BruAlma

BruAlma
GENERAL
Encanto
Character	Bruno Madrigal
Character	Alma Madrigal
Canonical?	Canon
Status of Relationship	Mother/Son; Reconnected
IN FANDOM
Type (?)	Family

1

BruAlma is the family ship between Bruno Madrigal and Alma Madrigal from the Encanto fandom.

Canon

Bruno is Alma Madrigal's only son and youngest child of her triplet children. Alma had planned to raise Bruno and his older sisters, Julieta and Pepa, in the house she and her husband Pedro were building a life in. Those plans, however, changed the moment their home village was attacked during the start of the Thousand Days' War, turning what was meant to be a night of joy from the birth of Alma's children into a night of dread and chaos. Throughout the Madrigal family's journey with their fellow refugees to find a new place to call home, Alma held Bruno and his sisters in her arms the entire time, keeping her children close and safe. After Pedro was killed trying to keep his family safe from the soldiers chasing the refugees, Alma found herself raising their children on her own. The miracle that infused with Alma's candle may have saved them and gifted Alma and her children a magical Casa to call home, but Alma was deeply affected by the traumatic events that happened moments before the miracle found them. Since Bruno and his sisters were newborn babies (and shown to be sleeping during the flashbacks), they were too young to remember what happened, and Alma had to bear the memories alone.

Being a newly widowed mother and the unspoken leader of the refugees, Alma didn't give herself anytime to heal. She instead focused her time on raising Bruno and his older sisters. When Bruno was old enough to leave the nursery and be given a room of his own, he and his sisters were given magical gifts from Alma's candle. Granting Bruno the ability to see the future. Alma believes that the miracle was protecting them, and that using their gifts would keep it alive, so she has Bruno serve as the town's oracle. After many of Bruno's visions led to disaster and misery, Alma began to favour her two daughters over her son. Since their gifts to heal and control the weather had done a lot of good for the community, along with them blessing Alma with grandchildren to help her keep the miracle candle's flame burning strong, Alma's favor of them was obvious. Bruno, on the other hand, never got married or had any children of his own.

The only time Alma pays Bruno any notice is when she needs something from him, despite the many bad outcomes from the use of his gift. On the night Mirabel wasn't given a gift and the candle showed signs of going out, Alma begs Bruno to look into the future to see why that is. Fearing that the miracle would leave them, she hoped that Bruno would be able to give her answers. The vision that Bruno sees, however, shows an uncertain outcome. Bruno believes that Alma will only see the worst possibility because of how she views him, and would subsequently take that reaction out on Mirabel. So he makes to decision to not tell his mother what he saw, and then disappear from their family's lives, knowing it would be the only way to keep his youngest niece safe from Alma.

With the mountains surrounding Encanto keeping anyone from leaving, Bruno hid himself within the Casa's walls. Alma, not knowing why Bruno left or that he is secretly close by, assumes that her son never cared for their family and abandoned them. Bruno, however, still loves his family despite everything he has gone through. When he was found by Mirabel, who asks him to help her save the miracle, he agrees to look deeper into the very vision that Alma had him see years ago on the night he left. Because Bruno wasn't ready to face Alma when he agreed to help Mirabel, he retreats back to the inner walls of Casita after he did his part. He was worried that Alma would see him, if he stays out any longer. Before Bruno went back into hiding, Mirabel promises to bring him home to the rest of their family after the miracle is saved. Mirabel later confronts Alma about her treatment of the family. During this fight, Alma blames Mirabel for Bruno's disappearance. This gets Mirabel to tell her grandmother that Bruno loves their family as much as she does, and that Alma was the one who got Bruno to leave.

After the miracle's flame died and the Madrigals lost both their powers and their home, Alma realized the pain she has caused Bruno and the rest of their family. By forcing them to be perfect in order to keep the miracle with them, she had cast Bruno aside for not reaching her standards. Now that she is aware of this, and that Pedro would want her to cherish Bruno and the rest of the family he helped her to start, she is finally able to move on from his death. While this was happening, Bruno managed to gather up the courage to stand up to his mother, so he can defend Mirabel from her. Although Bruno was in the middle of telling his mother off and for her to not blame Mirabel, Alma was happy to see her long lost son and her hug came as a surprise to Bruno. Who wasn't expecting Alma to show him such affection, just as he wasn't expecting his sisters to welcome him home.

Now that Bruno is welcomed back into his family, he helps Alma and the others to rebuild their home. They resolve to make a fresh start where Alma won't force them to live their lives as their gifts, and accepts that Bruno, their home or any of their other relatives don't have to be perfect.

Fanon

Despite the way Alma had treated Bruno and a few other members of their family, people still like to think that Alma was kind to her only son when Bruno was a child. There have even been those who have compared BruAlma with MiraAlma, since Alma was one of the key people who had Bruno and Mirabel be marked as the black sheep of their family.

There are many aftermath fanworks of the two catching and making up for lost time, with Alma trying to be a better mother to him than she was originally. Many fanworks portray them slowly repairing their damaged relationship by talking through their trauma in healthier ways. There have also been works of Bruno's child years in Alma's care, showing how their relationship slowly deteriorated over time. Interestingly, some fans headcanon that Bruno was initially the "favorite" child since he was the only son, and possibly a bit of a Mama's boy. This likely comes from official material which states that Bruno was "the star of the family" when he first got his gift. However, as the visions grew worse, his community and Alma herself started to turn their backs on him.

In the "Bruno Villain" AU, Alma is sometimes presented as the one who pushed Bruno into becoming a villain. From the way she treated him and feeling that she loves the miracle more than him, along with the miracle being the reason for the powers that caused him nothing but misery. Making his acts to destroy the magic personal, knowing that it would hurt Alma and so he can be free from his cursed future sight.

On AO3, there is over 377+ gen fanfics on the two.

Fandom

FAN FICTION

Alma & Bruno tag on AO3

Variations

BruMiraAlma refers to the ship between Mirabel Madrigal, Bruno and Alma

Madrigal Family refers to the ship between Pedro Madrigal, Julieta Madrigal, Agustín Madrigal, Pepa Madrigal, Félix Madrigal, Mirabel Madrigal, Isabela Madrigal, Luisa Madrigal, Antonio Madrigal, Dolores Madrigal, Camilo Madrigal, Bruno and Alma

Mama Alma refers to the ship between Julieta Madrigal, Pepa Madrigal, Bruno and Alma