The following article will dig into the symbolism and secrets of this dark fantasy world. For this reason, the article has MAJOR SPOILERS of the main twists of the plot, so it is intended for players that reached at least Act 3. Or even better if they finished the game.

Clair Oscur Expedition 33 (COE33) is definitively this year’s surprise, a JRPG shacking the fundamentals of the genre by being loyal to the classics while innovating in every aspect. With dynamic turn-based combats, believable and complex characters, and a dark fantasy world shaped by deadly creatures and French Belle Epoque, the game was a risky but rewarding project. In COE33’s world, every year the Paintress rises from a slumber to paint a number on a colossal monolith, erasing the entire human generation with the same age as the number. And every year, an expedition of heroes starts a journey to reach and stop the Paintress.

The world of Clair Oscur is a complex reality shaped by different demiurges. People, monsters, colossal deities, and fairytale characters clash and coexist in this painted world, each of them brought to life by a different hand. Simply examining the “who painted what” would be already an important task, probably fitting for another article. In this one, I will focus only on the Axons painted by Renoir.

While the Nevrons are the main foes and enemies during the game, the Axons are the most impressive boss battles. Even lore-wise, the Axons are the gateways to reach the Paintress, the last boss battles before entering the endgame. Visages and Sirene are the two main Axons inside the game, and harvesting their energy is crucial to break the barrier protecting the Paintress. The Reacher is a hidden Axon reachable during the endgame while trying to achieve the maximum level of Maelle’s relationship. The first and last Axon is the Hauler, the forgotten one, only visible as a dead body in Old Lumiere.

What are the colossal Axons? As previously specified, the Axons are the only contribution to the painting made by Renoir, the father of the Dessendre’s family. While the Axons could appear only as random monsters, or a colossal version of Cleo’s Nevrons, the reality behind them is far more twisted. The Axons are symbolic creatures, Renoir’s way to mitigate Verso’s trauma by painting a version of his family enriched in symbolism and different layers of interpretation. Each Axon is one family member, including his wife Aline, his son Verso, and his daughters Clea and Alicia. The Axons are imbued with both the delusion after Verso’s death affecting each beloved one and Renoir’s vision of them before the trauma. However, a self-portrait Axon seems to be missing, since Renoir didn’t paint his Axon.

In the following article, I will analyse each Axon, including their setting, appearance, and the symbolism behind the painting. Because while Renoir painted the Axons, he also painted their world and the Nevrons living in it. Moreover, during the final fight, the real Renoir will summon the Axons to help him during the battle.

Visages (Verso’s Axon)

Location: The first Axon inhabits a very peculiar island, full of huge stone masks. They have different expressions on their faces, and they almost whisper something to the wind. The island is full of rich nature, especially red trees, with mountains, gorges, and stunning scenery. Interestingly, the island is divided into biomes according to the main emotion and the associated mask dominating it. The Joy environment is full of light and blooming vegetation compared to Anger, which is a desolate landscape with fires all around. At the end of each area, a huge mask connected with the emotion will ask you a question, and start a fight in case of a correct answer.

Enemies: The Nevrons change with the environment and the emotion of each zone. In Joy, the main enemies are creepy mannequins dressed in white with disturbing smiles, shaking violently. And if this is not enough, the Contorsionists are gigantic nightmare-fueled abominations, with their body twisted on four legs and an eye opening on their body. The creatures here remind of the Windmill Village in Elden Ring, also inhabited by white-dressed and joy inhebriated maniacs. Anger has knights with a stone mask as a shield, while Sadness is inhabited by small imp-like masked creatures flying on a mask. There are no main bosses in the island, but each area has a fight against a powered-up version of a regular enemy supported during the battle by the gigantic mask.

The Axon: Visages is a colossal abomination made of stone faces and wielding two staffs. The different emotions power up the abomination, giving it boosts and special powers during the fight. However, this is not the real Axon, since the disturbing Maskmaker is the final battle on this island. The Maskmaker is a tall knight in heavy armor covered in masks. When he appears, the light always goes off, and he moves under a mysterious spotlight, like the main actor entering the stage. There are many correlations between the Axon and theater, including the masks and the way of dramatically speaking. The Maskmaker is a tough battle right after Visages, a challenging duel of impossible slashes and energy attacks powered by masks and related emotions. During the fight against the real Renoir, Visage will join the battle to shield him from attacks.

Symbolism: Visage is described by Monoco as the one hiding the truth. This Axon is the symbolic painting of the real Verso by the hand of his father Renoir. Nobody in the family was expecting Verso’s death, and how he willingly sacrificed for his sister. Behind the facade, Verso was troubled, maybe to the point where he wanted to die. He was weighed down by the family’s ambition and expectations. He liked music more than painting, but his destiny was already written. Regardless of the weight on him, Verso put on a mask to fake his emotions. He never said anything about it, just kept the real feeling to himself. After all, he is the one who hides the truth. This is related to all the masks around the island as the main theme of the Axon. Moreover, Verso never felt the protagonist of his own story, just part of other people’s expectations. This is why the Maskmaker lives instead under the spotlight, a being hidden but always at the center of the story. The real being behind the masks, the one creating them, but with knowledge of the truth behind them. As a father, Renoir realised too late the complexities and anxieties troubling his son. He couldn’t see through Verso’s masks till it was too late.

Sirene (Aline’s Axon)

Location: Sirene’s arena is a gigantic structure in the middle of the sea, one of the largest buildings in the entire world, after the Monolith and the Endless Tower. The place is a desertic environment enriched with structures, including temples, statues, and columns all around. Everything is embraced by light, and music is always in the air, highlighting a place full of life. Some areas are entirely covered in drapes and fabric, hanging curtains, and mountains of threads. Hooded figures sitting on a moving platform work as elevators and transport inside the colosseum. Sirene is dancing in the bottom of the arena, a gigantic and delicate figure constantly moving.

Enemies: Dancers very similar to Sirene are the main enemies of the area, graceful Nevrons that are not particularly threatening. Other foes are wrapped balls of threads full of eyes, a more grotesque and disturbing sight more common in the bottom of the arena. On Sirene’s island, there are also two important boss battles. The first one is the Tisseur, a gigantic mechanical being constantly sewing clothes for Sirene. It is not a direct threat, however, if spared, it will make the battle against Sirene more challenging by shielding her with new clothes. The second boss is the Glissando, a disturbing and grotesque worm made of scrapped fabric and shrouds, wearing a mask. The creature attacks with its head, but can also summon dancers to join the combos with complex ballets.

Axon: Sirene is a towering, delicate, and elegant figure, a dancer wearing a mask and yellow clothes. At first glimpse, she is not particularly intimidating or dangerous. However, this is far from true, because the Axon can charm people into deadly dances or trick their minds by showing their departed lovers. As a proper siren, Sirene plays with minds and alters people’s behaviour. During the battle, Sirene uses deadly, tricky, and extremely choreographic moves. First, she can charm the party member to dance while floating away. On your turn, you can shoot them down to recover them from the trance, otherwise, this could bring to a quick demise. The most powerful Sirene’s attacks bring other dancers into the combo for a deadly ballet, or even colossal Glissando smashing around. In the final attack, the Final Act, Sirene will also throw an entire building to the party. During the fight against the real Renoir, Sirene will join the battle to heal him.

Symbolism: Sirene is the Axon painted by Renoir to symbolize the Paintress herself: Aline. Why in the beginning, there was some speculation if this could be Alicia or Cleo’s Axon, Monoco confirmed she is the Paintress. Renoir probably painted her as a beautiful and charming dancer, a representation of her elegant and gorgeous nature, from a time when they probably met. Sirene is a charming figure who seduced and conquered the heart of a young Renoir, depicted as this elegant dancer. Moreover, her painting style was described as a “dance,” literally imbued into Sirene’s design. However, Renoir’s creations are heavily symbolic, with different interpretative layers in their design. Her dancing is mad, constant, and also aggressive, highlighting how now the Paintress is trapped in her own creation, forever painting. Moreover, her ability to show people their gone beloved ones strongly connects with her inability to abandon her grief. She is not only trapped in her grieving but also constantly reminding her family of their sadness, allowing nobody to move on. Even if they would like to forget Verso’s death, Aline forces them to remember, as Sirene charms people into a mad dance. During the final fight against Renoir, Aline herself as the Paintress will attack Sirene, destroying with huge hate this representation made by her husband.

Reacher (Alicia’s Axon)

Location: The third Axon lives on top of tall mountains, a secluded place hidden from the world. In there, the creature is building a gigantic wooden tower, a monolithic and imperfect structure, trying to reach heaven. The immense wooden structure is at the center of everything, a place always under construction, made of nails and impossible wooden plancks crossing the void. Hot air balloons are scattered around and work as the main transportation on the tower.

Enemies: Inside the wooden tower, Nevrons fight each other. Apparently, there are two factions inside the tower, the ones contributing to building or destroying the tower. The destroyers are disturbing figures, wearing improvised helmets made of nails, metal, or rope, and wielding tools including hammers. They are fast and dangerous enemies, able to spin around for deadly attacks that are difficult to dodge or parry. The ones building the tower are peaceful NPCs with heads made of grass, creative beings thinking only to their next invention. On the mountainside, engulfed in mist, disturbing hooded beings use lanterns and lights to walk around. Some of them walk on sticks, similarly to the Axon, while others, bigger and more intimidating, also wield an organic club.

Axon: The Axon is not a direct threat, nor does it attack in any way the characters. The Reacher’s only interest is to build the tower, adding more and more pieces to it. The Reacher is probably the largest Axon, a creature so big that it is practically impossible to have a complete view of it during the game. Sometimes, you can see the huge poles that it uses to walk around or the woods part of its head. Only on the very top of the tower, you can see a huge eye in the middle of its face. Luckily, the official concept art helps to understand the Axon’s anatomy. The head is shaped like a wood umbrella, with an opening in the middle, while the creature moves around on the four legs, each of them supported by a pole. The umbrella-shaped design, with a single eye, resembles the Japanese Yokai Kasa-Obake, which is a jumping one-eyed umbrella. However, the true Axons’s essence hides inside the head, a doll sitting on a throne, crowned by chaotic hair. During the final fight against Renoir, the Reacher provides him with artificial wings in order to perform his deadliest flying combo.

Symbolism: The Reacher is Alicia/Maelle’s Axon, which is very clear from every conversation. In her father’s eyes, Alicia is a geyser of potential ready to explode. Everything is possible for her, every idea realisable, without any limit to the heights she could reach. As the Axon, constantly building, constantly aiming for the sky, Alicia’s talent has no limit. However, after her trauma, Alicia lives hidden inside her shell of pain and fear, unaware of her talent and possibilities. As the doll inside the Axon, she is hiding from the world, without even knowing how tall the tower is. She lives repressed, shielded from reality, without trying to use her abilities to reach her full potential. And for a father, this is a tough and silent pain to endure.

Hauler (Clea’s Axon)

Location: Old Lumiere is the part of the city that remained on the continent after the Fracture. However, almost nothing of the original city survived, and everything is only ruins, death, and silence. Huge light swords and melted buildings are the sign of another battle, the one between Simon, the lost member of Expedition 0, and the Axon itself. A battle that the Axon lost, and now the colossal creature’s body is part of the city’s architecture.

Enemies: The ruined area mainly only host one kind of Nevron. Knights in heavy armor, with a rapier, mask, and a full set of decorations, roam across the ruins attacking every survivor on sight with deadly and quick combos.

Axon: The Axon is a colossal dead body, now mixed with the ruins. The Axon has long hair, almost covering the face, and the body is mainly human. While it is not easy to see the Axon from inside Old Lumiere, flying around it on Esquie grants a perfect view of the giant. The colossal humanoid is half buried in the earth, with Simon’s giant swords stabbing it on the ground. The Axon lifts on its back a huge part of Old Lumiere, as a sort of modern Atlas. During the battle against Renoir, the Hauler will help by throwing from afar an entire building against the party.

Symbolism: The Axon is Clea’s representation painted by Renoir, this is confirmed in Simon’s diary after defeating the superboss. Clea is the only one in the family that accepted Verso’s death, and she was able to move on better than her parents. And not only that, she is actually trying to help the family in everything. She is fighting a war against the Writers, creating the Nevrons to weaken the Paintress, and even helping Renoir to erase the painting. As her Axon, she is carrying all the weight on her shoulders, all her family’s problems. However, the real Clea was not a fan of her Axon and, for this reason, her lover Simon destroyed it.