u/Gamma05772156649

So it seems like the Verso ending is more popular, and there seems to be a number of people that consider it to be the "good" ending, or at least not a bad ending, despite the devs having said (or so I'm told) that both endings were intended to be bad. I'm wondering if there's some artistic statement to be found here (intentional or unintentional) relating to the Verso ending being the easier one to justify. Because if you ignore or push aside the "small" detail of everyone in the canvas being erased, effectively killing an entire city of people who seem no less human than the people in the "real" world, then the Verso ending has all the trappings of a bittersweet happy ending. The Dessendres leave the canvas, have a proper funeral for Verso, and take steps towards moving on and healing. Everything fits together and wraps up nicely if you just push that one little detail aside. Sure it's a bit sad, and sure it's not the ideal solution, but it's "what needs to be done", and it's "the right thing to do". As Renoir says, "Your friends are right, and it changes nothing". This is the view Verso and Renoir seem to have, and it has a nice appeal to it, in the way that the "live in a fantasy world also lol jumpscare" part of Maelle's ending doesn't. And in choosing the Verso ending, and seeing an epilogue scene set entirely in the outside world, the player is lead to see things the way Renoir and Verso do.

But the whole point is that the canvas being erased is not a "small" detail, and things don't wrap up nicely as a result. You've destroyed an entire world to help one family, and also in doing so, erased the last fragment of Verso's soul. Renoir says "see things as they are, not how you want them to be", yet he either fails to take his own advice, or acts extremely selfishly, putting the needs of his family above the needs of an entire world. This is something that humans are really good at doing- - -rationalizing awful actions by making a nice little narrative in which the actions in question seem like an unfortunate sacrifice or a necessary evil. I'm not going to cite any specific examples from the real world, but "these people all need to die for what I consider to be the greater good, or even just for the personal benefit of myself and the people I care about, and I'm not going to give them a say in deciding that", is a polite way of describing the motivations behind some of the most atrocious actions in human history. And I think part of what's interesting about the Verso ending is the way it lulls you into seeing things Renoir's way, and diminishing the significance of what's lost. I saw someone in a youtube comment say that the Maelle ending is a "beautiful lie", and Verso's is an "ugly truth", but both endings are lies in their own ways. Maelle's is just made more obvious to the player, but again, I think this may be in some way the point.

I want to make it clear that I'm not saying all this to argue that the Maelle ending is any better. I could write an entire lengthy post about all the ways in which it's a "bad" ending, and many such posts have already been written by other people. I think both endings are bad, and if you forced me to pick one I might still pick Verso. Partially because I think there's a good chance Maelle's ending ends with the canvas being erased anyways, partially because of all the other things wrong with the Maelle ending, and partially because I do think there are real arguments to be made that erasing the canvas is not comparable to a real world genocide. I'm just saying that I think the Verso ending tricks you into thinking it's a better ending than it is, and that this might be the point.

And the fact that people get so worked up over the endings, and go to great lengths to analyze them and argue why their interpretation is correct, is certainly the point. I think this is one of the rare cases where reddit arguing endlessly and intensely about a piece of media is a sign that it's being interpreted as intended.

Gustave is one of Aline's creations. Any truly great art is, at least in some aspects, a reflection of the artist who made it (and the game says/implies that painted creations are given their life because they contain part of the painter's soul). The people of Lumiere were created by Aline to fulfill her desire to have her family back, and hence in some way are a reflection of what she wants her life to be like in the fantasy were Verso never died.

Now Gustave loves and cares for Maelle very deeply as though she was his daughter. I'm wondering if this love could be read as a reflection of Aline's genuine and unbreakable love for her daughter Alicia, buried underneath her grief and anger towards her. Even in a canvas she painted with anger towards Alicia in her heart (giving pAlicia the burn scars), she couldn't help but have some of the love for her sneak in. Obviously the thoughts and feelings of people of Lumiere can't all be mapped 1-1 onto pieces of Aline's soul, but I think there could still be something meaningful here.

I just finished the game (it lived up to the hype), and I was thinking about the endings. Specifically, it seems like neither of the endings are really as "final" as the game portrays them to be.

For the Verso ending, it's portrayed as though all of Lumiere and the world of the Canvas is lost for good. But Maelle/Alicia is a Paintress, so what's to stop her from just... creating a new canvas and repainting everything. What made Verso's canvas so dangerous is that it contained real Verso's soul, and the painted Dessendre family, so its existence was preventing the real family (particularly Aline) from moving on. But the people of Lumiere are their own beings, separate from the Dessendre trauma. They don't deserve or need to be erased for the Dessendre's to move on.

Alicia probably needs some time away from that world so she can greave and move on. But once she's taken the time she needs, it seems fully within her right, motivations, and even duty to make a new canvas where Lumiere is allowed to thrive. Just don't repaint Verso, and possibly not the Gestrals and Monoco/Esquie either. Maybe even leave Gustave and Sophie dead too. But bring everyone else back.

Then for the Maelle ending, they make it seem like she's going to be in the Canvas for a long time, possibly/likely until she dies. But will she? Even at the end once she's regained her memories as Alicia, she seems more level headed and less consumed by grief than Aline. Plus her attachment to the Canvas seems less unhealthy than Aline's---Aline is clinging to the canvas to hold on to her past family, Alicia is clinging on to the canvas to preserve her new family. All in all, it seems like there's at least a chance that Maelle/Alicia leaves on her own accord, especially when you consider pursuading from painted Verso and the others. She certainly doesn't plan on leaving the time of the ending, but her mind could be changed.

And yes, it's also very possible that if it was up to Maelle, she's stay in the Canvas until it literally killed her. But there's also the issue of Renoir and Aline. Renior agrees at the end because, as Verso said, he wanted to believe Maelle only wanted to stay in the Canvas temporarily. But there's no way Renior would let her stay long enough that it starts killing her. And Aline would also keep coming back to the canvas herself, which would further complicate things (and cause Renior to intervene). Even if Maelle would give up her own life and stay long enough that she herself dies, would she still hold on to the Canvas if it meant giving up her mother's life too? Plus, Clea would likely intervene as well. So the Maelle ending would at the very least involve a lot of family drama, and would possibly result in the canvas getting erased anyways.