History Characters / EndersGame

* ItsPronouncedTropay: His name isn't pronounced "Uh-Kill-Eez" but "Ah-Sheel", because his native language is French.

* WellIntentionedExtremist: Graff is fully aware that he is one, but recognizes that his methods to destroy the Formics are ultimately what's keeping humanity from going extinct. [[spoiler:Unfortunately, it turns out that the Formics weren't planning another invasion.]]

* CriticalResearchFailure: {{In-universe}}. Achilles thinks that UsefulNotes/JosefStalin was promoted by UsefulNotes/VladimirLenin then imprisoned and killed him, when in reality Lenin died of a stroke while urging his followers to not put Stalin in charge. It may be due to his own lack of schooling coupled with his desire to become a dictator twisting his memory of history.

A primitive alien race native to the planet Lusitania. They have a relatively stable peace with the resident humans, and are happy to accept their advanced technology. Their biology is extremely unusual due the descolada, a virus-like organism which rearranges and combines genetic material from different species and inhabits all life on Lusitania.

* AmbiguouslyEvil: They are the creators of the descolada, an incredibly destructive virus that rewrites genetic information and causes mass extinction events on whatever planet they release it on, completely altering the global ecosystem. Why they made such a virus is unknown. When a first contact team approaches their planet, they seem intent on capturing the team. All of this seems to point to a species that doesn't care to get along peacefully, but by this point the human race has learned against assuming hostile intent when dealing with alien morality systems.

* BlueAndOrangeMorality: [[spoiler: The Formics' understanding of intelligence is so different from that of the humans, they genuinely didn't realize they were killing things that could think and feel pain when invading Earth. Once they realized the truth they retreated and vowed to leave Earth alone. Unfortunately the humans were able to reverse-engineer their technology and launch of a counter-attack that nearly wiped out the entire Formic species.]]

* StarfishLanguage: Their hive mind operates on "philotic" communication, using images, not words. [[spoiler: They eventually overcome this and can communicate in english, though still telepathically.]]

* GeneralFailure: Even after Ender prevents him from losing a battle (for which the rest of the army likes him) Bonzo punches him in the stomach and insults him. Ender can hear mutinous muttering over this from the rest of the Salamanders.\\

* TroublingUnchildlikeBehavior: A lot of horror from the book comes from Ender casually committing horrific, disturbing acts that contrast his otherwise-gentle demeanor. Highlights include [[spoiler: beating another boy to death with his bare hands (twice) and wiping out an entire species.]]

->'''Played By''': HaileeSteinfeld

\\
He also can't get it into his head that Ender is ''just that good'', after Ender destroys one army after another, thinking that the teachers are rigging things in Ender's favor, when it's clearly the other way around. Even after Bonzo's own Salamander army gets a 20-minute head start to pre-position their forces for an ambush, Ender, once again, destroys them. Unfortunately, Bean makes it worse by telling Bonzo that the teachers have chosen Ender and not Bonzo as their commander. Bonzo goes ballistic and tries to attack Ender.

->'''Played By''': Abigail Breslin

%% * HiveQueen

A primitive alien race native to the planet Lusitania. They have a relatively stable peace with the resident humans, and are happy to accept their advanced technology. Their biology is extremely unusual due the descalada, a virus-like organism which rearranges and combines genetic material from different species and inhabits all life on Lusitania.

* OneGenderRace: The females of their species are in plant form, and uncommunicative. Thus, all the named characters are male.
%% * {{Planimal}}
%% * StarfishAliens

[[folder: The Descalodores]]

An unseen species which create the descalada, leading to the evolution of the pequeninos.

%% * AmbiguouslyEvil
%% * InscrutableAliens
* MixAndMatchCritters: The descalada creates them.
* StarfishAliens / EldritchAbomination: The dilemma of the humans is determining their intentions and how dangerous they are. What little interaction there is has multiple interpretations.
* StarfishLanguage: Chemical compounds they presumably ingest, similar to the "darts" transmitted between the descalada.

Ender's beloved sister. Valentine was considered for Battle School before Ender, but was deemed too compassionate. Valentine loved and was very protective of her little brother, and while he was in Batle School she acted as some sort of mental grounding point, keeping him sane. At first Ender thought he was writing letters to her, until he found out the school was blocking his letters.

* LackOfEmpathy: He only has a superficial level of charm and doesn't gain much loyalty because even at his best he rarely cares about what other think or want. Oddly, it's also what kept his vivisection of squirrels from being the act of a proto serial killer: He didn't care about their pain, but that also meant he derived no real pleasure from it. Peter was feared to be a sadist, but it's more than he's ruthlessly pragmatic, and will do whatever it takes to achieve his goals - but he doesn't ''enjoy'' wanton violence and cruelty. Even so, he never had the likable leadership qualities Ender did. By the time he's twelve, however, he adopts the Locke persona to become a more moderate and likable figure.
* OvershadowedByAwesome: The reason he hates Ender so much is because Peter was denied entering in Battle School and Ender was accepted and became their greatest student. He's determined to flip the tables and make himself the greater hero again.

* TheSociopath: Peter, though most likely a high-functioning sociopath. During the opening he demonstrates sadistic tendencies, a grandiose sense of self worth, skill at manipulating people and his lack of empathy is a recurring theme. [[spoiler: Even his taking up a more benevolent and likeable online persona Locke and becoming a benevolent ruler of Earth as an adult could be a case of PragmaticVillainy]]. On their own they may not make a sociopath the traits appear to add up.

* {{SORAS}}: Inverted. He's said to be around twelve at the beginning of Ender's Shadow, but then somehow stops aging until the beginning of the next book, where he's still twelve and therefore only slightly older than Bean.

* ItsPronouncedTropay: His name isn't pronounced "Uh-Kill-Eez" but "Ah-Sheel".

* LackOfEmpathy: He only has a superficial level of charm and doesn't gain much loyalty because even at his best he rarely cares about what other think or want. Oddly, it's also what kept his vivisection of squirrels from being the act of a proto serial killer: He didn't care about their pain, but that also meant he derived no real pleasure from it. By the time he's twelve, he adopts the Locke persona to become a more moderate and likable figure.

* BewareTheNiceOnes: {{Deconstructed|Trope}}. Ender honestly is one of the nicest people there is, but when a bully pushes him to far he will beat down his attacker to a pulp ''and then some'' just to make sure the bully never comes back. It horrifies Ender himself just how brutal he'll become, when he doesn't want to hurt anybody.

* CombatPragmatist: In spite of being gentle and compassionate, Ender is absolutely merciless in combat and once he's staring down his opponent he throws any sense of honor or mortality out the window until he's won.

[[folder: Theresa Wiggin]]

->'''Played By''': Andrea Powell

Ender, Valentine, and Peter's mother. She was born in America as Theresa Brown, the daughter of a prominent military tactician. His status is both a blessing and curse to her, as his fame allowed to get into a good college but his opposition to the population laws has caused her to inherit some of the stigma towards him. She teaches a Human Communities class, and one day gets into a provocative debate with a student that gradually turns from sociological values to her own politics, which causes her to get very fed up with him. That student is named John Paul Wiggin, who begins not regretting being forced by the IF to take her class.
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[[/folder]]

[[folder:Sister Carlotta]]

[[/folder]]

[[folder: Valentine Wiggin]]

->'''Played By''': Abigail Breslin

Ender's beloved sister. Valentine was considered for Battle School before Ender, but was deemed too compassionate. Valentine loved and was very protective of her little brother, and while he was in Batle School she acted as some sort of mental grounding point, keeping him sane. At first Ender thought he was writing letters to her, until he found out the school was blocking his letters.

On the surface, Valentine was informed by her brother Peter of the escalating tensions between nations, and convinced by him that they could make difference to reveal the truth. The two of them became demagogues, Valentine writing anonymously as "Desmothenes" and so managed to warn many about the upcoming world war.

Valentine followed her brother into space, and by the events of ''Literature/SpeakerForTheDead'' has started her own family, so when Ender has to go Lusitania, Valentine has to stay behind. She does follow eventually follow Ender, but TimeDilation causes weird age differences.

* ChildProdigy: Just like Ender, though she was deemed too kind for Battle School.
* CoolBigSis: In deliberate contrast to Peter's abusive, sadistic nature, Valentine is Ender's protector and confidant, and the person he loves most in the world.
* GoneHorriblyRight: Graff hoped that she would be kind enough to relate to her soldiers and inspire them to love her. She turned out too good at doing so, and not ruthless enough to fight a war.
* [[invoked]]PuritySue: Discussed, but averted. Ender ''sees'' her as the epitome of purity, but Valentine is far more complicated than just being nice and kind to everyone. [[spoiler:When Ender's journey to The Outside accidentally creates a clone of Valentine who ''is'' a Purity Sue, the real Valentine isn't exactly thrilled to find he views her like this.]]

[[folder: Peter Wiggin]]

->'''Played By''': Jimmy Pinchak

The oldest Wiggin child. Peter was not put into Battle School because of his sociopathic tendencies. Instead he tortured Ender for most of Ender's childhood, and was the thing Ender always feared turning into. When Ender went to Battle School, Peter started taking over the world with his sister Valentine, under the name Locke.

* BecomingTheMask: Peter takes on the pseudonym "Locke" and the persona of a kindly mediator who wants international peace. It's partially invoked become because he ''wants'' to start becoming a kinder person if for no other reason than to compensate for his weaknesses regarding LackOfEmpathy.
* BigBrotherBully: Oh so very much.
* BigBrotherIsWatching: After Ender had his monitor implanted, Peter would avoid beating him because he knew he'd be seen and caught. The very day it's removed, Ender is beaten black and blue again.
* BigGood: He eventually becomes Hegemon of the world, and a surprisingly compassionate and wise one. A ForegoneConclusion given that the book his life is the companion text to ''The Hive Queen.''
* CainAndAbel: The Cain to Ender's Abel. [[spoiler: Also Peter united the Earth and the Human Race while Ender obliterated a race of sentient beings. Well, most of the race.]]
* ColonelKilgore: Was rejected from the battle school for being too blood-thirsty.
* ForScience: After the Wiggins move, Valentine finds dissected squirrel bodies in the woods, thanks to Peter. She knows that he would sit and watch them until they died, assuming it was a way of venting his bloodlust. However, from his perspective, he wanted to study their physiology and simply did not care enough about them as living creatures to care about their suffering ''or'' derive any pleasure from it.
* IgnoreTheFanservice: During his campaign for Hegemon, Virlomi, the leader of India, opens their meeting with a kiss and offers marriage for India's ratification of his new constitution. Peter turns it down because he knows favoring India will turn other nations against him.
* JerkassHasAPoint: When he tells Valentine about how the New Warsaw Pact is mobilizing for war again. She hates having to cooperate with him, but agrees it's necessary.
* LackOfEmpathy: He only has a superficial level of charm and doesn't gain much loyalty because even at his best he rarely cares about what other think or want. Oddly, it's also what kept his vivisection of squirrels from being the act of a proto serial killer: He didn't care about their pain, but that also meant he derived no real pleasure from it. By the time he's twelve, he adopts the Locke persona to become a more moderate and likable figure.
* OvershadowedByAwesome: The reason he hates Ender so much is because Peter was denied entering in Battle School and Ender was accepted and became their greatest student. He's determined to flip the tables and make himself the greater hero again.
* PetTheDog: Peter's an extremely nasty, mentally unbalanced genius, but he's not inhuman. At one point, unaware that Ender is only feigning sleep, he breaks down and confesses that he loves his brother. Later, he opens up a lot to Valentine... though even being emotionally vulnerable is part of his plan.
* TroublingUnchildlikeBehavior: Peter's mistreatment of Ender goes beyond mere sibling bullying. He strangles him, beats him, swears at him, and threatens his and Valentine's death.
* XanatosSpeedChess: Peter decides, at age twelve, to take over the world. And then he does, largely because a lot of top players realized that bad as Peter may be, he's still better than anyone else who could actually manage it.

[[folder: John Paul Wiggin]]

->'''Played By''': Stevie Ray Dallimore

Ender, Valentine, and Peter's father. He was born in Poland as Jan Paweł Wieczorek, the seventh of nine children. His family's non-compliance with the population restriction laws caused them to be denied public schooling and government aid. When a Captain of the IF came by to test three of his brothers for possible Battle School enlistment, she noticed him reading and decided to test him early. Jan passed with flying colors and reached the attention of then-Captain Graff.

Graff offered to enlist Jan for the Battle School, but Jan wouldn't abandon his family. They then made a deal: Jan would enlist if his family was immigrated to the United States with all of their children being cleared of their population violations, letting them get schooling and health care. Graff agreed, but knew Jan was still too attached to his family to leave with them. He decided instead to bide his time, planning for Jan grow up, find a wife who could match wits with him, and so bring in a smarter child who could become his prodigy.

* CassandraTruth: His mother didn't believe him when he said he could read. She thought he was just pretending to because he was so young.
* ChildProdigy: Intelligent enough that Graff thought he might be the one they'd been looking for to lead the fleet. Ultimately, though, he settled on his son.

[[folder: Theresa Wiggin]]

->'''Played By''': Andrea Powell

Ender, Valentine, and Peter's mother. She was born in America as Theresa Brown, the daughter of a prominent military tactician. His status is both a blessing and curse to her, as his fame allowed to get into a good college but his opposition to the population laws has caused her to inherit some of the stigma towards him. She teaches a Human Communities class, and one day gets into a provocative debate with a student that gradually turns from sociological values to her own politics, which causes her to get very fed up with him. That student is named John Paul Wiggin, who begins not regretting being forced by the IF to take her class.

[[folder: Shen]]

The first friend Ender makes at Battle School. They band together due to mutual bullying from Bernard.

* EmbarrassingNickname: Bernard dubs him "Buttwiggler" because of the way Shen walks. After getting lots of exercise his butt gets smaller, though.

[[folder: Alai]]

->'''Played By''': Suraj Parthasarathy

Another one of Ender's early friends, who becomes one of the members of Ender's Dragon Army, and one of his lieutenants at Command School. He is the one that calls Ender's group of friends a "jeesh".

* BigGood: After the war he becomes the Caliph of the unified Muslim nations, known as the Crescent League.
* TheLancer: To Ender, very briefly before Ender's promoted to Salamander Army. The two try to keep meeting and practicing together but circumstances keep pushing them apart. When he joins Ender's jeesh, though, he becomes his second-in-command.

[[folder: Bean]]

->'''Played By''': Aramis Knight

The smallest soldier in Dragon Army. He grew up on the streets of Rotterdam, Germany, until aid from the nun Sister Carlotta helped him get into Battle School.

Bean is the protagonist of the "Ender's Shadow" quintet of novels.

* BlessedWithSuck: Bean is so intelligent because [[spoiler:he has a condition that causes his brain to never stop growing. His body has to keep growing to keep up with it, so eventually he will die of giantism before he is 20, yet be the smartest human ever to live.]]
* EmbarrassingNickname / OnlyKnownByTheirNickname: He never got a name, having never met his parents. He's dubbed "Bean" by a gang because he isn't worth one bean to them because of his size. He doesn't like the name but figures it's better than nothing. [[spoiler:After being adopted by his biological parents, he gets the name they intended for him: Julian Delphiki II.]]
* InformedFlaw: During the assembling of the jeesh at Eros, Bean leads only small squads of starfighters because he's said to be bad at commanding large units but can use a few as precisely as a scalpel. We never see any evidence of this in action. [[spoiler:Which is intentional. Mazer Rackham doesn't want Ender to burden Bean with too much because Bean is his backup, so he lied about Bean to keep him from shouldering too much early responsibility.]]
* LastOfHisKind: Bean is the last of [[spoiler:thirteen babies who were genetically altered to be born with the condition Anton's Key. When the scientists scrambled to burn all the evidence, including the kids, Bean was the only one to successfully escape. Since he views his condition as a major drawback, he prefers to remain the last of his kind, not wanting to pass it on.]]
* LittleProfessorDialog: A form of it. Everyone is amazed that he can talk as eloquently as an adult despite being the size of a toddler.
* ProperlyParanoid: Having grown up on the streets where every scrap and alley could mean the difference between life and death, Bean applies the same experience to being at Battle School. Within a day he's already learned to go naked to the bathroom (they track you through your clothes), to not play computer games (they give the teachers psychological insight), where to hide and spy on teachers (the air vents), and how the students' social hierarchy works.\\
\\
This paranoia continues to save him even after he graduates. Several times he exits a building while dragging his incredulous friends along because he's certain he's too vulnerable there... and the building is bombed each time.
* TheSpock: Bean's mindset is ruthlessly logical, with only two goals: learn and survive.
* TheStoic: Averted. Bean ''would like'' to be this, but he has emotions like any other person. For the most part he avoids letting them cloud his rational thought, but fear is his biggest weakness. Graff notes Bean tends to panic if he's unprepared for danger, thus doubting his ability to lead.
* TroublingUnchildlikeBehavior: His first dialogue in ''Ender's Shadow'' has him advise Poke that she should get her own bully to protect her gang, and if the bully doesn't agree then kill him. "Once you see brains you're done." He's only four at the time.

[[folder: Petra Arkanian]]

->'''Played By''': HaileeSteinfeld

Salamander Army's best sharpshooter. She teaches Ender how to aim and for a time commands him when leading Phoenix Army.

* ActionGirl: Petra is a great shot who has much to teach Ender early on, and who proves to be one of the most competent fighters throughout the book. She suffers a breakdown later by pushing herself too far, as a direct consequence of being so valuable to Ender.
* CharacterizationMarchesOn: Near the end of Shadow of the Hegemon she decides she wants [[spoiler:to have Bean's children]] which becomes a huge part of her characterization from that point on. Babies babies babies. Her original aggression is greatly downplayed and her original ambition is reduced to some petty banter and occasionally sniping at Peter.
* TheLadette: She tested so aggressive and non compliant that the teachers actually performed a DNA test on her to make sure she's a girl.
* MotorMouth: She ''loves'' to talk, and rarely holds back her opinion.
* MyGreatestFailure: [[spoiler:During the assaults on the Formic colonies, Petra blacks out from the strain. Since she commands the bulk of the fleet, the battle is nearly lost until Ender manages to exploit several flaws in the Formics' immediate scramble to rip apart her ships. She gets to sleep for a few days, and afterward refuses to listen anyone who tells her it's not her fault she passed out.]]
* TheSmurfettePrinciple: She's the only girl in Salamander Army, though not the only girl in the Battle School. There are about half a dozen others since they rarely test high enough on tests of ambition and aggression.
* YourApprovalFillsMeWithShame: She's secretly ashamed when she hears Ender tell reporters that he relied her on the most during the war, and trusted her with the body of the fleet. All it does is remind her more and more that [[spoiler:she blacked out in a battle and nearly lost the whole fleet in the process.]]

[[folder: Bonzo Madrid]]

->'''Played By''': Moises Arias

The head of the Salamander Army, which Ender is assigned to. Ender and Bonzo butt heads over Bonzo's inferior skills. Bonzo gets Ender transferred to the Rat Army, which just gives Ender a chance to prove his superiority.

* GeneralFailure: Even after Ender prevents him from losing a battle (for which the rest of the army likes him) Bonzo punches him in the stomach and insults him. Ender can hear mutinous muttering over this from the rest of the Salamanders.\\
\\
He also can't get it into his head that Ender is ''just that good'', after Ender destroys one army after another, thinking that the teachers are rigging things in Ender's favor, when it's clearly the other way around. Even after Bonzo's own Salamander army gets a 20-minute head start to pre-position their forces for an ambush, Ender, once again, destroys them. Unfortunately, Bean makes it worse by telling Bonzo that the teachers have chosen Ender and not Bonzo as their commander. Bonzo goes ballistic and tries to attack Ender.
* HairTriggerTemper: Bonzo constantly appears as if he will blow at any moment.
* TheNapoleon: In the film, Bonzo is shorter than Ender, so he compensates by asserting his authority at every chance he gets. Unfortunately, he lacks the tactical brilliance of Napoleon, with temper to fill the gap. Averted in the book, where Bonzo is much bigger than Ender and much more of a threat.

[[folder:Dink Meeker]]

A toon leader in Rat Army. His toon is rather independent from Rat, comparable to a smaller army within a large one. Dink becomes Ender's toon leader and mentor during his time in Rat.

* BlackBestFriend: In the film. In the book he's Dutch.
* PassedOverPromotion: Subverted. He's refused every offer to become a commander because he doesn't want to be a cog in the Battle School system. However, he's decided the Battle Room is too fun for him to leave the school for good.
* ReasonableAuthorityFigure: In fact, the first ''decent'' leader Ender has. He's also (in the book) the only one to figure out Bonzo's plan to kill Ender and attempts to stop the fight from happening.

[[folder:Rose De Nose]]

The commander of Rat Army. He is slobby, unprofessional, and ill-tempered. Despite this his army is one of the highest ranked in the school.
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* BadassIsraeli: Invoked but subverted. There's a legend around the school that Jewish commanders can't lose. Rose encourages the legend, being Jewish himself, but really he has no idea how his army is winning.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Achilles De Flandres]]

A low-ranking bully on the streets of Rotterdam, who was forcibly coerced by Poke and her gang to become their thug. He managed to get the gang to follow him instead, and with Bean's advice turned the social structure of Rotterdam's bully hierarchy in its head. This reached the attention of the IF and Achilles became a potential Battle School candidate. Despite Sister Carlotta's best attempts to stop them, Achilles was enlisted and so became desirable to the Russians after the war. He used their resources they provided him to plan his conquests of larger and larger nations, eventually to lead the best one that would control the world.

* AGodAmI: He believes the universe works to his will, and will alter its course to suit his desires.
* BatmanGambit: Once his neurosis to never be seen helpless is known by the heroes, it's often exploited to keep him from killing them. At one point, Petra beats him in a fight but then pretends she thinks he purposely lost. Suriyawong rescues Achilles by throwing him a knife to cut his bonds, but insists that he only gave him the knife so Achilles could free himself.
* ConfusionFu: His strategies aren't really that great. What makes them work is that he always chooses to do something his opponent was not expecting and acting with overwhelming violence in person to demoralize.
* CriticalResearchFailure: {{In-universe}}. Achilles thinks that UsefulNotes/JosefStalin was promoted by UsefulNotes/VladimirLenin then imprisoned and killed him, when in reality Lenin died of a stroke while urging his followers to not put Stalin in charge. It may be due to his own lack of schooling coupled with his desire to become a dictator twisting his memory of history.
* EvilCounterpart: To Bean or Peter depending on the scene. He's the other Rotterdam street rat compared to Bean while he's also Peter's greatest rival and the one who makes everyone else see that Peter isn't such a bad choice after all.
* EvilCripple: He had a gimp leg during his years on the streets but it was corrected via surgery before he went to Battle School. The "evil" part wasn't corrected, though.
* EvilOnlyHasToWinOnce: Achilles never stops seeking revenge, but he is ''very'' patient about it. He will only act if he's certain he can get away with it.
* FauxAffablyEvil: None of his kindness is ever sincere. But he's very good at seeming compassionate and trusting.
* TheFarmerAndTheViper: He has a pathological need to kill anyone who has ever seen him helpless -- including but not limited to a girl who lifted him from low-ranking thug to leader of a prosperous gang, a nun who got him off the streets entirely and enrolled in a good school, and a doctor who dared use anesthesia to help fix his bad leg.
* FreudianExcuse: Averted. Carlotta briefly considers whether the harshness of life on the streets of Rotterdam drove him to his crimes, but on consideration realizes that he murders people not to survive but to maintain his pride.
* HoistByHisOwnPetard: [[spoiler:He shoots down an empty shuttle believing that Peter Wiggin is on board, which brings the IF into the conflict. To keep retaliation from being aimed at them, China quickly sells him out and abandons all defense of him. He's then left alone in the Hegemon compound with only the Thai troops commanded by Suriyawong and, unfortunately for him, they were never loyal to him like he thought.]]
* ItsPronouncedTropay: His name isn't pronounced "Uh-Kill-Eez" but "Ah-Sheel".
* KarmicDeath: He never wants help from anybody, and will eventually betray those who give him any. [[spoiler:So when he begs Suriyawong to help him before Bean kills him, his aide responds with the words they were introduced with: "I expect you to solve your own problems."]]
* LackOfEmpathy: He only understands people's emotions and desires enough to get them to do what he wants. He doesn't understand the emotion of hope at all and has nothing that that he truly desires, leaving him fumbling around looking for some sense of purpose through conquest.
* MakeItLookLikeAnAccident: One tactic of his to pass off his murders.
* OutGambitted: Achilles follows Bean into the air vents at one point, expecting now is the perfect time and place to murder him. Instead he gets caught in Bean's trap, where he's forced to confess his murders to a recording device or else be left to die.
* {{SORAS}}: Inverted. He's said to be around twelve at the beginning of Ender's Shadow, but then somehow stops aging until the beginning of the next book, where he's still twelve and therefore only slightly older than Bean.

[[folder:Poke]]
The leader of a small gang of children in Rotterdam. Despite her brashness she's actually very compassionate for all her members, which Bean uses to join it and keep from starving to death.

* EyeScream: One of her eyes is stabbed out when [[spoiler:Bean finds her dead body.]]
* HeroicSacrifice: Lets Achilles [[spoiler:kill her in secret as long as he promises to not kill Bean. Bean oversees this and is incredibly confused at why she bothered to save his life.]]
* PuppetKing: Achilles starts turning her into this. By the time she realizes her authority no longer matters, it's too late.
* SweetPollyOliver: She dresses like a boy and keeps her gender secret so she doesn't become a target for rapists. She's not very good at it, though, so most everyone can tell she's actually a girl and refer to her as "she" in private.
* TeamMom: Is this to her gang. Bean thinks she's ''too'' compassionate, which makes her easy to push around by bullies.

[[folder:Sister Carlotta]]

[[folder:Suriyawong]]

A Thai Battle School student who served in Dragon Army. After the war he becomes a prominent commander in the Thai military.

* BodyguardCrush: For a while he serves as Virlomi's protector, pretending to be in constant awe of her so that her GodGuise seems convincing. He comes to actually love her during that period, but when they see each other again [[spoiler:his forces are defeating her army.]]
* FaceHeelTurn: After rescuing Achilles on Peter's orders, he serves him faithfully and becomes his [[TheDragon Dragon]]. [[spoiler:But he's doing it all so he's in a position to betray him at a critical moment. When Bean confronts Achilles for good, Suriyawong doesn't help him and lets Bean kill him.]]
* NeverBringAKnifeToAGunFight: [[spoiler:Invoked. When Bean pulls out a gun to kill Achilles, Suriyawong's only help when asked is to give him a knife, with the words "I expect you to solve your own problems."]]

[[folder:Virlomi]]

A former Battle School student, who graduated before Ender arrived. When Achilles comes to India with promises of making it great, Virlomi sees through his lies and works against him before he betrays her country. Through a GodGuise she becomes the new leader of India, but eventually comes to believe her own claims a little too much.

* AGodAmI / BelievingTheirOwnLies: She starts out pretending to be a physical manifestation of India, then gradually she starts believing she actually ''is'' India.
* DoesNotLikeShoes: She isn't wearing shoes [[BarefootPoverty when having gone into hiding]] and seemingly doesn't wear any again after that.
* IAmTheNoun: Zigzagged. Sometimes she refers to herself as India to the point of personification, other times she refers to India as her husband.
* IHaveBoobsYouMustObey: Attempts this a few times to try to secure alliances for her nation. She first tries to lure Peter during his bid for Hegemon, but he turns her down because he knows allying too closely with India would look like favoritism to the other nations. She then visits Alai and ''strips naked'' in front of him and his guards, offering her beauty as the body of India, his for marriage. Alai rebuffs her, until she threatens to leave his palace naked and let the rest of the world fill in the blank. He thinks she's crazy, but goings along with her idea for their marriage unifying India and the Middle East. [[spoiler:It doesn't work. She's bought into her own god story and sends her troops out as a mob rather than an organizing army. Worse, she accelerates division in the Muslim high command, which drives out Alai and causes the whole organization to fragment instantly.]]
* ManipulativeEditing: When the former President of India meets with her in hopes of regaining his position, she rebukes him for trusting Achilles then has her media men make a slanderous film about him. One clip that's played repeatedly is of him being pelted with dirt, which was actually done not (overtly) to insult him, but to make him seem more like a common man before meeting her.
* MyGodWhatHaveIDone: She feels great remorse after her Indian army overextends into invading China, which causes them to be flanked by Thailand and take many casualties. She vows to live a thousand lives in mourning to make up for all that were lost.
* [[invoked]]SmurfetteBreakout: Averted in-universe. Since Virlomi was one of the few girls at Battle School and one of the best, she expected she'd be famed there after she left. She's disappointed to see none of the later students have heard of her.

[[folder:Admiral Jawaharlal Chamrajnagar]]

Strategos of the International Fleet (and later Polemarch). One of the most powerful men in the military.

* FamousNamedForeigner: He shares a first name with Jawaharlal Nehru, the architect of the modern Indian state. (His surname isn't shared with any real people at all; it's the name of a town.)
* InterserviceRivalry: Although he presides over the entire IF, he casually dismisses its regular army in favor of an almost religious veneration for the extrasolar navy.

[[Narcissist]]