Theory: Michael isn't an Afton

[Rollerwings]

I actually came up with this theory while trying to figure out the FNaF4 and SL lore for fanfiction purposes. Feedback is always welcome!

Theory: Michael is William Afton's son, but his parents never married and so he has his mother's last name, Schmidt.

Some theorized that the vampire soap opera represented William's attitude toward his daughter, but I suspect it's really about his attitude toward his oldest son, Michael. It's very subtly hinted that Vlad and Clara are not married though they have a child together, as they are referred to as "lovers" and Clara mentions child support.

I think the soap opera is revealing that William and Ms. Schmidt had a child who William denied, and that they didn't stay together after his birth. (Remember, Vlad and Clara only get back together in the fake ending.) Sometime later, William married another woman and had his other three children, Foxy Brother, Crying Child and Ice Cream Girl. Meanwhile, Michael grew up to strongly resemble his dad, just like the baby vampire resembled Vlad far more than Clara.

If Michael had always been rejected by his dad, that might explain why he was willing to do whatever he asked, even though it put him at risk and got him killed (sorta) several times over. He may have been desperately trying to earn his father's approval, though it's also possible he genuinely wanted to save his half-sister.

In the voice-acting credits, the character is listed as "Michael Afton," but we don't know for sure that Scott provided PJ Heywood with that full name. He might have just told Heywood that he would be voicing a father and son, and once given the father's last name, Heywood assumed that Michael had the same last name. And once he posted the character's name as "Michael Afton" on his voice-acting credits, correcting it would have revealed a little hint of the lore.

Alternate version of this theory: Michael originally had his father's last name, but after learning what type of evil guy his dad really was, took his mother's last name in an effort to distance himself from the Aftons.

[Dani]

The files apparantly refer to Michael as "Michael_Afton", so the game itself confirms that his last name is Afton.

[JenkoRun]

Początkowo opublikowane przez Kat-Kun:

The files apparantly refer to Michael as "Michael_Afton", so the game itself confirms that his last name is Afton.

Agreed. Scott wouldn't make a mistake like that anyway.

[Rollerwings]

Początkowo opublikowane przez Micah:

But my question is... who is the guard (as the player) at Fazbear's Fright? His role seems to be an important character because his hallucinations were some of the withers and the toys. Has he ever worked in a Freddy's restaurant? Is he Jeremy Fritsgerald?

That was always a tough question about who the FNaF3 guard could be, because like you said, he hallucinated characters from different eras of Freddy's. The best I could come up with for my FNaF3 fanfic was that the guard was Mike Schmidt and he had researched the history of Freddy's with Jeremy's help so that he knew about both the characters from his own time there and those from 1987. Even if the guard had the facemasks of the toys in a box right in his office, he still hallucinated them accurately, knowing that Mangle hung from the ceiling, for example.

So he was likely someone who was very familiar with the company. If he wasn't Mike Schmidt after all because Mike = Eggs = Springtrap, then Jeremy Fitzgerald does seem like a likely candidate. He would have seen the toys back in the day so he knew what they looked like, and if he had researched Freddy's he would know something about the restored withered animatronics as well.

(The only other guy who would have been there long enough to have known what the withered and toy animatronics looked like would be Phone Guy, but we don't have any proof that he "came back" like Eggs after he died.)

Początkowo opublikowane przez Bumbleboy11:

There's just no evidence really supporting anything about him being a Schmidt.

Very true. This might be one of those things we need a little more proof for, just like we needed the storytelling in SL before (most of us) figured out that Crying Child had lost a sister.

Początkowo opublikowane przez RippoMadness:

I suppose, though the notion of Michael being "innocent" and being disgusted by his father's crimes and wanted to save the children has never sat right with me

Completely ignoring the fact that none of us really have any idea of what Michael's character is really like outside of the Springtrap cutscene, I don't really see anything that remotely suggests any form of innocence on Michael's behalf. I mean, if Michael really wanted to stay away from his father's dirty deeds, I really don't see why he would honor any of daddy-dearest's requests like heading down to Baby's to put "her" back together. As far as we know, the only reason Michael ever went back to that place is solely because his father asked him to. So for him to not be involved with Afton business yet still do what he's asked of him makes no sense to me.

I'm hardly ready to give Mike a free pass, either. So maybe he agreed to try and save his sister, but so far we don't have any evidence that he ever tried to stop his dad from opening later restaurants and continue preying on kids. It's like Mike went dormant and slacked around eating popcorn and watching soap operas while his dad was doing all this.

Początkowo opublikowane przez RippoMadness:

Um, on a side note, I really have to ask Breadspy: What kind of bet did you lose exactly?

Haha, I forgot that was still in my username. Right before SL was released, a bunch of us on the Subreddit made silly bets about the game, including forfeits we'd have to do if we lost. I bet that Scott wouldn't make a troll game this time or I'd make an ice bucket video in cosplay as an FNaF guard. Half an hour later...Link's in my profile.

Początkowo opublikowane przez HighKings_Ruin:

If I had a sister trapped down there, you can bet i'd go down there and try to help her.

There's definitely some altruism shown in the game, such as when Phone Guy tries to help guide Mike even in his last moments. But also agreed, Mike's motives are sketchy and we don't know whether he went to CBEAR to rescue his sister or for more selfish reasons like trying to finally win his father's approval. Maybe the next game will reveal how much he was aware of his dad's misdeeds and whether he was remotely on board with any of that.

Początkowo opublikowane przez Kat-Kun:

The files apparantly refer to Michael as "Michael_Afton", so the game itself confirms that his last name is Afton.

Well, I was definitely not aware of that. That would be a game-changer.

[GhostMami]

News flash Trademark for Michael calls him a Afton

[LizardKing]

in before mat pat drops the theory called "mike isn't an afton" after last weeks gt live.

lol we've never seen him be called "mike afton", only by "mike" in the log book and SL hand unit,

He may be "trademarked" as an afton but that doesn't mean he IS one story wise it just means that his trademark has him listed as a "afton".

Also while he says "father I'm coming to find you", Let me ask you this "who is his father?"

"william because we see spring trap!", Maybe but that's not who mike finds next time we see Mike he's with "Henry" after fnaf SL.

[and keep in mind I'm ignoring the timeline and just doing the games in order that they came out in]

so while yes you could make an argument for "mike being an afton", The same could be made for him being literally anybody else's kid.

As the only time we've seen a mike last named in a game is in fnaf 1 and while it could be the "same mike", that mike was named "schmidt" not afton, and no explanation is given as to why he's named that if at all.

im just saying there are cases for both sides now