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Tear Jerker / Encanto

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"I'm sorry. I didn't want to hurt us. I just wanted... to be something I'm not."
When it's about a girl being the only one in a magical family with no gifts, it's bound to follow the family tradition.
  • While it's sweet to see Mirabel give her family all the praise in the world during "The Family Madrigal", she absolutely refuses to talk about herself, even as the three kids press for details.
    • A quick moment during the song, but watch the moment when Alma is seen helping Antonio into his gift ceremony outfit - He's not smiling and looks nervous before immediately smiling when Alma looks at him. It shows that Antonio is very stressed over the fear of disappointing his grandmother but refuses to show his nervousness to her in fear of not making her proud. That's a big burden to put on the shoulders of a five-year-old boy.
    • Near the end of the song, Alma calls out to Mirabel, with a confused face, and asks what she's doing in a stricter tone than she had with a toddler Mirabel.
    • As confirmed in a tie-in book, Dolores meant well when telling the children about Mirabel being giftless but it was not her place to reveal something that she knows is a sore spot for her younger cousin that only ends up making said cousin feel othered. It also paints another layer into the Madrigals' and their view on Mirabel: They love her, truly and deeply, but don't always respect her.
  • A subtle moment, but Agustín mentions to Mirabel that he and Félix were initially met with skepticism from others as they were "outsiders" marrying into the magical Madrigal family, which made them (or, at least Agustín) feel "unexceptional".
    • There's also a subtle sadness in Agustín trying to commiserate with Mirabel's predicament. While he may have not intended to, Agustín's comment (like Julieta's as mentioned below) comes off as Innocently Insensitive since while they are both normal people in a magical family, Mirabel was expected to get a gift like her sisters and cousins. But she didn't. On the other hand, Agustín married into the magical Madrigals. There's no question that Agustín is a good father to his youngest daughter, but he can't truly understand her plight.
  • When Mirabel’s door vanishes during her gift ceremony and she and Alma realize that she hasn't received a gift. The poor girl looks heartbroken.
    • Mirabel's life in general — For ten years of Mirabel's life, since she was 5, she first had to deal with being humiliated at not receiving her gift. Her uncle disappeared. Alma, who Mirabel was once close to, started to treat her coldly, making a young Mirabel think the former's love was conditional. Her oldest sister who she was once close to as well, gradually became more antagonistic and aloof. If Osvaldo's Innocently Insensitive comment is anything to go by, the town residents were not particularly thoughtful to her predicament. And while her parents tried to sympathize, none of them can fully understand how she feels and can sometimes (along with the rest of her family) unintentionally leave her out from certain moments.
      • To reiterate, Mirabel was only a child when this all happened. To have an entire village and your family come to this big event to show off how special you are, only to end up as the "normal" one of everyone else can have horrible repercussions on someone so young. It's amazing that Mirabel manages to stay as positive as she has in current day.
    • To add insult to injury, Alma is shown being adoring and complimentary towards little pre-ceremony Mirabel. Then the humiliation of the Gift ceremony happens, and Mirabel's loving grandmother becomes her biggest critic — it's jarring for the audience to see that the sweet matriarch assuring her granddaughter of how miraculous she is has become a cold and hard-nosed woman without a good word to say to the girl. So, Mirabel learned that love was conditional on meeting "exceptional" standards. Way to go, Alma.
    • The novelization states that Mirabel was crying in the nursery after her failed ceremony.
    • Another sad reveal from the novelization — Alma hasn't hugged Mirabel since her failed gift ceremony.
    • A bittersweet example from the novelization — Alma secretly thinks Mirabel is a lot like Pedro.
    • To add onto it, it is never explained why she never got her gift. It's left on one's interpretation. On a negative one, the miracle sees how Alma is treating the family about their gifts and takes it out on Mirabel to punish Alma. On a positive note, the miracle sees that Mirabel wants to help people, and believes she doesn't need a gift to do that. But either way, the In-Universe interpretation is that Mirabel isn't special at all. No matter how hard her family tries to convince her otherwise, Mirabel always has this in the back on her head.
    • Her predicament in ​The Deluxe Junior Novelization manages to be worse. Alma is even harsher towards her in the book's continuity, her mother's belief in her briefly falters after the proposal dinner, and she and Camilo are shown to not be on the best of terms. Also, Bruno's somewhat snarkier nature in the book briefly leads to him hurting her feelings before he backtracks and makes a self-depreciating comment about his visions.
    • Just the fact that, beyond a gift, Mirabel wasn't even given a bedroom of her own; the door just vanished. Being stuck in the familial nursery most certainly didn't help any of the rest of the family respect her. It isn't even confirmed in the ending whether rebuilding Casita took the time to adjust the floorplans to change this.
  • A minor note, but Pepa constantly trying to keep her emotions in check, while Alma usually pesters her to keep it under control. It's clear Pepa is trying her best with even Félix usually backing her up, but sometimes it's not easy for people to be calm all of the time or keep their emotions under lock and key.
    • The fact that Alma always points out Pepa has a cloud or tells her to calm down is pretty sad as well. She never tries to talk to her daughter or reassure her that her feelings matter. When Isabela’s proposal dinner goes belly-up, Alma doesn’t offer a blanket or her shawl to her daughter who is shivering from the snowstorm she created. She instead tells her daughter to get a hold of herself while Félix is actually trying to help by batting the cloud away with his hat.
  • Before Antonio's gift ceremony, Abuela tells Mirabel that her job is to "step aside" for the family's sake, essentially telling her not to help with the party in fear of ruining the family's perfect image. It's clear from Julieta's conversation with Abuela afterwards that this is how Abuela treats Mirabel on a daily basis, just because she doesn't have a gift.
    • And it's visibly clear how hurt Mirabel is by Alma's plea but she musters up enough of a mask to pretend that she understands with no further issue. Mirabel has to handle both wanting to show her worth but also desperate to gain her grandmother's approval, she's willing to not help out in a family event if it means getting the latter.
  • Antonio hiding under Mirabel's bed in the nursery in fear of his gift ceremony. When Mirabel tries to reassure him that he'll do great, he says that he wishes Mirabel could have a door of her own and Mirabel's comforting smile dims ever so slightly. Word of God has confirmed that Mirabel has already accepted that she would never have a gift of her own by the beginning of the movie, but in this moment, it's as if Antonio was voicing a wish her younger self likely had for many years.
    • There's also the sad detail that Antonio now has to leave the room he's shared with his favorite cousin all his life, which is a pretty upsetting change for a young child.
    • It's very subtle but when Mirabel lovingly reassures Antonio that if he didn't get a gift, she would be there for him, she doesn't mention the other family members. Not even his parents. It may have been subconscious on her part or a private feeling she keeps to herself, but Mirabel may have truly felt that the reactions from their family would be less than positive (particularly Alma's). Given her failed gift ceremony, it's no wonder.
  • An understated one but the reactions of the guests and Mirabel's family when she goes to help Antonio to his door when asked by him. There are no smiles at how cute they are or even "oohs" and "awws". The guests make surprised gasps and glances — It's not stated outright, but it's implied they feel Mirabel's presence will only act as a "bad" presence for Antonio. No wonder she grew up with self-esteem issues.
    • The expressions on her family, while not outright cruel, isn't any better — Julieta is concerned about Mirabel's wellbeing; Agustín, Alma, Pepa, Dolores, Camilo, and Félix are shocked; Isabela's face goes from shocked to actual annoyance, as Word of God confirmed her expression was due to worrying that Mirabel was going to mess it up; the only one whose reaction is arguably the least sad is Luisa's, as her face goes from shock to quiet understanding, as having a Big Sister Instinct for Mirabel herself, she most likely knows why Mirabel is doing what she's doing. It still must hurt for Mirabel to see even her own family, even if their reactions aren't intentionally cruel, not offer any supportive gestures.
    • Also, everyone was all smiles before Mirabel reluctantly agrees to help Antonio. And it's very clear that Mirabel noticed the change and only adds to her stress of the situation.
  • It's a brief moment but Mirabel's shocked reaction after seeing Antonio's door glow brightly, meaning his gift ceremony worked. Of course, she is truly and deeply happy for him but it's also understandable how even more confused she might be more than ever now - Her younger cousin's ceremony went well but hers didn't. She might be thinking that since the miracle isn't gone, it must be her.
  • Mirabel's "I Want" Song , "Waiting on a Miracle", is about her wish to be special like the rest of the family, while admitting she is not alright with not having a gift at all.
    • And what brought on this song? Her family taking a family picture without her. They happily exclaim "Family Madrigal" while the photo is being taken but none of them notice that they're missing one member. And what makes the moment sting even more is that Mirabel was basically in the same room as them. Alternatively, she was so used to staying out of the spotlight that she presumed she wasn't welcome, and nobody in her life has ever done anything to correct this.
      • Antonio ends up enjoying his new gift so much that he joins the family in unintentionally alienating Mirabel, when pre-ceremony Antonio would've asked why she isn't joining them. Though he is Out of Focus for the rest of the film, one would be forgiven for thinking he have forgotten about Mirabel. It must hit her especially hard when she believes no matter how close she is to the younger members, they would distance themselves from her once they get their gift, making her even lonelier.
    • Beforehand, Alma praises Antonio for receiving 'a gift just as special as you', and Mirabel's face goes from making an effort to be happy to shaken and crestfallen. Her grandmother just implied in front of everyone that Mirabel is not special, and that's why she didn't receive a gift.
    • During the first few verses, Mirabel reassures that she’s "fine" with being out of the spotlight...before immediately backtracking, sounding like she’s ready to break down crying. This comes back in a verse of "All of You" where she sings, "So full of stars, everybody wants to shine". She desperately wants to be a part of her family and be recognized but will always be reminded of the fact she was the "giftless" one.
  • Mirabel's "you're perfect as you are!" conversation with her mother when her hand is healed is sweet and funny... but there's also a bit of justified bitterness in Mirabel's tone when she points out that Julieta has just healed her hand with magic. Julieta is correct — but Julieta is also the Madrigal with the most manageable and most obviously beneficial power. From her daughter's perspective, it's a bit like a supermodel lecturing you on why looks aren't everything. Julieta clearly sympathizes, but she can never fully understand. It also doesn't help that Julieta still thinks that Mirabel was (possibly unconsciously) acting out because of envy at Antonio's successful ceremony — she's one of Mirabel's strongest supporters, and even she doubts her.
    • To reiterate, Julieta, Mirabel's mother and strongest supporter, doesn't believe her daughter. She tries to make it as gentle as she can but it doesn't erase the fact that for all of Julieta' compliments and dotingness, she is quick to believe that Mirabel is acting out over not being able to handle Antonio's gift ceremony.
  • After Mirabel tries to warn every one of the magic fading, no one believes her initially. But then later that night, she hears Alma in her room, praying desperately.
    Alma: Open my eyes...
  • When Dolores reports to Isabela that Mariano is about to propose to her later that day, and has expressed his desire to have a large family with her, Isabela's horrified expression of shock is indeed humorous, but it's also the moment where it really sinks in for her that she is about to be trapped in her "perfect" role; miserably married to a man she doesn't love, and yes, having to do lots of that with him too. The fact that Alma's only response is to pluck out the one off-color flower out of the blooms that just sprouted in her hair to maintain her "perfect" image only punctuates that feeling.
  • Mirabel's sisters are revealed to be facing pressure to be as great as everyone sees them. Luisa worries about becoming physically weak when the magic begins faltering, and Isabela, while initially a smug jerk to Mirabel, admits she has always had to live up to the family’s expectations of her being perfect.
    • "Under the surface, I'm pretty sure I'm worthless if I can't be of service."
    • Luisa's song, "Surface Pressure", is pretty sad. She is willing to help her community and her family, but she feels the need to hide her insecurities and worries just because she wants to please her family. One of the few people to see her anxieties is Mirabel and Luisa is doing everything she can to convince her sister that she's fine when she's obviously feeling crushed by the family’s expectations of her. Her lyrics also reveal that she has built her entire identity on being "The Reliable One", which is clearly exhausting and overworking her, but she has no idea what she would do if she doesn't dedicate her entire life to just helping others. You really can't blame Mirabel for hugging her sister after the song.
      Give it to your sister, it doesn't hurt, and
      See if she can handle every family burden
      • The visualization of Luisa carrying an enormous pile of rocks to protect Mirabel, while giving her sister a sad look before turning away, as though ashamed to show weakness. From her expression, it's clear Luisa has resigned herself to suffering under endless pressure and never letting it slip how it hurts her is particularly striking.
    • Comes to a head when Luisa tells the others that her powers were leaving her, and she just runs to her room sobbing, illustrating just how fragile her self-worth really is. This gives Mirabel extra motivation to save the magic; she even passed the flickering lights on Luisa's door and double-timed it to find the truth in the prediction she found.
    • When Luisa agonizes over her gift fading, Alma doesn't go running after her granddaughter to comfort her. Instead, she blames Mirabel for trying to make things easier for her sister. Also, during the proposal dinner, she doesn't offer Luisa any support when she's asked to bring the piano into the dining room nor when Luisa is struggling and crying over being unable to lift the piano.
  • The whole family (and indeed village) turning against Bruno started when he predicted 'it looks like rain' on Pepa's wedding day. She freaked out and caused a hurricane, and everyone started to shun him for causing bad luck. Except that it turns out Bruno was just making a joke about Pepa sweating and trying to help her calm down, which she massively misinterpreted. Everything Bruno went through was because of a huge misunderstanding when he was just trying to be jovial with his sister.
    • To wit, before The Reveal, we (both we the audience and Mirabel) were given the image that Bruno is this scary boogeyman that spells doom whenever he speaks, but when we finally meet him in person, we only see a shy, awkward man who has gone half mad because he has not spoken to anyone for over a decade.
  • During "We Don't Talk About Bruno", Dolores seems genuinely sympathetic towards Bruno, whispering to Mirabel that it was hard for someone to have a gift like his. Since she's older than Camilo and Mirabel, she was old enough to have had better memories of Bruno. She knew Bruno was a good man, despite what the others have said, and is sad that his powers are what made others want to avoid him.
    • Dolores mentions that Bruno told her that the man she was in love with (who is clearly Isabela's fiancé Mariano) would be out of her reach and it's clearly hurting her. It's even worse when you realize that she isn't actually trying to pursue him because his vision said that it wouldn't work, making it a tragic case of Self-Fulfilling Prophecy.
    • The image of Bruno during the song, especially after the reveal, portrays him almost as an evil sorcerer. Camilo turns into a version of Bruno with shining green eyes, with an evil grin and surrounded by rats, moving in sinister ways. It's heartbreaking when the true Bruno is revealed and he turns out to simply be normal, just given a gift no one bothered to try to understand.
    • Related to the above, although it's mostly played for laughs, there is something inclement depressing about the way Camilo portrays Bruno if you think about it. To begin with it is confirmed that unlike most of his relatives, Camilo has no memory of Bruno due to his uncle being secretive even when he was still in the house and staying quite apart from the family, until he finally disappeared when Camilo was only five years old. In hindsight Camilo not only lived his entire life without even knowing who his long-lost uncle really was, but also unlike his siblings (who had knowledge of Bruno thanks to their gifts), Camilo the only thing he had to be able to establish an idea of Bruno were only horrible rumors from his relatives and townspeople.
    • Also, both Isabela and Dolores are singing, "I'm fine" at the end of the song. Dolores is doing it to suppress her feelings, whereas Isabela is probably trying to tell herself she's fine with marrying Mariano for her family's sake but is clearly not okay with it. Even though Isabela's prophecy sounds the most hopeful out of everyone else's, you can't help but wonder if she's thinking, "Is this the life of my dreams that was promised to me?" In a way, Isabela may have considered that her prophecy was no less anxiety-inducing and foreboding as everyone else's her uncle read for.
    • As the family is setting the table, Mirabel walks by Luisa's door, which is flickering. She looks over the railing to see Luisa straining to lift a simple potted plant.
    • The revelation of Bruno's peephole into the dining room, where all the family's verses merge implies that Bruno heard everything. More than 20 years later, his sister still resents him for ruining her wedding day, his nephew thinks he's the boogeyman, and his youngest niece (for whom he went into self-imposed exile to protect) knows nothing about him other than no one should ever talk about him. It's fortunate this is a Disney film, because this would drive anyone to the edge of self-hatred.
    • Given how quickly the family welcomes Bruno back into the fold in the epilogue, it's clear that they all still loved him very much in spite of being wary of his abilities. This implies a possible double meaning to "We Don't Talk About Bruno;" his mother and siblings didn't want to talk about him because they were actually deeply sad that he was gone (and possibly feeling guilty for not trying harder to understand/help him) and were trying to bury that pain by pretending that nothing had changed.
  • When Mirabel runs out of Bruno's tower and bumps into Abuela, and she asks why she in such a hurry in a rather irritated, I-have-no-time-for-your-shenanigans-now tone is; but there is a very subtle edge in the line "What is in your hair?" that conveys something more akin to shock and worry. For a split second, the sand on Mirabel reminded her of her long-lost son.
  • An understated one from the dinner scene itself. A frightened Dolores reveals Mirabel's secret to the family (starting with Camilo who then tells Félix who then tells Pepa who then tells Julieta). And each of them give a scared and confused look in Mirabel's direction. And until the news reaches Julieta, the former family members don't seem to stop and think to save the discussion for later, so Mirabel can properly explain. It further gives the impression how subconsciously the family tend to isolate the giftless member.
  • A quick moment, but after the proposal dinner disaster, Isabela angrily tells Mirabel she hates her. Mirabel barely reacts from her sister's harsh words meaning that she may be used to Isabela saying such things to her.
    • This is followed by a scared Pepa asking Mirabel in an angry tone what she did. It's understandable that Pepa is frightened over the magic and home but it's a little harsh to see her act this way to her youngest niece.
  • While preparing for another a vision, a nervous Bruno is worried that Mirabel will have the same reaction of blaming him for causing the vision, like others have. However, Mirabel squashes the notion, saying she doesn't think he's the cause, and that "family weirdos" like them always get a bad reputation. While it is sweet of to show solidarity with her uncle, Mirabel's line about "family weirdos always getting a bad rep", speaks volumes to how she views being treated by her other family members - she's well aware that her unique situation makes her something of the family outcast who's often unfairly judged.
  • Mirabel very reluctantly goes to apologize to Isabela following Bruno's vision, and given what happened with them a day ago, it gets real tense to the point they argue, and eventually Isabela just starts literally pushing her away with her powers, prompting Mirabel to call her selfish and only caring about being perfect in Alma's eyes. Isabela blows up at that accusation and reveals she hates having to be the golden perfect child. She doesn't even want to marry Mariano, only doing it to please people and her family.
    Isabela: Selfish?! I've been stuck, being perfect, my whole entire life and literally the only thing you've ever done for me is MESS IT UP!
    Mirabel: Nothing is messed up! You can still marry that big dumb hunk!
    Isabela: I never wanted to marry him! I was just doing it for the family!!
    • When she complains, notice what exactly she says: "Everything was perfect. Abuela was happy. The family was happy!" Never once does she say "I was happy."
    • With Isabela's reveal in mind, try looking at Mirabel from her view: Mirabel has never had to deal with living up to Alma's sky-high expectations while Isabela herself has to constantly put up an act and barely have any agency for herself. When Mirabel humiliates the whole family in front of the whole town and (apparently) started causing the magic to fade, she gets no punishment; when she comes to apologize to her, Mirabel doesn't even try to be nice, even insulting Isabela in the process.
      • Even during her song when Isabela tells Mirabel she's "so sick of pretty, I want something true, don't you?" Isabela seems a bit sad at the thought of her sister never seeing past her "perfect" self and asks, "how far do these roots go down?"
  • Alma scolds Mirabel for being responsible for the magic fading due to what she perceives as Mirabel meddling in the family’s business, while Mirabel hits back that Alma deeming no one good enough for her is what's causing trouble. This emotional rift coming to the surface culminates in a physical rift opening in the ground as the Casita completely crumbles and collapses.
    • It's worse as it just came after Mirabel figured out that positive bonding and actually experimenting with gifts is what can heal the Casita and was joyfully doing that with Isabela minutes ago. Mirabel gleefully tries to explain how she helped Isabela and the Casita heal, but as Abuela continues to scold her, Mirabel's smile fades until she finally snaps and yells at Abuela.
    • While Mirabel calls Alma out for not deeming anyone good enough is satisfying, you can just hear Mirabel's heart breaking the moment she realizes just how little her own grandmother thinks of her, and you just want to reach through the screen and give her a hug.
      • Also, look at Mirabel's face when she states this line: She's obviously trying to hold back tears but after the initial shock, Mirabel has a look of resigned disappointment towards her grandmother — hinting that deep down, Mirabel had a suspicion about her grandmother's actual feelings, but held out hope it was nothing. Alma's harsh rant proved her wrong.
    • Within the same scene, Alma tells Mirabel, "I don't know why you weren't given a gift, but it is not an excuse for you to hurt this family!" Not only is she blaming Mirabel for the loss of Casita's magic (again), but she's also implying Mirabel's trying to deliberately hurt the family out of envy because she doesn't have a gift.
      • And look at Alma's wording- she doesn't say your family like you'd expect, but this family. To her, Mirabel isn't even part of the family.
      • Also, Alma angrily accuses Mirabel of being the reason for Bruno leaving the family. That's right. Alma has been misblaming her son's disappearance on her granddaughter since the latter was five.
      • Alma's complex feelings on Bruno's disappearance comes from her argument with Mirabel — as stated above, she blames Mirabel for his absence but then goes on to say Bruno didn't care about this family. In a heartbreaking and realistic fashion, Alma both deeply misses her son but is also angry with him.
    • Despite having just accused Mirabel of deliberately hurting the family, when Mirabel does the same, Alma instantly snaps, "Don't you EVER—!" Alma is so convinced that she's incapable of hurting her family that she doesn't even see her own hypocrisy. It isn't until Mirabel outright says that the magic is fading because of Alma that she finally realizes she's right... but the Casita collapses just a second later.
      • Adding to that is Alma's face right before the house starts to finally collapse; her eyes are wide with self-realized horror at her granddaughter's points; everything that happened points back to her and her actions. And she doesn't get a second to fully process it until the house collapses and her youngest granddaughter runs away in shame.
    • Take note of Mirabel's body language when she gets the candle down from the window and Casita protects her. Even with tons of rubble about to fall on her, she uses her arms and her body to protect the candle instead of her head. It works out because Casita shields her with the last of its strength, but it shows that Mirabel values the Miracle more than her own life.
    • The whole family is devastated by the house collapsing, but Mirabel just looks broken. She runs out of the valley and is only found when Alma finds her sobbing by the river where Pedro was killed. Poor girl really believed that she was the one to destroy the family magic, until Alma admits that it's really her fault.
    • After the Casita collapses, Pepa can be heard in the background saying, "Don't cry, Antonio!" One can only imagine how scary it is for a five-year-old boy to watch his home collapse, especially when his little animal buddies might have been hurt or killed in the calamity, not to mention that his favorite cousin barely survived when the house caved in on her.
      • This also fits with what Pepa has been told by Alma - bottle up your emotions. But their house just collapsed; this is an entirely appropriate time to cry!
  • As the Casita collapses, Isabela and Camilo both make desperate attempts with their powers to save the candle despite the fact that the house is literally collapsing around them. However, since their powers are linked to the Casita, it fails them. Isabela tries to swing from her vine, but just misses and falls to the ground, while Camilo tries to jump for it, but can't reach the roof as his powers also just fail him. The two both look at themselves with an expression of pain, realizing the thing they've relied on for so long is now gone.
    • While this is happening, instead of manifesting stairs or ramps to help the others, Casita can only rip itself apart to form ladders and stop Isabela and Camilo from falling, then forcing everyone outside. Even as it falls, Casita's priority is the safety of the Madrigals.
    • When the family regroup and check on each other, you can hear Camilo sound heartbroken as he says he can't use his powers no matter how he tries.
      • You can also hear him asking, "What about Antonio, what is he gonna do?" half a breath later. One of his first thoughts was to worry about his little brother.
      • Note that this follows with Alma's expectations still. He's not asking how he is but rather, what he can do (i.e., what about his gift that has defined every other member of the family).
  • Bruno revealing to Mirabel that aside from secretly still being in the house, he also had a peephole to the dining room. So, whenever it was mealtime, he would watch his family be happy without him at the table. Mirabel is noticeably saddened by this reveal and sympathizes with her uncle's loneliness.
    • On his table, Bruno's used chalk to draw a plate with his name on it, just like the plates the rest of the family has. Who knows how many meals he's spent listening to his relatives in the next room, trying to make believe he's in there with them?
  • While Mirabel tries to make sense out of Bruno living in the walls of the house for nearly a decade, his best excuse is that there's free food. The man is clearly malnourished, and the reality is that the free food is his food, that he has every right to eat because that is the house that his father built by shedding his blood for him and his sisters. It's terrible to imagine what Pedro would think of his only son slowly starving to death and that Bruno felt so estranged he had to scavenge food from his own home. Sadly, Bruno never knew of the circumstances of his father's death, since Alma's grief was so great it prevented her from sharing the details of Pedro's death with her children.
    • Bruno also mentions that his room in the walls is kitchen adjacent. Julieta spends most of her time in the kitchen preparing her healing food for the family and the town. She's also one of the few people to speak about Bruno in unambiguously sympathetic terms. Bruno spent most of his time near the one person he felt still loved him.
  • Bruno left his family for Mirabel. He knew Alma would freak out if he showed her his last prophecy and feared she would blame Mirabel for it... so he left so she could never ask him what he saw in his vision, and Mirabel could grow up loved and happy. Then he got to watch through the walls as his mother treated Mirabel coldly and Mirabel became The Scapegoat anyway. There must've been points where he felt he sacrificed his place and his family and his home for absolutely nothing at all. Despite this, he clearly doesn't resent or blame Mirabel for this, and the ending shows he'd do it again in a heartbeat.
  • The collapse of Casita, as well as how no one in the family seems upset that they lost Casita. Yes, they're sad they lost their house, but Casita has been unambiguously a member of the family as well the entire film. It died protecting Mirabel. Yet nobody mentioned losing Casita when talking about losing the home. While Casita got the movie's Disney Death, it's still heartbreaking to watch it give its last "breaths" expressing relief that Mirabel was safe.
    • Made even worse if you subscribe to the theory that Casita is Pedro's spirit, meaning that he once again died to protect his family.
  • One of the kids sadly remarks that they haven't found her yet, as all three are clearly worried. It was in the evening when Mirabel ran away, and no one had found her yet by the next morning. Worse, the coffee kid is so saddened by Mirabel's disappearance that he isn't even drinking any coffee.
  • While the family searches for Mirabel, Dolores tries to use her gift to listen out and find her while Félix calls for her, cupping her hand to her ear as she usually does to focus. Of course, it doesn't work, and she briefly looks down, devastated. Considering how she blurted out Bruno's prophecy about Mirabel during the proposal dinner, it's also very likely she feels guilty for hurting her little cousin like that.
  • Alma and Mirabel's confrontation after Casita collapses. The latter is crying beside the river where Pedro died and tearfully apologizes for ruining everything, while the former realizes her harmful actions by reflecting on her short life with Pedro. She begins it with "I thought I would have a different life. I thought I would be a different woman."
    • The small flashbacks of Pedro and Alma's love blossoming and having three kids can sting, especially knowing that it won't last.
    • When Alma and Pedro have to abandon their home, even the newborn triplets look devastated, with baby Bruno looking up to his mother with almost a "why didn't I stop this?" look. And we all know what happens to Bruno...
    • Pedro's death when he tries to stop the horsemen from killing the refugees of the village. There's no dialogue whatsoever, with the music of "Dos Oruguitas" continuing over Alma's agonizing breakdown. And while the Encanto blowing away the horsemen is impressive, the following scenes simply show Alma suffering a Thousand-Yard Stare as she becomes the cold, tough-as-nails matriarch of the Madrigal family, only pressuring her children and grandchildren and isolating Mirabel... not realizing her family members were her miracle the whole time.
      "I was given a miracle. A second chance. And I was so afraid to lose it... that I lost sight of who our miracle was for. And I am so sorry. You never hurt our family, Mirabel. We are broken... because of me."
    • Mirabel appears within the flashback, "watching" it—a visual representation of what's really happening, which is Abuela explaining these events without toning it down the way she does for the Gift ceremonies. She's talking about it in all its pain, terror, and anguish for the first time in fifty years.
      • Compare Alma's reaction to Pedro's death here to her opening narration to a young Mirabel. When she tells Mirabel of the Encanto's origin originally, that version turns out to have been significantly toned down since she was telling this to a child — instead of looking briefly saddened, here she's shown screaming in ugly, agonized sobs as she watches her husband die, with many noting how realistic her reaction was.
      • Also a Tear Jerker in real life; Colombia (and many other Latin American countries) has a sordid history of armed conflicts and innocent civilians being butchered in the crossfire in the countryside (for instance, Peru’s Shining Path), and this bloody period still haunts newer generations to this day. Seeing Disney acknowledge such a grim but important part of Latin American history is praise-worthy.
    • Also, during Alma's walk, the faces of the family members she passes — Bruno looks pleadingly at her, a disheartened Isabela forces herself to stand up straight before her grandmother sees her, and Luisa is trying to hide how much she's struggling. Alma is totally oblivious to all of this. The only thing that makes her stop is being confronted by little Mirabel as her door vanishes, and she looks desperately towards her abuela, seeking reassurance or an explanation that (as far as we're told) she never got from Alma at that time.
  • More fridge tearjerker but look closely during the final flashback to Pedro's death and the birth of the miracle. As the flashback reaches its climax, we see Pedro killed while attempting to talk down the men on horseback; the miracle blast away the horsemen and raise the mountains up immediately after his death; and Alma sitting alone in Casita with her babies. What we don't see is Pedro's burial - no altars, no service, no site to lay flowers. Nobody else in black or appearing to mourn at all. Either Alma was drowning so thoroughly in her grief that she didn't notice the outside world at all, or no one else in all the Encanto grieved for Pedro's death, even after he willingly put himself in harm's way to try to stop their pursuers. It isn't until the very end of the movie, during the credits, that we see what seems to be a memorial service as Alma and Mirabel lay floating candles on the river - adding their own to dozens of others.
    • Pedro has a picture in place of pride in Casita, placed on a wall where he seems to greet everyone who enters the home. But when Alma speaks to his spirit, she does so privately, standing beside the candle in her window and cradling a smaller picture of him in her locket. This is despite the fact that it's the dead of night and (almost) everyone else in the home is likely out cold from a combination of drinks and the excitement of the ceremony before. Alma is so afraid of letting others see her grief that she keeps it literally locked away in one dark little room.
    • For a sweeter kind of tearjerker: Pedro doesn't seem to have an altar or other memorial site where his family could lay flowers or go to be "with" him for a while. Alma speaks to him at the miracle candle, though. His memorial is the miracle of his family.
  • Related to the above: Alma claims she hasn't been to the river where Pedro died since the day the miracle was born. Unless his body simply vanished when the miracle was born, either someone else had to go recover Pedro's body in Alma's stead, or - considering how recently they'd all narrowly escaped with their own lives, and how much work there was to be done building a new town - Pedro was left to rot by the river.
    • If you watch carefully, you'll find that the mountains rose up between Alma and the river when the miracle occurred. It's not until the miracle is broken that a path is made again in the mountain, so Alma hasn't been back to the river not because she didn't want to, but because she couldn't get there. In other words, Pedro most definitely was left to rot by the river.
    • Given the magical aspect, it's more likely that his body became a part of the mountains (as in, folded into them) as they rose up. After all, just like the mountains, he was literally putting himself between danger and his family. That being said, it's still tearjerking, because there would still be no body left to bury, no gravesite the family could visit. There's no sign of Pedro's picture after Casita's restoration, either.
      • Or, following the interpretation that Casita is Pedro's spirit, perhaps his body became Casita itself.
  • The fact that Pedro was murdered just hours after his three babies were born—in other words, their birthday happens to be the anniversary of the day their father died. And if that wasn't enough, Jared Bush states that Alma was originally going to give birth at the river, meaning the triplets would've been born at the same moment Pedro was murdered—apparently, Bush thought that was too sobering, and we couldn't agree more.
  • Another example from ​The Deluxe Junior Novelization. In the movie, Pepa (and to a lesser extent, Félix) are both implied to have developed negative feelings towards Bruno due to a case of Anger Born of Worry. Here it's stated that the entire family's opinion of Bruno soured to varying extents, and that they all legitimately forgot his good qualities while he was away. Only remembering when they were all finally reunited with him.
  • To set the tone for the film, a book of short stories was created to explore potential narratives and how the family gifts worked. All of the stories shared are sad in their own ways.
    • The first story is about a grandmother "gifted" with Resurrective Immortality and taking increasingly destructive risks before finally dying for good at age 100, where hundreds and thousands of roses bloomed at her grave as she promised to never leave the family.
    • The second story is a tragedy about a girl named Emilia whose father could heal people. Her brother Tito could command the weather while she worked to control fire, but he accidentally put out the flame she created while making it rain...and then one day her fire catches near hay and a gasoline can, sending it up in flames and shrapnel from a nearby truck everywhere. The father exhausted himself saving Emilia first and had no energy left to save her brother, and Emilia felt he only saved her because he didn't know he had the choice to save Tito.
    • The third story is a short horror story about two sisters who dare each other to go into a mysterious jungle that pulls people into it, never to return. Beatriz is scared but does it, but when she looks for Amada, all she sees is her locket and nothing else.
  • Some of the inner monologue between the titular sisters in the tie-in book, "A Tale of Three Sisters":
    • From Isabela — Even in her thoughts and even when Mirabel does nothing to her, Isabela can't help but think of disparaging, even cruel, remarks about her younger sister.
      • One comment comes from how lucky Antonio is that Mirabel didn't ruin his life.
      • And probably Isabela's most hurtful comment comes from how a Madrigal child's gift day is the most important day in their life, making them a full Madrigal member...unless you're Mirabel. Just the thought that Isabela's antagonism towards Mirabel runs so deep, that she believes her own baby sister isn't a true Madrigal.
    • From Luisa — While not as bad as Isabela, Luisa does think that she wasn't the only one annoyed with Mirabel after her "antics" the night before. Her thought basically confirms another sad layer from the movie - Not one member of her family (with the possible exception being Antonio), didn't believe her claims and thought she was only "making a scene" out of spite.
      • Another moment comes from Luisa panicking when she notices her Super-Strength fading - she questions if the feeling is like being normal. And then her next and most telling thought, is wondering if this is what it's like to be Mirabel. And she doesn't like it.

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