Animal Crossing: New Horizons' vacation home shows Tom Nook, Timmy, and Tommy are driven by greed to collect players' and Villagers' Bells.

Nintendo’s recent Animal Crossing Direct Livestream revealed a collection of new features for Animal Crossing: New Horizons, but it also clearly showed Nintendo knows how evil Tom Nook really is. Since Animal Crossing’s beginning, Tom Nook’s wicked schemes and constant drive for Bells have left players enduring menial labor to repay their debts. Despite the Bells players pour into their save files, no significant improvements ever seem to be made by what is undoubtedly the wealthiest character in Animal Crossing. The question of what Tom Nook does with Bells has finally been answered, and it’s one of the most selfish acts in the franchise.

Keeping Tom Nook happy is vital in Animal Crossing for players to progress. While each title contains its own unique objective, most players’ most common goal is to pay off a wholly upgraded house. These houses have varied in size and style throughout the series, but total expansions cost hundreds of thousands of Bells. Unfortunately, recent games proved Tom Nook was even more of a crook, extorting player characters for basic shelter on a deserted island.

Animal Crossing: New Horizons’ Happy Home Paradise DLC allows players to craft dream vacation homes specified by the residents themselves. The requests of some characters shown in the trailer are often understandable and occasionally endearing. For example, Maple is fond of stuffed teddy bears and wants a wooden armoire somewhere in her room. However, the Nintendo Direct appears to suggest the Nook family vacation home Tom, Timmy, and Tommy all desire is a cavern, jungle-like setting filled with gold bars and gold items. While some might have argued that Tom Nook was putting his Bells towards the betterment of island life, his family’s vacation home proves their deepest desires are pretty selfish.

Animal Crossing: New Horizons’ Nook Family Has Made A Supervillain Base

Comic book supervillains tend to choose remote locations to hide their spoils and plot their next moves against their superhero rivals. Characters like Lex Luthor and his Legion of Doom reside in a skull-shaped base hidden within a swamp, while Marvel’s Doctor Doom resides in his impregnable fortress, Castle Doom. Neither have very welcoming demeanors and both are strangely similar to the jungle-themed, gold-filled cavern Tom Nook calls paradise. If Tom Nook’s dream home consists of hoarding his gold alongside useless golden objects, he undoubtedly proves his conquest for Bells is driven by greed and the exploitation of innocent Villagers in Animal Crossing: New Horizons.

If the Nook family’s dream home wasn’t enough, Tom Nook’s history before his role in Animal Crossing games confirms his evil nature. Many players know Redd, Animal Crossing’s shifty Art Dealer and collector. Tom Nook and Redd once ran a business as partners but suffered a falling out due to Redd’s business practices. While some may argue this refers to Redd’s tendency to sell fake art, it could also refer to how Redd utilizes his cons. Experienced players can spot Redd’s fakes, undercutting his profits and using a portion of his limited inventory useless. Tom Nook engages in a far more nefarious plot by establishing a monopoly in Animal Crossing settlements, charging ridiculous amounts of Bells for meager upgrades or basic shelter because players have no alternatives.

Unfortunately, it appears Tom Nook’s reign of terror isn’t over. The Happy Home Paradise DLC adds plenty of new content for Animal Crossing: New Horizons but fails to remove the exploitative Nook family from the island permanently. Thankfully, some of the labor in islands will become more rewarding as players design homes and vacation houses fitting of their beloved ACNH Villagers. Animal Crossing: New Horizons’ free update and Happy Home Paradise DLC launch November 5th, 2021, for game owners.

Next: How Animal Crossing's Farming & Cooking Work