Princess Elena

Princess Elena of Avalor is the protagonist of the Disney Channel animated series Elena of Avalor. She is the oldest princess and the current Ruler of the Kingdom of Avalor. But before she can become Queen, she must learn to 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. Also like Sofia, she has a personal approach to leadership and a disregard for her own personal safety. Unlike Sofia, Elena is very confident, so much so that 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 sixteen 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.

Powers and Abilities
In her teenage years, Elena was given the Scepter of Lightfrom 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 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 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.