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I actually think the colours represent the people the chroma belongs to. Renoir produces red petals, Aline white ones and Alicia yellow.

Obviously, the Gommage happens in red, the curator is surrounded by red petals. He's the one who gommages p!Renoir and the faded boy as well.

White petals surround the monolith and paintress, they heal p!Renoir in the boss fight (who literally draws his strength from her powers) and protect Verso in the space with the faded boy.

Maelle's Gommage skill produces yellow petals. When she saves Verso from disappearing in Lumière they're also yellow (the petals he would have faded into were red)

The outliers that have me convinced it's not an emotions thing are the mixing and changing petals.

Simon gommages in red and white, which I think is representative for how Aline and Renoir fought over control of him. His entire journal is just about how the whole painters family wanted to have a piece of him.

Lune and Sciel's chroma is red after they get gommaged by Renoir and when Maelle repaints them, it changes to yellow.

In Maelle's ending when Verso is fading, he does so in white and a few specks of yellow. His chroma belongs to Aline but perhaps when she'd prevented him from gommaging earlier she gained access to some of him (or it's because she's the one who kills him/makes him gommage, her powers working against Aline's immortality)

'Behind his scowl, emotions blaze. But in the shadows, his temper fades. What am I but a Mask of Anger?' It seems his expression of Anger is both deemed a mask and seen as blazing, like he feels the emotion but wouldn't naturally express it, thus having to use a mask for an emotion he actually feels. His temper fading in the shadows, perhaps because the need to uphold a mask of anger fades when no one's there to see it, or because Verso sees the source of his anger as unimportant as soon as he's alone, just as he sees his wants as irrelevant as soon as they don't serve someone else.

'Seeking what he could not grasp, longing to share with those he loves, behind his smile, what could it be?' There's actual joy implied to be behind his smile, which is confusing as it's also described as unable to be grasped. A double meaning, Verso wanting to be happy but believing that it's unattainable, but perhaps he simply doesn't understand, doesn't grasp it (At least from Renoir's point of view). Maybe he really was happy, happy to be with his family, to write songs for them, to make them feel content, even if he didn't realise it.

'Behind his veil, emotions swell. For a life forced to paint, what is he but a reflection of Sadness?' Verso's mental health seems to have gotten worse and worse, to the point that Renoir sees the sadness in his reflection (which also reminds me of Aline describing Alicia's pain as reflecting back tenfold) He recognises the anger as a mask, sees only sadness in his reflection and yet he believes that there's a chance at joy, misunderstood though it may be.

My first thought was a comment Maelle makes offhandedly, when she asks to read his poetry. "I bet you secretly want people to read it". I'd expect the same thing of him too. For someone to lie out of affection, hate every minute of it but do it anyways because it makes the people around him happy, he must yearn for someone to understand him, yet is afraid to be known.

Because if his lies are seen through, they don't fulfill their purpose. They don't guard people from the truth, they don't control the direction people go in, the Verso thinks is best for them. Yet if his lies are believed, that means he's not understood. Especially if it's people who trust him, people who believe not because the lies are convincing, but because they trust him to tell the truth. To him, it wouldn't be trust, it would be a misunderstanding, for he is a liar and believing him means not knowing that.

So maybe, the Mask Keeper showing himself at all to convey the message is already a reflection of this conundrum. He wants them to see him, talks to them and makes himself known, yet hides his identity as the Axon. He quotes Renoir and expands upon his ideas, but still fights against the expedition without engaging in a real discussion on the topic, he just says his piece and drops the topic.

This brings me to another point, the fear of feedback, which is closely entwined with the fear of being known. To express any needs is to be a burden, goes against the entire point of his lies. To have the need fulfilled is even worse, as it makes his weakness known, acknowledged that he is imperfect, unable to meet the expectations his loved ones have of him. To have his needs ignored is to suffer, is to express himself and be deemed unimportant, is to reinforce what he already thinks of himself.

We only ever see Verso express one need that isn't also to the service of others. One that is purely his own, the desire to be unpainted. It's clear in his desperation that it breaks out of him. He'd failed in getting Maelle out of the canvas, failed to lay Verso's soulshard to rest. He didn't manage to end the story the way he planned to, he wouldn't be able to live with himself any longer, wouldn't be able to hold that deep-seated desire for rest down any longer.

He guards the truth with lies because he wants the people he loves not to be harmed by it. He also guards it because he doesn't want to be harmed himself. His lies are selfish and selfless at the same time, because he will always prioritise other people's needs over his own (with the exception being the one time he asks for death when he knows for a fact Maelle would want him alive) but he will decide those needs for himself and control the way they are met.

Everything's okay.

The dream of the fire that Maelle has takes place in her own room, which is on the right side of the manor, yet the left side is the one that's the most damaged and it's entirely inaccessible when you're in the actual manor.

It's possible that the fire started in Maelle's room and spread pretty far. It would also make sense for the right side of the manor to be repaired first, since that's where Clea and Alicia sleep, while the left side isn't nearly as important. I've seen the theory that the fire started in the form of a book (I'd imagine it exploding or bursting into flames when opened), which could have easily been a gift from a writer friend of Alicia. It would also present a situation for Verso to sacrifice himself in, since his room is next to hers, farther away from the manor's entrance. That would mean that, in the case of a fire in Alicia's room, Verso would have to go past the room/fire to get outside and would therefore be presented directly with the choice to go into her room to get her to safety, at the risk of his own life. I still wouldn't really know why he would die in this case, while she is merely injured (I suppose if there was an actual burst of flames out of a book, that might be the origin of the facial scars, but it wouldn't explain how Verso died).

Another possibility is that the fire started in the guest room located on the left side just up the stairs. Notably, it's the only other open door during the Epilogue of act 2, besides Alicia's room. Like mentioned before, the left side is the most damaged side of the manor. I feel it's safe to disregard a lot of Maelle's nightmare of the fire, since it really is more of a dream than a memory, so the fire's location isn't immediately confirmed by it (we also hear Verso's screams of pain from painted Alicia during act 2, and that recollection of events does seem more fitting than the calmness of the dream). Since we're talking about the guest room in this case, the fire could have been planted more directly, by a guest (which would have been a trusted writer friend of Maelle's). This also obviously wouldn't explain why Verso died and Alicia didn't, but I find it a notable possibility due to one key feature.

The only collectible in this room is the 'skirt' outfit for Maelle. It's the same outfit we see a lot of people wear during the Gommage, including Sophie. It's a strange location for this outfit, considering its connections to death within the story, unless of course, it's connected to the fire. I could absolutely see Maelle (or her writer friend for that matter) wearing this outfit on the day of the fire. We could also go one step further (into English teacher territory) and say that if Aline placed this outfit for Maelle in the guest room, especially if she hadn't originally worn it, would signify two things simultaneously:

-She doesn't see a difference between the writer who started the fire and Alicia, placing Alicia in the same clothes as the perpetrator, viewing them as just as guilty.

First off, Verso and Monoco lived there for a bit, but it's not explained when, for how long or why they stopped. Not living together makes sense considering their semi-fallout but neither of them still lives on that mountain (though Monoco doesn't live that far away) and it's crawling with nevrons. There are also multiple Grandis that warn you against going to Frozen Hearts at all.

Personally, I couldn't find any liveable place there at all (unlike for example the ancient sanctuary where Verso's hut is findable and recognisable) and at some point while climbing Verso will mention that he 'hadn't been there for some time' and that his family used to ski there.

Considering he and Monoco lived no more than a stone's throw away, it's really curious that they either never bothered to go higher up the mountain while living right on it or it's actually been some time since they lived there.

I honestly don't know which of these is more likely but I do have a theory on why they left. When you first enter Frozen Hearts, a Gestral tells you that Nevrons often resemble their environment but that he doesn't understand where the fire comes from.

This is not a hard leap to make but I feel like the Nevrons of Frozen Hearts were purely ice-based in the start. All of them look like they're made of ice, yet burning from within. Their ability to change stances and therefore their resistance and weakness is unique among enemies. It's a change I suspect occurred when the Gargant was created.

The Gargant is the final boss of the area and interestingly designed, as I will get to later. It also holds the eternal ice, which is said to never melt, and this certainly explains its power to change between fire and ice attacks seamlessly without burning up or melting. It's also surrounded by pools of magma and seems to be their origin. Magma just like it is visible throughout all of Frozen Hearts, though not with nearly the same amount of concentration.

And yet, why would Clea change already existing Nevrons? This brings me to the second, more convoluted part of this theory.

I've seen other people already express this opinion (and I share it, but this is more of a prerequisite than an actual part of the theory), that Aline painted a lot of interests in Verso that are childlike and probably not all that interesting to him in adulthood. His love for trains is the biggest example of that (you could also see his affectionate nature with Esquie and Monoco as another, though I won't forbid the man a good snuggle or headpat, even if he probably wouldn't have been cuddling with his dog or stuffed toy as an adult).

Of course, it's only natural for a hurting parent to infantilize their child, especially without even noticing it themselves, and that's precisely where Clea comes in. Though she won't admit it, Clea cares very deeply about Verso's canvas. If you talk to the Lady of the Sap, she spells it out clearly enough. She kills Aline's creations to respect what she and Verso created. Clea hates that Aline and Renoir are destroying their canvas in a war she deems unnecessary.

It's pretty obvious that she doesn't like when her family members get out of touch with reality. She seems annoyed when Alicia asks her if she's seen Verso and calls him a painted copy, and her just as bad as Aline. I can only imagine how angry she must be that both Alicia and Aline are viewing painted Verso as a suitable replacement, even though he isn't Verso, he could never be. She seemed to be pretty close to him, both in relation and in age, so any inconsistencies that her other family members might not even notice, would drive her crazy. Because how could the others not be bothered by what sets these two Versos apart so clearly, at least to her?

And that brings me back to the Gargant. It's designed to be train parts and tracks, destroyed by huge clumps of ice. If Verso loved trains so much, why would Clea design a Nevron who is made up of their destruction? In all of Frozen Hearts the trains and train tracks are all frozen over, pierced through and overall in shambles. If trains were a childhood interest of Verso which he grew out of, it would explain exactly why she did it.

Seeing the painted Verso living on the mountain that's modelled after where they used to go on ski trips (which would have also probably been a childhood activity), surrounded by trains he used to love as a child, with the painted copy of his dog he cuddles to sleep at night, it would've driven Clea crazy. It would have been so obvious to her, how her mother painted him in a way he used to be, when he was younger, how she was clinging to the past and the time even before the past.

Now, there's a theory (or more like headcanon to be honest) that I have on what this could mean in the metaphorical sense. Obviously, Verso's usage of light in his attacks is less of a view on how he sees himself and more of how Aline sees him, or how he tries to be for others. A mask if you will. (And I've elaborated on that a bit more in a different post, so I won't do it here. Basically, light in the dark, saviour stuff, yada yada, insert Verso-typical rhetoric here)

We don't really get to find out what element he'd have chosen for himself, although we get two different answers I'd deem possible. (The second will shock you)

The first is Ice damage. This is mainly because the Mask Keeper is resistant to it. I could imagine a few different options of why Renoir painted him like that, the first one being that it's the counterpart to fire (which I don't think I need to explain too deeply). There's also another possible layer to it with Verso being resistant to something that could have helped him (or refusing that help outright) but I think I'm getting into Literature teacher territory with that. Another possibility is also that Verso liked the cold. He does rather fondly remember the ski trips with his family and lived for a long time in frozen hearts with Monoco, but other than that there's not much to go off of.

The second element I'd have in mind for Verso is lightning (surprising, I know). Besides the point that Gustave a lightning kinda guy, another argument would be that all the Sakapatate are resistant to it, so it's the only element we know that the original Verso chose for himself.

Besides that (and back to the english teacher), I've taken a closer look at all the available weapons Verso has access to. Most of them are physical/light-based, so we'll ignore those. The rest are two of each element and one darkness weapon, which means the numbers aren't really the interesting part here. Instead, looking at the two lightning weapons, we find the Dualiso and the Contorso.

Personally (And I really don't know if that was just me being forgetful), I had a really hard time telling the Dualliste and Mask Keeper apart. Maybe it was the two swords, maybe it's the fact that you fight them so many times (and on the same level too, at the endless tower) but these two seemed like the same enemy to me. There's also the fact that the Dualliste is resistant to both Darkness and Fire (which all the painted versions of Verso are weak to) and the weapon it starts with is the fire sword.

The Dualliste is the only enemy in the forgotten battlefield to have anything to do with fire except for the chromatic luster (which is curious in of itself since neither the original luster or any other enemy in flying waters are weak or resistant to fire, and the chromatic luster uses only fire). At the end of the fight, Verso even uses this very sword to defeat the Dualliste, though he collects the dark sword instead. All that is to say, there seems to be some deeper connection between Verso and the Dualliste, one I could try and theorize on but I feel like I'd have to go even more off-topic.

Now, the Contorso is way easier to connect to Verso. It's obtainable by defeating Contorsionniste, a common enemy type on Visages island. Curiously enough, this enemy is the only one on the entire island, bosses included, who isn't weak to fire. Instead, they are even resistant to it.

Out of all of the elemental weapons, these two lightning weapons are the only element to collectively be obtained by bosses, have direct and indirect connections to Verso and have connections to fire that go against the patterns of the environments they're found in.

Some part of me wonders if, at least in Maelle's case, this is purely how she was painted over by Aline or if this is also how she sees herself. As the counterpart to Verso, who is loved and perfect and makes the lives of the people around him brighter. Instead, her pain is 'reflecting back tenfold', only hurting. She feels insufficient, trapped in the shadows of her siblings, unloved and uncared for. Her existence is a reminder of the fire, her abilities an amplification.

How interwoven Renoir and Verso are painted is just so noticeable in everything. Renoir wearing the Suit Verso wore in the Family painting even though it doesn't seem like the real Renoir's style at all, Verso wearing Renoir's wedding ring in Maelle's ending, Gustave (as Maelle's replacement of her male family members) being her 'brother and father both', painted Renoir using the Visages' masks as as an attack but none of the other axons. Painted Renoir's fighting style resembling Verso's so much (with all the elegant twirls) while the curator's style is so much more like Maelle's (with more slow but sudden, hard-hitting strikes and similar looking attacks to her late game void skills).

There's also Renoir inserting himself into Verso's place repeatedly. He talks of taking his place in the fire and poses as his Axon, Visages. Even in the final battle when he summons the Axons, it's not the Maskkeeper who comes to support him, it's Visages.

And I find that such a noteworthy detail. Of course, having the little Maskkeeper amongst the Kaijus wouldn't have been as visually pleasing as having Visages instead, but it also drives the same narrative home as the other details.

Can we talk about how the manor looks different in literally every one of its iterations? Not only does the inside not match the outside, both of them also don't match the real-life counterpart outside the canvas.

First up, we get the opportunity to see the canvas' version from the outside twice. Once in old Lumière and another time at white sands/its world map location.

This is how it looks from the outside. Note the four stories, the big window on the third floor, the two windows right next to the main entrance and the roof.

Now, the problem with all this is that on the inside it only has three floors, not counting the giant greenhouse on the fourth floor (which is completely missing from the outside version of the manor, there the entire top is covered by a roof). Speaking of the roof, it also covers what would be pyramid skylights, which are located in the rooms of Clea, Alicia, Renoir and Aline (two of these pyramids are located on the second floor and the other two on the third, which implies that the manor's roof isn't of even height.

Aline and Renoir's room also doesn't match with the position of the windows. There's two windows next to the bed and one rounded window in the bathroom. The only rounded windows on the outside are on the roof, but there is only one window in the middle on that level, not the necessary two.

Furthermore, the two windows on the bottommost floor next to the entrance aren't visible on the inside.

There's also these tall windows in the entrance hall that aren't there on the outside. Also, you've probably noticed that the hall is rounded on the side of the door while on the outside the house is entirely flat.

Now, technically the 'entrance hall' on the inside doesn't necessarily have to be the room that is right behind the main entrance. Except that we see that it is.

Of course, the outline of the stairs and the chandelier both being exactly as on the inside of the manor don't 100% prove that it's the same room but it's pretty likely.

Lastly, and most obviously, the two manors are built entirely different. The outside version looks more wide than anything, with the entrance hall seemingly only making up a third of it. Meanwhile, the inside version basically only goes forward from the entrance hall and the rooms barely even go beyond the width of the entrance hall. The proportions seem flipped and yet we do see the inside when the paintress opens the door in old Lumière.

Getting to the more interesting part though, the manor's appearance changes yet again during the A life to live ending. There's not as good of a view of it as there is of the other two versions but you can make out a few key differences.

First off, the huge door leading to a balcony on either the second or third floor. This balcony takes up a lot of space and is very prominent, even though you can only see it from far away. But of course, this probably isn't the front of the manor (because most people probably wouldn't put a grave in front of their home) and we don't see the back of the canvas' manor (even on the world map, the back is covered in black crystals), so the balcony could still very well be there. Only, we know what's at the back of the manor: Renoir's atelier.

If you've been there (which you should, else you've ignored my spoiler warnings and that would be pretty upsetting) you'll probably remember how tall and bright the atelier is. It's covered in windows and no other room reaches farther. It spans at least the height of the first and second floor.

I'll excuse a lot of the other differences (like the missing big window where the balcony is, the roof looking very different in the middle and so on) since this is probably the back of the mansion, but it still isn't the same manor as we see when we are inside it also based on the differences we've already established between both painted versions. The two real-life versions we see aren't the same as each other either and I probably find that the most interesting.

If you don't use an antidote for Nettie's poison, you'll die on the fourth day. On the third day your character looks like the picture above.

I have never seen this happen to myself or other people

Every morning after waking up, your character will also say that the poison is getting worse