The Complete Five Nights at Freddy's Story Explained 

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"For one of you, the darkest pit of hell has opened to swallow you whole, so don't keep the Devil waiting, old friend." Such a badass line.

One thing that you omitted was that at the true end of Fnaf 3, a spirit of Golden Freddy was freed in a birthday party set up by the other spirits. That was probably the release of Evan Afton, giving him the party and happiness that was robbed from him, therefore making Cassidy the one who tortures William Afton.

all of the parents, grandparents, and other adult family members here in the comments who watched this video to better understand the interests of the kids in their lives is SO wholesome

My son was into this game several years ago, and he got me hooked on the storyline (just the teeniest bit of the storyline), I’ve read the first book, and we just saw the movie last night. I immediately came home and looked everything up that I could. My son sent my your video, and I thought it was great! You made it very easy to understand. Nicely done!

I am 52. I remember in 2014 my kids started talking about Five Nights at Freddy’s. All I knew was it was a game about a closed down Chucky Cheese type place with some animatronics. Over the next 8 years this became a huge part of my kids’ lives. I lost interest. Fast forward. Today. I watched this video with my 20 year old daughter and WOW!! You asked for comments from people new to FNAF… well… you have a new fan Mr. Wendigoon. This made PERFECT sense and is the best explanation I’ve EVER heard of FNAF! Kudos son. You’ve stretched into the over 50 market! Thank you for this great explanation.

Poor Evan. Not only was he the first child killed, but he can’t even possess his own animatronic! Dude’s got a roommate!

I’m convinced MatPat is the true master mind even if he doesn’t know it. I think Scott didn’t know the first game would be a hit and just egged on MatPat till he wrote a story for him. All while MatPat believed Scott was the mastermind

I believe that Afton was neglectful, yet possessive towards his children. I think the video cameras and psychic friend Fred bear was a way for him to exert control over them, to watch them without having to stop his work. He doesn’t seem to particularly care that Micheal is bullying Evan, and he drags them to the pizzeria even if they don’t want to be there. Without this angle of possessiveness, I can’t quite make the cameras make sense.

1:06:18 Honestly, for being an indie horror game about ghosts possessing animatronics, Scott did not have to go this fucking hard with this monologue. "Although for one of you, the darkest pit of hell has opened to swallow you whole. So don't keep the devil waiting, friend." is such a raw line.

I think it's kind of weirdly sweet that the puppet went to lay down with Charlie when she failed to protect her. Idk it twinged my heart

As a kid who’s been obsessed with the story of Five Nights At Freddy’s since 2014. Current 21 year old me can finally rest now. Thank you for this Wendigoon.

Marionette was probably for me the saddest death. It literally was meant to do good and couldn't do anything to help and laid next to her like a good dog and died. Everyone else was killed with evil intentions. Marionette Charlotte makes me the most sad.

The biggest plot hole in the series is how this company was able to survive such a long streak of devastating PR and legal disasters, I swear every time they open a restaurant at least one person ends up dead

one chilling detail that was omitted was why the spring locks failed and killed Evan in the first place. it's meantioned that as the locks get damp they tend to fail and in the scene where Evan dies he's visibly crying implying that he cried so much and was in so much fear it caused the failure.

I feel like they kicked Elizabeth out because she had a sort of dedication to William. “I will make you proud, daddy” that’s what she said in that clip. So i’m assuming they kicked her out because she was trying to work for her father in a way

I like how the plot of the movie essentially boiled down the half-century of convoluted history to its best elements, the missing children, Mike's trauma, Afton wearing the bonnie suit, Vanessa's new character, etc. while simultaneously paying fan service in a creative way.

I’ve always been fine with the “William was in a silly goofy mood” for killing the kids, because when it started cawthon didn’t expect to be the huge franchise, but this makes SO much more sense

Henry's VA absolutely KILLED it with the voice acting for that final monologue, legit my favourite scene of the whole series and it's made 100% by the 10/10 voice acting

I really like the idea that in at least a few runs of the game, a random guy name Fritz rolls up and despite having no clue about the animatronics he absolutely embarasses them on 10/20 mode because he's just him, and then leaves with his minimum wage without so much as a complaint.

I won’t lie this was the most coherent timeline in my opinion.

I honestly prefer the idea of Evan being the first death, it feels like an actual starting point to the story instead of a vague point where a guy starts killing people.

I think maybe the reason Elizabeth was kicked out of the ennard is because she was still loyal to her father. In her speech at the end of Pizzeria Simulator, she goes on about doing what she was created to do, and even directly says “I will make you proud, Daddy”. Obviously the victims of her father would not be too fond of someone who was loyal to their killer.

I kinda like this explanation. It still shows that William was evil but originally a good man driven mad by the death of two of his children

Been catching up on the series since I saw the movie. This is easily the most clearly explained, sensible, and easy to understand breakdown of the story I've ever seen. Bravo.

This is literally the "Be quiet he's explaining FNAF lore"' final boss.

Henry's speech as he burned everything down including himself was phenomenal.

His chronological order: 4,2,1,5,3,6,7 2:16 Explaining owners kids: 9:37 William afton motive 18:33 Elizabeth accidental death 20:47

For someone who haven't played one single second on FNAF i seriously have to admit: The Lore is some good stuff

There's something so damn tragic about Michael looking enough like William to be mistaken for him by his victims. Looking in the mirror and seeing his dad's face too, after everything he's done to him. Not to mention ending up with a similar fate to his father while trying to right his wrongs.

Man... Michael's been through a lot. Accidentally killed his brother, lost his sister, dad turned crazy, got *SCÖÖPÉD* , used as a puppet for...an abomination of sin...damn

Henry's monologue makes me cry every single time I hear it. His voice is so pained, so loving yet so detached. And his line telling Michael that he knows it's him, knows that he wants to stay and burn with everyone, and then Henry saying that he's here to burn with them as well is so fucking heartbreaking. Phenomenal.

I’ve watched this about 3 times and I just wanna say thank you for not having any jumpscares!! It’s pretty hard to find FNAF videos without them being used, and as someone very easily startled by loud noises but also fascinated by FNAF and it’s story, I appreciate when none are present, or at least with prior warning ;v;

The beginnings of Fredbears are actually really sweet. Just two guys who wanted to keep the magic of childhood alive and went to great lengths to keep it.

I think the reason the timeline is all fucky is because Scott probably wasn't sure if the first game was going to get any traction at all. So when it did, he kinda had to start making up the story with each new game to tie up loose ends from the previous one. With that in mind, he did an absolutely tremendous job considering he was writing the story as he went, not being able to go back and change previously established lore.

Loved the MatPat shoutout. He really has done more for FNAF than anyone

I knew nothing about FNAF, apart from the Characters which my Grandson has on display. I watched your video on the story of FNAF, because I’m going to the cinema this evening with my grandchildren to watch the film and wanted to know something about it before I went. I feel totally enlightened now, your summary from beginning to end was perfect. Im now ready and fully equipped to watch the film version, Thank you !!!

Something that often doesn't get enough love is what a genuinely brilliant design Springtrap had for a supernatural slasher villain. The derilect, barely together suit with barely visible hints of William's mummified corpse in it, and those cold, malicious eyes that just send a chill down your spine. It may not have the same uncanny creep factor as the classic animatronics, but as a "monster" design I think it's by far the best in the series. Unironically, he should be in Dead By Daylight or something. And then Scott turned him into a weird bald peanut man, but we don't have to talk about that part.

Even years after pizza simulator, the ending speech that Henry gives is absolutely chilling. It’s so cold, so distanced, and yet so filled with love for his daughter, pity for Elizabeth, and burning hatred as hot as the fire that consumed the building for his once best friend. The music is perfect, and your added visuals were great. I genuinely love pizzeria simulator’s ending and won’t accept anything else as canon, lol. I still get tingles from it!!

My 12 year old ia obsessed with Fnaf and I wanted to be able to talk about it with her, so this helped. Very detailed and not hard to follow. Cheers pal :)

As someone who is too scared to play the games but wanted to know more about the story, watching this was really easy to follow along! Thank you so much ❤️

the idea of a guy’s greatest creation being his downfall and spiraling him out of control has such a greek tragedy feel about it which definitely kept me hooked onto these games for so long

It can’t just be me that thinks Michael Afton is lowkey a badass, man goes through untold horrors and literally survives being a body suit through just sheer will

FNAF overall is just so sad, which is why I really like it. The sadness behind the horror hits different.

No this was so good and helpful! I’m a mom to an almost 10 year old who is getting into “horror” games. I wanted to know what he was talking about and this helped explain it! Thank you so much!

i like this alot. especially 4 being the first. it gives william an actual reason for his killings and not just "heh i like killing children"

This... Is actually a super fitting topic for this channel, wow. The idea of wendi covering this franchise never crossed my mind, but now i am all for it

Henry's speech to his daughter legit gave me chills.

For someone who has ADD and has trouble keeping up with complex storylines, you've made it very easy to comprehend and digest, THANK YOU!!

The biggest complaint I've heard about Security Breach(from a story perspective) is that it undoes the fantastic ending of Pizzaria Simulator. And I wholeheartedly agree. Williams story should have ended at custom night.

I think Afton's goal in putting on the spring Bonnie suit wasn't to shield himself directly, but to scare them away. He meant to frighten them by becoming the last thing they saw alive.

This was the video that introduced me to Wendigoon. I've never played the games but wanted to look up the story for some reason. And every video I've watched was like a dramatic radio play or some third rate fanfic reading, with "creepy" sound effects and overly-acted voice over. Wedndigoon is just a guy telling you a story. He lets the story stand on its own and allows the contents of it to scare you. He has no need for these stupid sound effects or hamfisted dramatic readings. Straight and to the point.

Henry’s final speech is still one of the most metal pieces of writing I’ve heard in a game and perfectly delivered too

What makes wendigoon a superior horror channel is he talks normally and doesn't overdwell on ideas. He just tells it how it happened like a friend you're having a conversation with and maybe throws a cool idea or two in there

As a person who had ZERO idea about the series, didn't play the games, and know barely about Markiplier's meme - this makes so much sense and is such a creepy, well-build story. I was in awe for, like, the most of the video, for you and mostly the game creators. Can't wait for the VHS video!

I'm 14. In 2016 I got into my FNAF era. It wa my whole life, but I never understood the lore. My friends invited me to watch the FNAF movie I've been waiting for for 7 years. I never understood the lore until this video, thanks!

I have to say, as someone who knew absolutely nothing about fnaf until I saw the movie, this was an incredibly well done explanation of all of the events and really did service to the mad creativity of the creators. Nice job man!

Just came to the horrible conclusion that about half of the FNAF tragedy could’ve been resolved if they just settled on fursuits instead of going the extra mile with the animatronic components.

I've always loved the interpretation that William absolutely snapped mentally once he learned the fate of his children. Yeah it does make him easier to hate if you believe he was evil all along or, as I've seen many people hc him as, a p*do, but him just. being a normal, everyday guy who loves what he does, that then suddenly breaks mentally over the tragedy that befell his children at the hands of his own creations... idk, that makes him a lot more compelling imo

Also I think remnant is actually a really useful concept introduced to the series. It basically establishes that the souls of the children, and most notably their pain and misery if not explicit consciousnesses are imprinted into the endoskeletons of the animatronics. This helps us track who went where, and also explains how little kids could be so murderously violent and downright sadistic towards even innocent people like michael and phone guy- their pain and suffering and misery is what animates the animatronics, they're not fully aware. It's not just the same person with a new body, it's a horrible experience trapped in a body. Which would also explain why william afton kept experimenting- he didn't just want the ghost of his son, the animated suffering he went through, he wanted the whole full consciousness of his son back. He got closer with circus baby, having made an animatronic that was more capable of communication and I assume ai to serve as the basis for conscious thought, but even only merged and filled circus baby's personality with the consciousness/sentience of her victim, elizabeth, rather than an unadulterated vessel for elizabeth to be able to live again through. Henry refers to the animatronics as "monsters" and tells them to give up their spirits. He wouldn't just be calling victimized children monsters, I think this goes to show it's not exactly the children's conscious minds/personalities in active control of the animatronics, but their pain.

Your timeline of William's motives is so much more satisfying than most other theories who just go "oh at some point he killed 5 more unknown children because he's an evil child killer"

Love the idea that fritz smith is actually just a random guy that really needed money and just though surviving the moving animatronic was something that came with the job is really funny

I've always seen the "odor" comment on the pink slip as a reference to the fact that Michael Afton was a reanimated corpse (by the end of Sister Location), and he was slowly rotting by the time that the events of FNAF 1 and 2 came around. It would also explain the tampering of animatronics, and the general unprofessionalism, he's a partly a zombie.

When he writes out the time line, im just so impressed of how CRISP those lines are.

Thank you for this. I'm 57, my son is 17. He use to play the game when he was younger. We have the new movie qued up to watch, and now I can't wait. This explained A LOT for me. Thank you again. This was perfect!!

It's honestly a shame that Security Breach basically makes Henry's sacrifice useless, as well as Mike's.

"Although for one of you, the darkest pit of hell has opened to swallow you whole, so don't keep the devil waiting, old friend" is one of the most incredible lines ever crafted and its from FNAF. Absolutely iconic

As someone who knows NOTHING about FNAF, this was so awesome and really gave depth to a story I didn’t realize was there. Thanks for making this!

1:15:00 For me personally, the only person who knows about FNAF is from fucking songs. Your video just put everything in its place . And I think I fell in love with this franchise

The final cutscene of FNAF 6 will always give me chills. It’s one of the best monologues I’ve ever heard. On top of that, it’s such a good conclusion to the stories of Michael and Henry

I think Michael is really underrated. The line "I'm going to come find you" is so well executed and underrated, it still sends chills any time I hear it.

in my opinion, Michael didn't really "survive" after Ennard but more started possessing his own body, to me he's not really alive but not really dead either

25:33 Thank you so much for the audio pause man! Thats a genuis way to get audio listeners to see a on screen piece of info and is one of the only reasons I wasnt incredibly confused about that whole segment :)

Me, who has never played FNAF: "I need this feature length film of backstory." As a newcomer, you actually made this pretty clear to me. Great job

Not even exaggerating, this is probably the best way to look at Fnaf's story. People like Matpat look at these events from a very, VERY analytical perspective. This isn't outright bad, but it misses what they're examining: a story. That's why people are so hung up on if the Crying Child's name is Evan, when in reality it doesn't matter what his name was. What matters is, if Wendigoon is correct, he was a son who died tragically which caused a father to spiral into madness. I honestly think that's beautiful

37:49 that’s two jobs

40:10 I love how all the junk letters not making up words in the word search are scrambled "ITS ME" repeated over and over

I love that you ignored Security Breach in the timeline. As cool as SB is esthetically, it really does destroy what I think was the perfect ending. SB was too ambitious for its own good and they didn't do anything interesting with it. In terms of story, SB should be seen as an alternate universe aside from the canon one - like the books.

Call me a baby but Henry’s speech right before the fire is set, at the end of Pizzeria Simulator gives me goosebumps. Whoever wrote that was able to put so many mixed emotions…rage, heartbreak, sorrow, despair, hope, guilt…and even love (his daughter Charlie). It’s just a really great speech.

Oh my this was 2 years ago lol now I need an updated version..

from what I remember like half of the lore in fnaf was added post-hawk after the first few games blew the fuck up, then drip fed though other stuff as the series went on. It would explain why it's as all over the place as it is.

The fact he took the time to make sure those listening to the audio understood the corrections is just honestly phenomenal and really deserves its recognition. Thank you bud

The spring lock suits getting wet and malfunctioning didn’t just “kill” William, it is also the reason Evan was bitten because his crying inside the mouth caused it to snap shut.

Pre-game refresher before the movie

This was an incredible timeline overview! As someone who has never played the games, but debating about seeing the movie, being able to know the backstory was always going to be helpful, but I literally had NO IDEA the game was this in-depth! This is like Steven Universe, Adventure Time, and Gravity Falls all rolled up into a video game series. I did check out some other overview (I'm actually in the middle of an extremely long one) and so far, I think I not only like your explanation better, but feel it's far more likely, especially in terms of the why for Afton going on this killing spree. As someone who loved and grew up with Chuckie Cheese, no profitable organization would EVER let their CEO murder a bunch of kids and then continue operating AND no normal human being just straight up murders people - especially children - without some sort of reasoning (this is addressing the thought that the MCI happens at the beginning of this timeline) Afton losing his youngest child, before killing his partner's child out of grief makes complete sense and then getting the idea of bringing his son back via animatronics, only then to lose his daughter it's brilliant. The idea that ultimately FNaF is the story of a family tragedy that just happens to center around this restaurant is unique because it's not what you would expect, certainly not from a standard video game. Honestly, I think the original 6 games are the completed story and everything after is, IMHO, a cash grab to make more money. From what I've learned, those first 6 games tell this incredible story that starts with a tragedy - from #4 - and then concludes with the remaining members - Mike and Henry in #6 - putting an end to it. Now I'm really hoping the movie does some justice to this. Thank you for the painstaking amount of playtime/research it must've taken to do all of this!

i dont think william ever really ‘lost his mind’. i feel that the fact he was willing to spy on his children so intensely before killing anyone or even designing animatronics to kill is a good indicator that he always had a potential for evil.

Agreed. The fact that security breach says that Henry's plan didn't work was actually insulting. I have decided to completely ignore the last two games so the story has some sort of actual closure.

This is the best timeline for the games ive seen. I didn’t notice any plot holes or you ignoring anything.

"I feel like today's horror series needs no introduction" *proceeds to give 7 minutes of introduction*

You have no idea how many times I’ve thought to myself “Damn, I wish Wendigoon made a FNaF timeline video”

must say I always preferred the theories that involved Afton being motivated by the loss of his kids, since it makes him somewhat sympathetic and more interesting, whereas if he was already killing before his kids started to kick the bucket, that'd just mean he's the "1 dimensional murder man"

And then, unfortunately, we got Security Breach and its DLC. Which don't really... feel, like continuations at all. They feel like something new in the same universe.

I'm watching this as a refresher before I go to see the FNAF movie with my friends later today, and I just love Wendigoon's presentation of literally everything he's talked about up to this point. *My personal FNAF hot take though:* 80% of the content we've gotten past FNAF 4 is unnecessary. This isn't to take a jab at Security Breach or Sister Location, but if I'm being serious, Scot's creative choices that he's made with this series is killing me. Each story has a beginning, a middle, and an end. And as soon as we think we've finally gotten good closure, he get another addition to the canon - or something get changed, or retconned, or added entirely. Here me out: FNAF 1 was good for establishing an overarching narrative about the purple guy who killed a bunch of kids. FNAF 2 was good for furthering more lore about the kids and even adding another character as a "leader" of sorts for the victims: the Puppet. FNAF 3 was good for establishing a set ending where the victims are set free and the murderer is defeated. FNAF 4 WOULD HAVE BEEN GREAT for establishing the event of the Bite of '87... before it became the "Bite of '83" and we were pushed right back to Square 1. ...my frustration is that there just doesn't seem to be an end to it. There's new things where there doesn't need to be new things, new lore where it's not necessary, and it's gotten to the point where honestly Five Nights at Freddy's just isn't... scary anymore. But maybe that's just me.

They kicked Baby out of Ennard due to Baby being sorta manipulative, so they turned against her. We saw Baby and the crew argue with each other in the source code for Scott's two websites.

The only part I have issue with is the theory that William was purposely making Evan afraid of his animatronics. It just doesn’t make sense to me that he would willingly make his son hate his own creations that, at that point, he was supposedly making to entertain kids like his own. I think it makes more sense that Evan developed a fear of the animatronics from seeing their inner workings and how his dad worked on them in his own home. The nightmare versions of the animatronics have wires and mechanical parts poking out of them, as if they’re already rotting away, like Evan can only see the robotic parts that make up these characters. As for letting Michael tease and bully him so much, that could be a result of William pouring all his effort into these animatronics and being unintentionally neglectful to his actual family. I mean, from the little we see of how he treats Michael as a teenager, he seems to treat him like shit. And the fact that two of his children died as a result of somehow being able to get close enough to the animatronics to cause harm without any adult intervention is pretty telling.

While I do think that remnant makes the story so much more complex and confusing, I definitely think it puts certain things together as to how William discovered remnant, and how Mike survives enard

genuinely one of the best fnaf lore breakdown videos ive ever watched

This is the most coherent and logical timeline I've ever heard for this series. With FNAF, it's really easy to miss the forest for the trees. There are so many little details to get caught up on that the more you know about it, the more confusing it gets. Like you said, I think that is something Matpat has fallen victim to as well. So many people take his theories as gospel, but even he has admitted that they have holes in them. How Security Breach fits into it is beyond me. I have alway thought of this story as depicting the complexities of the human condition for many of the reasons you stated. If the characters have no reason for the things that they do, why tell the story at all? Having William start out as a grieving father whose guilt drove him to extremes makes so much more sense. By the end, he's become so consumed by all of it that there's barely anything human left in him. He transforms into a monster entirely because of his own actions.

I _love_ your interpretation of the "odor" on the guard's pink slip. You simply see that as a subtle clue that Smith, Schmidt and Afton are the same person instead of instantly concluding that the "odor" is due to Michael's body decomposing, which never made sense in the first place (why would someone want to hire a living and rotting corpse??????) UPD: I actually short-circuted when I heard "Fredbear says "IT'S ME" to Michael Afton because that's Michael's younger brother pointing himself out over and over again" because holy shit that makes so much sense UPD 2: "Remnant is lame therefore I ignore it" I simply can't overstate how indescribably based you are

just spent hours watching other fnaf lore videos and nothing made sense or stuck with me at all... but this video is so digestible and straight to the point that now i finally understand everything after struggling for YEARS omg😭😭THANK YOU