List of Ender's Game series planets

This is a list of planets from the Ender's Game series by Orson Scott Card:

Albion

A planet that is briefly mentioned in the short story "Investment Counselor". It is home to a woman named Jane whom Ender briefly thought may have created the computer program Jane.

Descoladores' home planet

The homeworld to the descoladores, discovered in "Children of the Mind". Observing it from afar in an "Outside"-capable ship, the ship's riders begin to believe the inhabitants to be varelse; however, due to the Peter Clone's attack on them, they realize they need to take more time in studying the descoladores. This planet is rumored to be the subject of Card's next book, "Shadows in Flight".

Divine Wind

A planet inhabited by Japanese people, with a large amount of tourists. It was one of humanity's first colonies and has a high influence in Starways Congress. Peter Wiggin and Wang-mu came here in "Children of the Mind" as part of their mission to "find the center of power among humankind" and to "persuade them to stop the [Lusitania] fleet before it needlessly destroys a world [Lusitania] ". Divine Wind is the English translation of the Japanese term "Shimpū Tokkōtai", more commonly known as "Kamikaze".

Earth

Due to overpopulation, planetwide laws stated that each family could only have two children; during the destruction of the Buggers and the subsequent colonization of their worlds, this rule was repealed. It is somewhat more advanced than present-day Earth; people are able to travel around in cars that hover over magnetic rails that go at 150 mph, for example. However, due to International Fleet rule, some nations have declined drastically. One shining example is Rotterdam, a city in the Netherlands, in which children roam the streets fighting each other for food.

Eros

Eros (named after the real-life 433 Eros) is a wandering asteroid where Command School is situated. It was originally a Formic colony and the International Fleet took thousands of casualties in order to take it. Colonel Graff says that they fought for every meter of the place. The capture, however, allows the humans to discover and utilize both artificial gravity and ansible technologies.

Spaceships approaching Eros land on one of three orbital platforms, whereupon passengers are transported to the asteroids in school bus-like spaceships and sucked through tubes in zero gravity to the main colony. Due to the Formics painting it black, its albedo becomes only slightly brighter than a black hole. Humans noted it disappearing from their monitors and sent someone to investigate, which led to a confrontation with the Formics.

In "Ender's Game", Ender Wiggin is sent here to attend Command School, where he unknowingly defeats the Formics, believing he is playing a space combat simulation computer game.

Formic's home planet

After the Second Invasion, which the humans narrowly won, the International Fleet built and sent the "Third Invasion" to their planets. In order to fight, the I.F. decides to use child commanders and pretend that it is just a fantasy simulation. After a number of grueling battles that causes three of the children to collapse, the fleet arrives at the homeworld. Mazer Rackham tells Ender that this is the final battle. Ender, tired of battling, simply decides to use the Molecular Disrupter Device to destroy the world to try to get himself kicked out of school. Apart from the cocoon Ender later found, all the Hive Queens were present at its destruction, which effectively wiped them out, until Ender revived the last Hive Queen on Lusitania.

A few seconds after its destruction, the planet's own gravity pulled its particles back towards itself, making a new, smaller planet.

Hijra

Hijra is the colony planet of Muslims who migrated from Earth. It was first colonized by Caliph Alai of Ender's Jeesh after the failed Invasion of China by the Muslim Empire in Shadow of the Giant. It was briefly mentioned in Children of the Mind. It is named after Muhammad's pilgramage from Mecca to Medina.

Lusitania

Lusitania is a world first introduced in "Speaker for the Dead". Catholic by religion, Portuguese by language, and Brazilian by culture. It is named after the Roman name, in Latin, for Portugal. This planet is inhabited by all three Ramen races - the Pequeninos, the Formics and Humans. It contains a deadly virus called the "descolada" that would destroy the ecosystem of any other planet if it were to spread.

Pacifica (Lumana'i)

A Planet visited by Peter Wiggin and Si Wang-Mu after their visit to Divine Wind. It has one massive ocean named The Pacific and a few smaller ones between the continents. The islands in the Pacific are inhabited by Pacific Islanders and the mainlands inhabited by minority races. Lumana'i is Samoan for "The Future".

Path

Path is a Chinese-inhabited planet in Orson Scott Card's "Xenocide" and "Children of the Mind". Inhabitants include Han Fei-tzu, his wife, Jiang-qing, their daughter, Qing-jao, and their servants, including Qing-jao's secret maid, Wang-mu.

The inhabitants of this planet are divided into two classes – normal people and the godspoken. The "godspoken" are actually genetically-modified human beings with both superhuman intelligence and a crippling OCD-like disease. Any research into this disease would get the researcher sent off-world.

At the end of "Xenocide", a newly-spawned copy of Peter Wiggin bearing Ender's aiúa shows up in the FTL starship controlled by Jane. After dropping off the retrovirus to make everyone on Path supergeniuses (minus the OCD), he takes the one person who is already in this state, Wang-mu, with him to reunite humanity as Hegemon once again.

At the end of "Shadow of the Giant", it is suggested that the geneticist Volescu - responsible for Bean's genetic condition - has been, or will be, sent off to a colony. Since Volescu had previously been developing a means of changing human DNA via a virus - not unlike the "descolada" in "Children of the Mind" and "Xenocide" - it is speculated amongst fans that Volescu may have some connection with the emergence of the godspoken on Path.

"Path" is the English translation of the Chinese "Tao" (道).

Rov/Shakespeare

The first planet that Ender visited after writing "The Hive Queen" and "The Hegemon". This planet is unnamed in Ender's Game but is reffered to as Rov in "Speaker for the Dead" (during the explanation of the origins of the philotic mind Jane's relationship with Ender) but is referred to as Shakespeare in "Shadow of the Giant". Ender left Rov with his computer interface implant and knowledge of Jane. (This is in contradiction with "Investment Counselor".)

orreledolce

Sorreledolce, meaning "sweet sisters" in Italian, is an Italian-speaking planet who is the primary setting for the short story "Investment Counselor", which is set 300 years after the events of "Ender's Game". During the events, the colony's population is at four million, with one million residing in the capital city, Donnabella, meaning "beautful woman". It was one of the few planets that Starways Congress did not control. In "Investment Counselor," Ender and his sister Valentine disembark. Ender has just turned 20 and must pay taxes on his funds. He first approches a tax man named Bendedetto, who discovers that he is Ender the Xenocide. Fortunately, Ender meets Jane, a sentient computer program, who helps him pay his taxes and stops Benedetto from blackmailing Ender. Ender and Valentine leave after ten weeks.

Trondheim

An icy planet, Ender's home at the beginning of "Speaker for the Dead". When Ender leaves for Lusitania, Valentine stays with her husband on Trondheim. While Ender is on Lusitania, he mentions that without the ability to row a boat, you would be as good as crippled on Trondheim.

References

* "Ender's Game" by Orson Scott Card
* "Speaker for the Dead" by Orson Scott Card
* "Xenocide" by Orson Scott Card
* "Children of the Mind" by Orson Scott Card
* "First Meetings" by Orson Scott Card