Ernesto de la Cruz

This page is about the Ernesto de la Cruz series

“Success doesn't come for free, Miguel. You have to be willing to do whatever it takes to.... seize your moment. I know you understand.”

### Aliases

Papá ErnestoThe Greatest Musician of All TimeSeñor De La Cruz

### Occupation

Musician (formerly)Singer (formerly)Actor (formerly)Con artist

## Physical description

### Species

Human (When he was alive), Skeleton (Now when he's dead)

## Description

**Ernesto de la Cruz** is the main antagonist of the 2017 Pixar animated feature film, *Coco*. He was a famous singer and musician who dazzled audiences with his good looks and his charm and was a source of Mexican pride. After his untimely death, his soul resides in the Land of the Dead. Trapped in this extraordinary realm, Miguel embarks on a quest to find Ernesto, whom he believes is his long-lost great-great-grandfather.

However, Miguel learns a very different story from his heritage than what he expected. He was the former best friend and music partner of Héctor—Miguel's true great-great-grandfather—whom he had murdered so he could take the credit for his music and be a famous musician.

## Background

“*Ernesto de la Cruz, the greatest musician of all time...He started out a total nobody from Santa Cecilia, like me. But when he played music, he made people fall in love with him. He starred in movies. He had the coolest guitar. He could fly! And he wrote the best songs!...He lived the kind of life you dream about... Until 1942...When he was crushed by a giant bell. I want to be just like him!*”
―Miguel explaining de la Cruz's story
Born in 1896, Ernesto was an up-and-coming musician from the town of Santa Cecilia. He started his musical career as a guitarist with his childhood friend Héctor as his songwriter. As the two were on tour across Mexico however, Héctor felt remorse about leaving his wife and daughter behind and intended to quit his career to go back to them. Though Héctor assured Ernesto that the latter can manage on his own, Ernesto desperately tried to convince Héctor to stay, stating he can't succeed without Héctor's songs, to no avail. Ernesto seemingly accepted Héctor's decision and shared a toast of tequila with him as he would move "heaven and earth" for his friend. Unbeknownst to Héctor, however, Ernesto had poisoned the drink - as the two walked down the street towards the train station, Héctor succumbed to the poison and died. Taking the opportunity, Ernesto took Héctor's songbook and guitar and passed them off as his own. With Héctor's songs, Ernesto became a musical legend across the country and a star of renowned films. Winning crowds with his noble appearance, Ernesto was revered as a symbol of Mexico's passion and pride, all the while leaving no-one the wiser of the true circumstances of his fame.

In 1942, Ernesto performed the song "Remember Me" at a concert among millions of his fans. Just as he finished the song on a high note, the backstage hand was distracted and accidentally pulled the lever for the stage's bell; Ernesto, being right under the bell at the moment, was crushed by it and killed instantly. His body was laid to rest in a tomb back in Santa Cecilia, while his spirit was sent to the Land of the Dead. Ernesto's memory carried on in the public, thus he has retained his reputation in the Land of the Dead, regularly performing for the dead citizens (particularly, putting on a Sunrise Spectacular at the end of Día de los Muertos) and living out his afterlife in his massive mansion, throwing parties, and with an arsenal of security guards at his disposal.

### Official Description

*Ernesto de la Cruz is Miguel's idol and the most famous musician in the history of Mexico. Revered by fans worldwide until his untimely death, the charming and charismatic musician is even more beloved in the Land of the Dead.*
### Development

In earlier drafts of the film, Ernesto de la Cruz was intended to be a more obvious villain in a similar vein to Hopper and Chick Hicks. He was originally born in 1885 and was originally crushed to death during his performance of "Remember Me" in 1953. After the original idea was screened, it was scrapped and Ernesto was redesigned to appear as a less villainous figure - he was given a grandfatherly appearance and charming personality to make his true nature more unsuspecting.

### Personality

At first glance, Ernesto presents himself as a charming, suave, wise, friendly, and sensible individual who encouraged others to follow their dreams no matter what, making him seem like a positive role model to many individuals in the living world. Ernesto saved Miguel when he fell in his pool out of genuine kindness and was genuinely going to give him his blessing and allow him back to the Land of the Living. That is, that was before Miguel discovered his secret, so it is debatable whether that act of decency was sincere or not.

However, it is later revealed that Ernesto was selfish, vain, fame-hungry, and desperate in life to the point of being a rank opportunist. His ambition was so extreme that it drove him to murder his best friend Héctor, who wanted to go home to his family, and subsequently steal his songbook and guitar to achieve fame and glory. He was even arrogant enough to hide this secret in one of his films, which led to his exposure and eventual downfall.

Leaving behind a profound legacy after his death, Ernesto was determined to maintain this and was willing to go to malicious lengths (his murders, even more, darker after he died) to keep his image alive. Even Miguel, a boy who greatly idolized him and was thought to be his blood, was seen as a liability to the extent that he would resort to murdering the child to hide his secret, with no remorse whatsoever for his heinous acts; staring coldly after Miguel when he sent him falling to his death and nonchalantly passing off the grief the action had on the late Rivera family while giving the helpless Héctor, Miguel's true ancestor, a cruel apology.

While Miguel, Héctor, and Imelda had great passions for music and (despite their flaws from them) stronger values in family, Ernesto had none of these qualities; he only used music to gain popularity and was willing to kill or use those with whom he had close relationships to get it. As such, he is a dark parallel to Héctor and what Miguel might have become if he had followed Ernesto's path.

When his actions were revealed and his former fans turned on him, Ernesto could only be silently distraught to realize he had lost everything for which he had worked as he was condemned for his vile actions. He also held no remorse for his crimes and took pleasure in causing pain and suffering to others who would be affected by his heinous actions.

Ernesto was also, in contrast to his suave appearance and daring movie roles, a self-serving coward. This was shown when Héctor, despite their differing skeletal structures and his declining condition, furiously attacked him after realizing Ernesto's hand in his death and later fleeing confrontation with an angered Rivera family, calling his security guards for these instances instead of defending himself. It should be noted that they outnumber him so it's understandable for him to flee instead of fighting them all at once. However, he still flees after calling his security guards to battle the Rivera family instead of helping his guards battle them, which perfectly shows his cowardice. Also, when Pepita confronts him for the crimes he committed against the family, Ernesto was left pathetically screaming and begging the *alebrije* to release him unharmed.

## Appearances

### *Coco*

Ernesto de la Cruz first appears at his mansion in the Land of the Dead. During the Day of the Dead, he is hosting a party exclusive to Mexico's high-class celebrities. Miguel tries to get his attention by singing an improvised song. Unfortunately, he loses his balance and falls into a pool before finishing it, prompting Ernesto to dive into it to rescue him. Upon reaching the surface, Ernesto discovers he is the human boy he had been hearing about. Miguel declares himself as de la Cruz's great-great-grandson. Despite being aware he had no known living relatives, Ernesto is overjoyed at this revelation, and tours Miguel around his residence, bragging about him to his friends.

After the party settles down, Miguel asks Ernesto how he felt about leaving his family behind; hesitating, Ernesto vaguely answers his questions that while it was hard, he had to decide to pursue his dreams of becoming a musician, and suggests Miguel do the same if he desires. Miguel explains that he needs Ernesto's blessing to return to the Land of the Living. Ernesto agrees, but before he can bless the marigold petal (with a condition for Miguel to "die very soon", to Miguel's confusion), a furious Héctor shows up. Héctor reveals he wrote the songs for which Ernesto was famous and accuses Ernesto of stealing the credit and leaving Héctor to be forgotten. Ernesto tries to be civil as Héctor tries to get the two to help him cross the bridge to see his daughter before he's forgotten. When he reminds Ernesto that the latter stated he would move "Heaven and Earth" for him, Miguel calls out the similarity of that statement with a quote uttered in one of Ernesto's films; where Don Hidalgo, the villain of the film, said the same thing while poisoning Ernesto's character. Looking at the film, Héctor recalls his last living moments and realizes Ernesto caused his death by poisoning him and stealing his songs and guitar to become famous.

When Héctor voices the realization of his death out loud, Ernesto tries to dissuade the latter by stating that he is confusing movies with reality, to no avail. Enraged at this revelation, Héctor attacks Ernesto for his betrayal, but he is thrown into a cenote pit by Ernesto's security guards. To test Miguel's loyalty, Ernesto asks Miguel if he believes what Héctor said. Miguel denies it, but the uncertainty in his voice alerts Ernesto that he does. Knowing that the young boy has seen and learned too much, Ernesto crumbles the marigold petal and has Miguel thrown in the cenote as he confiscates Héctor's photograph from the boy. Taken away by the re-summoned guards, Miguel protests they are family to which Ernesto coldly notes that Héctor was his best friend as well; his callous words allow Miguel to see that Héctor was telling the truth and Ernesto reminds Miguel that he needed to do whatever it took to achieve glory, or, in his own words, "seize his moment", before leaving.

In the cenote, Miguel and Héctor discover their true lineage and are rescued by the deceased Riveras, Dante, and Pepita and reveal the truth of Héctor's departure. They sneak backstage of an arena where Ernesto's Sunrise Spectacular concert is to be held to reclaim Héctor's photo before Coco forgets him in the Land of the Living. When they conveniently run into Ernesto, he faintly recognizes Imelda who slaps him twice with her boot, the first hit for murdering her love and the second one for trying to murder her grandson (the revelation of Héctor related to Miguel shocking Ernesto). A cowardly Ernesto flees at the sight of the family, realizing that they are after the photo he took and summons his security guards to deal with them. During the scuffle, Imelda is accidentally put on stage after managing to retrieve the photo. Ernesto orders his guards to get her off the stage, but Imelda sings La Llorona and attracts the attention of the audience, infuriating Ernesto over having the spotlight stolen. Ernesto then joins Imelda midway through the song and snatches the photo away from her, but then Imelda stomps his foot at the end of the song and makes off with the photo while he recoils and screams a *mariachi* cry in pain.

As Imelda and Héctor give Miguel their blessing to be sent back to the Land of the Living, an infuriated Ernesto suddenly grabs him, interrupting the blessing, and shoves a protective Imelda to the ground. He drags Miguel toward a ledge while demanding the Riveras to stay back, not one more step. A weakened Héctor pleads for Ernesto to spare Miguel as he's a living child, but Ernesto refuses, labeling Miguel as a threat to his legacy in the realm of the living. Unknown to Ernesto, Miguel's aunts Rosita and Victoria secretly angled a nearby camera on him and switched it on to broadcast his rants against the Riveras to the audience. Seeing Ernesto cruelly berate Héctor, Miguel angrily calls him a coward with Ernesto declaring himself as "the greatest musician of all time". Miguel rebukes this by stating Héctor is the *real* musician and denouncing Ernesto as a murderer who took undeserved credit by stealing his songs, leaving him forgotten, shocking and confusing the audience with this revelation. Not caring and holding Miguel to his face, the vile fraud viciously defends his actions by ranting he'll do whatever it takes to seize his moment before throwing Miguel from the building, to the horror of the Riveras and the whole audience. Satisfied and believing he has won, Ernesto casually passes the horrified Riveras and a weakened Héctor, giving a cruel sarcastic apology to his former friend, who stares after Ernesto with horror at what he just did.

Straightening himself up, Ernesto gleefully returns to the stage, only to be met with boos, jeers, and scowls from the livid audience, who furiously labels him a murderer and orders him to get off the stage. Shrugging this off, Ernesto tries to start the orchestra, but the disgusted instrumentalists only glare at him out of outrage and contempt as the stoic conductor responds to his attempts by snapping his baton in two without a word or second thoughts out of disgust. Ernesto then tries to win the crowd over by singing "Remember Me", but the livid crowd just boos even more as they throw food at him. Confused at this reception, Ernesto sees on the monitors that Pepita has just saved Miguel and realizes that his vile actions have been revealed to all the Land of the Dead as well, causing him to be silently devastated at the fact that his legacy has now been destroyed and he had lost everything.

As he ponders on what to do, Ernesto looks behind him to see Pepita emerge from the curtains, ready to punish him for everything he put the family through when he murdered Héctor. As she menacingly approaches him, Ernesto can only meekly beg Pepita not to hurt him, but the *alebrije* responds with a roar and head-butts him off the stage, catches him by the pelvis area, and carries him out of the stadium, with Ernesto screaming and begging in frantic terror for Pepita to release him unharmed. Pepita then tosses Ernesto into the air and swats him out of the arena with her tail, sending the disgraced and reviled fraud hurtling into a bell tower, where he smacks face-first into the iron bell with a resounding clang before falling underneath. While recovering, the bell breaks loose and crushes a horrified Ernesto, echoing his original death. This is all broadcasted by the camera staff to everyone in the arena who rejoice at his defeat, excluding a spectator returning from the concession stand and asking his wife what he missed.

After returning to the Land of the Living, Miguel reveals the truth about Héctor. Using the letters Héctor sent to Mamá Coco when she was young, the living Riveras expose Ernesto's murderous crimes and manage to save Héctor from being forgotten. One year later, by the next Dia de Los Muertos, Héctor is now credited by Santa Cecilia as an authentic musician and songwriter, while Ernesto’s mausoleum is defaced and abandoned, with a sign reading "FORGET YOU" hung on his bust.

### Disney Parks

A walkaround version of Ernesto debuted at the 2022 Oogie Boogie Bash Halloween event at Disney California Adventure.

## Trivia

* Ernesto is designed after famous Mexican actors and singers from the Golden Age of Mexican Cinema, in particular, Jorge Negrete.
	+ At his party, Ernesto is seen interacting with Negrete and Pedro Infante (two of his inspirations).
* In the Spanish dub, Ernesto is voiced by the Mexican singer Marco Antonio Solís.
* The message of the sign (*FORGET YOU*) hung on Ernesto's bust at the film's ending was altered in two versions. Some have a translated version of the message while other international versions (especially in the English version with Spanish subtitles released in Mexico and some American cinemas) have replaced the message with a big "*X"* instead.
* Ernesto is the Spanish variation of the name Ernest, which sounds and is spelled very similarly to the word earnest, meaning truthful, genuine or heartfelt. And his last name is Spanish for "of the cross", meaning his name is literally "Heartfelt of the Cross". This is a major cause of dramatic irony considering his true nature is a liar, fraud, and murderer.
* With the exception of "Remember Me" (which was sung by his original voice actor), Ernesto's singing voice is provided by a different actor, Antonio Sol.
* There are numerous easy-to-miss signs that foreshadow Ernesto's true colors and hint that he is not Imelda's husband or Coco's father:
	+ In the Rivera family portrait, although Imelda's husband wore an outfit similar to Ernesto's, the belt buckle had two guitars on it. Ernesto's belt buckle does not have this emblem, but rather the symbol of a bull's head. The faceless man in the photo also has a noticeably thinner body type.
	+ When Miguel shows Coco her family photo and asks her if Ernesto was her father, Coco says "Papa" while pointing at him in their photo, but she never says that he was Ernesto.
	+ Early on when Miguel watches an old video of Ernesto, the camera zooms in on the latter's hands when he's playing notes, implying it is a hand double. There are wide shots of Ernesto only when he is merely strumming, hinting he is not as talented as he appears to be.
	+ Frida Kahlo says that Ernesto does not show up to rehearsals, preferring instead to host parties in his mansion, which again demonstrates how he prioritizes attention over music and fans. The same goes for Héctor, who complains about that fact.
		- When both speak of this, they speak it in a rather negative tone, reinforcing the fact that Ernesto wasn't talented in the first place.
	+ When Miguel runs away from Héctor and Imelda, Dante tugs at him to stop him from going to Ernesto's mansion.
		- Furthermore, during the argument between Imelda and Miguel when the latter runs away from the former in his pursuit to find Ernesto to get his blessing, Imelda does not mention Ernesto even though she did mention her husband, stating that "he wanted to play for the world".
	+ When Miguel first calls Ernesto his great-great-grandfather, Ernesto is clearly shocked but still believes him quickly. This implies that while Ernesto never married or raised a family, he had at least one extramarital love affair and, given the time period and culture in which he lived, was worried about his reputation getting ruined by the accidental conception of a child outside wedlock.
	+ When Miguel claims himself to be Ernesto's descendant (aka great-great-grandson), Héctor is noticeably surprised and confused. While this could be interpreted as Héctor being shocked at such bold claims, it could also be seen as Héctor knowing about Ernesto's womanizing tendencies, and his shocked disbelief could be viewed as him thinking Ernesto had an illegitimate child.
	+ Héctor states that Ernesto wasn't very talented. This is proven true when the latter states in the flashback that he can't succeed without Héctor's songs.
	+ The novelization gives a hint in one of the flashback chapters. Ernesto convinces Héctor to go on a series of tours throughout Mexico. During their performances, Héctor notices that Ernesto’s singing and playing style shifts between happy and half-hearted depending on the audience size, and realizes that his partner cares more about attention than about the art behind music.
	+ When Miguel asks Ernesto how he felt about leaving his family, the latter gives a vague response that it was "hard", but he had to follow his dreams. Ernesto does not mention a wife or a daughter, let alone Imelda or Coco and possibly he was talking about his parents. Furthermore, he does not show any remorse, foreshadowing his lack of consideration for others.
	+ In the office where Héctor is being warned, Ernesto's poster has an eerie green glow normally associated with villains.
	+ Ernesto casually speaks when saying that he needs to get Miguel home, rather than with concern. As he prepares to give the blessing, Ernesto also states he hopes for Miguel to "die very soon". The first action foreshadows Ernesto's lack of authentic compassion while the second action foreshadows the lengths to which he is willing to go to avoid being exposed or upstaged.
	+ The involved movie staff have stated that a person can give their blessing to *anyone* who is loved like a family member (not just a blood relative), but said feeling must be mutual. When Ernesto offers Miguel his blessing, the Aztec Marigold petal does not glow; this implies while Miguel views Ernesto as family, Ernesto views Miguel as merely a disposable vehicle to fame.
	+ Miguel's family does not object to Miguel mentioning Ernesto, even though they object to him referencing Coco's father, although they did mention that they never knew about Coco's father's identity. Furthermore, when Miguel declares Ernesto to be his great-great-grandfather, the family claims that it is "impossible".
		- Whenever Miguel's family talks about Coco's father, it is mentioned that he was forgotten and left off the ofrenda. Ernesto, on the other hand, is remembered by many people, both living and dead. This is the most obvious hint that Ernesto is not Miguel's great-great-grandfather.
	+ At one point when Miguel brings up his asymmetrical dimples, Ernesto followed up by saying, "No dimple!" Upon rewatching, it's an obvious sign that Ernesto is subtly insulting Miguel as if he wasn't anyone special, since lacking dimples is a common trait.
	+ When Miguel takes Ernesto's advice of "seizing your moment", Miguel had done many shady things while getting himself in trouble. This hints Ernesto was never a good man in the first place.
	+ Upon listening to Ernesto’s version of “Remember Me” more than once, one might notice the emotional lyrics sound out of place with the catchy instrumental. This shows how Ernesto is a complete sellout and only cared about popularity, while Hector cared about songwriting.
* Despite getting crushed a second time, Ernesto still exists in the Land of the Dead, as Lee Unkrich confirmed. Unkrich has stated that Ernesto is still remembered for his movies and his story as the one who stole Héctor's guitar and his songs and murdered him, albeit permanently disgraced.
	+ Thus, he is unique among Disney/Pixar villains in that he died before the events of the film rather than at the end or not at all, and is thus dead (though very much active) during his antagonistic role.
		- Ernesto is the first (and currently, only) main antagonist of a Pixar movie to already be dead.
	+ This also fits in with the general Disney tradition of giving villains a fitting fate; all that mattered to Ernesto was fame and the adoration that came with it. He is now stuck in a permanent existence, unable to cross over to the Land of the Living and denied the 'Final Death' as people insist on remembering his vile actions (as murders of famous people are remembered).
	+ This was originally explored in the deleted scene "To the Bridge" where Ernesto was in hot pursuit of Miguel at the decaying Marigold Bridge where they would have a showdown during sunrise once *Dia de los Muertos* ended after the countdown. Ernesto ended up getting evaporated with the marigold petals as he grabbed Miguel. This was scrapped as it proved to be too much of a rehash to the climaxes of the Disney Renaissance films.
* Taking into account the years in which they were born, Ernesto is four years older than Héctor. He was around 45-46 years old when he died, outliving Héctor by 21 years―the same span of time Héctor was alive.
* Ernesto has similarities with Charles F. Muntz from *Up*, as both are celebrities who are initially idolized by the protagonists. When the protagonists learn of their true nature, they stop idolizing them and become their enemies. Furthermore, they try to kill their former fans to stop them from ruining their plans. However, Muntz is comparably more merciful since he was initially willing to let Carl and Russell live when he got what he wanted and only tried to kill them when they boarded his blimp to get Kevin back, while Ernesto used murder as his only solution to get rid of anyone he saw as a threat to him.
* Ernesto's downfall is shared with fellow Pixar villain Henry J. Waternoose from *Monsters, Inc.*, as both had their true motives caught on camera and lost their respect from the public. However, Waternoose had more firm and understandable reasons for his actions, ultimately going mad to stop the energy crisis and save his company from bankruptcy, while Ernesto murdered Héctor for selfish reasons, such as fame and recognition.
	+ As a result, Ernesto is one of the more melodramatically vile Pixar villains, much like Hopper and Lotso, with few, if any, redeemable or comical qualities and a genuine lack of empathy for nearly everyone.
* He seemed to have familiarity with Imelda, possibly having come in contact with her before he and Héctor left Santa Cecilia, which made sense as she was his former best friend's wife.
* When Héctor was about to leave Ernesto, Ernesto immediately offered a drink that had a poison that kills Héctor. However, there was no preparation for Ernesto poisoning the alcohol shown. This indicates that the alcohol had already been poisoned prior. It can be explained that Ernesto may have gotten the poison while on the tour. And since he and Héctor had been touring for some time, there are indications that they argued over it constantly, with Ernesto managing to talk him out of it while making contingency plans (including having the poison on hand) to kill him if he insisted on leaving. So when Héctor finally decided to go home and ignored Ernesto's pleas, that was when Ernesto snapped and poisoned him.
* In the deleted scene "Family Fix", Ernesto snatches Héctor's guitar from Miguel (then known as "Marco" during development) and breaks it (which ended up destroying his only hope of getting home) right in front of the audience and the Riveras at the main stage. At this point, he is reviled by the dead and is given a final slipper to the head by Imelda. It was scrapped because it went against how Ernesto's downfall was to be finalized.
* In the deleted scene "Dia de los muertos", it features a group of people singing a calm ballad, before turning it over-the-top and practically bastardizes the meaning of the holiday. This could mean to foreshadow how Ernesto bastardizes Héctor's song, "Remember Me", from a personal family song into a flashy fame one.
* Ernesto serves as a dark parallel to Miguel: both of them are determined to become musicians. However, while Miguel's desire to become a musician comes from his passion and love for music, Ernesto only wanted to be a musician to gain fame, glory, and attention for himself. If Miguel hadn't learned how family is important to him, he would have ended up like Ernesto, who didn't care about family and friendship.
* Ernesto's downfall was possible primarily because of his movies; if Ernesto had not included the poisoning scene that parallels his poisoning of Héctor, his true nature may have never come to light.
* Ernesto's alebrijes are Chihuahua's, which are a reflection of his arrogance as he's like the tiny Mexican dog, he acts high and mighty when really he's anything but.
* Despite being a skeleton, and therefore having no nerves or muscles, Ernesto is still capable of feeling pain, as seen when Imelda stomped on his foot during her performance of *La Llorna*.