Speaker for the Dead

Senior xenologist who studies the piggies with his son Libo; mentor to Novinha; killed and 'planted' by the piggies after Novinha's discovery, his death transmitted by ansible to the Hundred Worlds.

Isolated orphan daughter of Os Venerados; emotionally paralyzed; forms a secret collaborative bond with Pipo; discovers the Descolada agent in all native cells; destroys her research and locks files after Pipo's death out of guilt.

Pipo's son and apprentice; close companion to Novinha; traumatized by Rooter's death; after Pipo's death assumes adult leadership of the xenologist station.

An assertive piggy who challenges Pipo about the asymmetry of their contact; performs acrobatics; is killed and 'planted' by other piggies in a power struggle.

3000-year-old relativistic traveler, secretly Andrew Wiggin the Xenocide; working as Speaker for the Dead in Reykjavik on Trondheim; learns of Pipo's death via his ear implant during a class discussion.

Sharp, analytically Calvinist student who follows Ender after class, deduces he received ansible news directly, and declares she wants to Speak for him — unsettling him with her intensity.

Calvinist student who argues that if an act is evil then the actor is evil; rebuked by Ender.

Novinha's deceased husband, revealed to be completely sterile and never the biological father of her children; loved Novinha worshipfully while enduring her emotional rejection; subject of the public Speaking.

Mayor of Milagre who convenes emergency meeting to reveal that Starways Congress is scanning and preparing to wipe all of Lusitania's computer files, treating the colony as rebellious.

Catholic bishop of Lusitania; initially suspicious and rivalrous in the emergency meeting; privately moved by the Speaking's truthfulness; counsels Quim with compassion afterward.

Principal of the colony school and member of the Filhos da Mente de Cristo; describes Novinha as 'emotionally paralyzed'; informs Pipo about Novinha's confrontation with Bishop Peregrino over canonization.

AI inhabiting the ansible network; arranges the ansible call from Valentine, shares Ender's conversation with Miro without permission, and later distributes The Life of Human across the Hundred Worlds.

Ender's sister on Trondheim; has revived the Demosthenes identity to oppose the fleet, is fleeing treason charges, and is sailing to Lusitania with husband Jakt, three children, and Plikt.

Senior Zenador who crosses the electric fence, suffers permanent neurological damage, devises a scanning communication system while paralyzed, and ultimately resolves to leave Lusitania.

Co-Zenador and Miro's partner; hostile to the Speaker but ultimately cooperative; confronts the piggies over Pipo and Libo's deaths; revealed to be Miro's half-sister.

Novinha's eldest daughter; shares her ecological theory about the Descolada with the Speaker, providing the key link between the ecosystem collapse and piggy biology.

Novinha's devout Catholic son; erupts at the Speaking when Marcão's sterility is revealed, obscenely accusing his mother; retreats in shame; meets with the Bishop afterward.

Helps devise the letter-scanning system for Miro, records Human's transformation with his prosthetic eyes, and walks with Ender to select the Hive Queen's site.

Youngest son of Novinha; volatile child who collapses in grief, revealing he loved his abusive father and mourns him

Colony physician who autopsied Marcão; organized in cheerful noncooperation with Ender per bishop's counsel until threatened with inquisitor petition

Last surviving Bugger queen carried in cocoon by Ender; communicates through philotic impulse, identifies Lusitania as the right place and senses a clear philotic mind there

Piggy leader and Ender's primary interlocutor; facilitates the tree-giving ritual; negotiates the limits of what can be shared with humans; offers to hide Miro from arrest.

Piggy artisan who draws the shape of a bow from the felled tree's trunk through song, demonstrating the piggies' symbiotic tool-extraction method.

Crosses the fence using capim anesthetic, guides the humans into the forest, interprets between humans and wives, and assists with Human's transformation ritual.

Head of the monastic Order of the Children of the Mind; has already backed up records to offworld monasteries; reveals that San Angelo's journals describe the Speaker as older and more powerful than known.

Novinha's youngest daughter; asks Ela innocently why Quim is angry and whether the Speaker is their father now.

Rival piggy faction leader opposed to sharing secrets with humans; paradoxically commands the wives to authorize the tree-giving ritual; speaks Tree Language Miro cannot understand.

Libo's widow; collapses and is led away weeping when the Speaker reveals Libo's long affair with Novinha; simultaneously grieving and receiving the Speaker's implicit absolution of her innocence.

Community physician present at the Speaking; inwardly registers the significance of Marcão's sterility diagnosis before the Speaker announces it publicly.

The lead wife who admits Ender to the mothertree, issues the ritual opening threat, and is forced by Ender's refusal to withdraw it before negotiations begin.