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

Table Of Content

• Movie and TV Show Houses in Canoga Park
• How is Verna connected to the Usher family?
• Verna's connection to the Ushers goes back to a fateful night at a bar
• The deal with the Usher Twins: Verna’s pact
• Lee & Rick’s Oyster Bar
• Verna’s deals
• What deal did Verna make with Roderick and Madeline, and why did it result in the entire Usher family dying?

One by one, all of Roderick's children, and his only granddaughter, die until only Madeline and Roderick are left. In the final episode, the twins are sitting in the basement of their childhood home, drinking and reminiscing about their life together. They wonder if they would've done anything differently if they'd believed Verna was real all this time, and ultimately decide that they wouldn't have. Verna continues to cross paths with each Usher family member right before their untimely, and gorey, deaths. For example, she works at the animal rescue Napoleon Usher visits to get a black cat, which he ends up chasing off a balcony, falling to his death.

Movie and TV Show Houses in Canoga Park

Thousands of homes were built during this time, and though many were lost, the structures mapped here survive. The Six Feet Under house, home of the Fisher and Sons Funeral Home in the HBO series, is located in the West Adams Historic District, south of I-10 at 2302 West 25th Street, even though it was allegedly in North Hollywood. Located on the Universal Studios backlot, it's been featured in many television programs and movies. It also served as one of the houses on Wisteria Lane in the popular television show Desperate Housewives. Used in both the original 1991 and the 1995 sequel of the film Father of the Bride, starring Steve Martin, the Father of the Bride house still looks like it did in the films.

How is Verna connected to the Usher family?

Verna is a stranger at first, making it easy to interfere with the Usher siblings' lives and set up scenarios that lead to their deaths. She unleashes their fears and preys on their worst impulses, all using a bit of inexplicable magic. She also gave a choice to Frederick’s wife, who was also reluctant to be there, and unfortunately, she didn’t make the right choice on time. In episode 8, we see Arthur Pym staking out the former Usher house to capture this mysterious Verna.

Verna's connection to the Ushers goes back to a fateful night at a bar

This power allows her to appear in various forms, be it a party guest, a cat shelter owner, or even a receptionist. This talent lets her weave seamlessly into different scenarios, making her presence known or hidden depending on her intentions. Who is this enigmatic figure, and why is she causing so much chaos for the Usher family? Delving into her character might reveal the Usher dynasty’s darkest secrets. Spirits of the Dead dwells on the connection between life and death and what happens to us when we move between the two. That's a good place for the show to end as we transition between the realm of Poe and Flanagan back to reality, where we're left to ponder the show's message and Verna's true identity for ourselves.

The deal with the Usher Twins: Verna’s pact

Roderick initially works with Dupin to acquire confidential documents from Fortunato Pharmaceuticals, exposing the company's malfeasance in clinical trials. Roderick plans to testify in court that his signature has been forged on these papers, exposing the company's wrongdoing. However, when Roderick takes the stand, he surprising confesses that he was actually the one who signed the papers, undermining Dupin's case. He claims to have been coerced into lying about his signatures, resulting in his arrest for perjury.The betrayal is devastating for Annabel, Roderick's wife, who had hoped her husband would do the right thing. She witnesses Roderick's confession in court and is left disillusioned.

Lee & Rick’s Oyster Bar

'Fall of the House of Usher' Finale Ending Explained - Who Is Verna? - ELLE

'Fall of the House of Usher' Finale Ending Explained - Who Is Verna?.

Posted: Sun, 15 Oct 2023 07:00:00 GMT [source]

All that remains is Roderick's poor wife Juno, who goes on to beat her Ligadone addiction and dissolve the Fortunato company completely. It was Madeline trying to escape the confines of the basement. Roderick wasn't lying when he said she was down there, but he thought the noises were hallucinations caused by his cognitive disorder and/or Verna's machinations. Before she died, Lenore's personality was used to test a new AI software that could replicate a person's identity online.

Who Is Verna in THE FALL OF THE HOUSE OF USHER? Her Name and Purpose, Explained - Yahoo Entertainment

Who Is Verna in THE FALL OF THE HOUSE OF USHER? Her Name and Purpose, Explained.

Posted: Thu, 12 Oct 2023 07:00:00 GMT [source]

Fans of Edgar Allen Poe will recognize the visual and thematic reference between The Raven from his eponymous poem and Verna’s character, down to the fact that the latter’s name is an anagram for the former. In the poem, the raven symbolizes unending grief over love’s loss. Likewise, Verna seems to be a harbinger of grief within the narrative. Verna’s curious presence in the Usher’s lives continues to be the biggest mystery haunting the narrative. With each sibling’s death, Verna’s interference in the matter increases, and she starts showing unnatural colors.

Brother & Sisters House

She seems to like making offers out of a genuine curiosity to explore human limits. Verna is capable of love and compassion, like when she comforted Lenore. Verna loves much about her “job,” but she also has responsibilities that bring her no joy.

What deal did Verna make with Roderick and Madeline, and why did it result in the entire Usher family dying?

Nevertheless, he gives their lives away like it is nothing for a chance of success. Deeming the same more valuable than a long life lived in poverty, Madeline and Roderick agree to Verna’s offer and sign their family’s future away. Nonetheless, after they leave the establishment, both presume the night’s events were a shared delusion since they can find no trace of Verna or the bar. However, when the siblings look for her in the present, Pym finds impossible photographic evidence of her throughout history. Through a long con, Roderick tricked Dupin under Madeline’s instructions and earned the trust of the Fortunato owner, Rufus Griswold.

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. As the thunder persists outside, the Usher house collapses, with Dupin escaping in the knick of time. The siblings meet their end buried under the same house where they had their beginning together. Ultimately, regardless of her undisclosed title, Verna remains a supernatural force closely related to themes of death and success.

She has her in one moment only for her to set herself free through supernatural means and lays the terms black on white for him. Well, this part isn’t technically true except in a metaphorical sense. Madeline and Roderick met Verna shortly after killing Rufus Griswold. At that point, their lives were at a crossroads, and Verna met them just at the right time and made them a deal that they couldn’t reject. Those were the metaphorical crossroads because Roderic and Madeline still had enough time to come clean, bury the company, and save tens of thousands of innocent lives. In order to achieve that perspective, Gugino studied her own body language from the inside out.

It is a classic example of the theoretically affordable Eastlake style of architecture, which emphasized handmade features, expert craftsmanship, clean lines, geometric ornaments, and spindles. This delightful 1886 Pasadena home is a charming example of the Folk Victorian style of architecture. These dollhouse like houses were much more functional than most Victorian styles, with family-friendly, regular floor plans and a lack of ornamentation—perfect for hardworking, everyday people. Built by land baron Elias Jackson “Lucky” Baldwin, this delightful cottage is nestled in the Los Angeles Arboretum and Botanic Gardens. On the outside, the 1885, stick-style architecture makes this summertime playhouse look like it’s made of candy.

Death is there to meet all of us in the end, just as Verna was there at each Usher family member’s end. Death is also neither inherently good nor evil, same as Verna. It takes us from a world that existed before our birth and will continue on after we’re gone. If Verna—who cannot be killed and can be everywhere at any time—is Death, it’s no wonder she finds people so fascinating and knows what lives they could have lived had they chosen a different path. Roderick and Madeline Usher made a deal with a supernatural being who killed innocent people who never consented to the Faustian bargain.

She also changed back into a raven after the collapse of the Ushers’ childhood home in the series finale. Well, it’s not clear who or what Carla Gugino’s mysterious, ageless harbinger of doom really was. Compelling arguments can be made for her being various famous mythological figures, an amalgamation of them all, or something new entirely. But while it’s fun to guess at Verna’s real identity, not knowing makes her far more interesting and terrifying in the best tradition of Edgar Allan Poe. Verna first appears as a brunette bartender whom Roderick and Madeline meet on New Year's Eve in 1980.