Known as "the Dark Man," "the Gentleman Caller," and "the Stranger," among countless other names, this incubus has thoroughly entwined his existence with yours. He has a lien on Vanya's soul, and he's dedicated an inordinate amount of his existence to tormenting and corrupting the people
Isolde cares about--including Rose, her father, and anyone else with a drop of Covington blood. His interest in Rose may or may not involve more than her family tree.
Known History
Isolde claims that she has often tried to help people be the best versions of themselves, and the Caller has made a game out of corrupting or destroying the people in her care. You don't know how long the two of them have been doing this, but Isolde made it sound like a very, very long time.
In 715 (40 years ago), after the death of
Samuel Covington, the Gentleman Caller began to focus on the Covington family. He seduced Samuel's sister
Eleanor, preying on her loneliness and bitterness at having to devote her life to nursing her sickly mother. While he was courting her, he constantly plied her with questions about Samuel, although you don't know the nature of the questions or what his end game was (particularly since Samuel was already dead). Ultimately, the Caller convinced Eleanor that it would be a kindness to end her mother's suffering through poison; when her brother John had to dismiss the servants to save money, he played on her fears that she would spend her life as little more than a servant herself, driving her to such despair that she cursed her brother, her sister, and her brother's wife to be "trapped here with Mother as I was, without servants or sister to help you, until her damned bones are dust." For herself, she swore to run away with her gentleman caller to be with him wherever he went, never to be parted from him again; the Dark Powers heard her and punished her for murdering her family by turning her into his hound.
In the following decades, you don't know what the Gentleman Caller did other than siring children--at least five that you know of, if the rumors about the prince of Invidia are to be believed. The
Weathermay sisters say that there are rumors of him having children with a variety of women who had strange powers or bloodlines--a half-fey, a sorceress, a distant relative of Strahd von Zarovich--but the ones you've met have all been part Vistani. The Weathermays also said that they only knew of two people who had looked too closely into half-demon children; one died in a fire that also consumed his notes, and the other disappeared.
More recently, theGentleman Caller made a bargain with Vanya to give him bardic abilities in exchange for his soul, which he would collect in one year unless Vanya defeated him in a musical contest. He also drove Rose's father
Nicolae mad; according to
Madam Eva's reading to Rose, he tricked Nicolae into removing his ring and was able to attack him afterwards. You aren't sure exactly what he did to drive Nicolae mad, but the Caller himself admitted to Rose that it was something of a rush job and he'd had to break him rather than take his time. The strange illness that preceded his madness had symptoms that looked exactly like Vanya's after the Caller kissed him.
He also targeted
Anton, a Hala witch at the Hospice of the Hundred Wounds and Nicolae's adopted father. He learned about Anton's forbidden desire for
Lucia, a beautiful young acolyte at the hospice, and played on his bitterness and sense of entitlement until Anton decided to make her his; when she died escaping from his advances, the Gentleman Caller told him the secret of how to harvest her brain and heart to create a golem for his enjoyment.
You know the Gentleman Caller is currently stalking all three of you, but not what his final purpose is.
Known Goals
You know from
Julien's reading in Nira's vardo that the Gentleman Caller believes himself to be "trapped in a miserable backwater," that he wants to either "escape" or "ascend" but needs a key, and that he also wants to make a sword. The sword was linked to the Torturer card, so whatever it is, it's not going to be used for anything good.
Julien's prophecy about the Dark Man's plans stated that "Through his seed, the captive will become the captor. He will break his chains and ascend, leaving his adversary forever bound. The child of three worlds will be the blade that cuts out her heart and flays her soul." He also referred to Rose forging that blade in her body.
The Caller definitely has plans for Julien. He may have plans for his other children--when Julien looked into
Amelia's mind, he said "he isn't done with any of us"--but he also described his other children as "a long string of failures." He promised Rose that whatever his plans are, they won't harm Julien so long as he goes along with them willingly, but will kill him in agony if he resists. He came to Julien in a dream and offered to take him away and protect him before
Iskander summoned and bound him, and seemed genuinely unhappy that Iskander had taken him instead; he claimed that Julien would have one more chance to come with him willingly, and that next time, refusal would mean death.
The Gentleman Caller also has plans for Rose. Judging by his general sexual attitude toward her and a reference he made to Vanya about how Rose would "quite enjoy herself," as well as the reference to forging a blade in her body, Vanya is pretty sure he wants to have a child with her (I don't know if that's Rose's prevailing theory or not). He's trying to get her to remove her ring, which is her only protection from his enchantments.
He seems to have designs on Samuel Covington's body or something else that was buried with him. He was asking Eleanor questions about Samuel after he was dead and buried, and Eleanor tried to get you to dig up the grave as a condition for lifting her curse. Isolde went to great pains to make sure that Samuel's coffin was warded against evil, and when she heard that you'd been to Covington House, the first thing she asked was whether his grave was safe.
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