Character Profile and Interview: Dylan

***Spoiler Alert***

 If you have not read the novel yet, reading the character interview questions and answers below may spoil it for you. This is meant to be read after you’ve finished reading the book.

Character Profile

Name: Dylan Baker

Age: 15

Hair Color: Dirty-blond

Eye Color: Green

Favorite Color: Green

Favorite Place: Intertidal Zone

Biggest Pet Peeve: Being Waterlogged

Personality Description:

Dylan Baker is an exceptional scientist and well-adept for his age. He takes his passion for marine science very seriously, although he has a general passion for all knowledge. His pursuit of knowledge often supersedes all else, even his own safety. Around his friends, Dylan is a completely different person. Outgoing, friendly, competitive, and rambunctious, he could be easily mistaken as any other teenage boy. Fiercely loyal, he’ll do anything to help a friend. Growing up with workaholic parents, Dylan absorbed himself with science and friends to fill the void of parental care. The Above World is fascinating to him and he takes pride in being one of the few people allowed to visit it. Intent on becoming a one-of-a-kind scientist like his friend Dr. Wilcox, he’s furious when he thinks Allie may be encroaching upon his research when he first meets her. Once he realizes she’s a Land Dweller, his curiosity is piqued and his thirst for knowledge kicks in.

Dylan has the ENTJ or Commander personality type. If you want to read more about this personality type, you can visit https://www.16personalities.com/entj-personality.

***Spoiler Content Below This Point***

Character Interview

Question 1: What did you think when you first saw Allie, your first Land Dweller?

Answer: My first thought about Allie was “How dare she?” I thought that she’d tampered with my study location and interfered with my data collection. Having no idea that Land Dwellers still existed, I assumed she was from Oceania, which was why I questioned her. At first sight, I really didn’t like her. I never would have guessed that we’d become such good friends.

Question 2: What initially motivated you to take Allie to Oceania?

Answer: Once I found out that Allie was a Land Dweller, I had to show her my city. I wanted to see her reaction to it. But above all, I didn’t want to lose the opportunity to talk to her and get to know more about the Above World. I’d been going to that same beach for a few years and I’d never encountered any other human before. For all I knew, Allie was the only one I’d ever meet. I couldn’t lose the opportunity to gain knowledge of the Above World that no one else in Oceania had. After I returned to Oceania, I couldn’t stop thinking about Allie and so I made up my mind to devise a plan to sneak her into the city. It took me a while, but when I returned to the surface, I was ready to take her back with me.

Question 3: What was it like growing up in an underwater city?

Answer: What was it like growing up in an underwater city? Well, that’s kind of hard to answer for me because it’s all I know. I’ve seen from Allie what living in the Above World is like, but to me, growing up in Oceania is normal. But, I guess, for you Land Dwellers, you want to know the exotic things about growing up under the sea. Well, from birth we’re taught to learn all that we can and to be inquisitive about everything. School takes up most of our time and we don’t aspire to do much else until after we graduate. If you’re wondering whether or not we get to go swimming outside the city all we want—that’d be a no. In fact, most people in Oceania never leave the city. The only exception are those in the various fields of marine science or in city maintenance. You have to be justified in checking out a seamobile or other watercraft. If it weren’t for the docking bay and the dome that projects images of undersea animals, we probably wouldn’t even know we were underwater. I’m sorry if I didn’t answer your question, but that’s just the way it is.

Question 4: What are your hopes as Liaison to the Above World?

Answer: My hopes as the Liaison to the Above World is to bring our two worlds together in a harmonious way. I want to share Oceania with the Above World and the Above World with Oceania. My city has been hidden for too long. Both Allie’s world and mine have so much to benefit from one another that together we can improve each world. I want to show the Land Dwellers how Oceania runs as an entirely green, self-sustaining city where we live in harmony with one another instead of at war with each other. I want to prove to the Above World that we can all live in peace and improve the world by working together.

Random Question: Whatever happened to the motorcycle you stole from the barn?

Answer: [Dylan laughs] I really wanted to keep that bike, but the Sunnyville police confiscated it after they realized that I didn’t have a license to drive it and that I had stolen it from an abandoned barn. I explained that it was a life or death situation, but they said that my driving without a license was a bigger issue than me stealing it. Apparently, licenses are needed for manual vehicles, but I didn’t know. I’ve asked for it back many times since then, but so far, they haven’t given in. Maybe one day I’ll get it back.

*There is a Character Profile and Interview for Allie as well, if you missed it, you can view it here.