Formics
The Formics are an alien insectoid species that feature in Ender's Game.
Contents |
History
The Formics
Around 50 years ago, they attacked the Earth where they attempted to colonise the planet and were barely fought off by a New Zealand soldier known as Mazer Rackham. Over 40 million humans during the First Invasion of the Formic Wars.
Overview
In appearance, the Formics were described them as being an insect that could have evolved on earth if things had gone a different way a billion years ago and that their evolutionary ancestors could have looked similar to Earth's ants. They were said to be insectoids yet warm-blooded and developed an internal skeleton and shed most of their exoskeleton, evolved a complex system of internal organs, and they respire and perspire.
The Formic species consisted of hive-minded colonies directed by queens. If a queen dies, all the workers under her control lose their ability to function immediately; but in Xenocide, implications exist that 'workers' can escape the influence of a queen. The Formic race is revealed to be trimorphic in Shadows in Flight. Drones are much smaller and depend on a Hive Queen for survival, and their bodies are shaped to spend their lives clinging to her, until upon her death, they take flight to seek out a new queen. Drones are capable of individual thought and action as well as mind-to-mind communication, more limited than that of a queen; whereas queens communicate instantaneously and can even do so with other species. Formics live in vast underground colonies, usually without light, informing the assumption that Formics make use of sensory apparatus outside the range of the electromagnetic spectrum visible to humans. In the first novel they have artificial lighting; whereas in Xenocide, Ender claims they rely on heat signature.
Notes
- The Formics were created by Orson Scott Card where they featured in the setting of the Ender's Game universe.
- The term "Formic" is derived from formica, the Latin word for ant; whereas "bugger" is a pejorative used by humans; yet it was not until 1999's Ender's Shadow that the term 'Formic' was first used, interchangeably with 'Bugger'. Later books used 'Formic' almost exclusively, as the more 'scientific' term. This leads to odd scenarios in the continuity of the books, such as Valentine referring to them as "Buggers" in Ender's Game, chronologically next as "Formics" in Ender in Exile, and again as "Buggers" in Speaker for the Dead and Xenocide. The feature film adaptation of Ender's Game uses "Formics" exclusively.
In other media
Films
- In Ender's Game, the Formics appeared in the setting of the 2013 live-action film.
Appearances
- Ender's Game:
- Xenocide:
External Links
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