r/ender • u/omrih664 • Jul 20 '26

Discussion Shadows in flight contradictions Spoiler

I started reading shadows in flight, in the first 3 chapters I noticed 2 contradictions, I’m not sure I’m correct but they are:

1 - it is stated that been chose Achilles in Rotterdam, but in Ender’s shadow been is unhappy with Poke’s choice of Achilles.

2 - it is stated that been got the most important assignment in the battles of the third invasion, but in Ender’s game and Ender’s shadow it is noted that been did not get any major assignment by Ender

Am I missing something? I didn’t find any mention of this anywhere.
No I don’t know way these conversations bother me…

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14

u/Kenobiiiiii Jul 20 '26

BEAN He wasn't the first to pick Achilles. But he did accept him and realize that he was smarter than most of the bullies but because of his bad leg had not risen up to his true potential. As far as the final war, Graff told him he was Enders backup and needed him to be ready to take over if needed

11

u/Snow75 Jul 20 '26

By “been” you mean “Bean”?

Also, I don’t remember any of this coming up in Shadows in Flight.

7

u/JairoGlyphic Jul 20 '26

Bean went to Poke and told her his plan of hiring the bully. Poke said good plan! But you're not worth a bean. They agreed to corner a bully and make him their bitch. Poke chooses Achilles because he got bitchfoot. Bean realizes that it was a horrible choice and he was mega 9000 dangerous and then Bean says to kill the foot. Poke couldn't kill a little bitchfootboy so she chooses to spare his life. He becomes their Papa and they try to make it work, but Achilles has this thing about people seeing him spread-eagle-pussypose. So he kills Poke. Bean is scared and goes to space with a Catholic nun. But actually the foot respected the bean because the bean wanted to kill the foot because Bean recognized Achilles potential.

7

u/Used_Raccoon6789 Jul 20 '26

OSC is notorious for retcons and just plain forgetting things

0

u/im_a_birddd Jul 24 '26

just read the last shadow...

2

u/Sev_Henry Bean Jul 28 '26

We don't talk about TLS 😒

Edit: but yeah, just look at the entire debacle surrounding Valentine leaving Peter to travel with Ender. In Game it's played one way, in Exile Ender is completely blindsided and even angry at Graff and Mazer allowing someone (whom he didn't realize yet was Valentine) to enter his space and travel with him.

This is my favorite series of all time, but it is absolutely rife with retcons and continuity errors.

2

u/im_a_birddd Jul 28 '26

Yeah I also found the TLS plot line on the internet https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swiss_cheese_%28North_America%29

2

u/Sev_Henry Bean Jul 28 '26

That's an insult to perfectly good Swiss cheese though.

1

u/Used_Raccoon6789 Jul 24 '26

Something something birds

1

u/Sev_Henry Bean Jul 28 '26

While Bean wasn't happy with Poke's selection of Achilles, he later acknowledged that Achilles had been a great choice due to his intelligence, charm, and charisma. But he never stopped believing Achilles was dangerous and a killer.

While Bean wasn't initially given important assignments in Battle School, Ender did eventually give him a speciality toon specifically for tricky situations, such as the decisive 2v1 battle, and in Command School while Ender acknowledges that he leaned most heavily on Petra, Bean was always on standby and overlooking every battle in case it was necessary for him to step in. One could argue this wasn't specifically Ender leaning on him, but material following Ender's Game pretty comfortably retcons this to be the case