hello! i saw that there was a thread like this a long time ago but it's closed and i'm curious about what people think, and i want to get some of what i think out there so i can get some feedback. 
as we all know, when you start animal crossing: new leaf, you answer questions from rover and then get dropped off at a town where everyone thinks you're the mayor. after a day or two (i'm not 100% sure when exactly), you get a letter in the mail from "unknown sender" saying that they were originally supposed to be mayor, but now it's up to you, signed by "keep it a secret!" we are never told who the unknown sender is throughout the game, nor do we hear from them again.
here are my thoughts:
- tortimer: we know for sure it can't be tortimer, although that's what many people initially believe. tortimer was the old mayor who retired, therefore a new mayor was needed, which was supposed to be someone else but ended up being us (the player).
- (most) special characters: we also know it can't be one of the special characters who are in town when you first arrive or any that they already know (such as digby or k.k. slider), because isabelle and the villagers wouldn't get you mixed up with characters that they know.
- rover: i don't think it's rover, since his main personality trait throughout the whole animal crossing series has been that he loves traveling, so it wouldn't make much sense for him to agree to be the mayor of a town. plus, he doesn't know anything about the town the player is headed, unless he's lying, which i don't think is true. his purpose in the series has been to set the player up, and i believe that's pretty much all he's intended to do. however, many people think that the mayor was supposed to be rover, but he saw that you were going to the town he was about to commit his life to and decided to back out, knowing no one in town knows what he looks like. another problem with this is that, if this theory is true, it's very very unlikely that isabelle didn't ask for his name. in addition, nothing was set up for him to move there, which doesn't make much sense, knowing that the new mayor would need a home and whatnot. this brings me to the next theory.
- isabelle: the isabelle theory is, in my opinion, one of the most plausible explanations. tortimer wanted to retire and he knew that isabelle was a responsible secretary, so maybe he wanted her to be the next mayor. she is shown to be pretty shy and timid, even self-conscious, so maybe she felt like she wasn't right and/or ready for the job. no one in the town was told that it was supposed to be her, making it easier for her to make it seem like it was someone else. she could probably find out if and when someone was supposed to arrive to the town and decided to take a chance on whoever came out of the train. as i said above, there was no home for the new mayor, so maybe she couldn't set that part up in time, so she acted as if it was an accident and had the player do it, making it much easier on her. now she can still have mayoral duties to fulfill but not have the full stress and pressure of being the mayor.
- zipper t. bunny: this one is something i thought of not too long ago. it's honestly not a very logical theory and i haven't heard anyone say this but it might possibly be worth noting. it's safe to assume zipper is some animal/human in a bunny costume, as it is heavily implied throughout the series, especially with the giant zipper on their back. i say "their" because we don't know who's really under the costume, not gender, not even species. if the person who was originally supposed to be mayor was zipper, we would need to know who zipper really is too. there is an interesting thread about it on the bell tree forums here. (we'll assume that the person in the zipper costume isn't a special character like phyllis or tortimer for the purpose of this theory.) zipper makes it clear from the comments under their breath that they don't like their job. they've had to dress up as zipper t. bunny for years (assuming that it has been the same person in each game). maybe they were trying to escape their job by becoming mayor and finally be themself instead of just someone in a costume. however, like the letter said, "one thing led to another..." so they have to keep on living the same life with the job they hate. but again, the same problem with the rover theory -- the name. unless the person in the zipper suit just so happens to have the same name as the player, this makes even less sense than it did initially. plus, the letter from the "unknown sender" isn't mean or sassy in any way, unlike the way zipper talks. if zipper was the one who sent the letter, they probably wouldn't have been so nice that such an opportunity was taken away from them.
all in all, we'll most likely never know the real identity of the "unknown sender," or even zipper t. bunny (although that's more likely). and honestly, i think it's more fun that way. speculating and researching and trying to put the pieces of the puzzle together is a lot of fun. i really would like to know some day, but if nintendo never decides to give us that satisfaction, then that's okay too. please tell me what you guys think!! i tried to be as in-depth as i could, but i'm horrible at explaining things, and i also just miss stuff a lot of the time, especially when it has so much to it. also if you have a different person in mind, please let me know! it's so interesting to see what other people saw what you didn't.
as we all know, when you start animal crossing: new leaf, you answer questions from rover and then get dropped off at a town where everyone thinks you're the mayor. after a day or two (i'm not 100% sure when exactly), you get a letter in the mail from "unknown sender" saying that they were originally supposed to be mayor, but now it's up to you, signed by "keep it a secret!" we are never told who the unknown sender is throughout the game, nor do we hear from them again.
here are my thoughts:
- tortimer: we know for sure it can't be tortimer, although that's what many people initially believe. tortimer was the old mayor who retired, therefore a new mayor was needed, which was supposed to be someone else but ended up being us (the player).
- (most) special characters: we also know it can't be one of the special characters who are in town when you first arrive or any that they already know (such as digby or k.k. slider), because isabelle and the villagers wouldn't get you mixed up with characters that they know.
- rover: i don't think it's rover, since his main personality trait throughout the whole animal crossing series has been that he loves traveling, so it wouldn't make much sense for him to agree to be the mayor of a town. plus, he doesn't know anything about the town the player is headed, unless he's lying, which i don't think is true. his purpose in the series has been to set the player up, and i believe that's pretty much all he's intended to do. however, many people think that the mayor was supposed to be rover, but he saw that you were going to the town he was about to commit his life to and decided to back out, knowing no one in town knows what he looks like. another problem with this is that, if this theory is true, it's very very unlikely that isabelle didn't ask for his name. in addition, nothing was set up for him to move there, which doesn't make much sense, knowing that the new mayor would need a home and whatnot. this brings me to the next theory.
- isabelle: the isabelle theory is, in my opinion, one of the most plausible explanations. tortimer wanted to retire and he knew that isabelle was a responsible secretary, so maybe he wanted her to be the next mayor. she is shown to be pretty shy and timid, even self-conscious, so maybe she felt like she wasn't right and/or ready for the job. no one in the town was told that it was supposed to be her, making it easier for her to make it seem like it was someone else. she could probably find out if and when someone was supposed to arrive to the town and decided to take a chance on whoever came out of the train. as i said above, there was no home for the new mayor, so maybe she couldn't set that part up in time, so she acted as if it was an accident and had the player do it, making it much easier on her. now she can still have mayoral duties to fulfill but not have the full stress and pressure of being the mayor.
- zipper t. bunny: this one is something i thought of not too long ago. it's honestly not a very logical theory and i haven't heard anyone say this but it might possibly be worth noting. it's safe to assume zipper is some animal/human in a bunny costume, as it is heavily implied throughout the series, especially with the giant zipper on their back. i say "their" because we don't know who's really under the costume, not gender, not even species. if the person who was originally supposed to be mayor was zipper, we would need to know who zipper really is too. there is an interesting thread about it on the bell tree forums here. (we'll assume that the person in the zipper costume isn't a special character like phyllis or tortimer for the purpose of this theory.) zipper makes it clear from the comments under their breath that they don't like their job. they've had to dress up as zipper t. bunny for years (assuming that it has been the same person in each game). maybe they were trying to escape their job by becoming mayor and finally be themself instead of just someone in a costume. however, like the letter said, "one thing led to another..." so they have to keep on living the same life with the job they hate. but again, the same problem with the rover theory -- the name. unless the person in the zipper suit just so happens to have the same name as the player, this makes even less sense than it did initially. plus, the letter from the "unknown sender" isn't mean or sassy in any way, unlike the way zipper talks. if zipper was the one who sent the letter, they probably wouldn't have been so nice that such an opportunity was taken away from them.
all in all, we'll most likely never know the real identity of the "unknown sender," or even zipper t. bunny (although that's more likely). and honestly, i think it's more fun that way. speculating and researching and trying to put the pieces of the puzzle together is a lot of fun. i really would like to know some day, but if nintendo never decides to give us that satisfaction, then that's okay too. please tell me what you guys think!! i tried to be as in-depth as i could, but i'm horrible at explaining things, and i also just miss stuff a lot of the time, especially when it has so much to it. also if you have a different person in mind, please let me know! it's so interesting to see what other people saw what you didn't.
