Julian Delphiki
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Julian Delphiki, more commonly known as Bean, is the main character of the books Ender's Shadow, Shadow of the Hegemon, Shadow Puppets, and Shadow of the Giant by Orson Scott Card. He is also an important character in Ender's Game. He will be one of the two main characters in the upcoming movie of the same title.
Bean was born in Rotterdam as the result of an illegal experiment conducted by Volescu, his father's half brother. Bean's parents, Julian and Elena Delphiki, had conceived one child, (Nikolai Delphiki), through in-vitro fertilization. The other embryos were locked away, until they were stolen by Volescu, who turned on the Anton's Key within them. When Bean was only a few months old, the government found out and Volescu killed all of the babies--except Bean, who at his young age realized that he was in danger and crawled into a toilet tank where he hid for days before being rescued by a janitor. After a short while of living with the janitor, Bean wandered out onto the streets of Rotterdam.
Around the age of four, Bean joined Poke's Crew. Poke was very merciful to Bean, and probably saved his life by feeding him. Bean devises a plan to get more food for the crew and recruits a bully with a bad foot, Achilles, to get them into the food shelter. Bean actually advises Poke to kill Achilles, but the same mercy that she showed to Bean came through, and Achilles was saved. Achilles became the crew's "papa" and carried out the plan successfully, allowing all of the orphans to get food. When Achilles begins contemplating killing Bean, however, Poke intervenes, and meets with Achilles at night to make a deal with him. Bean witnesses this and follows them for a while, but he sees the two kissing. Thinking that he was wrong, he starts to walk home. When he realizes his mistake he turns back to try to save her. When he gets there, Achilles is gone, but he sees Poke's body floating in the river. This causes Bean incredible guilt, and losing those that owe him a lot becomes a theme that runs through the book and its sequels.
Meanwhile, Bean and Achilles are noticed by Sister Carlotta, a nun who recruits children for the IF's Battle school. Bean is accepted over Achilles because Achilles is shown to be a psychopath and sociopath. Bean is both the shortest and youngest child in Battle School. He keeps to himself, but shows an intense interest in Ender Wiggin, the top student of Battle School, because Bean is soon compared to Ender. The first friend Bean makes in the school happens to be Nikolai Delphiki.
Bean is soon put into Ender's group, where he meets Petra Arkanian, his future wife. Ender is rather mean to Bean at first, but a partnership emerges between the two geniuses. During his stay at Battle School, Bean explores the school and eavesdrops on teachers where he finds out that Nikolai is his brother.
Bean is picked for Ender's group that will destroy the Buggers. The Buggers are destroyed and the kids are sent back to Earth. Bean is sent to live with the Delphikis. His tranquil life is short lived after his old nemesis Achilles tries to kill his family and kidnaps the ex-battle schoolers for the conquest of Earth. Bean allies himself with Peter Wiggin to combat this threat. After killing Achilles, Bean helps Peter unite the world under the hegemony. From the advice of the Minister of Colonization Graff, Bean follows Mazer Rackham's footsteps to lives a relativistic at light speed in hopes that a cure can be found for his condition.