**SPOLER** Theory about Alicia; She is not who we think

[MINIZ]

Hey y'all so I just wanted to get on here and kinda just put it out there since I've been thinking about this game a lot. Now I might have missed this in the story, if that's the case feel free to remove this post. I have a theory about Alicia outside of the canvas. Nothing like uber major as of yet but I still find it to be interesting. So, in the middle of act 1 Maelle is visited by Renoir and Alicia in a nightmare. This is the 2nd time Maelle's been visited at this point in the story I believe. Alicia then begins to recite a truly haunting and beautiful poem, "Those that know not, that they are not." Being a poet myself, I found this to be such an amazing scene. Nevertheless, the events of the game transpire, we learn the truth behind the canvas, Maelle/Alicia, the fire, the writer's vs the painters, everything. So, my theory is this, Alicia was a writer before she was a paintress. I believe this caused a lot of turmoil in the "war" between the painters and the writers. A war that the Dessandre family lost Verso in. Verso as we know, sacrificed himself for Alicia. What if this was a targeted attack on Alicia for turning against them. What if she was that valuable of a writer AND a paintress? We also have Clea, who is the tip of the spear seemingly in this war. She also seems to hold quite a grudge against Alicia. Calling her useless, weak, etc. Saying how she loves and hates Verso for sacrificing himself. What if she loves him because now Alicia is on the painters side, but she hates him because she was a writer? We know little to nothing about this "war" as of right now so this is just off context clues. Who knows, the writers could even be to the real Dessandre family, what the Dessandre family was to those in Lumiere. Inception like in a sense. I think this could be a really interesting concept to dive into in a future game or DLC. Let me know if anyone agrees with this theory or has any thoughts on it!

[Pendergast891]

I think its more that the 3rd child always felt inadequate compared to her super talented older sister and the beloved older brother. We know that Aline was super strict in their upbringing, and Clea definitely became another authority figure within the family.

I think Alicia was just a dumb young girl that was even more naive than average (Clea mentions how she just spent all her time reading in her room and avoiding interacting with others and trying to make friends, a 'you needed to touch grass more') and we dont know the exact details of what the attack consisted of or its purpose. Maybe it was to destroy the Dessandre Family's canvases which houses a lot of their powers.

Clea is pragmatic, she loves each of her family, she loves Verso because they adventured all the time when they were young, she hates him because he choose to sacrifice himself, her hatred is a form of her grief which she is directing and channeling to the war against the Writers.

We'll need more dlc or games within the universe if we want any further clarifications.

[Meewec]

i figure alicia's love of books got used against her by the writers, probably one pretending to be her friend as she went and got more books. clea loves her siblings despite how harsh she comes across so she loves verso for saving alicia but hates verso for dying.

that or the dessendre family is just another layer and the writers are like the painters just another level up.

[Acanthaceae]

Take it one step further. The Dessendre world is a creation of a Writer or Musician, as The Manor's geometric interiors resemble typeface and/or music notation.

[Jee Em]

We don't really know what the conflict between the Writers and Painters is about or how the powers of Painters and Writers differentiate, or if they can even use both sets of powers.

What we know is that Alicia got used for whatever reason to hurt the Dessendre family.
There is a war going on between the two faction, but we haven't explored the universe outside Verso's canvas to make sound theories about the powers at play here.

[Genosse Kommissar]

Alicia has been described as naive for trusting the writers so she must have some sort of interaction with them, that ultimately culminated in the fire, Versos death and her injuries.

In the end, Clea being hard on Alicia is more or less her character and her way of dealing with the situation. She wants Alicia to overcome her problems and not repeat her mistakes.
In other words, thats just her way of saying "Get your ♥♥♥♥ together!".

Clea also asked Verso to look after Alicia, while she was in the Canvas as Maelle.
She would not do that if she trully hated her.