Who is Verna in The Fall of the House of Usher? Character explained

Table Of Content

• What does the raven represent in Edgar Allan Poe’s The Raven?
• The Vanderbilt family
• What Does the Raven Symbolize in Edgar Allan Poe’s Poem?
• Carla Gugino, one of Mike Flanagan's frequent collaborators, plays the mysterious Verna
• Does The Fall of the House of Usher‘s Verna Directly Appear in Any of Poe’s Works?

She also isn't without reason, as the character clearly expresses that she favors taking out the greedy and the wealthy. Lenore, an innocent girl and the youngest of the Usher family, is granted a swift and easy death in bed compared to her older family members. Verna also gives many of the Usher family members a way out, even if none of them heed her advice. Whatever her reasons, the Usher family certainly learned their lessons the hard way. Played by The Haunting of Hill House's Carla Gugino, Verna portrays the black raven from Poe's "The Raven." She acts as a harbinger of death, collecting an item from each family member as they depart. In fact, "Verna" is just an anagram of "Raven." Though she's rarely not in human form, she does occasionally appear as a raven—especially in the first episode, when patriarch Roderick Usher realizes what he's done.

What does the raven represent in Edgar Allan Poe’s The Raven?

Madeline wishes to change the deal that the siblings made with her years ago, but she soon realizes that she cannot have her way this time. Through Pym's research, they find that Verna has been pictured with a number of wealthy and famous people throughout history, appearing to never age. As for Fredrick Usher (Henry Thomas), the last of the children to die? Verna ensures he takes too much of the paralyzing drug that he's been vindictively force-feeding his injured wife, who is severely burned from Prospero Usher's party. Media mogul William Randolph Hearst started his newspaper career by taking over the San Francisco Examiner from his father. Over the course of his life, he expanded to magazines (including Cosmopolitan and Harper's Bazaar), radio, and film.

The Vanderbilt family

She witnesses Roderick's confession in court and is left disillusioned. Roderick's sister, Madeline, who was involved in the plan, tries to comfort Annabel by emphasizing that Roderick will now have a promising future at Fortunato Pharmaceuticals. However, Annabel is not concerned with personal gain; she simply wanted her husband to act ethically.In the 2020s timeline, Madeline is still determined to claim power within the company. She meets with Arthur Pym to persuade him to support her bid for control, especially considering Roderick's declining mental state.

What Does the Raven Symbolize in Edgar Allan Poe’s Poem?

Why does she call herself a “creature of symmetry” who is not a “broker of suffering” the way the Devil is, but rather a “witness” to suffering? Because she might instead be a figure that ultimately comes for all of us, good and evil alike. Verna has no interest in souls—the most common currency of the Devil—and said they aren’t real.

Carla Gugino, one of Mike Flanagan's frequent collaborators, plays the mysterious Verna

In The Fall of the House of Usher, the death of every Usher is linked to a woman named Verna, who changed Roderick and Madeline’s lives years ago. At the end of the show, with Roderick and Madeline dead in their childhood home, Verna appears atop the house wearing a black lace dress and then transforms into a raven before flying away. Verna does have a moment of humanity, though, when dealing with the death of Roderick Usher's sweet and brave granddaughter, Lenore Usher (Kyliegh Curran). That night, she posed as a bartender who served Roderick and Madeline hours after they killed Roderick's boss. Verna seems to know this, and asks them if they'd prefer wealth or fame. The final episode of the show reveals Verna to be the devil, or at least one of his demonic emissaries.

Verna tells Lenore that her mother will survive the acid burns she suffered after attending Prospero’s illicit warehouse party and go on to do great things in her name before The Raven kills Lenore earlier in the day. The Raven even targets Arthur Pym after he attempts to capture her at the Usher home with an offer for absolution once the Ushers are gone, but he chooses to test his fate and is arrested by series end. Verna comes to collect on her end of the bargain, leading to the gruesome deaths of Roderick's children. In order to figure out what's going on, Roderick and Madeline enlist family lawyer Arthur Pym (Mark Hamill) to dig up any dirt he can on Verna, thinking she's a human suspect.

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The unknowable elements of his stories not only elevate their horror, it forces readers to engage with them on a deeper level. That’s a big reason why so many of his tales endure to this day and always will. He even concedes that he didn’t deserve his wife Annabel Lee, whom he hallucinates seeing at his children’s funeral. But most of all, he confesses that he knew exactly how harmful the drugs he was peddling were—the exact reason Auggie had been tailing him all these years. It's not just Verna's raven mask in that opening scene — raven imagery is a recurring theme throughout the series. There's a raven painted in front of the dilapidated building where Verna's bar appeared to be when Madeline and Roderick exit.

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The Ushers take the deal, and 40 years later, when Roderick is diagnosed with an incurable illness and his death is imminent, Verna comes to collect. In 2019, David moved to London to join Digital Spy, where he could indulge his love of comics, horror and LGBTQ+ storytelling as Deputy TV Editor, and later, as Acting TV Editor. The fate of Toby and Tina, those poor, poor assistants to Camille, is never revealed.

Does The Fall of the House of Usher‘s Verna Directly Appear in Any of Poe’s Works?

No one should expect to make money from the picks and predictions discussed on this website. If you or someone you know has a gambling problem, call GAMBLER. But each time we think about the show or rewatch, we might become convinced of a different answer.

Verna has come to collect since Roderick and Madeline will die soon. She starts killing off the heirs one by one until Roderick and Madeline are the only ones remaining. The twin duo ultimately meet their demise as they fight in their childhood home that comes crumbling down with them inside. That night, Verna basically cuts them a deal saying that they can have whatever they desire but at a cost. She tells them that she can make them CEO and COO of Fortunato Pharmaceuticals with no legal consequences attached for their entire lives, but only if they agree to her part of the deal. Verna’s identity might be unknowable, but that’s why her role on The Fall of the House of Usher is clear.

While eventually Roderick could have used this to simply move his way up, he and Madeline had other plans. The twin siblings showed up to Fortunato's New Year's Eve 1979 party, greeted by a grateful Griswold, dressed as a court jester. After much schmoozing, Griswold eventually started hitting on Madeline, before the two retreated down to a soundproof basement.