The Five Nights At Freddy’s franchise is known for its convoluted lore that has been pieced together through fan theories. Ever since the release of the series’ first installment, players have been looking for hidden clues and trying to understand exactly what led to the events seen within the games. However, because there was no way to predict what future entries in the series would contain and establish, many of these theories either became a canon part of the lore or were completely disproved.
[Warning: This article contains spoilers for the main Five Nights At Freddy’s story.]The storytelling strategy used in most of the FNAF games was the main reason its lore became so complicated. In the first Five Nights At Freddy’s, players learned about the core incident which led to five spirits haunting the main cast of animatronics through clues hidden in the environment. As the series’ popularity increased, Scott Cawthon, the original FNAF developer who retired amid controversy, hiding several clues in teasers, trailers, mini-games, and random events during the games. However, this also made the story more difficult to understand, with players making all types of theories that didn’t necessarily fit into the canon about the game.
Some of these theories were considered outright absurd when they were first created and were later debunked by other installments of the franchise, such as one that connected the events of FNAF to a real-life incident that occurred at a Chuck-E-Cheese restaurant. Others, despite being well-accepted by fans, were also disproved in other releases, like one that suggested that the events in the franchise were the products of a child’s nightmare. However, as fans become more and more proficient in finding hidden clues, even managing to use novels to reveal the premise of FNAF: Security Breach’s DLC, Ruin.
FNAF Could've Been Based On A Chuck-E-Cheese Tragedy
The theories made based on the first Five Nights At Freddy’s game were based on the scattered clues about a mysterious incident involving the deaths of five children. Through newspaper clippings which randomly appeared glued on the walls of the restaurant, creepy imagery, and several loose threads that would later set one of the most prominent horror franchises in gaming, many made several theories about what could have taken place, and most of them weren’t confirmed in later games.
One of these theories, made by MatPat on Five Nights At Freddy’s and Chuck-E-Cheese, this theory quickly became very controversial among the fans, which considered this a possibility, but not one that paid due respect to the tragedy that occurred in real life. Later games, however, delved deeper in the supernatural aspects of how the animatronics operated, and this theory was debunked.
The FNAF Games Were Thought To Be Just A Dream
Five Nights At Freddy’s 4 was a unique entry in the series. It revealed a novel scenario, with players leaving the confined space of the security offices within the Freddy Fazbear’s Pizza restaurant and entering a child’s bedroom. In the game, the protagonist wasn’t another security officer, but a young boy who was haunted by nightmarish visions of the animatronics. However, the change in the clock sound that played at the end of every night was very noticeable and allowed for the creation of one of the franchise’s most absurd theories.
One of the most memorable and popular aspects of Five Nights At Freddy’s is the grandfather clock sound that plays at the end of each night. Because of this, when FNAF 4 replaced it with the beeping of a digital alarm clock, many figured it was a clue that revealed something greater. This led to a new theory that suggested the events of the first three games were the dreams of the fourth’s protagonist, Evan Afton - who is popularly known as “The Crying Child." Many believed that the boy had been woken up by the sound of the grandfather clock until he was sent to a hospital, which would have a digital alarm clock, which is why the sound played at the end of each night. Although it was a very well accepted theory at the time, future installments disproved it completely.
FNAF: Security Breach Protagonist Gregory Could Be A Robot
FNAF: Security Breach is the lowest rated game of the franchise, being a divisive entry among long-time fans. Its setting is completely different from previous installments, being located in a completely three-dimensional environment that players can explore in whatever ways they like, without confining them to any sections. However, it was its protagonist, Gregory, that drew the most attention from fans. He seems strangely out of place in a franchise so closely connected to the story of William Afton, given he’s not even connected to the previous victims or other important characters. However, a theory suggests that he might be one of the most important characters of the franchise recreated.
In one of the most concerning theories in the FNAF fanbase, MatPat, in The Game Theorists YouTube channel, analyzed the similarities between Evan's and Gregory’s outfits. According to his theory, after being injured in The Bite Of ’83, Evan would have been rebuilt into a robotic child to preserve his memories and identity by his father, William Afton. This would make Gregory the animatronic version of Evan and justify not only his appearance as a protagonist, but also present one of the reasons for the error in Freddy’s system that occurs in the beginning of Security Breach. Although there is evidence to this being the case, this became one of the most controversial theories of the franchise, and it still hasn’t been confirmed or debunked.
There Are Two Souls In FNAF’s Golden Freddy
Five Nights At Freddy’s Golden Freddy is one of the most mysterious characters of the franchise. This version of the iconic Freddy Fazbear has been present in the series ever since the first game, but it is very different from the main cast of animatronics. Not only does it lack a proper robotic endoskeleton, but it’s the only one that directly communicates with the player. Although it was known that a soul inhabited the suit, another theory based on the Five Nights At Freddy’s: Survival Logbook suggested that might not be exactly the case.
The Survival Logbook contained several hidden clues and Easter Eggs that revealed new FNAF lore aspects that expanded its canon. But the one that drove the creation of this new theory is a series of random notes within the books, which imply a conversation with “The Crying Child”. However, although many suspected that this was a conversation between the ghost and the previous owner of the book, identified in the cover, others theorized that this was an interaction between the two spirits that inhabit Golden Freddy: Evan Afton and a person by the name of Cassidy, who was one of William Afton’s victims. Although many dismissed this theory at first, given that such an event had never been mentioned in the series, the Fazbear Frights book series confirmed it as a canon part of the universe.
The Five Nights At Freddy’s series frequently encourages fans to create their own theories about the lore, challenging their imaginative capacities. Even the most absurd theories, such as the one that suggests that Chica was responsible for The Bite Of ‘87, can be confirmed by future installments and there is no limit to how much can be done with the clues provided in the series. And even though the story remains unclear, future games would benefit from keeping its vague storytelling initiatives, as it was what made this franchise so unique and popular.
Source: The Game Theorists/YouTube
