A Deep-Dive on William Afton's Characterization (from a veteran fnaf fan)

[@miiilowo]

Scuffed the text at 28:48. my bad. Its supposed to say "apologies for the shuffling, i talk with my hands a lot smile" I'll also be deleting any overly hateful comments. Being critical is one thing, being a dick is another, and I don't feel like humoring people like that. This also goes for people who are gonna be rude about my interpretation of him Sucking Shit Objectively And Being Abusive But Still (at least thinking) That He Cares About His Kids. I personally find it the most compelling from a narrative standpoint, and if you dont, thats fine, just dont be mean to me about it lol On a similar note, I do genuinely like the franchise, and me starting off by saying it's become a mess is just sort of an objective fact. You have to acknowledge the series has flaws before you analyse anything, because it's just not possible for things to be 100% coherent and make sense; once you acknowledge that is when you can actually have fun with the series instead of waffling over details that will never come to fruition. That's all I meant by that, since people seem to be getting it misconstrued ^_^ reminder for everybody to be niceys. And civil. Or else I'll get you (I have read all 3 novels btw i just down own physical copies Anymore which makes it harder to bring up/cite specific evidence. Feel like i shouldve mentioned that in the video but whatevs)

[@northstar9595]

This is a great video :D

[@zero5365]

Damn you don't have to expose me out like that...1:32 😳

[@raelogan]

I think one of the saddest possible concepts about the games version of Afton killing Charlie is that it's likely Charlie was friends with at least CC based on presumed age, and that she likely would have known Afton as "Uncle Will" because it's not uncommon for little kids to think thier parents' friends as "Aunt" and "Uncle" So, imagine that she gets locked outside in the rain, she's crying and trying to get someone's attention to let her back in. Afton shows up, and she must have felt relieved to see him, probably even walking towards him for some comfort as she starts to explain why she was outside in the rain. She has no reason to assume Afton would hurt her because that's her daddy's friend. Surely Uncle Will can unlock the door and walk into the building with her? And then Afton attacks her. Imagine the shock and horror that Charlie felt. Imagine her last moments as she realized that she was going to die, and her daddy wasn't going to be there to save her. She was betrayed by someone she likely felt safe around. Afton just stares at her, grinning, before he walks away and leaves her behind that dumpster. No remorse. No attempt to correct what he did in the heat of the moment. Not even an "Oh god, what have I done??" moment of clarity. Imagine how much more tragic this iconic moment could have been when you realize that Charlie wasn't just some random kid to him

[@J1mmy_Creat3s]

yeah i grew up calling my and my siblings godparents "auntie and uncle" so the idea of Charlie calling William "Uncle Will" is very possible and very tragic

[@TaiSaysHello]

gives her UCN lines a whole new layer

[@cinnam0nmn]

this is exactly why i get so mad when ppl say fnaf is just a kids game and shouldn't be gorey or anything, the concepts of the game ARE SO HORRIBLE!! the game likes to tip toe around the fact that so many extremely bad things happened and just laugh it off "oh haha he always comes back!"

[@maem7462]

@@cinnam0nmn Right the concepts and the things that happen in the games stories every dark and tragic. There usually isn’t a lot of gore being shown very often but occasionally moments will be shown. The moments are the most detailed but it can be disturbing to see. The concept alone makes it not a kids game especially with some stuff going on in the earlier games. The newer games have been on the more kid friendly side in a way. They still have crazy stuff going on sometimes. Not really gore wise anymore but concepts that can possibly scare ppl when just seeing it and thinking of it.

[@evevoli]

nooo i think about this all the time 😭😭 this haunts my narrative it's so fucked up. she was happy to see him man...

[@Aztr_artz]

William being a theater kid is so funny to think about lol

[@aftoncultistandsimp]

Indeed…

[@cobaltcrusader9841]

“A veteran fan” Bro got springlocked in the Fazwars. RIP General Henry Emily.

[@bombthing]

"He calls himself President Springtrap"

[@cullbear55]

One of my favorite aspects of William is how much of a coward he truly is. He tries to act all big and scary, especially when he has the suit on/animatronics under his control, but once he's exposed or caught, he always panics. Like in the Silver Eyes, when the group ties him up, he basically shuts down and doesn't feel safe communicating with Charlie and the others until they put the Spring Bonnie head on him. He's a pathetic person who hides behind his masks and tools. He never confronts someone face to face unless they're all alone, and he's trying to pick them off or knows he can overpower them. As soon as those barriers are torn down between him and the good guys, he loses it. Him refusing to admit fault is also always entertaining. William truly thinks he can do no wrong. When he does, he just tries to brush his mistakes off to the side, bottle things up, and act like the stupid thing was always part of his plan. Such as getting springlocked or stabbing Vannessa.

[@isarosedooley520]

or that they just gave him a concussion level head breaking injury ten minutes before

[@Whywouldanyonecareaboutme]

​@@isarosedooley520Yeah but he's still a bit of a coward like in the fnaf 3 mini game

[@sharkenjoyer]

I fucking remember when William was Vincent and was Tumblr's sexyman with a man ponytail and for some reason an addiction to toast Maybe because his sprite's badge looked like one

[@Sparkle8205]

oh my gods yeah i remember that… it was certainly.. a time in the fandom back in the day

[@kylebroflovski8656]

It was because of the badge being shaped like a toast 😂

[@Burrito-b3r]

I never really understood why people made that his whole thing it was so random and goofy for a.. child killer 😭

[@ThiccFurryBoi34]

I remember when the old animations with hidden lore creepypasta foxy and Minecraft rps and that one with William killing a child who haunts Bonnie cause in that au was his daughter and he then kills his wife like what was that bro

[@scorpiouskrimson]

I think the FNAF movie gives some interesting insight into Afton's deflection. He blames everyone but himself. In the games, he blames Michael despite fostering the environment in which Michael's biggest mistake took place. In the movie, he blames Vanessa, claiming she created the mess rather than accepting that there would be no mess if he wasn't killing people. Then, after stabbing Vanessa, and after a brief pause, he immediately goes after Mike and Abby, as if he blames them for the fact he had to stab his daughter instead of stand down. That's one of his scariest aspects... he'll always blame anyone but himself, no matter how directly and intentionally responsible for a negative act he is. He's so egotistical that anything that goes wrong has to be someone else's fault, to the point he's willing to pursue revenge against them for actions he committed.

[@cl0wnaroundtown]

dawg just drops an almost 40 minute long video about one of my favorite characters in one of my favorite video game series without explaination and im living for it

[@Daisythepage]

25:02 NOT ONLY CAN HE JUGGLE BUT HE CAN JUGGLE WITH THOSE CLUNKY METAL HANDS AND ALSO THROUGH THE SUIT THAT PROBABLY HAS SUPER POOR VISIBILITY HOLY SHIT

[@snakegirl6289]

Not only that but he did it while balancing on one foot

[@dumflame]

THIS MAN MUST BE STOPPED

[@RRed19]

Sorta tells me why he is somehow able to run in such a clunky suit. William is very physically strong and dexterous.

[@loserchips1112]

from the award winning discord user who spits out the entirety of fnaf lore on command.... miilowo now brings you ABSOLUTE CONCENTRATED AUTISM!!!!!!!!!!

[@kidsto2612]

Can you maybe spit out the entirety of the fnaf lore here? I'll pay you in internet funny points for your time

[@eatdetergent]

​@@kidsto2612a brit and a ginger make robots in utah but the brit goes too far as usual

[@meddler-gz1ks]

@@eatdetergent absolutely perfect, no notes

[@raelogan]

If William was a Simpsons Meme, he'd be "Local Man Ruins Everything", lol

[@Whywouldanyonecareaboutme]

100000000000%

[@aftoncultistandsimp]

Fr!

[@autumnyuki3744]

As someone once said "My favorite kind of William afton, morally understandable and a bit silly"

[@yelrabmena1]

I do believe that the missing children (specially in the movie and TSE trilogy) are sort of symbolism for abused kids. William's temper tramtum in the movie right before getting springlocked has lines clearly reminicent of abusive behavior, things like "I gave you life!" "You're less than me!" or "I raised you!" are the type of things a toxic/abusive parent would say the moment they feel they lost control over their kids. I think this is really neat

[@zuzannakol7791]

I think this is a good place to put all my old random headcanons about William (i used to be very autistic about him and used to write fanfics about his young adults years don't kill me) - michael was his first child from another marriage, one that happened very early in his life and which he deeply regrets. Those feelings of resentment are projected onto Michael yippie - william has a deep affinity for poetry, especially british world war I poetry (his line paraphrasing dulce et decorum est from pizza sim) and resonates with it bc of his personal history (in my headcanons he was born in the ladder half of the 40s and his family was in some way torn apart by war bc Britain - he is specifically from Essex (one reddit post argued that based of heywood's accent and I just went along with it bc I'm bad at accents and making him a londoner was too boring in my opinion) - he made a giant effort to preserve his children's british accents even though in my headcanon they were all born in the us. He did it mostly through forcing them to only consume british media in whatever form he could. Because of that his children did have the accent but everyone picked one from a different region based on what they enjoyed best - the idea for freddie's was an LSD induced vision bc it was the late60s/early 70s and they (him and Henry) didn't know any better - he hates the beatles and always preferred the rolling stones - he pretends to know french to impress people but everything he knows is just memorized quotes from random books like The Plague or The little prince

[@poke-talia268]

Yeah, I can accept this into my worldview

[@Berilia]

Isn't the accent he has in SL Australian?

[@mel_dyy]

​@@Berilia the va is australian but he has a british accent in the cast listing

[@sk1ttlz904]

Cool headcanons! The French one is funny af

[@ItsLeBridge]

As a french, I love this, but it's innacurate. No british would dare to admit liking something french

[@wandereringshadow8658]

William always had darkness in him, thats for sure. However, I think that the CC's Death was what finally broke him and gave him an excuse to indulge in his atrocities. Note, this is not me defending Afton, he is 100% evil. Even in his most generous interpretation (the games) he is still evil. But he's a human evil- a Christian kind of evil, you could put it, and that makes his character all the more scarier and compelling. Because past all of the fantastical elements of the series- you could genuinely see a man like William Afton existing in real life.

[@ClownHoundII]

"He/him or I'll die" is the most relatable sentence ever.

[@halfdecentstrange]

masculinity tip: whenever you reach a doorframe, attempt to jump and touch it. it will quadruple your testosterone levels.

[@HannahBanina]

I think my favorite thing about FNAF’s story changing the way it has is that we are now meant to believe that the smooth-talking British roboticist we hear in the opening of _Sister Location_ is the same guy we saw trashing four whole animatronics, losing his shit getting cornered by ghosts, and getting himself killed jumping into a fursuit he *_knew_* was super dangerous to wear back in FNAF3

[@OddyOddity-ob2uv]

8:05 I am always obsessed with characters who love someone so dearly that they do absolutely atrocious things to them. Is that actually love? Who knows! All that matters right now is that it's dramatic and makes my soul whole

[@dipfish1427]

id rather say funtime freddy is william, sadistic and coo coo, while micheal is bon bon, his litteral puppet, wich he can make do whatever he wants, it would also be the same as that fnaf 6 alley poster.

[@miiilowo]

This also makes sense :3

[@TrifectShow]

I think William purposely isn't given characterization, because it would ruin the mystery around him and also feel we are meant to depersonalize him. Humanizing the killer would clash with what the narrative is trying to portray. Its always been focused on the kids story, not William. That's why when we do get characterization, he's a literal monster of machinery. His mortal self has died. Same can be said with Baby, as she has little to with Elizabeth's human self. It's clear Baby and Springtrap are reflections of once living people, but are not the actual people.

[@dumbly-stupid]

I can see that with baby but I think Springtrap and Afton(scraptrap) is William truly letting his colors show because he no longer has a mask to hide behind plus we are given clear characterizations of him in the novels and movie and they're pretty similar despite their minor differences. Though I definitely agree with this for Fazbear Frights where at the end Afton no longer calls himself by his name but refers to himself as Agony incarnate

[@Liquidcrayons87]

R.I.P Canon-William-Afton, Thank you for your hard work.

[@darling-dolly-darlene3276]

The theatrical part of William is EVERYTHING and everytime people cut it out or say it isn't there a. Um. Darn didn't think a getnthis far. Um. Something explodes. ❤.

[@katiefrances531]

youre so right and i love you for it do u have a discord

[@The-E-king]

33:05 William was bitting his lip in the first graphic novel when he went to go put on the spring Bonnie suit.

[@RRed19]

25:10 Exactly, this image right here tells me William is a man of theatrics and culture. He straight up is almost paralleling the pose from the art piece The Creation or Adam. All he needs is Spring Bonnie’s suit touching his finger with his own and it would be complete.

[@HeyLoiss]

It is the literal most fundamental aspect of Afton's character that he cannot love. He longs for it due to his obsession with (and jealousy of) Henry & Henry's ability to create his characters with love, but he fundamentally doesn't understand love, and his idea of it is inherently tied to control, making his "love" twisted and conditional. He "loves" the 5 Missing Children until they disobey him. And every single time this franchise portrays the Purple Guy as a father, he's abusive, manipulative and, at his absolute best, neglectful. He never loved his children. He was a monstrous father, and that's canon.

[@miiilowo]

I mean. I don't necessarily disagree. I think maybe he Thinks he cared about his kids, I don't think he was a good person in any aspect. I repeatedly say in the video that he was an abusive piece of shit I feel like people just simply aren't watching the video and are getting mad

[@thehipsternugget]

THANK YOU this is such a good interpretation/breakdown of his character. I do think people tend to forget how abuse is in real life, and often portray it in an almost cartoon villain and unrealistic manner. To state that William loves and cares about his children does not contradict the fact he still abuses them. That is how abusers get their victims to stay, that is why people often can’t escape abusive situations. It really bothers me when people are so against William loving his kids, when in my opinion it makes him so much more interesting To me, William instantly has much more depth and is a much more realistic abuser if you factor in the paternal love he has for his children. People seem to think he becomes less of a villain if he is capable of love, but I think the opposite. William is infinitely more horrifying when his abuse takes such a real form. He acts out of his own twisted version of love, and hurts his own children and children of others because “I’m doing this for your own good”. William being capable of murdering innocent children becomes more impactful if you remember he is also a father to his own children he loves. How is a fellow father capable of taking away other peoples children? How can he not imagine how painful that is? Oh right, he doesn’t have to imagine it, because his own son dies because of his general negligence as a father. That guilt eats William alive and it festers until it turns into hatred and envy towards other parents and other children. You made a good point when you said his murder of Charlie would make no sense if his only sole motivation was science, and nothing else. William IS a man of science, but what drives him to investigate and test and build? Like you said, a fear of death, and fear of the death of his children. To give William human motives, trying to prevent death by giving spirits “life” in a new vessel, it makes him more real. And more real means more terrifying as a villain. Great video!! It’s a pet peeve of mine when people portray William as a stoic stonecold killer who kills for fun cuz that’s such a boring interpretation of it

[@miiilowo]

@@thehipsternugget THANK YOU!!!!! FUCK!!!!!!!! YOU GET IT

[@LavenderPromenade]

Something I had noticed in regards to William's characterization after watching the FNaF movie (His character in general, not just in the movie. It was just that I only actually put the pieces together after seeing him in the movie.) is that William Afton refuses to let things die, but is perfectly content with letting them rot. Obviously, as you said in the video, he claims that "the owner" (himself) keeps Freddy's open out of sentimentality. He keeps shoving guards into the place for the fun of it, but he never opens a new Freddy's and doesn't try to really garner the attention of children again. He won't let it die, but he'll let it rot. The same thing happens in the novel trilogy. He keeps working as a guard for the mall, even though he really doesn't need to. He likes to be close to the restaurant, he refuses to let it die, but he won't open another one (until he needs to for his plans in The Fourth Closet), and he won't refurbish it or anything of the sort, because he's content with it rotting. This same thing, in my opinion, is how William feels about his family and his legacy. He won't let his family die, no... They can suffer. They can be spirits in machinery, rotting corpses, alone and afraid, abandoned by all, hatred and pain festering amongst them, a broken family of a broken man, a family that hates itself and rips itself apart day after day after day... But, they can't die. The Afton name cannot die. Even if its remembered in hushed whispers, a myth about a monster, about disappearances and bloodshed, "Did you hear about William Afton?," a rumor spread on the playground of a boogey man in a hare's skin, "Have you heard about the Afton family?" He doesn't care if he is the villain. Only that he is never forgotten. His legacy can rot, it can become this cautionary tale, this scary story told around campfires, but it must never die. Then there's the fact that this carries over to himself. He is terrified of dying, but he is content with rotting. He literally says in the Fourth Closet that he, quote, “(has) faced (his) own mortality...(He) knew (he) was dying and through every broken fragment of (his) body, (he) was profoundly, immeasurably afraid. (He) fears it more than (he) fear(s) (living like he does in the Fourth Closet), even when every waking instant is pain, and sleep is possible only when induced by enough medication to kill most people.” He admits to Jessica that "When (he) called (him)self Springtrap (he) was ecstatic with power, delirious over (his) newfound strength." And, in the games, as Scraptrap, he clearly seems to be in that same headspace, a cocky, arrogant man who thinks he can't die. ("I knew it was a lie the moment I heard it, obviously. But it is intriguing nonetheless...") Any normal person would wish for death living as Springtrap or as Scraptrap, but William, in his intense fear of death, feels better than ever. The reason he calls himself "Agony" in the Fazbear Frights epilogues is because he is always in agony, always feeling pain, but he would rather exist as that than as nothing at all. He is Agony, and that's fine by him. Side note, but I do think its worth mentioning that William has a weird obsession with things rhyming, or being symmetrical in a way. Call that motherfucker George Lucas the way he loves when narratives metaphorically rhyme. I mean, he stops as soon as he reads Mike's last name in the movie. He recognizes that and instantly switches up his whole deal because "Holy shit, that would be poetic." He literally says "Symmetry, my friend! First I killed your brother, now I kill you." Even in the full version of that quote from The Fourth Closet, he mirrors his phrasing to turn his words into something almost poetic: “Time changes all things, as does pain. When I called myself Springtrap I was ecstatic with power, delirious over my newfound strength. But pain changes all things, as does time.” In Fazbear Frights, William seemingly enjoys the irony of turning Andrew's behavior back on him, he latches onto William, so William latches back. He loves using that child's anger and rage against him to bring himself back, it is ironic that a child's selfish revenge fantasy against their tormentor is the only reason said tormentor is able to come back from the brink of death at all. Then there's his line as Scraptrap, "Bittersweet, but fitting..." Michael's death at his hands is fitting, a certain irony that's almost poetic to him. To quote this incredible analysis of William's voice lines from Bonk Boy (kzbin.info/www/bejne/gYKbpneamKehg5Y, watch it if you haven't), "When he flips a phrase that was meant to condemn him (He will come back, he always does) into his own self-aggrandizing slogan (I always come back); that's fitting... When the atrocity that is murder brings him closer to the blessing that is eternal life; that's fitting... When he kills his own son after indirectly killing the rest of his children; that's fitting... Their deaths were freak accidents, and there was no blood on his hands... But, this time around, the death of his last child, the one who was arguably most subservient and helpful to him, is conscious and hands-on. Uncomfortable as it is for Afton, he can't help but acknowledge how fitting it is that he achieved this victory through killing his only remaining child." While its not canonical, William reclaims phrases made against him as his own, taking them and the hurt they were supposed to give him and turning them onto his would-be victims. "I always come back" is just the first and most prominent of these, as he also steals: - "I've been living in shadows..." from Michael, turning it into a menacing "I've been living in the shadows" in the AR trailer. - "I'm going to come find you..." from Michael, turning it into "We are going to come find you" in the AR trailer. - "You will not be spared, you will not be saved." from Nightmare - "I am here to claim what is left of you." from Nightmare - "Lets see how many times you can be pulled apart" and "Let me put you back together and take you apart all over again," from Nightmare Fredbear, which he combines into "Lets see how many times you can be pulled apart and put back together again." Clearly, William enjoys this mirroring of retorts and remarks made against him, in much the same way he enjoys mirroring his own words, making the phrases he says throughout his life rhyme, and adding symmetry to comments which don't really need it. Its an aspect of his thespian side coming through, most definitely, but it is one that requires more attention and focus from the community at large, because I think it is a very interesting aspect of his character. Perhaps a part of why he is so damn eager and manic as Springtrap isn't just because he's cheated death, but because it is ironic to him that the people he's hurt, the people he's murdered, or attempted to murder, in the case of Charlie in the novels, try to kill him in return, only for him to survive, hell, even thrive. William appreciates irony, poeticism and symmetry (Again, "Symmetry, my friend!"). So, its only fitting that his treatment of his family, his legacy and Freddy's as a whole, refusing to let it die, but being perfectly content to let it all rot, to let it fester and fall apart, comes back around to him. He refuses to die, but he's perfectly content rotting.

[@avacadotoast5571]

This is actually amazing what 😢

[@auni-thebaker]

This was a lovely ted talk and dive into his character, and don't mind me, just taking buts of it into mah headcanons thank u very muchhh

[@LavenderPromenade]

@@auni-thebaker you're welcome :3

[@bluepanda8004]

For me William starts off as a bad father. He's leaving Michael in charge of CC (even for 80s standards this is inappropriate Michael is at best a young teen) and his version of parenting is having cameras set up to watch CC and not intervening when Michael acts out which results in CC being locked up and/or tormented. To me this reads as someone who does the bare minimum: food, water, a roof over their head but doesnt want to be involved with the kids. Inevitability, Michael goes too far, and CC gets bit. William says that he will put CC back together again which I read as a return to the status quo not a desire to save his son because he loves him. (It's possible that he believes he does love his children and just cant stand the reality of being around them and distances himself) Either way his first kill is the best insight into him. He's an alcoholic, abusive father and angry/jealous of Henry. Beneath his cold/calculating demeanor (his "true self" probably underneath the friendly businessman layer) is an angry erratic creature. I personally headcanon that this spiral is because his life is out of control and he cant fix it like he thought he could- I personally headcanon that CC is dead at the time of midnight motorist seen by the lump in the woods (I dont fully subscribe to dual process's theory) and Williams is forced to realise he cant fix things. Charlie's death and possession of the Puppet is a crime of passion and what starts the science killings (MCI). Because the puppet changes after Charlies death which lets William start to piece possession together. The MCI iirc doesnt take place all in one day which better fits the idea of this being an experiment- Cassidy TOYSHK being a fully concious child springlocking. I believe in the order being springlocking Cassidy then CC with the logic being Cassidy produced the most active spirit with the most brutal death so best method to bring CC back was to do them same with what was left of CC. Eitherway he figures out possession and then in my headcanon he places CC's dead body in the suit springlocks it after taking Cassidy out- I think that golden freddy is weird due to the nature of death but also moving the bodies around post death and its really Cassidy's anger keeping them mostly together. Moving on I believe in DCI for no other reason than I vibe with afton killing more kids and leaving them outside suits to see if possession occurs and having the dead kid total of 13 (CC, Charlie, 5 MCI, 5 DCI and Elizabeth) because spoopy number. Imo the DCI didnt lead to haunted toys but they do haunt the environment like in the traditional haunted house something horrible happened here and the building echoes the tragedy sense. I have gotten off track from his motivations- at this point hes fully a scientist no longer caring about CC he just wants to figure out possession and life after death. He's let go from Fazbear likely because of his obsession and maybe the alcoholic phase but desires to be near his creations so takes up the position of nightguard. When faced with the murderous consequences he moves to the day shift to continue observations but be safer because the final facet of his personality: his cowardice is on display. In Fnaf 2 the DCI happens and freddy's shuts again riding the DCI high/needing a company he can control for his experiments Afton works on the funtimes and gets the only child he liked killed. I personally think that this is a wake up call for his own mortality and he shifts his experiments more to pursue immortality. And he gets springtrapped and locked behind a wall. So technically, he's achieved his goal. Years pass and when finally released hes in a suit that he isnt fully in control of so between sister location and pizza sim he rebuilds himself finally achieving his goal of immortality and in control. Except he's curious or maybe cant fully resist the suits programming and has to show up for the finale.

[@EJtheEJsEJ]

William afton is so cool i wish british people were real

[@strawberry641]

the moment you started describing how theatrical he is... dear god i could feel the William Afton brainworms burrowing their way in. it might be over for me.

[@avacadotoast5571]

Thoughts and prayers

[@GalacticStudios69]

I really like how we went from Serious, to Goofy silly , to Gore, intense imagery, a little silly, and a LOT of serious drops.

[@pidgeonpeas9935]

I loooove william his obsession with acts and theatrics is literally so fun and his search for immortality is fascinating he’s literally a Aristotelian tragedy hero but he never learns his lesson it’s great. Banger video

[@ItsLeBridge]

I like to think William wasn't bothered by kids but started hating them because of the lawsuit. He went insane and wanted them all dead

[@godzillapark9075]

The thing about William's quest for immortality is that, in a way he won, sure he probably doesn't think he won while burning in the darkest pit of hell, but he won, Springtrap and Scraptrap are characters owned by Fazbear entertainment they put him in video games, a weird digital copy of him is created in Help Wanted by the Mimic program, and the mere memory of him creates a monstrous version of spring Bonnie. You can kill the man, but not the idea

[@RRed19]

And ideas are bulletproof

[@necrotoxin7366]

I will never forget fifth grade art class where every week my table spent the entire time talking about child murder!! Woo!!

[@crybaby6845]

I like how many times theyve tried to burn Afton alive and he decides to not die from it. Even hell fire isn't enough.

[@HeyLoiss]

They, uh, burned him twice. And the second time was very much successful.

[@3DFella]

@@HeyLoiss Fax brother! Spit your shit indeed

[@dylanhudec979]

@@HeyLoiss only because of a mimic recon

[@malhare6501]

Finally, a video essay for me: Sheer condensed William Afton autism!! 🎉 In all seriousness though I loved listening to this, you touched on so many points I think are important to his character. Also THANK YOU for pointing out the PitBonnie/William Afton comparison! ALSO THANKKKK YOUUU so much for pointing out William's cowardice and fear of death, they're such huge driving factors for his character that I hardly see people mention! Anyway 10/10, I feel like this should be required listening for anyone who wants to write about William

[@miiilowo]

@@malhare6501 HELL YEAH BROTHER

[@nidgithm]

i like the more realistic/3-dimensional take, turns it from this abstract "guy that causes murder" to something where you can understand him as a human, which in my opinion enhances the story

[@ApocAnarchy]

Okay but Afton and batman’s Scarecrow having similarities in loving other people’s fear is weirdly poetic

[@Alkeeros]

Man, having small rabbit details in the HR recruiting office to hint at his real identity is so baller. He just needs one small purple thing (maybe he did, I don't remember) to really bring it together

[@fakeorchestra4260]

It actually works better if the suit that killed CC was made by Henry, not William. This gives him additional points for fucking HATING Henry as it means that... well his creation killed his son.

[@CrypticlyEncrypted]

Twitter ain’t gonna like this one lmao they’re having a tantrum over something they didn’t even watch

[@miiilowo]

I've been informed and I refuse to look ❤lalallaala. Lalallalala

[@phantommoon11]

As an autistic person who's gotten back into FNAF recently, I absolutely LOVE your analysis on William's character. It all makes sense and gives more perspective on why the killings happened and why and how he got to that point in the first place. I appreciate how you described what abusers do, it really gave me relief because William is 100% abusive and we all know that most abusive people have had experiences where they were abused too. I wouldn't be surprised if William learned abusive behaviors from his parents and because of his fragile ego and self esteem, copied that behavior to have more power, like his parents had over him. I have a personal experience with wanting control over things and I really related to the concept of wanting that control. It's scary to be powerless in situations, especially those you have no control over. This can fuel that need for control, so shit never happens again. I believe that's a huge part of William's motivation from wanting to put his son back together, to have control so it doesn't happen again. Well, we all know how that turned out. What he never understood was that in life, you can't control everything and when you do try, it ends up falling backwards on you. I fear death as well and honestly, I think that's a part of what makes William a good villain; he has human emotions and fears just like everyone else does, but he hides them behind his theater personas. He reminds me a lot of Tohru Adachi from Persona 4, except more fucked up. SPOILERS FOR PERSONA 4 AND PERSONA 4 ARENA ULTIMAX BTW: Adachi, like William, killed people out of jealously; however, Adachi killed because he was bored. He wanted to make a game out of it because his life was so boring in the sticks, nothing ever happened so he wanted to initiate something. Like William, he's incredibly intelligent and has a fragile ego and low self esteem. His parents only cared about him getting good grades and never checked on his wellbeing. It's been theorized that Adachi has antisocial personality disorder, which I wouldn't be surprised if William has a personality or mood disorder of some kind, maybe both. Like yourself I love going into the details of characters, specifically my favorites like Adachi and why they do what they do. I love that shit sm I eat it up. Anyways, another thing I wanted to point out is unlike William, Adachi was able to atone for his crimes in jail and changed as a person. The way the writers do this in Persona 4 arena ultimax is fantastic, as they point to dialogue and parallels from his dialogue in original persona 4 and his story mode in arena ultimax. The villain in arena ultimax also parallels how Adachi used to be and he confronts the villain with what he learned as he changed. IT'S SO FUCKING GOOD UGGGGHHH. One last thing! I'm a huge simp for Michael Afton and I appreciate how you mentioned his behavior stemming from William's neglect and abuse. In his perspective, he's tired of taking care of his younger brother who cries all the time. He wants to enjoy his life too, not be a babysitter, so what does he do? He scares the living shit out of c.c. Of course his bullying of c.c lead to the biggest mistake of his life that I headcanon he never forgave himself from. If he's anything like his father, he's very emotional and obsessive. What do we see him do? We see Michael obsess over atoning for his mistakes by working at the pizzeria locations, which is why he doesn't disobey his father. Part of me believes he does it as a form of punishment to himself (self sabotage) while also being afraid of what his father would do to him. Poor Michael never deserved any of the shit he got and what I love is how he got up, dusted himself off and went to fix the mistakes he made back in 83. Overtime he started to realize who his father truly was and started to forgive himself for certain things, but never for killing his younger brother that he loved and cared for. I have so much more I would say on Michael like you did with William so I'll stop here. Amazing analysis video and I hope you enjoyed my autistic infodump lmfao

[@SunshineCo225]

I do appreciate the analysis on why he likely doesn't hate children. It just feels cheap to assume that he does, and he doesn't need that behavioral explaination when theres plenty such as "children are more gilible and likely to trust animatronics" and "he literally has easy acsess to them" and ecen arguably that the first two attempts at remnant was with kids so it makes sense to keep using them to a point. But yeah overall i think the kid hatred point would weaken his motivation more than help it, it muddies things and distracts from what actually makes him compelling

[@WispyEcho]

I’ve always known that William was at least a little silly. Since everyone keeps portraying him as this super serious serial killer with no love for children, not even his own. I just seen him as a silly guy who didn’t have much control in his life, having a family, and the second his youngest son got crunched, his life spiraled out of control. I may have also included some autistic traits in him, because he did give those vibes. But I do understand why most people wouldn’t want that. Also, I’ve actually argued with people who believed that Charlie was killed before CC, when it doesn’t really work unless you’re going with the cold serial killer route. It doesn’t fit for me, because it doesn’t make sense for William to kill her without a motivation (that isn’t just to kill someone) Those are my thoughts. Absolutely enjoyed learning more about silly rabbit man!

[@TrexTamer]

One of the most ominous interpretations of the character that still haunts me this day and spell William's character out (even only fan-made) is in of all things a Minecraft role-play. in this scene William is reminiscing on how he killed Gabriel (to him, mind you), going into explicit detail of how he kidnapped him, shoved him in the back of his car, and even when William had his hands clenched around Gabriel's neck, and Gabriel dug his nails into William's arms, it never bothered him because "it's a good thing I had a cat".... I'm sure you can make the rest out.

[@CottonArsonist]

William might be one of my favourite fictional villains purely due to his theatrics. Whether it be a silent killer, a boastful slasher, a shambling monster or an idiot nightguard, William can play the part. This trait paired with his innate cowardice; one so strong he literally slaughtered kids to seek immortality, makes him oddly unique as he isn't redeemable, he isn't even beyond everyone. He's just so goddamn selfish and egotistical that he has stooped to levels worse than people who actually go out of their way to harm people. The only time William DOES actively murder people without reason is when he plays the part of a killer; Springtrap, Scraptrap, Burntrap (if you assume them to be/contain William). Outside of those personas, he's a coward who will do anything to cling onto life, primarily seen in the Fazbear Frights novels when he fucking drags Andrew (and by proxy, Jake)'s spirit away from a happy memory (which would have let them ascend into it, achieving their Happiest Day) and kept him grounded in reality just so he can keep feeding off his Agony; this not being an edgy metaphor, he literally immediately goes on to absorb every item infected by Andrew's agony and becomes the personification of his immortality-seeking cowardice; The Agony. I can't fully remember the quote as of writing, but I can remember that one of the phrases described Afton's spirit as "barely clinging onto reality". Afton uses people regardless of persona. As himself, he used his family. As Springtrap/Scraptrap, he debatably used TOYSNHK (Since their torture was also keeping Afton alive, ironically). As The Agony, he used Eleanor and by proxy, Andrew. As Burntrap/Glitchtrap (assuming you believe they're Afton) he used Vanessa, Gregory and possibly a majority of Fazbear's Employees if they're stuffed inside S.T.A.F.F. Bots. Even in the original novel trilogy, he clings onto other personas more than his own; he literally couldn't deal with an interrogation from teenagers he'd have no problem killing until he had the Yellow Rabbit mask placed upon him, speaking as the slasher instead of William Afton. This change in personality is best seen with Springtrap as they outright state that they're "more than Afton ever was". The only time this seems to fail is when he's Scraptrap; I personally believe that due to them being aware of Henry's plan, they're slowly coming to terms with the fact that it all may end now, perhaps even reflecting on the monster he's become...well, not enough, since he still flickers into the Springtrap persona with "I always come back" - a line that'd be ironically mirrored in him in UCN. I could get into the jealousy of Henry, more stuff on William's theatrics and the fact that while smart, he's also just a prick. Everything above kinda sums it up. TL;DR: William is dramatic, theatrical, intelligent and a massive fucking coward. Springbonnie, Springtrap, Dave, perhaps Burntrap/Glitchtrap and The Agony are all personas used for them to cope with new situations, such as death. Also fun micro theory: What if CC's death kickstarted Afton's desire for immortality not because he wanted to bring his son back, but rather, he saw the fragility of life when they're around the animatronic suits - given that William often dons the Springbonnie suit, he's been forcing himself into the same type of suit that had his son killed, and he could be next. Perhaps slowly developing that Springbonnie persona to mask the fact he's terrified of the suit - being why he's so boastful as Springtrap.

[@mr.robertsmain]

I also agree that Afton did love his children, but to the degree a monster like him could. He can obviously separate them from just any other child; though I will add I do feel like he was almost using c.c's death as an excuse to carry out his horrific acts. Due to the fact obviously not everyone becomes a slasher after an event as tragic as the death of your own child. Also enjoyed hearing oingo bingo in the back.

[@miiilowo]

@@mr.robertsmain fully agreed actually ^_^

[@ciboria1]

Upon seeing Mike in the FNAF 3 office, it feels like he went "Peekaboo"

[@sluka32]

That's not Mike, it's Hudson

[@ciboria1]

Hudson? (But isn't it a consensus that Mike had to be at the FNAF 3 location? That would make sense for the lack of "aggression" in the jumpscare

[@sluka32]

@@ciboria1 okay let's start with the fact that you think there's a lack of aggression in the jumpscare, the REAL reason why it looks like this is because the jumpscare sucks, scott tried to give him a mysterious vibe... but he failed, that's it, william DOES NOT care about mike, he doesn't love his children ESPECIALLY MIKE, Willcare has been debunked SO many times, but the glaring example is in the movie, where he LITERALLY TRIES TO KILL VANESSA, if mike was actually the fnaf 3 guard, believe me, afton wouldn't hold back, he hates his son so much. so yeah, willcare is probably the worst fnaf theory i've ever heard

[@ciboria1]

Not saying he's good in any way, but why jump at him, when he can just "Hey, mind if I pop in?" As part of the horrible "parenting" (excuse for abuse in his head) TLDR; Of course no one wants to play Peekaboo with their abusive dad who's been dead for decades, and is now haunting the suit he died in

[@sluka32]

@@ciboria1 ????????? what are you talking about man

[@abihops8204]

You made an awesome analysis. I’d love to see a future one in Henry, i feel like he’s pretty overlooked or just seen as a good guy, but he’s got some flaws too that I want to study under a microscope

[@rozinq1351]

Strongly agree. He's just. such a guy. Under appreciated scrunkly material tbh.

[@ForbleWorble]

Henry is seen as either a perfect uwu cinnamon roll dad who can do no wrong or The Worst Man Second Only To William Afton depending on who in the fandom you ask and they are both incorrect. He's like a pathetic half-drowned cat, he is incredibly scrungkly and we as a community need to acknowledge that more.

[@redpanda6497]

Yess.

[@redpanda6497]

​​​​​​​@@ForbleWorble He's a complex character. He's far away from being as bad as William, and despite ending everything with the fire, he's no angel. He's neglectful, doesn't know what to do with his and other people's emotions ( Micheal ) and sweeps things under the rug before things get worse.

[@Dazi-EEC]

Wowiez a deep dive into the funny man of purple?

[@miiilowo]

@@Dazi-EEC a deep dive into the funny man of purple

[@a_world_worth_living_in]

The way a part of me cringes everytime William's past identity as Vincent pops up. We really knew absolutely nothing about him ;v; it's honestly fascinating how the Fandom vould cope with the lack of info. On another note, I can't imagine William actually caring for his kids, or at least, not on an emotional level? I do like the connection you made with the behavior of BallTrap/PitTrap from IntoThePit and William. But hear me out: sure, he would want to eat together with his kids, he would drive them around, and all that, but not out of love nor care. He would do those things out of appearances. I like NotRealName NotReally's take on it. In "how William Ruined hi Kids' lives (his favorite Toys)" they explore William's actions as a Narcissist, and the impact on his kids. Loved the video, though!! I love seeing the takes from people that I've been in this Fandom from way back when there where theories of William and Phone guy being the same person :'D so nostalgic

[@miiilowo]

I just personally find it more interesting to make him a shitty abusive dad that cares about them on a surface level because it adds more emotional pull to the overall narrative, but everyones entitled to their own opinions and all that 👍 he is very ummm. narcissistic personality disorder adjacent tho for sure. in the genuine way not in the reddit narc abuser AITA post way

[@avacadotoast5571]

I agree! I personally see him caring about his kids, but more as possessions than human beings. They're just broken tools to him :(

[@RansydMango]

I'm glad other people have the William Afton autism

[@slauthordraws3363]

william playing house with the funtimes is so nasty i love it i figure funtime foxy is michael and funtime freddy is cc tho since michael and cc’s favorite characters are foxy and golden freddy

[@finalfrightyt]

Only thing I don't agree with is how he doesn't care about Mike at all. Even in the movie, as you stated, he feels a bit of sorrow over stabbing Vanessa. In FNAF 3 he doesn't outright jump to kill Mike and instead just kinda walks up to him and in 6 after he kills Mike he even in some lines states he finds sorrow in killing him but at the same time relishes in how ironic it is & how fitting it was for them to face off and him win.

[@muchimm]

I like to think that William wanted so bad to bring back CC not only because of his death fear, but also because he is a maniac of control and wanted to have total control on his family's lifes, that being the reason why he started fear gasing Mike, to have control over him and to get revenge on him. I loved your video btw :3

[@MaxM210]

I actually have a coupe thoughts about William, with one in particular being why he dislikes Micheal so much, and it's the Vampire Soap Opera in Sister Location. He hates Micheal, because like Vlad, he thinks he's not his son. I've been convinced by a view theories floating around that the soap opera bit is meant to be a nod to Some of William's backstory. That the only reason he has children at all is because a woman he was casually seeing, told him she was pregnant and for what ever reason William just refused to take responsibility for it. Maybe he's just so egotistical that he assumed she was beneath him and that any claim of paternity was just an excuse to stay with him, but either way I think it points to William believing Micheal isn't his. He "likes" his other two children because he knows for certain they're his, presumably because he stayed with Micheal's mother. I also think the soap opera points to something else, that being William was dead broke, on account of Vlad's "graveyard shift at the taco place" thing. In the soap, Vlad can't afford to pay child support and I think the bit there is that William had no money to his name, hens not only why a man so obsessed with and jealous of Henry would agree to open a business with him, but also why Fazbear Entertainment exists as a massive corporate Entity. In FNAF 4 we see that Freddy's characters are on TV and have toys made, which would be a pretty costly venture for a local, ground up pizza joint no doubt spending every spare dollar it has on robot maintenance, unless the business had gotten profitable enough to start warranting merch and large scale tv advertising. In the games, Fazbear Entertainment is this somehow massive corporation that keeps managing to revive the brand no matter how much crazy nonsense happens. I don't think its too much of a stretch to say Fredbear's family Diner atttracted some local investors willing to put some serious money into the restaurant in exchange for maybe a focus tested, market friendly rebrand from "Fredbear's Family Diner" to something like "Freddy Fazbear's pizza" and a willingness to make far more, far cheaper robots for more restaurants. The sort of thing William would love but Henry would be sceptical of. The sort of thing that would maybe lead them to design a cost saving duo suit-robot. I get thats a lot of theorizing based on tiny barely there evidence, but I feel like there's something to be said about how William started "Afton Robotics" and seemed all to willing to let a huge corporation take over, and how that seems to correlate with the depiction of a tv character his son happens to watch every night. Also I recently had the thought that the reason William's all orange in mid-night motorist, isn't just to be confusing, (though it it is certainly partially that). In most depictions of the "Purple guy" sprite, we can see his badge on, implying the "purple" is the color of the security guard uniform. We see him as purple in the FNAF2 cutscene that depicts Charlie's death, so My thought is the reason he's orange in Midnight Motorist is because he literally just took his uniform off. Presumably because it was covered in blood, so he dumped it in the garbage in the alley with Charlie. The reason we see him as purple is because that's how the kids remember him, the "man in purple", so when he's not in the uniform he's just a default yellowy-orange color, because they don't remember his face. The only thing they remember is the color of his uniform and the color of the rabbit.

[@jimmyjackson2393]

for the funtimes mirroring the aftons id swap Michael and William. William was the one calming the crying child down with his fredbear doll he would talk into and bonbon is technically a version of the character he plays and Michael had the foxy mask he would've terrorised cc with so him being funtime foxy could make sense, also feel free to possibly work any trans Michael head cannons into that if you like

[@necrodeus6811]

Thanks for crediting canonwilliamafton, that blog is very good and also that last update is very sad. I hope theyre alive and recovering but its very possible they aren't

[@maggie4491]

this video is so important for the niche group of people who got the fnaf autism where you need to understand william and make him a real character (I'm part of this group). even a lot of other fnaf autists are okay with the idea of one note william and don't want to dig in and will just brush over it in lore explanations and it drives me crazy because my brain is just unable to accept it

[@eatdetergent]

I'm so happy we've entered an era of this community in which we've grown up to be able to actually analyse these characters and appreciate their actual fleshed out existence, half of us were just too young and dumb to realise it earlier and were to busy on robot shipping tumblr

[@circusdremfnafsmp6845]

Recently my hyperfixation on FNAF has leaned towards William and I fully agree with the EVERYTHING you said! He’s such an interesting character if you try to give him motives other than psycho

[@trishaadomai3772]

Thus actually reminds me of something personal. I've always seen Afton as a caring dad, he loves he's kids but isn't very emotionally intelligent. He's also a workaholic and obsessive. When that's all mixed together you get a parent who makes sure you eat, your warm and have a roof over your head but they struggle past that, moreover the oldest sibling then gets burdened with parental responsibility because the actual parent is so busy with work. Because the older sibling plays that part there's a lot of resentment and the parent fails to see it because if they see it they must acknowledge it, they have to deal with it but Afton has no time for that. Additionally, the oldest will no longer be seen as a child by the parent and yet be scrutinised when they act in a more adult manner. That's what I always thought and I love how you explained and touched on these themes.

[@miiilowo]

For sure!

[@trishaadomai3772]

@@miiilowo 🥹✨✨✨

[@PajamaMan69420]

FINALLY! Someone else recognizes that William has depth, and isn't a one note villain!

[@W2nps]

2:39 Now I noticed something, one of the children in this minigame is sad, it's strange that nobody made a hole theory surrounding this specific sprite

[@aizpm]

Oh I feel like you would love "His empire of dirt" by pearlandpine they write such a compeling William

[@miiilowo]

I've been recommended it a couple times but I'm not a big fanfic guy

[@avacadotoast5571]

I'll definitely check it out! Thanks 👌

[@Notarobot1006]

There's this idea that a villain being remotely sympathetic or having any kind of good qualities either at present or in their past 'ruins' them and is some attempt by the writers to retroactively justify all the evil things they did. Which is of course very silly. Sadly, the pushback to the perception of 'too many sympathetic villains' is the idea that a *good* villain must be pure evil. Which is why some fans latch onto the one-note William take. You don't have to wonder why he all that kid murder and mad science. He did it because he's evil, simple as. Was he ever something marginally approximating basic humanity? No, because he's evil. It's tempting because of how simple it is. But he shows up too often for the simple approach to work. There has to be more to him than showing up, turning pixels into ghosts, jumpscaring the player, and getting set on fire if you want him to be the main villain. The guy keeps showing up or being behind it all, or getting impersonated in /every single game/.Simple isn't good enough.

[@Pygargue00fr]

I had always wanted to believe that William's scientist shenanigans began after he killed Charlotte and the MCI because of plot logic, even if this might not be canon. Even trough Afton's first silver eye book was redconned in its sequels and later brough back for the movie, it's implied than that version of the character killled solely to ruin Henry's life, and from a logical standpoint this makes perfect sense: First he kills Charlotte to hit Henry directly, then the others in order to ruin the business, and in the first book he even uses the Fredbear suit (aka Henry's) to kill kids and have him being suspected of murder instead of himself, wich lead to Henry's suicide. (Both in game and book, albeit differently) To me William did everything he did up to that very specific point to break Henry like he hurts, and then upon figuring out thah his victims began to haunt the suits (after june 26 1985), he became so obsessed with the animatronics that he starts to study them and replicates them via the funtimes. William Afton is, for the most part, trying to bring fantasy and fun to life in the literal sense. As for his thirst on fear upon being Springtrap, it's less about science and more about being empowered by it. The story What we found explains that the agony stored inside of him is what causes the Phantoms to appear as trauma enduced hallucinations against the fnaf 3 night guard, presumably Micheal.

[@theanonymous4267]

Another thing that goes with him trying to remake his family is the weird bots scene in the pizzaplex. If we imagine him as controlling vanny (instead of the mimic) then that would be the SECOND time he tried to recreate his family using robots. How sweet(ig?)

[@Takejiro24]

And that's not even getting into the theory that Vanessa, Gregory, and Glamrock Freddy are William's (as Glitchtrap) attempts to recreate his family. I don't believe Gregory is a robot of Crying Child but his uncanny resemblance to his meek predecessor almost surely played a part in why Glitchtrap chose him. And Gregory being Patient 46 (as Tales' story GGY confirmed) means he fell under William's control much like Vanessa did. And while I don't think Vanessa herself is Elizabeth, Vanny, the alter ego, just might be since there has been a lot of evidence lately that connects the two (especially Help Wanted 2).

[@theanonymous4267]

@@Takejiro24 help whaaaaaat? I had no idea! This is nuts, i love it.

[@Takejiro24]

@@theanonymous4267 Yeah, MatPat made the theory sometime during Security Breach's debut. I'll give you the source if I can find it

[@theanonymous4267]

@@Takejiro24 yes please and thank you. I missed quite a few SB theories tbh-

[@Takejiro24]

@@theanonymous4267 Found it. It's "Game Theory: FNAF, The SECRET Afton (FNAF Security Breach)". Sorry for the late reply.

[@thatnoobbelike5054]

Thank you, William Afton has always been a very interesting character to me, and the questions you've answer in this video I've had on my mind forever, like his motivation etc, and I never expected him to like theatre and I think I have mixed opinions about that but I think I'm starting to like it lol (By the way the mic probably for some reason fit for me and felt like you were telling us this over a phone like phone guy and it was kind of cool )

[@PeaBrain87]

I got super fixated on Afton after I read The Silver Eyes because of the Spring Bonnie head scene. I always took it as something I've noticed in myself where if I wear sunglasses (or any type of glasses really) I get a lot more confident. Not because i think I look cool but because it puts a physical barrier between my eyes and other people's eyes. When I don't wear them I feel like they can see right through me and anything I do or say will be thoroughly observed. But if there's even the slightest barrier I feel like they can't observe me as well or at all. Idk I just feel like if I put a fursuit head on I'd say some goofy shit just cause I could😅😅

[@macdaniels9887]

11:00 I'm so happy you said this bc for years it just didn't click with me why everyone else was ready to let go and move on when the pizzaplex burned, but that explains perfectly why golden greddy was the one to keep william and trap him in his personal hell, GF doesnt have their body, everyone else does, everyone else has what they need to move on and find peace.

[@unholyscreeches8766]

Fnaf at freddys

[@miiilowo]

@@unholyscreeches8766 Many people are saying this

[@anonymous...2278]

I love video's like this. I like hearing about the character writing that is present in the story (of fnaf, because of how disjointed things can be). And for the main villain especially its interesting to see all the separate bits we get about him woven into a coherent summary. Amazing Work.

[@William._Afton]

I kinda miss Vincent from 2015...

[@bytesizedbai]

this was so nostalgic and intricately written, rly makes u think ^_^ love this so so much and it’s so nice to see our severe autism and special interests still going strong with this one bro

[@osprey_06]

i dont jnow who this person is but im in love with the bunny character design in the thumbnail that shit slaps

[@CawfeeCakes]

This is the first time ive heard his voice,,,is this what the fangirls are on about???

[@miiilowo]

Yes 👍

[@RileyLastname]

this video is such a great dissection, autism ftw. also i wanted to mention how much i appreciate the subtitles on this video :) great work

[@voidaspects9173]

oooh just finished this and I have thoughts! I don’t know if I necessarily agree with all of your interpretation here, but I want to preface this by saying that I’m by no means trying to debate you, your interpretation is valid, and this analysis is overall really well done! You did good and I can tell you put a lot of thought and work into this and I don’t want to undersell that! With that said, the interpretation that I’ve always preferred, personally, is that he’s a man with a lot of violent urges and tendencies that were initially there before any actual instigating events happened, which then manifested as him being pulled towards violent actions, even when desiring to do things out of love. His thoughts pull him toward violent solutions to his problems, he proceeds with actions that give him an excuse to act on violent impulses. I could see the argument that this is still simplifying him into someone who wants to do bad things for the sake of it, but I think there’s more nuance to it than that. Someone with pre-existing urges giving himself reasons to act on them, and letting that pull him down as things escalate. not that any of this necessarily contradicts anything that you said, the difference is subtle, but I think the distinction is strong enough for it to be notable. I think there’s only one thing that you stated that I strictly disagree with, and that’s that your interpretation sort of has him come to the conclusion that possession and such is viable on his own without any real precedent? Unless I missed something, but if I’m understanding correctly, it sort of feels like him seeking to use possession as a means to further his goals was an initial goal that just manifested as a given. I feel like it makes more sense if some example of spirits possessing the robots was moved earlier in the timeline. But it’s a bit difficult to do that with your interpretation of his downfall, because that sorta necessitates him having already committed murder before having a rational (“rational?” Idk you know what I mean lmao) reason to do it. I’d love to hear your thoughts on that, or alternatively if I missed something that made you come to the conclusion you did with his initial ideas. Also, as a final note, your mention of the sister locations animatronics paralleling the afton family was really cool, and I’d never considered that before. But also, I personally feel like it’s make more sense to have funtime freddy represent william, due to his especially violent tendencies, and funtime foxy representing micheal, due to micheal having his pre-existing association with foxy.

[@miiilowo]

I do like the idea of him already violent urges, I just think that the whole fredbearening sort of makes him snap and give into them (tho I didn't mention that in the video so. I get it). I put the events in that order because it feels like it makes the most sense from like. An emotionally satisfying standpoint? If that makes sense? But yeah, I honestly don't know where he'd get the idea to start experimenting with possession in the first place. Maybe he's just fuckin nuts idk. It is a hole in the logic of my overall interpretation of him, but idk how to patch over it and still have it all tie together nicely. Maybe the mimic game will fix this for me instead of making everything worse, who knows

[@voidaspects9173]

@@miiilowo that’s so valid, yeah! Also I appreciate the response! ^^

[@emperorkiron3470]

My personal favorite interpretation of Afton is that he is not morally reprehensible at all. He is truly an evil person with no redeemable qualities as a human being whatsoever. If anything I imagine he used the death of his children not as actual motivation to kill but instead excuses to justify his own belated psychopathy.

[@imsad8436]

This is for sure now my favorite video lol I could listen to you talk about William Afton for hours honestly. I love that freak so much lmao

[@towersket]

Something I found interesting was the whole "shock collor" thing where you shock the sister location animatronics. A few questions that sloshed around in my head is "When did those get added? Were they always on the animatronics? Who added them?" If those were preinstalled when william worked on them does that possibly mean he could have been scared or wanted to take extra precautions of his creations? though that may not be the case and it may have just been a way to keep control of them, there's also the fact he may of not been the one to of added them at all(although it seems the most likely) These were the only thoughts i had about that but if you have any ideas i'd love to hear them too(please don't be mean i WILL cry like a baby)

[@miiilowo]

I haven't really thought about it tbh but the idea that he was scared of them and wanted to keep them under control definitely lines up with his character I think

[@Notarobot1006]

That might be one of the few instances of him actually successfully planning ahead. If he's going to make a bunch of killer robots (and possibly infuse them with the soul sauce of pissed off dead kids), he needs a way to make sure they don't easily kill *him.*

[@cd47art86]

I cant words things well right now but WOW this was SO GOOD! Ive been trying for a while to put into words how i think William is personality wise, and this is pretty close to how i read his character, and showed some sides i didn't realize before. I kept having to pause and write notes about it, it was so good

[@PhantomHouseplant2018]

This is so healing :) I've had a special interest in FNAF for a long time, but resisted being openly into it all because I was afraid I'd be bullied by kids at school. Having grown so much since the time I graduated high school 6 years ago, it feels really special to see someone who shares so much of my sentiments about this game and it's characters break it down so well 🧡

[@itshappyrain]

My silly, my comfort character. Thank you for making this!

[@cidermouse]

Nice choice of music using Weird Science, love Oingo Boingo!

[@merkyhg2741]

i agree with the fun time thing them being a reflection of Afton's family but i cant imagine him desgining Micheal as fun time Freddie or any fun time . fun time Freddie and bonnie would have to be cc and his puppet for me the fact thats its bonnie could be eluding to the fact that his plushy was talked through by William or the fact that William feels like he's in the palm of his hand looking for a way to put him back together again.

[@KingLAO2964]

From the thumbnail alone, I can already tell that this will be a gem. Subscribed

[@Smilycupcake_]

Your analysis of William Afton's obsession with dramatic action is very interesting, it's a new perspective for me!! I knew glitchtrap's move meant something 😂❤🎉

[@williamcolt1073]

personaly good video man. i think you hit a lot of notes i didn't think about in viewing the story, but are very well warranted. still id like a definitive conclusion on why William did what he did, grief doesn't strike the right nerve for me. to me it has to be deeper, like he got abused in his childhood or something. something that makes it a pattern weather than a random event. i look forward to seeing your future videos, i like your character alanlisis, and look forward to seeing more.

[@kibbypawbs]

as someone who LOVES analyzing character personalities and is one of many afton enthusiasts, this video is phenominal; it describes him perfectly (imo) and puts into words what i never could in terms of his personality and character development he's so embarrassing... what do you mean you're gonna fend off dead children by donning your rabbit fursona and then proceed to immediately die by springlocks

[@avacadotoast5571]

He's smart but REALLY stupid at the same time

[@Moldingwall]

Honesty these types of videos fuel my FNAF autism so THANK YOU lol, also if you plan to make a sequel to this pleaseee read the Silver eyes, the way it writes William and Henry is I think my favorite interpretation of these characters and I think you will get a much better idea from reading it directly than just seeing quotes from it (and the graphic novel version is pretty bad honestly, it just changes things around for no reason and is over all much worse) plus the audio book for it is free on Spotify or just here on KZbin! So again great video!!

[@miiilowo]

I have read it before, it's just been so long [

[@pyronei]

how dare you shove rebornica's art in my face after 10 years. i thought i was free.

[@MrBubble169]

29:36 william honestly should work as a horror attraction employe (the type who scare people at the ride or smth)those people are monters

[@miiilowo]

@@MrBubble169 I have two friends who work at a haunt I can confirm this

[@sophitiaofhyrule]

A headcanon I really like is that William doesn't actually care about CC, his true goal is achieving immortality because he knows someone like him will go to Hell when he dies.

[@GrapeBritain]

I love this video and relate so much to being fixated on william 😭 the entire reason i am sill in fnaf fandom is this horrific but intresting guy (as well and mike too) . Love how well organized the ideas are!

[@jaspergoe2517]

I might have missed something but if the only evidence that he "tries to do normal fatherly activites" (23:39) is that in the Into the Pit book he tries to do vaguely fatherly things I feel like that doesn't convince me. As mentioned the Spring Bonnie of into the pit is a vague formation of William's wants and desires, but you have two sources, the game and the book, and they directly contradict, the game william's wants and desires are clearly to murder oswald, not to do fatherly activities. If this video is supposed to be a dive into the book william's character than okay but when game lore and book lore contradict I tend to prioritize game lore.

[@miiilowo]

he can dual wield being terrible and awful and wretched and also like. idk. wanting to have breakfast with em. real life abusive parents aren't cartoonishly evil 100% of the time and that's the angle I like to go with for him personally

[@miiilowo]

It is also supposed to be bringing up evidence from the games + books + movie etc to piece together an overall idea of what he's probably like in the games, using material that isn't covered in the games to fill in blank spots

[@RobertoGarcia-kh4px]

This is beautiful, and finding out he can juggle like most of the way through blew my mind. I like his characterization in the movie a lot more now that i realize he has always been a theatre kid

[@MattJDave]

Great vid on ol Willy A. I love it when smaller creators make long form content, really feels like authentic old youtube.