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Do you have any thoughts on how Alek's reaction to finding out Deryn was a girl would have been different if she had told him herself?

I think about this…. often.

one of the most interesting aspects of the fight that I always find myself revisiting is Alek’s hypocrisy.

“You thought that I’d be angry!” -Alek accuses, angrily

“You thought that I’d be a sexist jerk about it!” -Alek accuses, mocking Dylan for crying like a girl

“You thought it would hurt my feelings!” -Alek accuses, his feelings incredibly hurt

Before Goliath those of us who thought that he’d be angry after the reveal had assumed it’d be a cartoonishly sexist deal or a ‘YOU LIED TO ME’ kinda thing but if that was the case Alek wouldn’t be such a raging hypocrite would he? So if he doesn’t see Dylan as lesser for being female then why is he so mad at her?

Alek is used to seeing himself as the centre of the universe, and i say that sort of as a criticism but mostly with sympathy. He’s a prince which means he’s used to being everyone’s top priority, but he’s also the living embodiment of his father’s greatest failing. It is no surprise at all that Alek’s response to everything is to filter it through his own involvement and usually comes to the conclusion something is at least partly his fault or his responsibility. I talk a big game about Alek’s self loathing on this blog because Alek’s ego is such a huge aspect of his self loathing. After all, it takes a pretty big head to think you could be significant enough to ruin everything right?

Now with this in mind, lets analyse The Fight specifically from Alek’s headspace in the context of an incredibly self-absorbed (which is to say, self-deprecating) worldview.

She had expected him to tell the boffin everything. Was that what she thought of him?

“You were the first member of this crew to know who my father was. You’re the only one who knows about my letter from the pope. You know everything about me.” He turned away. “But you couldn’t tell me about this? You’re my best friend—in some ways my only friend—and you don’t trust me.”

“As he thought it through, Alek felt his anger building again. “So in my case you thought I’d be a stuffy, arrogant prince who’d turn you in!”

“You mean you thought I was too delicate? You thought my fragile pride would crumble, just because some girl can tie better knots than me?”

Me, me, me. Lots of ‘me’s here.

Most of the language Alek uses are defensive, not accusatory. Yes he makes the odd jab here and there, but most of his hurt and lashing out comes from a place of twisting Dylan’s actions into attacks on himself. He feels like an idiot, he feels untrustworthy, he feels alone, and he’s more mad at Dylan for making him feel that way than actually being lied to.

Alek projects onto Dylan a lot both before and after the reveal and it comes out most prominently during the fight. I’ve said before that Alek had put Dylan on a pedestal and overreacted due to that pedestal being broken.

Here was the first real friend he ever had, the first person to really be an equal to him. And I dont mean equal in standing or even them both being boys, I mean in regards to them supporting each other equally. Alek broke down in front of Dylan and then was there for Dylan in return. They held little competitions between them. They taught each other naughty cuss boy words.

And then Alek drops his last secret and patiently waits for Dylan to return the favour (i know thats not how relationships work but he’s 16 give him a break) only to find it out on his own and effectively realise that Dylan never had any intention of telling him because they aren’t equals and they aren’t friends and everything has been a lie and oh my god im so alone im going to sit in the shower for like three days.

So to finally put an end to my rambling and actually address your ask, I DO think Dylan coming clean would have made a difference. Heck, I think it would have actually made Alek happy if it had gone down that way. His anger had nothing to do with how long it took Dylan to tell him or what was actually told. It was instead more to do with what the revelation had to say about their relationship, and by extension, Alek himself.