Brewster
I walked into my museum on November fourth, excited to hear what Blathers had to say about the 2.0 feature we had all been waiting for, Brewster. Many players, myself included, entered the Animal Crossing fandom after playing New Horizons. New Horizons is widely considered the best game in the Animal Crossing franchise, and many changes have been made from prior games. In the eighteen months before the 2.0 update, many players were left confused, as seasoned players would fondly discuss NPCs from prior games, Brewster being a hot topic all around. Now we have Brewster on our islands, ready to serve us coffee whenever we’re logged on. Many people are still confused about his origins, or why everyone was so excited about him in the first place.
Brewster was datamined less than a month after New Horizons came out by Ninji, the most famous dataminer in the Animal Crossing community. (Datamining is when you look into a game’s code to see potential future updates) He was datamined along with Redd, who was added in April of 2020.
Brewster originally appeared in Animal Crossing Wild World. He would store your gyroids for you, as well as serve you coffee, and the occasional hot chocolate. In New Horizons he is one of the few befriendable NPCs, but in Wild World, you learned his backstory by talking to Blathers. Blathers would reveal that he and Brewster are close friends and they met at Brewster’s coffee shop predeceasing The Roost. Brewster was a great comfort to Blathers while he was in the city as a college student. Eventually, it was time for Blathers to return the favor, as Brewster’s shop was failing and Brewster even considered giving up his coffee shop dreams. That’s when Blathers invites him to open up shop in the player’s town, where he finally finds success.
Brewster is described as very honest and straightforward, which was very true in past games where he would become enraged if the player ignored his coffee advice.
“The perfect temperature to draw out the taste...is 175.38 degrees...Here you are.”
In past games, Brewster would get angry when you let the coffee cool, but in New Leaf, he will still open up to you after you purchase enough coffee. In New Horizons he will offer to brew it at a lower temperature for you after enough days of letting it cool.
Brewster has several rewards the player can earn after buying a certain amount of coffee. After about a week of coffee-shop visits, he will offer you pigeon milk for your coffee. Yes, the pigeon milk comes from Brewster himself, but it is considered by parts of the Animal Crossing community as an honor.
Celeste
You’ve probably met Celeste several times now. She appears on your island once a week after seven p.m. during star events. Upon talking to you she will strike up a quick conversation about stars and then hand you a new DIY recipe. The DIYs will come from one of three categories, space, zodiac, and wands. These recipes will typically include star fragments, which are received after wishing on stars during star events. Celeste is a red owl and is well known as Blathers’ younger sister.
Like Brewster, Celeste has a deep history with the Animal Crossing franchise. She first appeared in Wild World to run the town observatory. She is suspected to be friends with Isabelle and known to be friends with Tom Nook, Digby, Brewster, and Resetti. She also considers Redd her associate.
In New Leaf, she moved the observatory to the museum and took on another job as a museum associate. In New Horizons her official title is an astronomer. Celeste does make players an unexpected profit through Nookazon. There will be more on Nookazon in a future post, but long story short, Nookazon is a website where players can trade villagers, services, and items, for in-game currency, typically bells or Nook miles.
Players can find Celeste on their islands and build a fence around her as she tends to wander off, they can put a Celeste visit listing on their Nookazon page. Celeste’s DIYs' can be hard to come by, so Celeste can be worth her weight in gold! (Or bells)
There is a popular fan theory that Celeste is so fascinated with the stars because she can not fly. This has never been confirmed but Celeste has never mentioned flying. Celeste is a popular and imperative NPC to talk to on your island.
Brewster and Celeste are both NPCs very special to the Animal Crossing Franchise. Brewster will likely be the trademark of the 2.0 era in the minds of many and Celeste might always be associated with value. While most NPCs may seem boring when you look into their lore they might just be more interesting than you thought.