Furthermore, he needs to build loyalty between toon leaders and their own soldiers. Ender knows that he’s not strong enough to win a battle all by himself, so he needs to train his “toon” leaders to think for themselves. By the time he’s commanding Dragon, Ender knows that he has to be strict but not too strict, and to allow his troops to be independent, but not too independent.Ī further consequence of Ender’s lessons in leadership is that he becomes isolated from his troops, and even his former friends. From Bonzo and Rose, Ender learns what to do and what not to do. On the other side of the spectrum is Rose, the lazy, undisciplined commander of the Rat Army, who can barely convince Ender to obey any orders at all. On one side of the “leadership spectrum” is Bonzo Madrid, the brutal, tyrannical, rigid commander who beats any soldiers who disobey him-even when their disobedience wins a battle. During his early days in Battle School, Ender is traded from army to army, where he observes many commanders and learns from their mistakes. This implies another important thesis about leadership: leadership is a balance between tyranny and anarchy. It takes Ender years of study and practice before he’s fully ready to be a leader that is, to command an army of his own. It’s only over the course of the coming months, when Ender figures out who to befriend and how to undermine those who stand in his way, that he starts to gain respect. When Ender arrives at Battle School, he has a hard time gaining his peers’ attention, let alone their loyalty-on the contrary, he’s bullied for his youth and because Colonel Hyrum Graff singles him out. Almost all of the characters are in the military, so their very existence depends upon leading and following orders.Įarly on, Card makes it clear that leadership can only be gained over time. It’s no surprise that Ender’s Game deals extensively with the theme of a leadership.

Ender's game ender