Héctor Rivera

## Biography

Héctor Rivera was born on November 30, 1900 and died some time on December 1921. Having a passion for music, Héctor wrote many of songs that became famous under the name of Ernesto de La Cruz, including "Un Poco Loco" which he wrote for Imelda and "Remember Me" as a secret lullaby/love song for his daughter, Coco.

Héctor and Imelda married and had Coco some time in 1918, and Héctor received the skull guitar from Imelda as a wedding gift. Although Imelda wanted to settle down shortly after Coco's birth, Héctor decided to leave the family to join his former friend, Ernesto de la Cruz in music. In the novelization, it is told that Héctor leaving Imelda and Coco to perform was him following de la Cruz's request. After performing in various cities including but not limited to Toluca, San Luis Potosí, and Monterrey, he began missing his family and intended to return to Santa Cecilia but was unfortunately killed by de la Cruz with a poisoned tequila shot in México City. However, most people, including Héctor himself, believed that he died of food poisoning up until 2017. He later woke up in the Land of the Dead, still believing that he died of food poisoning. When he never returned, Imelda believed he had truly abandoned the family and put up their family photo with his face torn out of it and his skull guitar folded back. When she came to the Land of the Dead, Imelda and Héctor remained distant towards one another, despite numerous attempts of reconciling from Héctor's side. Slowly, as Coco forgot her father, Héctor's bones began to turn yellow and cracked.

He tried numerous times to cross the bridge, including two separate attempts in which he dressed up as the painter Diego Rivera and an *alebrije*. However, all attempts failed due to him not having a photo on any ofrenda, including in his own home in Santa Cecilia. Because music appeared to have stopped him from realizing what he wanted all along (family), Héctor began to dislike musicians and grew embittered towards Ernesto for stealing his music and taking all the credit, as well as stealing his guitar. It is hinted that he had also long stopped playing music when Chicharrón requested a song from Héctor before giving him his guitar after meeting Miguel.

In 2017, after another failed attempt of crossing the marigold bridge as Frida Kahlo Héctor met Miguel and Dante. Miguel told Héctor of his wish to meet de la Cruz under the impression that he is Miguel's long-lost great-great grandson. After some thinking, Héctor decided to help Miguel out in exchange of the boy returning to the Land of The Living in order to put up his photo on an *ofrenda* in order for him to cross over. After failing to find de la Cruz at the arts district where he was supposed to rehearse for the Sunrise Spectacular, Héctor and Miguel learned from one of the musicians rehearsing, namely Gustavo about a competition that could take them directly to de la Cruz if they won. Here was also where Miguel learned of how Héctor presumably died via food poisoning, which somehow was twisted into him choking on a *chorizo*.

In order for them to enter the competition they would need a guitar, and thus Héctor lead Miguel and Dante to Shantytown, the slums of The Land of The Dead where the Nearly Forgotten (those without a home to return to, presumably due to having no photos of themselves put up on any *ofrenda*) resided. Héctor asked his friend, Chicharrón, if they could borrow his guitar in which the latter initially denied until he gave in after experiencing symptoms of the Final Death. Chicharrón allowed Héctor to borrow his guitar under a condition: Héctor had to play him a song. Despite not having played music for a very long time, Héctor was requested by Chicharrón to play "Everyone Knows Juanita" in order to borrow his guitar. Shortly after, Chicharrón faced the Final Death, an event that reminded Héctor of his own reality as a Nearly Forgotten himself.

After reaching Plaza de la Cruz where the talent competition was held, Héctor helped Miguel prepare for his performance as De La Cruzito. After discouraging Miguel from performing "Remember Me", they both decided on Miguel performing "Un Poco Loco" instead, followed by Héctor teaching Miguel on how to perform for the first time. In the novelization, Héctor also suggested Miguel to perform with having the person he wanted to perform to in mind. During mid-performance, Héctor was dragged onto the stage by Dante and immediately performed together with Miguel, displaying his artistic genius as a performer. However, shortly after their performance Miguel dragged Héctor off of the stage after noticing the dead Rivera family looking for him. Realizing that he had been lied to, Héctor confronted Miguel and was about to take him to the Riveras, only to be left alone by Miguel who threw his photo back at him out of anger.

In desperation, he donned his Frida Kahlo disguise once more and looked for Miguel all the way to de la Cruz's tower. This time, his disguise worked and he managed to sneak in. He then confronted Miguel who was about to be given a blessing by de la Cruz, initially mistaken for Kahlo by the latter. Shortly after, Héctor begged Miguel to put up his photo and confronted de la Cruz on how he did not credit him as the true songwriter, causing him to be forgotten by the masses. After Héctor reminded de la Cruz of how the latter would "move heaven and earth for his *amigo*", Miguel pointed out how that phrase was also said in "*El Camino a casa*", one of the movies de la Cruz starred in, by a character named Don Hidalgo who poisonedde la Cruz's character's drink before sharing a toast. This triggered Héctor's memory of his death in 1921, making him realize how he actually died: not from food poisoning, but from a poisoned drink done by de la Cruz himself in order to steal his songs and his guitar. Outraged, Héctor tackled de la Cruz but before he could any significant damage he was dragged away by de la Cruz's security and thrown down a *cenote*.

Not too long after that, Miguel was also thrown down the same *cenote* by de la Cruz's security. After comforting the boy, Héctor experienced symptoms of the Final Death, realizing that Coco was forgetting him. Out of regret, he revealed to Miguel that he used to live in Santa Cecilia and called out Coco's name, making Miguel realize of their true connection as great-great-grandfather and great-great-grandson after showing the older man the family photo. Héctor also revealed how "Remember Me" was supposed to be sung, saying that he wrote the song for Coco. After some encouragement from Miguel, Héctor gained his spirit back stating that he was proud to be Miguel's family. Shortly after, Dante found them from above, followed closely by Pepita and Imelda, the latter being not happy seeing Héctor to the point of leaving him hanging on to Pepita's tail instead of allowing him to ride on top of her *alebrije*.

After reuniting with the rest of the Riveras, Imelda further chastised Héctor for leaving her and Coco alone. Miguel came to defend Héctor and revealed to the family that Héctor was trying to come home but was murdered by de la Cruz. After experiencing Final Death symptoms once more, he apologized to Imelda for leaving. While not forgiven just yet, Imelda softened just enough to be willing enough in helping him and Miguel reach de la Cruz in order to find Héctor's photo.

With the help of Frida Kahlo (and perhaps a begruntled Ceci), the whole family was able to sneak into the backstage dressed up as dancers who were also dressed up as Frida Kahlo. Shortly after taking off their costumes, they almost immediately found de la Cruz who was later attacked by Imelda using her shoes twice, as retaliation for murdering "the love of her life", Héctor and for trying to murder her grandson, Miguel. After chasing de la Cruz and fighting against his bodyguards, Héctor would then accompany Imelda for an impromptu performance of "La Llorona" after the latter accidentally appeared on stage from a rising platform where de la Cruz was supposed to stand initially.

Immediately after the performance and a hint of reconciliation in the form of an embrace between him and Imelda, de la Cruz interrupted their attempt at blessing Miguel in order for him to return home. After pleading for de la Cruz to release the living boy in the midst of spasms to no avail, Héctor witnessed de la Cruz attempting to murder Miguel once more by throwing him off of the arena. Fortunately, this confrontation was captured live on camera by Rosita and Victoria who were able to operate the cameras thus resulting in the downfall of de la Cruz as a public figure, and Miguel was also saved in the nick of time by Pepita after a failed attempt by Dante, who by now had turned into an *alebrije* after successfully reuniting Miguel with his true great-great-grandfather. Unfortunately, both Héctor and Miguel were running out of time as dawn was breaking; Miguel lost Héctor's photo and was slowly transforming into a spirit (in other words: dying), and Héctor's symptoms were getting worse and worse as Coco's memory deteriorated. In the nick of time, Héctor and Imelda were able to bless the boy back to the Land of The Living.

It is generally unknown what happened immediately after Miguel's departure, but fortunately he was able to return just in time to revive Coco's memories by singing "Remember Me" using the skeleton guitar. This caused not only Coco remembering and being able to tell stories of her youth related to Héctor and music according to the novelization, but most likely it also caused the music ban to be lifted almost immediately and also Héctor experiencing less and less of his symptoms as the rest of the living Riveras learned of his true identity. This included Coco revealing that she had kept Héctor's letters, poems that he wrote for her (some of which could have been song lyrics), and Héctor's torn head from the family photo, finally restoring his position as the patriarch of the Rivera family.

Some time between the morning Miguel returned from the Land of The Dead and a year after the events of the main story, the public were made aware of de la Cruz's lies of writing his own songs and had acknowledged Héctor Rivera as the true genius behind the music, most likely from efforts by Miguel and the rest of the living Riveras. The effort done must had been so great that they added a small museum dedicated to Héctor which included his letters, song lyrics to various songs, and his skull guitar.

Meanwhile, in the Land of The Dead, Héctor was finally able to cross over thanks to Miguel's efforts and the photo being put up on his family's *ofrenda*. By this time his bones were more pristine, his markings were more vivid, his clothes were altered and no longer tattered, he had shoes that were personally made by Imelda according to the novelization, and he was reunited with Imelda (after an unspecified amount of time spent reconciling and rekindling their romance) and Coco who had passed away months prior. Héctor was finally able to cross over to the Land of The Living with his family thanks to Miguel's efforts, and he would also later take a spiritual copy of the skull guitar with him as he performed along to Miguel's song, "Proud Corazon" on his first ever Día de Los Muertos with his family.

## Personality

Héctor is mischievous, well-meaning, sly, charming, caring, loving, somewhat desperate, fatherly, humorous, benevolent, romantic, protective, crafty, and stubborn, the latter being a trait shared among many of the Rivera bloodline, including Imelda and Miguel.

Héctor is somewhat sneaky and crafty, being able to put a costume together. However, most people-particularly the staff at the Department of Family Reunions-can see through his disguise, perhaps due to his history of failed attempts at crossing the bridge. It is likely that this crafty nature was from his time spent on coming up with schemes to cross the bridge each year.

As a living human being, Héctor was a man who did not want fame or fortune or the world to remember him, and only wanted to perform music for the sake of performing his songs. He also expressed a similar sentiment in the novelization, figuring that he could always perform back in Santa Cecilia where there would always be someone in need of music for events such as weddings, *los bailes*, birthdays, *et cetera*. This all changed after he died, however. At the start of the film, Héctor is shown to dislike music almost as much as his estranged family. He believes that all musicians are a bunch of "self important jerks" despite being a musician himself, perhaps also even referring to himself as he too decided to leave home to perform. This is most likely because he has grown resentful of de la Cruz for never giving him credit for the songs that made him famous.  However, he makes an exception for Chicharrón and performs "Everyone Knows Juanita" as per requested.

He is a man who has a deep love and adoration of his family, especially towards his daughter and wife, and eventually, his great-great-grandson, Miguel. After meeting Miguel, Héctor's love of music is reawakened, even becoming a supportive figure to Miguel and teaching him how to shake off his nerves before a performance. Héctor also enjoys singing and performing with his then-unknown great-great grandson, and playing the guitar while Imelda is singing on stage during the Sunrise Spectacular.

Héctor also shares a stubbornness with his wife, Imelda and their great-great-grandson, Miguel, as he is stubborn in showing a determination not to change his attitude. He is somewhat desperate in getting to cross the bridge, even desperately getting help from the human child, Miguel to put his photo on an *ofrenda* when he gets home. Héctor is also a protective and fatherly individual, as his fatherly thought is to always love his daughter. Becoming close with Miguel, Héctor becomes a fatherly figure towards the boy, worriedly searching for him when he runs away to find Frida Kahlo and showing he feels responsible for Miguel. His greatest desire is seeing Coco again, the reason he needs to get to the bridge in the first place.

He is also a romantic, shown when he wrote "Un Poco Loco" for Imelda and "Remember Me" for Coco, and is able to reconcile with the both of them and the rest of the dead Rivera family by the end of the movie.