Bruno Madrigal/Mirabel Madrigal

Pairing
Pairing:	Bruno Madrigal x Mirabel Madrigal
Alternative name(s):	Brumira Mirabruno Brunobel ⏳🦋
Gender category:	Het
Fandom:	Encanto
Canonical?:	No
Prevalence:
Archives:
Other:
Click here for related articles on Fanlore.

Bruno/Mirabel, more often called Brumira (or sometimes Brumi for short), also known by the emoji name ⏳🦋, is the non-canon pairing of Bruno Madrigal and Mirabel Madrigal from Encanto.

[@unhingedcringed, Apr 15, 2022]
I think why 🦋⏳ speaks to me so much is that being misunderstood is so painful and it's one of the most isolating feelings one could have. that's all we see for 🦋⏳. And it seems like they are the only two that understands fully what the other has been through. Together they save not just their family, but each other. I literally can't think of something more romantic than being mirrors of each other and making sacrifices for the person you love like??? bye

Canon

In the film, Mirabel has grown up not knowing much about her uncle Bruno, who disappeared ten years earlier when she was just five years old. In the opening musical number, she sings that "They say he saw the future; one day he disappeared". After learning that a vision of her uncle's may hold the key to the fate of the miracle that gave her family their magical Gifts, she sets out to find it; a search that eventually leads her to Bruno, who has been secretly living within the walls of the house for the past ten years.

Mirabel quickly forms a connection with Bruno, both of them able to relate to each other through their status as outsiders in the family. It is also revealed that Bruno left the family in order to protect Mirabel, whom he saw in his vision, knowing that if the vision's contents became known, they would likely have caused the family (and others) to view her with fear and suspicion. Later, Mirabel vows to bring Bruno home, out of hiding and back into the family.

When Mirabel helps Bruno do a vision, she blushes and tucks her hair behind her ear in a gesture that has been likened to that of Anna in Frozen which is used to indicate Anna's crush.

At the end, Bruno rides in on a horse and faces his mother — something he spent the last 10 years not doing — in order to defend Mirabel.

Fandom

The Brumira fandom exists primarily on Twitter.

[@customf0nt, Jan 23, 2022]
remember guys theres absolutely no weird shit in encanto. we are all just playing pretend. the male lead comes to save the protagonist on horseback from the antagonist and also he’s her uncle, and its totally not weird.

the uncle tries to explain his aunt/nephew ship to his niece and its Not Weird.

[@sleepygothbitch, Jan 23, 2022]
Definitely not weird that it seems to have taken inspiration from the crown jewel of Colombian literature, 100 Years of Solitude, a novel which had an aunt/nephew plot in the last part of its story.

[@customf0nt, Jan 23, 2022]
completely normal intentional parallels and references, normal book, normal movie. we are all being very regular, average people about this

Hourglass Butterfly

Fanart symbolically representing them.

Bruno sometimes referred to with the hourglass symbol (⏳), and Mirabel with the butterfly symbol (🦋). In mediums that allow for more flexibility, the butterfly is specifically yellow.

As a ship name, they are called "⏳🦋" just as often as they're called "Brumira".

For a broader discussion of character-emoji symbolism in the Encanto fandom, see here.

Color coding

Bruno and Mirabel are connected via colour coding: Mirabel's glasses are bright green, while Bruno dresses in green and his eyes glow a bright green when he has a vision (which also becomes imprinted onto green glass). Fans have interpreted this to mean that she sees the world in a way that lets her relate to Bruno, or simply that the colour unites them as the "family weirdos".

Rat telenovelas

"Bruno said pro-shipper rights" meme.

Bruno grabs the set for the aunt/nephew telenovela and holds it up, literally looking at Mirabel through the cutouts in it — or metaphorically, looking at her through the lens of that story.

Bruno writes telenovelas, and one canonically has the following plotline:

Their love could never be. [...] Well, because she’s his aunt and she has amnesia so she can’t remember that she’s his aunt. It’s like a very forbidden kind of…

Bruno, canon

In particular, much has been made of the specifics of it being an aunt/nephew relationship. The line just as easily could've been about — for example — siblings. But it wasn't; it was instead about the same relationship as the characters having the conversation, just gender-flipped.

Fanworks often invoke Bruno's rat telenovelas after some fashion. In fanfic, the characters often use the telenovelas as a way to indirectly broach the topic, while retaining plausible deniably. It also makes amnesia a popular trope for the pairing.

[@Mirannabel, Apr 30, 2022]
You know, one thing about ⌛️'s aunt/nephew telenovela, is that the nephew still has his memory and is apperently playing along enough for the aunt to assume they're in love.

⌛️: See, the aunt has amnesia, so it's not that bad--
🦋: But the nephew still has his memory?
⌛️: ...
⌛️: Wait...

100 Years of Solitude

A meme, posted with the caption: Spread Gabo's word and the auntfucking agenda.

Encanto draws symbolism from 100 Years of Solitude by Gabriel García Márquez. The most obvious example is the yellow butterflies. More broadly, both stories are generational sagas where main characters are the family who founded their town, and are town leaders.

100 Years of Solitude also contains a repeat thread of incest. Adoptive siblings José Arcadio and Rebeca Buendía marry. Arcadio lusts after the woman who is is mother, though he does not know she's his mother. Aunt and nephew Amaranta and Aureliano José Buendía engage in sexually frustrated bedsharing, and Aureliano José wants to marry her. (This in particular is thought to be what Bruno's rat telenovela is a reference to.)

This opens the door for more incest, and is a source to draw symbolism and references from.

[@LolPumpkinsyes, Mar 9, 2022]
Take this for what it’s worth, but inc3st is ingrained into the source material for Encant0.

Pedro/Alma parallels

[@pwoblematic_uwu, Feb 5, 2022]
so we're not going to talk about the parallel between pedro and ⏳ making a sacrifice for their true loves???

like father like son LITERALLY

is this a reach??? maybe. yes, but I don't care lol pedro would be so proud of ⏳ and that's all I care about

"You left to protect me" it always hits hard because that's what his father did too and he would be so proud of him

[@galacialrose, Feb 5, 2022]
I know I am lost in the Brumira sauce but this isn’t a reach to me either. Both men sacrificed for love and family, and both of the women who they did it for are coded as being the head of the family either in the present or in the future- the glue that holds everyone together

And they didn’t hesitate to do it either. Pedro doesn’t stop to think about it, and neither did Bruno. And that sacrifice is part of what kept the miracle going, Pedro’s sacrifice was the catalyst for the encanto and Bruno’s sacrifice made Mira saving everyone possible

More popular tropes in fanworks

• Bruno has a prophecy of their relationship and, feeling guilty, tries to prevent it.
• Time Travel, where their age difference is circumvented.
• Hades/Persephone AU: The family reject uncle, who has a good heart but a bad reputation, and the joyful, light-up-a-room niece.
• Role Reversal, with Tía Mirabel.
• Succubus Mirabel (Succubel) and Priest Bruno
• Pregnancy, the Brumira fandom is absolutely ravenous for pregnancy kink. It commonly involves the pair having triplets (see Pedro/Alma parallels)
• Virginity, fic frequently espouses that both of them are virgins. More rarely only one of them is. Almost never are they both sexually experienced.
• At some point earlier in movie's development, Bruno's name was Oscar. In fanfic, Oscar is used as an alias for Bruno, a pen name, a name for a telenovela character that metaphorically is him, or other such things. Mirabel's other name, though less commonly used, is Mariana.
• Ship Parallelism

Additional Content

"It's Complicated" Merch

On Disney's official Zazzle account, ^{Archived version} account sells merch featuring a picture of Mirabel and Bruno, captioned with the words "It's Complicated". The graphic is available on a range of products.

This merch is much beloved by Brumira shippers.

[@azdaema, Apr 4, 2022]
Genuine question: What is the gen interpretation of this supposed to be? What does the "it" refer to, if not their relationship?

[@yellowmar1posa, Apr 4, 2022]
I honestly have no idea 😂

Let's Dance tango

On the Swedish dance TV show, Let's Dance (a show in the vein of Dancing with the Stars), on April 9, 2022, Eric Saade and Katja L. Engelholm danced a tango to the song "We Don't Talk About Bruno" as the characters Bruno and Mirabel. The performance can be seen here.

Brumira shippers were delighted because it depicts Bruno and Mirabel holding each other in the suggestive ways that tango dancers do.

[@infj_crezz, April 10, 2022]
th-the WAY HE HOLDS HERRRRRRRRR

ARGGHH

IM THINKING BRUNO HOLDING MIRABEL POSSESSIVE LIKE THAT

IM GOING INSANE

It sparked a wave of dancing-themed fanart and fics.

• 

  by @Ydktun

• 

  by @hope74528946

• 

  by @webosduros1

• 

  by @tabebooyahh

• 

  by @tamarasalazarj1

• 

  by Nerfbunni

Events

• Brumira Valentines Week

Controversies

• Incest: Uncle/niece. Some argue that this is mitigated somewhat by Bruno's 10-year self-imposed exile, which means they didn't know each other while Mirabel was growing up. In 1948, approximately when the movie took place (or a few years before), Julio César Turbay Ayala, future president of Colombia, married his then 15-year-old niece Nydia. It was obviously not a political career-ending move, though was the talk of Colombian high society for awhile - and again many decades and four children later when they got the Catholic Church to annul the marriage on grounds of consanguinity. Avunculate (uncle/niece or aunt/nephew) marriage is apparently still legal in Colombia, and very occasionally accepted by the Catholic Church ("with difficulty"), which was the main arbiter of who could and couldn't get married in 95%+ Catholic 1950s Colombia.
• Age Difference: If you accept the filmmaker's tweets on the subject as canon (see Word of God), they are 15 and 50 and thus have an age gap of 35 years. Some argue that contextual clues in the story (such as Pepa's age when she had Antonio) point to a slightly smaller age gap, perhaps in the range of 25 to 30 years. Others have argued that both Mirabel and Bruno — like many animated characters — they don't really feel their supposed ages. Sometimes De-Aging and/or Aged Up tropes are used to shrink the age gap as well. Colombia's age of consent laws (age 14) also also sometimes cited.

[Shipcestuous, Dec 4, 2021]
I agree, she looks more like 20 than 15. And the thing about teenagers in fictional media is that they often act and appear older than they are meant to be. The age we are told they are and the age they really are in a sense isn’t often the same. In TV shows you get 24 year-olds playing 16 year-olds and things like that. Often the case is even more severe with animated teens in comedies - you’ve got them with snappy dialogue voiced by someone in their 30s. Stephanie Beatriz does the voice of Mirabel (I just looked it up), and she’s 40. So if you want to take Mirabel as 20, I say it’s fair.

[andtheyweresiblings, Jan 10, 2022]
For what it’s worth, in my first viewing of Encanto, I guessed all of the characters’ ages COMPLETELY wrong. I thought for sure Mirabel was like 20 and that Bruno was in his 40s. Not that it makes the age-gap or pairing much better, but I really thought Mirabel was a full-grown adult, and I was bewildered when I found out the canon ages. So for the purposes of my sanity, I actually like to stick with my interpreted ages for Mirabel and Bruno, which is roughly 20 and 45, respectively.

Fanworks

Fanfic

Zenith Sun ^{[1] archive} by Скаади (translated by syrnyj)Date: 3 January 2022Length: 794Status: One-shot

Lyrical, amorphous longing

A World In A Grain of Sand ^{[2] archive} by DaiakoDate: 11 January 2022Length: 3kStatus: One-shot

A sex dream built around the line, "Yeah, he sees your dreams and feasts on your screams."

Out of Sight, Out of Mind ^{[3] archive} by Daisy_TrainDate: 21 January 2022Length: 587Status: One-shot

An established relationship one-shot about them having a lifelong secret relationship — society turns a blind eye and sees what they want to see.

breathe it in (don't let me go) ^{[4] archive} by risvethDate: 18 January 2022Length: 5kStatus: One-shot

Sex Pollen

Fly Apart & Reunite ^[5] by theyellowbutterflyDate: 10 January 2022–5 December 2022Length: 113kStatus: Complete

A two-part, canon-compliment, slow-burn, getting together story. The Way To Tomorrow, ^{Archived version} and Til You Find Your Way, ^{Archived version}

Open Your Eyes ^[6] by AzdaemaDate: 16 May 2022–15 July 2022Length: 20kStatus: Complete

The Madrigal family finds out about Brumira. Unfortunately, Bruno and Mirabel don't know yet. And also the family's got the details wrong.

Not!fic

• 🦋 gets amnesia, ^{Archived version} by Coze
• What if both Bruno and Mirabel were completely oblivious about their own feelings for each other and just did romantic stuff like watch the sunrise and snuggle into each other without thinking about it? The family get suspicious, but neither Bruno nor Mira see what they’re getting at, ^{Archived version}

Fancomic

• 

  Dramático igual as telenovelas dele by @chiniko0

• 

  Casual confession by @mirabrunononono

• 

  "What am I doing..." by @tokami_na

• 

  People don't know how much he loves his little and lovely family by @sepalais

• 

  "we dont need to..." by @nerfbunni

• 

  When you lose your virginity to your precious niece and you get all emotional about it by @SillyStringsMan

• 

  "Good Morning" 1/4 by litel27 (2022)

• 

  "Good Morning" 2/4 by litel27 (2022)

• 

  "Good Morning" 3/4 by litel27 (2022)

• 

  "Good Morning" 4/4 by litel27 (2022)

• 

  "Patience, Mi Amor" 1/2 by Litel27 (2022)

• 

  "Patience, Mi Amor" 2/2 by Litel27 (2022)

• ⏳ having a super guilty conscious about his relationship with 🦋 but they literally can’t resist each other, ^{Archived version} by @yanderepriest
• The evening of Mirabel's birthday celebration takes a joyous turn of events..., ^{Archived version} by @ninastopcrying
• A Brother & Sister Talk, ^{Archived version} by Litel27
• The Way To Tomorrow comic, ^{Archived version}
• thecatwhogotki1
  • Mirabel's confession is quiet, ^{Archived version}
  • Bruno's confession is loud, ^{Archived version}
• The telenovela: Carlito and Aunt Emilia, ^{Archived version}
• 難しいお年頃の🦋と翻弄されまくる⏳による⏳🦋ﾁｬﾝ, ^{Archived version}
• Just Secret, ^{Archived version} by @jennuay2929
• untitled comic, ^{Archived version} by WelpIam
• i can’t help falling in love with you, ^{Archived version} by @shumkaki

Vids

• Mr Sandman by CoiledDragon

Meta

"coded as a couple", ^{Archived version}

• thread re "He LOVES this family. I LOVE this family", ^{Archived version}
• it looks like wife and husband having an argument, ^{Archived version}

Memes

• 
• 

  Every 🦋⏳fic be like

• 
• 
• 

  The entire Brumira nation right now

• 
• 
• 
• 
• 

Art Gallery

• 

  Softest touch by @mirabrunononono

• 

  A dangerous prophecy by @double_bIind

• 

  You are a miracle by @ksyjkydaka

• 

  by @nerfbunni

• 

  by Chiniko

• 

  His sunshine by @buttersandlove

• 

  The Kiss by @AWretchedThing

• 

  [artist unknown]

• 

  dos oruguitas enamoradas by @allienaneilla

• 

  Couple's Day by @Um_OL_S

• 

  Dancing in a blaze of flowers by @cakyye

• 

  ⌛🦋 GOT MARRIED !? by @infj_crezz

• 

  Heart went boom by @DewiidropArt

• 

  Brumira Wedding Day by @JaquezMaynez

• 

  In dark days, you are the only light by @Ydktun

• 

  by @turningsin

• 

  by @tabebooyahh

• 

  by @ppoppochichi

• 

  “You’ll be the death of me.” by GentleGreenGlow

Resources

• Archive of Our Own tag: Bruno Madrigal/Mirabel Madrigal
• Ficbook tag: Мирабель Мадригаль/Бруно Мадригаль
• Twitter tag: #brumira