Tom Nook, Greedy Loan Shark or Secret Social Activist?

With Animal Crossing New Horizons releasing next month, an age old question that has bothered me for countless eons bubbles up in my mind once more: Is Tom Nook evil? 

In case the Nook name doesn’t strike unending dread and revulsion in you, let me do a quick overview of the Animal Crossing series to illuminate the situation.

What is Animal Crossing?

You, a human, have made the questionable choice to move to a village populated with anthropomorphic animals without securing a place to live in advance. Though you arrive near penniless, a local business owner, Tom Nook, takes pity on you and loans you a large sum of cash with which to buy your first house (from him, conveniently enough). He also lets you do a few odd jobs for him to earn money with which to pay back a small part of the loan, but once you complete those jobs, it’s on you to find a way to pay back the rest.

So, you explore the town and make friends with animal citizens, doing favors for them to earn money and gifts. But alas, once you’ve paid off your loan, Tom automatically upgrades your house, saddling you with even more debt. It might feel like Tom is trapping you in an endless mortgage designed to line his pockets with bells (the in-game currency), and I know there are plenty of people out there who have argued that the Nookmeister is an evil, money-grubbing overlord…

He puts on this cute animal facade while exploiting your hard work in order to expand his business empire. Many people don’t even think of him as a villain, which is exactly what he wants! Follow the money

– Alex Perry, Tech Insider “The 15 most evil villains in video game history”

His game is humiliation and marginalization.  So, while you are busy paying off your hobo hut, filled with used and unwanted furniture your neighbors gave you or that you found in the dump, he is building an empire.  Once he is done playing his sick game, he kicks you to the curb, leaving you to fend for yourself, jobless, and penniless.

– Tim Maison, Goomba Stomp “Is Tom Nook Nintendo’s Biggest Baddie?”

There is a dark force of capitalism that lingers in Animal Crossing‘s world and he’s been known to wear some truly awful sweaters.

– Matthew Byrd, Den of Geek “The Tax Man Cometh: The Villainous Legacy of Animal Crossing’s Tom Nook“

But is Tom Nook truly the villain we make him out to be, or is this our gut reaction to a slice of real life invading our digital fantasy world?

To understand, we must first take a look at Tom Nook as a whole. Who is this maligned tanuki with a penchant for fair isles?

What makes Tom tick?

Tom is a businessman of singular drive. He’s one of the few characters in the Animal Crossing series that is gainfully employed. Other notable characters with jobs include Isabelle, the mayor’s assistant, and the Able sisters, who run their own clothing shop, but they are exceptions to the rule. According to Fandom.com, there are currently 460 characters in the game going about their daily lives, blissfully unaware of the monumental amount of work it takes to keep a town running smoothly. Animals to whom it has apparently never occurred before to find their own damn Cicada.

Tom seems to be the only animal who understands the value of Bells (again, the game’s currency) and that if the village is going to thrive, someone needs to start doing things.

For example, there’s a museum in the village. It is possibly the worst run museum I have ever visited. The exhibits are empty, the curator is always napping, and the museum shop is closed because the character that runs it is also asleep on the job. If you want the museum to be anything but a monument to somnolence, you’ll need to donate things to be displayed.

It takes hard work to collect up the fish, bugs, fossils, and art needed to fill the museum. And who’s the only one fostering a sense of good work ethic in you? Tom Nook.

Why does Tom do it?

You could argue that Tom is raking in the bells considering he has a stranglehold on the village’s economy (as the only store owner/real-estate agent around), but perhaps there’s another answer. Just maybe, Tom has taken a long look at his fellow animals. He has seen the general pervasive laziness that plagues the village and dooms it to lie fallow as the animals peacefully while away the hours wondering how they could possibly get someone else to run their errands for them. 

Perhaps Tom’s faith in others has been crushed, and he has concocted a plan to encourage someone into action. You, being new to this town, are yet to come under the influence of the other animals and can be molded into a model citizen: looking out for your fellow villagers and working to enrich the community through public service. He knows in his heart that you will not do this of your own accord. There are too many bad examples to follow. The villagers have taken their laziness to the apex of lassitude as evident by the publication of a magazine dedicated to the act of “Chilling” .

Isn’t Anyone in Charge of this Town?

In Animal Crossing New Leaf, the animals become so impressed with your work ethic (instilled in you via Tom Nook’s predatory real estate practices), that they elect you as mayor and rely on you to complete Public Works projects which have lain fallow. The previous mayor, Tortimer, has retired at the ripe old age of methusala, leaving you with the monumental task of adding new features to the long-neglected town, including new buildings and attractions to make the town seem “cool”. What were you doing before we arrived, Tortimer? How is it we are only fixing up the town now?

Ok things are getting a little heated. Let’s get back on track.

The Nooky Finale

All of the examples above serve to show that the village of Animal Crossing is in desperate need of help, and Tom correctly identifies you, the player, as a potential force of change for this sleepy little hamlet. He gives you purpose that he fears you cannot find on your own and keeps you on track despite the many negative influence that might sway you toward a life of passivity; waiting for others to serve you while day-dreaming about obtaining a new Princess Armoire to complete your aesthetically-questionable home.

Perhaps we should not look at Tom as a villain, but instead look to ourselves and question our motive for wanting to live a life of leisure without thinking of society as a greater whole. Should we not strive to better the lives of others selflessly? To hand over our bags of bells to a tanuki that gets increasingly agitated with our late payments and insists that our house have a second floor despite the fact that we live alone? Should we really question how he managed to expand his own shop several times and is now employing is own kids despite child labor laws? Or how Tom might just be using us like the very village folk he looks down upon; raking in the cash without having to lift paw?

…wait a minute.

Image Credits: Nintendo