Bruno Madrigal

**Bruno Madrigal** is a major character in Disney's 2021 animated feature film, *Encanto*. He is the only son and youngest child of Alma and Pedro Madrigal, with the gift to see into the future. Bruno's odd demeanor, affinity for rats, and often doomsaying visions had distinguished him as the "black sheep" of the Madrigals, resulting in his estrangement from the family. Following his disappearance, it became taboo to mention Bruno, who was reviled as a villainous figure by the townsfolk until his deep-rooted love for his family was unearthed.

## Background

Bruno is the youngest of the fraternal triplets and the only son of Alma and Pedro, his siblings being Julieta and Pepa. He is the maternal uncle of Isabela, Dolores, Luisa, Camilo, Mirabel and Antonio. His gift is the ability to see the future, which caused misery to his hometown because of his often cryptic visions and their bleak outcomes. Because of his unwelcome gift, he was considered the black sheep of the Madrigal family. After a young Mirabel did not get a gift on the night of her gift ceremony, Abuela worried about the family’s magic and asked Bruno to see what the future showed. He had a vision with two possible outcomes: Mirabel in front of Casa Madrigal, one with the house intact and the other with the house breaking. Due to the typically negative outcomes of his prophecies, Bruno broke the vision slab and hid himself from everyone to protect Mirabel from being blamed. His name was then considered taboo among his family (particularly to Pepa, who holds a grudge against him for “ruining” her and Félix’s wedding with a lighthearted comment about rain) and the townsfolk. Nobody knew his actual location except Dolores, who said nothing in his decade of absence despite her notoriety for being unable to keep secrets. But after Casita is destroyed and Mirabel reconciles with Abuela, Bruno returns to his family, who welcome him back with open arms. He later joins his family and the villagers in rebuilding Casita, implying that he has also reconciled with the townsfolk.

### Official Description

John Leguizamo, Bruno's voice actor, describes his character: *“Well, Bruno is that relative that always says the wrong thing at every party, who wrecks every holiday, because they’re always talking too much. And so, that’s who I am. I’m Bruno. I’m that uncle that they try to get rid of. And they do get rid of him in this movie. And I relate to him because I had that bit of a issue. I was always talking too much, saying everything nobody wanted to – was afraid to say… I was the black sheep of the family, so I relate to Bruno.”*[2]

### Personality

Due to the nature of his gift of precognition, Bruno has been labeled as someone who “makes bad things happen” by both the village and his family when he is merely the *requested* bearer of the news. Despite being feared by almost the entire village, Bruno is kind-hearted, caring, fairly comical, and possesses a strong love and loyalty for his family. Although he is described as a monstrous and sadistic person, Bruno is actually a quiet, shy, and kind man who easily becomes nervous or suffers from anxiety, like his sister Pepa. Bruno is introduced in the film as insecure and avoidant, and believes others’ accusations that his gift only brings problems. However, after he is fully re-accepted into his family, he becomes more cheerful and enthusiastic. Bruno is also shown to be gentle with animals in a way similar to his youngest nephew, Antonio. He befriended the rats living within the walls of Casa Madrigal, sharing what little food he has with them and enjoying their company. When the house crumbles, he takes the rats with him before making his escape. Bruno also takes quickly to Antonio’s animal friends, letting Chispi join the vision and allowing the coatimundi to hang from his shoulder. He was also good to the horse he presumably found and rode on to find Mirabel and Alma after Casita’s destruction.

As a result of living for ten years in isolation within the walls of Casa Madrigal, Bruno developed odd behaviors such as knocking on wood, stumbling, muttering, and developing two alternate identities — "Hernando", who is “scared of nothing” and "Jorge", who makes spackle — to keep himself occupied in his isolation, along with befriending some rats to keep him company. Yet, despite claiming he is fine with his isolation from his family, Bruno actually misses them and longs to be with them, despite their negative perceptions of him. He also shares a complicated relationship with his mother, Alma, due to his gift not living up to her expectations and, according to Mirabel, she only saw the worst in him. As a result of his mother's difficult attitude, Bruno was intimidated by her and tried to avoid her, even though he wanted to make her proud.

Despite the way his family treated him when he was around and spoke ill of him after he left, Bruno is not spiteful or vengeful, and, like Mirabel, has a forgiving heart. He quickly accepts his mother's apology when they reunite, and is seen happily working with the townspeople who also initially spoke ill of him as they rebuild the Casa Madrigal together. Bruno is very selfless, and his biggest act of selflessness is catalyzed by his love for his family. He sacrificed his reputation and went into self-exile for a decade to protect his youngest niece, Mirabel, from being ostracized and treated the same way he had been after seeing her in a vision of their family's magic disappearing. Bruno was also willing to take the blame for Mirabel after the Casita’s destruction. Initially fearful of being seen by Alma, Bruno revealed himself and was prepared to confront her in order to defend his niece before Alma embraced him, having now realized she and her idealism were the causes of their family's problems.

Bruno's greatest wish is to be able to help his family. Although he was initially avoidant of his mother, he does not feel the same way towards his older sisters. The misunderstanding at Pepa’s wedding arose from his attempt to help her relax and embrace her emotions with an ill-worded joke. When they meet again, he made his first apology to her and Félix for inadvertently ruining their wedding by stressing her out with his comment, and sings to her how much he loves her and he wants her to be herself. With the exception of Camilio — who dramatizes Bruno as a demonic figure and was later confused by his return — the younger generation does not have anything negative to say about him: Mirabel and Luisa still refers to him as their uncle despite the taboo on his name, Isabela is the only one to say something positive about him, Dolores empathizes with his problems, and Antonio sees him as a friend. Bruno loves his nieces and nephews very much, quickly forming a strong bond with Mirabel and, to a lesser extent, Antonio, and getting along with his other nieces and nephew well after he returns home.

### Physical Appearance

Bruno inherited most of his physical characteristics from his late father, Pedro, and has a overly pale complexion. He's a thin and unkempt-looking 50-year-old man with overgrown, curly black hair mixed with gray streaks, a big and pointy yet somewhat rounded nose, whitely clean teeth, a thin un-shaved mustache, and a light beard shaped like an hourglass on his chin. He has green hazel eyes, light freckles on his face, and prominent eye bags. He wears a hooded, ripped up green ruana cuffed at the elbows with hourglass prints over a burgundy shirt that represent his gift, brown and dark pants, and black sandals. When he uses his precognitive powers, his irises glow bright green. His clothes are visibly worn with his poncho being rough at the edges and his shirt collar being unbuttoned and loose, adding to his ragged look.

### Powers and Abilities

Bruno has the ability to see the future. To help focus and cope with the taxing nature of his power, Bruno performs a ritual that requires a large, open space to properly see his visions, and initiates it by drawing a circle in sand and burning leaves. Bruno does not have full control of his ability and some visions can come involuntarily.

Once the vision is initiated, Bruno’s irises glow bright emerald-green and the sand circle rises into the air to create a whirling dome of sand. Within the dome, the sand forms glowing green images that contain the visions. These images are not always clear and they do not always progress in chronological order, but when he focuses on certain images, the vision increases in clarity. Someone else can be present within the sand circle and see the visions, and they can also help him focus on certain parts. When the vision ends, Bruno creates a thick emerald slab showing an image of the most significant detail of the vision. Even shattered into pieces the slabs continue to show the images. If the vision has multiple possible outcomes, the slab created can show the different outcomes by being titled at certain angles.

## Appearances

### *Encanto*

Bruno first appears as an infant shortly after he and his sisters were born to Alma and Pedro Madrigal. After his family was forced out of their home, during which his father was killed by soldiers, the family became blessed with magic and was given a new home. At the age of five, Bruno, along with his sisters Julieta and Pepa, were given magical gifts where he was given the ability to see the future.

His abilities slowly grew in infamy overtime, most notably an incident where his sister Pepa caused a hurricane on her wedding day after trying to warn her about her emotions over the event.

After the incident where Mirabel failed to receive any power from the house on her 5th birthday, Alma used her son's power to see the future to investigate her fate. After Bruno saw Mirabel as the possible cause of the house's destruction in the future, his infamy grew and he vanished from the family and the town, secretly moving into the walls within the house and living alongside the rats while trying to protect them over the ten years after the incident.

Bruno is mentioned several times by his family and the villagers before he makes his proper appearance in the middle of the film, after his niece Mirabel discovers he never actually left home. He revealed that he left because his gift caused too many problems for the family, but deep down, he still loves them. He is also seen when the Casita is crumbling; he takes a bucket for a helmet, collects his rat friends, and slams his head on the wall to get out of the house. After he is re-accepted by his family and the townsfolk, Bruno and the other Madrigals take a family photo in the newly-rebuilt Casita.