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The thing about the Madrigal's gift is that no one actually wants to think to hard about the reality of it all unless they absolutely have to.
Dolores isn't given that luxury. She has to hear her mother's frustration at having to change her moods at a whim. She has to hear Luisa's nervous ticks before using her super strength. She has to hear Isa's sighs and groans of frustration every time her cousin goes to her room to be alone. She hears all of this and everything else, but she doesn't say anything.
Here's why;
Tio Bruno is already a pariah when Dolores is five and gets her gift. She hears the whispering behind his back, the rumors, the vile words. It makes her angry at first, because she loves him very much, but after awhile it almost wears down on her, making her wonder if it's all true.
She doesn't break down and turn on him like others did though.
Because while Abuela instructs her to use her powers for the town, and Tia, Mama, and Papa do their best to make her as comfortable as possible with her gift, it's Tio Bruno that does the most important thing anyone can do with a power such as hers.
He teaches her to pick and choose.
Tio Bruno loves his nieces and nephew, that much is obvious. He plays with them, braiding hair, making silly faces, telling stories. One night she hears him tell his rats, "The best year of my life was the year Isabela and Dolores were born."
That sticks with her, and she thinks that she might learn to love her gift eventually.
Tio Bruno teaches her to think before handing out information. He says that everyone wants to know everything until they hear something they don't like. Is the news happy or sad? Is the person asking for the truth or not? Is it very, very important that they know this?
"And if they find out anyways, then get mad at you for not saying anything, feign ignorance. You were focusing on something else at the time! Or you were in your soundproof room."
And maybe it's strange for an uncle to be telling his niece to lie. But he's a strange man and Dolores knows better than most that there is value in strange.
It's the curse of knowing too much. A curse Tio Bruno knows all too well.
She knows he tells her this because he doesn't want her to be as alone as he is. And it works. Dolores takes an unfair reputation as a busybody and can live with that. He's relieved at least.
And then he's gone.
Isabela and Luisa cry for weeks after his disappearance. Mirabel and Camilo are too young to really know what's going on, just that their uncle is gone and everyone else is upset. But the adults are beside themselves. Mama storms hard and heavy throughout the day as Papa tries to comfort her. Tia tries to be as strong as she can but at night she takes deep breaths, begging him to return in small whispers. And Abuela hardens, cold, doesn't cry and grows annoyed when she finds others crying. She tells the family to focus on the town and doesn't talk about him.
Dolores has the sinking feeling that none of them will soon enough.
But as for her-
She picks and chooses.
Dolores whispers pleas and demands to Casita until it tells her how to find him.
"Why are you doing this?"
"I can't tell you. Nobody else can know."
"I'll tell Mama if you don't say. And Abuela too."
"No! Please. Look, every Madrigal is just doing what they think is best for the family."
"It's just that not everyone actually knows what the best is."
".... Meh."
"Tio!"
"Look, it's not easy to explain, even harder to understand, but trust me on this, okay? I wouldn't be doing this if I didn't think I had to."
"Promise?"
"Promise."
"Then I promise not to tell anybody."
She knows when no one coming, or when no one is looking, and so she knows when to open the portrait to sneak in a plate for dinner. She hears him in the kitchen walls for breakfast and dinner, and every "La Familia Madrigal."
He puts on a show every once in awhile, probably out of his own boredom, but Dolores often finds herself invested in the storylines.
It's not.... great. But it's family.
"Dolores?"
"Yes?" She whispers to the painting.
"Dolores, the man of your dreams will be just within reach. You just need to be brave enough to take it."
She smiles. "Thank you."
And for a day, she's happy, because she thinks she knows who he's talking about. Mariano. The kindest boy in Encanto. A boy so silly and sweet and loving.
But then such happiness comes to an end, because then she hears Abuela say to Isabela, "Don't you think you and that Mariano Gúzman would be good together?"
"Yes, Abuela. We really would."
Her heart breaks at the words.
Her heart breaks a little more as she realizes what she must do.
Because this is her cousin. Her cousin who isn't happy and Dolores can't figure out why. Isabela won't tell her.
And Isabela is most amazing woman in the village. Mariano is the most amazing man. They fit together perfectly. And he'll be happy with her. They belong together.
So she picks and chooses. She picks the option that might stop Isabela's sad sighs and chooses to let her be with the man that will love and respect her through thick and thin. She picks the best life for Mariano and chooses to let him be with the girl everyone in the village swoons for. She picks the best path for her family and chooses to suffer in silence as she listens in on his poems, laughs at his jokes, and brightens the days of everyone around him.
It's the curse of knowing everything.
Isn't that what Bruno is doing? Avoiding whatever truth he uncovered? Suffering in the ultimate silence; Isolation?
But there's one thing haunts her. One thing she can't get out of her head. 'Just within reach'.
She just has to be brave.
But Dolores can't do that to them. But she could. She could have the man of her dreams, but only if she ruins his relationship with her cousin first.
That is not just being brave, it's being cruel.
No, she could never.
So she says, or rather sings, "He told me that the man of my dreams would be just out of reach. Betrothed to another."
Which, yes, is probably not what she should be saying about her Tio when everyone else is saying mean things about him, but she has to distract from their engagement somehow.
But then even that becomes the least of her worries. Dolores can't bring herself to keep it a secret. She understands, or at least has an answer to why he did what he did. And she gets it to an extent. But she has to disagree. So she does what she thinks is best for her family.
"I never wanted to marry him! I was just doing it for the family!" Isabela screams soon after.
She gasps when she hears it.
And she only has a few minutes to process it before the house comes crumbling down.
But it's gonna be okay.
Because then Isa is setting her up, and it's a little scary, but he sees her, and Tio Bruno comes back to the family, and her cousin is finally free not in love but in life, and somehow they are all as happy as can be. And Dolores is left wondering how any of them ever thought that suffering in silence was what makes for a good family.
Maybe she doesn't know everything.