Félix Madrigal

**Félix Madrigal** is a supporting character in Disney's 2021 film *Encanto*. He is the husband of Pepa, the father of Dolores, Camilo, and Antonio, the uncle of Isabela, Luisa, and Mirabel. Since Félix married into the family, he has no magical gift of his own.

## *Encanto*

### Description

*Félix is Mirabel's uncle who is just there to have a good time and loves his wife.*

Mauro Castillo, Félix's voice actor, describes his character: *"Félix is the soul of the party. He loves the music. He's a music lover and he deeply loves his wife Pepa with her change of mood, and he loves everything of her. He admires every single member of the family, and he likes food a lot. The salsa."*

### Physical appearance

Félix is a dark-skinned middle-aged man with poofy black hair with a graying "skunk stripe," dark brown eyes, and a gray and black stubble of facial hair on his chin. His costume is meant to reflect his personality and who he is; his traditional bright yellow *guayabera* decorated with triangles represents the stability he gives to his wife and kids. Félix also wears orange striped pants tied with a belt and matching yellow sockless shoes.

### Personality

Félix loves his wife deeply and helps her calm down when her powers get out of control. He is fun, carefree, and kind to the whole family, even Mirabel who is not very popular among the family due to her lack of gift. He is shown to be a 'life of the party'-type person, even getting the strict Abuela Alma to dance with him and calling Bruno, the estranged brother of the family, "bro". He is rather bouncy and rushed the family along while they were getting ready for his son Antonio's gift ceremony. He has his closest relationships with his children, especially Camilo.

## Relationships

* **Pepa Madrigal**: Félix loves his wife dearly, as he is the one who manages to calm her down through her emotional temperaments. He loves to tease her and enhance her storytelling with his own commentary and sound effects, and playfully defers to her when she gets annoyed with him for doing this. Pepa finds it impossible to stay angry with Félix for any length of time. Félix encourages his wife to be open with her feelings and is generally very supportive of her.

* **Alma Madrigal**: He and Alma are on good terms with each other. At the celebration of Antonio's gift ceremony, Félix is the only one to get Alma to dance. This is because Alma has always been charmed by Félix, so when Pepa fell in love with him, Alma was completely on board with their relationship.

* **Camilo Madrigal**: Félix is always making sure Camilo doesn't get himself in too much trouble, and scolds him when he plays tricks on the family. For example, Félix scolded Camilo for transforming into Dolores just so he can have seconds during breakfast. He also jabs Camilo in the chest when he reminds the optimistic Agustín about not having a house. Félix is also protective of Camilo, shown he when Casita falls apart, Félix carefully checks on Camilo's head to make sure he is not hurt (considering he tried to save the candle earlier and almost suffered a hard fall).

* **Dolores Madrigal**: It is not very well known how exactly their relationship is as they have no scenes interacting with one another but it can be assumed they have a very good one due to the fact there is no disagreements or arguments between them, and how her father reprimands Camilo for pretending to be her. They also go together to find Mirabel when she goes missing.

* **Antonio Madrigal**: Félix loves his youngest son very much and cares a lot about his wellbeing as he does for the other two of his children as during the Gift Ceremony he and Pepa seem to be equally anxious about whether he will get a gift or not and when he does get one, he is very proud of his son. Also when the Casita falls apart, he worriedly grabs Antonio away from his falling door and carries him safely away from danger while darting and dodging away from the falling debris.

## History

### Past

Félix came to the Encanto with his family at some point prior to the film's setting. As a young man, he met and fell in love with Pepa, also easily charming her mother Alma into immediately accepting him as a member of the family. He and Pepa were married on a sunny day, which became a hurricane due to Bruno's unfortunately badly timed good-natured teasing. Despite the wind and rain, Félix remembers his wedding day as "joyous" even though his wife disagrees with him even in the present day.

Later, he and Pepa had three children: Dolores, Camilo and Antonio. The youngest, Antonio, was born to Félix a little later in life, when he was at least 45.

### *Encanto*

On the day of Antonio's fifth birthday, Félix assisted his family with preparing for Antonio's gift ceremony. As Pepa became increasingly anxious about the ceremony, Félix tried to remind her that the tornado she was stirring up was messing up the flowers. Isabela helped calm Pepa by giving her a bouquet of fresh flowers, for which Félix called her, "our angel". Later on, Félix went outside to look for Antonio, who had hidden out of anxiety for the upcoming ceremony.

When Mirabel brought Antonio down to the ceremony, Félix greeted him joyfully and cheerfully shooed away one of Pepa's rainclouds so that Antonio wouldn't get wet. He criticized Camilo's impression of him and responded with mild irritation when Camilo continued to mock him. Félix then joined Pepa at the top of the stairs next to Antonio's new door. The couple held hands anxiously as Antonio stepped forward to receive his gift. When the ceremony proved to be a success, Félix excitedly cheered Antonio on as the boy and his animal friends explored his new room. Félix later joined his family for a photo and for dancing, even pulling his mother-in-law in for a dance.

The morning after the ceremony, Félix attended breakfast with his family, calming Pepa when she became annoyed at Mirabel, and giving Antonio a thumbs up for trying to use his new gift to help his abuela.

Later that day, Félix overheard Mirabel in the nursery, asking Pepa about Bruno. He burst in dramatically to tell Mirabel all about Bruno's powers, over his wife's objections. He told Mirabel that if Bruno prophesied that something terrible would happen, there was no changing it, and that Mirabel had better figure out what he meant because whatever he saw was coming for her. As Pepa scolded both of them, reminding them that they don't talk about Bruno, Félix wrapped an arm around her waist, prompting her to begin telling Mirabel about Bruno's teasing on her wedding day, which caused a hurricane. Félix kept his part of the conversation playful, telling Mirabel he considered his wedding to be a joyous day in spite of the weather.

At dinner that night, Félix sat with his family across from the Guzmáns and Mirabel. He scolded Camilo for shapeshifting very quickly, leaving a funny expression on his face, and told him to fix his face, only to have Camilo whisper in his ear that Mirabel had found Bruno's last vision. Félix, who was taking a drink of water at the time, accidentally sprayed his drink across the table in shock, drenching Mariano's shirt. Félix then passed the information along to Pepa. As the growing anxiety in the house caused everyone's magic to become erratic, Félix watched, bewildered and powerless to help, as his family began to lose control of their powers.

Later on, as the cracks continued expanding and Alma argued with Julieta and Agustín over Mirabel's actions, Félix attempted to help Pepa control a snowstorm over her head, sticking up for her when Alma told her to calm down.

Félix witnessed the latter half of the fight between Mirabel and Alma. When the house's foundation cracked in half, Félix cried out that the candle was in danger. While others in the family rushed to save the candle, Félix watched the rest of the house crumble, grabbing Antonio out of the way of a falling door and rushing outside with him. When the house collapsed completely, Félix checked up on each of his children. When Mirabel disappeared, Félix joined in the search for her, taking Dolores with him.

The next morning, Mirabel returned to the family, having made up with her grandmother, and bringing Bruno with her. Félix was happy to see Bruno again, calling him "bro" and agreeing that Pepa should freely show her emotions. He joined in rebuilding the family home, laying bricks with Dolores. When the house was rebuilt, Félix encouraged Mirabel as she placed the doorknob, symbolizing the completion of the home. When the magic returned, Félix danced joyously with his wife under a hail cloud, then joined the family for a complete family portrait.

## Trivia

* Félix's birthday is on November 11th.
	+ This makes his star sign Scorpio.
	+ This date marks the independence of Cartagena from Spain.
* Félix's character was inspired by Colombian Caribbean Coast region.
* Félix, along with Agustín, were originally explored as a "double act". They both do not have powers as they married into the family, thus having a connection to Mirabel.
* The family in which Félix was born in live in the Encanto.
* According to the books *Disney Encanto: The Deluxe Junior Novelization* and *Disney Encanto: A Tale of Three Sisters*:
	+ Félix can get fed up with Camilo's shapeshifting into him, he's described as looking "ready to box Camilo's ears" in one scene.
	+ Félix and Agustín are very close and are constantly talking.
	+ Félix rarely worries about anything.

## References

1. ↑ https://twitter.com/thejaredbush/status/1468685743098716160
2. ↑ https://www.laughingplace.com/w/news/2021/09/10/encanto-character-details/
3. ↑ https://www.vitalthrills.com/encanto-movie/
4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 The Art of Encanto
5. ↑ https://twitter.com/thejaredbush/status/1475710339551428610
6. ↑ https://twitter.com/thejaredbush/status/1509997620147761156
7. ↑ https://twitter.com/thejaredbush/status/1478966418767028227
8. ↑ https://twitter.com/thejaredbush/status/1479875076061204480
9. ↑ https://www.tumblr.com/blog/view/the-brunos-underwear-blog/672601800162131968
10. ↑ https://www.tumblr.com/blog/view/the-brunos-underwear-blog/672647114000580608