Bean is an underclassman to Ender in this first of the series. He looks up to Ender and hopes to emulate him through most of the book Ender's Game.In later books we are given more about Bean's past and his life before and after battle school.Julian Bean Delphiki, Jr. is a major character in Orson Scott Card's science fiction novels revolving around Ender Wiggin. At the age of four, Bean is living on the streets of Rotterdam. He is ostracized by the other children on the streets for his small size. Desperate for food, Bean talks to Poke, a crew leader; the leader of a small gang of children, and convinces her to give him food in exchange for an idea. Poke gives Bean his name when she admits he isn't worth a bean. However, Poke becomes intrigued with Bean's idea, to get one of the bullies who prowl the streets to work for her crew. When Poke agrees and attempts to attack Achilles (pronounced 'ah-SHEEL'), a bully with a crippled foot, Bean is struck with foreboding. Soon after, though Achilles makes a good 'papa' to the crew, getting them into the soup kitchen and protecting them, his insane need to kill anyone who has seen him in a vulnerable position causes him to murder Poke. This marks the end of Bean's street career. Bean is picked up off the streets by a nun, who has been helping his crew for a while. She routinely tests him for his aptitude towards military training, only to find out that Bean is a prodigy among prodigies. He's then sent into orbit, to the Battle School, where he begins training. However, he decides that training isn't enough for him, and proceeds to find numerous ways to acquire additional information, by means of hacking and spying on his superiors. In Ender's Shadow by Orson Scott Card, we find out that Bean is, in fact, orchestrating many of the Battle School's actions, including his appointment to the newly reformed Dragon squad. Not that it was too hard, considering he, in fact, created the list of people who should be appointed to Ender's squad. After landslide victories in the Battle School's Arena, Ender, Bean, and a few others are shot off to other stations. Ender is trained by himself, while the others train with Bean in command. Eventually, Ender returns to take command, and Ender's Game begins. The Game is supposedly a training exercise, however, bean is the only trainee to realize that the Game is, in fact, a command post for the most brilliant minds of the age, using top-secret, faster-than-light communications. This fact is only revealed to the other trainees once the Bugger's home world is destroyed. Ender is told seperately, while Bean confesses the truth to the other commanders. Bean, in fact, was secretly given command over Ender, but only to be used if Ender should fail. Show less «