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SPOILER WARNING: Ender Quintet, Shadow Saga and The Last Shadow plot details follow.
This article is about the Hive Queen that was found on Shakespeare. You may be looking for other uses of the term Hive Queen.
"All I do is dream," she said. "I dream the whole history of my people. They are my mothers, but now they are also my sisters, because I remember doing all the things they do."
Ender in Exile, Chapter 21

The Hive Queen of Shakespeare was a certain Formic Hive Queen that was left to be found by Ender Wiggin on the planet of Shakespeare,[3] who later restored her species on the world of Lusitania.[4] She was first introduced in Ender's Game.

History[]

Early Life[]

During the Hive Queen's time as a larva, she was picked by the other Hive Queens to be the one to travel to another world in order to save the Formic species from their extinction in the impending Xenocide. The cocooned Queen was transported from the Formic Homeworld to a colony to be discovered by the same Ender Wiggin who had destroyed their species.[5]

HiveQueenEgg

The Hive Queen as an egg.

Discovery by Ender[]

While searching for a place for new colonists to settle on Shakespeare, Ender encountered a recreation of the Mind Game in a field. Upon investigating, Ender discovered the Hive Queen’s cocoon-encased body in the tower and carried her out, promising to care for her for the rest of her life. He would find a suitable planet for her to hatch new eggs, regrowing her race. The Hive Queen and Ender were able to communicate mind to mind as the Queen had with the drone Formics.[3] During the period of searching, the Hive Queen was almost a friend to Ender, though was concealed and sometimes regarded as intrusive.[6]

Shadows in Flight[]

In 429 AX while traveling with Andrew, across the galaxy the Delphiki family aboard the Herodotus discovered the Formic Ark, a generational colony ship. Although the Hive Queen aboard the ship was dead, the Hive Queen with Andrew learned to see through the eyes of the Formicoid creatures aboard the ship and added their observations to her memory, thus witnessing the death of Bean.[1]

Speaker for the Dead[]

Three millennia later in 3128 AX, after having traveled with Ender throughout the many human colonies throughout the galaxy, the Hive Queen told him that she could restart her species at Lusitania, a planet where the native sentient species of Pequeninos had killed a human. Ender, now going by Andrew, was going there to Speak the death of the victim, and the Hive Queen was determined to grow there. She could sense a presence on Lusitania that the humans had not yet fully discovered. This presence, she knew, would keep her people safe.[4]

The Hive Queen began communication with the Pequeninos, promising to teach them the way to space travel. The Pequeninos were given permanent access to her as part of the treaty Andrew negotiated with the female Pequeninos. The Hive Queen would, it was hoped, teach them to mine ore and refine it into usable metal. Andrew gave the Hive Queen a place near the Pequeninos’ land to come out of her cocoon and hatch her unborn eggs. On a sunny day, she did so, excited to experience life for the first time in three thousand years.[4]

Xenocide[]

She created for herself an industrial region, working toward creating a starships once again. Over the course of the next three decades, Andrew’s family worked on a way to eradicate the Descolada virus from Lusitania. His stepdaughter Quara discovered that the Descolada could actually be alive, and told the Pequenino Fathertrees that her siblings were trying to destroy it. Because the virus was an integral part of the Pequenino reproductive cycle, the Fathertrees contacted the Hive Queen, and plans began immediately to leave Lusitania in Formic starships. Andrew, along with his stepson Miro, sister Valentine, and friend Plikt, visited the Formic city and learned of her intentions to leave the planet. She swore an oath to Andrew that she would not kill any more Humans and would get rid of the Descolada once they were in space. She was also laying many eggs, including a few new queens. The Formic society had been reborn on Lusitania, and the Hive Queen sought to protect it by getting her entire race off the planet.[7]

Children of the Mind[]

Andrew approached the Hive Queen weeks later, hoping to find a way to harness faster-than-light travel. He believed that the Formic’s fashion of instantaneous communication held the key to such high speed travel. The Hive Queen taught Andrew about the origin point of philotes, and how they existed in another space outside of the universe. When the Formics called for them to enter a future Queen's body, the philotes cross from Outside and enter the body. She explained how the Formics had done this with Ender when he was in Battle School and inadvertently created Jane.[2]

The Hive Queen built a rudimentary starship called a Box for Andrew, Jane, Ela Ribeira, and Miro to use to travel to the Outside to test Grego’s and Olhado’s theories of travel. Using what the Hive Queen had taught Ender about philotes, Grego and Olhado believed that by calling on the philotes that had come to the universe, humans could travel to the Outside. She made the humans a second ship to use to search for appropriate worlds that the Pequeninos and Formics could inhabit. However, while the humans thought the ship was just to search for the worlds, the Hive Queen and Jane wanted the humans to locate the origin of the Descolada as well.[2]

Miro approached the Hive Queen to learn how she had built the philotic bridge with Ender originally. It was his hope that she would help him figure out how to put Jane’s essence in Valentine II’s body. The Hive Queen said that doing such was essentially impossible, however Miro persisted. Having done all he could, he left it to Jane, Valentine II, and the Hive Queen to figure out. The Hive Queen turned to the Pequenino Fathertree Human to figure out how to save Jane and Valentine II. They agreed to work together to call Andrew's philotic essence as it left his dying body and hold on to it long enough to create another bridge, this time between Valentine II and Jane. Since Valentine II was a part of Ender, and Jane was a small part of him, combined with the essence of the Hive Queen, they thought it would work.[2]

When Jane’s philotic “soul” or “Aiúa" left the Ansibles, it bounced around searching for a new home. It tried Ender, Peter II, Valentine II, and even the Formics before settling briefly in the Philotic web that connected the Pequenino Mothertrees. The Hive Queen communicated with her and guided her back to Valentine II’s body, which Jane took over and lived in from then on. The Hive Queen was able to help Jane, though in her human form, be able to bounce her Auía through the <othertrees and the secretly reestablished computer networks on a few of the Hundred Worlds so that she could continue her faster-than-light travel. Thanks to Jane, she successfully sent her drones and new Hive Queens to the Lusitanian Colonies, preserving them as the Lusitania Fleet came closer, prepared to destroy the apparently rogue world. The Hive Queen herself refused to leave, as she felt it was appropriate for her to die in the same fashion as had the rest of her people three thousand years before. Human pleaded with her to leave. When the destruction of the planet did not occur, the Hive Queen remained in solitude. She did not attend Ender’s funeral or participate in any other public ceremonies.[2]

The Last Shadow[]

In 3180 AX after the arrival of the Leguminids on Lusitania, the Hive Queen took an interest in Thulium Delphiki. When she came near the edge of the Formic city, she sent the worker she had modified to use human speech, Talker, to ask her to visit the Queen at a later date. A few days later Thulium returned with Peter Wiggin II, who bore the aiúa of Andrew, Si Wang-mu, and Jane. As Thulium began to cross the river, the Queen made Talker run over and scooped her up to carry her, as she was not tall enough to wade through. The rest of the group waded through and spent time drying off. As Thulium wondered if the Hive Queen were communicating with her, the Queen answered her and explained how she had learned how to communicate in a "language-y way". She showed her a vision of her grandfather, Bean, dying in the Formic Ark. When she asked how she had witnessed this, she was shown the eyes of the animals in the habitat on the ark, that she can see through those creatures as well, stating that when the Leguminids found the Ark, she learned to see through the eyes of those creatures and add their observations to her memory. The Queen also showed Thulium an image of the philotic connection between her and Wang-mu.[1]

As they entered the Queen's room, Talker spoke to Peter and confirmed what he thought the creatures in the room were. Speaking through Talker, the Queen explained its creation and how she allotted her mental bandwith between her workers. Wang-mu asked if her philotic connection with Peter was strong enough for him to take her with him as he went Outside and back in. The Queen stated that it had the strength but Peter must also have the will. Peter then changed topics to explain Wang-mu's theory about Descoladora and if he and Wang-mu could travel there to find out what was going on on the planet. He explained that they should go as they learned quickly, but if they died to an unknown virus their loss would not cripple the Descolada project. Thulium spoke out against them, saying they should not go as they are not experienced geneticists and would not know what they were looking at. She insisted that she should go, as she considered herself the most expendable geneticist. Switching topics, Thulium asked the Queen how light made its way down to the cavern. The Queen, through Talker, stated that skylight tunnels with mirrors led to spots on the surface, and the workers covered and uncovered the mirrors to allow less and more light to come into the chamber. The Queen then returned to Peter saying that they did need a geneticist on their journey, that they should take both Thulium and her cousin Brussels Delphiki. Peter disliked this option, which Jane noted as being due to the fact that Peter would not be in charge of it, and she taunted him for it. Peter was further rebuked by the Queen when she said that no one depended upon his leadership as much as her workers depended on her authority. Humbled, Peter realized within himself that he did not need to be in control, but simply look out for the others. Reading his mind, the Hive Queen praised Peter and said that he was now truly the leader of the expedition. The Hive Queen said that Talker would be unable to lead them out and told Thulium to instead.[1]

After the discovery of talking Ravens and Keas on Descoladora, Jane and the Hive Queen conversed to discuss the news. When Jane asked if one of the Keas returned to Lusitania, Royal Son, had an Aiúa or not, the Hive Queen explained that one did not have an Aiúa, one was an Aiúa, and that all creatures capable of movement were one at a fairly high level. When Jane asked what capacity he had, the Queen said that his was brighter than the aiúas of Formic Workers, brighter than most Pequeninos, and also stronger, wiser, and brighter than most Humans.[1]

The emissary of the Ravens, Dog, later arrived in the Queen's chambers to meet her. She was surprised that the Queen could speak directly into her mind. Dog immediatley asked if the humans could be trusted, as they had previously destroyed the entire Formic species, with one exception being the Queen herself. Dog feared that if they were discovered the humans would send a fleet to destroy their planet, but the Queen told her that the humans of Lusitania would save them, and later move them to other colonies. Dog asked her how long would it take her to build a new fleet of starships that could challenge the human empire. The Queen guessed twenty years alone, but with her Sisters on the Lusitanian Colonies, three years. The Queen suggested that the Ravens and Keas trust the humans and keep no secrets, for they will know.[1]

After the discovery that the planet Descoladora was named Nest and was also inhabited by a subspecies of humans called the Yachachiyruna and normal humans called The Folk, Talker was used as a translator as Jane, Peter, and Wang-mu approached the Queen to ask her perspective on the matter.[1]

When the Lusitanian humans returned from Nest, it was learned that they had been attacked by the human Folk using a biological weapon. Peter, who was not in quarantine, went to the Hive Queen to seek her insight. The Queen compared their encounter to the First Formic War and how the humans had killed the Formic invaders, but the Formics merely saw them as animals. The Queen suggested that they return to Nest to save the Keas, Ravens, and Engineers and take them to a few Lusitanian Colonies. The Hive Queen also told Peter to bring Thulium to her if they could not cure the disease on their own. The conversation was later cited by Valentine as Demosthenes in "Boundaries of War".[1]

When Jane brought Thulium over, the Queen left her city and walked out into the meadow, bringing Talker and two of the sluglike helpers that tended to the eggs in the hive house. The Queen lifted both slugs up onto Thulium's body, and they left small holes in Thulium's clothing, with the skin bleeding slightly under them, as a kind of Formic surgery. The Queen then pulled them off and attached them to her abdomen. She stood upright for a few moments, then bent and curled herself into a ball on the ground. Talker explained in her own words that the Queen was scanning the virus. The Queen created a substance in her body and put them into the slugs, but was exhausted and needed Jane and Sprout to carry the slugs onto Thulium. Once placed on her, the substance moved through Thulium's body killing or removing or disabling virus worms as they went. As dawn approached, Talker said that Thulium's state was very bad, and that if the Hive Queen had not helped, all the worms at once would have torn open every cell wall, becoming a pile of cellular garbage, and all the worms would dissolve into spores that would float away, ready to be inhaled by another host. The Queen said it was a deliberate creation, adapted from a lifeform found on Nest and changed into being lethal. Thankful for her cure, Sprout called the Hive Queen a friend and she said it was reciprocated. The Queen, through Talker, said to bring the slugs to the Q-Bay to disinfect the others. Jane teleported the Queen and Talker back to the hive house.[1]

Soon afterward, the Hive Queen spoke with the Raven Dog about sending the Keas, Ravens, and Yachachi to 5 of the Lusitanian Colonies. As the Keas needed to be separate from the humans, the Queen asked Dog if she wanted to share a continent with the Keas but no humans, or a continent with humans but no Keas.[1]

Personality[]

The Hive Queen acted for the benefit of her species, however she changed slightly after meeting Andrew and got to know humans better. When the Pequeninos were in danger, she sent some of her workers to help the other species.

Trivia[]

Quotes[]

"Your people are fools. We know the truth. We know who killed us, and it wasn't you."
Speaker for the Dead, page 52

References[]

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