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Peter Wiggin

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In the science fiction story Ender's Game and its sequels, Peter Wiggin is Ender's (or Andrew's) older brother. He is cruel to Ender but is intelligent enough to go to battle school, as is the middle child Valentine; but Peter is deemed too harsh and Valentine too soft. This is why the Wiggins were allowed to slip through a loophole of the population restriction laws and have a "third": Ender.

While Ender is away in battle school to be trained to fight the alien Formics, or "buggers", Peter convinced Valentine to use their parents' network identities (and eventually their own) to submit to the world great and influential writings under the names of Locke (Peter) and Demosthenes (Valentine).

After the buggers are defeated, Peter influenced the world to send away his brother, Ender, to save him from the changing world on Earth: the saviour of the Humankind would slowly become a monster in the eyes of citizens - as they forgot the war, Ender would come to be known as Ender the Xenocide, or Alien killer, as if he was a cruel murderer, even though he had no idea that he was actually in battle.

Peter's role back on earth grew as the war with the Formics ended. When Valentine left with Ender, he was the sole mind behind both Locke and Demosthenes on Earth, and he continued to influence public opinion with the personalities. Eventually he declared that indeed he was behind the writings of these two pen named philosphers. He was subsequently elected Hegemon, though the Hegemony was quite diminished in power from the days of the wars with the Formics. He must work with the few allies he has to try to defeat Achilles de Flandres. Bean and his companion Suriyawong work with him, despite Bean's innate distrust. Eventually when Achilles is captured, Peter decies to offer the brilliant villain a position within his Hegemony, which ends up driving away Bean, and marginalizing Suriyawong. As Bean and others realize that Achilles will not reform, and plans to subvert the Hegemony, only Peter's parents are able to warn him in time to save him. Peter eventually realizes his errors, and begins plotting ways to take back his Hegemony, which eventually he is able to do with the help of his parents, Bean, and Suriyawong.

Card will undoubtably further explore Peter Wiggin's legacy in the final chapter of the Shadow quartet, Shadow of the Giant which has yet to be completed.

Before Peter died Ender talked to him (possible because of the relativistic ride to the colony) "Hegemon" explained what Peter's intentions were when he did things that didn't seem like they could be for anybody's good. He signed it as "The Speaker For The Dead", and with this unique way to remember a dead person created a new order of "Speakers", who would eventually become common at every funeral as a person not who made all their acts seem better, but explain the real intentions and the purposes of their lives.


Orson Scott Card's Ender's Game series
Alai | Petra Arkanian | Julian 'Bean' Delphiki | Achilles de Flandres | Hyrum Graff | Jane | Bonzo Madrid | Han Qing-jao | Mazer Rackham
Andrew 'Ender' Wiggin | John Paul Wiggin | Peter Wiggin | Theresa Wiggin | Valentine Wiggin
Books | Characters | Miscellanea
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