The Haunting of Bly Manor
Save this article to read it later.
Find this story in your accountsSaved for Latersection.
Almost everything weve seen inThe Haunting of Bly Manoris a story within a story.
What we get, instead, is an origin story for the horrors contained in Bly Manor.
Tragedy strikes when Viola begins coughing up blood, which results in a tuberculosis diagnosis.
Nothing helps, and the family prepares to say goodbye to Viola forever.
She is as He made her.
If she says she will not go, she will not.
To be fair, that last one turns out to be warranted.
So Perdita takes matters into her own hands.
And when this fairytale ending is thwarted by Perdita, she decides to kill her instead.
As the years pass, Viola gradually becomes The Lady From the Lake.
Traditionally, ghosts in stories like this one have some kind of unfinished business.
Centuries later, Violastillsays she will not go, and so she is still here.
But wedoget some explanations for the hidden ghosts weve seen throughout the season.
The moaning woman who Flora shushed during hide and seek was Perdita herself, trapped in the attic.
Okay, were at the end of the season, so its crazy theory time.
Heres the dart Im gonna toss at the board:Everyoneat Bly Manor is dead.
Arthur and Isabel just kind of disappear from the story, huh?
Maybe theyre the ancestors of Carla Gugino, or one of the other wedding guests in the frame narrative?
Its alsofeatured heavily inThe Innocents, Mike Flanagans favorite film adaptation ofThe Turn of the Screw.
Viola and Perditas names are each pulled from Shakespeare (Twelfth NightandThe Winters Tale, respectively).
The original story makes it clear that the girls father was a devoted Shakespeare enthusiast.
Katie Parker, who plays Perdita, also appeared inThe Haunting of Hill House(as Poppy Hill).
The envelope containing the keys to the trunk reads teneo, which is Latin for to hold.
One thing Im not entirely clear on: Why doesnt Viola attack Miles or Flora?
Theyve at least figured out that they need to stay out of her way but how?
