The Wedding of Sergei von Zarovich

The Wedding of Sergei von Zarovich was scheduled to occur in the summer of 351 BC. This noble of Barovia and brother of Count Strahd von Zarovich was to marry Tatyana Federovna. However this was not to be due to a combination of the dark desire of Strahd for Tatyana and the machinations of Leo Dilisnya for power and revenge.

Strahd had long harbored desire for Tatyana, but her love was only for Sergei. On the day of the wedding, Strahd made a pact with an entity known only as "Death" for immortality. Strahd consummated the deal with the murder of his brother, Sergei. Strahd then professed his love to Tatyana, but she rejected him in the ultimate fashion by jumping off the walls of Castle Ravenloft. Denied his ultimate desire, Strahd went on a rampage — killing many of the wedding guests. Pierced by the arrows of the guards, he did not die but became a vampire. This experience is recorded in the Tome of Strahd.

That same day, Leo Dilisnya planned the assassination of the wedding guests as an act of revenge against the Von Zarovich Family for past transgressions against the Dilisnyas and as a way to seize total power over Barovia. Leo planted his killers (armed with poisoned arrows) among the party of the Dilisnya Family guests. The assassins struck, and a massacre occurred. Suffice it to say, things did not occur exactly the way Leo had intended.

Dread Possibility: The Wedding Massacre Mistway

Adorjan Bognar’s opera “The Wedding” recounts the machinations of Leo Dilisnya for power and revenge, ending with “The Wedding Massacre” in Castle Ravenloft. Unknown to anyone is the fact that Adorjan completed his libretto exactly at the same time Barovia formed in the Land of Mists 400 years before writing it. If this opera is ever performed in a misty summer night, under a blood moon, it will create a one way mistway on the stage that could transport all the performers and first row audience to that fateful event.