While characters like Isabelle and Raymond are currently some of the most popular and well-known characters of the franchise, no one can deny that the Nooks have pretty much represented Animal Crossing since the very beginning. The family of tanuki raccoons, including Tom Nook and his two nephews, Timmy and Tommy, is the subject of memes and fan art across the internet.
Although extremely well-known, there are still some things about the Nook family that has fans scratching their heads. The game might not have a storyline, but some of the lore occasionally comes up during dialogue. Here are just a few more mysteries that fans desperately need answers for when it comes to the Nooks.
10 How Did They Get Their Money?
The biggest, most pressing question everyone has on their lips is how the Nook family made their fortune. This can't just be explained by the previous games and how Tom Nook has had a store since the beginning, because it ignores the sheer amount of capital he has.
Think about it: the Nooks are able to fund just about any project on the island, buy anything off of the player and sustain themselves. By all accounts, they have bottomless pockets, or an illegal way of acquiring wealth.
9 Where Do All The Sold Items Go?
The second obvious question most players will think about as they frequent Nook's Cranny is why Timmy and Tommy keep buying all their trash. Normally, shopkeepers don't buy anything they can't reliably resell or use to make more money.
Where do all the bugs, fish and other trash go? One plausible theory could be that whatever the player sells is used to produce all the items sold at the store in the first place. But how would Timmy and Tommy use fish and bugs to make a table?
8 How Can They Build Things So Quickly?
Thanks to their endless money, the Nooks are able to build and upgrade anything. In New Horizons, Tom Nook is in charge of making all infrastructure builds happen once the player has paid for them. For house upgrades, the upgrade is finished within one night.
How is this possible? Most construction projects take days, sometimes weeks or even months to complete, yet Tom Nook is somehow able to summon an intricate zen bridge in one night, or plop a second floor on the player's house.
7 Who Are The Parents Of Timmy And Tommy?
Those who have been paying close attention will know that Timmy and Tommy are in fact not Tom's own children. They're his nephews, which means that Tom Nook has at least one sibling, whom no one knows about nor has ever even seen. Who could this person be?
Moreover, why are Timmy and Tommy under Tom's care? If they're with him, it could be either to teach them how to work the business or because their parents are no longer alive or able to care for them.
6 How Old Is Tom Nook?
Age and the passing of time is one majorly problematic aspect of Animal Crossing, due to how hard it is to measure it properly. Using Redd as a point of reference, since his age was revealed in Wild World to be around 35, it's safe to assume he's around 50 years old now, since the game was released in 2005.
Moreover, since Tom and Redd have worked together in the past as business partners, maybe they were both roughly the same age? The only thing that's known for sure is that Tom's birthday is May 30.
5 Why Do They Hate Redd So Much?
Speaking of Redd, this sly fox has a very special role when it comes to the Nook family. Obviously, Tom and Redd are bitter rivals, which is proven by how they have competing businesses and almost opposite business models relying on very different practices. One is honest, one likes to scheme and scam.
Why haven't the two been able to cooperate? Well, turns out they did in the past, and that Tom had a bad experience with Redd, which affected him greatly. Since then, Tom probably hasn't trusted the fox and feels negatively about being scammed by him.
4 Where Do They Live On The Island?
Every single villager has their own house where they spend their night, but where do the special characters go? Aside from Blathers, who has the talent of sleeping while standing, Isabelle and the Nook family don't have a home.
Tom works most of the night at the Resident Services, which puts into question how he's even able to stay awake most days. Timmy and Tommy close up their store, but after that it's a big question mark as to where they end up going. Do they just sleep in the back?
3 How Did They Acquire The Islands?
This question ties up partly into where the Nook family got their money from. How does one even acquire an island? Thinking back to the start of New Horizons, Tom Nook has several islands on which he's now offering to set up a community.
How does this work and how is it possible to just buy several islands and then choose from them? It sounds like a waste of resources. Why would Tom do this in the first place? It seems like a complicated way to make money.
2 How Does Tom Distinguish His Nephews?
Aside from the little name tag that appears in dialogue, it's pretty much impossible to distinguish Timmy and Tommy from one another. These two tanuki twins not only look exactly like one another, but they also complete each others' sentences.
How does Tom deal with this and not mix up his nephews all the time? Is there something that sets them apart easily that players haven't noticed?
1 Why Did Tom Abandon Sable?
Talking to Sable, one of the Able sisters, it becomes clear that she used to be friends with Tom. However, Tom decided to move to the city to chase after his dreams of having a business.
Were Sable and Tom more than friends? And moreover, what kind of a friend just leaves their friend behind? It's clear the two are no longer close, so why was Tom so desperate to make money instead?