Ada Talbot

Jaka and Ada, her nurse

Ada Talbot was a Borealan nurse.

History

Ada Talbot was from Boreala, though she lived in Palnu under forged papers. She worked for Lord Julius Tavers, serving as nurse to his niece, Jaka. She was the first person known to Jaka, who knew her as simply "Nurse". She was with Jaka from the time Jaka turned three until Jaka ran away at thirteen.

As Jaka's nurse, she raised the young noblewoman according to her northern sensibilities. In her gruff way, she seemed to have some affection for Jaka, although she expressed it by overprotecting her from the corrupting influences of life and treating her roughly in their daily routines of bathing and dressing (no doubt a northern trait). Young Jaka saw only the gruffness and avoided Nurse whenever possible.

Shortly after Jaka ran away, she was found out and left Palnu for Iest.

Talbot was featured extensively (as "Nurse") in Oscar's read Daughter of Palnu.

She and Jaka met again years later, in a Cirinist prison in Iest. Jaka had been arrested and found herself in the cell next to Talbot's. Talbot had been there several months under suspicion of carrying forged identification papers. Her advice on surviving their incarceration was double-edged--it was well meant, but it underscored just how grim their situation was. Talbot was eventually taken away for execution.

Nature

Talbot was a large woman and admitted to being a Cirinist, herself.

Appearances

• Cerebus No. 114
• Cerebus No. 119
• Cerebus No. 122 - mentioned
• Cerebus No. 131 to Cerebus No. 133

Dave Sim on Ada Talbot

• Q3. Nurse/Ada Talbot's presence in the cell next to Jaka appears to be more than a mere coincidence. Was she (1) really Nurse and a Cirinist; (2) a Cirinist imposter using information gleaned from Oscar's book; or (3) Nurse and not a Cirinist (her 8 month incarceration time would appear to match up with Cerebus' reappearance after his Ascension)? Was her placement in the cell an attempt by the Cirinists to elicit information and/or break down Jaka psychologically before being handed over to Thatcher? (i131)

DAVE: 1) That's very possible. 2) You've been reading too many conspiracy theory books. 3) That's very possible as well. Actually, all of those things were going through my head while I was working on that sequence and because Nurse never comes back into the story, I was able to leave it open to interpretation, both for others and for myself. You know, one of the possibilities that you didn't suggest was the fact that it might have had nothing to do with getting information or breaking Jaka down psychologically and might instead have just been as nasty as the Cirinists were able to be, given Jaka's diplomatic immunity. They couldn't execute her or torture her and they couldn't execute Rick because of the problems that would cause with Palnu, but that didn't mean they couldn't terrify Jaka to within an inch of her sanity and destroy her marriage as a way of indicating what a dim view they took of her career and (what is the Marxist-feminist discrete euphemism?) family planning choices. From a Cirinist standpoint, they wouldn't be doing anything to her that she hadn't done to Pud. Was it Jaka's fault that Pud's lust for her destroyed him as a person? Was it the Cirinists' fault that Jaka's choices-when presented to Rick-destroyed her marriage?