[wenrite]

Parallels in this game continuously blow my mind away.

The Dessendre family's decision to bury Verso right before their home, front and centre. It's so thought provoking. I often wonder why they chose to do that, because like, his grave would trigger. So much.

Aline would have flashbacks of her time in the Canvas, and that she lost her son, a part of herself. And so would Renoir.

Clea would look at it every time she'd leave the manor and boil with rage, because she couldn't stop the Writers, because she needs to get revenge.

Alicia would be reminded time and time again that he was gone because of her (although we could argue her entire life after the fire serves that purpose)

I guess what I'm trying to say here is how much we can see that this family, even with their acceptance of death, destroying the Canvas and moving on, they still somewhat, to a small degree, refuse to part with the dead entirely. They must keep Verso close, so close that with every coming in and going out they will remember him, keep him near.

Anyone and everyone who comes to the Dessendre home will see, they lost a son and he's buried right here, in the heart of this home. Just like the Fading Boy would paint forever within the heart of the Canvas, Verso too, outside the Canvas paints forever in their hearts.

[wenrite]

Playing the game the second time had me wondering if there's an Axon for Renoir. Then I reached Sirene and realised that Tisseur is Renoir's self-insert

[laterose13]

kintsugi, they call it. the art of repairing broken pottery with gold. it highlights the cracks; celebrates the imperfections. i was shattered and i am more beautiful for it.

i filled my own cracks with gold, cast my wounds in shining metal. i bared my skin to the world. see, see? am i not beautiful now? am i not something precious? you can't break me now; i was already broken.

gold is heavy. gold is unfeeling. i long to laugh, smile, love. i curl up and beg for tears to flow, but they are locked away behind frozen metal. gold doesn't stop the pain of old wounds. gold doesn't stop the fear of new ones. and that is the truth of it all - i am afraid.

I am. Afraid.

such a hard thing to admit, isn’t it? i can say i am anxious so easily because anxiety is a Condition, anxiety is out of my control. but fear is... so much more personal, more intimate. looking at someone and admitting i am afraid takes so much more.

i am...

i'm afraid of what might happen if i keep this armor wrapped around me, but i'm afraid of what might happen if i peel it away. so i sway back and forth; dragged forward and back; push-pull, push-pull. afraid to leave and afraid to stay.

i am.

i hurt. i am hurting.

my golden armor didn't protect me from being wounded. filling up the cracks didn't allow them to heal.

what else is there to do?

do i hide behind my shame, numb myself until the gold has seeped into every part of me?

or do i rip it free? face the pain, bleed to heal, let myself be truly, truly vulnerable?

do i have it in me to try again?

i want to. i am tired and scared and hurting but i want to try.

[wenrite]

hc: The Dessendre family is matrilineal, meaning inheritance, power, and titles are passed down the female line, and Renoir and the Dessendre children took Aline's family name.

[wenrite]

"Do you know? We are fellows. Those who know not, that they are not."

[wenrite]

Clea was such a little shit (lovingly). Of course she covered every inch of François with mushrooms, the food which Verso was deathly allergic to.

[wenrite]

EDIT 13/Jun/2026: okay after some further observation and using the photomode's spotlight on her face whenever she's on screen, I learnt that it turns out out her eye had always been red and that was her initial design from the beginning (I don't know if that somehow makes it better or worse)

Has anyone else noticed how red Alicia’s eye is during the Reacher quest?

She looks so sad when handling the letter.

Before this, her sclera was a regular white, no red or signs of crying. The scene where she walks up to Verso is the clearest example of this.

My baby girl, had she been crying herself raw this whole time, after her father died and her mother was kicked out of the canvas...

Disclaimer: The lighting is bad in these images/gifs, I suggest looking at them directly in-game for the best resolution and colour schemes.

[wenrite]

I'm about to burst with excitement. I preordered the Clair Obscur artbook two days ago. Today I bought the vinyl collection DBGFHYRZDGRTHRST JUMPING WITH JOY

[sinisterbells]

I remember my first time entering Flying Waters and fighting the Démineur, because there was something so childlike about their design that made me feel awful killing them. Then, a little later, I realised they remind me very vividly of Alicia herself.

The most obvious elements, to me, are their lack of vocalisation and the eyehole of its helmet giving the impression of a single eye looking at you – a reoccurring visual motif throughout the game calling back to Alicia’s remaining eye. They’re entirely quiet as far as I can tell, and even the white Nevron counterpart never speaks a word, unlike all the others of its kind. There’s also this ghost-like quality to their design with their floating bodies and long strands of kelp, particularly in the case of the white Nevron due to its colouration. Alicia, too, is likened to a ghost by Renoir when in ACT 3 he calls her “a living ghost”.

The most fascinating part for me, however, is the contrast between childlike innocence and destruction. The way they hold the floating mine is very reminiscent of a child holding onto a balloon, further emphasised by their smaller size compared to most other Nevrons. It’s a very charming and whimsical design element for a monster, but the mine is also a dangerous weapon capable of hurting not just the Expeditioners, but also the Nevron and its surrounding allies. Any strategy guide is going to tell you to destroy the mine as your first action, because that’s the Démineur’s weak point, and the following explosion will deal considerable fire damage to it and its allies standing directly beside it. There are definitely parallels to be seen between this and the way Alicia’s naivety (a quality frequently characterised as childlike) led to the fire that severely hurt her and her family members in the process.

But I guess what really gets me is that, essentially, when you take advantage of the Démineur’s weak point to efficiently finish the battle, you're sort of replicating what the Writers did to Alicia.