Ender’s Game: Chapter 8 Summary & Analysis

The chapter begins with a conversation, this time between two named characters, Anderson and Graff. Anderson objects that Graff isn’t being “fair” enough with Ender, to which Graff replies that fairness “has nothing to do with war.” Graff orders Anderson to devote all his time and resources to challenging Ender via the battleroom. Anderson points out that if it becomes too obvious that the Battle School is manipulating the games, then students won’t take them seriously anymore. Anderson also threatens to report Graff to the Polemarch, the powerful leader of Russia and its satellite states. Graff calmly accepts Anderson’s threat, stressing that he’s doing this for Ender, and for humanity.

Ender meets his new commanding officer in the Rat Army, a boy named Rose. Rose teases Ender, implying that Ender’s high rankings in the battleroom are a fluke. Ender thinks about all he knows about Rose: Rat Army is in second place in the battleroom standings, and has a reputation for being unbeatable. Rose tells Ender to obey him at all costs, and Ender nods. Rose also tells Ender that he’s forbidden from practicing with his old friends or using his desk. Ender thinks of Rose as childish and immature, and he wonders how anyone so undisciplined could win in the battleroom.

Rose sends Ender to speak to Ender’s new immediate superior, Dink Meeker. Dink seems laconic and uninterested in talking to Ender. However, he gives Ender an important piece of advice: commanders have as much authority as Ender allows them to have. He also tells Ender to expect rigorous training in battleroom shooting and maneuvering: despite his young age, Ender won’t be treated any differently from the other battleroom soldiers.

In the following days, Ender practices with Dink Meeker and Dink’s other “toon” (platoon) of soldiers. Dink trains his troops separately from the rest of the Rat Army. One day, Dink asks Ender to demonstrate the attack position that Ender used in his last battle: moving feet-first. Dink tells his toon to use Ender’s position, although Ender realizes that Dink doesn’t entirely understand what Ender is getting at: he doesn’t understand that Ender is rethinking the orientation of zero gravity. Nevertheless, Dink tells his soldiers to follow Ender’s position. This makes the soldiers dislike Ender.

In his spare time, Ender decides to continue practicing with Alai and his other friends, disobeying Rose’s authority. He also uses his desk. One day, Rose confronts Ender about disobeying his orders. Ender brushes off Rose’s authority, and Rose is annoyed, but can’t do anything about it. Ender also tells Rose that Bonzo had ordered him never to fire his gun. This further irritates Rose, because it proves that Ender is an insubordinate soldier. He tells Ender that in the next battle, he’ll be sent out into the battleroom by himself, to be shot immediately.

At the next battle, Rose orders Ender to launch himself through the battleroom alone. The order is seemingly suicidal—Rose is sacrificing Ender as a punishment. Ender launches himself through the battleroom, freezing his own legs to form a shield—so he can still shoot with his arms. Because he’s protected, Ender is able to freeze several enemy soldiers before he’s fully frozen. At the end of the battle, Ender finds that he’s still ranked first in the standings, even though he was sent into the battle to be frozen immediately. In the following weeks, Ender’s success changes battleroom strategy: soldiers move through the room immediately instead of taking half a minute to crawl ahead.

One day, Ender is practicing in his toon, led by Dink Meeker. Ender wonders aloud why Dink, a talented soldier, hasn’t been promoted to command an army. Dink tells Ender that he’s actually been promoted twice—and he refused both times. The IF, Dink explains, manipulates its children into fighting with each other, something that Dink finds repulsive. Nevertheless, he loves the battleroom too much to give up on Battle School altogether. Dink reminisces about “normal children”—children who aren’t forced to command others, or worry about their standings. In Battle School, there are dozens of children who are insane by most definitions—they love fighting to the point where they want to kill their opponents. Dink ends his conversation with a disturbing possibility: it’s likely that the Buggers are already dead, killed by Mazer Rackham long ago. The governments of the world then manipulate their people using fear propaganda—in this way, they maintain power. Privately, Ender disagrees: as an American, he recognizes that it would be impossible for such a major lie to last for so long. Even so, he’s moved by Dink’s observations about the Battle School.

Shortly after Ender’s conversation with Dink, he goes to practice battleroom maneuvers with Alai and some other friends. Bernard isn’t present—word has gotten out that any new recruits caught practicing with Ender won’t be assigned to armies. In the coming days, Ender begins hearing stories of younger boys being bullied for practicing with Ender. Although Ender believes that he should call off his practices for a few days, Alai insists that they continue.

One day, Ender and Alai are practicing with new students. A group of older boys from other armies (including Salamander) enter the battleroom and see Ender practicing. They jump toward Ender’s group, preparing to fight. Ender commands his students to work together—and because they’ve been practicing for months, this is easy. The older boys are disorganized, while Ender’s students skillfully move around them. One older boy grabs Ender and tries to punch him, but this is difficult—in zero gravity, a punch propels the puncher backwards with the same force that hits his victim. A boy grabs Ender’s leg, and so Ender kicks the boy in the ear, drawing blood. Two other boys try to grab Ender as he drifts toward the door of the battleroom, where the rest of his friends are waiting for him. Ender is able to kick onto the boys’ helmets, again drawing blood, and then drift out of the battleroom. The next day, Ender notices that four boys have been sent to the hospital, supposedly for “accidental collision in null g.” Ender is horrified with himself for hurting other boys, and with the IF for brushing off the violence as an accident.

A few days after his fight, Ender plays the Giant game again. In the game, he confronts a monster with the body of a snake and the face of his brother, Peter. Without thinking, Ender shouts, turning the heads of the other boys in the game room. After that, Ender begins having nightmares about Peter’s face. He begins to realize that he’s a brutal killer at heart, just like Peter.