Alma Madrigal

> I was given a miracle... a second chance. And I was so afraid to lose it... that I lost sight of who our miracle was for
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 ―Alma Madrigal

**Alma Madrigal** (often referred to as **Abuela**) is a major character in Disney's 2021 animated feature film *Encanto.* She is the matriarch of the Madrigals and the head of their enchanted village.

## Background

Abuela Alma is the matriarch of the Madrigal family. When she was younger - when Julieta, Pepa, and Bruno were babies - she and her husband Pedro were forced to flee their home village from armed conflict. The marauders followed and in an attempt to let everyone escape, Pedro distracted them and sacrificed his life. When Alma was left hopeless in the darkest moment, a miracle blessed them and her candle, vanquishing the invading army and creating La Casa Madrigal. To this day, every child born in the family is blessed with their own unique magical gifts, except Alma's second youngest grandchild Mirabel.

### Personality

As the matriarch of the Madrigal Family, Alma is dedicated to doing what (in her eyes) is best for her family and hoists expectations on her children and grandchildren in how they use their gifts to help the community, often taking the form of a demand for perfection. She is stern, firm, and unfortunately often assumes the worst in a situation or even in others, especially her son, Bruno (whose visions had a tendency to be negative and cause trouble, causing her to feel like he didn't care about the family), and her youngest granddaughter, Mirabel (as she did not get a gift and did not see her as contributing to the family or keeping the magic alive, therefor looking down on her at best and assuming that she would cause a downfall to the magic at worst).

Alma tries to be patient and understanding, but from her point of view, she feels some should just step aside and do nothing without her express approval. As a result, she is very controlling and denies there is anything wrong, assuring her neighbors that all is well and that there is nothing to fear, even when Casa Madrigal is cracking all around her. But the truth is, Alma knows that her home and perhaps even her family is in danger, as she privately revealed to herself (unknowingly being overheard by Mirabel), as Alma spoke as though she were speaking with her late husband, Pedro, revealing that Alma is afraid for her home, her family, and losing everything as they did before, and she cannot bear to go through that again, and she prays to her Pedro to help her. This displays Alma's vulnerability that she is too afraid to reveal even to her family and that Alma feels the burden of trying to preserve her family, her community and their miracle and their *encanto*, and explains why she does everything she can to protect them.

When she sees how her expectations of her family are unraveling because of Mirabel (who is only trying to help the family), who will seemingly cause the miracle to disappear according to Bruno's vision, Alma unfairly blames her for everything, accusing her of hurting the family out of resentment for not receiving a gift. It is then when her angered granddaughter turns the argument back on her by snapping that the family's issues and miracle fading are really because of Alma pressuring them to constantly be perfect and that *she* (Alma) caused Bruno to leave, because she only ever saw the worst in her son and in her granddaughter, followed by the *casita* collapsing, that Alma realizes the pressure and even the misery she had been subjecting her family to.

In a sincere heart-to-heart with Mirabel, Alma reveals more insight into their family beginnings: her husband Pedro, the family patriarch, sacrificed his life to buy time for his family, friends and neighbors to escape from the pursuing marauders that forced them to flee their village, resulting in the birth of their miracle which repelled the attackers and created their *Encanto*, saving them in their darkest hour. Losing the love of her life, her home, and everything she knew and loved traumatized Alma so much that she swore it would never happen again, determined to preserve it. But over time, she lost sight of what truly mattered and unintentionally took their miracle for granted (despite previously stating they should not take the miracle for granted), and she forgot who their miracle was for, and what made their family so special was not the magic but the fact that they *are* a family, which is the *real* miracle. It was because of this, that Alma was constantly looking *outwards* for a problem or even a threat to all she held dear, that she never thought to look *in*ward until it was too late, which is when she finally realized, her family had been broken because of her, not Mirabel or Bruno, and why she never once considered that *she* (Alma) was the problem.

Now understanding the pain and loss Alma has suffered, along with the burden she had long carried, Mirabel assures her grandmother that it is because of her that they were saved, that they were granted a miracle, that they are a family and nothing is so broken that they cannot fix together. Touched by her granddaughter's words, Alma finally realizes, after asking Pedro for help, that Mirabel was the answer to her prayers and they reconcile, as do Alma and Bruno when he suddenly appeared, trying to take all the blame, only for Alma to warmly hug and kiss her "Brunito", happy to have him back.

Alma then becomes a happier and warmer person than she was before, and reconciles with the rest of her family, apologizing for how she held on too tight out of fear she would lose them all as well, but now understands that they are the true miracle, not the gift of magic itself, and the bonds of family are reforged stronger than ever as they and the community rebuild the Casita, the newfound foundation in the family restoring the magic.

### Physical appearance

Abuela Alma is a 75-year-old elderly woman with grey hair and hazel eyes. She wears a long maroon/magenta dress with butterflies and streaks embroidered on it and mountain designs at the bottom of he dress, with orange teardrop-shaped circles on her collar (which all represent the candle), a chatelaine belt with a key and two pocket watches, and black high heels. On special occasions, like a Madrigal child's gift ceremony or Isabela's proposal dinner, Alma wears a black shawl.

When Alma was younger, she was slightly taller with a slim build and had her brown hair tied in two braids with red ribbons; she had donned a white shirt with a long pink skirt. During the escape from her village, she wore a magenta shawl.

### Powers and abilities

While having no magical gift herself, Abuela Alma is in charge of all the magic in the family since she takes care of the magical candle that gives her family their magical gifts. She also seems to interact with Casa Madrigal like Mirabel does.

## Gallery

***The Disney Wiki*** has a collection of images and media related to ***Alma Madrigal***.

## Trivia

* The name "Alma" means "soul" or "spirit" in Spanish, likely referring to how Alma is the soul of the family and the one who keeps them together.
* According to Julieta, she has been hard to Mirabel ever since she did not get a gift, and the novelization of the movie states that she hasn't hugged her since, until when they reconciled in "Dos Oruguitas" after a heart-to-heart conversation with her and realizing that she had been pressuring her family to be perfect, amd that what made them special is not their magical gifts, but by being together as a family.
* *Abuela* means "grandmother" in Spanish.
* Early in production, the character's name was Andrea.
* Alma wears a black shawl. This shows that she is in mourning for her husband Pedro. After revisiting the site of his death in years and making amends with Mirabel, she no longer wears it when she apologizes to her family in "All of You", displaying she has made peace with his passing.
* While not much focus is given to Alma's room, it is supposed to be an exact recreation of her old home.[*citation needed*]
* Despite Abuela Alma being the antagonist of the story, Encanto has no archetypical villains; the overarching threat for the Madrigal family and the village is the fading of the miracle, and the tensions building up in the Madrigal family, resulting from "passed down intergenerational trauma."
* She is a only madrigal to not have a birthday date confirned