Help me finalise my villager lineup? (Spirit Island)

[JollyOli]

Hey all, its been a long time since I've been on Bell Tree ~ nice to be back!! I took part in the dream themed bell tree fair way back when, and then my switch got stolen and I lost my island and all my progress. The community here were fantastic and helped me a long but I ended up getting burnout trying to recreate my island the way it used to be before I lost it.

SO, I ended up starting over very recently!

My new island is called Kindlewick Isle! My idea behind it is sort of a mix... If you have ever played cozy grove, it has some of the vibes from that! Basically, I like to think my island is an island of mostly spirit villagers. I don't want to say the theme will be pure witch-core, because I want it to have my own spin. But it sort of takes the various mythologies behind will-o'-the-wisps and pops them on an island.

In my head canon, the island will celebrate the summer solstace with a huge festival focused around the day, the fireflies, and lanterns. Floating lights are the vibe in this town! But in addition to that, I do want their to be a sort of overgrown, spirit inhabitant vibe, sort of like cozy grove. (Where lanterns are used to bring back colour and memory to the villagers).

I do love Japanese paper lanterns and colours, as well as the inari spirit theme, but I want to sort of fusion that with witch-core, and then strip both of these themes back a bit as I don't want the island to be overtly Japanese or witch themed.

So I'm trying to figure out my villager lineup for the new island and I could really use some help as it sometimes feels a little mixed up.

Definite villagers are;

1. Lucky (I mean he's a dead dog with a glowing eye, he's perfect)
2. Shino (Her design is very inari spirit, also based on water deer, aka vampire deer)
3. Coco (basically a possessed ancient totem)
4. Diva (she has an altar in her house, she's out to summon SOMETHING and she's the closest vibe I get of someone who wants to live amongst spirits... as close to Katrina as I can get in my town).

Strongly considering:

• Stitches (posessed teddy bear, love the lore ideas behind an abandoned toy)
• Ione (I think it's mostly because she actually glows, which gives her a ghostly/ethereal sort of vibe, which works well for my island theme)
• Ruby (also kinda looks dead and spooky. Her lore is related to the moon, which gives me spirit vibes)
• Ankah (I've never been all the aboard the ankah train, but in this case it may have potential. I'm not keen on there being an overly Egyptian theme to my villagers, which could happen when pairing her with Lucky and Diva... but sarcophagi contain the dead, her symbol is the symbol of life, she gives kiiiinda maybe witchy vibes)
• Chief (basically a fox, so I wanna give him a Japanese redesign. No idea why they thought he'd fit the graffiti aesthetic tbh)

Lightly considering Gladys and Cherry but not sure they totally fit. Gladys basically has a bit of that Japanese inari feel.

I could use some ideas! I could do with a few more male/androgenous characters if you have any ideas, and I think any characters you can think of that might give a spirity feel. Equally any character you always thought gave you the impression they're dead even if they don't look it, could work well! Happy to head-canon something for the right fit and a cute villager.

 

[Croconaw]

The only one I’d eliminate from your list is Ankha and maybe Ruby. I don’t have any ideas on who to add, but eliminating these two villagers could open up space for male villagers. Gender isn’t that important unless you want reactions, but I know you want a more balanced gender ratio. Those two don’t really fit your theme.

 

[Pyoopi]

I think Ankah would work even though she's fully themed. You can always change her interior to tone it down or make it more creepy/dirty.

You could have a more barren part of your island maybe wherever you put Lucky, (I'd assume a dense forest or something) and she'd be in a sudden bald spot, like a curse. Or having a small desert area would be fun too.

I like a lot of your picks but some I thought of were:

- Boris A pig! He has fangs and an Egyptian themed home but you can obviously change it. I think pigs are good for forest themes. You can make him the truffle hoarder, lol.
- Gloria I don't go for ducks, however I found her color theme nice and witch-like. It was mostly her eyes too. Nice and sassy looking.
- Muffy Fits the witch/spooky look. She'd be a good middle between your themes.
- Rizzo I know mouse villagers are not well liked because of their head shape, however he fits well with the Japanese setting. He's a little thief mouse!

 

[Lh77]

I have stitches I my game, he's one of my favourite villagers, I won't ever let him leave!

 

[JollyOli]

Thanks all, I appreciate the ideas and input and I have a new list!

1. Shino (peppy)
2. Coco (normal)
3. Diva (sisterly)
4. Ione (normal)
5. Ankah (snooty)
6. Ruby / Dobie
7. Chief (cranky)
8. Boris (cranky)
9. Lucky (lazy)
10. Stitches (lazy)

I think at this point I’m trying to decide if I wanna go with Ruby, Ankah or Dobie. I can only keep 2.

Having Dobie would mean having a 3rd cranky villager, 1:1 males, and I like that he looks like an old man I don’t really have an oldie in my town. Then it’d be choosing between Ruby who looks semi-dead, and Ankah. Or just keep those 2 and skip Dobie.

Final thoughts?