So far a lot of the sentiment on these forums that I get is how excited everybody is for the next couple books to come out, and specifically to see how everybody can finally come together (aka Miro, Jane, Wang-Mu, Peter, Valentine, etc.)
In a different thread I let my sentiment about Ender's death be known, about how it was a cheap way for him to go out (not the point of this thread), but everybody kept pointing out that he has his "offspring" of Peter and Valentine still around.
Am I the only one that despises Ender's "offspring"? I mean, the real Valentine is still alive so the new one seems worthless to me. And Peter Wiggin is my favorite Enderverse character, but this new Peter does zero justice to the original character. He's not the real Peter, he's Ender's 3 year old version of him in his memory. I just don't think I feel comfortable with this new Peter Wiggin running around with everybody comparing/thinking of him as the original Peter when the truth is far from it.
I almost feel like this new Peter will do a severe disservice to the original Peter. That being said, maybe he'll mature mentally the same way the original Peter did (probably not), but I'd also be interested to see if there's some sort of graveyard of "aiuas" that Jane could pull out the original Peter's "soul" and put him in this new body. Just some thoughts.
Posted by TomDavidson (Member # 124) on :
To be fair, the "original" Peter only had about six pages worth of text to his name when nu-Peter was written.
Posted by CRash (Member # 7754) on :
quote:Originally posted by Willster328: I almost feel like this new Peter will do a severe disservice to the original Peter. That being said, maybe he'll mature mentally the same way the original Peter did (probably not)...
What do you regard as the "original Peter?" New-Peter (circa 1990s) is based upon the character from Ender's Game, EG-Peter (circa 1980s). To me, New-Peter is pretty faithful to EG-Peter. But there is pretty severe dissonance between EG-Peter and the one from the Shadow series (circa 2000s).
Tom has a good point: New-Peter is derived from EG-Peter, who didn't get much facetime in EG. It seems to me the "original" you're referring to is Shadow-Peter, the one with human motivations and a fleshed-out character arc. I don't think you need to worry about it. If OSC writes about New-Peter now, over 30 years of the Peter character will factor into his portrayal. I suspect New-Peter (circa 2010s) will be a lot closer to Shadow-Peter than his prior iterations.
...And I'm all Petered out for now.
Posted by la.SOMA (Member # 10608) on :
the new valentine IS Jane. I hardly think that's worthless at all.
We began to see what new!peter was becoming in CotM. Ender created him as a ruthless monster of his childhood nightmares.. not the peter that we know and love. Once New!Peter gained Ender's whole auia, he felt that he became a whole person.. I also want to note that he was able to maintain three thoughts at the same time. I think we'll have pleasant reminders of the old Peter - his witt and harsh sense of humor - but I really view him as Ender without the burden of a lifetime of guilt. Ender's clean slate. There were even brief moments where he felt himself drawing on Ender's memories but surpressed them.
Personally, I'd like to see New!Peter maintain the warmth and understanding that Ender had but with the ability act on more self interest like the original Peter.
Posted by jerag (Member # 12748) on :
ughh i posted a thought in the shadows in flight similar to this, i think children of the mind had peter being given all of the malice in ender, while valentine was given all the sweetness and light. this leads to the new peter being a fairly malicious character. fortunately his auia was made whole once more and he's a complete human being. i think most of my opinions of him were formed from the 90% of the book where he is kind of a 6y/o's perception of a evil older brother.
what we should view the complete version as is the last few pages of the book where he's a good man. wang mu noticed how he was now more at peace with himself and to put it simply not as much of a bastard. to be effective at governing you need a little of the machiavelli in you. you also need a little understanding and forgiveness. i think his character has mellowed out from how he was portrayed pre-merge.
Posted by Jeff C. (Member # 12496) on :
New Peter and the original Peter are two completely different characters. The New Peter's personality changed as soon as Ender's soul completely took over Peter's body, which implies that New Peter isn't Peter at all; he's Ender with a new look. I would expect him to differ greatly from EG-Peter as well as the Shadow Peter, more closely resembling Ender in all the ways that matter.
Posted by Willster3282 (Member # 12749) on :
I rescind my original argument. I read Children of the Mind about 5 years ago, and re-read it recently, but with the assumptions I had made about it 5 years ago. Meaning, I didn't pick up the fact that Ender's FULL aiua was in the New Peter. I thought it was still a fragment.
That being said, there's something about it that still leaves me unsatisfied. Can't put my finger on it. Maybe because New!Peter doesn't strike me as his own character?
Posted by ZachC (Member # 12709) on :
What do you mean as his own character? That he is too similar to Ender? That he is too similar to the original Peter? Or that he is too DISSIMILAR to the original Peter?
Personally, I really like the New Peter and am excited to see where his story leads.
Posted by BlueWizard (Member # 9389) on :
In a way New!Peter is his own character. He is not Ender; not in thought, deed, personality, or memories. He is not Old!Peter. He is not even the Peter he originally was when Ender created him; kind of a caricature at that time of Ender's illusion of young Peter. Once he is whole, he is his whole self.