The Entire Madrigal Family Tree In Encanto Explained
"Encanto" is a charming addition to the Disney canon. The 60th film from the Disney Animation studio catalog is full of magic and whimsy. It achieves a uniquely immersive level of engagement through elusive backstories, undisclosed locations, and a menagerie of seemingly random supernatural gifts.
While there are many magical moments in the film, they all belong to one group of individuals: the Madrigals. From the moment the movie starts, the Madrigal family takes center stage. While they're in the spotlight, though, it's easy to be overwhelmed by the sheer number of names and powers being described at any given moment. Mirabel's fast-paced song in the opening minutes of the movie is particularly discombobulating, although admittedly self-aware of that fact, as the granddaughter of the family rattles off generation after generation of her relatives and their fantastical abilities.
It isn't necessary to know everyone's powers to enjoy the movie. Nevertheless, for those who like to understand what's going on, it can be challenging trying to sort things out while struggling to keep up with the who's who of Columbia's premier magical family as they strive to save their family's home from disaster.
With that in mind, we've rounded up each member of the Madrigal family and organized them by generation below for quick and easy reference, either while watching the film or talking about it afterward. Here is the entire Madrigal family tree from "Encanto."
Abuela Alma and Abuelo Pedro
Alma Madrigal is the proud head of her family. Right from the get-go, we see that Abuela Alma has been through some really unpleasant life experiences. She starts her life with the dashing-yet-lovable Pedro Madrigal, only to have their young love cut short not long after the birth of their triplets — whom we'll meet in a minute. This happens when Pedro sacrifices himself to buy his family and neighbors time to escape from a group of vicious marauders. The harrowing event leads to the creation of the enchanted surrounding mountains and Casa Madrigal.
Abuela herself doesn't have a specific power. At least, she doesn't have a flashy, entertaining ability. However, the matriarch serves as the steady guide for her community and the leader of her extended family for half a century, which is impressive all on its own. And that doesn't even touch on the fact that the overwhelming effect of her grief at the death of her husband seems to have a direct impact on the magical transformation of the family's candle and the world that it creates.
Alma may be a stoic, reticent leader without any mesmerizingly magical tricks, but there is clearly inherent magic hidden within her, all the same.
Julieta and Agustín
Abuela Alma's eldest daughter is Julieta. While mere moments older than her siblings, Julieta immediately gives off a nurturing air, which is reinforced by her special gift. Julieta is given the ability to create food that can, get this, heal anyone who eats it. And we're not talking about some potently nutritious medicinal concoction that helps someone heal quicker than usual. Julieta's culinary concoctions, be they buñuelos, arepas, or anything else, can heal even the most gruesome wounds within a matter of seconds.
We see this magic at work early and often, largely thanks to Julieta's bumbling-though-sweet husband, Agustín. Agustín is one of the two Madrigal in-laws. Not surprisingly, he doesn't have a gift of his own, though he seems to be okay with that fact. He enjoys his life with Julieta, a life in which he encounters many painful injuries that his wife lovingly heals with her cooking.
These two love birds have three children: Isabela, Luisa, and Mirabel, all three of whom play important roles throughout the film. It's also worth noting that, according to the matriarchal model, when the time comes for the elderly Alma to shuffle off her mortal coil, Julieta would probably be the next one in line to inherit the role as head of the family. Having a healer and nurturer as the head of a peaceful, hidden community sounds about as idyllic as it gets.
Pepa and Félix
Abuela Alma's second-oldest child and daughter is Pepa. Pepa Madrigal is easy to spot, even from a mile away, due to the near-perpetual clouds, rain, hail, wind, and other disruptive weather elements constantly swirling around her. That's right, Pepa's power is to control the weather — although "control" is a very generous word here.
We're not talking about Storm from the X-Men, as Pepa can't create and manipulate weather events with her mind. Instead, she influences the weather with her emotions. This irrational, oft-uncontrollable power makes Pepa's influence on events both erratic and entertaining. From soaking socks to destroying decorations, Pepa Madrigal's powers are one of the more off-beat gifts that a member of the family receives.
Balancing out Pepa's moody nature is her husband, the endlessly positive Félix. Félix is the second in-law to marry into the family, and thus another magic-less character. However, what Félix lacks in powers, he more than makes up for in personality. The fellow is energetic and always ready to crack a joke or bust out a dance move. His smile and cheery personality are perfect tools to keep Pepa grounded as she tries to manage her emotions.
The couple ushers in the next generation of family members by having three children: Dolores, Camilo, and Antonio. While they aren't in the spotlight quite as often as Julieta and her dependents, Pepa and her family certainly add a lot of color to the daily life of the Madrigals.
Bruno
We don't talk about Bruno. After all, he's seven feet tall, has rats on his back, and goes around making people pass out by telling people that bad things will happen to them, all for his own enjoyment.
Except that, yeah, none of that's true — except for the rat part. The most misunderstood member of the family, Bruno is the third and youngest of Alma's triplets. By the time the story starts, Bruno has spent years in hiding, leaving only mystery and intrigue behind.
As he is rediscovered and introduced into the film, though, we meet a character that is nothing like his intimidating reputation would imply. Sure, Bruno is a bit of an insecure fellow with some socially awkward behaviors, but it turns out that he's a good egg. He clearly cares about the family and is invested in their well-being. In fact, his disappearance was merely a withdrawal into the walls of the house where he's spent years keeping watch from nearby.
Of course, the most fascinating thing about Bruno is his ability to see the future. This isn't just a linear activity, either. He is also able to see various potential timelines, as is the case with his unclear vision of Mirabel's influence on the house and the future of the family.
Isabela
Isabela is the oldest daughter of Julieta and Agustín and the golden child of the entire Madrigal family. Her gift is to control plant life. This may sound simple, but Isabela manages to use her power in very splashy, visually stunning ways.
Like her mother, we're not talking about a slow-acting gift. Isabela isn't just a really good gardener with a green thumb. She can instantly create botanical life of all shapes and sizes. This has a variety of uses, which we see throughout the film. Some of these are tame, such as decorating for a party. Others are fun, like growing vines to swing on. They can even be life-saving, like conjuring a thick bed of flowers to break a fall.
Isabela may be the golden child on the surface, but toward the end of the film, we discover that she's also living a fake, vainglorious life. Her choices all revolve around what's best for the family, from how she appears in public right down to her choice of a husband. Fortunately, Mirabel helps her release some of that false sense of responsibility to help her older sister truly grow into the incredible potential of her gift.
Luisa
Luisa Madrigal is the second oldest child of Julieta and Agustín. She's also basically a textbook superhero thanks to her superhuman strength. In the same way that a character like the Hulk can keep taking on more weight without any clear limitation, Luisa's abilities are hard to gauge precisely. One minute she's moving a piano, the next, she's lifting a boulder or a church. In every case, she acts like the weight is nothing, which turns out to be pretty true.
When the magic starts fading early in the movie, Luisa complains that the donkeys she was carrying actually felt heavy. This implies that part of her gift isn't just to be strong but to not even notice the comparative weight difference between various objects.
Regardless of its weight limits or lack thereof, one thing that Luisa's gift doesn't have is an emotional component. The hulking granddaughter of the family is all too willing to take on everyone else's needs, which eventually leads to an emotional and mental crisis for the character. It isn't until Luisa learns to manage her compulsive need to help others that she finally finds what we're all looking for these days: some good ol' work-life balance.
Mirabel
The youngest member of the Julieta and Agustín family unit is Mirabel. Mirabel is also the lone standout in the family that doesn't get a gift. At least, she's the only one of Alma's biological descendants not to get a nifty power. Of course, Abuela Alma doesn't have a day-to-day superpower either — and the comparison between the two is apparent early and often throughout the film.
Much like her matriarchal grandmother, Mirabel is a born leader. She's insightful, resourceful, and infinitely hopeful. She's humble and able to serve those that she cares about. She is also committed to the success and health of her family, which falls right in line with the desires of her Abuela.
Does the shared interest mean that the two characters butt heads from time to time? Sure. However, it doesn't change the fact that Mirabel is a clear leader among the Madrigals. She loves her relatives and is willing to stop at nothing to ensure that their magical story remains a happy one. What's more, her final act of resurrecting Casita with "her own door" shows that, like Alma, there is clearly deep, inherent magic in her, even if it doesn't come in the form of a snazzy gift.
Dolores
Swinging over to the other side of the grandchild level of the generational family tree, we have the oldest child and only daughter of Pepa and Félix, Dolores. Dolores is a quiet addition to the family, and with good reason, too. She's endowed with incredible hearing. She can hear a pin drop, literally, Mirabel explains. She can also listen to conversations from a mile away, as we see when she reports Isabel's suitor's intentions in real-time even while he's off in the town and she's in the family house.
Dolores' gift means she never feels the need to get loud. Her voice is always subdued, and she speaks in a whisper more often than not. Fortunately, it doesn't appear that her sharpened hearing overwhelms her emotionally or mentally in the same way as Luisa. Nevertheless, she grows up in the shadow of her other cousins, particularly Isabela, who is unhappily engaged to Dolores' childhood crush, Mariano. It isn't until she gets a burst of confidence from her bold little cousin, Mirabel, that she's able to talk to Mariano and help him "see" her.
Dolores tends to remain on the periphery of the story for most of the film. Nevertheless, her hearing prowess impacts the narrative in multiple scenes. She knows Bruno is around still, whispering in the walls. She eavesdrops on Mariano's family planning. Heck, she even listens in shock as she overhears Mirabel and Agustín discussing the possibility of the family's magic fading — which leads to her revealing that information to the entire family not long afterward.
Camilo
Most of the Madrigal grandkids spend their time helping others and caring for their community and loved ones. Not so with Camilo. Pepa and Félix's second-oldest child and oldest son is a textbook teenager throughout the movie. He acts perpetually bored and loves to use his powers to cause mischief for his own amusement. Don't get us wrong — Camilo seems like a good enough kid. He's just clearly uninterested in just about anything that's going on around him.
This makes his ability to shapeshift into the appearance of anyone else particularly alarming. Throughout the movie, we see Camilo using his power to cause trouble. He appears as his sister Dolores to snag an extra helping of breakfast. He turns into a miniature version of his father to make fun of him. He even pops on the likeness of Isabela's fiancé, Mariano, to make fun of his older cousin as she preps for her unwanted political marriage.
While he loves a good prank, Camilo is clearly devoted to his family, too. He does his part to greet people during Antonio's gift ceremony, helps around the house when he can (or, at least, when he's willing to), and does his part in rebuilding the Casa Madrigal at the end of the film.
Antonio
Antonio is a fun addition to the Madrigal family. The youngest son of Pepa and Félix doesn't have a power when the movie begins, but only because he's still too young to have gotten one yet. In fact, most of the first act of the movie takes place during his gifting ceremony. This leaves us wondering if Mirabel's lack of a gift was the end of the line for the family's magic or not.
It turns out to be the latter, as Antonio is imbued with the freaking awesome power of communicating with animals as soon as he touches his door. This falls in line with his animal-loving personality, and it's touching to see the young boy's childlike wonder as he spends the next few minutes talking, listening, and playing with his gaggle of new winged and four-legged friends.
While we don't see Antonio much throughout the film, there's no doubt that his animal gift has a profound impact on his personality. The little glimpses of the youngster that we do see show a boy who is quickly maturing into a man — thanks, in part, to the perpetual stream of information that he gets from his new animal friends.
Casita
The last member of the household that we absolutely have to include here is the Casa Madrigal itself. Sure, it's not a biological member of the clan, but neither are Félix or Agustín, and they made the cut. Besides, while it isn't explicitly stated, Casa Madrigal, or Casita for short, is clearly a member of the family. One could even say that it is Alma's "gift."
Family member opinions aside, Casita is an important part of the Madrigal family's lifestyle. The sentient house listens in on conversations, communicates with its inhabitants, and is constantly busying itself with the family business. In many ways, the house represents the dynamics of a deeply intertwined family in the first place.
What's more, the house is intimately involved in giving each person their gift. It also plays favorites, is extremely protective, and in many ways, is the heart and soul of the Madrigal family. It may not have two arms and legs, but if you're going to break down the family tree in detail, you have to include the structure that stands at the heart of the entire Madrigal experience.