Ender Wiggin is a natural at knowing how to move starship fleets in an alien war. Katniss Everdeen is lethal with a bow and arrow, and capable of starting a revolution. Combined they might make the best commander-in-chief of all time that's not old enough to vote. With the film adaptation of Ender's Game now in theaters and The Hunger Games sequel, Catching Fire, opening later this month, two of the most notable military minds in film and pop culture right now also happen to be underage.
But how similar are the battle strategies of Ender Wiggin and Katniss Everdeen? From the siblings they fight to protect to the lessons they learn from their forbears, Ender and Katniss actually have quite a bit in common – though, obviously, not everything. WIRED scoured the books, consulted military history, and talked to Navy chief petty officer Timothy Bruns, the military adviser on Ender's Game, for insight into how these two young freedom fighters stack up. (Minor spoilers for Ender's Game and The Hunger Games series follow.)
Leading by Example
Ender Wiggin: "Ender is a leader that leads from the front," said Bruns. "Leaders that lead by example are more effective because they have a better understanding of what their people are going through and the challenges that they might face." In Orson Scott Card's original book, when Ender begins commanding some of his fellow students his squad trusts him because he was once one of them – even though "their friendship, remembered from the Battle School days, gradually disappeared."
Katniss Everdeen: Similarly, Katniss finds herself as the unwitting leader of an uprising against the government after she emerges from the Games as a symbol of victory – and rebellion. Her example, particularly as a teenager from an impoverished district of Panem, inspires her fellow citizens to revolt.
Photos: Summit Entertainment (left) and Murray Close/Lionsgate (right)
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Going to War to Protect Their Siblings
One very clear line of comparison between Ender Wiggin and Katniss Everdeen is their fierce protectiveness of their siblings. Like soldiers in any war, they may be fighting much bigger battles for their planet/country but they do it in an attempt to save their families.
Ender Wiggin: Throughout his training in Battle School, Ender thinks often about his older sister Valentine. When his Battle School overseers want to get him back on his game – so to speak – they take him to see his sister back on Earth. In the book, she tells him that if he doesn't complete his training to win the alien war then he will have "killed us all." He soon resumes his military duties. "So that's why you brought me here … to make me love Earth," Ender thinks in Card's novel. "Well, it worked. … Valentine, too; she was another one of your tricks, to make me remember that I'm not going to school for myself. Well, I remember."
Katniss Everdeen: The only reason Katniss went to the Hunger Games was to take the place of her milquetoast-but-working-on-it sister, Prim. Her sacrifice helped Katniss win the hearts of Panem, by saying that she promised her sister she would try to survive the Games so that she could come home to her family. Based on the trailer for Catching Fire (below), this thread continues in the next film in the series with Katniss telling Prim, "whatever I do, it comes back to you and mom – I don't want you to get hurt."
Photo: Murray Close/Lionsgate
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Fighting on Multiple Fronts
In standard military terminology a "two-front war" is a war fought on two geographically different battle fields. But – unlike Napoleon, who just had to wage battles in Europe and Russia – in The Hunger Games and Ender's Game the fights are often in geographically different places and in somewhat psychologically different ones as well.
Ender Wiggin: Ultimately, Ender has been brought to Battle School in order to train to lead his young forces in a war against the Formics/buggers. While training, his various platoons must face off against other "toons" of young people, often much older and more experienced, while also sparring with the school's head Col. Graff. In the Ender's film, Graff has to remind him "I'm not the enemy." These struggles are mentally taxing on Ender – like Katniss, he doesn't sleep much – allowing him to simultaneously master the strategy of real war and the inherent power struggles that often accompany it. As retired Air Force colonel Tom Ruby noted in his essay "Ender on Leadership" it causes him to "fight against his own leadership while preparing to fight the Formics." Luckily, he's a smart enough strategist to manage more than one battle.
Katniss Everdeen: When she's participating in the Hunger Games, Katniss is ostensibly fighting against other tributes from her neighboring districts. But outside of the arenas where the Games happen, there is a much more real battle happening between the Capitol and the Districts, where people look to Katniss as a beacon of hope. Because she is their accidental revolutionary, the Capitol tries repeatedly to break her down mentally and physically, including by sending her back into the arena for the Quarter Quell. But she's not the only one who is a pawn, the rest of the tributes are too. It is this mentality that leads her mentor Haymitch to tell her to "remember who the enemy is" ("remember who the real enemy is" in the film, or at least the trailer) before she enters her second Games in Catching Fire.
Photo: Murray Close/Lionsgate
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Learning From Strong Mentors
Every great leader probably, at some point, had to learn from someone. Even Dwight D. Eisenhower, before World War II and before the presidency, had Fox Connor. Our young heroes here are no different. In fact, both had more than one mentor. Ender's Colonel Hyrum Graff and Katniss' Haymitch both teach their protégés by making them figure things out for themselves, while Mazer Rackham and Cinna help Ender and Katniss, respectively, in more nurturing ways.
Ender Wiggin: Anyone who's seen the trailer for Ender's Game gets the general gist of the relationship between Ender's two mentors, Graff (played by Harrison Ford) and Rackham (played by Ben Kingsley). Mazer is a careful teacher, who wants to help coach him until he's absolutely ready. Graff, on the other hand, accepts that no one is ever ready and "you go when you're ready enough." Total Good Cop, Bad Cop.
Katniss Everdeen: Her mentors may interact less than Ender's do, but they fill similar roles. Her actual Capitol-appointed mentor Haymitch, in addition to having his abilities hindered by being a fall-down drunk, takes a tough-love, hands-off approach. He makes Katniss learn her own way, and only sends her help in the arena when she absolutely needs it. Her stylist, Cinna, on the other hand gives her confidence in the form of flaming dresses (yes, this works somehow) and tear-jerking send-off, "if I could, I'd bet on you." (That's from the movie, in the book he says "my money would be on you.")
Photo: Richard Foreman Jr./courtesy Summit Entertainment
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Excellent Ability to Choose Allies
Unless you're Switzerland, forming alliances is fairly necessary for any entity in battle. Katniss and Ender may be living in fictional futures that are decades past knowledge of the Axis and Allied Powers, but they get this.
Ender Wiggin: Throughout his time in Battle School Ender makes a few adversaries, but he also racks up a couple of close allies as well – most specifically, Petra (Hailee Steinfeld in the film version) – the only girl in her platoon but one who has "more balls than anybody else." Before he's been able to earn the respect of many others in his school, it's Petra who helps him train for fight exercises and teaches him how to shoot.
Katniss Everdeen: Although their allegiance waxes and wanes, Peeta has always been a crucial ally for Katniss. The boy who once gave her a loaf of bread when she was starving also helped her win the hearts of Panem by claiming they were star-crossed lovers. Since there (supposedly) can be only one survivor in the Games, Katniss often questions this alliance, but still uses the arrangement to her advantage on many occasions. In Catching Fire when she forms a rebel alliance of sorts with the other tributes during the Quarter Quell.
Photo: Richard Foreman Jr./courtesy Summit Entertainment
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Knowing Their Enemy's Weaknesses
In The Art of War, Sun Tzu postulated that it was just as important to know one's enemy as it was for them to know themselves. This tidbit was exceptionally true in the cases of Ender and Katniss – both of whom exploit their enemy's shortcomings to their own advantage.
Ender Wiggin: Ender's fundamental strategy in battle is to observe, then react accordingly. "Every time, I've won because I could understand the way my enemy thought," he says in Orson Scott Card's book. "From what they did." His teacher Mazer Rackham later reinforces this by telling him "there is no teacher but the enemy." Interestingly, this also teaches Ender to understand his enemy so completely that he learns to love them. Then, "I destroy them," he says.
Katniss Everdeen: In the Games, Katniss manages to out-smart the Career tributes who have trained their entire lives by simply figuring out that she can climb higher in trees than them and destroy their food supplies in one fell swoop. In Catching Fire, she's essential in figuring out the weaknesses of the arena itself. Outside of the Games, she is constantly calculating how much the Capitol needs her against how much they want her dead in order to determine exactly what she can get away with. And if President Snow and the leadership of Panem have one main weakness, it's not knowing Katniss' strengths as well as they know themselves.
Photo: Richard Foreman Jr./courtesy Summit Entertainment
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Learning From the Wars of the Past
Both Ender and Katniss are adept at learning from past battles to figure out how to win their current ones. In a way – even though they don’t know it – they're evoking President Eisenhower's 1957 saying that "plans are worthless, but planning is everything." They constantly must act, without a set strategy, quickly on their feet – but they're able to do it because they've been studying their whole lives.
Ender Wiggin: Throughout his early training days, Ender learns from his mistakes and the mistakes of other kids in the Battle Room. By the time he's training to be a commander, he's learning from the alien race's own battle moves through videos of previous conflicts. At one point in Card's book, he sits down with Colonel Graff and Major Anderson, who ask why he's watching the old wars. "To learn strategy, of course." They reply that the videos were propaganda and that the I.F.'s strategies have been edited out. "I know," he responds.
Katniss Everdeen: Like Ender, Katniss watches video feeds from previous Hunger Games, but she doesn't like it. Instead she learns one of her most important strategies from a battle that took place outside the arena. That little trick that she and Rue use in the arena to communicate via the mockingjays? That came from the lessons of the previous rebellion, during which the rebels fed false information to "jabberjays" – genetically engineered spy birds – that then reported those lies to the Capitol. The jabberjay strategy ended shortly thereafter and the birds were released and mated with mockingbirds in the wild, creating mockingjay – Katniss' spirit animal of sorts, which becomes a symbol of the rebellion and of Katniss herself.
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Natural Born Leadership -- And Humility
Despite any differences they may have in combat, Ender and Katniss share a lot of commonalities when it comes to their leadership skills, particularly when it comes to one key trait: Humility. That's a characteristic that Bruns said is required of every good leader. "I feel it's absolutely vital," he said. "A leader needs to evaluate the situation and determine if the reward is worth the risk, and not put the blame on anyone else if their decision fails. They must also not gloat or excessively rejoice if their decision is successful."
Ender Wiggin: When given control of his first platoon in the film Ender has just one question, "Do you think they'll follow me?" It takes a while, but they do. Because, like many before him, he's firm but fair and takes little credit for himself. Through every training exercise, every Battle School scrimmage, and every war simulation – Ender never overly celebrates his own (personal or team) victories. He merely analyzes any shortcomings in his performance, looses sleep, and moves on. He also leaves little room for his own feelings period. "Mazer had told him there would be no pity, and his private unhappiness meant nothing to anyone," Card writes in the novel. "He kept his mind on the game, trying to learn from the battles."
Katniss Everdeen: Katniss Everdeen may be the greatest young revolutionary who never meant to start a revolution. She never really wanted to take on the Capitol – even though she hated it – or lead an uprising. But when she volunteered to take her sister's place in the Hunger Games and threw up the three-finger salute she meant to "show the Capitol that whatever they do or force us to do there is a part of us they can't own," according to Collin's first Hunger Games book. It worked, and soon everyone wanted to follow her lead.
Ender Wiggin is a natural at knowing how to move starship fleets in an alien war. Katniss Everdeen is lethal with a bow and arrow, and capable of starting a revolution. Combined they might make the best commander-in-chief of all time that's not old enough to vote. With the film adaptation of Ender's Game now in theaters and The Hunger Games sequel, Catching Fire, opening later this month, two of the most notable military minds in film and pop culture right now also happen to be underage.
But how similar are the battle strategies of Ender Wiggin and Katniss Everdeen? From the siblings they fight to protect to the lessons they learn from their forbears, Ender and Katniss actually have quite a bit in common – though, obviously, not everything. WIRED scoured the books, consulted military history, and talked to Navy chief petty officer Timothy Bruns, the military adviser on Ender's Game, for insight into how these two young freedom fighters stack up. (Minor spoilers for Ender's Game and The Hunger Games series follow.)
Leading by Example
Ender Wiggin: "Ender is a leader that leads from the front," said Bruns. "Leaders that lead by example are more effective because they have a better understanding of what their people are going through and the challenges that they might face." In Orson Scott Card's original book, when Ender begins commanding some of his fellow students his squad trusts him because he was once one of them – even though "their friendship, remembered from the Battle School days, gradually disappeared."
Katniss Everdeen: Similarly, Katniss finds herself as the unwitting leader of an uprising against the government after she emerges from the Games as a symbol of victory – and rebellion. Her example, particularly as a teenager from an impoverished district of Panem, inspires her fellow citizens to revolt.
Photos: Summit Entertainment (left) and Murray Close/Lionsgate (right)
Going to War to Protect Their Siblings
One very clear line of comparison between Ender Wiggin and Katniss Everdeen is their fierce protectiveness of their siblings. Like soldiers in any war, they may be fighting much bigger battles for their planet/country but they do it in an attempt to save their families.
Ender Wiggin: Throughout his training in Battle School, Ender thinks often about his older sister Valentine. When his Battle School overseers want to get him back on his game – so to speak – they take him to see his sister back on Earth. In the book, she tells him that if he doesn't complete his training to win the alien war then he will have "killed us all." He soon resumes his military duties. "So that's why you brought me here … to make me love Earth," Ender thinks in Card's novel. "Well, it worked. … Valentine, too; she was another one of your tricks, to make me remember that I'm not going to school for myself. Well, I remember."
Katniss Everdeen: The only reason Katniss went to the Hunger Games was to take the place of her milquetoast-but-working-on-it sister, Prim. Her sacrifice helped Katniss win the hearts of Panem, by saying that she promised her sister she would try to survive the Games so that she could come home to her family. Based on the trailer for Catching Fire (below), this thread continues in the next film in the series with Katniss telling Prim, "whatever I do, it comes back to you and mom – I don't want you to get hurt."
Photo: Murray Close/Lionsgate
Fighting on Multiple Fronts
In standard military terminology a "two-front war" is a war fought on two geographically different battle fields. But – unlike Napoleon, who just had to wage battles in Europe and Russia – in The Hunger Games and Ender's Game the fights are often in geographically different places and in somewhat psychologically different ones as well.
Ender Wiggin: Ultimately, Ender has been brought to Battle School in order to train to lead his young forces in a war against the Formics/buggers. While training, his various platoons must face off against other "toons" of young people, often much older and more experienced, while also sparring with the school's head Col. Graff. In the Ender's film, Graff has to remind him "I'm not the enemy." These struggles are mentally taxing on Ender – like Katniss, he doesn't sleep much – allowing him to simultaneously master the strategy of real war and the inherent power struggles that often accompany it. As retired Air Force colonel Tom Ruby noted in his essay "Ender on Leadership" it causes him to "fight against his own leadership while preparing to fight the Formics." Luckily, he's a smart enough strategist to manage more than one battle.
Katniss Everdeen: When she's participating in the Hunger Games, Katniss is ostensibly fighting against other tributes from her neighboring districts. But outside of the arenas where the Games happen, there is a much more real battle happening between the Capitol and the Districts, where people look to Katniss as a beacon of hope. Because she is their accidental revolutionary, the Capitol tries repeatedly to break her down mentally and physically, including by sending her back into the arena for the Quarter Quell. But she's not the only one who is a pawn, the rest of the tributes are too. It is this mentality that leads her mentor Haymitch to tell her to "remember who the enemy is" ("remember who the real enemy is" in the film, or at least the trailer) before she enters her second Games in Catching Fire.
Photo: Murray Close/Lionsgate
Disorienting the Enemy With Chaos
Ender Wiggin: Bruns, who actually helped the cast of Ender's Game train in military protocol at Space Camp in Huntsville, Alabama, notes that Ender's greatest strategic skill is something called the Observe, Orient, Decide, and Act (OODA) loop. Developed by military strategist John Boyd – aka "the fighter pilot who changed the art of war" – its core tenet holds that to win a person should watch and react to the enemy in such a way that they operate at a quicker pace than their adversary – creating a chaos that makes it hard for the enemy to anticipate your moves or react. "Ender applies many different and effective military strategies throughout this film," Bruns said. "In my opinion what sets him apart is his ability to utilize OODA loop ... I believe Ender took this strategy and applied it to many of the situations that he found himself in.
Katniss Everdeen: While Katniss does employ the OODA loop from time to time (dropping a tracker jacker nest on one's rivals is pretty disorienting), she doesn't use it as effectively as Wiggin does – especially since it might be his signature skill. Instead, she's far more effective at defensive tactics than offensive ones, and often survives thanks to evasive maneuvering (a method long employed on Star Trek – and simply getting out of the way of enemy fire. At the start of her first Games, for example, she immediately runs as far away from the other tributes as she can, and later evades the Career tributes simply by climbing a really, really tall tree.
Learning From Strong Mentors
Every great leader probably, at some point, had to learn from someone. Even Dwight D. Eisenhower, before World War II and before the presidency, had Fox Connor. Our young heroes here are no different. In fact, both had more than one mentor. Ender's Colonel Hyrum Graff and Katniss' Haymitch both teach their protégés by making them figure things out for themselves, while Mazer Rackham and Cinna help Ender and Katniss, respectively, in more nurturing ways.
Ender Wiggin: Anyone who's seen the trailer for Ender's Game gets the general gist of the relationship between Ender's two mentors, Graff (played by Harrison Ford) and Rackham (played by Ben Kingsley). Mazer is a careful teacher, who wants to help coach him until he's absolutely ready. Graff, on the other hand, accepts that no one is ever ready and "you go when you're ready enough." Total Good Cop, Bad Cop.
Katniss Everdeen: Her mentors may interact less than Ender's do, but they fill similar roles. Her actual Capitol-appointed mentor Haymitch, in addition to having his abilities hindered by being a fall-down drunk, takes a tough-love, hands-off approach. He makes Katniss learn her own way, and only sends her help in the arena when she absolutely needs it. Her stylist, Cinna, on the other hand gives her confidence in the form of flaming dresses (yes, this works somehow) and tear-jerking send-off, "if I could, I'd bet on you." (That's from the movie, in the book he says "my money would be on you.")
Photo: Richard Foreman Jr./courtesy Summit Entertainment
Excellent Ability to Choose Allies
Unless you're Switzerland, forming alliances is fairly necessary for any entity in battle. Katniss and Ender may be living in fictional futures that are decades past knowledge of the Axis and Allied Powers, but they get this.
Ender Wiggin: Throughout his time in Battle School Ender makes a few adversaries, but he also racks up a couple of close allies as well – most specifically, Petra (Hailee Steinfeld in the film version) – the only girl in her platoon but one who has "more balls than anybody else." Before he's been able to earn the respect of many others in his school, it's Petra who helps him train for fight exercises and teaches him how to shoot.
Katniss Everdeen: Although their allegiance waxes and wanes, Peeta has always been a crucial ally for Katniss. The boy who once gave her a loaf of bread when she was starving also helped her win the hearts of Panem by claiming they were star-crossed lovers. Since there (supposedly) can be only one survivor in the Games, Katniss often questions this alliance, but still uses the arrangement to her advantage on many occasions. In Catching Fire when she forms a rebel alliance of sorts with the other tributes during the Quarter Quell.
Photo: Richard Foreman Jr./courtesy Summit Entertainment
Knowing Their Enemy's Weaknesses
In The Art of War, Sun Tzu postulated that it was just as important to know one's enemy as it was for them to know themselves. This tidbit was exceptionally true in the cases of Ender and Katniss – both of whom exploit their enemy's shortcomings to their own advantage.
Ender Wiggin: Ender's fundamental strategy in battle is to observe, then react accordingly. "Every time, I've won because I could understand the way my enemy thought," he says in Orson Scott Card's book. "From what they did." His teacher Mazer Rackham later reinforces this by telling him "there is no teacher but the enemy." Interestingly, this also teaches Ender to understand his enemy so completely that he learns to love them. Then, "I destroy them," he says.
Katniss Everdeen: In the Games, Katniss manages to out-smart the Career tributes who have trained their entire lives by simply figuring out that she can climb higher in trees than them and destroy their food supplies in one fell swoop. In Catching Fire, she's essential in figuring out the weaknesses of the arena itself. Outside of the Games, she is constantly calculating how much the Capitol needs her against how much they want her dead in order to determine exactly what she can get away with. And if President Snow and the leadership of Panem have one main weakness, it's not knowing Katniss' strengths as well as they know themselves.
Photo: Richard Foreman Jr./courtesy Summit Entertainment
Learning From the Wars of the Past
Both Ender and Katniss are adept at learning from past battles to figure out how to win their current ones. In a way – even though they don’t know it – they're evoking President Eisenhower's 1957 saying that "plans are worthless, but planning is everything." They constantly must act, without a set strategy, quickly on their feet – but they're able to do it because they've been studying their whole lives.
Ender Wiggin: Throughout his early training days, Ender learns from his mistakes and the mistakes of other kids in the Battle Room. By the time he's training to be a commander, he's learning from the alien race's own battle moves through videos of previous conflicts. At one point in Card's book, he sits down with Colonel Graff and Major Anderson, who ask why he's watching the old wars. "To learn strategy, of course." They reply that the videos were propaganda and that the I.F.'s strategies have been edited out. "I know," he responds.
Katniss Everdeen: Like Ender, Katniss watches video feeds from previous Hunger Games, but she doesn't like it. Instead she learns one of her most important strategies from a battle that took place outside the arena. That little trick that she and Rue use in the arena to communicate via the mockingjays? That came from the lessons of the previous rebellion, during which the rebels fed false information to "jabberjays" – genetically engineered spy birds – that then reported those lies to the Capitol. The jabberjay strategy ended shortly thereafter and the birds were released and mated with mockingbirds in the wild, creating mockingjay – Katniss' spirit animal of sorts, which becomes a symbol of the rebellion and of Katniss herself.
Natural Born Leadership -- And Humility
Despite any differences they may have in combat, Ender and Katniss share a lot of commonalities when it comes to their leadership skills, particularly when it comes to one key trait: Humility. That's a characteristic that Bruns said is required of every good leader. "I feel it's absolutely vital," he said. "A leader needs to evaluate the situation and determine if the reward is worth the risk, and not put the blame on anyone else if their decision fails. They must also not gloat or excessively rejoice if their decision is successful."
Ender Wiggin: When given control of his first platoon in the film Ender has just one question, "Do you think they'll follow me?" It takes a while, but they do. Because, like many before him, he's firm but fair and takes little credit for himself. Through every training exercise, every Battle School scrimmage, and every war simulation – Ender never overly celebrates his own (personal or team) victories. He merely analyzes any shortcomings in his performance, looses sleep, and moves on. He also leaves little room for his own feelings period. "Mazer had told him there would be no pity, and his private unhappiness meant nothing to anyone," Card writes in the novel. "He kept his mind on the game, trying to learn from the battles."
Katniss Everdeen: Katniss Everdeen may be the greatest young revolutionary who never meant to start a revolution. She never really wanted to take on the Capitol – even though she hated it – or lead an uprising. But when she volunteered to take her sister's place in the Hunger Games and threw up the three-finger salute she meant to "show the Capitol that whatever they do or force us to do there is a part of us they can't own," according to Collin's first Hunger Games book. It worked, and soon everyone wanted to follow her lead.
from Digg Top Stories http://www.wired.com/underwire/2013/11/ender-hunger-games-military/
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