Was Michael Afton the VILLAIN?! | FNAF Theory

[@HulluitsCece]

I personally want to believe that Michael is just as much a victim as the others. That even though he was always picking on his little brother he still cared for him. And that yea he was helping his father William, but once he learned what his father was doing he then choses to work hard on stopping his father from committing anymore crimes.

[@Lumberjack_king]

exactyly

[@anime_world6684]

Yeah that’s what I thought to but why do you think Michael is not a victim to William

[@madamplatypus313]

Seriously, there’s a HUGE difference between “evil” and “just being a dick”.

[@purplepedantry]

Well, he may have actively idolised his father for attempting to bring back his brother despite all odds, so he likely felt indebted until he realised 'This is BOLLOCKS', and left.

[@HulluitsCece]

@@anime_world6684 oh he is definitely a victim of his own father for sure. especially having to deal with those nightmare animatronics

[@internetdegenerate4937]

Personally I'd describe Michael Afton as an Anti-Villain. He just wanted to help his father, as he's obviously freakin horrified of him.

[@purplepedantry]

And probably manipulated by him, likely to the point of doing all these things for him. Mike must have seen his father's experiments as the best way to atone for his brother's death.

[@tayloranderson7547]

For real life.

[@the_great_thinker6430]

i think the experiments also explain why micheal is so good at the nightguard position. canonically, micheal survives all the games first try, which is INCREADIBLY difficult to do as a player. but he has years of experience, essentially doing the same thing. he's in a cramped room, trying to stop things from getting inside with him.

[@indigoTwilight1967]

Agreed. Especially since FNAF 4 nightmare section is erily similar to FNAF playthrough.

[@longfishy]

Yes, with bonnie and chica each coming down their respective halls, and then Fredbear being able to come down both. Actually, maybe FNAF 4 is three different experiences... Like we see CC nightmares with Nightmare as death personified, Michael being experimented on, and then Michael's trauma from FNAF 2 and 1 on top of this, hence the phone calls we hear.

[@bellslimes]

William inadvertently created the perfect weapon against himself in the form of Michael

[@Tony_409]

Not to mention he wouldn't die from being stuffed inside an animatronic suit either

[@kiracomments-chca2747]

"incredibly"

[@seskridge5821]

rye: *talking about death and spirits* cat: 👁️👅👁️

[@Alex-hq3yi]

I swear I could see Rye's arm turning red

[@sirsnek3933]

I love the kitty😢

[@nicheofnight]

I wonder if Afton's nightmare experiments were his attempts to gather agony without actively killing any more people. Maybe he hoped that agony without remnant would create a living animatronic that was more easily controlled.

[@indigoTwilight1967]

That is a theory worth exploring.

[@longfishy]

Yeah, but it makes sense for William to discover agony after remnant. Agony seems to have a higher burning point, and remnant is the soul, whereas agony is the suffering of that soul. Seems to me that William would most likely cause and then learn about agony due to the experiments he was doing with remnant in the first place.

[@Tony_409]

Either that or maximize the amount of remnant he could get from a person if they have been living in constant fear for years.

[@longfishy]

@@Tony_409 Yeah, definitely an effective way, deliberate or not, to get agony. Who knows, maybe the fun times have the remnant of the MCI and also the agony from Mike dreaming. This could have served as a way for William to experiment while Circus Babies was being built.

[@purplepedantry]

I'm partial to the idea that he gave Michael a re-creation of his brother's experiences to both guilt Michael and do the experiments you've talked about.

[@Halo44327]

I mean he can be both the villian and the hero. A villian who was a victim of manipulation and became a hero through development.

[@NaraShikamaru21]

The fox and bear cutscenes from UCN heavily imply this as well. The Bear (Henry) acts alone. The Fox (William) is paired with another animatronic that looks just like him (Mangle/Michael).

[@Takejiro24]

Here I was thinking those were metaphorical regarding Michael (Foxy), Crying Child (Freddy), and Elizabeth (The Mangle).

[@birdmcturd1626]

“Feed the dog. Oh wait,you are the dog”

[@LewsTherinTelescope]

I don't think he entirely _knew_ because the Logbook suggests that he notices everything being freaky but nobody will give him answers. I do think though that William sent him as Fritz Smith and this helped kickstart his "okay what the hell is going on" journey though. Unsure whether going as Mike Schmidt was him trying to figure out what his dad had wanted with that request or just William sending him back again, but either way it seems to end with him confronting William and William finally telling him a decent amount + giving him another job (Sister Location).

[@Gari-Kun]

i love the cat kisses.......thats my contribution to this comment section

[@pencilonpaper1026]

so real thanks for the contribution

[@Gari-Kun]

@@pencilonpaper1026 you're welcome 🐈‍⬛

[@alexcat6685]

9:52 found it greatest part of the video.

[@fluffygoose5124]

I always thought Mike was trying to help William at one point (since he followed his instructions in fnafsl) but later turned on him and tried to kill him in FNAF3/pizzeria simulator.

[@Odyssey_Central]

Personally I think Michael’s motivation to work at the fnaf 2 location comes down to Elizabeth. I’m assuming Mike doesn’t know how she died, as far as William likely told him she just went missing. So then fnaf 2 comes around and five more kids go missing at another one of his father’s restaurants. Maybe he then decides to go investigate to find the killer from there. Mike in the movie was really set on trying to find who kidnapped his brother, so maybe Scott was going for that in the games too

[@b-a-b-y1720]

I definitely think that Michael was put in a parental-role position by Afton, considering the story Come Closer-wherein the older brother resents his younger brother because he's always the one having to take care of him because of an absentee father, resulting in him bullying him. Not saying Come Closer is a one for one parallel, but I think it's trying to tell us something!

[@t3chbr0shadow]

Omg, what if Michael got indoctrinated. Vanny could be our new Michael parallel, but from a new angle

[@adammurphy5699]

“Dont bring a gun to a knife fight” -William Afton

[@ethbeatthem4836]

Well I think Micheal was used twice total to help William, FNAF 2 and FNAF 1 costume nights and he didn't realize why his dad was asking him do this but he probably was hoping to gain some attention and love from his dad, FNAF 4 recreation Nightmare was what got Micheal to change his mind after helping covering up evidence that could've been used against William. Then FNAF Sister Location the goal was to get rid of Micheal.

[@nateno8965]

But A problem with your theory is by Fnaf one I'm 90% sure William is springlocked and he needs to be alive to tell Michael Go to SL so I think if we take that into account it probably went something like; CC dies not to long after Charlie dies later that night William finds Michael ran off again so he decides to throw him in the test chamber. After a couple years in there William uses Michael to either help hide evidence that the DCI was him or collect remnant from the animatronics(or both) then puts Micheal back in the chamber, William opens SL and after a couple years of remnant experimenting he ran out. SL crew aint getting enough so either he tells Michael to go "put her back together" before or after he goes to disassemble the OG crew but either way he gets springlocked and SL happens, Micheal now dead trying to find William (and prob knows what he did) applies to be the Night-Guard at Freddy's then trying to free the kids the least damaging way he knows how removing the remnant but gets fired for it so burns the place down

[@ethbeatthem4836]

@@nateno8965 I never brought that up, but I think William was Springlock After Sister Location event, right after. This is mainly due to me thinking the movie and some FNAF AR emails might have Vanessa be an Afton, and with Bill be the father name and her birth in 97 then I think William was alive longer then we though at first. Also we all have our own ideas but mainly I don't think "Oder" was ever a hint and Baby was telling the truth being down there for years.

[@mariov3515]

The main problem I personally have with this timeline is the MCI being CC's bullies. When FNAF 4 first released, that was my first thought, but the more you think about it, the less it fits. MCI would have to be 4-5 kids, and in the last fnaf 4 minigame, there are 4 kids, 1 of which is Mike, so that would leave 3 of them, doesn't add up. Then we have Susie, who doesn't seem to fit with any of the fnaf4 bullies, and just doesn't make sense why Afton would target her in this timeline, unless he wanted a trial run or something, so her being first kinda works. And then you have the vengeful spirit, who in this timeline, imo, wouldve accidentally seen Afton kill the bullies, Afton sees the VS, so to leave no witnesses, kills them too, hence, "the one you shouldn't have killed". So it kinda works, its just veeeery stretched. Or not. It's fnaf, who knows.

[@Takejiro24]

I thought RyeToast meant the kids around the neighborhood who talk to C.C.

[@mariov3515]

@@Takejiro24 that one to me feels even more circumstancial, just doesn't seem quite right, but I guess it could work.

[@InfalliblePizza]

Fnaf6 poster implied this imo

[@hyliancake]

You’re so right! Woah, I’ve seen so many chalk up the ventriloquist and the puppet in the poster to just mean ‘Micheal looks like his dad so he’s portrayed as a mini-William’… I just ran with that explanation, I didn’t think too hard about it. But looking back. There was a much more obvious meaning wasn’t there 😅

[@socrates546]

That implies him as his puppet.

[@Nicholas-vm6mh]

@@socrates546 exactly

[@Takejiro24]

Interesting. What do you guys think the clown (Elizabeth) holding the bear (Crying Child) on a leash could mean?

[@socrates546]

@@Takejiro24 The bear wasn't cc it was molten Freddy

[@porcelainchips6061]

Listen to the opening cutscene dialog of Sister Location; it suggests that Fazbear Entertainment has "obtained" Baby, but that they are interviewing/talking with her creator about "certain design choices we just don't understand". I feel like this all suggests Afton sold-off the Funtimes to Fazbear Entertainment after Baby's Pizzaworld shut down (Baby, in this opening cutscene, already has Green Eyes). This means Afton could have been Spring trapped anytime after selling Baby, if that's what he did. And this could explain Afton's complicated relationship with Fazbear; the Funtimes/Baby Pizza World might have been his second-attempt (after Fredbears) to run his own place and it may have financially destroyed him when it had to shut down.

[@Daymondcat]

Theory: Michael dieded (scooped) and then worked at fnaf1 game and fnaf2 game, and the reason being fired is his smell, not because he was close to the bodies, he is the one who is smelly, with his died body (sister location "scooped"). And if he the one we play with in fnaf2, so he eventually the one who every night wearing the suit to protect himself, and he the one who will become springtrap. Michael is the "yellow man", William sitting on the sofa, the crying child escaped. William watching "that's not my child". "Baby" can recognize William as well.

[@whitefang1657]

There's a pretty compelling hint towards this in fnaf 6. In one of the random cutscenes you can get of animatronics in the back alley, there is a poster in the background. It depicts a dancing bear, a circus clown, and a ventriloquist holding a wooden doll. Both the ventriloquist and the doll are dessed in purple, and the doll looks very similar to the ventriloquist. The expressions on the bear and clown are maniacal and animalistic. The ventriloquist looks gaunt and grim with sunken eyes. The doll looks somewhat innocent and unaware, a stark contrast to the man whose face it shares. This seems to be a metaphore for the afton family. The bear and clown represent the crying child and elizabeth who are possessing animatronics. Both of whom act violent and animalistic. Then we have the grim faced ventriloquist, william afton *controlling* the unaware doll, micheal afton.

[@pabloraulpereyra4948]

4:00 at this point he has been a zombie for 30 years. Probably he needs to rest too

[@blueberryelf1150]

Big fan of Mike being a Williams pupet. Connects the games together very well. It also makes Mike present in every game.

[@Glossy_Mossy]

What if "When I found you, you were small, weak, pathetic" and all that was DIRECTED at MIke, that's a thought that just got brought to my mind because of this theory.

[@Lightman0359]

My only issue is the timing of Elizabeth before Charlie, or more specifically the existence of the... bonus features of Baby, before the Puppet. Why are there murder-bots before the first MCI?

[@alauriseflyn]

My guess is that the FNAF community exists to come up with a fitting story if Scott runs out of new plots to add. 'Cause it feels like we're adding to the story that already exists, and it gives Scott ideas on what to make. What if we're working to help generate his story for him? What if we're the human equivalent of generative AI making starter concepts?

[@Spencycle]

Scott doesn't work on Fnaf anymore. But even then, I don't agree with this at all. We'd have to be pretty dumb to be coming up with ideas BASED ON WHAT HE GAVE US but somehow be giving him new ideas that weren't there before. Fnaf gets accused of retconning or stealing ideas from fans way too much, and I'm not here for it.

[@benwelsh5265]

Hah, knew this was going to be your next theory after your sudden brainwave during that stream regarding Movie Vanessa and Michael Afton.

[@nihilism4901]

Like Gregory, He's an antagonistic protagonist.

[@phoneguy4637]

Last not least, Michael has no reasons to have nightmares about the toy animatronics - but CryCry does: the neighbour kids constantly tell CryCry horror stories about the animatronics allegedly killing kids and hiding their bodies. Last not least: CryCry witnesses William putting an employee into the freddy suit. and what did Scott Cawthon say? Oh, right: "Things happening in shadows can easily be misunderstood in the eyes of a small child". CryCry thought he was witnessing Freddy eating a person!

[@_askew]

And that last point is supported by Nightmare Fredbears “stomach teeth”

[@razer4472]

No one has nightmares about the toy animatronics though?

[@mfknbumblebee]

I still don’t vibe with the DCI. Those victims never get mentioned after that minigame. I think Scott just couldn’t decide when the MCI occurred lol

[@mylam658]

​@@livey5063if Fredbear's bite was 87's, that would also be contradicting what Phone Guy said about it in FNAF 1, it being the reason the animatronics don't move around during the day anymore. Fredbear was just still on his stage, not moving.

[@Sonicmid]

Nah the DCI needed to exist because Scott didn’t have an explanation for the toys.

[@Doddser]

I think it's really frustrating because the DCI is never mentioned again, but to me there's just no way Scott was trying to tell the story of the MCI being in 87. He very clearly references old rumours and the smell from the retired Withereds, and the mini games show us Foxy Go! Go! Go! with 5 dead kids in a location where Foxy still operates. I think Scott was worried people wouldn't accept the Toys if they weren't haunted, so he created the DCI to give them spirits (which could also explain the Bite of 87). Admittedly, Scott does often seem to start developing with one intention and then eventually realises it's a contradiction so he changes it to be a new event before release (I'm looking at you Bite of 83). This could be that sort of situation, but the DCI is undoubtedly a separate event. Where those spirits go is seemingly left unanswered (I suppose the Toys were just scrapped so their souls were released???) which is of course unsatisfying, but this is what happens when you develop a story one game at a time and focus all your energy on being mysterious

[@OneAndOnlyMikaelYT]

​@BlockieStudios what's the DCI

[@TheWizardMus]

​@@OneAndOnlyMikaelYTthe DCI refers to the 5 dead bodies lying out and about in the FNaF2 location during the Save Them minigame, since these bodies weren't stuffed in suits(because Freddy is active in that minigame blah blah blah) it's not the MCI, assuming Scott didn't make a mistake by including a second set of 5 dead kids in his series about 5 specific dead kids

[@Glossy_Mossy]

William brought a knife to a gunfight, and won.. Until he got springlocked [Movie reference]

[@Bigddalt]

Do you think that lefty could be a refurbished carnie? This is a very long shot, im talkin 100 yard football kick, but it's just some fun thoughts that could conjure up something in the community. If you look at burnt carnie's model, you can just barely see that his right eye is more withered. You may have to squint. But say that at that time his right eye got replaced because it was the most damaged of the two, after decades of collecting dust and rotting away, the untouched eye could have decayed to the point of becoming black. As Henry repared carnie to become lefty, the original eye may have stayed or been replaced with a new black eye for a unique touch. A more realistic approach could be the lefty's design is INSPIRED by his burnt orginal. The eye rotted eye i just mentioned could have inspired the black eye detail. One specific character of that I think could drive home this theory is the color. Burnt carnie is a muted brown with white char accents. But if you were to scrape all of burnt plastic off, you be left with a black tarnished metal. Notice that lefty is not solid black, but a metalic, gun metal black. I think it is possibe that lefty is either a repaired version of carnie, with it's new design based on the chared scraps of the original, or lefty was a completely different animatronic who's build was inspired by the remains of his counterpart. By the location of Fazer Blast and hint we see, I think that carnie was most likely a part of Fall Fest(most likely the 1970 event) if so, do you think it's possible that carnie was one of Henry's first animatronics. That was a whole decade before our first look at fredbears. Whether or not Fredbear's opened before 1983. I highly doubt that it was an establishment before 1970. I noticed that there is no sign of Freddy’s or Fredbear's on the poster. Which leads me to believe that this fall fest may have predated everything. The running theory is that the mediocre melodies were his first animatronics, made to rip off Freddy’s fame. But being that we see an animatronic a decade before that, that closely resembles one of his final animatronics. It really seems that carnie could be his first. Here's some food for thought. Henry has been deemed a copycat in the early timeline for the mediocre melodies. But if he made his first BEAR animatronic at a children's theme event in 1970, is he really the copycat? If William stole the idea and made Fredbear's, and Fredbear's became as big as it did. No one would bat an eye at a small carnival with a simple bear animatronic. I don't know if I like this idea, but I'm just throwing everything I got to see what sticks. Is it possible that William set the carnival on fire to one, preventing it from becoming more successful. And two, to take that idea and reuse it for himself. I don't think he was pure evil at this point, or really evil at all. But it's still just a thought. I don't really think that lefty is a remade carnie. I think it's possible that the design could have been inspired by the withered design. But I doubt that they put that much thought into a connection like that. I am pretty confident, though, that carnie was most likely the first and that Henry was never really the copycat. But more so, tried to reclaim the ideas stolen from him later on after William's fame.

[@lc3670]

I mean, mediocre melodies could still be first as we don’t know when they were made, just that they appeared in pizza sim

[@scribblpad]

Whether it was intentional or not, this is still super interesting

[@lc3670]

@@scribblpad it obviously is intentional, at least the connection between carnie and lefty, they legit have the exact same pose and model in the animatronic showcase.

[@qwaielgaming6139]

I really like this theory, I think Michael atoning for both William’s sins and his own (working for William) fits really well!

[@TrollTerminator]

9:20 Fritz’s only appearance is during the custom night and gets fired on his *FIRST DAY* meaning that the custom night could take place years later.

[@paperfadora7709]

I find it funny the idea William is the one saying “Mike, I need you to go to the FNAF 2 location!”

[@elusiveenn972]

My only problem with this is that the "Fake ending" of sister location is not canon and micheal couldnt have known about the experiments without going to that room cuz how would he get scooped after if its implied ennard just kills you and the scooper kept him alive

[@The_Cams]

This actually ties quite nicely with a theory I've had for a while about the candy cadet stories in pizza sim. See, all of the stories have 3 different roles involved, first of, a killer of sorts, and 5 keys/children/kittens that end up merged into one* and lastly someone who is the one that merges the keys/children/kittens together. it always struck me as weird that the only thing we as a community took out of the stories is that the killer, William, ended up merging 5 things together (presumably MCI, but could be other victims) But we didn’t realize that in the stories it's not the killer that merges them into one, it's also worthy to note that the merger, if you will, is asked to pick one of the 5 options to either save or kill but they refuse to do so, resulting in the death of all 5**this could be a description of how the dynamic was between william and Michael for killing children, Michael had to pick a child for william to kill and when he refused, William killed all 5, and then Michael was instructed to merge them into one, by taking the metal from the animatronic with the victims and smelting it into remnant, * in the story about the young woman and the 5 keys, it's not the actual children that are merged into one but a representation of them, that being each of the 5 keys that corresponded to each child that could be saved ** technically this isn't explicitly said in the story ab the man and the five children, but all children lived in different places and he is afraid that the burglar will pick one of their houses to break into so he adopts all five of them and they live in his house, only the burglar ends up picking his house to rob killing all children. so it could be interpreted as him not choosing one child to protect and instead trying to protect all five and failing.

[@EZAblinG]

The cat kissed 🤌 having a proper good ol' lick, so many mlems 😂🤣

[@Anima--L]

3:30 Honestly I really believe that because Henry apparently declared anyone who found his secret plans insane and had them sent away, that he was totally lying about the way out and he was just ready to totally gonna merk any poor dude. Honestly Henry seems like more of a villain.

[@ThisIsAHandle-xz5yo]

When does it say Henry declared anyone who saw his secret plans insane

[@phoneguy4637]

Also, the way the nightmare animatronics approach the player is the exact same way CryCry was approached by Michael and his bully gang: bonnie-bro from the left, chica-bro and freddy-bro from the right. and Foxy approached CryCry from the front - just as CryCry was jumpscared by Michael.

[@DelphiBellatrixRiddle]

The problem I have with Michael being the one the nightmare experiments were done on is the player's height. We're quite short, a kid, while Michael would've been at least a teen and much taller. Also using Michael as a test subject would've been risky since he had friends and could've told someone. How a teen/young adult would tell that their dad locked them in a secret bunker with hallucigenic gases pumped in as a human experiment is much more believable than how a little kid would tell the same thing. But then how does Michael know about the nightmare experiments and what about the fnaf 1 phone call? Well this is where Alone Together comes to play. It explains the signs of being haunted by a ghost which include *having memories that aren't yours*. CC apparently haunts Michael (It's Me -messages) so Michael should be experiencing these signs. I hope you notice this

[@thekingslayer2178]

As cool as this theory is, I’ve never vibed with it. I think *The Immortal and the Restless* and its mention in the logbook show us that Michael was investigating Fazbear and his father, represented by the *purple-suited* Dracula, was denying anything paranormal.

[@MidStar_gamer95]

People have theorized about this a lot that Michal worked with William Afton/Springtrap in fnaf 3

[@Lumberjack_king]

i think he could be like how vannessa is in the movie reluctanly doing his fathers bidding making him a victim of williams manipulation

[@lunasmith4420]

I really, really enjoyed this video!! I’m autistic and FNAF (particularly Michael) is one of my special interests, and I was handflapping the entire time I was watching!! I love this angle of the story-it seems so narratively compelling to me. You’re one of my favorite fnaf theorists and I love your stuff!!

[@adoniiisedits366]

We see william taking the remnant out of every animatronic except for golden freddy, what if william scoops the remnant out of golden freddy and doesn't put it anywhere, and it ends up on michael, like that the journal would make sense (by having the 3 people in the same book), the nightmares could be memories of the crying child and he would be punished by cassidy with those nightmares because she/he thinks that michael is william afton

[@adoniiisedits366]

The 2nd option is william separating the remnant between cassidy and cc when he scoops golden freddy, so maybe only cc or cassidy is in michael, probably only cc with his memories if cc was the victim of william's experiments, or just a punishment of cassidy towards michael (thinks that it's william), being kind of similar to ucn, putting the 4 animatronics in which he put the missing children

[@lilaccreeper2005]

Loving all the cat kisses and also the weird cuts they make when the cat is mid lick lol

[@br2891]

I believe it's more likely that Henry opened up a new Freddy's to get William caught on camera, as it was likely he'd come back

[@orangetachyon2509]

I still havent finished the video. But when you mentioned about Michael Afton having nightmares, it reminded me to Movies Mike, he also suffered from his nightmares during the entire movie...

[@thisnameanothername2156]

you kinda forgot about immortal and the restless, it puts micheal in a much more active role and implies that afton had to put afton down in Sl because he admitted someone was up with either the animatronics or baby, as that is what happens in the show and micheal does identity with clara in the logbook

[@phoebeyates5699]

I really like your take on the 5 victims being the other bullies, it gives a much more human element to the lore than a lot of theories without being too complicated

[@ThisIsAHandle-xz5yo]

There were only 3 bullies though, meaning he killed 2 innocent people for little to no reason

[@sammirenegade]

Fun fact: the voice actor for Michael and William are the same person.

[@mfknbumblebee]

Surprised pikachu face

[@Cloudedits0]

Surpised pikachu face

[@andreil3027]

theoretically, the remnant has healing properties which regenerated his organs and skeleton back

[@teentraveler1790]

This is basically what I have had in mind on Michaels's whole lore. And you did wonderfully in explaining it all. Really enjoyed it! :D

[@loganentertainment1814]

In the world of FNAF, there is never a true hero, only flawed here’s. Michael is a flawed hero, Henry is a flawed hero, and even Cassie is a flawed hero. Why I think Cassie is a flawed hero, is that she goes into the ruined Pizzaplex, which is trespassing, takes the Vanny Mask, The Flashlight, and the Roxy walkie talkie, which is looting, and mentions that, “Maybe I should call the police”, but mentions it after she’s already inside the building, and doesn’t even consider calling the cops to begin with.

[@longfishy]

I do like this theory, however there are two things that stick out to me - Elizabeth's death, and Circus Babies. The way Rye describes it is strange. Also Henry doesn't open FNAF 2, as phone guy says that they are gonna try to contact the original owner of the Diner - Henry. Here are the order of events I think makes sense: Bite happens. Charlie dies. Michael gets tortured by FNAF 4/CC's memories. William hunts down his friends that helped cause the bite, this causes the MCI. Puppet helps the first possesions. FNAF 2 opens, William wakes Mike from his Nightmares and asks him to work there and tamper with the animatronics to get the place shut down. He tampers with their facial recognition systems and gets fired. William takes over. Jeremy dies due to the tampering. William causes DCI. William theorizes that the toys and withereds are possessed, as he worked there and saw them act strangely, especially when he caused the tampering and DCI. William sends Mike to work at FNAF 1 while sister location is built, to look over the haunted animatronics. By this point, Michael is still having his Nightmares, if not worse. We know this because we hear a phone guy call in the background of FNAF 4. William experiments with the remant from the melted animatronics. Could be the toys, but prob the orginals, as we know the toys were scrapped back in 1987. Elizabeth gets scooped. William goes back for the suit to control the aggression from the Funtimes and gets springlocked. Some remant still haunted the animateonic shells we see scattered about. Due to the absence of William, Mike follows his emergency plan to free Baby if William is suddenly not around anymore and SL happens. Cue the rest of the timeline.

[@aishisufuyu5961]

I don't think Michael possessed himself. That seems inconsistent with how remnant works. He was injected by remnant and it most likely healed him. Also, the log book was most likely or at least possibly written in and owned by Michael before FNAF3 because at the start of FNAF3, Phone Dude says something to allude to the guard having already worked a few days there.

[@Sir_Paco_IX]

I am truly sorry that I dont know/remember the name of the cat you were holding during the vid but he (or she idk) was so so so cute, at some point licking you was really fun to see (and the look and his face). Such a lovely cat!!!

[@MusiciansRule07]

Nah, he's not a Villain but he's not a Hero. He's a person who is wrestling with guilt over causing the lethal Bite to his brother (Evan, to me...) and that guilt plus likely experimentation on him led to him feeling obligated and emotionally blackmailed into doing whatever William wanted, especially after he realized that Baby was possessed by Elizabeth, another sibling he failed to protect. After realizing that his father sent him down there to die in his place like the snivelling coward he's always been, he broke free of the emotional blackmail (narcissistic abuse???) and made the fully conscious choice to hunt his father down so nobody else gets hurt and he can free his brother and Cassidy from Golden Freddy once he realized they were in there, making the realization of where the other MCI kids are plus the DCI kids plus anything Fazbear linked like the Rockstars or El Chip. He wants it all Gone and once he realized that Henry was doing what he was doing, he took the gig and went down with the ship so he could be Free too and finally make amends with his brother in the afterlife while putting his sister down because she was too far gone. FNAF 4 makes it impossible for him to be a Hero but he's not a monster like dear ol' Dad. He's an Antihero looking for Redemption.

[@fandomotaku9921]

I would like to point out that throughout the voicemail in SL, we can hear Michael smiling. He doesn't sound like someone out for revenge, he sounds pleased with himself, confused at places, then determined. He sounds a bit eerie on the "I'm going to come find you", but it still doesn't feel vengeful to me. As for the nightmares, I personally believe that Michael wasn't the one who originally experienced them. At the time when they would have happened, 1983 already passed (thus the password), and Michael would have been a teenager. In the gameplay of FNaF 4, our player character is shorter than the doorknob, a child. Michael couldn't have been that young when those experiments took place.

[@BoliVic96]

I think this might be one of my favorite videos, but that's probably becasuse it's the closest I've seen to my headcanon

[@TheCollector2401]

Outside of Michael being the Nightmare test subject this is what I’ve been saying about Mike for years now. Heck TUG basically tells us this is Mikes character arc on one of its pages, but for some reason people brushed it off because it didn’t fit their head canon of mike always hating William

[@RainyCarnival]

Are we sure about the Dead kids incident? There being 6 bodies could be a reference to the to the 5 MCI victims and Charlie, and not it’s own incident. Are we sure that this is an actual event that takes place?

[@Takejiro24]

It would explain why the Toy Animatronics display behavior reminiscent of possession.

[@RainyCarnival]

@@Takejiro24 I’m pretty sure that was due to their programming, right? I’m pretty sure the toys aren’t possessed

[@HerSandiness]

Kitty TOTALLY stole the show this time, Rye. 😂🐈‍⬛

[@GendoRokabundi]

I like the general idea of the timeline, with Dittophobia and the movie (and the novel trilogy to some extent), William is often portrayed as manipulative, especially with children. If the Vanessa therapy story about “Bill” using her to testify against her own mother is relayed to William, or just Glitchtrap’s control over Vanessa, that continues that trend. So Micheal being manipulated by William until he gets scooped works with the overall portrayal of William. Not to mention the family “portrait” depicting William and Mike as ventriloquist and dummy. It’s not just that Mike looks like his father, but that he’s been his puppet at one point in time. If there were multiple simultaneous fear experiments running, perhaps William targeted the other bullies. If Bonnie Bully’s home life was such that he could go missing for large chunks of time without his parents caring, maybe even dismissing him as a runaway, or perhaps he was in the foster system, and getting close to gang out anyway. Basically, he was a risk that William felt he could take without getting caught. This would mean that both “Jeremy” and “Fritz” were tasked with getting jobs at the FNAF2 location by William. Maybe it was his own twisted joke to give them the names of the children he stuffed into the characters they were wearing masks of on the day of the bite of ‘83. William would probably be the only one to know not only the names of the missing children, but which kid was stuffed where. So Bonnie Bully using Jeremy and Mike using Fritz isn’t a coincidence, but a cruel jest for William’s own amusement. Jeremy gets bit and disappears from the story until he recovers, starts a new life, has a kid, gets a job at the pizzaplex, starts obsessing over arcades, etc… Mike continues on helping his father do ‘research’ at the FNAF1 location, and gets William’s note of what to do if he seems to disappear for too long, leading to sister location, scooping, fire and more fire…

[@TheGamerFreddie]

I'm going thru my playlist with FNAF vids now that college is easing up, and i just need to give a clap and a half to "CAT KISSES", highlight of my day lmaoo

[@floatyboi3454]

When it comes to FNAF 2 I think people are forgetting that fritz is the bite victim of 87 and we know he survived losing his frontal lobe from a phone call in FNAF 1. Plus we never hear anything about Michael ever being bitten or losing his frontal lobe. I believe we play as Michael through every OG game except for FNAF 2 as it just doesn't line up that we play as him in the game.

[@femboy4rumMars]

I like how you gave a pretty solid explanation why William went back on the night he died. In the books and movie William uses the Spring Bonnie suit to assert dominance over the animatronics, almost as if their trauma affiliated with that suit paralyzes them even after death. I never thought of that! I think this timeline is quite solid.

[@Cxsonn]

I love all the references in your background, like Toy Chica being William Afton, Faz-Goo, and other things.

[@6a6kabkedax22]

16:12 I don't think Henry was involved with the FNAF 2 location. At least Phoneguy talks about him like he's not, saying "We're going to try to contact the original restaurant owner. [...] I doubt we'll be able to track anybody down.". That is if he's not talking about William I guess

[@jesusdaidiotice]

I believe that the Dead Children Incident happen at the same time as Sister Location, or a little before. While Michael is trying to put his sister back together, William is killing the children that would later posses the Toy Animatronics. William disappears, Michael goes looking for him in FNaF 2 and 1, and William ends up dying post the events of FNaF 1. Michael finds him as Springtrap in FNaF 3, tries to end everything, it can't, and then Pizza Sim happen.

[@MangoCurries]

Just want to call attention to how much detail was put into the new background-- the artist totally got down the vibes of our lil community! So many fun little Easter eggs around the office like the sticky notes etc (Freddy and Bonnie kissing made me laugh unreasonably hard when I first saw it) and all the indie horror game toys I love looking at it-- its so very rye and so very us I love it they did an amazing job 💅🏻 Also this theory goes hard. I love that it all came from a spiral on your podcast hahaha it's so good!!

[@Takejiro24]

Fair enough, Elizabeth/Baby in the Fourth Closet and FFPS seeks William's approval. What makes her a foil to Michael is that she is willing to do *anything* (including killing) to gain that approval.

[@Pepeutra]

Kitty kisses are the perfect Subway Surfers ADHD distraction

[@breakfast_worker]

This feels honestly the closest to cracking the code that is the fnaf lore

[@LunaWitcherArt]

I believe the retcon Scott talked about as the most seamless one was how Phone Guy was meant to be the responsible for the original MCI, but he changed it after FNAF2 so it would be Afton in FNAF3. Which recontextualizes the "It's me" thing in my head, at least in the first game - Phone Guy failed the shift and got stuffed into the Golden Freddy suit, and that's why the phrase shows up when golden freddy is in the office. Phone Guy says he's gonna try and hold out as long as he can until someone checks the suit, but no one ever does so he dies and haunts the suit. He's calling to the player to set him free somehow, but we don't do anything.

[@LionPKrono]

Henry isn't the one that opened Freddy's of 1987. That's confirmed by the next dialogue of Phone Guy: "Um, when we get it all sorted out we may move you to the day shift. A position just became…available. Uh, we don’t have a replacement for your shift yet but we’re working on it. Uh, we’re going to try to contact the original restaurant owner. Uh, I think the name of the place was…”Fredbear’s Family Diner” or something like that. It was closed for years though, I doubt we’ll be able to track anybody down." the "owner" of Fredbears is Henry, most likely. So he isn't the one who opened the restaurant.

[@bluegold1026]

I really like the timeline at the end. It does make a lot of sense, all things considered. And cat kisses! I couldn't stop watching your cat licking you! Casey must really trust and respect you!

[@lobstermilk]

Okay BACKGROUND!! I see you Rye! Your cat is adorable and precious. Looks just like my kitty so I admit I’m biased.

[@HerrUllbert]

Honestly this might be one of the best interpretations I've heard. It just makes so much sense to me this way. There are way too many vague details in the lore for anyone to say anything for certain, but this would explain a lot of things that have irked me.

[@LeoPerkk]

16:12 Honestly, I think Henry opening up a new Freddy's isn't as far fetched as you think. After all he's a workaholic, so much so that he had a robot looking after his daughter. All indicated that he knows it was William who killed Charlie, so in his mind his only mistake was not making that robot safer. Plus, as a workaholic who seems so invested into his robotics, as characterized in novels, I wonder does he even KNOW how to do anything other than a Fazbear's? (I mean, in a psychological level, can he let go of something he made so much if himself about?)

[@fnafspaghetti3883]

keep the background, it looks soo coo!

[@kalkuttadrop6371]

If anyone is Willy's assistant in game, it's Phone Guy. No one else would be easier to Blackmail. He knows too much, and would be easy to frame.

[@GJames-Legend101]

When I went on the heroes wiki on Michael afton it describes him as a tragic scapegoat, so maybe William told Michael that he can bring his siblings back but he has to do everything William says and if he’s caught then Michael takes all the blame and consequences, then maybe after sister location Michael no longer listening to William vows to find him and stop his evil.

[@loganthewolfbear2671]

In the book version of the fnaf movie, it heavily implies fnaf movie Vanessa is a robot, stuff like her eyes changing color, and having different "modes"

[@witheredjr2887]

This would make sense and explain mikes actions

[@MummTilla]

i always thought that part of the general unprofessionalism and odor was contributed from his rotting body, which is probably part of why he's a night guard not a day guard.

[@JoenilEDITS]

Yess I’ve been waiting for this I love this this entertainment

[@Markcrazeer]

as of fnaf ars teasers we know that its me is "C" this does not say much because we only know crying child as crying child, but it is vertainly more reasonable to claim that C is cassidy. the problem with cassidy is why is cassidy so important? why is cassidy the one you should not have killed why are they the vengeful spirit? why nopt one of the missing children or all of them? why not crying child? why do we have a name for a no body character that is crucial and a crucial character with no name? why is crying child not cassidy?

[@lordmavbmp]

I think we all missed the line "at first they didnt recognize me" which means to me that he had to experience them at some point before we see him at the SL

[@Gari-Kun]

or maybe a reference to baby saying "i dont recognize you" in night 2....maybe

[@InfalliblePizza]

@@Gari-Kuni think youre right, he’s referring to all the funtimes. “Recognize” in the context of the speech is referring to them seeing him as William.

[@lordmavbmp]

@@InfalliblePizza I figured at first they didn't recognize me, then they thought I was you, meant that they knew both of them. Probably never know for sure

[@maxgosselin62]

Honestly, this has been my assumption for a while and I think is a theory that's been floating around for a good bit now ever since sister location

[@zerodragonsaiyen3268]

13:32 theorizing the reason he killed the kids was because they bullied C.C is cool ngl

[@akitosuna]

Kitty kisses🥰 Now the kitty is cleaning the human, I hope you are having a great life like you deserve💜

[@randomstuffme]

Watch for the lore:❌ Watch for the cat:✅

[@JoenilEDITS]

Yea I love this TIMELINE it’s pretty good

[@eyzmaster]

What an interesting and original look to have on the whole series. I makes you wonder. Also... 2:57 Kity goes BRrrrr

[@WaimeaMonster24]

We’re getting warmer with this one

[@mizzviolet]

HELLO RYETOAST

[@rivensvoice]

I think william planned everything from the moment he realized that his company wouldn't succeed with all his impulses Case 1 Elizabeth= he made an animatronic ( stole and remodeled ) that appealed to her. Knowing like him she wasn't the type to listen to his commands and give in to said impulses, leaving her to wonder on her own. He got the one that would be the most useless and distracting ( we see how he treats her in the books ) out of his way. Case 2 C.C= there is no doubt with all those cameras in his house that he didn't know the prank would happen, and given that animatronic wasn't in suit mode there was no reason the springs should've been loose enough for it to kill. Unless William did it prior to the incident. I also believe he used the hallucinogenic gas on C.C but later switched to michael. Case 3 Michael= after deciding that michael would be the best for his plans he made him sleep in C.C's old room ( since it would already have the gas tanks and for extra trauma ) making sure that Mike knew what happened was his fault constantly. Along with some verbal abuse ( maybe physical ) to build his fear while also doing things to build a false sense of trust. After a while ( long enough for the gas to mess him up but not for michael to go completely mental ) he guided him as the story goes and the rest follows as canon. But this is just my personal theory

[@GameShiftMaster]

2:18 I do want to say it could be interesting that Michael says "they didn't recognize me at first" implying they would be able to depict Michael himself? Could be interesting or maybe it's nothing. (I'm also typing this as I'm watching so)

[@Tyrannosaurus_rex.]

I think William dies before FNaF 1 because of Phone Guy. The FNaF 3 Night 6 phone call reads as follows: Uh hello, hello? Uh, this is just to inform all employees, that due to budget restrictions the previously mentioned safe rooms are being sealed at most locations. Including this one. Work crews will be here most of the day today constructing a false wall over the old door face. Nothing is being taken out beforehand, so if you left anything inside, then it’s your own fault. Management also requests that this room not be mentioned to family, friends, or insurance representatives. Thanks again, and remember to smile. You are the face of Freddy Fazbear’s Pizza. "Work crews will be here most of the day today". This shows that the safe rooms were sealed the same day as that phone call, when Phone Guy was alive, meaning that they had to be sealed before FNaF 1, as by the time of FNaF 1, Phone Guy was dead as we hear on the FNaF 1 Night 4 phone call during Michaels week. When William returned to destroy the animatronics obviously the safe room was open, so we know that William destroying the animatronics, has to be before the Night 6 Phone Call, which has to be before Phone Guys death, which is before FNaF 1.