Western Animation / Elena of Avalor

Every legend begins with someone special.

Bienvenida, Princess Elena.

Elena of Avalor is a 2016 CGI-animated Disney Junior/Disney Channel spinoff of Sofia the First, created by Craig Gerber. The series premiered on Disney Junior on July 14, 2016 and Disney Channel on July 22, 2016, with its pilot film airing on November 20, 2016. Elena was introduced as Disney's first Latin-American bilingual princess.

In the faraway kingdom of Avalor, Princess Elena was the firstborn daughter of King Raul and Queen Lucia. One day, everything changed when an evil witch named Shuriki invaded Avalor and took the lives of her parents in a coup to claim the throne for herself. To protect the remaining members of the royal family, the Royal Sorcerer, Alacazar, magically sealed away Elena's grandparents and younger sister, Isabel, into a painting. To buy time for his spell, Elena confronted Shuriki, ready to give up her life for her family... only to be protected by the magical amulet her mother gave her for her sixteenth birthday, but at the cost of Elena being imprisoned in the amulet. Alacazar fled Avalor with the amulet in search of a way to free Elena, Avalor's last hope of freedom.

All seemed lost... until the amulet fell into the ownership of Princess Sofia of Enchancia, who would at last free the missing Princess of Avalor after forty-one years of imprisonment. With the kingdom restored to the rightful heirs, all seemed well. Though eager to take the throne herself, she's still young enough that she needs some guidance from her royal council: her grandparents, Francisco and Luisa, her cousin, Chancellor Esteban, and her new friend, Naomi, along with the help of her new friends, Alacazar's grandson and successor, Mateo, and a new member of the Royal Guard, Gabe, as well as the native jaquins.

The show was renewed for a second season a few weeks after its premiere in 2017, and was renewed for a third season, which premiered in 2019. It was confirmed Season 3 will be the show's last, with the final episode featuring Elena's coronation having premiered August 23, 2020.

In spite of Elena's status as a Disney Princess, references to the show in other Disney media are scarce. Elena is available in the Disney Tsum Tsum mobile game.

Elena of Avalor is also available for streaming on Disney+.

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Elena of Avalor contains examples of:

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• Action Girl: Most of the females qualify, but special note goes to Elena and Naomi. For instance, Elena defeated the sorceress who killed her parents and took over her kingdom, despite being physically 16 years old.
• Aerith and Bob:
  • The setting is based off of Latin America, so you got names like Elena, Isabel, Esteban, Gabe (Gabriel), Mateo, Victor, Carla, Valentina, and so forth. Some are justifiable as being from elsewhere, such as Naomi (who is from Norberg, which is based off of colonial-era America) and Higgins, and then there's Shuriki, who is a sorceress from the Northern Islands — which is not known to be based off of a real-life location.
  • "Avalor" is non-descript. The real-life reason is that at the time the name was conceived, Elena of Avalor was not conceived at the time and it was just supposed to be a reference to Avalon, though the in-universe reason could be that it got its name from a non-Spanish language, like Aragon (believed to have been derived from the Basque language, which is a language isolate despite its close proximity to Spain).
  • The Jaquins. You have names like Zoom and Zephyr, or realistic names like Estrella, Nico, and Luna, or action-sounding names like Avion, to Latin words or Latin-sounding words like Dulce, Ciela and Verago, or non-descript names like Migs and Mingo. And then there's names that clearly don't sound Latin-based, like Skylar (Dutch origin).
• Affectionate Nickname:
  • Elena calls her sister "Isa", with a strong Spanish accent.
  • Also, their parents called Elena their Elenita.
  • Elena and Felicia call each other "Eli" and "Feli", respectively.
• Alchemy Is Magic: Played With. Mateo does make a distinction between alchemy and magic, but he believes that the former is a basic skill every wizard must master before going into real magic.
• All-CGI Cartoon: No surprise considering its parent series, which is also on Disney Junior, is also animated this way.
• Ambiguous Situation: In "Song of the Sirenas", Elena fires a Blaze spell at Shuriki, and all is left of her is the Jewel of Night. It's not clear if Shuriki was disintegrated (like she did to Elena's parents) or was trapped in the Jewel of Night (like she unintentionally did to Elena), but according to Word of God, the authorial intent is that she's dead. The ambiguity is removed in "Coronation Day." Shuriki's spirit is seen in the audience of the olaball game.
• Ambiguous Time Period: By Earth time, Elena of Avalor takes place at least after the 1920's, as Word of God regarding Sofia the First is that The Princess and the Frog already happened and "Hava Nagila" became more known in the 1920's (having been composed in 1918).
• Ambiguously Related:
  • Antonio and Pablo both share the same surname, Agama, and were around the same age, but their relationship as brothers wasn't confirmed until Season 3 episode "The Family Treasure".
  • Brothers Rocco and Nacho are both from the esteemed Villalobos family, which apparently has a history of serving in the Royal Guard. Another member of the Villalobos family, Rico, was introduced before them as a Royal Guard, but their relationship to him isn't explained. Rocco and Nacho also look different much different from Rico.
• Apologetic Attacker: The Yacilli might be bound by honor to attack the palace since the buhitos are in danger, but he's still deeply apologetic for all the property damage he must cause along the way and is extra careful not to hurt anyone.
• Arbitrary Skepticism: Armando isn't taken seriously about Orizaba being real in spite of the characters' experiences with magic. In a later episode, nobody other than Private Higgins takes him seriously about the chonopos. The latter are never proven to be either real or a myth but the skeptics never justify their disbelief.
• Arc Welding:
  • The Well of Crystals is said to be the source of all Maruvian magic and is where Maruvian magical jewels, scepters, and amulets are made. We've learned in Sofia the First episode "The Mystic Isles" that the Amulet of Avalor may have been created in the Mystic Isles, and additionally, the crystals in the Well of Crystals resemble the ones in the Isle of Crystals. Word of God confirms that these crystals originated from the Mystic Isles, but presumably this won't be addressed in-show because it's an Outside-Context Problem/Hero of Another Story tale for the cast of Elena of Avalor.
  • "Spirit of a Wizard" follows up on Alacazar being stuck in his enchanted book in the Secret Library from the Elena and the Secret of Avalor crossover special with Sofia the First.
• Art Evolution:
  • From Season 2 onward, the animation gets more fluid and expressive, and lighting also starts to look more lush and polished.
  • Word of God has confirmed that they've made subtle changes to the facial features of the animation models.
• Artistic License – Politics: In Season 3, a recurring problem is that a replacement for Esteban as chancellor can't be found, which brings into the spotlight the hole that there would be a lot more politicians in Avalor's court than just Esteban, Paloma, and Julio if artistic license wasn't in play.
• "Ass" in Ambassador: Even though he's grown up a bit since his first appearance, Prince Alonso is still a jerk to Elena and the other ambassadors. Being transformed into a bird-man straightens him out and allows him to come to terms with the worst part of himself, as it did with the others.
• Back for the Finale: Sofia and her family, arrive just in time to see Elena be coronated as Queen.
• Big "NO!": After Mateo convinces his mother to let him move into the palace without her and she gets in a carriage to go back home, Esteban runs out with the houseplant he's been trying to hide all episode, begging her to take it with her. When he realizes he's too late, he falls to his knees and releases an epic Skyward Scream (which is even funnier when the solution to his problem is as easy as dropping the plant out a window).
• Black-and-White Morality: Enforced in the case of magic, as it goes hand-in-hand with the user's character, both realigning with and enhancing their true qualities. Those like Shuriki or Fiero are both malicious and power-obsessed. But, as we've learned about Fiero, the more a wizard is plagued by feelings of resentment and envy, the darker their magic becomes, and their fall is complete when they turn into a malvago, or a dark wizard.
• Blackmail: In "King of The Carnaval", Victor Delgado, son of Avalor's former royal treasurer, blackmails Esteban into accessing the royal treasury to give him royal jewelry and Queen Lucia's Carnaval Tiara by threatening to tell the entire kingdom that Esteban struck a secret deal with Shuriki and allowed her to invade Avalor.
• "Blackmail" Is Such an Ugly Word: Cristobal deems "betrayed" a nasty word but can't come up with a better one for the moment.
• Book Ends: When Elena first encounters Shuriki after she kills her parents, Shuriki tries to strike her down as well but she was spared of her life by the amulet, by pulling her right inside. In their last encounter in "Song of the Sirenas", Shuriki again tries to strike her down with the Scepter of Night, but thanks to Elena casting the vanish spell from the Scepter of Light at the right moment, she disappears before the blow, sparing her life once again.
• Brazilian Folklore: The Malandros from episode 16 of season 2 are based on the Boto legend, while the Kupi-Kupi of episode 21 of the same season is based on the Curupira.
• Call-Back: When Elena asks Gabe to help her to practice for a fencing tournament, she says he owes it to her for her help with Olaball practice. That was from "Olaball."
  • "Norberg Peace Prize" takes place only a few days after "The Incredible Shrinking Royals", so Elena is still upset with Esteban for attempting to sabotage Julio's feast earlier.
• Calling Your Attacks: The magical abilities of the Scepter of Light are voice activated and require Elena to call the ability she wants to use. The same goes for the Scepter of Night and its user, Shuriki.
• Cast as a Mask: In "The Gecko's Tale", Antonio Angama's human form was voiced by Danny Trejo. For his lizard form that takes up most of the episode, Dee Bradley Baker provided the vocal effects.
• 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. This stops being an issue when Elena and the Scepter are upgraded in Season 3.
• Cerebus Syndrome: The series hit this point by Season 2, dealing with Shuriki's return, with a nice switch between dark and light.
  • Season 3 hits it even harder, with Ash's machinations and the fall and betrayal of Esteban, the latter of which leaves a profound emotional impact on the entire main cast, particularly Elena.
• Christmas Carolers: Started by Gabe and Elena but ends with the entire city in one big carol at the end of "Navidad".
• Clingy MacGuffin: The sword of El Guapo always returns to its wielder's hand no matter how they try to get rid of it, unless they remove the curse.
• Color-Coded for Your Convenience: After Elena fell into the crystal well of Takaina, she gained emotion based powers. When she feels a strong emotion, her dress will glow a color to match, along with anything nearby that she enchants. Of her emotions demonstrated so far:
  • Orange depicts anger, and tends to make objects levitate.
  • Yellow is for joy. It has made butterflies fly out of her dress, and brings things to life, both plant life and formerly inanimate ones, as well as making people impulsively dance.
  • Purple shows stress or anxiety, and will manifest that stress into a nearby object.
  • Cyan shows that Elena is calm, and usually undoes one of the previous manifestations.
  • Pink is for love, which calms down one of the previous manifestations and/or also brings things to life.
  • Gray shows self doubt and will cause the walls to close in.
  • Her dress turns entirely white when feeling forgiveness, her most powerful emotion, which unleashes a World-Healing Wave that undoes all malicious magic in the kingdom.
• Comically Missing the Point: When Armundo composes a written invitation to Naomi, Gabe, and Mateo to go sailing with Elena on her newly purchased sailboat, he includes the word "best friend" and forgets to use the plural, resulting in this scene:
  Mateo: I'm Elena's best friend!
  Gabe: I'm Elena's best friend!
  Naomi: There's a new royal sailboat!
• Continuity Cavalcade: In the series finale, nearly every character with significant screen time shows up at one point or another.
• Continuity Nod:
  • Fiero, the villain who got turned into stone at the end of "Spellbound" is briefly seen as still being a statue in "The Princess Knight". He later gets revived and joins Shuriki, Carla and Victor.
  • The episode "Class Act" features a cameo by Gwen and one of the inventions she presented in her Sofia the First debut. There's also the scale model bridge from "Prince Too Charming" and Isabel's invention from "Science Unfair".
• Cruel Coyotes: One of the series' numerous antagonists is an evil magical coyote named Troyo whose goal is to rule over the Avaloran jungle.
• Cruel Mercy: Elena and the Grand Council vote to have Esteban exiled to a Deserted Island for the rest of his days instead of having him stuck in the palace dungeons because they view the latter as the worse punishment. Esteban instead opts to do neither.
• Culture Chop Suey: Avalor (and for that matter, its neighboring kingdoms, Cordoba and Paraiso), isn't based on one Latin American culture and instead takes from multiple Latin American cultures. For starters, the Avalorans celebrate Dia de los Muertos, which is celebrated in Mexico, as well as Carnaval, which is celebrated in Brazil. The noblins are also based off of the peuchens of Chilean mythology, as well.
• Daddy's Little Villain: Carla Delgado, who gleefully helps her father Victor in his evil schemes.
• Darker and Edgier:
  • Compared to its predecessor series, Elena of Avalor is a lot more plot-focused and delves into more mature and intense subjects (while still being suitable for its Y-rating), and the core friend group are in their late teens rather than being young children. The show makes use out of Character Death (if only mostly in the past), Abusive Parents, Parental Abandonment, Violence Really Is the Answer, and political allegories, things that wouldn't be suitable for Sofia's adventures.
  • Especially Season 2 has gotten darker, as not only does it deal with Shuriki's return, but the ramifications of the day Elena lost her parents are dealt with more realistically, to the point where she even suffers Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. There is still a good deal of lightheartedness to balance it out.
  • Season 3 even more so, with Ash turning against her family and abandoning them without hesitation and the fallout between Esteban and the rest of the cast after his betrayal is discovered. One of the episodes even features onscreen murder for the first time in the series, in this case, Alacazar.
• Dark Is Not Evil:
  • "A Day To Remember" centers around Día de los Muertos, the festival for the dead, and true to real life it's a joyful occasion for living and dead relatives to reconnect and celebrate. Even the main song is an upbeat number called "Festival of Love", which Silvia Olivas wrote to dispel misconceptions about the holiday. It also ends with Elena reminding Isabel that their parents are always with them.
  • The Scepter of Night is the mirror opposite to Elena's own Scepter of Light and channels dark magic, but Mateo notes that it's not evil, merely powerful and dangerous in the wrong hands, and that the same could be said for the Scepter of Light.
• A Day in the Limelight:
  • "Spellbound" for Mateo.
  • "Crystal In The Rough" and "Three Jaquins and a Princess" for Isabel.
  • "Flight Of The Jaquins" for Skylar (not that one).
  • "Captain Turner Returns" and "Finders Leapers" and "My Fair Naomi" for Naomi.
  • "Olaball" and "The Curse of El Guapo" for Gabe.
  • "King of the Carnaval" for Esteban.
• Death Glare: Elena gives one to Gabe in "All Heated Up", when he tells the Grand Council that Charoka attacked her.
• Description Cut: At the end of "Realm of the Jaquins", Quita Moz warns Elena of a darkness she has to overcome or else she won't become queen. Cue the Sudden Downer Ending where Victor and Carla use Marimonda's jewel to restore Shuriki to her youth.
• Devious Dolphins: The Malandros, which are for all intents and purposes accurate depictions of the Amazonian boto myth.
• Disc-One Final Boss: Elena manages to defeat Shuriki, but Quito Moz looks into the flames once again and sees that the great darkness is still coming.
• Dismantled MacGuffin: Part of Season 2 involves the Scepter of Night, which Alacazar had split into three components realizing it was too dangerous if found. Realizing her wand was no match for the Scepter of Light, Shuriki seeks the Scepter of Night so that she can finally destroy Elena and rule Avalor again.
• Disney Death: Elena experiences this during her first and final battles with Shuriki.
  • After Shuriki killed her parents, she attempted to kill her as well, but the amulet spared her life by pulling her right inside.
  • During their final confrontation, Shuriki again tries to kill Elena with the Scepter of Night, but Elena was again spared of her life last minute by casting a vanish spell from the Scepter of Light, making her disappear at just the right moment unharmed so she can kill Shuriki in her place.
• Disney Villain Death:
  • While it may seem appropriate, given the host channel, but this is actually subverted. Shuriki falls off the palace walls (seemingly intentionally) into a waterfall as an old wandless woman, but she is seen emerging from the waters later, leading to a Sequel Hook.
  • In "Song of the Sirenas", Elena shoots a Blaze spell at Shuriki. The way it is framed makes it ambiguous as to whether or not Shuriki was merely trapped in the Jewel of Night or was eradicated, but Word of God states that for all intents and purposes, she really is dead this time.
• Does This Remind You of Anything?:
  • If you assume Sofia the First starts in 2012 (since that was its release year), then 41 years before Elena and the Secret of Avalor (the present day taking place two years after the show's beginning) would make Shuriki's invasion happen in the year 1973 — the same year Chile's government was overthrown by a coup d'etat and turned into a dictatorship by Augusto Pinochet.
  • Shuriki, a white-skinned foreigner, invading another country of a different race and usurps the leadership by killing them in their own palace, while having their associates also be assassinated, forced into hiding, or forced to yield to her, then puts her own values in place while oppressing the population. Also, Esteban and Victor, who have connections to high places, helped her take over their homeland despite their close relation to the leadership in exchange for political power.
  • Shuriki has a mandatory gathering of the town to welcome Sofia and her family to Avalor, with Esteban saying that he's upped the amount of guards to "encourage" the crowd to cheer and applaud like they mean it.
  • At the welcoming, Shuriki quietly orders Esteban to have the guards deal with a subversive — a little boy — who is playing the flute, blissfully unaware of the law banning music. While Sofia's family isn't looking, the guards confront the boy and destroy his flute.
  • The ban on music and dancing in general is likely a lite version of depicting the suppression of freedom of expression.
  • Elena becoming a Mood-Swinger after falling into the Well of Crystals could be read as her being emotionally stressed out with the events of the show, especially after she learns of Esteban's secret.
• Dude in Distress: Although he's supposed to be protecting the princesses, Gabe gets defeated quite easily in the first episode.
• Early-Bird Cameo: "My Time", which is part of the show's prequel Elena and the Secret of Avalor, was launched as a single to promote the show way before it aired. Scenes from said episode are also used in the first episode's Cold Open. In both instances, Sofia was never seen nor mentioned.
• Easily Forgiven: Averted. In "The Magic Within", Esteban expects to be instantly forgiven because of his Dark and Troubled Past/Freudian Excuse. His grandfather may, but Elena and their grandmother (and Naomi) don't because he's still responsible for the murders of at least two of his and their family members and many other crimes associated with Shuriki's regime all because he somehow thought he wasn't loved.
• Eco-Terrorist: Marimonda can be seen as one, as she hates all buildings and wants to tear them all down with her vines.
• Empowered Badass Normal: Elena was a capable 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 (but not enough to be a wizard). This magic allows her to see spirits, and to utilize the powers of the Sceptre of Light.
• Episode Title Card: As with its predecessor, the title of each episode is said aloud (except unlike Princess Sofia, the speaker isn't always Crown Princess Elena). This gets broken in the Grand Finale, where the title card is just displayed. Specials will typically have customized title cards.
  • In the episode "Finding Zuzo", after Elena reads the title, Zuzo chimes in asking why he'd need to be found.
• Evil Chancellor: Esteban initially appears to be acting in Elena's best interests, but the second episode shows he believes Elena does not have what it takes to be queen. That being said, he's more ambitious than evil, and his doubt of Elena makes sense when considering Elena's impulsive nature and Esteban's years of keeping Avalor as intact as possible under Shuriki's tyranny (not that he enjoyed serving her either). He zigzags this trope, as in the origin story, he helped Shuriki take over the kingdom all those years ago, but also helped defeat her in the end, and becomes clearer as the show goes on that while he may be ambitious, he is trying to do what's in everyone's best interests — he just thinks he does the best job of it, even though he knows he can't fill Elena's or his dead aunt and uncle's shoes.
• Exact Words: The Grand Macaw states that the winner of the ultimate olaball game will "attain great heights," while the loser will "be stuck in the lowest realm." Since Ash and Elena both wish to return to the real world rather than getting stuck in the spirit realm, they play both play to win... until Elena realizes the Grand Macaw likes the spirit realm way too much to keep calling it "the lowest realm."
• Falling Chandelier of Doom: In "Rise of the Sorceress", Fiero makes one fall as a distraction so he, Shuriki, Victor, and Carla can escape.
• Fantastic Foxes: Zuzo, a spirit fox and occasional adviser to Elena. A bit mischievous, but gives very good advice.
• Fantasy Counterpart Culture:
  • Avalor is a Culture Chop Suey between Mexico, the Caribbean islands, and numerous other Latin American countries including Peru, Chile, and Brazil.
    • Avalor's architecture is heavily based on Caribbean, Mexican, and Spanish Colonial styles.
    • While we don't have a lot of details, Maru, the ancient civilization that predated Avalor, seems to be one for Mesoamerican civilizations. It vanished for unknown reasons (similar to the Incas) and the artifacts left behind have a distinctly Mayan style.
    • The dresses that Elena, Naomi, Luisa, Isabel, and Cristina wear at the Sunflower Festival in "Return of the Sorceress" are pollera dresses, a type of dress widely used throughout Latin America (brought over by the Spanish) for traditional celebrations.
    • Some of the food vary from enchiladas (a Mexican dish, European in origin) to feijoada (a Brazilian dish adapted from the Portugeuese; however, this may be specific to Cordoba as Carla mentions eating it growing up there).
  • Satu gives off a Far East vibe, but mostly has elements of Imperial Japan.
  • One of the royals at the retreat looks like he's straight from India.
  • Cordoba seems to be one for Argentina. Alonso's clothing is based on traditional Argentinian clothing, the Cordoban royal guards' color scheme matches the colors of the Argentinian flag, and Alonso's song "Feel Free to Have Fun" is based on Argentinian tango.
  • Paraiso seems to be one for Brazil:
    • Valentina brags that while Avalor may have silver platters, Paraiso has gold platters. Brazil was home to plenty of gold mines while the rest of Latin America had silver.
    • Manuel mentions that Paraiso has won the last five olaball tournaments. Brazil has won five titles in the FIFA World Cup, making it the most successful team in the tournament.
    • Valentina brags that in Paraiso, the grass is more greener than in Avalor. In the Brazilian National Anthem, there's a lyric that goes "Do que a terra mais garrida, teus risonhos, lindos campos têm mais flores: 'Nossos bosques têm mais vida.'"^TranslationThan the more garish land, thy smiling, pretty prairies have more flowers: "Our groves have more life"., which basically means that any other land that isn't in Brazil is dull in comparison, essentially similar to what Valentina is saying.
    • Likewise, Valentina also states that the sun shines more brightly in Paraiso than in Avalor. In the Brazilian National Anthem, there's a lyric that goes "E o sol da Liberdade em raios fúlgidos, brilhou no céu da Pátria nesse instante."^TranslationAnd the sun of liberty in shining beams shone in the homeland's sky at that instant..
• Feathered Fiend: The animal motifs of Ash, Zopilote, and Esteban are owls, vultures, and toucans respectively, and they're all antagonists.
  • The Grand Macaw (a macaw in the dark spirit realm) pose as a barrier to Elena (and Ash) from returning to the real world. He's a trickster in that he doesn't always say what he means or mean what he says.
• Feud Episode: Gabe and Mateo feud over which one of them is Elena's "best friend" when Armando sends them a poorly-worded letter inviting them to go sail with her. Naomi got the same letter but was too distracted by the sailboat to notice.
• Fish out of Temporal Water: Elena has been trapped in the amulet for 41 years, and she also learns much has changed in Avalor during that time.
• Fly-at-the-Camera Ending: Luna closes the first episode by flying at the camera after a final shot of Elena and her newly founded royal council.
• Forced Transformation: Comes up a couple of times. An archaeologist is transformed into giant gecko after taking a treasure, the main four are transformed into little wooden dolls by a cursed fire opal for hurting Isabel's feelings, and three ambassadors are transformed into Half Human Hybrids by accident when Doña Paloma gives them enchanted masks.
• Foreshadowing: Elena still being upset with an apologetic Esteban in "Norberg Peace Prize" for disobeying her orders in the previous episode foreshadows her reaction to learning of his betrayal in the next episode.
• Fountain of Youth: The namesake appears on a magical island in one episode, and Esteban tries to use it to make himself younger. Because the water didn't fix him immediately, he drank too much and started becoming too young. To ensure Status Quo Is God, there was also a flower whose petals age you if eat it.
• The Four Loves:
  • Storge: Elena is surrounded by the love of her family and considers her friends a part of her family.
  • Philia: Elena makes friends with various characters throughout the show, from ordinary people, to foreign guests, to monsters, to creatures from another world, to spirits, and so on.
  • Eros: The romance between the show's various married couples such as Francisco and Luisa, later joined by the Ship Tease of Gabe and Naomi in Season 3.
  • Agape: Although things will never be the same with him and they will never forgive him what he's done, Esteban's family still loves him even after they learn of his betrayal and he betrays them again.
• Friend-or-Idol Decision:
  • After jumping over a crevasse, Esteban has to choose between helping Elena or retrieving the last of the Fountain of Youth water from his canteen. Naturally, he chooses Elena.
  • 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.
• Fugitive Arc: Esteban in Season 3 after his crimes are revealed, worsened by the fact that he's allied himself with Ash and Zopilote out of desperation.
• Gadgeteer Genius: Much like Jenna Ortega's other role on Disney, Isabel.
• Gilligan Cut: In "All Heated Up", Luna says she won't go with the others to meet the rock monster. The next scene features her going there anyway.
• God Save Us from the Queen!: Implied to be the case for the 41 years Shuriki ruled Avalor.
• Good Hurts Evil: As Shuriki finds out, the Scepter of Light can overpower any evil magic she has (including her new wand), and as such, has the means to permanently destroy her too.
• Good Princess, Evil Queen: The titular character is the oldest princess of Avalor. After she is freed from imprisonment in Sofia the First, Elena has to square up against the Evil Sorceress Shuriki, who has taken over the kingdom.
• Graceful Loser: At the end "Party of a Lifetime", Elena, Naomi, Gabe and Mateo escape being forced into joining Captain Chiloya's crew. He and his crew just decide to keep having their eternal party without them.
• Gratuitous Spanish: Downplayed. Spanish is only used when it makes sense (usually to refer to someone, ex. "mi amor", "carino/carina", "primo/prima", "hermano/hermana", "mijo/mija", "El ____", etc.) as opposed to randomly tossing in Spanish everywhere. There are some minor examples like te de manzanilla (chamomile tea) and te de limon (lemongrass tea), but that's about it. Some places, objects, and people have Spanish names (ex. San Prado, Paraiso) for obvious reasons.

H-M

• Hair-Trigger Temper: Charoca the Rock Monster in "All Heated Up." He is easily angered. And when he gets angry, his body turns fiery. His temper can even affect the volcano he lives below; when pushed too far, he inadvertently causes an eruption.
• Hanukkah Episode: In "Festival of Lights", Elena meets a Latina Jewish princess named Rebecca and learns about Hanukkah.
• Happy Birthday to You!: In "Island of Youth", Esteban's birthday is celebrated and a birthday song is played. It's not the famous one.
• Headbutting Heroes: Chancellor Esteban has this dynamic with Naomi, as he often doubts her qualifications. In "Finders Leapers", they spent much of the episode going at each others' throats in dealing with the Duendes. Subverted in My Fair Naomi when they actually start to get along, but Esteban rubbed off of Naomi in the wrong way.
• Heroic Sacrifice: Charoka pulls one at the climax of "All Heated Up", but it actually doesn't end up taking his life.
• Hoist by His Own Petard: In "Spellbound," Mateo manages to deflect the evil sorcerer Fiero's Taken for Granite spell right back at him, turning the villain to stone.
• Hypnotize the Captive: Downplayed in "Song of the Sirenas" when Marisa uses a siren song to hypnotize and lure Elena to her so they can talk in private.
• Hypocrite: Gabe doesn't think Mateo can be a royal sorcerer because of his age, even though he's a member of the royal guard despite being around the same age. Elena calls him out on this.
• Hypocritical Heartwarming: In "Three Jaquins and a Princess," when Doña Paloma is dismissive of Armando's chances in the baking contest, Esteban declares that "No one treats Armando like that but me." He then proceeds to encourage Armando and offers genuine praise to his cake.
• In Medias Res: The series starts long after the whole events surrounding Elena regaining the kingdom with a very extensive recap to get us up to speed. Eventually a one hour special, Secret of Avalor, shows what happened in detail.
• Innocently Insensitive: Elena has good intentions with everything she does, but there are a good amount of times she's accidentally made things worse (whether due to impulse, overconfidence, or naivety).
• Inspired by…: The various inspirations for the monsters and other lore in the show:
  • The chanuls are based on the Mayan myths of Tzotzil — animal-spirit companions that everyone has.
  • Of course, Maru is based on the Mayans and the Aztecs.
  • The Codex Maru is based on Mayan and Aztec codices.
  • Troyo is based on the old Native American myths of a trickster coyote god, though he's specifically based on Huehuecoyotl.
  • Marimonda shares her name with the Carnival monster Marimonda, although this is as far as the comparisons go.
  • The Malandros are based on the Amazonian boto myth.
  • The Kupi Kupi is based on the Curupira, a mythological Brazilian creature that had backwards feet in order to confuse people following its footprints. Kupi Kupi's appearance is based exactly on the description of the Curupira's appearance, and its powers to curse people into literally retracing their steps are based on the Curupira's strange feet.
  • Season 3's emotion magic arc is inspired by the Latin American literary tradition of magic realism.
  • Tito is based on El Sombreron (also known as Tzizimite and Tzipitio), a Mexican/Guatemalan myth about a short man in a sombrero who goes around towns on his horse serenading people (mostly young women) with his silver guitar.
  • Kizin's name is derived from Kisin, a Mayan death god from the Popol Vuh, a mythological story.
  • Likewise, Tziloco is based on Camazotz, a Mayan death god that took the form of bat-monsters and was also featured in the Popol Vuh.
• Instant Runes: Maruvian magic does this for some of the spells. It is mentioned in "The Last Laugh" that these runic circles are written in Old Maruvian.
• Invisible to Normals: Spirit animals like Zuzo are supposed to be invisible unless summoned by a wizard. Elena gains the power to see him after being trapped in the amulet and defeating Shuriki, as she absorbed some magic from the amulet due to traces of magic running in her family.
• I See Dead People: Elena has the power to see ghosts only on Dia de Los Muertos.
• I Want You to Meet an Old Friend of Mine:
  • Constance Marie (Doña Paloma) and Emiliano Diaz (Elena's Abuelo) both worked together on The George Lopez Show. They are later joined by Olga Merediz (Felicia). Additionally, Lou Diamond Phillips guest-starred in The George Lopez Show.
  • Lou Diamond Phillips (Victor) and Edward James Olmos (King Pescoro) co-starred in Stand and Deliver together. The two both appear in "Song of the Sirenas", although don't share any scenes together.
• Jerkass Has a Point:
  • Prince Alonso might be doing it for his own selfish reasons, but he is right in telling Elena that she needs to take a break every once in a while for her own good. She takes it to heart and once she finishes her work, she decides to take the some time off to tour the kingdom. This further drives home the fact that Elena may be Crown Princess, but she's still a teenager.
  • Doña Paloma has a point in "Masks of Magic" - not only is Elena's method of handling foreign ambassadors - treating them like family and making their visit just a big party - incredibly naive^note it may work for some dignitaries, but others would likely find it a tad insulting or patronizing, but it is Paloma's job to manage these events and she has worked hard at it for years, and Elena's protests make her come off as not thinking of the bigger picture. Thankfully, Elena ends up recognizing Paloma's point by the end, and they manage to find a compromise between their two styles, which was the point of the episode anyway.
• Jesus Taboo: The show generally avoids explicit religious references, though there are a few things that hint at religion:
  • Christmas/Navidad is celebrated in the Ever Realm, and their names inherently refer to events in Christianity (Mass of Christ and Nativity).
  • In "Navidad", Marlena sings "Hacia Bélen Va Una Burra, Rin Rin", which is about a donkey going to Bethlehem and refers to a character named Maria.
  • A river in Cordoba is called the San Prado River, "san" being the Spanish masculine word for "saint".
  • The Galonians are Jewish and observe Hanukkah. Rebeca's family describes Hanukkah as the observation of the historic struggles of "[their] people" and that the origin story of it is the miracle of the one-night supply of oil that ended up lasting eight nights.
• Laser-Guided Karma: In "Song of the Sirenas", Shuriki meets her end by a Blaze spell fired by Elena. It's not clear if she was disintegrated by the spell like her vadisima did to Elena's parents or if the Jewel of Night "saved" her from the blast like the Amulet of Avalor did when Shuriki fired a vadisima spell on Elena.
• Leeroy Jenkins:
  • Elena herself is frequently guilty of this:
    • 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.
    • When Elena, Sofia, and co. lead a march to the castle, the guards shut the gates. Elena suggests that they break the gates down, only for Sofia to suggest that they just fly over the gates with the jaquins and open the gate from inside. Elena concedes.
    • 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.
    • 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.
    • In "Shapeshifters", she insists on hunting down Shuriki herself and goes against the Council's orders telling her not to for her own safety. As a result, nothing of worth comes from her attempt in this episode and instead almost got her arrested by jaquins that didn't recognize her. Justified, because she believes she's the only purpose capable of taking down Shuriki (which turns out to be true) and she is acting on her PTSD.
    • In "Not Without My Magic", Skylar calls her out on it when she attempts to use the crystal tamborita to try to stop Anchimon, as Quita Moz told her not to until she received proper magic training from Mateo. Naturally, since she didn't heed his advice, this results in the situation getting worse. Elena confesses that the reason for her behavior in this episode is because she feels that she's become reliant on using magic to solve her problems (like defeating Shuriki) and doesn't feel confident in doing it without magic.
  • Gabe also has his moments. Such as running after Fiero, an Evil Sorcerer, whom he perfectly knows could turn him into a statue in "Spellbound" or going to Elena's "rescue" in the "Scepter of Light", effectively screwing up her plan to defeat Orizaba.
• Legion of Doom: Season 2 features a party of dangerous and/or powerful antagonists Elena has defeated, consisting of Victor and Carla Delgado, Troyo, Cruz (with his sister Vestia), and finally Fiero, all under Shuriki's leadership.
• Living Forever Is Awesome: In "Party of a Lifetime", it's revealed that Captain Chiloya and his crew saved a sorceress' life 400 years ago and she rewarded them by making them immortal' and they can give that gift to anyone they wish. They still enjoy it. The main cast wouldn't mind it at all, but there is a catch—if they receive it from Chiloya, they will get bound to the ship and never leave, so it wasn't worth the price.
• Lost Superweapon: The Maruvians left a lot of powerful magical artifacts behind when they vanished, among them the Scepter of Light and the Jewel of Maru.
• Macabre Moth Motif: Orizaba is a "moth fairy" who wants to bring about eternal darkness.
• Magic Map:
  • Mateo found one in "Island of Youth" that shows a magnified image if touched. It also shows Santalos when it suddenly appears off the coast of Avalor.
  • Zopilote gives one to Ash in the Season 3 premiere, which if solved, can show the way to Takaina, a place of powerful magic.
• Mighty Whitey: Subverted. The show mainly consists of a Latino cast, and though there are heroic white characters, they don't overshadow the heroes-of-color and are to represent white people being supportive of minority groups as opposed to being white saviors.
  • Although Avalor's freedom from Shuriki wouldn't have been possible without Sofia to free Elena, the revolution is mainly led by Elena, who is then supported by Sofia and her family.
    • And even then, Sofia is actually not even white; she's more white-passing due to resembling her father. Her mother Miranda Cordova was born in Galdiz, a kingdom based on Spain, and her voice is also provided by someone of Latin descent.
  • Naomi is the Token White member of the team, but she's as capable and flawed as the other characters.
• The Mirror Shows Your True Self: When Carla is enchanted with a disguise potion to sneak back into the palace, mirrors still reflect her true image. She tries her best to avoid mirrors until she can complete her mission.
• Mistreatment-Induced Betrayal: In "Snow Place Like Home", Cruz and Vestia become so tired of being called "beasts" by Victor they abandon him and his daughter.
• Misunderstood Loner with a Heart of Gold: Charoca. The people of the village below his mountain home believe him to be vicious and hostile, but he is only angry at the children for constantly taking the gemstones he's placed outside his cave (and sees as his friends). With Elena's help, Charoka manages to prove he's not a monster by saving the village from lava, and is finally accepted by them.
• Mix-and-Match Critters: Jaquins are a mix of jaguars and macaws that are capable of speech.
  • All creatures in the land of Vallestrella seem to be mix and match critters, from a frog-butterfly (a butterfrog) to flamingo-giraffes (flaringos). Since they're based on alebrijes, this makes sense.
• Musical World Hypotheses: Usually of the "All In Their Heads" and "Diagetic" types.
  • "The Right Thing To Do" either falls under Musical Alternate Universe or All-Maestro Cast, where Elena and Esteban bust out into a rap. Naomi lampshades them breaking into song, to which Luisa shrugs and decides to just go with it.
  • "Don't Look Now" is either Musical Alternate Universe or All-Maestro Cast, as Shuriki (who hates music) looks on annoyed while Victor and Carla sing.
• Myth Arc: The epilogue of "Realm of the Jaquins" begins one for Elena to overcome a darkness somewhere in Avalor; if she fails, she won't become queen. The darkness, unknown to her at the time, is the rise of her old enemy Shuriki, and Carla and Victor are working for her. But it turns out it wasn't Shuriki, but rather it was finding out Esteban's betrayal and her test was about whether she can learn to forgive.
• My Parents Are Dead: In "Snow Place Like Home", when Naomi and Mateo give Esteban a What the Hell, Hero? for acting like a jerkass the entire day, they rhetorically ask him if he cares about anyone other than himself. Esteban answers of course he does, he's worried to death that his abuelos and Isabel may not return home safely... just like his parents.

N-S

• Nerdy Bully: Javier, a one-shot character who is introduced when Isabel joins the Science Academy, is an example. He is arrogant and pretentious, and when he realizes that Isabel might surpass him he begins bullying her and sabotaging her work in order to get her kicked out.
• Never My Fault: Deconstructed throughout the show. Happens quite frequently with Esteban.
  • Esteban's refusal to follow instructions throughout "Finders Leapers" leads to the escalation of the situation and he continuously puts the blame on Naomi for being a simple commoner. Elena and Professor Mendoza call him out on it. Although he does have a Heel Realization, it's mostly him coming to respect Naomi as an equal as opposed to learning to take responsibility for his actions.
  • In "King of the Carnaval", Victor calls him out on doing nothing while Shuriki exiled him and his family. When Esteban claims that he had no choice because he feared things would have gotten worse if he had intervened, Victor counters that he always had a choice. Throughout the episode, Victor has leverage over Esteban by threatening to reveal the truth to his family, which he eventually reveals. By that point, it seems that Esteban is ready to accept the blow... but fortunately for him, Elena doesn't believe it and believes Esteban only served Shuriki to survive, which Esteban goes with.
  • In "The Incredible Shrinking Royals", Esteban and Paloma attempt to sabotage Julio's Feast of Friendship by inviting King Hector, which leads to things getting From Bad to Worse. As this happens, the two argue over whose fault it was for things turning out this way, which Elena overhears. Naturally, she doesn't take it well and is still angry with her cousin in the following episode, even though he does actually take responsibility this time and is apologetic about his actions.
  • Then comes "The Magic Within", where Esteban's secret is finally revealed. While he does say he wants to make up for what he did, his actions say otherwise. In subsequent episodes, he's essentially told that it's too late to fix what he's done and there is nothing he can do to redeem himself, which pushes him further into refusing to take up ownership of his wrongdoings.
  • Meanwhile, Ash blames Victor for depriving her of Carla's childhood because the latter two had to move on with their lives when Ash stopped writing back for no reason (and as Victor points out, she could have came back anytime) and blames Elena for Carla getting recaptured, ignoring that it happened because she alienated her daughter by angrily petrifying Victor.
• Never Say "Die":
  • Elena only mentions that Shuriki attacked her parents, but it's pretty clear that Shuriki killed them.
  • Averted with "A Day To Remember", since it's about the Day of the Dead. Though it's still somewhat downplayed since they still go out of their way not to say it in English. 'Ghosts' seems to be on the no-list, too.
    • Word of God aka Craig has it that the word kill(ed) shouldn’t be used if a synonym can be used in its’ place.
  • In the "Jewel of Maru", also about the Day of the Dead, it's said that the Maruvians were all sent to the spirit world after the Jewel was unleashed. Granted, this might not have killed them, but the only Maruvians left are ghosts so it's pretty hard to draw another conclusion.
  • Averted in "Song Of The Sirenas", where Elena explicitly says to Marisa that Shuriki killed her parents. This is notably the only aversion so far.
  • In "Snow Place Like Home", Esteban says that he lost his parents in a storm.
• New Powers as the Plot Demands: The Scepter of Light is seemingly affected by this, as she slowly learns what it can do. Thankfully, Elena has to be taught them rather than just randomly knowing them.
• Nice Job Breaking It, Hero:
  • In "The Scepter of Light", Elena is on the verge of defeating Orizaba with the titular Scepter, but Gabe arrives, moving a carriage right in front of Orizaba in an attempt to protect Elena. This blocks the light from the Scepter long enough for Orizaba to regain her strength.
  • Earlier in that episode, Orizaba was having trouble finding the midnight orb. Rather than staying hidden, Elena sends a wild blast that destroys a pillar that was hiding the orb.
• Nice Job Fixing It, Villain: Doña Paloma is relentlessly mocking Esteban for his continual failure to teach Naomi how to act regal, then points out you can't teach anything to a girl who was raised on a ship at sea. Which inspires Esteban to change his teaching approach to use seafaring principles and this works.
• The Night That Never Ends: This is Orizaba's goal: to plunge the world into eternal darkness. She attempts to use an artifact known as "The Eye of Midnight" to freeze a solar eclipse in place in order to achieve this goal.
• No-Dialogue Episode: Apart from Elena's giggle and yelp at the end, the short "Marisa And The Mirror" has no dialogue from Elena, Marisa, and the shark that almost eats them.
• No Hugging, No Kissing: Craig Gerber said that the answer to any and all romantic relationships involving Elena is "no". He wants to focus on enhancing the characters' relationships without romantic undertones. From that, one can reasonably conclude Elena is Married to the Job, although she has received Ship Tease with some of the other characters. Instead, Naomi fulfills the love interest role by being the one Elena can lean on for emotional support.
• No One Could Survive That!: Elena saw Shuriki plummet to the bottom of a waterfall, but she quietly had her doubts. Turns out she was right, Shuriki did survive.
• No-Sell: Mateo's magic is useless against enchantments (such as the one granted Captain Chiloya immortality) or curses. Otherwise, Mateo would be a Story-Breaker Power.
• Not Evil, Just Misunderstood: In "All Heated Up", Charoca of the monfuego is neither actually a monster nor evil. He just has serious anger management issues that are set off both by being called a monster and by people always taking his stuff. He's working to control them, though, through both deep breathing and meditation, among other things.
• Not-So-Forgotten Birthday: "Island of Youth" has the royal family needlessly pulling this on Esteban. First off, it's the first time the family's been together in 41 years, so pretending to forget his birthday is sort of cold-hearted. Second off, Elena's distraction to allow the others to finish setting up the party is to take Esteban sailing, which is an activity he enjoys. She could have simply told him that the sailing trip was her gift to him, while keeping the rest of the celebration a surprise and sparing him the angst.
• Older Than They Look: Elena, Isabel, and her grandparents were all ageless for 41 years. Although physically 16, Elena is technically 57. Chancellor Estaban was not given the same luxury, sadly.
• One-Hit Kill: Shuriki's "Vadisima" spell destroys or kills anything with one blow; it killed Elena's parents. She upgrades to the even more dangerous "Demolish" spell after obtaining the Scepter of Night.
• Our Alebrijes Are Different: The realm of Vallestrella is home to all kinds of alebrije species. Of note are the Jaquins, jaguar/macaw hybrids. Three of these — Migs, Luna, and Skylar — are companions of Princess Elena. Then there's also Flo, an unusual alebrije in that she's a parade float model of an alpacamundi that was brought to life by magic.
• Our Hippocamps Are Different: Cuco is a hippocamp. He's a member of the Kingdom of the Sirenas and a bit of a puffed-up jerk.
• Panicky Expectant Father: Migs, usually the level-headed voice of reason, falls victim to this when his mate Dulcé announces she's about to lay their eggs. Dulcé manages to calm him down by reminding him that they're going to do this together, immediately before announcing that she's leaving to find food for the babies, setting him off again. Once she leaves, Elena calms him down again, pointing out that there's plenty of time before the eggs hatch... and then the eggs start cracking.
• Percussive Maintenance: In "Model Sister", Gabe tries to fix Princess Isabel's invention by punching it. It starts working again but still has the kinks she was worried about before the invention stopped working.
• Previously on…: In "Science Unfair", it serves as a reminder that Carla is still in disguise as Rita in the castle, despite it getting explained later in the episode. This trope also gets used on later episodes, where the show became more story-driven.
• Prince Charmless: Prince Alonso might think he's Prince Charming, but in reality he's a lazy, entitled coward who uses his position as prince to dodge work, creates a disaster and then tries to pin it on Elena. His father is well aware of his behavior and invited Elena to be a good influence on him, and near the end he's assigned to build the bridge with his bare hands so he can learn about responsibility.
• Princess Protagonist: The show centers around Princess Elena, who will be queen of Avalor once she becomes of age. In the mean time, she uses her magical powers (usually her magic scepter, the Scepter of Light) to fight against the dark forces that try to take over Avalor, including Shuriki.
• Princesses Rule: The first episode explains that the title character can't become queen until she comes of age according to the laws of their nation. As such, she is crown princess with a council to help her rule until then.
• Promoted to Parent: In "Flight of the Jaquins", Skylar is chosen to be the trainer of the next set of jaquin cubs brought to Avalor. Not only is this a case of him having to grow up and be responsible for his charges, one of them turns out to be his little brother Nico, so that he's literally promoted to a parent with him. At first it doesn't go well, since their past history of playtime and pranks—and Nico's belief they can take right back up where they left off as "cool bros"—makes Skylar break his word to the Elders, which ends up putting the cubs in a great deal of danger. But once he realizes his error (and so does Nico), he learns how to be more like Migs (but still be himself) to save the day and earn everyone's respect.
• Prophecy Twist: Quita Moz's prophecy about a great darkness coming to Avalor mentions that Elena she does not defeat it, she will never become queen. Elena takes this to mean that she will die before that time, and thus considers the job done when she defeats Shuriki. It's only once Quito Moz sees that the darkness is still coming that he realizes that the prophecy meant that defeating the darkness will be what makes her queen.
• Protagonist Title: Like its predecessor.
• Red Shirt: The royal guards. A few of them show personality in Gabe's limelight episodes, but otherwise, they don't even tend to get names.
• Rewatch Bonus: Throughout the series, once you find out that Esteban is in on Shuriki's payback, it casts all his early appearances in a new light.
• Rhymes on a Dime: Marimonda, perhaps because of her sprite nature.
• Ridiculously Cute Critter: Even adult jaquins look fairly cuddly, so it comes as no surprise to discover that baby jaquins are all kinds of adorable.
  • Then, you have Flo, an alpaca/coatimundi hybrid who really takes the cake.
• Rosseau Was Right: Many of the villains, including Victor and Carla Delgado, Esteban, Cruz, and Vestia are redeemed by the end.
• Royals Who Actually Do Something: Elena considers it her duty to serve the people, and as shown in every episode, she means it. She's even invited by a neighboring king to teach his son how to be a proper royal.
  Elena This is exactly how a royal behaves. We serve our people.
  • Arguably the entire point of the series, showcasing how the main character, a princess, who works very hard; making difficult leadership decisions, and administrating, and training in magic, and fencing, and personally defending her people whenever her guards can't handle the current villain. Most of the other examples of royalty in he series are just as diligent in their duties.
• Rule of Three: This is more or less the main theme of "Finders Leapers". Three duendes have been imprisoned in separate chambers, thus all three of them need to be released for them to open the portal. Additionally, it's the same number of times Esteban gets impatient and slams Naomi every time a Duende succeeds, with the third time being Elena's breaking point to sum up to him all the three things he did wrong.
• Running Gag: Nose boops, affectionately and/or condescendingly.
• Sealed Evil in a Can: Marimonda was trapped in a cave by a bejeweled wall in the jaquin kingdom. Even the jaquins needed help to trap her again.
• Sequel Hook: At the end of "King of The Carnaval", Victor and Carla comment on how much they need that crown for their plans and give the impression they'll be back. This starts a new arc that will build up to Shuriki's return.
• Shared Universe: With Sofia the First as shown in Secret of Avalor. Heck, Sofia was essential in freeing Elena from her amulet.
• Ship Tease: And how with all of her friends: Mateo, Naomi, and Gabe.
  • Although Gabe is the only one to have a crush on her via Word of God on his Twitter account and the essential guide.
  • When Gabe gets possessed by a cursed sword and starts referring to himself as "El Guapo," Naomi first confirms that it translates to "Handsome" before agreeing that it's an apt description.
  • Mateo, meanwhile, shows an attraction to Carla which is reciprocated in the final episode.
• Shout-Out:
  • In "Two Left Fins", when Marzel describes wanting to fit in with the land kingdoms, he's described as being part of their world.
  • In the short "Off to the Races", Cuco enters a race against a tortoise who cheats the same way Cecil did in Tortoise Beats Hare.
• Shown Their Work: A lot of the cultural material, especially the Mexican culture, is very accurate to how it is with the real-life counterparts. Any creative changes can be excused as just part of the show's nature. ^note For example, Olaball is based on the real life sport Ollamalitzli. However, the real-life sport involves a sacrificial ritual for the losing team. Elena, being a kids show, wisely left that out. Probably helps that the co-executive producer, Silvia Olivas, is Hispanic herself, and multiple credible Latin groups serve as cultural advisors for the show.
  • The show's Latino Jewish (or Ladino) representation has consultation from a Sephardic rabbi and an Ashkenazi rabbi, also helped that the show's creator is Jewish. While the Galonians use a mix of Sephardic and Ashkenazi customs, this has Truth in Television for Ladinos who aren't all Sephardic and do have an Ashkenazi population too. Most notably among non-Jewish viewers, what would usually be called a menorah in other media is accurately called a hanukkiah.
• Sickening Sweethearts: Victor and Carla's mother, Ash upon their reunion. It's a show for Carla's benefit. The two can't stand each other, as Victor blames Ash for her long absence and Ash resents Victor for the fact that he and Carla moved on with their lives while she was gone.
• Skewed Priorities: In "Royal Rivalry", Carla is upset at the Wanted Posters featuring her and Victor because her face appears smaller than his. It becomes a Brick Joke when she sees new posters at the end of the episode and is glad her face has the same size as his on them.
• Soundtrack Dissonance: "Rise of the Sorceress" has the cheerful family song set against Shuriki regaining her power, with surprisingly appropriate lyrics about the dawn of a new day.
• Spexico: Avalor, but it combines other cultures from many other Hispanic countries.
• Spoiler Opening:
  • Downplayed. Mateo doesn't get the clothes he wears in the opening until the fifth episode.
  • The third intro is updated in "The Magic Within", which replaces the "With her family by her side" scene of Elena and Francisco playing on their guitars while Luisa, Isabel, and Esteban watch to a scene from the same episode of just Elena, Francisco, Luisa, and Isabel. Esteban is almost missing from the group picture at the end of the episode. Both of these things hint that something happens to Esteban that separates him from the cast.
• Sure, Let's Go with That: When Victor tells Elena Esteban was willingly involved with Shuriki's invasion, she assumes Victor is lying. Just as he was about to confess, Esteban plays along with Elena's assumption, because the statement that he wouldn't do anything to hurt his family is technically still true.

T-Y

• Taken for Granite:
  • This is Fiero's favorite tactic. He turns almost everyone in the castle to stone with it. It backfires when Mateo is able to deflect this spell on two separate occasions, turning him to stone both times.
  • Ash does this to Victor at the end of "The Magic Within" when he refuses to continue with her.
  • Cahu, the Shade of Time, can use grains of sand from her hourglass to transform whatever they touch into stone murals.
• That Poor Cat: There was a screeching cat noise offscreen in "Sweetheart's Day" and "Dia de Las Madres".
• That Reminds Me of a Song: Occurs in "Spellbound":
  Elena: It's about something much more powerful. So listen up, 'cause I'm only gonna sing this once. (Begins singing "The Magic Within You")
• Then Let Me Be Evil:
  • In "All Heated Up," Charoca of the monfuego is treated as a monster, but Elena tries to put a stop to it. However, when the royal forces attack anyway, he declares, "If they want a monster, I'll give them a monster." Fortunately, it doesn't stick, as he soon has a My God, What Have I Done? moment where he recognizes that all he did was worsen the situation, and that the prejudice he faced doesn't warrant or excuse actions that only validates that prejudice.
  • Part of Esteban's storyline in Season 3. He falls past the Despair Event Horizon and accepts his Face–Heel Turn when Elena tells him the Awful Truth: there is nothing he can do to get her to forgive him for helping Shuriki take over, and he has no family or home to come back to. After returning to Ash and Zopilote, he hardens his heart and asks them to continue training him.
• There Are No Therapists: Surprisingly for a Disney Junior show, the characters have issues that are bad enough to require professional therapy.
  • Even though Elena has Zuzo for advice, Elena would still needs a professional's help to deal with serious issues in her life, namely having PTSD from watching her parents die, spending 41 years in her amulet, being unable to move on from her parent's death. Elena would most definitely require therapy to deal with her grief constructively and to get her new magic under control after finding out about Esteban's past treachery, because that is a rather complex issue.
  • Esteban would certainly require therapy for issues of feeling like he wasn't listened to, and he didn't like to talk about his parents' deaths, and all of this was left to fester where he helps Shuriki invade Avalor, which led to his aunt and uncle being killed.
• There Is No Try: The premise of "Spirit Monkey Business". The episode begins with Elena having trouble mastering Blaze with the Scepter of Light, and worrying she will fail every time. After helping a down-on-his-luck chanul get his second wind, Elena understood that if she doesn't believe she can accomplish something, she can't succeed. Taking this to heart, she was able to catch the rogue spirit Bobo.
• Thicker Than Water: With Elena and the others, "familia always comes first." In "The Magic Within," Esteban expects to be Easily Forgiven once he explains his reasons for selling out to Shuriki for this reason alone. He's wrong.
• Time to Unlock More True Potential: This is the main plot of "The Princess Knight". Elena wanted to prove how capable she is by entering the Swordsman's Cup. She learns the hard way that having experience, but no actual training would not suffice her. As such, she needed Gabe to level-grind her to tournament level.
• Title, Please!: Since Season 3, the title cards are gone, but they are still read aloud. Title cards remain for specials, however. These have become common for the majority of Disney Junior shows since mid-2018.
• Token White: Elena's best friend Naomi Turner, a pale blond-haired, blue-eyed girl with an English name in the Spanish-style Kingdom of Avalor; almost everyone else is dark-haired and tan.
• Took a Level in Jerkass: Subverted in "Spellbound", Gabe treats Mateo with derision and scorn, doubting that he can cut it as a royal sorcerer, let alone defeat Fiero. Though he does finally admit he was wrong when Mateo saves the day and gives him all the credit.
• Training Montage: One occurs in "The Princess Knight", when Gabe is preparing Elena to the fencing tournament.
• Traveling Landmass: The island of Santalos from "Island of Youth" magically transports each day at sunset.
• Triumphant Reprise: The song from "My Fair Naomi" has "Bright Lights Of The Ball". The first version chronicles Naomi's ego getting more inflated to the point of acting stuck up to her friends. The second version is more uplifting since she realized her mistakes.
• Try to Fit That on a Business Card: In "Royal Rivalry", let's just say Princess Valentina of Paraíso has a long list of titles.
• Two-Timer Date: "Model Sister" focuses on Elena trying to focus on holding royal visit for King Toshi while also helping her sister Isa at an invention fair. Isa eventually becomes annoyed because she feels that Elena doesn't have time for her, even though she said she would always make time for her.
• Unperson: Esteban is removed from the third intro variation starting with "The Magic Within", being a Spoiler Opening for his family disowning him after the events of the episode.
• Unwitting Instigator of Doom: Armando inadvertently sets off the conflict of "Party of a Lifetime" when he opts to send the same letter to all of Elena's friends describing them as "her best friend". Ironically, Naomi, her established best friend doesn't get caught up in the argument.
• Vocal Tag Team: Elena and Gabe start singing in the episode "Navidad". Elena started first, Gabe joined in second, then the rest of the city in the caroling.
• Villain Has a Point: Esteban wants to undermine Elena's authority, attempting to manipulate matters so that most of the real power (such as conducting trade agreements) ends up in his hands. Then again, Elena is overly casual and hyperactive towards visitors, and Esteban has had forty-one years of serving as her Regent under Shuriki. Wars have been fought over less.
• Villainous Legacy: The first episode dealt with the aftermath of one of Shuriki's schemes; A group of noblins, whom she had captured and forced to turn objects to gold for her, were freed once Elena destroyed Shuriki's wand, and took to hijacking boats in an attempt to return home.
• The Voiceless: Elena's parents have never spoken in their appearances. Subverted in the climax of "The Jewel Of Maru", where their spirits briefly return to give Elena advice on how to save Avalor.
• "Wanted!" Poster: Victor and Carla are featured in those in "Royal Rivalry".
• Wax On, Wax Off: Gabe felt it was necessary for Elena to undergo rigorous training exercises before wielding a sword. It involved exercises in endurance (running up and down a pyramid), speed (having fruit thrown at you) and balance (standing on a canoe) in "The Princess Knight", as it was how he was trained.
• Weakened by the Light: Orizaba. Any kind of light weakens her, and enough exposure forces her to return to the spirit world.
• Well-Intentioned Extremist: What Orizaba at least thinks she's being in attempting to bring "the gift" of eternal night to Avalor, as she explains in her Villain Song.
• Wham Episode:
  • "Realm of the Jaquins" ends with Quita Moz issuing Elena a test: there's a darkness rising somewhere, and if she doesn't conquer such, she will never be queen of Avalor. Also, the Delgados' release of Marimonda was actually a diversion so they can get a jewel to Shuriki, who is restored to her youth for such.
  • "Rise of the Sorceress" has Elena witness Shuriki, alive and well.
  • "Race for the Realm" has Shuriki and the Delgados assemble the Scepter of Night, and the Delgados become malvagos.
  • "Not Without My Magic" reveals Shuriki's return wasn't the darkness to be conquered as part of Elena's test.
• Wham Line: "Snow Place Like Home" has Carla's line when she and Victor recognize the person who broke into their house.
  Carla: Mami?
• What Happened to the Mouse?: The guards who served Shuriki in Elena and the Secret of Avalor were last seen fleeing from the assembled citizens of Avalor. In the series proper, they have all been replaced by new guards (with new uniforms, even), with no mention of their fates.
• What the Hell, Hero?: Elena gives such a speech to Esteban in "Finders Leapers," when all three Duende brothers have been freed by his blundering, especially since Esteban repeatedly chose to blame Naomi for his own screw-ups and stated 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 sprung the trap too early. ... The problem hasn't been Naomi; it's been you!
• Words Do Not Make The Magic: As soon as Elena is freed from the amulet in "Elena and the Secret of Avalor," she faces Shuriki head-on, using the same wand and spell that Shuriki used to kill Elena's parents. Nothing happens.
  • Other episodes demonstrate that this is the case with all magic. Even Mateo, an accomplished Royal Wizard, has to have the right equipment and perform the proper actions in order to cast a spell. What happens if a spell isn't performed exactly right varies. Mixing the words of a duplication spell and a spirit-vanquishing spell summons a water spirit, while failing to properly hit the tamborita during a spell to disperse a snow storm causes the storm to get more intense. Most likely, something is going to happen, just not what you wanted to do.
• Wrench Wench: Isabel is given a journal to record her various inventions.
• You Are Better Than You Think You Are: In "Spellbound", Elena tells this to Mateo (who is doubting his magical skill) in musical form, as the song "The Magic Within You."
• Young and in Charge: Elena, Mateo, Gabe, and Naomi are all teenagers taking jobs usually meant for adults, presumably because Shuriki didn't have a Royal Wizard (she was already a sorceress, so she didn't need one), captain of the guards, or a council to answer to so all those positions are open when Elena takes back her kingdom.
• You Don't Look Like You: Averted since the characters looked a bit different in "Elena And The Secret Of Avalor", such has having larger eyes and a darker color scheme (this was done to match the style of ''Sofia the First), they still look like themselves. From "My Fair Naomi" and onward, Naomi's design changes slightly to match her 2-D design.
• You Mean "Xmas": Subverted; Christmas is celebrated in Avalor, but is referred to as "Navidad" (Spanish for Christmas). During the first song in the eponymous episode, Naomi even says the word "Christmas" in how she celebrates the holiday. Naomi isn't from Avalor, but seeing as she is familiar with the holiday shows her home kingdom celebrates it too.
• You Owe Me: In "The Princess Knight", Elena tells Gabe that he owes her the favor of mentoring her in return for her teaching him how to play Olaball.

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