Summary
There is currently no officialFive Nights at Freddy’stimeline that depicts the events of the games in chronological order, but there are hints and clues that have aided teams of a dedicated community of fans to piece together the puzzle left by Scott Cawthon to solve. TheFNAFtimeline is not completely definitive, but fan theories and theFNAFcommunity have agreed on a few dates across the series.
AllFive Nights at Freddy’sgames in chronological order creates an accurate and theorized timeline of events involving the entire canon games, so the Fazbear Fanverse Initiative titles are left out of the equation, as are the mobile games that are no longer available. Instead, the chronologicalFNAFtimeline will focus on the important mainline games and recent entries likeFive Nights at Freddy’s: Into the Pit.
The timeline and events that transpire in and between games are always up for debate among fans, allowing for healthy discussions and passionate conversations and theories about the beloved FNAF series.
Five Nights at Freddy’s 4is usually the undisputed starting point for the franchise’s games timeline, despite being the last entry in the numbered series of mainline games. InFive Nights at Freddy’s 4, players enter the shoes of a child hiding from nightmare-induced animatronics. Through elusive minigames, the story of William Afton’s son, Mike, is told. Mike is responsible for bullying his little brother, the Crying Child, and causing him to be the victim of the Bite of ’83. These events lead Mike down a path of desperate redemption, and his father,William Afton, to commit to his first murder.
Five Nights at Freddy’s 2is set 4 years afterFive Nights at Freddy’s 4and involves players taking on the role of Jeremy Fitzgerald, a security guard who has been employed at Freddy Fazbear’s newest Pizzeria. Despite therebranding of new toy-like animatronics,Five Nights at Freddy’s 2is anything but kid-friendly, as the location is shut down after murdered children are found within the premises.Five Nights at Freddy’s 2is also the canon Bite of ’87 incident, in which it’s speculated that Mangle bit out Jeremy’s frontal lobe, who was on the day shift.
A point of contention in the timeline is whereFive Nights at Freddy’s: Sister Locationtakes place. For some, it takes place afterFive Nights at Freddy’s 2, where the Pizzeria is shut down, and Michael Afton discovers a secret facility involving his father’s horrific work on animatronics designed to kidnap and harvest children. Working in this facility, Michael attempts to free the souls of the animatronics, one that includes his own sister, Elizabeth as Circus Baby. Unfortunately, he is betrayed by those he attempts to save, and he is lured to the Scooper room, where his insides are scooped out to make room for animatronics to wear his skin to escape. The minigame details Michael’s flesh rotting before spitting the animatronics out, leaving him a rotting corpse who is still alive, destined to fix his father’s crimes and redeem himself for the death of his brother back inFive Nights at Freddy’s 4.
Left as a rotting man on a mission, Michael takes the alias of Mike Schmidt, and applies for run-down Fazbear Pizzerias as a nightguard, so that people cannot see his deformities and smell his rotting flesh. He lives in the shadows and works to tamper with the animatronics inside to attempt to free them. Yet, Michael is fired after reports of his bad odor are made clear, and the evidence mounts for him tampering with animatronics after hours.
The Fazbear Pizzeria seen inFive Nights at Freddy’shas since been burned and rebranded to Jeff’s Pizza in the decades of absence. In an effort to find some engagement in his dying town, a young boy named Oswald enters Jeff’s Pizza and dives into the ball pit, only to find himself in 1985 at the height of Spring Bonnie’s child murder spree.With a time travel aspect, Oswald must save his family and deal with the terrors of Spring Bonnie in the past and present.
With mysterious murders being the current craze, Fazbear Frights elects to open as a horror attraction in the year 2023. Needing security guards, Michael Afton sees the perfect opportunity to burn down his father’s horrific legacy and eventually comes face-to-face with a real animatronic: Springtrap, who just so happens to be William Afton, springlocked into a Golden Bonnie suit. To save the souls and put an end to William Afton, he burns Fazbear Frights to the ground, but, William Aftonalways comes back.
7Freddy Fazbear’s Pizzeria Simulator
Animatronics Are Lured To Freddy Fazbear’s Newest Pizzeria Post-2023
The surviving animatronics, and even William Afton, are lured back to a new Freddy Fazbear’s Pizzeria location, where Michael has once again taken a job to clear up his father’s mess of scrap animatronics. This was a trap designed by William’s old partner, Henry, where once all animatronics are inside, it is burned to the ground to free the spirits within the animatronics. To truly be free,Michael elects to remain in the building to burnalongside his father and the animatronics.
8Five Nights at Freddy’s: Ultimate Custom Night
William Afton’s Purgatory Takes Place After Pizzeria Simulator Burns Down
In Henry’s own words to William Afton, “The darkest pit of Hell has opened to swallow you whole.” Before the devil can take William, he is kept in purgatory to relive the same night inUltimate Custom Night. Here, William is forced to survive endless torment from the animatronics and children that he wronged. An endless torturous onslaught of his sins awaits him. Yet, with the soul of one of his first kills, Cassidy keeping him alive for this constant torment, he is able to escape and once again cheat death by forcing his willpower onto a circuit board in the remnants of Springtrap’s suit.
The story ofFive Nights at Freddy’sgets rather meta withHelp Wanted. The game itself is a VR game, but it’s completely self-aware that it’s a VR game. After the death of the Afton family, the Fazbear Entertainment corporation tries to pick up steam and clear the brand’s horrific past by covering it all up with a VR game toboost popularityand bring in fresh stacks of cash. A QA tester, Vanessa, is placed intoHelp Wanted, where her consciousness is merged with William Afton, who had survived on a chip and manifested like a virus, taking the name of Glitchtrap.
With the influx of money from the Fazbear corporation’s many digital projects, the Freddy Fazbear Mega Pizza Plex is able to open, and bring new life toGlamrock animatronicsin a building that was built atop the burned bodies and spirits of the children inPizzeria Simulator. The Mega Pizza Plex harbored dark secrets, and it was up to Gregory to take apart the Glamrock animatronics, free Vanessa, and burn Glitchtrap to the ground along with the pizzeria.
