Lord Milos Donskoy

Lord Milos Donskoy (more commonly referred to in the text as Lord Donskoy) is the a fictional character from and the main antagonist of the Ravenloft product line novel To Sleep With Evil. In the game universe, Donskoy is the new husband of the main protagonist, Marguerite Donskoy, nee De Boche. Most of the story of To Sleep With Evil focuses on Marguerite's attempts to learn about Donskoy's mysterious past and then escape him.

Although never explicitly called out as a darklord, it can be inferred that he is the darklord of his own unnamed domain that is a a small realm enveloped in the Mists. In TSWE, he suffers a terrible curse, is marked by his sins, cannot leave his land, and can prevent people from leaving by effectively closing the borders.

Background

Events Before the Start of To Sleep With Evil

As Lord Donskoy is a character from a novel, his past has never been presented in any strict details or chronological timeline. In universe, Donskoy's recollection of his past is by his own admission broken and incomplete, as it has rotted along with many other things in his domain due to his curse. At one point in TSWE, Donskoy discusses his former business as a procurer for Azalin. He apparently made a very strong business out of this, as he refers to his hope in his to-be-born son to rekindle it in the novel. Across the course of the book, Lord Donskoy demonstrates a past with numerous unsavory associates, including Jacqueline Montarri.

At some point, Donskoy became lord of a castle. According to Donskoy's relling of his past to Marguerite in TSWE, his lordship (nor anything else under his possession) was not claimed through "possess without benefit of blood—not my own anyway." This may be taken to imply a number of events leading to becoming lord of the castle, from Azalin as a payment for services rendered, killing the previous noble line and taking over their keep, or becoming a darklord (provided the below events were not what caused him to become a darklord.)

At some point, Donskoy became a darklord, bound to a domain given no proper name but referred to most often as Donskoy's land. The exact specifics of the seminal event are unknown. However, there are a few candidate events. Ramus states in the book that Donskoy is responsible for murdering Ramus' Vistani clan. In the prologue of TSWE, a figure referred to as the voyeur observes and eventually kills a number of Vistani women during their celebration of Lunaset] and conjuring of Ravallah. As he kills them, the voyeur proclaiming himself to be Ravallah. The voyeur is described as the lord of a local manor and a leader of a local gang of thieves.</ref>Cardarelle, Andria. To Sleep With Evil (Ravenloft The Covenant Book 16) (Kindle Locations 67-114). Wizards of the Coast Publishing. Kindle Edition.</ref> This in almost all certainty refers to Donskoy. Another possible (though perhaps less likely) seminal event is the murder of his own child and driving his wife to suicide. According to Sozia, Valeska's midwife and nurse, Valeska was a Vistani and his first wife, though the marriage was unsanctioned by her tribe. In Valeska's pregnancy, he tore their child from her womb and killed it. She cursed him saying, "The seeds you have sown shall seal your damnation. The blood of your blood shall bring you to your knees." before, according to Djubo, she jumped from a ledge to her death.