Five Nights at Freddy’s really boggles the mind. Here you have a game that places players in the shoes of an individual that needs to do nothing more than survive for five nights. The controls are simple and easy to get a hang of, but the dread is very real. Roaming around each game are these horrific animatronics that are out to get you and nobody knows why. Yet there is something enthralling about the franchise that has just seen its fourth entry.

On its surface, Five Nights at Freddy’s may seem like nothing more than a simple jump scare fest designed to give YouTube videos something extra scary to display. But, underneath all of the fear and the sudden loud noises lies a deep, rather twisted story about murder, mystery, and despair. It can get a bit confusing since the stories tend to introduce new elements with each successive release. Have no fear, though, we have all of the information you need put you on the path towards understanding Five Nights at Freddy’s deep narrative, and even some insight into the events of the brand new Five Nights at Freddy’s 4.

So, sit back, grab some snacks and a drink, and you may also want to leave the lights on as you learn just how dark this game world truly is.

MAJOR SPOILERS AHEAD! YOU’VE BEEN WARNED.

Five Nights at Freddy’s

The first Five NIghts at Freddy’s places players into the shoes of Mike Schmidt, a nighttime security guard at Freddy Fazbear’s Pizza. Being a security guard at a pizzeria would normally be a walk in the park, but in this case, Mike must be on the lookout for four roaming animatronics; Freddy the Bear, Bonnie the Bunny, Chica the Giant Chick, and Foxy the Pirate. These animatronics must be allowed to roam freely at night so that their mechanisms don’t lock up. They used to be allowed to wander during the day but after a specific incident, known only as the “Bite of ’87,” this is no longer the case.

The challenge comes as part of these animatronics’ programming. They are not expecting to see humans during the night so when they come across a living being they feel the need to place them into one of the costumes. The problem with that is the costumes are full of springs, gears, and other mechanisms that can (and pretty much always do) kill humans placed inside of them. So you must survive alone in the building, with your only help coming from a human on the phone: Phone Guy.

Playing through this first game reveals the root of Five Nights at Freddy’s sickening story, one which will carry on through the following three entries. Throughout the nights, players will encounter four articles that detail the events that transpired at Freddy Fazbear’s Pizza. It turns out that kids were being lured and murdered by a man dressed as one of the mascots. The kids were never found, even after the man was caught and charged.

Shortly after these incidents came to light, patrons of the pizzeria started to notice what appeared to be blood and mucus around the mouths and eyes of the animatronics, and a horribly foul odor emanating from them as well. This led to the belief that the murderer stuffed the children’s bodies into each of the animatronics. This theory is further supported after the end of Night 4 in Five Nights at Freddy’s. The Phone Guy is attacked and presumably murdered, but nobody is ever found, leaving fans to believe that he was also stuffed into one of the spring traps.

At the end of the game, Mike Schmidt is fired, but that was probably for the best, seeing as how humans don’t seem to fare well at Freddy Fazbear’s.

Five Nights at Freddy’s 2

Five NIghts at Freddy’s 2 takes place before the events of the first game. Leading up to the “Bite of ’87,” players take control of security guard Jeremy Fitzgerald. You will once again receive assistance from Phone Guy, although he is much younger and doesn’t fully have a grasp on how dangerous the animatronics truly are. This time around, there are no doors so you must rely on a flashlight, a Freddy Fazbear head, and a music box.

New threats appear in the form of the newly built animatronics, the Puppet, and Balloon Boy. There are also mini-games between the nights that provide more insight into the lore of Five Nights at Freddy’s. In the mini-games, players will take control of the animatronics, the Puppet, and a new character, Purple Man, as they delve deeper into the events surrounding the disappearances of the children that eventually led to the shutdown of Freddy Fazbear’s Pizza.

In the mini-games, we find out that Purple Man is actually the one responsible for murdering the children. He seems to be wearing a badge and holding an item, meaning he could’ve been one of the security guards at the restaurant. The only thing that is clear is that he tends to go for the isolated children during the parties. During the games where you play as Freddy, you must try and keep all of the children happy, but you can always see one or two children who refuse to take part. Purple Man is never far behind, and he makes it his mission to end the lives of these innocent souls.

The Puppet, on the other hand, seems to be the root of the supernatural element of Five Nights at Freddy’s. In his mini-game titled “Give Gifts, Give Life,” you can see the Puppet interacting with what appears to be the bodies of four dead children. When given “life” in the second part of the mini-game, each child dons one of the four mascot masks. This leads us to believe that each animatronic is indeed possessed by the dead children. It’s a dark twist, but one that makes a lot of sense. At the end, Golden Freddy appears for the first time, and a mysterious 5th kid is shown, believed to be the first child that was ever killed.

Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 seems to allude to the fact that the animatronics are aware of what is going on as each kid is murdered. They are making an effort to save the children who are about to be killed, and it adds even more mystery leading up to the third game. There is no indication as to who, or what, the Puppet animatronic may be, but it is certain that it has a very powerful ability.

At the end of it all, Fitzgerald switches to the day shift where he is present for the “Bite of 87.” Other than that, there is no telling what happened to him. Fans initially believed that he himself was the victim of that fateful event. But we’ll get to that shortly.

Five Nights at Freddy’s 3

Five Nights at Freddy’s 3 takes place in the same location as the previous games, except things are a bit different. Set 30 years after the restaurant finally closed down (shortly after the first game), the pizzeria has been transformed into a museum/haunted attraction of sorts. After the mysterious disappearances of the children all those years ago, rumors of murder, and everything else that contributed to the demise of this once fine establishment, people in the area grew intrigued. Now the player must look over a place actually built to scare the snot out of patrons, should be a walk in the park, right?

This time around, there is only one animatronic to worry about, Springtrap. Normally, that would mean this is going to be much easier, but that couldn’t be far from the truth. There are also things called Phantoms. These are hallucinations of the original mascots. Their eyes glow, and they appear to be awfully burned and disfigured. The good thing is that they can’t harm you, unless you count real world harm, in which case they have the potential to give you a heart attack. But everything in this installment serves Springtrap.

Springtrap is faster and a lot more cunning than Freddy, Bonnie, Foxy, and Chica from the previous games. Some would say that he’s almost human-like. Looking at him shows a lot of wear and tear, as well as what looks like human remains within the suit. It may seem like it’s just your mind playing tricks on you. That is, until you play Five Nights at Freddy’s mini-games.

If you are able to earn the cake in every mini-game so that each child can be present in the final one, players can finally find out what happened to Purple Guy from Five NIghts at Freddy’s 2. The children’s spirits, sporting mascot masks, corner purple guy in the secret room of the restaurant where it’s believed that each of their murders occurred. Purple Guy hides inside Springtrap, which appears to be a much older version of Bonnie. This is an animatronic that can be worn as long as the mechanisms within the suit are locked against the outer layer. Unfortunately, these locks aren’t the most reliable, so when Purple Guy successfully fools the children he jumps in excitement leading the springs to snap, thus crushing his body to death.

This means that there is a very good chance that the Springtrap the player is forced to deal with is in fact the same one, possessed by the spirit of Purple Man. It would explain why Springtrap is able to move so quickly, and is also so smart. Another thing to note is that Purple Man is always depicted with a smile, which conveys his sadistic nature. That can be why he’s so intent on killing you, when the other animatronics in the previous games seemed to just follow a pattern.

Five Nights at Freddy’s 3 has three endings. The bad ending shows the heads of the four mascots (Freddy, Chica, Bonnie, and Fox) sitting on a table with their eyes glowing, along with a fifth head that many believe to be Golden Freddy. The Good ending shows the same image of just the four heads, only this time the lights are off meaning the spirits of the tortured children have finally moved on. The neutral ending sees the building burn to the ground. Unfortunately it appears that Springtrap has escaped (you can see this if you brighten the newspaper article that is a part of this ending).

Five Nights at Freddy’s 4

Five Nights at Freddy’s 4 is the latest entry to the series. This one takes a completely different direction from the previous games, but it does finally give some insight (as well as some more questions) to the events surround the eventual shutdown of Freddy Fazbear’s Pizza. Remember that whole “Bite of ’87” thing that ended up being one of the factors of the shutdown? It was the reason that the animatronics needed to roam around at night, leading to countless nightmares for players. And it is also the center of Five Nights at Freddy’s 4.

This entry places you in the shoes of a kid who must survive five nights in his very own bedroom. No security systems, no locks, just a frightened kid with a flashlight. Freddy, Chica, Bonnie, Foxy, and even Golden Freddy are all out to get you, and you have no idea why, until you play through the mini-games.

The kid appears to be a fan of Freddy Fazbear’s and has an upcoming birthday party which is indicated at the end of each night. While playing through the mini-games, there are two scenes that appear to be of the utmost importance. The first is of the Purple Man placing a Freddy Fazbear’s employee into a costume. You can see it happen in the door beside the balloons and cake. The second scene takes place at the end of Night 5 and is the actual “Bite of ’87” event. It turns out that you were playing as the victim the whole time.

The player’s character is surrounded by his brother and his brother’s friends who appear to be older and are definitely bullying the young boy. They tease him and offer to give him a closer look at the Freddy animatronic on stage. When they put the kid up to his face they place his head in the mouth of the mascot. Unfortunately, the mouth bites down, crushing the skull of the young boy and leaving everyone shocked. If you’ve played the first games in the series, then you will know that the boy actually survives this attack. Phone guy mentions that it’s amazing how someone could survive after losing the front part of their brain.

This leads to the speculation that the entire game takes place while the kid is in a coma after suffering severe brain damage. The very mascots he once adored have now become real living nightmares to him after being betrayed by the attack. It can also be referencing the fact that each of the bullies were wearing a mascot mask when they forced the young boy into Freddy’s mouth. After three games of watching over these demented machines, players finally get a chance to step into the mind of a victim. This may also explain why Phantom Freddy often appears on the bed behind you as you play. The Phantoms are hallucinations, and this can very much be the comatose nightmare of a young boy.

But, going back to the Purple Man placing someone in a suit, certain elements of the game may allude to him being this child’s father. For starters, there are all of the purple toys found in the child’s room. Then there is the scene of him placing an employee into a suit without killing him. This shows that Purple Man does in fact know how to use the suits. There is a chance that Purple Man found out about the bullies and actually placed them into the animatronics as revenge for his son. There isn’t too much proof for this given by the game as of yet, but it definitely does seem like a possibility.

There is also the chance that this confirms the theory that Phone Guy from Five Nights at Freddy’s 1 & 2 is in fact Purple Man. Phone Guy had a very deep knowledge of how the Springtrap costumes worked, something nobody else in the series other than Purple Man seemed to know. Phone Guy was also very fond of Foxy. In the cutscene that depicts the “Bite of ’87,” the victim’s brother is wearing the Foxy mask, furthering the speculation that Purple Man (who is probably Phone Guy) is the father of the victim. Of course, that still leaves some confusion as to what happened to Phone Guy at the end of Night 4 in the first game.

Then there’s the Night 6 ending that’s a real head scratcher. Upon completing this night, players are treated to a scene where Fredbear apologizes to the victim of the bite. He asks him if he knows that they are still friends, and expresses his sympathies. He even remarks on how the child is now broken. Could this be the child reconciling his fears? Or does it perhaps carry a deeper meaning that we’ll learn about soon?

There is still a lot of digging that needs to be done, and there is the DLC that is due out in October for Five NIghts at Freddy’s 4 that may tie up the loose ends still left. What is the relationship between Purple Man and the victim of the bite? How does the Puppet play a role? And, why were those children murdered? While we have a lot of the story figured out, it looks like we’ll just have to wait for Scott to finally finish what he started.