Maelle Was Right: How Clair Obscur Shies Away From Its Most Important Question

As you might guess, the following contains spoilers for Clair Obscur: Expedition 33.

"Maelle was right" is a phrase I'm borrowing from my friend Alexis Nedd. As you can see, she believes in it so deeply that she embroidered it on a shirt. My conversation with her while we were both in LA for Summer Game Fest sparked the idea for this blog post!

"Maelle was right" can refer to a lot of things. Maelle is a grieving teenage girl who makes plenty of statements and choices that divide the game's players. But the statement I'm diving into today is one she made to Verso, about the world of Lumière, soon after regaining her memories as Alicia.

"It's not make-believe."

The question of whether the people of Lumière are real, sentient people or simply fictitious creations of the Dessendre family lies at the heart of Clair Obscur, despite the game's reluctance to address it at its most important moments.

On my first playthrough, the answer seemed obvious. We've spent two acts with characters from Lumière, acutely feeling their grief, their struggles, their successes. Clair Obscur's excellent writing and acting meant that I never once doubted their sentience within the world. Therefore, when presented with the question of whether to side with Maelle or Verso, Maelle was the only acceptable choice. The Dessendre family's grief was entirely secondary to the lives of the people and gestrals within the Canvas.

But upon hearing others' final choices, I found not everyone came to the same conclusion I did. Many people placed greater weight on the Dessendre family's plight, and often chose Verso's ending as a result.

And I can't blame them for this; the game frames the decision within a discussion about Maelle and her mother's well-being. Even Lune and Sciel, when defending Maelle to Renoir, cite her ability to make her own decisions, rather than their own desire to live.

And, I have to concede, this moment could be used as evidence that Lune and Sciel are not sentient. Since this is the version of them that Maelle resummoned, if they really were creations of Maelle's mind, it makes sense that they'd argue her point stronger than their own.

All that being said, upon rewatching the important cutscenes from Clair Obscur's third act, I feel confident that Renoir knows the people in the Canvas are sentient, yet does not care if he has to destroy them all to protect his family.

The moment this became clear to me is when the real Renoir meets the painted Verso for the first time. He engages with him like a real person, expressing genuine remorse for the pain his wife has caused him, and apologizes on behalf of the family. It's a moment of shared humanity between the two of them; both of them hurt by Aline's choice to deal with her grief inside the Canvas.

But the shared humanity is shattered with Renoir's next sentence: "I know it seems absurd to offer oblivion as recompense, but perhaps that's the outcome we both desire." Renoir reminds Verso of the power imbalance between them, and makes it clear that he intends to see Verso destroyed so that Aline may live, valuing her life above his. At this point, Verso hasn't expressed a desire to be erased–that comes later upon seeing the affect the Canvas continues to have on his mother. Whether Renoir truly believes that's what Verso wants or not, the assumption strips Verso of his agency.

It's clear to me that Renoir knows that the creations within Lumière are real, sentient beings with feelings, but because his family is their creators, he feels that his family's life is more important than theirs.

However, it's hard not to feel like Clair Obscur's narrative shies away from this conclusion, or even the question of sentience at all. As I mentioned before, when the game presents the final choice, sentience isn't discussed, despite having massive implications on the two outcomes.

Imagine a climax where Maelle argues not just for her own life, but for the lives of her friends. Where Verso questions his own free will and grapples with the fact that he sees the Dessendres' lives as more valuable than his own. It complicates the final decision, but Clair Obscur thrives on complexity.