WMG / Encanto

Jossed

Mirabel will turn out to have magic powers after all.

Because in most movies with magic, the protagonist also has magic. Simple.

• Mirabel's powers will be based on connections and how she affects your powers depends on how she connects with you. Her family, who she loves dearly, gets a subtle power boost they never noticed prior to The Reveal while the villain, who is trying to hurt her beloved family, will find Mirabel acting as living Anti-Magic.
  • Or her gift is something extremely specific that's only apparent when there's need.^note I got that from The People —f; they all have amazing Gifts and Psychic Powers, but only one little boy was given the extremely rare Gift of Seeing (prophetic insight) specifically to let everybody know their planet was about to be destroyed and they must build starships and leave.
    • Jossed. Mirabel ends the movie with no magical powers.

The villain (if there is one) has a personal grudge against the Madrigals.

The synopsis states that the Madrigals’ magic comes under threat with only Mirabel being able to save it, so perhaps the antagonist feels wronged by their use of magic and wants to rid them of their powers.

• Jossed, there's No Antagonist.

The villain is the spirit of the house when it is corrupted.

• Magic is usually not meant to be used frivolously, but the Madrigals use their powers for things like decorating and showing themselves off. This could build to a point where the Casita has had enough and goes full-on Te Ka on the family. As the only Madrigal without powers, Mirabel is the only one who can heal the house.
• Jossed. The Film has No Antagonist
• Plus they're shown mostly using their Gifts to help out in the community.
• In fact, totally inverted. While helping others got them a Karmic Jackpot in the end, being too utilitarian and entirely duty-bound towards serving the community restricted the family's self-expression and created an extremely ableist environment in which family members were valued for their utility and ability to fill serviceable roles for the community rather than their personhood. This trashed the mental health of many in the family as they felt pressured to surrender their happiness for duty and resulted in those who couldn't fit the "useful" "helpful" mold becoming scapegoats. Because of the toxic value system that arose from the total dedication to duty and community service and the conflation of conformity to utility with love, Alma throughout the film increasingly treats the "unhelpful" Mirabel who "won't stand aside" like she's a threat to the family instead of a loving member of it, and this all turns out to be what destroys the house and the family's powers. The House, meanwhile, suffers a Disney Death trying to protect the family to the end. In fact, Isabella's frivolous use of her powers to create things she's interested in temporarily makes the magic strong again, because it gives her and Mirabel a better appreciation for each other as people.

If there actually is a villain, they'll be a dark mirror of Mirabel

I see it going either two ways if this is the case:

• They'll be, like Mirabel, a Muggle Born of Mages. Instead of trying to prove those who mocked them for it wrong, they instead abandoned their family. The person became bitter towards those with magical abilities regardless, having let their rage fester and grow over time. They will tempt Mirabel to leave the other Madrigals so they can become a "new family".
• They'll be the only magical person from a family of normal people, who has an insanely huge ego because of it. They treat their family worse than any of the other Madrigals have Mirabel, but seeing this will nonetheless cause the family to rethink some things.
• Jossed. The Film has No Antagonist

The villain of the film (if there's any)...

• Will covet the Madrigals' magic for themself, or perhaps magic as a whole.
• Will be a Visionary, Well-Intentioned Extremist who thinks that the world will be a better place under their own power once they get it.
• If male, will be voiced by Lin-Manuel Miranda in a very hammy fashion and in a rare instance of him voicing a villain.
• Jossed. The Film has No Antagonist

Some of the Madrigals will actually bully Mirabel

At the very least it will be a bit beyond usual condescension and dismissiveness and into stuff like pulling incredibly mean pranks with their own powers, and public humiliation may be involved. I can see the shapeshifting kid being one of them.

Going hand in hand with the above WMG, even the villain will voice disgusted by this, and fitting in with their Well-Intentioned Extremist idea, will assume that with how the Madrigals abuse their magic, only the villain themself is thus worthy of magic, and the film won't refute the former being in the wrong for it. He may even try to persuade Mirabel to join them because of it.

• Jossed.

The Madrigal family are condescending towards Mirabel

Not on purpose, but they aren't perfect. And the teaser trailer showed the delivery man and child making insensitive comments about Mirabel's non-magical status. It wouldn't be a big leap to say her own family, to varying degrees, don't entirely respect her. Obviously, they all may go through a Jerkass Realization or get a "The Reason You Suck" Speech that makes them grow out of this.

• Jossed, they aren't perfect but they aren't intentionally cruel to Mirabel. Alma is strict and demanding but not like a "cruel lady".

The family and town disapprove of Mirabel being chosen

Following from the above guess, this reaction is a given. You think a family of basically superheroes are going to trust their powers, something that is part of their identity, to the only non-magical person in the family? And given the Innocently Insensitive nature from the teaser trailer and the serious moment, it'll be especially tearjerker worthy.

• Jossed.

Mirabel abandons her family

They did or said SOMETHING that has her feel like they'll never accept her as a member. In a moment of darkness, Mirabel willingly leaves her family. It'll be a serious and sad moment. But, either she or someone else will convince her to go back.

• Jossed. While Mirabel does run away it's out of sadness and shame over thinking she caused Casita to be destroyed.

Mirabel will end up getting all of her family’s powers in the end.

She will inevitably find a way to restore Encanto’s magic and get her family’s gifts back. However, the Madrigals will unanimously decide that Mirabel is the one who truly deserves to be special and will all willingly give up their powers to her in gratitude for saving them and as apologies for how they treated her.

• That feels like it would undermine the film's seeming message of not letting a lack of abilities define you. Instead, she'd probably turn it down politely, or alternatively find a way to give it all to the village's people so everyone can have them and not just one family.
• Jossed.

The toucan of the Madrigals family will be Mirabel's Animal sidekick.

As part of Fandango's Fall Movie Preview, a new Encanto image has been revealed. Here◊ it seems that this toucan is going to accompany Mirabel during her adventure. It shows her palling around with the toucan in what looks like a dark cave. Maribel looks at ease, though, and she appears to be familiar with the toucan she's hanging out with.

• The official trailer seems to indicate otherwise, as right as Maribel calls the toucan as a friend, it flies off to her annoyance. Bit early to say Jossed, though.
• Jossed. It follows for her some time but doesn't become her sidekick.

One member of the Madrigals will be more outright antagonistic to Mirabel

Even more then mere condescension they'll go further. Guesses:

• Isabela: She's described as being very perfect girl, so it may turn out she's an Alpha Bitch in Sheep's Clothing. Her pink colour and Flower powers feel like they belong to a good, kind girl so much it would be more surprising if they actually did the latter and not subvert. She and Mirabel are even described as having "a complicated relationship".^note Although perhaps having the darkest-skinned of Mirabel's family turn out to be so mean might come off as having Unfortunate Implications
  • Could be a good guess in light of the quick bit where she flips her hair and hits Mirabel in the face with it and knocks half the goodies off her tray. Either it's passive-aggressive or she's just so full of herself she fails to notice and part of the story will be something sort of along the lines of Break the Haughty.
    • And sure enough, in this sneak peak, Isabela dismissively sighs and rolls her eyes before condescendingly saying if Mirabel didn't try so hard she wouldn't be in her way as "sisterly advice", so this does look more so.
• Abuela: She seems like a pious, stern woman, and may see Mirabel as being an omen of something very bad, maybe even link to the magic slipping away.
  • One shot from the teaser depicts her looking up in realisation. Maybe it comes after she drives Maribel away and she is having a My God, What Have I Done? moment (and while Mirabel is behind her, its possible this maybe a case of Never Trust a Trailer).
• Pepa: She is described as being very emotional and overdramatic according to one article, so there could be a part where she blows up at Maribel hard.
• Dolores: She has super hearing powers and is mentioned as knowing everyone's dirt, so maybe she'll be this when she finds out something about Mirabel.
  • Jossed. The closest antagonist is Alma but it's not out of hatred towards Mirabel but misguided ideals of perfection. Her other family members aren't perfect but love Mirabel dearly, including Alma.

Mirabel is actually adopted.

She never had powers because she wasn’t related to her family. They told Mirabel she just takes after her muggle father and she believed them but in truth, she wasn’t related to any of them. Her parents found and adopted her when she was a baby. Her older sisters were too young to know that Mirabel is actually adopted. The parents and possibly the older members decided to keep the adoption a secret. If Mirabel finds out the truth about why she has no powers later in the story, this causes her much angst about how she was living a big lie for her whole life and she yells at her family for tricking her into believing she was related to them and she was just a muggle of a magic family when in reality she was actually a muggle orphan adopted into a family of magic users.

• Jossed. Mirabel resembles her mother, Julieta, too much for it to be adoption.

The Madrigals' extreme use of magic is overexploiting things

In a parallel to current events, the Madrigals are draining the magic from the land because of how much they use it, and at a dangerous rate no less. In the wake, communities will be left devastated and the jungle in tatters, and of course we see their house breaking apart.

Bruno foresaw this and tried to do something about it, but the family either refused to change their ways or didn't believe him and thought he was the bigger threat or had an ulterior motive. They exiled him either way, hence his rather disheveled appearance and living conditions seen in the first trailer.

Best case scenario is that Mirabel's quest gets the valley more magic and the Madrigals finally accept they were the cause of it and vow to be more responsible with their usage. Worst case, they fail to realize it in time and The Magic Goes Away, taking the Encanto with it, and they must emigrate somewhere else where there's magic (though they may not even be able to use it), and must try not to misuse the magic this time.

• Jossed.

Alma's third baby might be related to the movie's Big Bad

In the 2nd Trailer, Alma is seen holding 3 babies. But in the family tree, she has 2 daughters. If there is a main villain in the movie, he/she might be a descendant from that child. In fact, they could be dark reflection of Mirabel, due to resentment.

• Jossed. The third baby is Bruno, the brother of Julieta and and Pepa. He's the one who was sent away because his prophetic visions showed something bad was going to happen.

Casita is fallen apart because it’s Casita's time to go.

Casita is supposed to be a really old house, it's simply just aging to the point where it’s basically going to die from old age and by the end of the movie, everyone will accept that it’s for the best and that they have to move on and then a new Casita will be built in it’s place.

• Jossed.

Mirabel's lack of a gift is the result of a past punishment of Alma's

Going with the above theory of Alma being responsible for Mirabel not having a gift. After exiling Bruno for whatever reason, some magical deities decided to punish Alma by cursing one of her daughters (Julieta) to give birth to a child without a magical gift. Thus, the reason why she treats Mirabel differently is because she serves as a constant reminder of her punishment and blames herself for what happened. Plus, Mirabel's hair bears a striking resemblance to Bruno's, so that may also add on another layer to it as well.

• Jossed.

Mirabel will engage in breaking the Fourth Wall

She was shown to be telling the children, as well as us (the audience) about what does the rest of her family can do with their gifts. This means Mirabel will be able to see us and will interact with us during the film.

• Maybe her Gift is being able to take break the fourth wall.
  • Alternatively, maybe being highly wise and enlightened in the setting can also make you do so. For Alma, it will be no more then a few Aside Glances while Bruno will acknowledge us, albeit more as thinking they're spirits of the otherworld or something like it, while only Mirabel can talk to the audience.

• Jossed

Abuela is the reason why Mirabel never got a gift.

Everyone in the family has different gifts, so one could assume that a gift can be passed down from one person to another. Alma did not want to let go of her gift, most likely being the overseer of the house/being able to hear the house, to Mirabel and the house falling apart is Mirabel's gift trying to go to its new user. The reason why Mirabel cannot help with the party preparations is because she might trigger something with the magic candle that will transfer Alma's gift to her instead. A theme will be old traditions vs new traditions.

• Jossed.

If there is a villain, they must have an epic musical number

It's a tradition for a Disney movie that is a musical with a villain to have an Villain Song (in any sort of fashion).

• As mentioned above, maybe they could be Lin-Manuel Miranda Playing Against Type as a very hammy fashion. I'm picturing it being the song about them draining both the Madrigals and Casita of what little magic there is as they taunt them over their own failures.
  • Maybe the Villain will pull a "The Reason You Suck" Speech in the song to the Madrigals for their treatment to Mirabel as he gives it to the members of the family. And it fits in with one aforementioned WMG.
  • But even if the film has no conventional villain, the Madrigal who's the most antagonistic will undoubtedly have a song.
• Jossed. The Film has No Antagonist

Mirabel was supposed to get her gift at her Quinceañera.

This ties to the "Mirabel hasn't celebrated her Quinceañera yet" and "Mirabel is meant to be the next overseer/master of the house" theories. Since a five-year-old isn't really a good choice for being in charge of a house and since, at the time, Alma was doing just fine in said role, Mirabel didn't get her gift on the expected day. However, had her Quinceañera been held on time, she would have received her gift and room during the celebration; since her Quinceañera was delayed in favor of Antonio, the house has started acting up because the time has come for Alma's role to be passed down but since Mirabel was being ignored, things started breaking down. Restoring the magic will allow Mirabel to take on her new role and in addition to the implied "don't let a lack of gifts define you" message, the movie will also have a "you will find your talents when the time is right; don't let anyone tell you that you are lesser simply because your gifts are taking longer to discover" message.

• If this is the case, the grand finale probably will involve Mirabel getting the Quinceañera of every girl's dreams, finally seen for who she is and always has been.
• Good one! I had assumed Mirabel, being already 15, had had her quinceañera and that she was still infantilized and stuck in the nursery simply due to "no Gift, no new room". She certainly acts as if she hasn't celebrated her passage. With the level of research that was done, if they don't bring this up in the story, many who know the tradition will notice it's missing.

Casita / The Miracle had a plan with Mirabel's Gift to teach the family a lesson, but came to regret it

I've heard the theory that the magic didn't give Mirabel a gift in order to teach Abuela and the family a message about their toxic misunderstanding of the Miracle ("I asked my Pedro for help; he sent me you"). But that means it chose to permanently make a little girl disabled compared to the rest of the family in service of benefitting everyone else around her to teach them about their flaws, while she was stuck living with the consequences for no fault of her own. The Miracle/Casita/what have you came to deeply regret this decision.... But couldn't change anything at that point, because the structure and Mirabel's lack of place in it was set as soon as Mirabel's door was vanished right beneath her hand. Once Mirabel was effectively shunted to the side and given no place of her own in the family structure, the fact that Casita is a literal representation of the family structure and mirrors the family's dynamics means it couldn't fix this after the family dynamic adjusted and grew that way. This also leans into the creator's line about how Casita is flawed just like any member of a family and plays favorites: because it hatched a plan with Mirabel's role, hoping it would bring the family together, and the realistic consequences of that was that a small child was left to hold the bag for her family's toxic mindset until Mirabel managed to prove to her family the lesson. That's why the house is so friendly with Mirabel in particular despite the magic rejecting her; it's The Atoner towards the girl left to suffer through the consequences of its own poorly-thought-out decision that cost her dearly.

• Jossed.

In the Darkest Hour, Mirabel will be ready to give up on saving her family's magic but her love for Antonio will bring her back and help her save them all.

It's almost certain that Mirabel's attempt to save her family's magic will be extremely difficult, possibly so difficult that she eventually feels like quitting and tries to convince herself that, as she has probably heard from Bruno and the possible villain of the film, her family deserves to lose the magic that they've been using so selfishly. But then she remembers Antonio, who idolizes her, has never treated her poorly and even helped her whenever he could, simply because she's his cousin and he adores her. So Mirabel saves the magic; it's up in the air that the family could find out that Mirabel saved the magic for Antonio but either way, Mirabel knows that she did it for him and maybe, just maybe, she can give the family a second chance to treat her right.

• This theory would be especially fitting if some variation of "Mirabel's gift is to be the guardian of the house" because saving the magic for Antonio's sake is definitely in line with being a family guardian/protector.
• Jossed.

Confirmed

There will be No Antagonist and the conflict will be family drama stemming from Mirabel's insecurities and others' insensitivity

The creators say in interviews that one of the main themes of this picture is "How well do you really know your family?" and "How well do our families know us?"

• Completely agree it's got something to do with how they've been innocently insensitive to her and their excluding of uncle Bruno.
• Confirmed.

Pico the Toucan will become a character loved by the fans of Encanto.

Although the film Encanto has not yet been released, it is likely that Antonio's toucan, called "Pico" will become a character loved by fans, since Alan Tudyk will be the voice of Pico the Toucan.

• Semi-confirmed.

Cerberus will appear in the film

He was briefly shown when battling one of Mirabel’s older sisters, Luisa.

• Actually, I believe its actually a kind of Boogeyman figure from Columbia's folklore called Booboo (No really)
  • He does, but only as an illusion of Luisa's musical number. It's hinted she's knowledgeable and a geek about history and Greek mythology.

Mirabel won't have powers, and the moral of the story will be about not letting a lack of an ability define you.

• Plus, despite being a Madrigal herself, Alma doesn't have a gift either. The trailer showed a young Alma at the time the house first appeared. And every Madrigal child gets their gift at age 5. Except Mirabel. So, Mirabel's moment to have a gift has passed.
  • Semi-jossed. The reason Mirabel didn't get a gift was because her "role" was to be the emotional center of her family.

Mirabel's gift is to be the guardian of the house.

• On the first poster, the door shows the symbols of everyone's gifts, and the door is blue-green, Mirabel's signature color. In the second poster, Mirabel stands in front of the house, perhaps foreshadowing her as its keeper. In the first teaser, the house is shown to react to music, which seems to be Mirabel's talent, judging by her signature item being the accordion. What if Mirabel is a musician to help her care for the house? Mirabel's symbols are butterflies and flowers, the very things that decorate the house. As Abuela also has butterfly motifs on her clothing, Mirabel may not have been born with a gift because she will inherit the guardian position. Mirabel also seems to be the only Madrigal with a connection to the Casita, controlling it to an extent and seeing its cracks. Mirabel being the next guardian is why she didn't get a typical gift, as the Casita decided to have an inheritor ready to fix Abuela's mistakes with Bruno and Isabela. However, being the guardian makes the entire Casita her room, allowing her to access every chamber and care for the candle that blesses the family. As the Madrigals haven't been through a changing of the guard before, they don't connect the dots from "Mirabel doesn't have a flashy gift" to "Mirabel is Abuela's successor." Mirabel succeeding Abuela also means that she will become the Madrigals' matriarch one day.
  • On this theory, the house is usually passed down from oldest child to oldest child, but the house skipped Isabel and Luisa because Mirabel had a better temperament.
  • Supported by the writers having revealed that (as seen in Mirabel's absence from the family photo, and the trailers where she stands in the shadows) Alma asks Mirabel to stay away from Antonio's party as she feared Mirabel's presence might affect Antonio's ability to receive his Gift; Mirabel starts seeing the cracks that night and no one else can see them; her own mother thinks she's making it up for attention.
    • Semi-confirmed. In context, Alma didn't forbade Mirabel from coming to Antonio's party just that she shouldn't help with the prepping. On the other hand, Mirabel's "role" IS to be the emotional center of the family.

The movie will start off with A Minor Kidroduction

A recent trend of Disney animated movies is to see the main protagonist as a baby and/or child. Plus, in the first teaser poster of the movie, if you look closely, a picture of a young Mirabel can be seen.

• Confirmed, the film begins with Mirabel at five-years-old and we even get a brief flashback of Alma as a young woman.

Mirabel will be a "Well Done, Daughter!" Girl

Along with being secretly and deeply hurt by her family's (supposed) condescending nature, Mirabel will also want to be accepted by them.

• Semi-confirmed, it's not her entire family just her grandmother. And while her family is insensitive at worst they aren't intentionally cruel.

The Encanto will be destroyed at the end, but then rebuilt.

The movie focuses on the Madrigals trying to save the house while Mirabel struggles to prove herself as the magicless member of the family. To represent Mirabel and her family's Darkest Hour, they will fail to save the house (either because of their internal conflict and/or a Friend-or-Idol Decision), but after they make amends, they are given a new house by magic or have to rebuild the house themselves.

• Confirmed.

• The director says that as each family member receives a Gift, the house creates a new room for them to use their Gift in. Mirabel's been sharing with Antonio; as a matter of fact, they've been living in the nursery, which of course Antonio would move out when he receives his Gift, leaving Mirabel, who is fifteen, in the nursery. This goes with the fact that she is slightly infantilized, patronized or treated as lesser by some others in the family^note The writers have dropped more than one hint that Alma is responsible for a lot of this. Plus fridge: if she is fifteen, she has already had her quinceañera and should be regarded as a young woman, not a child. A girl's passage is extremely important in Latin American cultures including Colombia. Hopefully the film will address this.. If the home is rebuilt, she will get her own room now, representing that her family accepts her as a mature person and she accepts herself now.
  • Semi-confirmed.

The scenes in the second trailer featuring only Mirabel and Luisa (where Luisa grabs Mirabel on the edge of a cliff, Luisa fights a three-headed dog, and the two are on a shore) stem from Luisa's musical number

While the scenes seem to indicate that the two siblings will be adventuring together, other parts of the trailer indicate that it's only Mirabel who'll be going to save Casita. Because of that, those adventurous scenes with Mirabel and Luisa are actually part of Luisa's hyped-up solo, which could talk about how she'll always be there to help Mirabel, gift or no gift.

• Confirmed.

The key to the whole thing is something to do with Abuela's candle.

The trailer opens with Abuela telling the story of the miraculous candle and how the house was brought to life with its magic. The candle is still around, you can see it falling off a shelf as the house breaks apart. Candles do not last forever and this one is probably only lit on special occasions. Mirabel may have to, among other things, find out where the candle came from in the first place and go to that source.

• Confirmed.

In the Darkest Hour Encanto will be destroyed and Mirabel will unleash a "The Reason You Suck" Speech

Okay, in the aforementioned Darkest Hour, Encanto is destroyed or about to be. Everyone starts panicking and wondering what they can do. And then someone will say something to Mirabel that will cause her to snap at her family. My money is on Alma given their tense relationship (stated by one of the crew members) that only naturally grows more tense during the whole plot. Or maybe the family begin to understand how they treated Mirabel and attempt to apologize only to be met with the same reaction. Either way, most if not all, are going to a dress down for how they treated Mirabel, coldly at worst and insensitive at best. She'll call out each of them (sans Antonio) for all the stuff they said to her since it was shown she didn't have a gift. Angrily stating that for all their talk about family love, it only seems to be conditional, and Mirabel is left with practically none. Only given annoyance, contempt (at absolute worst), confusion, or pity. How they exclude her from anything family related but don't with complete strangers. And when one of them responds that she only tried to save magic for herself, Mirabel won't even try to deny it, but go into a heartbreaking reason that she did it to feel good about herself for once, something she has rarely or never felt with her own family. That all she wanted was their pride and love instead of pity and disappointment. Cue family's reaction and Mirabel leaving while crying.

• Given they seem to be close from what can be see, maybe add Luisa to the sans part there too.
  • Heck, Luisa may agree with her. She's probably assumed that it doesn't have to be at a particular age and figures Mirabel will find her Gift eventually OR find a way to be happy without a Gift.
    • On the other hand, it may turn out Luisa may sometimes come off as overbearing and smothering, think she always needs to be protected just because she has no powers, as though she were incredibly fragile; thus Luisa will get called out for such.
• Adding on to this speech, Mirabel could also call out how the family unjustly banished Bruno for warning them that the events would happen. Even if one of them (my money is on Alma) tries to justify it, Mirabel will point out that his predictions were right and ignoring him and kicking him out was selfish of them. Even going as far as asking if they'll exile her like they did with Bruno.
  • And might even have contributed to the house's destruction and the loss of their Gifts. You can't just throw someone out because he reminds you of a painful truth. If you read the Green-Sky Trilogy by Zilpha Keatley Snyder^note it's less prominent in the Below the Root video game because by that time the two societies have been reunited, you can see this big mistake and its consequences on a societal scale.
• Confirmed, though it's implied The Reason You Suck speech was the last straw that broke the Encanto.

Mirabel's gift will have something to do with Light or protecting her family

In the official trailer for Encanto, Bruno tells Mirabel that the fate of the family will come down to her since she was the only Madrigal that seemingly didn't get a flashy gift, meaning either our protagonist's gift hasn't come out because it wasn't time or she already had it all along and she needed to find it in herself. Or it's an I Thought Everyone Could Do That.

The "flashy gift" comment is astute. It's likely not everything is known about the magic and it may not always work exactly the same way. There may be elements to it aside from the "golden door when you're five" tradition. The encanto, as a living thing, may even be kind of evolving new aspects over time. Alma may just not be aware of this. The miracle happened when she was a young woman with infant triplets, so the magic as the family knows it has only been around that long — perhaps forty years.

Also in the trailer, we hear Mirabel say "even in our darkest time, there's light where we least expect it " so it's likely that Mirabel's gift will come out during Darkest Hour. One will notice that Mirabel is often shown in the light (whether in the sunlight or light of a candle) and she's always eager to help out her family despite the seeming lack of a magical gift.

• Semi-confirmed. She has nothing to do with light but is meant to support her family.

The movie will open with a shot from Mirabel's childhood.

I bet you anything that Mirabel was treated like any other one of the Madrigal children before the time came for her gift to manifest itself, which as we all already know didn't happen. Just imagine little Mirabel having been promised since infancy that one day she would gain magical powers, and being so excited when that day finally comes, only for nothing to happen at all. Not only would we see this poor kid completely confused and disappointed, but suddenly her grandmother would start treating her differently from her sisters and cousins, which would add a whole other level of Tear Jerker.

• Confirmed. It's a heartbreaking moment.

Mirabel's not having a flashy Gift is part of the magic's plan to save the house, the family including Bruno, and itself.

I'm basing a lot of these assumptions on the fact that this story is a lot like the Green-Sky Trilogy, but in reverse.^summary In a verdant, flowery world where descendants of an earth colony live in trees and are devoted to peace, family and community, scholars who wanted to teach children about their ancestral history of violence and war are banished underground. The Root keeps the tree dwellers protected but centuries later it is cracking and withering. The magic that kept it alive is failing. Children are all born with Gifts, but have been losing them at younger ages every generation. So it's unusual when a teenage boy keeps his, his sister and her friend rediscover ancient Gifts, and end up saving both civilizations without even meaning to. The video game is a sequel to these events. Snyder's earlier book The Changeling has a frumpy, homely nothing of a youngest child in a superbly talented family; even her best friend (who comes from a lowlife family 'we don't talk about') has 'gifted' qualities. Annoyingly enough, she discovers she has a "gift" too (theater) and "blossoms," to the relief of her family. Mirabel has grown up viewed as disabled in comparison (note the subtle Aesop about the fact that families too often treat disabled members as lesser). This influences her thoughts and emotions, even her body language. Her facial expressions show that she's constantly trying to please them and has learned to "laugh at herself", hiding her pain. She is used to failure and not measuring up, and existing as an uncomfortable reminder that the magic may not last forever. Then Alma tells her she can't participate in Antonio's birthday because she might jinx his chance at a Gift. When she's the only one who can see the cracks, this puts her in Bruno's place. The house is telling her something's wrong, but nobody listens. And like the three teenage questers in the Green-sky books, she seeks out the forbidden, the one "we don't talk about," knowing he's got the answer. She may even break into his sealed-off room.

The glowing green shards in the trailer will play a big part in restoring the magic.

In the second trailer, we see Mirabel trying to put back together broken shards that are glowing green (see here). My guess is that whatever these pieces make together might be an important key in saving Casita, restoring its magic and the Madrigals' gifts. Once these are put together, they will restore the family's gifts and/or at least give Mirabel the next step in restoring the magic and Casita.

• Confirmed.

Post-Release

The movie takes place in the present, or at least recently.

Although the setting may suggest that the film takes place in the mid-twentieth century, one possibility is that it takes place in the present, only that being isolated for 50 years they stayed with the clothing and customs they knew before having to run away.

• If that's the case, then God help everyone if Pepa discovers the existence of a certain British kids' cartoon...
• The film seems to suggest it's the mid 20th century in rural Colombia (based on Bruno mentioning telenovelas and Agustín's suit). So if Mirabel is added to the Princess line, she would be the most "recent" princess in and out of universe. (Before her, the only princess set in "modern times" was Tiana).

All but two of the prophecies in We Don't Talk About Bruno mentioned weren't actual prophecies

Rather, just like how his comment on Pepa's wedding day looking like rain was just a joke to cheer her up but backfired, the same went for others: Bruno chided the woman to take better care of her fish, or it would die in the same conditions in a short while, and likewise told the second man to eat healthier or change his diet. However, they misunderstood what he meant.

Isabela's and Dolores' prophecies were the only legit ones.

There will be a Disney+ series based on the film

Since Big Hero 6, The Princess and The Frog, and Moana will be having an animated series, Encanto may have one.

• Some quotes from the creators indicate this is going to happen.

Encanto is completely closed off from the rest of the world

• Bruno mentions that the mountains around the town are very high and difficult to pass over, which is why he stuck to hiding in the walls. In the flashback showing how the miracle came to be/Pedro's death, a whole range of mountains appears and protects Alma and the other displaced townspeople. Given how only the townspeople seem to know about the Madrigal's powers and there is no mentions of outsiders coming in, this seems plausible.

Future Disney+ short ideas

• A short that involves Antonio bringing more and more animals into the Casita, gradually leading to problems between them and the other Madrigals. The above theory with Camilo could be incorporated here.
• Camilo endures Shapeshifter Mode Lock and gets mistaken for someone else, while the actual person gets stuck with the Madrigals. They eventually realize this person isn't Camilo, so they must find him and help him change back.

If there is a sequel or a TV series...

It could revolve around the Mirabel helping the Madrigals readjust to their lives by encouraging them to use their gifts in the ways that they want instead, as well as help the community without magic, with potential subplots of Alma struggling to let go of her perfectionist tendencies despite promising to be better for her family in a case of "old habits die hard" and/or Bruno trying to reintegrate himself into society after his decade-long absence.

The people of Encanto are secretly proficient in sign language

The townsfolk of Encanto have to resort to non-verbal communication in order to keep secrets from Dolores, and writing every conversation down is slow and tiresome. Therefore, for over 15 years now they have learnt to use (or even made up their own) sign language, which they use for their more private conversations.

• However, it might be possible her hearing is that good to the point she can hear the air being moved by the sign language and know what she they're saying.

Possible Ideas for future antagonists on Encanto

The film didn’t have any antagonists besides The Headless Soldiers but given that if there is any possibility for the future of Encanto, there will likely be real future antagonists that might appear in the future.

• an corrupted CEO or businessperson wanting to destroy the hometown for money.
• a antagonist who seek for the Madrigals’s gifts.
• A cult leader who wants to "enlighten" the world by using the gifts.
• Someone who is similar to Mirabel or Bruno but unlike them, abandoned his/her/their family due to mistreatment from a counterpart to Alma.
• The soldiers return for the escapees, now that there is a hole in the mountain.

If there's ever a Screen-to-Stage Adaptation...

• Camilo will be more prominent, as he's practically a theatre kid in all but name. (Though his shapeshifting powers may require some clever stagework to represent)
  • The gag where he shapeshifts into Dolores might be made even funnier as audiences could actually see Felix and Dolores approach behind Mirabel and Camilo's backs.
  • To be fair, I think his powers might be changed to something else if Encanto got a stage adaptation. Or sadly enough, he just might be removed altogether.
• The "Dolores can hear this whole chorus" bit will be represented by her actress walking out in the nosebleeds,

The miracle needed the townspeople's aid to be reborn.

The strength of the Encanto is dependent on the Madrigals' bond, but the relationships within the family weren't the only ones that had grown strained. Abuela's Noblesse Oblige approach, the family essentially ruling over the village, caused a gap as well. The family stood with their neighbors as equals by rebuilding Casa Madrigal together, bridging the gap. If Pedro is the kind of man the flashback portrays him as, he would have wished for his friends to be protected alongside his family.

Whether a movie or a series, future Encanto stories will continue to have No Antagonist.

It will be a challenge to the writers to come up with stories where there is no villain, but it would be against the spirit of the original movie to have "evil" people after spending so much time showing how human everyone in the family is. Even if the newly-opened pass through the mountains allows new people to enter the Encanto, they'll be shown as people just like the family and village, with legitimate reasons for their actions from their own perspective.

• Yes, the faceless horsemen could be seen as evil, but if we meet their descendants or successors, it will be from a more personal perspective, as real people instead of faceless bogeymen.

The sequel will be about another valley where refugees from Alma's village settled

Unlike the magic in Encanto, it'll be more Science Fiction-based with a Similar Squad to the Madrigals wielding advanced technology, or alternatively mutant powers.

Possible Adventures

With their being future speculations of Encanto, there are some future possibilities of adventures that could happen with The Madrigal Family.

• Exploring over the town
• The Madrigal Family bonding together.
• The residents of the Encanto venturing outside for the first time in decades.

Possible Spin-offs

With their being a future for Encanto,there are possibilities for the future of its franchise.

• Isabela: After the events of the film, Isabela now becomes creative while creating plants.
• Luisa: Luisa, now having relax, goes on her adventures while helping people out.
• Mirabel: It’ll focuse on her adventures as she explores over the town.
• Dolores: It’ll focuse on Dolores, as she hears about problems while helping solving them, while going on adventures.
• Camilo: It’ll focuse in Camilo using his shapeshifter forms.
• Antonio: It’ll focus on him having fun with his animal friends.
• Julieta and Pepa: Julieta and Pepa, start on helping each other with Julieta helping to heal injuries.
• Augustìn and Felìx: It’ll focuse on how the duo do besides helping their wife’s.
• Alma: Will focuse on her time with her family, as she spends time with the,
• Bruno: Will focus on him practicing his powers for the future and threats.

The number of animals in the Madrigal household

• From Antonio - a jaguar, 2 toucans, 3 coatimundis, two capybaras, one snake (an anaconda) and one tapir.
• From Bruno - his three rats.
• From Luisa - three to four donkeys.
• Camilo gaining a chameleon at some point in the future.

One of the horsemen will return in the sequel/series as a villain

Alternatively...one of the horsemen will return as villain but will be opposed be one of his old colleagues, who wants to atone for the things he did to the people who'd become the first generation of Encanto's residents.

• With one of the mountains keeping them isolated split, more refugees will show up, as the bandits are still going strong all this time later, and the town initially welcomes those fleeing them. Things get tense as the newcomers don't respect the authority of the Madrigals and even hold them in fear and suspicion (one can foresee anything we do, one can hear anything we say and another can impersonate anyone perfectly?! And that's not even including the unstoppable super-strength one!) One of them befriends Mirabel for a time, but it turns out its because they want to convince her that her family should be using their gifts to drive the bandits out/destroy them outright. When Mirabel and Abuela refuse, fearing the consequences of war and the ramifications of using their gifts in such a way, the refugee resolves to lead the bandits to the town in order to force the Madrigals to fight them.

• The Horseman has a (grand)child that ends up in a Dating Catwoman scenario with Isabella, Luisa, Mirabel, Camilo, or even Bruno.

• That already happened. Augustin or Felix was their son(or agent) sent to find them, only for them to have a High-Heel–Face Turn and fall in love with Julieta/Pepa.

Someone in Mariano's family is a schemer trying to seize the power of the Encanto for his- or herself

They pushed him towards Isabella because as the oldest, they figured(correctly or not) that she had the best connection to the magic. They will be disappointed but maybe not angry that he's getting with Dolores because they figure the connection will be weaker, forcing them into acting directly via cartoon villain scheming. NOTE: Mariano himself is an innocent in this. He was/is truly interested in Isabella/Dolores.

Everyone is dead (and they don't even know it)

When the faceless horsemen attacked the refugees, they didn't stop with Pedro but rather killed everyone. The past 50 years in "Encanto" have actually been the dead soul's own little paradise, where they could carry on with a normal, happy life away from war.

Mirabel

It bears noting that writer-director Jared Bush has said they left it deliberately ambiguous as to why Mirabel didn't have a gift, so all the guesses below are potentially valid.

Mirabel's gift is protecting & helping her family

The Casita probably knew what was causing the cracks, so it needed someone to repair the cracks and protect the family, so it picked Mirabel for the task since she was the newest Madrigal to receive a gift. Plus, she was the first one to notice the cracks and she was already eager to help out even with no flashy gift.

• The Casita does not give her a golden door and room, however, so that can't qualify as a Gift. Indeed, that it does not do this actually makes the problems in the family worse.

Mirabel doesn't have a gift because she's to be the next head of the family.

Notice how Alma doesn't have a gift either. The head of the family doesn't have a gift because they are supposed to be a rock of sorts for the others to come to. So it's better that they don't have any powers adding extra stress. Alternatively, the old Casita was Alma's gift, and the new one is Mirabel's. (If so, that means that now Alma is the one without a gift, which makes for an interesting role-reversal premise).

Also, this is why Mirabel and Alma fighting is what ultimately wrecks Casita. They're both tied to the magic as keystones and their conflict critically destabilizes the entire thing.

And this is why Mirabel doesn't have her own set of rooms. She's supposed to inherent Alma's, but Casita is a house and doesn't really get how frustrating it is for Mirabel to be stuck in the nursery, nor how it is affecting the family.

• Casita wasn't more explicit about her choice because she's in a "Damned if you do, damned if you don't situation". Making it clear that Mirabel is the next matriarch would've caused Alma to either put too much pressure on her or offended her as she would be considered replaceable. Making it vague caused the events of the film. Even Mirabel getting her own room (which would come with a mural showing her holding the candle) would've given the plan away.
• There's also the Personality Powers aspect of the gifts. Even as a little girl, Mirabel's defining goal in life was to help her family and make them proud, so she would be the most qualified person to be the next custodian of the miracle.

Mirabel is an extension of the casita itself

While the writers left it ambiguous about why she didn't get a gift, and probably don't have an answer, this theory could work for several reasons.

• It's been established that the family's love for each other is literally the foundation of the household. And Mirabel is the Madrigal most attuned to others' emotions.
• Also, the timing of the cracks is another clue. They appear throughout the film, of course, due to the family's stress and hidden pressure, but think about when they really appear. It's always when Mirabel feels worried or distressed.
  • The first time is when Mirabel finally admits her frustrations about feeling like an outcast in "Waiting on a Miracle."
  • The next time is when she climbs up to Bruno's tower and starts assembling the vision. She would undoubtably start feeling worried seeing herself in a shattered vision. And it makes no sense that it was triggered by another thing, as no one but Mirabel was even seen doing anything unusual at the time. The only other explanation is Luisa, and then it would've started far before Mirabel even entered Bruno's tower.
  • The next time is when Bruno's vision spreads like wildfire around the dinner table. Her family thinking she is doomed to destroy the house is sure to cause anyone stress. The cracks start forming faster when Mirabel accidentally reveals the vision to Alma. this should be self explanatory.
  • Next is when Alma and Julieta and Augustin are fighting over what to do about Mirabel. This is the only time the cracks start forming without any connection to Mirabel's emotions, and this is when everyone else's emotions are at a peak.
  • Finally, the biggest and final cracks appear when Mirabel argues with her abuela. This argument is certainly the point in the movie where Mirabel is most enraged, and this is the only time the cracks grow beyond the casita, going far enough to split the mountain.
• Mirabel is the most attuned to the casita, being the one it interacts with and who interacts with it the most throughout the film. Also, when the candle is going out, the casita gets everyone out, trusting Mirabel to save it, but when it comes crashing down, its final act is to protect Mirabel by shielding her.
• This could be why she doesn't get a gift. She already is the embodiment of the miracle, so she cannot get a gift, as she is already magic.
• There's also abuela's quote after they reconcile by the river. "I asked Pedro for a miracle. He gave me you."

Mirabel's lack of a gift is due to the magic of the Casita failing.

Mirabel not receiving a gift wasn't intentional on the part of the Casita. It was actually an early sign that the magic was starting to fail.

• This would explain why there was ever a door for her in the first place. If she were meant not to have a Gift, no door would ever have appeared. (If she received no Gift because she was supposed to take Alma's place, there'd have been some other sign or guidance.) Instead, there was every indication that this night would be like all the other gift ceremonies until she put her hand on the doorknob.
  • I considered that initially, but then realized it doesn't track with Antonio getting his Gift just fine several years later.
  • I was thinking about this too and came to a conclusion: Over the years it's likely that the ceremony of the door became more about duty and being useful to the community than the bond of the family. Even though she was given the stink eye for it, the small act of Mirabel taking Antonio's hand when he asked for it might be what allowed him to receive his gift.
  • OP here. My thinking is that it was a one-time failure, essentially the magic "glitching" out in that specific moment, so Antonio was still able to get his Gift before things really started falling apart.
    • Actually you do see the candle flicker and react to the door fading, so it's likely that the magic faltered then. But it holds itself together for 10 years, which might be why it rapidly declines even though ultimately it seems Alma is treating her youngest granddaughter no differently than normal since the day her door failed to manifest and things have only gotten worse for Bruno. The door failing to manifest properly for Mirabel was the first pang of pain from a headache before you die of a brain tumor.
  • The door might be generic about a family member being able to get their gifts, but since Mirabel didn't end up with one, it started to fade? Casita has some control over the doors, but not beyond them, since the rooms are created and maintained by the magic itself. Since Mirabel's gift did not awaken, no room was generated for her, and the door vanished, since it wouldn't make sense for there to be a door with no room.

Mirabel not getting a gift was a Secret Test of Character for Abuela Alma, which she (initially) failed

Apparently, the Casita could sense that Alma was placing too much importance on the magic and was taking her family, the true gift, for granted. So, when Mirabel’s ceremony came, it decided not to bestow a gift on her, in order to test how Alma would react. Ideally, she would have simply accepted it, and wouldn’t have treated her granddaughter any differently or loved her any less. Instead, Alma saw it as a curse and all but shunned Mirabel for it, proving that she hadn’t yet learned her lesson.

• As a variation on this, when Alma tells the story to Mirabel of what truly happened to Pedro and how the miracle came about, we see in the flashback her walking through Casita and becoming more and more stern and matriarchal before she finally reaches Mirabel. At the same time this occurs, she tells present-day Mirabel that she was so afraid of losing the miracle, and with it her family, that she held on too tightly. So it would seem it was this fear, as well as her focusing too much on the miracle instead of who it was meant for, that caused the candle flame to flicker and the door to disappear. I.e., being a miracle, its power came from faith. It was having doubts and insecurities (failing to have faith in themselves) and being pressured to perform well so as to keep being worthy of the miracle that made the various Madrigal family members have Power Incontinence or otherwise have their powers weaken. But it actually all started with Alma herself losing faith due to her fears and worries, and that's how she failed the test, even before how she mistreated Mirabel in the years after. This even still works with some theories below about why Mirabel had no gift: it's not that Casita specifically chose not to give her one, it's that the reason behind it means the only way the miracle and Casita can be saved is for the one who had so much doubt and insecurity to come to believe in herself, without relying on the miracle—and that would allow her to inspire the rest of the family to look past their gifts, conquer their own fears and insecurities, and come together again as a family, stronger than ever, by having faith in each other.

Mirabel's gift was to store a copy of the original miracle to revive the Casita when it collapsed, because the encanto needed to be renewed every few decades to stay strong

It would explain why her door dissolved - how could the Casita really make a room for that sort of a gift? Replicate the entire place on the other side?The Encanto needs renewing simply because there needs to be a lynchpin for the Encanto to centre around, and Abuela is getting older. Casita needed to pass down the miracle and rebuild from the next inheritor for the encanto.

• In fact, the door likely dissolved because it was absorbed into Mirabel, forming the seed for the miracle's restoration. After all, when was the house restored? When she placed the doorknob.
  • The doorknob was the final piece needed to "complete" Casita. If she had completed another part instead, or someone else had done it, the same thing probably would have happened.
• Casita doesn't have control over the rooms themselves. They're generated and maintained by the magic. Casita's influence stops at the door.
• The rooms themselves are meant to help the giftbearer, not just be a representation/storage space for their gifts. Otherwise, Antonio's room would not have a waterfall or tree, since neither of those are relevant to his gifts.

Mirabel didn't get a room because her "room" is the Casita itself.

During the ceremony, the encanto "senses" and decides what each person's gift will be based on their personality, and creates a room for them best suited to use their gift in. The encanto saw that Mirabel's was going to be the new foundation of the Casita someday, and so it didn't create a separate room for her because she didn't need one - her "power" was to connect her family together, so her domain was the whole main area of the Casita.

• Building on this, the Casita can create rooms for the family members, but cannot affect the inside of those rooms as well as it can the main areas of the house. Mirabel not having a room of her own to retreat to ended up making her closer to the Casita, as she interacted with it more often.

Mirabel's gift is empathy through the musical numbers

Similar to the above. The musical numbers mostly follow standard Musical World Hypotheses of being in the character's heads, with some notable exceptions. Mirabel makes time freeze for a song but, in the process, moves out of Antonio's room to see the house cracking. This injured her in real life and changed her location, but she doesn't react like someone who just saw time literally stop. Another example is Isabela's song having fantastical imagery and, when it's over, Abuela can see some consequences (new growth, Isabela covered in colors) but to a much lesser extent than shown in the music video.

How do we understand this? I don't think Mirabel is always literally reality-warping based on characters' reactions during songs. But I think the musical numbers represent to the audience that Mirabel is being given some kind of sudden insight where she is able to hear someone's inner thoughts and confessions. It doesn't usually have to be magical, just a character trait - except for her magical vision of la casita crumbling, which was not itself a musical number and which she did not assume was a metaphor.

This would also explain why she is given her own door at the end along with her entire family. Why not originally? Because her gift relies on Maribel not being the center of attention. (All of her musical scenes with other characters rely on the other characters' input, not her own.) In that case, her door vanishing may be part of the gift itself - in order to use the gift, she needed to be a supportive and background part of the family, and a room would isolate her and prevent her from using the gift. Maybe a front door would always have given her "her own door."

So, Mirabel’s gift is basically the same as Zoey’s from Zoey's Extraordinary Playlist.

Mirabel was subconsciously aware of what was causing the cracks long before she confronted Alma

The film's first song, "The Family Madrigal," initially serves to introduce all of the characters to the audience through Mirabel's admiration for them, with her noticeable lack of self-description telling the audience that she doesn't see herself as worthy of that same admiration. On a second viewing, lines like "This is my family, a perfect constellation," "But let's be clear, Abuela runs this show," and "The beauty and the brawn can do no wrong" prove to be exceptionally astute and hint closely at the deeper problem with the family. Perhaps the village children were right; Mirabel was aware of the problems in her family on some level and just didn't want to acknowledge them because they hurt and she loves them and she'd been raised to have doubts over her own worth. Her Grandmother going on full verbal attack mode finally pushed her to vocalize what she'd been repressing the whole time.

• "But let's be clear, Abuela runs this show." As becomes apparent later in the film, the family's own celebrations of itself have become a choreographed perfect show, to the point where many in the family are secretly miserable even on occasions that are supposed to be happy, like a child's birthday or an engagement. Further, it's Abuela's impressing of her personal utilitarian value system onto her family that has turned it into a dysfunctional facade, because she's put more value on the outward perception of the perfect family than on the family's actual internal wellbeing.
• "The beauty and the brawn can do no wrong." Isabela and Luisa, "the beauty and the brawn," feel they cannot afford to do wrong or even acknowledge the possibility, because their generation has been raised to believe their lives must be dedicated to their "use," which Alma finds for them—Isabela can create beauty and so she's only "right" when she's beautiful and spreading beauty, Luisa is strong and so she's only "right" if using her gift for manual labor. To be otherwise is to be lazy, misbehaving, and/or a disappointment. Alma couldn't think of a use for Mirabel, and so, consciously or not, treats her as a failure and tries to push her out.
  • Considering her treatment of Mirabel at Antonio's gift ceremony, she might also be pushing Mirabel away to prevent her "bad luck" from affecting the other's gifts.
• She seems to be aware of the issues on some level, but not how they relate to the problems with the magic, or the cracks in the Casita.

Mirabel's lack of gift is the result of Abuela's imbalanced expectations

Let's consider the original triplets: Julieta and her healing food, Bruno and his prophecies no one wants, and a Pepa and her (often) imperfect control of her weather power. Of the three, one stands out as being the greatest service to the community on a day-to-day basis. As such, Abuela's obsession and expectation was present, but relatively tempered by logistics.

Then Dolores and Isabelle are born, and again, we have an imbalance in capacity to serve. I'm not saying super-hearing isn't useful in certain situations, but willing plant life into being (and generally being considered "the perfect one") outweighs it significantly. Now not only do we know that grandkids are getting gifts, but Abuela may be seeing a particular branch of the family she should be having high expectations for.

Then we get Luisa and Camilo, and that gap widens significantly. Luisa is, arguably after her mother, probably the most tangibly beneficial Madrigal to the "help the community" mission, which we know is the attitude that ultimately leads to the magic failing in the end. Camilo is...entertaining. A great kid all around. Certainly more than willing to try and do his part. But his powers just aren't focused in the area of mundane utility like Luisa and Julieta. Now it's clear to Abuela that Julieta's family are the ones to watch out for, to keep them "worthy" of the miracle. So when little Mirabel's ceremony arrives, Abuela (and to some extent the rest of family and community) are at peak expectations.

Which is what we know causes the magic to fail.

The pressure they're putting on Mirabel internally, before she even has a gift, causes the first big glitch in the system, and for her ceremony to fail. When Antonio's turn comes up he gets one, both because people are half-expecting him to not get either, and because Abuela never had the same expectations for Pepa's children, so the magic works fine.

Mirabel not getting a gift was not a fluke or a mistake; it's perfectly normal for the house to produce powerless children every now and then. The family bloodline simply isn't long enough for that pattern to become clear.

• * The house will give one or more children of every other generation no powers to test how the other family members will react, which fits into the narrative that the Encanto was granted by God's power. It wasn't just meant to test only Alma, but to send a clear message to the rest of the family that the powerless Madrigals are equally as important as they are.
  • We've only seen three generations of the family in the town, and, while Mirabel is the first powerless Madrigal born into the Encanto, there's nothing to prove that she'll be the last one, or even the only one in a given generation. By skipping members every now and then, Casita gives the Madrigals some perspective on the people they're supposed to be helping in the first place. It's so they don't get too caught up in the magic that they stop caring about their family and the wellbeing of others. This would also be a good way to curb any Madrigals from going Drunk with Power, as its a lot harder to develop a superiority complex when the non-empowered people you look down on include your own relatives, especially in such a tight-knit community as the Encanto. Mirabel is merely the first of many powerless Madrigals to be born, and any sequels will prove it.
  • This is also why the Madrigals are given a second chance, even though Casita crumbled the first time. The miracle expected them to screw up the message the first time, so they got off easy. Next time, Casita might not be so lenient.

Mirabel was unintentionally one of the causes for the magic fading

Mirabel not getting a gift causes her family (especially Abuela) to distance themselves from her, but also causes her to distance herself from the family, since she isn't special like them, and doesn't have a Gift.

Her despairing at Antonio's gift ceremony when he gets one, and is then excluded from the family photo made her wonder if it was too late for her to get a miracle/gift, as she mentions in "Waiting for a Miracle". The exclusion put a wedge between her and the family, making the cracks show up. If nothing had happened to the magic, she might have been permanently sidelined as the only blood-related Madrigal with no gift.

• Her confrontation in the climax being the last straw. Abuela did not see her favourably, thinking that Mirabel was acting out and sabotaging the others out of jealousy. Abuela might have cut her out of the family then, splitting it apart, causing the magic to fail completely, even though she didn't meant to break it.

Alma

Alma wanted Isabela to marry Mariano because he looks like Pedro

If you look at the portrait they keep of him in the hallway, Mariano shares some similarities. And we also see a portrait of Isa as a child, where she has the same hairstyle that Alma did in her flashback.

• More to the point, he is kindhearted and generous like Pedro. He may not have chemistry for Isa, but would definitely be a good addition to the family.

The candle wasn't the focus of the Madrigal magic, it was Alma

• The Candle was an indicator of how well the family magic was.
• Mirabel has no Gift like the rest of her family because she was chosen by the family magic to be the next focus.
• After a while, the house will manifest a new Candle.

It wasn't Isabela Mirabel hugged in the vision; it was Abuela Alma

Remember the yellow butterfly in the vision, and how it landed on some leaves and then flew off? If you look closely at one shot, the same thing, nearly pixel for pixel, happens at the climax of the movie when Mirabel embraces Abuela. Young Abuela looks almost like a carbon copy of Isabela, so it could be her in the vision instead of her granddaughter.

The appearance of Alma's room changed after Casita was rebuilt.

Before Casita was destroyed, Alma's room was an exact replica of her and Pedro's humble apartment back in their youth, symbolising how stuck in the past the matriarch is after being unable to properly grieve for him. Since the movie ends with Alma coming to terms with her husband's death, her room's look changed to fit the role she has to the family. I like to imagine that the new room is surrounded by several candles that never go out (since there's no sign of the original candle anywhere in the film) on the floor and ceiling, while the walls are decorated with portraits of Alma's memories of her family.

Alma would have been against rerouting the river if she knew about it

Rerouting the river affects the whole town. It's a river that goes through it. Rerouting it would affect the water supply in unseen ways. We don't why the woman wanted the river rerouted but whatever the reason, Alma probably would have been against along with other people in town as it's something everyone relies on.

Alma has used Luisa to keep others in line

Considering her Super-Strength and how she's got the more duties in the town, its not out of the question Alma has threatened townsfolk who are making a ruckus with having Luisa throw out or beat them up. Of course, given what we see of her, she's probably not willing to go through with it (assuming Abeula would make sure they went through with it and weren't just empty threats).

Alma was to blame for Pepa's wedding being ruined, not Bruno

In the song "We Don't Talk About Bruno", it can be subtly hinted that it was actually indirectly Alma's fault that Pepa's weather "ruined" her wedding, not Bruno's as everyone thinks.

During the wedding fiasco storyline, after Bruno tells Pepa that "it looks like rain", Félix mentions that Abuela "takes the umbrella". Although Pepa took Bruno's attempted prank badly, it was Abuela who deceived her. Alma was the one who took Bruno's words as an inevitable event, going so far as to bring an umbrella even before the hurricane happens. Considering that Pepa thought that her mother thought that she would make it rain on her big day, Pepa accidentally turned her concern over Bruno's words into a self-fulfilling prophecy and the wedding was ruined. However, Bruno's predictions have already earned him a reputation for doomsday, so after the event everyone blamed Bruno.

Alma will be Demoted to Extra if Encanto becomes a franchise

Despite being the deuteragonist of the film, Abuela is one of the least remembered characters by fans and does not have the same popularity as most of her relatives, to the point of having almost no merchandise or promotional images. Considering that her character arc has already been properly developed and she has learned that family is more important than magic, if there is a Encanto sequel or series, the film's creators would consider giving Alma a supporting role in the future.

• She would still have moments where her Character Development would be shown after the events of the film, but with Alma transitioning from being a main character to a supporting character, the plot of the new story would focus on the members of the Madrigal Family more loved and less developed, like Bruno or Camilo.

• Alternatively, Alma will be Rescued from the Scrappy Heap. Since the producers will realize that she is not as well liked by the fans, the new story will still keep Alma as a main character in order to focus on making her a more beloved and likable character for the audience.

Alma is the one who created Bruno's taboo

Given that Abuela was perhaps the first person to find out that Bruno disappeared after asking him for a vision of why Mirabel had not received a gift, the sadness of losing her only child combined with the rage she had that he had abandoned her the family so suddenly made her believe Bruno's taboo so she wouldn't have to remember the pain his departure caused her.

The rule "Don't talk about Bruno" only applies when Alma is around. Thus, it isn't a firm, 24/7 mandate, but more akin to the concept, "Don't upset Abuela." Since the movie underscores the expectations Alma places on all her family members, it makes sense that the rule about Bruno would be specifically tailored to keep her happy. This is reinforced by realizing that many family members are willing to talk about Bruno when her is not around.

• This lines up well with the evidence in the movie, as Abuela seems to be the Madrigal who is most upset with Bruno. But for all her anger/disappointment, she clearly cares about her son a lot too, which is what forms the tragedy of Bruno being hidden for 10 years. Alma missing Bruno while also being keenly aware of how his gifts alarmed the community forms a solid basis of reasoning for why the family would avoid bringing him up around her. Along with the fact that Alma is the unquestioned head of the Madrigal household, this helps to explain why the rule "Don't talk about Bruno when Abuela is around" would come to be, as a way to avoid upsetting her or getting in trouble.
  • Even mentioning Bruno also upsets Pepa, with disastrous consequences for the local climate. Her rule about not talking about Bruno might be to stop Pepa from getting mad from hearing people talking about him, or to stop the rest of the family from being asked about him.

Alma did not know that Isabela did not want to marry Mariano

She is mostly unaware of the emotional damage she has done to her family with her desire for perfection, so it is likely that Alma also did not realize that Isabela did not want to marry Mariano. Let's remember that Isabela is too polite/afraid of upsetting or contradicting her family, accepting what her Abuela wants for her. When Dolores mentions that Mariano wants to start a family, Isabela smiles at Alma and the two are later seen talking calmly about the impending wedding, furthering the belief that Isabela was excited about the wedding.

Adding the factor that all the adult women in the family are married and have children, she could misunderstand that Isabela wanted the same thing. Alma was angry during most of her argument with Mirabel about whose fault the magic is in danger, but when Mirabel mentions that Isabela was not happy, Abuela momentarily changes her expression from angry to sad as she blames Mirabel for ruining dinner proposal, not knowing that Mirabel actually meant that Isabela was not happy being perfect. Alma really thought that marrying Mariano was what Isabela wanted and from her perspective she was not forcing her favorite granddaughter to do something she didn't want, but rather helping Isabela fulfill what she thought was her dream.

• Possibly this was also the perspective of the rest of the family members. Like Abuela, everyone (with the exception of Dolores) was excited or worried about how the proposal dinner would go, including Isabela's parents and aunt, who are the closest adults in the family to her. Like Abuela, everyone thought that Isabela really wanted to marry Mariano because she never dared to tell them otherwise.

Bruno

Bruno will turn out to be the Big Bad

And he's trying to drain the Madrigals' magic as payback for being The Unfavorite.

• Jossed.

Bruno will turn out to be the Villain

Disney Animated Canon films had at least hidden villains such as Turbo from Wreck-It Ralph, Hans from Frozen, or Yokai from Big Hero 6. He was also shown to have an Evil Grin in one of the TV Spot Commercials of the film, which might foreshadow his true nature. So, he may be revealed as the villain in the film.

• Jossed.

Bruno will have a Heel–Face Turn

Even if it possibly reveals his true nature as a villain, he may redeem himself, given that he did rescue Mirabel, and even encouraged her to help her family.

• Jossed, there's No Antagonist.

Mirabel is the only person who has ever witnessed how Bruno has visions.

• Before Bruno went into hiding, he would retreat to his tower to perform his vision ritual. Climbing all those stairs would be a strong deterrent even to family members; and indeed, when Bruno has his first vision about Mirabel, none of the family were with him, and the vision remained a mystery until Mirabel went looking for it in his tower years later.
• It would explain why there was so much misunderstanding about the difference between Bruno's offhand observations vs. his true visions. Even his own sister didn't understand that Bruno's remark about rain on her wedding day was an attempt at a lighthearted joke rather than a prophecy. Had Pepa ever actually seen Bruno having a vision, she at least would have known to ask if he was talking about something he had seen in one of his incredibly elaborate vision rituals

Bruno is bisexual.

Which, with his rusty social skills, just means double the anxiety and fear of rejection.

The reason Bruno has no family of his own

Is that every time he fell in love with someone, he had a vision that something terrible would happen to them/their kids if he pursued the relationship and, much like he exiled himself for Mirabel's sake, he sacrificed his chances at romance for their sake.

• Maybe he's gay and/or he doesn't want children of his own.
• One possibility is that because of his "gift", no woman or man is willing to be with him.
• Everyone outside the family seems to be afraid of him, so I doubt he got many dates
• Maybe simply hasn't met his future wife... yet.
• He's been stuck inside the house for more than ten years. I reckon his social abilities are a little impaired due to it. (And that's not even counting if he smells...)
• Or he could simply be aro/ace.

Bruno's "acting" was originally for entertaining his nieces and nephew.

When he meets Mirabel again, he thinks (in true Bruno fashion) he can put her at ease with the funny characters she liked when she was five.

Bruno inspired Camilo's gift.

Related to the above theory; Camilo enjoyed playacting with his Tío Bruno the most. By age five, he had already developed a love for acting from the game, and the magic granted his shapeshifting gift to bring out his passion.

Bruno will name his future children Hernando and Jorge

One of them will also be given the Midas Touch, which will lead to them becoming ostracized by the village (much like Bruno before). That child will follow the "Conceal don't feel" mentality until Bruno helps them through it, having learned from his own experience.

If Bruno ever has children

• One will have Time Travel as their Gift. It will only extend as far back as to when the Casita was first created but going forward is near limitless.

It wasn't Bruno who was dancing in the background of "We don't talk about Bruno"

If you look closely, it looks more like someone wearing a bucket on their head. Clearly, that's actually Bruno's good friend Jorge, the spackle-maker.

Bruno's vision for Mirabel wasn't showing two possible futures

In the film, Bruno's vision for Mirabel shows her both destroying and fixing the Casita. The conclusion reached in the film, and evidently by most of the audience, is that there are two possible futures, and Mirabel's actions will either doom or save the home. That's a bit inconsistent though; Everyone acts as though Bruno's predictions do always happen, why would just this one suddenly be showing multiple possible timelines instead of just the one that's going to happen?

In fact, his vision was working exactly as it normally does. After all, both of those possibilities turn out to be true: Mirabel's efforts to fix the miracle do wind up causing the cracks, as they're caused by cracks in the family dynamic that she exposes (even if she wasn't the cause of those issues), and her work getting the family to acknowledge the pressure they feel, and helping them to fix their relationship issues, culminates in the Casita being reborn in the rebuilt home. It wasn't one or the other, it was both.

• I actually thought this too. If you don't get it, try picturing each part of the vision at separate points in a video, and moving it around scrolls back and forth between them.
• Since Bruno's visions aren't perfectly sequential, he might have mistaken multiple similar scenes for overlapping futures in his vision of Mirabel. She fights and hugs Isabella, and the Candle both goes out and gets brighter.

Some Young Madrigal resents Bruno for abandoning the family

Bruno left the Casa Madrigal when his nieces and nephews were just children and he after returned to their lives out of nowhere. If they found out that Bruno was hiding in the walls of the house, it would only worsen one of their perspectives on him, plus writer-director Jared Bush leaves open the possibility that a third generation member of the family will not take well to Bruno's disappearance and his sudden return to the family.

The question is who could have negative thoughts towards Bruno and what would be the reasons.

• Dolores: He told her when she was just a child that the "man of her dreams" would be out of her reach because he would be engaged to someone else and after he abandoned her leaving her all alone with that knowledge. Thanks to Bruno, she grew up believing that she could never be together with the man of her dreams and no one would realize the pain that the idea of Mariano marrying someone else caused her. Also, Dolores was forced to hide the fact that he was still hiding in the walls of the house and knowing that he never had the courage to come out of hiding from her to go back to the family.

• Isabela: Although most would think that the vision that Bruno gave her when she was a child is positive, she would grow up thinking that the opposite is true. Since Bruno had a vision in which she would have the dream life, Alma would over the years increase her expectations of perfection on Isabela thus only increasing the pressure on Isabela to meet Abuela's expectations as she grew older.

• Camilo: He would be very bitter and uncomfortable with Bruno's return to the family because he abandoned Camilo when he was just a child, which means that Bruno was absent throughout his life and then returned seemingly out of nowhere. In addition to the fact that he is the Momma's Boy, so perhaps Pepa's initial bad thoughts about Bruno could have been intentionally transferred to Camilo, the fact that she and the rest of the adults in the family accepted Bruno back without a doubt would only increase the Camilo's confusion.

Felix and or Augustin were Bruno's only friends growing up.

Felix apparently held no grudges for what happened at him and Pepa's wedding and was willing to talk about Bruno to Mirabel. And from how was, it was more like "whatever he saw must have been very important" rather than genuine fear. Augustin was also quick to accept him back at the end.

Camilo

Camilo will be or at least hinted/interpreted by fans at being Nonbinary or Genderfluid

They're described in press release as a teen who "doesn't quite know who they are yet", something many LGBTQ+ can relate to, and Camilo's only referred to as they, with the pronoun he only being used when discussing his actor. With how they're seen shapeshifting into both males and females so far, something many shapeshifting characters are seen or depicted as (like Double Trouble or Loki), this WMG could happen, or at least be the headcanon for many in the LGBT Fanbase.

• Somewhat Jossed. Director Jared Bush exclusively uses "he/him" pronouns when referring to Camilo.
• Mirabel also refers to Camilo as "he" during the song "The Family Madrigal". This WMG is left to headcanons.
  "My primo Camilo won't stop until he makes you smile today!"

Camilo will become the villain of the film

The poster featuring him is shown with his picture in the middle with an evil smile, which might foreshadow that he might be one in the film.

• Alternatively, they may simply have or had a mischievous streak and loves to pull pranks by impersonating with his shapeshifting. I say "had" because the icon of them on their door looks to be younger then he currently is, so what I think is that when he was young and gained his gift, they was a mischievous troublemaker who used their powers for such, but something happened to them that made Camilo grow out of such (most likely being scolded for such and being threated with banishment). Even though they did such and doesn't pull such trickery anymore (if not that much), the damage was done and his door icon displayed him with a malicious grin.
• Jossed. The Film has No Antagonist

Camilo will eventually discover he can also shape-shift into animals

While he could do so in the concept art, the film limits his ability to just humans. But if a spinoff ever comes out and the characters are to be expanded upon, this prospect could come back into play. Just imagine a scenario where Camilo pretends to be one of Antonio's animal friends as some kind of practical joke.

Camilo has an eating disorder

He binge eats since shapeshifting takes a tole on him. Hence why he tries to get seconds every chance he gets. He ends up sneaking food at night since his parents make sure he doesn't get seconds.

Camilo's shapeshifting uses a lot of energy

Especially if he shapeshifts into someone who is taller than him or weighs more than he does. Maintaining another person's form for an extended period of time is also strenuous for him. That's why he eats so much.

If there's a series based on the movie, one of the episodes will reuse Camilo's scrapped sub-plot of struggling with his identity.

Camilo was incredibly close to Bruno and deeply hurt when he disappeared

At the time when Mirabel would have had her ceremony, and thus Bruno felt he needed to leave, Bruno and Camilo would have been the only two boys in the family. Felix and Augustin were men and probably close enough, but they were his dad and his Uncle through marriage who lacked powers. Both of them shared a flair for the dramatic and if you look closely, Camilo is often treated with a certain amount of suspicion due to his power (with good reason, however it does not change the fact). I believe that when Camilo was young, he spent a lot of time with Bruno and looked up to him in a way. When Bruno left, Camilo felt abandoned by his favorite uncle. But when he wanted to talk about it, everyone told him to shut up and so he bottled. When the time for "We Don't Talk About Bruno" came around, he'd been stewing for years. That's why his verse in the song is so horrifically inaccurate. He got an opportunity to expel the anger.

Camilo will be Ascended Extra if Encanto becomes a franchise

Considering that he became one of Disney's biggest Ensemble Dark Horse, it wouldn't be hard to think that the film's creators and directors want to give Camilo more relevance and attention given his great popularity among fans. Because he was only a minor character in the movie and had the least amount of development among family members, if Encanto were to become a franchise, Camilo would have a major or even main role in a future series or sequel to develop his character and emotional issues.

• If this were to happen, He would have a position in the franchise similar to that of Isabela or Bruno. Because he would become a main character he would get his own song, a character discovery arc to come to terms with himself by accepting his flaws and showing the relationship he has with his family.

Camilo will develop the desire to know the world beyond the Encanto

Now that the mountains that kept the town isolated from the world have disappeared, the family will be free to leave the Encanto after more than 50 years. If the Madrigals were forced to leave town in a sequel and see places they had never seen in their lives, Camilo might be the least likely member of the family to want to return home and most excited to see the things that could discover away from the Encanto.

• He is a cheerful, sociable and energetic teenager, if he ends up seeing what the world is like outside of Encanto he will realize that he will not want to be locked up in the town all his life.

• Unlike his brothers and cousins (who resolved emotional conflicts they had) Camilo is the only one who has not had a character arc and is described as someone who "doesn't quite know who he is yet". Because he is not very comfortable with who he is, he may doubt what he really wants for his future and whether he wants the same life as his relatives have had or to have a different option.

• Although he loves Casa Madrigal, he is not shown to have such a strong bond with the house so he would not feel as attached to the Casita as Mirabel or Abuela. If he solves his identity problems and at the same time becomes attached to a new place that he knows, Camilo could realize that he does not feel completely happy in his home and instead he wants to know places and new things.

• The gifts of each family member are connected to their personalities, so connecting Camilo's power with his personality, he would like the changes. He enjoys constantly changing his appearance with his shapeshifting ability, but his desire to change may not only relate to his appearance but also his environment. If Camilo likes what is different, he would enjoy environments that are new to him.
  • The fact that Camilo likes to change his appearance means that he would also like the most modern clothes of city people and thanks to this he would have a significant wardrobe change that would better show his desire to stay in the new location.

Camilo annoys Isabela because she is Abuela Alma's favorite

Although it is seen that he likes to annoy his cousin for fun similar to an Annoying Younger Sibling, Camilo may have some resentment towards Isabela for being Abuela's favorite. Since he is the same age as Mirabel, he also lived watching Isabela be Abuela's darling and possibly he was jealous at some point because of the special attention that Alma gave her. Perhaps this is why he always takes advantage of any opportunity to play a prank on his older cousin, Camilo is annoyed at being ignored by his grandmother in favor of Isabela.

This can be seen in some moments of the movie. At breakfast, Camilo carefully watches Abuela being affectionate with Isabela and as soon as she leaves the scene, he takes the opportunity to make fun of his cousin about her imminent marriage proposal. Another example is when Alma informs Isabela during "We Don't Talk About Bruno" about Mariano's arrival at the Casa Mdrigal, where just seconds after she speaks, Camilo takes the opportunity to make fun of Isabela again informing her of the arrival of her fiancé at the house.

If there is a Encanto series, in one episode Camilo will transform into Abuelo Pedro

Camilo would never intentionally shapeshift into his Abuelo, given the emotional damage it would cause to the adults in the family⁏ remembering that Abuela had to see Pedro die and is still mourning his death, while the triplets live with the sad to never meet her father and they were born the same day he died. But since sometimes Camilo's power is involuntary, on one occasion he will end up thinking about his grandfather, miss him or simply have respect for him and accidentally transform into him.

• A more extreme case is that magic wants Camilo to transform into Pedro to indirectly help the family to overcome the pain of their loss so that they can have a more peaceful last image of him because the strongest memory that have of Pedro is his murder. But since the family has a hard time understanding the miracle's actions, Camilo would immediately be horrified by transforming into his deceased grandfather and everyone would believe that he is losing control of his gift or that the magic in the house is failing again.

If this happens, Camilo would try to hide the form of his grandfather from the family, which would start the plot of the episode. If he wouldn't be able to return to normal, he would ask his siblings and cousins for help, since they were all born after Pedro's death. Everyone would think that the error is in Camilo's powers and would actively try to fix the problem while trying to keep the adults in the family from seeing it, which would cause a chain reaction of the secret eventually being revealed to everyone in the house.

Isabela

Isabela is Luisa and Mirabel's half-sister

• Her skin is too dark for her to be Julieta's daughter, so, she likely comes from Sr. Madrigal's previous marriage.
  • Or a dark-skinned ancestor's genes could have skipped a generation or two. (Maybe he liked flowers and gardens too and this also was passed on.)
    • Jossed, they are sisters and it is possible for two people to be related even if one has a darker skin tone.

While Isabela is an antagonistic force to Mirabel, she's still a good person.

A typical deconstruction of the "perfect child"/"caring big sister/eldest daughter" character archetype is that they fear if they fail, everyone they care about will be let down and see that she isn't as reliable as they thought.

Isabela will smother and/or doubt Mirabel in her ability to save Encanto and try to take it upon herself to save the house, but in the process, she insensitively puts down Mirabel for not having magic. Mirabel will think Isabel is trying to hog the spotlight, and in an emotional Darkest Hour, Isabela will reveal that she's scared of letting everyone down and/or that if Mirabel gets hurt or fails, she'll be wrecked with guilt that she failed her baby sister. [Some remarks by the writing team bear this out.]

In the end, when the day is saved, Mirabel and Isabela will understand that the other is imperfect and that's okay, and the events of the movie will have brought them closer together.

• Confirmed.

Isabela will make a Radar-dodging joke

Its recently been confirmed that Columbian singer Maluma will play Mariano, Isabela's fiance. Maybe while with him, Isabela will joke that given her gift of having a Green Thumb, she looks forward to getting deflowered, or if not will implicitly say such along those lines.

• Jossed, If anything she would be horrified at the thought of that. Although she does sprout flowers when she hears he wants five kids already.

Isabela will use her powers to help grow crops, and in fact she always could

Perhaps as a kid Isabela could grow fruit and other edible plants, and she decided that since she had an obligation to help the community she decided to do so by growing for instance potatoes. However, Alma for whatever reason disapproved and banned her from doing so (perhaps she didn't think it fit her or didn't fit the image Alma crafted). But now that she is freer to Be herself to Abuela's approval, she'll be able to grow crops. (inspired by how a village of sentient potatoes grew in her room in earlier drafts)

• Many cacti are edible, so she's already doing this in the film.

Isabela's love of horticulture comes from her mother

Although not nearly as much as her daughter, Julieta is associated with plants too. Specifically, the herbs for cooking she has in her pockets. As a little girl, Isabela helped her mother grow plants in the garden, and was fascinated by their various applications. The gifts have a degree of wish fulfillment in that they aid the Madrigals in doing what makes them happy, so Isabela wished for something along the lines of, "I want to help Mami in the garden." Cue Green Thumb.

Why Isabela agreed to marry Mariano.

She knew the life of her dreams was promised to her.This means that she lived day by day knowing that what she did would eventually bring her to happines.This in turn led her to do what she could to make her family happy, maybe even putting aside her present happiness in the hopes of a future happy ending.

Isabela is Lesbian or asexual/Aromantic

Since she confirmed that she did not want to marry Mariano, and only did for her family, it might mean that she might be a Lesbian or Ace.

Isabela will grow certain plants to be used for...recreational purposes

She's a young adult who can grow all kinds of plants. It writes itself. Luisa may join, considering she's now able to relax more. Though given what the family and time period will be like, they're probably gonna have to hide it from their mother and Alma.

Of her sisters, Isabela is the closest to Pepa

Despite their limited interaction in the film, the two are shown to be incredibly close to the point of seeming like mother and daughter. It may be that among all the adults in the family, Isabela can identify more with Pepa because they both have dramatic personalities with powers that are very connected to their emotions.

• After she has received her gift, Pepa will have taught her how to control her emotions so that she can have better control of her power. Isabela gently calms down Pepa when she sees her stressed and nervous, so she is returning the favor to her aunt for having taught her to control her power when she was a kid.

• On the night of Antonio's gift ceremony, Isabela does the same dance that Pepa would do after the reconstruction of the Casita. This implies that Isabela has learned some dance steps from Pepa.

• The only moment Isabela doesn't have a fake smile about her proposal with Mariano is when she sets the table for dinner in "We Don't Talk About Bruno". For a moment, while she was having fun dancing it with Pepa during the song, she forgot about the proposal because she was having fun with her aunt.

Dolores

Dolores told Pepa that Bruno was hidden in the house years ago.

When Bruno reveals himself to the others, Julieta looks shocked, but volatile Pepa just smiles warmly and puts her hand to her heart. Maybe Dolores had let her know years ago so she wouldn't worry about his safety.

Dolores can't keep a secret because she's so stressed from keeping the fact that she knows about Bruno

She kept the secret for ten years, but can't keep others.

Several of the Madrigals had a miserable few years after receiving their gift, but none more than Dolores.

The thing about super-hearing is that the world isn't designed for that, and upon receiving such a "gift" a normal conversation would be deafening. Until she learned to filter out a lot of the random noise of the entire village, Dolores would've been absolutely incapacitated with the overstimulation of everything she's hearing. This might also explain why she's so quiet today.

• And she would have had no choice but to learn about several topics way too early for a five-year-old.

Dolores' gift reflects her love of music

Dolores having music as a hobby is something from development not properly explored in the movie. During her ceremony, five year-old Dolores wished for a gift that would be an asset in her budding passion. On a good day, magically sensitive ears can be that.

Dolores is the Hidden Villain of the Movie

Despite the fact that she knew that Bruno was still hiding in the Casa Madrigal the whole time, as shown when she comments that "can always hear him" or "I knew he never left, I heard him every day", Dolores has never done anything to get her uncle back to the family and decides not to talk about him like the rest of her relatives. She becomes privy to important information through her super-hearing, but then chooses not to share or do anything about it. If Dolores really didn't want the miracle to go away, Why didn't she say anything, even though she could obviously hear that Mirabel was looking for Bruno? Why didn't she help save the miracle with the usefulness of her gift to listen to others? If she cared about Bruno, Why did she never tell the family that Bruno was hiding in the house and hiding the secret for years?

Dolores wanted the magic and candle to disappear, hiding valuable information from others so they couldn't save the miracle. She has the worst gift in the family and instead of bringing her happiness it has only brought her pain, if the magic disappeared she would finally be able to get rid of her magical gift and be able to express herself as she wants. She is often overlooked because her gift, of being able to hear everything, isn’t as useful to the family as some of their other miracles. She doesn’t really get praised for using it like the others do, and she can see how many of her family members are unhappy and stressed with the burden of their gifts.

She also loves Mariano, who is obsessed with Isabela and her gift, so if Isabela didn't have any gift and stopped being perfect, Dolores might have more of a shot with him. Dolores is the one to ruin the engagement dinner by telling everyone of the vision Mirabel saw and then not trying to help her cousin when she was being blamed for causing the magic to disappear. She wanted to do all this on purpose so that Mariano wouldn't marry Isabela and at the same time make the magic disappear faster. And the reason why she never said that her uncle hid all the time in the walls of the house is because Bruno made her believe since she was just a little girl that she could never be with the man of her dreams and after he abandon the family.

Dolores Took a Level in Kindness

She used to be a bit of a busybody tattletale who blabbed and revealed secrets constantly with her hearing, especially after she got her gift. Thankfully, it didn't last no doubt thanks to Pepa and Felix, being Good Parents, making it clear that behaviour won't be tolerated.

• Adding onto this, simply raiding their voice could be their own way off spanking her.

Dolores is Daddy's Girl

Word of God confirmed that Camilo is Momma's Boy, which makes sense considering their dramatic personalities and that their powers are tied to their emotions, so if we consider the similarities it would make sense for Dolores to be Daddy's Girl since she shares more similarities with Félix than with Pepa.

• She can't stand loud noises due to the sensitivity of her gift. Pepa is always making a lot of noise with her powerful gift and this would hurt Dolores' ears. Félix doesn't have a gift and never raises his voice even when he's angry, so it's impossible that he hurt Dolores' ears in any way.
• She is quiet and not very emotional, while Pepa is melodramatic and is always stressed or upset in some way, it would be quite difficult for Dolores to have a long conversation with her mother. Félix is laid-back, calm and almost never gets angry, so Dolores would feel more comfortable talking to her father.

Dolores will form a family with Mariano

Like her mother, aunt, and grandmother, she will be happily married and have children. To the delight of the Madrigal and Guzmán families, Mariano will propose to Dolores in a few years and she will accept moved, paralleling when she told him to "slow down" when he first proposed. Mariano will officially be a member of the Madrigal family and will take the family surname, moving into Casa Madrigal. The two will be a loving couple and have children of different ages.

• One of the children will be named Pedro in dedication and honor to Dolores' deceased grandfather, as well as being a nice name. Pedro Jr will also be an Identical Grandson given his father’s visual similarities to Pedro Sr while the other two children will be more similar to his mother, having names related to the bible just like his parents.

Luisa

Luisa is somehow LGBTQ+.

Given her muscular body, loving personality, and hilarious atmosphere, it is fair to say that Luisa might give out vibes enough to hint that she could be bisexual or a lesbian. Just the way she presents herself gives out vibes that if you have Rainbow Lens you'll see the possibility.

Luisa is Lesbian

Since she has muscular strength, she does have a few lady admirers.

Luisa is a closet intellectual

• In her song "Surface Pressure," Luisa readily makes references to the Earth's crust and to the Labours of Hercules; so it's not unreasonable to guess that in the little spare time that she has, she's been reading up on natural sciences and Greek mythology.

Luisa is the first truly Exploited Madrigal

Previous to Luisa's gift, the family had just been a help to the village; however, upon Luisa's Gifting, a Madrigal now was subjected to immense amounts of manual labor and an obscene amount of pressure to fulfill a role.

While Pepa, Julieta and Bruno had powerful gifts, their gifts would only come in handy every so often (as needed). Same with the other children (Dolores, Camilo, Isabela) would have gifts that could be used as needed, mostly for entertainment purposes. However, Luisa was the first one whose gift gave her a never-ending list of tasks to complete. This can be seen before the song "Surface Pressure" when the villagers are essentially swarming Luisa with tasks to complete. And when preparing for Antonio's Gifting Ceremony, we see her jump from task to task, even if the current task was not finished.

She even suggests in her song that she wonders what it would be to just enjoy her gift, to just relax. After Luisa received her gift, Abuela pressured her to be the family yes-man, and to take on any manual task. And after seeing the results of Luisa's contributions to the village, Abuela took that as a success and put even more pressure on the rest of the family.

Other

Antonio will make friends with the Town Kids

• The coffee-obsessed kid^note Lin-Manuel Miranda says this kid is his "everything", the one girl named Cecilia, and the dark-skinned girl who's starting a meme. They are frequently seen throughout the movie, and it's mentioned Antonio isn't good with people, so these three will be his very first and closest friends.

Casita is actually Abuelo Pedro

Or at least it contains a part of his soul.

• Pedro's sacrifice brought the magic, so maybe in wishing to protect and shield his family, he was turned into a house: a place to shelter his loved ones. And was given awareness so he could keep taking care of them.
• That would also explain why it's so affected by the family's internal struggle, he's seeing his family suffer and in turn suffers for it.
• In the beginning when Abuela is recounting the story of how they got their miracle, one of the casita's shutters gives her a little wave, and she waves back. This is similar to the flashback by the river when her and Pedro first meet and give each other little waves across the crowd.
• Casita is shown playing favorites, pranking the family, occasionally disciplining them, and generally reacting in a very "human" way, because it may have been a human before. Also, that is what a loving grandpa would do.
  • Adding to the above theory, the reason Casita!Pedro is so visibly fond of Mirabel may be that something in her reminds it of himself-when-alive or of a younger Alma.
• It's also possible that when Alma herself dies, she and Pedro will move on together, and the Casita will be left in Mirabel's control.

Julieta was the last one of her siblings to figure out her gift.

• Pepa's weather manipulation and Bruno's future sight just sort of happen to them, with little control on their part. But Julieta's gift is incredibly specific. It probably took her some time to realize what it actually was, likely cooking something to cheer up one of her siblings or Abuela after they were injured.

Pepa doesn't actually hate Bruno for "ruining" her wedding — she's just looking for an excuse to hate him

Think about it, her power is tied to her emotions, and any negative feelings could result in disastrous consequences for the town and the innocent people around it the stronger they [negative emotions] are. So when her only brother left the family, the mixture of different types of emotions swirling inside Pepa's head — anger, sorrow, confusion, regret... would've created a weather that was too much for the ordinary residents of the Encanto to handle. So instead of confronting said emotions and dealing with them she buried it instead for the sake of her community and the Madrigals' reputation. Hence why she's so keen on making Bruno's name taboo inside the house.

Pedro is the singer of "Dos Oruguitas".

While there's no indication that the singer is supposed to be anyone in-universe, it would be a lot more meaningful and heartwarming if it was secretly sung by Pedro.

Pedro and Alma knew The Faceless Horsemen

Given the Columbia's history of civil wars it's quite possible that Faceless Horsemen weren't some invading army but local people who joined whoever wanted to take control over the region. Pedro went unarmed because recognised his neighbours, friends or maybe even kin and tried in vain to reason with them. That would also explain why Alma wants her family to keep everyone happy and content.

• From the facts we see onscreen alone we know that: 1) The horsemen were setting buildings on fire, 2)they were chasing refugees across the jungle and 3)unarmed Pedro expected to stop/stall them just by making his presence known, arms raised and all. Therefore yes, he might have known them and hoped to reason with them... But also consider that he himself might have been the target all along, a community or political leader who the opposing faction wanted to get rid of. After all, Pedro and Alma were the first of a large number of refugees, and still they let everyone pass by in order to be the first to face the horsemen by the river (and without taking the opportunity to gather more people that might have helped defend the group).

Julieta (if not Augustin too) are absolutely boss in bed

Going with the idea Julieta has a large kitchen or garden in her room, who knows what she can cook up to really spice it up. Plus, it would be pretty funny if the sweet, demure Julieta was the one who had the kinkiest, wildest sex in the Casita, if nor Encanto.

(Also, Julieta hasn't had more kids then just three if this is the case because she probably cooks food-based contraceptives too)

(Also also, I am so sorry for this)

• Well.. Kinda hard to compete with the fact that Pepa probably summons storms while she and Felix are in bed. Although that probably comes with a massive downside cause it means the entire town might know when they're being intimate.
  • OP: Given the risk, Pepa and Felix are probably celibate and don't have sex that often. If they did and given how Pepa's powers work, the euphoria of it would probably instead leave the entire skies extremely still and flood with either moonlight or sunlight. Also, anytime the former probably happens, Dolores probably just sighs at the prospects and does her best to cover her ears or just retreat into her room doing her best to ignore Julieta screaming "SI! SI!" over and over in hers.

How Bruno and Julieta knew their gifts

Bruno touches his door, and all of a sudden his eyes go green and smoke billows around him. When it's over, he tells Julieta that when she touches her door, four arepas will fly out of it and hit her. Julieta is nervous, but Alma and Pepa laugh it off and beckon Julieta to the door anyway. Bruno's prediction comes true, and one of the arepas gives her a black eye. Now Julieta is crying, but it's an arepa, so she must eat it. When she takes a bite, her black eye disappears. Alma declares everyone's gifts, and the four of them enjoy their arepas together.

After the movie, Agustín doesn't get stung by bees as much anymore

It's implied there are so many bees around Casita because Isabela's flowers are attracting them. Well, after discovering her true potential and realizing she's sick of flowers, she's growing many other different kinds of plants. Less flowers, less bees, less stings.

If Julieta ever needed to defend herself, her weapon would be buñuelos

• Buñuelos are infamous for exploding if the oil used to make them is too hot. Julieta wielding a pan full of buñuelo bombs and hot oil would be terrifying.

Casita needed Mirabel to expose the generational trauama

Through the way Casita represents the cracks in family bonds by fracturing itself, we know it must have a telepathic or empathic connection to the Madrigal family. This could be how it decides what gift to give each blood born Madrigal, looking at their personality and deciding what best fits as a gift. We know Antonio liked animals so much, and his gift was being able to communicate with them. By this logic, Casita saw Mirabel's ability to gain insight into others and chose not to induct her into Alma's for the good of the community stance so she could see what that did to her family and fix it (which she achieves by gaining insight into Alma's own personal tragedy). Mirabel may have been waiting on a miracle, but the Miracle was waiting on her.

Antonio's room is going to be used by someone as a second bathroom

Word of God confirmed there's only one in the Casita, which as anyone in a large family can attest, is often an utter nightmare. However, consider that Antonio's room is an entire jungle, and the existence of Nature Tinkling, this WMG writes itself.

Given his young age, Antonio himself might try this in secret.

Alma and Mirabel will become just as close as they were in the past

In the prologue of the movie the two appear to be incredibly close, their relationship becoming strained due to Alma's high expectations and Mirabel not receiving a gift. It makes sense that after they reconcile they're able to mend their relationship back to that point, especially if one considers the theory Mira is supposed to be the next head of the family.

Bruno and Camilo will become close after having a conflict parallel to that of Alma and Mirabel

Camilo would take Bruno's return to the family negatively at first, he would not show much joy for the presence of his uncle or he would actively try to avoid it. Bruno would notice this and he would try to get closer to Camilo to find out why he is not comfortable with him returning to the family, similar to how Mirabel tried to get closer to Alma even though she tried to avoid her.

• At first it would be difficult for both parties to interact⁏
  • Camilo would have trouble accepting Bruno's return because he grew up hearing horrible things about his uncle from the adults in the family since he was just a child and then, from his point of view, they acted as if nothing had happened. He wouldn't have any hatred towards Bruno, rather his confusion from everything that happened would not make him feel comfortable around Bruno and he would have a hard time seeing him as family.

  • Bruno will be bothered that Camilo saw him for years as a demonic and evil figure, without realizing that the family is partly responsible for his nephew's way of thinking about him. Also, since he was absent during all his life, Bruno practically doesn't know Camilo and wouldn't know how to try to get close to him. While trying to bond with him, Bruno would realize that Camilo has a hard time seeing him as family so he would try to show him that he loves him.

Although they would try, they would not be able to bond because neither of them knows the difficulty that the other is going through due to the consequences of the taboo about Bruno. In the end, the confusion that Camilo has accumulated that everyone in the house acts as if Bruno had never left the family will turn into hatred and he will vent his anger on Bruno (in parallel to how Alma vented her anger on Mirabel) . Bruno will be unable to yell at his nephew and even if he tries to calm him down by trying to say something like "We are family and I love you", Camilo will intentionally say "You are not my family!".

After that discussion, hurt by the previous discussion, they will have a conversation in which Camilo will ask Bruno for forgiveness and he will listen to him, realizing the reasons why it was so difficult for his nephew to get close to him. Bruno will tell Camilo the pain that never being able to be with the family caused him and the younger will realize that in the end the whole situation was always out of Bruno's control. Thanks to the fact that they will have that heart-to-heart conversion, they will realize that they are similar in personalities and abilities, so they will begin to get closer to the point of looking like father and son.

Luisa and Camilo are each other's favorite cousin

Mirabel and Antonio have a sibling bond mainly because, being the youngest of their respective family branches, they understand each other better than anyone in the family and know when the other needs their support. It is implied that Isabela and Dolores treat each other as if they were sisters thanks to being the same age and the eldest granddaughters in the family, being able to sympathize with each other's responsibilities in the Encanto more than any of their siblings would with them. Because of this, it would make sense that Luisa and Camilo also have a close bond being the middle children of their respective branches despite being opposite in terms of appearance and personality, being a case of Sibling Yin-Yang.

• Luisa would be the only one of her sisters who would enjoy Camilo's mischievous and joking personality. Being the most patient and tolerant, she would not be cold and dismissive towards of him like Isabela or show irritation and annoyance at his antics like Mirabel, instead she would genuinely be amused by her cousin's pranks knowing that he is not malicious and will be happy to see him be himself. Being one of the youngest in the family, Luisa would also be protective of Camilo and would have an Big Sister Instinct with him.
• On Camilo's side, he would get along very well with Luisa and admire her as an Cool Big Sis. Unlike the more complicated relationship he has with Isabela, whom he enjoys teasing and making fun, Luisa will be one of the few people he does not play pranks on given her loving and caring nature, enjoying her cousin's company and bonding with her to share the housework.

The Family

LGBT family members

The best candidates are Camilo for nonbinary and I read about people theorizing Luisa might be lesbian. While I personally don't tune so much with the latter, I would also guess Bruno as gay and Isabela as Ace.

• Alternatively, Bruno can easily be read as being ace. As for Isabela, there were early boards showing she had a secret nerdy paramour. So although it didn't make the cut, maybe she's simply happy to wait for the 'one', and/or demiace/demiromantic.

Aging gracefully

Alma, the triplets, and the husbands are all in pretty good shape and lively for approx 75 and 50, including Pepa having a perfectly healthy child about age 45. Cartoon characters with flattering designs and not rendering wrinkles? perhaps. A family member with powerful and easy healing keeping them spry? Also maybe.

Possible gifts given to future Madrigals

Naturally, the Madrigal family is gonna keep going strong over the years. Now we already have members who can control the weather, see the future, create Health Food, have super hearing, shapeshift to their will, and talk to animals... what other gifts can future children gain?

• Maybe as a counterpart to Luisa having Super-Strength, a future Madrigal can have super speed.
• A Madrigal who can control the elements, although not in the same way Pepa (sort of) does and more in a way similar to Elsa.
  • Or control over a specific element, like fire, lightning, earth, or water.
• Elasticity
• Self-duplication (or even the ability to duplicate things/people in general)
• Telepathy, like Dolores' gift up to eleven.
• Telekinesis
• Teleportation
• Flight
• Seeing spirits and ghosts
  • Summoning spirits
  • Eventually, shamanism
• Size Shifting
• Invisibility
• Super-Intelligence
• Magic, ala Zatanna, Raven or the Scarlet Witch.
  • maybe they can be a potion maker
• Phasing, like Shadowcat.
• Resurrecting the dead ^note (Though they may turn out to be a bigger Black Sheep then even Bruno given the potential for Nightmare Fuel and things to go really wrong)
• Time Travel
• Opening Time Portals
• A storyteller with very strong imagination who can create visual illusions of any story they tell.
  • That would be neat, as another nod to magical realism and Gabriel García Marquez' works. Perhaps this family member turns into an author and writes the story of the Madrigals as a book?
  • Aaaaand their ability to create visual illusions of the story they tell is would be what causes the in-universe existence of the movie itself!
• A pair of twins who are actually linked together to the extent that one can sometimes see what the other sees.
  • Or use Twin Telepathy like a telephone!
• Fourth-Wall Observer.
• Bringing toys to life
  • Cue the inevitable theory they'd be responsible for Toy Story.
• The ability to manipulate time.
• Art Initiates Life
• Vocal Mimicry
• Lycanthropy (or some other kind of shapeshifting into an animal).
• Ghosts
• Ability to turn invisible.
• A trio of triplets who could have masks with legion voices.
• Given that the Madrigals aren't immortal, some future children could end up with the same gifts as their relatives. That way, the ability doesn't die with the bearer, there are no disruptions to the community, and the old guard can teach the new blood things they've learned about using their power.
• All for this to end with the most powerful Madrigal in the future, possibly being a harvester of all the previous powers combined.

The original miracle was only meant to last 50 years, or until the last of the triplets' children had a gift ceremony

• Abuela says Antonio's gift ceremony was on the 50th anniversary of the miracle. What if Antonio's gift strained the last of its strength? Afterwards, it was more susceptible to emotional shifts like Isabela's argument and reconciliation with Mirabel. The showdown with Abuela was the final straw.

• Abuela's iteration of the family includes her children and grandchildren. Maybe the first miracle ended with her last grandchild's ceremony, and Mirabel's new beginning will sustain itself even longer.

• Whatever force is behind the miracle read Mirabel's character and deliberately set her apart to "save up" all her magical potential, seeing that she'd move heaven and earth to repair the family. Her life's worth of unused, latent magic catalyzed the new miracle in one burst and revived the others' powers.

Guesses as to what each of rooms not seen look like

• If Camilo's room is connected to his shapeshifting ability and theatrical personality, it would be filled with mirrors and other reflective surfaces for him to practice his transformations. To really lean into the theatrics of his power, Camilo's room could even be styled like an auditorium so that family members and friends can come to watch him perform.
  • Alternatively, Camilo's room is that it's an environment that changes as he does. Depending on his mood, or perhaps depending on who he shapeshifts into, the room can change and rearrange itself to match.
• Julieta and Augustin have a fairly modest and "normal" room a la the nursery, though there is a garden for Julieta's plants.
  • It could also have an enormous kitchen and pantry so Julieta can both experiment with recipes and cook her comfort food whenever she wants to.
• Pepa's (and Felix) has access to an open sky.
  • It's an eternally sunny beach that can help calm herself down.
• Dolores's room is actually sound proof.
  • Concept art showed Dolores holding musical instruments, suggesting that her room might have been set up like a concert hall.
• Luisa's room is snowy mountain environment with a gym, a climbing wall, and hot springs for her to relax in.
  • She may also have an amusement park where she can play around and relax in, just like in concept art. Keywword may as she may have felt anything like this would distract from duties and never lasted beyond a day or two.
• Though we saw Isabela's room, after the events of the film it's probably shifted to a much more chaotic garden filled with all manner of plants she can think of, and it's never the same layout twice.
• Alma's room would be her first home with Pedro, as a way for her to keep their original family dreams alive.

The family wasn’t actually losing their gifts.

Only the house was falling apart as possibly a metaphor how much a family that doesn’t communicate can fall apart and the whole glitching thing could be explained.

• Luisa could have just been tired given super strength doesn’t mean unlimited stamina.
• Camilo’s shape shifting glitching out has shown to be a side effect of shock. He could also take after his mom in terms of emotions linking to power outbursts.
• given the madness at the dinner scene and Isabella not wanting to marry the guy in the first place and her wavering composure to be “perfect golden child” her powers could have glitched as well or maybe she was taking advantage of the situation and tried to make him break up with her but that’s a different theory.
• Bottom Line- The stress was the cause of all the glitching.

The Family gets around the "We don't talk about Bruno"...

Because they're singing about him, not talking. :)

If Mirabel didn't walk with Antonio, he wouldn't have gotten a gift either

I'm not sure if this is the right place to put this, but I wanted to get this little headcanon off my chest. Anyways, by allowing Mirabel to hold Antonio's hand as he walked to his door, it strengthened the bond of the family that kept the magic alive, and proved that Mirabel still had a place in the family even without powers. Thus had she been prevented from doing so, it would have proven to Casita that the Madrigals had no longer become worthy of the blessing of having powers and thus Antonio wouldn't get powers either. IDK just something that makes sense and I thought was cool.

The Madrigals are Agnostic

The rest of the Encanto does seem to be outright christian given both a church and priest. However, while their are cuzifixes in the Casita, Alma doesn't atrribute the miracle to God or the Heavens, and the artbook atttributes it to the land. The obvious Doyleist explaination is "Film doesn't want to alienate nonchristians or offends christians", but perhaps there is more to it. Basically the Madrigals do believe in something greater up there, but whatever it is they don't really do all that much, and rely on and pray to family instead.

Possible Ideas for Love Interest characters

Dolores and Mariano became a couple at the end of the film. So, there are other possibilities of what other Love Interests might be teased with the other Madrigal Children.

• A admired teenage girl who has an obsession with Luisa.
  • Alternatively, a boy who's a bit weak in the body at best or has something like osteogenesis imperfecta at worst but is very strong-willed.
• Camillo could get together with somebody who's just as mischievous as he is.. or it's a case of Opposites Attract and he winds up falling for the most well manner guy/girl around.
• Mirabel is a caring person and to some extent maternal, so she could follow in her mother's footsteps. She would marry a good-hearted boy who, although he would sometimes need her help, would be a person who appreciates the family as much as she does and the two of them would form a family.

Evil Counterpart Ideas for the Madrigal Family

While Bruno or Alma weren’t evil to begin with in the film, there could be a few other possibilities of what possible future villains could be an Evil Counterpart of them or anyone in the Madrigal Family.

• Alma: A Grande Dame with the power to brainwash or puppet people, mirroring what Alma was (accidentally) doing to the family through non-magical means.
• Julieta: A cruel harlequin-esque prankster who creates food that rather than healing others, causes bizarre and humiliating side effects like transformations for their own amusement, and most importantly hates everyone with a passion, seeing them only as tsrgets.
• Pepa: A weather master who holds her locale captive (perhaps as a False Utopia) with the threat of her getting angry or unhappy if her every whim isn't followed exactly.
• Bruno: A Chessmaster who has future sight (or says he does) and tells everyone just enough to manipulate them into doing what he wants (which also fulfills the "prophecy" and "confirms" his words).
• Agustin: The partner of said cruel prankster coming up with different new combination of foods that cause new humiliating and awful side effects.
• Felix: A non-powered husband with a powerful wife who doesn't love her and simply manipulates her and her abilities for his own benefit, regardless of the effect on anyone else.
• Isabela:
  • Either grows thorny and poisonous plants, cultivating a Garden of Evil or a Poisonous Person who can sap the life out of plants and cause famines.
  • A Favoured child who was aware of being viewed as the Golden Child, but instead of conforming, decide to rebel and disobey entirely.
• Luisa:
  • A person equally short-statured and short-tempered who can sap strength from others with a single touch and is incredibly arrogant and irresponsible.
  • The Brute who uses their Super-Strength to threaten people and cause destruction.
• Mirabel: A Muggle Born of Mages who has become The Resenter thanks to being ostracized and is determined to become special by any means necessary.
• Dolores: A telepathic spymaster who blackmails people into doing her bidding by threatening to reveal their deepest, darkest secrets.
• Camilo: A shapeshifter who enjoys using his powers to frighten others and/or ruin their lives through framing them for some kind of jerk-ish or evil deed.
• Antonio: A Beastmaster who is either power-mad or who believes humans are inferior to animals.

In a sequel another Madrigal will be the main character and other problems will develop

Given that Mirabel's issues and insecurities were fully fleshed out and she served her goals, a sequel could focus on another character who couldn't fully flesh out and was left out of focus in the first film.

The sequel involves the Family Madrigal discovering the world outside of the Encanto

• The "faceless horsemen" from the past conquered the land, but their descendants, now two generations removed, are decent people, who live in a city outside of the giant mountains. To them, the magical family living in the mountains is a fairy tale, and some fear that the Madrigal's intend to take revenge.

A grandchildren of the family wants to become independent

More specifically⁏ What would happen if a Madrigal wanted to leave the house and the Encanto?

Every adult in the family (except Bruno) have followed a path for their future⁏ falling in love, getting married and having children, increasing the family members in Casa Madrigal, so it would be expected that the third generation members (Isabela, Dolores, Luisa, Camilo, Mirabel, and Antonio) would also do the same when they grow up. But what if one of the grandchildren doesn't want the same future that their parents and grandparents have had? If they could choose a different option and become independent?

Now that the mountains that kept the town isolated from the outside are gone, the Madrigals will be free to step out of the Encanto after more than 50 years and discover new places they never imagined. At some point at least one of the family members would be interested in knowing what they have been missing locked up in the village all their lives and would like the outside world (or someone). But⁏ What would be the reaction of the other family members to they departure? And who would be more likely to want to leave home?

Meta

The movie is a (probably loose) adaptation of The Green Bird/The Enchanted Prince

Since, as mentioned in YMMV, the movie's heroine bears some noticeable similarities to the one from the story, being a hispanic Muggle Born of Mages and even having the exact same name. It could be within the realm of possibility that the tale directly inspired Encanto.

• Of course, this could also just be wishful thinking. While Disney has adapted lesser-known stories in the past (Dumbo, the Flying Elephant and A Day with Wilbur Robinson being examples), when it comes to actual fairy tales, they usually avoid more obscure ones like The Green Bird. The similarities between the Disney movie and the fairy tale could just be coincidence.

The movie will feature a reference to Moana somehow

• Lin-Manuel Miranda said he wanted this to be set in the same universe as Moana, but Disney has turned down the idea of multiple entries of their Animated Canon colliding before. (One of their films had a character that was implied to be Prince Hans' cousin, but they said no because they didn't want people to feel like there was a cinematic universe between their entries) But, that doesn't mean there can't be a reference or two somewhere.

Encanto shares a universe with Coco

Columbians celebrate Dia de los Muertos much the same way as it is celebrated in Mexico. To that end, the Casita maintains an ofrenda and automatically displays it outside the front door every year on November 1, not just for the Madrigals, but for the whole town. Given the magical nature of the Casita, the townspeople are able to talk to the ghosts of their loved ones. Every year, Abueala Alma is able to speak to her beloved Pedro, and to let him know how the family is doing. On the first Day of the Dead after the events of the movie, Mirabel was also able to see Pedro, who told his granddaughter that he was very proud of her.

• Meanwhile, Bruno's return to the bosom of his family means that he dodged a supernatural bullet. If Bruno hadn't made the choice to reveal himself to Abuela and his siblings, there was a real chance that his soul would have been lost forever; if he had died while hiding out in the Casita, his family might not have even found his body for months. Even if they had, Abuela was so upset at him for abandoning the Madrigal family that she may have forbidden her family from placing a portrait or any mementos of him on the family ofrenda, thus leaving him unable to return to the land of the living on Day of the Dead. After a couple of generations the family insisting "We don't talk about Bruno", it would not be long until Bruno's soul underwent the Final Death and faded into oblivion.
  • Although it is a nice idea, it would be difficult for it to happen, since in real life "Dia de los Muertos" is an strictly Mexican celebration (and it is not even celebrated in all the regions of that country), and the other Latin American countries, in Most of them don't celebrate it.

Sora might pay the Madrigals a visit at some point in the future

• If that does happen, Sora might become fast friends with Mirabel, and try to sympathize with her when she tells him about her lack of magic when he is a magic-user, and possibly contemplate the family using their gifts to protect the village from criminals, but won't tell this to Alma, due to him noticing something off about the family and Alma being at the heart of it.
  • They won't fight Heartless, but Unversed. While Heartless are souls of people who gave into the darkness, Unversed are tied to negative emotions, which the Madrigals feel boatloads of, and maybe the Madrigals are unknowingly making the Unversed appear in the Encanto, proving Vanitas isn't the only one who can make them.
  • When Sora realizes that the stress the family feels is spawning the Unversed, and that he unintentionally caused it to increase, he'll try to fight the Unversed himself, but Mirabel and Luisa will try to help him regardless, which leads to Alma noticing the Keyblade.
    • The Guest Party Member at the Encanto is Mirabel during peaceful travel and exploration. But whenever a battle encounter starts up, you hear Dolores call for Luisa, who tags in to fight.
  • He'll meet up with Antonio, and positively compare him to a younger Roxas.
  • He'll meet up with Camilo, and positively compare him to Axel.
  • When someone tells Sora why nobody talks about Bruno, he'll be Disappointed by the Motive. He'll rather quickly point out that even if Bruno had bad intentions when he told Pepa about the chance of rain, he remembers that her gift lets her control the weather, which only sped up the process. He'll also point out how ridiculous it is to shun someone (especially someone from your family), all because they made predictions that the people didn't like. Mirabel, especially after they meet Bruno, will agree with him in some way.
  • When Mirabel and Sora meet up with Bruno, Bruno will tell him that in some way, Alma has seen the Keyblade before and predicts that she'll try to confront Sora about it. Sora will also open up a bit about his past, and how his friends became his family, especially Riku, Donald & Goofy, telling Mirabel that friends can also be family.
  • Alma, after noticing Sora holding the Keyblade, will try to understand how it works so she can use it to protect the Encanto. Sora, who has been rather iffy around her, and most likely still feeling sour from what happened to Tron during the Mark of Mastery test, will refuse.
  • After Mirabel and Alma argue with each other, this time most likely more intense, this will all ultimately culminate into the Casita itself not falling apart, but becoming a massive Unversed that threatens the Encanto.
  • After Sora & the Madrigals defeat the Unversed Casita, after the family makes up, Alma will reveal why she was so interested in the Keyblade Sora held; because Pedro had been a Keyblade wielder prior to his death.
    • This is AWESOME. It also works really well.
• Maybe when the magic comes back, Mirabel might finally get a gift of her own...in the form of Pedro's Keyblade.
• If it serves as a sequel like the Pixar worlds in 3, this will occur:
  • Unversed are starting to appear due to negative emotions manifesting again.
  • Several members of the family will fear that they aren't supporting each other the way they promised to by the end of the movie and sequester themselves in their room. This will lead to Sora, Donald, Goofy, and Mirabel navigating various worlds-within-worlds to bring them back to the Casita.
  • When everyone finally reunites, the family will have realize that some tension will never go away and their attempt to be a new kind of perfect is just as counterproductive as how things were before. After all, everyone has a little bit of negativity and darkness within them - the important thing is remembering the positive things and light around yourself that can come from a family helping each other. This in turn will give Sora a boost to help fight the final boss.
  • After everything is fixed, Casita itself will reveal the Keyhole to Sora now that he's proven he can protect the Encanto just as well as the Madrigals.
• Either way, this could serve as a good opportunity for Vanitas to return.
• Ira will appear and refuse to believe that the community is as wonderful as it appears and claim that it will fall just like Daybreak Town. Not only will this reinforce the darkness, but it'll reflect both his drive to root out the traitor back during Back Cover, but also could play into any guilt he has about being unable to stop the fall.

Musical World Hypotheses of Encanto

Encanto is a musical film, which means this is eventually going to exist.

• The Family Madrigal: Diegetic/Adaptation. Mirabel is heard singing a variation of it with altered lyrics during her climb up Bruno’s tower, and during the song itself we see some of the townspeople providing the background music (and Casita in the beginning provides the accompanying beats), but the town kids’s lines and the townsfolk’s line about Bruno don’t seem scripted.
• Waiting on a Miracle: All in their heads. Other than the end, this number uses fantasy sequences a lot.
• Surface Pressure: All in their heads with the numerous fantasy sequences but Mirabel being able to interact with them makes it a bit fuzzy. Potentially Diegetic from the external interactions.
• We Don’t Talk About Bruno: All in their heads, Diegetic AND Adaptation. Flashback sequences are used, but Mirabel still interacts with the fantasy surroundings. Dolores’s and Camilo’s verses also feel like it can be a normal conversation.
• What Else Can I Do: Same as Surface Pressure. Fantasy sequences that a non-singer interacts with often.
• Dos Oruguitas: This one seems to be a flashback, with the singer being out of universe. No hypothesis.
• All of You: Has to be Adaptation. Many lines are like a conversation or comments on others, and the whole musical sequence takes place as a time-lapse over a series of months.

Encanto takes place in the same world as the Brooklyn Brujas

• Both stories feature Caribbean Latinx and Afro-Latinx families that practice magic and gain specific gifts when coming of age. Colombia has a coast with the Caribbean sea and other Bruja families in the books come from Puerto Rico, Cuba, and the Dominican Republic.
• If their magic isn't some form of brujería, the Land of the Adas could be close enough to the Encanto to share power.

Encanto takes place in the same universe as Harry Potter

The Madrigals are a wizarding family, and Alma is a Muggleborn.

• The differences how their Gifts work versus how magic works at Hogwarts boils down to cultural differences.
• Mirabel is a Squib.
• Hogawarts is implied to be alive, similar to the Madrigals’ casita.

Clearly the International Statute of Secrecy doesn't exist among the Encanto, to the bewilderment of other Wizarding community.

• I mean, the Wizarding World does seem stuck in the past. "International" to witches and wizards in Britain probably means Europe, North America, and Japan. A family in rural Colombia probably doesn't register on their radar.

Mirabel is a Princess.

• The miracle is fueled by love (initially Pedro's love for his family, and subsequently their love for each other), which is exactly how the magic of the Light works.
• Calling could either be Grace or Mender, depending on whether you see Mirabel's actions as being more about bringing out the best in her family or healing dysfunctional relationships.
• It's a general rule in the Chronicles of Darkness that someone with a major supernatural template (such as a Princess) can't recieve other supernatural powers, which might explain why Mirabel didn't recieve a Gift.

---