(End Spoilers) Those who rule their world

[Ratsplat]

Basic title since spoilers.

I am curious to know what, if anything, truly separates the Dessendres from the countless other worlds presented to us within all forms of media. Books, movies, games. Worlds that have gods, or god-like beings, ruling over or even outright creating entire planes of existence populated with countless life. Lives that are as real as you can imagine.

And yet, somehow, so many are adamant and dead set on Lumiere being entirely fictional, magical AI, a simulation, even a dream, without really considering the chance that everything may actually be truly sentient life. Now, I'm not saying 100% that they are life, but the evidence surely points more towards it than not. We'll need continuations to ever truly know.

Is it just the fact that they are in a painting, despite it being more like magic? What if that aspect was never revealed, merely just saying that the Painters/'Gods' simply lived in a higher realm, diving down into the mortal plane to overcome their grief? Does any story with Gods mean every mortal is fake? Is every Greek citizen an NPC in their mythos?

If you were to remove the painting aspect from the game, nothing changes all that much.

[Jester]

Renoir flat out tells you believes there's a soul in its inhabitants.
If you can make conscious decisions on your own you have sentience.