Sebastian Flyte

Grew Up… at Brideshead, his family’s aristocratic estate and country house. The younger son of Lord and Lady Marchmain, Sebastian has a brother, Bridey, and two sisters, Julia and Cordelia. When Sebastian was still young, his mother and father separated, with Lord Marchmain departing to Italy to escape his wife and England as a whole. Left by her husband, Lady Marchmain ruled Brideshead as she saw fit, raising her children under a strict brand of Roman Catholicism.

Living… in his rooms at Christ Church College, Oxford. Sebastian lives very comfortably, dining richly and cavorting about the town and university of Oxford. He and his friends leave a trail of carnage and broken glass in their wake, relying mostly on the university staff to clean it up.

Profession… a student and young lord, which means he does more drinking than work. Sebastian may have been a decent scholar back in school, but those days are long gone. Now his primary aim is to entertain friends— other Christ Church undergrads and old Etonians— while attending as many bacchanals as possible.

Interests… aesthetic endeavours. Sebastian pursues beauty and pleasure in their purest forms. Art, poetry, food, and (most of all) alcohol keep him entertained and distracted from the more troubling parts of his life.

Relationship Status… single. It’s unclear whether his delicate mannerisms and extravagant behavior are indicators of sexual orientation or merely the trappings of aristocratic eccentricity.

Challenge… overcoming his family's unhealthy dynamics. His mother’s domineering nature and constant attempts to control Sebastian’s life have saddled him with a number of deep inner conflicts, which drive him to drink. But while Sebastian tries desperately to escape his problems, it's clear that they won't be solved by simply running.

Personality… sensitive, highly affected, and vivacious. Sebastian is whimsical, but not to the exclusion of real emotion. As he wistfully muses, “I should like to bury something precious, in every place I've been happy. And then when I was old, and ugly and miserable, I could come back, and dig it up, and remember.”