Dolores Madrigal

Dolores Madrigal is a supporting character in Disney's 2021 animated feature film Encanto. She is the eldest child and only daughter of Pepa and Félix Madrigal, and the older sister of Camilo and Antonio. She was gifted with enhanced super hearing.

Background[]

Born into the Madrigal family, Dolores is the eldest daughter of Félix and Pepa, and the older sister of Camilo and Antonio. In addition to being the niece of Julieta, Bruno, and Agustín, Dolores is also the cousin of Isabela, Luisa, and Mirabel. In the early years of her life, Dolores lived in the nursery with her cousins Isabela, who is only a few weeks older than her, and possibly Luisa who is two years younger than her. When Bruno was still with the family, Dolores received a vision from her uncle who told her that the "man of her dreams" would be out of her reach because he would be engaged to someone else, causing her a great fear that would haunt throughout the years. When Isabela turned five and received her magical gift, she moved into her own room, and Dolores was left in the nursery with Luisa until her own fifth birthday a little while later. On the night of Dolores' fifth birthday, she received the gift of enhanced hearing and she moved out of the nursery into her new room.

Dolores has inside information on everyone in the family and "knows everyone's dirt" through her enhanced hearing, but she is always quiet and does not appear to be much of a gossip. She has a hard time keeping the secrets that she hears with her gift and has to cover her ears every time she hears noises that are too loud. Despite the negative view her uncle gave her when she was young, Dolores listened to Mariano Guzmán and learned more and more about him to the point of falling in love with the man. However, because Mariano was chosen as Isabela's soon-to-be fiancé by the will of her Abuela Alma, Dolores did not have the courage to confess her feelings to him for fear of rejection. Thanks to Isabela never loving Mariano, while everyone in the town was rebuilding the Casita, Dolores finally had the courage to confess her true feelings to the man of her dreams, to which he corresponds.

Official description[]

Dolores is who's usually the first to know the town's biggest secrets, most compelling drama, and juiciest revelations. Gifted with the magical ability of extraordinary hearing, Dolores often hears things that she shouldn't, which gets her into a lot of trouble. But she is always trying to be helpful.^[1][2]

Dolores is the only daughter of Pepa and Félix. Because she was born just after the perfect cousin Isabela, Dolores feels like she only exists in her shadow. Dolores has the gift of superhuman hearing. She overhears everything people are saying and shares what she hears, but no one asks her what she thinks.^[3]

Development[]

As with the rest of the Madrigal family, Dolores was designed to reflect "family archetypes that are immediately relatable".^[4] The studio originally created Dolores with the ability to heal people with food, but this power was instead given to Julieta due to her maternal personality.^[5] One of the most difficult things when designing Dolores was her appearance. During the creation process, the studio focused mainly on fixing Dolores's hair while for her clothing they were influenced by Félix's Caribbean heritage comes through in her loose blouse and skirt with red highlights, inspired by the cumbian dress.^[6]

Voice[]

American urban reggaeton singer, Addasa, was chosen to voice the character of Dolores. Despite being Adassa's first role on the big screen, having years of experience in the music industry and being nicknamed the "Reggaetón Princess" thanks to her ability to sing in both English and Spanish, it was not difficult for the singer-songwriter to adapt to the cast of Encanto and give his acting debut at Disney. On the day of recording her verses for the song "We don't talk about Bruno", the actress successfully recorded her verses in one take and just did other takes for the fun of it, much to Lin-Manuel Miranda's surprise.^[7]

Adassa, Dolores' voice actress, describes her character: "I absolutely love the character. I think that Charise Castro Smith, and Byron Howard, and Jared Bush did an amazing job writing this character, because she has all the secrets, she can hear everything. But sometimes, you know, her well-placed heart is a little bit out of order when she kind of speaks up and she can't help it."^[8]

Personality[]

Described as "a little bit quiet", Dolores while not entirely stoic, is the least emotional of the family. She speaks or sings as low as a whisper and unlike her outgoing younger brother Camilo and their energetic parents, Dolores does not enjoy being the center of attention and prefers to stay in the background. Dolores also seems to enjoy helping others, especially her family. She on different occasions uses her enhanced hearing when someone asks her to know or find out something. Although with her gift she ends up causing problems or causing different disasters with the things she knows, Dolores is not ill-intentioned since she only tries to be useful, like a large part of her family. Due to the nature of her gift, Dolores has a tendency to expose people's secrets even if she does not want to, such as when she blurted out to the village kids that her cousin, Mirabel, did not have a magical gift. Despite her nature of exposing secrets, she never told anyone that Bruno still lived in the walls due to the fear others had of him and his powers.

While she is generally calm and quiet, Dolores can have rare moments of stress and emotional weakness that are in stark contrast to her normally stoic personality. Her gift causes her incredible discomfort and suffering, causing her to cover her ears when they are too loud for her. Dolores’ powers also gives her a reputation as a busybody and forces her to keep others' secrets constantly, something that clearly makes it hard for her to pull off. After finding out the truth about Bruno's vision of the future fall of the Casita and the death of magic, she was so scared that during the dinner of proposal she told her brother as soon as she could, causing a chain of gossip that eventually led to everyone knowing what she knew. Her stress reached such a degree that she even shouted during dinner that the family was doomed. Although she does not do it to the same extent as Camilo, Dolores sometimes seems to enjoy making jokes or sarcastic comments. At breakfast, she gives Isabela a snooty look after scaring her by telling her that Mariano wanted to have five babies with her and proudly admits to Camilo that she always knew that Bruno never left.

Dolores, in addition to being quite quiet, initially also tends not to express her thoughts and feelings often. Because Bruno told her that the man of her dreams will be engaged to someone else when she was just a little girl, Dolores could never confess her love for Mariano believing that he could never be by her side and lost hope. Dolores did not confess to anyone directly that she was in love with Mariano and tried to hide her feelings to the point that for much of "We Don't Talk About Bruno" she has to constantly tell herself that she is okay with Isabela and Mariano's engagement, even though she was clearly suffering and depressed at the thought. However, thanks to the fact that the family was able to reunite during the reconstruction of the Casita and resolve their issues, in "All of You" Dolores was finally able to confess her feelings to Mariano and begin a relationship with him. She did not want to keep hiding her feelings, because when she had the opportunity Dolores immediately told Mariano what she loved about him and was overjoyed that he reciprocated her feelings, as well as being happy that she was no longer able to keep her opinions and emotions to herself (much to the joy of her cousins).

She shares a close relationship with her family and can become protective of them. Dolores is mostly seen around her younger brothers and is shown to be close to them. Although she shares a typical sibling relationship with Camilo, she doesn't actually seem too bothered by her brother's antics compared to Isabela. When the Casita begins to crumble, Dolores instinctively puts her arm around Camilo in an attempt to protect him, though she can't stop him from running to save the Miracle Candle. Dolores obediently obeys Alma when she orders her to know something and after the Casita collapses, she takes care of her frightened Abuela and sits her on a small piece of debris to calm her down. Even when Bruno gave her a vision that caused her insecurities since she was a child, she never had a negative opinion of her uncle. As singing about him, she seems genuinely sympathetic about his powers compared to much of the family and doesn't portray him as a bad person. Dolores is even very close to Isabela despite living in her shadow all her life and willing to help Mirabel a helping hand in investigating the cause of the magic dying. After the magic had died, causing Mirabel to run away, she was concerned for her cousin and helped look for her.

Physical appearance[]

Dolores is a 21-year-old^[9] Colombian young lady with curly brown hair, brown eyes and she has dark skin. Of her siblings, Dolores is the one who most resembles her mother, as she inherits her physical features and facial expressions. She wears a white and yellow shirt with golden-colored trimming on it with red fabric going through the collar and sleeves, a long red skirt with yellow and light-red streaks, a red choker with a golden gem adorned with a ruby on the middle of it, and heart-shaped golden earrings, and red espadrilles. She also wears red lipstick and wears a big red bow on her hair, which she wears in a bun. Symbolizing her super hearing, Dolores' clothes have many sound waves on her shirt, skirt (along with flower-like symbols with them), and bow.

Powers and Abilities[]

Enhanced Hearing: Dolores has the power of enhanced hearing, her ears are strong enough to hear even the quietest noise, such as the sound of a pin dropping and even the sound of someone's eye twitching. With her gift, she even has inside information on all of her family members and the townspeople.^[10] Dolores hearing also works over great distances, she is able to receive messages from people all the way in town from Casa Madrigal, as seen when she reported Mariano's family coming for dinner. However, her gift's one drawback is that she apparently doesn't do well in noisy environments, as she was seen holding her hands over her ears as everyone else cheered for Antonio or when cracks began to appear around the Casita.

Appearances[]

Encanto[]

Dolores's first appearance is in a flashback where Abuela Alma explains to a five-year-old Mirabel about how their family was blessed with magic and how the Miracle Candle will give each family member a magical gift on their fifth birthday. In the present, Dolores is seen getting ready to start the day and heading to the village with the rest of her family to help around. During "The Family Madrigal", Dolores suddenly appears whenever Mirabel mentions her to the Town Kids and listening with her enhanced hearing to some village rumors from great distances. Since the day was also her youngest brother's, Antonio, fifth birthday and gift ceremony, Dolores soon returned home to help prepare for the celebration. When Mirabel was concluding her talk about her family to the Town Kids before being interrupted by Abuela Alma, who was standing by the door of the Casa Madrigal, one of the kids told Alma that Mirabel was about to tell her and the rest of the kids about her magical gift, only for Dolores to suddenly appear at her Abuela's side and tell the kids that Mirabel didn't receive one before suddenly leaving (she is strange lemme tell ya) . While preparing Antonio's gift ceremony, Alma ordered Dolores to listen at what time some guests were arriving at Antonio's party.

Later Dolores joined her family to greet Antonio and give him some encouragement to relax. Before the gift ceremony begins, Dolores smiles warmly at Antonio and encourages him along with the rest of her family as she wishes him luck. While her parents and Camilo were talking to Antonio, Dolores tells everyone that Alma says it's time to start. After leaving the place they were in earlier, she joined her other relatives to watch Antonio's ceremony and Dolores was affectionately holding hands with Isabela as they stand with the rest of their family listening as Alma gives her speech. When Antonio received his magical gift, Dolores, along with the rest of the family, are very happy, although Dolores can be seen covering her ears in reaction to people clapping and fireworks going off. As the party moved into Antonio's magical bedroom, Dolores is quite impressed when her younger brother mounts his jaguar around in his room for the first time and looks at it with pride along with Camilo. Alma then went over to congratulate Antonio and took a family picture, which everyone unknowingly excluded Mirabel from.

The next morning at breakfast, Mirabel tries to ask "Dolores" if she knew what was going on with the magic after cracks appeared in the Casita the night before, only for "Dolores" to shift into Camilo much to Félix's annoyance and the real Dolores, who watched in silence as her father scolded her brother for shapeshifts into her to repeat food. Dolores, having overheard Mirabel's concerns, tells her that the only one worried about the magic was her, the rats in the wall and Luisa since her eye was twitching all night, to later join the rest of the family at the table. As The Madrigals started eating, Alma makes an announcement to the family that she spoke to the Guzmáns about Isabela's engagement, and when asked, Dolores tells everyone that Mariano is planning on proposing to Isabela that same night and briefly scares Isabela by adding that Mariano wants five babies before eating again. When breakfast concludes, Dolores joins everyone in the family chant "La Familia Madrigal" before returning to her daily activities.

Dolores then joined her family in "We Don't Talk About Bruno" after her parents' verses to telling Mirabel about their estranged, missing uncle Bruno. Having memories of her uncle before he left the Casa Madrigal, she does not refer to Bruno's predictions as misfortunes and instead in her verses Dolores describes him as someone whom others knew to understand. While in the halls of the house and tries to hide Bruno's presence from Mirabel, Dolores indirectly says that she can still hear Bruno and she associates him with the sound of falling sand and acknowledges that Bruno's gift is more of a burden, and that Bruno's prophecies left the family "fumbling" because they couldn't understand them, so that later it's Camilo's turn to tell his totally opposite version of Bruno. Watching from a distance as Alma leads the Guzmán family to the Casita for Isabela and Mariano's marriage proposal dinner, Dolores comments about the vision that Bruno gave her about the man of her dreams being out of her reach and states that she can hear Mariano approaching. After Camilo assists the family about the imminent arrival of the Guzmáns at the house, Dolores helped her family prepare the table for dinner.

Shortly before dinner, Dolores was leaving her room before hearing Mirabel's conversation with Agustín where she discussed Bruno's vision. Much to their dismay, Dolores acknowledges that she heard what they said before rushing off when Alma calls the family for dinner. At dinner, Mirabel stares Dolores down much to her discomfort, but as soon as they break eye contact, Dolores takes that opportunity to whisper to Camilo that Mirabel found Bruno's vision that foretold that the magic was disappearing, accidentally causing him to choke on his food. As the atmosphere became more awkward, the rest of the family found out Bruno's vision too and cracks started to appeared in the dining room. When dinner starts spiraling out of control with the spread of Bruno‘s vision about the miracle fading, a panicked Dolores blurts out to everyone present that Mirabel found Bruno's vision and she was going to destroy the magic and they were all doomed. She covered her ears in pain due to the noise caused by the cracks that appeared around the house and the cloud that her mother Pepa had caused, causing the wind from the clouds to open the doors of the house to reveal it to the townspeople the state of the house.

Later that same day, Dolores and the rest family returned to courtyard to find Alma and Mirabel arguing and to see their argument escalate to yelling and accusations that the other was the one hurting the miracle and the family. By the time the heated argument dies down, the ground beneath them starts cracking and the house starts falling apart as the candle starts fading fast. As Pepa and Félix scream in horror as they realize the Miracle Candle is in danger, while it's very quick and a bit blurred out, Dolores instinctively puts her arm around Camilo to try and protect him before he runs off to try to save the candle that was about to fall from a window. She watched helplessly as Mirabel, Camilo, and Isabela all tried to reach the candle despite the danger it represented. As the magic starts fading, and the house starts collapsing, the Casita forces everyone, except Mirabel out of the house. After the Casa Madrigal is destroyed and the candle dies along with the magic and gifts, Dolores can be seen taking care of a frightened Alma and sits her on a small piece of debris to calm her down as she sadly looks at the rubble of the house.

When her aunt, Julieta, noticed Mirabel went missing, the Madrigals and the other townspeople spread out to search for her. Dolores tries to use her enhanced hearing to find Mirabel, but having lost her gift after the magic faded, she can only hear what's immediately around her. By the next day, Dolores and the family saw that Mirabel and Alma (who reconcile with each other) returned to Casita's ruins to reunited with their family. During "All of You", as Alma apologizes to her family for holding on too tight, fearing she would lose them too after losing Pedro, and refines the miracle as simply themselves rather than the magic, Abuela also beckons Bruno hiding behind the rubble to rejoin the family. Unlike much of the family, Dolores was not surprised when she saw Bruno again after years, as she nudges Camilo's arm saying that she knew Bruno never left and she heard him everyday since his disappearance. With the family all together, Mirabel rallied them to fix the house and the entire town also pitched in as thanks for all the Madrigals had done for them, including Mariano and Señora Guzmán.

At some point while rebuilding the Casa Madrigal, because it would be revealed that Isabela never loved Mariano and eventually cutting off the engagement, Dolores works up the confidence to confess her feelings to Mariano and interrupts Mirabel when she tries to speak for her. When Dolores begins to sing about the things she likes about him, Mariano seems puzzled at first, but then his eyes widen in surprise and he falls in love with her. The two become a couple and Mariano jokingly says they should get married, Dolores gently tells him to 'slow down', but she is clearly happy to be with him. After completing the house, Mirabel added a doorknob the family made just for her to the front door, causing a new source of magic to be born that brings Casita back to life and returning the gifts of the Madrigals, but also making a new front door with all the Madrigals carved into it, including those who married into the family, Félix and Agustín. Then Casita takes everyone inside and the family then celebrated the return of their home and gifts with a family picture. As they pose for the photo and everyone shouting "La Familia Madrigal", Casita unexpectedly (but most jokingly) crushed the entire family, creating an imperfect family image.

Once Upon a Studio[]

Dolores returns alongside her family at the Disney Animation Studio for a group photo with all the characters from the previous films to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the studio and The Walt Disney Company's founding in 1923 by Walter Elias Disney and his brother Roy Oliver Disney.

She stands in front of Jaeger Clade and next to Ariel and Prince Eric, watching Ariel sing a verse of "When You Wish Upon a Star" before Scuttle cuts in which leads to Baloo cutting him off in return. Dolores then joins in on singing the song with the other characters as they are able to successfully take a group photo.

Relationships[]

Gallery[]

Trivia[]

• Dolores' birthday is on August 31, coinciding with the International Day for People of African Descent and Saint Raymond Nonnatus's Feast Day, who is (among other things) the patron of confidentiality.^[11][12]
• According to Jared Bush, Dolores and her cousin Isabela are the same age, but Dolores is slightly younger by a few weeks as she is "Isa's shadow".^[13]
  • Due to the fact that Isabela overshadowed Dolores all her life to the point that she left her in her shadow and Dolores' feelings towards Mariano, Jared Bush also acknowledges that the relationship between the two cousins is complicated and has evolved over the years.^[14]
• Dolores is Spanish for "sorrows", and she has been prophesized to be an Unrequited Tragic Maiden. It also pairs well with the name of her uncle Agustín, whose name sounds like "angustias" (anguish).
  • Her name shares a religious theme with Mariano and Isabela. Mariano is a masculine derivative of Mary, while her name derives from one of the many titles given to the Virgin Mary "Lady Of Sorrows". It's a clue that Dolores and Mariano are meant to be together. Like sorrows are supposed to be, they understand each other since he sees her and she hears him.
• Due to the nature of her gift, she is the only one of the family who was always aware that Bruno was living inside the walls of Casita and drops subtle hints about his location throughout the film.
  • Despite her reputation of telling secrets, Dolores never shared Bruno's whereabouts to her family; why she chose to withhold this information is unclear, although it is possible she felt sympathy for his case since she describes his gift to be humbling and seemed to understand his predicament during the song "We Don't Talk About Bruno."
    • It could be that she knew it would fall on deaf ears, as they, particularly her mother and grandmother, would not want to mention him. Though that wouldn't explain why she was willing to blast about Bruno's vision about Mirabel, knowing how her cousin would be treated by their grandmother. Though it could just mean Dolores isn't the best of keeping secrets or at least being sensitive.
• Due to their sensory powers, Bruno and Dolores are the only family members that their doors depict with eyes open. The similarity in their powers, being liable to cause civic disturbances and overwhelm them, could explain Dolores' particular sympathy towards Bruno.
• While her room is never seen in the film, Jared Bush stated Dolores's room does contain some soundproofing.^[15]
• Lin-Manuel Miranda came up with Dolores' crush on Mariano when he wrote the line "betrothed to another" in "We don't talk about Bruno", to give Dolores some Eponine counterpoint energy.^[16]
• During Antonio's gift ceremony, Dolores claps using just her index fingers because the sound of her clapping is likely too loud for her ears, and when everyone cheered, she was covering them.^[17]
• The squeaks she does resembles how Colombians traditionally gossiped.
• Dolores and Mirabel are the only female members of the family whose names don't end with "a". Inversely, Dolores is the oldest of her siblings while Mirabel is the youngest of her sisters.
• Jared Bush confirmed that Dolores was lying about hearing Mariano say he wants five babies when Abuela Alma asked her about the proposal date, and that she made it up to mess with Isabela.^[18][19][20]
• Dolores never truly knew about Bruno hiding in Casa Madrigal's walls. Right after he disappeared, she went with what the family told her, even though she probably heard evidence of him still inside the house. Thus, she had doubted herself.^[21]
• According to Jared Bush, the book Mystery in the Rainforest and the Deluxe Junior Novelization, Dolores and Mariano do eventually get engaged, much to the joy of their respective families.^[22]

References[]

↑ Team, D23 (November 16, 2021). "“Encanto” Character Details Revealed". D23. ↑ Lee, Michael (September 9, 2021). "How the Magical Casita in ‘Encanto’ is a New Kind of Disney Castle". The Nerds Of Color. ↑ Encanto, Disney (December 1, 2022). "Encanto Busy Book". Twitter. ↑ Brown, Tracy (November 24, 2021). "‘Encanto’ is Disney’s first Latino musical. How the filmmakers got Colombia right". LATimes. ↑ Manuel, Lin (January 30, 2022). "Dolores' Original Gift". Twitter. ↑ The Art of Encanto ↑ Manuel, Lin (January 30, 2022). "Dolores Verse". Twitter. ↑ Busch, Jenna (November 8, 2021). "Encanto Movie Cast & Crew on the New Disney Film". VitalThrills. ↑ Bush, Jared (December 8, 2021). "Ages". Twitter. ↑ Newsdesk, Disney (September 10, 2021). "“Encanto” Character Details Revealed". LaughingPlace. ↑ Bush, Jared (April 2, 2022). "Dolores' Birthday". Twitter. ↑ Bush, Jared (March 18, 2022). "Meaningful Birthdays". Twitter. ↑ Bush, Jared (December 8, 2021). "Ages". Twitter. ↑ Bush, Jared (May 21, 2022). "Dolores and Isabela". Twitter. ↑ Bush, Jared (January 8, 2022). "Dolores's Room". Twitter. ↑ Manuel, Lin (January 30, 2022). "Dolores and Mariano". Twitter. ↑ Rosenblatt, Kalhan (January 12, 2021). "'Encanto' is thriving on TikTok weeks after its theatrical release. Here's why.". NBC News. ↑ James, Smithey (February 2, 2022). "Confirms Neat Dolores and Isabela Scene Detail". Screen Rant. ↑ Bush, Jared (January 30, 2022). "Dolores Lying to Isabela, Part 1". Twitter. ↑ Bush, Jared (January 30, 2022). "Dolores Lying to Isabela, Part 2". Twitter. ↑ Bush, Jared (May 21, 2023). "The Truth About Dolores". Twitter. ↑ Bush, Jared (May 21, 2023). "Dolores & Mariano Wedding". Twitter.

External links[]

• Dolores Madrigal on Encanto Wiki
• Dolores on the Heroes Wiki

v - e - d

Media Encanto (soundtrack/video) • The Art of Encanto • Encanto at the Hollywood Bowl • Disney's Karaoke Series: Encanto • Disney Heroes: Battle Mode • Disney Dreamlight Valley Disney Parks Disney Animation Building • Esperanza Character Carousel • The Tropical Americas (Encanto (attraction)) Entertainment: ¡Celebración Encanto! • Fantasmic! • When You Wish Parades: A Million Splashes of Colour • Disney Adventure Friends Cavalcade • Disney Starlight • Main Street Electrical Parade Fireworks: Disney Tales of Magic • Happily Ever After • Reach for the Stars • World of Color: One • Wondrous Journeys Christmas: Mirabel's Gifts of the Season Characters Encanto: Mirabel Madrigal • Alma Madrigal • Bruno Madrigal • Isabela Madrigal • Luisa Madrigal • Dolores Madrigal • Camilo Madrigal• Antonio Madrigal • Pepa Madrigal • Julieta Madrigal • Félix Madrigal • Agustín Madrigal • Pedro Madrigal • Mariano Guzmán • Pico • Cerberus • Señora Guzmán • Osvaldo • Chispi • Parce • Town Kids • Soldiers • Village Donkeys • Antonio Madrigal's Animals • Bruno's Rats • Miracle Butterflies Deleted: Bubo Marquez Locations Colombia • South America • Encanto • Casa Madrigal • Alma's Village Songs The Family Madrigal • Colombia, Mi Encanto • Waiting on a Miracle • En Barranquilla Me Quedo • Surface Pressure • We Don't Talk About Bruno • What Else Can I Do? • Dos Oruguitas • All of You See also The Madrigals • Miracle Candle