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Bella Goth
Bella Goth
The Sims character
	Bella Goth in The Sims 2
First game	The Sims (2000)
Created by	Will Wright

Bella Goth is a character found in The Sims series. Since her original appearance in the first entry of The Sims, she has appeared in nearly every game in the series. She is married to a man called Mortimer Goth, and has two children, Cassandra and Alexander Goth.

In The Sims 2, it turns out that Bella had been abducted by aliens. She appears in the game but has no memories. She also has a different appearance, voice, and personality, leading people to speculate this was a clone. Creator Maxis denied this, saying that this is the real Bella. She appeared in The Sims 4, where she was portrayed with lighter skin than normal, as was the case with other darker skin characters. This was eventually fixed, although Kotaku writer Ashley Bardhan felt that her facial features were still Eurocentric.

She has been a generally popular character, regarded as iconic and the face of the series by critics. Her disappearance was particularly discussed by both critics and fans, with both speculating on various details surrounding it, such as her abduction and the nature of her character in The Sims 2.

Concept and creation

Bella Goth was one of multiple pre-made characters created for the video game The Sims. In The Sims 2, there are two distinct Bellas, and fans have theorized that one is a clone or alien impostor; however, the game's developer, Maxis, denied this, stating that both Bellas are real, publishing an in-universe interview with Bella about the abduction that occurred prior to The Sims 2.^[1]

She later appears in The Sims 4 in a similar role as in the original game, having noticeably lighter skin than she did, which was true for other darker skin characters. This was eventually addressed following the controversy, causing the team to update the game to darken characters' skin color.^[2] She was also redesigned in order to make her look older.^[3]

Appearances

Bella Goth originally appeared in the first The Sims game as one of the characters players. She is married to a man named Mortimer Goth, In the first game, they have one child together, Cassandra Goth. The Goth family also appears in The Sims 2, adding a new member to the family, Alexander Goth; however, before the events of the game, Bella was abducted by aliens, and is thus missing. In the PlayStation Portable release, she appears in the small desert town called Strangetown, but she also has another distinct appearance in a town called Pleasantview.^[4]^[1] The Sims 3, which takes place before The Sims and The Sims 2, depicts Bella as a child; however, on another planet named Lunar Lakes, a gravestone can be found with Bella's name on it, which is another version of Bella from The Sims 2, who died of old age. Her "bleach blonde ghost" form also often appears.^[5]^[4]^[6] The Sims 4 later depicts Bella as a young adult.^[4]

Reception

Bella has been met with generally positive reception, considered an icon of The Sims.^[7] Game Rant writer Shayna Josi considered the Goths, Bella included, as the most recognizable in the series, arguing that the consistency of their house and personal style contributed to them being the face of the series in their eyes. They also felt that Bella's disappearance and the lore surrounding it helped with her to be recognized.^[8] She has been regarded as one of the best video game characters by Esquire and GamesRadar+, with Esquire writer Adrienne Westenfield praising her "signature" red dress.^[9]^[10] She was recognized by GameSpot staff as the most well-known character in The Sims, while Polygon writer Petrana Radulovic noted that she was likely to be recognized by even casual fans.^[1]^[11] In The Sims 4, fans have liked the mixed-race of Goth family from their very first appearance. Since then, Bella has also received attention, particularly for her red dress and breasts, and she has generally been a popular character among fans since appearing in the first game.^[2] TechRadar writer Meggie Gates discussed Bella through the lens of Gates's same-sex attraction, discussing her as a key in discovering herself, in part due to a scene where Bella kisses Gates's player character.^[12] Harrison Brocklehurst of The Tab praised and said that "the one thing consistent about Bella between the games is that she’s always a nice, friendly and well-liked Sim around the town."^[4]

The Sims 4 received criticism for dark-skinned character models being more light-skinned than they were in past games. It was later addressed by The Sims Vice President of Franchise Creative, Lyndsay Pearson. She received a revamped model in The Sims 4 and received mixed reception among fans, particularly due to her breast size being decreased; Kotaku writer Ashley Bardhan personally enjoyed the new model. While commenting about Eurocentric" character design tendencies, she was enthused with her skin being darker with this new model, as well as them being given "luscious curls of dark hair".^[2]

Her disappearance received coverage from critics and fans, with a number of theories produced by fans. Petrana Radulovic of Polygon stated that these "Sims 2 storytellers showed me how to be a better writer" and further said that she "quickly discovered, and fell in love with these storytelling communities. Through them, I’d find players who wrote behind-the-scenes blogs about which details they picked up from the games, and what their interpretations were; which details they left out; and which confusing ones they tried to reconcile (while some of are brilliant, there’s definitely a lot of inconsistencies in The Sims 2)."^[7] Some speculate that the storyline of Sims' alien abduction is only a cover-up.^[13] One fan theory also suggests that Cassandra's fiance, Don Lothario, had her abducted. The theory posits that he contacted Nina and Dina Caliente, two people who have connections to aliens, after trying to proposition Bella, wanting to hide this from Cassandra.^[1]^[14]^[13] Dina was also speculated to be behind her abduction because she wanted to move in with Mortimer in Bella's absence due to her characterization as a gold digger.^[7] Another theory was that the version of her found in Strangetown is a clone. Her disappearance, in conjunction with her different depictions in each game, caused speculation that The Sims 4 was in a different timeline than the other games.^[4]^[13] BuzzFeed writer Kelly Martinez did a multi-part investigation into the details of Bella's disappearance, expressing her belief in the above-mentioned theories about who was behind her abduction,^[15] as well as Strangetown Bella being a clone due to the lack of memories and slightly different appearance. She added her own theory, namely that the dead Bella found on the other planet was the real Bella, having died after being abducted, with a clone made of her.^[16]