Dark Life

Ty Townson is the protagonist of Dark Life. As the first child born subsea, he has become the model for what parents can expect when raising children in Benthic Territory. The spotlight on Ty pressures him to hide the existence of Dark Gifts from everyone. He believes that Dark Gifts will stop settling in the territory and his parents will take him Topside out of fear. When his gifts first manifested, his parents took him to doctors, who tried to take him away from his parents for medical experimentation. Ty has trauma from these experiences and panics when presented with medical facilities or equipment. Ty is brave, willing to explore dangerous spaces and confront outlaws for his community, yet he struggles with allowing his community to know his authentic self.

Ty’s self-worth is impacted by the burden of keeping his Dark Gift a secret, being treated differently by Topsiders, and Doc’s medical experimentation. Through the acceptance of Gemma and his community, Ty makes progress confident in his self-worth.

Ty’s Dark Gift is “biosonar,” which lets him “see” his environment without light and communicate with whales and dolphins. Like other kids’ gifts, this gives him an advantage living in the ocean.