Mysteries Solved! (FNAF Theory)

Hello, dear humans and fellow humans!

I know I said I wasn’t much of a gamer and that I preferred visual novels but the very day after publishing my DDLC theory, I simply… started gaming.

It all started when, while on Pinterest, I read about this game named “Undertale”. I may make a theory about it in the future, but I’m having some difficulty you know… playing it. I always try to play the whole game before theorizing. Unfortunately, I forgot I’m an absolute noob.

Eventually, I heard of FNaF. I had already known of its existence through some friends of mine who were crazy about it a few years ago.

For those of you who don’t know, let me tell you about this game because you really should play it if you haven’t.

In “Five Nights at Freddy’s” or FNaF, you are a security guard working the night shift in a Chuck E. Cheese style pizzeria. It wouldn’t be too hard if it wasn’t for the tiny-miny problem that there are four or five possessed animatronics (depends) trying to kill you.

“This would never be popular, it’s all nonsense. The world has finally gone crazy!” I hear you say.

Well, it happens to be pretty popular, having now seven games, two books (and a third on the way), lots of merch and possibly even a movie.

In these games, you have to stay alive from midnight until 6am and all you can do is check the cameras, turn on the lights and close the doors to keep the animatronics out (unfortunately, that wastes your battery because if not it would be the easiest game ever).

FNaF 2 is basically the same but with more animatronics, more ways into your office and a very annoying music box. It also has minigames in between nights, where the mysteries of this story start to unravel.

FNaF 3 is quite strange. There are hidden minigames, only one animatronic and you have to lure him around with sounds (what…?). I’ve seen playthroughs and no one seems to like it.

FNaF 4 is different because it’s set in a child’s bedroom and the minigames tell a concrete story that I will analyse later.

FNaF 5, which is technically called “Sister Location”, is my personal favourite. It has sort of a free-roaming mode, the vampire soap opera, a “friendly” animatronic that helps you out through the nights and the very funny Handy Unit with its casual bongos and exotic butters. Scott (the creator) has clearly started to develop a sense of humour here. And this is the magical game where we get names! And personalities! Someone has a name, which has got to be a first for these games.

Then, there’s “Freddy Fazbear’s Pizzeria Simulator”, which is an awfully long name so I’ll just call it FNaF 6. It’s… it’s actually a pizzeria simulator, where you can actually create your own pizzeria. The catch is that every night you’ll find one of the remaining animatronics outside your restaurant and you have to take it in so you can get the game’s true ending. This time, there is clear storytelling with visual support! Every theorist’s dream!

I previously mentioned seven games because I’m counting “FNaF World”, even though it doesn’t really matter to the lore.

There are also two books I’ll be mentioning and quoting throughout the theory.

Now that everyone has basic knowledge about this is, let’s start.

If you don’t pay attention and don’t use those nice thinking cells in your brain, you will never find anything about this. You’ll be left with weird murders and silent robots trying to kill you.

Seriously, the base story you’re given is this:

Purple man kills kids.

Kids possess animatronics.

Haunted animatronics try to kill you.

This may seem enough for a game but FNaF is not your average game, the story that lies behind it is much darker and sadder than we all thought.

Most of the answers are in the minigames between nights and newspaper clippings sprinkled throughout the games. There are also books but they just make everything harder since they’re a separate canon from the games and the storylines contradict each other (it’s not me failing to theorize, it’s what actually happens).

So… yeah. You can see why this is so hard.

But, since that’s what I do, let me tell you this story.

It’s the story of a family that was torn apart.

Meet the Aftons, a perfectly normal family of five.

There’s William, the father.

Mrs Afton, the mother, who doesn’t really have a name.

Michael, the oldest son.

Elizabeth, the daughter.

And Crying Child, the youngest son who doesn’t have a name either.

But how do we know they are related, it’s never directly stated anywhere.

William is named in the books and he’s obvious he is Purple Guy, who, for anyone who doesn’t know the story, is a child murderer and basically the main antagonist of all this. Mrs Afton’s existence is pretty obvious since there has to be a mother (William did not adopt his children, by the way, Michael looks like him and, by evidence I will present later, Mrs Afton is still alive when the story begins).

Now, comes the hardest part, where the theorizing begins.

In the FNaF 3 minigames, we see that Purple Guy, once confronted with the spirits of five of his victims, hops into his Spring Bonnie suit (more on that later) and the spring locks snap shut, killing him and turning him into Springtrap, who then reappears in Fazbear’s Fright.

On the final cutscene for one of the “Sister Location” endings, we hear an off voice say:

“Father, it’s me, Michael. I did it. I found it. It was right where you said it would be. They were all there. They didn’t recognize me at first but then, they thought I was you. Ah… and I found her. I put her back together, just like you asked me to. She’s free now, but something is wrong with me. I should be dead, but I’m not. I’ve been living in shadows. There is only one thing left for me to do. I’m going to come find you…”

Michael, man, you like pronouns way too much.

The important part is the first sentence because, when he finishes talking, Springtrap suddenly gets up and the game ends.

But how do we know this isn’t Springtrap talking?

I mean… “Father, I got killed by a bunch of spring locks and now I’m haunting a golden Bonnie suit” makes sense but do you know what else makes sense?

Getting your internal organs removed by a giant scooper and replaced with a mix of animatronics and then the mix of animatronics leaving your body, making you a rotting corpse walking around the street.

Yes… these games are weird.

After this, Eggs (who is the protagonist of “Sister Location even though his real name is Mike) becomes purple.

First of all, how can we be absolutely sure Michael isn’t Springtrap. There’s never anything directly stated anywhere, so we must theorize.

Why would Michael be afraid of the children’s spirits?

Throughout the whole series, it is Michael (and Henry) who’s trying to undo William’s work.

While it is true that he looks like his father, he has no reason to be afraid of the children’s spirits. As you can see in the picture below, they don’t do much, they just stand there, crying. But, in the books, the spirits (still inside the animatronics) are angry when they see William even though they can’t do anything.

But again, how do we know he’s not Purple Guy?

Also, if Michael truly is the protagonist of “Sister Location”, he would have been too young when the murders started. As we see in FNaF 4, he’s just a child or a teenager (more on that later).

We also know from Henry’s closing speech in FNaF 6 that Springtrap is an old friend of his. We never really get confirmation of his identity in that ending but, in the Insanity Ending, there is a tape named “HRY223” that shows you blueprints of the Scooper, Lefty, the R.A.S.C. and Molten Freddy (which is technically Ennard minus Baby). That is the same voice that calls Springtrap an “old friend”. You know…

“[…] for one of you, the darkest pit of Hell has opened to swallow you whole. So don’t keep the Devil waiting, old friend.”

Henry is William’s best friend (sort of, more like his only friend) and they are the founders of Fazbear Entertainment. This would make so much more sense than “Hey, oldest child of my old business partner who I barely know, go to Hell just ‘cuz”. And may I remind you that this part of the speech is accompanied by a picture of Springtrap burning?

I think this is pretty clear: William is Springtrap, not Michael.

Now, we get to the more complicated part. How is Crying Child related to any of those?

Well… Look at this picture.

Now, look at this one.

What do they have in common?

Let me answer that for you: they have the same ugly lamp.

That hallway is Crying Child’s house and that living room is Michael’s house.

It’s not just a trendy lamp, it’s the same place, just different rooms.

Do you honestly think this thing would ever be a trendy lamp?

Do trendy lamps even exist?

But now, let me just make a quick comment. Why do you need table lamps in a hallway? Why not have ceiling lamps like a normal person?

But you may not think this is enough. At least I don’t.

Do you remember the Fredbear plushies from FNaF 4?

They were everywhere and they even talked to Crying Child. One of them was there when he dies.

What were they?

Well, that question was answered with “Sister Location”. You may not have paid attention to it but they’re there. On the desk from the office in the Custom Night and the Alternative Ending.

One of them was calmly sitting on your desk, doing nothing.

The important thing to remember is that that office belonged to someone else: Mr Afton. He is watching his child through the plushies. That’s why one of them says “I will put you back together”.

If you insert a certain code into a blank keypad on the wall, you’ll get three of the places you play in in FNaF 4. He’s watching his son.

Either that or he’s gone into full pedophile mode but that’s not the case.

Because on the second night you have to return energy to these places, labelled “Observation”. They are slightly more grey than the rest of the blueprint, meaning they’re above the place where you are, just like the vents in FNaF 3 (ugh, those annoying vents). This is him watching his son while he’s at work.

See for yourself!

Why hire a babysitter?

Get security cameras!

But how does Elizabeth fit in all of this? How can we prove she is related to the Aftons?

Well, there’s the fact that she thinks murdering children will make her father proud, as we hear in Freddy Fazbear’s Pizza Simulator’s Completion Ending.

There is also the thing I like to call the Afton Accent.

If you take a few seconds to notice, all Aftons have British Accents. Elizabeth’s (prior to her scooping) is the most obvious, followed by William’s and then Michael’s. We never hear anyone speak like that. Phone Guy, Cassette Man and all the unknown voices are clearly American.

At the beginning of each night in “Sister Location”, we hear a girl speak. She says she wants to go see Baby but that her father won’t let her.

Why wouldn’t he?

Unless he knew she was designed to kill children when left alone with one.

And when she finally approaches the animatronic saying “Daddy isn’t watching”, she gets scooped by the claw we see in the minigames. That’s what Baby tells us under the table. She gave her ice cream and, in the minigame, the girl receives ice cream.

So, you can get a pretty good image of the Afton Family.

But now, the story begins.

William and his partner, Henry, found the company Fazbear Entertainment. Henry builds animatronics and William sells them to various restaurants.

And it could have gone very well if there wasn’t the tiny-miney problem that William one day just decides to become a child murderer.

We never get a motive, it’s just something that is there. This isn’t even speculation, it’s shown throughout the minigames: a purple man, Purple Guy, kills kids.

Scott, if you’re reading me which I know you aren’t, let me ask you a thing: WHAT KIND OF FATHER BECOMES A CHILD MURDERER?!

Because it is directly stated in the books that William is Purple Guy and it’s obvious from “Sister Location” that he has, at least, a daughter.

So, anyways… he starts killing kids at a restaurant to which he sold animatronics: Fredbear’s Family Diner, in New Harmony, Utah. And he starts off by killing the daughter of someone he really shouldn’t kill, Charlie, Henry’s daughter.

Amazing way of drawing suspicion away from yourself, William, murdering the daughter of someone you know and is probably your best friend.

I give you a slow sarcastic clap, my friend.

We know he kills Charlie because of Henry’s closing speech in “Freddy Fazbear’s Pizzeria Simulator” and he shows the picture of one of the FNaF 2 minigames, the one where the child gets murdered outside.

We know this is the first victim based on simple psychology.

Serial killers usually have a signature, a way of killing unique to them. Purple Guy’s signature is dressing up in the Spring Bonnie costume and luring children into a secret back room to kill them.

For example, Jack the Ripper’s signature was meeting with prostitutes (sometimes in rooms, sometimes in alleys) and then killing them, opening them up and doing whatever the heck he wanted with their insides.

This is his first kill. While the golden suits may not have existed at the time, he murders the child outside, before he decides it’s better to do it inside.

The first victim’s soul enters the Puppet, which will later give life to the other four animatronics, each of them being one of the victims in this first location.

After this tragedy, the restaurant closes and sells its name to Fazbear Entertainment, that turns it into Freddy Fazbear’s Pizza.

… and then comes more murder.

Despite the incident, the chain of restaurants grows until Fazbear Entertainment decides to open another pizzeria with animatronics: Circus Baby’s Pizza World, as stated in the source code to Scott’s site prior to the release of “Sister Location”.

This restaurant has more humanoid themed attractions, like Baby and Ballora, but also our dear old friends reimagined in purple and pink, Funtime Freddy and Funtime Foxy.

Seriously, who had the idea of making a pink Foxy?

But there is one thing in particular with these robots that distinguishes them from everyone else: they’re specially designed to lure and capture children.

William Afton has better things to do other than picking victims, so he created robots to do it for him.

Seriously (sorry if I say that too much), all the money, resources and time that went into those robots… just to avoid wasting a few minutes of his time?

He must be very lazy.

Unfortunately (or fortunately, depends on your point of view), this new pizzeria closes the very day it opens because of William’s daughter, Elizabeth Afton. Her father warns her not to approach Baby (for obvious reasons known to us all) but she does it anyway. As Baby says to you while under the table, the two were left alone and…

It seems pretty cut and dry, don’t you think?

But some of you might have noticed something wrong with minigame Baby. Her eyes, they’re blue. In the game, they’re green.

We never actually see them in the game itself but the trailer clearly shows that they are green and has a close up on her face, clearly showing us the eyes.

This is because Elizabeth’s soul now resides within Baby. This is why she is so aware of her surroundings.

It seems that only the Aftons have the right to get special abilities as animatronics.

After his daughter’s death, William retreats into his work. His wife dies or leaves him, doesn’t matter, and he preserves her memory inside another animatronic: Ballora.

I wouldn’t find it strange if you thought I’ve gone insane at this point. This blog has existed for less than a year and I’ve already made some strange claims.

But you probably think this makes absolutely no sense. At all.

Well, first of all, as stated in “The Freddy Files” (which is technically a book explaining the games), Ballora has the same speech ability as Baby.

What do you think happened? William made Ballora first and gave her some sweet human-like behaviour but then became lazy and made everyone sound like Funtime Freddy?

I don’t think so.

Then why would a regular animatronic sound like a possessed animatronic?

It doesn’t. it’s also possessed.

My second piece of evidence comes, once again, from the FNaF 6 Insanity Ending.

Here, in this blueprint, you can see an explanation of Molten Freddy. “The most amount of remnant collectively in its structure”, huh?

And remember, Molten Freddy is Ennard minus Baby, which is believed to be the only possessed animatronic.

Remnant is a fancy name for soul energy. Every possessed animatronic has some.

But if three “non-possessed” animatronics can have remnant, it means that at least one of them is possessed.

If you look hard, the connections between Mrs Afton and Ballora go much deeper.

Ballora has the Minireenas that appear to be her children. Baby has the Bidybaps but they’re not really connected, they’re just “partners” on stage. We know from night two that the Bidybaps seem to be afraid of Baby because she’s always watching them.

The Minireenas help Ballora during the fourth night, getting inside Baby to jump scare you. They “love” her.

And Ballora looks much more mature than the other animatronics.

Let’s pause here for a second. Why is her body like that? Every other animatronic has the ability to open their chest or any other part of the body to catch children but she can’t because she’s too thin. I believe that’s counter-productive, don’t you agree? Also… why are her eyes smaller than her eyelids? If she’s not going to open her eyes, don’t give her orbs and if she’s going to open her eyes, give her orbs that fit her eyelids!

Anyways… there is also her song.

You might have missed it. During night two, when she’s after you, she’ll play music to let you know she’s close. Sometimes, she sings this song:

“Why do you hide inside your walls

When there is music in my halls?

All I see is an empty room

No more joy, a silent tomb…

How good it is to sing all day,

To dance, to swing, to fly away…”

It’s sort of weird for an animatronic made for children’s entertainment.

That’s because this is Mrs Afton talking.

She’s referring to her husband isolating himself from the world and diving into his work (and possibly some child murder). The “empty room” she refers to is the empty girl’s room from the FNaF 4 minigames. That room wasn’t directly connected to anything in the game, there was no goal inside, it was just a room but Scott thought it was important for us to see it.

This is Elizabeth’s “silent tomb”, a reminder of her death.

And this is also how we know that Elizabeth was the first to die, followed by her mother.

After this horrible incident, Circus Baby’s Pizza World closes forever and the Funtimes get stored in an underground bunker where they remain until “Sister Location”.

I should stop here. This theory is already getting pretty long.

I will continue this in my next post and one with little “appendix” theories in a while but, for now, I’ll leave you with this.

Do you have any questions?

I want to make sure I get everything, I want to explain it to you (within my limited understanding of all this).

Well, then… I hope you liked it!

If you have a different opinion, don’t hesitate in explaining it, I’m always open to suggestions!

But, until we meet again…

I still need a catchphrase.