Once you learn someone is hiding who they really are, how much of what they say can you believe? And what if you can't tell them the truth either?
In Leviathan, Alek and Deryn Sharp each carry a secret that would spell trouble if it got out, and both make their way through a Europe on the brink of war.
They meet in the middle of a crisis, before they really know each other, and start sizing each other up.
1914, When Machines and Living Creatures Became Weapons
The story takes place in 1914, in a version of history that went a different way. The Clanker side relies on giant mechanical war machines, while the Darwinist side puts genetically engineered creatures to work as military power.
The flying creature called the Huxley and the giant living airship HMS Leviathan are part of this world too. Each side has grown its own technology into weapons, and Europe has been pushed to the edge of war.
✦ Which Side Is Each One On?
Mechanical war machines on one side, engineered creatures on the other
Alek grew up among the Clankers, who pilot their machines by hand, while Sharp takes to the sky on a creature the Darwinists made.
Even when they face the same crisis, their familiar technology and experience differ, so the way each of them sizes up a situation is bound to differ too.
✦ What Kind of Spot Is Alek In?
A prince, but a prince in hiding
Alek is a prince of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, but he's living in hiding to avoid political threats. He can pilot a Stormwalker, a mechanical war machine, and he deals with situations by following the instructions of his guardian, Volger.
Being a prince makes him special, but it's also a weak spot, because the moment his identity comes out he's in danger.
✦ How Sharp Got Into the Air Service
A girl who disguised herself as a boy to fly
Sharp is a girl who disguised herself as a boy so she could fly in the British air service. She takes to the sky on a Huxley, but staying undiscovered matters just as much as her longing to fly.
Alek hides his identity to stay alive, and Sharp hides hers to get the life she wants.
Alek: ISFJ 6w5
Alek reads as an ISFJ 6w5. Rather than welcoming risk blindly, he takes stock of the situation he's in and who can be trusted. Following Volger's advice isn't plain obedience either.
When you're on the run and hiding, a guardian you can rely on and the piloting skills you've learned are what keep you alive. The wariness of a 6w5 shows in how he thinks first about how to stay safe.
✦ Where Caution Meets Duty
Volger's advice vs. what Alek actually does
That doesn't mean Alek is all about dodging danger. Volger tries to talk him out of helping the crew of HMS Leviathan, but Alek goes outside anyway, helps people, and saves Sharp.
This choice shows he isn't someone who leans on being a prince just to give orders. When someone is in danger right in front of him, he can't look away from what he feels he has to do.
You could say it's a moment when ISFJ responsibility got ahead of 6w5 caution.
Alek's courage doesn't come from a lack of fear. He knows how dangerous his position is, and he understands why Volger is holding him back. ISFJ responsibility shows up less as grand slogans and more as a response to the situation he's actually in.
Helping the crew isn't a move to win political fame. It's a choice not to turn away from someone in danger right in front of him.
He weighs the risk first, as a 6w5's wariness would, yet still acts on what he's decided he has to do, so caution and responsibility show up side by side.
Sharp: ESTP 7w8
Sharp is an ESTP 7w8. She doesn't leave the wish to fly as a vague longing. In a world where only boys can get into the air service, she disguises herself under the name 'Dylan' and takes to the sky on a Huxley.
She doesn't stop at being annoyed by the rules, either. Her independence and boldness show in how she finds a way to do what she wants and actually does it. At the same time, to keep her cover she has to watch her speech and behavior.
Sharp wants to act freely, but she's caught in a contradiction: to protect that freedom, she has to keep herself under control.
The drive of a 7w8 shows in how Sharp takes risks. If her identity comes out she could lose her chance to fly, but that fear doesn't make her give up on her goal. That doesn't mean she takes every risk lightly.
She chose to fly knowing her secret might be exposed. She doesn't just want freedom in words or in her head. She acts boldly to get it, and that shows her character well.
✦ Being Helped vs. Being Believed
Sharp treats these as two separate questions
Sharp's way of treating Alek can be explained by the same tendency. Even though Alek rescued her, she doesn't instantly believe him when he says he's a prince. She sees getting help and whether someone's claimed identity is real as two separate questions.
Her actions are bold, but that doesn't mean she trusts people easily.
Does Trust Start Only When Secrets Come Out?
Alek and Sharp meet without enough information about each other. Alek acts when he sees Sharp in danger, but Sharp doesn't just gush with gratitude for being rescued, and she doesn't believe everything he says.
✦ Two Secrets, Two Kinds of Risk
That's why they judge things differently
What makes this relationship interesting is that their secrets aren't the same kind. For Alek, identity is tied to political danger. For Sharp, it's tied to a chance to do what she wants.
One of them is careful in order to survive, the other bold so as not to miss an opening. Two people hiding for different reasons start to change their minds by watching each other act, and that's what makes the story so appealing.
The point is that trust doesn't begin only once every secret is out in the open. So how will these two come to understand each other and change their minds?
That's all for this post. See you next time.
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- The Ramparts of Ice S2: Personality Types of the Four Leads
🌐 Korean version: 정체를 숨긴 두 사람은 어떻게 서로를 믿게 될까? — 《리바이어던》 성격유형 분석
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