Leviathan, Scott Westerfeld

Dominant Se: If there’s anything that Deryn loves, it’s a thrill. She joins the navy with the intent to fly, not to fight in a war. She is agile and excited about jumping into action and gets bored when she’s not doing something active. She typically has confidence in her ability to not only learn new skills, but to be the best at them in no time at all (and she usually achieves this). She lives in the moment, making split-second, action-based decisions, and thinking on her feet to save her own life as well as many others. Her ability to think quickly, coupled with her awareness of her physical environment allows her to creatively use her environment to her advantage in a fight. Fear hardly phases her as she willfully engages in (and even seeks out) death-defying stunts. She rarely ponders the trying experiences in her past (her Dad died in front of her, but she doesn’t think about it the way Alek thinks about his parents), and is just as unlikely to consider the future. She is spontaneous, witty and impulsive (she kisses Alek on impulse, even though she know how he feels about their relationship).

Auxiliary Ti: Deryn can quickly analyze a situation from multiple angles in order to leap into action in an emergency. She ignores opinions that she thinks are illogical, preferring to take a more practical approach (she makes fun of Alek for believing he has a destiny because she believes that the outcome of a person’s life stems from their choices, not predetermination). Deryn doesn’t have patience with long-winded explanations, because she’d rather be trying something out with her hands than dealing with theoretical knowledge (she gets annoyed with having to read the aeronautics manual). Her communication style is sharp (like her name) and brief –she doesn’t sugar coat anything for anyone. Although she doesn’t have the formal schooling that Alek does, she’s extremely intelligent in a different ways. She tends to improvise, never plans ahead, and prefers to come up with unconventional methods for doing things, rather than relying on established rules (I’m a girl? No problem, I’ll just masquerade as a boy to join the navy!).

Tertiary Fe: Deryn has no trouble making friends and is good at working with people to help them get through tough times. She genuinely feels for Alek and recognizes his deep sadness within hours of meeting him for the first time. She feels the need to be a helpmate to him and tries to help him talk through his feelings. She readily shares her own feelings with him, both because she has a need to connect to people on an emotional level and because she truly wants him to be happy. At the same time she doesn’t consistently understand her own feelings. When she finds herself falling for Alek, her first conscious reaction is confusion. Deryn is much more outwardly expressive with her emotions than Alek is (Alek harbors a deep depression, but doesn’t really cry about it; Deryn on the other hand reacts with tears when Alek discovers that she has lied to him).

Inferior Ni: Deryn is frequently a number of steps ahead of everyone else in her awareness of what is going to happen in the future. She easily figures out that the Leviathan crew is in danger, and calculates without a problem that a message lizard will be too slow to warn them. She knows what she wants in life (to be a pilot) and pursues it will every ounce of energy she has, stepping outside  of social norms and leaving behind her past life to do so. Despite her unconventional ways, Deryn cares about her reputation and is proud to receive a medal for her heroism in the war.