Ok, I recently read and re-read all of the Ender books. As I was reading Ender's Shadow, I was waiting for the point when Ender collapses and is out of commision. It seemed to me as if Bean's character was being set up for this event and that he would take over when Ender was disabled. And then it turned into "We couldn't get Ender awake this morning"?? So they postpone the battle (which turns out to be the final battle) for a few hours...
So is there another version of Ender's Game or Ender's Shadow that resolves this and I just read an old edition? In Ender's Game, Ender literally blacks out in the middle of a battle and is laid up for three whole days. Then he has a couple of other battles, and then fights the final battle.
I know OSC said that any contradictions left between the books were stylistic choices, but this seems kind of huge. I mean, those three days would have been extremely interesting in Ender's Shadow, why was it changed?
I've tried to find mention of this elsewhere, but no one is talking about it, so I feel as if I missed something...
Posted by ...Arson (Member # 12052) on :
I was under the impression they didn't -do- anything in those three days, except wait for Ender.
Posted by AchillesHeel (Member # 11736) on :
In Ender's Shadow Tom says that the security issue on Eros lasted five days, I dont know what happened to my copy of Ender's Game or I would cross referance. To mention, I was so happy to be reminded that Fly Molo went Nero and started laughing when he lost control of his ships, and that Crazy Tom became more sane the less rested he was.
Posted by BlueWizard (Member # 9389) on :
Keep in mind that Ender and his crew were not in the same room. Bean and the others would not have found out about Ender's collapse until after the fact.
So, the differences between Bean's account and Ender's could both be correct from the limited perspective of each character.
They may not have told Bean that Ender collapsed, only that they couldn't get him awake the next day. That makes the accounts consistent.
And I think Ender was out for a few days, not a few hours.
Posted by HeatherD (Member # 12058) on :
Yes, Ender was out for three days and at that point they were having battle after battle. I think the jeesh would have noticed the lapse. If they could have taken it easier on Ender, they would have, how could they have afforded not to have a battle for three days?