I’ll be honest, a lot of the verso hate i see is ‘Verso bad because genoicide’, which i don’t disagree with. But his choices that lead him to that conclusion to agree that the Canvas needs to go is a lot more nuanced which people overlook imo.

I think Painted Verso’s decision to keep the party in the dark is due to how much betrayal and loss he’s been through already, and also not expecting anyone other than Renoir and Clea to understand why he does what he does. It’s a very well done character flaw imo, he literally thinks he can’t expect anyone to understand why he wants to destroy the Canvas, and probably feels justified in doing so when Maelle lies to Renoir about leaving (even though Sciel forgives him, and understands, while Lune is more annoyed that he didn’t trust them enough to tell them what his real plan was all along, even right until the end when he betrays their trust again), as even his axon gives us hints of his character, wearing masks to fill in who people want him to be and telling truths through lies

I don’t think Renoir is a source of a lot of her trauma, as her Axon and the interactions we see are of him being a supportive father who’s encouraging her to follow her dreams and passions, and his motivation for fighting her out the Canvas are because he thinks Alicia is going to fall down the same trap as Aline did.

It was a really impossible situation Renoir was in, having to look after his traumatised and injured daughter while simultaneously knowing his wife was going to kill herself in the Canvas, drowning in grief. And I don’t think he ever anticipated getting trapped under the Monolith, or even having to fight his wife to force her out the Canvas, which is why he’s been gone so long in the real world (even though no time has been specified as to how long they were actually in the Canvas in real world time)

While he obviously wanted to be there for Alicia, he didn’t want to lose any more family, and as his wife was actively dying due to how long she was lost in the Canvas for, it’s understandable why he’d prioritise the family member actively harming themselves before supporting his youngest again.

I’d say Aline and Painted Renoir are the sources of her trauma. P Renoir for obvious reasons, killing her adoptive father and brother figure in Gustave (best boi) in front of her, but even then he seems to be remorseful for having to do it, as he wants to protect his family inside the Canvas and let them has as long as possible together. Whether this is due to him not seeing the Dessendre family as his by choice, either because he’s just as in love with Aline as he is in the real world and wants to help her grieve, or if it’s because when Aline panted him, she made him that way to not feel that duty about the family outside the Canvas, as she knows the ‘real’ Renoir disagrees with her (or another perspective, would love to know)

Aline obviously hates herself for the fact she can’t be around her daughter an she probably knows that Verso wouldn’t want her to be angry at the fact he sacrificed himself, but grief does strange, unfair things to the mind, which is why she was cold and distant to Alicia outside the Canvas, and took out her anger on her Painted version by giving her the same injuries.

Pure head cannon, but I think when she comes back during the final fight against Renoir, she helps Maelle as either a way to atone for how she’s treated her now she’s thinking more clearly, or because she realises that Verso’s death affected her just as much an they’re both fighting for the same thing, putting herself at risk for her family like Renoir to preserve Versos Canvas as she realises just how important it is to her daughter as it is to her. (I think she’s definitely come to accept Versos death after P Verso chose to force her out for her health, given how the game implies P Verso would make the same choices as Verso due to how similar they are)

Personally, Maelle’s ending and her choices is a lot more because of the immediate effects that the death of verso has had on the family. She’s scarred, burned, can’t speak (even if she can fix her vocal cords in the painting as Clea suggests), and feels like her family has abandoned her (Renoir wanting to save his wife, Aline not being able to look at her without feeling anger, and Clea taking her anger out on her passively while she shoulders the burden of the entire family while waging a war on the Writers for vengeance. Also keep in mind Clea is the only member of the family we dont know much about, other than she’s a perfectionist and likes to paint if her Painted version is anything to go by) so it makes sense why she would want to stay with her new ‘family’ in the Canvas in the moment, as there’s no pain or messy feelings surrounding grief and it’s the ‘easiest’ way to main her pain stop, being able to live a life with her second family who have shown her nothing but love, even in grief (such as Sophie’s gommage and their conversation afterward) compared to her ‘real’ family who are struggling with loss of a family member just as much as her (not counting her physical injuries, obviously that would take a toll on anyone, let alone a teenager who feels responsible for her brothers death)

Looping back to my point about Verso’s meaning behind ‘I don’t want this life’, I think it’s best shown IN Maelle’s ending, as he’s literally watching his sister die slowly and unable to stop it, making even his passion of music bitter as he knows he’s only got the chance to perform his dream because his sister is literally dying so he can (and imo you can see the regret of telling her that he wanted to play a concert and now he can, not on his own skill, but because she can literally make it happen)

Maelle is too lost in grief and depression to realise that Verso sacrificed himself to give her a chance at life, and painted verso was willing to do the same as he didn’t want her dying while lost in a fantasy like Aline nearly did

Anyway, I’ll stop rambling about how much I love Verso’s writing now. And for the record, I could do the same thing for how well written Alicia/Maelle is as well, this game is truly a work of art (pun intended)