james_ross•8d agoMost Upvoted

Should 'Ender's Game' have ended with Ender undoing the genocide or was the dark ending necessary?

I reread Ender's Game last week and got to thinking about that ending where he finds the last queen egg. On one hand, having him actually undo the genocide and raise the hive queen feels like a redemption arc that undercuts the whole tragedy of the story. But on the other hand, if the book just ended with him living with the guilt forever, it would be so bleak that the whole novel's message about empathy falls flat. What do you think, should the author have let Ender actually succeed in getting the hive queen to a new planet, or was the ambiguous hope of the original ending the right call?

2 comments

2 Comments

christopher678d ago

I read it on a beach in Mexico and the sand got in the binding, totally ruined my focus.

thea6928d ago

Ngl, a beach and a book is a risky combo. I remember trying to read on the train once and someone spilled coffee on my page, which was bad enough. Honestly, @christopher67 the sand sounds like a whole other level of disaster, like tiny little time bombs in your spine. I ended up just giving up and people watching instead, way more entertaining anyway.