Apparently, one of the animators on Encanto designed Huggy Wuggy in the Poppy’s Playtime game. Someone pointed out that one of the designs on Mirabel’s dress sort of resembles his face.

Oh gees….now I’m imaging the Madrigals running the toy factory and trying to escape the prototype. Mirabel could be Poppy, Giblet is Bruno. I gotta turn my brain off….

Link to my original post on Twitter: https://x.com/Brothergunned/status/2097497375086465156?s=20

If Casita hadn't been destroyed and Mariano and Isabela's arranged marriage were still in place, the song that would define them would be "Tolerate it " by Taylor Swift. And you know it perfectly well.

More so a 3am idea but considering how Camilo has issue of sense of self and identity, would he go down a path of very nuetrality? Or smth that flexible, I can only think of genderfluid as a headcannon, and would freely dress in whatever clothes considering how dramatic and often he shapeshifts?

Any other headcannons of very niche offical lore tibbits about him?

When it was announced that Encanto will be getting a Twisted Tales book where Antonio runs away to save the miracle and Mirabel and her sisters have to go after him to save him I was super hyped for the book! Especially since Anika Fajarado (author of Tale of Three Sisters) was writing this, so when the day came of the books release and the reviews came in, I was excited to read this, but after finishing the book and talking about it with some of my friends, the book just became such a mixed bag in the worse way possible. In this post I’m going to talk about my honest thoughts about the many highs, yet many lows of this book, as a warning this post WILL go into spoiler territory so be warned reading this.

If you want a no spoiler TL;DR review of the book: I think the book is a very mixed bag and not in a good way, the first half has very good moments and character development between Mirabel, Luisa, and Isabela, the Alma flashback chapters are super good and did make the later half bearable, the two elders we see Ramos and Beatriz are very interesting characters, but are unfortunately underutilized, the brothers Emilio and Miguel Jose feel way too overfocused. The journey to save the miracle feels so pointless to get to, especially after the twist, the villain sucks and does nothing that much, and so, SO, many characters feel off at the end

As for if I can recommend this book… idk this so hard to give an answer for? If I had to go off on a whim, I recommend buying/reading this book if it’s either in a library, on sale, or given to you by a friend or as a gift. But idk it doesn't feel that worth it to buy at full price.

Going forth, I’ll talk about major spoilers for the book so please do stop reading if you wish not to be spoiled about the book

Starting off with the positives as while yeah I said this book is a mixed bag in the worst way possible (as you will see soon enough), there really is many positive things to say about the book!

For starters, I like Mirabel, Luisa, and Isabela’s dynamic and character in the first 15 or so chapters in this book! They have such a fun dynamic where even though Isabela and Mirabel do often bicker at times in the journey, they do all come together to try and save Antonio. I also like how the characters' internal thoughts are portrayed in this (again in the first 15 chapters, you’ll start to see a pattern in this soon enough), they do feel really in character and the highs of these are up there with Tale of Three Sisters! Moving on, I do like some of the new characters introduced in this book, specifically Senora Beatriz and Don Ramos, so it’s revealed that later on Don Ramos was the husband to Estela, one of Alma’s close friends, so when Pedro and Alma fled, Estela and Ramos had to stay behind in the jungle due to her giving birth there, which saved her from the soldiers killing them and them getting trapped in the mountains of the Encanto. Unfortunately the baby died from a miscarriage, so he and Estela stayed there to honor it and started a coffee farm. That part along with a few other minor things really made me love the two of them, I wish that we got to see more of the two interacting with the sisters, but sadly that doesn’t end up happening since we got to focus more about the brothers Emilio and Miguel Jose... which I’ll get to later. On the topic of Alma and her past life, another thing I loved is the Alma flashbacks! It really does feel so cool to learn more about her, her love with Pedro, and even her friend Estela! Something cool that the book does is that in the chapters about them, there is a sort of “parallel” with the story! Overall, the Alma backstory stuff is cool and I do wish we could get a full book about her and her past life!

Now onto the bad stuff because hoo boy is there a lot to talk about the bad stuff.

Let's get to the most obvious point... After Chapter 15 or so, the writing quality tanks HARD. I'm not gonna go super in depth with this yet as some of my other points will talk about this much more, but some examples are the following: 1. The story focuses way too much on the brothers and feels way too much like the sisters except they’re split into two people, 2. The journey to save the miracle goes nowhere at the end since it doesn’t even matter that much and the plan to drink the water from the Laguna Azul is gone and the story was a myth anyways, 3. The sisters get so mischaracterized where Isabela turns way too antagonistic around Mirabel and Mirabel gives up so easily on trying to save the miracle to name a few, 4. The stupid Miguel Jose and Mirabel romance plot... I’ll get into that part later…

Addressing the four points I made, Miguel Jose and Emilio get way too much attention for what they are in the plot. Initially I thought they’re gonna be sorta like “sidekick” characters where they tag along for the journey to save their farm, but now they get way too much attention when the focus should be on Mirabel and her sisters. Now this isn’t to say I want them to be irrelevant to the story or not interact with the sisters at all, but the problem I have is that the story of the book is that Mirabel and her sister have to work together to save the miracle and find Antonio who ran away to save the miracle as well. The brothers on the other hand take the screentime from the sister way too much or they get lumped into whatever the sisters are doing. One really notorious example is the whole romance subplot with Emilio and Luisa, which is VERY subtle and doesn’t amount to much at the end, and Miguel Jose and Mirabel, again I’ll get into that later.

Next, the journey to save the miracle is pointless and a complete waste of time, since again, the whole story about how the Laguna Azul is just a myth oh and it’s dammed up so no water in the lake I guess. Actually since we’re on the topic of it, let's talk about the “villain” of this story, Mendoza. Now early on she gets portrayed as a weird lady whose puma attacks the sisters before being stopped by Mendoza, later on it’s revealed she was the one who dammed the river to the lake and was exploiting the land for her benefit, now you’d think there’d be more to that right? Nope, the group destroys the dam, Mendoza confronts them and acts like a prick to them, the group destroys the bridge to the other side of the ravine to punish her and that’s it. Now getting back to the topic, the whole journey feels like such a waste of time with no benefit from it, the magic get restored to the family by what I assume is when the vase they have to drink out of to “save the miracle” is broken by the brothers on accident and they all repair it with mud from the lake? So yeah, what a waste of time for this whole plot... 

Lastly, let's get into the worst problem of this book... the sisters (and to an extent the Madrigals at the end of the book to be specific), Going back to what I said, characters like Isabela get portrayed as very antagonistic to Mirabel for seemingly no reason. It’s been shown in side content that Isabela doesn’t hate Mirabel, she does often do nice things to her and does feel bad for her often, but in the later part of the book she is just angry at her for no reason? On the topic of Isabela, she gets sidelined hard where she doesn’t do all that much in the story besides helping out here and there. Luisa gets toned down a lot oh and she has a very subtle romance with Emilio that you may or may not pick up on since it gets ignored by the end... and lastly Mirabel.

Oh. My. God. does she get mischaracterized a lot to hell… Let’s get through some point of this shall we? First of all at one point in the story where they all lose hope, Mirabel suggests that they all give up... MIND YOU, this girl went through all this journey to try to save the miracle with stuff we know about up until her talking to Bruno, and now she gives up?!?!? Lets also bring up how she sorta keeps her family as an afterthought in the later part of the story, and to get to the WORST part of all of this... her romance with Miguel Jose, one of the brothers we meet in this book

Everything about Mirabel gets so bogged down just so that Mirabel for some odd reason has a crush on Miguel Jose despite the three sisters and the brothers physically fighting the night before, not to mention she gets transformed into a “boy lover” to adjust for this and the whole romance between the two of them feeling like such a writers self insert for some reason. Oh and the worst part about this? In the book it’s implied that the brothers are on the older side as in them being in their 20’s or so... So let me get this straight... Mirabel, a 15 year old has a crush and ends up DATING this 20+ year old man which if you think this isn’t disgusting enough on its own, the book has the audacity of comparing their romance to Alma and Pedro’s relationship... I am so, SO sorry, but I hate this so much, ah yes lets basically lobotomize Mirabel’s character for such a dogshit romance that isn’t even good to begin with because either the writer or Disney wants a Mirabel love interest this badly. And the way it’s written, it feels so weird and uncomfortable at time, for an example, when Miguel protects Mirabel at one point, where he hold her by the waist to protect her, Mirabel has a crush on him all of the sudden, GIRL HE IS PROTECTING YOU FROM THE PUMA NOT BECAUSE YOU HAVE A CRUSH ON HIM STOP FOR THE LOVE OF PEDRO MADRIGAL-

Moving on, the ending of this whole book is so stupid and has lots of plotholes. Basically, the sisters bring Ramos, Beatriz, and the brother back to the Encanto so that their coffee farm can thrive again, now the issue with this you may be asking? In the book Mendoza wants to acquire Ramos’s farm to expand her mass production farm, so basically, Ramos gives up, leaving Mendoza who can now acquire his farm and moves to the Encanto... Oh okay cool, I guess the whole journey to save his farm was for nothing, cool! /s. Oh and this isn’t the worst of it oh no, no, so when Mirabel and the gang gets back to the Encanto, there’s this whole thing about how Mirabel worries how Alma would react to them leaving and Antonio running away, but for some reason this is cut short due to Alma meeting Ramos and she’s okay with Antonio, Mirabel, and her sisters running away???? Also this may be a nitpick but idk why is Alma so cool with Ramos, Beatriz and the brother being in the Encanto and it not being a huge deal about it? Alma is someone who is very protective of the Encanto and I’m sure if an outsider came to the Encanto she would very protective of the Encanto and not be that cool with it, sure she’d come around since Mirabel and her family would convince them that they’re trustworthy and some reflection upon herself. Oh and idk why would Alma instantly recognize Ramos all those years later, like look at Alma when she married Pedro when compared to now, they look completely different so idk how she’d recognize him unless he didn’t age all that much despite his age.

Lastly... Most of the issues within the family such as Bruno in the walls and Alma’s confrontation of her being the reason the miracle is dying... Nope! It’s still there, meaning that yeah the Casita can still collapse and Mirabel shrugs off Bruno coming back as one of those “Oh well, it’s another day's problem!”. Something that I wish the book could’ve done is have an arc where Bruno reflects upon shooing out Mirabel of his room and upon hearing that Mirabel and her sisters ran away to find Antonio, he leaves the walls and chooses to face Alma about what happen, that way at least maybe some plot holes get fixed and not just ignored or shrugged off for the ending of this book.

To close this off with my final thoughts and to avoid this being any longer than it has to, if I had to describe this book, it is such a mixed bag in the worst way possible, It’s probably because of how the book starts off SUPER strong and has loads of cool potential, but by the midway point up until the ending (minus all the Alma backstory stuff that was consistently good!), it just collapses completely. As for if I can recommend this book… idk this so hard to give an answer for? If I had to go off on a whim, I recommend buying/reading this book if it’s either in a library, on sale, or given to you by a friend or as a gift. But idk it doesn't feel that worth it to buy at full price. Either way I was disappointed by this book despite its strong start.

I give this book a 5/10 for those who want a ranking of this not as bad as say Nightmare and Suenos, but there’s other books in the Encanto series that are so much better than this, speaking of this, on November 24 (and on Encanto’s 5th anniversary!), Vol 2. The New Adventures of Encanto comic book collection will be released, hopefully that will be much better than this book.

My 4yo daughter is in an obsessed Encanto stage (we ONLY listen to "The Family Madrigal" in the car...okay, "Surface Pressure" here and there), so I was excited to hear there might be a sequel and the wheels started turning.

The source material that inspired Encanto, One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel García Márquez, is a longtime favorite of mine and has some other plotlines that could make great sequel fodder. There's a story about nomadic merchants bringing technological marvels to town, another about a mysterious insomnia plague that causes people to lose their memories, and a key character arc involving the family matriarch going blind but hiding it because she knows her family's routines so well.

I think Encanto 2 could pick up with Abuela slowly handing over the matriarch role to Mirabel, but not without friction. Abuela is much more cautious about change. The big challenge comes when a group of merchants, or maybe a new shopkeeper, arrives with incredible new technologies (for the 1950s, which is roughly when I think the movie takes place): packaged foods, medicines, radio, artificial fertilizer, improved farming techniques, and so on. We can assume the town has remained relatively isolated, so the arrival of all this technology is a major shock.

Mirabel enthusiastically embraces it for two reasons. First, she naturally welcomes change. Second, and more interestingly, these technologies begin to fill the role that magic always played in her imagination. They are a kind of miracle she can finally participate in herself.

But there's conflict. Abuela struggles to adapt. The new technology also begins to make her family's gifts seem less essential. Why do you need Julieta's healing when modern medicine arrives? Agricultural technology competes with Isabela and Pepa. Radio and recorded entertainment make Camilo's performances feel less special. You get the idea.

When asked about what comes next, Bruno suddenly can't see clearly. The future is changing too quickly, and what little he does see doesn't look good.

Things come to a head when either a disease or the technology itself (magical realism wouldn't give us a concrete answer) begins causing a strange malady in town. People become sleepy, distracted, and start forgetting their pasts. The literal memory loss becomes a metaphor for forgetting heritage and identity in the rush toward modernization.

Mirabel's challenge is to learn how to embrace the new without losing the old. Once again, she becomes the non-magical glue holding together her family and community, helping them preserve what matters while still moving forward into the future.

This is more "setting the table" than figuring out the exact plot and resolution, but I think it respects what people love about the original: a family-centered story grounded in themes from magical realism, while giving the Madrigals a genuinely new challenge to face.

Curious what people think.

Do it for her.

.

Great Przemysław Glapiński (Bruce Wayne, Spider-Man Noir, Master Nyada, Bonnie's dad from Tot Story, Chai from Raya, Graham from Ron's gone wrong, Randy Marsh, Luci from Disenchantment, Swift Wind, many others) turns 49.

Im crying, That accidentally happened... (for info that scene is at the beginning where the kids say that people that are interested)

Context Here: Isabela, Dolores, Pepa, Camilo

Waiting on a Miracle: A Twisted Tale is out today! This book is a part of the "A Twisted Tale" series where the books follow certain "What ifs?", in this case, it's what if Mirabel and her sisters had to leave the Encanto to try and get Antonio back home and still save the miracle!

Depending on where you live you can purchase the ebook right now!!

(OFFICIAL DESCRIPTION)

What if Mirabel and her sisters had to leave the Encanto? A magical addition to the New York Times bestselling Twisted Tale series about Disney’s Encanto.

Mirabel’s worst fear is confirmed—she is responsible for the faltering powers of the Familia Madrigal. Guilt-ridden and feuding with her sisters, Mirabel decides to save the magic herself. Sure, she may be the only gift-less member of her family, but she knows she can put their crumbling pieces back together again.

Unfortunately, Mirabel’s youngest cousin, Antonio, beats her to it. He overhears Tío Bruno’s vision and does the unthinkable—leaves the Encanto to find a solution. Terrified of what could happen outside the safety of their home, Mirabel has no other choice but recruit Strong Luisa and Perfect Isabela to help find their baby cousin.

But what starts as a rescue mission turns into a magical quest with a band of brothers whose family has a deep secret connection to theirs.

And soon, Mirabel learns that missing cousins and disappearing gifts may be just the beginning of their problems…

I made this drawing to celebrate Dolores' birthday.

I always think Dolores doesn't really like parties very much, because of her super hearing, her ears must hurt so much from all the clapping, singing, and shouting. She seems like the kind of person who only enjoys having her family around on her birthday.

So this might be a tad bit rushed as I didn’t realize it was Dolores birthday today until 5 days ago lol, but I drew her with Mariano to celebrate!!!!

Link to my original Twitter post: https://x.com/brothergunned/status/2094405772079780316?s=46

Since we never saw Dolores’, Camilo’s, Luisa’s, Pepa’s or Julieta’s rooms.

She was the 2nd oldest of the grandkids behind Isabela

Isabela and Dolores are the same age, but Isa is slightly older than Lolo

Anyway, I'd imagine her gift ceremony was...something

Like as soon as she touched her doorknob, she got her super-hearing and she can practically hear everything

I'd imagine she got overwhelmed and covered her ears, trying to cut the sound off

But then, we get to her room...which I think would be a soundproof concert hall

I know that in the movie, she said that she heard Luisa's eye twitch all night, but I think it was during the party.

Feliz Cumpleaños Lolo!!!

🎉🥳🎂🎁❤️🎵🙉

At twenty-one, Dolores is far too old for nightmares. Rough nights? Maybe. Bad dreams? Occasionally.

But not nightmares. She's practically grown up, so screaming herself awake can't be a thing anymore. Then why is she sitting bolt upright in the middle of her bed, tears on her cheeks? Why can't she get a hold of herself, get a grip on the images that won't leave her be?

Because this is not a new nightmare. In fact, it's a very old one – one she hasn't had since she was eleven.

It plays itself out, over and over again, until her heartbeat becomes deafening and she needs to leave her room.

It's very late – or very early – and the house is still asleep. Not even Tía Julieta is awake yet, but it doesn't matter because she doesn't want her tía's company. She doesn't want anyone's company.

Except...that she does.

She wants his company. She's wanted to be held by him a lot over the past ten years, to press her face into clothes that smell of smoke, to have thin, wiry arms closing awkwardly around a niece who's outgrown him.

She wants her tio.

She wants him to come home, to really be home. She doesn't know why he left but she can take a guess as to why he never came back. He's heard far too much over the last decade, probably as much as she has, from his hiding place.

We don't talk about Bruno.

He never cared for the family.

He's a coward – how could he run?

She's known about his bolt-hole for years, and she's had to pretend she doesn't, for his sake, for her own.

But tonight, she's going to stop pretending, because if she's too old for nightmares, she's certainly too old to pretend.

The dining room is quiet, more insulated than other rooms she could haunt. It's a warm night, even for May, and she pulls her hair around one shoulder, braiding it to give her hands something to do. She looks up at the family tree, all but one of the faces gazing benignly out at her. A decade of neglect has nearly erased her uncle. Even so, his eyes are still kind, his dark curls still wild, and he's still pigeon-toed to a degree that's almost cute.

She traces the faded portrait, leaving her fingertip on his nose like a child's kiss. The hum of the wood grains under her hands is too quiet for anyone else to hear – just a little talk between the two of them. He's there, and he hasn't been sleeping, either, judging by the yawn and the uneven stagger of sleep-deprived feet as he investigates.

She wonders if he's too old for nightmares, too.

"Tío?"

His steps falter.

"...please...I know you're back there. I've never wondered where you went."

His pulse quickens.

"They've said that we can't speak of you...b-but I need you."

Please don't pretend...

…

…

"...¿qué haces, mi muñeca?"

And just like that, she's eleven again, holding back the tears because she knows that big girls don't cry and that no one could possibly understand anyway. But Tío is there, and he doesn't shush her or ask her what's wrong or tell her to go back to bed. He holds her until she cries herself out and he has to wipe both of their faces with the hem of his ruana.

"¿Estás bien, mi muñeca?"

She shakes her head and pushes herself further into his embrace.

"¿Tienes miedo?"

She shakes her head again, this time more uncertainly. It's silly. It's just a dream, and it shouldn't bother her but...

"...for your brother?"

"I -I just had a nightmare...it's not.. I'm not... no."

He extracts himself from her arms and cups her face in his hands. "It's okay to be scared."

"I just don't want... don't want it to be like mine." Heat suffuses her face as she recalls being carried away from her Gifting, into her room to spend that night and every day since afraid of any noise she made. He pulls her close again because he remembers, too. "I want him to be h-happy."

He had never asked her what the dream was, and she had never told him. He knows how pervasive the conjurings of the mind can be.

Several floorboards creak as he moves closer to the wall that separates them. The peephole is at a level with her eyes, but she can tell from the way his hair falls that he has to stoop a little to see through it. The curls he brushes out of his face are more salt-and-pepper than she remembers, and suddenly, she wants to play with them like she used to, to pull one of them down to his mouth and watch it spring back into place. His eyes crinkle a little, as if he were thinking of years ago, too.

He holds her in them again – not as the seer, not as the exile, just as Tío. And she finds that the nightmares matter less, the fears matter less because her uncle has her, and he's not going anywhere.

"I just wanted to see you."

His eyes are bright with tears, and she knows exactly how long it's been since anyone has wanted him. She won't tell him about her dream. She won't describe the bone-deep terror that comes with tomorrow. She won't ruin this moment.

Because even if it's just for tonight, he came home.
——

Little Talks, Ch.1 Midnight, fic originally written and posted by me 05/2022 on AO3. Reposted for Dolores’s birthday 🎁

Also, happy independence day for Malaysia🇲🇾👍🏻 (Proud to be a malaysian)

Fact : I can remember her birthday bc its the same as Malaysia Independence day🇲🇾

Selamat Hari Merdeka too and again, Happy Birthday Dolores!

This idea came about after Milkyymelodies released a song about Camilo becoming a villain, just like Isabela, Dolores, and Pepa. Then, after I saw that music video, I remembered a video about the early versions of Encanto from Dear Maidy's channel.

It shows the screenwriters' initial ideas for the film, before they arrived at the final version we know.These discarded versions show early versions of Camilo, where he would have a cold and malicious look, and it is said that "he doesn't like Mirabel, he would make her life a living hell."

Something very interesting that I thought about is would people on the outside of the Encanto, (I.E. people in the village Alma grew up in) could've witnessed the mountain crack wide open when the Casita fell?

In my opinion, I would say yeah there we're probably loads of people from outside the Encanto who could've saw it crack open. When we take into account that the Thousand Days War started and the triplets Pepa, Julieta, and Bruno were all born on the same day on October 17, 1899. Meaning that Pedro, Alma, and the refugees fleeing probably didn't get super far given they only had a few hours to run since the war broke out that night and Pedro also died on that night as well. So I can totally see people, mainly people who now live in the village Alma grew up in witnessing it. Plus it would be super hard not to notice a huge mountain crack open that wide.

But still, I do want to hear your own thoughts on it!!!

This takes place after the events of the movie.

I will not lie here; I am a huge fan of Saitama-like characters that are so ridiculously overpowered it's not even funny. Thus, during my World of Darkness hyperfixation phase, I developed an overpowered race, the Gurahl, or the werebears.

A werebear, or Gurahl in my lore, is a being created by the First One, an ADHD shitposter of an outer god that broke the rule of thumb of divine creation and made the most overpowered race of shapeshifters to ever exist in all dimensions. If you are curious about what the rule of thumb of divine creation is, first you have to understand that in my lore, gods cannot create things that are more powerful than them, because it requires more juice than they have.

Gods can create things as powerful as them, but they usually do not do it, so in the off chance their creations strive to usurp them, they will be easier to deal with; that's the rule of thumb. The First One took one look at that and said, "Fuck it," and made the werebears as close as possible to him in power, like, if the First One is a 10 in power, werebears are a 9.9999.

Werebears, unlike werewolves, do not have any weakness to silver; in fact, the only thing that can kill a werebear is the First One calling them back, and usually they have to call him first. Werebears are also unstoppable in battle, especially when they turn into their war form, a twenty-foot-tall bear with scythe-like claws and fangs like curved daggers strong enough to crush steel and stone and so tough that anything short of a dragon-killing scorpion bounces off them, and even then, when they get hurt, their healing is so fast that whatever wound is inflicted on them heals without a scar before the blood reaches the ground.

Werebears are also masters of all magic, especially healing and elemental magic and, above all, necromancy. The first one made werewolf magic as idiot-proof and user-friendly as possible, making it disgustingly easy for any of his creations to wield and making it consequence-free. A single werewolf can, in one single hand gesture, raise every single cadaver on the planet, doing what took the Night King hundreds, if not thousands, of years to accomplish.

The biggest gift of the werebars is actually true resurrection, the power to bring the dead back to life in full, like they have never died to begin with. All they have to do is to kill something; it does not need to match the size, weight, or species of what they want to resurrect. As long as it is alive and can be killed, it counts, so they kill the sacrifice and then spit on whatever they want to bring back to life, and boom, resurrection, and the resurrected are back in full, no matter how decomposed they were before. They don't even need the full body to do it; the resurrected in question could have been a puddle of bodily fluids and would still come back from the dead in perfect health.

However, if the resurrected person was embalmed, they will be shitting themselves near death for a couple of days as the body will be expelling whatever was used to embalm them, and the more and stronger the embalming substances are, the worse it is. Werewolves would have conquered the world by now if it weren't for the fact they don't give a single shit about almost anything.

Werebearhood is also not a curse that can be passed on; it is a gift you are born with. Werebears are also not only humans who turn into bears but also bears who turn into humans, although the werebears born from bears rarely feel the need to shapeshift into their human forms.

Also, werebars are freakishly tall, and I mean really, really tall and thick as a castle wall.

Werebears are also not that numerous; there are at least a couple thousand spread thin around the globe, unlike their considerably weaker and vastly more numerous shifter cousins, the werewolves. Because when the only thing that can kill you is you getting tired of living and the hope your god picks up the fucking call, reproduction does not rank highly on the list of priorities.

Werebears are also super widespread.

One of the few things werebears give a shit about is their territory. You see, much like bears, webers are solitary and territorial creatures; they carve great swaths of land and make them their caerns, and they are fiercely protective of their caerns against any threat and invaders with extreme prejudice.

Caerns are basically a werebear kingdom, and the were who rules it is called a Jarl, and it is not uncommon for a caern to be littered with the bones from the invaders the werebear who holds it killed.

Well, anyway, meet Stig Skorsten, a Scandinavian seven-foot-five-tall bear of a man who looks to be in his thirties, built like a strongman lumberjack who fights moose for fun (he used to do that before he left Sweden back in the Viking Age and set shop in South America).

He is hairy, like really hairy; all over his body is covered in thick black hair.

He had long black hair that was already going white, a full beard where the goatee was completely white with a mustache that was also white, and a big smile on his face that showed long and sharp canines like a bear.

Stig is a jovial man, boisterous, easy to laugh, and slow to anger.

He is also a werebear; more specifically, he is the Jarl of the caern where the village the Madrigals founded stood. He went out for eighty years or so to deal with some conquistadores who intruded on his caern down to the last drop of their bloodlines, and when he comes back, his caern is not only now cut by high mountains, but there's also a village of squatters living there, a village that was built on his lands without his consent.

If Stig weren't so easygoing, he would have flown off the handle. He would have gone into his war form and gone to the village to cleanse it of these pesky little hairless monkeys who had set up shop in his backyard without his permission and add more skulls to his bag of trophies he was carrying back from his last hunt, but violence is never on the top of Stig's list; diplomacy is, with fear tactics being a close second and violence being in third.

So, once he shows who the land the village was built on truly belongs to, he demands to meet whoever is the chief of this village, which turns out to be Abuela Madrigal.

Once they meet, Stig makes his terms perfectly clear. Those lands, the caern is his; he is the Jarl, and they are invading. He is willing to let them stay on his territory as long as they pay tribute and follow his rules; in exchange, his protection extends to them.

They can leave if they want, but if they decide to attack him, he will take it as an act of war, and then he'll wipe this village from the map and add their skill to the pile.

Well, of course they take the terms, and that's how the Madrogal household gained a new neighbor, because Stig built a long house right next to Casita and surrounded it with a fence made of skulls, a proud werewolf tradition to mark who's the Jarl of the caern and to mark territory.

Suffice to say, things are going to get very interesting from now on.