José Madrigal

José Madrigal is the protagonist of Disney's 2024 animated feature film Encanto 2: A New Generation. He is the middle child, and only son of Cali and Marcos Madrigal, and brother of Hazel and Paola, who has the distinction of not knowing what his magical gift was for years. However, he learns that his gift is his massive imagination.

Background
Born into the Madrigal family, José is the middle child and only son of Cali and Marcos, the younger brother of Hazel, and the older brother of Paola. In addition to being the cousin of Mateo, Rosa, Rico and Faye, José is also the grandson of Mirabel and Lorenzo. José shared the nursery with his sisters, until he received his gift on his fifth birthday and subsequently moved out of the nursery. On the night of five-year-old José's gift ceremony, he touched the door handle of his soon-to-be room, excited about what kind of gift he would get. But, his door did not give him a clear answer as to what his gift was, and any attempt he made at doing something magical resulted in nothing. This left everyone who attended the ceremony confused. Ever since that day, José has been hiding himself away from the family as much as possible, believing that they'd be happier without him. This led him to feel disconnected from the rest of his family, sending him into a depression. Despite his feeling of always being left out of his family, he genuinely loves them, and enjoys every moment he shares with them. But due to his depressed feelings, he can come off as uncaring, miserable, or even bitter towards his family.

Like his first-cousin twice removed Camilo, José suffers from middle-child syndrome.

Official Description
"José is unlike the rest of his family, but not in a good way. He's lonely, depressed, and doesn't spend as much time with the family as he wants to."

"José is a boy who doesn't spend a lot of time outside of his room. Compared to the rest of his family, he's not the happiest of people, and yet, you know that there's somebody who cares and wants to be there for his family."

Development
José was originally conceived as a Madrigal without a magical gift, just like Mirabel, however, it was decided that José would need to have a story unique to him, and so he was given a gift that was kept a mystery to him, as well as a personality unique to him, while still keeping some of Mirabel's story in mind. As opposed to Mirabel wanting to help the family gift or no gift, José was designed to feel worthless to his family, having no idea how to use his own magic.

José's voice actor, Joseph Leanos, described his character: "José is kind of like the Anti-Mirabel, in a way. Mirabel doesn’t have a gift, and yet he does. But HE has no idea how to use his gift. But he also shares a lot of the same feelings Mirabel did in the first movie, except he is a lot more open about it, and doesn't even try to tell himself that he's just as special as everyone else. But underneath all those insecurities is someone who wants to be the center of attention and just have fun and be there for his family."

Personality
TBA

Physical Appearance
José is a 15-year-old Colombian boy with light skin, brown hair, and hazel eyes. He wears a yellow wool sweater that has a darker yellow squiggly spiral design all across it, blue jeans, and brown sneakers.

Powers and abilities
TBA

Encanto 2: A New Generation
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Relationships
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Trivia
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