Time to Say Leviathan

In both “Leviathan” and “Time to Say Goodbye”, the themes of deception and responsibility appear throughout the texts. The responsibility always involves protecting the world and deception is lying about who you are and what you’re doing.

In “Leviathan”, deception is used by Deryn Sharp to hide the fact that she not only is too young to become a midshipman but also a girl. She uses this deception against everyone including her best friend, Aleksander. Despite all this, she is not discovered and remains so throughout the rest of her career.

In “Time to Say Goodbye”, deception is used to fool the warriors into fighting for the wrong side. It’s also used to take victory from those who actually fought, as stated ‘or are we weapons…so someone else can a victory?’ Eventually, these warriors reach a ‘point [they] just can’t take anymore.’ They turn on those who used them as weapons and take back victory.

In “Leviathan”, Alek’s responsibility as a prince becomes less and less until it’s no longer there. He spends the first half of the book worrying about his princely duties but he soon realises that it’s not what he wants. He’d rather be with Deryn then ruling the Austro-Hungarian Empire. He throws away the scroll that announces his ascension to the throne.

In “Time to Say Goodbye”, the responsibility falls to the main warrior. The responsibility is to protect the world from the ‘evil that just grows closer’. They also have to have the maturity to deal with the fact that they’ve been ‘sacrificed for one huge lie.’ The warriors are responsible for their own deaths but more importantly, the deaths of others.

These two texts show how closely intertwined deception and responsibility is, with one lie changing how everything works. It shows that deception can lead to foregoing responsibilities which can end with a terrible fate. “Time to Say Goodbye” shows that deception can cause you to blur the line between right and wrong and it can cause you to become a weapon against those you love. Responsibility in the song is shown as life and death. On the other hand, “Leviathan” shows that deception can let you do the things you love and responsibility can change over time.