I have a theory about Gustave (whole game spoilers)

[АlphaWhelp]

Gustave was originally painted by Renoir.

Some clues:

"I shall paint death" is a callout when using overdrive.

His first instinct is to try to abandon the expedition and escape with Maelle to Lumiere which is a microcosm for Renoir leaving the canvas with Alicia.

Lune asks him if he still believes the future of Lumiere is more important than any one life and he has a similar reaction to Renoir when Maelle is trying to convince him to believe her.

Gustave's technology just happens to be the exact thing they needed to defeat the paintress which seems like a deliberate plan rather than natural progression.

[Shin Happens]

Renoir does not paint the people in this world. And if Gustave's tech is what is needed, why did Renoir kill him then, why didn't he just let them do their thing and succeed?

It is implied that either the lingering piece of soul of Verso is giving life to the people and/or that Aline, the mother, painted the original canvas people using Verso's piece of his soul that is in the canvas (she repainted her daughter Alicia when she entered, so that she became Maelle, who was born into the canvas world as a baby with no memory of her true self).

Verso painted all the gestrals and Esquie etc (the original Verso). Clea painted all the Nevrons as a device to rob her mom of chroma, so she gets weaker and weaker by the day, which in turn allows the father to erase the world (the people) bit by bit.

Renoir is not a creative force in the canvas, he is all about destruction. Verso, Aline and even Clea are the creative forces, and eventually Maelle too, when she brings Lune and Sciel back from the dead by reforming their chroma.

[parent child bowl]

All humans were painted by Aline.

[АlphaWhelp]

Originally posted by Shin Happens:

Renoir does not paint the people in this world. And if Gustave's tech is what is needed, why did Renoir kill him then, why didn't he just let them do their thing and succeed?

It is implied that either the lingering piece of soul of Verso is giving life to the people and/or that Aline, the mother, painted the original canvas people using Verso's piece of his soul that is in the canvas (she repainted her daughter Alicia when she entered, so that she became Maelle, who was born into the canvas world as a baby with no memory of her true self).

Verso painted all the gestrals and Esquie etc (the original Verso). Clea painted all the Nevrons as a device to rob her mom of chroma, so she gets weaker and weaker by the day, which in turn allows the father to erase the world (the people) bit by bit.

Renoir is not a creative force in the canvas, he is all about destruction. Verso, Aline and even Clea are the creative forces, and eventually Maelle too, when she brings Lune and Sciel back from the dead by reforming their chroma.

Fake Renoir killed him. The real Renoir/Curator is the one with painting powers. Fake Renoir was painted by Aline and was opposed to the real Renoir. In his final moments he tried to convince real Renoir that destroying the canvas wouldn't save his wife, it would just destroy the last thing left behind by Verso.

Clea also didn't paint all the Nevrons. A lot were created by Renoir like all of the ones from the Axon dungeons, who show up again in Lumiere, as well as the Lumiere specific Nevrons. They're all there because Renoir painted them. As well as the Axons themselves. The whole family took turns painting things in the canvas before Verso died. They were all artists. The green faced Nevron in The Reacher was also explicitly created by Renoir. Maelle confirms it.

Gustave shows up in Maelle's ending because she just took Renoir's Chroma and recreated him the same as she did to all the other people that were painted by Aline.

[Shin Happens]

Originally posted by АlphaWhelp:

Originally posted by Shin Happens:

Renoir does not paint the people in this world. And if Gustave's tech is what is needed, why did Renoir kill him then, why didn't he just let them do their thing and succeed?

It is implied that either the lingering piece of soul of Verso is giving life to the people and/or that Aline, the mother, painted the original canvas people using Verso's piece of his soul that is in the canvas (she repainted her daughter Alicia when she entered, so that she became Maelle, who was born into the canvas world as a baby with no memory of her true self).

Verso painted all the gestrals and Esquie etc (the original Verso). Clea painted all the Nevrons as a device to rob her mom of chroma, so she gets weaker and weaker by the day, which in turn allows the father to erase the world (the people) bit by bit.

Renoir is not a creative force in the canvas, he is all about destruction. Verso, Aline and even Clea are the creative forces, and eventually Maelle too, when she brings Lune and Sciel back from the dead by reforming their chroma.

Fake Renoir killed him. The real Renoir/Curator is the one with painting powers. Fake Renoir was painted by Aline and was opposed to the real Renoir. In his final moments he tried to convince real Renoir that destroying the canvas wouldn't save his wife, it would just destroy the last thing left behind by Verso.

Clea also didn't paint all the Nevrons. A lot were created by Renoir like all of the ones from the Axon dungeons, who show up again in Lumiere, as well as the Lumiere specific Nevrons. They're all there because Renoir painted them. As well as the Axons themselves. The whole family took turns painting things in the canvas before Verso died. They were all artists. The green faced Nevron in The Reacher was also explicitly created by Renoir. Maelle confirms it.

Gustave shows up in Maelle's ending because she just took Renoir's Chroma and recreated him the same as she did to all the other people that were painted by Aline.

Yes, I realised that after I posted. brain fart :-D But thanks for clarifying it and correcting my mistake! :-)

Anyway, fake Renoir's job is to kill expeditioners, because Aline can't let them defeat her... but still, real Renoir does not create the humans in this world, his sole purpose is to destroy. Aline via Verso's piece of soul gives life.

The game does not even remotely imply that Renoir may have either created Gustave or may have inspired him to invent his lumina converter. As far as I remember...

[АlphaWhelp]

It doesn't imply it but the "paint death" quote from Gustave really makes me think Renoir had something to do with it. There's only one other person who paints death, Renoir himself.

[Volkodlak]

Originally posted by АlphaWhelp:

Gustave was originally painted by Renoir.

Some clues:

"I shall paint death" is a callout when using overdrive.

His first instinct is to try to abandon the expedition and escape with Maelle to Lumiere which is a microcosm for Renoir leaving the canvas with Alicia.

Lune asks him if he still believes the future of Lumiere is more important than any one life and he has a similar reaction to Renoir when Maelle is trying to convince him to believe her.

Gustave's technology just happens to be the exact thing they needed to defeat the paintress which seems like a deliberate plan rather than natural progression.

I don't think so, Gustave was born, he wasn't created, his ancestors were created by Verso.

[АlphaWhelp]

Maelle was also born so simply being born in the canvas doesn't really mean anything.

[Windfire]

Gustave is a substitution father, that's why he looks like renoir but younger, and he made Maelle feels loved & safe, compared to real renoir who makes Maelle feels alone and sad.

That's my theory.

I mean everything is kind of revealed in the game at the end but it still has some mystery in it.

[АlphaWhelp]

I'm glad I'm not the only person who also thought Renoir was just old Gustave lol

[Boomer]

I don’t think that’s the case because all those connections were never planned. Maelle is simply Alicia after being forced to enter the painting because of her sister. Aline’s chroma created Maelle.

That being said, is simply a coincidence that Gustave and Maelle met, and that Maelle entered the expedition. They do create them, but they do have their own life and decisions.

[АlphaWhelp]

Maelle has nothing to do with it. I'm saying that Renoir took a specific hand in helping create expedition 33 with the exact tools they'd need for success. Maelle being there was a fluke, but while she was there, Renoir's inclinations to protect her were showing through Gustave.

[goodbye_bonito]

Renoir only paints depictions of real people, abstractions. See Axons.