/!\ This Villain is Approved as Pure Evil. William Afton, also known as Purple Guy or Springtrap/Scraptrap, is the main antagonist of the ScottGames series of the point-and-click horror game franchise Five Nights at Freddy's.
He was one of the two co-founders of Fazbear Entertainment, Inc. (alongside Henry Emily), and the sole founder of Afton Robotics, LLC, secretly a serial killer directly and indirectly responsible for many tragedies, most notably the infamous Missing Children Incident, when he lured five children to the safe room using the Spring Bonnie suit and took their lives. Afton's legacy is theorized to be carried by the Mimic in the Steel Wool series of the franchise.
Appearance[]
Purple Guy[]
There are no clear depictions of William Afton as a human, since it is mostly only ever seen in minigames. His sprites are very simplistic, being a purple figure with an elongated smile. William is seen as having a cleft chin outside of the minigames.
The most detail William has shown is during the SAVETHEM death minigame, in which he is revealed to be a tall skinny man with a long neck and has yellow object on his chest that resembles a security badge, and holds a purple object, which is speculated to be a weapon or tool, or possibly just his hands extending in a beckoning pose.
Springtrap[]
The suit is an olive green with a forest green belly patch as well as the inside of the ears, the suit has several holes ranging from small to large in size. The teeth are mostly exposed and a yellowish tint and on the left side, a wire sticking out of the jaw. The left is the most decayed(or missing) showing part of the endoskeleton with a red wire poking out of the suit's ear, the right one is less decayed(missing) but the ear still shows some decay.
The face has multiple holes and a larger hole on the right side of the top of the head exposes the "Purple Guy's" rotten corpse's head inside and one red, black wire and two green wires sticking out from the bottom of the large hole. The eyes are grey(Maybe soul piercing to some) and look like human eyes the size of animatronic eyes, in front of the eyes are light grey circles in front of the human-like eyes.
Sticking out of the bottom of the right eye is one dark red and three black wires sticking out. The left side of the head is wires sticking out from a large hole, one red, greed, black and two yellow wires. On the side of the jaw are two bolts that make the head flip open, exposing the full look of "Purple Guy's" rotten corpse face, which is in a screaming position(maybe of all the pain from the coiled locks).
The nose is brown and a tiny bit deformed. The chest has multiple holes that show the "intestines, veins and stomach" are shown in the larger hole below the black button on the belly patch. The upper legs has holes that show the endoskeleton and some of the springlocks as well as some of "purple Guy's" blood vessels dangling out into the lower leg parts. The knee coverings and has tiny holes and the lower legs go down to the calf and are decayed showing the vessels dangling down from the inside of the legs.
The feet are the medal endoskeleton and the red blood vessels in the grooves of the feet, and the ankles are covered with reddish pink muscle fibers. The arms has multiple holes and has several wires sticking out of the holes in the suit. The hands are mostly complete but the thumb and the first finger of the right hand is missing, showing the endoskeleton fingers, the left hand is mostly complete except for the second part of the ring finger is missing.
Scraptrap[]
William returned once again in Freddy Fazbear's Pizzeria Simulator with a new design, dubbed Scraptrap. While he does retain some key physical details from his original design, there are some major differences. Unlike the previous design where his interior was mostly machinery, it is now almost entirely organic, and shows his human skeleton as well as flesh, with five bony fingers as his right hand. The reason as to why William is much more detailed this time is probably because his full body can be seen in one of the rare-boot screens. There are more torn patches in his suit with multiple metal-wires, and he has lost his left forearm, half his left ear, and the rest of his right ear. His feet now have fabric over them, with three large, round toes on each foot. His eyes no longer glow and now look completely metallic.
The mask also has significant differences, with much larger eye sockets, a black nose, a square muzzle, a singular pair of buck teeth at the top row and small sharp needle-like teeth at the bottom. Afton's mummified head has turned pale in color, now with ears, thicker lips, rigged teeth, and a dimple. Upon closer inspection, there appears to be brain matter poking out from his forehead and exposed muscle tissue on his cheeks.
Personality[]
Although seeming very cryptic at first, William's character traits and nature can be seen via silent actions within retro-graphics and by reading between the lines throughout the games.
William Afton is the textbook definition of evil. He is the sadistic serial killer who sparked the downfall of his own company, Fazbear Entertainment, murdered over a dozen children in cold blood, and started the tragic chain of events that leads players throughout the series. It is heavily implied that William's true motive is to gain the secret of immortality and live eternally. Judging by his actions and appearance within the games, William is wicked, cold-blooded and methodical, clearly showing no remorse for his actions. He was even malicious enough to murder his closest friend and business partner Henry's only daughter Charlotte, an event which caused Henry immense emotional turmoil to the point where he nearly committed suicide, showing that William is more than willing to harm his friends, whether it be mentally, emotionally, or physically. "Dittophobia" shows that William had always been twisted, doing cruel experimentation on innocent children for the sole purpose of getting results, proving he feels no remorse for anyone.
As shown in every minigame he appears in, he always smiles during his killings, and in the Pizza Party minigame in Five Nights at Freddy's: Help Wanted, which appears to be a recreation of one of Afton's murders, Glitchtrap, who is representing Afton, can be seen dancing gleefully after murdering the victim, taunting them while they are trapped inside of a robotic suit and suffering a slow and painful death. Both of these examples show that William is extremely ruthless and sadistic and appears to take delight, satisfaction, and pride in the murder of innocent people while watching his victims suffer in agony. One of William's voice lines in Freddy Fazbear's Pizzeria Simulator suggest that he is opportunistic and will proceed with his intentions, regardless of the risks.
Heard in the opening cutscene of Sister Location, William shows a rather calm and neutral personality. This is likely to hide his true intentions and evil mindset, while showing that he is a manipulator and seemingly theatrical, being able to easily put on a character to fool people. The fact that he created the Funtime Animatronics, which are very advanced and technological, shows that he has a genius level intellect, a talent for robotics, and is very proud of his creations. He is also fascinated by how they have changed after the events of Sister Location.
Springtrap's voice lines in Five Nights at Freddy's AR: Special Delivery indicate that he is arrogant, boastful, and overconfident, and even suggests that he wants his victims to fear and respect him. This is in stark contrast to his subtle, poetic, and calculated voice. His mannerisms are incredibly flamboyant. It seems that William's hubris grew larger as he became more experienced as a killer, likely due to the fact that he was never convicted for his crimes and always got away with them. This explains his behavior in Five Nights at Freddy's 3 and Freddy Fazbear's Pizzeria Simulator. Given his nature, William is most likely not insane, he just seemingly does not care for the difference between right and wrong, and simply chooses to be evil for no other reason than to achieve his twisted and unethical desires.
It is heavily suggested that William's greatest fear above all is his own death. This is shown in one of the Five Nights at Freddy's 3 minigames, where he cowers in fear while facing the vengeful ghosts of his victims, explaining why he refused to pass on after his death and became Springtrap to begin with. This fear is so immense that he has developed an unbreakable iron will to live, no matter the circumstances. Ultimately, this is what pushes him to survive even in the deadliest situations time and time again. He showcases his willpower by confidently stating "I always come back". This ironically shows that despite William's immense arrogance, he is at his core a coward when facing his own death and retribution for his actions. William suspects that consequences in an afterlife might await him, and he intends to stay away from it at all costs.
It is implied in Sister Location that he loved his daughter Elizabeth, warning her not to go near Circus Baby, as he had programmed the animatronic to capture and kill children. However, there are indications that this was for selfish reasons. He was aware that Baby was possessed by Elizabeth, yet paid and allowed technicians to shock her for an indefinite period of time. Taking this into account, William's connection to Elizabeth may have not been as genuine as it seemed. Besides that, his relationship with his son Michael Afton seems relatively unknown, other than the fact that he tried to kill him in Freddy Fazbear's Pizzeria Simulator.
Speculation[]
- Despite William sparking the downfall of Fazbear Entertainment by murdering many children, his actual motivation for killing kids is still a mystery, though many people assume he did for his own enjoyment or as part of an experiment to create life from the dead.
- Freddy Fazbear's Pizzeria Simulator heavily implies the latter, as a blueprint reveals the Scooper's purpose; to transfer remnant, a substance that gives a soul its ability to remain after death, into the animatronics.
- Although it's heavily implied that William is after remnant so he can become immortal, ironically, the same game goes against it, showing that even after gaining the closest he'll ever have to immortality, he still wants to kill children, although this could be due to William's damaged psyche and having possibly gone mad with power as Springtrap, no longer caring about his original motivation, or simply because he wants to continue with his experiments.
- Five Nights at Freddy's 4 and Sister Location suggest that William is motivated by the death of the Crying Child, his youngest son, and that his killings are either a targeted revenge scheme against Henry and Fazbear Entertainment for creating the dangerous spring-lock animatronics by taking them out of business for good, harvesting remnant from children to resurrect his son, or both. However, it ultimately depends on which date the Missing Children Incident happened, with there being implications for both 1983 and 1985. That said, Charlie has been confirmed to be Afton's first victim in the franchise.
- However, there are some disputes as to if any murders committed by William occurred before the Crying Child's death, with some believing that Elizabeth Afton's death came before the Crying Child's. Sister Location states that Circus Baby's opened after Freddy's shut down, but it's unknown if HandUnit is referring to Circus Baby's Pizza World or Circus Baby's Entertainment and Rental, or perhaps both. Even if Elizabeth died before the Crying Child, Afton would still lack a solid motivation for his actions as the Funtime animatronics that killed Elizabeth were made to capture and kill children.
- Freddy Fazbear's Pizzeria Simulator heavily implies the latter, as a blueprint reveals the Scooper's purpose; to transfer remnant, a substance that gives a soul its ability to remain after death, into the animatronics.
- Many fans thought that the theory of Afton possibly speaking via a microphone through the Fredbear Plush to manipulate and emotionally abuse the Crying Child was safely debunked, as in the Night 2 Minigame of Five Nights at Freddy's 4, Afton can be seen helping a worker get into his mascot suit simultaneously while the toy bear speaks to the child, making it seemingly impossible. However, this theory would then be revived by the eighth Tales from the Pizzaplex novel, which revealed that Afton pre records messages to his human experiments in the event of him being preoccupied, making it plausible once more.
- In the novel series, it is implied that Afton envied what he perceived to be Henry's perfect family and is motivated by jealousy towards Henry to kill Charlie. His motivation for killing other children appears to be in order to create a new family for himself by having them possess the animatronics, and he may have been inspired by seeing Henry use remnant to bring Charlie back to life as an animatronic.
- Also in the novel series, Afton is confirmed to be stealing life essence from victims and animatronics, experimenting on it to attempt to find the secret to immortality. However, this part of his motivation only came after he found out he was dying from the damage injured in the Spring Bonnie suit, making his actual/original motivations obscured and vague.
- The Fazbear Frights version of Afton apparently has a never-ending need to inflict pain, implying that he does it out of pure sadism (or alternatively, his motivation to kill out of sadism developed over time during his career as a killer).
- It had also been implied that the Fazbear Frights Afton genuinely loved his wife and was struck with grief after her death, showing another possible motive for his actions. A later epilogue, however, would soon reveal that it's an entirely new character instead of Afton that lost his wife. Despite this, it's theorized that the absence of William's wife is meant to signify that she's the reason Afton went insane, or that she isn't at all important to the plot.
- It is speculated that the in-universe TV show The Immortal and the Restless that Michael watches between the nights of Five Nights at Freddy's: Sister Location, where Vlad denies being the father of the baby, is a parallel between the relationship between William and Michael. Vlad shares similarities with William, while the baby has similar looks to his father like Michael is noted to have with his.
- William could have been inspired by:
- Aaron Fechter, an engineering entrepreneur who created the Showbiz Pizza Place's animatronics. Scott Cawthon actually met Fechter in person.
- Nathan Dunlap who, after being fired from Chuck E. Cheese, shot four of the five employees fatally and injured the fifth in the 1993 Aurora, Colorado, shooting.
- This creepypasta, which tells the story of a mascot of Chuck E. Cheese who had severe mental problems and begun thinking that he was the real Chuck E. Cheese. However, he began killing children and using their meat for pizza.
- Freddy Krueger, due to them both being sadistic child murderers who become more powerful in death.
- Norman Osborn, due to them both being brilliant scientists, terrible fathers, and they both get stronger when inside a green suit. They also both have children who get almost as evil as them (with Harry becoming the New Goblin, and Elizabeth becoming Circus Baby).
- The one confirmed inspiration is Hannibal Lecter, but that's only for his voice.
- It is theorized that Toy Chica in her cutscenes in Ultimate Custom Night represents William due to Toy Chica choosing one of her classmates to be her boyfriend, but ends up killing them, while William seems to also choose a child and then kill them.
- In the last cutscene, Chica is seen under a tree atop a hill, with her bag full of the remains of her victims. The tree seems identical to the tree in the Lorekeeper Ending of Freddy Fazbear's Pizzeria Simulator, which is near the graves of the original kids killed by Afton.
- In Ultimate Custom Night, when talking to Old Man Consequences in his secret ending, the background sounds when modified seems to be William's screaming.
- It was theorized that the the Puppet was responsible for Afton possessing Springtrap, similar to how it did for Afton's other victims, in order for William to know what it feels like to be an animatronic. However, UCN and the Fazbear Frights series implies that Golden Freddy is the one that made Afton become Springtrap by forcefully keeping him alive.
- There is no given explanation on why Springtrap had his appearance changed in Freddy Fazbear's Pizzeria Simulator, since he would most not been able to have changed the animatronic suit. It's commonly assumed that he tried to repair himself with various animatronics parts from either Fazbear's Fright or Fredbear's Family Diner.
- Many fans believe that in Ultimate Custom Night we can hear Scraptrap's last words as he burns to death. Although it is likely he is begging Michael for help.
- Some fans theorize that Springtrap survived the fire in Freddy Fazbear's Pizzeria Simulator. It is mostly because in the ending screen, the fire is behind Springtrap. Meanwhile, with Scrap Baby and Molten Freddy, the fire is in front of them. This may imply that Springtrap escaped. However, this is yet to be confirmed and he hasn't returned as of now.
- The story "What We Found" from the Fazbear Frights implies that William is responsible for the security guard having hallucinations that are the Phantom animatronics.
- It is speculated that Glitchtrap was the suit William Afton used to lure and kill the five children that would go on to possess the animatronics, and not the Spring Bonnie spring-lock suit that he would later die in.
- It's also possible Glitchtrap was one of the temporary suits mentioned in FNaF 3.
- While it's clear the Mimic is not William, it's still unknown if William is truly dead. The Fazbear Frights novels show that UCN is a nightmare created by Golden Freddy to forcefully keep Afton alive, only to move on, with his absence being the reason for Afton to die and stay dead. Regardless, it's still unknown if William is truly gone (ergo him being dead or simply unconscious after Cassidy/Golden Freddy leaves his nightmares) or if his soul is still lingering around, especially since the Fazbear Frights novels, which includes parallels to the game series, feature Afton returning as a possessed monstrosity made of trash (if only to die again). Thus, it's been speculated that Afton might possibly return one last time for a final showdown before being killed off for good.
Trivia[]
- In the final Custom Night cutscene of Five Nights at Freddy's: Sister Location, Michael's voice becomes robotic near the end of his dialogue. The franchise's creator, Scott Cawthon, eventually confirmed that Michael's robotic voice was an error, and was unintentional. This error caused debate over whether William or Michael was killed inside Springtrap, until Scott's response to one of MatPat's Five Nights at Freddy's theory videos, as well as the credits of Freddy Fazbear's Pizzeria Simulator, confirmed William as the spirit possessing Springtrap.
- When Five Nights at Freddy's VR: Help Wanted first came out, many fans thought "Glitchtrap" was just a resurrected Afton. It took the Tales from the Pizzaplex books to confirm the two are separate people, and that Glitchtrap's name is actually the Mimic.
- Afton's true identity was widely speculated to be the Phone Guy until Scott debunked it by finally having him speak in Five Nights at Freddy's: Sister Location, having a completely different voice.
- Afton’s true name, personality and characterization actually originated from his novel counterpart before being officially adapted into the games in Sister Location. Before, he was only known as Purple Guy and his true nature was completely unknown.
- He has a British accent, with his son and daughter having one as well.
- However, it's need to say that word Afton is Swedish (meaning "Evening"), which might mean that he's part Swedish.
- Freddy in Space 2 is the only game so far that has absolutely nothing to do with William.
- The fans have often theorized that there are two killers, due to the fact that William had two different sprites with slightly different coloration in Five Nights at Freddy's 2. This was later disproved.
- In March 2020, various memes of William Afton spawned around referencing the Living Tombstone Five Nights at Freddy's 2 song "It's Been So Long" where the then-unnamed murderer was referred to as "The Man Behind the Slaughter". Memes of this will be portrayed referencing the character in one way or another, often by including the line or a parody of the line in the caption, with the character on-screen being purple while the song plays in the background.
- As of version 1.031 of Five Nights at Freddy's 3, Springtrap now makes footsteps and moaning noises when he moves.
- Some people have assumed that the moaning noise is Afton inside of Springtrap trying to talk. According to the game files, the original sounds are just slowed down alpaca noises.
- Springtrap is named after the trap device of the same name that is used for catching animals during hunting and how he is a Spring-lock suit. This is how he "trapped" Afton inside.
- Occasionally, when Five Nights at Freddy's 3 starts up, one of three images of Springtrap revealing William Afton's mummified corpse inside of him may appear, similarly to the eyeless animatronic screens from the first and second games.
- Springtrap is the first, and so far only, confirmed case of an adult possessing an animatronic instead of a child.
- Before having his name confirmed, the most common name for Springtrap coined by fans was Golden Bonnie, as fans believed that Springtrap was somehow connected to the similar-looking animatronic Golden Freddy, while also retaining a resemblance to Bonnie.
- Two more common fan-given names were Hybrid and Salvage, for fans believed that Springtrap was made from the parts of dismantled animatronics.
- Coincidentally, Springtrap is a hybrid, just not the way fans theorized.
- Another coincidental detail is that Springtrap was salvaged in Freddy Fazbear's Pizzeria Simulator.
- Springtrap is one of the only animatronics with five fingers due to being a wearable suit.
- In a promotional photo for Five Nights at Freddy's: Sister Location, Circus Baby appears to be smiling at someone off-screen. The figure reflected in her nose looks suspiciously like Springtrap, which led fans to believe he would return in the game. While he was not the main antagonist or even a major character (in his Springtrap form, at least), he did appear in the ending cutscene for the Custom Night's "Golden Freddy" Mode on Very Hard, revealing himself to still be alive after Fazbear's Fright burned down and foreshadowing his return as the main antagonist in Freddy Fazbear's Pizzeria Simulator.
- In Ultimate Custom Night, if Springtrap causes a game over, his moaning from Five Nights at Freddy's 3 will play, while if Scraptrap causes a game over, his "I always come back!" line from Freddy Fazbear's Pizzeria Simulator will play.
- Strangely, some of the voice lines that Springtrap says in Five Nights at Freddy's AR: Special Delivery are reminiscent of the voice lines said by some animatronics in Ultimate Custom Night.
- This is possibly a reference to the fact William Afton is currently stuck in his own personal hell which is Ultimate Custom Night, thus having to hear these voice lines over and over.
- Many fans did not like Scraptrap's design when they first saw him. Because of this, many people referred to him as a peanut or comparing him to Jimmy Neutron because of his forehead.
- In response, many fans in the community created a meme revolving around the hate towards Scraptrap known as "#JusticeforScraptrap".
- The name Scraptrap has never appeared in the games and was simply a name used by fans to distinguish between the earlier iteration of Springtrap and this one. However, similar to names like Phone Guy and Golden Freddy, the name has since come into use in other official sources such as Five Nights at Freddy's: The Freddy Files and by Scott Cawthon himself.
- In Five Nights at Freddy's: Sister Location, Springtrap has a slightly different model, missing some parts. This version of Springtrap is called "Dark Springtrap" in the game files and the merch.
- Fans started joking that Dark Springtrap is Springtrap when he's "extremely angry". This comes from the description of the Dark Springtrap Funko Pop.
- After Clown Springtrap was revealed, fans quickly started jokingly comparing him to Arthur Fleck.
- Springtrap was considered the hardest animatronic to beat in Five Nights at Freddy's AR: Special Delivery until Golden Freddy was added.
- Whenever William is seen in the games, it is either as some form of Springtrap or in minigames (as Purple Guy). His appearance as a human has only been seen in other continuities, such as the books.
- William Afton in Pizzeria Simulator strongly resembles Spring Bonnie from the Five Nights at Freddy's 4 minigames.
- Interestingly, while salvaging Scraptrap during Freddy Fazbear's Pizzeria Simulator, a heartbeat can be heard. Given that it can be heard only when salvaging him, and the fact that Michael is missing all of his organs, it can be presumed that Afton's heart is still somehow beating.
- It's unknown why his Ancient Equinox skin is simply named Curse instead of Curse Springtrap.
- Michael Afton was sometimes speculated to be the main protagonist of Ultimate Custom Night before it was confirmed to be William.
- Mangle's sprite in the SAVETHEM minigame is named "he was here". The only option for the "he" is William, as he's the only human in the minigame and there is a dead child in the room.
- Before his true name was revealed, he used to be called Vincent or Peter by fans.
- Prior to the release of FNAF 3 and with it the reveal of Spring Bonnie, it was commonly assumed by fans that Afton used the Fredbear (Golden Freddy) suit during his murders.
Counterparts[]
FNaF World[]
William Afton also stars in a openworld RPG-styled official spinoff of the game series, FNaF World. There, he's divided into two playable characters, Purpleguy and Springtrap, that can join the player's team in their quest to beat the game.
Five Nights at Freddy's film series[]
William Afton also stars as the main antagonist of the Five Nights at Freddy's film series, currently consisting of two movies. He's played by Matthew Lillard, who also played Shaggy Rogers in the live-action comedy horror movie Scooby-Doo and Stu Macher, also known as Ghostface, in the first installment of the Scream slasher movie series.
He is a serial killer associated with Fazbear Entertainment responsible for the murders of several children at Freddy Fazbear's Pizza Place during the 1980s and hid their bodies inside the establishment's animatronic characters. The children's spirits possessed the animatronics and Afton controlled them using a drawing to make them think he was their friend and make them kill anyone who entered the pizzeria. He is also the disowned and abusive father of Vanessa Shelly and the arch-nemesis of Mike Schmidt and Abby Schmidt, as he was responsible for kidnapping and murdering their brother, Garrett Schmidt. Several years later, he took up the identity of career counselor Steve Raglan so he could hire security guards for the animatronics to kill. This caused him to meet Mike, who needed a new job. Upon reading his file, Afton discovered that Mike was Garrett's brother and decided to hire him as a security guard at Freddy's to kill him and ordered Vanessa to kill Mike if he discovered anything about his plans.