Animal Crossing: New Horizons provides a customizable island getaway for every player. With the exception of people who share their device, each island is home to just one player character and up to 10 animal friends, as well as a whole host of fish and bugs. Tom Nook and his children, Timmy and Tommy, live there too; so do Isabelle, Blathers and the Able sisters, Mabel and Sable. A handful of NPCs also travel, including the eSports fishing influencer C.J. and the bug-obsessed artist Flick. However, just one of these traveling NPCs remembers players from island to island, rather than resetting her knowledge base with each one she visits: Celeste the owl.
Celeste is Blathers the museum curator's sister and in previous Animal Crossing games, she ran the observatory. It's unclear whether an observatory will become available in Animal Crossing: New Horizons, but as of now, Celeste travels around and teaches players about the magic of wishing on shooting stars. She also gives out recipes for magic wands -- which allow players to set up eight outfits in their wardrobe and then have complete Magical Girl Transformations -- as well as other goodies. Among these is a starry wallpaper, an Aries rocking chair and even, according to some gaming sites, a giant moon.
What makes Celeste unique among the other NPCs in the game is that she remembers every player, regardless where they meet. Although Celeste didn't appear on this writer's island until April 1, she met her villager twice prior to that visit. The first time, Celeste introduced herself and gave the villager a wand; the second time, she greeted the villager by name and provided a different recipe. When she arrived on the villager's island, she again greeted her by name and gave her a third recipe.
This makes for an interesting thread of continuity in a sim that otherwise depends on players to interact with each other in order to establish any kind of narrative outside the main quest of the game (getting K.K. Slider to play a show on your island). Since the other NPCs are coded to each island -- even C.J. and Flick, who will only buy fish or bugs from residents -- each time players encounter them for the first time on another villager's island, there are introductions. Celeste, however, maintains her knowledge base as she travels, which is honestly just really nice.
Forming a relationship with Celeste that traverses islands not only establishes a bit of familiarity in an otherwise very individualized game, but provides additional perks as well. Players don't necessarily have to wait for her to show up on their islands to wish on shooting stars, if they meet her on another island first. If players wish on shooting stars on someone else's island, they'll find star pieces -- highly coveted crafting materials needed for making celestial objects, like wands -- on their own island's beaches the next morning. Plus, she provides players with a new recipe each time she meets them, which means players will never receive celestial duplicates.
Celeste's role in New Horizons further cements that although everyone is running their own show, the islands technically exist in the same world -- albeit one with millions of Nook families and Ables sisters.