In 1981, Marlena Evans met Roman Brady (then Wayne Northrop) when he was the police officer assigned to protect her from a serial killer that was stalking her. "Days of Our Lives" watched the couple fall in love and get engaged. The pair eventually got married and welcomed twins Sami and Eric together (via Soaps in Depth). Shortly after, Roman was presumed dead when Stefano DiMera seemingly killed him. Marlena was devastated by Roman's death and began to throw herself into her work. It was then that she met a mysterious stranger with a bandaged face.
The man was known as "The Pawn" and had come to Salem with no memories of his past, per Soap Central. He had also suffered extensive injuries that forced him to have facial reconstruction surgery. After recovering, he named himself John Black and began working security at the hospital. John quickly struck up a friendship with Marlena during his time at the hospital, and the two grew close.
Eventually, Marlena got a glimpse of John's phoenix tattoo, which led her to believe that he may be Stefano. However, after studying the photos of John both before and after surgery, Marlena started to think that John could possibly be her presumed dead husband, Roman Brady.
