Completed General Lore

With the increasing engagement in the most recent installment of the FNAF franchise, the fanbase has grown. However, Security Breach serves as a first impression for many new fans who did not grow up with the games and seem to be missing the storyline haphazardly set up by Scott Cawthon, the game creator. Much of the lore can be hard to find, as the games do not explicitly fill you in on the storyline, nor do they follow a chronological order. Why so much confusion? It’s been assumed that FNAF 1 was meant to be Scott Cawthon’s final game after several failed attempts at becoming a video game creator, so the story continues to shift as Scott Cawthon develops his own image of how it will end.

It is generally accepted that the lore begins with William Afton and his friend Henry Emily who are exceptional engineers, specializing in robotics and animatronics. Afton has three children, Evan (referred to as the crying child), Michael, and Elizabeth, whom he had with his wife Clara. Henry has two children, Charlie and Sammy, whom he had with his wife (name unknown). Afton is revealed to have an insatiable desire to claim victims. 

Together they open Fred Bear’s Family Diner, the first animatronic characters being a golden bear and rabbit called Fredbear and Bonnie. Their animatronic entertainment pizza place doesn’t do well at first, as the animatronics initially came off as unsettling. The animatronics are not discarded, but instead kept in the storage room of the next location (the first Fazbear’s Pizza). Freddy Fazbear’s pizza would open as a second attempt and win the hearts of children. This success would lead to the opening of several other locations, two Freddy Fazbear’s Pizzas and a Circus Baby’s Pizza. By the end of 1983, there were 4 locations; however, 6 children would go missing at the first Fazbear’s Pizza, causing it to close. One of these casualties is the bite of ‘83 where Evan Afton is placed into the mouth of the Fredbear (Golden Freddy) animatronic, the springlocks coming loose leading to his demise and possession of Golden Freddy. 

With some context from the games, one can assume the first victim and the details of the bite of ‘83 but no more. The first victim is Susie, whom Afton tells he has her lost dog, her spirit would go on to possess the chicken animatronic, Chica. Gabriel, Fritz, and Jeremy are next, then their spirits would possess Freddy, Foxy, and Bonnie. The original Golden Freddy had been sitting in a storage room at the Fazbear’s Pizza location and later a second soul would possess it, Cassidy, another victim of Afton. The Fazbear company continues to profit off the other locations: the second Fazbear’s Pizza, Circus Baby’s Pizza, and even open up a new location, Jr. ‘s. 

The next fatality would be Elizabeth Afton in the Circus Baby location which contains the animatronics: Circus Baby (a clown), Ballora (a ballerina), Balloon Boy, Funtime Foxy, and Funtime Freddy. The twist with this one is that it was an accident, as Afton had programmed the animatronics to hurt these children but he never imagined his daughter getting too close to Circus Baby would lead to her subsequent end and possession of the animatronic. Afton closes Circus Baby’s location after this, leading to the game play of Sister Location in which you make an attempt to digard the old animatronics.

Afton, now devastated over the loss of his only daughter, starts to behave in an erratic way, queuing Henry into the fact he was responsible for the killings. Suspicious of Afton, Henry makes an attempt to cut him off, even creating an animatronic, “Puppet,” to keep children safe from him via wristbands, which it used to keep track of them. However, Henry’s child, Charlie, gets locked out and is attacked by Afton in spite of Henry’s precautions, her spirit then possessing Puppet. Henry is devastated by this and takes his life. Afton disappears and returns undercover as a security guard, who still has a taste for victim collecting and continues to contribute to incidents in 1983-1987. This would explain the bite of ‘87 in which an animatronic attacks a new security guard, thinking they were Afton (non-fatal). Because of these repeated incidents the only location left, Jr. ‘s, is closed. 

William Afton learns of the capabilities of the haunted animatronics and goes back to the discarded locations to take them apart and melt their haunted metal endoskeletons into one creation which he calls Ennard and another mesh of souls, Remnant. This way the only way to rid of the souls is to set fire to destroy all suits containing the material Afton places into them. In 1992, the souls now freed of bonds to the animatronics, severed by the melting together of their remnants, attacked Afton. This forces him to enter Spring Bonnie, one of the original animatronics left in the abandoned location.

After his father’s disappearance, Michael, now older and suspicious of his father’s behavior goes back to investigate the locations himself, only to be tricked by Ennard, still looming around the facility, into being hollowed out to serve as a host skin so the animatronics can leave the location undetected. 

Inspired by these events, the people in the universe in what is likely to be 2023, decide to capitalize on the horrors of Fazbear’s Diner and make it an attraction which is ultimately burned down, ending all pain and suffering…for now.

To cap this off with the most recent installment, Security Breach, where you play as a child trapped in the Pizza Plex, being hunted by a suspicious security guard, Vannessa. Sounds familiar doesn’t it? It is likely that the secret room in the game is a hiding spot for Ennard (the collection of the child’s souls) masquerading as Glamrock Freddy. Of course, Freddy guides you through the game, but my theory is that it is really Ennard trying to prevent you being the first victim and catalyst that would repeat the cycle of missing children. Of course, there are more less relevant details that have been left out, what is most important to remember is that a majority of it was left up for interpretation, so make it your own. 

To get someone’s perspective on the newest game as it seems many are comparing it to the original series by Scott Cawthon, an individual who did not grow up with the originals for his opinion.

“The newest game is very different from the original FNAF games, do you think that is a good or bad change?”

Koen Knittel, a Pitman High School senior responded:

“Based on my knowledge it seems like they were a lot more scary. They seem more dark horror. Security Breach seems to be going in a more child friendly direction- so I think it’s interesting, but they should stick to the sort of horror the first ones had. I kinda like a closed vs an open world game play- it’s just my preference.”

To gain insight on how those who are familiar with the lore have interpreted it, we asked which sources they had relied on.

“Where did you get most of your information about the FNAF Lore, gameplay, watching others play or an alternate route-like a youtuber?”

Moxi Watts, a Pitman High School senior, responded: 

“I mean, I played the first 4 games myself, watching other people play, and Game Theory, though I don’t agree with many of his newer ideas. He’s trying to say Michael Afton is Glam Rock Freddy and I don’t agree.”

As the FNAF franchise has been around since 2014, old fans have seen younger generations get involved, which is heartwarming in a way. The new games are starting to take a new route, and many are anticipating where it will go.