FNaF 4 As It Was | How to Fracture a Timeline

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This is episode 4 of what is planned to be a multi-part series, covering FNaF games, and what the story was intended to be at the time of their release.This episode is about the complications of FNaF 4, and how it could have very well destroyed the FNaF canon.
Chapters:
Introduction - 0:00
Main Game Clues - 2:16
Lore Source 1: Minigames - 2:46
Lore Source 2: Out-of-Game - 8:37
What is FNaF 4's Story? - 12:15
Timeline - 18:30
What Was in the Box? - 21:04
What's Next - 23:30

[@radium6962]

God I cant think of fnaf 4 anymore without "NIGHTMARE GAS GO GO GO"

[@Seba12322]

Go go afton nightmare gas!

[@foncess]

Imagine if he just patched a better springtrap jumpscare into 3 and the series ended there. Would be a strange world

[@Anvekeen]

I'll never understand why he thought that that was a good jumpscare 😂

[@fossfox]

Funny enough, your conclusion is one I came to myself a week or so ago; 4's horribly written twist was the catalyst for every single game that came after to bend over backwards and lick its own butt trying to make its events make any sense. It really is sobering and depressing to realize, in retrospect.

[@SolarPhantom]

I personally think the easiest way to accept the dream theory is to approach fnaf 4 as an alternate ending/timeline to the franchise, with the addition of the bite of 83 cutscene being sprinkled into the main timeline.

[@Anvekeen]

Exactly! Since Sister Location, that's how I assumed one should interpret it if they want the lore to make any kind of sense.

[@daxican]

Wow this really puts into perspective how big of a turning point sister location was. The entire fnaf story as we knew it was a dream in the mind of a dying child fueled by fear that was based on simple misunderstandings. Since the community disliked this revelation scott was forced to somehow make the first 3 games real events without retconning fnaf 4 entirely. And thusly we're left with tons of clues and hints and lore bits that are completely useless and meaningless since the dream story doesn't exist anymore Really makes the whole elusive and daunting fnaf lore seem a lot more shallow, since it's all just trying to fix the damage that dream theory being retconned did to the story

[@brensnorf]

well, if it's any consolation, "dream theory" was only present in 4. its widely regarded the first 3 games, when they were released, were intended to be real world events.

[@lpfan4491]

Really, I'd have just retconned Fnaf 4 if I was Scott. A good chunk, like 70 to 80% of new content after it was more or less dedicated to "making it matter" while completely retconning it at the same time. Fnaf 4 broke its own back and the back of the entire storyline basically and the best way to fix the damage is to surgically remove it entirely.

[@brensnorf]

I agree. in scott's shoes, I would have tried to take things a different direction. I honestly love the sci-fi vibe in Sister Location, but it really sticks out like a sore thumb in comparison to the rest of the series. I certainly don't think this would be better than how scott handled it, but I probably would have looked at the response to dream theory and publicly said "okay, I think I'm going to separate this game from the story, so we can craft this series into something much better". I would have loved the later games to have cranked the paranormal horror to the max, but I suppose the sci fi is just how it is

[@higueraft571]

@@brensnorf >I would have loved the later games to have cranked the paranormal horror to the max, but I suppose the sci fi is just how it is Honestly, a way that IS currently possible post-Ruin (though i HIGHLY doubt Steel Wool would take that Spicy Take of a route) may be even spicier... Cassie dies, possesses Roxy, now we've got two sentient/self-aware beings in one body, Stitchwraith Style. A really fucked up fusion of the Sci-fi and Supernatural goings-on just mixing together. (Plus we'd get to *be* a Spooky Robot, and that'd be sick as hell) Which, if i got the story pinned (i likely dont, though do wonder how close or how far), said Sci-fi/Supernatural fusion would also have to contend with both Supernatural (Burntrap/William) *and* Sci-fi (Mimic) villains at the same time... Hell, there'd even be conflict between Cassie/Roxy, in regards to Kill/Help Greggory. Cassie would have (and *would* have if this route happened) died for him, while Roxy's first instinct is to try and murder him :V

[@prathmesh4662]

No there is no evidence that Dream Theory was ever the canon I don't understand why this myth still perpetuates the community Scott literally on his Fnaf steam post said Nobody was able to solve the story this time (Fnaf 4, the common consensus being Dream Theory) and should he even reveal the story because will the community accept it. To say Scott retconned the story is pretty disrespectful instead of just admitting people couldn't solve the story.

[@Baeath]

Scott after fnaf 4 be like: "We should take Fnaf 4 and push it somewhere else!"

[@GuyWolfGaming]

"That might just be crazy enough..... To Convolute This Whole Franchise!!"

[@InfalliblePizza]

Im personally not a believer in dream theory, but you made some solid points about it. It is a shame we’ll never know Scott’s original intentions with it. But hey, we got more games out of it, and at least we can kinda figure out the story now 😅

[@GammermanBob]

Honestly rewatching the game theory stream recently its pretty obvious Scott was pointing towards dream theory but fan backlash made him change it fnaf world basically says instead of it all being a dream it was just fnaf 4 gameplay that was a dream then minigames were real but also why Scott is the final boss and seems passive aggressive using it to vent his frustration of being unable to satisfy his community without adding more and thus why afterwards he did his own thing slowly drifting away from the community until the incident happened that fully pushed him away aside from the film

[@InfalliblePizza]

@@GammermanBob i dont think so. If i remember, the “four games, one story” quote was in response to matpat thinking fnaf2 wasnt real. If fnaf1-3 werent real, then the clue doesnt make much sense in context.

[@absolutechadd8895]

​@@InfalliblePizza You're not really making any sense. FNaF 1-3 being not real doesn't contradict what Scott said. Infact it does the opposite, it supports dream theory.

[@InfalliblePizza]

@@absolutechadd8895 it contradicts the context of what he was responding to, which was the idea that fnaf2 wasnt real

[@lpfan4491]

Honestly, I always just saw the dream-idea in a more fanficy light. Have it be an actual dreamworld formed in some kind of purgatory and we are golden. Sure, people would not be happy with Fnaf pulling a Link's Awakening on us, but it is not like it is particularly harder to believe than Spirits, sentient AI and that silly Fnaf 3 walltile puzzle that the MC just randomly figures out that helps in setting the spirits free. Of course, my personal superstance across the entire series is that Fnaf 4 simply wasn't a needed inclusion storywise either way. The entire reason it was made was not even storyrelated, it was that Fnaf 3 was not scary enough, so it really could have been an unrelated sequel. It may have been connected out of fear of keeping the IP alive for unrelated stories being milking, but argubly what Scott unintentionally did is more in line what I would actually call milking the IP to oblivion. Keep bringing back the old stuff to the point where it is so watered down and stretched out that it loses any kind of satisfying quality. UCN being as good as it is as a capstone is kind of a miracle in a way.

[@TheKnuckmin]

It's so obvious that "It's all a dream" was the original twist all along. I know it's a overplayed troupe, and it was understandable that everyone back then was against it, but seeing the absolute state that is the modern FNaF lore, I think we would have been better off just accepting dream theory as the final answer.

[@higueraft571]

>I think we would have been better off just accepting dream theory as the final answer. Technically, would have been better for FNAF 3 to be the end :V ...maybe with another FNAF 4 to tie up the loose ends with absolutely nothing answering them still. ...like the DCI.

[@lazycloud4684]

FNaF 4 will always remain my favorite! I still wish dream theory was real and had just stayed that way. But, then we would be without anymore FNaF content lol. It just was such a twist and as a kid I was so sure the series was over

[@charr420]

i find it funny that this game made a big deal of dream theory, but then sl and 6 immediately say that it isn't a dream

[@GlitchyTSP]

I never made the brain structure connection in FNAFWorld, but it's a very important note. The thing that caught my eye relating to this detail is that the frontal lobe, is the snow area, where it's hard to see and navigate. HMMMMMMMMMMMMM.

[@GammermanBob]

I mean it's pretty obvious that after fnaf world Scott stopped trying and simultaneously tried too hard with the fnaf series the story became to convoluted after world just because of fan backlash Scott fell back on what he knew how to do well which is Sci fi and then when the incident happened Scott got fully pushed away from his creation looking nothing like his original intentions simply because we as a community have taken this game series too seriously

[@wolfwaffle1011]

Honestly your interpretation of the box is great and you explained it really well.

[@raider2299]

Does the dream theory fully explain the “I will put you back together” line?

[@brensnorf]

whether in or out of dream theory, that line can mean the same thing, because presumably, that line was real, and was said by someone talking to the crying child in his coma. I don't think it's explained by the fact the rest of the series was a dream, but it isn't explained if the rest of the series is real either.

[@synapse6140]

I do think dream theory has a lot going for it, especially at the time of fnaf 4 (and world too). One question I had is if the puppet was the self-insert of the CC in the dreams, who are the night guards supposed to represent?

[@Free_Palestine_75]

Possibly his William or the guards he would've seen around the pizzarias?

[@Normania-is-here]

Maybe puppet was what cc was afraid he would become

[@rustyvull-i68]

I personally think that the sister's room being empty was relevant before, in the current narative is very unlikely for Elizabeth to die before Crying child so it isnt anymore but it used to be! The crying child's sister probably still died in dream theory, so the CC is not the puppet but the puppet's brother (explaning the visual connetions between those two characters and the complete absent of the puppet through all FNAF 4), CC's sister manifested on his dreams by the figure of the puppet while in the real world she manifested in the Fredbear plush The sister got killed, just as we saw in the take cake to children minigame, tho what the CC saw was indeed the person being helped climb into the springlock suit not her dead sister or anything otherwise there would not be explaination to the "what seen in shadows is misunderstood by a child" hint Then the sister tells his brother that she will put him back together and creates fnaf world on his brian or something, the sister is the yellow ayes and as you said makes the secret minigames of fnaf 3 and at the very end these two sibling get their happiest day by moving on and leaving behind their unfortunate deaths

[@henryallsup5771]

Honestly, this video series is so well put together that I think you made me genuinely appreciate the fnaf 4 dream story as you organized it. I never thought I would enjoy it but here we are haha. Good stuff dude🎉🎉

[@Pacca64]

*gasp* "WAS THAT THE BITE OF '87?"

[@Hex.A.Decimal]

As someone who once bought dream theory, I must HARD disagree after sifting and re-sifting through the clues given. That said, the ways this game can be interpreted are too wide and my takes will likely be too spicy. Another time if you would like. I promise a different perspective... one that has gotten me laughed off boards, yet I have grown more confident in over the years. Also, as a dataminer, the box contained an empty 9th night. So I would imagine a UCN prototype and alternate ending in line with 3. He put the pieces back together- or so the files of FNaF world told us. The way to solve the puzzle has changed, but the solution, while reconceptualized, is at it's core the same picture. A picture you have seen before.

[@brensnorf]

I mean, I’d still love to hear what you think. I actually avoided dream theory for years, and only began to agree with it when making this series. Idk, the fact that the boy with the balloon says "haha", the very fact Mangle is for some reason in 1983, and the fact Scott said in the Dawko interview that fans weren't happy with how the story was taken in 4, and thus he tried to change it, all really convinced me that was the only thing he could have been going for. But if you think there's another explanation, I’d love to hear it even if you think it's crazy.

[@Anvekeen]

Pleaase give us your theory ! I'm all ears

[@Hex.A.Decimal]

@@brensnorf The show inspired the new animatronics not vice versa- this happen irl with Mcdonalds crew iirc. It was show merch. (I have some of the old McD's cartoons my late grandma saved! They are blursed VHS tapes.) The business was already struggling and selling rights to stay afloat in '83 is what it meant, barely 'just a family diner' anymore. (Google the great Atari Crash of '83) Fazbear is 100% CEC. I will elaborate on this in your Sister Location video when I get there as it is DENSE but almost nessecary to get the full picture to understand the business politics at play. Fact as strange as fiction happened in Showbiz. But to summarize here as we don't need much for 4, Scott was laying out the business side to leave the door open for a more detached SL and fill some cracks in the timeline. The next short summary to the second question you bring up- simply put it was kinda a time paradox and Scott got cold feet as it is hard to explain. If the Crying Child didn't die- he would have woken to tell on the killer. The others could go free then. If he would have stayed in a coma with his consciousness split as an amnesiac- he would have eventually put the pieces together and all would move on, then he could pass, too. Only in death could we get the gameplay to get the bad ending that leads to the good ending. It is still kinda a coma dream, but more so the 'flipside' is, not the gameplay as a whole. Simple but complicated. (I pray that whole paragraph made a tad bit of sense, I rewrote it thrice) And I believe he became Golden Freddy. That is why he is completely gone in the good ending, never to have existed. Spared. The one child saved by one key. I don't think the kid was puppet. I think his twin sister was. I think Sammy, the none existent twin from TSE was originally the Crying Child. This is reason #2 why Scott changed it, he was afraid of the outcry the game fans would have with so much lore being found in book only. (A problem we are having now and dang was he right.) The next comment will be the contents of the box. They have in identity changed but are the very same. Also I am planning a fancomic with contents from this, so preview I guess? EDIT: THIS HINGES ON MY BELIEF IN THE COMPLETED NIGHT 9 the crying child would have lived as some achievement unlocked mirroring 3's good ending.

[@brensnorf]

I think this is certainly a cool idea. If i'm reading it right, you mean to say that the thing that the Crying Child reportedly saw was the MCI, and he was the only witness to it? and then, as such, when he died, the one witness was lost, so the box is kind of a schrödinger's cat situation of whether or not the CC lives to report on the killer? It's a cool idea, for sure, and while I certainly agree with the idea that the show inspired the animatronics, this still leaves plenty of questions. if the crying child is golden freddy, whatever happened to the fifth kid? I know there's a theory called "BVFifth" that states the bite victim was part of the MCI. Problem is though, CC wasn't lured away to a back room and killed, which is a key part of what we know of the MCI from the first game. Idk, as cool as your theory is, it hinges too much on the idea that BV was the fifth child in some way, which directly contradicts what we know of the MCI. Plus, we do see the back room of Fredbear's after night 4, and no Freddy's characters are there. It's just Fredbear and Spring Bonnie. So, how the missing children would have been stuffed into animatronics that didn't exist then, I’d certainly question.

[@Hex.A.Decimal]

@@brensnorf No... I didn't make myself very clear. Yes it is BV5th and yes I think he saw the MCI (or some of it), but that is part of the lead up to the box and good vs bad ending. Technically I suppose he could have just seen the first and the Springlock failures, just that he knew enough to get the place shut down and at least one person incarcerated. (Still makes more sense imo that ALL the memories in 3 are related to him and he saw quite a lot happen that was very bad. ShatterVictim) He WAS lured back, on screen! On the night before the party, he never left and was trapped in the Safe Room. Why would he be in there if not for that? I think he hid in that empty suit there, suspiciously headless and at his short level, and played dead. Thus survived. He may be a crybaby but that doesn't mean he is stupid, he may have good reason to cry. The MCI didn't happen at Fredbear's it happened at Freddy's. They were open at the same time in '83, it was a Sister Location. I'm grabbing from source codes and teasers on Scottgames here- FFD was bought out and handed the keys to Fazbear in between '82 and '83. There was at least one other location open at the time of the Springlock Suits. (FNaF3) (An aside note- Mangle and BB might have already existed at a Sister Location in '83! Not enough hard evidence but possible.) (Another aside note, CEC went bankrupt and was bought out by Showbiz in '83-84. More on that later.) FFD, which he can walk to, that his brother and father likely primarly work at and visit, is where we are in 4. If his father is Henry or William either one though, the kid probably visits the other places with them, too. Heck they probably bring home animatronics to work on from time to time. Getting to the box wait for it. The sister imo is Fredbear Plush and Puppet at this point. (If I can that video that actually included all my reasons someone dropped from heaven rencently I will link it later) Changed during SL and the cryin child got basically nerfed out of his own game because people pointed out the fifth kid paradox. Scott later spawned in a new vengeful kid for basic math that he did kinda overlook. (Me too, my dude.) Okay the box is now ready as I've given the pieces. It's a memory. A memory of watching a flashing TV at night, being hugged by your twin sister and older brother. Maybe you pop some popcorn. It's simple, but it's your Happiest Day. Now those people are the Afton kids. Originally it was Henry's family. But it was the same picture.

[@Audio_noodle]

i wonder how the phone call in fnaf4 matching fnaf 1 is supposed to mean if we assume dream theory. One thing that came to mind is, whether the crying child gave life and that caused the gameplay of fnaf 1 and 2, fnaf 3 is kind of a mystery.

[@bananamanjunior7575]

Yes!

[@SpaceCore2053]

7:35 Finally, a video that DOESN'T super impose that annoying ass Markiplier clip in afterward for "Comedic effect". Mad props.

[@Free_Palestine_75]

Honestly "it was all a dream" isn't that bad, is it cliché? Yeah but that doesn't make it bad, much better than how the story is now

[@lourdespachla6516]

Cool video *what is that hissing sound*

[@brensnorf]

the beast. the beast. the beast. the beast. the b--

[@user-vs6oe8fl3m]

I think that Dream Theory was never real tbh. The Scott Games messages were actually disproving to MatPat that Dream Theory is a thing. Scott didn't put random Easter Eggs into the games, MatPat was talking about red herrings.

[@brensnorf]

that first part actually isn't true-- MatPat made dream theory a couple months after the livestream that caused the ScottGames messages, and built his theory around those details.

[@user-vs6oe8fl3m]

@@brensnorf He was talking about Dream Theory wtih his friend during the stream though! He literally said to Scott that he doesn't like it but it seems that all of this points to it being just a dream.

[@cowboybarbaryn1302]

Considering what the state of the story is today I find FNAF4’s it was all a dream version of events to be more satisfying actually. Because if you lay out all the plot and events of everything together it starts to become a really messy and not that great story.

[@rr.4942]

really good video very enjoyable but PLEASE for the love of your viewers get yourself a pop filter

[@brensnorf]

I have one now! this was the final video without one

[@TacticaLLR]

Hii

[@AarontheAnnoying2]

u sound like tryingtoohard

[@LacklusterFilms]

Breadcums 11:33

[@brensnorf]

WHAAAAAT OH NOOOOOO I think that's the worst mispronunciation I’ve ever had