The Curator (Spoilers)

[Boomer]

How does The Curator (Renoir) can walk free in the world if both him and The Paintress (Aline) are both imprisoned on the monolith. There are some scenes we see The paintress out of the monolith as well so that got me really confused how are they are able to roam freely

[Tiasmoon]

Not sure. Presumably he got free at some point as a result of Aline becoming weaker due to losing Chroma to the Nevrons.

[Boomer]

Originally posted by Tiasmoon:

Not sure. Presumably he got free at some point as a result of Aline becoming weaker due to losing Chroma to the Nevrons.

I thought he got free when Aline died. That’s how he was able to come back to the canvas after the final gommage, “rested”.

[Ichbin]

My guess is that time works differently in the Painting. I've only played up to Act 3.

[ZexxCrine]

pretty sure the curator we interact with is a representation of him and not actually renoir like the giant paintress is a representation of aline

[Shin Happens]

My best guess, it's an avatar of the real Renoir trapped underneath the monolith, he may be able to project a part of himself in the actual canvas world, but only when Aline is ejected can he be actual Renoir.

[Stone IV]

Presumably the Curator is a proxy vessel, while Renoir is stuck. Essentially, The Curator is a drone that is remote controlled.

[저지]

Originally posted by ZexxCrine:

pretty sure the curator we interact with is a representation of him and not actually renoir like the giant paintress is a representation of aline

No, the Curator IS Renoir. Everyone whos in the painting appears as a "broken husk" after a while - The same way Maelle falls apart in the bad ending.

[Haruspex]

If they're both the game why does the Curator felt the need to off his clone? Couldn't they just high five each other and work together?

[SHwoKing]

Originally posted by Haruspex:

If they're both the game why does the Curator felt the need to off his clone? Couldn't they just high five each other and work together?

Real Renoir and Painted Renoir doesn't have the same goal. Painted Renoir is protecting the paintress to protect his painted family and was created by Aline.

While real Renoir wants the paintress/Aline to go back to the real world.

Originally posted by 저지:

Originally posted by ZexxCrine:

pretty sure the curator we interact with is a representation of him and not actually renoir like the giant paintress is a representation of aline

No, the Curator IS Renoir. Everyone whos in the painting appears as a "broken husk" after a while - The same way Maelle falls apart in the bad ending.

Maelle isn't falling apart in the bad ending, what you see is her using her painter power to manipulate Verso like puppet.

[Crimsomrider]

Basically what happened was this;

• Both Renoir and Aline trapped each other within the Monolith (him underneath, her on the top). And they've been fighting each other for 51 years at this point.
  
• When the Monolith year was 49 inside the Canvas, it's just another regular day in reality for Alicia who wakes up (due to her nightmare of Verso burning), after which Clea called her over.
  
• That's when we see Clea coming from behind the Canvas with her Painting Powers manifested upon her face (which means she was actively painting something inside the Canvas)
  
• What she was doing was in fact helping Renoir break free by first repainting the Painted Clea from within the Canvas and trapping her inside the Flying Manor (to create Nevrons), and then manipulating Simon who loves Painted Clea by posing as her (Simon did not realize until it was too late that he was actually speaking to the real Clea).
  
• She gave him the power to kill that giant Axon in Old Lumiere and then go to the Monolith to defeat Aline
  
• However Aline convinced him that it's not her he has to defeat and that she can help him get his Painted Clea back by defeating Renoir underneath the Monolith.
  
• So he went underneath the Monolith instead, but Renoir was too powerful and by corrupting Simon ultimately broke free of his prison.
  
• By breaking free Aline put up the Gommage shield around her so nobody can come expel her from the Canvas
  
• Simon remained underneath the Monolith, Renoir although free was very weakened and Clea got out thinking she got the job done well enough they'd both come out.
  
• That's precisely when she meets Alicia in the real world before she enters as well, but she wasn't expecting Aline to still remain in power so Alicia accidentally gets reborn as Maelle.

[Boomer]

Originally posted by Crimsomrider:

Basically what happened was this;

• Both Renoir and Aline trapped each other within the Monolith (him underneath, her on the top). And they've been fighting each other for 51 years at this point.
  
• When the Monolith year was 49 inside the Canvas, it's just another regular day in reality for Alicia who wakes up (due to her nightmare of Verso burning), after which Clea called her over.
  
• That's when we see Clea coming from behind the Canvas with her Painting Powers manifested upon her face (which means she was actively painting something inside the Canvas)
  
• What she was doing was in fact helping Renoir break free by first repainting the Painted Clea from within the Canvas and trapping her inside the Flying Manor (to create Nevrons), and then manipulating Simon who loves Painted Clea by posing as her (Simon did not realize until it was too late that he was actually speaking to the real Clea).
  
• She gave him the power to kill that giant Axon in Old Lumiere and then go to the Monolith to defeat Aline
  
• However Aline convinced him that it's not her he has to defeat and that she can help him get his Painted Clea back by defeating Renoir underneath the Monolith.
  
• So he went underneath the Monolith instead, but Renoir was too powerful and by corrupting Simon ultimately broke free of his prison.
  
• By breaking free Aline put up the Gommage shield around her so nobody can come expel her from the Canvas
  
• Simon remained underneath the Monolith, Renoir although free was very weakened and Clea got out thinking she got the job done well enough they'd both come out.
  
• That's precisely when she meets Alicia in the real world before she enters as well, but she wasn't expecting Aline to still remain in power so Alicia accidentally gets reborn as Maelle.

It seems like I need to complete some side quests because Simon is a character I’ve never heard about. Only in the journal I’ve seen his name.

[Tiasmoon]

Simon is the optional superboss, you can find him at Renoir's drafts (need to dive).

[rui_abs]

from what i understand, the Renoir we find during the game is Aline's (Paintress) version of Renoir that exists to protect her.

The Curator is the "real" Renoir that wants to end the painting, but it's too weak to do so by himseld, so he focus on helping us.

Once the paintress is expelled, he regains some power back.

[Veylox]

What I'm confused about is why the hell are the axons protecting the paintress if they're Renoir's creations

[WZ]

I took the talk about him being imprisoned beneath the Monolith as just figurative. He's not actually imprisoned there, he is the Curator and that's that. Aline somehow stops him from unleashing his full power & instantly gommaging everyone.

Originally posted by Veylox:

What I'm confused about is why the hell are the axons protecting the paintress if they're Renoir's creations

They're not, the party actively goes to hunt them, to harvest their Chroma & craft the Barrier Breaker. Although why Renoir created them & just left them there is a good question, you'd expect his creations to actively help Expeditioners - like he does as the Curator.