Una

**Una** is a hedgehog, a supporting character in *Ferdinand* and is the eldest sister of Dos and Cuatro.

She is voiced by Gina Rodriguez.

## Development

During animation for the hedgehogs, it was tricky to maintain the silhouette of the quills, especially when they cover their faces when they roll around.

## Biography

### Tres' Passing

Before the events of the film, Una had another brother; Tres who was thought to have passed away due to unknown reasons (he did not they re-unite at the end. Ever since, Una and her remaining younger brothers refuse to speak of him.

### Meeting Ferdinand

One night, Una and her younger brothers, Dos and Cuatro sneak into the "new bull" named Ferdinand's pen through a window to steal some food and anything else they can find incognito while he and Lupe the goat are sleeping. Unfortunately, they are discovered by Ferdinand, so, they decide to improvise by playing and dancing on their way out to the flower toy singing the Macarena. When Ferdinand asks if they're stealing his stuff, they deny such knowledge, making the latter feel terrible for accusing them as thieves until Lupe suddenly wakes up and warns him not to fall for their tricks while referring to them as "filthy weasels." Una is upset by this statement as Dos states the fact that they're "filthy hedgehogs" even when Una points out that Lupe knows exactly what they are. But when Lupe proceeds to accuse them of being "beady-eyed, little thieves," Una states that they're not thieves but survivors then pricks Lupe's muzzle with one of her quills and orders her younger brothers to retreat in ball formation.

When they find themselves cornered by Ferdinand; thinking he's going to eat them, Una and Dos try to defend themselves by using Cuatro's quills to throw at him and Lupe. When Ferdinand pushes Lupe out of the way and reassures them that he's not eating anyone, Una ceases the attack and finally realizes that Ferdinand is not exactly like the other "meatheads" (bulls) around here. At first, Dos remains unconvinced when he states that the word "bully" comes from "bulls", not "chickens" until Una reassures him that Ferdinand is actually a soft and sweet bull (like butter; as naively stated by Cuatro). Feeling bad, Una decides to start over by introducing herself as her brothers proceed as well. When Ferdinand asks what happened to Tres, Una and her brothers gasp in shock and cross their chests as they explain that they do not speak of Tres; implying that he may have passed away at some point in their early lives. Feeling bad, Ferdinand apologizes and allows them to take the food since he's not really hungry but Lupe refuses to allow them to take the flower toy; much to Cuatro's dismay for now. Then, Ferdinand gives them a boost to the window. At first, Dos refuses until Una forces him to go along with it. Glad to know that Ferdinand is a really nice bull, Una and her brothers leave with joy as they thank him for everything.

Later on, when Ferdinand finds himself being confronted by snobbish, German horses: Hans, Klaus, and Greta after failing to escape through the electric fence, Ferdinand discovers Una and her brothers sneaking out the fence after having stolen a radio from the horses' pen; thanks to a rubber glove Dos uses to avoid any electric shock; implying that the horses' statement of having sharp eyes and ears is wrong as they continue insulting him.

### Training and dancing

After Angus fails to hit a barrel again due to thick locks not allowing him to see very well while training, Una and her brothers can be seen relaxing inside the bulls' water trough like as though they were in a pool or at the beach. Una informs Ferdinand that it's his turn to start training as she points out that the bullfighter, El Primero is watching. Later, Una and her brothers can be seen cheering for Ferdinand after he performs a perfect tap dance to prove to the insolent horses that their theory about bulls not being able to dance well is wrong. Then, when Angus and Bones (later, Maquina) join in, Una and her brothers turn on the radio for some music during the dance-off while dancing to it as well. Once the bulls win the dance-off, they cheer for them over their victory on the horses.

### Escape from Casa del Toro

At night, Una and her brothers are confused when Ferdinand asks them to help him escape Casa del Toro. Ferdinand bribes them with the flower toy when Dos asks what's in it for them; much to Lupe's confusion. Though reluctant at first, they agree to help when Cuatro is the first and only one to accept the gift in exchange for their help. Using one of her quills, Una unlocks the door that leads straight to Moreno's garage and into his house. Though this means trouble, Una and her brothers point out it's the only way to get out, so, Ferdinand and Lupe agree to go along with it. Despite difficulties like Ferdinand taking Una's statement of "doing exactly what they do" by rolling like a ball literally and both Ferdinand and Lupe accidentally starting up El Primero's car radio after sneaking in through the small garage window, Una and her brothers are able to provide a distraction good enough to fool two of Moreno's employees by dancing until Dos bites one of them on the finger after mistaking them for squirrels.

Then, Una asks Ferdinand to be a little more quiet when he nearly makes a loud noise after slipping through the smooth kitchen floor; given his hooves and size. Luckily, with the help of some gloves, Ferdinand is able to sneak away easily despite unintentionally making a few farting noises with the gloves as he walks further away.

When Ferdinand discovers the truth behind the bullfights concerning the bulls' fates in the ring, Una, her brothers, and Lupe are confused when Ferdinand refuses to leave; stating that he doesn't want his friends to end up with their horns on the wall for a chasing a foolish dream of beating the matador just like his late father, Raf did.

In the stables, after waking up the rest of the guys and telling them the truth, Una and her brothers bring forth a pair of bull horns trophy to further intensify Ferdinand's evidence about the bulls' fates in the arena; stating that whether they get selected by the matador or not, they will all die either way. Nevertheless, Valiente, being the stubbornest of all bulls, refuses to believe his story and challenges him to a fight, which results in Valiente losing his right horn and being sent to the chop house and worst of all, Ferdinand getting selected by El Primero, who witnessed the whole thing; much to everyone's shock.

When Ferdinand still refuses to leave unless everyone including Valiente comes with him, everyone else including the hedgehogs agree with joy. Later, the hedgehogs provide a distraction to the horses by posing as a bull (silhouette) mooing inside their pen and then, trapping them inside with El Primero's license plate after dropping buckets on their heads, shoes on their muzzles, and spoofing the three Musketeers ("Hedge for one and Hog for all!"). While the hedgehogs, Lupe, and some of the bulls hold the door, Ferdinand goes to the chop house to rescue both Valiente and, much to everyone's surprise, Guapo. After a daring yet complicated rescue, the hedgehogs take command of the truck transporting the bulls and Lupe and drive further away from Casa del Toro after the humans have been alerted. On the way, they stop the truck to avoid hitting a Bunny, which Ferdinand brings on board as well, and then, continue to drive on with Moreno and his men in pursuit in his car.

In the morning, still finding themselves chased by the humans, the hedgehogs misinterpret Lupe's direction of "hard right" as their right and end up going the wrong way. When one of Moreno's men manages to get closer despite Dos closing the window on his hands, Una manages to subdue them momentarily by opening the car's hood with one of her quills, thus, blocking their view while Lupe takes the wheel and nearly falls to her death on the road until Valiente rescues her by catching her with his tail before the humans crash into a haystack in a field.

### Escaping to the train station in Madrid

The gang are stuck in a heavy traffic jam in Madrid until they notice Moreno and his men having caught up to them and decide to go on hoof to the train station that will take them to Ferdinand's home where he grew up in Seville with Una and her brothers riding on Ferdinand while the Bunny rides on Maquina. During the chase, Una and her brothers gather some churros after Bones makes one of Moreno's men fall and drop a plate of churros when trying to capture Ferdinand. Later, the hedgehogs can be seen enjoying some churros with their friends while riding a bus to the train station. At the station, the hedgehogs watch on the board for which track to take and tell the bulls to follow them. Unfortunately, they are spotted by Moreno and his men and their passage is somewhat blocked. After Una asks Ferdinand to give her a boost, she notices the train heading for Seville is leaving and informs the bulls as they hurry to catch up with while Una jumps down on Valiente with her brothers on his back. While the bulls push a cart to connect it to the train, the hedgehogs climb aboard to help with the connection as Una tells them to push harder and faster. When Ferdinand sacrifices himself to save his friends with Lupe left behind as well, the hedgehogs and their friends are saddened as they watch him get captured by Moreno and his men to be taken to the arena in El Primero's final fight while riding further away.

### Living on Juan's farm

Later, the hedgehogs and their friends rush into the arena to save Ferdinand, only to find him still alive, reunited with his owner, Nina, and hailed as a hero by the people. Impressed, the hedgehogs and the others sit to praise him for his efforts. Then, they are taken with Ferdinand back to his home on Nina and her father, Juan's farm, where Ferdinand was raised and grew up all his life, by Moreno.

## Physical Appearance

Una is violet with long violet spikes that flow forward and upwards. She has a small up-turned nose, as well as long lashes around her blue eyes. She is shorter than her younger brothers, Dos and Cuatro, who are bigger than her.

## Relationships

### Dos and Cuatro

Una is very close to her younger brothers, the three are together all the time and work together to get food, and later to help the bulls escape Casa del Toro.

### Tres

Una, Dos and Cuatro refuse to talk about their brother Tres. When they saw him again in the mid-credits scene, the three hedgehogs were in shock and scared to see him.

### Ferdinand

When Ferdinand first met the hedgehogs the night he was brought back to Casa del Toro after a little misunderstanding involving a bumblebee at the village, Una and her brothers quickly assumed that he was like every other bull around here: meat-headed, mean, and brutish; other than the fact that he was the biggest bull they had ever seen, and thought he was going to "eat" them when he caught them stealing his stuff, which provoked them to try attacking him with their quills.

However, once Ferdinand reassured them otherwise, Una and Cuatro quickly realized he was different from all the other bulls while Dos still remained slightly skeptical and they decided to start over as friends. After being properly introduced, Ferdinand proved to be even friendlier when he offered the hedgehogs a chance to take some food if they wanted since he wasn't really hungry and a boost up the window despite Dos' slight reluctance and suspicions.

As days passed, the hedgehogs began to like Ferdinand much more even when he started displaying some interesting dance moves in a dance-fight against the snobbish horses as they helped out by putting on some music on the radio, which they stole from the unsuspecting horses' stables on Ferdinand's first night at Casa del Toro, to spice the dance competition up a bit.

When the hedgehogs learned from Ferdinand that he was intending to escape Casa del Toro (again) at night, they seemed a bit confused and Dos demanded something in return for their help. Ferdinand offered them the toy flower Lupe gave him as a gift on the first night, which they also tried to steal at first. Though Dos refused, Cuatro accepted with pleasure and the agreement was settled.

After learning the truth about the bullfights and Valiente got sent to the chop house due to losing his right horn in a foolish fight against Ferdinand, the hedgehogs were glad to learn that Ferdinand was intending to take everyone back with him to Juan's farm where he grew up most of his life.

After escaping from Casa del Toro to the train station in Madrid while riding on Ferdinand's head at first and witnessing Ferdinand get captured and taken to the ring by Moreno and his men, the hedgehogs and the others proved their loyalty when they chose to go after Ferdinand and rescue him rather than to continue with their escape to Ferdinand's home in Seville.

### Lupe

When the hedgehogs first meet Lupe, they at first showed dislike towards each other, with Lupe calling them "filthy weasels" and Una responding back they are survivors. Lupe also refused to let them have the toy flower she gave Ferdinand.

When Ferdinand offeres them the toy flower in exchange for helping him and Lupe escape Casa del Toro, Lupe wasn't happy with it, but they all agreed in the end.

During the chase, Lupe tells them go right but, due to Dos misundestanding her, they went left, and she argued with Dos a little. It's likely they are friends now living in Nina's farm.

### Valiente

For most of the film, Valiente doesn't with the hedgehogs siblings until they flee Casa del Toro. While Moreno and his men chase the animals, Una manages to subdue them momentarily, Valiente rescues Una from falling in the end. When the bulls, hedgehogs and the bunny rush to Plaza de Toros to save Ferdinad, the hedgehgos are seen in Valiente's head.

It's likely Valiente and the hedgehogs siblings are friends now living in Nina's farm. However, during the credits, Valiente is shown to be angry at the hedgehogs for using his right horn as a barbecue stick.

## Trivia

* The name Una is close to a Spanish word uno which means one. Una's brothers' names are also numbers in Spanish, Cuatro which means four, Tres means three and Dos which means two.
* Even though Una´s name is based off the number, uno, Una in Spanish means A, the first letter of the alphabet.
* Una's name may imply that she's the first born of her siblings.
* During the chase around the city, Una and her brothers disappear in some scenes especially the part where Bones saves Ferdinand from being roped by one of Moreno's men while riding on Ferdinand's head. Also, churros weren't seen falling after one of Moreno's men crashed into a restaurant nor were Una and her brothers seen catching them until the next shot.
* During the credits, Una and her brothers were seen using Valiente's right horn as a barbecue stick; much to his anger despite the hedgehogs never having been seen carrying it with them during their escape from Casa del Toro.
* After outsmarting the horses, Una and her brothers say: "Hedge for one, and hog for all!"; a reference to the famous line: "All for one, and one for all!" shouted out by the Three Musketeers in the novels and movies of the same name.
* Ginnifer Goodwin and Idina Menzel were all considered for the role of Una.

## References

1. ↑ *The challenging part was maintaining the silhouette, especially in shots where quills cover their faces when they're rolling around. I loved working with Una's hair flip and in general all the differences in hair across the hedgehogs! 1️⃣, 2️⃣, 4️⃣ #AskAnArtist*. (November 21, 2017). *Twitter*.