2. The Twist
At the end of the novel, Ender learns that the simulation he thought he was playing has actually been real this entire time. He has been commanding the human fleet, and has just destroyed the Bugger home-world and annihilated their entire species. It's a heart-wrenching, gut-turning twist, fueled by the horrendous way Ender has been treated at the Battle and Commander Schools, that completely changes the way Ender thinks about himself, and of humanity, for the rest of his life.
Why We Probably Won't See It In The Movie: When discussing how he was going to approach the screenplay adaptation of his novel, Orson Scott Card had this to say:
"The second decision I made was to give that information about the surprise at the end from the start. In my script we know who Mazer Rackham really is and we know what is at stake as Ender plays his games. But Ender doesn't know, so I think the suspense is actually increased because the audience knows we're about the business of saving the world and that everything depends on this child not understanding that. We care all the more about whether he wins and we worry that he might not want to. As we watch the adults struggle to get control of Ender, we pity him because of what's happening to him, but we want the adults to succeed. I think it makes for a much more complex and fascinating film than it would have been if I had tried to keep secrets."
As an enormous fan of the book, I would have to disagree with Card. Showing the audience the twist from the start completely changes how we are supposed to react to the ending, and I would argue that it takes away tension and suspense throughout the film. It's like telling us that Vader is Luke's father five minutes into The Empire Strikes Back, and expecting the twist to be as good when it comes around at the end. It just doesn't carry the same weight. The story is about Ender, and how he perceives the events around him, and he is supposed to be the conduit for the audience into this world. If we know more than Ender does, that makes it harder for us to connect with him. Plus, it's a
great twist, and deserves to be handled correctly!