Hatrack River Forum: Could Ender and Bean have ever really been friends?

This is topic Could Ender and Bean have ever really been friends? in forum Discussions About Orson Scott Card at Hatrack River Forum.

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Posted by johnsonweed (Member # 8114) on :

I don't think so. They seem too alike and and at the same time, too different. I think that outside of battle school they would not have ever interacted if given the chance.

Posted by mr_porteiro_head (Member # 4644) on :

Neither one of them ever had a relationship like what most of us would consider normal "friends".

Posted by Uindy (Member # 9743) on :

I don't think Bean would of given Ender a passing glance. Bean had to much on his mind.

Posted by B34N (Member # 9597) on :

I think that had Ender stayed on Earth and been part of the Shadow series there might have been a possibility of it but Bean would have always been in Ender's shadow or vice versa depending on how things would have worked out. But I guess if they were going to be friends how come they never tried to talk to eachother. I mean there were ansibles on the ships if I remember correctly???

Posted by Esoomyzark (Member # 9696) on :

I don't know where Ender was when he talked to Peter for the book he wrote on him, but he might have been on planet and had just been on the ship with no ansible while Bean was still alive.

Posted by pooka (Member # 5003) on :

But making people besides his brother love* him was Ender's super mutant power. Remember how Bean stalked and avoided him at first, but grew to love him anyway. That's because he knew loving Ender was an important part of the mission. And it didn't cost him anything.

If it weren't for Battle School, Ender wouldn't even exist. I mean, his parents josh around about having a baby anyway in later books, but if Peter was freaky enough to make them move to Greensboro, they were probably already worried about him. Maybe he would have killed the baby that drove them all into exile. Unless that part is also the exact opposite of what it said in the prior book. That was one thing I didn't like about the Shadow series. It really was like Bizarre-o world.

Posted by oolung (Member # 8995) on :

I think it's pointless to think what would happen if they met in another environment. The Battle School had such an impact on them both (well, I think maybe more on Ender) that they would both be different people in different circumstances.
What if in this 'another dimension' Bean wasn't a poor lonely kid, but had friends and family? Would Ender feel so much for him and tried to help him, saw in Bean his own reflection?
What if Ender wasn't a leader but was simply let be, with no pression on him to be the best of the best? Would Bean admire him so much and tried to learn from him?

We don't know. But then they became friends even though they both weren't actually nice for each other when they first met, so maybe they were just people with such intelligence AND nice characters they would've ended as friends anyway and anywhere [Smile]

Posted by 0range7Penguin (Member # 7337) on :

The relationshp between Ender and Bean was always more of a kinship then a freindship.

Posted by KLoWn (Member # 9739) on :

In Beans youth he was to emmotionally detached to truly call anyone friend. In the Shadow series it suggests that Beans only true freindship relations in the First Book was Petra and Sister Carlata (More of a Mother figure really)...