Metaphors are dangerous, dangerous things: they can illuminate and explain truths, but the more Valentine uses them, the more she runs the risk of thinking that they are true. She once told Ender that he and Peter were two sides of the same coin and she the metal in between, and that was true and useful in its own way. Ender and Peter were both Great Men who changed the world with their presence, but she is more than an anchor tying them together and to the rest of humankind – she can change the world herself.