Cinder Lumen

“*I knew it! My nose always knows!*”
 ―Cinder Lumen when her daughter declares her love for Wade

**Síddèr "Cinder" Lumen** is a character in the 2023 Disney/Pixar animated feature film *Elemental.* She's the wife of Bernie and the mother of Ember. She works as a matchmaker in her husband's convenience store, The Fireplace. She's the first to discover Ember's budding romance with Wade Ripple, a water guy and is initially convinced that Fire and Water can't be together. But by doing their reading, Cinder learns that Wade and Ember are a perfect match.

## Background

“*Cinder Lumen is Firetown's resident matchmaker, utilizing her natural gift that allows her to smell true love in a fire person's smoke, whether they know it or not. She boasts numerous matches throughout her tenure—she's proud of her track record—but this brusque, no-nonsense, and traditional mom has yet to find a match for her daughter.* ”

## Personality

Cinder cares very much about her family. She loves romances. She can smell love and know if a couple is actually meant to be together. Cinder can be very traditional, when a couple she consulted kissed, she sprayed water at them and told them to "save it for the wedding." She also dreams of her daughter, Ember, finding love of her own.

Because she and Bernie suffered prejudice from being fire elements since they arrived in Element City, both she and her husband used to not respect non-fire elements, as seen when she looks shocked after finding out Ember was going out with Wade, and direclty told her they couldn't be together. However, when she realized that Ember and Wade truly loved each other, Cinder accepted her their relationship and is now genuinely happy for them. Now both Cinder and Bernie get along well with non-fire elements.

## Physical appearance

Cinder is an middle age woman with noticeable wrinkles under her eyes. Being a fire element, her entire body is made out of red, orange and yellow fire, forming a rather round body shorter than her family, complete with eyebrows, a small pointy nose, thick eyelashes, and eyes having a similar color scheme as fire.

Cinder's attire consists of a pair of small, magenta colored gem earrings, a black knitted shawl around her shoulders, and a necklace with a ruby pendant. She also carries a small black bag when she goes out.

When she was younger, she wore a purple dress with a crisscross design and the same ruby necklace she wears nowdays.

During the ceremony for Bernie's retirement, Cinder wears a transparent red shawl with many colorful stones on it, and still wears her gem earrings.

## Appearances

### *Elemental*

Cinder and her husband Bernie are introduced arriving at Element City approaching C.C. Stump who accepts them to be welcomed to Element City. During their life at Element City, she and Bernie tried to find a place to rent, but are rejected. However, Bernie finds an empty facility for rent so that he and his wife can rent it. One night, Cinder gives birth to Ember at Element City just as Bernie welcomes his daughter to her new life. Several years later, Cinder is at a matchmaking room at the Fireplace, planning to bring love to a couple inside just before Ember enters, unaware of her mother helping the couple find their true love while Ember herself is grabbing materials to do her father's delivery business. Just before Ember can leave, Cinder senses a loveless sad future of sadness, telling her to work with her, as she tells her daughter that her finding match was her grandmother's dying wish, as Ember instead decides to do the deliveries instead.

Later when Cinder and Bernie are repairing the pipes at the basement which happened after Ember lost her temper, Cinder recaps to her daughter that there was a reason why she and her husband left Fireland, explaining that most residents from Fireland had a Blue Flame, which connected the fire people together through their traditions and their families. In a flashback, Cinder's husband began to build a life for her family, until a great storm arrived, making Cinder and her husband face many challenges during the storm, causing their house to be destroyed by the storm and following the aftermath of the storm, Bernie brought the Blue Flame from Fireland to protect him and his wife and then left Fireland via boat, making it the last time Cinder's husband saw his family, which is why Ember's parents came to Element City to build a safe place.

Later, Ember passes by Cinder who thinks she is doing deliveries, but it is found that that she is meeting Wade at the Alkali Theater to watch a movie. During the "Steal the Show" sequence, when Ember returns to the Fireplace, Cinder holds some of Ember's photos she got from a photo booth, questioning who the person hanging out with Ember is. The next day after Wade was banned from the Fireplace, Cinder senses her daughter falling in love with a water element just before Ember leaves for Wade's apartment. She later arrives near Wade's apartment where she notices Ember interacting a different element. After Wade and Ember both enter, a doorman warns her that the apartment is for residents and guests only. She later notices Ember exiting the apartment with Wade and furiously notices that Ember is in love with a water element, scolding her that the elements of fire and water cannot be together.

At the matchmaking area at the Fireplace, Cinder tests Ember and Wade to know if they are a perfect match. Wade uses his body to allow Ember's light to shine through his body, aiming the unlit stick, much to Cinder's surprise just before Bernie hears his wife. As Bernie approaches, Ember and her mother talk to Bernie without mentioning Wade whom Bernie banned from his store as Bernie reveals that he will retire in two days, recapping to Ember and Cinder about his tragic flashback when he was at Fireland just before revealing a sign saying that the shop would soon belong to Ember, while Cinder takes her husband to rest. During the grand reopening of the Fireplace, Cinder noticed Wade returning, and Ember refuses to accept, much to Cinder's worry while sensing genuine affection, she tells Wade to never come back.

During the flood, Cinder and the other resident of Firetown notice the flood attempting to wipe out the survivor as Cinder and her husband attempt to find a safe place to avoid falling into the water. After the flood, Cinder approaches Ember who mourns of Wade's sacrifice, just before Ember's parents reconcile with their daughter. Cinder later notices water dripping from the ceiling in the matchmaking room, which reminds her of Wade, happy that Wade and Ember are the perfect match for each other just before Bernie tells Wade that he is no longer banned from his store, resulting Wade's bad reputation being dealt with.

Months later, Cinder and her husband listen to Flarrietta talking to Flarry about her experiencing of running the shop just as the two enjoy eating kol-nuts together just before Wade enters. Cinder is seen bidding a farewell to Ember so she can study glassmaking just before Ember leaves to travel the world together with Wade.

## Trivia

* Like Bernie, Cinder is similar to King Triton from *The Little Mermaid* as both were prejudiced against a certain species for their daughters after they fall in love with one of them (humans for Triton after Ariel fell in love with Eric and non-fire elements for Cinder after Ember fell in love with Wade), until they both got over it.
	+ Another similarity is that both where happy when found out that their daughters were in love with someone and believed that it was another member of their respective species before finding out the truth.
* She is the second character to have the word "cinder" in her name; the first being Cinderella.
* Her name "Cinder" means "a small piece of partly burned coal or wood that has stopped giving off flames but still has combustible matter in it".
* She is also similar to The Matchmaker from *Mulan*, though the only difference is Cinder more nicer to her visitors than the Matchmaker was.