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Handmaid Ofkyle / Crystal
Ada is a friend of Melanie’s who becomes Nicole’s guardian after Gilead operatives murder Neil and Melanie. Throughout her childhood, Nicole sees Ada but does not know her, and finds her strange and intimidating. However, after Neil and Melanie die, Ada takes Nicole into hiding with her. There, Nicole learns that not only is Ada a Mayday operative who helped smuggle her out of Gilead when she was a baby, carrying her through the Vermont woods in a backpack, but she has also been watching over Nicole for her entire life. In the short time they spend together, Ada becomes nearly a substitute mother figure, watching over Nicole and protecting her while they are on the run from Gilead’s agents. When Nicole and Agnes finally make it out of Gilead and into Canada, Ada is there to meet them on the shore.
Ada Quotes in The Testaments
The The Testaments quotes below are all either spoken by Ada or refer to Ada. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
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Chapter 32 Quotes
“Gilead’s not shy about killing,” said Ada. “They’re fanatics.” She said they were supposed to be dedicated to virtuous godly living, but you could believe you were living virtuously and also murder people if you were a fanatic.
Related Characters:
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
Get the entire The Testaments LitChart as a printable PDF.
Ada Character Timeline in The Testaments
The timeline below shows where the character Ada appears in The Testaments. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Chapter 8
...people is a man named George, whom Daisy finds unsettling, but Melanie seems to like. Ada, an older, “angular” woman who wears black leather biker gear and no makeup, also comes...
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Chapter 10
...riot erupts. Daisy is terrified and feels like she’s “drowning” in the sea of people. Ada appears behind her, grabs her by the collar, and drags her through the crowd.
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...angry, but instead they seem “anxious.” They talk about needing to relocate immediately and calling Ada, but Neil worries that they have no “fallback” in place yet. Daisy does not understand...
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Chapter 11
...date. At the end of the day, instead of Melanie arriving to pick her up, Ada is there instead and tells her to get in the car with her; Neil and...
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Chapter 21: Transcript of Witness Testimony 369B
Daisy sits in Ada’s car, trying to wrap her head around the thought of Neil and Melanie being dead....
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...women lying in some of them, as well as armchairs and other women scattered about. Ada explains that this is SanctuCare, an organization for Gilead refugees. Ada leaves Daisy sitting at...
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Ada returns with a bag of clothes, relieved that Daisy is still where she left her,...
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Chapter 22
Daisy and Ada leave the Quaker church, driving a different vehicle than the one they arrived in, and...
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...of The Clothes Hound bombing is on the TV, but Daisy turns off the sound. Ada’s made dinner for Daisy, but she’s not hungry. Ada also bought chocolate cake and vanilla...
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Chapter 23
...awakens in the morning in a bedroom. She wanders out into the hall and finds Ada sitting in the living room, drinking coffee with a leathery man in his 50s named...
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Chapter 30: Transcript of Witness Testimony 369B
...and history has just been wiped away. She wishes it all wasn’t true. Elijah and Ada continue to explain that although Nicole’s biological father isn’t a Commander, her legal father is,...
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Chapter 31
...a 25-year-old man, comes in dressed all in black. He’s arranged another industrial van, which Ada and Nicole climb into, finding a mattress set up in the back that they sit...
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...and they intend to keep it that way. Garth leaves to go find food while Ada and Nicole watch TV. The bombing is still on the news, but there are no...
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Chapter 33
...her thumbs. Nicole is worried that this will hurt the other person, but Garth and Ada insist that she needs to know how to kill.
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Ada teaches Nicole how to pray like they do in Gilead, though Nicole struggles to remember...
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...to identify her. Nicole thinks this is hypocritical, since she was raised an atheist, but Ada insists that it’s necessary. One of Ada’s friends comes to do the tattoo, scarring it...
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Chapter 55: Transcript of Witness Testimony 369B
...like her, though they’re the only people she has for company in Gilead. She misses Ada and Elijah and especially Garth, and wonders if Garth is dating anyone. Jade is especially...
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Chapter 66: Transcript of Witness Testimony 369B
...climb aboard the larger ship and are met by Captain Mishimengo, an old friend of Ada’s. Mishimengo explains that they’re smugglers under the pretense of being cod fishermen, and they have...
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Chapter 70: Transcript of Witness Testimony 369B
...her to press on. Lights shine over a ridge ahead of them and voices approach. Ada, holding a flashlight, comes down to them and Garth scoops Nicole up in his arms....
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...bed, her arm is less swollen and painful. Agnes is sitting next to her, and Ada, Elijah, and Garth are there as well. Ada and Elijah tell Nicole that she and...
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