Leviathan Wakes includes many religious references, starting with its title. In the Hebrew Bible and Old Testament, the leviathan is the sea monster that swallowed Jonah. In the Expanse series, humanity is similarly “swallowed up” by the possibilities presented by the Protomolecule. Using the Protomolecule to modify humanity, effectively creating a new form of human life, is akin to playing god. It even evokes the fall of man, when the serpent tempted Adam and Eve to eat fruit from the tree of knowledge of good and evil, committing the original sin. Because of this, Adam and Eve were banished from their home in Eden, and humanity was forever stained with the corruption of sin. In Leviathan Wakes, the serpent is greed, the forbidden fruit is the Protomolecule, and Adam and Eve represent humanity. This foreboding parallel foreshadows that future attempts to manipulate the Protomolecule will have dire consequences.

The idea of temptation recurs in the exchange between Fred Johnson and Dresden. After the OPA’s attack on Protogen, Dresden attempts to negotiate for his freedom, promising money, weapons, medical supplies—whatever Fred desires. In response, Fred asks, “You’ll give me all the kingdoms of Earth if I just bow down and do one act of worship for you?” (410).