The harder I tried to keep my monsters inside, the more they grew...Drink kept them at bay. But that...came with its own set of problems. I tried to write them away. But they slithered off the page into the sea...Finally becoming one beast from whom I could hide no more. In that moment, I knew...it was too late for me.
Captain Tristram Maurer founded Amnesty Bay in 1799 and was the local lighthouse keeper. He became a local legend after his mysterious disappearance and the horror stories found in his journals--both of which were caused by his encounters with invisible monsters that tormented him for years, and eventually became one with him.
When Tristram was a child, his imaginary friends were strange creatures that only he could see. His friends had powers, and though they were minor at first, their powers grew more violent as he grew to adulthood. He escaped into alcohol and to the sea but a shipwreck where he was the captain and sole survivor lead him to build the lighthouse on Amnesty island as a act of penance.[1] Maurer intended to spend the rest of his life on the island. One day, he mysteriously vanished with no sign. His journals were filled with stories of storms no one remembered, crazy sea monsters, and weeping from fear that something was hunting him. The superstitious folk of Amnesty abandoned the lighthouse and legends spread about Maurer.[2]
More than 200 years later, Maurer returned to Amnesty Bay. When a giant sea creature attacked and killed a local, Aquaman encountered the beast but the creature vanished.[3] The next day, Maurer introduced himself, claiming that he and his monsters had become one and he was summoned back to Amnesty by a growing evil.[1] The evil turned out to be Black Manta who had returned to Amnesty with his Mecha Manta robot, a gift from Lex Luthor and Perpetua.[4] Aquaman enlisted Maurer, and together with Mera and Aqualad, defeated Manta.[5]
He remained in Amnesty Bay after the fight[6] and would eventually perform the marriage of Arthur and Mera.[7]
Maurer can transform into a massive monster with a skull-like face and numerous tentacles. It appears Maurer has some control over this change, as well as his actions when in the monster form, but it appears to overtake him when near strong feelings of hate.[5] It's also still unclear as to what the monster actually is, and why it came to Tristram, but it does hear Aquaman's marine call,[5] although it doesn't actually respond to it.[3]
Empathy: According to Maurer, his monster form is lured by powerful feelings of anger, such as those felt by Black Manta. He also stated that strong feelings of hatred make it stronger.[1][5]
Maurer is seemingly inspired by the real-life horror author H.P. Lovecraft. Like Maurer, Lovecraft is famous for his stories about tentacled monsters from the ocean, and both lived in New England.
As a child, Aqualad played a role-playing game based on Maurer's stories[4]. This was likely inspired by the role-playing series "Call of Cthulhu", similarly based on Lovecraft's stories.
The harder I tried to keep my monsters inside, the more they grew...Drink kept them at bay. But that...came with its own set of problems. I tried to write them away. But they slithered off the page into the sea...Finally becoming one beast from whom I could hide no more. In that moment, I knew...it was too late for me. 
