Paintress Lore/Theories

[Ratsplat]

Just a few thoughts of my own.

Is the paintress actually the biggest baddie in the world, or is she just simply the furthest away and merely endangers humans and nothing else, making her the biggest target at present. There may be something even more sinister behind her, but she's just an active threat.

Guessing that she started at number 100, what was the world like before she began painting? If it hadn't broken down yet, how long did it take for that to happen? With how chaotic the world looks, it seems like there was some sort of otherworldly invasion that destroyed much of the world, and the paintress is simply the only constant threat now.

Painting itself feels important, and not just simply what she does. An enemy has a mask that looks like it'd belong in opera. And some enemies look like dolls. The whole world/enemies may have an overall art/performance theme, and the paintress focuses on paint.

My main theory is that the paintress painted the world/humans and brought it to life. But is now erasing everything for a reason.

[rebecca]

Lot of good questions here, very intrigued by the lore of the game and the Paintress. Sort of wonder if the whole thing could end up being a representation of some psychological struggle of hers/not actually real.

I really hope they don't pull a FF X here though (marking spoilers for that game to be absolutely safe) - I hated in FF X the whole trying to make us feel bad for the Fayth being SO TIRED so let's kill all the simulated Zanarkand people. Hoping they don't do that here where they try to make us feel bad for the Paintress being too tired to go on and needing release, wanting us to embrace the death of her creations.

Also wondering if there could be some outcome where the few who struggle successfully and survive break out of the simulated world, rendered real somehow.

[System7]

Originally posted by Ratsplat:

My main theory is that the paintress painted the world/humans and brought it to life. But is now erasing everything for a reason.

I think the same thing. And I have a tip that she is NOT main baddie, at least in the lore (she could be in the first game, but I hope there will be sequel).


I have two theories why she is erasing the living.

1. She is not individual god but she is bound to other being or beings. It could be some council of "gods" or some lord who is her master. These other being(s) have ordered her to do what she does. She has to obey them. It could be some kind of sacrifice that they demand annually - souls of the living. They put this evil duty on her to choose who will die.
It makes even bigger sense if she really started to paint from 100 or something. Because it would mean that she choose first the oldest living to be sacrificed. She doesnt want to kill the young who has whole life ahead. So she is not evil. But each passing year she has no choice but to lower the number more and more.

So in the end when heroes will find the truth the goal could be to help her to break free from her bond. Or change the will of the council of gods. Or topple the gods. To save both life on Earth and the Paintress. That could be the goal of the sequel.


2. Initially her creation bring her joy. Living ppl bring her joy with their work, art, ideas, society. But later she become angry how the society evolved on Earth. So her painting of death is like god's punishment.

I hope this second idea is not the right one. I find it quite cliché and too shallow, "ideological" or lets say too "absolute". I dont believe that you can put every life into one pot and say "its evil what you do and I will punish you all". That is shallow thinking that sees only the surface and completely omits the diversity and all facets of life. Its something that the evil king or dictator whould say "you generally dont do what I want so I will... kill you all... haha".

It also makes possible sequel harder to do in terms of logic.

Idea 1 is imho much better.

[Ratsplat]

Not sure where this comes from, but there's a song somewhere and this is the translation?

Alina will suffer
Alina will cry
Alina has

Sombre color
Shadow dream
Sombre color
Our tears mingle
Deep wounds

Lives to cry for
Lives cut short
Faded star

Keep loving you
Keep painting
Extend my hand and implore you
Come back
(X2)

Together in the twilight
Her memory whispers
Immortal in the twilight
In the void the links persist

[The whole Meuridji thing isn't in French, no idea what it means]

Get out and run away
I beg of you
Dreamed portrait
Imperfect
Cursed painting
Canvas of a false life
Dreamed portrait
Canvas of liberty
Liberty

On the reverse side (x2)

With each (brush) stroke
A part
A part of me
A drawing
A draft
A life to paint
With you

With each stroke
His death
Ink without him
A drawing
A draft
A life to paint
Without him

In every painting
History is written
Art mingles with life
Basked in light
Our hearts exposed

And someone thinks the Paintress' name is Alina. She sad ):
Bit much to spoil your own story so early on, but who knows...

[WhiteLezard]

You people should stop engaging on lore speculation / theories; you will end hating the game when it's released because its narrative won't align 1:1 with the headcanon you've been imagining inside your mind one year ago.

[System7]

Originally posted by WhiteLezard:

You people should stop engaging on lore speculation / theories; you will end hating the game when it's released because its narrative won't align 1:1 with the headcanon you've been imagining inside your mind one year ago.

You let us decide for ourselves, right? We are ok with our imagination... nobody expect that it will be 1:1 in the game. And BTW it still can inspire devs a little bit - if they read it.

[System7]

Originally posted by Ratsplat:

Not sure where this comes from, but there's a song somewhere and this is the translation?

Where does this song come from?
If she is painting just because she is suffering that may be poetic but... its too simple plot imho. I hope there is more to it.

[Esper]

The concept of her character is so unique to me that I have no idea what she could be. But I feel that she is not truly evil and there is a plot twist for such phenomenon to happen.

[Pixel Bandits]

Tell you what I adore a good fan theory. Keep them coming!

[Ratsplat]

Originally posted by System7:

Originally posted by Ratsplat:

Not sure where this comes from, but there's a song somewhere and this is the translation?

Where does this song come from?
If she is painting just because she is suffering that may be poetic but... its too simple plot imho. I hope there is more to it.

I got the lyrics from a 4chan post (so who knows on legitimacy), but I think it came from a song on Youtube. Might be a few songs out there that aren't tied to the trailer.

[Raui]

I'm sure this has been pointed out somewhere out there, but underneath where she paints the number, there's a door with a stone arch around it. It's a little hard to see it but, you get a good view of it when she stands up to paint the number. Makes me wonder what's behind it. The paintresses' body language doesn't give me the impression that it's something she likes doing. Maybe she's forced to do it for some reason or another.

[Ratsplat]

I saw the door early on, and the most likely thing is that that is where she lives. Doubt she just sits outside for 365 days straight. Even 'evil' characters do more in their lives than just sit around and wait until a year has passed. Unless they've been imprisoned...

[lastbreath]

Paintress: rudimentary creatures of blood and flesh. You touch my mind, fumbling in ignorance. Incapable of understanding...

[System7]

Originally posted by lastbreath:

Paintress: rudimentary creatures of blood and flesh. You touch my mind, fumbling in ignorance. Incapable of understanding...

Maelle to Paintress: We hear you! Dont hide behind your pompous words, a lady of death. As we will not yield nor turn back. We will get to you, sooner or later! And then we will paint YOU on the monolith! This will be YOUR moment of understanding what you have been doing the whole time...

[Ratsplat]

Main thing learned from new gameplay trailer: A boss was familiar to Maelle somehow. Main idea from this is that people are being re-imagined as enemies, and the boss reminded her of parents/any potential siblings (or anyone else who may have died).

I also added in my other thread that red leaves/flowers (even white ones) are potentially very important to the plot now and are not just merely symbolism.

Putting everything together, the immediate idea is that the flowers are important to the paintress, and she uses them in her creations. Another thing is that if they're important enough to be attacked over, this might be why humans were attacked to begin with. Punished for picking and harvesting all the flowers (we saw them in vases and around a girl's neck during what looked to be a ceremony)

However, it is possible that it was only the boss itself that was protective of the flower. Potentially because the flower is somehow 'someone', sorta like how the boss may be a 'someone' as well.

[System7]

Originally posted by Ratsplat:

the immediate idea is that the flowers are important to the paintress, and she uses them in her creations. Another thing is that if they're important enough to be attacked over, this might be why humans were attacked to begin with. Punished for picking and harvesting all the flowers (we saw them in vases and around a girl's neck during what looked to be a ceremony)
However, it is possible that it was only the boss itself that was protective of the flower.

I agree that the flowers may have some importance, but I dont think that it all started because of them. Like "you took my flowers so I destroy everything that lives". This is too far-fetched imho.

They said in the video that Paintress created these creatures. Maybe she created or changed basically all those strange worlds around Paris. Question is if she created them long time ago so something could happen in them and then Paintress started to kill ppl... or something happened first and then she started to create these worlds and kill ppl. It seems plausible that killed ppl could be like MANA or RESOURCE for her creations.

Back to the flowers - it seems to me that this project is more poetic in nature. That creature (boss) can have some sentimental connection to flowers because if its "creature created from human" then it may remember these flowers from previous life. It may also remember that he/she liked these flowers as a kid. It could one of a few things that it still remembers. Flowers may bring some comfort into the life of beast. So it may have some importance but not as big as you suggest.