The Guitar

By: Julius Daniel Ines

"Coco" follows the young aspiring musician Miguel as he accidentally enters the Land of the Dead and discovers his secret family history along the way. Towards the beginning of the movie, Miguel finds a photograph that leads him to believe a deceased famous musician named Ernesto de la Cruz is his great-great-grandfather.

While in the Land of the Dead, Miguel enlists the help of a woebegone man named Hector to help him find Ernesto. About two-thirds of the way through the movie, the plot takes a surprising turn when Miguel finds out that Hector is really his great-great-grandfather — not Ernesto.

But if you were paying close attention to a detail included on the famous Ernesto's guitar, you might have figured out this twist for yourself: Both Ernesto's famous guitar and Hector have a single gold tooth

Throughout the first act of "Coco," we see Ernesto's guitar multiple times. The headstock of the guitar is decorated to look like a skull, and features a single gold tooth. This is true for Ernesto's real guitar and the replica Miguel makes. At one point we even see Miguel coloring in one tooth to make it gold.

We eventually learn that Ernesto murdered Hector, his friend and musical collaborator. Ernesto then took Hector's guitar and songbook, and launched his own successful career.