Aahana Swrup
‘The Fall of The House of Usher,’ Netflix’s supernatural horror show, centers around the eponymous family, rich in luxury and influence, whose lives are turned upside down in the span of a week. Under legal fire for the dubious business practices of their Pharmaceutical company, Fortunato, the Ushers’ attorney, Arthur Gordon Pym, battles multiple lawsuits in court against Assistant U.S. Attorney Auguste Dupin. During the first day of trial, the only time the Usher family makes a physical appearance at court, Dupin reveals that he has a wildcard up his sleeve, a testimony from an Usher family member.
Nevertheless, Dupin keeps his witness’ identity to himself for their own safety. The implication of a mole within the Usher family sends the members into a spiral with family heads, twins Roderick and Madeline, desperate to find the traitor among them. If the mystery of the Usher family informant has captivated you and left you seeking answers, here’s everything you need to know. SPOILERS AHEAD!
The Usher Family Informant
Following Dupin’s claims of an Usher colluding with the government to bring their family’s downfall, Roderick Usher, whose bloodline makes up the entire family, puts a bounty on the informant’s head. While Madeline asserts her position on the matter, promising a grueling death for the mole, Roderick decides to incentivize the situation. As a result, he assigns a $50 million prize to whoever uncovers the informant’s identity. Although brutal as a parent, Roderick’s strategy effectively motivates his kids to turn against each other.
Yet, within the Usher household, the same is hardly a difficult task. Since Madeline never had kids of her own, the Usher family is made up of Roderick’s numerous heirs, legitimate and otherwise, alongside their significant others. The half-sibling status between most Usher Kids, except Tammy and Freddy, paves the way for some distrust and hostility between Roderick’s kids. As such, each sibling already has their own suspicions about who could’ve sold their family out to the authorities. Furthermore, Roderick’s second wife, Juno, who is significantly younger than him, invites natural suspicion.
In the ensuing days, while some Ushers, like Leo and Perry, pay little attention to uncovering this mystery, others, like Camille, put a lot more effort into it. Camille runs a PR agency and looks after the Usher’s public image as well. Therefore, due to her work, Camille has a penchant for snooping around other people’s lives with the help of her assistants. Consequently, Camille, eager to win her father’s monetary prize and affection, sets out to find the informant.
Even after her brother, Perry, succumbs to a cruel and ominous death, Camille remains undeterred in her investigation. Since Vic, the Usher sibling who specializes in medicine, happened to be engaging in some shady business at the time, Camille’s instincts lead her to suspect Vic. Nevertheless, the investigation only ends in another cruel and ominous death in the Usher family, with Camille as the victim this time.
Eventually, the rapid deaths of the Usher siblings end up taking over the characters’ lives as well as the narrative. Yet, the mystery of the informant remains. At the end of the two weeks, Roderick has lost everything in his life as a result of the consequences of a particular night from his past. While he awaits his own death, he invites Dupin for a lengthy conversation wherein he discloses his family’s long-held secrets and unravels the truth behind his kids’ deaths.
During this meeting, Roderick urges Dupin to disclose the identity of his star witness. The trial has since dissolved, and all of Roderick’s past suspects on the matter— his own children— are gone. As such, Roderick’s inquiry comes solely from a place of curiosity, and Dupin’s answer hardly disappoints.
There was never an informant in the Usher family. Even though Dupin thought of himself as a man of honesty, years of going after Fortunato and the Ushers, only to fail every time, grated away at him. Therefore, Dupin decided to equip the Usher method for his final trial and resorted to trickery. By planting the idea of a mole within their ranks, Dupin effectively shakes the family and turns them against each other to some extent.
Perhaps Dupin had hoped that the claim would urge one of the Ushers to seek a similar deal and divulge their family’s secrets in exchange for immunity. Nonetheless, at the end of the day, even though the Ushers turned on their own blood, they never turned on their family’s most priceless asset: their secrets.
Read More: Is The Fall of The House of Usher Based on a True Story or a Book?
