Reshaping Reality

Let’s explore the endings of Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 by examining the ways the game deliberately misleads the player. We’ll also examine the character of Maelle/Alicia in particular to see what evidence we have concerning her Painter ability and of her morals and personality.

NOTE THIS IS A CROSSPOST FROM MY COMRADERY.

For those that have not played it, this will contain SPOILERS for the endings.

To guide the reader, here are the major characters that will be referenced in this essay.

Playable Characters:

• Gustave (Act 1)
• Lune
• Maelle
• Sciel
• Painted Verso
• Monoco

Crucial Non-player characters: Various named Lumerie citizens, Gestrals, and Grandis that the players meet throughout the game. They won’t factor into today’s essay however.

 Dessendre family:

• Renoir (father)
• Aline (mother)
• Clea (oldest daughter)
• Original Verso (the son who died)
• Alicia (youngest daughter)

 (There is a painted version of Renoir, Verso, Clea, and Alicia in the World of the Canvas).

 That’s all the people you really need to know to understand the following. 

 Is the Canvas people Real?

 One of my essays digs into the question as to whether the people of the Canvas are real. Which, if real, the erasure of the Canvas would be a genocide. If not real, then no harm no foul.

 I came to the conclusion that I agree with Maelle. They are real; they are alive; they are sentient; they are unique. Destroying the Canvas is a genocide of multiple diverse cultures. I won’t dig into the reasons here as that would require a full, separate essay. This youtuber does an excellent video essay on this by the way and the youtuber also digs far more deeply than I do into why Maelle’s ending is the morally ‘good’ choice. Check it out.

Now let’s look at how the endings are presented.

The Game Deliberately Misleads

 The game uses carefully placed shots to mislead us. As in, this game actively *lies* to us. Why?

 For one:

 Verso is an unreliable narrator. When a character actively lies and/or projects their view of things onto others and/or manipulates others through deception and lies — they are inherently unreliable in regards to truth and what is real. It’s a literary tool used to tell a story that speaks more to the unreliable character whose view we see than to the world in which that character reacts to and/or judges.

 There is a reason the axon representing Verso is called the Mask Keeper — He Who Guards Truth With Lies. Verso actively gaslights people in order to get his way, and lies often. He even introduces himself as a liar, so he recognizes his own nature. This doesn’t mean he isn’t capable of compassion — he is, and he is quite charming, but it doesn’t erase the harm he’s done to get his way.

 By making him the protagonist in Act 2, that shifts Act 2 into an unreliable narrator stance. So we’re left on edge, wondering what the truth actually is. We know that Verso is holding back something from the others, but we don’t know what. What does he guard with his lies?

 If he had been honest from the start would it have altered things? Perhaps or perhaps not. He doesn’t give anyone the autonomy to make that decision. He makes it for them in order to exert as much control as he can. Which ironically is not all that different from Renoir’s attempts at controlling his family.

 Again, one can still love others and still be a controlling jerk. Verso is inherently complex, but also unreliable when it comes to the truth.

 For two:

 The game is a masterclass in burying the lead. Leading us to believe who is really the protagonist, only to yank the floor out from under us twice.

 First, we are led to believe the main protagonist is Gustave. Then the shocking and painful end of Act 1 reveals that no, Gustave isn’t the main lead.

 For Act 2, the perspective is Verso, though the game itself plays as a team, where Maelle, Lune, Sciel, Verso, and Monoco are all playable. The fighting mechanic allows for a team of three to fight together.

 Then comes the shocking end of Act 2, which leads us in still another direction.

 We learn that the one person who witnesses the vast majority of this story is actually Maelle, who is Alicia — the youngest Dessendre, who Aline had repainted as a baby into the Canvas world. This allowed Alicia to grow up as part of the Canvas people but without her memories.

 In Act 3, Maelle regains her memories of her life as Alicia, and admits to Lune and Sciel how weird it is to have memories of two lives in her head– one in the real world and one in the Canvas. In her Act, the entire truth is unveiled, which serves in contrast to the deception within Verso’s Act.

 So we’re led astray several times before the truth finally sprouts, and the truth doesn’t unravel until the perspective is Maelle’s. That I think is perhaps the most honest this game is. It’s a signal to the players that Maelle will tell us the truth.

For three:

 There’s several interpretations to everything in this game. Even the ending has several interpretations regardless of who you choose in the end. This is done through fantastic camera angles and carefully cut shots, positioned to evoke the most emotions from a player. It’s masterfully done, and absolutely stunning.

 So let’s discuss the endings! I’ll dig into my take on it, while doing my best to refute a common take that I feel falls for the misleading camera shots this game does.

One way the game mislead players is in Maelle/Alicia’s ending:

 In Maelle’s ending, we see everyone at the Opera house, and an older Verso sits down to play. The game cuts to Alicia in real life with the paint on her face, then back to the Canvas world. Many people interpret this as her puppeting him, which isn’t accurate to who she is nor does it fit the evidence of what she is capable of doing.

 To puppet him requires a tremendous power in the art of Painting and control of that power that doesn’t exist in the evidence the game lays out for us. So let’s dig into that first.

 If we look at Alicia’s talent as a Painter, every person in her family seems to view her as not being as talented as the rest of the family. Only one of her paintings met Aline’s rigidly high standards, and it was one of their mansion.

 Renoir at least holds hope she can reach the potential he sees in her, but is what he sees his vision and expectations for her rather than who she truly is?

 I know what it’s like to have a parent with ridiculously high expectations of what I am potentially capable of doing, and yet in the end, that smothered me and made my life infinitely harder. This is why Maelle releasing her father’s Axon of her is her letting go of her father’s expectations of her. It’s the healthiest action she could take honestly.

Her Painter Ability

 We are shown how Alicia doesn’t seem to enjoy painting. She would prefer to read books, an activity Clea disdains in their scenes together. We also see no proof that Alicia has much power as a Painter either. Her painting is of the mansion, but it’s simply a replica of what already exists.

 Also, no one — not even Aline, the most powerful Painter in the game, could mind-control anyone. If Aline could, painted Verso wouldn’t have turned against her; she would have puppetted him.

One might argue that Clea found a way. She painted over Aline’s painted version of her. (Say that ten times fast!) Yet I suspect she may have painted Aline’s version out of existence and left her version with a task to do. Clea’s version is able to recognize Verso likely because Clea put a piece of herself in her creation, perhaps inadvertently.

 Clea’s version also has unnatural eyes similar to a possible Nevron, while Aline’s version were human. Yes, one of her eyes turns human when she recognizes Verso, but she’s not Aline’s version. She’s Clea’s version, and thus she battles with how Clea made her versus her recognition of Verso. That is why her ending is tragic. Clea never achieved mind-control — she merely repainted the person entirely, and piece of her she left behind ends up turning on herself.

 This ability to paint over others’ creations only Clea and Aline seem to have. Neither Renoir or Alicia are ever shown as having this ability.

Personality and Morals

 At start of Act 3, Verso must teach Maelle how to paint. It does not come to her easily, and with his lesson, she uses her fencing to aid her in bringing back Sciel and Lune. But all she is able to do is coalesce their chroma back into who they were the moment they were gommaged by Renoir. This is evidenced in how Sciel coughs and Lune takes in a breath, where both are baffled as to how they are at camp rather than Lumerie.

 She wants to bring her loved ones back, to remember them for who they are, not to control them. She wants them to live out their lives naturally, and she proves this again and again in her actions, where she does her best to save others.

 In fact, she doesn’t want to fight her father or Verso, and she offers them choices which depend on them accepting her autonomy. They refuse. In Verso’s case he refuses to his death, and in Renoir’s case, he finally relents when he realizes that taking away his daughter’s autonomy could destroy her more than her staying would.

 Alicia/Maelle shows no interest in painting, nor does she show any interest in creating anything. She enjoys fencing, helping foster kids, doing parkour atop buildings, and reading books. Her delight seems to come from helping others, so I wouldn’t be surprised if she ends up in a teaching role as an adult.

 To bring back those gommaged, she recognizes that she might die if she does this act, but of all her family members, she is willing to sacrifice her life so others may live. That’s a level of compassion that her other family members just don’t show — except for possibly original Verso.

 Alicia/Maelle goes out of her way to honor the wishes of others (See the Reach area where painted Alicia asks to die, and Maelle does as she asks). Over and over she shows integrity that the other members of her family seem to lack (except for possibly real Renoir). When she messes up, she listens, seeks understanding, respects the other, and apologizes. Then she seems to do her best to hold herself accountable. This shows how she is still growing. She learns from her mistakes.

She’s reliable, definitely as reliable as Lune and Sciel, and she goes out of her way to speak truth to the best of her knowledge. As soon as she knows a new truth, she immediately shares it with her loved ones as soon as she can (such as every scene with Lune, Sciel, Gustave, Monoco, and Verso).

As for the shadow boy who represents the shard of original Verso’s soul, I can trust Maelle will take care of him as gently and kindly as she takes care of the other foster kids.

She will also be honest with him. Verso approaches him with leading questions, projects how he feels onto the boy, and manipulates the boy toward an answer. Maelle does not do this. 

Her interactions with the shadow boy is to ask straightforward questions on how the boy feels and what the boy thinks, and to ask for clarification (one can see this in the various places in the Canvas world where you encounter the boy. The boy speaks of a world he loved before others came and hurt them).

Now this is where her narration in her ending is absolutely crucial.

 At the start of her ending, she asks, “if you could grow old, would you?” That question gives Verso autonomy to decide if he would or not, and I’m sure Maelle/Alicia would accept his choice.

 Because his reasoning for destroying the Canvas world has less to do with concern for the real Dessendre family, but for his own needs to not live an immortal life as a facsimile of a real person. He outright says “I don’t want this life.” And the few times he’s honest, he admits to hating how Aline made him immortal.

 So in the narration over the Opera scene, Maelle offers a compromise. Why? Because she understands that he doesn’t want the immortal life. She accepts that and offers him an alternative. Based on his appearance on stage, he takes her at her word.

 The dissonant note before he plays is his old age showing. He likely is dying. Then the game shows us a glimpse of real world Alicia, how she too is dying because of her choice to remain in the Canvas.

 Maelle understands this, and it’s why the scene goes gray. She’s grieving already, but there is an acceptance in her face. She will let him go, and I can trust her to do so.

 Will she leave her Canvas world to avoid her own death? Likely no, but it is her decision. I do not fault her for staying with healthier and more loving people; that’s what I did when I escaped my abuse.

 In the real world, she lived in isolation within an abusive environment. I’ll discuss how her real life environment is abusive when I speak to the second possible ending below. For the moment, let us examine how one heals from abuse.

 It’s not possible to heal from abuse while still trapped in an abusive environment. It’s only when I escaped my abuse that I was able to finally start my healing journey. It’s why psychologists and social workers work to aid people in escaping abuse first before the healing process starts.

 I like to describe it as: if you were being continuously stabbed, how could your body ever heal from stab wounds if you didn’t escape that situation? It can’t. Neither can the scars of emotional, verbal, physical, and/or sexual abuse.

 In the Canvas, Maelle has a loving chosen family who helps her stay morally good and on the right path. She is no longer isolated and driven toward suicide. She has escaped her former abusive environment.

 She wants to do right by her loving family. So not only does her ending prevent a genocide, but it gives the characters the most autonomy and chance at life than any other ending.

Maelle/Alicia’s fate in Verso’s ending.

 Some claim Verso’s ending is the ‘better’ ending because the family is facing their grief. Yet are they facing their grief? They are certainly facing a gravestone at least.

 The game shows the scene without any jarring juxapositions of one world versus another. For all intents and purposes, it seems like the family has taken a step toward healing.

 I argue this is the game misleading us again.

Clea is still angry and focused on Revenge. She has shown zero growth. Her character looks at the grave, looks at the rest of the family, and she storms off not long after the scene starts. She’s still angry, and nothing in her facial expressions or behavior shows she’s learned anything from the Canvas events. If anything, it just annoyed her and took her away from her true mission: revenge.

From her dialogue to Alicia throughout the story, it does not seem likely she will provide any support for her. At best, she views her as a person to protect rather than someone worthy of autonomy and respect; it’s unlikely she’s gotten over blaming Alicia for Verso’s death. At worst, she blames Alicia still and would rather she stay out of everything going forward. The only evidence the game provides is when Clea looks at Alicia and her expression hardens. 

 Aline and Renoir are shattered by the events of the Canvas and take solace in each other. They utterly ignore Alicia/Maelle, who is once more alone and isolated. Aline seems truly broken, and the game hints that staying in the Canvas as long as Aline and Renoir did causes damage to one’s mind and body. Whether they recover from this? There’s no evidence the game provides either for it or against it.

 Alicia attempts to connect to Clea by looking at her, but Clea gives her nothing in return, only walks away. The only smile Alicia has is when she hallucinates her dead Canvas family, and her smile fades when they gommage away. She is left with nothing but a plushie.

 I fear for her because she’s trapped in an abusive environment in the real world. So forcing her away from her chosen family and back into abuse is the worse choice in my opinion.

 Every scene of her in the real world shows her isolated. Sure, Clea can push Alicia to leave her room, but none of her words show any emotional support. She is hurtful, critical, and pushes Alicia into choices without regard for what Alicia wants.

 Alicia can’t even speak up as her voice was lost in the fire — in fact the burns on her face and her lost eye? This family is rich and they don’t have any healthcare access? Where are the doctors in this world? Even with a heavily burned face, there’s ways to soothe the healing to avoid massive scarring, but that wasn’t done at all for Alicia.

 Alicia is newly disabled. She’s isolated. She has no care system in the real world. We’re expected to believe being cut off from the only family that gave her care is healthy for her?

 Staying in an abusive environment will never let you heal. Studies have shown this, and the professional advice given is to assist in helping the person survive and eventually leave the abusive environment. Then and only then can one tackle the trauma from that abuse. I know for myself I could not heal while I was stuck in an abusive environment. It wasn’t until I escaped that I could finally start to heal.

 Proof Alicia is in an abusive environment:

1. Clea’s words to her are verbally abusive. She outright says she’d let Alicia die if she’d been in Verso’s shoes. That she both love and hates Verso for saving Alicia. That it’s Alicia’s fault all this happened in the first place. Expects perfection from her and mocks her for not living up to her insanely high standards. Mocks Alicia’s hobbies, and shows no regard for what Alicia wants. This isn’t even all the evidence of her verbal abuse, just the most blatant ones.
2. Aline is no better. We see her memories in the monolith, and it shows her arguments with Alicia, where Alicia runs away in tears. It shows how exact she is with her demands for perfection, and how Alicia failed to live up to it. In fact, only one painting of Alicia’s is ever seen good enough for the wall (mentioned later in Act 3). Even our encounters of her in the Canvas show how she blames Alicia. All the other members of her family she paints them whole, but not Alicia. She makes sure painted Alicia has all the scars from the fire and thus is unable to talk or speak up for herself.
3. Verso gaslights, deceives, and lies far more than he shows care. Whether the original Verso gaslighted as much as painted Verso is hard to say. The axon Renoir paints to represent his son implies that Verso wore many masks to hide his true thoughts and feelings, so it’s possible he did gaslight in real life too. So Painted Verso lies to Maelle at major points in Act 2, misleads her, omits crucial details that he knows about her, and admits that he let Gustave die to make sure Maelle did what he wanted. That stunning admission really brought home how abusive his actions had been. Yes, I get that Painted Verso is complex, and he had some truly lovely moments with Maelle — like the scene of them at the piano together as Esquie dances in the background. But those kinder moments cannot erase the abuse.
4. Renoir is the only one that doesn’t actively abuse her. He actively seems to care for her. He watches out for her the best he can. Helps her train. The axon he paints for her isn’t about her flaws. It’s about his hopes for her reaching her potential; however, his expectations soar too high and he fails to truly see her. So his expectations and hopes serve more as a burden than it does as a balm. He never blames her for Verso’s death either. But what he does not do in the ‘real world’ is be present for her. Over and over we are shown that Alicia is cut off from the family, and Renoir doesn’t bridge this gap. He may believe in her potential, but why does he not support her? Why does he leave her in her isolated states? I think it’s because he’s so focused on Painting and/or on control; on making sure he keeps his family together that he ends up neglecting Alicia. Not because he meant to but because he failed to make the time for her.

 So why would Maelle/Alicia trust him when he says things will get better? He’s the only one that could perhaps convince her, but his arguments fall flat because he has nothing to offer her. No better future to help her envision. Only empty platitudes. And it’s why he gives up on control, and finally gives her the autonomy she should have had in the first place.

 Is it any wonder that Maelle doesn’t want to return to that soulless ‘real world?’ She has no support system. She’s in an abusive environment. Her voice has been taken from her. She has no autonomy.

 Again, this is where the game misleads. Because astute players will notice in Verso’s ending, that the only smile Alicia has is when she hallucinates her friends from the Canvas world, but her smile fades the moment they gommage away. The game ends with her alone, cut off still, with only a plushie for comfort.

 If there is one person I can trust in this game to do the right thing, it’s Maelle who has proven that over and over. Even after learning the truth of who she was, she still did her best to honor the wishes of others. To listen to them, and when she finds out she inadvertently hurt someone, she apologizes, owns up for her mistake, and tries to do better next time.

 She actively learns and grows from her mistakes, and she does this because when she was part of the Canvas people as one of them she had loving people to teach her a different way to be.

 The Canvas chosen family will keep her in check. They have from the start, and she trusts them, sometimes more than she trusts herself. This is why I decided her ending is the morally good one: one it stops a genocide, but also the healthier choice for Alicia/Maelle. It also shows more respect for the autonomy of the characters as well.

 But again, the game specifically sets up the endings to mislead us. To make us question what is really happening. This is why there’s been so many conflicting viewpoints on the nature of these endings and what they mean.

 We’re meant to question reality. What is real? What is the truth? Who can we trust in all of this?

 Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 is a tragedy. No matter what choices we make in the end, there will always be a tragic side to it.

 It’s up to us to decide meaning from this tragedy, and take that with us in our own journeys.

Thank you for reading.