The first thing any fan ofFive Nights at Freddy’sknows is that the series has extensive, sprawling, and often convoluted lore. Beginning in 2014, the firstFNAFgame took the internet by storm with its hints of a tragic backstory hidden behind animatronics and game files. The rise of popular YouTube channels to explore this lore added to the fascination of fan communities.
The very firstFive Nights at Freddy’sgame was an overnight sensation, mostly due to what seemed to be a deeply hidden story behind the killer animatronics that roamed an old restaurant. However, after the first three games seemingly wrapped up the story of the original animatronics and their murder,the lore became needlessly messy.
Vague FNAF Lore Brought It Attention and Fan Theories
What made the firstFNAFgame so fascinating to players in 2014 was that it hadlore that players needed to uncover through careful investigation and analysis. Looking deeper into in-game assets like the jump scare screeches that turned out to be a child’s scream and brightening teaser images to reveal hidden clues were all part of the fun early lore. Fans began to look everywhere for hints at either what was to come in future games or what had happened at Freddy Fazbear’s Pizzeria, especially regarding the Bite of 1987.
The initial lore was relatively simple. Some children were murdered in the 1980s by a serial killer and now haunt an abandoned pizza restaurant that a security guard (the player character) must keep working at to pay rent. Early theories used the limited information to speculate that either the Phone Guy or the Security Guard were the murderers, especially since it would potentially explain why the Guard was coming back night after night. This simple, but slightly vaguelore brought attention to the series and created countless fan theories.
FNAF’s Biggest Strength Turned Into Its Biggest Weakness
Convoluted Plots Confuse Fans
The biggest problem forFive Nights at Freddy’sas a franchise is thatit rarely, if ever, confirms what pieces of information are truly canonto the lore, what is a red herring, or what should be disregarded entirely. Any fans that want to create a clear timeline of lore for what happened to core characters like the Afton family, or who is even possessing which animatronics, must rely on an increasingly shaky mountain of evidence as more games, books, and other media come out.
The fun part of pastFNAFgames is thatthey included new secrets to uncover and more dots to connect. The problem now for more recent games is that every new piece of contentpresents moreFNAFquestions than it answers. For example, Michael Afton, the son of William Afton, is the player character inFNAFspin-offsSister LocationandFreddy Fazbear’s Pizzeria Simulator, and potentiallyFNAF 3. The problem is that Michael was killed by the scooper inSister Locationand is somehow still alive later to be the player character inPizzeria Simulator.
Five Nights at Freddy’s 4came out in 2015 and was advertised as “The Final Chapter.”
There is no clear lore answer as to how he came back to life (or even possessed his own dead body) to be able to burn down the pizzeria with his family’s spirits inside.It’s unlikely that the series will ever give a clear explanationas to how Michael is still active after being used as a skin disguise for multiple combined animatronics, so fans must come up with their own lore to explain it. This type of lore is emblematic ofhowmost of the lore inFNAFgoes since the first three games.
Even FNAF Creators Seem To Not Know Answers
Constantly Changing The Plot Midstream
The issue withFive Nights at Freddy’sas a franchise is thatits creator doesn’t seem to know what any of the answers are either, instead opting to keep asking more questions for a never-ending story. From the first few games in the series, the ending of each sequel hinted at what could be a final ending to the entire story.Five Nights at Freddy’s 3, with itsfocus on Springtrap, is especially guilty of this, as it’s the final game in the first trilogy and was very likely meant to be the final chapter.
The ending ofFNAF 3has two possible outcomes, depending on if players successfully finish all the 8-bit minigames throughout the main game.The minigames reveal the story of Springtrap/William Afton and how he was killed by his own suitafter being cornered by his former victims in the backroom of Fazbear’s Pizza. If players do not finish the minigames and don’t discover what happened, then they get the bad ending.
The bad ending ofFNAF 3shows the heads of each of the main animatronic, including Golden Freddy, with their lights still on. This indicates that the spirits inside are not at rest, their full stories still undiscovered. The good ending shows the same heads, but with their heads dark to show that they are no longer possessed. Ideally, this would mean that the story is wrapped up, and the original spirits are at rest as their entire story was uncovered.The problem is that the games kept coming out, retconning the ending, and the lore only got more complicated from that point forward.
Ultimate Custom Nightwas announced on Steam by Scott Cawthon to be the final game in the series, though it was later removed.
As the games continue to come out, even in a more modern setting like inSecurity Breach, the confusing lore becomes only more complicated. Major villains in the new era, like Glitchtrap, seem to be some continuation of Springtrap, but past games confirmed that his spirit was decidedly in hell. That means players have no clear idea who Glitchtrap is or if it is even connected to the most iconic villain in the series. There are no answers inFive Nights at Freddy’s, only more questions and that’s become more frustrating than fun.
Five Nights at Freddy’s
Five Nights at Freddy’s is a multimedia horror franchise created by Scott Cawthon that began with the first entry in the video game series, Five Nights at Freddy’s. The core story of the franchise focuses on a pizza franchise known as “Freddy Fazbear’s Pizza,” a kid-friendly entertainment center with animatronic hosts. The stores are closed when the animatronics begin to go berserk, slaying some of their guests. However, for most entries, a security guard is tasked with observing them at night, completely unaware of the horrible history behind the mysterious, murderous robots.
