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The Paintress is an eternal, looming threat throughoutClair Obscur: Expedition 33. She and her Monolith tower over the horizon, constantly reminding the people of Lumiere that their days are numbered. Each year she awakens and paints a new number, counting down the years of the Last Generation as more people are erased.
Despite her ceaseless presence, little is actually known about the Paintress, as no Expedition that goes to the Continent to try and defeat her has ever returned. She’s as mysterious as she is dangerous and powerful. Here’s everything you need to know about the Paintress, including her secrets.
What Is The Paintress?
The Paintress takes the form ofan enormous wooden mannequin with long, white hair.Her exact height is unknown, but to be visible from Lumiereshe must be tens of thousands of feet tall, and the Monolith that she guards is even bigger.
As a real-world comparison, the tallest building on Earth, the Burj Khalifa in Dubai, is 2716.5 feet tall (828 meters) and can be seen from a maximum of 60 miles (96.5km) away at ground level.
The Paintress spends most of the year dormant,sleeping crouched in a fetal position at the base of the Monolith. Every year at exactly the same time, when the sun sets, she wakes up, stands toerase the number on the Monolith and repaint it subtracted it by one, then goes back to sleep. Anybody whose age matches the new number suffers theGommage, disappearing in an instant - erased from the world.
Expeditions And The Paintress
Since the number keeps getting lower - the game begins with the Paintress changing the Monolith’s number from 34 to 33 - the city of Lumiere’s population is dwindling. Nobody lives past their early thirties, and within a few years they won’t even make it that far. Every person born has a lifespan that’s considerably shorter than that of their parents.
Ever since the appearance of the Monolith following a cataclysmic event called the Fracture, which separated Lumiere from the rest of the world, the city has sent annual Expeditions to the Continent in search of answers and survivors. Over time, as the situation has grown more and more desperate, the overall goal of the Expeditions has become todestroy the Paintress by any means necessary, ending the yearly Gommage.
For those who come after.
If an Expedition is unable to complete their main objective - and in 67 years, none have - their secondary goal is tolay the trail for future Expeditions, leaving them clues, supplies, and paths that will cumulatively make it easier for someone, anyone, to eventually prevail. The motto of each Expedition is “For those who come after.”
The following sections contain major spoilers for Clair Obscur’s main story.
The Origin Of The Paintress
The Paintress didn’t just appear out of nowhere, as much as it might have appeared that way to the people of Lumiere. Her origin is tied up in the struggle of a single family, the Dessendres.
Verso’s Canvas
The world that Lumiere and its people inhabit is an artificial one, created by a child named Verso Dessendre. Verso’s family were wealthy, prominent members of the Parisian Painter’s Guild in an alternate Earth wherePainters, Writers,and presumably other artistshave the power to bring worlds into existence and then visit them.
Verso was a talented Painter, but his true passion was music, so heonly ever created a single CanvasWorld, while his parents, Renoir and Aline, had in their time made and explored hundreds. In their childhood, Verso and his older sister Clea used the Canvas World as their imaginary playland, going on adventures with Esquie, Francois, and the Gestrals.
The Fire
Eventually, Clea and Verso grew up, becoming involved in the Guild affairs of their prestigious family. Their ongoing feud with the Writers made the Dessendres a target, and a rogue band of Writersattempted to set their family manor on fire.During the blaze, Verso sacrificed himself to save his younger sister Alicia, who survived with disfiguring burns as well as the loss of her right eye and her voice.
The date of Verso’s death is listed on his tombstone as33 December 1905, making him 26 at the time. It’s unclear why December has two extra days in the Dessendres' version of Paris.
Aline And Renoir
Verso’s mother, Aline, wasovercome with grief at the loss of her son, and started visiting his Canvas World since itcontained a fragment of his soul- the animating spark that gave the world and its inhabitants life. An experienced and disciplined Paintress, Aline knew that Canvas Worlds take a toll on the body after prolonged visits, and that it’s easy to get caught up in them without wanting to leave. Nevertheless, she began to spend unhealthy amounts of time in Verso’s Canvas.
Aline even went so far as toPaint doppelgängers of her family into the Canvas, making them immortal so that she couldn’t lose them again.
Her husband, Renoir, who was struggling with the loss of Verso himself, began to fear for his wife’s life andentered the Canvas to bring her home.When Aline refused to leave, Renoir began toerase the Canvas entirely, believing that Aline would drive herself to death if she continued to have access to it. Aline summoned her Paintress powers to stop him.
Killing a Painter’s avatar inside the Canvasejects them back out to the real world, but doesn’t harm them otherwise. However, they must wait before going back into any Canvas at all, or the health effects of Canvas exposure become much worse.
The Monolith
Renoir and Aline were evenly-matched in terms of skill, and found themselves at a stalemate after their initial battle caused the Fracture. Aline Painted the Monolith on top of Renoir to hold him in place, but had to remain atop it herself to continuously prevent him from escaping and erasing the world. Renoir, meanwhile,bided his time and built up chroma each yearso that he could destroy the oldest of Aline’s creations;the yearly Gommage, therefore, was Renoir’s doing, not Aline’s.
Aline, the true Paintress, created the giant mannequin both toguard the Monolith and prevent Renoir’s escapeand topaint a warning to the people of Lumiere, letting them know how many more years were left until her power failed her.
Time is sped up inside the Canvas - while Renoir and Aline have been at a stalemate on the Monolith for 67 years, and have experienced that full length of time, only a few days have passed in the real world since Renoir went after Aline.
Who Is Painted Renoir?
The version of Renoir that Expedition 33 meets through most of the game isAline’s painted doppelgängerof the real man.He embodies all the worst traits that Aline sees in her husband during their feud, like callousness and self-rightousness, but he’s Painted to be loyal to her. Painted Verso tells the Expedition that Painted Renoir wants to keep the Paintress alive because if she dies, he dies, but that’s only partially true.
Like Painted Verso, Painted Renoir knows that an Expedition defeating Aline will free the true Renoir, allowing him to erase the Canvas and kill everyone inside it. He sees killing Expeditioners as they arrive on the Continent as a necessary sacrifice in the service of a greater good.
