Valentine Wiggin

If you are looking for her reincarnation, see Valentine Wiggin II.
 

"We may be young but we're not powerless. We play by their rules long enough, and it becomes our game."

— Ender's Game, page 237

Valentine Sophia Wiggin, also known by her pseudonym of Demosthenes, was the sister of Peter and Andrew Wiggin,^[1] as well as a noted historian.^[2] She was first introduced in Ender's Game.

History

Early Life

Born in 13 BX, Valentine Wiggin was the second child and only daughter of John Paul and Theresa Wiggin.^[1] Her middle name, Sophia, was given to her by her father in tribute to his mother's favorite sister.^[3] Valentine adored her younger brother Andrew, who she nicknamed "Ender' due to her inability to pronounce his name correctly. Valentine had a very tender relationship with Ender and taught him arithmetic when he was three years old. At a very young age, Valentine was given a monitor device from the International Fleet. However, she did not qualify for Battle School due to her compassionate nature, and the monitor was removed from her neck when she was three.^[1]

Ender was accepted into Battle School and left when Valentine was eight years old. Soon afterwards, the Wiggin family moved to Greensboro, North Carolina. Two years later, she celebrated Ender's birthday all by herself in the woods around Greensboro.^[1]

Demosthenes and Locke

While Ender was away at Battle School, Peter convinced Valentine to write political commentary with him on the impending world war that would follow the end of the Formic Wars. Though initially unsure of the effectiveness of two children writing as adults, Valentine soon agreed. She began writing political analysis on the Nets using several assumed names, but after she had perfected her skills she became the paranoid anti-Russian writer "Demosthenes".^[1]

Demosthenes became tremendously popular, writing a weekly news column. Valentine's father, John Paul, became a fan of Demosthenes, even quoting portions of the columns at the dinner table. This was embarrassing for Valentine, now eleven years old. She was nervous that Demosthenes would be exposed and land her in trouble. It was these nerves that bothered her particularly on the day she was called to Dr. Lineberry's principal's office where she met Colonel Hyrum Graff.^[1]

Graff's visit to Valentine had little to do with Demosthenes, but everything to do with Ender. Graff convinced Valentine to write a letter to Ender who he said was not doing well at Battle School due to what appeared to be depression. Valentine agreed, though once she wrote the letter she felt guilty for being an apparent pawn in the International Fleet's game with Ender. Her anger at the Fleet translated over to her writings as Demosthenes, which she took up with renewed vigor.^[1]

Valentine was later asked by Graff to see Ender during his brief visit to Earth between his time at Battle School and promotion to Command School. She unwittingly convinced Ender to return to space and defeat the Formics, causing her to resent Graff and the International Fleet even more for tricking her into doing their bidding.^[1]

In the aftermath of the Third Invasion, Valentine, as Demosthenes, made certain that Ender would never return to Earth. The great powers of the world, including her own brother Peter, would try to make Ender their puppet. Valentine convinced Peter that Ender should not return, and the two of them wrote essays as Locke and Demosthenes to prevent their younger brother from ever stepping foot on Earth again. However, Valentine had decided to retire from Demosthenes at the age of fifteen, and join Ender in exile as a colonist heading out to the former Formic worlds. She left Earth and headed to Command School, where the new colonists were gathering to leave to their respective planets. Ender and Valentine were selected to voyage to the first colony world of Shakespeare, where Ender would be governor.^[4]

Voyage to Shakespeare

Valentine watched Ender closely in the first days and weeks of their travels through space on the IFcoltrans1, which she nicknamed the "Good Ship Lollipop". She worried about his obsession with the Formics, as well as his seeming disinterest in becoming the governor of Shakespeare. She sought the advice of her parents, something she'd rarely done before, and was named their favorite child for doing so.^[4]

To pass time on the journey, Valentine volunteered to teach classes in Common, the language of the Hegemony and the International Fleet. She worked closely with an officer on the ship named Jarrko Kitunen, who frequently flirted with her. Valentine also got involved in a reading of the play The Tempest with several other passengers including Ender, Dorabella and Alessandra Toscano.^[4]

The play was briefly cancelled by the ship's captain Quincy Morgan, who believed that it was a plot at mutiny and not a play. His evidence for such subversion was a massive ansible message from Earth. Peter had sent Valentine an encrypted message that detailed the events on their homeworld since IFcoltrans1's departure. Once Valentine convinced Morgan that the message was not subversive and had asked Peter not to send such a large message to the ship again, the play was back on. Valentine realized through the encounter with Admiral Morgan that he was trying to usurp Ender's influence on the ship and on the planet that awaited them.^[4]

Over the two years of travel to Shakespeare, Valentine wrote the first of many books that she would eventually pen. This one, a history of Battle School, relied on interviews over ansible with Ender's colleagues and other Battle School graduates. It was heralded as a great success, despite Ender's minimal involvement. Valentine noticed that he avoided discussing his experiences in the war, but was still obsessed with the Formics. Valentine had also realized that Ender was unintentionally leading Alessandra Toscano on, who had feelings for him.^[4]

Once the ship arrived at Shakespeare, Valentine and the rest of the new colonists integrated themselves with the original settlers. She and Ender stayed there for two years, with Ender governing the colony and she writing a history of the Formic Wars. At one point, Ender wrote a book about the life of the Formic Hive Queens and about the Formic Wars from their point of view. Valentine correctly guessed that Ender had discovered a Hive Queen on Shakespeare, but promised never to talk about it again. Ender published his book, titled The Hive Queen, and Valentine included a copy of it at the end of her last volume of the Formic Wars.^[4]

At the end of his life, Peter contacted Valentine stating that he had read The Hive Queen, and knew who wrote it. He asked for Ender to write a similar eulogy for his life, later titled The Hegemon.^[4]

Ganges

After around two years on the planet, Ender and Valentine left Shakespeare to travel to Ganges at the request of Hyrum Graff, now the Minister of Colonization. Ender opted to stay in stasis for the voyage aboard Captain Hong's ship, but Valentine decided to stay awake for the fourteen-month trip to finish her book. Ender, now going by his birth name of Andrew, sought out the son of his friends Bean and Petra Arkanian, Randall Firth, on Ganges. The boy believed he was the son of Achilles de Flandres due to his delusional mother, and wanted to kill Andrew. Valentine tried to stop Andrew from confronting Randall, but was unsuccessful. Though Ender survived the fight and was able to turn Randall away from following in his "father's" footsteps, Valentine was angry with him for encountering the troubled boy. Randall changed his name to Arkanian Delphiki, in honor of his two biological parents.^[4]

Interstellar Travels

Valentine and Andrew left Ganges shortly after their arrival there. They embarked on a voyage to another planet with Captain Hong, and Valentine continued writing her books, making Andrew promise not to get himself in danger of being killed again.^[4]

The two siblings traveled from planet to planet for about 300 years, aging slowly due to the effects of relativistic travel.^[4]

Around Andrew's (relative) twentieth birthday, the Wiggins reached the planet Sorelledolce. Upon her arrival, Valentine learned that her book about the failed Helvetica colony was a smash hit, and she was rich from the royalties. Valentine received many fan letters on behalf of her pseudonym Demosthenes, and appreciated that people didn't realize that it was she, a young woman, to whom they were writing. Valentine and Andrew left Sorelledolce to travel to Rov after Andrew sorted out his taxes with the help of Jane.^[2]

About 200 years later, Valentine heard about the individual Kenneth Argon on the planet of Catalunya. She sought to write a biography on him, and so she and Andrew traveled to the planet. While en route, Argon was killed and the proconsul of the planet, Dabeet Ochoa, called for a Speaker for the Dead to help calm down the agitated inhabitants of the planet. After arriving, Valentine and Andrew investigated Argon's death and his relation to the pseudo-sentient Llop.^[5] They later left the planet and continued their relativistic travel.^[6]

For more than three thousand real-time years total, Valentine and Andrew traveled from planet to planet, including Moctezuma and others not specified.^[6]

Trondheim

Eventually, they arrived at the icy world of Trondheim. There, Andrew and Valentine were both given assignments as teachers at a local college. Because she answered her students' questions with answers and not more questions as Andrew did, Valentine was the more popular teacher.^[6]

There, Valentine met and married a fisherman named Jakt. She became pregnant with their first child, a girl later named Syfte, when Andrew told her that he was leaving for a not-so-distant planet called Lusitania. His departure was hard on Valentine as she'd spent nearly her whole life with him. Around this time, Valentine wrote the Letter to the Framlings, establishing the Hierarchy of Foreignness used to term humans and other living creatures.^[6]

Over the next few years, Valentine would have two more children: Ro and Varsam.^[7]

A few years after Andrew left, one of his former university students confessed to Valentine that she'd uncovered Andrew's true identity as Ender the Xenocide. The student, Plikt, became a friend to Valentine, and tutored Syfte and their other children as they grew up.^[6]

Valentine continued her work at the university, but longed to be with her brother Andrew. Twenty years later, it was revealed that Lusitania was going to be destroyed by the same weapon Andrew had used against the Formics three millennia earlier, the Molecular Disruption Device. Reviving her identity as Demosthenes, she exposed the plan, turning public opinion against Starways Congress. Valentine named the atrocity the Second Xenocide, due to the fact that it would destroy the sentient Pequeninos, the natives of Lusitania.^[6]

With her husband Jakt and her three children, including Plikt, a nearly sixty-year-old Valentine left Trondheim to stand with Andrew as he led a rebellion against Starways Congress on Lusitania.^[6]

Voyage to Lusitania

Valentine and her family traveled for several subjective weeks, heading toward a rendezvous with Andrew's stepson, Miro Ribeira. She wrote many essays as Demosthenes, trying to keep Starways Congress in check and hoping to prevent the destruction of Lusitania. She took the opportunity to be physically close to Jakt on the journey as a reward for the sacrifices he had to make to accompany her on the mission.^[7]

When she finally met with the Havelok, Miro's ship, she and the young man argued about their views on the so-called "Second Xenocide". Miro felt that they should consider the option that Lusitania ought to be destroyed as the only means of protecting the Hundred Worlds from the Descolada, a deadly virus that has taken hold in every lifeform on Lusitania. Valentine disagreed, planning to do all she could to prevent the destruction of the planet. At first, Valentine and Miro did not get along, but they quickly grew to respect each other, and Valentine made the decision to move from her ship to the Havelok for the last leg of their journey to Lusitania.^[7]

On the Havelok, Valentine finally met Jane face-to-face. Though she had been familiar with Andrew's communication with a computer program, she didn't realize the software was sentient. She had thought Jane was a code name for a group of subversive rebels. Jane stated that she had figured out a way to stop the Lusitania Fleet from destroying the planet, but it would require Jane to sacrifice her own life in the process. Valentine promised her she'd do what she could to preserve Jane's life as well as the Pequeninos, along with the sole-surviving Formic Hive Queen, who Andrew had allowed to grow and flourish on Lusitania.^[7]

Lusitania

When they arrived on Lusitania, both Andrew and Valentine were in their sixties; but they picked up their relationship as it had been during their intergalactic travels. Andrew took Valentine, along with Miro and Plikt, to the Hive Queen's lair. Valentine was wary of meeting the Queen, as she remembered her nightmares growing up during the Formic Wars on Earth. The Hive Queen, using Andrew's close philotic connection to Valentine, spoke to her mind-to-mind. It was a frightening and yet fascinating experience for Valentine, who tried very hard to set aside her own prejudices against the Formics. She learned, as did the others, that the Hive Queen was building starships to take her newly hatched children, along with the Pequeninos, to other habitable planets. As they left the lair, Valentine said she felt violated by of the philotic communication with the Queen.^[7]

Valentine learned that her role as Demosthenes had been uncovered by a young girl named Han Qing-jao on the planet Path. Qing-jao had exposed her political pundit identity to the leaders of Starways Congress.^[7]

A short time later, after the murder of Andrew's stepson Quim by Warmaker, Valentine consulted with the colony's leaders on how to proceed. She warned the leaders that a riot would take place and unless strict curfews were imposed, more deaths would occur. The leaders doubted her, but Andrew's other stepson, Grego, incited such a riot.^[7]

Valentine confronted Grego, condemning him for his inflammatory remarks that led to a vengeful attack on the Pequeninos' land. Grego initially refused to accept responsibility for the riot and subsequent murders, but Valentine's words convinced him to do so.^[7]

In an effort to help Grego figure out faster-than-light travel from his jail cell (a consequence for the riot), Valentine approached another of Andrew's stepsons, Olhado. She hoped Olhado would be able to give Grego a different perspective on the FTL travel methods. She joined Olhado at the jail when he met with Grego. They had developed a theory for faster-than-light travel, but as a historian and not a scientist, Valentine didn't concern herself too much.^[7]

During Andrew's trip to Outside, a place beyond the universe, he unintentionally created a pair of humans identical to his two siblings, deemed Peter Wiggin II and Valentine Wiggin II.^[7]

Valentine was wary of this reincarnation of her younger self. Though touched that Andrew had created so pure and innocent a version of herself, she felt uncomfortable around Valentine II. Valentine found excuses to avoid this younger version, nicknamed Val. Seeing the discomfort between the two Valentines, Plikt took responsibility for Val.^[7]

When Miro was baptized in the new body he'd created for himself in the Outside, Valentine was a witness. She beseeched Miro to find Andrew, who had joined his wife Novinha at the Children of the Mind of Christ monastery so that he could be with her, and convince him to return to help protect Lusitania.^[8]

Despite the fact that she was uncomfortable around her youthful doppelgänger, Valentine spent some time with young Val. She learned that Valentine II was essentially dying, as Andrew's Aiúa could not be spread equally between the three bodies it controlled. Valentine played a bit of matchmaker with Miro and Valentine II. Miro was hesitant to pursue a relationship with the younger Valentine, but the older Valentine encouraged him to.^[8]

A few days later, Andrew lay dying in the monastery to which he'd retreated to join Novinha. Valentine went to him there and told Novinha to let him go, and give him permission to die. The request led to an angry confrontation between the two women, and also with Plikt, who had been at Andrew's side all the while. Each woman claimed to love Andrew the most, and each had a valid reason. Valentine's words to Novinha stung because of their truth, and she slapped Plikt, telling her that she would never have the honor of Speaking Andrew's death.^[8]

Once Andrew spoke again, the three women put aside their differences to support him in his final hours. Valentine helped Novinha and Plikt comfort Andrew as his body struggled with an invasion from Jane's Aiúa. Jane had been disconnected from her ansible network home, and her consciousness tried to find a new body wherein to live. She tried Andrew's, but it was already taken by his own essence. Jane left, and Andrew regained consciousness for the last time.^[8]

Valentine watched as Novinha set Andrew free of his obligations to her. As Andrew passed into death, his body dissolved into nothing but a few hairs from his head. Valentine, Novinha, and Plikt each took a handful of the hairs to remember Andrew by.^[8]

As the Lusitania Fleet came ever nearer, Jane insisted that Valentine, Jakt, and their children leave Lusitania. Jane transported them instantly to an undisclosed location. When the planet was not destroyed, they returned to Lusitania.^[8]

Valentine attended Andrew's funeral. She appreciated Plikt's Speaking for his death, but found more comfort in the memories she had that no one else did. Following the funeral, she joined Miro and Jane as well as Si Wang-mu and Peter II as the two couples were married.^[8]

She wrote one more book under the name Demosthenes, a history of Lusitania. In it, she wrote Andrew's story, but only because he'd been so important in the story of that world.^[8]

Personality

Valentine was a very compassionate person, in fact too compassionate for acceptance into Battle School.^[1] She cared greatly for the people around her, including strangers. This love of humanity translated into her various historical novels about the history of the Formic Wars or the planets she visited.^[4]

Trivia

• Valentine was portrayed by Abigail Breslin in Ender's Game (Film).^[9]
• Her email address as Demosthenes on Earth was Demosthenes%[email protected].^[1]

Quotes

"All the stories are fictions. What matters is which fiction you believe."

— Children of the Mind, Chapter 8

References

1. ↑ ^{1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 1.7 1.8 1.9} Ender's Game
2. ↑ ^{2.0 2.1} "The Investment Counselor"
3. ↑ The Authorized Ender Companion
4. ↑ ^{4.00 4.01 4.02 4.03 4.04 4.05 4.06 4.07 4.08 4.09 4.10} Ender in Exile
5. ↑ "Renegat"
6. ↑ ^{6.0 6.1 6.2 6.3 6.4 6.5 6.6} Speaker for the Dead
7. ↑ ^{7.00 7.01 7.02 7.03 7.04 7.05 7.06 7.07 7.08 7.09 7.10} Xenocide
8. ↑ ^{8.0 8.1 8.2 8.3 8.4 8.5 8.6 8.7} Children of the Mind
9. ↑ Ender's Game (Film)