Alright, so I thought that at the end of Shadow of the Giant, we were told that Bean was going on a ship traveling at relativistic speeds so that he could live long enough to see a cure for his condition. I don't think we were told that he died, but Ender says he is dead during his confrontation with Randall/Achilles/Arkanian.
Also, I thought that the whole point of putting Bean on a relativistic ship was so that him and Ender could meet up again for a final time in Shadows in Flight.
My whole Ender universe is collapsing around me!
Posted by dragonarmy (Member # 12448) on :
Also, and this has nothing to do with my previous point, but it's something I need to point out and it doesn't deserve it's own thread:
Did Card REALLY need to make that one xenobiologist on Shakespeare say that "... most scientists believe in god"? I realize Card's religious and all, but that's no excuse for flat out lying. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demographics_of_atheism#Scientists Posted by neo-dragon (Member # 7168) on :
To address your first question. No one at the time of E in E knows what has become of Bean. He left on the ship and no one has heard from him again. For all intents and purposes he is dead to the world. This is probably what Ender meant.
For the second point; don't forget that the story takes place hundreds of years in the future. A future created by OSC. So the demographics of scientists at the time are what ever he says. Whether you think that it's realistic or not is beside the point.
Posted by Dr Strangelove (Member # 8331) on :
Oh, and maybe change the thread title... kind of a spoiler in the face there.
Posted by Raymond Arnold (Member # 11712) on :
The thread title is a lie, so it's kinda irrelevant.
Posted by sarcasticmuppet (Member # 5035) on :
Bean faked his death at the end of the final bean book (shadow of the giant? I don't remember). He goes down a hillside or something with his squad and is "killed". There are only a few people on Earth who know the truth, and I'm not even sure if Graff was one of them.
Posted by neo-dragon (Member # 7168) on :
Of course Graff knew, how do you think Bean and his kids got one of the fleet's most advanced ships if not through their connection to the colonization minister? Wasn't the whole thing his idea?
Posted by sarcasticmuppet (Member # 5035) on :
You're right. I was writing very quickly and trying to recall my last memory of reading the book, which was a while ago. The point I was mostly getting at was that Bean faked his death so it's not impossible for Ender to honestly think he'd died.
Posted by Ron Lambert (Member # 2872) on :
Orson Scott Card certainly would not be the first writer to seemingly kill off a character, only to invent a way to bring him back later. If it was good enough for Sir Arthur Conan Doyle....