I Never Liked that Puppet Thing...

[Doctor Script]

Evening Orderlies, I'm Doctor Script, your favorite doctor who has never had his life threatened by a chicken. For today's procedure, I'd like to go in depth on Five nights at Freddy's.

Let me explain... no, there is too much; let me summarize.
-Princess Bride

Okay, I'm going to give out a time line of the franchise to the best of my abilities. In other post, I can explain how I came to these conclusions. In the best summation I can give to the credit of the game, shortly after Five nights three came out, I watched MatPat's game theory on the video. My little sister has been obsessed with this game franchise, and anything that gets her excited about literary theory is a plus in my book. So I did my homework before watching; watched Markipliers play through, the previous game theory video and some assorted videos from 8-Bit and Smike and Dawko and the like.

When the video started, early on, MatPat stated he was going to figure out who was the purple guy. I told my sister that MatPat had to point his finger at Phone guy. We discussed it a bit (The final video in the three part series didn't come out for a while), but ultimately, there is no one else to point the finger at. Phone Guy may not have an official name, but he was the single largest source of information about the lore of the game. With such shallow information available and at least 50% coming from one source, no matter who you point your finger at, Phone guy is equally likely to be guilty.

This was the sand in my oyster for a long while. And like an oyster, I worked it until it became a pearl. I decided to deconstruct, reconstruct and present my own theory as to what happened in this famous failed pizza chain. I sent a copy to Game theory, to Ryan and Other Ryan, I posted it on 8-Bit gaming's channel in discussion and...

No one noticed.

A lot of work went into that post. A lot of work; thank you. But, When Five Nights at Freddy's four came out; I had a few missing pieces fall into my lap. Upon seeing the Game Theory Live vlog cast tonight, I realized that Scott had been pointing the crew in the direction of my theory. So, perhaps it was a bit too lengthy and focused more on literary theory than story and lore. I'll accept that. That's okay. I forgive you, 8-bit gaming and FNAF Community. For this post, I'll focus strictly on the game lore, and try to make it an interesting story to follow along with. If you're curious to how I came to a specific point, just ask away. After the timeline, I'll explain how Mr. Cawthon's hints lead to finalizing this theory. I may not reply readily, since the semester has already started.

So, Gloves on, Goggles Down; Let’s Look Alive People!


---------------------

The Timeline:

• Fredbear Family Diner host a birthday party, and a child is killed outside.(REF: Give Cake Death Mini-game, FNAF 2)
  
  (Note: The party he is watching has 6 kids at it, he is crying before the murderer arrives. Scott deliberately forces our eye's away from the crying child, only slowing us down when the killer arrives.)
  
  
• The [Crying Child]'s soul lies dormant for a while. (Speculation)
  
  
• The [Crying Child] possesses the [Puppet]. (REF: Jump scare at end of Give Cake Death Mini-Game, FNAF 2)
  
  
• The [Puppet] kills the two owner's of Fredbear's Family diner (REF: Shadow Freddy, Shadow Bonnie, Night 5 phone call, FNAF 2, Speculation) (it's possible the owner is his murderer, but this is all speculation.)
  
  
• The company is sold to Freddy Fazbear's Pizza. The sister location is continued, name changed. (FNAF 2, Night 5 Phone Call)
  
  
• [Puppet] hands out gifts to kids, because he still wants to attend a birthday party. (REF: Drawings on the walls)
  
  
• Freddy Fazbear’s Pizza manufactures new Animatronics. (REF: FNAF1, FNAF2)
  
  
• The new animatronics are functional for a number of years. (REF: Time jump between 1983 [Fazbear and Friends] and 1987 [The Bite of 87])
  
  
• [Puppet], still wanting a birthday party, Kills 5 guests celebrating a birthday (REF: GO! GO! GO! death mini game, FNAF 2)
  
  
• [Puppet] becomes a reflection of his own murderer (REF: GO! GO! GO! Death Mini Game, GIVE CAKE Death Mini Game, FNAF 2)
  
  
• He lured them, while in a golden Bonnie suit [Springtrap] (REF: FNAF 3, Night 5 phone call, FNAF 1 Newspaper posters)
  
  
• He Killed them and hid their bodies in the presents around the establishment (REF: SAVE THEM Death Mini-Game, GIVE GIFTs Death Mini Game, FNAF 2, Cam 08 FNAF 3)
  
  
• An employee dressed as Golden Freddy was blamed for the deaths, as the camera's showed him going in and leaving in one suit, while the puppet wore the other. (Speculation, REF: FNAF 1 News Paper posters)
  
  
• [Puppet] Uses the bodies to host birthday parties. (REF: GIVE GIFTS, GIVE LIFE Death Mini Game, FNAF 2)
  
  
• [Puppet] Sets up all the guests before dressing the birthday boy/girl in the Golden Freddy animatronic. (REF: GIVE GIFTS, GIVE LIFE Death Mini Game, FNAF 2)
  
  
• [Management] of Freddy Fazbear Pizza notices the haunting, programs the Animatronics not to allow empty endoskeletons to walk around and stuff them into suits. (REF: Night 1 Phone Call, FNAF 1, FNAF 2)
  
  
• The [Puppet] hides the bare endoskeleton in his box, so he can wear the Golden Bonnie suit. (REF: FNAF 2)
  
  
• Freddy Fazbear Pizza's animatronics start to reek of death, so the store is shut down. (REF: Night 2 Phone Call, FNAF 2, News Paper Poster, FNAF 2)
  
  
• New animatronics are developed to replace the old ones (REF: FNAF 2, Night 2 Phone Call, FNAF 2)
  
  
• They are equipped with high stakes security software/hardware (REF: Night 1 Phone call, Mangles Static, FNAF 2)
  
  
• These new animatronics are new costumes, new costumes that need new friends for the [Puppet] (Speculation)
  
  
• The Bite of 87 victim, [Victim], has a birthday party at the new Freddy Fazbear Pizza (REF: Night 0 game, "These are my friends" quote, FNAF 4)
  
  
• [Victim]'s Friends are culled by the [Puppet] for his new animatronics (REF: Night 3 mini game, kids along the way home, FNAF 4, Speculation)
  
  
• [Victim]'s twin sister is culled and becomes [Mangle] (REF: Night 1 mini game, Night 3 mini game, FNAF 4, Mangle's Quest, FNAF 3)
  
  
• The Day Guard is fired for not watching the safe room (REF: Night 5 phone call, FNAF 2)
  
  
• [Victim] is haunted by his friends (REF: Night 0 Mini game, Night 3 mini game, Night 6 mini game, FNAF 4)
  
  
• [Victim]'s Family tries to help him recover by spending time at what was Fredbear's Family Diner (REF: FNAF 4) (Alternatively, [Brother] might just be torturing him for fun)
  
  (CONT.)

[Doctor Script]

• [Victim]'s Brother, [Brother] get's him bit. (REF: Night 5 Mini game, FNAF 4)
  
  
• [Management] retires the Golden suits at Fredbear's Family Diner and the new Freddy Fazbear Pizza (REF: Night 4 Phone Call, FNAF 3)
  
  
• [Management] trying to stop puppet from killing kids, decides on their end to spontaneously seal up their golden suits (REF: Night 5 Phone Call, FNAF 3)
  
  
• [Victim] is in a coma, re-living the nightmare of his friends and himself being attacked by animatronics (REF: FNAF 4)
  
  
• [Phone Guy] personally sees the puppet frantically looking for the Golden bonnie suit, now that the safe room is sealed (REF: SAVE THEM Death Mini Game, FNAF 2)
  
  
• The contractors used to seal the room up are never allowed back into the store, nor are previous employees, to make sure no one has knowledge of the spring suits (REF: Night 5 phone call, FNAF 3, Night 5 phone call, FNAF 2)
  
  
• The store is shut down, at least for a while, while they investigate the puppet's killings (REF: Night 6 phone call, FNAF 2)
  
  
• The "Withered" animatronics are sent to Fredbear's Family Diner, where they are repaired for general use (REF: Location change, FNAF 1/FNAF 2, Night 5 Phone call, FNAF 3)
  
  
• The Souls of the original batch of victims decide to protect further children from being killed (Night 1, 2 and 3 'Cut Scenes', FNAF 2)
  
  
• The Puppet follows them, looking for the golden bonnie suit, but can't find one. (REF: Night 4 'Cut Scene', FNAF 2)
  
  
• [Phone Guy] takes the night shift and records tapes (REF: FNAF 1)
  
  
• [Phone Guy] Dies on night 4. (REF: Night 4 Phone call, Night 5 Phone call, FNAF 1)
  
  
• [Brother] Takes over as security Guard. (Speculation, but, IF phone guy is the father of Victim and Brother, I like the idea of the brother repenting for [Victim]'s condition and taking over the security detail for his father. It's really poetic in my eyes, at the very least. And explains why we don't know [Victim]'s, [Phone guy]'s or [Brother]'s name. They are the most important people in this story.)
  
  
• The second batch of children, and the original owners of Fredbear's Family Diner explore the spiritual landscape to sooth the nightmares of [Victim] (REF: Minigames FNAF 3)
  
  
• The first five, who now have a purpose, are at peace with their current state of affairs (REF: Happiest Day Mini-game, the colorful five kids, FNAF 3)
  
  
• [Victim], finally at peace with his fear and surrounded by the spirits of his friends, let's go and dies (REF: Night 6 mini-game, FNAF 4)
  
  
• The second group gather [Puppet] and [Victim], the two perfect halves of each other. One desperately wanting to celebrate another's birthday, and one desperately terrified of his own, come together with all of [Victim]'s friends and grow to understand each other a little better. The purpose of celebrating birthdays is to celebrate the life lived. The purpose of life is that it ends suffering. (REF: HAPPIEST DAY mini-game, FNAF 3)
  
  
• [Puppet] isn't one hundred percent on board with abandoning to the after life... (REF: HAPPIEST DAY mini-game, FNAF 3)
  
  
• Freddy Fazbear Pizza closes down. (REF: Night 1 Phone call, FNAF 3)
  
  
• Knowing the lot will be put to auction, the manager returns to destroy [Springtrap], to keep it out of the hands of the puppet (REF: Night 1-5 mini game, FNAF 3)
  
  
• While the puppet sleeps, the animatronics get up, one by one to stop the manager from taking [Springtrap] (REF: Night 1-5 Mini games, FNAF 3)
  
  
• Destroying the suits, the souls of the original 5 are set free (REF: Night 5 mini-game, FNAF 3)
  
  
• The souls corner him into wearing [Springtrap] (REF: Night five mini-game, FNAF 3)
  
  
• Now that no one can wear the golden bonnie suit, it doesn't need to be protected, and they fade away (REF: Night 5 mini-game, FNAF 3)
  
  
• Fredbear's Fright starts laying the ground work to open. (REF: FNAF 3)
  
  
• [Phone dude] gets in contact with a contractor that sealed up the old safe room (REF: Night 2 Phone call, FNAF 3)
  
  
• [Phone Dude] finds one... A real one... [Springtrap] (REF: Night 2 phone call, FNAF 3)
  
  
• All 10 of [Puppet]'s victims return in a swirling vengeance to do something to destroy [Springtrap] (REF: FNAF 3)
  
  
• But so does the [Puppet] (REF: FNAF 3, CAM 08, FNAF 3)
  
  
• With the animatronics reduced to little more than light fixtures, the animatronics burn down the establishment, with the puppet and golden bonnie inside, hoping to destroy them both once and for all. (REF: Newspaper, FNAF 3)
  
  The End...
  
  Or is it? (REF: Newspaper(Brightened), FNAF 3)
  
  
  ---------------------
  
  Well, now that that's out of the way, let me explain Mr. Cawthon's Points:
  
  4 Games, 1 Story
  
  This is so easy to understand, but so difficult to put to paper. Obviously we know the franchise has one storyline, but what he's saying is that the story isn't told Chronologically, but Sequentially. The first game tells sets the stage. The second one raises the tension. The third is the climax. The fourth is the conclusion. Fittingly, we learn the basics of what's going on in the first game; Haunted pizzeria. In the second we're introduced to our protagonist (Protagonists are the ones with the goal to accomplish, not the heroes. In contemporary media, it's pretty rare for the protagonist to be the heroes of the story.), the puppet. In the third game, we're given a climax to enjoy with the death of purple guy, but it also serves as the climax of story. Happiest day isn't the end of the story, just the B-storyline. It is the climax of the game's Story, however. Finally, the fourth game ties up the loose ends we had in the story. Curiously, he retroactively gave context to the events of the previous two games through the fourth game. I could easily hear an argument that, from a literary critique standpoint, he not only plays with chronological order, but sequential order as well, with this game being the third sequentially. If so, I find it interesting, and understand why he did so, but I don't know if I can encourage it. Otherwise, Hat's off, well done Mr. Cawthon.
  
  Roles of the Security Guard.
  
  So, this 'Hint' is shockingly devious. Looking at the four games, we have four "Security Guards". Aside from Victim, they all have the same job, and they don't interact with the story. So, you have to separate the Game play and the game story. Like the earlier hint indicates, each game doesn’t have its own story; they have to be viewed as a whole together. The game play does give us hints as to what the individual elements being shared are about. In the first game, the story is strictly from a security guards perspective. It doesn't give us much, like the bad pay, and our best option for our own sake is to shut everything out. Just close the door on the unsettling bits of the game play and ignore everything else.
  
  The second game delves more into the animatronics. Note, in this game, we not only wear a Freddy mask to keep ourselves safe, but also all the phone calls are about the animatronics. Or, to quote the Phone Guy; "Heck, we should be paying them to protect You!" We hear phone guy, for the first time, talk about his feelings towards the animatronics. In all of the death mini-games we play as one of the animatronics and this game is the one with the most animatronics present in it. The security guards role in this game is to frame it around the animatronics.
  
  You may wonder why I figure the purple guy in FNAF 3 is a manager? Whelp, look at what we're doing in FNAF 3. We literally are talking straight to management and our goal is to keep up failing systems. You could say Managing failing systems. While phone guy initially talks about the spring suits, he is doing so from a managerial perspective, the proper usage and what to do in events of catastrophic failure. Then he goes straight into managerial positioning, declaring the suits to be off limits and then the sealing of the break room. Admittedly, this is seeing him with a more dedicated hat on then anything else, but I think management is definitely the motif of the game play here.
  
  The final games security guard, Victim, isn't just the kids' perspective of what's going on either. His story is that of the Victims. The children being killed. All of the mini-games are about a terrifying end coming out of nowhere, and this is the first and only game where we don't get guidance from phone guy in how to survive. We are literally left to die on our own. We aren't just playing as a kid, we are literally playing as a victim. And the story happens to revolve around the victim of the bite of '87.
  
  What seen in shadows can be easily misunderstood in the mind of a child.[/b]
  
  This is when I knew I was on the right track with my theory. Mr. Cawthon is fantastic at using negative space in his writing. I'm actually a bit jealous, and I've been analyzing writing techniques and methods since I was in my Preteens. So, over a decade and a half. If you aspire to be a writer, take notes. Seriously, so many things in this deconstruction, I concluded by realizing not only what he didn't say but how he didn't say it.
  
  The shadow isn't with the lights off here. Very easy to make that conclusion, considering how losing power has been a staple of the game play thus far. The Darkness is what is done with evil methods. The child in this statement is the puppet. What’s being misunderstood is the murders themselves. What the puppet is killing for isn't bad in it of itself. That is too say that he's not malicious, devious, or sinister. He merely wants to be part of a birthday party. And he can see a birthday party through murdering 5 kids.
  
  I don't know how brilliant this clue was, because I'm still fan-girling over it and nearly threw my laptop when I saw Dawko, MatPat and Alex scratching their heads over it. For context, I knew the puppet had to be evil for a number of reasons. The purple guy we've been chasing couldn't exist. It's horror writing 101 to kill your source of exposition to signify their innocence. For instance, Jamie Fox survives Scream (a movie that gently poked fun at slasher tropes), dies in the sequel, and happens to have tapes of himself in the third installment (I believe, it has been a while since I've seen the movies). It just becomes too difficult to pull your audience off of someone's guilt if you don't kill them off right and they happen to know everything. Take note of the hoops that MatPat had to leap to keep his finger pointed at Phone guy in the FNAF 3 Game theory. But no other human character had any kind of influence on the story. We never see the victims alive in the restaurant until FNAF 4 (excluding the GO! GO! GO! death mini game), and everyone else is just kind of nonchalantly mentioned in passing in whatever scraps of exposition we're given.
  
  There are two things you need to make a protagonist, someone that drives a story forward, and that’s Motivation and A Goal. If you want to look for Motivation, look for people with strong emotions. Doesn't get much more strong then crying while looking in on 6 kids eating cake. The goal was equally obvious. He wants to be part of the birthday party.
  The only thing that was missing was the Antagonist. That's been clawing at me for a long while. The best I could come up with was The Manager, keeping the puppet from the golden bonnie suit, but it didn't feel like they were really at struggle with one another because we barely knew anything about the manager that became Springtrap. Victim, however, is a great Antagonist. And he perfectly foils to the Puppet. One is literally killing for a birthday party, and the other would rather die than go to one. The shirt that MatPat noticed as being similar to The Puppet’s? It's because they are the same on the opposites sides of the spectrum. I'm half surprised that Scott didn't make his shirt white with black stripes.
  
  And while we're at it, Take a second and really look at the puppet, will you? Clawed hand, black slim body, what I'm going to lovingly call 'Burton Stripes' and a pale clown like face. In any other setting, this thing would be as evil as it gets. Only Satan himself would want one for his kid. He is dripping with evil tropes and, as I said before, what Scott didn't say about him; He's a puppet. In literature, Puppets are something you feature when you want messages of control. As in, ‘Who is pulling the strings around here?’ How curious the puppet doesn't have strings... And happens to be about the shape of an endo skeleton. And is the only animatronic who could fit into a spring suit. Scott never calls any of this out. Never even points us in that direction. But we as a community just got so focused in on what adults could be responsible that we even started making up adults to be involved in the story.
  
  ---------------------
  
  Talent. That's all I have to say, Mr. Cawthon. And if you're looking for a mic to drop, I believe Freddy has one for you. I hope you don't mind if I never so much as want to get within eye sight of him, let alone reach. For the record, creations in literature have a habit of killing their creators, so watch yourself as well.
  
  Thank you orderlies, This has been Dr. Script. Take two and call me in the morning!
  

[Beardmo]

♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥, this is way better than the "It was all a coma dream" theory everyone else seems to be throwing around.

The only thing I can see missing from this theory is the "why is the chica doll without a beak in the FNaF4 minigame" hint Scott dropped during the livestream. Do you have any theories on that?

[Braystar★]

I'll just wait for Scott, if he even checks this

[Doctor Script]

Ah, in my scrambling I knew I forgot one of the hints. Thank you, OldSchoolVidya.

Why would the toy Chica doll be missing her beak?

Victim is experiencing quite possibly the worst week of his life. I won't lie, I'm not a hundred percent on board with how he fits in chronologically. Every way we can shoehorn him in, it seems to clash in some manner with the rest of the story. But within the framing of the game's story, I presumed the party was an actual party he was attending.

This isn't the case.

If the Puppet culled the other five children of his birthday party, it raises some interesting questions. If it's his birthday, as the laughing child says, why wasn't he culled with the other children. Why does the house have a girl's room, yet he has an older brother and how were they culled before he attended the birthday?

The answers to this is that he had a twin sister. He and his sister had their five friends at the birthday party and they were all culled without him. He was the extra. Now that I'm putting this down, I just realized its another way that Puppet and Victim are eternal opposites. They were both 6th members of the respective birthday parties.

So what the hell does this all have to do with Chica's missing beak.

The kids along the way home are the ghost of the children. Aside from balloon boy, all 5 toy animatronics can be seen in the house, three he says 'These are my friends' (Note, I'm ignoring foxy for the discussion, as his head is being used to torment Victim by Brother), Mangle is in the empty girl's room and ghostly freddy whom speaks directly to Victim.

So, if these five kids he encounters on his way home, (the only other humans he sees without masks on, curiously) are actually the ghosts, then the missing piece of the mask was there to point us in the direction. The toys are people, people are toys. Brother torments Victim with toys, all the kids have toys, the toys are his friends, it's a pretty solid motif in the game.

I apologize, I wrote this before coffee. I feel like i'm rambling a bit and very unclear.

I'll touch up later today.

[black Harlekin]

just wow
makes a lot sense, amazing work.
like this theory

[Doctor Script]

For a second, I was concerned. I thought this was the internet, I was expecting to be torn down and have my opinion sent through the wrecker.

Thank you, I appreciate your approval. Please share with friends, I'd like his to be noticed by the community at large outside of steam.

[The Koolest Kid]

tl;dr pls

[Doctor Script]

A TL:DR version

Puppet is killing kids to host birthday parties, not for himself, but just so he can attend.

He puts them in suits, and wears the golden Bonnie suit for himself. (Golden Freddy was reserved for the birthday boy).

They arrested the wrong person initially, because who would believe the killer was a plush animatronic thing.

When the new store was built, they took every security option they could, but it doesn't work, because they weren't looking for the puppet.

The puppet kills 5 of 6 people at the new restaurant (Since he has 5 new animatronics to put kids into).

The 6th is the Victim of the bite of 87.

Victim has a sister, she became the mangle. This is because the new location doesn't have a new golden Freddy suit.

maybe compelled by this ghostly sister, maybe his family is trying to help him recover, maybe he just wants to be closer to his friends, for whatever reason, Victim returns to Fredbear family diner (Renamed, sister location to Freddy fazbear pizza).

Phone guy sees puppet playing with kids bodies.

The golden suits are retired, and suddenly sealed up for good.

the puppet needs the golden Bonnie suit, because he desperately wants to belong.

After the bite, the withered animatronics are sent to the Diner.

FNAF 1, the kids resolve to keep an eye on the old spring suit locations. the new kids at the new location, the old kids at the old store.

after the store closes down shop for good, the manager returns to destroy the golden Bonnie suit. seeing the animatronics return to life to stop him, he destroys them, and is eventually cornered into becoming springtrap.

The phone dude finds spring trap.

the souls of the victims of the puppet, and the puppet himself, all return to Fazbear Fright. eventually the old crew decide to use the last of the animatronic suits to burn it to the ground.

[juwupiter]

tl;dr

[The Koolest Kid]

Originally posted by Doctor Script:

A TL:DR version

Puppet is killing kids to host birthday parties, not for himself, but just so he can attend.

He puts them in suits, and wears the golden Bonnie suit for himself. (Golden Freddy was reserved for the birthday boy).

They arrested the wrong person initially, because who would believe the killer was a plush animatronic thing.

When the new store was built, they took every security option they could, but it doesn't work, because they weren't looking for the puppet.

The puppet kills 5 of 6 people at the new restaurant (Since he has 5 new animatronics to put kids into).

The 6th is the Victim of the bite of 87.

Victim has a sister, she became the mangle. This is because the new location doesn't have a new golden Freddy suit.

maybe compelled by this ghostly sister, maybe his family is trying to help him recover, maybe he just wants to be closer to his friends, for whatever reason, Victim returns to Fredbear family diner (Renamed, sister location to Freddy fazbear pizza).

Phone guy sees puppet playing with kids bodies.

The golden suits are retired, and suddenly sealed up for good.

the puppet needs the golden Bonnie suit, because he desperately wants to belong.

After the bite, the withered animatronics are sent to the Diner.

FNAF 1, the kids resolve to keep an eye on the old spring suit locations. the new kids at the new location, the old kids at the old store.

after the store closes down shop for good, the manager returns to destroy the golden Bonnie suit. seeing the animatronics return to life to stop him, he destroys them, and is eventually cornered into becoming springtrap.

The phone dude finds spring trap.

the souls of the victims of the puppet, and the puppet himself, all return to Fazbear Fright. eventually the old crew decide to use the last of the animatronic suits to burn it to the ground.

That's... uh... Then why does the Puppet and the children fight for some retribution?

[Doctor Script]

The puppet definitely needs them. I don't know if they need the puppet, but I'm not sure this is a bad gig for the kids. I think they realize that killing is wrong, but I don't know if they are necessarily 'Tortured' in this afterlife. I think that's specifically Mangle's bit, but it's becuase her twin brother, Victim, is still in a coma.

[black Harlekin]

free push before it get forgotten =P