Animal Crossing is a delightfully wholesome and cozy franchise, but that hasn't stopped fans from coming up with some ridiculous and outlandish theories about it. The various games place players in a city, town, campsite, and even a whole island and make them responsible for upgrading the area, inviting new residents, and generally maintaining the upkeep of the location. To make matters even more bewildering, although players appear human, all the villagers are animals who walk like humans.

The true explanation for why the game and its characters look the way they do is probably just for aesthetics. There is likely no deeper meaning or much lore to uncover behind Coco's blank eyes or Tom Nook's nefarious Real Estate dealings. Despite this, there are still many bizarre theories about the Animal Crossing franchise, and some can get downright disturbing.

10 Islands That Are "Reset" Are Actually Sold Off By Tom Nook

Explains How Nook Can Afford Everything

As much as Tom Nook gets a bad rep for being greedy and even evil, the Tanuki real estate mogul is actually a great landlord. He lends players money with no interest and has no time limit on paying him back for making upgrades home upgrades. In reality, Nook's scheme simply wouldn't make any money for him.

Unless, that is, he's somehow making a profit off players when they abandon islands, as DarkMagickan on Reddit suggests. The theory suggests that Nook doesn't make money off most players, but rather relies on people who fix up the island, make it look nice, then reset it to start a new one.

Nook uses fake money to keep players thinking that things are all above board, but he's just biding his time, waiting for the player to finish their free labor on the island. Once players leave their current island, the theory posits that Tom Nook evicts the villagers and the island is sold as "an expensive paradise to wealthy humans" for real money. This theory would certainly explain how Tom Nook's business hasn't gone under yet, despite him literally giving away islands.

9 Rover Was Supposed To Be The Mayor In New Leaf

He Decides To Give The Role To The Player On A Whim

When the player arrives at the town in Animal Crossing: New Leaf, they're met by Isabelle and a few villagers and congratulated on being the new mayor of the town. The trouble is, the player seems to have no idea that they're on the way to be a mayor, which seems like a detail that should have been mentioned to them at some point.

This has given rise to the theory that another character was supposed to be the mayor, which is more or less confirmed by a letter from the mysterious would-be mayor who was supposed to take on the role but "one thing led to another... and now it's all up to you!" Although some players have taken this to mean that Isabelle was meant to be mayor, the more popular theory, proposed by Redditor xxx__xxx, is that the mayor was actually supposed to be Rover.

New Leaf begins with the player taking the train to their new home, where they strike up a conversation with Rover. When the player gets off the train, Rover continues on his way, and the player is eagerly met by the townsfolk, who have been waiting for the mayor to arrive on the train. Considering that Rover is the only other enger on the train, it's theorized that he was supposed to be the mayor but decided to on that responsibility to the player after just a few minute-long conversation with them.

8 The Player Character Is A Narcissist

Their View Of The World Is Clouded By Their Perspective

There's been a lot of speculation about why the player is the only non-animal character in Animal Crossing titles, and Redditor My1stUsrnameWasTaken has a unique theory that may explain this. According to the theory, the other characters are human too, but the main character sees things from a perspective clouded by extreme narcissism. This means that players only see the changes that they make in town and the donations they make to the museum.

Players also look down on the villagers, who are actually regular human beings. Because of the player's disdain, villagers are portrayed as "the animals you think best represent them" after players judge them for certain aspects of their personality or appearance. Even the snowboys reflect this desire for perfection and beauty, as they're "extensions of you, and therefore share your character traits." Based on this theory, the player's character isn't on an animal island that uses Bells as currency, but is instead an unreliable narrator.

7 Animal Crossing Is Set In A Post-Apocalyptic World

Radiation And Evolution Have Led To The World's Current State

This was put forth by Reddit's Piney-Cone, and it explains why some animals are human-like and others remain in pure animal form. The AC games, according to Piney-Cone, take place in a post-apocalyptic world where radiation and fallout from nuclear warfare have caused humans to mutate into human-animal hybrids. These new beings form peaceful settlements and co-exist in harmony.

Elsewhere in the world, though, the fighting between humans continues. The player's parents want to protect their child, so they send them away to live with the humanoid animals, far away from the ongoing war. If all this were true, it would explain why there are so few humans among the animals. It would also explain how there are also regular animals, since it was the humans who mutated), and why some villagers see nothing wrong with hunting their own kind, like Zucker fishing for octopus.

6 Coco Is A Haunted Doll

Her Design Is Based On A Haniwa

Most villagers in Animal Crossing are cute and cuddly anthropomorphized animals with a clear real-world inspiration. The character of Coco, however, is a pretty different story. Coco is a tan-colored rabbit villager, but in place of normal facial features, she has three black holes in her face for the eyes and mouth, resembling a gyroid.

Coco is assumed by many to be based on a coconut, a fact made more realistic by her English name. In reality, her design makes more sense with her Japanese name, Yayoi, which is the time period associated with the inspiration for her design: Haniwa statues. According to idkwhoruuu, both Coco and the gyroids are inspired by Haniwa figurines, which were made of terracotta clay to be buried with the dead.

The theory is that Coco is an actual Haniwa doll that came to life when she was possessed by the soul of whoever she was buried with. In New Leaf, she even has two bonfires burning inside her home, which some think could be used for cremation, putting a much darker spin on a seemingly adorable character.

5 All Animal Crossing Furniture Items Are Illusions Created By Tom Nook

The Leaf Shape In The Inventory Reveals Their True Nature

Although some people mistake him for a raccoon, Animal Crossing's Tom Nook is actually a Tanuki (just listen to his name!). Takunis resemble a cross between a raccoon and a dog and are known in Japanese mythology to be tricksters. According to the stories, Tanukis had the power to transform leaves into looking like whatever they want them to. The problem is that these illusions are only skin-deep, and not full transformations.

Nintendo also represents Tanuki lore in the Super Mario Bros. series, where the Tanooki suit, represented by a leaf power-up, gives Mario the power to shape-shift into a stone statue.

This has led AC furniture fans wish actually worked.

4 All The "Real" Art In The Museum Is Fake

Redd May Be A Master Forger

Redditor DarkMagickan presents another New Horizons theory, this time surrounding the island's artworks. Players can purchase paintings and statues from the sly-looking fox Redd, but there's always a chance that the artwork is a fake. However, DarkMagickan asks, what if all the art Redd sells players is actually fake?

The theory states that Redd is actually a very good forger who makes silly mistakes in half the fakes he makes, "like putting eyebrows on the Mona Lisa." The obvious fakes make players think that he's bad at what he does and lower their guard. The rest of the forgeries are spot on, good enough to "fool a sleep-deprived owl." This theory doesn't just explain why so many Animal Crossing players all have museums full of "authentic" art, but it also explains how it's possible to get duplicates of an allegedly real artwork.

3 The Island And Its Residents Are Part Of A Child's Game

This Is Lovingly Referred To As The "Winnie-The-Pooh" Theory

One of the longest-standing and most wholesome theories for the Animal Crossing games is that it's all just a game. The theory is a nod to the stories of Winnie the Pooh, where all the events that take place in the Hundred Acre Wood are merely products of a young boy's imaginary play with his toys (as well as a real rabbit and owl, apparently). Reddit The_Rambling_Otter is one of many who have suggested this theory for Animal Crossing over the years.

If true, then all the events and characters seen in the games are just a game of make-believe played by a child in their backyard. Some of the characters, like Stitches, Paula, and Hopkins, are obviously toys, while many of the others could be made up by the child. This theory makes sense in light of some of the more unusual villagers, like the characters inspired by food, and it even explains where there are so few personalities despite there being many characters.

2 The Island Is An Enrichment Area For Nearly Extinct Humans

The Villagers Are Doing Their Best To Keep Humans Alive And Engaged

Created by silverjirachi and shared to Reddit by created an enrichment center for one of the last remaining of the species.

This theory explains why the animals always look so happy to see the Villager, and why they give the player character seemingly useless tasks to do, like hiding money in rocks and furniture in trees. The villagers are much too unbothered by the one lone human constantly redecorating the island and moving their homes, but their indifference would make sense if it was all they needed to do to keep the endangered human specimen happy and healthy. Plus, the days in Animal Crossing are fairly formulaic, making the idea that this is a zoo entirely plausible.

1 The Player Is Dead And The Island Is Purgatory

The Darkest But Most Popular Animal Crossing Theory

While the last two theories were wholesome in their own way, the purgatory theory is a much darker take on the games. This is another theory that's been floating around the community for a while now, and is based in part on the in-game letters players receive from their mom. The theory is based largely on the sometimes odd letters that the player's mother writes, which mention things like hearing the child's voice in the wind or ing a nostalgic moment from their childhood.

The theory, as explained by DoctorsJenny on Reddit, is that the player is dead and the Animal Crossing world is purgatory, an in-between place where they live peacefully and help other residents (potentially as a way to make up for wrongdoings when they were alive). The mom's letters and gifts are things left by a grieving mother on the grave of her child. Although this theory is much too dark for Nintendo and the Animal Crossing franchise to be true, it shows how a game can completely change its meaning from just the slightest shift in perspective.

Source: DarkMagickan/Reddit (1, 2), xxx__xxx/Reddit, My1stUsrnameWasTaken/Reddit, Piney-Cone/Reddit, idkwhoruuu/Reddit, PlagueDilopho/Reddit, The_Rambling_Otter/Reddit, Big_Recover_9631/Reddit, DoctorsJenny/Reddit