Andrew "Ender" Wiggin is a fictional character from Orson Scott Card's science fiction story Ender's Game and its sequels (Speaker for the Dead, Xenocide, Children of the Mind), as well as in the first part of the spin-off series, Ender's Shadow. The book series itself is an expansion of Card's earlier short story "Ender's Game."

The book is set in a fictional universe where Mankind needs to defend itself against alien invaders.

As a young child, Ender was sent to a school that orbits the Earth, called Battle School, and was trained to be a very powerful and intelligent commander of armies. While there, Ender commands an army named Dragon Army, later graduating and attending Command School, located on Eros. He plays simulations that allow him to use strategies to defeat the Formics or "the buggers". Soon after his arrival, a seasoned commander called Mazer Rackham helps to train him using a simulation. Months later, Ender is joined in Command School by his previous companions, Julian Delphiki (Bean), Alai, Shen, Petra Arkanian, Dink Meeker, Crazy Tom, Carn Carby, Fly Molo, Vlad, and Hot Soup.

Ender is essentially a religious, quasi-Messianic character, and this quality is developed substantially in the sequels to Ender's Game. Moreover he is a Messiah who is manipulated by the military complex for the execution of their militaristic intentions. Card deals with this very intelligently and critically; Ender comes to regret his victory over the aliens and finds redemption in penitence by telling the story of the aliens.

Despite leaving Earth on a colonization ship after the Formics are destroyed, Ender's legacy lives strongly in both Bean and Peter Wiggin's minds throughout the Shadow series. They continually compare themselves to him, and both emulate him and strive to prove themselves in their own right, apart from any association with him.

External links

• Original "Ender's Game" short story (http://www.hatrack.com/osc/stories/enders-game.shtml)
• Ender's Game page on Card's website (http://www.hatrack.com/osc/books/endersgame/endersgame.shtml) with link to first chapter