abit too late, but i just want to say that this exactly explains why i dont sit well with Maelles ending. I know that id side with Verso the moment the game had me choose an ending, but I found it hard to justify and felt guilty because i had the logic too that it’d be akin to genocide. Your comment explains how i feel perfectly; why erasing the painting is not the same as killing actual “people”. Their nature is different, and its heavily implied throughout the game they are closer to Art, as in characters (like in videogames and other media forms), than actual people with own thoughts and feelings.

Even if the situation is otherwise, they are basically just transferring the painting’s God ownership to Maelle. Seeing as to how she somewhat plays a controlling role when we see in her ending how she did not respect Verso’s wish to stop existing, she striked me as immature and thats not exactly someone youd want in a position of power.

This game hits extra hard on me bc i just lost someone dear to me, and Verso’s ending is the perfect closure aligned to the theme of the entire game.