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I know this may seem like a rather silly question, and I tried searching for it first, because most silly questions have probably been asked multiple times before... I couldn't find it, so if I missed something... sorry.
But this has rather been bothering me, after reading Ender's Game and having to do a book report on it, I noticed that I had accidentally wrote his name as Ender Wiggins multiple time, maybe that just flows off the tongue easier? Either way, I corrected that mistake. But then today, as I read the short story for the first time, I noticed that in that, his name was Ender Wiggins... so it just kind of struck me odd that Mr. Card would change such a trivial detail as the S at the end of his last name.
Posts: 87 | Registered: Jan 2004
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Obviously it was a typo on the part of the publisher/editor and not a mistake by OSC. Perhaps Wiggins only sounds better because it sounds more like Baggins.
Posts: 17 | Registered: Sep 2004
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Because Wiggins sounds like a hobbit name? Just guessing. D'oh! I missed it by a minute. Actually I went downstairs to take care of some laundry.
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Ender's last name was originally "Wiggins" in the first short story of Ender's Game (it's here in the site library).
I concur that "Wiggins" sounds hobbitish. But I think "Wiggin" actually works better as a name. The expelled breath is cut off sharply, rather than the inconclusive "s" sound, which sometimes turns out Wigginssss (like the "Bagginssss" the Nazgul whisper in LotR). "Wiggin" sounds more definite and military-ish (if that makes any sense whatsoever).
Posts: 973 | Registered: Apr 2005
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Since the name was originally Polish (Wiezorick or something close to that), Wiggin or Wiggins make about as much sense, but the definite ending in Wiggin gives it a stronger sense of purpose in my opinion.
Posts: 74 | Registered: Mar 2005
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The Wiggin/Wiggins thing was absolutely my problem. I couldn't remember what I had decided. I would make up my mind and then my fingers would do something else.
The story was written, you'll remember, partly in longhand, then in rough draft on a typewriter; then retyped by my Mom, who faithfully reproduced my errors on that name because she didn't notice the change either.
I'm sure I would have renamed him "Dakota" or "Sack of Oats" or something without even realizing it.
Now, here's something to confuse my sagging memory even more. When I named Ender, I gave him a last name that I found kind of charming when I had a missionary companion in Aracatuba, Brazil, named Elder Wiggin (No, Elder wasn't his first name, I just don't remember it). Or was it Wiggins? That's the thing - I wasn't certain. So I used Wiggins at first, perhaps in line with Baggins (because I DO love Tolkien!); but then the s dropped off for reasons of euphony or stupidity or something.
But just yesterday, I went through a bunch of slides from my mission, looking for pictures of Robert Rey, whom I knew in Brazil as a child. He is now the Dr. Rey on Dr. 90210, the E! channel show about Beverly Hills plastic surgeons. I'm going to be interviewed with him in LA on Monday, and I wanted to have pictures of him and his brothers and sisters to show (as well as pictures of me as my svelte missionary self).
Well, as I shuffled through the pictures, I ran across a picture of Elder Wiggin.
The only trouble is, that isn't his name.
What I wrote on the picture - AT THE TIME - was "Elder Wigginton."
Yep, that's right. So inefficient is my memory that in 1975, as I was writing the first draft of EG, and only 2.5 years after he was my missionary companion in Aracatuba, I had dropped the "ton" from the end of his name and replaced it, variously, with "s" or nothing.
Think how different the Ender series would have been had I used the name of my OTHER missionary companion during my weeks in Aracatuba: Elder Sakota (a Japanese-American from Idaho) ...
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That is awesome, so the name does come from somewhere, poor orson though... memory loss before he's even middle aged... what will he do when he gets older? "What was her name again? Valentine or Christmas? Maybe Easter... that sounds about right..."
Posts: 84 | Registered: Apr 2005
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I have a name question. In SFTD I believe it mentioned somewhere that Quim's full name was Estavao Rey which would translate in English to Steven King, no? Was this purposeful? I always wondered.
Posts: 416 | Registered: May 2005
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Estevao Rey (with a ~ over the a), so the "ao" sound is nasalized.
And yes, it was a little tip of the hat to the writer SK, though I figured only those who understood Portuguese would get it.
Posts: 2005 | Registered: Jul 1999
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Hey, OSC. My dad (who you were companions with for a while - you would have remembered him as Elder Andrus) told me that he remembers an Elder Wiggin from the mission. So, there's my attempt to confuse you even more!
Posts: 8 | Registered: Jun 2005
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