Ender is an outlier of his surroundings throughout the novel. When readers are introduced to him, we are quickly told that he is the third child in the family. That's not normal. He remains an outlier all through Battle School as well. He does develop friendships, but they are always kept at a distance. Despite the previous information, Ender does change during the story. He gains confidence in himself and his knowledge bit by bit throughout the novel.

He is quite intimidated by the other commanding students when he first arrives at the space school; however, Ender eventually embraces the fact that he will never fit in, so he stops trying to. This allows him to begin thinking very creatively. Ender will eventually gain so much confidence in himself that he even starts to gain some control over Graff. Ender knows that they need him, and he isn't afraid to leverage that every once in awhile. Finally, his refusal to completely destroy the Buggers shows Ender's growth in understanding and learning to love his enemy.