Thomas Dolan is a powerful Dreamer with the ability to prey on and manipulate negative emotions. As the "Shadowman", he serves the interests of Taylor Bennett and her partners.
Originally a small-time employee at Carter Mowers for fifteen years, Dolan's life was abruptly changed when he was fired by his boss Sam Morrison. Dolan took the lay-off personally, especially since he had learned of his termination by letter rather than Morrison firing him in person, and thus he fell into a yearlong depression that culminated in him striking his wife Carol, who promptly divorced him and kicked him out of their house out of fear that he might turn his wrath on their daughter, Emily.
Dolan soon ended up on the streets, and then in a homeless shelter. While there, he became annoyed by a talkative newcomer, Franco Ongaro, and that night, he entered Ongaro's dreams and goaded him into biting off his own tongue. When his attempts to warn the people at the shelter about his powers fell on deaf ears, he concluded that he was free to use his abilities as he saw fit, and thus set off on a plan to get revenge on Sam Morrison. Breaking into Morrison's home, he invaded Sam's dreams and sent him a nightmare in which his wife Annette was torturing their children, which caused Sam to murder her. The next day, Sam was unable to provide any rational motive for his crimes and was arrested.
The Morrison murder brought Dolan to the attention of a shadowy group who sought to use him to eliminate their enemies.