Tommy Mickens was the son of Joe Lee Mickens and Melinda Mickens. He was also the younger brother of Sam Merlotte. Like Sam and Melinda, Tommy was a shape-shifter. Joe Lee forced Melinda and Tommy to compete in illegal dog fighting tournaments, during which Tommy earned his fair share of scars. Tommy eventually met Sam Merlotte and learned about the brother he never knew he had. He soon left his parents and came to stay with Sam, who gave him a job as a bar back at Merlotte's Bar and Grill. Their relationship was an uneasy one, and things got heated on more than one occasion, ultimately resulting in Sam shooting Tommy in the leg. Tommy went to live with Maxine Fortenberry for a time, who taught him how to read and even regarded him as her own son. When Tommy returned to his original home, he got into a fight with Joe Lee, and murdered him. During the scuffle, he accidentally killed his mother as well. As part of supernatural law, any shifter who kills a family member then becomes a skinwalker, which grants them the ability to assume the form of another human, not just animals. Tommy impersonated Sam Merlotte on several occasions, and ruined Sam's reputation amongst friends and family, first by firing Sookie Stackhouse from the bar, and later by having sex with Sam's girlfriend, Luna Garza. Tommy and Sam eventually mended fences and Tommy committed himself to forming a true bond with his brother. This all came to an end when Tommy was murdered by the werewolf pack master Marcus Bozeman.