Dolores Madrigal was a supporting character in Disney’s feature film Encanto. She is the first daughter of Pepa and Felix. Her age is 21 years and quieter than her younger sister Isabella. Dolores and Isabella both live in the shadow of each other due to their age difference. She has always had a crush on Isabela’s finance, Mariano, but the incident forces her to confess her feelings to Mariano, who responds to her.
In the movie, Dolores’s parents set basic rules about keeping secrets for the children, including Bruno. However, she learned the importance of keeping secrets and never giving it to adults. Dolores is the only person who knows Bruno’s whereabouts, and she release hints about his pin point throughout the movie. Although she was not willing to reveal this to Mirabel, she blasted her about his vision.
Dolores cannot hide her secrets like her sister Mirabel, but she secretly pines for Mariano. Indeed, in the movie, Dolores is vindicated when Bruno comes to save the day. Despite her heightened hearing, she does not care whether her family’s powers disappear.
Physical Appearance
She has curly dark brown hair tied into a bun with a red ribbon. The Color of her skin is light brown & hazel eyes. Her dress has a long red skirt & a frilly white & yellow top, both with gold sound wave motifs representing her enhanced hearing. Dolores wears red lipstick, a red one with a gold gem choker necklace, and matching earrings shaped like hearts.
Her Powers and Abilities
Dolores’s magical powers in Encanto are pretty impressive! The book has a story of a family of magic users with extraordinary power. Each one reflects their personality and character, and their special forces are bound to come with expectations and burdens. Dolores’s magical power are derived from her ability to hear. The Madrigal family is cursed for having this ability, and Abuela must ensure that these powers are used for the good of the community. Dolores’ gift is super hearing, and she uses it to listen gossip within her family and community.
Dolores Madrigal has a superiority makes her able to hear and talk to animals. She also can heal people’s wounds, including a black eye and bee stings. Her power in Encanto is one that she can use for helping community.
Did you know?
Dolores’s birthday was on August 31st. This means that her star sign was Virgo.
Her Emotional Weakness
Dolores is a not a talkative girl with enhanced hearing but suffers from occasional bouts of emotional weakness. Her superpower to hear other people’s emotions causes her to cover her ears when she hears loud noises. She is introverted and does not like being in the spotlight, but this trait enables her to get the inside scoop about family drama. Her close relation with Mariano finally leads her to discover his dark secret.
While a neighboring suitor, Mariano Guzman, tries to court Isabela, Dolores does every single struggle she can do to keep the town kids away from the house. She takes care of Alma but failed to protect her after Casita collapses. Her superpower of hearing long distant voices was stolen, and she could only listen to what was close to her.
Relationships of Dolores Madrigal
Camilo Madrigal:
He is Dolores’ younger brother, & during most of their appearances, they are side by side. Moreover, they have very few interactions throughout the film and are shown to not be on bad terms and get along quite well. They have no trouble speaking (unlike their cousins Mirabel and Isabela, a similar sibling pair, albeit one who argues). After Antonio gets his gift, they look at each other happily for their younger brother. When Felix catches Camilo posing as her to get seconds, Dolores appears next to Félix. But unlike her father, she does not seem upset or irritated by her brother’s actions and stares silently at Camilo & Mirabel, showing that she has no problem with Camilo’s pranks, unlike much of the family.
At Mariano’s dinner proposal, Camilo was the first person she trusted to tell about what she heard Mirabel talking about. While the fall of Casita is very quick and a bit blurred out, she can be seen putting her arms around Camilo, trying to protect him and showing how protective she can be of him. At the movie’s end, when the family sings “All of You,” she says she knows Bruno never left and hears him every day. Then Dolores gives Camilo a jab that turns out to be harder than she thought. He looks around in bewilderment as no one says anything about it.
Antonio Madrigal:
Antonio is Dolores’ youngest brother. She encourages him and the rest of his family before his gift ceremony and wishes him luck. She is relieved and happy for her little brother when he gets his gift. Antonio was seen clapping as he rode his tiger around in his room for the first time.
Isabela Madrigal:
He is Dolores’ older cousin by a few weeks. She grew up being overshadowed all her life by Isabela to the point of being called her shadow. Although their relationship is complicated, in the film, he sees that both are very close & it is clear that they love each other to the point of looking like sisters. Unlike Mirabel, Dolores never showed jealousy or hatred towards Isabela for being their family’s golden child. Dolores does not treat or hate her badly because of her commitment to Mariano, the man she had fallen in love with. She even seems to have some admiration for her older cousin.
In the graphic novel, Dolores smiles alongside her parents when Isabela enters before Antonio’s gift ceremony. Dolores hugged Isabela affectionately during the ceremony, and they held her hands. Despite that, she can also play pranks on Isabela like Camilo, if not on a smaller scale. Dolores gives her a haughty look after freaking Isabela out at breakfast, saying Mariano wanted to have five babies with her.
Mirabel Madrigal:
Mirabel is Dolores’ cousin. When Mirabel asks her if she heard anything about the miracle, she tells Mirabel that the only person worried about a miracle is herself and the rats squeaking loudly in the walls. She then tells Mirabel to ask Luisa, as she has heard her eye twitching all night. When Mirabel puts together Bruno’s broken vision & Agustin finds out, he says they can’t tell anyone about it until after the proposal dinner. Unfortunately, she had heard everything about the vision.
With a small whisper, she says, “I know,” squeaks, & hurries away. Mirabel tells Agustin that Dolores will tell everyone, & soon enough, everyone knows about the vision, including Abuela Alma. The proposal dinner is ruined, & cracks start to spread throughout the house. In the end, after a house falls apart, Mirabel and Dolores contribute to rebuilding it.
Mariano Guzman:
In “We Don’t Talk about Bruno,” Dolores sings about having a crush on Mariano, but then Bruno prophesied that he would become the fiancé of Isabela, her cousin. She confesses to Mariano that she loves him, and the two start a relationship, with the latter being smitten immediately & saying they should get married. She is telling Mariano to ‘slow down.
Bruno Madrigal:
He is Dolores’ uncle. She knew Bruno had never left but that Bruno had moved into Casita’s walls. Dolores chose not to tell anyone this until he returned after the house’s collapse. It’s possibly because she felt sorry for him. After all, everyone in the Encanto expected the worst of him due to his frequent bad visions and never told him to keep Abuela from going into the walls and confronting him. When she is singing her part in “We Don’t Talk about Bruno,” Bruno can be seen walking in the background as well, & she appears to be shielding Mirabel from seeing him so Mirabel doesn’t inform Abuela.
Alma Madrigal:
She is Dolores’ grandmother. When Alma asks her if Isabela & Mariano had a date, Dolores responds dutifully. Dolores also assists Alma when La Casa Madrigal/Casita falls by sitting her down on a small piece of debris to calm her. She tries to please her grandmother by only telling what is wanted to be heard, even though Alma is probably a bit angry at her for revealing a secret that broke Casita.