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| “ | That's for murdering the love of my life! | „ |
| ~ Imelda whacking Ernesto with her shoe for killing her husband Héctor. |
| “ | Never forget how much your family loves you. | „ |
| ~ Imelda's blessing for Miguel, fully lifting their musical ban. |
Imelda Rivera is the tritagonist of Pixar's 19th full-length animated feature film Coco.
She is the former matriarch of the Rivera family who became a spirit in the Land of the Dead after her death. However, she left behind a ban of music in her family, from falsely believing that her husband Héctor deliberately left her and their daughter Coco behind, as her lasting legacy, leading her great-great grandson, Miguel Rivera, to uncover the cause of her decree.
She is voiced by Alanna Ubach in English, who also voiced El Tigre in El Tigre: The Adventures of Manny Rivera and Cutter in Monsters At Work. In Spanish, she was voiced by Angelica Vale.
Biography[]
Backstory[]
She was the wife of Héctor Rivera, as well as the mother of the titular Coco. Sometime ago, when Héctor was still performing on tour with Ernesto de la Cruz, she was taking care of their daughter alone. As Héctor made his decision to go back home with his family out of homesickness, this made Ernesto murder the former via poisoning. This caused Imelda to falsely believe at first that Héctor fully left her and their daughter behind, thus influencing the Rivera family's ban on music to them.
Coco[]
Imelda is first seen in the Land of the Dead's Grand Central Station smashing a clerk's computer with her boot when she found out that she couldn't cross to the Land of the Living while her family members approach her with Dante and the cursed Miguel. Once in the Department of Family Reunions with them, she is horrified and angry when she learns that Miguel accidentally removed the picture of her and Coco from the family ofrenda earlier. The family is informed that blessing Miguel will break the curse before sunrise. Imelda, using a marigold petal, gives Miguel her blessing on the condition that he will never play music again. Once Miguel breaks the condition and is transported back to the Land of the Dead, Imelda forbids the rest of the family from blessing Miguel as she insists Miguel take her blessing. Miguel's unwillingness to accept her conditions leads him to escape from the department. Later, Imelda and the Riveras catch sight of Miguel who runs off with Héctor Rivera deeper into the district. Being left with no choice, she calls forth Pepita to help the family track him down.
Pepita's tracking proves to be very helpful and soon they are led to the "Battle of the Bands" talent competition where Miguel and Héctor were performing. While the family ask the spectators on Miguel's whereabouts, Imelda asks the emcee, thus blowing Miguel's cover. Miguel manages to escape after ditching Héctor and Dante, but Imelda and Pepita manage to catch up with him. As Pepita was too big to chase Miguel through a narrow alleyway, Imelda chases him down but gets locked out at the alleyway gates. They both argue, with Miguel calling her out on her decision to ban music in the family and her hatred towards it. She then sings a snippet of her favorite ballad (much to Miguel's shock) and explains that she did not ban music out of hatred but she loved her family more. Miguel, who was still unmoved by this, bitterly runs off to Ernesto de la Cruz's mansion after believing Imelda still won't accept him and music, which leaves her crestfallen.
Much later, she and Pepita were led by Dante to get Miguel and Héctor (who were condemned by de la Cruz) out of a cenote, much to her chagrin upon the sight of her husband. This leads her to make Héctor cling on Pepita's tail for dear life (or lack thereof) during the journey back to the other Riveras. Once back, Imelda scolds Hector for walking out of the family until Miguel told her the truth of Héctor's death at Ernesto's hands, which shocked her. However, she still can't forgive Héctor until he starts fading as Coco is forgetting herself; Imelda then relents, planning with the family to recover Héctor's photo in order to save Héctor from being forgotten.
Once in de la Cruz's stadium, Imelda and the family, dressed as Frida Kahlo, enter backstage (removing the disguise) when they encountered Ernesto (who just came out of his room). With her boot, she slaps him twice for murdering the love of her life and trying to kill her great-great grandson before he ran off, thus beginning the pursuit. While running, Imelda is teased for her comment about Héctor by the latter and Miguel. Ernesto's security guards gain the upper hand over the Riveras, Imelda finally gets the photo, but gets accidentally sent to the stage. In order to buy the audience time, Imelda sings "La Llorona" while evading de la Cruz's security guards. Ernesto joins in midway, making it a duet as he gains the upper hand over her. However, on his final note, she stomps his foot, making him scream out a painful mariachi cry. Slowly starting to reconcile with Héctor, Imelda tries to give Miguel her blessing with a new condition - never forget how much his family loves him - but is interrupted by Ernesto. The crooked musician grabs Miguel and throws him out, unaware he was recorded live to the audience. After Pepita saves Miguel and sent de la Cruz (now reviled by the dead) to his second and final death, Imelda tends to a dying Héctor and gives Miguel their blessing (no conditions given) just in time before sunrise.
A year after their adventures, Imelda and Héctor become closer again and are reunited with a deceased Coco. Together with the deceased Riveras, the three cross to the Land of the Living (accompanied by Dante and Pepita) to visit the living Riveras during Miguel's celebration of music in the family on Día de los Muertos.
Pixar Popcorn[]
"A Day in the Life of the Dead"[]
During the episode "A Day in the Life of the Dead", Imelda can be seen dancing with her husband Héctor and are immediately interrupted by Óscar and Felipe, who ride a bike incredibly fast down the street.
Personality[]
The matriarch of the Rivera family, Imelda is a maternal yet firm person who puts family first and personal interests last. When alive, she was more tender, as she was looking forward to raising a happy family. When her husband Héctor walked out, the burden of raising Coco alone coupled with bitter feelings towards her husband for leaving them led Imelda to ban music and work hard to build the Rivera family up, shaping her into the earnest person revered and at times feared by the rest of the Riveras.
The Imelda seen in the present day was a stark contrast to the person she was in life: bitter, serious, and strict. Imelda was also less patient with others which is also a trait she passes to her granddaughter, Elena, as she smashes a computer in the afterlife customs with her boot despite the apprehensive agent's attempts to be civil with her. Although she loves her family, she has an antagonistic side stemming from her grudge towards her estranged husband and, in extension, music. This comes to the point of making Miguel take her blessing with the condition he quit pursuing musical desires, believing he will abandon the family as well, and later using force through her alebrije, Pepita, so he would take her blessing with the conditions.
Imelda's stubbornness makes it very hard for her to forgive and let go. Even when learning the truth about Héctor's death who was murdered while trying to return home, she still found it hard to forgive him however this is because she spent the remaining decades of her life not knowing that he was killed, but her value for family comes through when she accepts that it wasn't his fault entirely and agrees to help to save him, their descendant, and their daughter's memory. Despite wishing to forget her husband due to the pain he brought her, Imelda could not bring herself to hate him enough to let him permanently disappear from her life. She also slapped Ernesto de la Cruz with her boot for "murdering the love of her life," even after she said she couldn't forgive him, showing that deep down she still loved Héctor, and she may have finally forgiven him.
It took seeing how much Miguel loved music and the dangers he put himself through, along with the tensions in the family, because of her rules against it, caused Imelda to finally let go of her grudge. It was also Miguel's words to heart on how it hurt him that his family, who should support him, were against the one thing that made him happy and telling Imelda that she ruined his life before he was even born, leaving her speechless and ashamed.
At the end of the movie, Imelda has forgiven Héctor and is happier to be with him, Coco, and the living family on Día de Los Muertos.
Appearance[]
While she was a human, Imelda had long black hair tied in a low braided bun, fair skin, and brown eyes. She wore a sleeveless formal gown with black high heels. She also had two gold hoop earrings in each earlobe.
As a spirit, Imelda appears as a white skeleton with purple ribbons in her hair bun and two gray streaks (a sign of old age) on the left side of her head. Her formal purple dress is similar to the traditional Filipino baro't saya with frill designs on her cleavage area and the long skirt of her dress, and it was tucked into a red belt and had brown rope designs in each lining on her dress skirt. She wears short black boots, which she uses as a weapon sometimes. She also wears a long brown apron on her waist where she founded her shoemaking business and wears a matching purple choker with frill designs.
Trivia[]
- According to Lee Unkrich, Imelda is a year older than Héctor, who was born in the year 1900, so she was born in 1899.
- This suggests that since Mamá Coco was born in 1918, Imelda was married and had a child by the age of 19 when her husband was 18.
- Imelda is compared to Lady Sun from Romance of the Three Kingdoms.
- When unintentionally driven to perform a song, Imelda sings La Llorona, which is unrelated to the horror legend of the same name.
- When she sings the lyric "I won't stop loving you," she made eye contact with Hector, thus reinforcing the hints that she still loved him, even when she believed he had abandoned the family.
External Links[]
- Imelda Rivera on the Disney Wiki
- Imelda Rivera on the Pixar Wiki