FNAF: Unsolved Mystery of Shadow Animatronics (Five Nights at Freddy's Unsolved Mysteries - Theory) 

Do you have any FNAF: Unsolved Mysteries that you'd wanna know more about? What did you think about this one? Let me know and SUBSCRIBE! Also, I don't believe in the Midnight Motorist parts anymore haha - that's how FNAF is. Thanks for watching :)

finally someone is talking about this. the shadow animatronics have always bugged me. they've always seemed so important yet we barely have any information on them. i like this theory, it makes a lot of sense.

in all my years of knowing fnaf, I literally never knew that nightmare and shadow freddy were considered the same. It does make sense tho.

"Say my name." "You're RWQFSFASXC." "Your god damn right."

I actually kind of like how much the franchise ignores the Shadow animatronics. It keeps them mysterious and obscure, which imo makes them all the spookier

That's a great theory that explains a lot, although I have some nitpicks: Shadow Bonnie appears in FNaF 3 for a little bit, like you said earlier in the video. I guess the canonicity could be arguable, but it seems canon. He appears two times, one in minigame sprite and another as a figurine, so I'm not sure about him stopping existing right afer FNaF 2. Also, although I don't fully believe the shadow animatronics to be the ones in the midnight motorist minigame, the footprints could be from the shadow animatronics if Crying Child wasn't the one in the room; I know this is against your theory about midnight motorist, but I think the Crying Child could not be the one in the room after I saw Sire Squawks' video about the minigame.

Thanks for talking about this,im very very new to the fnaf community and barely have watched any gameplays but about a week ago your (really awesome) timeline introduced me to the story

Glad someone has made a modern video on these characters.

I always felt Scott intended Shadow Freddy and Bonnie to be the shadows from FNAF 4, but then when Dream Theory got retconned, things suddenly got _very_ complicated.

The Shadows are such a wasted potential man they peaked in Fnaf 3 and then they got unfairly erased from the plot. Fnaf 4 really should have been about them not some random child.

I think the shadow animatronics are what the dead childrens spirits actually look like outside of the minigames....they can project outside of the animatronic but their souls take the form of shadow forms of the animatronic they possess.

I always thought Shadow Freddy was Cassidy as a ghost, because he has the same missing ear as Golden Freddy in Fnaf 2. Also, you play as Shadow Bonnie in one of the mini games in Fnaf 3. I honestly think the Shadow characters were characters that had good potential, but felt neglected. And yeah, I do think that the idea that they're physical manifestations of the evil deeds that were done in the past, but I wonder why we see Shadow Bonnie in Special Delivery, considering the current Fnaf story, has it where all the murdered kids (except Cassidy), have moved on. Shadow Freddy and Shadow Bonnie are one of my favorite characters. I just hope that at some point, we could see them again, and Fnaf fans will pick back up on their existence, and what their purpose is. Thanks Hyper Droid, you're a true Fnaf fan.

A lot of evidence suggests that it's not the crying child who ran away from the afton home, but rather the older brother Michael after the crying child's death, placing midnight motorist after Shadow Freddy possibly according to yourtimeline.. This would actually play nice with the idea that the shadow animatronics visited the afton home during midnight motorist and with your theory that they're existence is rooted to the remnant of the missing children's cases.

i really like this theory, it explains everything very well and it may be true now, even tho for me, prior to SL(assuming the dream theory was the original idea) they were intended to represent how the crying child sees and interprets spring freddy and spring bonnie, because he's scared of them and as scott said "what is seen in shadows is easily misunderstood in the mind of a child."(because of how they are shown in the fnaf4 minigame)

i like this theory a lot!! makes me happy to see you talking about the shadows since ive always thought they were so interesting and intriguing

Was remnant a concept around the creation when fnaf 2 came out? I wonder if Bonnie's AR inclusion was to clean up a scrapped concept, though I'm not sure how much of a plan Scott had for remnant at the time of fnaf 2's drop. Loved this theory, their appearances always bothered me.

My theory is that they are a product of Agony (aka the byproduct/alternate form of Remnant). Remnant requires a soul being present whereas Agony is described more as being the lingering effects/traces of a soul and what it left behind. I personally believe that the shadow animatronics are Agony left behind from William's actions, his soul was so evil and twisted that his actions left behind Agony which has manifested as shadowy figures lurking in places he had been. The shadows are not actually active souls themselves like how the real animatronics are. The reason there is only a shadow form of Freddy and Bonnie is because they were William's 2 original characters and they are both suits he himself had worn in the past. The old golden Bonnie suit was what he used to perform most of his murders but he does also use a Freddy suit (probably an old fredbear one like what golden freddy is) in order to lure the posessed animatronics into the backroom of the pizzeria to dismantle them for their remnant. A lot of theorists have always seemed to struggle with the concept that the purple freddy in the fnaf3 minigames is William but I think this is surely obvious as to successfully lure the animatronics he wouldn't be able to use his old golden bonnie suit as the souls would recognise him instantly and attack him, he had to use the fredbear suit in order for them to follow him peacefully. The minigame even shows William's sprite instantly run out and destroy the animatronic as soon as the purple freddy disappears so I always thought it was obviously implying that was him quickly taking off the suit and destroying them. I think the fact these minigames also potentially imply that for some of his murders he used the fredbear suit too as he was clearly accustomed with it alongside his bonnie suit. With this information I think we can theorise that the shadow freddy and bonnie are lingering manifestations of the sins he committed using those suits, they are shadows burned into the environment where his killings took place and it is why the shadows are entirely passive and non-reactive. As an alternate theory for the purple freddy in the fnaf3 minigame, there are some people who think that Michael Afton either willingly or regretfully aided his father in some of his actions and with this it is possible that Michael was wearing the freddy suit and luring the animatronics so that his father could then attack and dismantle them. This would sort of lineup with how he says that William had guided him to sister location to "fix" elizabeth. It could be that Michael for a time was assisting his father in collecting and studying remnant (maybe with the intention of saving the soul of his younger brother) and potentially Michael was unaware of the actual origin of Remant and his father's murders but was just going along with dismantling the suits before his trip to sister location where he was scooped and learned the truth. Scott is always very particular about the use of specific colours and the freddy being a darker shade of purple than William could very well imply it was someone else assisting William and likely a family member since the use of purple, in addition back during fnaf3 Scott may have already been intending to have people be aiding William and he capitalised on this in fnaf4 by making it be his son. I quite like this theory as well since I feel like it can fit in quite well without causing too many issues, it doesn't mean that Michael is a villain character but instead implies that he was baited through emotional manipulation into helping William's twisted plans and it would explain why Michael seeks him out for revenge after sister location

Lets all agree he makes the Best Unsolved mysteries of fnaf

I always thought that shadow bonnie had to be important in some way. Hes one of the animatronics that gives a kid a cake, thats needed for the good ending in fnaf 3. You see him in the follow me minigame and is introduced in 2. Also in the security breach dlc you see him briefly appear.

Small correction: RWQFSFASXC does appear in Ultimate Custom Night. They are a part of Dee Dee's roster

My theory (commenting before i watch the video): I believe that the shadows are just hallucinations that Michael are seeing. In the fnaf 4 cutscenes you can see the shadows are literally just shadows of the springlocks. So michael might just be remembering the trauma of what went down at the old place If its even michael in fnaf 2, i dont remember No yeah yours makes way more sense

I'm fairly sure the fnaf 4 appearance is *literally* just their shadows, as in, the shadows of the animatronics on the stage?

As much as I hate to say this, this is truly what I believe. They are a part of dream theory. "What is seen in shadows can be easily misunderstood in the mind of a child" I believe is referring to the shadow animatronics. The crying child saw shadows of the animatronics and then had nightmares of the shadows. As much as I don’t like dream theory it makes the most sense to me. I don’t think dream theory is canon anymore but I think that was what it was originally supposed to be.

I know they are just bonny and freddy in their goth phase but I can not help but find their look and sparse appearances compelling. I collect figures from games, comics, and anime but the only piece I have from Fnaf is a Shadow Freddy pop. I was actually looking over my collection and I saw shadow freddy just chilling on the shelf and it made me come search for a video explaining them and here I am. Great video thank you for not milking it for extra view time and sticking to the point.

“I always come back.” “You may not recognize me at first but I can assure you it’s still me.”

this is beautiful. It's like shadow Freddy leading the ghosts represents they are looking for the killer out of anger, not curiosity.

These guys really aren't talked about enough, and I think this is as solid of a theory as we can make with the current information. The footsteps outside the window in Midnight Motorist is pretty much confirmed to be William in a mascot suit luring away one of the MCIs. The other minigames from 6 are about the victims as well.

I think the big footprints in Midnight Motorist is a hallucination of Fredbear (CC haunting Michael), and bringing him to the grave, which has CC inside.

You forgot a crucial detail: what remnant actually is. The Ultimate Guide is infamously not super reliable. It's primarily an updated version of The Freddy Files and uses a similar framing device, only suggesting possible ideas without ever giving much confirmation, and when it does, it's often not correct. Point is, its description of remnant is not accurate. We know what remnant is from FFPS: it's what you call metal after it has been haunted or possessed. Agony is the correct word to use here, and it's what the shadows actually are. This is made very clear in Fazbear Frights. Eleanor (who is also Shadow Bonnie in those books) was born from the MCI's agony and needs more agony to grow stronger. Dark remnant is a questionably canon concept. AR is kinda like FNAF World: it has some lore stuff, but the primary gameplay is best left forgotten.

We already establish that the older souls are more mature and less animalistic. The kids like to go "boo" and scare you. Springtrap instead just walks up to you casually. Same shit with the shadow animatronics. They want to dismantle the animatronics to either free their souls or stop the unecessary suffering

Nightmare is also shadow freddy,so is still possible that the thing outside midnight motorist is still him. In the books beings of agony can become stronger feeding of other agony So,

Oh no seems like my origins are being made into theories again 😅

I have a strange theory about shadow Bonnie that might work : so in my therory bonnie was originally a employee at one of the locations and he was using a Bonnie suite with spring lock I don't know which Bonnie though but the employee got springlocked and then he died but he would still roamed the restaurant and when you look at scrap trap and burnt trap it looks like they are separate characters because burntrap has both arms and is taller so what of the employee who got springlocked is shadowbonnie an William entered glitchtrap after the fnaf three incidents and possed the body of scrap trap or in this theory the first employee to die of the spring locks. But that's just a theory A GAME THEORY

Fun fact, those “spring lock incidents” were coverups for the first employees hanging themselves as you can see when you play sister location.

Thing is, while Shadow Bonnie I definitely think is a being of Dark Remnant, possibly a manifestation of the fear from the children toward the Spring Bonnie suit Afton used, I'm not sure if the same is true for Shadow Freddy. While the two are similar, they also have some pretty big differences. SB is pitch black aside from his eyes and teeth, almost looking like a living shadow. SF meanwhile is actually just a really dark purple, and you can see mechanical parts inside and hanging out. SF also doesn't have the weird glitchy elements during the minigames in 3. SF also appeared briefly in the second of the original book trilogy, performing roughly the same task of guiding the main characters to Afton. Hard to say what this all really means as far as what he truly is though.

I'm not sure Nightmare's quote would hold a lot of weight given that Nightmarionne, Nightmare Freddy, and Jack o Chica also have quotes relating to William's evilness.

That's exactly what I'm saying! This theory makes perfect sense to me. I love it.

My theory is that the crying child is shadow Freddy because it’s been theorized that golden Freddy is possessed by both Cassidy and CC and shadow Freddy looks just like golden Freddy so perhaps shadow Freddy is supposed to be the second spirit inside golden Freddy aka cc. And I believe Nightmare is supposed to be the fnaf representation of death

The fnaf 2 animatronics are not possessed by kids. They are programed to attack anyone who looks like William, so he doesn't come back after being banned. There is only one incident of missing kids and that's the original crew. No other incidents

Ive heard somewhere that Shadow Freddy is the suit in which phone guy was stuffed into. What do you make of this theory? If you disagree, what do you think became of phone guy? He was stuffed into a suit, but which one? We never see him set free, so its likely that he remains trapped in the either Fnaf 1 or 2 location, which is upsetting to hear. Thanks

We might know who shadow Freddy is. In princess quest, theres a shadow like version of the princess/Cassidy, which She meets

In Midnight Motorist it isn't the crying child who ran away, its Michael, and its set after Crying Child's death. Michael "has a bad day" and breaks his window, and runs off (assumedly to William) to JR's, a bar. William goes to the bar, intent on dragging Michael home, but the bouncer wont let him in.

This is a really interesting theory, and it actually fills in a lot of gaps, but I can't help but feel like it's missing just one last crucial piece. I can't explain what, but I just feel like there's something missing from this. I feel like some exploration into a psycho-analytical angle might fully complete this msytery, which I'll probably do over the next few days. RWQFSFASXC is probably my favourite animatronic.

0:08 that image of RWQFSFASXC was likely taken from the forsaken mod because in the real game, he has no plush suit.

Really cool video although the midnight motorist interpretationu went with is wildly off from what i feel most the fnaf community can agree its about. Michael ran off not the crying child.

I'm really excited for this one. Can't wait!

I do agree with most of what you said. I alway’s believed that both Shadow FredBear & RXQ didn’t originate from the Freddy Fazbear’s with the Spring-Lock’s simply that RXQ look’s too much like Toy Bonnie and plus his shadow design is different. He’s mostly black figure with white eye’s and teeth, while Shadow FredBear is Golden Freddy/ FredBear but purple and has white pupil’s. So to me these shadow’s originated in different place’s and I think that this line’s up with your theory.

The thing is, there’s another form that Shadow Freddy / Nightmare takes, and that is Nightmarrionne. We know that because of three things: in FNAF VR the Nightmarrionne plushie that we collect is labeled as “Nightmare”; In FNaF 4, during Halloween, Nightmarrionne replaces Nightmare and because they’re jumpscares have the same exact pose and sound. And all of that means that Shadow Freddy also appears in FNAF: Security Breach… So that’s fun!

They are Fear. In One of the FNAF 4 Minigames…. Two Purple Shadows can appear, one resembling Shadow Freddy and one being A Shadow SpringBonnie……Representing CC’s Fear over Animatronics. They are feeding off of CC’s Fear.

Doesn't shadow Bonnie appear in FNAF 3 after the toys are dismantled? You said he's not seen again after FNAF 2

thanks for enlightening my sunday night

I feel like shadow Freddy’s is the crying child’s spirit because of negative emotions of the death causing shadow remnant

I just assumed they were the victims that got spring locked or something. This is my comment before watching the video!

This song (beginning) brings me nostalgia for creepypasta videos about Herobrine haha Thank you very much!

Awfully bold choice to declare the mystery "solved" after giving a theory with little to no conclusive evidence.

the theory i believe is when the 2 springlock failures happened it created so much agony and formed them

But shadow bonnie does appear again after the toys are scrapped. In fnaf 3

I always thought that they both represented the two different bites and those were the animatronic's that caused it

Ok now do a unsolved mystery video on THE ENTIRE TIMELINE easy light work.

But what if Shadow bonnie is actually the dark reflection of William Afton,like we see in little nightmares or other media I think that shadow bonnie represents the dark side of William that swollows him Think about it , in fnaf2 it is presumed that you play as William undercover to use the animatronics for his own twisted motives,this is where we see shadow bonnie,also in other instances ,like in fnaf3 minigame ,shadow bonnie appears behind the original bonnie(the future springtrap(Afton)) and it is able to traverse all the minigames of the selected animatronics ,implying that it is the dark side of william that is reaching for the emotions /remnant of the kids Also , shadow Freddy could be the dark side of Henry that is trying to destroy all the things he and William has created in order to end William's evil deeds.

Personally I do agree that They Are Agony Beings.but from different incidents. I think that Shadow Bonnie would be A Manifestation of the OG MCI Kids agony.Maybe thats Why its so helpful to them because in a way…it is an Extension of them. And shadow freddy would be The Bite Victim’s Own Agony being. Considering that shadow freddy and Nightmare are recolors of Fredbear and all. Also it would explain their appearance.BV’s agony would be of fredbear the animatronic that killed him and was the ine he feared most And the MCI’s agony taking the form of Spring Bonnie the suit That was used to kill them

I really like this theory! Very good job!

So I think shadow freddy is Chris afton because he is purple which is a resemblence of an family member from the afton family right,and he appears in fnaf 3 all the way on your left,I think he wanted to find his father you know.And isnt fnaf ar not an original lore game more likely a fan game!?

i believe shadow freddie is fredbear bc back then when spring bonnie killed him his soul went free but he never left what if he turned into shadow freddie just then. also shadow bonnie could be springbonnie bc william afton destroyed the suit just a while after springbonnie killed fredbear. he destroyed him so he can use his suit which means springbonnies soul also were free i think its those 2 souls being shadow freddie/bonnie. now some people wil say that can be bc in the lore you know golden freddie was fredbear before he turned in golden freddie. thats true but there were 2 fredbears and also 2 springbonnies bc when springbonnie killed fredbear he got replaced with the ohter fredbear which was golden freddie. and after afton killed springbonnie he got replaced with the ohter one too and some time later the bite of 78 happened

I still think They’re springlock victims, ghosts of Fredbears that still haunt the man who created their suits and help the kids break free from their prisons in fnaf 3. Afton can control the spirits of kids but when adult spirits get involved he loses his control and gets cornered in the safe room

I had a theory that golden Freddy has 2 parts Fredbear/Evan and shadow Freddy/Cassidy and the formed golden Freddy or smth

I just knew that they were in employees that got spring locked and Afton covered up their bodies

Finally!!! This is the FNAF video I've been waiting for since playing FNAF 2.🐻🐰🐻🐰

FNAF World (which is a canon game by the way) suggests that Crying Child from FNAF 4 is connected to Shadow Bonnie at least as FNAF World strongly suggests that Crying Child is putting the pieces together and guiding the spirits to Happiest Day. If correct, Crying Child could be Shadow Bonnie, as he becomes Shadow Bonnie in one of FNAF 3's minigames, which is an oddly specific form for him to take, as all other forms he's taken so far are from normal FNAF characters.

Spoilers from the movie!!! Shadow freddy appeared in the movie, so it's probably gonna have quite an important role in the sequel However shadow bonnies as usual, remains much more mysterious and unknown

I JUST CAME UP WITH A THEORY!!! So in the new game theory video Matpat says that green is good and purple is evil, and shadow freddy is evil. That would explain alot because in FNAF 3 shadow freddy Tells you to follow him and guess what happens, you get dismantled by purple guy, who is also evil. So hear me out, what if shadow freddy was working for purple guy in FNAF 3? Please comment your thoughts on this I would love to hear them.

Huh interesting, I always thought that they were springlocked guys like you were saying, but this theory is a lot cooler

I pretty much agree with most of this so good job

I have a theory but I am not sure about it Willaim is shadow Freddy because in fnaf 3 mini game you play as an animatronic and shadow Freddy appears and tells you to follow him to the safe room after you follow him purple guy appears and destroys the animatronic because fnaf 2 is before fnaf 1 in the timeline so shadow Freddy may be the purple guy

Hey matpat ya need to hop on this

5:12 thats def og bonnie. even the example you gave has different teeth. more bunny like.

Every time I see a Fnaf theory mostly revolved around the first 4 games I can’t help but think how much dream theory made so much sense before Sister Location. Shadow Freddy and Bonnie? There because of the shadow outline Crying Child saw through the curtain of Fredbear and Springlock Bonnie. That’s the answer we could’ve had via dream theory. This was a great video though, I’m glad someone tried to tackle this topic at all.

Damn and i thought that cassidy posesses G freddy and that Evan when killed by fredbear he was killed by him but not stuffed inside so that makes him not posessing fredbear. So i thought that he somewhat had the appearance of what later we name golden freddy but in a soul version/appearance. And since he's Evan he helped his dad by luring freddy, bonnie, chica and foxy to william. But shadow bonnie is different. Hes like very black but shadow freddy is dark purple. And shadow freddy moves like a normal animatronic/ghost but shadow bonnie glitches around and teleports through places and can even fly. Thx for reading untill here it means alot

I think the shadows are just the visions Michael sees sense William made him see visions of them which caused him to stay inside

Fun fact: RWQFSFASXC was originally supposed to have the black body and white eyes with Springtrap’s body but Scott didn’t consider making FNAF 3 at the time

Shadow freddy also appears in Fnaf 6 in the opening minigame i think

My theory is before the bite of 83 Shadow Bonnie and shadow Freddy then they ate human (Or maybe they are adult) springlocked and they're soul comed in idk what animatronic

Loving the Channels im getting recommended. BIG SUBS!

So now that the character encyclopedia is out we need a redo on this theory cus there’s more shadows there’s shadow puppet and I think shadow balloon boy

Idk if this makes me OG but I remember the original theory that shadow bonnie was spring tap/spring bonnie and shadow Freddy is Fred bear/golden Freddy

Shadow bonnie appears on one of the TV's in Security breach ruin, just noting that

name of the comic at 6:50 ?

I love your videos keep it up

I heard that shadow Bonnie and shadow Freddy were the souls of two deceased security guards who died in a Freddy and Bonnie suit. I heard from a while back..anyone else know about that?

I have a theory that shadow freddy is death coming in many forms ( nightmare and nightmarionne ) because he had a plan in fnaf 3 to free the souls and not william plan for him to guide the animatronics to william and william just self defense so he can die from the souls we even can see that shadow bonnie helped after william died in the happiest day and in fnaf 2 he appeard because the bite of 87 and in fnaf 4 after the bite of 83

What about when shadow Bonnie appears in the fnaf 3 minigames?

That fact that you called shadow bonnie that way🤣

The fact that he pronounced shadow bonnie's name

wait you said the shadow animatronics are trying to prevent other murders happening if so why is it in one of the mini games you follow shadow freddy because he says "follow me" but then when you do you get chopped into pieces by purple guy so how are they trying to prevent murder and lead you the right way if you just got chopped into pieces by purple guy?

That makes a lot more sense

For a second i thought the thumnail said "How woud they taste?"

I think shadow freddy is a representation of william afton and shadow bonnie is a representstion of Henry. Shadow bonnie tries to orevent you from collecting remnant, henry does the same with william, nightmare says he is williams wickedness. Which means shadow freddy is a represantation of william. I have more evidence for shadow freddy being william but not shadow bonnie

Here’s a friendly reminder that the Crying child actually died in 1983 and not 1985

its funny that in AR, Shadow bonnie.. has a shadow 😂

The shadow animatronics and we’re employees from the Freddy fazbears pizzeria that passed away while in a spring lock suit