Written by: Aditya Neupane - 25054, Grade XI
Posted on: 03 August, 2023
Step into the eerie world of ‘Five Nights at Freddy’s’ where the line between horror, fantasy and fun is all but a big blur. Freddy Fazbear’s Pizzeria is a very popular location for children. Amongst all the laughter and pizza, there exists a dark presence within the pizzeria. It is the place where nightmare and amusement coexist in the same chilling dance. The franchise of Freddy Fazbear’s is co-owned by two people, one is a man named Henry and the other is a man named William Afton. In this article, we will delve deep into the character of William Afton.
William Afton was a man born during the Great Depression and in his mid 20s, he met a man named Henry Emily. With Henry he established the First of Freddy Fazbear’s Pizzeria called Fredbear’s Family Diner in the 1980s. William and Henry created many animatronics and gave them all names. William created Fredbear, a golden bear, and Bonnie, a golden bunny and Henry created Chica, Mr.Hippo and Orville the Elephant. The star attraction of Fredbear’s Family Diner was Fredbear himself, he was a bear that could sing and with him was Bonnie, the bass player. The suits were made using spring locks and when the locks were loosened, the suits could be worn and the animatronic endoskeleton could be taken out, and when the locks were tightened the animatronics were able to move on their own. The diner was so popular that it received its own TV Show, Video Game and even was featured in the local newspaper.
The popularity of Fredbear’s Family Diner was unmatched, but all things have an end and so did it. William Afton, during 1983, had a wife and three children; two sons and a daughter. The daughter was named Elizabeth, the youngest son was named Evan and the oldest son was named Michael. Michael was very rebellious and enjoyed bullying and making fun of Evan, and on one fateful day, that fun would cause the end of his father’s diner. On that day William was in the office working on newer models of his animatronics and his two sons were in the diner enjoying the singing. Michael and his friends had a very fun idea to take Evan near Fredbear to enjoy the singing up close and they did. They carried Evan and brought him close to Fredbear, too close in fact he was inside Fredbear’s mouth. Michael and his friends laughed at the sight, but that laughter was short-lived as the spring locks snapped and Fredbear’s jaw went through Evan’s neck which decapitated him. The diners’ atmosphere changed, the joy turned to horror, the laughter turned to screams and so did William.
After the death of Evan, William was devastated, he began to grow hatred towards his friend Henry as the spring locks were designed by him. William had been working on sound-based animatronics and decided it would be the perfect way to punish his son, Michael. His sound animatronics were all illusions made inside the mind of his son from audio alone and for many weeks, Michael was mentally tortured by his father without him even knowing about it, Michael just thought God was punishing him for causing Evan’s death, but there was no god, there was just William. William soon started drinking at a bar called Jr’s and began getting addicted to it. William had quickly descended into madness.
Henry had a daughter named Charlotte and William realized that. William had gone insane as after Evan’s death, his wife left him. While Michael was getting tortured mentally, William had made a giant laboratory under his house where he created 4 different animatronics which were designed to go to the children’s parties. William had gone insane and to take revenge on Henry for making a faulty spring locks suit, he killed Charlotte outside a Fazbear’s Pizzeria which Henry had opened. William after that felt good, he really enjoyed that, he felt like he could do anything. In 1983, William and Henry opened another Freddy Fazbear’s Pizzeria with new and improved versions of the previous animatronics in a toy form. Freddy, Bonnie, Chica and Foxy were all returning in a toyish and polished form while the old models were kept in the parts and service room.
The murder of Charlotte had changed William, like something had awakened inside of him. William wanted more, he liked the bloodshed and so he began luring kids inside the parks and service room while wearing a bunny suit and began slaughtering them and putting them inside the animatronics so no one could find them as only William and Henry were permitted to go inside the Parts and Service Room. William’s bloodlust continued and one day, William was very surprised when he saw the animatronics move on their own without activation. He realized that the children’s souls acted as fuels for the animatronics and so his bloodlust continued. The second Fazbear’s Pizzeria closed down too after reports of missing children. William went home and decided to create original animatronics called Circus Baby, Funtime Freddy, Funtime Foxy and Ballora. These animatronics utilized a much better version of the endoskeletons than the previous versions of animatronics.
William realized that the souls of children made the older models move on their own and so, he created a compartment in the newer animatronics to grab children and kill them inside the animatronics’ small compartment. William’s daughter, Elizabeth was fascinated by Circus Baby as she looked like her and begged William to take her to see Baby, but William didn’t want his daughter to die, so he rejected it. Right before launching the sister- location, Elizabeth went to Circus Baby to play with her, but Baby instead of playing, snatched Elizabeth and crushed her, which killed her. William, once again, very much devastated. He decided to scrap the opening of the Sister Location, but it had worked. Elizabeth’s soul was inside Circus Baby. William was very fascinated by this and so he began opening another Freddy Fazbear’s Location.
William wanted to understand how the animatronics souls worked and if it could help him attain Immortality, so he lured the old withered animatronics and dismembered them one-by-one until one day, the ghosts of the dead children haunted Wiliam inside the parts and service room. William didn’t know what to do and he realized that fear could repel the ghosts, so he went inside the spring bonnie suit he was in when he killed those children and this made the ghosts go away. William laughed, but that was short-lived. The spring bonnie suit was old, it had collected dust and the spring locks didn’t function as well. The spring locks snapped, William was trapped and he began getting tortured by the suit. William was in pain and screamed, a familiar face opened the door, it was Henry. William screamed for his help, but Henry realized what William had done and so he closed the door and left him to die. William got stuck in the suit for 30 years.
After 30 years, Freddy Fazbear’s was under new management along with Henry who had retired. The new management had planned to build a horror house and they came to the old Freddy Fazbear’s Location to grab some relics until they stumbled upon William. William was conscious and could move, but he played dead. He was taken to the new location and was ready for revenge on Henry once more, but before that, he realized that he was right. William had attained Immortality, but at the cost of his own body. William’s first murder was a girl named Cassidy whose soul was inside golden freddy. Golden Freddy consisted of two souls, one is Cassidy and the other is William’s son, Evan.
The night guard at the new location was William’s son, Michael without either realizing. Michael had stumbled upon his father’s research paper’s and was horrified and was dead-set on destroying his father and what he had become. Michael burned the location to the ground in hopes of his father burning there too, but that would’ve been too easy. William had escaped in another animatronic’s body, it was called Scrap Trap. Michael and Henry both realized that William exists still and decided to lure him and every animatronic to one place. Michael and Henry opened another Freddy Fazbear’s Pizzeria and since every animatronic came from that location, they all slowly gathered at the Pizzeria and so did William. Henry and Michael realized this and they burned the Pizzeria to the ground and all of them met their end, but not William. Golden Freddy appeared and took William to hell and tortured him for an eternity with William’s own creations and there, William’s life had ended.
William Afton was a complex character to dive into. He was intelligent, cunning and very psychotic. He was able to manipulate everyone in his life without them even knowing it. He was able to make people see monsters that didn't even exist. He was able to create nightmares from just sound alone and for that reason, he had to be stopped. The character of William Afton is something no one should aspire to be, one should never grieve as how William grieved. The story of William was a story of grief, sorrow, chaos and pure horror and one should aspire to be the opposite of William Afton and that is Henry Emily.
