(Written by Geoffrey Hamell, first published in "The Eagle Hill Sentinel", Issue 3, August, 1986.)
Sandor Rakosi and his future wife Magda were born into the Romano tribe of gypsies sometime in the mid-19th century. (Magda's claim that she saw Count Petofi cursed when she was a girl - in 1797 - must be dismissed as melodrama on her part, as she does not recognize him when they meet.) Whether they were born in Europe or America is not clear; but it is certain that by the 1880's, the tribe had established its headquarters in Boston.
It may be assumed that Sandor's marriage to Magda was decreed by their tribal king (probably Zarko Romano at that time), in accordance with gypsy custom. But it is clear that the stolid Sandor and his quick-tempered bride truly loved each other. Forsaking the company of their tribe, they travelled the open road together for years, peddling Sandor's Egyptian Elixir, performing the death-defying knife-throwing act, telling fortunes, and stealing when they could. (To rob a gypsy would have been a crime, but to rob the gajos, who had always despised and oppressed them, was only justice.)
It was during a foray into Maine that they found Collinwood, and a wealthy believer in Magda's crystal ball - the elderly, unloved Edith Collins. Knowing a good thing when they saw it, the Rakosis returned many times over the next dozen years, always welcomed by the lonely matriarch (if not by her snobbish relatives). Then in 1895, during a visit to Boston, Quentin Collins met and married Magda's sister Jenny, never guessing that the lovely singer was a gypsy. The Rakosis gleefully returned to Collinwood, thinking their fortune was made; but to their dismay, Jenny told them she would not acknowledge her kin, threatening dire reprisals if they exposed her secret. Frustrated, they remained on the estate solely as the guests of Edith, who scandalized her family by allowing them to stay in the Old House. When Jenny seemingly left Collinwood a year later, Magda and Sandor stayed on, their position unaffected by her "absence".
The Rakosis' temperament, presumably better in their youth, suffered from constantly being "so near yet so far". By 1897, Sandor wanted nothing more than to return to the road, while Magda stubbornly tried to guess the hiding place of Edith's jewels, greedily dreaming of the comforts they could buy. It was this obsessive search, spurred on by an image in the crystal ball, that led Sandor to the secret room in the Collins mausoleum - and to the chained coffin of Barnabas Collins. Thinking the jewels might lie within, Sandor broke the chains - and at once became the freed vampire's victim.
Needless to say, Magda did not react well to having her husband become Barnabas' slave. She tried to warn the family of an "evil stranger", was pointedly negligent in guarding his coffin, and made it clear she would destroy him if she ever got the chance. Yet in a way his arrival seemed to serve her well; for with Edith's death the gypsies would have promptly been run off the estate, had Barnabas not kept them on as his servants. This in turn should have been to the family's advantage, for only Magda knew where Edith had hidden her will. But the conniving Quentin forced her to tell him its location, and commissioned Sandor to forge a new will that would make Quentin Edith's heir. Discovering the scheme, Barnabas ordered Sandor to create another forgery, this time to his specifications - one which handed all the power to Judith (the only adult in the family who had as yet given Barnabas no trouble.)
Despite her hostility toward Barnabas, Magda soon found herself forced to take his side in a number of conflicts. They both, for instance, showed a concern for the welfare of Rachel Drummond, and Barnabas had Magda give her an amulet to protect her from Angelique's powers. Though Magda saw death in Rachel's palm, she thought she could defy fate, and sent Rachel to the tower room of Collinwood, where she believed she could confront and defeat her enemy. (It was Magda's timing that was off - Angelique did appear there, but not until later that night.) Perhaps it was Barnabas' protection of Rachel that impelled Magda to rescue him when Quentin tried to destroy him with voodoo; certainly she had no other reason to wish him well.
Seeing the mark of death on Quentin's face, Magda predicted that someone whose name began with "J" would stab him - never guessing that "J" stood for Jenny. When the prophecy came true, and Angelique revived Quentin as a zombie, it fell to Barnabas and the Rakosis to protect Rachel from his clammy clutches. Magda's attempt to guard her failed, and Sandor was forced to risk his life, grappling with the mindless creature while Rachel escaped. Though vastly relieved at her husband's safe return, Magda typically hid her feelings beneath a show of sarcastic abuse. Later, Barnabas and the gypsies attempted to break the curse on Quentin; but it was only when Angelique was ready that he returned to true life.
When Rev. Gregory Trask discovered Rachel living at Collinwood, Magda helped the frightened girl hide from her oppressor, planning to help her get away from Collinsport. But the treachery of the weak-willed Timothy Shaw foiled their plans. It was the last chance Magda would have to save Rachel from the fate she had prophesied.
The return of Laura Collins, the immortal phoenix, found Magda aiding both Barnabas and Quentin against this new threat. Helping Quentin find the ancient urn that housed Laura's fiery life-force, Magda watched as he snuffed the flame - only to have Laura find a means to survive. But the alliance with Quentin abruptly ended when the Rakosis discovered Jenny, alive and driven insane by her husband's callous treatment. Magda schemed to leave town with her husband and sister while Barnabas slept in his coffin; but the uncontrollable Jenny escaped and attacked Quentin, who strangled her in self-defense.
Grief-stricken, Magda swore vengeance against the entire Collins family - and, though she had never used them before, she had the dark powers to carry it out. With Sandor's assistance, she placed the curse of the werewolf on Quentin, and on all his male descendants to come. When Angelique sent her to steal the scarab that now kept Laura alive, she had the perfect opportunity to betray Barnabas as well, and at first she appeared to be doing just that; yet instead she carried out her mission as planned. Despite the harm he had done her and Sandor, Magda had become strangely loyal to Barnabas, and genuinely concerned for his welfare - more so, indeed, than she often seemed to be for her husband's.
Still consumed with bitterness, Magda willingly sold a vial of deadly nightshade to Tim Shaw, unconcerned about who he planned to use it on. But her rage turned to horror and self-reproach when she learned that Quentin's curse had already been inherited - by the children she never knew Jenny had borne. Now wanting to end Quentin's suffering by the only means she knew, she shot him with a silver bullet; but the wound was not fatal, and Barnabas appeared before she could fire again. Finding herself unable to turn the gun on Barnabas, she resigned herself to an alternate plan of action.
Sandor and Magda journeyed to Boston, seeking a wise woman of their tribe who might be able to lift the werewolf curse. Finding that she had died, they asked instead to borrow the mummified hand of Count Petofi, hoping its power would serve them. King Johnny Romano laughed at the brazen request, refusing to part with his tribe's most sacred relic; so, in desperation, Magda stole it, and they fled back to Collinsport. Anxious to avoid reprisals, Sandor set out almost at once for Montreal, hoping their kin there would intercede on their behalf. There, apparently, he found Julianka, granddaughter of the wise woman they had sought - but she had no wish to help. She must, instead, have turned him over to King Johnny, for we know that he tortured Sandor into telling all of Barnabas' secrets. Then, his usefulness ended, the vengeful chieftain stuck a knife in his back.
Magda, knowing nothing of this, was having troubles of her own. Barnabas had been exposed as a vampire, and she was suspected (quite rightly) of knowing where he was hiding. Gregory Trask, now master of Collinwood through his marriage to Judith Collins, would have run her out of town, if Magda's knowledge that he had planned his first wife's death had not kept him under control. Trask, however, had something to hold over Magda too - the threat of sending Jenny's babies far away. Afraid that she would never see them again, Magda was forced to watch helplessly as Trask drove Judith insane. Nor had the magical hand been worth all the trouble she had gone to - far from curing Quentin, it attacked both him and Evan Hanley, changing them for a time into hideously disfigured grotesques.
Then Julianka appeared, intending to slay Magda and reclaim the hand - only to be quickly murdered herself by Count Petofi. Blaming Magda for her death, the gypsy's vengeful spirit placed a curse on her, promising that everyone she loved would die. To emphasize the point, the zombie figure of Sandor appeared at the door, rasped "I have seen Julianka", and collapsed into true death. Close upon the first tragic loss came news of another - the sudden, mysterious death of Quentin and Jenny's son. Only the kindly influence of Jenny's ghost would save the baby girl, Lenore, from a like fate. Typically, Magda blamed the hand for her sorrows, and tried unsuccessfully to destroy it. Only when Petofi used his powers on her was she forced to face the truth about herself - that it was her greed and impulsive anger that had caused all the tragedies at Collinwood that year. Wallowing in despair and self-reproach, she was easily manipulated into leading the crafty count to Barnabas' coffin.
She soon had cause to regret her weakness, as a warning arrived that more gypsies were coming for her. With Barnabas a prisoner, she had nowhere to turn but to Petofi; but he scorned her pleas and, to protect himself, made her unable to speak or write of him. When King Johnny and his speechless servant Istvan appeared, she was powerless to tell them the truth. Contemptuous of her seeming evasions, Johnny accused her of murdering Julianka and the gypsy child. Taking her to the Collins mausoleum, he placed her on trial before a highly prejudiced jury of her "peers" - five gypsies who had themselves been executed for murder. Mockingly, Johnny summoned the spirit of Sandor to speak in Magda's defense; but, under the sorcerer-king's control, he could only say what Johnny wanted him to. Declaring Magda guilty, King Johnny sentenced her to play "Hunt the Weasel" - she, the "weasel", must flee through the woods, while he and the ghostly killers gave chase. Desperately calling on her own knowledge of magic, Magda managed to banish the pursuing spirits back to darkness - but she had no power over Johnny and Istvan. Sandor appeared to her, but he could offer no rescue; he could only invite her to join him in death and ease his loneliness. Tearfully, Magda bid him return to his grave. Then Johnny caught up to her, and only the timely appearance of Barnabas, freed from his captivity, saved her from a violent death.
Discovering that Quentin planned to kill himself before the full moon rose, Magda managed to talk him out of it; instead she stood by as he chained himself up in his room, ready to shoot him with silver bullets if the werewolf broke loose. Then Trask walked in, grabbed the gun, and gleefully took charge. Desperate to save Quentin, Magda ran to Angelique for help - unaware that, for reasons of his own, Petofi had removed Quentin's curse weeks before. Discovering this, Magda was freed at last from at least some of her guilt.
But Quentin was still in danger; a vision warned the possessed Charity Trask that he would die on September 10th. Learning this, Magda rushed to Barnabas, who sent her to warn Quentin at once - yet for reasons unknown, she never delivered the message, nor was Barnabas able to find her afterward. Though she remained in the vicinity of Collinwood, perhaps in the Old House as always, until after his return to the 20th century, it would seem that Barnabas and Magda never met again. Perhaps, after this latest near-disastrous failure, he was reluctant to trust her again; or perhaps, in view of all she has suffered on his account, Barnabas felt that he had used her quite enough.
In 1968, when Quentin's ghost began to exert its malevolent influence at Collinwood, the unseen spirit of Magda made several attempts to stop him, with little success. It may be hoped, however, that when his death in 1897 was prevented, she was able to rest in peace.
