Achilles de Flandres
Encyclopedia
Achilles de Flandres is a major character and the primary antagonist
in Orson Scott Card
's Shadow series (also known as the Bean Quartet). It is part of the universe
created in the novel and short story Ender's Game
. Achilles appears in the novels Ender's Shadow
, Shadow of the Hegemon
, Shadow Puppets
, and Shadow of the Giant
.
A native of Belgium
, Achilles grows up in the dangerous streets of Rotterdam
in the Netherlands
. At the start of the series, the Netherlands is under international jurisdiction during the global emergency of the Formic
or Bugger Wars. This leads to an influx of refugee children of which Achilles is one. He is depicted as a brilliant sociopath whose tactical genius and powerful charisma pose a major threat to humanity. Achilles' name is pronounced like the French
Achille, "ah-SHEEL," as opposed to the Greek Achilles
, whose name is pronounced "ah-KILL-eeze."
The teachers remark on the irony that Bean, the street urchin boy who struggled for his life on the streets of Rotterdam, ends his problems nonviolently, while Ender Wiggin
, a similar child with a stable, fairly comfortable middle class
upbringing from the United States
, kills the boy who attacks him in the bathroom, defeating his enemies so they will never be able to attack him again. Bean eventually becomes an assistant to Ender and a hero of the Third Invasion.
At the end of the novel, it is revealed that a mental institution was compromised by the Second Warsaw Pact in an attempt to gain the mind of the ex-Battle School student. Three security guards were dead, but all of the escaped prisoners are accounted for save one: Achilles.
is to convince a set of influential leaders in a major country that his tactical genius is at their military's disposal. He uses his charisma to rise to a position of high influence in his host country's military, and prepares detailed plans for their geopolitical objectives. Once he has positioned forces in his current host country, he makes overtures to a neighboring power. At the point of his hosts' greatest confidence, he betrays them and transfers to a new country, where he begins the cycle anew. With each repetition, Achilles' host country is a larger and more powerful entity than the one he betrayed. Achilles uses this tactic time after time to become influential in Russia
, Pakistan
, India
, and China
.
He is rescued from the mental institution by Russian agents. While in Russia he arranges for all of the members of Ender's Jeesh to be kidnapped and set to work on making plans for Russia, except for Bean, whom he attempts to have murdered. The kidnapped children all sabotage the plans they are being forced to turn into Achilles. Of the nine kidnapped children he seems most interested in Petra. During their captivity Petra manages to slip a coded message into an avatar-like picture of a dragon. The message relays their location and is meant for Bean to find. When the children are rescued Achilles decides to take Petra with him.
After an exposé reveals his killing streak, Russia dumps him. He recruits India and persuades them to perform an all-out offensive on Burma; in doing so, the country is forced to create long supply lines which Bean (who is training soldiers in Thailand in an effort to stop him) constantly disrupts. This causes India to become overextended in Burma, exposing itself to China and rapidly depleting its munitions. India attempts to take over Thailand, only to fail. Achilles, meanwhile, allies himself to China, and leads that army to sweep over and conquer India.
At the same time, Achilles uses his power to attempt to kill Bean multiple times. He first attempts to kill him and his family at their vacation home in the beginning of the novel, and in a safehouse guarded by the Greek army at the middle of the novel (not knowing that Bean has already left). Near the end, he destroys another building, attempting this time to kill both Suriyawong and Bean. Bean, acting on an unconscious feeling of foreboding, once again gets out in time. However, Achilles is successful in another homicidal plan; he manages to kill Sister Carlotta, Bean's closest and dearest friend.
The novel ends with a showdown between the two arch rivals. Throughout the novel, Achilles has been holding Petra
hostage, and attempts to use her as a shield which would force Bean to kill her in order to stop him. However, a Chinese officer, who is put in charge of bringing Achilles back to China, attempts to forge a temporary ceasefire with Bean, under the terms that they both fulfill their mission objectives. Thinking that there is no way Bean would hold his end of the bargain once he has Petra, Achilles attempts to kill the officer, only to be disarmed by him and knocked out by Bean, who does keep the terms and lets Achilles go.
despite pleas from Bean to not allow Achilles in. Achilles uses the vast network he has built to attempt to kill Peter Wiggin
; he forcefully coerces Uphanad (once a Battle School officer, now an official at the Ministry of Colonization) to do the work. However, Uphanad is caught, and the attempt fails.
Peter and his two parents are up in space at this time. Despite the misgivings of Peter and Bean, Graff states flatly that Achilles is not unbeatable; though he is smart, his major talent has been to put himself in the middle of turmoil and seize opportunities without hesitation. By doing the unpredictable, he has managed to keep the considerable brainpower of the Battle School geniuses and Peter at bay. However, Achilles has never been tested by a true opponent who was both prepared and determined to take him down. Graff suspects that Achilles may try to take out the shuttle as both Peter and his parents pilot down. Graff instead sends a dummy shuttle down; Achilles attempts to blow that up. Not only does he fail to kill Peter, he loses much of his support around the world, since his attack constitutes an attack on the I.F. and a violation of international law.
Achilles later pretends to have Bean's and Petra's embryos. Bean goes into a compound where Achilles pretends to hand over the embryos. Bean doesn't buy it, and Bean kills him. Bean has the assistance of Suriyawong who, giving Achilles a taste of his own medicine, worked his way into Achilles' trust, for the purpose of eventually betraying him.
, Achilles was sent away long before the Jeesh reached and assembled on Eros.
Achilles also implanted one of Bean and Petra's nine embryos into a woman named Randi. Randi gives birth to the child, who she names Achilles de Flandres II. The baby's official name is Randall Firth, however, to protect the baby. The baby has Anton's Key turned; he is born prematurely and without causing pain to the mother, he learns to speak faster than normal, and he grasps concepts faster than normal babies.
Knowing that the baby is endangered at this time, Randi arranges for herself and the baby to go on a spaceship traveling at relativistic speeds. She believes that both Peter and Bean, Achilles' enemies, would be dead by this time; however, she does not know that Bean too is traveling on a spaceship in hopes of finding a cure for his condition.
Antagonist
An antagonist is a character, group of characters, or institution, that represents the opposition against which the protagonist must contend...
in Orson Scott Card
Orson Scott Card
Orson Scott Card is an American author, critic, public speaker, essayist, columnist, and political activist. He writes in several genres, but is primarily known for his science fiction. His novel Ender's Game and its sequel Speaker for the Dead both won Hugo and Nebula Awards, making Card the...
's Shadow series (also known as the Bean Quartet). It is part of the universe
Fictional universe
A fictional universe is a self-consistent fictional setting with elements that differ from the real world. It may also be called an imagined, constructed or fictional realm ....
created in the novel and short story Ender's Game
Ender's Game
Ender's Game is a science fiction novel by American author Orson Scott Card. The book originated as the short story "Ender's Game", published in the August 1977 issue of Analog Science Fiction and Fact. Elaborating on characters and plot lines depicted in the novel, Card later wrote additional...
. Achilles appears in the novels Ender's Shadow
Ender's Shadow
Ender's Shadow is a parallel science fiction novel by the American author Orson Scott Card, taking place at the same time as the novel Ender's Game and depicting the same events from the point of view of Bean, a supporting character in the original novel. It was originally to be titled Urchin, but...
, Shadow of the Hegemon
Shadow of the Hegemon
Shadow of the Hegemon is the second novel in the Ender's Shadow series by Orson Scott Card. It is also the sixth novel in the Ender's Game series. It is told mostly from the point of view of Bean, a largely peripheral character in the original novel Ender's Game...
, Shadow Puppets
Shadow Puppets
Shadow Puppets , by Orson Scott Card is the sequel to Shadow of the Hegemon and the third book in the Ender's Shadow series . It was originally to be called Shadow of Death.-Plot summary:...
, and Shadow of the Giant
Shadow of the Giant
Shadow of the Giant is the fourth novel in Orson Scott Card's Ender's Shadow series.-Plot summary:A belief is spreading in conquered China that the government has lost the Mandate of Heaven. Han Tzu meets up with Mazer Rackham, who passes him a blow dart pen, calling it the "Mandate of Heaven"...
.
A native of Belgium
Belgium
Belgium , officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a federal state in Western Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts the EU's headquarters, and those of several other major international organisations such as NATO.Belgium is also a member of, or affiliated to, many...
, Achilles grows up in the dangerous streets of Rotterdam
Rotterdam
Rotterdam is the second-largest city in the Netherlands and one of the largest ports in the world. Starting as a dam on the Rotte river, Rotterdam has grown into a major international commercial centre...
in the Netherlands
Netherlands
The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...
. At the start of the series, the Netherlands is under international jurisdiction during the global emergency of the Formic
Formics
The Formics, also known as Buggers, are a fictional insectoid alien species from the Ender's Game series of science fiction novels by Orson Scott Card.The term "Formic" is derived from formica, the Latin word for ant...
or Bugger Wars. This leads to an influx of refugee children of which Achilles is one. He is depicted as a brilliant sociopath whose tactical genius and powerful charisma pose a major threat to humanity. Achilles' name is pronounced like the French
French language
French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...
Achille, "ah-SHEEL," as opposed to the Greek Achilles
Achilles
In Greek mythology, Achilles was a Greek hero of the Trojan War, the central character and the greatest warrior of Homer's Iliad.Plato named Achilles the handsomest of the heroes assembled against Troy....
, whose name is pronounced "ah-KILL-eeze."
Ender's Shadow
Near the beginning of the series, Achilles is established as an enemy of one of the main characters, Julian "Bean" Delphiki, another citizen of Rotterdam. Both Achilles and Bean are considered for Battle School, the training ground for Earth's interstellar military; Bean is accepted, but Achilles is deemed too unstable and violent. Achilles is later sent to Battle School simply as a test for Bean: Colonel Graff wants to see how Bean will deal with the resurfacing of his old nemesis from Rotterdam. It is suggested that Achilles is not aware at this point that Bean thinks him an enemy, as he is not aware that Bean knows he killed Bean's friend, Poke. Bean tricks Achilles into a trap in an air shaft, forcing him to confess to all his murders onto a recorded tape, which Bean shows to the school's administrators. This results in Achilles' expulsion and placement in a mental institution. Bean hopes that with his confession to his murders made public, Achilles would be confined to a mental institution for the rest of his life, unable to hurt anyone ever again.The teachers remark on the irony that Bean, the street urchin boy who struggled for his life on the streets of Rotterdam, ends his problems nonviolently, while Ender Wiggin
Ender Wiggin
Andrew "Ender" Wiggin is a fictional character from Orson Scott Card's science fiction story Ender's Game and its sequels , as well as in the first part of the spin-off series, Ender's Shadow...
, a similar child with a stable, fairly comfortable middle class
Middle class
The middle class is any class of people in the middle of a societal hierarchy. In Weberian socio-economic terms, the middle class is the broad group of people in contemporary society who fall socio-economically between the working class and upper class....
upbringing from the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, kills the boy who attacks him in the bathroom, defeating his enemies so they will never be able to attack him again. Bean eventually becomes an assistant to Ender and a hero of the Third Invasion.
At the end of the novel, it is revealed that a mental institution was compromised by the Second Warsaw Pact in an attempt to gain the mind of the ex-Battle School student. Three security guards were dead, but all of the escaped prisoners are accounted for save one: Achilles.
Shadow of the Hegemon
Achilles, meanwhile, positions himself to take advantage of Earth's political circumstances after the end of the Bugger Wars. In a series of deft political and military maneuvers, he establishes a well-honed pattern. Achilles' modus operandiModus operandi
Modus operandi is a Latin phrase, approximately translated as "mode of operation". The term is used to describe someone's habits or manner of working, their method of operating or functioning...
is to convince a set of influential leaders in a major country that his tactical genius is at their military's disposal. He uses his charisma to rise to a position of high influence in his host country's military, and prepares detailed plans for their geopolitical objectives. Once he has positioned forces in his current host country, he makes overtures to a neighboring power. At the point of his hosts' greatest confidence, he betrays them and transfers to a new country, where he begins the cycle anew. With each repetition, Achilles' host country is a larger and more powerful entity than the one he betrayed. Achilles uses this tactic time after time to become influential in Russia
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
, Pakistan
Pakistan
Pakistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan is a sovereign state in South Asia. It has a coastline along the Arabian Sea and the Gulf of Oman in the south and is bordered by Afghanistan and Iran in the west, India in the east and China in the far northeast. In the north, Tajikistan...
, India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
, and China
China
Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...
.
He is rescued from the mental institution by Russian agents. While in Russia he arranges for all of the members of Ender's Jeesh to be kidnapped and set to work on making plans for Russia, except for Bean, whom he attempts to have murdered. The kidnapped children all sabotage the plans they are being forced to turn into Achilles. Of the nine kidnapped children he seems most interested in Petra. During their captivity Petra manages to slip a coded message into an avatar-like picture of a dragon. The message relays their location and is meant for Bean to find. When the children are rescued Achilles decides to take Petra with him.
After an exposé reveals his killing streak, Russia dumps him. He recruits India and persuades them to perform an all-out offensive on Burma; in doing so, the country is forced to create long supply lines which Bean (who is training soldiers in Thailand in an effort to stop him) constantly disrupts. This causes India to become overextended in Burma, exposing itself to China and rapidly depleting its munitions. India attempts to take over Thailand, only to fail. Achilles, meanwhile, allies himself to China, and leads that army to sweep over and conquer India.
At the same time, Achilles uses his power to attempt to kill Bean multiple times. He first attempts to kill him and his family at their vacation home in the beginning of the novel, and in a safehouse guarded by the Greek army at the middle of the novel (not knowing that Bean has already left). Near the end, he destroys another building, attempting this time to kill both Suriyawong and Bean. Bean, acting on an unconscious feeling of foreboding, once again gets out in time. However, Achilles is successful in another homicidal plan; he manages to kill Sister Carlotta, Bean's closest and dearest friend.
The novel ends with a showdown between the two arch rivals. Throughout the novel, Achilles has been holding Petra
Petra Arkanian
Petra Arkanian is a main character of the books Shadow of the Hegemon and Shadow Puppets by Orson Scott Card. She is also a major character in Ender's Game, Ender's Shadow and Shadow of the Giant.-Ender's Game:...
hostage, and attempts to use her as a shield which would force Bean to kill her in order to stop him. However, a Chinese officer, who is put in charge of bringing Achilles back to China, attempts to forge a temporary ceasefire with Bean, under the terms that they both fulfill their mission objectives. Thinking that there is no way Bean would hold his end of the bargain once he has Petra, Achilles attempts to kill the officer, only to be disarmed by him and knocked out by Bean, who does keep the terms and lets Achilles go.
Shadow Puppets
Achilles successfully manipulates Peter into giving him a job in the HegemonyHegemony
Hegemony is an indirect form of imperial dominance in which the hegemon rules sub-ordinate states by the implied means of power rather than direct military force. In Ancient Greece , hegemony denoted the politico–military dominance of a city-state over other city-states...
despite pleas from Bean to not allow Achilles in. Achilles uses the vast network he has built to attempt to kill Peter Wiggin
Peter Wiggin
Peter Wiggin is a fictional character in the science fiction novel Ender's Game and its sequels, written by Orson Scott Card. He has appeared in the novels Ender's Game, Shadow of the Hegemon, Shadow Puppets, Shadow of the Giant, Xenocide, and Children of the Mind and in an upcoming short story to...
; he forcefully coerces Uphanad (once a Battle School officer, now an official at the Ministry of Colonization) to do the work. However, Uphanad is caught, and the attempt fails.
Peter and his two parents are up in space at this time. Despite the misgivings of Peter and Bean, Graff states flatly that Achilles is not unbeatable; though he is smart, his major talent has been to put himself in the middle of turmoil and seize opportunities without hesitation. By doing the unpredictable, he has managed to keep the considerable brainpower of the Battle School geniuses and Peter at bay. However, Achilles has never been tested by a true opponent who was both prepared and determined to take him down. Graff suspects that Achilles may try to take out the shuttle as both Peter and his parents pilot down. Graff instead sends a dummy shuttle down; Achilles attempts to blow that up. Not only does he fail to kill Peter, he loses much of his support around the world, since his attack constitutes an attack on the I.F. and a violation of international law.
Achilles later pretends to have Bean's and Petra's embryos. Bean goes into a compound where Achilles pretends to hand over the embryos. Bean doesn't buy it, and Bean kills him. Bean has the assistance of Suriyawong who, giving Achilles a taste of his own medicine, worked his way into Achilles' trust, for the purpose of eventually betraying him.
Shadow of the Giant
Although Achilles is dead, his legacy has grown to epic proportions. Postings on the Internet credit him as devising the plans that Ender used to defeat the Formics. This is patently false; as seen in Ender's ShadowEnder's Shadow
Ender's Shadow is a parallel science fiction novel by the American author Orson Scott Card, taking place at the same time as the novel Ender's Game and depicting the same events from the point of view of Bean, a supporting character in the original novel. It was originally to be titled Urchin, but...
, Achilles was sent away long before the Jeesh reached and assembled on Eros.
Achilles also implanted one of Bean and Petra's nine embryos into a woman named Randi. Randi gives birth to the child, who she names Achilles de Flandres II. The baby's official name is Randall Firth, however, to protect the baby. The baby has Anton's Key turned; he is born prematurely and without causing pain to the mother, he learns to speak faster than normal, and he grasps concepts faster than normal babies.
Knowing that the baby is endangered at this time, Randi arranges for herself and the baby to go on a spaceship traveling at relativistic speeds. She believes that both Peter and Bean, Achilles' enemies, would be dead by this time; however, she does not know that Bean too is traveling on a spaceship in hopes of finding a cure for his condition.