Arkanian Delphiki, born Randall Firth, was the son of Petra Arkanian and Bean and a colonist on Ganges.[1] He was first introduced in Shadow of the Giant.
History
Early Life
Randall's embryo was stolen by Volescu from Bean and Petra and implanted in a surrogate mother, Randi Firth. She was told that the child was from Achilles de Flandres, who she idolized. While all of Randall's siblings were discovered by Bean and Petra's allies, Randall was hidden, and his mother eventually took him on a colony ship to Ganges. Unbeknownst to his mother, however, Randall had the same symptom as his true father, Anton's Key. Due to the effects of the symptom, he learned to walk and talk at an extremely young age. His "mother" Randi taught her son to view Achilles' enemies as evil. This meant in Randall's opinion, Virlomi, the governor of Ganges, the late Peter Wiggin, and Bean were all villainous individuals.[1]
Randall began a naturalist movement on the Nets, saying that people like Peter Wiggin the Hegemon and Virlomi were attempting to erase the "true native cultures" of Earth. Randall believed that the Xenocide was not in fact a good thing, like most thought, but the most hideous crime in history. Blame ultimately fell upon Ender Wiggin and his jeesh for commanding the ships that deployed the Molecular Disruption Device against the Formic Homeworld and unintentionally wiped the Formics out of the universe. He spread this view throughout the Nets and to the other followers of the naturalist movement.[1]
Eventually, Randall assaulted Governor Virlomi and was to be sent to Earth for trial on the next arriving starship. When the ship to carry Firth back to Earth arrived at Ganges, he was surprised to see that the very Ender Wiggin who caused the Xenocide disembarked the ship with his sister Valentine. Randall decided that the only way to destroy Ender's reputation once and for all was to have Ender kill him, like he did to Stilson and Bonzo, thus proving once and for all that Ender Wiggin was a monster who would kill anyone in his way.[1]
When Ender and Randall finally met, he tried to provoke Ender into killing him, but he only succeeded in brutally beating Ender up as Ender told him about his true parents, Bean and Petra. Valentine watched the entire confrontation, but didn't try to call for help or intervene, though she called for Randall to stop. Eventually Randall stopped and Ender, who had a broken nose, several broken ribs, a concussion, and barely conscious, was taken to a doctor. There, Randall Firth repented and finally accepted the truth that his real father was not Achilles, but Bean. Randall renamed himself Arkanian Delphiki, in honor of both his parents. Eventually, Ender got well and asked Virlomi for Arkanian to be pardoned and not to be sent on trial, and so Arkanian remained on Ganges.[1]
Personality
Due to his upbringing under his mentally unstable mother, Arkanian believed himself to be the son of Achilles de Flandres and acted harshly towards those who disrespected his "father". This manipulation under Randi caused Arkanian to be a disrespectful and angry young man, who reveled in hurting those he thought were the enemies of the original Achilles.
However, Arkanian changed his ways after his encounter with Ender Wiggin, realizing his true parentage and releasing his anger towards the enemies of Achilles de Flandres. His realization that the ones he had directed his anger towards most prominently were his true parents caused him to rename himself in honor of them, as well as distancing himself from his birth mother by dropping her surname.
Trivia
- Arkanian was most likely responsible for the destruction of Ender Wiggin's reputation, as he started the movement that thought of Ender's annihilation of the Formics as a heinous crime.[1]
- As his three siblings that also carried Anton's Key were cured by the end of Shadows in Flight, Arkanian is the last known carrier of the condition.[2]
Quotes
- "I'm angry because you say I'm the son of the killer of my father!"
- — Ender in Exile, Chapter 22