#elena rivera

[multifamdomfan]

In an au where Paul survived this is who he'd be moving like post apocalypse

[shrinkthisviolet]

Elena is such an interesting character to me. She’s so strict about the music ban, and one of my besties mentioned that she’s likely even more strict about it than Imelda probably was. I was inclined to disagree, but…the more I think about it, the more I actually agree.

Because here’s the thing, right: Imelda believed Hector abandoned them and never came back, and she associated music with him, and that hurt so badly that she banned music forever. But she also loves music! This is canon! Even in the movie, she talks about her (allegedly former) love of music with such passion, she sings La Llorona with so much heart and emotion. She loves music, even after Hector leaves—part of her pain comes from the fact that she loves music, and she hates that she does, because she associates it with Hector, who hurt her. It’s complicated! imo she wouldn’t snap at those who played music, she’d just hide away from it (though she would 100% snap at anyone who played Ernesto’s music, recognizing it as a bastardized version of Hector’s…which would strengthen her belief even more that he sold his soul to music and abandoned her metaphorically, not just literally). It’s Hector she hates for decades, and though she tries to hate music, I don’t think she ever really succeeds.

Coco would go along with the ban, because ofc she’s also hurt, and angry for herself and her mamá. But she also still loves her papá, and she loves music, and she still deep down believes he will come home and fix everything (even in the movie, dementia-ailed Coco keeps calling out for her papá, and she still has his letters 🥺 she is defined by her love for/faith in her papá), so I don’t think she was strict about the ban or as invested in it as Imelda or Elena.

And Elena…well. She’s Imelda’s granddaughter, she’s Coco’s daughter. She’s the first person (other than Julio) to learn about Hector without ever meeting him. The story that Miguel tells about Hector, Imelda, and Coco in the beginning of the movie? That is the story that Elena tells, possibly even the one she heard growing up. It’s not entirely true, but it’s the story of a woman who saw her mother and grandmother’s pain and dedicated herself to the music ban to avenge their pain. She couldn’t go after her grandfather, after all, so enforcing the ban is the next best thing. That’s why she’s so strict and fierce about it, that’s (part of) why she smashes Ernesto’s guitar.

Not enough people talk about Elena Rivera, and that is a mf SHAME

[canariio-tf]

Elena Rivera

[yunyun-soso]

I can't believe Enrique Rivera pulled a fine woman like Luisa by being a music-hating shoemaker, like seriously

Not that Enrique is bad-looking, but damn his wife is so gorgeous omg

She must have really loved Enrique to marry into a family that wants nothing to do with music because I personally can't fathom a life without music

[gt-icons]

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[fandomlife-confessions]

[enigmatist17]

Miguel Rivera becomes the first Rivera to turn down tequila, the fifteen-year-old knocking the offered shot out of his father's hand and onto the ground.

He looked horrified at the drink, and the adults crowded around him asked him what was wrong.

So he tells them of the Día de los Muertos he'd gone missing and where he had actually gone. Of course, at first, none of them want to believe his tale as he talks, hands waving as he describes the day from start to end, but the dread starts sinking in part way through.

It explained why Miguel never went on the roof again after returning, the teen trembling now when asked to climb a ladder or somewhere high. How he had come back after his disappearance to sing a song to Mamá Coco that only she and her papá had ever sung together, despite not knowing a single thing about the man. It had been three days after that Miguel was found throwing his de la Cruz merchandise into the firepit the family had, the twelve-year-old refusing to speak as he tore posters and muttered curses his abuelita boxed the back of his head for. Any mention of the man as the family slowly came to grips with the infamous music ban finally being lifted would instantly sour his mood, going so far as to throw a record Abel found secondhand into the trash with a look of utter hatred. It also explained that when Miguel wasn't in school, he was diving headfirst into research, the proof Mamá Coco had saved instantly, sparking interest from historical researchers worldwide. It didn't take long for the truth of de la Cruz's theft to become public, and while the world raged, Miguel spent time with historians who flew out to Santa Cecilia going over all inn records from 1921 following the letters Héctor had sent.

Miguel cried when he finally found the last time H. Rivera was recorded checking into one, his name never again reappearing alongside E. de la Cruz after he left Mexico City in the dead of night.

Luisa embraces her son when she remembers the day officials had finally discovered Héctor's body in a hastily dug grave nearly an hour from the city, her son never leaving the coffin his bisabuelo's body had arrived in until it had been buried beside his wife. To have actually met the man and had come so close to losing him, the way Miguel had been a silent guardian until he was gently guided home, made too much sense.

They all stop breathing when a tearful Miguel recounts precisely how Héctor had been murdered, eyeing the tequila bottle with a shiver.

I'm scared to drink it.

The local liquor store where the Rivera's shopped never placed another order for tequila again.

---

Héctor was an easygoing guy. After living for so long, he took most things on the chin and smiled around the pain.

As long as it didn't revolve around Ernesto or...tequila.

For a long time, Héctor never understood why touching or drinking made him feel uneasy. It flowed like most other drinks in Shantytown, but he always hesitated when reaching for a bottle, or accepting an offered glass. They had all eventually stopped asking about the flinch he seemed to always be surprised by, and while he didn't entirely avoid it, Héctor turned to other drinks.

The fog in his mind of his death is finally cleared, and Héctor realizes why tequila has never satisfied him.

Now, here he sits among his familia, laughing about something as a glass is placed in his hand, and Héctor takes a sip before registering the smell of the tequila.

A large hand is on his back as his stomach twinges in pain, a voice that should have been soothing in his ear as he lets go of his guitar case, everything going cold as he collapses onto the dusty street

Perhaps it was that chorizo my friend

Héctor doesn't realize he's hyperventilating until gentle hands take hold of his skull, Imelda's lips moving but words unheard over the pounding in his ears. The glass he'd been holding had been crushed, and once he realized that damn liquid was all over his hand, Héctor shrieked and jerked back and onto the floor. It takes both Imelda and Rosita to keep Héctor in one piece, the matriarch of the family just talking to her husband in the softest voice they'd ever heard from her as Héctor tried to undo himself and run...somewhere. Eventually, she gets through to him, gently caressing the side of his skull as Héctor clings to her, eyeing the bottle of tequila on the table with wide eyes as his family crowds around him in concern. It takes him nearly an hour to begin his tale, his voice giving out far too many times for Héctor's liking, but he tells them of a night like any other at the start. Of a long day performing, leaving both himself and Ernesto tired but relatively happy, until Héctor had seen a photo of his family and felt the resolve that had wavered for months finally solidified.

I'm going home Ernesto! Hate me if you want, but my mind is made up!

Oh I could never hate you. If you must go then I'm...I'm sending you off with a toast!

¡Salud!

Of how he'd missed his friend's hatred until it was far too late, dropping to his knees as his body burned....and he awoke dead in a land that became his prison.

He had just wanted to go home.

Julio was the first Rivera to move once the poor man had finally gone silent, adjusting his hat before grabbing the tequila bottle on the table and leaving the room. For a few minutes, all the family could hear was the clinking of glass being set into something and faint curses as Julio went through what seemed to be every room in the entire Rivera household. Once satisfied, Julio returned, kneeling beside his father-in-law with a slight nod, able to see the taller man visibly relax when it dawned on him what he'd done.

The crate full of tequila was picked up by Victoria once Héctor had been coaxed to bed by Imelda, making sure the liquid would find its way to her abuelo's other family in Shantytown, as it would go to waste otherwise.

---

Dear Papá Héctor,

I hope you're having a great Día de los Muertos, I cooked everything on the ofrenda myself this year :D (sorry if it's burnt D:) to give Abulieta a break :)

I wrote this letter for you specifically because - I told them. Papá wanted me to try tequila, but I couldn't do it, and everyone wanted to know why, so I told them. From start to finish, though, I may have left out the part where I got thrown into the cenote and off the tower.

I promise to tell them someday, but it can wait <:)

Abuelita wanted me to say she's sorry for offering you tequila the past three years, and that when she eventually joins you, that she's going to smack a certain someone with her chancla. I told her Mamá Imelda beat her to it, but Abuelita said she didn't care, and you'll see how scary she can be :P

We are still trying to figure out another drink to leave you because, apparently, guitar picks aren't a suitable replacement :(

Te quiero Papá Héctor, make sure you do your best gritto for me!

Your bisnieto, Miguel <3

[haveyouseenthisseries-poll]

Have you seen Heirs to the Land (2022)?

Yes

Partially

No, but I've heard of it

Never heard of it

Voting ended onNov 19, 2024

Original title: Los Herederos de la Tierra.