Si Wang-mu

Si Wang-mu is a major character in the science fiction novels Xenocide and Children of the Mind by Orson Scott Card. She is named after the Chinese goddess Xi Wangmu, the Royal Mother of the West.

Childhood

She is a very intelligent and ambitious girl, but because her world has a rigidly stratified social hierarchy and she is the child of lower-class parents, she has not been well-educated; it is assumed that the best she can hope for is to be a servant. She approaches the young "godspoken" lady Han Qing-jao while they are doing "righteous labor" in the rice paddies. Qing-jao, pleased with Wang-mu's intelligence and honesty, hires her as her servant and begins to educate her. During this initial conversation, Qing-jao deduces that Wang-Mu must have bribed the foreman for the opportunity to work alongside a godspoken woman, though she only later realizes the depth of this commitment. Since Wang-mu is from a poor family, she could only exchange sexual favors for the opportunity; this realization makes Qing-jao more grateful for Wang-mu and determined to have the foreman fired for such impropriety.

The House of Han Fei-Tzu

Under Qing-jao's tutelage, Wang-mu proves to be a quick student. As the "secret maid" of Qing-jao, it is her job to always be at her mistress' side, keeping her confidence while serving her needs. Though their relationship is at times strained, Wang-mu's consistent attention to detail and consideration often turn away any of her potential offenses. As Qing-jao is continuously gripped by the voice of the "gods," in reality the reaction of the godspoken to a form of OCD (Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder), she often stays with Qing-jao throughout her humiliating rituals of "purification."

When Han Fei-Tzu receives orders from the Starways Congress to solve the mystery of the Lusitania Fleet, Wang-mu is present and immediately incorporated into the discussion. Qing-jao trusts her implicitly and relies on her more as a friend with a fresh set of eyes rather than a simple maid, and the two often discuss the problems of science and philosophy arising out of their task. While Qing-jao is an excellent and methodical researcher, it is often Wang-mu's insights and creative thinking that steer closer toward the answer.

Eventually, the two stumble onto the identity of the elusive Demosthenes and realize that the famous writer must have access to a powerful or sentient computer program (Jane) to accomplish the task of hiding the fleet while in near-light speed travel. Jane, in turn, reveals herself to Han Fei-Tzu, Qing-jao, and Wang-mu, followed by a devastating secret: the godspoken have been genetically modified by Congress as a deliberate strategy to make them useful but not a threat.

While Han Fei-tzu immediately seizes the truth of this idea, his daughter Qing-jao cannot accept this and believes that Jane must be destroyed, but Wang-mu sees Jane as an intelligent and compassionate person and is greatly saddened at the thought of her death. Moreover, she clings to the possibility that ridding the people of Path from the "godspoken" genetic markers may free her adopted family from its humiliating grip. Qing-jao, still believing the OCD to be the voice of the gods, dismisses Wang-mu from her service, but her father, Han Fei-tzu, calls her back to help save Jane and the people of Lusitania.

Research and Revelations

Working closely with Han Fei-tzu, the pair begin working with the xenologists of Lusitania to solve the various problems confronting them: stopping the Lusitania fleet from destroying the planet on their arrival, finding a cure or replacement for the Descolada, and cracking the secret to faster-than-light travel. As before with Qing-jao, Wang-mu acts as the fresh set of eyes for Han Fei-tzu, providing insight and intuitive guesses that only someone who was not a disciplined expert could offer.

It is eventually discovered that all but one of the people in the small sample testing of members of Han's household gifted with enhanced intelligence are also afflicted with an artificially inflicted form of Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD). That one person is Si Wang-mu herself, and her genes are used to help cure the remainder of the Path population - to give them all intelligence without the bonds of the OCD. Han Fei-tzu comments that she is essentially living up to her namesake since her genetic pattern will be the "mother" of the unfettered new strain used to cure the godspoken. An added benefit to the treatment is that all the people of Path, throughout the social hierarchy, should exhibit the incredible intelligence once demonstrated only by the elite.

As Wang-mu and Han Fei-tzu spread the new virus throughout the population, the two attempt to reconcile with Qing-jao, though this proves to be impossible. Despite the loss of his biological daughter, Han Fei-tzu and Wang-mu embrace each other as kin, with Wang-mu feeling particularly close to Han Fei-tzu as a surrogate father as well as her teacher, mentor, and chief supporter.

At the end of Xenocide, Wang-mu leaves her home planet, Path, with the young Peter Wiggin to continue this mission, which is detailed in Children of the Mind.

Traveling Philosopher

Along with Peter Wiggin, the two adopt the singular mission of convincing the Starways Congress to halt their attack on Lusitania. To do this, they embark on a series of investigations and debates to pull an influential swing vote to their favor. Apparently, the center of power in the Starways Congress is not held in the hands of politicians and soldiers, but rather several key philosophical leaders who have the tendency to influence policy. To this effect, Wang-mu poses as an "itinerant philosopher" specializing in cryptic "gnomic" sayings—presumably a position of great influence for someone of her age. Peter poses as a traveling physicist so that the two, working together, will draw more attention to their combined arguments representing both science and philosophy, respectively.

Traveling with Peter is quick, thanks to Jane's ability to move them at faster-than-light speeds; however, the two develop an immediate dislike for one another, which eventually blows up into a love-hate relationship. Since Peter was created by Ender to be a vessel for self-hatred, he has a tendency to lash out at the people around him, initially turning Wang-mu into his most frequent target. After shedding her trained humility and servile attitude from the world of Path, Wang-mu begins returning the favor, fighting verbal sparring matches that exchange hurtful remarks, though the two eventually form a grudging respect.

They are first sent to the planet of Divine Wind to probe the questions of imperialism with Aimaina Hikari. When Peter fails to connect with the withdrawn social figure, due mainly to a lack of cultural context, Wang-mu engages him in a duel of humility to win his respect. While the two fail to persuade him to their cause, they in turn find out that he is a disciple of a Samoan holy man: Malu. Jane reveals that this was actually their mission all along, since Malu is the guiding light of modern philosophy, but is also reclusive. Since Aimaina contacts Teu 'Ona "Grace" Drinker first, the two travel to the planet Pacifica in an effort to contact him through her.

Once they arrive, it is immediately apparent to both Grace and her family that Peter and Wang-mu have achieved the impossible and traveled faster-than light. After a series of additional cultural blunders, Grace reveals that the two are not holy enough to go see Malu, but that in a compromise, Malu has decided to see them.

A New Beginning

After listening to Malu at length, light years away on Lusitania, Ender Wiggin begins dying, causing the extensions of his mind and soul (the re-created Peter and Valentine) to fluctuate. As Peter begins fading into death on Pacifica, he undergoes an intense personal transformation, and Wang-mu begins to realize that a deeper connection has formed between the two. As Peter slips in and out of alternating states of death and waking, she becomes an emotional—and more importantly, spiritual—anchor for him that allows him to draw the complete life source out of the dying Ender. Having taken full possession of the life force that was once divided in three bodies, the fully reborn Peter loses much of his acerbic nature, and the depth of his feelings for Wang-mu are now open and shared. The two forged a metaphysical bond during the process that cause the two to fall deeply in love.

Once Peter is made whole by being in full possession of Ender's aiua (the part of his life force that exists as philotic rays), the pair travel directly to the Lusitania fleet to confront Admiral Lands. Though Lands has already launched the Little Doctor (the Molecular Disruption Device in the form of a missile), Peter convinces Jane to transport it back to the flagship so the other officers can disarm it. Once Peter and Si Wang-mu deliver a series of messages for Starways Congress, they transport to the shuttle (with Jane/Young Val, Miro, Ela, Quara, Fire Quencher, and a nameless worker of the Hive Queen) around the planet of the descoladors (the beings that created the descolada). After a short discussion/argument about what to do to the descoladors they are transported back to Lusitania where Wang-mu meets Novinha and her other children Olhado, and Grego, along with Valentine, and the other inhabitants of Lusitania.

Once there, she attempts to form a bond with Quara, the most isolated and confrontational of Novinha's children with somewhat greater success than the other characters; Wang-mu further determines to strengthen this progress until the two of them can openly be friends.

She eventually marries Peter at the roots of a young Mothertree in a dual ceremony with Miro and Jane shortly after Ender's funeral. Having earlier expressed a desire to travel the known colonized planets, the four disappear as Jane transports them away for their travels.