Since 2014, Five Nights At Freddy’s has been a cult classic among indie gamer fans. Between the jump scares, suspense, and simplistic gaming mechanics, the horror game captured many fans. However, the lore behind the games makes them unique and what captures fans the most. Let’s go through the incredible yet dark story of Five Nights At Freddy’s. Disclaimer: The lore of FNAF is incredibly unique in that it hasn’t been fully confirmed by the creator, Scott Cawthon. Most of the “lore” is essentially just widely accepted fan theory. We’ll discuss today’s most popular and most accepted fan theory and condense some aspects.

Five Nights At Freddy’s Lore

Five Nights at Freddy’s story begins with William Afton, our main villain. William owns Freddy Fazbear’s Pizzeria, is a co-founder of Fazbear Entertainment, and owns Afton Robotics. He is known as an inventor who is good with robotics and thus created animatronics for his pizzeria. His main characters were Freddy Fazbear, Chica, Bonnie, and Foxy. Afton is the main villain of the series because he’s the reason all of the horrors exist. He would lure children with his Springtrap Bonnie suit, a device that was part animatronic and part costume, and kill them.

To avoid suspicion, Afton stuffed the bodies into the animatronic suits, which triggered an event that caused the spirits of the children to fuse into the machinery. There are many theories for William Afton’s motivations to commit these murders. Some theorize that he was trying to find the secret of immortality. There is also the theory that he went crazy after the death of his youngest child, a child who isn’t confirmed actually to be his son. Again, most of the lore is just a series of primarily accepted fan theories. However, it does make engaging with the fan content more fun.

William Afton

Regardless of why he killed those children, he did, and their spirits were trapped in the animatronic suits. Eventually, Afton himself was destroyed by the Springtrap Bonnie suit when he was cornered by the spirits of the children he murdered. The suit malfunctioned, springing into place to be used as an animatronic while Afton was still in it. He was slowly crushed to death within the suit, and his whereabouts became unknown for a few games. This story was told throughout many games and only got darker as the franchise continued. While this is the base of the FNAF story, there is so much more to it.

Timeline Of The Games

We begin the FNAF games with the first one, Five Nights At Freddy’s. In this, we play a security guard who is widely considered to be Micheal Afton, William’s son. We are hired to watch over Freddy Fazbear’s Pizzeria. The official reason for the shutdown of Fazbear’s is that children went missing, and parents became reluctant to bring their children. The security guard’s job is to ensure no one breaks into the restaurant to steal or tamper with the animatronics. Instead of that happening, we discover that they’re sentient and move on their own, possessed by the spirits of dead children, of course. The point of the game is to survive five nights at the restaurant.

After that, there’s Five Nights At Freddy’s 2, which has us in a new Fazbear location and introduces new versions of the older animatronics we saw in the original game. We also play as different security guards. In this game, we come to find out that Fazbears is under investigation for a matter related to the missing children. Five Nights At Freddy’s 3 is set 30 years after the first game. In it, we are working at Fazbear’s Fright. We are encountering damaged and scarier versions of the animatronics, including Springtrap, who is William Afton, still trapped in his Springtrap Bonnie suit.

FNAF 4

In Five Nights At Freddy’s 4, we play as a child haunted by visions of the animatronics in his own home. While the main character is officially unknown, it’s highly suspected that it is Micheal Afton, William’s son. In FNAF 4, we see the story of the main character teasing his younger brother, known as the Crying Child, at a Fazbear location, pushing him towards the animatronics, although he is afraid. There was an accident involving malfunctions of the springs, which led to what is known as The Bite of ’83, which caused the child’s head to be crushed in Fredbear, killing him. The hallucinations are said to be the effects of the older brother’s guilt.

More FNAF And The Mike Afton Theory

Five Nights At Freddy’s: Sister Location has us working at Circus Baby’s Pizza World. This is a sister company of Fazbear Entertainment. In this game, we discover that the spirit of Elizabeth Afton possesses the animatronic Circus Baby, Mike’s little sister. William created Circus Baby to kill children. However, Elizabeth was obsessed with the robot and defied her father’s orders to stay away, leading to her death. The next game is Freddy Fazbear’s Pizzeria Simulator, which has you as a new Fazbear location manager, salvaging old animatronics and building up the pizzeria.

You’re guided by Cassette Man, who tells you where to go and how to do things. Eventually, this man is revealed to be Henry Emily, William’s old business partner and the daughter of William’s very first victim, Charlotte. The true ending of this game is Henry setting the pizzeria on fire after gathering all of the possessed animatronics in one place, his goal being to end the madness and torment that William started.

Lore

All of the animatronics, Henry, and the manager perish. After Pizzeria Simulator, a game that most fans consider the end of the main lore, there are five more games, one unreleased. Ultimate Custom Night, Five Nights At Freddy’s: Help Wanted, Five Nights At Freddy’s: Security Breach, Five Nights At Freddy’s: Help Wanted 2, Five Nights At Freddy’s: Secret of The Mimic.

Regarding what most fans consider to be the “main lore,” one theory is the most popular: for the entirety of the game, we are playing as Micheal Afton. This is known as the “Micheal Afton Theory.” The theory is that Mike is changing his identity and working at the Fazbear locations to dismantle the animatronics.

The theory, in short, hinges on the idea that after the events of Sister Location, which left Mike undead, he had officially discovered all of the horrors his father caused and wanted to make it right. One of the significant pieces of evidence of this is why each security guard was fired, usually being “tampering with the animatronics” and “odor,” which could reference Mike’s almost zombie state.

Final Thoughts

Five Nights at Freddy’s has attracted a unique and extensive fanbase with its incredible story and possibilities. The fans of this franchise are incredibly creative, inventive, and active. They’re passionate about the characters, the story, and solving the mysteries that the creator, Scott Cawthon, seems reluctant to confirm. With the newest FNAF hitting theaters on December 5th and a new game in 2025, this franchise shows no signs of slowing down. 

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