Achilles
From Orson Scott Card Wiki
| Achilles de Flandres | |
| Status | |
| Nicknames | Achilles |
| Occupation | Manipulator of Nations |
| Known relatives | No Known Relatives |
| Characteristics | |
| Height | Unknown |
| Weight | Unknown |
| Eye color | Unknown |
| Hair color | Unknown |
| Skin color | Unknown |
| Unusual features | Unknown |
| Born | {{{born}}} |
| Died | {{{died}}} |
| Appearances | |
| Ender's Shadow Shadow of the Hegemon Shadow Puppets Shadow of the Giant | |
Contents |
[edit] History
[edit] Pre Battle School
Next to nothing is known of Achilles early childhood. He was a crippled child of Belgian parents who somehow ended up homeless and alone on the streets of Rotterdam. He lived from day to day by eating at soup kitchens and stealing food from smaller children until he was taken down and threatened with death by Poke's Crew of younger orphans. They required Achilles’s protection to get past the lines of brutal bullies and into the soup kitchens. But Achilles had a psychological problem. He could not let anyone who had seen him helpless live. So the two people he held responsible for his humiliation were never safe. They were Bean, who had come up with the idea of using a bully to get into a kitchen, and Poke, who had held a cinder block over his head. Soon, the new system of bullies protecting younger orphans came to the attention of Sister Carlotta, who was searching among orphans for Battle School eligible students. She came to give Achilles’ “family” a basic education while testing Achilles for the Battle School program. It was at this point that the opportunity arose for Achilles to eliminate Poke while averting the suspicion to another orphan named Ulysses. When he did so, however, Bean witnessed the murder and ran to Sister Carlotta for protection. When Carlotta learned that Bean was the one who had implemented the new system, she pushed for Bean to be accepted into Battle School and found an Earthside school for Achilles.
[edit] Battle School
Achilles did exceptionally well academically. His test scores and grades were high, and he learned with fervor. However, his pathological need to kill anyone who had seen or made him helpless manifested itself more and more. Even his teacher, who had humiliated him when he had given a wrong answer, turned up dead. But Achilles was very careful. No suspicion ever fell on him for any of the murders he committed. So he continued his education, even as he was filled with uncontrollable and savage urges. But Sister Carlotta had sent several memos to the Battle School concerning Achilles, and the organization’s interest was piqued. When a situation with Bean at Battle School made it clear that a meeting between he and Achilles would be a major test for Bean the decision was made to bring Achilles aloft. He was sent to the leading pediatric orthopedic surgeon in the world to correct his crippled leg. After eight surgeries, he could walk as well as any other child. Because the surgeon had put him under total anesthetic and cut into his leg though, she had to die. So he killed her by inducing a heart attack with certain drugs. Her case file read “unsolved murder” and Achilles was sent to Battle School. At that time he had committed seven murders.
Achilles was the first and only Battle School student to move directly to an Army right off the shuttle. Of course, he was placed in Rabbit Army, newly under the command of Bean himself. He attempted to subtly manipulate the Army by telling stories about times when he was Bean’s superior, but Bean quickly put an end to that by banning all conversations about home. This made him Achilles next target for elimination. So Bean gave him the perfect opportunity. He tricked Achilles into coming with him into the vents of the school. Once there, Bean had several members of Rabbit Army hoist Achilles up into a large space where he couldn’t reach any walls. Suspended in air with no chance of escaping, Achilles was forced to confess every murder he had committed while Bean stood in front of him with a voice recorder. Achilles was taken to a mental hospital where he lived for several months.
[edit] Post Battle School
Finally, he escaped in a jailbreak perpetrated by Russian radicals. He was given command of extensive military materials simply because he had attended Battle School. The government was not informed of his mental pathology. Achilles first move was to have all the children who had been a part of Ender’s team kidnapped, brought to a secret location in Russia, and put in solitary confinement until they expressed willingness to work with Achilles. Then he put them through simulation training with terrain all over the world. But his real test was waiting for one of the students to make contact with someone outside. So while he waited, having cryptographers comb through each message sent by the students, he made contact with people in the Indian government and promised them help in organizing their military as soon as he had left Russia. Finally, the press reported on Achilles past and how he was the one behind the kidnappings. This meant that a message had been sent out. The only unaccounted for item was a small picture attached to every message sent by Petra Arkanian. So Achilles allowed all the students to be rescued except Petra. He recaptured her and took her with him to India.
By the time he reached India, Achilles already had contacts in China, Thailand, and other Southeast Asian countries. He soon gained control of the Indian strategic planners, all graduated Battle School students. With them, he planned a massive attack on Burma and Thailand. Petra Arkanian came up with a brilliant and deft strategy to destroy resistance, sacrificing very few soldiers. But Achilles had planned to conquer Southeast Asia and create an empire using China as his tool. So when India made its attack on Thailand through Burma, he made sure that it would result in a much-weakened India with a starving and cold army far outside its borders. The day he began the attack, Achilles had a bomb planted in the Thai Battle School graduate’s, Suriyawong’s, barracks. The bomb exploded and reports that both Suriyawong and Bean had been killed soon reached Achilles’ ears. But they were soon contradicted by reports that Bean had sent an e-mail from Thai barracks requesting Sister Carlotta’s presence only hours later. Also, Achilles prisoner, Petra Arkanian had enlisted help from another planner, Virlomi, to get a message to Bean. Before Achilles could kill Virlomi, though, she escaped into the Indian countryside. He told the others nothing about what had happened, only letting them wonder at what had happened. But he arranged for Sister Carlotta’s plane to be shot out of the sky with a surface to air missile he had put in place to bring China into the war.
Achilles’ military plan, unlike his assassination attempt, worked very well. Soon after their initial attack, the Indian Army’s supply lines were all but cut completely by Thai raids. At the same time, Burma was stripped bare. So when China came into the war, they met little serious resistance. But Virlomi had rendezvoused with Bean and Suriyawong and given them detailed plans of the compound where Achilles was holding the planners. The Chinese helicopters arrived to evacuate Achilles from the nation he had betrayed only moments before Thai helicopters came in to rescue Petra and the others. So Achilles was trapped in a hostage situation. He was alone with a gun in a room full of former Battle Schoolers while the Chinese and Thai stood across from each other in a stand off. Achilles broke the standoff when he ran from the building with Petra toward a helicopter, which Suriyawong blew up before they could reach it. He held the gun to Petra’s head and demanded to be given the remaining Chinese helicopter. The Chinese general made a deal with Bean, however. Petra would be let go and the Indian Battle Schoolers would be left behind and the Chinese could leave with Achilles. Achilles was not willing to accept losing Petra. He turned to kill the Chinese colonel, but said colonel broke his arm at the same time Bean shot him with a tranquilizer. The unconscious Achilles was taken back to China to be given a heroes welcome. Though he had tried to betray their colonel, the Chinese gave Achilles much influence in their new empire, which spanned all of Southeast Asia.
[edit] Trivia
Unknown
[edit] Quotes
"You let this walking Turd get away with shit like this?"
[edit] Related Articles
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