La Muerte is one of the two overarching protagonists (alongside The Candle Maker) in the 20th Century Fox and Reel FX Animation Studios' 2014 computer-animated feature film The Book of Life.
She is the Queen of the Land of The Remembered, as well as the ancient, immortal goddess of benevolence, kindness, goodness, generosity, purity, forgiveness, mercy, hope, love, passion, light and death. She is also the estranged wife of Xibalba, the King of the Land of the Forgotten.
She first entered the plot of the film when she and her husband Xibalba made a bet concerning who the mortal Maria would marry her childhood best friends: Manolo or Joaquín.
She was voiced by Kate del Castillo. In the Japanese dub from the movie, she was voiced by Masako Katsuki.
What Makes Her Pure Good?[]
- While her husband Xibalba was cruel and helped Joaquín try to win Maria's love for the sake of being able to rule over the Land of the Remembered, La Muerte was by contrast, kind and understanding towards humans.
- Despite being opposites, she and her husband still get along well and can't live without each other, with her even understanding him enough to know that he's not completely evil.
- When Xibalba tried to commit evil deeds like blow out some candles and try to remove an old man's soul (believing his time had come), she lit them again and stopped him from taking the man's soul.
- She disguised herself as an old woman and asked Manolo for food to demonstrate the latter's kindness on display.
- She promised that if Xibalba won the bet without cheating, he could keep the Land of the Remembered and if she won, Xibalba could not go back to meddling in Manolo and Joaquín's affairs. She later kept her end of the promise when he won (with the fact that he cheated being something she wasn't aware of).
- She chose Manolo because she was confident he deserved María because of his kindness and pure heart.
- When Manolo decided to spare the bull and not fight it, leading people (except María) to reject him, La Muerte still didn't lose confidence that he would be able to earn María's love in the end.
- She rebuilt Luis Sánchez upon seeing that he had lost most of his body and only had his head left.
- Once she learned that had Xibalba cheated yet again, she tried to convince him to bring Manolo back to life so the bet could continue.
- As the battle of Chakal was taking place on Day of the Dead, she was able to summon Manolo's deceased family from the Land of the Remembered to help him.
- She forgave Xibalba for his actions and reconciled with him after he redeemed himself.
- When an old tour guide (who is also distantly related to María and her father) was being harassed by the children, she decided to be the one to guide them instead.
- Many years later, while in disguise as a woman named Mary, she told a group of children the story of Manolo.
- When a guard (Xibalba) came to tell them not to go a certain way, she was the one to change his mind.
- After the children were horrified at the point in the story where Manolo (and presumably María) died, she reassured them that the story didn't end that way and continued until the tale reached it's happy end.
- Before the children left, she decided to reveal her true form to them, leaving them surprised and delighted to have been able to meet her.
External Links[]
- La Muerte on the Heroes Wiki
- La Muerte on the The Book of Life Wiki