Ernesto de La cruz

first glance, Ernesto presents himself as a charming, sensible, charismatic, affable, and intelligent individual who encouraged others to follow their dreams no matter what. His presentation made him seem like a good role model to others (especially to Miguel). He also comes across as a very fun, friendly, and approachable person: the sort who's the life of the party wherever he goes while also being very personable to his guests, his staff and great with children.

However, it all turns out to be a façade to hide his true nature: that of a selfish, sinister, vain, egotistical, callous, cruel, and overambitious man who wanted glory and fame all for himself, even if it meant murdering his best friend Héctor in order to steal his song book. His afterlife as a spirit has also allowed him to strengthen his reputation, with him not just proving, but admitting he will go to malicious lengths to maintain it. Therefore, his view of how someone should follow their dreams no matter what ultimately makes him more selfish than anything else.

He has a very paranoid personality, as shown when he considered Miguel a liability when the boy witnessed the revelation of his true colors and went to the extent of attempting to murder him to hide his secret. He showed no remorse nor hesitation as he even taunted his former friend Héctor with a sarcastic and cold “apology” before nearly seeing him erased from existence.

He was also cocky enough to hide his secret in one of his films, which inevitably caused him to be exposed. When faced with his actions, he is shown to be quite cowardly as when he was attacked by Héctor for killing him and being confronted by the other Riveras who learned the truth about Héctor's death. Instead of fighting back or even trying to convince them that they were wrong, he instead sent his guards after them.

Despite his selfishness, he is capable of showing common decency to people as long as they don’t know his secret as he saved Miguel after he fell into his pool while at the party. He then spent some time bonding with Miguel and even intended to give him his blessing to return to the Land of the Living. That is, this was before Miguel figured out what he did to Hector, so it's debatable whether Ernesto's act of decency was sincere or not.

Overall, Ernesto is a heartless man who puts his own desires first while shamelessly looking down on others, even his family and friends. His greatest weakness is his willingness to disregard friendship and family in order to gain fame and protect his crimes, which proved to be his downfall and tarnishing of his own reputation. He may have been able to hide his crimes for years but in the end, he was ultimately outsmarted by Miguel, Hector and the rest of their family.