Animal Crossing is home to tons of well-known characters, and a long list of villagers that can populate your village. One of the most forgotten recurring characters, though, is your loving and supportive mother, who sends you letters and gifts constantly throughout the year in nearly every game, including the recent Animal Crossing: New Horizons on the Nintendo Switch.
There are tons of letters to read, where she tells you stories about her life and about yourself as a young child. Besides that, there are several qualities to her letters and character that you might miss if you just skip to her gifts. Here are ten of the most fascinating things you learn about your mom throughout the Animal Crossing series.
Updated July 14th, 2020 by Hayley Mullen: As more updates are added to Animal Crossing: New Horizons and more secrets are discovered, fans get a few more tidbits of information about their elusive mother. Considering she is a reoccurring character in every Animal Crossing game in the series so far, it makes sense to keep track of every fact we learn about her, in order to paint a better, more concise picture of the woman who has never graced players' screens.
15 Her Presents Are Largely Random
While your mom gives you tons of gifts, there aren't a whole lot of patterns about what she gives you besides the object loosely corresponding to certain holidays. For the most part, you can get nearly any sort of random fruit, clothing, or furniture from her on an average random day.
The one main exception to this is Mother's Day when she typically gives you a Pink Carnation as a special present in most games. Besides this rare flower, you can truly end up with anything in your mailbox, and that surprise helps make presents from your mom all the more special.
14 She Likes To Write Poetry
One of the letters by your mother mentions how much she loves nature and wants to write a poem about it. It’s unclear if this is just a hobby or something she does professionally, but her mass of letters appears to come from a general enjoyment of writing and not just her parenting.
What's important about this letter is that it shows she has hobbies and interests besides you. Even though she loves to send you mail, she still has her own life to live, and makes her much more of a character than an ambiguous mother. It's just a shame she never sends you any of her poems.
13 She's Enthusiastic About Fitness
Your mom’s age and overall health are a mystery, but it’s clear that she works hard to stay in shape and often works to keep her weight down. There are tons of stories she tells about exercising, with some being moments of pride and others leading into mistakes that require the help of the fire department.
Much of the reasoning seems to be about keeping her weight down and body thin, mentioning at least once how she’s working to be ready to show off a new swimsuit. Nobody has to be thin to enjoy the beach, but she has clear goals and takes care of her body, and is being a great role model by keeping fit.
12 She Has Mad Embroidery & Knitting Skills
Animal Crossing: New Horizons introduced unique "Mom" items that can only be obtained via letters from the player's Mom. Such items include Mom's Tissue Box and Mom's Knapsack, but the really interesting items are the ones that seem to be handmade by Mom herself. The player can display not only Mom's art on their walls but also Mom's embroidery, both of which are customizable to display different artwork. Mom can also send clothing to the player such as Mom's hand-knit sweater, also customizable to show a variety of adorable animals and/or patterns.
11 She Enjoys Warm Drinks
Like many adults, Mom is someone who enjoys (or perhaps relies on) a cup of coffee in the morning. She mentions enjoying coffee in several different letters throughout the series, but she doesn't discriminate when it comes to beverages. Another unique Mom item is Mom's tea cozy, which comes with a cup of tea already poured and warm, thanks to the cozy wrapped around the pot. This lovely item can be customized to look like a cute cupcake or even a blue cat.
10 She Loves To Bake
In several of her letters, Mom mentions baking delicacies and treats, both for the player when they were little and for her husband as well. Unfortunately, players were unable to experience her culinary achievements until New Horizons, where she will send Mom's homemade cake to the player on their birthday.
The cake can be customized into several different flavors and patterns, but the true sweetness is the effort she went through to mail a baked cake. She must have paid extra for fragile shipping.
9 She Loves K.K. Slider Too
It's easy enough to joke that K.K. Slider is the only musical celebrity in the Animal Crossing world, but he truly is loved by everyone, including the player's parents. Mom seems to be an avid enjoyer of the arts, considering her love of embroidery and evening entertainment. It isn't confirmed whether K.K. is actually playing a live show in their town, but it's genuinely sweet that an entire family goes to see the same artist whenever he performs live.
8 She Has A... Minor Shopping Problem
While many of your mom's gifts are sent out of kindness, not everything she sends to you is bought for your benefit. In fact, some are sent so she can empty her house, as proved by a letter saying she’s sending you something she bought on a dangerously intense shopping spree.
Even some of the fruit she sends is because she’s concerned about eating too much. While her gifts are welcome, it’s clear she can be obsessive when it comes to food and shopping. It’s unsure how far this goes, but she definitely seems to have some addictive traits and expensive tastes.
7 She Takes A Break For Father's Day
While your mother writes to you extremely frequently in the original Animal Crossing for Gamecube, you hardly get to hear from her husband, your father. He does exist, though, and the proof of it is on Father’s Day when he finally gets to send a letter and a red carnation.
His wisdom and shortcomings are mentioned a lot in her letters, but it’s clear you have a very neutral and typical father. Whether he refuses to write or just doesn’t care as much as your mom is uncertain, but your Mother doesn’t restrict him at any point and instead is writing on his behalf most of the time.
6 She's A Huge Romantic
Your mother loves you, but she loves the idea of love just as much. There are tons of letters where she talks about her own marriage, and how she and your dad are enjoying their company together. She even mentions how sharing an umbrella with your father made him blush in one adorable letter.
Several of the letters she sends have to do with how she hopes you can impress someone, with many clothing gifts featuring a note where she tells you to go ahead and tell a special person exactly how you feel about them. While romance is one of the only things you can't do in Animal Crossing, she's plenty ready for you to find a special someone.
5 She Doesn't Have A Real Name
One of the largest oddities of your mother is that there she doesn't have any specific or canonical name. At no point has there ever been a mention of first or last names for either of your parents, with the only title your mom signs her letters being simply "Mom."
There are lots of traits you learn about her over the course of her letters, but her identity, on the whole, is fairly mysterious. She loves and supports you as you move out, though, and that's really all that matters at the end of the day.
4 Her Husband Is Somewhat Flawed
While there are many positive letters about her relationship with your dad, there are also a number of surprisingly unfortunate sentiments she sends about him. One jokes about how he forgot their anniversary, while another mentions how she was especially fond of the firemen that helped save her during an aerobics accident.
They still appear to love each other and travel together, but it does seem to be a slightly rocky marriage in a few places. They’ve obviously never had any real visible conflicts, but while your mom’s letters are playful there are definitely some unsettling undertones to some of her stories.
3 She Laughs At Her Own Jokes
One of the other odd trends of your mother is her attempts at humor, something that she’s extremely proud of even though most of her jokes fall flat. She especially loves sending comical statements on April Fool’s, but every now and then will send you silly riddles before writing out her explosive laughter.
Even as far back as the original Animal Crossing in 2001, she writes the same way that many real parents do in Facebook comments, over-explaining jokes and complimenting herself about how funny she is. They’re definitely awkward to read, but this is undoubtedly one of the most endearing and motherly things she does.
2 She's The Only Human NPC
Perhaps the strangest fact you learn from mom is that she appears to be human just like you. One letter confirms this when she remarks how strange it is to her that you’re living with animals, and not even being sure if the intelligent talkative animals brush their teeth.
No other human appears in the Animal Crossing series, but your mom implies that you aren’t the only human in the world and that there are cities that aren’t populated by friendly animals. This quality of the Animal Crossing world is unmentioned anywhere else but is deeply fascinating, even if human cities are far less interesting than the lovely faces you meet in the games.
1 She Will Always Love You
The most important part of the letters Mom sends the players is that, above all else, she writes to you because she loves you, and misses you terribly. All of the reminiscing she does about your childhood would make any player misty-eyed, but the fact that she never forgets an important date such as your birthday is truly heartwarming.
This message is especially poignant for players who may not have the closest relationship to their real-life mother. Like always, Nintendo knows just how to tug on our heartstrings and make a game seem larger than life.