Bruno Madrigal

### Likes

His family, good futures, being accepted, hugs, his nieces and nephews, spending time with his family, rats, theatrical arts, acting, entertainment

### Dislikes

His gift causing problems, being shunned, his mother's expectations, bad futures, his family in danger

### Parents

Alma Madrigal (mother)
Pedro Madrigal † (father)

### Siblings

Julieta Madrigal (oldest triplet sister)
Pepa Madrigal (older triplet sister)

### Other relatives

Agustín Madrigal (brother-in-law)
Félix Madrigal (brother-in-law)
Isabela Madrigal (sororal niece)
Luisa Madrigal (sororal niece)
Mirabel Madrigal (sororal niece)
Dolores Madrigal (sororal niece)
Camilo Madrigal (sororal nephew)
Antonio Madrigal (sororal nephew)

“*My gift wasn’t helping the family... but uh... but I love my family, you know?*”
―Bruno Madrigal

**Bruno Madrigal** is a major character in Disney's 2021 animated feature film, *Encanto*. He is the only son of Alma and Pedro Madrigal, with the gift to see into the future. Bruno's odd demeanor, an 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 falling apart. Due to the typically negative outcomes of his prophecies, Bruno broke the vision slab and hid 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.

### 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 the 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 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 refer 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. He's a thin and unkempt-looking 50-year-old man with overgrown, curly black hair with gray streaks, a big and pointy yet somewhat rounded nose, a thin mustache, and a light beard shaped like an hourglass on his chin. He has green eyes, light freckles on his face, and prominent eye bags. He wears a green ruana with hourglass prints over a burgundy shirt, brown pants, and black sandals. When he uses his precognitive powers, his irises glow bright green.

### 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. If the vision has multiple possible outcomes, the slab created can show the different outcomes by being tilted at certain angles.

## Appearance

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 over time, 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 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.

## Trivia

* In some early concept art, the character is instead called Oscar. The name Bruno was chosen by Lin-Manuel Miranda in order to fit the lyric "Bruno, no, no, no" into the song "We Don't Talk About Bruno."
* Bruno is the only Madrigal in his family generation not to have a spouse or children, due to his hiding in the walls of Casa Madrigal for a decade.
* During his time inside the walls of La Casa Madrigal, the only company he had were the rats and presumably Hernando and Jorge, even though they’re just him acting.
* During "We Don't Talk About Bruno," Dolores foreshadows the revelation (and hints at her knowledge) that he never actually left.
	+ During her verse, a figure resembling Bruno can be seen walking along the first-floor balcony in the background and bopping his head to the beat of the song.
	+ Dolores also speaks about him in the present tense (*"I can always hear him sort of muttering and mumbling"*).
	+ While Isabela is telling Mirabel to be quiet, Dolores says she can hear him now.
* Due to their sensory powers, Bruno and Dolores are the only family members that their doors depict with eyes open. They are also the only two to not appear smiling on their doors.
* It is possible Bruno's predictions about Señora Pezmuerto's fish dying and Osvaldo growing a gut were actually just observations: Pezmuerto kept her fish in a small bowl, which fish are less likely to survive in, while Osvaldo can be shown eating a jar of candy in "What Else Can I Do", and uncurbed eating habits can lead to weight gain.
* Bruno performs several superstitious actions, such as knocking on wood in a rhythmic pattern and reciting the phrase "Knock knock knock knock knock, knock on wood," throwing salt over his shoulder, avoiding stepping on cracks, muttering a healing song to himself, holding his breath while crossing his fingers, going through entrances backward, and holding an upside-down broom out to intruders of his space.
	+ All these superstitions are associated with bringing good luck, repelling bad luck, and avoiding bringing harm to one's family.
	+ Bruno performs these rituals to an excess that visually confuses and concerns Mirabel. According to the official script, this is meant to resemble obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD).
* Bruno's vision of Mirabel being associated with the magic fading or strengthening has different interpretations:
	+ The family's declining emotional wellness and unhealthy relationships caused the Casita to gradually crumble, with Mirabel being the main factor as her lack of a gift made her insecurities more prominent and put her at odds with Alma.
	+ The magic disappearing was inevitable, and it would return with a better foundation founded in the bond between the Madrigals as a family rather than by their magical gifts, which Mirabel would influence.
* Coincidentally, following *Cinderella* and Pixar's *Luca*, *Encanto* is the third Disney animated film that uses the name Bruno, two of which have themes relating to speech, or rather the lack thereof ("Silenzio, Bruno!"/"We don't talk about Bruno").
* The green motif for Bruno and his visions is a reference to the belief in Colombia that emeralds can predict the future. His vision tablets are made of solid emerald for this reason.
* When living in the walls, Bruno gained access to water by diverting one of Casita's bamboo "pipes."

## References

1. ↑ Triplets' Birth Order (December 8, 2021).
2. ↑ Bush, Jared (December 30, 2021). Bruno and Antonio.
3. ↑ Bush, Jared (January 9, 2022). Bruno's love for his nieces and nephews.
4. ↑ Bush, Jared (December 26, 2021). Triplets' Ages.
5. ↑ Bush, Jared (January 2, 2022). Bruno's ritual.
6. ↑ Bush, Jared (January 8, 2022). Bruno's Visions.
7. ↑ Bush, Jared (January 8, 2022). Bruno's Visions.
8. ↑ https://twitter.com/thejaredbush/status/1479856886816018435