Fans of Orson Scott Card’s Ender’s Game often find themselves pondering a crucial question: What Year do the events of this iconic science fiction novel actually occur? Pinpointing a precise date within the Gregorian calendar proves to be a surprisingly complex task, riddled with internal inconsistencies within the Enderverse novels themselves. Let’s delve into the available clues and attempt to decipher the timeline.
Early books in the series, particularly The Second Formic Wars: The Swarm, offer a potential anchor point. A note within The Swarm explicitly places its events in 2118 AD. This date is stated to be approximately 92 years prior to the beginning of Ender’s Game, or 97 years before the destruction of the Formic homeworld. Based on this, the Formic homeworld’s destruction would occur around 2223 AD.
However, discrepancies arise when examining other novels. Shadows in Flight depicts Bean’s ship departing Earth in 2210 AD, supposedly eight years after the “last battle” – presumably the battle that concludes Ender’s Game. This would place the destruction of the Formic homeworld much earlier, around 2202 AD. These two dates present a 21-year gap, making it difficult to definitively state what year the pivotal events of Ender’s Game transpire. Therefore, based on these conflicting references, we can only estimate that Ender’s Game likely unfolds sometime between 2200 and 2225 AD.
Further complicating the timeline is the introduction of the Starways Congress (SC) calendar. The Hive Queen and The Hegemon are said to be published 41 years after the last battle of Ender’s Game. The founding of the Starways Congress occurs sometime after these publications. In Speaker for the Dead, the colonization of Lusitania is placed in 1886 SC, and Ender’s arrival on Lusitania is in 1970 SC, roughly 3002 years after the conclusion of Ender’s Game. Using the earlier calculated dates, this would place SC year 0 in either 3234 or 3255 AD, depending on whether we use 2202 AD or 2223 AD as the end of Ender’s Game.
Adding another layer of confusion, the founding date of the Starways Congress itself appears inconsistent within the books, shifting from approximately 60 years after the Formic War to a much later 600 years after.
While pinpointing the exact year Ender’s Game takes place remains elusive due to these inconsistencies, the Enderverse community has dedicated significant effort to constructing a comprehensive timeline. For a more in-depth exploration and a meticulously calculated timeline, readers are encouraged to consult resources like the Enderverse Wiki: https://enderverse.fandom.com/wiki/Enderverse_Timeline. This fan-created resource offers a more detailed and reconciled timeline for those seeking a deeper understanding of the Enderverse chronology.
