Ben Starr: I know! I was like 'Wow, Sandfall really gets me.'
- Voice actor Ben Starr holding up a little notecard to read in front of a sea of stripes, baguettes, and berets, to list out the character notes he was given for playing Verso in Clair Obscur: Expedition 33. From PAX West 2025 (@ 26:22)
To cope with everything, here’s a list with some fun facts, weird parallels, glass onions and speculations.
1. Gustave’s mechanical arm has three numbered rings. They show 3456 - 0123 - 6789 - it’s not a coded message, just an interrupted sequence.
Could be symbolic foreshadowing for Maelle’s predicament:
3456 - life in the outside world, what we see in the “Epilogue” with Clea, before act 3;
0123 - stepping into the Canvas, getting painted over, being reborn and starting anew;
6789 - remembering everything, continuing where she left off.
2. Manor doors' locations are always relevant:
❂ Clea’s room - Frozen Hearts
❂ Verso’s room - Visages, Mask of Anger
❂ Alicia’s reading room - Fallen Leaves, near the Lady of Sap
❂ Renoir & Aline’s room - Old Lumiere (The Fracture ground zero)
But, there are a few suspicious door placements:
❂ Guest room - Stone Wave Cliffs // There are Sophie’s clothes in the closet, and an Obscur peeking through the window.
❂ Library - on an island not far from the Forgotten Battlefield // There is a hidden reading room where you can find Verso’s clothes; the door’s location near the FB is notable either for the Painters-Writers war parallel, or for the fact that it’s Gustave and Julie’s resting place (more on that in a bit)
❂ Glasshouse - near Gustave’s grave (complete with Verso’s mask of sadness on the tombstone) inside the Monolith // seems like it’s implied that the fire started there, as the glasshouse is still under repairs and blocked off, when we get to roam around the real manor
3. Verso leads Gustave to the manor to find Maelle by the typewriter specifically.
When Verso has to leave Gustave behind, he takes the Lumina converter, his hand (don’t forget the metaphor rings) and his journal.
Gustave writing and Maelle taking that up after him is a significant thing that happens. Verso also writes.
4. There are a couple of books in the Manor, the titles of which you can actually make out:
❂ The Illustrated Family Gymnasium - perfectly understandable for a family of artists to have a workout manual, if they don’t want to crumble into fine dust
❂ The Poetical Works and Remains of Henry Kirke White - a tome with some nice graveyard poetry, among other things (a poem about music he composed at 14, for one)
This one’s definitely Verso’s.
5. Verso is named with the word used to describe the back of a painting. Some have unfinished sketches and inscriptions on the back, giving insight into the artist’s creative process and history of the painting.
Renoir is named after Pierre-Auguste Renoir, impressionist painter famous for his approach to lighting and color, and the sort-of “fusing” of the objects in his artworks. The real painter's wife was also named Aline.
Clea’s name is probably a reference to Clio (Kleio) - a muse of history and lyre-playing, daughter of Zeus and Mnemosyne (goddess of memory). While Clio was often invoked by the writers, she’s more about the idea that history is preserved not just through writing, but through remembrance.
Alicia is a play on Alice, paralleling Verso’s Canvas to Wonderland.
Gustave’s name is likely a nod to Gustave Eiffel - our guy is both a genius engineer and a metaphorical heart of Lumiere. His theme will play at the base of Eiffel at the end of the game; ost called "Eiffel" is another rendition of his theme and "Lumiere" (which is also his).
His sister has the same name as Gustave Flaubert’s Madame Bovary - Emma. One of Flaubert’s biggest inspirations was Stendhal, who one of Maelle’s skills is named after. Standhal is a french writer and art critic, who had a psychosomatic reaction named after him - people experience “Standhal Syndrome” (basically a mild panic attack) when overwhelmed by art. And guess what, Stendhal also studied engineering, but chose to pursue writing.
Stendhal was influenced by Jean-Jacques Rousseau’s works, especially “Julie, or the New Heloise”. Coincidentally enough, Stendhal’s most famous novel “The Red and the Black” features a main character named Julien. Both novels focus on social constraints and love’s place in it all - Julien is a funhouse mirror reflection of Julie, using love as a weapon, while she abandons it for duty; he is sentenced to execution and remorseless, she finds redemption in death. It cannot be definitively said that Stendhal’s Julien was really named after Rousseau’s Julie, and then twisted, but it is plausible.
So, we come up to the matter of E33’s Julie, who, without fail, comes up in places and scenes significant for Gustave. They are laid to rest under the same tree; when Verso is sad about Gustave, he’s upset about Julie (and vice versa) - Esquie mentions them in the same breath for him several times; flashbacks about OG Verso’s fate are the only scenes Julie ever shows up in, and those are always immediately followed by a conversation with Gustave; Gustave himself shows up in one of the nightmare sequences - with two intact hands, I repeat, WITH TWO INTACT HANDS; and we can find Julie’s sword at Stone Wave Cliffs of all places.
(Fun fact, this sword's name (Delaram) could be derived from latin "delere"/"deleo" - to erase/to destroy.)
Notably, in this particular scene Verso and Gustave are set up like Clair and Obscur, wearing light and dark clothing. Interestingly enough, while Gustave receives most of the outfits we unlock for Verso in acts 2 and 3, he never gets the Clair outfit, and can only wear Obscur from deluxe.
Getting back to Rousseau-Stendhal books, Julie (E33) is more like Julien (The Red and the Black) - she uses Verso’s feelings against him, betrays him, while Gustave is more like Julie (New Heloise) - he lets go of Sophie to respect her decision about children, focuses on his Expedition duties, selflessly dies protecting Maelle.
This could always be a big ball of nothing, but I tend to see such frequent coincidences as patterns. Gustave and Julie are definitely bound by Verso’s guilt, but was it really necessary to restate it so frequently? Is that really the only thing they have in common?
Can Gustave please stand up and explain why he has Verso’s “From Fire” skill, while surrounded by so much writer-related embellishment?
6. The Lumina Converter is basically an artificial, limited version of a Painter’s power to manipulate chroma. Absolutely insane act of creation with this one. If you need a refresher on how powerful that thing is - remember Dualliste. So many people died trying to best that thing, yet E33 defeated it with a team of 4, all because they had the Converter.
7. There is a possibility that Francois wasn’t based on a real turtle, but on Verso himself. There are reasons to believe that he was a cagey kid, with Clea as his best friend, who then sort-of left him for her duties, like she left Francois.
‘Francois’ meaning ‘a free man’ is incredibly ironic in the context of Verso. Verso learning his gradient skills through Esquie is notable too.
Take a look at this now:
(side note, we'll get to that in a bit, but Verso was scared of the dark as a kid - so probably hated napping alone too)
This conversation about Francois being alone happens immediately after Gustave dies. Makes me squint, when we add the Francois-Verso thing to the comparisons Gustave gets to Esquire, with their rock enthusiasm, shared views and a mission to protect and comfort.
This is making me want to punch a wall:
Again, Gustave dies just after Esquie leaves the cave and Francois ends up alone.
Esquie’s name could be a play on ‘esquisse’ - french for ‘sketch’, or ‘esquire’ - someone who serves under a knight, training to become one himself; or sometimes just someone in service of a nobleman.
8. Clea created the Lampmaster to both poke at and ward off Verso’s fear of darkness. We meet such creatures 3 times: at OG Clea’s workshop, at painted Clea’s workshop in the Flying Manor, and at the Stone Wave Cliffs.
Lampmasters in the workshops are bound on display, but the one at SWC is there deliberately, of its own volition. Might be because it’s there to perform its duty, to ward off darkness for Verso (incredibly unsuccessful, try again)
The Lampmaster at the Flying Manor is in the area you have to descend to, that’s swimming in colors, where nevrons from Stone Wave cliffs and Frozen Hearts roam. Interestingly enough, all other locations here (aside from where painted Clea is) are washed out, bleak, almost monochromatic - it seems like it’s here where all the colors went, and there’s SO MUCH blue. Could be a metaphor for Clea getting rid of her feelings to keep going, hiding them deep, deep down to not drown in grief over Verso like everyone else.
9. If Lune connects with Sirene and Sciel with Visages, Gustave should connect with the Reacher through the method of elimination. And all the tinkering happening there. And having what the Reacher lacks - willingness to let go, maybe?
10. When Gustave plays the piano, it starts sounding off-tune, wobbly and shrill. He's the only character it happens with.
It could be a subtle hint at him not being Maelle's real brother perhaps, not an adequate replacement. Or there's something else that's wrong with him, cause again, what's with the writer stuff, with the fire? All them weird coincidences combined with the fact that the piano hates him does not look good.
11. Gustave is the odd one out again with the starting weapons - his is not named after him:
❂ Scieleson - Sciel
❂ Lunerim - Lune
❂ Monocaro - Monoco
❂ Maellum - Maelle
❂ Verleso - Verso
❂ Noahram - Gustave
Noah from the Bible comes to mind with this, as Gustave is tasked with the preservation of life too. But why single him out like this?
He didn't succeed (yet) with the task of preservation, is the name ironic? A different angle of Noah's story maybe, how he's something good surrounded by evil and decay, but there's so much good in the Canvas apart from Gustave, other wonderful people. What's with that?
Sandfall mentioned that they considered the name "Noah" for Gustave initially, but decided against it. Why leave the weapon unchanged though? As a reference to their creative process, a reminder of where they started?
(Maybe he will get his own real starting weapon in the future when E33 Royal drops and he becomes a full fledged party memb- *gets shot*)
Another interesting thing is that all character-specific weapon names have the same ending (names of Maelle's rapiers always end with 'um' and Sciel's scythes with 'son', for example). Verso and Gustave are a tricky case, as even after Gustave is gone Verso gets swords with his own ending (so) and Gustave's (am). "He can't use those, but I will" type energy? Restating the lack of Gustave once again?
12. On that note, the party group shots are often uneven, leaving free space for someone to fit in. So mean.
13. Why do both Gustave’s lover and sister look so much like Clea?
To a point all 3 have moles in the same places (weird as hell on Gustave’s part, but let’s not focus on that)
Several potential reasons:
❂ Aline’s grief and prolonged stay in the Canvas is bleeding all over. She’s losing herself, painting familiar things over and over, mixing and matching. Details get jumbled, confused, overlapped.
Gustave, Emma and Maelle are a perfect reference to Verso, Clea and Alicia, but Sophie is no reference to Clea - she’s the one that dies tragically, a portrait of the wrong sibling. Gustave is both a Verso and a Renoir figure to Maelle. It’s a mess.
It’s all an allegory for the cycle of grief, everyone going in circles, doing the same things again and again, playing the same roles.
❂ Gustave is Clea’s creation, put as a warden for Alicia. Would explain an incredible feat with the Lumina Converter, how he’s able to invent something that will manipulate chroma almost like a Painter does.
Esquie’s likeness is fitting in - Verso made him to protect and bring joy, with Clea overseeing and then going on adventures together with them - would make sense to create something similar if she wanted Alicia looked after.
If Gustave is Clea’s creation, then it’s reasonable for him to be so close with two lookalikes of her. And if Julie really was a creation of Clea’s, like painted Renoir thought, then she is falling into place as well, with her own weird connections to Gustave. Same thing with the matter of Simon’s missing hand and relations with Clea.
Gustave somehow survived that first encounter with a nevron on the beach - perhaps it recognised them to have the same creator?
This conversation with Verso could also be supporting it (if he's not adressing Maelle here):
The only thing that’s not here nor there is the Writer stuff, but it's somewhat explainable. If Gustave was stationed as a father/brother figure to Maelle, then the circumstances of her real brother’s death and the variables surrounding it would inevitably have influence on him.
❂ The Writer stuff is there for Gustave because he exists in the real world and IS a Writer. The Esquie-Francois parallel is there because Verso and Gustave were friends, he’s the reason Verso likes trains and has a hidden reading room, he’s the source of Alicia’s interest in writing. This is the reason for Gustave's ties with Julie, as they are both traitors, why he has both hands intact in the nightmare sequence about Verso’s death, why he has “From Fire” skill, why there is a guest room with Sophie’s clothes - those point at him, and a connection with Sophie is pointing at a connection with either Clea, or Verso…
Pure crack, but if that’s true, the other options are not necessarily false - Aline’s losing her mind at this point, so it’s not far fetched that she’d paint a portrait of an enemy; Clea could do it as a harsh lesson or a cruel joke, but that is less likely.
If there is a Gustave in the real world, then the rings on his mechanical arm would be relevant to him just as much as to Maelle, point at how his story is also fragmented:
(He's constantly looking at those numbered rings on his hand like it's a watch too, which is. Interesting.)
It's an insane twist for a sequel, which is like catnip to these writers.
14. There is a missing third ending.
We have two - 'A life to love' and 'A life to paint'. Those correspond to the boss themes of the real and painted Renoir. But there’s a third theme with the same naming convention - Alicia’s 'A life to dream'.
She gives Verso a letter with that title on an envelope. She writes about her wish for a better outcome, where everyone can get what they want. If he just given that letter to Maelle, things could have turned out different, but he didn’t - he’s too set in his ways, Gustave is dead because of it, Alicia is soon to follow. It’s an impossible ending, a conclusion that could have never happened, 'A life to dream' indeed.
In addition to that, both 'A life to love' and 'A life to paint' connect to Verso and Maelle, act 2 and act 3 title-namesakes. Who's missing here? Gustave's missing here, he's the one act 1 is named after. And he's exactly the one who would be able to put both Maelle and Verso straight, mediate, find a better solution. He's caring, he's a visionary, he'd think of something, he's a perfect candidate to carry 'A life to dream', but he can't, he's not there.
And I don't buy Verso's reasoning for letting Gustave die. He watched over them for years, he has to almost-know the guy at that point. If anyone was able to punch through Verso's thick skull, it would be someone like Gustave, and he saw it, I know he saw it. He cared, to a point he seemed scared shitless of Gustave's ghost. Verso can deny being 'Verso' all he wants, but he still Alicia's, Maelle's brother, it's in his very nature to love what she loves.
What's also incredibly bizzare is that act 1 spends so much time pointing out that Gustave will choose Maelle over the collective, greater good, whatever else - his intrests and Verso's clearly allign. Why discard a potential ally? "Couldn't take any chances" are you sure about that?
With Gustave still alive, maybe there was a chance for a different outcome, but instead there's just void, where him and 'A life to dream' are supposed to be. So we have what we have.
UNLESS THEY ACKNOWLEDGE THAT MAYBE ALL THOSE LIVES IN THE CANVAS MATTER, ALL THOSE SACRIFICES MADE BY THE EXPEDITIONERS MATTER, IT’S NOT A PRISON OR A LIE. DROP A DLC!!!!
Isn't it odd to put such an emphasis on number 3, only to leave us with 2 endings, anyway?
Verso being able to get Gustave's haircut is unfortunately something I find very funny. "Hey Maelle. You know how you're still grieving the recent, brutal death of your guardian, who was both brother and father figure? As I picked up his burned-out prosthetic from beside his lifeless murdered body I could not help but notice that his hairstyle was fresh as hell. Do you remember what products he used?"
I have a mute character in the story I’m writing and one of my beta readers suggested I use italics when they sign so that I don’t have to keep peppering “they signed” or “their hands flashed” throughout the piece.
But like…I always read italics in a different tone like they’re thoughts. It seems quieter than using normal quotations which makes what they say look less significant on the page than other character’s dialogue.
I really don’t think my audience needs me to use completely different punctuation around a mute character. There’s no need to act like they’re speaking a different language since their muteness isn’t a focal point in the story.
So really this reader’s comment has done the complete opposite of what they intended. Now I’m actively taking out as many of my “hands flashed” notations as possible and just writing in normal body language because, clearly, the other characters understand them and my audience doesn’t need to be coddled.
As an HOH reader and writer I can affirm that once the signing has been established it can just be treated like “said”.
You can add little things for emphasis though, like how fast or flippant a sign is given, also a lot of our “punctuation” is in facial expressions, so wild looks is kind of normal. Also messing up signs and just.. pushing them aside. Like, you mess up a fingerspell and just take both hands and shove the air in front of you to your side, people who sign eventually end up doing this for other things, like a “forget it” motion. It’s like a “wave it off” gesture.
Body language for someone who signs is a lot more animated than someone who speaks, as we use our upper body a lot in our conversations, so the act of “signing” is more than just hand signals.
Yes….yes GOOD this is the good stuff right here. I’m going to incorporate some of these ASAP ESPECIALLY the pushing the air but to clear it of your mistakes
In case you wanted to make your story more realistic to signing in general:
If your character is only partially mute (as in they can sometimes speak) or newly mute (they recently lost their ability to speak and previously knew how to do so in the common tongue) and/or grew up around hearing people who speak even if they never could, keep in mind that they have a different signing “accent” for lack of a better word.
People who are Deaf And Learned Sign As Kids instead of the common tongue will be more fluent, they’ll have a wider vocabulary, their signs will be fluid and fast, like speaking to anyone in their first language. They will not have to mentally translate their thoughts to sign the way someone who learns sign as their second language would have to - they already think in sign. Traditionally, sign language even in American or British sign goes in spanish sentence structure, not english. They will be difficult for anyone who is NOT a fluent signer to understand! If your character isn’t fluent, they will probably need to ask fluent signers to slow down!
Meanwhile if your character is Mute, there’s a good chance that they weren’t always, OR they grew up around people who could both hear and speak. Their signing will be more rudimentary (even if the hearing speaking people around them teach them sign at an early age instead of just having them write down what they want to say, bc most people do not care to accommodate you if you can’t speak at all), at least until they learn it better from other signing people. Their vocab will be smaller, and their signs may be slow and clumsy. They may have to finger spell a lot. They will probably get frustrated with their inability to articulate what they want, and they may frequently need to resort to writing down what they want to say. They’ll also likely put signs in the same sentence structure as the language the people around them spoke. This literal translation of each sentence WILL confuse fluent signers!
When talking to deaf people, or other fluent signers, there are a few pretty widespread cultural things you could consider as well: for example, Deaf Time! Deaf time means that once you start talking with a deaf person/fluent signer with no other means of communication, They won’t stop till the conversation is done or you literally have to leave! The chance to sign with someone you don’t know tends to be pretty rare, and the language barrier in general makes deaf people/people who sign exclusively pretty isolated. There’s also the fact that signing with a flat face is only common in non-fluent signers; your expression determines some words! The difference between “good” and “great” comes down to your expression, and signing either with an impassive face is the equivalent of talking in a monotone. Not necessarily rude - but fluent signers will be able to clock you. (I know this bc my autistic ass cannot sign the difference between words like that, and it drove my teachers nuts.)
I hope that helps and that I’m not too late
Source: I’m hard of hearing and selectively mute and my signing accent is absolutely abhorrent :)
Choo choo! All aboard for Expedition 33 spoilers! Are you tired of these essays yet?
There's something so interesting about how Clea says that Verso was "built from our mother's memories" while Maelle says that when Aline painted him she "gave him [the original Verso's] memories"
Both because the magic system is loose enough that either could be true (the Canvas does have Verso's soul, so it's not unimaginable that his memories could exist in there too) and because it leaves it really up in the air just how much our Verso is anything like the real one.
If he was built from Verso's memories then he'd be identical, ignoring the years he's spent in the Canvas. If he's made from Aline's memories of Verso then he might be nothing like him. He'd be an image of Verso made by a person who's actively grieving him, who once tried to push him into a life he didn't want, and no matter how well she understood him she would've had no idea what he was like internally. That kind of difference would certainly compound over 67 years.
Maelle says he 'looks and sounds just like him', and Renoir describes him as 'Aline's finest work' but neither of those descriptions highlight how accurately he was duplicated as much as how he superficially looks like Verso. The other painted Dessendres act pretty different from their originals, but how much of that is based on them having 67 years of toiling immortality?
The only people who would truly know are Aline, who does seem to recognise that he's a copy despite barely being lucid (although she can't identify him as the Verso she made) and I guess Esquie and Monoco, who both distinguish between the two, although I think that speaks more to the fact that they're just seperate entities.
Idk, it's curious! If the real Verso saw his painted copy, would he recognise himself? Does the painted Verso even recognise the parts of himself that aren't contiguous with his original? Some memories where his thoughts don't follow his actions, because they've been imposed by a grieving mother who understood her son less than she thought? Was he maybe relieved in some way when he found out he wasn't the original, because the hundred tiny ways he felt different and wrong suddenly made sense? Is it possible there's a line of dialogue where somebody confirms that Verso does definitively have all his memories and I forgot about it? Maybe!
I have..... similar thoughts on Maelle's comment that "You're not Verso [...] I'm still Maelle though" both in terms of how Verso reacts to it, and how that statement doesn't seem as true as Maelle maybewants it to be. But that's a whole other thing lmao.
When Renoir painted his Axons he made Aline enchanting, beautiful, mesmerizing and graceful. He gave Sirene opulent jewelry, plentiful color, he painted her island as the only place in the Canvas with that type of architecture. Unique and wondrous in all her ways, with the charming ability to make everything perfect again. And make no mistake, he is the Tisseur ever weaving for Sirene because he does love her but killing him also makes you immune to Sirene’s charm.
He gives Clea the world. Her Axon is just like her, her very long auburn hair, white shirt, dark blue skirt, suspenders. The Hauler is not an overdramatized version of Clea; it’s just Clea. A city on its back, the weight of their entire family on her shoulders constantly. Her Axon is in Old Lumiere, while everyone else’s are much further up toward the Monolith in a perfect line next to each other though divided by the sea.
He gives Verso his window and mirror. Visage is performer with dramatic lighting and stage sounds, Verso with his piano in the opera house as the lights dimmed. Verso hides both behind and within his art and cannot separate those things.
He gives Alicia the impossible, the endless possibilities he sees for her. Her Axon gets ever taller; always reaching for the sky. Neither storm nor fire may stop his little star from going beyond the boundaries of the world.
Renoir works in only layered, interpretive artwork and I think that’s beautiful.
Ever think about how Verso comforted Maelle? He had fought her, hurt her; removing her from the canvas, and yes all of that is plenty reason enough to want to comfort your baby sister, but beyond that;
He knew this would hurt her, terribly, permanently, as it had before.
But as for Maelle, she doesn't understand how it could hurt Verso to keep him alive. She doesn't see him for what he is in that moment, instead seeing her brother who's just confused and doesn't understand how happy life could be; how happy the life is that the real world stole from them.
But he's not her brother here. He's a desperate, tired man who's watched his entire family die in front of him — who's dying anyway, who's lived his life two times over;
“[Verso's] already dead, [he's] just catching up”.
She doesn't comfort him like he does her — doesn't assure him, whispering softly and soothingly — she tells him to "stop saying that".
Here he is, the last time he looks at her mask-less and open and vulnerable, making one single request — asking, begging, beyond even him being suicidal and forced to live, to let his last moments again be saving his family. Giving him the honour and dignity of using his life for something good — for someone else — just as the person he was painted from would.
Beyond that as an added thought;
He saw his Maman — his Maman, she is as much his mother as she is real Verso's — weak and sickly and dying because she can't let him go.
The moment he saw her, he didn't even think twice — doesn't want to live in this canvas if it means hurting her — and Maelle wants him to live while knowing she'll end up like that as well?
Throughout every conversation he has with the real Renoir, he understands. He understands how deeply this father wants to save his family; and this father knew his son just as deeply, knows how much Verso, painted or otherwise, would do to ensure their well-being.
No wonder Verso dons the mask of Renoir for their last fight; echoing his words, desperate to get through to the last remnants of family he has left.
I envy them, those who can't see. Those who know not, that they are not. And those who live, blithe and free, sins forgotten and thus absolved. A fresh dawn in their playground, while we live in shadows, swimming in ink. We are but a fragile dream, a singular weed, resisting, ever resisting, That iron dirt, that eternal law. Those who can't see. Those who know not, that they are not. Do you know? We are fellows.
It's so damn cool that through interactions with each member of the expedition, we get to know different sides of Verso as our main character, which are reflected in them like in little mirrors, instead of reading a wall of text or listening to a 5-minute ted talk with exposition.
Lune - his passion, intelligence, excitement for learning and curiosity, and love for music. Sciel - his grief, the burden of a life filled with loss and regret, as well as his suicidal thoughts, but also endless not desire but strength to live. Monoco - his loyalty to his loved ones, his willingness to fight for those he cares about, as well as his sense of humor and fun. Maelle - his desire to belong, his craving for connections with people, need for closeness and trust, and his ability to relate and care despite being "weird kid" for everyone. Gustave (since I believe that the relationship between Gustave and Verso IS in the game, and is expressed, among other things, through the replacement of one by the other) is his impostor syndrome, a constant feeling of being a stranger, a thief, a copy, forced to play someone else's role instead of living his own life. and Esquie... Esquie is simply the very essence of Verso as a person, his sensitive heart, his unnecessary but great kindness despite his intentions, and a faint hope that at least someone else has a bright future.
Sorry, I don't know where I'm going with this, it's just Verso brainrot speaking through me. In any case, kudos to the writing talent of Jennifer and Guillemot, love them
Clea can keep pretending not to give a fuck about the Canvas but I’m gonna be honest I don’t think anyone cares about it more then her
She painted half this world with Verso. She painted the strongest turtle ever, gave him overpowered abilities and made him her best friend. They sang and they danced and ever since she left Francois was never the same.
She helped paint the landscape, together they made the endless tower. He was scared of the dark so she painted her Lampmaster to fuck with him. She fought with Verso, Monoco, Noco and all the Gestrals and traded words with the Grandis, helped Esquie find his rocks.
After the Fracture she could’ve made her Nevrons anything, an army without soul to end her families madness. She doesn’t. She adds stalacts in the cold, she adds over a dozen mimes, she adds her Nevrons that do not attack they simply eat the mountains their on. She adds her dancers, her sky and sea serpent. She adds things that belong in this world, creatures who match their position in the Painting.
She paints over Painted Clea. She was content to let Aline stew in her grief, but she draws a line at this false representation of her. She has Simon kill her Axon. She is already in this painting. She is the Fading Woman and the Lady of Sap. This whole world is her work, all of it her representation.
Her family is fighting over Verso’s memory like dogs with a bone and they have destroyed her world. She painted half of this Canvas, a Canvas wrecked during the Fracture. His Gestrals and Grandis were misplaced, the land split.
Clea does not want to destroy this Canvas. The last piece of their brothers soul. But her brother is dead now, and her sister has been maimed and her mother is running from it and her father is too content to run right after her. The people who did this still breathe, something Verso can’t do and Alicia can only do with pain.
War is on their doorstep, and she can’t protect Alicia and her parents are too busy to be useful, her mother lost her spot as head of the painters council. Destroying the Canvas is the only way to get that semblance of her family back because Aline will never stop and Renoir will never stop chasing her.
They all tackle their grief differently, and Clea’s method is revenge. I imagine it’s no help that the only way she’ll have support in this war she singlehandedly wages is if she destroys the world she built with her deceased brother.
One day Clea woke up and not another person in her house made a sound. Because Verso was in the ground, Alicia was robbed of her voice and her parents have lost their minds.
my favourite thing when it comes to fic writing is really getting into the guts of a character and figuring out how they tick or react to certain situations based on what info you have about them from canon
anyway under the cut is my self-indulgent ramble about my thoughts (which are probably disorganised sorry) on arthur nightingale
okay, first off, let's get to the basics:
he's your knight in sour armour, to break him down into the very basic of tropes. he's difficult to get close to because he's so standoffish with strangers and resistant to showing vulnerability, but he's also genuinely a good guy beneath the gruff who wants to help people just because it's the right thing and because he's naturally a very empathetic guy.
as eleanor pointed out, arthur had dreams of being a hero ever since he was leaping on pine cone grenades as a child. i wouldn't be surprised if as a kid he even fantasied about doing some heroic sacrifice that has everyone like "oh wow he was a true hero!" like you see in movies dfhddh since from what i've gleaned from 1999 they do idolise people being sent to the "hall of heroes" upon death. but i think his friend's death also compounded in arthur a sense of: if someone has to be sacrificed, it has to be him because...
well being the one left behind hurts. it's awful. you have to live with it, while the dead get to die with the satisfaction of doing a good thing. it's a complicated emotion that arthur has 99.9% likely not processed or even thought about too deeply, but i do feel that arthur has a fear of being the one left behind. he doesn't want other people dying for him, and god i bet the shitshow of a mission on new years eve had been the most horrific scenario for him:
Everyone dying before him, leaving him the last one standing, alive just long enough to know he got everyone killed for nothing. awful.
anyway, moving onto his initial curt personality. we always knew he was driven based on aoi's KIM convos where she explains their break-up. arthur's very blinkered and a big picture kind of guy, i feel, where because he's good at setting aside his personal feelings in favour of the "greater good", he forgets that not everyone else functions like that. i think this is also compounded by the whole entrati fiasco, where lettie explains that initially the hex loyally followed entrati against their higher ups' orders, distributing his medicines and encouraging people to take up his vaccines, etc.
and you know, burned once, shame on you, burned twice, shame on me. entrati and drifter are similar in that they're strange people who popped up literally out of nowhere claiming they have the magical solution to your problems if you just trusted them. entrati strung the hex along with promises of a cure for the techrot, and initiatially it seemed like he was telling the truth: his vaccine did stop people getting sick - it just turned them into asymptomatic carriers instead, which the hex didn't immediately clock onto, and when they started to have suspicions, well they really didn't want to believe they'd made the wrong choice. they must be mistaken, right? entrati kept his promise to make a cure so... there's probably a reason why other people are getting sick, right?
it's why they took the second vaccine he offered which turned them into protoframes: because they were desperate and, despite it all, they trusted entrati.
whiiiiiiiich kinda fucks over drifter from the outset, i feel. the whole fiasco with entrati is very likely lurking in the forefront of arthur's mind when it comes to drifter in the initial few months. drifter arriving from the future and locking them all into a time loop, saying "don't worry, i can help you with means you don't understand, you just have to trust me".
so with arthur, i really feel like the entire year of the first loop is drifter overcoming that initial (and understandable) mistrust. arthur was probably waiting for the other shoe to drop with drifter - like, he had no idea how this was going to turn out to be a scam, but he was probably waiting for something to happen... but no, drifter is genuine, they're not playing with the hex or trying to trick them into anything.
the KIM convos probably helped with that, honestly. entrati likely maintained an authorative distance with the hex, whereas drifter was, well, drifter: clearly traumatised and socially awkward, if emotionally intelligent, but genuinely trying to connect and make friends with the hex - wanting to help them but also get to know them.
and that kind of quality i think would draw arthur in. yeah, drifter has no filter when it comes to talking about their fucked up past (ngl its funny that you can practically hear the "jesus christ" reverbing through arthur's brain whenever drifter casually reveals yet another traumatising event from their past like it's no big deal), but they're kinda stupidly committed to doing the right thing no matter how crazy and hard it is. arthur is also stupidly committed to doing the right thing no matter how crazy and hard it is! they have something in common in that!
also drives them both insane because i can just imagine drifter and arthur being in a state of "no i will sacrifice myself for YOU" to each other bc both refuse to be the one left behind. they'd be insufferable on a dangerous mission together. i think eleanor would strangle them both.
this really is a disorganised ramble. but anyways, arthur's fun to write about bc this guy really wants to do the right thing, but he's made a terrible decision in trusting the wrong person which landed him and his comrades in a situation where they get to enjoy the body horror that is being turned into protoframes against their will with a potential future of having their minds consumed by the techrot eventually, where there is no easy route to doing the "right thing", where their future is uncertain and where they have living evidence of someone from the future being all like "yeah so the infestation still exists thousands of years from now and the future is fucked up to hell and back but... well, we're alive!" and they're also stuck in a time loop for who knows how long.
anyway this is why i love drifter/arthur bc i feel like they're both on the same wavelength of "heroically deranged" and they give each other enrichment that others would find diabolically annoying. they know how to respect each other's boundaries but also when to push, and they have that insane quality where they want to hope for a better future, think they can make a better future, if they just keep forging towards doing the right thing no matter how disgustingly hard and painful it is.
this is why aoi and arthur broke up, i feel. they both had different priorities, which is fine! honestly i'm so glad DE had them both be extremely mature about the whole thing, because sometimes relationships do end bc both parties realise that they're better as friends than romantic partners and it doesnt have to result in them being bitter or angry at each other. aoi was justified in wanting to break up bc she wanted someone who prioritised the relationship just as much as she did, whereas arthur kinda needs someone who's willing to butt heads with him when he's being a bit of an ass but also understand that he's not naturally a super romantic or emotional kind of person.
anyway tl;dr i love arthur bc he's a wet cat kind of guy who's trying his best and that's just endearing. thank you for listening to my disjointed rambling lmao
The relationships between the Duviri Courtiers and other major characters are really funny to me.
Bombastine despises Luscinia for being Thrax's favourite entertainer, despite being the one who organised the event that resulted in her rising above him. He's also secretly in love with her, and so is acting like a toddler because he doesn't know how to express his desires in a positive way. He also sucks at riding horses and is jealous of the biceps of a bunch of skeletons. My cringe fail son.
Mathila is a judgemental mother despite her overly positive outlook. Brimon implies he's having an affair with her. She took care of Teshin, and implies they're still friends. He never mentions her. A toxically positive girl boss.
Lodun has incredible anger issues stemming from self doubt, and is constantly plotting to overthrow Thrax, but fails every time. He's desperate for approval, seeing a single supporter as a win, and cares deeply about his great-grandmother and her shrine. The Wall of his house is cracked because he keeps punching it. Another cringefail child of mine.
Luscinia hates being the King's favourite, but doesn't know how to get out of it. She's prone to drastic, dramatic bouts of melancholy. She somehow knows secrets about Duviri that Thrax is implied to either be unaware of, or deliberately ignoring. She loves revenge. She once sang at an event where she was standing on a bunch of eels, that got eaten from underneath her. A girlboss who doesn't want to be.
Sythel is paranoid, but also knows far more about Duviri than apparently nearly anyone. She's terrified of Acrithis. She stays hidden in her house to avoid facing issues which, frankly, is a mood. She also somehow left her face behind in another part of Duviri. I love her, but I hope she gets some comfort. A couple of floofs and some Tasoma Extract tea.
Brimon is a snarky, self absorbed champion racer...who we never see ride a Kaithe. He claims to be better with a sword than anyone, despite never using one that we can see. He brags about being such a good lover, that he's the reason Mathila is happy. He can't believe you beat him, even on the easiest of Kaithe races. He somehow has a copy of the Tales of Duviri with him at all times. A bastard, but a fun one.
Oh and Acrithis, my favourite of the bunch. A librarian who has her own carriage. She wants to torture people who damage books. She implies Mathila is a slut. She calls out Lodun for being too ashamed to face his issues. She thinks Sythel is a nasty little rat lady. She's the only one who remembers the old islands. She calls Teshin an "old thingy-bob in a cave". She finds us fascinating and wants to study us. She sees through every single one of the Courtiers. The true Queen of Duviri, imo.
Interviewer, catching Damian in costume: Robin! Can you explain the process of picking up Robin or passing on the mantle?
Damian, mildly annoyed at Bruce at the moment: It's quite simple. Batmam steals young children from their bed, usually nine or ten or so. Then he takes you to his lair and give you a deal.
Damian: If you can beat him in a game of your choosing, he will train you to be Robin. If you lose, you are eaten. I beat him in a classic fencing game. He's quite good with swords, but he wasn't very good with the sport itself.
Tim, standing next to him: Yeah, I beat him at a memory card game. I like totally cheated, but I'm too old for him to eat now, so ot doesn't matter.
Damian, nodding: Yes. The worst part of the job is disposing of failed Robins bones. He usually sucks them clean and leaves them all over the floor.
Tim: Yeah, its messy. But after you hit, like 15 he stops trying to eat you, so that's cool.
Damian: I have not yet reached 15. I'm still in danger. If you have more questions, ask Nightwing, as he was the first to avoid being eaten.
-
Same interviewer, at a different date: Mr. Nightwing. Is it true Batman tries to eat potential Robins?
Dick, who has no idea what she's taking about: Yeah, it's really scary. His jaw unhinges like a snake.
hallo...this is a commission from the lovely Gianni Matrograno, who takes VA requests on his KoFi (in case you were Unawares)
Please enjoy what I will now be considering the canon internal thoughts of The Stalker, upon spawning into a mission with Jade present. And go commission Gianni. Give this man money to say funny words.
Transcript below the cut!
An audio clip of The Stalker from Warframe. Stalker has a gruff, harsh, whispery voice with an echo effect overlaid. He starts off speaking calmly and threateningly, but gradually becomes more panicked and confused upon realizing that Jade is present in the mission he has invaded. His final line at the end returns to his original whispery tone.
Stalker: Tenno...there is no salvation for you...the blood is on your hands, and I know your every- hang on. That's my wife. That is my WIFE. O-okay, yeah, no. Sorry, honey. My bad...yeah I'm just gonna now and check on the baby. Yeah, I'm sorry. I'm not- I'm not gonna fight my wife. I'm not STUPID. Never...
you don't "hate kids," you hate being forced into a caretaking role.
you don't "hate kids," you hate censorship passed off as family values.
you don't "hate kids," you hate the constrictiveness of the nuclear family.
you don't "hate kids," you're just not used to occupying fully age diverse spaces so you're not used to the noise or the many different kinds of needs.
you don't "hate kids," most public spaces just aren't built for kids, and so the few kids you see are always uncomfortable and distressed.
you don't "hate kids," you hate the intense social rules assigned to kids and anyone who interacts with kids.
You don't "hate kids," you hate how society reproduces its most restrictive elements and how kids are powerless to resist it.
i honestly dont get why people stopped reblogging things they like on here bc like what are you afraid of??? people thinking youre cringey?? guess what bitch! youre on tumblr! it's all cringey! reblog everything you like and do it shamelessly no one fuckin cares
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