I have a headcannon that an alebrije is created when an animal forms an emotional connection to a human. This can range from a pet (Pepita being Imelda's cat), or a stray dog that is given some love and attention by a boy. So, even one animal given some food by someone, is enough to create an alebrije out of that animal to return the favour and help bring that someone to the Land of the Dead.
What makes an alebrije?
I’ve definitely thought about this before, and the first reason I did is because of Dante’s reaction when he gets his glow on in the movie.
^^This is not the face of confidence. This is the face of a dog that is becoming an alebrije for the very first time. It’s also interesting to note that despite all the time he’s spent in the land of the dead, Dante only turned gained his alebrije form after Miguel said “you’ve been my spirit-guide the whole time!” This definitely seems to indicate that it’s the human’s emotional attachment that grants alebrije status, not the animal’s protective actions.
The fact that Dante’s a Xolo dog (traditionally considered the guides of the spirits of the dead) is probably what allowed him to travel to the land of the dead pre-alebrije, but he only gets his patterns and wings after Miguel accepts him as his spirit-guide.
Pepita’s “land of the living” form also seems to support this.
^^She looks like the sweetest kitty. :)
We know from the novelization and other Coco picture books that this is the exact cat that Imelda owned during life. It seems odd that a winged jaguar spirit-guide would adopt the form of a house cat in order to spend several years keeping a stern widow company. On the other hand, it does seem very likely that Imelda and her pet cat would grow very close over the hard years after Hector’s disappearance.
Pets can sometimes be the best source of comfort for us in our most difficult moments, and I’m convinced that Imelda told Pepita a lot of the most grief-stricken and raw fears of her heart of hearts that no one else ever heard.
This is the kind of long-term emotional bonding that could have absolutely led to Imelda considering Pepita her source of emotional support in life (especially since we know she was too proud to ever confide in another person), and thus Pepita would naturally be her spirit guide in death.
(Can you imagine how surprised they both were the first time they saw each other in the land of the dead and Pepita was this towering winged jaguar? I bet they were both extremely pleased with this development.)
Buuuuut, we also know that it’s not every animal that becomes a spirit guide.
^^For example, all the polo horses at Ernesto’s mansion are skeletons, meaning that animals are plenty capable of crossing into the land of the dead without gaining alebrije status. Since these horses are well-trained and looked after, it means that simply having human attention does not an alebrije make.
We also see evidence of this at the talent show:
^^That’s an awful lot of chihuahuas that didn’t become spirit-guides either. But obviously they were also well-trained and presumably looked after if they’re this attentive to their conductor/owner.
These examples seem to point to the earlier conclusion that it’s the person’s accepting of them as their spirit guide/personal emotional support that grants them this special magical status. Especially when you consider the fact that we see more chihuahuas later in the movie that have gained alebrije status.
^^Which seems to indicate that Ernesto, being of course chronically unable to confide in ANYONE for the rest of his life due to his crimes, had a whole string of beloved pets that he used for emotional support throughout his career.
Which is actually really sad if you think about it. He cut himself off from other people so completely when he killed Hector that he was emotionally distraught enough to create four spirit-guides throughout the course of his life due to his own emotional trauma.
These little guys may seem goofy, but I’m thinking that each of them had countless nights of distracting Ernesto from the too-loud condemning memories clattering around in his own head.
Yikes. Those little guys have earned their turkey legs for sure.
So anyway:
- Yes, it seems that it’s generally normal animals that become alebrijes (which may explain why certain people like Hector don’t seem to have one, perhaps because they never bonded with any particular animal during their lives)
- But no, it doesn’t seem that every hamster, rabbit, goldfish and parakeet you ever owned is going to be endowed with supernatural powers and follow you around after you’ve died.
Which honestly, coming from a person who’s owned literally dozens of pets in their lifetime, I can tell you that’s probably a good thing. x)
[Screenshots via @leylalovescats , gif via @neondragonfly ]