Why... DID William kill those kids?

[InkiePie]

The whole plot is done more or less, but I still never caught on to WHY William killed those kids in the first place. Did he have a reason? Was he just killing kids for no reason? What?

[Micah]

Either he wanted revenge of some people by killing their children, he's working for a secret company (SL intro) to probably sell their organs, or he's just a pschopath that hate kids and goes on a killing spree.

This is a really major question that people and MatPat didn't even question about. Scott didn't even give a clue about it on why he did.

[Doctor Script]

I contest, and still contest to this day, that Afton did not kill the kids.

The Puppet did.

The Puppet died outside of Fredbear's longing to be invited to a birthday party. (Note that he was crying before the purple man arrives). The CEO is the only character that has any reason to kill the puppet, as the puppet's death is what causes Mr. And Mrs. Fredbear to sell the diner (We have no other reason to conclude otherwise at least).

The CEO (William Afton) has done Everything in his power to make sure kids DON'T die in his establishment, and it makes sense that he would; He got the store by killing a kid on the Fredbear's property, he doesn't want to allow someone to do the same.

So, he hires a security team, decks out the store in cameras, and won't let former employees work at his store. You can't wear a disguise in the store premises without risking being spring-trapped (And note that we never see masks being sold as merchandise anywhere).

The Puppet never needed to be hired, can enter the saferooms (I never liked that puppet thing, it's always thinking... And it can go anywhere), and has a reason to kill 5 kids specifically (There are six kids at the party he was watching, so he needs 5 other attendants).

We have primary source information that shows he was at the original location, and he clearly is in the FNAF2 location. He would choose Spring Bonnie over Fredbear (As the show is Fredbear and Friends, and he wants to be invited to a birthday party), he wouldn't register on facial recognition software. He doesn't breathe, so he won't set off the spring locks and the cops won't arrest an animatronic.

When the first murder goes down, and he arranges the kids to watch Foxy perform, Afton decides to reprogram the animatronics night mode, so they will be on the prowl for suspicious characters on his premises. This is what leads the animatronics to kill the night guards, not revenge.

We see the puppet put the masks on the kids; hence why they haunt the masks. They can only control which way the heads are facing. This is why the children possessing animatronics are depicted as wearing masks. This also explains why the stare at adults 'Almost' aggressively. The kids aren't attacking night guards.

When the kids reach Afton in the safe room, and can finally explain to him what's going on (After all, the spring suits being locked away was the only thing keeping the puppet from culling 5 new kids), the lunacy that this was all his fault all along leads him to try to wear the spring suit, and invite the classic animatronics. Obviously, his hubris doesn't get him very far...

But hey, The puppet can't get into the suit if Afton is already inside of it.

The kids all pay respects to Victim on his birthday while he tries to find corners of the ether to hide in. Eventually, Victim realizes that the only way to make the nightmares end is to invite the puppet to his birthday party and put aside all the horrors that have happened to his family. He adopts the role of Fredbear and everyone is put to rest.

It's up to Afton to light the candles and say goodnight to the nightmares.

Of course... Afton is a tragic villain in this story and never atoned for his Hamartia, or the tragic mistake he makes that warrants the torment he receives. He puts the kids to rest, but never atoned for murdering the puppet himself. Hence the final reveal that he is still 'alive'.

[Big Doughy]

Someone stole his sandwich

[Witt]

He didn't like them...

That's all.

[entom]

hes ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ psychotic thats why

[InkiePie]

I got a theory, some clueless people, and a sandwich.

So far the sandwich is my favourite.

[Rollerwings]

(Novel spoilers!) I'm typing up a reply for this same question on the FNaF reddit, believe it or not.

I'm going with idiopathic cruelty and sadism, i.e. Willy was a sick puppy from the start and there was no known cause or precipitating event. That's all but confirmed in the books.

Treading very carefully here, it was hinted in a very PG-rated manner that William was fixated on Henry in an extremely unhealthy way. Maybe it wasn't an outright sexual obsession, but consider William's nasty statements in TSE: "Your father loved. And now I have loved." His choice of words, "loved," came across as a euphemism for something else, if you get my drift.

Those sound like the words of a guy who was fixated on his best friend and couldn't deal with the fact that he'd gotten married and had marital relations that resulted in children. William wanted complete and absolute control over Henry and for a while, he had it, when it was just him and Henry and their restaurant. Then Henry "rebelled" by marrying and starting a family; remember that Clay was incredulous that Henry was even capable of having kids so William was probably flabbergasted at what he saw as an outright betrayal. And then I think he felt justified in destroying all the happiness Henry had worked so hard to make for himself.

[InkiePie]

Originally posted by breadspy:

(Novel spoilers!) I'm typing up a reply for this same question on the FNaF reddit, believe it or not.

I'm going with idiopathic cruelty and sadism, i.e. Willy was a sick puppy from the start and there was no known cause or precipitating event. That's all but confirmed in the books.

Treading very carefully here, it was hinted in a very PG-rated manner that William was fixated on Henry in an extremely unhealthy way. Maybe it wasn't an outright sexual obsession, but consider William's nasty statements in TSE: "Your father loved. And now I have loved." His choice of words, "loved," came across as a euphemism for something else, if you get my drift.

Those sound like the words of a guy who was fixated on his best friend and couldn't deal with the fact that he'd gotten married and had marital relations that resulted in children. William wanted complete and absolute control over Henry and for a while, he had it, when it was just him and Henry and their restaurant. Then Henry "rebelled" by marrying and starting a family; remember that Clay was incredulous that Henry was even capable of having kids so William was probably flabbergasted at what he saw as an outright betrayal. And then I think he felt justified in destroying all the happiness Henry had worked so hard to make for himself.

Nice theory.

[SenshiOfSadness]

Originally posted by breadspy:

(Novel spoilers!) I'm typing up a reply for this same question on the FNaF reddit, believe it or not.

I'm going with idiopathic cruelty and sadism, i.e. Willy was a sick puppy from the start and there was no known cause or precipitating event. That's all but confirmed in the books.

Treading very carefully here, it was hinted in a very PG-rated manner that William was fixated on Henry in an extremely unhealthy way. Maybe it wasn't an outright sexual obsession, but consider William's nasty statements in TSE: "Your father loved. And now I have loved." His choice of words, "loved," came across as a euphemism for something else, if you get my drift.

Those sound like the words of a guy who was fixated on his best friend and couldn't deal with the fact that he'd gotten married and had marital relations that resulted in children. William wanted complete and absolute control over Henry and for a while, he had it, when it was just him and Henry and their restaurant. Then Henry "rebelled" by marrying and starting a family; remember that Clay was incredulous that Henry was even capable of having kids so William was probably flabbergasted at what he saw as an outright betrayal. And then I think he felt justified in destroying all the happiness Henry had worked so hard to make for himself.

To drive deeper your point, Charlie mentioned that Henry's familiar life was his secret life, his guilty pleasure.
I think William is now obsessed with Charlie because she is gradually reminding him of Henry.
He might have kidnapped Sammy, and finding out that Sammy wasn't going in the same line as Henry, might had consequences.

[GhostMami]

some people just want to watch the world burn

[twitch_pokevanxd]

Originally posted by Old Sport:

Someone stole his sandwich

Copier

His name is jack by the way

[InkiePie]

Originally posted by Jack:

Originally posted by Old Sport:

Someone stole his sandwich

Copier

His name is jack by the way

Lol.

[Rollerwings]

I just realized I only answered for William in the books. In the games, there just doesn't seem to be any stand-out evidence of his motivation. The closest to any clear evidence, IMHO, is William's interview at the beginning of SL. There's no remorse in his voice for anything and he's only interested in marveling at the amazing things his Baby can do. We don't even know how he reacted to ICG's death, aside from asking Mike at some point to find her. If her death and CC's injury really were unintentional on his part, he has a real knack for leading kids into terrible situations (allowing bullying to escalate, making a character just for his daughter and then forbidding her to play?) Both deaths were 100 percent his fault but "hands off;" maybe he gets a sick thrill from tempting kids into disaster so he can then say it wasn't his fault.

*****

Yeah, that's a great theory that William's obsession transferred to Charlie because she reminded him of Henry. I still think there's a strong likelihood William did Henry in and it wasn't a suicide, but either way, when Henry died, William's sick game was up. The object of his obsession was gone and he couldn't delight in Henry's reactions to the trauma anymore. On top of that, Aunt Jen spirited Charlie away and Henry's widow fled, so the entire family he'd been fixated on was now out of his world.

So that's an excellent theory that he would have been thrilled to find Charlie again, who resembled her dad and had inherited many of his quirks. Both were loner types with few friends, and William liked that kind of person so he could be the stronger, more charismatic half of the duo. On top of that, Charlie was tomboyish and not super-feminine and she may have been about the age Henry had been when William remembered him, a young adult, so the resemblance might have been stronger than ever.

Only Charlie could stand up to William far better than we ever saw Henry do, and that may be why William is now so dead-set on destroying her. He said she had something that belonged to him, and while that could be a physical thing, it could also be the link to Henry. In William's mind, Henry really was "his."

[Candy System]

Originally posted by Doctor Script:

I contest, and still contest to this day, that Afton did not kill the kids.

The Puppet did.

The Puppet died outside of Fredbear's longing to be invited to a birthday party. (Note that he was crying before the purple man arrives). The CEO is the only character that has any reason to kill the puppet, as the puppet's death is what causes Mr. And Mrs. Fredbear to sell the diner (We have no other reason to conclude otherwise at least).

The CEO (William Afton) has done Everything in his power to make sure kids DON'T die in his establishment, and it makes sense that he would; He got the store by killing a kid on the Fredbear's property, he doesn't want to allow someone to do the same.

So, he hires a security team, decks out the store in cameras, and won't let former employees work at his store. You can't wear a disguise in the store premises without risking being spring-trapped (And note that we never see masks being sold as merchandise anywhere).

The Puppet never needed to be hired, can enter the saferooms (I never liked that puppet thing, it's always thinking... And it can go anywhere), and has a reason to kill 5 kids specifically (There are six kids at the party he was watching, so he needs 5 other attendants).

We have primary source information that shows he was at the original location, and he clearly is in the FNAF2 location. He would choose Spring Bonnie over Fredbear (As the show is Fredbear and Friends, and he wants to be invited to a birthday party), he wouldn't register on facial recognition software. He doesn't breathe, so he won't set off the spring locks and the cops won't arrest an animatronic.

When the first murder goes down, and he arranges the kids to watch Foxy perform, Afton decides to reprogram the animatronics night mode, so they will be on the prowl for suspicious characters on his premises. This is what leads the animatronics to kill the night guards, not revenge.

We see the puppet put the masks on the kids; hence why they haunt the masks. They can only control which way the heads are facing. This is why the children possessing animatronics are depicted as wearing masks. This also explains why the stare at adults 'Almost' aggressively. The kids aren't attacking night guards.

When the kids reach Afton in the safe room, and can finally explain to him what's going on (After all, the spring suits being locked away was the only thing keeping the puppet from culling 5 new kids), the lunacy that this was all his fault all along leads him to try to wear the spring suit, and invite the classic animatronics. Obviously, his hubris doesn't get him very far...

But hey, The puppet can't get into the suit if Afton is already inside of it.

The kids all pay respects to Victim on his birthday while he tries to find corners of the ether to hide in. Eventually, Victim realizes that the only way to make the nightmares end is to invite the puppet to his birthday party and put aside all the horrors that have happened to his family. He adopts the role of Fredbear and everyone is put to rest.

It's up to Afton to light the candles and say goodnight to the nightmares.

Of course... Afton is a tragic villain in this story and never atoned for his Hamartia, or the tragic mistake he makes that warrants the torment he receives. He puts the kids to rest, but never atoned for murdering the puppet himself. Hence the final reveal that he is still 'alive'.

How-

[Avatar Thanos]

The real reason why he killed children was because after his wife Clara then 2 of his kids which were Elizabeth and Chris (The Crying Child) died, he became mentally disoriented and ill with Anti Social Personality Disorder Syndrome which made him severely unstable to the point where it took complete control of his brain making him unable to think straight or properly and it eventually made him completely lose his sanity which led up to him becoming a murderer.