in this shot the candle is positioned higher up in the shot than mirabel, showcasing how she feels this candle is worth more than she is. This is also foreshadowing for the moment she quite literally values this candle more than her own life!

In 'What else can I do' Mirabel sings

"You just seem like your life's been a dream since the moment you opened your eyes"

and I always thought that was meant in a 'since you were born' kinda way but just now it hit me! No!

Abre los Ojos - Open your eyes

SHE IS TALKING ABOUT THE DAY OF ISA'S GIFT CEREMONY!

I’m rewatching Encanto like you do with a toddler and I wanna talk about Isabella for a minute.

So at the first breakfast, we see her sprout flowers when she is stressed. And when she is fighting with Mirabel before her song she grows a cactus out of nowhere. We can easily assume she sprouts plants without thinking anytime she is stressed. Well whenever we see her talking with Abuela in the background, she has petals floating around her. Abuela stresses her tf out, and it’s just such a good detail.

Other part. Idk if people have already talked about this, but Bruno told her and the family that she would marry the man of her dreams. She does not want to marry Luis Guzman, so he’s clearly not the man of her dreams. She was willing to give up her happily ever after that she knew she COULD have, and it was all because of Abuela’s pressure.

I think if I had to sum up my analysis regarding the story of the family and Bruno, it would be simply that BOTH parties should have been there for each other, and yet at one point….they weren’t, and that’s the sad reality. So…..while we don’t know the full story of course, it always felt to me that Bruno’s sisters, his brothers in law, and even his mother cared for him, and tried their best to support him. We see that his sisters clearly missed him when he was gone, Félix and Agustín are nothing but supportive guys, and even his mother cared for him, which is one of the reasons why I personally think she was so torn when he left, because she thought he didn’t care about them. It seems like over time however, as his reputation with the village got harder and harder, that’s when he isolated himself, becoming distant from the family like Jared had said. Not only was he an introvert who was already uncomfortable around some people, but the burden and stress of things not going his way to help the family, his reputation of being a bad omen, someone who brought nothing but negativity to a family and village that wanted to feel safe….all took a really heavy toll on him. At the same time, it must have been frustrating for the family as well. Dolores described them as “fumbling” in her verse, not really understanding of his prophecies and constantly on edge because of it. They love one another and probably wanted to help him out, but at the same time it was difficult, because he brought negative prophecy after negative prophecy in their eyes, and it wasn’t helping anyone.

I can see some of the members trying to reach out to Bruno, to help and try to works things out, not just for themselves, but for all of them as a family. Sadly, there was probably a point where nobody was getting anywhere, Bruno was distancing himself, and the family meanwhile wanted everything to be good, for everyone to feel safe and happy (which includes Bruno of course.) It also doesn’t help that at the time, Pepa and Julieta were probably under pressure because of their gifts, and even Félix and Agustín, being new additions to the family and all. I definitely see while characters like Isabela and Dolores were around, the relationship between Bruno and his sisters became a little strained, not just because of Pepa’s wedding fiasco, but because they’re genuinely trying to reach to him, and yet he keeps pushing himself away. I see him coming out occasionally to interact with his family as well as of course give Dolores and Isabela their visions, yet when that’s all done, he goes back to his tower, much to his family’s dismay. This would eventually cause a lot of frustrations and lack of communications within the family, because they’re all going through their own things, yet at the same time want to please each other, and on TOP of that, they want to please the village. The family trying their best to love and help each other, but not really understand someone like Bruno at the same time is what sparks the obstacles for this family. It’s one of the reasons why I felt Julieta had told Mirabel that Bruno “lost his way in the family”- because in her eyes they tried to come together, it didn’t end up working, and then he left, without anyone knowing why, and resenting him for doing so. I personally think one of the reasons they were so upset is that they felt they could have FIXED things with him. Even if they didn’t know how, they could have fixed this one way or another, in a normal functional family’s case, talking things out would be the best alternative, and yet instead of doing so, Bruno left, because in his eyes there WAS no alternative, or maybe he just couldn’t bring himself to do it.

I had remembered a time when a question I was dying to know was if Bruno’s sisters or any other members tried to stand up for him when the village spoke badly of him (and this would be before he left). Luckily, someone at one point asked Jared exactly that, and this is what he responded with:

And he’s absolutely correct. Family dynamics ARE complicated, just like people are complicated, they’re layered. Again, we don’t know the full story, but ONE thing is clear, the family did care for Bruno.

And so….circling back to what I said above, the reason why I said that both parties weren’t there for one another as time went on, is because it has to do with the point of Encanto, the point of the movie that I’ve been saying a lot over time. That point being, the Madrigals are a family that love each other, but over time they lost sight of what was important. They were so focused on keeping their miracle and pleasing the village as well as others, that they forgot to be there for one another, and it didn’t help that they had their OWN struggles as well. With the family, I’ll say that they could have tried to clear his name (and this would be BEFORE he left not after), or tried to understand his prophecies, but they didn’t, and with Bruno, he could have TALKED to his family, but he didn’t as well. Which I have to say real quick for the Bruno lovers that yes, we ALL love Bruno, and he had the best intentions when he left the family, but people need to keep in mind that at the same time, what he did was wrong. He shouldn’t have blocked himself off, he should have tried to fix things, but he couldn’t bring himself to do it because of the fear of what would happen. Both sides care for one another, but they don’t know what to do, they lack communication skills, they’re stumped. And once Bruno DID leave, things took a toll for the worst. Not only did the family from their perspective have NO idea why he did it, but once Mirabel didn’t get her gift the same day, the fear in Alma changed her, causing her to be more stern and strict on the family, growing her toxic facade we see in the film. She didn’t think that he cared about the family, and from that the family stopped talking about Bruno. Any pent up anger, sadness, frustration, all of that needed to be hidden in the adult Madrigals, because they had to keep their perfect facade, not let the other sides to them show, and not break down. Jared had confirmed that the cracks started when Bruno left, so it really DID take an emotional toll on everyone, as well as Abuela’s expectations raising….and of course while all of THIS was going on, Bruno was secretly behind the walls, patching the cracks.

And so, we come to the ending, where the family reunited with him. I’ve seen a lot of people want the family to apologize to him for quote “talking shit behind his back” (even though they all had a right to resent him and even not really consider him family after leaving for 10 YEARS GASP unpopular opinion I guess because people seem to forget that they didn’t know why he left in their eyes, and they had stopped talking about him) but I wanted the family to apologize to him just for everything he’s been through, and assure him that things will be better, and that he won’t feel alone. And when you think about it, that’s exactly what we got in the movie. For starters, some people think that Bruno was apologizing for no reason, or that he didn’t need to, and that’s not true. He was apologizing for a lot of things, but mainly for leaving, as well as Pepa’s wedding. A lot of people seem to overlook the lyrics to “All of You”, because you have Alma who tells him to his face that the miracle isn’t a gift, its HIM, and his sisters who tell him the words “No matter what happens, we’re going to find our way”, which is obviously implying that they’re going to get through this, and no matter what is broken, it’s nothing they can’t fix. Even though Bruno was apologizing, you could tell that none of the members cared anymore, they were just freaking HAPPY to have him back, happy to know that he was alive and well, and with them. The family (and I mean EVERY member) was all under pressure and while they didnt act the best, they now know that they can work to grow and better themselves and their relationships in a better way— hence why they had to work together to rebuild Casita brick by brick, which is symbolizing them rebuilding the family. There could have been tears, hardships, make-ups, and apologies for all we know during that time the house was built, but most importantly, you SEE how happy everyone was to see Bruno, they truly did miss him, it was just the lack of communication, the hidden feelings and expectations that got in the way. Even if the ending was rushed you could say, you can tell that the family is working to be better, talking things out now, knowing that they’re not alone and that they can fix what’s broken over time.

To get to the bottom of it, people always fight over which side is in the wrong, people blame the family, and some blame Bruno. The way I see I see it, BOTH sides are in the wrong, because not everything is black and white. The story of Bruno and the family is certainly something that’s complex, deep, layered, and complicated, but the overall message in my eyes is that Bruno could have talked things out, and so could the family. They both are in the wrong, but that doesn’t mean they’re horrible people, or didn’t care for one another. The lesson to be learned is that communication is the key, don’t hide yourself, talk with your family members, open up about things, even if it could be messy. But…to quote Bruno……“OOOOR….MAYBE I’M WRONG! It’s a mystery!” So yeah…keep in mind that almost….almost EVERYTHING I said was speculation and interpretation. I just wanted to try to deep dive into the family and Bruno for a bit, and discuss MY personal thoughts on what I thought went down with the events that we didn’t get to see. So this post was mainly my two personal cents, so if you disagree with me, that’s perfectly okay! You’re opinions are valid, and I would love to know y’all’s thoughts and what you think went down with Bruno and the family. This is definitely why we need a series, I really hope to see more explorations and all, but for now, enjoy my theories and all! Thank you for reading! 💚

I noticed a detail in the scene where Alma and Mirabel reconcile. Is the sun starts to shining through on them. Which is symbolic to how closer these two are coming to the conclusion.

The sun starts to set in as Mirabel finally understands what Alma went through. Then is shines brighter when Alma in turn realized that Pedro sent Mirabel for help. That Mirabel WAS the Miracle. Their realtionship is not fixed completely, but it’s starting to heal over the years when Mirabel didn’t get a Gift.  And Alma reached the end of her grieving, which was Acceptance. The scene is so beautiful and bittersweet. And it picks back up with song, Dos Oruguitas is so well put together.

What if the sun was actually the spirit of Pedro? Also don’t put hate comments about Alma.

What if Bruno didn't left Encanto not because how high mountains were but because he had wisions abaut outgoing war?

Assuming that Encanto happened at 1950 Mirabel's gift ceremony would be around 1940, WWII started in 1939.

Like it was never been told if he can or can't see outside of the city and even if he wasn't able to, at the end of the movie mountains broke and there is passe way to the rest of the world. He see future soo even if he couldn't have vision outside encanto before that point in future, he would be able to see everything after and it still would be pretty bad for a child

Just imagine how traumatized he would be, like:

8 years old Bruno : Mom is being gay really that bad?

Alma: No! Why would you ask?

Bruno: Beacuse i have seen them being hunted and murdered

Alma: 😳

Or:

14 years old Bruno: Berak my sister's heat and I will make a piece of furniture from your bones, purse from your skin, use your ashes as fertilizer and turn your body fat into soap

15 years old Felix: Bro you can't turn human into soap

14 years old Bruno: Yes you can and I seen how

I've recently watched Encanto and I realized two MAJOR points that no one talks about (at least I didn't hear).

1. Do you remember the "We Don't Talk About Bruno" song? Well I just thought about something. The singing (except for Dolores)was quite loud, and it happened in different places of the house, while Bruno was in the walls. He might have heard them. How they tell how bad he is and how he ruined them. And how His nephew Camilo said that "he feeds on your screams" (or something along the lines). Imagine that, your family talking behind your back. He did "run away", but still. If he heard them, it might've hurt.

2. I'm not sure about this one, but I think Pepa doesn't love her husband. In the same song about Bruno, she said "It was my wedding day" and then he corrected her "it was our wedding day". Maybe I don't remember, but I think she might've married him for the same reason Isabella nearly married Mariano. Maybe he did love her, but she didn't. Correct me if I'm writing.

Did Bruno or Alma change out Julieta’s and Pepa’s shoes and have a special dance with them in Pedro’s place for their quinceañera? Did the triplet sisters have separate or combined parties? Was Bruno in their quinceañera court?

Idk if you knew this but apparently in the concert stuff Julieta interfere with Mirabel gift ceremony and that why she didn’t have a gift. I wonder what the creators would have given Mirabel if they use that consept? Like when the miracle came would Mirabel get her gift? Another concept I heard what’s that Julieta was supposed to die from the house fall….

Idk how to feel about each of those concepts….what do you think of them?

I'm glad the creators didn't go in that direction because I don't like it at all BUT I think that it has a great angst potential and is an amazing idea for fanfiction. Because there can be so much done and said about this concept. The feels, the angst, the emotions...

I'm glad they didn't go with Julieta being the one responsible for Mirabel not getting her gift because it was the same story concept (I think) where they both fought and then Julieta died in the fall of the Casita. And I think that if they ended the movie with a dead Julieta, Mirabel would never forgive herself for Julieta's death. She would blame herself all her life. Maybe her sisters would blame her too. It would be too cruel, and too dark for Disney, I think. Also, if Julieta died, my heart would be broken. Disney, stop killing parents!

And I think the whole concept of the movie was that Mirabel doesn't need a gift because SHE is a gift. Which, considering many various headcanons, may mean a lot of things. That she was a gift from the miracle to heal their family, maybe a gift for her parents after losing a baby, maybe a gift for the miracle itself since Alma was getting older and someone had to succeed her.

And Mirabel doesn't need a gift because she's already gifted. She had tons of empathy, she's skilled in crafts and sewing... She's special because everything she accomplished, she did thanks to her hard work and determination while gifts were bestowed upon the other family members, making things easier in some cases.

So... I'm glad the story went the way it did. Though the concepts are nice... For fanfic reasons lol

and on that note of knowing the cool sisters colors reflect the parent they’re closest with. Does this apply to warm family too?

all of them wear a shade of yellow except Dolores who only has yellow accents. Whilst red is still a warm color it’s also the brightest out of them. My sad theory is that this is something to do with Dolores being known as “isabelas shadow” so in order to stand out more from the yellows of the rest of her family dolores wears red to differentiate herself maybe? Red is also a color associated with romance which we know dolores longs for! red is passionate too! it’s a color that’s hard to miss and paired with the hair bow it makes it hard to overlook Dolores! The yellow accents and cream blouse still tie her back to her family but I think she just wants to stand out more so people stop associating her with being overlooked by isabela! that’s just my little hc though I’d be interested to hear other points on this because I don’t think Jared ever answered this?

(useless) Encanto theory incoming

okay I know there’s already a million theories as to how/why Mirabel doesn’t get a Gift in Encanto, but I just came up with my own theory that doesn’t seem to appear on google when I search. So I guess no one has talked about this yet?? ok here we go

You know when a Madrigal is about to get their Gift, they go through a ceremony where they have to touch the candle, aka “the miracle in physical form”, and then touch a doorknob that leads into their new room, revealing their Gift. When Mirabel touched the candle when she was 5, and then touched the doorknob to which could have been her room, the door disappears, right?

So my theory is; what if Mirabel ‘absorbed’ the miracle itself, so that it lived inside Mirabel instead of the candle? And when she then, after having touched the candle, touches the doorknob, the door doesn’t just disappear, it becomes a part of her, too. Because, like some others have theorized, her ‘magical room’ is the Casita itself.

That could also explain how Antonio got his Gift 10 years later; he tells Mirabel “I need you”, and she goes to hold his hand while walking with him up to his door. While Mirabel was holding Antonio’s hand, she transfered the Gift to him as the candle used to do the other Madrigals whenever they were bestowed their Gift. This is going to sound like a bit of a stretch, but what if Antonio saying “I need you” to Mirabel was him subconsciously knowing he needed Mirabel in order to get his own Gift? What if Mirabel hadn’t lead him to his door, would he not have gotten a Gift even after touching the candle, because the magic was no longer in the candle, but inside Mirabel?

This theory may have been thought of, but I can’t find anywhere where others have talked about it. The closest to my theory I’ve heard is that Mirabel got the candle’s magic after the fall of Casita, whereas I believe she got the magic when she was 5.

My headcanon for Bruno's room:

~

I mentioned this really really briefly in chapter 7 of my fic. But I wanted to make an actual post abt my opinion.

So we all know what Bruno's room looks like but I mean his BEDroom. The beds and their placements are varied from room to room. Isabela's was in the centre, shadowed by flowers. Antonio's is still up in the air but due to the general theme of: jungle, I think it's safe to say the hammock in the biggest tree, is his bed:

I bet Pepa isn't happy abt that, everyone actually -

Alma's room is just a copy of her old room, so, basically just normal. Bruno's room looks like it wouldn't even have had space for a bed, HOWEVER a lot of people neglect the fact that this

Is after his disappearance, after he cut himself off and after Casita stopped having access to his room. Therefore, the sand waterfall continued to fall until it made a desert of a once, 'normal' room. Why do I say this? Look at this shot:

His floor is made of wood. This wasn't just a bottomless desert, furniture and a living space probably sat here once and the sand was likely contained.

My headcanon for the furniture in his room:

Sand was always a component of Bruno's room, as we've established, so, (his bed is probably buried under all the sand) I think his furniture was primarily made out of sand/earthly materials. You know those videos were that guy makes little houses in the forest? Not the ones that fake it, the original, legit guy:

Used to watch these so much in middle school

I like to think they looked like that, just sandstone based or sandstone looking:

The butterfly portrait in this one is actually canon, fight me

I think this would suit the general aesthetic of his room, as is the same with the other rooms we have seen.

(also, there's a lot to say abt the people that make these things from digging massive holes in the ground... But I'm just talking abt the way they look and how they'd suit Bruno’s room.)

I also imagine there'd be little huts sprinkled throughout, each manmade and primitive looking. Idk I just like that idea.

The Madrigals’ personalities and their gifts

Sooo...I watched “Encanto”...once again (for about the 1000th time LOL) - and started wondering about this one thing concerning the gifts: If I remember it correctly, I once read that the filmmakers intended the gifts to mirror certain qualities/personality traits each family member already had before their gift ceremony. This becomes especially clear in Antonio’s case, who, according to Mirabel, has always been “an animal guy” and afterwards receives the gift of being able to communicate with his animal friends. But what about the others? In some cases, one gets a pretty good idea about how the personality and gift of a person fit together, but in other cases it seems more difficult to find the connection (at least for me). Here are the ones who seem pretty obvious (in my opinion):

Antonio - see above

Julieta - probably she’s always liked to help or even “heal” people (she might also have liked cooking from a young age).

Luisa - she has probably always been stronger than other children (both in the literal sense, but maybe also being able to deal with “family burdens”).

Isabela - most likely she’s always been into gardening, flowers and nature.

Dolores - that’s a little more difficult: either she’s always had exceptionally good hearing abilities (in the physical sense), always been a good listener and/or been curious and observant of her surroundings.

Camilo - seems to have a very playful nature and has probably always liked things like theater and acting/impersonating other people/characters.

The ones that I personally find the hardest to analyze are Pepa and Bruno: Pepa’s mood controls the weather - but what does that tell us about her personality/character as a child? She might have had a bit of a temper and/or “mood swings” - but that doesn’t have to do anything with the weather per se (there’s no clear connection, e.g. liking animals - being able to talk to them). The other explanation, similar to Isabela, might be that Pepa’s always been interested in the environment, agriculture and/or meteorology - but in the film that doesn’t really seems to be the case.

Bruno’s gift is equally hard to analyze this way: What is the personality-wise equivalent to being able to look into the future? Being interested in fortune telling? Being good at critical thinking? Being able to “see” more than the others? None of that seems very likely for a not even 5 year-old...

I’d really like to hear your thoughts and ideas!

I just realized, all the kids on the warm colored side of the family have powers related to getting secrets from people? Dolores hears everything and can eavesdrop on anyone, Camilo can shape-shift into someone you trust and get you to tell him stuff you normally wouldn't bc you think he's someone else, and Antonio can learn stuff from animals (like how he learned about Bruno from the rats). I wonder if the cool colored sisters' gifts are related in a similar way

what are your thoughts of mirabel as the new matriarch?

I have nothing against the theory, but ever since I figured out the candle doesn’t exist anymore in the canon story, (confirmed by Jared) now I disagree with said theory and prefer this version because while the theory itself is harmless, people do need to keep in mind that there being no family matriarch is the point of the story, the point of the ending. The Madrigals don’t need a candle or a person in charge to represent their love and miracle, they have each other, and that’s all they need. Had the candle still been there in the end of the movie and had they established that Mirabel would replace Alma in the future, it would have took away the lesson of the film because we don’t need an object or a top dog to symbolize how important this family is. Having a matriarch was one of the problems with the family before, because Alma was the one controlling her family and calling all the shots, practically making this a class system (if I’m using the right word, I’m sorry I’m rusty with my talking) when in reality they all should be working together and caring for each other equally.

Encanto Theory

Bruno saw a vision of the Madrigals and the Guzmans being united by marriage.

Lets says it was years ago before Mariano, Isabela and Dolores were born. 

I imagine the words...

“The first born Guzman son will marry the first born Madrigal daughter in what will be known as a perfect union.” 

And Isabela is born and they are like hey this is the the first born daughter the vision was about. Only.... Bruno didn’t say WHICH first born daughter!

Senora Guzman even says “Let’s hope tonight is not a horrible disaster” you know....like how all Brunos visions usually go.

That’s why the Madrigals were so onboard with the engagement of Mariano and Isabela. It wasn’t arranged. They thought it was meant to be!

Isabela even went along with it cause she thought that’s how it was supposed to go.

Probably some plot holes here and there with my theory, but it’s fun to think about :)