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Layers Of Fear(2023)reveals its story in small pieces, often disjointed and subtle. Even if you play through the entire game, very little is actually spelled out for you; only by finding as many items as possible and paying close attention to the links between them can you assemble the tragic tale of the Painter and his family.
Related:Layers Of Fear (2023): Painter’s Story Endings Guide
Even after the story concludes, you probably still have questions about some of the events of the Painter’s life. We’ve assembled the fullest biography that we can from the clues hidden throughout the game.
Like the game it details, this article contains references to abuse, neglect, corpse desecration, mental illness, and self-harm.
Spoilers begin here.
The Painter And The Musician
The Painter, whose name is never given at any point in the game, was an American artist active during the 1920s and 1930s. Little is known about his life before marriage, but the game hints that hegrew up with an abusive, alcoholic father. As a young man, the Painter served in the First World War, losing the lower part of his leg in combat; for the rest of his life, he used awooden prosthesisand walked with a cane.
Upon his return from the front, the Painter made a name for himself with portraits, ultimately showing in the gallery of Thomas Caldwell, who would become his agent and best friend. The Painter gained a moderate level of fame and notoriety, and during this time met the Musician, a beautiful virtuoso on the piano and violin, whose work was in demand. The two collaborated on an exhibit blending music and visual art, falling and love and getting married in the process.
Rats In The Walls
Both the Painter and the Musician were marked by theRat Queen, a supernatural entity that drives artists and creatives to the heights of their talents through a spiral of self-destruction. The Musician’s family had driven her hard to foster her talent through her entire life, and the Rat Queen fostered simultaneous resentment and perfectionism in her; the Musician was determined to become a world-renowned soloist while also being the perfect wife and mother.
For his part, the Painter realized (but would never admit) that his wife was abetter musician than he would ever be an artist.He would sabotage their collaborations to keep the audience’s attention from drifting too much to her music, and insisted that the Musician follow traditional gender roles as a homemaker while he was at leisure to work in his studio uninterrupted.
The Rat Queen never appeared before either of her victims, but appears as a malign influence throughout every story in Layers Of Fear.
The Daughter And The Fire
Soon after their marriage, the couplewelcomed a baby girl. The challenges of parenthood exacerbated the tensions between the two artists, and the Painter in particular began to act out. For example, when the Musician suggested that the family get a cat so that the growing toddler would have a companion, the Painter went andbought an aggressive, poorly-trained Doberman instead. Not only did the large dog frighten the child, but the Painter took little responsibility for it, ultimately seeing it as another nuisance and distraction from his art.
Despite their struggles, which neither of them really acknowledged to this point, the couple put on a facade of a loving, happy young couple when they were around others. After only a few years, though, the Musician’s career came to an abrupt and permanent end; the newly-opened Galactic Department Store caught fire due to faulty electrical wiring while she was shopping. The Musician survived, but sufferedfully-body burns, along with permanent nerve and muscle damage.
Unable to move three of the fingers on her right hand, plus suffering spasms and constant pain, the Musician would never be able to play an instrument again.Neither she nor her husband accepted this reality, convincing themselves - despite opinions from sixteen different doctors - that her disfiguring scars and new disabilities could be cured.
Related:Layers Of Fear (2023): Musician’s Story Endings Guide
The Painter’s Descent
On the surface, the Painter acknowledged that he would have to make sacrifices, taking care of the Musician while also taking much more of the load in raising their daughter. However, he would stilllock himself in his studio for hours on end, resenting his increased responsibilities for pulling them away from his art. He also resisted his wife’s entreaties toreplace their house’s gas lamps and candleswith electric lighting - she was, after all, terrified of fire now. Even after installing electric lights, the Painter would stillinsist on painting by candlelightin a room full of oil paints in spite of the Musician’s protests.
At the same time, the art world was changing - the rise of modern movements like cubism meant that realistic portraits were no longer in vogue. Unable to sell as many paintings, and without the extra income from the Musician’s concerts, the family began to struggle.
The Painter increasingly turned to alcohol as a coping mechanism, often appearingdrunk and disheveledin front of his young daughter. The family’s friends began to notice that all was not well, but the Painter and Musician both refused help - including an invitation for the Musician to take an extended stay at a renowned clinic. The breaking point for the Painter was when his newest work - a truly dreadful piece calledBabyface- was panned by critics.
The Painter began to believe thatthousands of ratswere living in the walls of the house, mocking him and toying with him. Neither the Musician nor the Daughter ever saw a single rat, but the Painter wouldset out dozens of traps, eventually deploying rat poison throughout the house and evenstarting a fire in the atticbefore thinking better of it and putting it out. He would blame the rats for every minor inconvenience, buttake out his frustrationson his wife, daughter, dog, and housemaid (who soon quit, fed up with her boss’s abuse).
The End Of The Family
Her husband’s behavior naturally took an even greater toll on the Musician, even as she was struggling to accept her injuries. Years of profound unhappiness took their toll, and when the Musician finally realized that she truly would never play again, shetook her own life. When the Painter found her body in the bathtub, heattempted to drown himselfas well but was unsuccessful. Soon afterward, his daughter was taken away by Child Services.
The Painter attempted toabduct his daughterfrom her care facility, but was apprehended by the police. His behavior alienated his friends and colleagues, who madefinal attempts to reason with himbefore cutting off contact. The Painter remained alone and isolated in the empty house, alone afterkilling the dogduring one of his paranoid episodes.
The Magnum Opus
The Painter spent the rest of his lifeattempting to create a masterpiece, his Magnum Opus. He even went so far as todig up the Musician’s bodyto use in the painting; he used her skin for the canvas, ground her bones into pigment for the paint, and mixed her blood into a primer. The Painter used abrush made from his daughter’s hair- the lock the couple had saved from her first haircut - to finish the work, and kept one of the Musician’s eyes in a jar so that she could “bear witness.”
The Painter made dozens of attempts to paint a portrait of the Musician before the accident, entirely from memory, storing each “failed” work in an empty room in the house. During this time, he also made a self-portrait, which would be thelast of his works displayed to the publicand would gain a moderate degree of fame thanks to public interest in the scandalous nature of his life.
The Painter was found dead after an unknown number of years when firefighters responded to a blaze at his house. Realizing his own role in destroying his family, the Painterset the paintings of his wife on fireand allowed the fire to consume him.
Aftermath
The house was never cleaned out or sold, and according to the Painter’s will was left to his estranged daughter, along with everything in it. As an adult, the Daughter returned to the house in an attempt to make peace with her troubled childhood. There, shefound clues left by her fatherthat led to a secret room behind his studio, where shetook up painting againand caught the attention of the Rat Queen.
In 1955, a biography of the Painter titledThe Masterpiecerenewed public interest in the family, becoming a bestseller. Within a decade, a film adaptation was in the works, starring one of Hollywood’s most brilliant and eccentric actors. The book’s author and the actor were both marked by the Rat Queen as well, and their own stories are told in subsequent Layers Of Fear stories.
