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The Confusing History of Ender's Game (Series)

Exits Examined

562,497 views

Intro: 0:00
The World of Ender's Game: 1:45
Worldbuilding, Themes and Writing/Controversy: 11:23
Handy Goblin Ad: 18:07
Books and Reading Order: 18:53
Adaptations: 25:26
Future & Conclusion: 30:38

The world of Ender’s Game is one of sci-fi’s most compelling and controversial stories. Imagine a brutal war against an alien race, genius children trained as soldiers, and a zero-gravity battle school where strategy is everything. It’s a tale of war, morality, and manipulation—wrapped in one of the most influential sci-fi novels of all time. But its legacy is far from simple—praise, backlash, sequels, and a troubled film adaptation have all shaped its journey. Let’s dive into the rise, impact, and lasting debate surrounding Ender’s Game.

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MUSIC & DESIGN:

Thumbnail Design by Dabi: https://dabigraphics.my.canva.site/

Hard Boiled, Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Rising Tide, Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Celtic Impulse, Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Vibing Over Venus, Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0
creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

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SOURCES:

Reading order: Reddit: interested_in_the_enders_game_series_please_read

http://www.hatrack.com/osc/video/ - website and interviews

https://enderverse.fandom.com/wiki/En...

https://news.justcollecting.com/10-ti...

orsen scott card on same sex marriage 2004 https://web.archive.org/web/200402241...

orson scott cards for mormon times writing (many are not available have been pulled) http://www.nauvoo.com/deseretnews.html

Manga: https://batotoo.com/chapter/301901

OSC compares obama to hitler https://www.theguardian.com/film/2013...

http://hatrack.com/osc/reviews/everyt...

short stories linked - Reddit: the_igms_short_stories_are_now_free_to_read_online

Orson Scott Card On Science Fiction and Re...

20 Comments

@Terry_the_maidenless 1 year ago

warhammer 40k, starship troopers, helldivers, metroid and the alien movies taught me that the aliens out there want to either eat us or impregnate us. Ender's game is the first piece of media I've seen where a human has remorse and feels guilt for wiping out the aliens.

@DabbleDo 1 year ago

When Ender shut off his connection with Jane in a moment of annoyance and it forever altered their relationship… I think about that all the time

@almasyelesbayev 1 year ago

Humanity exists to chew bubblegum and commit xenocide.

And we're all out of bubblegum.

@moonkey2712 1 year ago

1: ender didn't know he killed the bully until after he graduated command school, the army had given him steel toed shoes and he didn't know.
2: it's speaker FOR the dead!!!

@monkeytrousers8562 1 year ago

There's one scene in Enders shadow that absolutely guts me. During the final battle, Bean has figured out that it's all real and he is sending his battle group to their deaths. He sends them a message, a quote from King David when he hears that his son, Absalom, who had rebelled against him, had died in battle. Bean says ' O my son Absalom, my son, my son Absalom! Would I had died instead of you, O Absalom, my son, my son!'. Instant waterworks.

@shortysmall 1 year ago

Ender's game was only written to be a back story for speaker for the dead. The author thought he needed more context for that specific book.

@SovaKlr 1 year ago

I wouldn't say Ender was drafted into battle school. He was bred into battle school. He's a third. Only allowed to be born because of his potential.

@baddragonite 1 year ago

I vaguely remember a bit in one of the audio books where Card said that the series was so complicated at points that he replied on fans that he spoke with directly to help him keep the canon events straight

@its_ot 1 year ago

"The enemy's gate is down," crosses my mind almost every day

@L3goK1ng 1 year ago

The book involving the planet full of people with O.C.D was a work of art

@Guts-DemonSlayer 1 year ago

This entire story reminds me a lot of Dune. Not the plot but the way the story moves and morphs into something way bigger than you could've ever imagined.

@trite4654 1 year ago (edited)

I liked enders shadow more than enders game. Maybe it was the trauma, but ender felt like an empty, shell of a person. Bean seemed more fleshed out to me

@Midnightrider1177 1 year ago

8th grade computer teacher read Enders Game to us. I was hooked. I read the whole Enders Shadow series, and every other Enders Game book I could get my hands on over the next 4-5 years. Amazing work, and cemented my love for literature in general.

@benrice2166 1 year ago

have always loved that in the series that ender was forbiden from comming back to earth due to the breakdown of the warsaw pact and was forced to go to shakespere 2 due to having no other option

@tornadomuchacho 1 year ago

I’ll never be able to reconcile the philosophy of Speaker for the Dead with Orson Scott Card’s opinions and diatribes.

@ZombiePotatoSalad 11 months ago (edited)

What's also sad is how the humans almost exterminated the Piggies over a misunderstanding. The Piggies are symbiotic with the forests they live in. The trees are literally the consciousness of sexually mature Piggies living on in trees, that they can communicate with by playing a rhythm on the trunk with sticks. This is the only way a male Piggy can produce offspring, and they are called Fathertrees, and it's seen as the greatest honor to become one. A human colonist was talking to the Piggies, fascinated by them. One night, as he tried to climb over an electric fence that surrounded the colony, while trying not to touch it, he ended up touching it and died. The Piggies, wanting to honor their friend, cut open his body and placed a sapling there, so he could become a Fathertree. The colonists found the body, violently torn open, and assumed the Piggies to be murderers, when all they did was honor the dead according to their own customs. They didn't know that Humans Do Not Work That Way, and are absolutely horrified to learn that instead of honoring their friends, they murdered them.

@BromarRamirez 1 year ago

So crazy you did this video as I just finished Children of the Mind and am absolutely,,, confused after the 4th book. Great video!

@mdwesquire 1 year ago

I appreciate that you have mostly stayed away from many plot details in case I decide to read some of the Ender sequels in the future.

@NaumRusomarov 1 year ago (edited)

speaker for the dead, the second book jn the original series, honestly broke me. i was myself grieving after the passing of my grandparents, who were complicated people, it felt like ender was grieving with me, guiding me through it all. i’m not sure I’ve cried more while reading a book.

@tnh723 1 year ago

I spent more than 2 decades hunting down the books the old fashioned way: visiting actual bookstores in the 90a and early 2000s. Finished the ender and bean books. Ill check the formic wars next. Thank you so much for your comprehensive timeline. Wow!