[SPOILERS] Final encounter with ?????? in Act III, make it make sense

[Fanta]

In act III Maelle has a duel with Alicia because... it's fun I guess. Maelle offers her a new beginning, and she asks to be reunited to her family (Which one? The painted one?). Painted Verso is right there with Maelle BTW, but never mind that. So Maelle scrubs Alicia away from the painted word, turning her into petals.

What just happened? What does it mean?

[C1REX]

Some context may be needed.

- The painting we are in was originally painted by child Verso and it was his only painting. That's why it has lots of toys and Monoco, his dog.
- Aline (mother) entered the painting after Verso died. It's implied that he might used the fire to kill himself and that Aline blames Maelle/Alicia somehow.
- Aline, the paintress, painted her manor and her family.
- Real Alicia is the least talented from the family and not respected by her mother. Implied by a ridiculously tiny portrait of her next to huge portraits of the rest of her family in the real manor.

So it's implied that real Verso might have killed himself. Painted Verso said he tried but he is immortal and stuck here. Aline is kind of killing herself as well. The suicide motive is very common in the game in different forms.

Now probably the most important and cruel: Aline could paint their family however she liked. She made Verso look great. Renoir looks better than the real one. But she decided to make her own daughter ugly, broken, mute and suffering. Like a punishment. She also lives there for about 100 years and can't kill herself. And potentially doesn't have fully own personality like painted Renoir - who is almost opposite to his real version. So she may see herself as an empty vessel for suffering only. And that suffering is for hers mother entertainment only.

So it's implied that the real Maelle/Alicia set painted Alicia free.
"It was kindness, not cruelty"

[Fanta]

What you write makes sense C1REX. And the mother seems quite the evil b***h.

[MJ12]

I do not see any implications that Verso deliberately used the fire to commit suicide.
It is more like the writers used Alicia to set up some kind of trap for him, and he sacrifices himself to save her.
Clea stated that this could have been avoided if Alicia would have handled the situation better, but it is not clear if that statement is justified or Clea is just being spiteful here.

[Ratsplat]

Originally posted by MJ12:

I do not see any implications that Verso deliberately used the fire to commit suicide.
It is more like the writers used Alicia to set up some kind of trap for him, and he sacrifices himself to save her.
Clea stated that this could have been avoided if Alicia would have handled the situation better, but it is not clear if that statement is justified or Clea is just being spiteful here.

We can only assume Writers are attacking them due to the power of paint. And if that's the case, I doubt killing the one that'd rather do music is a major goal. Clea and others would have benefitted them much more.

[Loi]

Originally posted by Fanta:

What you write makes sense C1REX. And the mother seems quite the evil b***h.

I don't think any character is designed to be viewed in such black and white terms, which is rather ironic given the name of the game.

[MJ12]

Originally posted by Ratsplat:

Originally posted by MJ12:

I do not see any implications that Verso deliberately used the fire to commit suicide.
It is more like the writers used Alicia to set up some kind of trap for him, and he sacrifices himself to save her.
Clea stated that this could have been avoided if Alicia would have handled the situation better, but it is not clear if that statement is justified or Clea is just being spiteful here.

We can only assume Writers are attacking them due to the power of paint. And if that's the case, I doubt killing the one that'd rather do music is a major goal. Clea and others would have benefitted them much more.

I guess Aline, Renoir and Clea are too powerful to be attacked directly, so targeting the "weakest links" in the family makes sense to me. Considering how the family broke apart afterwards, the attack sure was a complete success.

[Platapoop]

Where do we get the idea that Verso killed himself. Killed himself to save Alicia sure, but he didn't just bomb himself