Book to Film Changes
*Please contact us if you notice something should be added or fixed on this table
| Book / Enderverse | Film |
|---|---|
| Takes place in 2195 (Canon, from Jake Black in conjunction with OSC) | No specified date, although definitely in the future (Confirmed by Bob Orci) |
| Previously, there were two formic wars | Previously, there was only one "Great Invasion" with the formics |
| The Battle of the Belt takes place in the outer solar system | The Battle of the Belt takes place in Earth's atmosphere |
| Use of the word "buggers" | Use of the word "formics" |
| The story takes place over a span of 6 years | The story is compressed. "Time has been compressed impressionistically. Though we don’t specify how much time has passed, leaving it somewhat up to your imagination, it is clear that the time span is not as long as the book’s." -Official Production Blog |
| Full name: Andrew Thomas Wiggin | Full name: Andrew Ender Wiggin |
| Ender is 6-years-old at the beginning of the story | Ender is 10-years-old at the beginning of the story |
| Ender is blonde | Ender is brunette |
| Ender attends a public school | Ender attends a special military academy |
| In public school, Ender uses a child-sized keyboard | In his special military academy, Ender uses the same desk he uses at battle school |
| Ender fights Stilson near a bus stop near school | Ender fights Stilson in a classroom at school |
| Ender kills Stilson | Ender does not kill Stilson |
| Valentine is blonde | Valentine is brunette |
| Valentine is compassionate and even-tempered | Valentine is compassionate, but aggressive as she bangs on doors and yells at Peter. |
| Peter is brunette | Peter is blonde |
| Peter shows compassion when he comes to Ender while he's thinks Ender is sleeping and says he loves Ender and that he's sorry about Ender's monitor | Peter is evil, with no redeeming qualities |
| Peter plays the piano | Peter plays a sport |
| Theresa Wiggin is intelligent | Teresa Wiggin is not intelligent, and is only portrayed as Ender's caring mother |
| John Paul Wiggin loves (or is at least neutral) towards Ender and his other children | John Paul Wiggin shows animosity towards Ender |
| Ender's parents' love for him remains unseen by Ender | Ender's parents show obvious love to Ender |
| When Ender says, "It's what I was born for," Graff says that reason isn't good enough | Graff accepts when Ender says, "It's what I was born for" |
| Ender has a tearful goodbye with his family when he decides to leave for battle school | CUT |
| A media camera is present at launch | No camera is present at launch |
| 19 children in Ender's launch, all boys | 18 children in Ender's launch, boys & girls |
| Major Anderson is a white male | Major Anderson is a black female |
| Major Anderson has no first name | Major Anderson is given the first name "Gwen" |
| Sergeant Dap is white | Sergeant Dap is black |
| Sergeant Dap has no first name | Sergeant Dap is given the first name "James" |
| Sergeant Dap's character is somewhat gentle and loving | Sergeant Dap's character is described as "a real hardass" |
| Bean is in a younger launch group than Ender | Bean is in Ender's launch group |
| Launchies wear pale green | Launchies wear yellow |
| The lauchie code is red yellow yellow | The launchie code is simply yellow lights |
| Ender breaks Bernard's arm on the shuttle ride | CUT |
| No scene | Alai vomits on the shuttle ride |
| There should not be windows in battle school, because students are supposed to feel isolated from Earth. | There are windows in battle school |
| There are NO socks in battle school | There ARE socks in battle school |
| Launchies, soldiers, and commanders eat in separate rooms | All battle school students eat in the same room |
| Shen | CUT |
| Bernard and Alai are friends | Bernard bullies Alai |
| Bernard sends desk messages about Shen's butt wiggles, then Ender sends desk messages from God about Bernard | Bernard send desk messages about Alai's vomiting, then Ender sends anonymous desk messages about Bernard |
| Ender makes no verbal mention of emails | Ender complains about privacy rights and email; he also writes emails to Valentine |
| Ender first bonds with Alai during their first zero-g experience | Ender first bonds with Bean during their first zero-g experience |
| As a soldier (not a commander) Ender is quiet, but respectful towards his superiors | As a soldier, Ender mouths off to his superiors (Dap) |
| Scene not included | Dap punishes Ender by making him to push- ups |
| Student sleep in the nude | Students sleep in pajamas |
| The mind game is called the fantasy game by students | The mind game is called the mind game by everyone |
| The mind game is complicated and Ender plays repeatedly | The mind game only takes Ender through the Giant's drink and the castle, not "'The End of the World', Ender only plays a few times |
| In the mind game, the snake turns into Valentine and she leads him to "the end of the world" | In the mind game, Valentine is a bat-formic figure who leads Ender to the castle |
| Ender kisses the snake in the mind game | Ender strangles the snake in the mind game |
| Ender only plays the mind game in battle school | Ender plays the mind game in battle school and command school |
| Alai kisses Ender | CUT |
| Ender receives a letter from Valentine that she was forced to write, then he cries | Ender never receives a letter from Valentine in battle school |
| No baseball in battle school | Students play baseball in battle school |
| Ender trains with his old launch group during free time | CUT |
| Dink is Ender's toon leader in Rat Army, which is completely omitted from the movie | Dink is in Salamander |
| Petra looks like a boy | Petra looks like a girl |
| Ender is shorter than Bonzo | Bonzo is shorter than Ender |
| 9, opaque, cube battle rooms | 1, transparent, spherical battle room |
| Scene not included | Asa recalls this scene "One scene that I really remember is a scene with me and Hailee (Steinfeld). We’re in the Battle Room. She’s hit her head on one of the floating objects. I’ve jumped out … I’ve disobeyed my orders and jumped out to catch her." |
| 40 soldiers + 1 commander in a battle school army | 15 soldiers + 1 commander in a battle school army |
| In the battle room, once you go through the gate, you cannot re-enter | In the battle room, once you go through the gate, you are allowed to re-enter |
| Battles are won by having five soldiers open and go through the enemy's gate | Battles are won by having at least one non-damaged soldier go through the enemy's gate |
| No disessmbling flash guys | Students disessemble weapons for fun |
| Ender spends a lot of time watching videos of the second formic war | CUT |
| As a commander, Ender learns of battle by slips of paper | As a commander, Ender learns of battle electronically |
| No one older than Ender is under his command | Some members of Ender's army are older than Ender (Ex: Dink) |
| Petra is closest to Dink | Petra is closest to Ender |
| Fly Molo never twists his ankle, and Petra is originally in Phoenix Army | Fly Molo twists his ankle, Graff replaces Petra is a sub in the final battle |
| When Dragon Army fights two armies at once, they are Griffin and Tiger | When Dragon Army fights two armies at once, they are Salamander and Leopard |
| Bean's deadline is a thin metallic-looking line | Bean's deadline is a rope |
| Petra never tries to stop Ender in the hallway full of Salamanders in the movie | CUT |
| Ender's fight with Bonzo happens right before the final battle | Ender doesn't fight Bonzo until after the final battle |
| Ender fights Bonzo in the nude | Ender fights Bonzo in a towel |
| Ender doesn't spray Bonzo with hot water, he only uses it for the steam | Ender sprays Bonzo with hot water |
| Ender kills Bonzo | Ender doesn't kill Bonzo |
| Ender believes Bonzo was sent home to Spain | Ender tells Valentine that he's been waiting by Bonzo's bedside, watching over him |
| Major Anderson does not quit | Major Anderson quits |
| When Ender visits Earth, Valentine is pulled out of school by Graff, Wiggin parents are unaware | When Ender visits Earth, Graff waits for Valentine at her home as she walks home from school, Wiggin parents are aware |
| Ender didn't want to see Valentine because he was afraid that he would still love her | Ender requests to see Valentine |
| Locke and Demosthenes | CUT |
| Although Graff loves Ender, he realizes Ender must be sacrificed for the greater good | Graff doesn't seem to care about Ender; he compares Ender to a horse |
| Eros is on the edge of our solar system | Eros is near the formics' home planet |
| Eros' floors curve down | Eros' floors are flat |
| I.F. claims Mazer died in battle | No reference to Mazer dying in battle |
| Although Mazer is half Maori, his face has no tattoos | Mazer is half Maori and his face has Maori tattoos |
| Ender is not given a desk at command school | Ender is given a desk at command school |
| Ender's squadron leaders are Bean, Alai, Dink, Petra, Shen, Carn Carby, Fly Molo, Crazy Tom, Hot Soup, Vlad, and more (36 total) | Ender's squadron leaders are Bean, Alai, Dink, Petra, and Bernard |
| Bernard should not be in Dragon (by Bean's described selection method), he also should not be in Ender's jeesh | Bernard is in both Dragon army and Ender's jeesh |
| At command school, Ender is not allowed to communicate with his jeesh | Ender is allowed to see, touch, and hologram message his jeesh |
| Ender is in a separate room when he commands his jeesh, and he uses a device to talk to them | Ender is in the same room when he commands his jeesh and he does not use a device to talk to them |
| Ender's jeesh does not know Mazer is Ender's teacher | Ender's jeesh knows Mazer is Ender's teacher |
| The formics have several colonies on other planets and a single home world | Ender is told that the formics have one world, which is overpopulated so they need to gain territory of their home world |
| No clear reason for the formic invasion is given | The reason for the formic invasion is credited to limited water resource |
| Ender never loses a simulation | Ender loses a simulation |
| Petra falls asleep during a battle simulation | Petra does not fall asleep during a battle simulation |
| Petra is not given control of the M.D. | Petra is given control of the M.D. |
| M.D. Device = Molecular Disruption Device, nicknamed the Little Doctor | M.D. Device = Molecular Detachment Device, nicknamed the Little Doctor |
| The formics' home world has a significantly reduced mass after the M.D | The formics' home world is covered with ash and lava after the M.D. |
| Immediately after Ender defeats the buggers, the I.F. officers cheer and Ender is quiet | Immediately after Ender defeats the buggers, Ender cheers and the I.F. officers are quiet |
| Mazer tells Ender the final battle was not a game | Graff tells Ender the final battle was not a game |
| Later in the series, Ender admits that had he known the final simulation was not a game, he would have done the same thing. | When Ender learns that the final simulation was not a game, he says "I would have waited!" |
| Ender simply goes to sleep after he finds out the final simulation was not a game | Ender is sad and mad after he finds out the final simulation was not a game. He is then placed into a medically induced sleep after the final battle simulation |
| Use of the word "xenocide" | Use of the word "genocide" |
| At least one year and seven months pass between Ender's Dragon army assignment to the final simulation | All of the events that occur from Ender's Dragon army assignment to the final simulation takes 28 days according to Graff's countdown |
| Ender finds the queen pupa at the new colony | Ender finds the queen pupa on Eros |
| Ender finds the queen pupa with Abra | Ender finds the queen with Petra |
| Ender finds the queen pupa and speaks to it, all the formics are dead | Ender finds the queen pupa and speaks to a live formic |
| Ender is the original Speaker for the Dead | Mazer is the original Speaker for the Dead |
| Ender and Valentine go to a new colony together | Ender leaves without Valentine |