Who is Verna in Fall of the House of Usher? Her real identity explained

17 October 2023, 15:52

Watch the trailer for The Fall of the House of Usher

By Katie Louise Smith

Is Verna the devil? The Fall of the House of Usher's mysterious Verna makes a deadly deal with Roderick and Madeline Usher, but who is she? Her real identity is revealed.

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Carla Gugino and Mike Flanagan? Another match in horror heaven yet again. This time, in The Fall of the House of Usher, Carla portrays Verna, a mysterious woman who encounters Roderick and Madeline Usher on a fateful night in their past.

Throughout the series, she takes on several different characters, as her character manifests in different ways to each member of the Usher family. As the episodes go by, it becomes clear that she holds a huge amount of power over Roderick and his family, and even has a hand in the deaths of his children.

But who exactly is she? What did she do to the Ushers? Here's everything you need to know about Verna.

WARNING: Major spoilers ahead for The Fall of the House of Usher!

The Fall of the House of Usher's Verna explained: Is Verna the devil?

Who is Verna in The Fall of the House of Usher? Picture: Netflix

The first appearance of Verna happens at the start of episode 1, when Roderick sees a vision of a woman in a mask standing on the balcony in the church during his children's funeral and mutters: "She's here."

Roderick and Madeline Usher first encounter Verna way back on New Year's Eve 1979. When they meet her, she's working the night shift at the bar and ends up sitting down with the Usher duo for a drink.

However, viewers don't find out why she decides to sit down with them until the final episode.

Is Verna a ghost?

Verna is not a human, nor is she a ghost. In episode 6, Madeline attempts to grab Verna at the Goldbug presentation but she disappears in a cloud of black smoke. During a later conversation with Madeline, she also clarifies that she is "not a woman", confirming that she is a mysterious shape-shifter who has the ability to take on countless forms.

Verna can manifest into different people, animals, things... anything. Throughout the series, we see her take on the form of a masked party goer, a security guard, a animal shelter worker, a potential medical patient, a sex worker, a cat, a chimp... all of which end up completely deceiving the Usher children and luring them to their eventual deaths.

She's also behind several hallucinations that the characters experience over the course of the series.

Is Verna the raven? Or is Verna the devil?

If you hadn't already figured it out, the most glaringly obvious clue that Verna is in fact the raven that looms over Roderick Usher's head is her name. Verna is an anagram of 'raven'.

In a early conversation, it's said that "Ravens are the minions of Satan…", essentially hinting that the Usher duo ended up in a 'deal with the devil' type situation when they agreed to her proposal that night in the bar. There's also a raven perched behind the bar, too. (Verna is not the devil though, as Carla Gugino explained in an interview with TUDUM).

Verna a.k.a. the raven seems to be a manifestation of karma, and eventually death. She influenced and actively caused the death of all of the Usher siblings, and sadly, killed Lenore Usher as a result of the deal too.

As soon as she appears to Roderick, he knows exactly why his children have died and what's about to happen to him next. When he collapses outside of the church, the Raven is perched on the railing overheard and he says, "it's time".

At the end of the final episode, titled 'The Raven', the raven perched atop the gravestone croaks at Dupin. After he turns away, Verna, dressed in an all black outfit, appears at the gravestones.