The Girl Who Drank the Moon

by

Kelly Barnhill

The Madwoman/Adara Character Analysis

Luna’s mother; she’s known for most of the novel as the madwoman. Like Luna, Adara has long, curly black hair and a crescent moon birthmark in the center of her forehead. Luna is slated to be offered in the Protectorate’s annual sacrifice of the city’s youngest baby, but unlike most mothers of the doomed children, Adara is unwilling to hand baby Luna over without a fight. She climbs into the rafters and shrieks insults and threats at the Elders. The experience of having Luna taken from her breaks Adara’s hold on her sanity, so she spends much of the novel imprisoned in the Sisters of the Stars’ Tower. While Adara is brought there mostly to feed the evil Sister Ignatia with her sorrow, her imprisonment and madness allows Adara to discover how to use magic. Because she doesn’t see the world the way others do, she’s able to reach into the universe’s cracks (that only she can see) and pull magic out. As she learns to do this, Adara also learns to close off her sadness, thereby starting a war of wills with Sister Ignatia. Adara uses her magic to transform objects into paper, quills, and ink, which she uses to fold enchanted paper birds, draw maps that lead to Luna, and write “she is here” (which refers to Luna) over and over again. Eventually, Adara’s sense that Luna is still alive grows so strong that she’s able to begin transforming her own body. Following Antain’s visit, in which Adara accidentally sets her paper birds on him and gets carried away, Adara feels an inexplicable relationship with Antain and keeps an eye on him from the Tower. Antain ultimately uses one of her maps to enter the forest in pursuit of the Witch. Adara also escapes at this time and reunites with Luna, something that’s cathartic for both mother and daughter. Luna hopes that Adara’s mind is fixable, and she begins to heal her mother by rediscovering what her name was and sharing it with her.

The Madwoman/Adara Quotes in The Girl Who Drank the Moon

The The Girl Who Drank the Moon quotes below are all either spoken by The Madwoman/Adara or refer to The Madwoman/Adara. 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:
Family and Love Theme Icon
).
Chapter 16 Quotes

The madwoman in the Tower could not remember her own name.

She could remember no one’s name.

What was a name, anyway? You can’t hold it. You can’t smell it. You can’t rock it to sleep. You can’t whisper your love to it over and over and over again. There was once a name that she treasured above all others. But it had flown away, like a bird. And she could not coax it back.

Related Characters: Luna, The Madwoman/Adara
Page Number: Chapter 16. In Which There Is Ever So Much Paper127
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 19 Quotes

Luna didn’t have very many memories that were as tenacious as this one—her memory, typically, was a slippery thing, and difficult to pin down—and so she hung on to it. This image meant something. She was sure of it.

Her grandmother, now that she thought about it, never spoke of memories. Not ever.

Related Characters: Luna, Xan, Antain, The Madwoman/Adara, Grand Elder Gherland
Page Number: Chapter 19. In Which There Is a Journey to the Town of Agony161
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 28 Quotes

While it was annoying to have to go hungry in one’s own home, there was always sorrow aplenty throughout the Protectorate, hanging over the town like a cloud.

Or normally there was. But this blasted hope stirred up by Antain was spreading through the town, disrupting the sorrow. Sister Ignatia felt her stomach rumble.

Related Characters: Sister Ignatia/The Sorrow Eater, Antain, The Madwoman/Adara, Grand Elder Gherland
Page Number: Chapter 28. In Which Several People Go into the Woods230
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 40 Quotes

“How do you know that name?” Sister Ignatia whispered.

“Everyone knows that name,” the madwoman said. “It was in a story. About how the Witch ate a tiger’s heart. They all whisper it. It’s wrong, of course. You don’t have a tiger’s heart. You have no heart at all.”

“There is no such story,” Sister Ignatia said. [...] “I started the stories in the Protectorate. I did. They all came from me. There is no story that I did not tell first.”

Related Characters: Sister Ignatia/The Sorrow Eater (speaker), The Madwoman/Adara (speaker)
Related Symbols: The Witch
Page Number: Chapter 40. In Which There Is a Disagreement about Boots329
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 45 Quotes

How many feelings can one heart hold? She looked at her grandmother. At her mother. At the man protecting his family. Infinite, Luna thought. The way the universe is infinite. It is light and dark and endless motion; it is space and time, and space within space, and time within time. And she knew: there is no limit to what the heart can carry.

Related Characters: Luna, Xan, Sister Ignatia/The Sorrow Eater, Antain, The Madwoman/Adara
Page Number: Chapter 45. In Which a Simply Enormous Dragon Makes a Simply Enormous Decision364
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 46 Quotes

“I was taken from my mother,” Luna explained. “Like you, I was brought to a family who loved me and whom I love. I cannot stop loving that family, and I don’t want to. I can only allow my love to increase.” She smiled. “I love the grandmother who raised me. I love the mother I lost. My love is boundless. My heart is infinite. And my joy expands and expands. You’ll see.”

Related Characters: Luna (speaker), Xan, The Madwoman/Adara
Page Number: Chapter 46. In Which Several Families Are Reunited377
Explanation and Analysis:
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The Madwoman/Adara Quotes in The Girl Who Drank the Moon

The The Girl Who Drank the Moon quotes below are all either spoken by The Madwoman/Adara or refer to The Madwoman/Adara. 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:
Family and Love Theme Icon
).
Chapter 16 Quotes

The madwoman in the Tower could not remember her own name.

She could remember no one’s name.

What was a name, anyway? You can’t hold it. You can’t smell it. You can’t rock it to sleep. You can’t whisper your love to it over and over and over again. There was once a name that she treasured above all others. But it had flown away, like a bird. And she could not coax it back.

Related Characters: Luna, The Madwoman/Adara
Page Number: Chapter 16. In Which There Is Ever So Much Paper127
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 19 Quotes

Luna didn’t have very many memories that were as tenacious as this one—her memory, typically, was a slippery thing, and difficult to pin down—and so she hung on to it. This image meant something. She was sure of it.

Her grandmother, now that she thought about it, never spoke of memories. Not ever.

Related Characters: Luna, Xan, Antain, The Madwoman/Adara, Grand Elder Gherland
Page Number: Chapter 19. In Which There Is a Journey to the Town of Agony161
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 28 Quotes

While it was annoying to have to go hungry in one’s own home, there was always sorrow aplenty throughout the Protectorate, hanging over the town like a cloud.

Or normally there was. But this blasted hope stirred up by Antain was spreading through the town, disrupting the sorrow. Sister Ignatia felt her stomach rumble.

Related Characters: Sister Ignatia/The Sorrow Eater, Antain, The Madwoman/Adara, Grand Elder Gherland
Page Number: Chapter 28. In Which Several People Go into the Woods230
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 40 Quotes

“How do you know that name?” Sister Ignatia whispered.

“Everyone knows that name,” the madwoman said. “It was in a story. About how the Witch ate a tiger’s heart. They all whisper it. It’s wrong, of course. You don’t have a tiger’s heart. You have no heart at all.”

“There is no such story,” Sister Ignatia said. [...] “I started the stories in the Protectorate. I did. They all came from me. There is no story that I did not tell first.”

Related Characters: Sister Ignatia/The Sorrow Eater (speaker), The Madwoman/Adara (speaker)
Related Symbols: The Witch
Page Number: Chapter 40. In Which There Is a Disagreement about Boots329
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 45 Quotes

How many feelings can one heart hold? She looked at her grandmother. At her mother. At the man protecting his family. Infinite, Luna thought. The way the universe is infinite. It is light and dark and endless motion; it is space and time, and space within space, and time within time. And she knew: there is no limit to what the heart can carry.

Related Characters: Luna, Xan, Sister Ignatia/The Sorrow Eater, Antain, The Madwoman/Adara
Page Number: Chapter 45. In Which a Simply Enormous Dragon Makes a Simply Enormous Decision364
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 46 Quotes

“I was taken from my mother,” Luna explained. “Like you, I was brought to a family who loved me and whom I love. I cannot stop loving that family, and I don’t want to. I can only allow my love to increase.” She smiled. “I love the grandmother who raised me. I love the mother I lost. My love is boundless. My heart is infinite. And my joy expands and expands. You’ll see.”

Related Characters: Luna (speaker), Xan, The Madwoman/Adara
Page Number: Chapter 46. In Which Several Families Are Reunited377
Explanation and Analysis: