Ender's military monitor is removed from his neck, and his classmates mock him as a 'Third' for washing out.

A school bully named Stilson corners Ender after school; Ender knocks him down and kicks him repeatedly to prevent future attacks.

Colonel Graff visits the Wiggin home, explains the bugger threat, and offers Ender a spot in Battle School.

Graff publicly praises Ender during the shuttle ride to Battle School, deliberately turning the other Launchies against him.

Ender defeats the Giant's Drink game by clawing into the Giant's eyes, finally advancing to Fairyland.

Graff promotes Ender to Salamander Army before Ender has reached the minimum age for advancement.

Bonzo punches Ender and trades him out of Salamander Army; Ender transfers to Rat Army.

Graff assigns Ender command of Dragon Army, deliberately stocking it with young, inexperienced recruits.

Dragon Army defeats Rabbit Army in its first battle, losing only one soldier.

Bonzo and his followers attack Ender in the shower; Ender defeats Bonzo, leaving him unconscious and unresponsive.

Ender cancels Dragon Army's practices permanently, and Graff promotes him directly to Command School, skipping Pre-Command.

On Eros, Ender meets Mazer Rackham — hero of the Second Invasion — as his new teacher.

In his final simulation, Ender fires the Molecular Disruption Device at the bugger home planet, destroying it completely.

Mazer reveals that all of Ender's simulator battles were real, and the bugger race has been annihilated.

Ender refuses to return to Earth and departs with Valentine to join the first colonists settling the bugger worlds.

Ender Wiggin's story begins when his government monitor is removed and Colonel Graff recruits him for Battle School, a military training station in space. At Battle School, Ender rapidly advances through the ranks — from new Launchy recruit to Salamander Army to Rat Army to commander of Dragon Army — winning every battle despite the odds being stacked against him. His rivalry with Bonzo Madrid culminates in a brutal shower confrontation that ends Ender's time at Battle School and earns him a direct promotion to Command School on the distant planet Eros. There, the legendary Mazer Rackham trains Ender through increasingly difficult combat simulations, pushing him to physical and mental collapse. In the climactic final battle, Ender destroys the enemy planet — only to learn that the simulations were real, and he has unknowingly committed the genocide of the entire bugger race. Overwhelmed by guilt, Ender chooses not to return to Earth and departs with his sister Valentine to colonize the worlds once ruled by the buggers.

Ender's rise from misfit child to humanity's savior.

Peter forces Ender to wear a bugger mask and threatens to kill both of his siblings.

Valentine intervenes and argues logically against Peter, preventing him from harming Ender.

Ender hacks his computerized desk and sends messages signed 'God' to publicly mock Bernard and defend Shen.

Ender and Alai bond in the battleroom and together freeze the entire Launchy group with their laser guns.

When Ender is promoted to Salamander Army, Alai says farewell with a kiss on the cheek and whispers 'salaam.'

Petra offers to train Ender in battle basics each morning after Bonzo forbids him from joining army practice.

A group of older Battle School boys attacks Ender and his Launchies in the battleroom; the Launchies successfully drive them off.

Dink Meeker tells Ender that the teachers — not rival armies — are the true enemy in Battle School.

Peter convinces Valentine to adopt online political personas, Locke and Demosthenes, to gain public influence.

Colonel Graff meets with Valentine at school and asks her to write Ender a letter saying he is not like Peter.

Ender reads Valentine's letter four times in his bunk and cries openly in front of his army.

Petra tracks down Ender to warn him about Bonzo's plot to kill him; Ender dismisses her concern skeptically.

Ender is forced to battle two enemy armies simultaneously and abandons all rules, driving soldiers directly through the enemy gate.

After Ender's final Battle School victory, Anderson transfers all of Ender's trusted toon leaders to other armies.

A court declares Graff not guilty of crimes against Battle School children and the government appoints him Minister of Colonization.

While Ender trains at Battle School, the people around him play critical roles in shaping his path. On Earth, Peter terrorizes his siblings while Valentine strategically holds him in check, and the two eventually launch a secret political operation under the aliases Locke and Demosthenes. At Battle School, Ender forms alliances with Alai, Petra, and Dink — each of whom teaches him something vital about survival and leadership — while Graff manipulates events behind the scenes to harden and isolate him. Dink's revelation that the teachers are the true enemy gives Ender a new lens through which to understand Battle School's politics, even as Graff's interference grows more aggressive. Valentine's letter, written at Graff's request, pulls Ender back from despair and sustains his commitment to the mission. The novel's resolution sees Ender survive his final Battle School battle, lose his closest allies to sudden promotions, and watch as Graff — now cleared of all wrongdoing — accepts a new role building the post-war world.

The relationships, rivalries, and behind-the-scenes moves shaping Ender's world.

Peter stands at Ender's bedside while believing Ender is asleep, apologizes, and confesses he loves his brother.

Ender accidentally breaks Bernard's arm when he retaliates against him in null gravity on the shuttle.

Ender plays the Giant's Drink game over and over, dying each time, unable to find any winning choice.

Ender privately confronts Bonzo about authority over his Free Play time, allowing Bonzo to back down without public humiliation.

Ender defies Bonzo's orders in a battle against Leopard Army, shooting in the final moments to force a draw.

Rose de Nose throws Ender into battle alone as punishment; Ender's performance forces all Battle School armies to change how they enter the arena.

While playing the fantasy game, Ender sees Peter's face staring back at him from a mirror.

After reading Valentine's letter, Ender re-enters the fantasy game and conquers the previously unreachable End of the World level.

Anderson informs Ender that his evening free-for-all practice sessions are permanently banned, cutting off his last informal friendships.

Alai tells Ender that 'salaam' means peace, quietly acknowledging that peace no longer applies between them as rival commanders.

Dragon Army is ordered into a second battle on the same day, this time against Bonzo's Salamander Army.

Ender confides his exhaustion to Bean and secretly assigns him an experimental task force within Dragon Army.

Valentine and Ender reunite on a handmade raft; Valentine convinces him to continue training and go to Command School.

Ender collapses during a simulator battle on Eros and sleeps for three full days.

Ender finds a landscape built from his own fantasy game on a bugger planet and discovers the hive queen's pupa hidden inside a castle tower.

Beneath Ender's military victories lies a series of smaller but equally critical moments that reveal his character and shift the course of his story. From Peter's unsettling midnight apology to Ender's horror at his own capacity for violence in the Giant's Drink game, these moments force Ender to confront what kind of person he is becoming. Each confrontation with authority — Bonzo in the corridors, Rose de Nose in the battleroom — ends with Ender rewriting the rules, deepening his isolation even as it raises his reputation. Valentine's letter breaks through Ender's despair and unlocks a new level of the fantasy game, hinting at a deeper connection between Ender's inner life and the buggers who have been watching him. At Command School, relentless pressure wears Ender to a breaking point, culminating in a physical collapse and a final battle he enters believing is just another simulation. The story's resolution arrives not in military triumph but in Ender's discovery of the bugger queen's pupa — a moment of genuine communication that redefines his understanding of the war he won and the enemy he destroyed.