Ender is told that his Army is being broken up and his toon leaders promoted to be commanders in their turn, while he is being transferred to Command School for the next stage of his education. Here, a veteran named Mazer Rackham tutors him in the use of a space battle simulator. Eventually, many of his former toon leaders are brought along to serve under him once more. Once they are familiar with the simulator, they begin to fight a series of what Mazer tells them are mock battles against a computer-controlled enemy. Ender's team wins again and again, finally destroying a planet that the enemy fleet seems to be protecting. Once the battle is over, Mazer tells an exhausted Ender that all of the battles were in fact real, the children's commands having been relayed to the actual fleet, and that he just destroyed the enemy's home world and ended the war.
This short story was later expanded into the novel Ender's Game. Although the basic plot is the same, the novel introduces many original elements.
The novel supplies a detailed background for Ender and the interstellar conflict with the Formics. The short story, on the other hand, supplies virtually no background whatsoever. Ender has no memories from before Battle School and no connections to the outside world. Even his home planet and species are never named, the terms "Earth" and "human" do not occur at all. The enemy remains nameless and faceless.
In the novel, Battle School is a space station in Earth orbit, and Command School is located inside the asteroid Eros. In the short story, the former is a normal building and the latter an orbital space station. In the novel, fighting in the battle room is done with hand held light guns instead of lasers built into the palm of the battle room suits.
Ender's surname changes from "Wiggins" to "Wiggin."
The spelling of the name of Ender's "teacher" changes from "Maezr" to "Mazer."
Several characters are changed. The antagonist Bonzo Madrid replaces Pol Slattery as the commander who loses to Ender during the unfair battle, while Carn Carby is written as a much more supportive character. In the novel, after Carn Carby loses, Ender makes a note that Carn Carby is one of the few people who qualified as human beings. When Bean becomes the leader of Rabbit Army, in the short story Ender says, "How can they put you under an idiot like Carn Carby!"[1] but in the novel he says, "Carn Carby's a good man. I hope he recognizes you for what you're worth."
The novel's final chapter serves as a bridge between it and the sequel Speaker for the Dead.
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