Surprise! Elijah Wood stops by fan's Animal Crossing island to do some turnip trading

Who knew Elijah Wood was such an Animal Crossing profiteer? In the world of Animal Crossing: New Horizons, stacking up the currency by playing the game’s Stalk Market (that’s the game’s version of the stock market) is one of the biggest things that’s bringing players together online. And for one fan who advertised an especially profitable price to turnip sellers at her island, it paid off with a surprise drop-in from Frodo Baggins himself.

Twitter user Jessa (@directedbyrian) sent out a social media PSA informing fellow players that they could visit her island to sell their turnips for 599 bells apiece, an easy 200 bells above the typical price. The chance to offload some surplus turnips while turning a sweet profit caught Wood’s attention, and he direct-messaged Jessa with a super-polite request for permission to join in on her root veggie trade as a guest.

So far, Wood hasn’t commented on Twitter about the exchange, though he’s liked Jessa’s subsequent tweets about how stoked she was to hear from him. Jessa posted a screengrab of Wood hanging out with her character in the game (he even applauded while she splashed around in the rain!) — and we’ve gotta say: Nice avatar, man.

Wood even lingered to admire Jessa’s carefully crafted scenery. “Your island is beautiful,” he graciously remarked, before asking like a true gracious guest if it would be OK to pick some fruit. The pleasant exchange serves as a prime example of New Horizons’ overall vibe of zeitgeist-sweeping civility — a stress-smoothing balm in video game form at a time when it’s definitely needed.

Ever since New Horizons hit the Nintendo Switch last month, it’s taken off with fans (including us) in a way that few games ever do. Even when they’re not actually playing, fans are spending tons of time on social media putting their heads together on how to maximize their Stalk Exchange profits, swap decorating ideas, and commiserate over the never-ending quest to placate Tom Nook and his raccoonishly ambitious development plans.

We’ll just think of it as the Shire for Nintendo fans. After all, nothing would make our island paradise feel more complete than having Elijah Wood drop by to trade a little produce, admire what we’ve done with the place, and then stick around to applaud while we giddily mark the occasion with a rain dance of our own.