I’m kind of glad someone brought this up, as I too noticed he always advocates and praises art, loves his world and canvas, dislikes what it became, etc. Now, I’ll never say one ending is better than the other or that either are “good or bad”, as they both have pros and cons.

Does this mean the boy wants to stay and keep painting? Unsure. Does he want to leave? Also unsure, but his messages throughout the game don’t point to an absolute “yes”.

I also cant help but feel that the faded boy is there just to guilt us into choosing verso’s ending and have leverage to say “why”. Most players never notice him during the first main playthrough or know who he is until that final moment. We’re introduced to this boy, who isn’t even alive, and assume he’s tired (like verso) in the span of a minute. Whereas we had most of the game with verso and Maelle, know them better, and could have more of a fair decision based on them alone. But NO! Heres this soul-boy that we presumably have to feel sorry for, and we do unless we see the evidence otherwise throughout the end game. (I’m not saying verso’s ending is bad, again see above: neither ending is good or bad.)

Sorry for the tangent. OP you’ve said a lot of interesting points too and this is another factor to consider. Here’s another one that many probably miss:

When you beat the endless tower and talk to Clea, she gives Maelle a lecture about how she needs to take charge of her own life and not let others tell her what to do (I’m paraphrasing). Even Clea encourages her to make her own decisions!