#I saw Coco for realsies last night and let's just say

[wee-chlo]

So I saw a post about Ernesto and it made me think and realize something.

Spoilers for Coco. Last chance, amigos.

Ernesto literally had no reason to try and kill Miguel or trap Hector or ANY OF IT.

Like, honestly. What danger did they pose? The Lands of the Living and the Dead adored him. The podunk town he was from had a beautiful monument, the Land of the Dead had a plaza named for him and he hosted huge parties with the best of the best. He was the crowning event on Dia de los Muertos. Hell, there were people who seemed to either not go see their families or cut their visits to the Land of the Living short to try and meet him or see his concerts.

So what threat did this family pose? Hector is a Forgotten conman with a rap sheet a century long from years of trying to cross the Marigold Bridge illegally. Miguel is a twelve-year-old. The Rivera clan appears to be respected (the novelization goes into more detail about how many people know them for their shoes and the quality thereof), but they’re still not about to pose a threat to De la Cruz, especially when the information they have is learned second-hand from the aforementioned conman.

And if Miguel went back to the Land of the Living? What then? I’m pretty sure the only reason they were able to make sure Hector got his due credit was because Coco kept the poems and letters and had the picture scrap, which Ernesto had no way of knowing about.

Which makes me think that as paranoid, self-obsessed and irrational as he was, there may have been something different at work.

Ernesto wanted Hector Forgotten. Not just dead, not just out of his way. Deader than dead. Completely gone. He was willing to go to insane, pointless lengths to do this: kill a child, his own great-great-grandchild as far as he knew, assault several people with the help of his guards, and I would go so far as to say he’s done similar things before, what with the speed that the guards ‘take care of’ troublesome ‘guests’ by flinging them into that sinkhole.

Ernesto is, without doubt, some kind of unstable. A narcissist certainly, maybe also a sociopath.  I’m not an expert. But as far as he’s concerned, Hector was his best friend. And maybe he was, but maybe Ernesto’s view of what a best friend is and what our view of what a best friend is are different things.

Ernesto canonically feeds on praise. His parties are towering, over the top ways for him to have hundreds of people fawn over him in person, and then immediately go outside and be showered with praise and love from thousands more. Hector and Ernesto grew up together from childhood, and a lot of people headcanon them having been orphans or otherwise reliant only on each other.

Hector is a very openly affectionate person. It’s one of his great qualities, how open and honest he is about who he cares about and how much he cares about them. He’s pretty shameless about it really. His interactions with Imelda make this rather obvious, but there’s also his interactions with Miguel, a kid he just met. He’s very physically affectionate, gently gripping him by the shoulders to reassure or lead him away from celebs, literally holding him in his arms during the Un Poco Loco number, holding him when he’s panicking after being thrown into the sinkhole. There’s an obvious instinctive paternal quality to him, but there’s also the fact that he’s just very open about his feelings.

Ernesto needed adulation. Needed affection, love, praise. Hector, for a long time, was how he got it. At first directly, with this younger boy looking up to him as a primo, and then indirectly, with his songs being the reason for the applause he received after shows.

This is just my personal view, but Hector seems like a very easy-going guy. Not a pushover by any means, but I’ve had this thought that being a father and being with Imelda made it easier for him to put his foot down. Sure, Imelda might have been the better disciplinarian, but a united front is important so he needed to be able to learn how to stand firm on things. And while I think he couldn’t be with Imelda if he wasn’t easy-going and willing to let her take the lead, I think if he wasn’t at least a little stubborn, Imelda would trample him underfoot. A man who can bend without breaking is necessary for someone like Imelda, but a man without a backbone isn’t someone she can respect.

So I imagine Hector and Ernesto being all the other had for years… and then Imelda comes into the picture. And Hector is smitten. Enamored. Maybe Ernesto doesn’t get it; the fiery, dominant Imelda isn’t to his tastes but sure, whatever. It’s not like anything’s going to happen. Except something DOES happen. Imelda falls for Hector, they get married, have Coco... And suddenly, Ernesto doesn’t have Hector all to himself. Maybe it’s a romantic thing, maybe it isn’t, but I think it definitely turns into a sort of “If I can’t have you…” Because Hector is all Ernesto had. He was it. He was the one who put Ernesto on a pedestal when they were kids and here, now, he’s the one who can put him on a pedestal for the world.

But then, in Mexico City, Hector puts his foot down. And while we know that he cares about Ernesto and doesn’t want to lose him as a friend, to Ernesto, it’s a betrayal. It’s a declaration that Imelda is more important and to someone like Ernesto…? No. That is not allowed.

Maybe some of the horrible things Ernesto did in the movie was out of fear for his reputation, but the more I think about it, the more I think it was spite. You left? Fine. Suffer.

Watch me ruin this song you wrote for your precious kid, who is apparently more important than me.

Want to go back to Imelda? Why would she want you? You left, and you think I’m about to go cover for you? Maybe if you’d been a better friend, I would have.

Oh, this is your great-great-grandson? That’s even better. Watch me chuck him over the side of this tower and then listen to me go back out there to the adoring crowd, singing your songs while you fade away.