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QUESTION:

I know you hear it all the time, but I have read the Ender saga countless times, and still it is intriguing, there is always more to analyze. In Children of the Mind, Peter seems to undergo a paradigm shift. He is no longer the violent or uncontrollable; no longer as ambitious. He is more of a cocky, skeptical person. My question is, is this an effect of Peter maturing, or did your feeling about him, your image, change?

-- Submitted by Jeff Tuzik

OSC REPLIES: - March 12, 2001

The "Peter" of Children of the Mind is not the real Peter. It's Peter-as-conceived-of-by-Ender. And the aiua that controls his choices is Ender, pure and simple. So even though he looks like Peter and thinks that he's Peter, he's not Peter.

In Shadow of the Hegemon we get a chance to get to know the REAL Peter. Even with Hegemon, however, we don't see the same Peter that we saw in Ender's Game. Why? Because in EG we see Peter through the eyes of Valentine and Ender, resentful and somewhat frightened siblings. In Hegemon, we see him through the eyes of Bean and through Peter's own eyes - which means that we see him in quite a different light. Also, in Hegemon he's older than he was in Ender's Game. So you'll still see differences, but it doesn't mean one is "true" and the other "false." Both are true; neither is complete.

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