Due to the fact I am film based, I have taken some time to consider what I have learned about Stephen Maturin from the perspective of the books and have come to the following decisions.

First and foremost, the devastating relationship shared between himself and  Diana Villiers will take an immediate turn following the death of Dil. While he will always hold love for Diana, the consequences of chasing her have reached a height he can no longer ignore. Which means that while their relationship will remain amiable, it shall also remain platonic.

I love Brigid, as well as the fact that Stephen adopts literally everything that moves – but I am not confident enough with my limited knowledge of the books to portray his relationship with his daughter and adoptees from the novels. Nor am I even remotely interested in exploring the mess of him with Diana more than I have in my research thus far.

Diana is a gem, and she’s resourceful as fuck, but frankly she and Stephen both deserve better than what they were drawn up with and again, I am not confident enough to explore it in a way that will respect Diana and the book’s designs to the point I would be comfortable.

What this means, is that my Stephen is a bachelor of ambiguous orientation who has a parental streak a mile wide that he pretends does not exist within himself. We do see it come forth in the film and that is something I will absolutely portray for any who wish to be taken under his wing. Biologically, he is childless. Legally, he is unmarried.

Secondly, Stephen’s addictions are nixed. I will not go into this in particular depth but here is the PSA on addictions for those of you wondering wtf on my stance here. He does, however, have self medicating techniques when he is stressed, which include burying himself in projects, avoiding sleep like the plague until it drags him under, and engaging in reckless activities to distract himself and ( admittedly ) gain that thrilling chill of mortality that reminds him he truly is still alive.

He is a survivor, a man who has been tortured for his work, tortured for his secrets, and kept them behind clenched teeth. He suffers from a severe case of vigilance and struggles considerably with a limited sense of the future. He does at times distance himself when his sense of hopelessness strangles his wits and leaves him depressed – this can result in either an increase in his focus on work, or an utter refusal to do anything at all, laying in his cot and staring at nothing until his humors realign and he finds the will to stand once more.

Lastly, I will not reference the books outside of these points, and his frequent spy hatting, as it is a favorite aspect of him I gleaned through my research. That said, due to my limited knowledge, any spying he gets up to is bound to be AU to a fault so please bear that in mind.