Villabelle

Villabelle is the non-binary ship between the Villager and Isabelle from the Animal Crossing fandom.

Animal Crossing: New Leaf
The player first meets Isabelle after first arriving in the new town via train, she and a few random villagers are already waiting at the station for the new mayor. They immediately assume that the player character must be the new mayor, since the new mayor said that they would come with that train and the player character is the only one they saw. Isabelle gave the confused player a warm welcome and told them to follow her to the Town Hall. There, she introduced the player to their new office, giving them a round-up about how the town is run and telling them her name before leaving them to their own devices. The misunderstanding was later cleared up by the actual new mayor writing the player a letter, telling them that the player can handle running the town while the actual mayor is on vacation. Neither Isabelle, nor any of the villagers seem to know about this.

Isabelle is a constant presence in the now mayor's day, always willing to lend an ear about any plans or issue they might have. She freely gives advice about anything revolving the town, kicks out rude villagers for them, organizes events for them and occasionally gifts them rare fruit.

Animal Crossing: Happy Home Designer
Isabelle works at Town Hall once again, though doesn't seem to recognize the player. Despite being on the same console (and the "Welcome amiibo"-Update for New Leaf carrying over a number of features), the two games are largely seperate. When the player first meets Isabelle in this game, she has already heard of their skills and thus gives them Public Facility projects for them to work on as well as providing required items. In turn, the player can help her redecorate her house, which is unlocked by scanning her amiibo.

Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp
Isabelle is once again an assistant to the player and provides tips for the improvement of their campsite as well as giving them goals to accomplish. The player can invite her personally to their campsite by crafting a special item.

Super Smash Bros. Ultimate
In Isabelle's reveal trailer, she is hard at work to keep the town in tip-top shape while her boss is out camping and at that "fighting tournament". When asked if she isn't overworking herself, she happily declines and says that she loves to work.

Animal Crossing: New Horizons
Isabelle becomes an employee at Nook Inc. if the player progresses enough. The player character is merely an "island representative" in this game while she is a secretary and announcer, meaning that they are on equal footing for the first time in the series. Isabelle once again doesn't seem to recognize the player, but quickly befriends them nonetheless. She largely fills the same role as she did in New Leaf, along with occasionally organizing the Firework Festival, giving the player a free set of boppers every Sunday in August.

Moments

 * On Valentine's Day in New Leaf, Isabelle seems unusually smitten when asking the player if they gave chocolates to "somebody special", when checking the mailbox that day, Isabelle has openly send the player a letter with a chocolate cake attached. These interactions happen regardless of the player character's gender.


 * In the intro to the "Welcome amiibo"-Update, Isabelle is travelling with the player via train and quickly joins them by sitting right in front of them, smiling all the way.

Fanon
Villabelle is a very popular ship in the Animal Crossing fandom, being the fifth most popular ship in the "Animal Crossing series" tag on AO3 as well as the most popular ship for both characters (not counting "Tom Nook/Reader"). It was the big ship for New Leaf, but has since been dethroned by CJFlick and ReddNook with the release of New Horizons.

Most of the fanbase loved Isabelle the moment they saw her and many picked up on the subtle ship tease between her and the player character in New Leaf (her debut game). The het variant seems to be more popular, largely due to the male villager's iconic Super Smash Bros.-design, but the femslash variant seems to have a fair number of fans as well.

During the time Isabelle was revealed to be playable for Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, there was an uptick in depicting the ship as destructive and abusive, largely due to the popularity of the "Killager" meme in SSB's last entry. Since Isabelle was often villainized in such portrayals, many have compared that version to Zootopia's Bellheart, since it also about a female, innocent-looking Assistant Mayor plotting revenge against her "abusive" superior. This variation died down fairly quickly, as many fans of Isabelle (or Animal Crossing in general) were downright horrified. Though some people still like the idea of depicting Isabelle as tough-as-nails, they usually express it as her not hesitating to hurt someone if the Villager is in danger.

Fandom
FAN FICTION