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I'm not at the Pizzaplex! Something is trying to trick you.

This page contains multiple versions of the same character or the same character from different universe.

Purple man
"YOU CANT"
This article contains new content, and will contain spoilers.
I always come back!
 
— William Afton's signature quote, proclaiming his will to stay alive and avoid damnation
First I killed your brother, now I kill you! Symmetry, my friend!
 
— William Afton mocking Mike after violently beating him up

William Afton, also known by his two aliases The Purple Guy and his split identity Springtrap, is the main antagonist of the Five Nights at Freddy's franchise. He serves as the main antagonist of the original entries, prior to The Mimic taking his place and continuing his legacy in later entries. He was the serial killer responsible for the murder of a dozen children or more over his lifetime, as well as the founder of Fredbear's Family Diner and Freddy Fazbear's Pizza. This sets the series in motion due to the victims haunting the animatronics, and Afton influencing the events from the shadows. He had a fascination with the paranormal, envying the ability to live forever, twisting his view of the world. Afton is visualized in most minigames as a tall, abnormal purple figure with a giant grin on his face, representing how he hides in the shadows during his killing sprees and the pleasure he takes in his murders.

History[]

In the early 1970's, Afton, and his friend and business partner Henry Emily, created the company Fazbear Entertainment and opened Fredbear's Family Diner. Henry designed, manufactured, and built two Springlock Suits (Spring Bonnie and Fredbear), and later the four main animatronic entertainers for Freddy Fazbear's Pizza (Freddy Fazbear, Bonnie, Chica, and Foxy), while William would handle the business's paperwork, management and finances. In the building's first years, Afton would dress as Spring Bonnie, a Springlock Suit which depicted a large androgynous yellow rabbit. He would wear it inside the pizzeria, via using a hand crank to move the inner springlocks of the suit away from his face, chest, arms and legs, as not doing so would lead to his impalement inside the suit. He would often brag about how he could perform effortlessly while using it, being very proud and flamboyant as he did so. Some people claimed the character that he so loved to portray was more alive than he was.

However, one night, Henry's daughter, Charlotte Emily, would be left outside the diner and William seized the opportunity to kill her. Later, around the date of June 26th, 1985, Afton would abduct and murder five children by luring them into a backroom, dressed as Spring Bonnie. When suspicion arose, he hid their corpses to avoid getting caught, likely in the animatronics. The police would arrest Afton, but let him go due to a lack of evidence and the bodies never being found. This caused the spirits of the dead children to become vengeful and possess the animatronics to take revenge. After the first location closed due to bankruptcy, William Afton left Fazbear Entertainment, later briefly returning once under an alias.

Sometime later, William would create the company Afton Robotics, and set up a new location, called Circus Baby Pizzeria with a new cast of animatronics called the Funtime Animatronics. However, this location would shut down even before it opened due to a supposed "gas leak." In reality, multiple children were sent into the building and most, if not all, were subsequently murdered by the Funtime Animatronics. William's only daughter, Elizabeth, was part of the group of children sent in, and was killed by Circus Baby. Following this disaster, William would rebrand the restaurant into Circus Baby's Entertainment and Rentals, renting out the Funtime animatronics to private parties.

Many years later, Afton returned to the third establishment of Freddy Fazbear's Pizza when it had long been abandoned in order to destroy the Classic Animatronics for an unknown reason. Initially, it was thought he had done so out of paranoia, however it has become hotly debated as to why, with some believing he was after their Remnant. Nonetheless, this freed the spirits of the children inside, and they swarmed their killer. Physically unable to harm him, they chased and cornered Afton in the backroom, where the same rabbit suit that he wore to kill them was left. He hurriedly put on the suit in order to fool them, forgetting it was damaged by rain and time at this point. Afton laughed at his victims, believing he was untouchable and had gotten away again.

However, due to his shaky movements and moisture dripping down from the damaged roof, the springlocks of the costume failed, with Afton inside. Every part of his body was impaled and bludgeoned into pieces, and he dropped to the floor twitching in shock, where he lay, bleeding out and dying as the children passed away. Sometime after, the room was boarded up by an unknown person, presumably Henry Emily.

Afton was left there to rot for the next 30 years until, sometime after his demise, Afton awoke, alone and decomposing. Due to his iron will to live and the Remnant in his suit, Afton was still alive but permanently encased inside. In the year of 2023, he was found by the organisers of Fazbear's Fright and put inside the horror attraction based on the infamous past of the Freddy Fazbear brand. Now free, he abandoned his old identity and accepted his new form, calling himself Springtrap.

Springtrap is a Springlock Suit containing Afton's mutilated face and body crammed inside. He stalked the guard of the horror attraction until the place caught fire, damaging Springtrap's appearance. The guard escaped but left Springtrap inside. Eventually, the flames were extinguished, but he was nowhere to be seen. Later, Afton seemingly rebuilt himself out of scrap, turning into the abomination that is Scraptrap.

Henry, seeing all of the destruction William had caused, decided to put an end to his legacy once and for all. With help from Michael Afton, William's son, he and multiple other animatronics were lured to a 'fake' restaurant that was rigged to combust and burn down, the walls set to fall down inwards to trap everything inside as the fire burned. After all of them were inside, Henry set the building on fire, berating Scraptrap, condemning him to "the darkest pit of Hell". Michael, finally at peace, allowed himself to be consumed by the flames, and so did Henry after apologizing to his daughter held inside Lefty, who was Afton's first victim. Scraptrap is last seen frantically clawing at the closing door, locking him inside as he is devoured by the flames when the building collapses.

Little is known about Afton's fate after this point. Some speculate that Golden Freddy, possessed by a Vengeful Spirit, now harbours William's soul, tormenting him for eternity by forcing him to fend off the animatronics he and Henry created, again and again. Others posit that he, deservedly, is indeed now in Hell, burning forever.

Physical Appearance[]

Human[]

Outside of the 2023 Movie, Afton's real appearance is never shown. He is described as a tall, thin, malnourished looking man with a scruffy suit on, with fairly unkempt hair and yellow teeth. The most detail William has shown is during the SAVETHEM Death minigame, in which he is revealed to be a tall skinny man with a long neck and has glowing, white eyes, a yellow object on his chest which resembles a security badge, and holds a purple object, which is speculated to be a weapon, tool, phone, or hand, extending in a beckoning pose. He also would later have what appears to be bad posture, as his neck is sometimes seen leaning forwards.

It is heavily implied that his true appearance is the same as his counterpart in the novels, as he ultimately became sallow and thin with a poorly shaven face, messy brown hair, saggy skin, and the appearance of a middle-aged man, as well as having lifeless grey eyes.

Springtrap[]

In his animatronic form of Springtrap, the suit is a drab olive color, with darker colors on his stomach and the insides of his ears. A great portion of his right ear is missing, with a single red wire sticking out of the stump. Springtrap's entire body is torn and tattered, intermingled with the exposed wires and caging throughout, making him appear much more macabre-looking than any other animatronic from any of the previous installments in the series. His blackish green-brown nose has an irregular squarish shape due to deterioration.

While both of Springtrap's hands and feet are attached and generally intact, with his human feet presumably inside, his legs are entirely stripped from the mid-shin down, fully exposing the endoskeleton wiring, metal, and rotting flesh. Several of his finger joints from each hand are missing their suit overlays. The middle and little fingers of Springtrap's right hand are notably missing their fingertips (this is no longer the case for his model in future games). A single black button can be seen on the middle of his chest. If one looks closely at the large hole in Springtrap's chest (which is located under his button), William Afton's broken yet somehow still alive body can be seen. Springtrap has a wide, permanent grin, as the material surrounding his teeth has deteriorated. His jaw can be seen moving on occasions, such as during his second jump scare, on cam 15, his first rare-boot, along with Scott Cawthon's "Thank You!" image. Springtrap's endoskeleton feet appear wedge-shaped, with each sporting five toes. As of the 8th of October, 2016, images of an early Springtrap model show his visible endoskeleton torso in the shape of an upside-down triangle, and having six "ribs", which appear to be similar to human ribs.

Both of Springtrap's eyes are properly set inside of his head, and appear to be pale gray in color. The eyes themselves have multiple blood-vessels visible. They also appear to be glowing, suggesting that William Afton remains alive as a result of Remnant. Out of his whole body, only his head and bits of flesh and blood-vessels can be seen. This is due to Scott not seeing a purpose in adding details in places not visible to the player during normal gameplay. His head can be seen more clearly in three rare-boot images depicting Springtrap trying to tear his own mask off. Only after completing every FollowMe minigame would it be known to the player that this is actually William Afton, as the last minigame shows him getting impaled and dying in the suit.

In the Sister Location Custom Night cutscene, Springtrap appears much the same as his original design from the third game, although he seems to be missing a few animatronic parts (such as the pelvis and hip which exposes his endoskeleton pelvis and complete lack of veins and arteries), and an extra few rips and tears, showing that his appearance has fallen into further disrepair. From his half-torn right ear, the red wire appears to be cut off. His back from the lowest part of his torso is chopped off. Blood "vessel-tubes" at the front of his neck are missing as well. His pupils, however, are not glowing white, unlike from the third game, though this could just be the angle and lighting. He is most likely damaged from the fire. The rest of Springtrap's features, however, are difficult to locate clearly due to being covered partly by darkness or out of shot. This burned version of Springtrap is colloquially known as Dark Springtrap.

As seen in Five Nights at Freddy's: Help Wanted, Springtrap also walks and crawls with a limp. The arm joints also appear to be loose, though this may simply be due to the deteriorated condition of the original suit. Help Wanted also alters his general design, the suit itself being a lighter color. The biggest change between the Help Wanted model and the original is the body of William Afton. The eyes are now bright green with black pupils, looking more animatronic than human this time. While the corpse's head is a dark purple in color, the rest of the flesh on the body is a dark brown. Parts of the flesh are missing, such as the strands of flesh on the lower legs, or the flesh that goes from the torso to the pelvis. His endoskeleton is rustier, and seems slightly less detailed.

Springtrap's design in Five Nights at Freddy's AR: Special Delivery is a lot closer to the Five Nights at Freddy's 3 design, with some very slightly different textures from his original look. The biggest difference is William Afton's mouth, which is shown to move alongside his jaw. Like most other Special Delivery animatronics, the more damage Springtrap takes, the more broken he is, gaining more dark burn and dirt marks over time.

Scraptrap[]

William Afton returned once again in Freddy Fazbear's Pizzeria Simulator with a new design, dubbed Scraptrap by fans; this name is made official in Security Breach as the title of an arcade machine he stars in. While he does retain some key physical details from Springtrap's design, there are major differences. Unlike the previous design where his interior was mostly machinery, it is now almost entirely organic, and shows his human skeleton as well as flesh, with five bony fingers as his right hand. The reason as to why William Afton is much more detailed this time is probably because his full body can be seen in one of the rare-boot screens. There are more torn patches in his suit with multiple metal-wires, and he has lost his left forearm, half his left ear, and the rest of his right ear. His feet now have fabric over them, with three large, round toes on each foot. His eyes no longer glow and now look completely metallic.

The mask also has significant differences, with much larger eye sockets, a black nose, a square muzzle, a singular pair of buck teeth at the top row and small sharp needle-like teeth at the bottom. Afton's mummified head has turned pale in color, now with ears, thicker lips, rigged teeth and a dimple. He appears to have exposed muscle tissue on his cheeks, and brain matter poking out from his forehead.

Personality[]

Although seeming very cryptic at first, William's character traits and nature can be seen via silent actions within retro-graphics and by reading between the lines throughout the games.

William Afton is depicted as the textbook definition of evil. He is the sadistic serial killer who sparked the downfall of his own company, Fazbear Entertainment, having murdered over a dozen children in cold blood, and started the tragic chain of events that leads players throughout the series. It is heavily implied that William's true motive is to gain the secret of immortality and live eternally alongside fulfilling his cruel and sadistic pleasures. Judging from his actions and appearance within the games, William is wicked, cold-blooded and methodical, clearly showing no remorse for his actions. He was even malicious enough to murder his closest friend and business partner Henry's only daughter Charlotte, an event which caused Henry immense emotional turmoil to the point where he nearly committed suicide. This shows that William does not care even for his friends, and is more than willing to harm them, whether it be mentally, emotionally, or physically.

As shown in every minigame he appears in, he always smiles during his killings, and in the Pizza Party minigame in Five Nights at Freddy's: Help Wanted, which appears to be a recreation of one of Afton's murders, Glitchtrap, who is representing Afton, can be seen dancing gleefully after murdering the victim, taunting them while they are trapped inside of a robotic suit, helpless and unable to do anything but watch. Both of these examples show that William is extremely ruthless and sadistic and appears to take delight, satisfaction, and pride in the murder of innocent people while watching his victims suffer in agony, especially when said victims are mere children. One of William's voice lines in Freddy Fazbear's Pizzeria Simulator suggest that he is opportunistic and will proceed with his intentions, regardless of the risks.

Heard in the opening cutscene of Sister Location, William shows a rather calm and neutral personality. This is likely a façade to hide his true intentions and evil mindset while showing that he is a manipulator and seemingly theatrical, being able to easily put on a character to fool people. The fact that he created the Funtime Animatronics, which are very technologically advanced, shows that he has gained a skill for robotics, possibly from Henry Emily, and is very proud of his creations. He is also fascinated by how they have evolved after the events of Sister Location.

His voice lines in Five Nights at Freddy's AR: Special Delivery indicate that he is arrogant, boastful, and overconfident in his way of thinking, and even suggests that he wants his victims to fear and respect him, as well as suffer slowly before he kills them. This is in stark contrast to his subtle, poetic, and calculated voice. His mannerisms are incredibly flamboyant and unhinged. It seems that William's hubris grew larger as he became more experienced as a killer, likely due to the fact that he was never caught or convicted for his crimes and always got away with them. This explains his behaviour in Five Nights at Freddy's 3 and Freddy Fazbear's Pizzeria Simulator. Given this, William is more likely not really insane, he just seemingly does not care for the difference between right and wrong, simply choosing to be evil for no other reason than to achieve his twisted and unethical desires.

It is heavily suggested that William's greatest fear above all is death. This is shown in the last Five Nights at Freddy's 3 minigame, where he cowers in fear while facing the vengeful ghosts of his victims, explaining why he refused to pass on after his death and became Springtrap to begin with. This fear is so immense that he has developed an unbreakable iron will to live, no matter the costs. Ultimately, this is what pushes him to survive even in the most deadly situations time and time again. He showcases his willpower by confidently stating "I always come back". This ironically shows that despite William's immense cruelty and arrogance, he is a coward when facing his own demise and retribution for his actions. William doesn't seem to believe he can, or want to be forgiven, and, knowing that Hell awaits him, he intends to stay away from it for as long as possible.

Despite his cruel nature, it is implied that he loved his daughter Elizabeth, warning her not to go near Circus Baby, as he programmed the animatronic to be homicidal. It is also implied in these voicelines that Baby was made in honor of Elizabeth, and William even orders his son Michael to free Elizabeth from Circus Baby's Entertainment and Rental. But despite knowing Elizabeth's possession of Baby, he paid and allowed technicians to shock her for an indefinite amount of time. He was additionally shown abusing Elizabeth directly in the book series. Taking this into account, it's likely his caring of Elizabeth wasn't as genuine as it first appeared to be.

His relationship with his son Michael is somewhat ambiguous. It is unknown as to what led up to the events of FNAF 4 or what relationship he had at the time, but it's known that Afton never stepped in to interfere with any of the bullying going on. From what we learn in Sister Location, William sent him on a suicide mission to rescue Elizabeth from the underground facility, resulting in Michael's gruesome death and reanimation as a rotting corpse. After learning of his survival in Freddy Fazbear's Pizzeria Simulator, he attempts to murder him. His relationship with his other son seems relatively unknown, but from what is shown in the Five Nights at Freddy's 4 minigames, he is uncaring and neglectful towards him, while making no attempt to step in on the bullying taking place. Taking in all of this information, it seems that he had an unhealthy and dysfunctional relationship with his family.

In Gameplay[]

Five Nights at Freddy's[]

While William Afton is not seen in this game, he is referred to in newspaper clippings. He is described as an employee dressed as a company mascot that lured two children on June 26th into a backroom. Sometime after, five children were linked to the incident, and while the suspect was charged, the bodies were never found. It is theorized that because the bodies were never found, he was eventually released from custody due to lack of evidence. This is proven in Help Wanted from one of the death screen quotes.

Five Nights at Freddy's 2[]

William Afton is depicted as the “Purple Guy”, a mysterious purple figure in the Five Nights series. In the Take Cake to the Children mini game, he is depicted driving up to the outside of a pizzeria, and killing a child outside of the restaurant.

Finally, he lured five children into the backroom using cake and a Yellow Suit, as seen in Foxy GO GO GO, and murdered them. They go on to possess the Freddy Fazbear, Chica, Bonnie, Foxy, and Golden Freddy animatronics. The Puppet would give them life in the animatronics to save their souls. It's unconfirmed whether William or the Puppet stuffed the children into suits, though it could be speculated that the Puppet encouraged the spirits to possess the animatronics.

Five Nights at Freddy's 3[]

William Afton returns in the third game's end of night mini games, set some time after the closure of the third Freddy's. William went on a rampage inside of a closed pizzeria, dismantling the classic animatronics one by one when they cannot enter the safe room he is hiding in. However this unleashes the spirits of his victims who chase the terrified Afton around the Safe Room. Inside of the room was a spare Springlock Suit, the same Spring Bonnie suit he used to murder the children in, it is believed he wore it so he could try scare them away, by reminding him of what he put them through. This fails, and the souls barricade the door, blocking Afton from escaping. Due to his frantic movement, the springlocks become uneasy, and a droplet of water lands on them. They break loose, and Afton is instantly killed as the suit closes in around him.

The sound that plays when William Afton dismantles animatronics.

30 years after his demise, William is reanimated as Springtrap, an amalgamation of human and robot mixed into one. Now undead and full of rage, he relentlessly hunts down anybody he can find to torture and kill, with his first victim being the night security guard.

Five Nights at Freddy's 4[]

William Afton appears in a cameo in the fourth game, where he helps someone into a Spring Bonnie costume in the back room. While the Crying Child has been left in the restaurant, he quickly shuts the door.

Sister Location[]

William Afton speaking in Sister Location's intro.

While William does not appear directly in Five Nights at Freddy's: Sister Location, his presence is very strong. His voice can be heard during the opening intro, where he describes Circus Baby's design and purpose to a board who question her "design choices", deliberately avoiding the question. He seems to be the founder of Afton Robotics, and the creator of the Funtime Animatronics. At the end of the game, his son, Michael (the main protagonist of the game), speaks to him. He informs him that he managed to free "her", as in William's daughter, and that "they" (likely the Funtimes) had mistaken Michael for being William.

His Springtrap form also returns, but only appears briefly at the end cutscene that takes place in the burnt Fazbear's Fright (after the events of the third game) when the player beats all of the Custom Night presets, meaning that he survived the burning of the attraction. After Michael Afton finishes speaking, Springtrap will appear from the right side of the screen before the cutscene abruptly ends.

Freddy Fazbear's Pizzeria Simulator[]

See main article: Scraptrap

While not directly appearing, footprints that are very similar to Springtrap's can be found behind the house in Midnight Motorist's secret mini game, presumably luring away the child of the abusive father in the game. It should be noted that this mini game is very ambiguous, leading to multiple theories and speculation.

Seen when completing the Fruity Maze mini game, standing next to Susie from the right, is William Afton wearing a Spring Bonnie suit that he uses to lure children with, telling her that her dog is still alive as long as she follows him. The girl is lured away and is murdered by him as part of the Missing Children's Incident. While Afton does not directly appear in Security Puppet, he is heavily alluded to, as Charlotte, is seen dead outside the restaurant, with tire tracks left in the ground.

Ultimate Custom Night[]

William's spirit is prevented from moving on to Hell and is tormented by the vengeful spirit of one of his victims, often presumed to be Golden Freddy, a child named Cassidy. William thus becomes the protagonist of Ultimate Custom Night, being forced to fend off multiple animatronics with multiple AI levels, before the whole scenario would begin all over again for eternity. Afton is often taunted by his assailants, as well as "The One [he] Should Not Have Killed". In the Old Man Consequences minigame, a distorted voice, thought to be either William's or Cassidy's, could be heard screaming in rage or pain to Michael and Henry.

FNaF World[]

I take 10 seconds to draw!
 
— Purpleguy's loading screen quote.

The image of William Afton features as a playable character in the Update 2 of FNaF World, who is unlocked after beating FNaF 57. His dialogue states he is not the actual Purple Guy, rather "just a game sprite". The sprite it's based off of is when Afton dismantles the Classics in the FollowMe minigames.

Biography/Speculation[]

William Afton was the founder of Afton Robotics, LLC and co-founder of Fazbear Entertainment. William had three children with an unknown wife; his daughter Elizabeth Afton, his son Michael Afton, and an unnamed third son.

Fredbear's Family Diner: The Bite of '83[]

William met a man named Henry Emily, and the two would open Fredbear's Family Diner in the 70s, with William handling finance. In 1983, William killed Henry's daughter, Charlotte Emily, outside the diner for unknown reasons. Not long after this incident occurred, William's youngest son, the Crying Child, is put into a coma, and later dying, from a prank on his birthday at Fredbear's by his older brother as a result of Afton's negligent behavior. The older brother and his crew shoved his younger brother in Fredbear's operating jaw, which crushed the child's neck and/or jaw. Due to this incident, dubbed The Bite of '83, the diner begins to close down soon after.

The Fear Experiments (Novels)[]

At an unknown time period between 1983 and 1985[Fear Experiments 1], William Afton created fear experiments using hallucinogenic gas to turn moving puppets into the Nightmare Animatronics, presumably based on the nightmares The Crying Child had in Five Nights at Freddy's 4.[Fear Experiments 2] These move using a rail system, similar to how Ella worked in The Silver Eyes. He kidnapped various children for use in these experiments, recording the fear levels they show, but feeding them very little. These experiments lasted for at least ten years, and ended by the time of Five Nights at Freddy's: Sister Location.[Fear Experiments 3] As a failsafe for escape attempts, a looping cassette tape of his voice is used, in an attempt to get the children to return to the experiments on their own. In addition, the gas appears to wipe their memory of these attempts.[Fear Experiments 4]

The Missing Children Incident[]

Before Fredbear's had shut down, on June 26th, 1985, William wore the Spring Bonnie suit to lure five children (Gabriel, Jeremy, Susie, Fritz, and Cassidy) into the Safe Room where they were murdered. They get stuffed into the animatronics of Freddy Fazbear, Bonnie, Chica, Foxy, and Golden Freddy (speculated to be the decommissioned Fredbear suit) respectively. The Puppet, now possessed by Charlie, allows them to possess the machines. As a consequence, the animatronics begin to act aggressively towards adults and staff members, and outright attempting to, and killing, nighttime security guards, hoping that they will eventually catch their killer. After a while, customers start noticing blood and mucus coming from the robots, which results in the restaurant closing down and the company to be sold to unknown buyers.

Freddy Fazbear's Pizza 2: New Victims and the Bite of '87[]

Fazbear Entertainment, now under new management, opens a new and improved Freddy Fazbear's Pizza in November of 1987. William gets a job at the location as a security guard and kills five more innocent children. The Puppet help the five new children in some way, with many believing by helping them possess the Toy Animatronics. Like before, the incident causes them to behave differently towards adults and staff members, eventually leading to the infamous Bite of '87, and as a consequence, the restaurant closed a few short weeks after its grand reopening.

Freddy Fazbear's Pizza 3: Phone Guy's Death[]

Fazbear Entertainment open a third lower budget Freddy's location in 1988. In 1993, Michael Afton, William's son, under the alias of Mike Schmidt, gets a job there for the free pizza. Mike completes his first week on the job, but eventually ends up getting fired due to bad odor and tampering with the animatronics. The pizzeria is soon closed down and abandoned by Fazbear Entertainment as a result of bankruptcy.

The Sister Location[]

After the close down of the third location, William makes his own restaurant called Circus Baby's Pizza World with a new set of animatronics called the Funtime Animatronics. One in particular, Circus Baby, was seemingly made as a gift for his daughter, Elizabeth. Contrary to what is stated, however, William designed these robots not with the intent of entertainment, but to capture and kill children to obtain Remnant, in which he discovered after knowing that his victims haunted the animatronics at Freddy's. Afton wanted to experiment with Remnant to become immortal, and Elizabeth was warned not to go anywhere near them. Before opening day, Afton hosted a private party at his establishment as a test. However, Elizabeth, disregarding her father's advice, ended up getting too close to Circus Baby, which resulted in her death and cancellation of the grand opening of the pizzeria. A gas leak was the claim made to cover up her, and multiple other children's deaths.

Afton then opened Circus Baby's Entertainment and Rental, which is a service that lets customers rent out the Funtime Animatronics for private parties. He soon sold the rights of his independent company to Fazbear Entertainment. Sometime later, William sent his son Michael on a suicide mission into the facility to locate and "free" Elizabeth, who's spirit had possessed Baby.

William's Springlock Tomb[]

After sending Michael down to Circus Baby's, William Afton goes to the abandoned Freddy's restaurant to dismantle the original animatronics for an unknown reason. However, he awoke the ghosts of the five children he murdered, now able to leave their metal suits. They attacked William, filled with rage for what he did to them years ago. Fleeing from the spirits, William escaped into the safe room where Spring Bonnie had been placed for storage. He donned the suit to hide from the ghosts, apparently fooling them. In his arrogance, William stood and laughed at the ghosts while inside Spring Bonnie. However, a droplet of water from the leaking roof landed into the faulty mechanical gears, causing them to rapidly spin inwards whilst sending metal shrapnel into his chest, killing him and sealing his corpse inside the suit. Phone Guy's tapes also foreshadow this; he explains that the person wearing the costumes must not get moisture on the springlocks or make sudden movements to decrease the chance of injury. Afton broke these rules; he made sudden movements by hastily putting on the suit, and failed to notice the rainwater seeping into the building and onto the springlocks. On top of that, he was laughing at the spirits, thinking his plan had succeeded. This resulted in the locks becoming loose by moisture, causing them to snap back into place, mutilating William inside and ensuring his slow and agonizing death.

The Rise of Springtrap[]

30 years after Freddy Fazbear’s Pizza closed its doors, Fazbear's Fright: The Horror Attraction was being made in 2023 as a homage to The Missing Children Incident and other incidents that made Freddy Fazbear's Pizza infamous. A crew of people went to the abandoned third Freddy's location, and end up stumbling upon the withered Spring Bonnie animatronic in one of the safe rooms, bringing it out and reusing it for the attraction. There, William came back as Springtrap, due to his iron will to live. He remained there for less than a week while stalking and terrorizing the attraction's night guard by causing hallucinations, until the building burnt down due to arson or faulty wiring.

The Final Flame[]

Springtrap was revealed to have survived the burning, as seen from the final cutscene in Sister Location. His temporary fate after the fire was revealed in Freddy Fazbear's Pizzeria Simulator. He left the remains of Fazbear's Fright, and goes under a change with origins unknown, becoming Scraptrap. He eventually ends up in the Back Alley outside Freddy Fazbear's Pizza Place, where he was salvaged and later destroyed in the burning of the pizzeria, as part of his old friend Henry's ultimate revenge plan, while the rest of the souls were laid to rest.

Five Nights at Freddy's Novel Series[]

The Silver Eyes[]

In The Silver Eyes, William Afton was originally the co-owner of Fredbear’s Family Diner and Freddy Fazbear's Pizza alongside Charlie's father, Henry Emily. William handled the financial side while Henry handled most of the mechanical side of things. Being the mechanical geniuses that they were, the both of them created the two spring lock suits, one in which William would use in his killing sprees.

At an unknown time period, William wore a springlock suit, but had accidentally released the springlocks. He gets stabbed by the mechanical parts, but manages to escape the suit before he is mutilated. This leaves scars all over his body.

Sometime during 1983, in Fredbear’s Family Diner, Afton donned the Spring Bonnie suit and kidnapped Sammy, Charlie's twin brother, when they were both toddlers. While Afton was suspected of committing this murder, he wasn't charged; as a result, the diner ends up closing down. Freddy Fazbear's Pizza was established a few miles south of Hurricane, Utah, and once again, Afton disguises himself as Spring Bonnie, lures five children to the backroom, murders them, and hides their bodies.

One of his notable victims was Michael Brooks, who later went on to possess the Golden Freddy costume. Around the same time of Michael's murder, he killed the other 4 kids at Michael's party, Susie, Cassidy, Fritz, and another boy described as having a grey and black striped shirt, all of whom went on to be the Missing Children. This time, Henry is also suspected of committing the murders, but, considering that the bodies were never found, he was let go. Out of grief, Henry commits suicide (letting his robot made for that specific purpose kill him). The pizzeria is closed down, and a mall was built over it.

Ten years later, a memorial was held by the parents of the late Michael Brooks, and Charlie and her childhood friends return to Utah to attend it. Later, they decide to look inside the old Pizza Place to relive some of their memories. There, they meet with a security guard named Dave Miller, who later turns out to be Afton operating under a fake persona. While they were revisiting the pizzeria for the third time; they begrudgingly take him along, but Charlie notices a series of scars on the back of his neck. As the group continues to explore, they find a panel with camera feeds under the stage, apparently for controlling the animatronics that were still there. William Afton demonstrates his skill at operating the animatronics, before disappearing into the backroom, retrieving the Spring Bonnie suit, thus revealing that he was the killer all along. William kidnaps Carlton Burke, one of Charlie's friends, putting him in a spring lock suit. When the group of friends notice that Carlton was missing, they report it to the police department, but action wasn't immediately taken, due to Carlton's habit of being a troublemaker. Officer Dunn goes to the pizzeria to investigate, but Officer Dunn is immediately stabbed to death by William Afton.

Carlton Burke wakes up to find himself in an old, malfunctioning springlock suit; William Afton warns him about making any sudden movements, and he takes the top half of his Spring Bonnie suit off, revealing more scars. Charlie and her friends return to the pizzeria to search for Carlton Burke. William Afton confirms that the animatronics were being possessed by the ghosts of the children William Afton murdered, and that they were going to kill Charlie and her friends out of confusion. When told that they would also kill him, he expressed no concern, stating that as long as he had the Spring Bonnie suit on, he would be safe from the children's anger.

As the group was about to leave the pizzeria, William Afton grabs Charlie by the back of her neck, threatening to choke her to death. Remembering how the spring lock suits operated, Charlie reaches into the neck of the suit and sets off the spring locks. William panics and lunges at Charlie, but the springlocks appear to go off straight into his neck and head. He screams in shock and agony, before Freddy Fazbear, Bonnie, Chica and Foxy grab him and drag him away into the darkness. He dies, and becomes Springtrap.

The Twisted Ones[]

In The Twisted Ones, When Charlie and Jessica return to the ruins of Freddy Fazbear's, they find Afton's rotting corpse inside the Spring Bonnie costume, stuffed inside of a small closet by the animatronics after dragging him off a year ago. Disgusted and convinced he was dead, they leave. Later, the wolf animatronic and Twisted Freddy surrounded Charlie, John, Jessica, and Clay Burke. Charlie asked the animatronics "What do you want from me?", and William, undead and still inside the rabbit costume, replies that he was the one who brought them there.

Refusing to be called Dave, or William Afton, he chose to be called Springtrap, due to becoming "one with his creation." He shows off his power with his Twisted animatronics, declaring that he alone can control them. Moving closer to Charlie, he started gently stroking her cheek, saying he won't hurt her friends, but he needs something from her. Charlie is revolted and Mr. Burke shoots at Springtrap with his gun, missing but nevertheless making him recoil. Springtrap forgets his promise and immediately attacks her with the disturbing agility of a man on full health.

Charlie tries to lead Twisted Bonnie and Twisted Wolf into an artificial river, but they find out that they are waterproof and Springtrap laughs at her. Clay lights Twisted Bonnie and the Wolf on fire, and Springtrap runs through the artificial caves with Charlie and Freddy chasing after him while being disoriented by all of the illusions of Balloon Boys within the cave. When Charlie finds Springtrap, she attacks him, beating his head against a rock. She realized that a mushroom was stuck in the ground by a sharp spike nearby. She tore it out of the ground and concealed the sharp edge. She looks back up to see Springtrap lunge at her. She dodges and shoves the spike into his chest. He stops and tries to fight her off as she dug it further into his chest while asking why he took Sammy instead of her, to which Springtrap replies that he took her and not Sammy. As the tunnel is collapsing, Springtrap escaped through a small hidden trapdoor with the spike still in his chest.

It is revealed that the device that allows the Twisted animatronics to alter how they are perceived, a small, coin-sized illusion disc, was created by Afton Robotics.

The Fourth Closet[]

At some point after his escape, William removed the outer shell of the Spring Bonnie suit and renounced the Springtrap identity. While he was able to remove most of the costume, he couldn't remove the animatronic parts lodged into his body. The damage the springlock failure at the end of The Silver Eyes did to his body combined with the procedure to get the suit off of him resulted in him being in a constant state of pain, needing to rely on a wheelchair and a crutch to move around and his daughter Elizabeth to do his dirty work.

After Elizabeth captured and tied up Jessica while she was trying to spy on them at the newly opened Circus Baby's Pizza, William decided to reveal himself, first as an illusion of Springtrap, before collapsing and showing his real face as the severely injured William Afton. Believing that Jessica is in no control over what happens and that he is in the supreme position, William explains partly what he's been up to, creating the Funtime animatronics. Well aware of the supernatural attributes of the animatronics and the fact that his broken body won't last for very long, he had Elizabeth kidnap children so he could recreate the Fazbear murders in a controlled environment and figure out how possession works and unlock the secrets of immortality.

To speed up the process, William captures the original animatronics and fuses their endoskeletons together, rendering them unable to move and ready to be used for experimentation, involving melting down the endoskeletons to see if they would bring life to the Funtimes. One of these experiments involved heating up and injecting a glowing liquid from the endoskeletons into his new Funtime animatronics, which animated them and gave him full control over them. Another involved Elizabeth surgically removing organs from his body and smashing them into the endoskeletons, hoping for some kind of change.

While Jessica, Carlton, and Marla were able to rescue most of the kidnapped children, one boy was captured by Funtime Foxy and brought to William. Running out of time and low on options, William injected a glowing liquid from the endoskeleton into Carlton, who stayed behind to save the boy and put an end to Afton. Unaware that the injection didn't kill Carlton and instead enabled him to talk to the souls of Afton's victims, which are revealed to be still inside the amalgamated endoskeletons, a disappointed William turned to the cornered kid. He gleefully tells the boy that even if this next experiment is another failure, at least "it will be fun; like old times".

Carlton succeeds in convincing the spirits of the children that the yellow Bonnie they thought was their friend is actually their murderer. They promptly took control of the Funtime animatronics and attacked Afton, but when he managed to fend them off and prepared to kill the boy, they used the fused endoskeleton to grab William. Unable to escape, the endoskeletons dragged him into a nearby furnace along with them, he screams as he is dragged into the burning inferno, killing him for good.

Fazbear Frights[]

Before the Epilogues[]

William Afton was one of the founders of Fazbear Entertainment, and unlike his other iterations, was well known for his murders. He committed several murders while wearing the Spring Bonnie suit, including that of Andrew and Susie as well. He was eventually caught in a horrific fire, but Andrew attached his soul to him, to anchor him to life so he could suffer forever.

The Man in Room 1280[]

In Fazbear Frights: Bunny Call, It's revealed that in alternative universe, William after surviving the fire of Freddy Fazbear's Pizza Place, with his organs exposed, his face missing, and burn marks all over his body. Nurse Ackerman explains that he was taken off life support years ago but is somehow still alive. The nurse tells Arthur they believe the man is evil, but Arthur doesn’t agree and attempts to communicate with the man. Eventually, the man signs that he wants to go to the Fazbear Entertainment Distribution Center, and Arthur spends the rest of the story trying to get permission to take him there.

Mia, a new nurse at Heracles, overheard the other nurses. The nurses knew that there was no good inside of the man, and plan on killing him, each one of the nurses attempted to kill William, but failed to do so. Nurse Ackerman tried to pump morphine into the man, but Andrew interrupted her, and all of the vials exploded. Nurse Thomas tried to suffocate him with a pillow, but William barfed up blood and a green liquid, causing it to tear through the pillow. Nurse Colton finally tried to inject him with air to try and kill him with an air embolism, taking an extra step of surrounding herself with candles to keep Andrew out. Only for Andrew to flipped the syringe, plunging it into her throat, barely surviving thanks to her quick reflexes. During this time Blythe was able to pester the hospital enough to be granted temporary custody of the man to take him to the distribution center.

On the way to the center, William begins leaking black blood and a tar like substances. When he reached the center, he began to convolute and eventually exploded. Arthur sees footsteps emerging from the man and leading to the toys. Andrew then uses his rage with help from Eleanor to infect the toys, costumes, and animatronics. This includes Fetch, Ella, Foxy, Plushtrap Chaser, Ralpho, and Spring Bonnie.

After the events of The Man in Room 1280[]

Sometime before the events of Fetch, William remains anchored to Andrew without his knowledge for a long time, up until the point where Andrew possessed an animatronic dog named Fetch. This dog eventually ended up in the possession of Phineas Taggart, a scientist that studied human emotion and its power. One day, the broken down Fetch animatronic, Simon, and an animatronic endoskeleton were used in Phineas' experiments, the three objects put together to form a being that had agony soaked in from several other miscellaneous objects from his collection. This being comes to life and kills the doctor.

Andrew awakens inside of the endoskeleton, meeting another dead child named Jake McNally, who is in control of the body they're in. Andrew reveals that he had used his anger to infect a number of items, back when he was at the Fazbear Entertainment Distribution Center. Jake decides to search around for the items and destroy them so they won't cause any harm. With a sentient endoskeleton wandering around, it was bound to be seen by people, and it was labelled as an urban legend; The Stitchwraith. William remains in hiding during their hunt, planning to reveal himself when the time is right. During this time in hiding, he was also able to channel Andrew's anger, so that any person the Stitchwraith touched felt the emotions pulsing through them to the point where they bled black and died, thus forcefully turning Andrew and the endoskeleton they were in into a killing machine.

Blackbird[]

In the epilogue of Blackbird, after Jake tried to pull Andrew into his memory to keep him safe from the annihilation of the Stitchwraith, William revealed himself, first as a colorful, shapeless blob, and then as the burnt skeletal man from before, but this time with two rabbit ears and a claw. Jake sacrificed himself by shutting out positive emotions and pulling him back down, freeing Andrew who vanished in a glimmer of light seen by Larson. William's spirit then fused with the huge mound of junk comprising of the Plushtrap Chaser, Ella, Fetch and Foxy. This fifteen foot tall amalgamation, called The Agony, lunged at Everette Larson.

The Cliffs[]

The Agony is defeated by both Detective Larson and the Marionette. It was able to do some significant damage, absorbing as much mass from the infected items as possible, newly acquiring Eleanor. The gigantic garbage kaiju chased Larson across the factory, even throwing him into a wall and stabbing him, putting his infection inside of him. But Larson, with Charlie's help, retaliated by ramming Afton with a forklift out of the factory and into the lake. The Agony stopped the oncoming force and destroyed the forklift, but it was just a diversion. The remains of the Marionette sprang towards the Agony, becoming one with the creature, only to tear it apart from the inside out. While Eleanor was able to eject herself beforehand and escape, the rest of the infected items fall apart and splash into the water. Afton, Charlie and what remains of the Agony drown in the lake.

The infection that Afton had spread was seemingly vanquished when the infected items drowned, and the piece of infection that was inserted into Larson was burned away by the severely damaged Stitchwraith (now solely possessed by Jake). However, Afton wasn't alone this time. William's soul was barely clinging onto life and he had support. Jake believes that something else was powering the Agony, and it was far worse.

Tales from the Pizzaplex[]

Dittophobia[]

To be added

FNAF: Movie[]

Murders[]

In the 1980s, William Afton, an employee or co-founder of Freddy Fazbear's Pizza Place had a daughter named Vanessa. Sometime later, while wearing a yellow rabbit springlock suit, William would murder five children at Freddy's before hiding their corpses inside the animatronic suits. At an unknown point in time, he would also kidnap the young Garrett Schmidt in front of his brother Michael, and then kill him.

After the murders, the restaurant was closed and abandoned, becoming a hot spot for trespassers and vandals. Afton reveals that the owner doesn't bother destroying the building due to his attachment to it. To avoid being caught, Afton took the name Steve Raglan and become a career counselor, while his daughter Vanessa would change her last name to Shelly and become a police officer. As implied by Vanessa, William began to lure people to work at Freddy's in order for the animatronics to kill them.

Movie 1[]

William first appeared in the beginning of the movie during the opening credits, where an 8-bit minigame depicts him luring away five kids in the yellow rabbit suit. He then appears as career counselor Steve Raglan, who helps Mike Schmidt after the latter was fired from his Mall Security job for assaulting a father in front of his son; having mistakenly assumed he was kidnapping the kid due to his past trauma with Garrett. "Steve" initially acts condescending towards Mike for his past failure of keeping a job; however, upon reading Mike's full name, he recognized him as the brother of Garrett, the boy he kidnapped years ago. He quickly changed his nature, offering Mike coffee as a friendly gesture. He explained to Mike how he won't be able to keep a job properly with the way he acts, but then revealed that he has a job for him: a security gig at Freddy Fazbear's Pizza. Mike is initially reluctant to take the job upon learning it requires him to work a night shift, but William offers him his card in case he wants to change his mind.

Mike eventually calls William to take up the job, in order to keep his sister, Abby, from going into the custody of their Aunt Jane. William reveals the history of Freddy's during his phone call with Mike. Explaining how the place was shut down years ago, but the owner couldn't let it go, which is why a security guard is hired to watch it over from vandals and robbers.

As Mike works at the restaurant, he starts having vivid dreams of his brother's kidnapping, albeit this time with the appearance of the ghost children of the animatronics. During the third night's dream, Mike asks the spirit of Golden Freddy to tell him what happened to his brother, offering to give him anything. Golden Freddy responds to this by disappearing and leaving a drawing of a humanoid rabbit behind.

After seeing how Abby has befriended the animatronics, he asks her if they know anything about Garrett's kidnapping. She explains how they don't know anything, but all they mention is the existence of a Yellow Rabbit.

Near the end of the film, after Mike is saved from Foxy by Vanessa, he is taken to a police compound to heal his injuries, Vanessa finally tells him the full truth: William is her father, and he kidnapped and killed the five missing kids before stuffing their bodies in the animatronic suits. She was unaware of his kidnapping of Garrett until Mike told her, where she reveals a picture of her and William (wearing the Yellow Rabbit suit) back when the restaurant was open, in which she is holding the toy plane that belonged to Garrett (given to her by William). She reveals that William controls the animatronics and influences their nature, which is why they want to kill Abby to make her a fellow animatronic despite their friendly attitude towards her nights before. She also warns that he would soon be coming to the restaurant to finish the job himself.

As Mike struggled to rescue Abby from the animatronics, he was confronted by William in his rabbit suit. The two engage in a brief fight, in which William easily overpowers Mike through a surprising amount of strength by knocking him down to the floor. He taunts Mike about the coincidence of him killing Garrett all those years ago and how he's now about to kill Mike and Abby, calling it "symmetry". Knocking Mike out, he prepares to deliver the final blow, only to be stopped by Vanessa, who had decided to stand up to her father after years of abuse. This leads to William taking off his mask, revealing his true self. Despite managing to shoot him, William overpowered Vanessa easily and stabbed her, knocking her out. However, this gave time for Abby to draw a picture of William as the Yellow Rabbit killing the kids and putting it on the wall of drawings, due to Mike realizing that William was controlling the animatronics through the drawings on the wall depicting the Yellow Rabbit as friends with the five kids (a callback to when Abby's teacher told Mike the influence drawings have on children). Shining a light on the picture and revealing William as the murderer, all the animatronics turn on him. He breaks down in anger and insults the animatronics for betraying him, telling them that he made them. Chica's Cupcake launches himself at William and tears a hole in his suit. This action activates the springlocks, all of which pierce William through the skin and mortally wound him. In response, he takes up his mask and puts it on with a demented smile on his face, declaring he always comes back. Writhing and twitching in agony, he was dragged away by the animatronics as the restaurant collapsed.

At the backroom, William struggled in pain even in death. He reaches out to the ghost of Golden Freddy to help him, only for them to close the door on him, leaving William to live forever in pain inside of the animatronic suit just like his victims. However, given his role in the games, as well as his actor signing a three picture deal, William will likely escape the storeroom and return to make good on his promise of "I always come back".

Trivia[]

  • When he first appeared in Five Nights at Freddy's 2, it was theorized he was the Phone Guy. As Afton's character was fleshed out, this theory was ultimately debunked.
    • Why this theory is so well remembered is that Scott Cawthon himself debunked it. In August 2015, Scott made a steam post talking the Halloween edition of Five Nights at Freddy's 4, confirming most of a theory made by Matpat, but mentioning something was wrong.[1] Some fans took the post as confirming the theory, though in the comments of one, Scott later clarified that that was the 'Almost' he was referring to.[2]
    • Scott Cawthorn is in favour of having William return to the story, only wanting to do it "in a way that makes sense."
  • It is strongly suggested in the games and books that William Afton is highly intelligent, as well as taking pride due to his intelligence.
  • William Afton’s true physical appearance has never been revealed. However, he might resemble the description he is given by in the novel trilogy, which lines up with the sprites somewhat matching said descriptions.
    • In the book, He is described as a thin man whose clothes seem too big on him (like his sprite in the FNaF 2 "SAVETHEM" mini game); he was once hefty (like his sprite in one of the FNaF 4 mini games), but later lost weight as the years passed. He has scars on both sides of his neck and on his back from a near-death experience with a spring-lock failure, although it isn't yet confirmed if those scars are present in the games too.
  • William Afton first appears in the Five Nights at Freddy's 2 Mini games, the Foxy Go! Go! Go! Mini game , the Take Cake to the Children Mini game. In the SAVETHEM mini game, he looks very different, being a darker purple and thinner (most likely because that mini game happened some time later).
    • His appearance in FNaF 3 seems to be a mixture of his first two sprites.
    • His FNaF 4 cameo seems closer to the SAVETHEM sprite, while still being somewhat hefty.
  • For a long time, it was believed he was a nightguard, thanks to seemingly wearing a badge in the 'You Can't' cutscene from the second game, and being an easy way he would have a job at the establishment, either Phone Guy as noted above, Mike or Jeremy. However, his cameo in the fourth game hinted at him holding more of a management role, and it was later confirmed that he was actually a businessman who helped start Fazbear Entertainment. As a possible nod to this, in the novels, he takes up a guise as a security guard 'Dave Miller".
  • In the novel universe, William is seemingly suffering from an illness caused by the springlock incident many years before the events of The Silver Eyes. Having had the animatronic parts puncture his organs, it may have led to malnutrition, explaining his sickly appearance.
  • William is the second manager-type character to get a voice, the first being Phone Guy.
  • William Afton seems to have a British accent, with his daughter and son having one too.
    • The reason for this being that the voice actor, PJ Heywood, believed that Americans associated British accents with evilness. This is understandable due to the history between the two nations.
  • Given his surname of Afton, William could be of Swedish or Scottish ancestry or possibly both.
  • William Afton seems to have 3 children: Michael Afton, Elizabeth Afton, and another son with an unknown name (presumably Evan).
    • It is hotly debated whether Michael is C.C. or the Older Brother to C.C..
  • For a long time after Sister Location's release, Michael Afton was thought to be the same entity as William Afton, but it was figured out in the custom night's final cutscene (V. Hard Golden Freddy mode) that he was not.
  • His catchphrase "I always come back" originated in the Five Nights at Freddy's 3 trailer, where it says "He will come back." ”He always does.”
  • At the end of the Fruity Maze mini game, William can be seen luring Susie while wearing the Spring Bonnie suit. His face is partly visible through the eyeholes of the mask, where Afton is seen with fair/pale skin and blue eyes.
  • It has been speculated that William Afton is the player in Ultimate Custom Night, with the game being set in a purgatory made by Cassidy.
    • This is supported by the Old Man Consequences Easter egg. Old Man Consequences says to the Freddy sprite to "leave the demons to his demons. There is nothing else," and the droning ambience, when sped up is of someone screaming.
    • However, there is evidence supporting the game being a dream. The book The Man in Room 1280 is about a burned Afton in a hospital who is kept alive by the spirit of Andrew, who is tormenting him in his dreams. But because this is part of the book continuity, it bears no relation to the games.
  • According to some unused “Faz-facts” found in the files of Five Nights at Freddy’s: Special Delivery, William was the one who created all of the animatronics. This contradicts what Henry says in the ending of Freddy Fazbear’s Pizzeria Simulator, where he refers to the original animatronics as his creations. However, this likely Fazbear Entertainment glorifying William.
  • Before his true name was revealed, he was called Vincent by fans, and the name stuck. Ironically enough, the name Vincent is now universally hated by the fan-base in recent times, due to a fan interpretation of Afton with the same name being associated with some...pretty messed up s#!t.[3]
  • Many fans compare William to The Pied Piper, as he led away many children, causing them to never be seen again.
  • According to the meme, his theme song is "It's been so long" by The Living Tombstone. Ironically, it isn't directly about him, but rather about one of the Missing Children, most likely Cassidy.

Movie[]

  • William Afton is Matthew Lillard's third serial killer role in a film, the first being Stu Macher, one of the original Ghostface killers from the Scream franchise, and the second being David Roy Turner from Criminal Minds.
    • Afton's knife wipe while in the Yellow Rabbit suit is a reference to Ghostface's signature and iconic move in Scream.
  • Back in December 2022, when it was announced that William Afton would be played by Matthew Lillard, fans started making memes of Shaggy Rogers from Scooby-Doo committing Afton's heinous murders while wearing purple clothing. This is due to Lillard portraying Shaggy in the live-action Scooby-Doo films, as well as being the animated character's current voice actor in several Scooby-Doo media.
  • This incarnation has a role very similar to that of the Phone Guy from the original games, instructing Mike on how to do his job through the phone, likely as a reference to Matpat's debunked theory that the Phone Guy was the killer.
  • William's movie counterpart taking the identity of Steve Raglan is most likely a reference to the same way his novel counterpart took the identity of Dave Miller to make sure no one traces the bodies of his victims in the animatronics back to him.
  • Director Emma Tammi described casting Matthew Lillard as William Afton as "The number-one role that we really had the fan-base in mind for".
  • His behaviour before his death seems to imply that he will return as Springtrap in the future, now trapped in the rabbit suit, similar to his video game counterpart.
  • While it's clearly meant to be the suit, Afton's costume is never called "Spring Bonnie" in the movie, known only as "the Yellow Rabbit".
    • This might be a reference to how Golden Freddy was ultimately the fan nickname of "Yellow Bear" made canon, as how he was originally called in the files of the first game. Or possibly that none of the characters knew the name of the animatronic.
    • The eyes of the suit appear similar to Springtrap's eyes in FNAF 3, glowing with some faintly visible veins around the pupil.
  • Serial killers and infamous criminals such as Edmund Kemper, Robert Berchtold, John Wayne Gacy, and Jeffrey Dahmer were inspirations for Afton.

Gallery[]

References/notes[]

  1. "Then the same happened with part 2, fans and youtubers dug in and found everything. Game Theory did an incredible video on part 2; getting almost everything right." https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/388090/view/4033492738906633101
  2. "*almost* everything right." in a comment by Scott, under a post named "So...Phone Guy confirmed to be Purple Guy?" https://steamcommunity.com/app/388090/discussions/0/527273452869422224/?ctp=2
  3. https://www.reddit.com/r/fnafcringe/comments/3bra88/the_whole_vincent_thing_explained_by_someone_who/

Fear experiments[]

  1. Ultimate Custom Night implies Cassidy was in these experiments, as she considers the Nightmares illusions, like in these experiments. This indicates the fear experiments started before the Missing Children's Incident
  2. Tales from the Pizzaplex tells us about these experiments, and confirms the only survivor is Rory, the protagonist of TFTP: Dittophobia. This shows Michael wasn't used as a test subject, yet still encountered the Nightmares outside of the experiment, indicating he had the nightmares first.
  3. Rory was the only remaining subject in the story, and was there for ten years. He's not visible on the cameras in Sister Location, implying he either died or escaped
  4. Rory has tried to escape before, but doesn't remember the contents of the book, which is what causes him to try to escape in the story, or the cassette tape, which gets him to go back. This implies the gas wiped his memory of it, or at least interfered with it.
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