Ender's Game

Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 1985

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Summary

Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Chapters 1-3

Chapters 4-6

Chapters 7-9

Chapters 10-12

Chapters 13-15

Character Analysis

Themes

Symbols & Motifs

Important Quotes

Essay Topics

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Discussion Questions

Chapters 10-12Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Chapter 10 Summary: “Dragon”

Graff and Anderson are ready to initiate the next stage of Ender’s education, in which they rig most everything against his favor. Graff makes Ender commander of the newly revived Dragon Army, consisting of early Launchy recruits and other less-than-memorable students. Ender quickly adopts a drill sergeant persona, which results in many boys running naked to their practice. In the battleroom, Ender retrains their understanding of gravity and establishes himself as their sovereign commander. The smallest Launchy graduate in the army, a boy named Bean, adapts quickly and answers Ender’s questions precisely. Subconsciously, Ender starts treating Bean like Graff treated him on the shuttle ride to Battle School, subtly urging others to resent his intelligence. After practice, Bean petitions Ender for his own toon, and Ender says Bean must first prove himself a leader among the army.

Anderson approaches Ender with disappointing news: He can no longer hold free-for-all practice sessions in the evenings. Anderson’s maneuver effectively isolates Ender from his friends; even Alai, whose secret bond Ender holds close to his heart, acknowledges their relationship has changed. When Ender tries to greet him with “salaam,” Alai replies, “Alas, it is not to be. […] Peace. It’s what salaam means. Peace be unto you” (121). Though joking, Alai reminds Ender they are enemies now, so they command rival armies. Ender, frustrated at his recurring isolation, firmly dedicates himself to opposing his true enemy: the teachers.

Chapter 11 Summary: “Veni Vidi Vici”

Dragon Army’s first battle arrives unprecedently early, but Ender is ready. Dragon Army anticipates their opponent’s formations (Rabbit Army, under Carn Carby’s command) and wins the game with only one soldier eliminated and five damaged. Carn Carby accepts defeat with dignity, if also a little resentment. Despite their victory, Ender insists morning practice begins at the same time, giving his army only 15 minutes for breakfast; however, Ender allows the toon leaders to give the boys an additional 15 minutes.

Ender arrives late to lunch in the commander’s room, where the other commanders greet him with silence. Ender eats alone until Dink Meeker warily slides next to him, saying, “You gold-plated fart. […] We’re all trying to decide whether your scores up there are a miracle or a mistake” (129). The only other commander who doesn’t avoid Ender’s gaze is Carn Carby, who tells Ender the others are treating him unfairly, and they don’t believe him when he describes Ender’s unconventional strategies. As a favor, he asks Ender to “beat the snot out of the next army you fight. As a favor to me” (130). Ender agrees.

Though no army ever receives two battles in two consecutive days, the next morning brings news of another battle against Phoenix Army, under Petra’s command. Though Petra is a more sophisticated commander, Ender wins easily, much to Petra’s anger and humiliation. Over the next seven days, Dragon Army wins seven battles, welcoming the others’ resentment and harassment. Later, Graff calls Ender into his office and serves Dragon Army their second battle in the same day, announcing that it begins in 10 minutes.

Dragon Army groans at the news, but Ender reminds them they have a winning streak to maintain. Salamander army, under Bonzo’s command, enters the battleroom before Dragon Army has an opportunity to arrive, so Ender improvises. Ender anticipates where the Salamander soldiers hide, which allows him an easy win. Ender, angry at Major Anderson’s cheating, storms out of the battleroom without paying proper respects to Bonzo, offending his honor.

That night, Ender calls for Bean and confides in him. Ender admits to exhaustion, and he needs someone he can trust—Bean—to think of new, stupid ideas to keep surprising other armies. Ender assigns Bean not a toon, but an experimental task force to train. The lights turn off, and Bean stays in Ender’s room for the night.

Chapter 12 Summary: “Bonzo”

During practice, Bean experiments with twine to make sudden and fast turns around the battleroom. As Dragon Army walks back from practice, Petra chases down Ender with a warning: Bonzo and his following have a plot to kill him. Skeptical of Petra’s loyalty, Ender shrugs her aside. Sensing his distrust, Petra says, “Don’t you know who your friends are?” before storming off (144). Overhearing their conversation, Ender’s veteran soldiers insist they accompany him everywhere. Still, Ender believes the teachers will protect their “chosen one” from real threats on his life, so he doesn’t worry.

After yet another morning battle, Ender naps until lunch. He walks to the showers, forgetting his friends’ warnings. Ender, lathered in soap, realizes a large group of boys surrounds him and turns off the shower head. To gain some advantage, Ender appeals to Bonzo’s honor to convince him to fight one-on-one. He then steams the room to keep his lathered body slippery and attacks knowing Bonzo can’t get an easy grip. Finally, after Ender knocks his head backward into Bonzo’s nose, Bonzo stops fighting. Like his fight with Stilson, Ender delivers a few more blows for good measure, but Bonzo remains unresponsive.

Dink guides Ender away from the scene, and Ender cries remembering Bonzo’s lifeless gaze. Dink asks if he’s okay, and Ender exclaims, “I didn’t want to hurt him! […] Why didn’t he just leave me alone!” (149). Later the same day, Ender wakes to another set of battle instructions—this time, against two armies instead of one. Ender cares nothing for games anymore. He abandons previous rules and traditions, including his own: Ender organizes his soldiers into a formation. Ender’s strategy cares less about disabling the opponent, which is usually considered part of the victory; rather, his only objective is sending his soldiers through the enemy gate. Ender wins and approaches to accept victory from his “true enemy,” Anderson. Afterward, Ender cancels his army’s practices permanently. In Ender’s quarters, Bean shares news: Anderson transferred him to command Rabbit Army. In fact, he transferred and promoted each of Ender’s toon leaders and assistants, while those armies’ previous commanders graduated. Graff enters with Ender’s own promotion—not Pre-Command, but Command School, where the minimum age is 16. Graff takes Ender immediately for landside leave, but Ender can’t help but feel his only true home is back in Battle School. Unknown to Ender, Bonzo’s body is being transported back to Earth on the same shuttle.

Chapters 10-12 Analysis

Chapter 11’s title is “Veni Vidi Vici,” a Latin phrase which translates to, “I came, I saw, I conquered.” Ender receives promotion at an unprecedented age, and he’s determined to prove his worth as a leader and strategist. He first understands his relationship to the other students must change, so he becomes even more aloof. Some of his newly authoritative decisions are shrewd, such as the choice to move young boys to the front of the barracks and the older boys to the back (contrary to tradition). Ender has analyzed Battle School’s culture and system, and he sees how some traditions create handicaps, which he reshapes to subvert expectations. Such tactics win him every battle his army engages, utilizing both the element of surprise and clever strategy. However, particularly evident with Bean’s introduction, some of Ender’s careful logic succumbs to a trauma response from his first weeks in Battle School. Ender sees himself in Bean, and he unwittingly isolates him from the others. Ender inwardly acknowledges his mistake, but he feels too much pressure from the adults to appear apologetic, reasoning that “even his mistakes had to look like part of a brilliant plan” (115). His promotion obliges him to sacrifice kindness and friendship for perfection and excellence. Though he makes that sacrifice, he hates who he’s becoming: “What am I doing? My first practice session, and I’m already bullying people the way Bonzo did. And Peter. […] Sickening. Everything I hated in a commander, and I’m doing it” (118). Even as Ender disdains his dark side, the fact he acknowledges similarities between himself and his biggest bullies shows he understands them. As depicted through the novel’s themes, when Ender understands his enemies, he both loves them and knows how to destroy them.

Ender’s promotion also changes his relationships with his friends and allies. In this phase of Graff’s isolation scheme, Ender stands opposed to everyone who has ever shown him kindness. Ender’s most devastating loss is his bond with Alai, who once kissed his cheek and whispered a blessing of peace. Though Alai confirms their friendship has changed, Ender refuses to renounce that transformational moment: “But for now the only real conversation between [Ender and Alai] was the roots that had already grown low and deep, under the wall, where they could not be broken” (122). As Ender’s isolation deepens, his most valued memories bury further in his subconscious, but he never forgets them; to forget would make Ender lose himself altogether.

Ender’s season in Battle School culminates in Bonzo’s fight. Though Ender understands Graff’s general reasons for isolating him, he doesn’t fully internalize that no one will ever save him—especially the adults, even though they need him to fulfill the war’s most important role—until he faces Bonzo alone. Graff could easily transfer Bonzo, but he believes this encounter is critical to the future Commander’s psychology: “Ender Wiggin must believe that no matter what happens, no adult will ever, ever step in to help him in any way. He must believe, to the core of his soul, that he can only do what he and the other children work out for themselves” (142). Curiously, the lesson Graff wants Ender to learn is the same lesson Peter teaches Ender: He must prioritize complete conquest. After fighting Bonzo, Ender thinks,

Peter might be scum, but Peter had been right, always right; the power to cause pain is the only power that matters, the power to kill and destroy, because if you can’t kill then you are always subject to those who can, and nothing and no one will ever save you (149).

To make Ender the perfect commander, Graff must make him his own worst nightmare: more like Peter.