posted
Now Bean of course is much more complicated as I get 3 answers depending on which source I use:
1. When Ender finds out Bean’s been made Commander he says:
quote: After all, you’re only 4 years younger than the regular age.
Ch 12 of EG (& Ch18 of ES)
If we assume the earliest age for a Commander before Ender was 11 as used in VBS then that would make Bean 7 then.
We know from ES the following times have passed before the beginning of SotH:
BS = 8dys after Ender left (Ch 21); BS to Tactical = 4mths (Ch 21) (intro says 2mths from BS to ISL but doesn’t mention the 2mths from ISL to Tactical); At Tactical = 3mths (Ch 21 intro.); Tactical to Command = 4mths (Ch 21 intro. & Ch 22); Time spent training at Command before Ender joined them = ?; Time spent training with Ender = ?; Time spent during battles = ?; Time between final battle and war on earth = ?; War on earth = 5dys (Ch 24); Spent spent before leaving for home = ?.
This all comes to at least 1 year not counting the ?’s. The training and battle have to have been at least several months if not longer. Then there was Graff’s trial and Ch 15 of EG talks about Ender waiting "through the empty months" before "One by one, his friends reluctantly left him," as they were called home. (I can’t see Bean rushing off, can you?) . So I reckon it’s more likely to be 2 years at least making him 9 years old when he arrives back on earth.
2. The above contradicts the Bean's statement when he's talking to Graff and says:
quote: I think I'm seven
Ch 22 of ES
We know that Bean was only 5 when he was sent to BS and if we assume he only spent 1 year there and became Commander at 6 then he could have been 7 at this time (adding 1 year for travelling from BS and Tactical School). We’d then need to add another year for the time training at Command, the battles and everything before he returns home. So he’d be 8 when he got home.
3.
quote: But having a father and mother show up when you're eleven isn't the same as growing up with them.
Ch 1 of SP
Infers that Bean was 11 when he got back to his parents which again contradicts the idea that Bean was only 7 when he was at Command School, unless it took 4 years to train them with Ender, battle and return home.
There are no more references I can find to his age in SotH or SP just to his growth and to Petra’s age. So to get from his age at the end of ES to that at the end of SP we need to use the information and assumptions we have for Petra i.e. time from arriving home to abductions, 3yrs from abductions to marriage and time from Volescu meeting to end of SP. For Petra I’ve allowed 4/5 years total.
So for Beans age at the end of SP that gives me either:
posted
Uncle Orson wants me to thank you all very very much. He's trying to finish up Shadow of the Giant over Thanksgiving, and you've given him great stuff.
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Yay! Now I feel all warm and fuzzy, like I was a tiny part of something BIG! I love that!! (You guys did all the work though. )
Posts: 6415 | Registered: Jul 2000
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quote:Uncle Orson wants me to thank you all very very much. He's trying to finish up Shadow of the Giant over Thanksgiving, and you've given him great stuff.
Whoa.
It's a weird feeling knowing that he might be writing the book right now...!
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Kristine, I’m just glad to know that Scott is finishing up Shadow of the Giant. Yeah!! Thank you for the news!
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posted
Um, guys, you're missing a point about Bean. He is both mentally and physically much older than Petra, so his actual age is meaningless, when saying he's too young to marry Petra and have kids.
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posted
Well Bean being around 8 at the final battle in EG and with about 5 or so years with the leauge war he is around 13.
Is it just me or does OSC tend to write about young relationships in the Homecoming series Nafai and Luet were around 13-15 also, as well as the other characters (Issib & Hushidh come to mind) also fairly young. Same with Miro & Valentine/Jane. I am not implying anything but its just something i've noticed over the last few days. All due respect, OSC is my favorite author and few other books can even come close to the Enderverse and Homecoming series.
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yay! if the book gets on the shelves before april i can get the book for my b-day! (that is assuming that after mr. card finishes writing the book, getting it edited and published, and then becoming a book!
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posted
Lol, OSC is going to hate me for mentioning this. But, the one well known Sci Fi historical precendent for this kind of relationship with the age difference and the younger guy, is Anakin and Amidala, though they were still a bit older. I think. (I'm sure the star wars gurus know exactly how old Anakin was when they got married.) But I heard the Wierd Al song going through my head over the weekend where "Look at him hitting on the queen, though he's just 9 and she's 14, he's probably going to marry her someday..." And I started mumbling (well internally) 9, hmm, 14, hmmm... oh that's close to the Bean-Petra age gap!
quote: Lol, OSC is going to hate me for mentioning this. But, the one well known Sci Fi historical precendent for this kind of relationship with the age difference and the younger guy, is Anakin and Amidala, though they were still a bit older. I think. (I'm sure the star wars gurus know exactly how old Anakin was when they got married.) But I heard the Wierd Al song going through my head over the weekend where "Look at him hitting on the queen, though he's just 9 and she's 14, he's probably going to marry her someday..." And I started mumbling (well internally) 9, hmm, 14, hmmm... oh that's close to the Bean-Petra age gap!
Well, the ages 9 and 14 are from SW:Episode 1 and since Episode 2 takes place about 10 years after that, then they would be about 19 and 24 when they got married. That's not exactly the same as getting married at 12 and 17.
But anyway, I don't really have a problem with it. The emotional maturity of Bean and Petra is much higher than your average 12 and 17 year old.
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posted
Yeah it says on pg.#5 of SP - "But having a father and mother show up when your 11 isn't the same as growing up with them."
This of course is Bean commenting on how he met his 'technically' parents the Delphikis. Bean met the Delphikis with Nikolai after the final battle at the end of Enders Shadow, could this mean that Bean was not 8 but instead 11 and adding about 5 years with the league war would mean that he's around 16 give or take.
posted
Look man, the series will never end. It's too good. While waiting inbetween played video games and read asimov and hubbard books.
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quote: Um, guys, you're missing a point about Bean. He is both mentally and physically much older than Petra, so his actual age is meaningless, when saying he's too young to marry Petra and have kids.
Mentally old isn't exactly the same as emotionally old. He can be the smartest guy around, have a big body, and still be emotionally 12 years old. Growing quickly doesn't automatically bestow one with experience.
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posted
With what's happening with the Robot/Empire/Foundation series of Asimov, I wouldn't be surprised if the Enderverse outlived OSC.
quote:Also, he's not physically older -- just more developed.
Um, yes he is. You can't be a 12 year old commando and live to tell about it if you're not physically up to snuff, no matter what agent Cody Banks tells ya.
That's also why he's dying. Think of him like the Robin Williams character Jack, with a superbrain and a workout routine.
The only thing to consider is the emotional growth, but that was accelerated for all of the kids in Ender's jeesh. When you fight a few wars, you tend to mature quickly.
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No matter how developed he is, he is not physically old. Physically aged, possibly, but his body is still no more than about 12 years old.
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As in the length of time he has existed, yes, but that's not what 'physically old' means. Physically old is more like he has the body of a __ year old.
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I think that's exactly what he means. He has the body of a 12-year old who hasn't hit a growth spurt. He still has a soft spot in the back of his head that hasn't fused. So he's not "physically old" like the kids with Progeria (or kinda like the Jack character) whose cells age rapidly. He has Anton's key, which is something wholly different.
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posted
He still has the soft spot because his brain is still growing. If it fused, his brain would grow too large for his skull.
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When the time is called for people to marry young, then that happens. Bean and petra got married so that they could (hopefully) have a family before Bean died. Nafai and Luet & Issib and Hushidh got married early in their lives because they wanted to make it official that they blonged to each other. This was also a way to signify that their marriage was permanant.
Think back in the 1700's, poeple got married and had kids and the age of 14 because it was a neccesity, people died earlier. If you wanted to raise a family back then you had to start early.
sry, didn't mean to preach.
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His brain is still growing with the rest of his body as if he hadn't hit a 12-year growth spurt yet. What are we arguing about?
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I was about to post something 2 minutes ago, and forgot. Now I remember; "The contadiction" of Bean saying he's seven just 2-3 days after the bugger wars and then meeting his parents at age 11 is not a contradiction. Remember it was never certain whether or not Bean would be returned to his parents. He is a ward of the state and the state has the final say so it is entirely onceivable for bean to have stuck around for 4 years (including transportation time and possible time spent on earth before returning to his parents). I also agree that Bean probably thanks to Anton's key still looks Boyish dispite his height.
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posted
I've already done that (too much time on my hands). I think I've figured out all but one or two. I was going to start a thread asking who's who, but I thought it would seem like shameless self-promotion since I'm in there too. Posts: 1569 | Registered: Dec 2004
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posted
Hey Farmgirl, when you figure it all out, let me know. I think I've got most of them...Carrie, Megan, Shan, Porter, Neo-dragon, Narnia...but then I'm not sure about |demosthenes|, PSI, Stray....and everyone else that helped.
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posted
Ha, yeah, right, bet you can't guess who I am...
I haven't actually gotten to see my copy yet, as I had it shipped home-home (instead of school-home). I'm going to the bookstore very soon, however, just to ogle.
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posted
There's only one name which I haven't been able to link to a screen-name. Anyone know who Samuel is?
I haven't gotten my copy yet either. Mail's so slow coming from the States. It's okay though, I'm too busy to spend much time reading it right now anyway.
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I'm pretty sure that IdemosthenesI is Nathan. He's a moderator at philoticweb.net. He was also credited in Shadow Puppets (though it doesn't say his screen-name there either) for making the timeline comparing Game and Shadow. That is, unless I'm getting him confused with someone else.
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I don't even see any posts by T_Smith in this thread. I'm almost positive that Nathan is IdemosthenesI... *shrug*
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I don't mind you all saying that your who in the aknoledge ments. I'd like to know, to know who I should be in more awe of. Heh. You guys are awsomely lucky and good.
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Hey I'm Samuel Sevlie... My 6th grade teacher (he got me caught on OSC's books a while ago) still can't believe that I'm in the acknowledments.
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Finally, the identity of Samuel! Now I can match all of the Hatrackers in the acknowledgments with their screen name. I'm Jason, by the way. My friends were all pretty impressed when I told them. Even the ones who haven't even read Ender's Game (despite my constant nagging). You would think that seeing their friend's name in the latest book would be enough to finally get them to read the series... As it is, only one of my close friends owns and has read every Ender/Bean book at my recommendation, but I've gotten several to at least read Ender's Game.
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quote:I'm pretty sure that IdemosthenesI is Nathan. He's a moderator at philoticweb.net. He was also credited in Shadow Puppets (though it doesn't say his screen-name there either) for making the timeline comparing Game and Shadow. That is, unless I'm getting him confused with someone else.
This is correct.
Hehe. I'm aknowledged in the book too.
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