Who Is Verna In ‘The Fall of the House of Usher’? The Secret Meaning Behind This Edgar Allan Poe Easter Egg

As expected, Mike Flanagan’s The Fall of the House of Usher is dripping in Edgar Allen Poe lore, as the Netflix horror series takes inspiration from some of the poet’s most popular work. But, one of the references runs deeper than the others.

In the show, two siblings, Roderick Usher (Bruce Greenwood) and Madeline Usher (Mary McDonnell), run the corrupt company Fortunato Pharmaceuticals. After the two commit a terrible crime, they make a deadly deal with a supernatural being, Verna, played by Carla Gugino. As the series continues, Verna haunts the siblings and their family, resulting in a few unfortunate deaths.

From the very first episode, it is clear that Verna takes the role of “the raven” from Poe’s poem named. Throughout the series, the shapeshifter is paired with imagery of the bird in various scenes, and at one point, she is even shown turning into the creature. You can’t make it more obvious than that!

In the same sense that several of the show’s characters are named after works by Poe, such as Morelle and Annabel Lee, and others hold names from his other stories, like C. Auguste Dupin from The Murders in the Rue Morgue and Napoleon from The Spectacles, Verna shares a name with the literary character she resembles.

That’s right — Verna is an anagram for raven. The two words contain all of the same letters, just in a different order. Much like the raven in Poe’s story, Verna gets under her target’s skin by representing death and grief, much like the animal symbolizes in different cultures.

There you have it! Flanagan’s show is more than what meets the eye and it would take ages to unpack all of the glorious Poe references in it. Though, if you ask me, Verna’s name is the best one, as it takes a little while to catch on.

The Fall of the House of Usher is currently streaming on Netflix.