Characters / Elena of Avalor - Elena

Elena of Avalor Main Character Index
Team Avalor (Elena | Esteban) | Civilians | Outsiders | Villains

Character page for Crown Princess Elena Castillo Flores.

Note: Spoilers for Season 1 are unmarked. You Have Been Warned!

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Crown Princess Elena Castillo Flores

^{Click here to see her as queen} 

Voiced by: Aimee Carrero (teenager/adult), Hailey Hermida (child)

Voiced in Latin American Spanish by: Annie Rojas, Chiara Parravicini (singing)

Voiced in Brazilian Portuguese by: Isabela Souza

Voiced in Japanese by: Ayaka Hashizume

Voiced in Korean by: Wendy

Voiced in Malaysian by: Elizabeth Tan

Voiced in Indonesian by: Chilla Kiana

Voiced in European Portuguese: Teresa Macedo (speaking), Inês Martins (singing)

Voiced in Greek by: Malou

Voiced in Lebanese-Arabic by: Hiba Tawaji

Appearances: Sofia the First | Elena of Avalor

The recently appointed Crown Princess of Avalor. After spending 41 years locked in the Amulet of Avalor and defeating the Evil Sorceress Shuriki, Elena will have to learn how to properly rule her kingdom.

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A-M

• Action Girl: She defeated an Evil Sorceress and reclaimed her kingdom, and that's just the beginning of her story. However, "The Princess Knight" shows that as much of an accomplished fighter she is, she lacks proper training and discipline and as a result of not level-grinding, was no match for a much better trained duelist such as Gabe.
• Affectionate Nickname:
  • Her parents called her "Elenita", which is Spanish for "Little Elena".
  • Her childhood friend, Felicia, calls her "Eli".
• All-Loving Hero: If she sees someone doing what they can to do good or make amends, she will do anything to help them. Unless you're the bad guy.
• And I Must Scream: She was trapped in the Amulet of Avalor for over four decades, and was fully conscious and aware of her surroundings the whole time, as shown when Sofia temporarily gets trapped in the Amulet at the end of Sofia the First. On top of that, not only did she not age, but she didn't need to even eat or sleep.
• Arch-Enemy: To Shuriki, and the feeling is entirely mutual, especially since Shuriki murdered her parents, took over Avalor, and subjected the kingdom and its people to 41 years of misery and tyranny. Upon finally being freed from the amulet in "Elena and the Secret of Avalor", Elena tries to kill Shuriki with her own wand, and when she resurfaces in Season 2, she immediately wants to hunt Shuriki down and kill her.
• Be Careful What You Wish For: Throughout Season 3, Elena vows to make Esteban pay for his past alliance wtih Shuriki. She technically gets her wish when Esteban was petrified into stone. But by that time, she realizes that Esteban is really sorry for his wrongdoings and is sad that he's gone for good. It's only her forgiveness to him that the situation is reversed.
• Berserk Button: Bringing up Esteban's betrayal, which literally throws her surroundings into chaos.
• Beware the Nice Ones: Even an All-Loving Hero like Elena has her limits, namely her parents' murderer Shuriki whom she casts Blaze on with lethal intent in "Song of the Sirenas", and succeeds as well! She also tends to get violent with Ash. And when it comes to treachery, she's not very forgiving, unless they show they're willing to change.
• Big Brother Worship: "Dia de las Madres" reveals that she looked up to Esteban like a big brother.
• Big Good: As she was the one who was granting Sofia powers for good deeds and cursing her for bad ones, primarily to teach her a lesson as well as possibly summoning the Disney Princesses to give her much needed advice when necessary she counts as this for much of Sofia the First at least during her time inside the amulet.
• Big Sister Instinct: She'll jump to save her sister without a second thought.
• Blessed with Suck: Zig-zagged. It's pretty awesome that falling in the crystal well at Takaina not only boosted the Amulet's magic inside her but also supercharged her scepter, so it won't drain her energy anymore. But at the same time, it's made her magic unstable and unpredictable—whenever she feels a strong emotion, not only does her dress change color, but a magical mishap happens, and bottling up her emotions makes it no better. Fortunately, she gets her magic under control.
• Book Dumb: More of a downplayed example, but while Elena isn't stupid by any means, she's not that academically inclined. Her being castle-schooled comes off more as an Informed Attribute. Still, she proves herself to be a great thinker otherwise on numerous occasions.
  • Unlike Isabel, she's not very inclined to science and initially becomes very discouraged (to the point of having what basically amounts to a panic attack) while trying to fix the telescope under duress with Isa and Tomiko until they convince her otherwise.
• Brainy Brunette: She has brown hair and is very crafty and intelligent.
• Break the Haughty: Elena is consumed with hatred when she learns his past alliance with Shuriki and vows to hunt him down whatever at all costs when he escapes. In "Coronation Day", her blind determination allows Ash to release a greater threat to Avalor and trap her in the Spirit World. After a talk with her parents, she realizes that she should focus on protecting her kingdom instead of holding past grudges.
• Brought Down to Badass: The Scepter of Light is damaged in a fight with Shuriki, so she can't use her magic until it's repaired. It doesn't take a lot of episodes for her to get it back.
• Cain and Abel: The Abel to Esteban's Cain, although Esteban is reluctant about it.
• Cast from Hit Points: The Scepter of Light's magic is powered by its user's energy, and overuse of it can seriously hurt the wielder. It's downplayed in Elena's case, because she has both her internal energy and the magic she absorbed from her time in the Amulet of Avalor to rely on, though her use of it to defeat Orizaba caused her to pass out for two days. After falling into the crystal well in Takaina, she and the scepter are fully magical, so she no longer has this weakness.
• Chekhov's Skill: Elena taking up sword lessons from Gabe in "The Princess Knight" becomes helpful later in the shorts, where she fights some thieves using swordsmanship.
• The Chooser of the One: While imprisoned in the Amulet, Elena would determine who would be worthy to wear the Amulet. As she was passed to each user, she tested them by granting gifts and curses based on their deeds. The Chosen One would be the one to free her from the amulet and restore her homeland.
• The Chosen One: As prophesied by Quita Moz, she and her scepter are destined to take part in a greater battle against the Scepter of Night, and it's a battle that will decide the fate of the world.
• Color-Coded Emotions/Living Mood Ring: After receiving a magical power-up from the crystal well in "The Magic Within", her signature red dress now turns a different color and activates a magic power based on her current emotions.
  • Orange: Anger, magically throws and levitates nearby objects and people, can bring inanimate objects to life who then behave destructively.
  • Yellow: Happy, induces happiness in people and makes them want to dance along with her (ex. Isabel involuntarily dancing after a joyful Elena passes by her), brought Flo to life with a giddy personality, and causes light.
  • Cyan: Serenity, returns things to normal if her magic had made them act irregularly.
  • Blue: Sadness, causes rainstorms and causes others to cry when she cries as well.
  • Purple: Anxiety, makes objects spin and roll out of control.
  • Pink: Love, has powers relating to plants and calming people down.
  • Grey: Self-doubt, causes The Walls Are Closing In if in a room.
  • White: Forgiveness (or peace), which is strong enough to undo all of the damage done by the Four Shades of Awesome/Shadows of the Night.
• Company Cross References: A Disney Princess-to-be-Queen who thinks bottling up her emotions will keep her magic in check so that she won't accidentally hurt other people, including her little sister. Not only that, but she has an emotional scene with a man who caused her so much pain to her family, and the revelations that led up to that moment lead to the environment freezing in place, representing that her world has stopped. Huh?
• Contortionist: Drops into 180 degree side splits during "The Princess Knight"
• Contrasting Sequel Main Character: To Sofia. Sofia was a preteen princess whose mother married into royalty, kept her magical abilities a secret, and started her story as an overwhelmed kid who often looked to parents and mentor figures for guidance before realizing her own strengths. Elena starts her story as an older teenager who's almost over-confident in her ability to rule, as she was born rightful heir to the throne, and quickly forms a team of her own peers as her closest circle. Her powers from the Amulet of Avalor and the Well of Takaina also aren't kept a secret, but she still struggles in figuring them out.
• Cool Big Sis: She and Isa have a great relationship, with Elena putting her promise of going to Isa's invention exposition before a very important diplomatic event.
  • While trapped inside the Amulet, she acted as a sort of silent council to the young princesses who've worn it over the years. When she finally meets Sofia face-to-face, Elena greets her like an old friend, speaks in her favor in front of Sofia's parents, and entrusts the Amulet to Sofia after Avalor has been reclaimed (after all, she's seen enough of that Amulet to last a lifetime).
• Create Your Own Villain: Even after getting powers, Esteban really does not want to hurt his family again and keeps trying to escape Avalor rather than fight. Her persistence in tracking him down (and later use of a Blaze spell directed at him) eventually convinces him that he will never have peace until she's stopped. This is addressed in "Coronation Day". In addition, her parents remind her that her job is to protect the kingdom, not seek revenge for what happened.
• Creating Life: One of her new powers after falling into the Well of Crystals. Her emotions at the time will determine how the creature behaves, with happy emotions creating Flo, anger creating the destructive carnival floats, and love calming them down.
• Crystal Prison: She was trapped inside the Amulet of Avalor after Shuriki struck with her a spell that was supposed to kill her. Due to Shuriki's spell on the Amulet, Elena needed a large amount of strong magic to free her, including ancient Maruvian magic and Shuriki's wand. Oh, and she was awake the whole time.
• Crystal Weapon:
  • The Amulet of Avalor can technically apply as this, since it "protected" Elena from Shuriki's vadisima spell and it gained powers after Elena was trapped inside it. It's also confirmed in Sofia the First that it was constructed by the Maruvians with a magical crystal from the Mystic Isles.
  • The Scepter of Light is upgraded to complete crystal in Season 3.
• Detrimental Determination: Her goal to hunt down Esteban after learning his truth has actually done more harm than good. Not only her emoitional state has taken a heavy toll beacuse of this, it also allows Ash to release the Four Shades of Awesome, putting her friends and family and Avalor directly in danger.
• Didn't Think This Through: After being freed from the Amulet, Elena attempted to attack Shuriki with her own wand. But since she wasn't a sorceress, she was unable to use the wand properly, and was almost captured after her attempt failed.
• Disney Death: Two so far, both upon encountering Shuriki.
  • After Shuriki murders her parents, she tried to murder her as well, but her life was spared by the Amulet of Avalor pulling her right inside.
  • During their final battle in “Song of the Sirenas”, Elena was seemingly killed by the Scepter of Night, but her Scepter of Light’s vanish spell worked at exactly the right time and was unharmed.
• Does This Remind You of Anything?: Elena's moodswings and emotional outbursts in Season 3 could be read as her getting emotionally stressed from protecting Avalor from constant threats as well as learning her surrogate brother was (unintentionally, but she doubted it) responsible for killing her parents.
• Empowered Badass Normal: She was strong before she was trapped in the Amulet, and after 41 years inside it, she's absorbed part of its power and gained magic of her own. She gets upgraded against after she falls in Takaina's Well of Crystals early in Season 3.
• Evolving Weapon: After being repaired and later upgraded by the magic crystals at the beginning of Season 3, the Scepter of Light is now made of magical crystals.
• Fatal Flaw: Her emotional impulsiveness. Her temper and her Leeroy Jenkins attitude cause trouble, which is especially highlighted in Season 3 when she's given Emotional Powers by the Well of Crystals, forcing her to learn how to control her emotions in order to prevent Power Incontinence.
• Fish out of Temporal Water: Not an extreme example, as she can adjust fairly easily after being free from her Amulet for 41 years, but she still finds much has changed since her childhood. She didn't even recognize her cousin when she saw him after all those years. "Flower of Light" has her reunite with her childhood friend Felicia, who is now middle-aged, and she initially thought she died when she saw a picture of her on an altar.
• Five Stages of Grief: Elena goes through this with regards to how she's taking the deaths of her parents and after she was released from her amulet:
  • Denial: For most of the first season, she tries not to think much of her parents' death and thinks she is over their deaths, all because she wants to look like the perfect ruler.
  • Anger: Then Shuriki returns, and has since had flashbacks of the day she saw her parents get killed, and she wants revenge against the sorceress for their deaths. Elena succeeds, but it doesn't end there. She then finds out Esteban helped Shuriki invade Avalor, which causes her to go ballistic, refused to forgive him and wanted to exile him. Then when Esteban escapes with Ash, Elena actively attempts to hurt him.
  • Bargaining: This all leads Elena to have very mixed emotions about Esteban's actions leading to the deaths of her parents, and she's told to let it all out. When she does, she disowns Esteban from the family, because all she sees is a reminder that her parents are gone, and she seems to have found calm at last. But she is clearly not over what happened, because when she does see Esteban near Nueva Vista, Elena jumps at the chance to go after him instead of Ash, which leads her, Ash, and Flo to end up in the Spirit world.
  • Depression: The olaball game in the spirit world against Ash doesn't seem to be going well for Elena because she is crestfallen about everything that led her to that moment, so she opens up to the spirits of her late parents and tells them about how losing them hurt her so badly, all because of Esteban's betrayal.
  • Acceptance: Elena's parents tell her that they should've listened to Esteban and prevented Shuriki from taking over Avalor. Since they didn't listen, Esteban joined Shuriki, but they have since forgiven Esteban for it. From that, they tell her seeking revenge will not bring them back and will lead to bad decisions. Knowing how important it is to learn from past mistakes, Elena finally gets the strength to move on and heal from their deaths and is able to think clearly.
• Forgiveness: In "Coronation Day". Esteban sacrifices himself to save Elena from being turned to stone by Cahu, the Time Shade, leading Elena to finally forgive him after seeing that he is willing to change for the better. This act causes her Emotional Powers to reach a whole new level, allowing her to produce a World-Healing Wave that undoes all the damage the Shades of Awesome caused.
• Foolish Sibling, Responsible Sibling: Downplayed. Isabel does get herself into more trouble than Elena but not by a big margin. Plus, Elena has made some impulsive decisions herself.
• Friend-or-Idol Decision: An interesting subversion in "Jewel of Maru". Instead of having to rescue a friend or an item, the dilemma is rescue the falling idol (the titular Jewel of Maru) or catch the bad guys. Elena decides to go for the idol, to seal it away so it's not used for villainous means.
• Fury-Fueled Foolishness: In Season 3, Elena is consumed with rage and hatred at Esteban once his alliance with Shuriki is out in the open, and she allows it to run her actions even after coming to terms with her feelings in "Dreamcatcher," readily trying to capture or kill him and focusing on doing so over trying to stop Ash, the real threat to Avalor. This bites her in the ass come "Coronation Day," where this allows Ash to unleash the Four Shades of Awesome on Avalor and leads to Elena herself being trapped in the Spirit World. The spirits of her parents even tell her that her job is to protect the kingdom, not to seek vengeance, and doing so will only lead to her making bad decisions.
• A Girl and Her X: In this case, a girl and her alpacamundi, Flo. Ever since Flo came to life, she and Elena have been inseparable.
• Girly Girl with a Tomboy Streak: She doesn't show any discomfort in wearing dresses, heels, or jewelry at all times and is family-oriented and maternal. She is also feisty, determined, competitive, and actively participates in many sports.
• Harmful to Minors: The fact that she, a teenage girl, saw her parents murdered by Shuriki, and it traumatized her for 44 years.
• Has a Type: So far, she's had Ship Tease with Gabe — who has a Bodyguard Crush on her — and Marzel — which seems a bit on the tsundere side of things. Both Gabe and Marzel are dedicated rule followers that try to act as the voice of reason to their headstrong yet kind-hearted princesses, much to their exasperation.
• Head-in-the-Sand Management: Elena strives to avert this as much as possible. In fact, she realizes that sometimes if she wants something done right, she has to do it herself.
• "Hell, Yes!" Moment: When in the crystals in Takaina give her a Significant Wardrobe Shift including a Color-Coded Emotions dress and new powers.
• Heroes Prefer Swords: If Elena can't use her scepter, she will resort to using the good, old-fashioned sword.
• Heroic Self-Deprecation: In "Coronation Day", she's convinced she'll never be as good a leader as her father, despite having accomplished many heroic deeds throughout the series, faced off against numerous dangerous villains, and defended the kingdom multiple times whilst putting it as her top priority.
• Her Own Worst Enemy: Over time, defeating her enemies got easier, but the struggles she faced had to do with watching her parents get killed and spending 41 years in her amulet. Elena couldn't properly move on, feeling she could've saved them from Shuriki. Because of that, Elena sought revenge against those who took her parents from her, namely Shuriki, Victor, and it was only made worse when she found out Esteban helped Shuriki, and she disowns him, which causes him to think he won't have any peace until Elena is defeated. However, her parents tell her revenge will only lead to bad decisions, and it will not bring them back. It becomes clear Elena's greatest failure wasn't not saving her parents, but rather, not being able to let go of the past and move on. Once she accepts that her parents are gone, Elena turns her struggle into her greatest strength.
• Heterosexual Life-Partners: She maintains a rather close and personal relationship with Naomi.
• The High Queen: By the end of the series, Elena has passed her test and been crowned as Queen.
• Hypocrite: In season 3, while she has every right to want to punish Esteban for his actions, in "Flower of Light", she is quick to absolve Guillermo of blame for willingly going along with Sanza's plan to permanently separate the living and spirit worlds (even stating that Sanza was the one entirely at fault). She also accepts his Freudian Excuse for doing so (having no family to visit his altar during Dia de las Muertos) at face value, even though she had earlier invoked Freudian Excuse Is No Excuse with Esteban. Then again, it's heavily implied "Flower of Light" takes place before "The Magic Within".
• I Have No Son!: Elena has disowned both of her cousins Esteban and Cristobal for selfishly betraying their familia. She ultimately takes Esteban back, but only after he truly shows he’s willing to change for the better.
• I Let You Win: During the "Ultimate Olaball" match against Ash, Elena realises that the Grand Macaw's statement that the loser will be sent to "the lowest of realms" (combined with his love of partying in the spirit realm) means that the one who loses will be the one sent back to the living world. So she allows Ash to win, meaning her foe receives the "prize" of partying with the Grand Macaw forever, while Elena is allowed to return to Avalor.
• In a Single Bound: She is able to leap the height of a man in "Princess Knight".
• Ink-Suit Actor: Bears more than a passing resemblance to her voice actress.
• Irony: She talks about moving on from the past in "King of the Carnaval", but Seasons 2 and especially 3 show that she's the character who has the most trouble letting the past go and focusing on the future.
• Irrational Hatred: Played With in Season 3. Elena's ballistic reaction toward Esteban since finding out he was complicit in Shuriki's plot to take over Avalor was the realistic, human response in such a situation. However, given that Shuriki went back on her word that no harm would come to his family, he regretted it, and proved himself a good man in the present, it sounded less logical for Elena to place the blame entirely on him. And, it would seem more than a little overkill to alienate him in an island for the rest of his life (though she did allow a vote to be held and had second thoughts about it). At the same time, though, knowing that Esteban didn't plan on having her parents killed did nothing to change the fact that his mistake cost them their lives, whether he wanted it or not, and it certainly didn't soften the blow for Elena. As understandable as Elena's sentiment is towards Esteban, even her friends acknowledge that she is letting her past cloud her judgment.
  • In "Coronation Day", this is further addressed. Francisco outright reminds her about how Esteban helped take back the kingdom from Shuriki, and her parents remind her about how her job is to protect the kingdom, not get revenge for what happened. Ultimately, she forgives Esteban, but not before it dawns on him just how much he screwed up and pulls a Heroic Sacrifice for her.
• I See Dead People: Thanks to absorbing the Amulet's magic, she can see ghosts, albeit only on the Day of the Dead.
• It's Personal: Elena keeps putting hunting down Esteban first over other more important stuff throughout season 3, as she feels his actions as a personal betrayal to her.
• Kick Them While They Are Down: Prone to doing this to Esteban in season 3 upon learning he's responsible for starting Shuriki's reign of terror of Avalor. It eventually bites her in the ass in "Coronation Day" when Ash succeeded in releasing the Four Shades of Awesome because she kept attacking Esteban, who never tried to hurt her even when he turned to the dark side.
• Laser-Guided Karma: She keeps prioritizing capturing Esteban over other important duties. This bites her back when this allows Ash to release the Four Shades of Awesome to Avalor, leading her to realize the harm she indirectly causes.
• The Leader: Being the Crown Princess and all, especially among her small circle of friends consisting of herself, her sister Isabel, Gabe, Mateo, and Naomi.
• Leeroy Jenkins: Let's see:
  • Going to confront Shuriki with her wand immediately upon being freed from the amulet, despite not having any experience with magic, which resulted in the Jaquins having to save her.
  • Going after the Noblins who stole ships from Avalor and just demand them back, which resulted in getting Zerg Rushed by them and almost getting thrown overboard, Strike Two.
  • Going after Orizaba with the Scepter of Light, despite not knowing how to use it properly at the time, which resulted in accidentally helping Orizaba find the artifact she needed to bring about the eternal night, Strike Three.
• Light/Darkness Juxtaposition:
  • Being themed with Light Is Good, she faces off against various Dark Is Evil villains.
  • Played with in regards to Ash, who wears mainly white with black accents.
  • Also interestingly played with in Season 3 in regards to her and Esteban. While she's upgraded to a Rainbow Motif from Takaina, Esteban gains a thunderstorm motif instead (as storms can be associated with darkness).
• Light 'em Up: The Scepter of Light, of course. It can shoot lasers, cast illusions, and reveal things through walls. Quita Moz indicates that it has more powers, all of which are based on controlling light.
• Light Is Good: She wields the Scepter of Light, which can only be used by one with a good heart, against villains.
• Little "No": In Sofia's flashback of Elena's past, Elena lets out a "No..." when she gets trapped in the Amulet.
• Living Legend: Elena has become one from being trapped in the Amulet, returning and defeating Shuriki. Much to Princess Valentina's surprise, Elena certainly lives up to her reputation.
• Love Hurts: The one person that has hurt her the most? Esteban. His actions have led to her parents' deaths and the suffering of her kingdom for decades to come, and his most recent actions are about to endanger their family and kingdom once again. And the fact that he was her brother in all but name just twists the knife in the wound, and she hates that.
• Magic Knight: She's on her way to becoming one, both improving her fencing skills and learning more about the Scepter's powers.
• Married to the Job: A downplayed example. While Elena does make time for her family and friends, she is very focused on her kingdom. She does everything she can to improve it through trade like in "Masks of Magic". Then keeping many traditions alive like the peace festival in "Olaball" to keep her people happy.
• Meaningful Name: "Elena" means "shining light" or "the bright one", befitting her status as the heroine of her story and the holder of the Scepter of Light. This also matches her with her mother, Lucia.
• Mood-Swinger: After falling into the crystal well in "The Magic Within", she gains magical powers tied to her emotions, and as a side effect, she becomes more prone to emotional outbursts, from being more prone to crying, to getting violently angry, to being cheerful. Played for Laughs in the Discovering the Magic Within shorts, where the others are subject to her emotional wrath during mundane activities. Part of Elena's arc in Season 3 is about being able to find a balance in her emotions. By the Grand Finale, she's perfectly controlled and handled her anger emotion.
• My God, What Have I Done?: Her reaction in "Coronation Day" when it dawns on her that Ash only succeeded in releasing the Four Shades of Awesome because she kept prioritizing capturing Esteban over stopping her.

N-Z

• Nice Girl: She's very kind and open-hearted. Unless you're evil, or worse a traitor.
• Nice Job Breaking It, Hero:
  • Had she not gone after Orizaba in the first place in "The Scepter of Light", Orizaba wouldn't have found the Eye of Midnight, because Elena is the one that broke open the pillar with her scepter.
  • In "Captain Mateo", her inability to control her newfound Emotional Powers lead to Esteban falling into the Crystal Forge and gaining magical abilities of his own, allowing him and Ash to escape.
  • In "Coronation Day", her relentlessly going after Esteban allows Ash to release the Shadows of the Night. She later has a My God, What Have I Done? realization over it.
• Oblivious to Love: When she first meets Gabe, she doesn't realize the implications of him giving Friendly Address Privileges to a royal princess and instead takes it as him being a very friendly new guy. Esteban seems to see it, but doesn't care enough to say anything about it.
• Older Than They Look: Despite being 16, she’s technically 57 due to not aging inside the amulet.
• Only Sane Woman: In "Royal Rivalry", she's the only one who seeks to ensure good relations with Princess Valentina so a peace treaty between Avalor and Paraiso can be signed.
• O.O.C. Is Serious Business: Elena is usually informal towards her family and friends, wishing to be treated as an equal by them. And yet in "The Magic Within", after finding out about Esteban's past alliance with Shuriki, she takes advantage of the power she has over him for a council meeting to have him banished to an island, calling him "Chancellor Esteban", and directs orders at Gabe.
• Passing the Torch: Elena gives Sofia the Amulet as her parting gift to her after she's liberated. Elena's place is in Avalor, but she knew from day one Sofia was destined for something greater. By giving Sofia the Amulet, she wanted her to carry her legacy.
• Platonic Life-Partners: With Mateo. They have a very strong bond, but it's clearly a friendship, not a romance.
• Positive Friend Influence: Like Sofia, she is incredibly good at bringing the best out of those around her, and very easily makes friends. Mateo, Skylar, Carmen, Julio, Doña Paloma, Princess Valentina, King Joaquin, King Verago, Princess Marisa, Prince Marzel, Princess Rebecca, and Princess Chloe are extremely good examples.
• Power Incontinence: After gaining new powers from Takaina, she becomes a Mood-Swinger as a side-effect, which is a problem since her powers are caused by her emotions. Especially becomes a problem when Esteban's secret is exposed, which sends Elena into emotional turmoil and thus worsens her control over her powers, but it gets better once she properly vents out her emotions in "Dreamcatcher" and she's able to weaponize it by "Spirit of a Wizard".
• The Power of Hate: After learning Esteban once helped Shuriki and he escaped custody, her power goes ballistic every time she sees him.
• The Power of Love: Her love and forgiveness to Esteban is what frees him from his petrification.
• Pretty Princess Powerhouse: Never afraid to stand at the forefront in the face of danger, and one of very few Disney princesses to actually have a body count, namely Shuriki and Troyo.
• Promoted to Parent: Due to the absence of their parents, Elena sometimes takes on the duties of parenthood regarding her younger sister Isabel.
• Protagonist Title: She's the eponymous protagonist.
• Puppy-Dog Eyes: She can turn these on full-bore when she wants something from someone. Skylar cannot resist them.
• Rainbow Motif: Befitting her Light Is Good motif, she's later upgraded to a Rainbow Motif in Season 3 after she gets her Color-Coded Emotions-changing dress from the Well of Crystals. The "Modern Royal Family" short even has her accidentally create a rainbow through her joy magic.
• Raised by Grandparents: Downplayed. Elena's parents were present and attentive to her and Isabel when they were alive and Elena is already an adult. Despite this, she lives with her grandparents with Isabel and often seek their advice.
• Really 700 Years Old: At the beginning of the show, she is chronologically 57, but she didn't age inside the amulet, so she's still 16. Since time is actually passing in the show, she'd be about in her sixties by now.
• Red Is Heroic: Usually wears a red dress and is the Hot-Blooded heroine.
• Revenge Before Reason: Most of Season 3 centers on Elena focusing on pursuing and capturing Esteban for selling Avalor out to Shuriki over stopping Ash, despite Ash being the much bigger threat. Come "Coronation Day", when this leads to Ash setting the Four Shades of Awesome loose on Avalor and Elena being dragged into the dark side of the Spirit World with her, Elena immediately realizes that Ash's plans only got as far as they did because she kept ignoring her in favor of Esteban.
• Roaring Rampage of Revenge:
  • Part of why she wants to go after Shuriki so badly. See this verse from "The Right Thing to Do", for instance:
    For as long as I live,
    I know I'll never forgive her
    And no way will I rest
    Until the day I deliver
    A sliver of justice
    For what this corrupt witch has taken from me!
    You just wait and see!
  • Is uncharacteristically quiet with burning anger when pursuing Ash and Esteban at the end of "Captain Mateo", and refuses to quit her hunt even as she's clearly vulnerable and out in the open. It takes Gabe needing to cool her down to have her halt.
• Royals Who Actually Do Something: Unlike her cousin Esteban, Elena prefers to avert Head-in-the-Sand Management and take action herself instead of delegating tasks to others.
• She Who Fights Monsters: In Season 3, after she and Esteban become estranged, she is going down this route as she increasingly becomes real enemies with him, allowing Revenge Before Reason to be in the front wheel of her morale when she's up against him and Ash. In fact, when she sees him again, Elena goes ballistic and doesn't even attempt to capture him anymore and instead actively tries to hurt him. After she's able to sort out her feelings about him in "Dreamcatcher", she thinks more rationally about fighting him.
• Shipper on Deck: Is implied to be this for Gabe/Mateo, as she links their hands together when they ask her to take them as her first dance for her coronation.
• Sibling Rivalry: With Esteban, although this is one-sided on his part and he feels like he is The Unfavorite in their family. Devolves into Cain and Abel after his second Face–Heel Turn.
• Signature Headgear: Rarely seen without a sprig of flowers in her hair, specifically apricot mallows. The flowers are indigenous to Northern Mexico, one of the major inspirations for Avalor.
• Significant Wardrobe Shift: After falling in the crystal well and gaining new powers in "The Magic Within", her gold highlights and apricot mallow turn silver/chrome and her dress gains these silver accents as well. Additionally, her dress now turns a different color depending on her emotions due to the magic.
• Silver Vixen: She looks very beautiful and pretty due to not aging inside the amulet. She is chronologically 57, but she didn't age inside the amulet, so she's still 16. Since time is actually passing in the show, she'd be about in her sixties by now.
• Skewed Priorities: In season 3, she places more importance on capturing Esteban than Ash, despite Ash clearly being the bigger (and more overt) threat to Avalor. This mindset backfires on her in "Coronation Day"; attempting to capture Esteban while essentially ignoring Ash allows Ash to free the Four Shades of Awesome, and further results in Ash pulling Elena down into the dark side of the spirit world with her. During a talk with the spirits of her parents, Elena realises that she could have stopped Ash if she hadn't been so fixated on punishing Esteban.
• Stalker without a Crush: In "The Magic Within", she spends all day spying on Ash with her Scepter, getting her friends to do it with her, but it's so she can ensure Ash's location in order to stop her and the threat she poses to Avalor.
• Surprisingly Realistic Outcome: She defeated an Evil Sorceress and reclaimed her kingdom, and that's just the beginning of her story. However, "The Princess Knight" shows that as much of an accomplished fighter she is, she lacks proper training and discipline and as a result of not level-grinding, was no match for a much better trained duelist such as Gabe.
• This Is Unforgivable!:
  • Her general opinion of Shuriki, as she sings in "The Right Thing to Do." During one verse, Elena swears that for as long as she lives, she will never forgive Shuriki or rest until she finally makes her pay for her crimes. Considering Shuriki killed her parents among other heinous acts, Elena's attitude is completely understandable.
  • Her reaction in Season 3 when it's revealed that Esteban helped Shuriki take over Avalor all those years ago. In "Dreamcatcher", when he desperately begs for a chance to make things right between them, Elena tells him point-blank that there's nothing he can do to fix this and he's no longer her family. As of "Dia de las Madres", this may be starting to change, given she better understands what he went through after witnessing past memories of him and calls him "Cousin Esteban", though "To Queen or Not to Queen" shows that she still very much retains negative opinions of him.
    • In "Coronation Day", not only does she finally forgive Esteban after he pulls a Heroic Sacrifice for her, she states she made a mistake not forgiving him.
• Thou Shalt Not Kill: Averted. In "Elena and the Secret of Avalor", she attempts to kill Shuriki with the vadisima spell, and later wants to hunt her down and kill her when it turns out that she's still alive and up to something in Season 2. And when they finally duel in "Song of the Sirenas", Elena actually does kill her.
• Tomboy and Girly Girl:
  • The girly-girl to Naomi's tomboy.
  • Elena is also the tomboy (along with Naomi) to Princess Valentina's girly girl.
• Tomboyish Ponytail: She normally wears her hair that way.
• Took a Level in Badass: In season 3 she falls into the Well of Taikaina and is infused with the power of the crystals within, giving her powerful emotional-based magic.
• Took a Level in Jerkass: Downplayed. She has become more irrational and implusive as she keeps prioritizing capturing Esteban, but still remains nice to her friends.
• Trauma Button: Seeing Shuriki again causes her to momentarily freeze and flashback to her parents' death. If not for Naomi saving her, she'd have been killed herself. She spends the next few episodes struggling with her PTSD while trying to stop Shuriki.
• Troll: Given the implications that it was Elena who was blessing and cursing people with the amulet, then the events of "Cedric Be Good" in Sofia's show reveals her to have a trollish streak as in the episode she was screwing with Cedric by doubling down on curses every time Cedric slipped back into scheming while also giving him powers whenever he did something even remotely nice when she only ever cursed Sofia for serious offences and only gave her powers for equally major good deeds.
• Vocal Tag Team: Starts a Navidad carol with Gabe before the entire city joins in.
• Universally Beloved Leader: Even when she was a child, she just knew how to brighten other kids' days, which earned their admiration. And, she inspires a lot of people in her kingdom and gives good advice even when she can only do so indirectly as Princess Sofia can attest. No wonder Esteban felt jealous.
• Unknown Rival: At the end of "Realm of the Jaquins", she is warned of a darkness that she must face otherwise she won't become queen; it seems that darkness is revealed to be Shuriki, who survived and regained her powers, which she doesn't learn about until "Rise of the Sorceress". Then double subverted in that Quita Moz states that Shuriki isn't the ultimate darkness... while we're introduced to Ash, who she doesn't mean until "Naomi Knows Best", and even then, it's still unclear if Ash (or even a person) is Elena's ultimate obstacle. It isn't revealed until "Coronation Day".
• Unwitting Instigator of Doom: Sentencing Esteban to exile for his alliance with Shuriki had vastly unexpected yet catastrophic consequences. Not only did Esteban ally himself with Ash out of desperation, he gained powerful magic of his own, and he and Ash decided to free Chatana, the infamous "mother of monsters", to threaten Avalor once again. Then again, prior to Esteban's official Face–Heel Turn, he told her he could help her find Ash, but she rejected it in favor of capturing not only Ash, but him as well later on.
• Vengeance Feels Empty: In "Coronation Day", her seeking revenge against Esteban and Esteban alone has resulted in her to making bad decisions such as going after him instead of Ash who used the moment as a distraction for her to release the Four Shades of Awesome, dooming Avalor in the process. Also when Esteban took Cahu's magic bullet and turned to stone in her stead, she is only left with sorrow.
• What the Hell, Hero?:
  • Gives such a speech to Esteban in "Finders Leapers" after his blundering results in the Duende breaking free of their imprisonment, especially since Esteban repeatedly blamed Naomi for his own screw-ups, spent virtually every moment criticizing her, and outright said it was a mistake to put her in charge of the expedition:
    Elena: You haven't been following her, Esteban! You were the one who let the first Duende out, you ignored Naomi at the park, and you set the trap too early. The problem hasn't been Naomi. It's been you.
  • She goes down on Esteban hard in "The Magic Within" when she learns of his betrayal.
  • Gives another one to Esteban in "Dreamcatcher" about how badly he's hurt her.
    Esteban: Elena! I will do anything to make things right between us! [...] Please! Just... just listen!
    Elena: No. It's time for you to listen. What you did to our family, to our kingdom, it makes me feel furious, and hurt, and disappointed, and I miss you, and I'm angry at myself for missing you! [voice cracks] But more than anything, [tears up] I'm just so, so sad... [leaves magically frozen in mid-air drop to the ground]
    Esteban: [looks down in shame] I wish I could take back everything...
    Elena: I wish you could, too... but you can't!
    Esteban: [puts his hand on her shoulder] I am sorry, prima.
    Elena: Prima? As far as I'm concerned, you are no longer familia! [calms down]
  • In "Giant Steps," she reads Naomi the riot act when she ditches the trap to catch Kizin in favor of going after Tziloco for the bounty, leading to Elena suffering a broken arm and Mateo and Gabe being kidnapped. When Naomi insists she needed the money, Elena points out that she could have just asked her (but Naomi was worried that she would be asking for too much after Elena had already given her a boat and that she needed to be independent), and further chews her out for forgoing her responsibilities to the council and her usefulness in Team Avalor, especially when Team Ash is a threat, to pursue her own dreams.
    Elena: You left when we needed you most!
• Wise Beyond Their Years: Despite being physically 16 years old, being mentally 57 years old may have helped. She may be inexperienced as a ruler, but she's very skilled at guiding others along the right path and giving them advice. Probably because she spent 41 years in an amulet trying to guide other princesses.
• Workaholic: "Elena's Day Off" has her being extremely busy and frantic in making sure everything goes well for her coronation, ranging from royals' seating locations, the defeat of Ash and Esteban, and even small things like napkins, to the point where she does not take a single break. Naomi, Isabel, and Ixlan do not approve of this behavior, and try to get her to have fun for Girl's Day.
• You Called Me "X"; It Must Be Serious: Esteban finally calls her prima (the Spanish name for female cousins, like hermano and hermana for brother and sister) after Elena tells him how badly his actions have hurt her and everyone around him. Elena tells him to never call her that again because as far as she's concerned, he is no longer her family.
• You Killed My Father:
  • Shuriki murdered her parents when she took over, which Elena wants revenge and justice for. She succeeds.
  • She comes to hate Esteban for his role in her parents' death to the point that she disowns him and is perfectly willing to blast him.
• You Never Asked: Despite learning that she can see the spirits of the deceased in the first Dia de Los Muertos episode, she only offhandedly brings this up to Abuelo and Isabel in the second and third Dia de Los Muertos episodes respectively.

Weapons

Scepter of Light

A magical scepter, forged by the ancient Maruvians and passed down from monarch to monarch in Avalor's royal family.

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• Cast from Hit Points: The Scepter of Light's magic is powered by its user's energy, and overuse of it can seriously hurt the wielder. It's downplayed in Elena's case, because she has both her internal energy and the magic she absorbed from her time in the Amulet of Avalor to rely on. However, in defeating Orizaba, Elena exhausted herself to the point where she passed out for two days. The new scepter no longer has this weakness, as it is now it's own power source.
• Crystal Weapon: After Elena fell into the well of Takaina, the scepter became fully crystallized.
• Infinity +1 Sword: After Elena fell into the well of Takaina, the Scepter has been supercharged that Elena can wield ultra-powerful magic, and can do so liberally since it no longer drains the user, and can also deflect spells. When Elena fights Ash with the new Scepter, the result is a Curb-Stomp Battle.
• Only the Chosen May Wield: Only good people can invoke the Scepter's power. When Esteban picks it up in "Coronation Day" (intending to throw it to Elena), it glows, which, as Elena points out, means he can use it.
• Only the Pure of Heart: The Scepter of Light can only be used in the hands of good. In the hands of evil, it cannot harm an innocent.

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