Maelle is one of the members of Expedition 33 and the youngest of their group, going 9 years before her gommage.
Description[]
- Orphaned at age 3, Maelle has never felt at home in Lumière. She has difficulty connecting with and trusting others, but has come to appreciate her foster brother Gustave.
- At 16 years of age, Maelle is significantly younger than the other Expeditioners. Unlike them, she views the Expedition as her chance to explore the world beyond Lumière and finally forge her own destiny.
Skills[]
- For Maelle's skills, see the skills page
Biography[]
Background[]
Maelle is one of Lumière's many orphans, having lost her parents to the Gommage at the age of three. After years spent bouncing between different foster families, often rejected due to her difficult nature, she eventually found herself with Gustave and his sister Emma. Gustave acted as both a brother and father figure to Maelle, helping her feel more comfortable with her unorthodox attitudes and personality.
Maelle worked odd jobs during her teenage years, including as a runner for a warehouse and a volunteer at the orphanage. Disillusioned with her life in Lumière, she decided to join Expedition 33 despite her Gommage being nine years away.
Act I[]
Upon landing on the Continent, Expedition 33 is ambushed by a white-haired man and a group of Noirs. Most of the expedition members are killed and the few survivors are sent scattering across the land. Knocked unconscious in the opening salvo, Maelle is rescued by a mysterious figure and taken to the Manor (via a portal in Flying Waters), where she is assisted by the Curator after waking up. She is rejoined by Gustave and Lune after they find their way to the Manor, and the three are then joined by Sciel after unexpectedly finding themselves facing her in the arena at the Gestral Village.
Several times throughout Expedition 33's journey across the Continent, Maelle is faced with nightmares featuring Renoir and his daughter Alicia, who suggest that they know her and her family. Furthermore, Renoir places the blame for everything that has happened on her and warns of impending catastrophe, much to her confusion.
After reaching Stone Wave Cliffs and retrieving "Florrie", one of Esquie's magic rocks with which they could cross another sea, the Expedition is again confronted by Renoir. Gustave is killed while defending Maelle, leaving her devastated. A man named Verso intervenes at this point, allowing the rest of the Expedition to escape.
Act II[]
When Verso catches up and joins the Expedition, he suggests a spot near the Forgotten Battlefield, where the team symbolically lays Gustave to rest. Maelle promises to continue Gustave's work and save Lumière. She also inherits Gustave's journal, dutifully recording the Expedition's travels, hoping that one day Gustave's apprentices will be able to read them. At the same time, Verso begins to take on Gustave's role as Maelle's guardian, and the two bond over time.
After recruiting Monoco, Verso leads the Expedition to Old Lumière to destroy The Paintress's heart in order to disable the barrier protecting her. His plan is thwarted by Renoir, though Maelle is able to briefly meet Alicia in the flesh and gain a few clues on what might have happened to her and her family. On Lune's suggestion, the Expedition instead forges a powerful weapon from the hearts of the Axons, with the help of the Curator. Maelle then uses the weapon to break the barrier, allowing the Expedition to enter the Monolith.
Upon finding the real Paintress at the top of the Monolith, Maelle is surprised to find that she too acts as if the two know each other; Lune ascribes this to the Paintress mistaking Maelle for her own daughter, Alicia. After Expedition 33 defeats the Paintress and returns to Lumière, every human in the city is Gommage'd with the exception of Verso. It is at this point that Maelle awakes in the real world, and recovers her true memories.
Act III[]
It is revealed that the world Maelle inhabited is an artificial creation, a Canvas World painted by a young Verso from the real world. Maelle is in reality Alicia Dessendre, Renoir and Aline's daughter and Clea and Verso's younger sister. After Verso died saving Alicia in a house fire, their mother Aline, overwhelmed by grief, sought refuge in the Canvas, which contained the last piece of his soul. Here she created Painted copies of the family.
Years within the Canvas (a shorter period of time in real life) caused Aline significant physical and mental damage, forcing a desperate Renoir to enter the Canvas to try and destroy it from within. His entry led to the Fracture that split Lumière from the Continent, and began a decades-long struggle. He became the Curator and Aline became the Paintress, with both trapped within the Monolith. Renoir carried out the annual Gommage, while Aline used her dwindling power to protect as many people as she could, painting a countdown on the Monolith as a warning to the people of Lumière of their impending doom.
Alicia, heavily scarred and unable to speak due to injuries sustained in the fire, was instructed by her sister Clea to enter the Canvas and help Renoir bring Aline out. Upon entering the Canvas, Alicia became overwhelmed by Aline's Chroma and was repainted into the world without her memories, being reborn in Lumière as Maelle. At this point, Clea entered the Canvas to inform the painted Verso, who was already aware of the truth of his world, of Maelle's identity and to request that he watch over her. Thus, Verso returned to Lumière several times over Maelle's life to ensure that she was safe.
After Maelle is Gommage'd, she is forced out of the Canvas and recovers her memories, causing her two identities as Alicia and Maelle to combine. In the real world, Alicia has hidden the Canvas from her mother, who has now been forced out, and re-enters the world. In Lumière, she speaks to Verso and states her preference to be called Maelle. She makes clear her intentions to rebuild and preserve the world against the wishes of her father, who plans to destroy the Canvas once and for all to end the family's cycle of grief.
Having recovered her power as a Paintress, Maelle resurrects Lune and Sciel, and the Expedition sets out to seize control of the Canvas from Renoir. They confront Renoir in what remains of Lumière one last time and defeat him. Renoir attempts to reason with her daughter, but Maelle remains adamant, promising that she would eventually come back to the real world. Despite knowing that Maelle has no intention of doing so, he acquiesces in the hopes that one day she might return. He then leaves the Canvas, resigned.
Upon realizing that Maelle does not want to leave, which will leave the Canvas intact and slowly kill her, Verso intervenes and asks the last piece of real-life Verso's soul to stop painting. Maelle interjects, insisting that she has no future in the outside world, while inside the Canvas she would have a chance to truly live. This leads to a final confrontation between the two over the fate of the Canvas.
Epilogues[]
If Maelle's ending was chosen:
- Maelle attempts to console a fading Verso, who repeats that he does not wish to live on. Afterwards, she presumably resurrects the entirety of Lumière, as well as granting a revived Verso mortality in the hopes of easing his burden. In the "A Life to Paint" epilogue, she is seen attending Verso's concert at Lumière's opera house in the company of Lune, Sciel and Gustave. She watches tearfully as a hesitant Verso begins to perform. He looks back and notices that Maelle is showing signs of decline.
If Verso's ending was chosen:
- Verso attempts to console a fading Maelle before she is expelled from the Canvas, after which he ensures the Canvas' final destruction. In the "A Life to Love" epilogue, the Dessendre family is seen gathering before Verso's grave in mourning. Maelle is eventually left alone; she then has a vision of the Expedition bidding her farewell.
Gallery[]
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