Fans Are Sharing 'Encanto' Fan Theories That Make A Lot Of Sense

The premise of Encanto revolves around the Madrigal family, all who are granted gifts by a mgical candle. However, Mirabel, the movie's protagonist, is the seemingly the only other family member without a gift. According to Redditor u/pandamarshmallows, Mirabel does have a gift, and it's the most important of all: Taking over when Abuela dies. 

So that's where Mirabel comes in. She doesn't have a gift like the rest of her family, but she does bring out the best in all of them. And her lack of power ensures that she is subjected to the worst of Abuela's wrath, so she won't ever repeat her mistakes. Even while Abuela is still with us, we see Mirabel helping her cousins and especially her sisters' mental health, patching the cracks which Abuela's towering expectations and often unfeeling devotion to the miracle create. She helps Luisa lay down her burdens, and Isabella break free from the pressure Abuela puts her under. She brings Bruno back to the family and even helps Camilo find love where Abuela only saw material gain.

And Mirabel's status as the future head of the Madrigals also explains why she doesn't have a door. She and Abuela are the only two Madrigals with the same gift, so in a way they share a door. When Abuela eventually dies, her door will become Mirabel's, and in this way the family will continue without a power struggle, the title of family head being deliberately bestowed upon one or another child.

Abuela's husband, Pedro, loses his life after being forced to remove their family from their home in Colombia. His portrait hangs in the stairwell of Casita, the Madrigal's loving, anthropomorphic home. We see Mirabel slide down the railings with ease and tell the picture, "good morning." Redditor u/_Afrodeity things that Casita is the soul of Abuela's late husband, Pedro: 

While all the family members are lovable and great characters, the most underrated and emotional character is Casita. I rarely see people acknowledge how alive the house is outside the context and question of Mirabel’s possible gift. Not only does she talk to it but it reacts to her and the rest of the family.

And more notably, even when the house is crumbling, it uses what’s left of its magic to protect all the Madrigals: softening Camilo and Isabela’s fall when their powers fail mid-leap, weakening the wall so Bruno can easily break through and escape, and using it’s broken pieces to cover Mirabel and shield her from the debris just before pushing the whole family out to safety as it collapses on itself. It’s final act is to basically “wave” goodbye to them. That scene was one of the more emotionally charged to me and felt like watching a character give its life for others, mirroring how Pedro sacrificed his life to give his family and the other villagers the chance to escape. The same Pedro that was shown to possess a gentle playfulness and strong protective instinct in Abuela’s flashback.

Pepa has the powerful gift of being able to summon weather by what she is feeling. I say "summon" and not "control" because as Encanto fans know, Pepa isn't great at actually controlling the weather. Redditor u/Not_OrdinareeGae believes that Abuela hindered her abilities: 

There are some gifts that makes you question how does it contribute to the community especially with the gifts given to Pepa's family. I like to believe that Pepa's gift should've grown and be able to control the weather without the interference of her emotions. However, because of the pressure and expectations of Abuela, she did not have the time to make her gift stronger. Had she had a moment just like Isabela, I think that her power would grow.

Encanto has been enchanting audiences with its spry attention to detail, as all Disney and Pixar films seem to execute flawlessly. Redditor u/PadalynReddit noticed a significant similarity between Pepa's wedding dress and her everyday dress:

Pepa Madrigal's wedding dress and day dress are the same! It looks like it was dyed and repurposed for daywear.

In one of the film's best songs, "We Don't Talk About Bruno," Pepa and Felix sing about the fate of their wedding day. The lyrics, "married in a hurricane," stand out after Tío Bruno suggested it would rain. However, Redditor u/N7Inquisitor suggests it wasn't Bruno's fault, but Abuela's:

During the recounting of the wedding fiasco, after Bruno tells Pepa that "It looks like rain," Felix mentions that Abuela "gets the umbrella." While, yes, Bruno's attempted joke was taken the wrong way by Pepa, it was Pepa's mother who threw her off -- Abuela was the one who took Bruno's words as an inevitable event, going so far as to bring an umbrella even before the hurricane happens.

With her own mother believing that Pepa would cause a rain shower on her own big day, Pepa accidentally made her worry over Bruno's words become a self-fulfilling prophecy.

Luisa Madrigal has the gift of super strength. She's seen literally moving bridges and churches, however her gift is one of the first of the Madrigal's to waver once Casita starts breaking down. Redditor  u/N7Inquisitor has a theory that Luisa was overly exploited because of her gift, which was a leading cause in why Mirabel never got hers:

I have the theory that the reason why Mirabel was not given a gift was because of how Abuela exploited Luisa's abilities. Previous to Luisa's gift, the Family had just been a help to the village; however, upon Luisa's Gifting, a Madrigal now was subjected to immense amounts of manual labor and an obscene amount of pressure to fulfill a role.

While Pepa, Juliettta, and Bruno had powerful gifts, their gifts would only come in handy every so often (as needed). Same with the other children (Dolores, Camilo, Isabela) would have gifts that could be used as needed, mostly for entertainment purposes. However, Luisa was the first one whose gift gave her a never-ending list of tasks to complete. We can see this just before the song Surface Pressure when the villagers are essentially swarming Luisa with tasks to complete. And when preparing for Antonio's Gifting Ceremony, we see her jump from task to task, even if the current task was not finished.

Luisa even suggests in her song that she wonders what it would be to just enjoy her gift, to just relax. I think that after Luisa received her gift, Abuela pressured Luisa to be the family yes-man, and to take on any manual task. And after seeing the results of Luisa's contributions to the village, Abuela took that as a success and put even more pressure on the rest of the family.