Ender’s Game: Chapter 13 Summary & Analysis

The chapter begins with a conversation between two unnamed government officials. The two officials note that Valentine and Peter Wiggin are Demosthenes and Locke, two highly influential journalists. The officials note that Valentine, ironically the more peaceful and calm of the children, writes as Demosthenes, the inflammatory, hawkish journalist, while Peter writes as Locke in spite of his violent tendencies. The officials toy with the idea of exposing Locke and Demosthenes’ identities, but instead they decide that this isn’t worth it: for now, Peter and Valentine have influence but not power.

Valentine has been writing as Demosthenes for more than two years now. Her column is reprinted in dozens of “newsnets” (essentially, Internet websites) and she’s beginning to amass a large salary from her writings. Sometimes, she and “Locke” fund political candidates, and they’re often invited to speak on political panels, though they’re always forced to turn down the invitations in order to keep their identities secret. Peter is worried that Demosthenes is becoming more influential than Locke—exactly the opposite of what he’d wanted. But Valentine assures Peter that anti-Russian sentiment (Demosthenes’s trademark) is simply more fun to read than level-headed wisdom—in the long run, however, Locke will be more powerful.

One day Valentine finds Graff waiting for her at school. He explains that Valentine must come with him to visit Ender, since he’s on leave. Graff explains that Ender cares for Valentine, far more than he cares for the rest of his family. As a result, he’ll only visit with her, not Father, Mother, or Peter. Valentine agrees to come with Graff. In the car, Graff tells Valentine the truth: he knows that she’s Demosthenes. Graff assures Valentine that the IF has no intention of revealing her identity: it’s in their interest to use Locke and Demosthenes—together—to promote stability and balance.

Valentine and Graff arrive in Florida, where Graff takes Valentine to a beautiful lake. Valentine runs down to the shores of the lake, and finds Ender paddling in a small boat. He greets Valentine calmly, and mentions that he enjoys swimming since he misses weightlessness. Valentine playfully tickles Ender’s knee, as she did when he was a child. Ender reflexively grabs Valentine’s wrist—a lesson he’s learned from combat class. This dismays Valentine, and she realizes that the IF has turned Ender into an agent of war.

Valentine tells Ender why she’s here—undoubtedly she’s supposed to convince Ender to continue with Battle School, just as she did before. Ender nods, and insists that Valentine not mention Peter. Ender mentions that he’s been watching videos of Bugger invasions, and he’s noticed that there’s almost no footage of individual buggers. Valentine finds this very telling: Ender is concerned about understanding his enemies, even when he’s trying to wipe them out. Ender agrees, explaining, “In the moment when I truly understand my enemy, understand him well enough to defeat him, then in that very moment I also love him.” He whispers to Valentine that he’s afraid of losing her love. Valentine touches Ender very gently, and tells him that she’s not afraid. Ender believes her, but mutters, “You should be.”

Valentine can’t help but tell Ender about Peter. She tells him that Peter is writing under an alias, and wants to run the world, beginning with his words. Ender is impressed, and surprised that Peter has become so tactical and methodical in his thinking. Valentine also tells Ender that Peter has “changed”—he has ambitions of running the world and imposing a new global hegemony. While Peter isn’t a kind man, he’s a good politician, and he knows how to balance power—ironically, Peter, who tortured Ender and Valentine for years, could be the calmest and most level-headed leader of Earth.

Ender confesses his deepest secret to Valentine: he can’t beat the Buggers. Even after years of military training, he has no idea how to defeat them. In other words, he’s become a killer, but not a savior. As a result, he’ll always feel weaker than Peter. Valentine tells Ender that the only way he’ll be able to outshine Peter is by defeating the Buggers. Ender shakes his head: he doesn’t want to “beat Peter”—he wants Peter to love him. Valentine doesn’t know what to say, as she doubts Peter loves anyone.

Ender and Valentine lie by the lake for hours, silently. After some time, Valentine sits up and tells Ender that she loves him, “more than ever.” With this she walks away, and travels back to Greensboro. Ender leaves the lake, and finds Graff waiting for him. He accuses Graff of using Valentine to manipulate him into returning to Battle School. Graff nods and admits that Ender is right: by exposing Ender to Valentine, Graff has reminded Ender that the world is worth fighting for. Graff explains that he’s been reassigned to stay with Ender at all times: Ender is the future of the human race, and thus of the utmost importance.

Ender and Graff leave the Earth after Ender has been there for three months. Graff informs Ender that he’s headed for an interplanetary satellite, and then to the ISL—the IF Command School. Command School is located on a small planet called Eros. At the interplanetary satellite, Graff finds a pilot and orders him to take them to Eros immediately. Once the pilot has begun the journey, Graff reveals that the pilot will have to spend the foreseeable future living on Eros, since the planet’s location is classified for as long as the Bugger war is going on.

For the next three months, Ender and Graff travel to Eros on their ship. They spend long chunks of time talking about the Buggers and military strategy. Ender is particularly interested in learning about the Buggers themselves. The Buggers, Graff tells him, are similarly to human beings in many ways: their bodies contain DNA, and they have the same type of vision. It appears that the Buggers can communicate with each other from any distance, instantaneously. The humans have imitated Bugger biology to develop instantaneous communication methods of their own, which they now use for war.

Ender asks Graff other questions about the Buggers. He wants to know if the Buggers are sending a new fleet to destroy human beings. Graff admits that he doesn’t know: all he knows is that human beings are sending a fleet of their own to eliminate the Buggers. Ender points out the obvious: maybe the Buggers have decided not to attack humans anymore. Graff argues that it’s not worth it to assume that the Buggers have moved on—humanity’s best chance is to attack the Buggers. For seventy years, humans have been sending fleets of ships to the Bugger home planet, each fleet more advanced than the last. He adds that the fleets need a commander who can lead them to victory against the Buggers. That commander is Ender.

Ender asks Graff, point-blank, why humans are fighting the Buggers. Graff offers various reasons: because the Buggers need new worlds to colonize, because the Buggers have a strange religion, because they don’t regard human beings as intelligent life forms, because they don’t want other intelligent life forms in the universe, etc. He finds it odd that Ender is so interested in his enemies. Ender tells Graff, “I’m in favor of surviving.”