Editor’s Note: The following contains spoilers for The Fall of the House of Usher.
The Big Picture
- The Fall of the House of Usher is a miniseries that combines several of Edgar Allan Poe’s famous stories and poems into one interconnected plot.
- The characters in the series are named after Poe’s stories and poems, such as Roderick and Madeline from “The Fall of the House of Usher” and Tamerlane from the poem of the same name.
- The show pays homage to Poe through references, including naming the pharmaceutical company Fortunato after the character in “The Cask of Amontillado” and using lines from Poe’s poems in the dialogue and narration.
Ever since his first project with Netflix, 2018’s The Haunting of Hill House, writer/director Mike Flanagan has been specializing in taking classic horror tales and making them his own. In Hill House, he adapted the Shirley Jackson novel of the same name into a story about a family ravaged by grief. In 2020’s The Haunting of Bly Manor, Flanagan gave his own spin to Henry James‘ The Turning of the Screw. Now, in The Fall of the House of Usher, the filmmaker-turned-showrunner takes one of Edgar Allan Poe‘s greatest stories and turns it into a miniseries about a wealthy family in the verge of destruction.
Or should we say he takes a bunch of Poe’s greatest stories? Despite being deceitfully named after a single tale penned by the master of horror himself, originally published in 1839, The Fall of the House of Usher is actually an amalgamation of some of Poe’s most well-known short stories and poems. Not all of them, however, are included as part of the show’s plot. Some are carefully disguised as details in characters’ names and background elements. In case you’re wondering what is what, here’s a list of all the most important Edgar Allan Poe references in Flanagan’s newest project
All Main Characters Are Named After Poe Originals
This one should come as no surprise. All main characters (and some secondary ones) from The Fall of the House of Usher have their names taken from stories and poems written by Edgar Allan Poe. Roderick (Bruce Greenwood) and Madeline (Mary McDonnell) come from “The Fall of the House of Usher” itself, a tale about a brother and sister duo living inside a derelict mansion. Tamerlane (Samantha Sloyan) is named after the poem “Tamerlane”, while Frederick (Henry Thomas) was baptized in honor of the Baron of Metzengerstein, from Poe’s very first published short story, “Metzengerstein”. Victorine Lafourcade (T’Nia Miller) comes from the story “The Premature Burial”, Camille L’Espanaye (Kate Siegel) is a central character in “The Murders in the Rue Morgue”, Napoleon (Rahul Kohli) gets his name from the protagonist of “The Spectacles”, and Prospero (Sauriyan Sapkota) is the prince avoiding a plague in “The Masque of the Red Death”. As for young Lenore (Kyliegh Curran), her name is also that of the saint-like maid forever lost in Poe’s classic poem “The Raven”.
The references don’t stop at the Usher family. Auguste Dupin (Carl Lumbly) is also the name of a detective who appears in many of Poe’s stories, while Arthur Pym (Mark Hamill) borrows his name from the novel The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket. Morella (Crystal Balint) also has a short story with her name, and the same goes for Tamerlane’s husband, William Wilson, best known as Bill T. Roderick’s first wife, Annabel Lee (Katie Parker), who is named after the poem “Annabel Lee”, a treaty about lost love. Even Dr. Brevet, the man whose name is mentioned in passing as the person who signed for the clinical trials that Dupin (Malcolm Goodwin) investigates in the 70s, comes from a Poe story, “The Man That Was Used Up”.
Most of ‘The Fall of the House of Usher’s Episodes Are Also Poe Stories
From Episode 2 onwards, all episodes of The Fall of the House of Usher are named after six short stories and a poem written by Edgar Allan Poe. The plots and deaths of said episodes are also inspired by Poe stories, from the millionaires killed at a party of “The Mask of the Red Death” to the bizarre dismemberment of Frederick Usher in “The Pit and the Pendulum”. Titled “A Midnight Dreary”, the show’s first episode takes its name from a verse of Poe’s “The Raven”.
Tamerlane’s Death Comes from ‘William Wilson’
Most of the deaths of the Usher children are lifted from the stories that lend their titles to the respective episodes. The sole exception is Tamerlane’s suicide by mirror-breaking, which is inspired by the short story “William Wilson” instead of by “The Gold-Bug”. Also serving as the inspiration for the name of Tamerlane’s husband in the series, “William Wilson” tells the story of a man haunted by the constant presence of a doppelganger that he first meets as a kid. Meanwhile, “The Gold-Bug”, which, in the show, is the name of Tamerlane’s wellness subscription program, follows a man who becomes obsessed with a golden-colored insect.
Verna Is a Direct Reference to ‘The Raven’
The matter of who is Verna (Carla Gugino) is one that keeps viewers on the edge of their seats throughout the entirety of The Fall of the House of Usher. But when it comes to references to Edgar Allan Poe, the answer to this question is quite simple: Verna is an anagram for the word raven. The mysterious woman that is present on the deaths of all the Usher children can also transform into a raven, solidifying her connection to the black bird that lends its name to Poe’s most famous text. The name that she uses as a disguise in Episode 2, Le Bon, is also taken from the writings of Poe, more specifically from the short story “The Murders in the Rue Morgue”.
All Poems Recited in the Show Were Written by Poe
From Roderick to Verna, the characters in The Fall of the House of Usher are nearly all into poetry in way one or another. It is even mentioned that, in another life, Roderick would have become a poet instead of a CEO. And, as expected, all poems that pop up in The Fall of the House of Usher have been written by none other than Edgar Allan Poe. Both in his older and younger versions, played by Zack Gilford, Roderick recites verses of “Annabel Lee” to his wife and Dupin. In Episode 7, Verna uses lines from “The City in the Sea” to deliver a cryptic message to Madeline. Finally, the preacher presiding over the goodbyes to the Usher children has his lines lifted directly from the poem “Spirits of the Dead”.
Fortunato Pharmaceuticals Gets Its Name from “The Cask of Amontillado”
The characters in The Fall of the House of Usher aren’t the only ones whose names were inspired by Poe-lore. In the series, Fortunato is the name of the pharmaceutical company owned by the Usher family. The name is a reference to the short story “The Cask of Amontillado”, in which a man named Fortunato is killed by an alleged friend called Montressor.
The Story Also Inspired Griswold’s Murder
Montressor murders Fortunato by burying him alive inside a wall in his wine cellar. This gruesome death served as the inspiration for the killing of former Fortunato CEO Rufus Griswold (Michael Trucco), who is lured into his company’s basement by a young Madeline (Willa Fitzgerald) only to be drugged and subsequently walled in.
Both Griswold and Longfellow Are Named After the Contemporaries of Poe
Unlike other characters in the show, Griswold wasn’t named after someone invented by Poe, but after a real person from the writer’s life. More specifically, Griswold’s name is a reference to the anthologist Rufus Wilmot Griswold, who absolutely loathed Poe and his writing. After the poet’s death, Griswold wrote a scathing obituary about him and spent the remainder of his years trying to tarnish his reputation. Mr. Longfellow (Robert Longstreet), the other Fortunato CEO that appears in the show, as well as Madeline and Roderick’s father, was also named after a real person. His namesake is Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, another poet from Poe’s time.
Eliza Was Also the Name of Poe’s Mother
Roderick and Madeline’s mother, Eliza, is another character whose name was chosen in honor of someone from Poe’s life. Her namesake is the poet’s mother, English actress Elizabeth Arnold Hopkins Poe. In The Fall of the House of Usher, Eliza is a prominent character in the first episode, in which she dies of vascular dementia and returns from the grave to claim the life of Mr. Longfellow.
Camille’s Assistant Toby Is a Reference to a Poe Character with an Unusual Name
Going back to Poe’s creations, Camille’s assistant Toby (Igby Rigney) gets his name from a character in the short story “Never Bet the Devil Your Head”. However, that’s not the most interesting thing about Toby. In a moment of frustration with her employee/lover, Camille utters the phrase “Toby, dammit!”, which references the actual name of the character he was based on: Toby Dammit. As for Tina (Aya Furukawa), she’s all Flanagan’s creation.
Both Metzer and Landor Pharmaceuticals Are References to Short Stories Written by Poe
Much like Fortunato, Landor Pharmaceuticals, the company that originally owned Ligodone, had its name inspired by an Edgar Allan Poe creation, the short story “Landor’s Cottage”. Metzer, the chemist mentioned by Roderick as the original maker of the drug, is a reference to “Metzengerstein”.
Lenore’s Ship Is Named After the Vessel in ‘The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket’
In Episode 2, Lenore is making a ship in a bottle with her father. Said boat is named The Grampus after the vessel that takes Arthur Pym on his journey in The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket.
The Same Story Also Inspired Pym’s Tale
The only complete novel ever written by Edgar Allan Poe, The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket serves as the inspiration for the backstory of one Mr. Arthur Pym, who acts as a lawyer with something extra for the Usher family. In the show, Roderick tells Dupin that Arthur was one of the original crew members of a ship that took a legendary journey to the South Pole – a journey that was filled with violence and murder, according to Verna.
The Egyptian Paraphernalia Comes from the Short Story ‘Some Words with a Mummy’
In Episode 6 of The Fall of the House of Usher, Roderick tells the ghosts of his dead children about two sapphires belonging to an Ancient Egyptian queen that he smuggled as a birthday present to Madeline. The rocks, he says, were used to replace the monarch’s eyes when she was laid to rest. Later, in Episode 8, Roderick uses these same sapphires when he mummifies Madeline. The gems are briefly described in a satirical short story by Poe titled “Some Words with a Mummy”.
Frederick’s Mutilation of Morella Is Inspired by the Short Story ‘Berenice’
In Edgar Allan Poe’s “Berenice”, a man finds himself obsessed with the smile of his beloved, the sole part of her body that remains intact after she is taken by a mysterious disease. This obsession grows until the main character rips off all of Berenice’s teeth, with the story finally revealing that she was alive all along. This macabre tale serves as inspiration for Morella’s torment at the hands of Frederick in Episode 7 of The Fall of the House of Usher.
Madeline and Roderick’s Deaths Are Lifted Directly from ‘The Fall of the House of Usher’
With so much lifted from other Edgar Allan Poe stories, we are left to wonder which parts of The Fall of the House of Usher were actually taken from the short story that lends its name to the series. Well, Roderick and Madeline’s tale of mutual destruction is all in the original text. In Poe’s “Fall of the House of Usher”, a man named Roderick tells an unnamed narrator that his sister is already dead only for her to rise from her grave and kill her brother, the duo’s demise being immediately followed by the crumbling of their derelict home. Not all elements are the same, of course – the sapphires are missing, so is the Succession-like family drama — but it’s pretty clear where Flanagan got the idea.
Denial of responsibility! TechCodex is an automatic aggregator of the all world’s media. In each content, the hyperlink to the primary source is specified. All trademarks belong to their rightful owners, and all materials to their authors. For any complaint, please reach us at – [email protected]. We will take necessary action within 24 hours.
Khushi Patel is a science fiction author who lives in Austin, Texas. She has published three novels, and her work has been praised for its originality and imagination. Khushi is a graduate of Rice University, and she has worked as a software engineer. She is a member of the Science Fiction Writers of America, and her books have been nominated for several awards.
