A fan of Animal Crossing: New Horizons has shared the dark backstory of one player's Pietro, the controversial sheep villager disliked by many players. Pietro's character design might be bright and whimsical, but the clown-like villager is avoided by many, and despite having something of a cult following, Pietro still regularly appears on lists of Animal Crossing's worst characters.
Animal Crossing: New Horizons is home to hundreds of NPC villagers, with players' favorites able to move to their island and become full-time residents. There are a number of fan-favorite characters within the expansive roster, with the likes of Raymond the cat, Marshall the squirrel, and Sherb the goat widely regarded as some of the game's best-designed villagers. Unfortunately, there are many characters who are thought to be the worst of the bunch, including villagers such as Barold, Rodney, and Wart Jr. Pietro the sheep, designed to look like a clown, is another villager widely disliked by the ACNH community, in part due to the common phobia of clowns.
Redditor schartzmuggle has shared another player's mom's backstory of Pietro, originally written by diegohargreeved on Tumblr. The OP explains that their mom has given backstories to all of the villagers on their island, including Pietro, with their parent giving the sheep-clown a particularly dark history. According to the player, their mom has imagined a dead wife for Pietro, honored with a tombstone outside his house. When the OP asked their mom about the grave, the mom explained that Pietro "'moves [his wife's] body with him from island to island.'" The story continues with the Tumblr using adding: "I just asked her if she thinks he killed his wife. The answer: 'I don't know. I just know he loved her very much. Maybe a little too much. I don't know." The chilling tale adds a creepy spin to the family-friendly Nintendo hit, and gives Pietro a lot more depth than seen in the game.
See the post on Reddit here, or the original on Tumblr here.
Animal Crossing villager backstories are common creations in the community, especially among those who've already acquired all the villagers they want as island residents. ACNH's NPCs have been criticized for their lack of personality and repetitive dialogue, and fans' filling in their own histories for the villagers has helped to make the game more immersive for many. Commenters on the Reddit post have suggested the dark Animal Crossing fan story may be inspired by The Elder Scrolls 5: Skyrim, with the idea of a character moving a body around being similar to the story of Cicero, Keeper of the Night Mother's coffin.
Animal Crossing's Pietro is perhaps one of the best villagers when it comes to creepy player-made backstories due to his appearance, but the next batch of new ACNH characters are decidedly less divisive. Nintendo has confirmed that the next game update will introduce villagers from previous games, as well as brand-new designs. Bunny character Sasha, Ione the squirrel, and Shino the deer are already fan-favorite new ACNH villagers who will be available in the game following the November 5 update.
Source: Tumblr/diegohargreeved (via Reddit/schartzmuggle)