Princess Elena

Princess Elena is the protagonist of the Disney Channel animated series Elena of Avalor. She is the oldest princess and the current Ruler of Avalor, but before she can become Queen she must rule as the Crown Princess.

Background
Elena was born to the late King Raul and Queen Lucia of Avalor. She resides within the kingdom's castle alongside her family, consisting of her sister Isabel, maternal grandparents Francisco and Luisa, as well as her scheming maternal cousin, Esteban. She is additionally accompanied by a trio of comedic, flying jaquins that double as her friends and mode of transportation, as well as the wise spirit fox Zuzo, whom only she can see on her own free will, as a result of her magical abilities.

Personality
Elena has the heart and mind of a true leader. She is devoted to the welfare of her subjects, her family, and her friends. She is shown to hold her father in high esteem and looks to him for inspiration. Like the Princess who freed her, Elena values keeping promises no matter what and has a strong dislike of disappointing her loved ones to the point where she can take on more than she can handle. Also like Sofia, she has a personal approach to leadership and a disregard for her own personal safety. Unlike Sofia though, Elena is very confident, to the point where she can be careless. Also unlike Sofia, who is quite particular, Elena can rush into things and miss key points. Her grandfather Francisco noted this to her through the story of the king who thought he had lost his crown, a way of telling her she wasn't ready to rule alone. Elena is reluctant to take advice at the beginning, while Sofia can take too much advice. She's also shown to love Dia de los Muertos because she sees it as a party where everyone you love is invited.

Physical Appearance
At seventeen years of age, Elena is an olive-skinned girl, with a slender figure and amber-brown eyes. She has ruby red lips and long, wavy, dark brown hair tied in a ponytail.

Her signature outfit is a long red sleeveless over-skirt dress stylized with matching coral gauze ruffle/flounces around the elastic neckline and on the side and bottom with an attached ivory colored underskirt. Around her waist is a golden belt held in place with a golden buckle. She wears brown high heeled shoes with flowery patterns. Elena's jewelry includes a pair of golden engraved hoop earrings, a braided beaded bracelet on her left wrist, and a flower hair comb clip on the right side of her hair.

She also usually wears an elegant, flowing yet once again ruffled flower motif red ball gown with a pink sash for more formal occasions. With this, she retains her usual ponytail, yet swaps out the flower hair combs for a tiara, and her hoop earrings for hanging jeweled earrings.

In her Jaquin form, Elena is swathed in red fur (with a white underbelly) that possesses yellow flower patterns scattered across her body. Elena also possesses light blue feathers extending from both cheeks and the rear portion of her front legs and a pair of wings that are also predominantly red with light blue throughout.

Powers and Abilities
In her teenage years, Elena was given the Scepter of Light from her father, and the Amulet of Avalor from her mother. Both artifacts are ancient Maruvian treasures that possess powerful magic. The scepter can conjure spells through verbal order, while the amulet has a wide array of abilities that generally works to protect its bearer.

As a result of being trapped within the amulet for decades, Elena has garnered a few magical abilities of her own, as theorized by Zuzo at any rate. For one, as revealed in "First Day of Rule", she has the power to see and summon spirits at all times, as opposed to only when a wizard summons one. This also carries over to non-magical entities, such as the spirits of deceased humans, though this ability is only possible on Dia de los Muertos.

Elena and the Secret of Avalor
When Elena turned fifteen, her mother Queen Lucia gave her the Amulet of Avalor, a magical amulet that her parents hoped would always protect her from harm. One year later, Shuriki, an evil power-hungry sorceress from the Northern Islands, invaded Avalor and killed her parents. Alacazar, Avalor's Royal Wizard, came up with a way to save her family. Because he needed time to cast it, Elena made the choice to face Shuriki on her own. When Shuriki tried to strike her down, the Amulet saved Elena by pulling her inside it. When the Amulet was given to Princess Sofia of Enchancia, Elena knew she was the one who would free her.

Forty-one years after her imprisonment, Princess Sofia of Enchancia achieves enough of a state of oneness with the Amulet that Elena is finally able to make contact with her by triggering the Amulet's Secret Library Visions ability. This sends Sofia to the Secret Library of Enchancia where she learns of Elena's imprisonment from Alacazar. This makes Sofia set out to free Elena from the Amulet. With a combination of Alacazar's grandson, the Jaquins, Shuriki's wand, and her powers, Sofia finally frees Elena from the Amulet. Elena takes Shuriki's wand and sets out to defeat Shuriki alone. Her attempt fails when she can't use the wand properly and she's forced to flee. Elena and Sofia team up and free their families. They then rally the Citizens of Avalor, who march with them to the castle where they confront Shuriki. Her cousin Esteban grabs Shuriki's wand and tosses it to Elena. Knowing she can't use the wand, Elena destroys it. With the wand gone, Shuriki's powers are destroyed and she turns into an old woman who flees defeated. Elena then assumes the throne to the joy of all of Avalor.

Season One
In "First Day of Rule", Following her freedom from the amulet, Elena and her family resume their lives in Avalor, with Elena being particularly excited to finally be crowned Queen. However, Francisco informs her that her crowning will have to wait, as Esteban has discovered that Elena is too young to rule the kingdom as queen, per the kingdom's by-laws. Instead, Francisco explains that Elena will rule alongside a Grand Council who will help her make decisions until she comes of age. Elena strongly rebukes the idea, believing she's mentally capable of solely maintaining the kingdom and vows to prove herself by gathering the city leaders and working alongside them to restore Avalor's welfare, which had been damaged by Shuriki's purge. She was accompanied by Isabel, Estaban, and a new member of the Royal Guard, Gabe.

While out, Elena is informed of a mysterious series of thefts involving ships. Though Elena wants to spring into action, Esteban convinces her to instead focus on meeting the city leaders as intended, to which Elena agrees. Isabel and Gabe stay behind, where they uncover the mysterious ship thieves before being captured and kidnapped by them. A young girl named Naomi notices this and quickly informs Elena. Teaming up with Mateo and Naomi, Elena uncovers the whereabouts of the stolen ships, revealing the thieves to be mystical creatures known as Noblins. Elena and her friends battle the creatures, but this only heightens the danger and leads to senseless altercations. Zuzo appears and helps Elena realize that she's approaching matters far too hastily and recklessly, advising that she slows down and think before acting. Elena calms her nerves and approaches the Noblins diplomatically, learning they were imprisoned by Shuriki and forced to make gold for decades. After her defeat, they were freed and stole the ships to return home. Elena allows the Noblins to borrow the ships to sail home and journeys back to the castle for the Royal Ball.

She accepts that she is not ready to become Queen, and instead takes her grandfather's advice by assembling the Grand Council of Avalor consisting of her grandparents, Esteban, and Naomi. She is then dubbed "Crown Princess of Avalor".

In "Spellbound", Elena dubs Mateo the new Royal Sorcerer of Avalor in place of the deceased Alakazar, while simultaneously boosting his confidence by helping him defeat the roughish sorcerer, Fiero.

In "The Scepter of Light", Elena finds a replacement for the Amulet of Avalor in the form of her father's scepter. After she accidentally blasts some of her furniture with it, Zuzo tells her that it is a magical object created by the Kingdom of Maru. When the evil moth fairy Orizaba invades Avalor, Mateo reveals that the scepter is indeed such an object: It's the Scepter of Light which gives its bearer the power to harness the Powers of Light at the cost of having their energy drained. Upon realizing that the Scepter can defeat Orizaba, who draws her strength from darkness, with it, Elena proceeds to do so. She later reveals to her family that she has magical abilities now.

In the special "Realm of the Jaquins", Elena is in attendance with Mateo as Skylar's little brother Nico is participating in the tests to become a Guardian of Avalor under Chief Zephyr that the chief arranged with Mateo's help. However, when on his way to complete the second task, Nico is secretly prevented from doing so by Victor Delgado, causing him to be unable to graduate into a full-fledged Guardian of Avalor. Hoping to help him, Elena travels with Luna to Vallestrella, the home of the Jaquins, to speak to King Verago, who is Skylar and Nico's father, but Verago is furious to see Elena and Mateo in Vallestrella as humans are prohibited from being in Vallestrella due to a previous incident. However, it is soon learned that a forest sprite named Marimonda has been released from her imprisonment and attempting to leave Vallestrella to attack Avalor. Elena seeks out the sun bird spirit Quita Moz, who reveals a new ability of the Scepter of Light that Elena had not known about before, the power to create illusions. With that knowledge, and an enchanted jar provided by Quita Moz to imprison Marimonda permanently again, Elena heads to find her, only to end up ruining a trap set up by King Verago and Migs to catch Marimonda, resulting in Marimonda capturing Migs, while Verago is not pleased at Elena's interference. Elena tries to make amends as she uses the Scepter's new power to fool Marimonda right before she reaches the portal to Avalor, but just when it looks like she and Skylar have Marimonda, Victor and his daughter, Carla, interfere, revealing themselves to be the real threats as they wanted revenge on Elena for defeating them previously.

Thanks to them, Marimonda opens the portal, and all three villains escape to Avalor. Elena and King Verago make amends and agree to work together to stop Marimonda once Skylar finally stands up to his father and tells him off for blaming Elena in allowing Marimonda being able to reach Avalor, returning to Avalor to enlist the aid of Chief Zephyr and the Jaquins there. While King Verago, Chief Zephyr, and the other Jaquins keep Marimonda distracted, especially Nico with his speed and agility, Elena is able to conjure a fake illusion of the front facade of the Royal Palace, so when Marimonda attempts to set foot on the stairs leading up to the front doors and believes she's won, Elena reveals that she instead set foot right in the enchanted jar, trapping Marimonda permanently once more, and undoing all her damage to Avalor. Afterwards, Elena tells her grandparents of the Delgados' part in Marimonda's attack, and orders the Captain of the Royal Guard to assemble a team of his best men to hunt them down and bring them to justice. With that, Elena returns to Vallestrella to return Marimonda to Quita Moz, but before she can leave, the sacred fire says something to Quita Moz, who then warns Elena of a great darkness that she will need to overcome in the future. If she fails, she will never be crowned Queen of Avalor. Unknown to Elena, that great darkness is her old arch-enemy, Shuriki, allied with the Delgados, seeking revenge on Elena, and promising to make the Delgados malvago wizards if they succeed.

Season Two
Elena has another run-in with Victor and Carla in the second season episode, "The Jewel of Maru", as she's fearful of the test Quita Moz forewarned her about and worried she could fail it and lose her chance to become Queen. When Skylar and Luna warn her that Victor and Carla are heading for Tepet Muul, the abandoned capital of the Kingdom of Maru, she discovers the fabled Jewel of Maru itself, along with its guardian, Amaláy, who was the creator of the Scepter of Light itself. When Elena's attempts to stop Victor and Carla from escaping with the Jewel result in her trapping herself in debris, she is visited by the spirits of her late parents, King Raul and Queen Lucia, due to it also being Dia de los Muertos as well. After Elena explains her concerns to her parents, they encourage her to never give up, and do what she knows is best for Avalor. Thanks to their support, Elena escapes, and manages to stop Victor and Carla from escaping with the Jewel of Maru, which she takes back to seal away forever. She then returns to her parents' grave to let them know she'll see them again at next year's Dia de los Muertos celebration.

Following that, Elena decides to step up the hunt for Victor and Carla by putting up wanted posters, asking the citizens of Avalor to aid the Royal Guards with finding them. However, concerned that they may escape across the border to the neighboring kingdom of Paraiso, Elena suggests at a Grand Council meeting to invite Princess Valentina of Paraiso to Avalor to sign a peace treaty between their kingdoms, after learning of a long-standing feud between Avalor and Paraiso. Everyone except for Esteban agree, but when Valentina arrives, she quickly gets on everyone's nerves with her boasting of things from Paraiso being better than Avalor's, save for Elena, who is able to endure it, until during a carriage ride to the Twin Xolos, where Valentina's boasting finally pushes Elena too far, and results in where Valentina accidentally brings the Twin Xolos statues to life. When Elena confronts her about it afterwards, Valentina confesses to being jealous of Avalor, thinking they had better stuff than Paraiso. As a result, guilty of letting their pride get the better of them, Elena and Valentina make amends and are able to return the Twin Xolos back to their inanimate forms. Afterwards, they sign the treaty, and step up the guard patrols at the border, preventing the Delgados and Shuriki from crossing over into Paraiso.

Some time later, in "A Spy in the Palace", Elena is preparing for the Jaquin Festival, in which Migs, Luna, and Skylar will be performing some aerial tricks for the celebration, while King Verago, Chief Zephyr, and other Jaquins will be in attendance. Elena assigns Naomi to help with the preparations. Suddenly, a new guest named "Rita Perez", who says she's a cousin of Armando, arrives to help, but "Rita" is actually Carla Delgado in disguise thanks to a Shape-shifting Potion she drank that was brewed up by Shuriki in an attempt to get at Queen Lucia's Carnaval Tiara, which Victor and Carla had tried and failed to steal previously, as Shuriki could use the jewel in it to craft a new wand for herself. Carla sabotages Naomi's preparations, and steals her ideas to present as her own, angering Naomi and causing her to start to have a falling out with Elena, to the point Naomi resigns as the festival planner in a fit of anger, allowing Carla to take over, much to Elena's gratitude. However, Elena is happy when Naomi returns later and apologizes for her earlier outburst and anger, and Elena assures her that she's her best friend and no one could replace her. Once the festival gets underway, Elena decides to put the Golden Jaquin statue at the port as Naomi originally suggested, before "Rita" says that they make a great team, which Elena agrees to, still unaware that "Rita" is really one of her enemies in disguise, waiting for the right moment to strike.

Later on, in "Rise of the Sorceress", Elena is preparing for the Sunflower Festival. However, noticing Rita acting strangely due to her hair changing color, and never showing up to help with some of the preparations later on, Naomi voices her concern to Elena about having a gut feeling about Rita, but Elena tells her she needs more proof than a gut feeling. During when her family is doing their dance for the celebration, the first time since Elena and Isabel's parents were cut down by Shuriki, just after they finish, Naomi tells Elena that her concerns about Rita have proof that she is up to something. When Naomi brings Elena back into the palace to show her, they arrive just as Shuriki, the Delgados, and Fiero are taking their leave, causing Elena to find herself face-to-face once more with her sworn arch-enemy that murdered King Raul and Queen Lucia, leaving her horrified to see Shuriki again as she remembers the fateful moment when Shuriki cast her spell that slain Raul and Lucia, along with their Royal Guards and horses. Seizing the moment, Shuriki tries to strike Elena down once more, and Naomi does her best to protect Elena from the attacks, but Mateo is able to arm Elena with the Scepter of Light, which Elena uses to destroy Shuriki's new wand, forcing her, Fiero, and the Delgados to retreat. Elena gives pursuit with Naomi, Gabe, and Mateo on horseback, but losing sight and the trail of the four villains, Elena agrees to have the Royal Guards assembled to hunt them down. As they return to Avalor, Elena apologizes to Naomi for doubting her, and now realizes what her test forewarned of by Quita Moz is: To defeat Shuriki, once and for all. If she fails, she will never be Queen of Avalor, and Shuriki will be able to take over again with the support of Fiero and the Delgados by her side.

With Shuriki's return now public knowledge to all of Avalor, Elena finds herself under heavy guard by Gabe and his men until Shuriki can be brought to justice. During a meeting with her Grand Council, Esteban, as Chancellor, calls a vote that has Elena confined to the castle until further notice, as both Naomi and her grandparents do not want anything to happen to her. However, for Elena, this is about revenge. Shuriki murdered her parents, and Elena wants payback, realising her parents' spirits will not be able to rest peacefully in the afterlife until their assassin pays for her crimes. Visiting Mateo in his workshop later on, Elena learns that he has recently finished work on his Shape-shifting Potion to turn one into a Jaquin. After testing it on himself, Elena tries it and realises she can use it to sneak out of the palace. However, she ends up running into Gabe, who is under orders to keep Elena in the castle under guard. He agrees to go with her and Mateo in Jaquin form to Luna's birthday party. Once there, Elena distracts Gabe while she speaks to Chief Zephyr about joining the Jaquin scouts with looking for Shuriki, but Zephyr refuses, before taking his leave with his successor, Cruz. Elena and Mateo follow Zephyr and Cruz to Commander's Rock, a cave that Alacazar had made some time before he fled Avalor when Shuriki originally took over. When they see Cruz angrily seal Zephyr in the cave, Elena and Mateo return to tell Gabe what has happened, but when Cruz arrives and puts the blame on Elena, Mateo, and Gabe when Luna, Migs, and Skylar ask about where Zephyr is. Elena, Mateo, and Gabe captured and incarcerated. However, when Elena proves to Mingo, Zoom, and Estrella it is her with their secret Guardian Salute, the cubs let them out, and they fly back to Commander's Rock to free Zephyr. Elena is able to remember the spell to open the cave just in time before being tackled by Cruz. Once free, Zephyr lunges at Cruz in fury, snarling "TRAITOR!!". Cruz attempts to escape, but Elena manages to tackle him out of the sky, allowing the other Jaquins to arrest him. After Zephyr thanks Elena for her help, but suggests that she leave things to real Jaquins rather than try to do them herself as one. Back at the castle, though Gabe is frustrated with Elena for disobeying the order of her own Grand Council, he lets her off with a warning to report her next time she does it. Soon after, the Scepter of Light reveals some hidden writing in the Codex Maru among the blank pages that Fiero stole, along with writing all over Mateo's lab. They reveal a dark counterpart to the Scepter of Light, the Scepter of Night, and how Alacazar hid it away in pieces, with riddles that lead to find them. Knowing that Shuriki, Fiero, and the Delgados are going after the pieces so Shuriki has something more powerful to even the playing field with the Scepter of Light, Elena makes it her, Mateo, and Gabe's intent to find the pieces before Shuriki does.

In the episode that follows, "The Scepter of Night", Elena has Naomi join her, Mateo, and Gabe, to learn about the Scepter and the first riddle that leads to the handle of the Scepter of Night. Deducing that it is hidden in one of the pyramids of the abandoned capital of Tepet Muul, with Gabe taking point because of his orders to protect Elena while Francisco, Luisa, and Esteban are away on a diplomatic visit to the Kingdom of Cordoba, the quartet set off on Migs, Luna, Skylar, and Dulce for Tepet Muul. Once there, Mateo breaks off from the group, convinced that if he can find the handle of the scepter first, having control of both the Scepter of Light and Scepter of Night would make Elena unstoppable against Shuriki, Fiero, and the Delgados, and make him as powerful of his grandfather Alacazar. Soon, he returns to them empty-handed, having picked the wrong pyramid and gets reprimanded by them, before they spot the right one, only for them to run into Shuriki and her team at the summit, leading to a battle between Elena and Fiero. However, while Shuriki and Carla act as decoys to try and lure Elena and her friends away from the pyramid, Fiero and Victor, slip inside to follow Mateo and Elena to the first piece while Gabe, Naomi, and the Jaquins wait outside. Elena manages to open the hidden chamber where the staff piece of the Scepter of Night was hidden, along with finding Alacazar's riddle to the next piece, only to be ambushed by Fiero and Victor, as Mateo led them right to it. After Mateo apologizes to Elena for his mistake, they are able to keep the piece from falling into Shuriki's hands, with Elena getting possession of it herself, but realize that Fiero and Victor know the riddle to the second piece's whereabouts. After Mateo makes amends with Gabe, Naomi, and the Jaquins, the eight friends huddle together to figure out the second piece's riddle and get to it before Shuriki does now that they know where she is heading next.

Adventures in Vallestrella
Elena stars in all five shorts along with Isabel and Mingo, Zoom, and Estrella.

Scepter Training With Zuzo
Elena stars in every short with Zuzo.

Disneyland Resort
Elena made her California debut during Princess Elena's Musical Grand Arrival, a musical cavalcade that introduced guests to Elena and her story, followed by meet-and-greet sessions.

Walt Disney World Resort
Elena made her debut at Walt Disney World Resort's Magic Kingdom on August 11, 2016, which marked the debut of the temporary castle show, Princess Elena of Avalor - Royal Welcome. In the show, Elena is welcomed into the park family by Cinderella and Prince Charming.

On November 24, 2016, Elena began making regular meet-and-greet appearances at the Princess Fairytale Hall at the Magic Kingdom.

Trivia

 * Elena is Disney's first Latin-inspired princess.
 * Elena is Disney's second oldest princess, as she is chronologically fifty-eight years old while being biologically seventeen due to being imprisoned in the Amulet of Avalor for forty-one years. The first would be Kida from Atlantis: The Lost Empire, who is over eight thousand years old, and the third being Elena's sister Princess Isabel.
 * Elena and Zita Flores share the same last name.
 * Elena's voice actress Aimee Carrero is known for Young & Hungry, and her character shares the same first name with Princess Sofia, coincidentally.
 * The age gap between Elena and Isabel is six years.
 * In "First Day of Rule", it is revealed that Elena had been trapped inside the Amulet of Avalor for forty-one years.
 * It has been assumed by Zuzo that during her long imprisonment Elena had absorbed some of the amulet's magic, making her magical and able to see Zuzo without the assistance of a wizard.
 * The flower that Elena wears in her hair is an Apricot Mallow, which grows in Sonora and Baja California in Northwest Mexico.
 * In Latin America, "Princesa Elena" is the name given to Princess Eilonwy.
 * Elena means shining light, or bright one.
 * Funnily enough, Elena was still in mortal peril even when she was trapped in the Amulet of Avalor. Had Princess Ivy's attempts to destroy it succeeded, Elena would more than likely have perished.
 * At the start of the series she was sixteen years old.