Maybe I'm the only one, but I've been wondering, ever since watching The Book of Life, why La Muerte was so willing to let Xibalba back into her heart, after he not only cheated (again), but instigated the death of her champion. I've written this as a possible attempt to explain how the two gods might think, and it also kind of turned into a Xibalba introspective that is hopefully in character.
If you asked Carmen Sanchez, La Muerte had forgiven Xibalba for what he'd done to her son and his two best friends (now best friend and wife) far too easily.
Heck, if you asked anyone in the Land of the Living or the Land of the Remembered, she'd forgiven him far too easily.
Even Xibalba was willing to admit it-to himself and his wife, at least; if anyone else had dared suggest it in his presence, he would probably have either gone all closed off and moody, or demanded who'd asked them their opinion in a hostile tone.
Either way, though, some people would probably feel that he'd done something completely unforgivable.
He'd killed a man, for heaven's sake-yes, he'd tricked him into asking to die so he could be reunited with the love of his life, and it was the two-headed snake who had actually done the deed, but that was not the point. The snake had been acting on Xibalba's orders, and he had arranged things so that Manolo would want to die. That counted as murder, pure and simple.
The fact was, though, that Xibalba and La Muerte were both gods.
They'd been gods for a long time, and it meant that even though they were gods of death, they didn't think about life and death the way that humans did.
Human lives, once you'd been around for as many centuries as they had, were more or less a flash in the pan. Even La Muerte, who loved humans and held great hope for humanity, didn't often see death as that horrible an occurrence-in fact, it made perfect sense for her to feel that way, because the deceased usually came to her realm, and would spend eternity in endless festivity and the joy of being reunited with lost loved ones. It was just like life, only better!
In a twisted kind of way, Xibalba had felt the same way about sending Manolo on his merry way to the Land of the Remembered. Even if his precious Maria wasn't going to be there, nearly all of his family was, so at least the boy wouldn't be alone. And this way Xibalba would win the bet with his wife-he and the boy would each get something they wanted, and everyone could be more or less happy! Except La Muerte, who would be stuck ruling the Land of the Forgotten...and don't think for a moment that he didn't feel guilt for it. Once again, though, he tried to rationalize. If anyone could bring joy and warmth to that cold, cheerless place, it would be her. She'd be a far better ruler than he was, she was good at caring for the poor and forgotten in a way he never had been. It would work.
...Of course, things hadn't turned out how he thought he wanted. But he had to admit, in a way they'd turned out better. Manolo did get what he wanted-his life back, Maria as his bride, a career as a musician ahead of him, rather than being forced to be a bullfighter by the expectations of his family and the people of San Angel. Xibalba, on the other hand, might still be stuck in charge of the gloomy Land of the Forgotten, but he also got something he wanted: he had his wife's love back-something he had not expected to ever have again.
He definitely had not expected her to forgive him at all, let alone so suddenly; he was still kind of afraid to ask why she had. He just enjoyed the opportunity to have her in his arms again, and worked to not betray her trust again.
Because he meant what he'd said.
She deserved better than him. So maybe he could try to be a little better.
Sorry if the ending is a little cheesy.
Also, please don't hate me, La Muerte/Xibalba fans; I like them together. They compliment each other, in a kind of weird, twisted way. I'm just feeling like, from a mortal perspective...their relationship has issues. Or Xibalba has issues. Or both.
Thoughts?