The Infinite Sea

Ringer is the novel’s primary protagonist. She is a 17-year-old girl who lost her father during the Plague Wave of the Others’ invasion. Because her father had an alcohol addiction, she left him home alone to search for alcohol. When she returned, he was dead, a fact that haunts her and fills her with regret. Shortly after her father died, she was taken to Camp Haven, where she befriended Ben, Sam, and the other survivors. Her nickname “Ringer” comes from her ability to shoot, a skill that she teaches Ben as they develop a close friendship at Camp Haven.

Through Cassie’s eyes, Ringer is defined throughout the first part of the novel by her cold detachment. She refuses to believe that Evan could love Cassie, insistent that he must be using her and is still loyal to the Others. When Ben refuses to listen to her, she strikes out on her own to find other human civilizations in the cave instead of waiting around, as she sees it, to be killed by Vosch and his soldiers. Ringer repeatedly considers her options and, as she states, calculates the “risk” involved with all her choices. When she accidentally shoots Teacup, she is devastated, but it is not her emotional attachment that drives her; instead, she calculates that their best chance of survival is to allow themselves to be captured by the helicopter.