Luisa Flores[1] is a major character who appears in the animated series, Elena of Avalor. She is Princess Elena and Princess Isabel and Chancellor Esteban's maternal grandmother. They and Esteban usually refer to her as Abuela, Spanish for "Grandmother".
Personality
Luisa is an optimist who, as Elena points out, always looks on the bright side of things. However, this is never to the point of being naive for she has a very sharp attention to details. She's also revealed to be an excellent cook and to have a dislike for being kept in the dark.
Appearances
Sofia the First
Luisa makes her chronological appearance in the special, Elena and the Secret of Avalor. When the sorceress Shuriki arrived from the Northern Isles, attacked the Kingdom of Avalor, and killed Luisa's daughter Queen Lucia and son-in-law King Raul, Alakazar, the Royal Sorcerer, decided to keep the surviving members of the Royal Family safe by placing her, her husband Francisco, and her youngest granddaughter, Princess Isabel, inside an Enchanted Painting while her eldest granddaughter, Crown Princess Elena, faced Shuriki alone to buy Alakazar time to cast the spell. The plan succeeded, and the three of them were placed inside the painting where they would remain for forty-one years while Elena herself is trapped inside the Amulet of Avalor for her own safety after Shuriki tried to strike her down to remove the only witness to her murder of Raul and Lucia, leaving things wide open for Shuriki to claim the throne. After Elena is freed from the Amulet, Mateo gets her family out of the painting using the spell taught to Rafa by Alacazar before he fled Avalor with the Amulet to find the princess who could free Elena from it. Once freed and regaining her bearings, Luisa asks what happened to Shuriki, and when Elena grimly reveals that she's still in power, Luisa angrily regrets letting Alacazar put her, Isabel, and Francisco in the painting to keep them safe from Shuriki's wrath. As the royals get on Jaquins, Luisa tells Elena that she no longer wants to run away from Shuriki again, only for Elena to tell her that they're not running away this time as she has a plan. Everyone in Avalor faces Shuriki and witnesses her loss of power when Elena breaks her wand after having it thrown to her by Esteban. Elena is nervous about becoming a ruler as the heir to the throne and eldest daughter, but Luisa tells her that she and Francisco will help her out whenever she needs it all the way, and assures her she will make a great ruler, both as Crown Princess, and when she comes of age to become Queen to succeed her late parents.
Elena of Avalor
In the series that serves as the special's sequel, Luisa appears a major character. She is a member of the Grand Council, who was chosen by Elena for her optimism, alongside Francisco, Esteban, and Naomi. Through the course of the show, Luisa, along with her husband, assists Elena in her journey to becoming Queen and succeed her late parents as the next sovereign of Avalor as heiress to the throne.
In "Spellbound", Luisa attends the ceremony that sees Mateo succeed his grandfather Alacazar as Royal Wizard of Avalor, but is turned to stone by Alacazar's arch-enemy, the malvago wizard Fiero, as he searches for the Codex Maru, but thanks to Elena and Mateo, Fiero is turned to stone by his own rebounded spell, and Luisa is returned to flesh and blood by the counter-spell Mateo recovered from the Codex Maru before it became irreversible at sunrise.
In "My Fair Naomi", when Luisa sees how Naomi has driven away Elena, Mateo, and Gabe, thanks to Esteban trying to help make her sixteenth birthday a royal one, fed up with Naomi's behavior, Luisa decides to teach her a lesson. During the party, Luisa reminds Naomi of what the quinceanera celebration is all about, convincing Naomi to make amends with Luisa's eldest granddaughter and the others, before using the party to ensure Esteban can avoid humiliating himself in front of Dona Paloma and the other big ladies of Avalor by saying that it went wonderfully and Avalor will be talking about it for a long time.
In the special "Realm of the Jaquins", Francisco and Luisa congratulate Elena at having successfully ruled Avalor as Crown Princess for one year, meaning she only needs to rule for another three years before she comes of age to become Queen. Luisa sees her off as she departs on Luna to attend the Guardian Test that Skylar's younger brother Nico is taking to become a Guardian of Avalor alongside Migs, Luna, Skylar, and Chief Zephyr. Luisa is home at the Royal Palace when it is attacked by Marimonda, a forest spirit from the Jaquins' realm of Vallaestrella. However, she was warned in advance of Marimonda's attack by the Jaquins under Zephyr, protecting Isabel as Francisco, Esteban, and the Royal Guards under Gabe try to fight off her plant growth without much success. After Elena manages to imprison Marimonda again via an illusion she created with the Scepter of Light, fooling Marimonda into thinking she had won before she discovers she fell into Elena's trap, Elena reveals that the ones responsible are Victor Delgado and his daughter, seeking revenge for their earlier defeat and exile by Elena and her family at the Carnaval for trying to steal the Royal Jewels. Unknown to Elena and her family, Victor and Carla are in league with Shuriki, who is seeking revenge on Elena for her previous defeat when Elena overthrew her and took back Avalor.
Luisa soon learns of Shuriki's return in "Shapeshifters", along with her alliances with Fiero and the Delgados, and agreeing with Francisco, Naomi, and Esteban, she votes to keep Elena safe in the Royal Palace under the protection of Gabe and his Royal Guards non-stop, not wanting to lose her to Shuriki like she did Lucia and Raul over 40 years prior. She later heads on a diplomatic mission to the neighboring kingdom of Cordoba with Francisco and Esteban in "The Scepter of Night", but Gabe remains steadfast on following through on his orders from them to keep Elena safe from Shuriki, even as she begins the hunt for the pieces of the Scepter of Night to attain it before Shuriki does and can use it against her and Avalor.
Later on, in "Class Act", Luisa and Francisco are proud of Isabel as she starts her first weekly class at the Science Academy with Professor Ochoa. However, out of Isabel's earshot, Elena voices her concern about Isabel going to the Academy alone and is tempted to send a detachment of Royal Guards with her, but Luisa rejects the idea, convincing Elena to just go herself, which she decides to do after all, which proves useful when a jealous, egotistical student tries to ruin Isabel's work and nearly convince her to drop out in shame.
In the one hour special, "Song of the Sirenas", Luisa joins her family as they travel to Nueva Vista for summer vacation. However, on the way, Naomi's parents spot Sirenas in the water and attack them before Elena intervenes, citing that they had attacked the Sirenas before they had shown any intent to provoke the attack in the first place. Once in Nueva Vista, they meet up with Duke Cristobal, who had already set up the city to host a parade to celebrate Elena's victory over Shuriki and reclaiming Avalor from her. However, Migs, Luna, and Skylar arrive to report that they had just spotted Shuriki and her crew heading for Nueva Vista, resulting in Elena being on a separate float from Isabel, Esteban, and her grandparents, protected by the Jaquins, Mateo, Naomi, and Gabe, during the parade. After the parade is over, Luisa and the others return to the palace, wondering where Elena is, as they had been separated from her during the parade, before finding themselves face-to-face with Shuriki herself, along with her crew, much to their horror. Shuriki then has Luisa, Francisco, and their grandchildren locked in the palace tower, where they are soon joined by Elena and the Sirena Crown Princess, Princess Marisa, who reveals that Cristobal has betrayed them and allied with Shuriki. Luckily, Mateo, Gabe, Naomi, and the Jaquins bust them out, and they attempt to flee back to Avalor City on their yacht with Naomi's parents, but are pursued by Shuriki on Cristobal's yacht, before they are stopped by Marisa's parents, King Pescoro and Queen Camila, her brother, Crown Prince Marzel, and the Sirenas, who use their song to entrance Cristobal's helmsman and cause him to run the yacht aground into the palace, despite Cristobal's attempts to prevent it. As Elena goes after Shuriki, since it is her the sorceress is after, Mateo, Naomi, and Gabe go after Fiero and the Delgados. By the time Luisa and the rest of the family return to Nueva Vista, Elena reports that Shuriki is gone for good this time, having killed her with the Scepter of Light, avenging Raul and Lucia once and for all, before Luisa watches as Elena has Cristobal locked up for his betrayal and treason of both to their family and to Avalor because of his greed for money, and forges a new alliance and friendship with King Pescoro and the Sirenas.
Later on, Luisa supports Elena's intent to forge a new treaty with King Pescoro to ensure she has the Sirenas as valuable friends and allies for any new threats that attack Avalor City or Nueva Vista, despite Naomi having her own personal dislike for them. She later celebrates Día de los Muertos with her family, the first time doing it in Nueva Vista and introducing the holiday to the Sirenas.
In "The Magic Within", Luisa finally learns of Esteban's original alliance with Shuriki when she first took over Avalor over 40 years earlier, thanks to a new power in the Scepter of Light that Elena had recently learned following its powerup in the Well of Crystals and used against Esteban when he showed visible anxiety when inquired about where he was the day Raul and Lucia were murdered. Angered by his betrayal that led to the deaths of Elena and Isabel's parents, Luisa sides with Elena and Naomi during a Grand Council meeting with voting to have Esteban stripped of his position as Chancellor and exiled from Avalor to Soledad Island for the rest of his life while Francisco was willing to forgive him after hearing him out, but Luisa couldn't support her husband on his decision as her daughter and son-in-law were killed and Esteban partially held the blame for it. However, Esteban later escapes with the Delgados, but then flees with Ash while Carla surrenders to Elena after her mother betrayed her and petrified Victor.
By the time of Elena's coronation as Queen in the series finale "Coronation Day" finally arrived, Luisa remains in Avalor City with Francisco and Isabel, who serves as acting Crown Princess with Elena's impending coronation as Queen, when Elena heads to Nueva Vista to deal with Ash and Esteban after learning of their appearance there and threatening both the people of Nueva Vista and King Pescoro's Sirenas in Coronado, only to find Avalor City under attack by Esteban and the Four Shades of Awesome some time later, with Isabel leading the defense in Elena's absence, though it is quickly overrun after taking down the first of the Shades in Hetz by using his own power of lightning against him, forcing Isabel to find Elena to get additional reinforcements. When confronted by Esteban and Cahu the Time Shade in the throne room, Luisa and Francisco try to reason with Esteban, and convince him of how he'll be hated as ruler because of his actions, just like with Shuriki. Though they try to get him to reconsider his evil acts, they are turned into a stone tablet by Cahu for their attempts to turn Esteban back to good and annoying her with their stalling, essentially fossilizing and killing them, much to Esteban's shock and horror. He demands Cahu reverse what she's done, but Cahu reveals he should not have trusted the Shades, having made the same mistake with them like with when he trusted Shuriki, only for her to double-cross him with killing Raul and Lucia, leaving Esteban to now believe he's beyond redemption now. They are later restored, unharmed, as are all the other victims of the Shades' powers, when Elena unlocks a new power in her emotion magic after forgiving Esteban after he sacrifices himself for her. After that, Luisa attends Elena's coronation as Queen with the rest of her family, friends, and allies in the Royal Family of Enchancia.
Gallery
The image gallery for Luisa Flores may be viewed here.
References
- ↑ Victor Delgado calls her "Señora Flores" in King of the Carnaval
Trivia
- Luisa so far only had two wardrobe changes in the whole series in Royal Retreat and A Day to Remember.