# Stellan Selamb — Downstream character guide > Stellan Selamb in Downstream by Sigfrid Siwertz. **Role:** major **Also known as:** Captain Stellan Selamb, Captain Selamb, lazy Stellan **First appearance:** 0000-part-i-i-the-cry ## Snapshot A captain with no affairs and only debts, Stellan gambles, borrows, and endorses notes while waiting to marry the heiress everyone expects him to produce. ## Who they are Stellan lives on an inborn conviction that the best belongs to him and his kind, which is precisely why he stays afloat while his finances rot. He shrugs off his debts as a way of keeping from getting fat, dodges his colonel's hints about marriage, and cheerfully extracts Percy Hill's signature on a bill on his way out the door. He is the family's elegant, doomed credit system: charming enough to keep borrowing, and too proud to do the one thing everyone tells him would save him. ## In the story ### [I: The Cry](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/downstream_se/chapters/part-i-i-the-cry) Stellan is sent to bed early with Laura and Tord because of the impending event. ### [II: The Robber’s Stronghold](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/downstream_se/chapters/part-i-ii-the-robber-s-stronghold) Leads the funeral game and robber play, claims the town as his own, wrestles with Herman. ### [III: The Dance of the Crow Indians](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/downstream_se/chapters/part-i-iii-the-dance-of-the-crow-indians) Plays 'Black Panther,' leads the mockery, then shrugs off the scolding. ### [Peter the Watchdog](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/downstream_se/chapters/part-i-iv-peter-the-watchdog) Waits on his father at dinner and later receives crayfish from Brundin. ### [VI: The Two Fair Heads](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/downstream_se/chapters/part-i-vi-the-two-fair-heads) Lies in a hammock, kicks the rotten boat, and schemes to visit Stonehill via Ekbacken. ### [September Spring](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/downstream_se/chapters/part-i-viii-september-spring) Stellan is mentioned as having told Laura about Elvira Lähnfeldt's plans to attend a boarding school in Neuchatel. ### [IX: Peter the Boss](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/downstream_se/chapters/part-i-ix-peter-the-boss) Stellan is lazy, supercilious, and in uniform. He borrows money from Peter and loses it back to him in a card game, writing an I.O.U. He sneers at Peter's commonness. ### [X: Laura's Marriage](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/downstream_se/chapters/part-i-x-laura-s-marriage) Arranges wedding, speaks cynically about Laura's marriage to Peter, is overheard by Laura. ### [XI: The Spanish Saint](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/downstream_se/chapters/part-i-xi-the-spanish-saint) Visits Percy and Hedvig, praising Percy's wealth and art while subtly encouraging Hedvig to embrace a life of luxury; rides a horse named 'Ace of Spades.' ### [Peter Casts Out Majängen and Brings Home Ekbacken](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/downstream_se/chapters/part-i-xii-peter-casts-out-maj-ngen-and-brings-home-ekbacken) Mentions the glue works smell as 'the sirocco'. ### [XIII: Tord's Exile](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/downstream_se/chapters/part-i-xiii-tord-s-exile) Stellan, ever ironic, feels bitterness that Tord's egoism has declined from the family's successful standard, and demands Tord be kept away from his social circles. ### [I: Laura Entertains](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/downstream_se/chapters/part-ii-i-laura-entertains) A skilled and passionate gambler who wins heavily from Manne but loses to Levy. He later negotiates with Peter to sell Kolsnäs for 50,000 crowns. ### [IV: The Cold Moment](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/downstream_se/chapters/part-ii-iv-the-cold-moment) Experiences a 'cold moment' of fear and existential dread; proposes to Elvira in a detached, unsentimental manner; confronts Peter over debts; invites Elvira to a balloon ascent. ### [VI: The Great Dinner](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/downstream_se/chapters/part-ii-vi-the-great-dinner) Feels frozen and isolated at the dinner, contemplates a bitter toast to absent friends, and observes Georg with a sense of relief. ### [VIII: Tord Sails Out to Sea](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/downstream_se/chapters/part-ii-viii-tord-sails-out-to-sea) Arrives with Laura to confront Tord, is humiliated and forced back onto his boat. ### [IX: Peter's Tombstone](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/downstream_se/chapters/part-ii-ix-peter-s-tombstone) Stellan joins the siblings' visit to Peter, concerned about family name and scandal, and later inherits only Peter's old watch. ## Links - HTML: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/downstream_se/characters/stellan - Book: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/downstream_se - All characters: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/downstream_se/characters