Review 2

Character Dissection: Peter Wiggin

Ender's eldest sibling is unstable, to say the least. It goes beyond being brought up in bad conditions, this kid is downright disturbing. Let's be honest, what 8 year old threatens to kill his siblings, and with such detail and cunning. Of course, he claims to just be kidding. He has bipolar episodes where, shortly after saying frightening things and being generally unpleasant, he comes to Ender at night and whispers, "Ender, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I know how it feels, I'm your brother, I love you." 

Show of hands, who believes him?

No one? Okay. Good. 

After Ender leaves for battle school, the Wiggin family moves to a more rural city in hopes that it'll soften Peter. He excels in his education, and begins taking day-long hikes with only a pocket knife and a couple sandwiches. Valentine knows better, though. She finds dissected, tortured squirrels in the woods, nearby some breadcrumbs from a sandwich. Dinner and a show for her brother.

Later in life, Peter does actually become more civil, but retains his sociopathic abilities. I've mentioned before the boy managed to anonymously establish a strong political figure before he was even 15. After Ender defeats the Formics (Buggers, the bad aliens), it is Peter that forms the Locke Proposal that ends the conflict between the Eurasian government, The Second Warsaw Pact, and the North American Hegemony. This leads to him becoming Hegemon (Leader of Earth), and in a surprising move, he does a pretty good job at holding the planet together as far as peace. In his last years, he turns to Ender to basically write his biography for after he dies.

Disclaimer; Peter is not as central to Ender’s Game as I just made him sound. There’s only about 2 chapters that really show him off, in the beginning and middle. Also, it’s not as political as it sounds here. There are spinoffs of the series that were written after that chronicle Peter’s time in office if that happens to be your cup of tea, but I thought I’d put this here so that people aren’t scared away from this book by twisted children and fictional politics.