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SPOILER WARNING: Enderverse plot details follow.


This page is a timeline of events. You may be looking for a timeline of novels.

This page documents events in chronological order that took place in the Ender's Game Universe, or Enderverse.

In Speaker for the Dead, the "B.S.C." (before Starways Congress) and "S.C." (Starways Congress) dating system was introduced. It was stated to be based on the date of the introduction of the Starways Code. However, the Ender's Game Wiki has decided to use its own dating system for use in articles, in order to provide a more relative reference to events in the series. The origin year, or epoch, is based on the date of the Formic Xenocide, as it is the most prominent event in Enderverse history and localizes the timeline around the first novel, Ender’s Game. The designations used to label years will be BX (Before the Xenocide) and AX (After the Xenocide).

Many events will have approximate dates (denoted by "c.", for "circa") or will be listed as unknown, as there are many contradictions between canon material that makes it difficult to know for sure when events occurred, or broad estimates of dates are stated like "two centuries" that likely are not the literal number of years that have passed.

The Pre-Formic Wars Era (< 87 BX)[]

???? BX[]

c. 300-600 BX[]

??? BX[]

109 BX[]

105 BX[]

95 BX[]

?? BX[]

The Formic Wars Era (87 BX - 0 BX)[]

87 BX[]

86 BX[]

  • Research conducted by the Hegemony in the 6 months after the First Formic War leads to the invention of the Ansible.[9]

87 - 84 BX[]

84 BX[]

82 BX[]

c. 82 BX[]

  • The Formic Egg Drive is discovered by Humans and reverse engineered to enable near-lightspeed travel.[10]
  • Mazer Rackham is sent into space at near-lightspeed in order to still be young when the Third Invasion fleet arrives at the Formic home worlds.[11]

68 BX[]

c. 52 BX[]

  • Mazer Rackham considers not returning to Earth, but after speaking with Hyrum Graff he orders the International Fleet to give Graff the authority to create Battle School. The Fleet agrees, and Mazer turns his ship around to go back to Earth.[11]

40 BX[]

39 BX[]

20 BX[]

  • Theresa's father, Hinckley Brown, resigns from the International Fleet in protest of the Hegemony's population laws.[14]

19 BX[]

  • Theresa Brown and John Paul Wiggin begin their relationship.[13]

15 BX[]

13 BX[]

c. 12 BX[]

11 BX[]

9 BX[]

6 BX[]

2 BX[]

c. 1 BX[]

0 BX (1180 B.S.C.)[]

The Post-Formic Wars Era (1 AX - 62 AX)[]

1 AX[]

2 AX[]

2 - 8 AX[]

  • Multiple wars take place on Earth between the Muslim League, India, and China, caused by China invading and occupying much of SE Asia.[19][20][21]

8 AX[]

  • The Free People of Earth is founded.[21]
  • Each of the respective leaders of the Muslim League, India, and China leave Earth to found colony planets. Their empires are divided up and eventually join the FPE.[21]
  • Bean and three of his children, Ender, Carlotta, and Cincinnatus leave Earth in the Herodotus on a relativistic flight to attempt to live to see the cure for Anton's Key be developed.[21]

9-41 AX[]

  • Every nation on Earth except for the United States of America joins the Free People of Earth. The FPE begins to be known as EarthGov, and Peter Wiggin tries to retire as Hegemon twice.[21]

36 AX[]

41 AX[]

  • Ender and Valentine Wiggin arrive on Shakespeare.[10]

41-43 AX[]

  • Ender Wiggin governs Shakespeare.[10][22]

43 AX[]

43-44 AX[]

  • Peter Wiggin dies at age 58 from a blood clot.[10][23]
  • The Hegemon is published and gains popularity alongside The Hive Queen.[10][23]

44 AX[]

  • Ender and Valentine Wiggin leave Shakespeare on a colony ship heading to Ganges.[10][23]

44-58 AX[]

62 AX[]

  • Ender and Valentine Wiggin arrive at Ganges.[10][23]
    • Ender forsakes his nickname and goes by Andrew from 62 AX onward.[10][23]

The Starways Congress Era (> 62 AX)[]

c. 113 AX[]

  • The crew of the Ark, now containing the the human Folk, the human sub-species of the Yachachiyruna, as well as sentient Keas and Ravens, arrive at the planet Nest and colonize it.[1]

62 - 400 AX[]

c. 300 AX[]

c. 313 AX[]

  • A war breaks out between the sentient birds of Nest and the humans known as The Folk. After constant destruction from the birds, the humans decide to live fully underground.[1]

c. 400 AX[]

0-429 AX[]

  • Over 93 human colonies are established.[3]

429 AX[]

  • Bean and his three children aboard the Herodotus encounter the Formic Ark and an unnamed planet.[3]
  • Bean's children learn from the Formic drones how to modify their genome, curing Anton's Key and creating the Leguminid sub-species of human.[3]
  • Bean dies due to his gigantism.[3]

c. 500 AX[]

  • Andrew and Valentine Wiggin arrive at Catalunya.[25]

c. 1042 AX[]

  • Starways Congress unites all human-settled worlds under its rule.[26]

c. 1150 AX (30 B.S.C)[]

c. 1179 AX (1 B.S.C)[]

  • Andrew and Valentine Wiggin arrive on Mindanao and Andrew speaks the death of a murdered revolutionary.[27]

1180 AX (0 S.C.)[]

c. 2179 AX (999 S.C.)[]

  • Hindu scientists on Ganges conduct an experiment that claims to prove that human Philotic twinings twined with other humans.[26]

3010 AX (1830 S.C.)[]

3066 AX (1886 S.C.)[]

  • Settlers from Baía land on Lusitania and discover the Pequeninos, another sentient species.[27]

3111 AX (1931 S.C.)[]

  • Novinha is born on the planet Lusitania.[27]

3116 AX (1936 S.C.)[]

  • Novinha's parents and siblings, along with a large amount of Lusitania's population, die from the Descolada virus.[27]

3128 AX (1948 S.C.)[]

3150 AX (1970 S.C.)[]

3164 AX (1984 S.C.)[]

3165 AX (1985 S.C.)[]

3169 AX (1989 S.C)[]

  • Delft Delphiki is born on Nokonoshima.[1]
  • Thulium Delphiki is born 3 months later on Nokonoshima.[1]
  • 3 weeks after Thulium's birth, the Delphiki family kidnaps their children from Nokonoshima and leaves on the Herodotus.[1]

3179 AX (1999 S.C.)[]

3180 AX (2000 S.C.)[]

Children of the Mind[]

The Last Shadow (~3-5 months later)[]

  • The Leguminids arrive on Lusitania.[1]
  • After exploration of the planet thought to be the origin of the Descolada, it is discovered that it was settled thousands of years before by humans known as The Folk, a sub-species of humans called the Yachachiyruna, as well as sentient Keas and Ravens.[1]
  • After their discovery by the Lusitanians, The Folk attempt to kill the Lusitanians with a biological weapon, and turn against the other species of the planet with an ultrasonic weapon. Some of the Keas, Ravens, and Yachachi are saved by the Lusitanians and are sent to other Lusitanian Colonies.[1]
  • The Descolada is revealed to be a damaged version of the Recorder virus.[1]

3264 AX (2084 S.C.)[]

  • Han Qing-jao dies.[26]

Dates With an Unknown Era[]

Chinese Invasion of Taiwain[]

This was an event mentioned a few times in Shadow Puppets and Shadow of the Giant as happening many years before its events. This would either put it in the Formic Wars Era or the Pre-Formic Wars Era. However, it was never mentioned in the First or Second Formic War Trilogies, indicating that it may have taken place between 84 BX - 8 AX.[20][21]

Muslim Civil War and Nuking of Mecca[]

This was an event mentioned a few times in Shadow of the Giant as happening many years before its events. This would either put it in the Formic Wars Era or the Pre-Formic Wars Era. However, it was never mentioned in the First or Second Formic War Trilogies, indicating that it may have taken place between 84 BX - 8 AX.[21]

Notes[]

Date of the First Formic War[]

Before the release of the First and Second Formic War Trilogies, the exact number of years before Ender's Game that the First Formic War took place was unknown. However, the promotional material and cover art for the First Formic War Trilogy stated it took place "100 years before Ender's Game", or "Nearly 100 years before Ender's Game".[28] Although it was apparent that this was a general timeframe, not an exact number, the Ender's Game Wiki decided to establish the date of the First Formic war as being 100 BX.

However, upon further examination of other Enderverse content, a more exact timescale becomes apparent. In Shadows in Flight, it was stated that Bean's ship left Earth in 2210 AD.[3] Next, in The Swarm, the year was stated to be 2118 AD, 3 years after the end of the First Formic War.[9] Under the assumption that the FFW takes place in 100 BX, then the Shadows in Flight date would be at 5 BX, as Bean leaves Earth roughly 8 years after the end of Ender's Game, which does not line up with the rest of the timeline. Additionally, in Xenocide it is stated that Valentine and Peter Wiggin were "still children in the twenty-second century", which implies that by 0 AX it was at least 2199 AD.[26] Finally, Hyrum Graff's date of birth was established as being 14 years after the end of the Second Formic War.[12] If the 100-year timescale was used, Graff would be 81 in Ender's Game, which does not fit.

Therefore, using all these data points, the Ender's Game Wiki has established that the First Formic War begins in the year 87 BX, or 2115 AD. This puts The Swarm taking place in 84 BX, and the Third Formic War being in the year 2202 AD.

Later Dates in Ender in Exile[]

Towards the end of Ender Wiggin's term as governor of Shakespeare, there is some confusion about the year. On dozens of occasions it is stated that Ender's term as governor lasted/would last 2 years. As the IFcoltrans1 arrived in 41 AX and Ender immediately began his term as governor, one would assume that it ended in 43 AX, and then promptly left for Ganges, as it is stated that he left almost immediately after ending his term.[10] However, there are a few problems with this clean-cut answer:

  • In "Governor Wiggin", the story begins with Ender stating he has been governor for (nearly) 2 years. The story takes place over roughly 7 months, and when it ends it seems as though Ender is still governor. In addition, the Hive Queen cocoon is not mentioned at all, indicating that at least the main part of the story (~1 month) takes place before Ender discovers it.[22] When Ender discovers the cocoon in Ender in Exile, the time frame is stated to be roughly a year before the colony ship piloted by Hong arrives to take Ender to Ganges. This would seemingly put Ender's time at Shakespeare as roughly 3 years, meaning he leaves in 44 AX.[10]
  • For most of the later chapters of Exile when Ender is preparing to leave Shakespeare, he states he is 16 years old, which puts the year around 43 AX. However, when he arrives at Ganges after being in Stasis for the voyage, he states he is 17 years old. This indicates that Ender had his birthday shortly before leaving Shakespeare, indicating that the year may have been 44 AX.[10]
  • In Exile, an email from Hyrum Graff during Ender's voyage to Ganges states that "Fifty-seven years ago, before you went to Shakespeare, I assembled your pay during the war" and that "You will see this message when you come out of stasis yourself upon arriving at Ganges four years from now." One would assume that this means Graff is sending the message in 57 AX and that Ender would arrive in 61 AX. This is supported by Valentine stating that 18 real-time years had passed during the voyage, meaning that they left Shakespeare in 43 AX.[10]

With all these data points, there is an obvious discrepancy of 1 year. To present a consistent and clear timeline of events, the Ender's Game Wiki has decided to interpret Graff's "fifty-seven years ago" as meaning roughly 1 AX rather than 0 AX, which puts the departure from Shakespeare in early 44 AX. Some discrepancy still exists with statements about spending 2 years on Shakespeare, but some leeway can be granted with this.

This means that, as Ender stated he would not publish The Hegemon until Peter Wiggin's death, and Graff's mention of it being seemingly published while or just before Ender's voyage to Ganges, it is likely that Peter died in late 43 AX or early 44 AX, just before Ender's departure from Shakespeare.[10]

References[]

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