‘The Fall of the House of Usher’: How Do All the Characters Die?
Spoiler Alert
[Warning: The below contains MAJOR spoilers for The Fall of the House of Usher, Season 1, Episodes 1-8.]
The Fall of the House of Usher is Mike Flanagan and Trevor Macy‘s last hurrah at Netflix, and also the last hurrah for the Ushers as the family perishes before viewers’ eyes in the horror series.
As teased in the title and at the very beginning of the series, all of the Ushers will fall, but the mystery behind their deaths is what’s most intriguing. The Ushers are a family whose wealth is built on running a pharmaceutical company currently under investigation for failing to properly warn patients about the addictive effects of one of its drugs.
(Credit: Eike Schroter/Netflix)
Amid the legal battle, Roderick Usher’s (Bruce Greenwood) children begin dropping like flies. But is it a conspiracy to shut down a potential rat within the ranks? All is not how it appears as something more powerful and supernatural is at work. As the series unfolds, the ever-lasting presence of a woman named Verna (Carla Gugino) suggests there’s foul play, but through a series of flashbacks, an old pact is revealed.
Promising Roderick and his twin sister Madeline (Mary McDonnell) a future of wealth and success, Verna tells them in a flashback that they must trade in the lives of any future heirs in exchange for the reward she offers. They willingly do so, and it turns out that the untimely demises of Roderick’s children are forced by his declining health slowly inching him toward death.
So, how do all of the Ushers die in The Fall of the House of Usher? We’re breaking down the disturbing deaths, below.
The Fall of the House of Usher, Streaming now, Netflix
Prospero "Perry" Usher (Sauriyan Sapkota)
How Did He Die?
Perry throws an orgy at one of his father’s warehouses. Unaware that the sprinkler system is full of disintegrating chemicals, when the pipes are set off by Verna, he is burned by the liquid and succumbs to the injuries.
Camille L'Espanaye (Kate Siegel)
How Did She Die?
Determined to dig up dirt on her sister Victorine, Camille drives over to the lab where chimps are kept for testing. Lured in by a vision of Verna, she confronts her, unaware that it’s a distraction. Camille is killed by the animals who are let loose from their cages.
Napoleon "Leo" Usher (Rahul Kohli)
How Did He Die?
When he awakes one morning to find his boyfriend’s cat dead, presumably by his own hand after getting high, Leo picks up a new cat. Little does he know Verna’s behind the exchange and soon the cat begins behaving erratically, driving Leo mad. He ultimately tears his own apartment apart when he thinks the feline is in his walls. When he spots the pet perched on the railing of his balcony, he lunges and lands to his death on the pavement below.
Victorine LaCourcade (T'Nia Miller)
How Did She Die?
When her wife threatens to expose family secrets and her falsification of documents and data, Victorine accidentally kills her. In an effort to save her, she uses the experiment heart mesh she’s been testing with no luck. When her father discovers this and Victorine has been driven mad by the sound of the device pumping her dead wife’s heart, she turns a knife on herself, committing suicide.
Tamerlane Usher (Samantha Sloyan)
How Did She Die?
Driven mad by seeing visions of Verna posing as a version of herself, Tamerlane’s paranoia takes over. Wielding a fireplace poker, Tamerlane swings at images of Verna in her mirrors, but the shards aren’t forgiving. She’s impaled by the broken glass fatally.
Ferderick Usher (Henry Thomas)
How Did He Die?
The eldest son of Roderick, Frederick is gruesomely killed when he falls ill from poison administered to him by Verna at the demolition site of his brother’s fatal orgy. Frozen by the paralytic, he has no power to avoid a pendulum-like blade as it begins to saw him in half before the full warehouse collapses on top of him. It’s a fitting end considering he tortured his wife for being at the same party that killed his brother. She ends up surviving.
Madeline Usher (Mary McDonnell)
How Did She Die?
Knowing about her coming fate, it shouldn’t have come as a major surprise that some dreadful end would come for her. In this instance, Roderick tries to immortalize Madeline by performing operations administered to ancient Egyptian rulers, removing her eyes to be replaced by old stones, removing her tongue, and essentially mutilating her. She’s eventually crushed by her collapsing childhood home.
Lenore Usher (Kyliegh Curran)
How Did She Die?
Roderick’s only granddaughter, she unfortunately faced the same fate due to her bloodline, but Verna spared her a gruesome end. She came to Lenore as she was about to sleep, sharing details of a future she’d miss, and promising her a painless death. The teen dies in her sleep, much to Roderick’s despair.
Roderick Usher (Bruce Greenwood)
How Did He Die?
The Usher family patriarch cut the deal with Verna after killing a man in his past. That guilt manifested in his declining health, and his despair expanded with every passing family member. While he perishes in his collapsing childhood home, one could argue he dies of a broken heart.
