This article contains spoilers for The Fall of the House of Usher.
Highlights
- Mike Flanagan's "The Fall of the House of Usher" is a modern adaptation of Edgar Allan Poe's works, centering around the Usher family and their connection to a mysterious woman named Verna.
- Verna is revealed to be a supernatural creature with the power to shapeshift and create illusions, and she has been responsible for the deaths of Roderick's children.
- The Ushers made a deal with Verna in 1980 after they murdered their boss, and the agreement stated that their bloodline would end with them. Verna's subsequent murders are the fulfillment of this agreement.
Like clockwork, a new Mike Flanagan horror series dropped this October known as The Fall of the House of Usher. This time, the horror maestro has adapted Edgar Allan Poe’s famous works to a modern setting. The series follows the lives of the uber-rich Usher family consisting of Roderick, his twin sister Madeline, and his six children (born of various women). Roderick and Madeline built an empire of their company, Fortunato Pharmaceuticals, by selling a painkiller called Ligodone.
But Roderick begins to confront secrets from his past when his children start getting killed, one by one. And at the center of the mystery, is a woman. She is present at all the kids’ deaths. In fact, she’s the one who instigates them. But who is she? And why is she after the Usher family?
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Who is Verna?
The woman named Verna is introduced in a scene from the New Year celebration of 1980 — the night that changed everything for Roderick and Madeline. It starts when the twins enter the bar, looking tense. Verna happens to be the bartender there. Roderick also notices a raven sitting atop a shelf in the corner.
Roderick and Madeleine chat with her, but they have another agenda. When they are on their own, Madeline tells Roderick they must be seen and remembered by the people at the bar, make sure their alibi is ironclad. And so, they have a drink or two with Verna and talk about their New Year resolutions. But if Verna’s a bartender in 1980, how is she killing people in 2023?
Is Verna human?
It’s Roderick’s lawyer and right-hand man, Arthur Pym, who finds a common thread in all of Roderick’s kids’ deaths. It turns out to be none other than Verna, as Pym displays in a number of different photographs — as a guest at Prospero’s party, as a security guard where Camille died, and as the woman Leo adopts a cat from. Played by the exceptional Carla Gugino, Verna embodies different personalities in each encounter.
It doesn’t end there. Pym brings out other photos from the internet, of Verna accompanying other people, a lot of whom are famous icons. The pictures span multiple decades but the eerie thing is that Verna looks exactly the same no matter what. She is neither older nor younger in any of the photographs.
This makes it clear that Verna isn’t human. She’s a supernatural creature with enough power to create delusions in the mind and even shapeshift. Is she a demon? The devil? Or God? The series never clarifies. But if you look closely, you’ll see that Verna is an anagram for Raven – also the title of one of Edgar Allan Poe’s most famous poems which revolves around a raven. The bird itself appears multiple times in The Fall of the House of Usher, presumably marking Verna’s all-seeing presence. This connection to Poe's literary universe is just one of many homages in this Mike Flanagan adaptation.
Why is Verna after the Ushers?
Towards the end of the show, the fateful events of that night in 1980 are finally revealed. Turns out, Roderick and Madeleine need an alibi because they just murdered their boss at Fortunato Pharmaceuticals. And Verna knows this.
She calls them out on it and offers them a deal: They could have all the fame and money they wanted but their bloodline would end with them. Any children, or grandchildren, would die whenever Roderick and Madeline reached the end of their lives. It doesn’t take much hesitation on the Usher’s part. Both, Roderick and Madeline, take Verna’s deal.
The twins leave the bar in the early hours of the morning but when they turn around, there’s no bar. Only a graffitied brick wall, with a raven spray painted at the top. Over the years, the memory of Verna and the deal they made fades to the back of their minds. Until the murders begin. Madeline recognizes Verna in the photographs. Roderick stays in denial for a long time but faces the truth in the end — he got his end of the deal, and now Verna is here to collect her dues.
Ultimately, Verna’s consecutive murders of the Usher family are just her fulfilling the terms of the agreement. The brutality of the murders, however, depends on the people themselves. All of the Usher kids are spoilt, entitled, and misuse their power in one way or another — whether it’s Leo’s abuse of a cat or Victorine taking advantage of a kindly patient.
And yet, Verna gives them the choice. Leo is told he can adopt another cat that needs a home and Victorine is given the option of telling her patient the truth. Neither takes the opportunity. Nor do the other siblings. Verna then gives them the appropriate death.
On the other hand, Roderick’s sweet granddaughter Lenore gets a peaceful, painless death since she never caused anybody harm. At the end of the day, Verna isn’t dishing out ghostly revenge or executing karma. She’s simply complying with the terms of the deal. It’s pure business.