Nada

Following the events of The Sandman fourth episode A Hope in Hell, we meet a character we guess is important to Dream, but who’s not explained further in the series. The malicious Squatterbloat, in fact, leads his guest to a remote area of Hell, where the Endless is recognized by a woman, one of the many damned souls trapped there: she’s Nada, portrayed by Deborah Oyelade. We learn that Dream could free her, but he hasn’t forgiven her yet, so he leaves her where she is. To know what Nada has done to Dream to deserve an eternity of torment, just read what follows.

To know who Nada was, the only source is myth, as her story is old as mankind itself. Nada was in fact the young and beautiful queen of the City of Glass, the African city where mankind began. She was a powerful and respected ruler, who always put her people first in her decisions; as she always followed the rules of the universe, the universe itself loved her, and awarded her with great wisdom and supernatural abilities. Such was her fame that many men came to her door looking to win her heart, but she never found someone she could consider her peer… until, one night, she saw a beautiful and mysterious stranger walking in her garden. She followed the man who walked the city at night, and realized there was something different, something magical about him: she pursued and hunted him, until she realized he was Lord Kai’ckul, the king of the Dreamrealm, one of the Endless. When she finally reached him in the Dreamrealm, she confessed her love to him, admitting that it was an impossible feeling, as nothing good could come from the love between a mortal and an Endless. Kai’ckul, however, was not as respectful as she was of the rules of the universe, and he offered her to become his queen: at first she refused, but nobody could resist an Endless’ courtship for long, and she eventually surrendered to her feelings. As they made love for the first time, the Sun itself looked upon them, offended by the abomination against nature he was witnessing. To punish Nada, he destroyed the City of Glass in an explosion of heavenly fire: looking what she had done by thinking of herself instead of of her people for once, Nada was consumed by guilt and, wanting to put an end to the torment, she jumped from a cliff, taking her own life. This, however, wasn’t the end for her.

Queen Nada was welcomed in the realm of Grandmother Death, but even here Lord Kai’ckul managed to find her, offering her to be his queen once again. Having learnt her lesson, Nada refused him, one, two, three times, until Lord Kai’ckul, scorned and unable to accept her refusal, sent her to Hell, imprisoning her in an endless torment for the sole guilt of turning his love down. Nada was tortured and tormented for thousands of years, but she believed her pain to be finally over when she saw Kai’ckul again, led to her prison by the demon Etrigan. Recognizing him, she begged him for deliverance… but Kai’ckul, albeit he told her he still loved her, admitted he had not yet forgiven her, and left her to her agony. Not long after this, all demons and damned souls were released from Hell, as the lord of the domain, Lucifer, had chosen to abandon his position. Nada’s misfortunes, however, weren’t over: before she could flee that forsaken desert of blood and screams, she was intercepted by Azazel, one of the ancient demons, who absorbed her into the bottomless pit that was his essence. Azazel wanted to use her as leverage with Dream while bargaining with him for the right of being the new ruler of Hell, and the queen was his currency of exchange. Dream, or as Nada knew him Lord Kai’ckul, didn’t accept Azazel’s offer, as Hell was reclaimed by God himself, but he descended into the demon’s soul, and retrieved Nada, finally freeing her. He apologized, and repeated his ancient offer, that Nada once again refused. This time, Dream was mature enough to accept her will, and he offered to her a new life in exchange of the one he had taken from her: he reincarnated her soul in that of a newborn baby in China, and told her she would have always been welcome in the Dreaming, whatever form she chose. Finally, after so many millennia, Nada was free.

Queen Nada is a wise and benevolent ruler, strong-willed enough to stand her ground even before gods, brave and determined like nobody before or after her. As a primeval queen of men blessed by the universe, she can communicate with animals, especially with birds, and she can transform into a gazelle. The first of her kind, Nada is a woman born to lead, serving her people with her wisdom and her strength, her sensitivity and sense of responsibility making her one with the nature she moves within.