Title: Peter and Valentine Wiggin in Ender's Game | Shmoop
Headings: Peter and Valentine Wiggin in Ender's Game
Peter and Valentine Wiggin in Ender's Game
Peter and Valentine Wiggin
Devil and Angel
Interlude: Locke and Demosthenes Take Over the World
We’re Not So Different After All

Content: Whenever he starts to beat kids up, Ender worries if he’ll turn into Peter. So, looked at that way, Peter inadvertently helps to keep Ender on the straight and narrow (i.e., not beating up little kids). And at first glance, Val seems to clearly be the kind Angel, helping Ender choose the right things. Except Val’s the one who convinces Ender (twice!) to keep fighting and help wipe out the buggers (which may or may not be a good thing). Val is also the one who keeps telling Ender that she’ll always love him no matter what he does. That’s a very nice sentiment, but since he doesn’t have to worry about pissing off his beloved sister, Ender loses at least one reason to act like a nice guy. That is, Ender could pull the legs off ants and Val would still adore her little brother. That’s all a long way of saying that Peter and Valentine are very interesting characters by themselves (and each of them becomes more important in other books that Card wrote); but they’re here mainly just to give Ender something to react to and be compared to.