In the mini-series “The Fall of the House of Usher” on Netflix, the mysterious figure Verna plays a key role. Fans are speculating about who the mysterious woman is that Carla Gugino portrays so masterfully. Is she a demon, a servant of Satan, death, or the devil?
Spoiler warning: The article reveals some information about Verna as well as the events of the series. If you haven’t quite finished watching The Fall of the House of Usher and want to be surprised, you should not continue reading.
What role does Verna play in the series?
- The character Verna is a non-aging, immortal shape-shifter who encounters the Ushers in the series. She triggers events that lead to the death of each sibling or encounters characters like Prospero at least just before their end.
- She can take on human and animal forms: she appears as a raven, cat, chimpanzee, and as various women. In one of these female forms, she is a bartender who offers Roderick and Madeline Usher a fateful deal in a room “outside of time and space.”
- Furthermore, her name “Verna” is an anagram of “Raven,” the English word for raven. She is repeatedly associated with the animal throughout the series.
Is Verna the devil or a servant of Satan? According to a popular fan theory, Verna represents a “servant of Satan” because she states in one scene that ravens are seen that way in some cultures.
This theory, however, does not seem to fit the character. For she is expressly not evil. You can see this, for example, in that she warns figures like Camille of their fate and only reluctantly takes in Lenore.
As an act of grace, she even tells Lenore before her death what good her mother will do in Lenore’s name for the world.
The Fall of the House of Usher: What Gugino says about her role as Verna
So who is Verna? The actress Carla Gugino answers this question herself in a short clip (via youtube):
“She is not the devil, she is not even evil. […] She is not human. She is the executor of fate, of karma.”
Gugino says her character encounters people just before their death and offers each person “the most honest conversation” they will ever have in their lives.
People with much power have the opportunity to do good or evil. Verna offers them the chance to choose differently.
What’s exciting about her character: Ultimately, we know that after the “deal” that Roderick and Madeline Usher made on New Year’s Eve 1980, the entire bloodline of Usher is doomed, as soon as Roderick’s life naturally comes to an end.
But Verna decides based on the behavior of the characters how the Ushers die. In doing so, Verna does not necessarily seek the worst outcome.
For instance, she warns Camille that she does not have to take that path which leads to her being cruelly torn apart. Frederick is also told by her that he could have had an easy death if he had not chosen to torment his wife. However, because he did, he receives the cruel death from the slowly descending iron pendulum that bisects him.
Lenore, however, who apparently has not done anything wrong in her life, still has to die because that is her fate, which was sealed 43 years ago, and Verna is the executing hand of her fate. She is what people deserve, the karma that has come to life.
Verna makes it clear in her conversation with Lenore that she does not have the power to change Lenore’s fate. She is “just doing her job.” But at least Verna grants Lenore an easy death.
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