Content warning: This section of the guide discusses emotional abuse. 

“[H]e was important in the brilliantly modern way that teachers, firefighters, and nurses are important.”

The nightmare painter is a unique role within the world of Kilahito. Usually, within the fantasy genre, a figure who fights monsters is considered uniquely heroic for doing so. However, Brandon Sanderson takes this classic fantasy trope and reshapes it into a relatively mundane position, comparing it to the emergency services. By doing this, Sanderson builds Painter as a character who wishes to be important, as his role might suggest, but feels irrelevant.

“This land—the kingdom of Torio—couldn’t have been more different from where Painter lived.”

Hoid, as narrator, quickly establishes the stark differences between the worlds of the two protagonists, highlighting the elements that will confuse them once they begin swapping bodies. He also uses the differences in the settings to explain differences in the characters. Painter’s modern, urban loneliness is different from the isolation Yumi feels in her ritualistic role as yoki-hijo.

“[T]here’s nothing intrinsically valuable about any kind of art. That’s not me complaining or making light. It’s one of the most wonderful aspects to art—the fact that people decide what is beautiful.”

Hoid establishes the idea that art is a fundamentally human activity as it is made valuable by the people—the audience and the creator—who interpret it. This speaks to the novel’s theme of Art as a Reflection of Humanity. Hoid goes on to repeat this same principle multiple times in the novel.