The Fall of the House of Usher has had fans talking over the weekend, as it tells the dark tale of how six siblings of an incredibly wealthy pharmaceutical dynasty met their gruesome ends all within two weeks of one another. But what was the ending all about? We’ve explained it all here…
After seeing Verna appear to each of the Usher siblings shortly before their death, as well as work as a bartender on the night that Roderick and Madeleine commit a mysterious crime, we finally discover that she is a paranormal entity of sorts who makes deals with people in exchange for something they hold dear.
In the finale, we learn that on the night of meeting Verna, Roderick and Madeleine murder Roderick’s boss Rufus at the company by bricking him into a filing room in the basement of the building then bricking him inside the wall, trapping him while everyone is away on Christmas vacation - meaning that he will die of thirst within the week with no one to find him. As he is dressed as a jester for the office Christmas party, it finally explains why Roderick sees visions of a jester throughout the show.
They make a deal with Verna that, in exchange for a lifetime of wealth and no repercussions from the law (including that they won’t be discovered for murdering Rufus either), their whole bloodline will die with them - when Roderick is ready to die naturally. Roderick and Madeleine both make the deal, sealing them and their family’s fates. As such, Roderick's offspring all begin to die after he has been diagnosed with dementia, fulfilling his end of the deal with Verna.
Sadly, this means that the one good member of the Usher family, Lenore, also dies. However, unlike her dad, aunts and uncles, it is quick and painless. Verna sits with her beforehand, telling her that her mother - who had been tortured by her father while in recovery from the acid sprinklers that killed Perry - fully recovers from her injuries, sets up a non-profit, and goes on to save millions and millions of lives, all because Lenore saved her by breaking into her room and calling the emergency services.
As such, Roderick tells Auggie that Lenore died earlier on the same evening that he is giving his confession, and that the many texts from his granddaughter are actually part of the AI Madeleine was building while using Lenore as a prototype. Showing Auggie his phone, he reveals that all the AI version of Lenore can do is write variations of the word 'nevermore', which is a reference to a poem by Edgar Allan Poe.
He also reveals that the sounds downstairs are from Madeleine, whom he killed earlier in the evening with poison before attempting to give her an Egyptian burial befitting a Queen by taking out her eyes and replacing them with sapphires. However, he doesn’t manage to kill Madeleine, who emerges from the basement with her eyeballs removed before attacking Roderick. The pair finally die together as the house caves in due to the storm, finally fulfilling the deal with Verna.
In the final moments, Auggie narrates how, with nothing to trade, the family’s lawyer Pym finally gets his comeuppance, while also confirming that the Usher’s family fortune mostly went to Juno, Roderick’s wife who weans herself off the Ligodone drug before dissolving the Pharmaceutical company and funding rehabilitation programs. Finally, Verna visits the graves of the Usher family, placing a token marking their deaths on each of their graves, including a cat collar for Napoleon, a mask for Perry, a phone for Camille, and a whiskey glass for Roderick.