Many Animal Crossing players are quick to assum꧅e that, just because lienholder Tom Nook is a peculiar-looking raccoon with a penchant for assigning some incredulous debts, Tom Nook is a bad person. While still a staunch capitalist, he is far from unfair in his operations and does not contribute to what's called "crony capitalism."
According to Twitter user , numerous scenes in Animal Crossing: Wild World reveal a lot about Tom Nook's goals and motivations. For instance, Animal Crossing: Wild World features events known as "episodes," one of which features Sable discussing her childhood with Nook. She states that Nook followed his pursuit to become a businessman, taking low-paying jobs along the way. Eventually, Nook fell prey to a scam that drained him of his🦂 money over the promise of getting rich quickly and had to move back to his town. In the process, he plummeted into depression and isolated himself from his friends.
In another😼 episode, 𝐆Nook himself detailed being denied a loan by a "big city" bank presumably because of his being a raccoon. The bank knew little about him, but Nook was refused a loan anyway, which is essentially discrimination.
Also, upon scanning an Amiibo for Tom Nook in Happy Home Designer, Nook will divulge that 90% of his revenue goes to an out-of-town orphanage. While Noဣok recognizes that many believe he is evil, he states that he is okay with that so long as anyone who knows him learns from him that being in debt is very bad.
A final note can b♏e drawn from some dialogue from Nook where he states that he once dealt with a fox but won't again "after... the incident."
After all is said and done, Tom Nook may just be a very misunderstood raccoon. While his forwardness regarding loans is a bit off-putting, his backstory reveals a lot about his character; he doesn't want anyone to be subject to the potential discrimination he faced as a racc💜oon by the large banks. Further, his acceptance of his unfortunate reputation says a lot and his taking Timmy and Tommy under his wings to succeed from hard work is very admirable. Plus, he offers interest free loans, no deadlines for payments, and always invests his earnings back into the community.
This doesn't make Tom Nook an🅰 angel by any means, but it shows he's not a total opportunist — he's just a raccoon trying to teach the world about the impo𝐆rtance of debt and helping those around you.