Animal Crossing: The Truth About Tom Nook And Redd's Fan-Created Feud

The Animal Crossing franchise has been bringing joy to gamers for almost two decades. The latest entry in the series, Animal Crossing: New Horizons, arrived at a pivotal time where people everywhere, gamers and non-gamers alike, needed joy and comfort. The game was a tremendous success that truly deserved to win Game of the Year. After all, when an official Joe Biden island popped up, it was clear that the game had broken a pop culture barrier.

While Animal Crossing does bring great joy to those who play, there's one character who does the exact opposite: Tom Nook. Even though many gamers have negative feelings toward Tom Nook, is he truly a bad guy?

He may have some questionable motives, but there's more to Tom Nook than you realize. In the AC universe, there's another character who does some truly malevolent deeds. The two have a history, but there's a fan-created backstory that may surprise you. Here is the truth, according to fans behind Tom Nook's feud with the sly fox named Redd.

Tom Nook once alluded to an "incident" after working for a fox, which one can only assume is a reference to Mr. Jolly Redd. Tom was quite vague about this "incident," and whenever something is left ambiguous, fans are often eager to fill in the details. In this case, gamers have imagined the two as bitter ex-lovers. Polygon's Patricia Hernandez likened the dynamic between Tom Nook and Redd to something from either Killing Eve or Hannibal, considering them "characters that represent different ends of the moral spectrum." 

This isn't the first time fans have speculated over relationships in ACNH. When players were introduced to C.J. and Flick, many believed the two were an item. Even though an endorsement of these backstories from a company like Nintendo would be a win for inclusivity and representation, it seems as though Nintendo of Japan sees their partnership differently and would likely feel the same about the prevalent fan theory regarding Tom Nook and Redd.

Maybe one day Nintendo will catch up with the times and encourage greater inclusivity. Perhaps when that happens, the fan-created backstory between Tom Nook and Redd will become canon.