Magda Ivanov was the grandmother (or 'great-grandmother') of Dmitri Ivanov.
Background
She was the young women who nursed Piotyr back to health after his battle in the Dark One's Cave. They fell in love. One week before she and Piotyr were to be wed, Piotyr went out in the forest in search of one of the Rituals, but was killed by the Wraith guarding it. No one knew what happened to Piotyr, and many snide rumors began that he was just dallying with Magda, and deserted her when he discovered she was pregnant. Magda's family felt she and Piotyr had dishonored them, and threw her out of her home. She was forced to live with others.
Magda raised her son Geoff by herself. Piotyr visited her in her dreams to comfort her, but his ghost wept at what he had put her through by taking on the Wraith alone.[1]
Behind the scenes
It's not clear that Magda's last name would be. She did not marry Piotyr (his last name is not known). So its possible she retained her maiden name and passed it onto her son Geoff (or he went under his father's surname, although he possibly despised his father). Or the name Ivanov came into the family in a later generation. Ivanov means "Ivan's" which means that someone named Ivan was an ancestor (but its unknown which line paternal or maternal sides of the family).
There are a number of issues with the history of Dmitri's ancestors. The largest is that while Dmitri and others usually refer to Piotyr as Dmitri's grandfather, Dmitri does refer to Piotyr as his 'great-grandfather'. With this in mind, it changes the context of many of the other background information. But alternatively Corey Cole currently suggests that 'great-grandfather' might be yet another character, Pyotr's father.
"I never heard my grandmother speak of him but once.", "When she was dying, my grandmother called me to her side. She said that I had to believe that Piotyr was a good and honorable man." .[2]
There are two possible interpretation as to Magda being the same Magda that later became gypsy. In this situation she must have faked her death (Dmitri spoke to her on her 'deathbed' after abandoning him to live with the gypsies. According to Corey Cole:
- As far as I'm concerned (call it my head canon, since only Lori's opinion is definitive when it comes to Quest for Glory characters and back-story), Piotyr was to marry a woman named Magda (rather than but died fighting the Wraith before they could marry. As was traditional in medieval times, Magda "proved herself" by becoming pregnant prior to the wedding. Besides, when a man and a woman love each other very much...
- After Piotyr's disappearance, and bearing his child, Magda avoided the narrow-minded villagers and lived with the gypsies, eventually becoming an important elder and fortuneteller. Hers is a variant on the Rusalka's story - Instead of taking her own life in grief over being abandoned, Magda decided to raise her child and live a rich, full life.
- I believe this makes Geoff Dmitri's father. I don't think we learn anything more of Geoff's fate or accomplishments in the game. Despite her distaste for the villagers, Magda would have gone to town for Geoff's funeral (if I'm remembering the "grandmother" occasion correctly).
Alternatively Magda is just a popular name and there are two Magdas. Originally the character would have been named "Nadia", however. According to Lori Cole:
- Magda was clearly a popular name. :-)
- I obviously made a mistake when we were on crunch mode and my brain was fried while writing that hint book. Piotyr's fiancee was named Nadia. She became Dmitri's grandmother. Sadly, this courageous woman who raised her son alone without the man she knew and loved will be forgotten because I got the name wrong. I apologize to her for my shoddy journalism.