William Afton (Five Nights at Freddy's)

"You may not recognize me at first, but I assure you - it's still me!"

- William Afton as Springtrap.

William Afton (also known as the Purple Guy) is the main antagonist of the Five Nights at Freddy's franchise. He was a man who dressed up as several of the mascots at Freddy Fazbear's Pizza and used his kid-friendly disguise to lure five children into the Safe Room, where there were no security cameras, and proceeded to murder them and hide their bodies in animatronic suits - which indirectly makes him responsible for all the events in the games. He was the owner of Afton Robotics and possibly a former security guard at Fredbear's Family Diner and Freddy Fazbear's Pizza. He later becomes Springtrap, after dying in the Spring Bonnie suit.

He was voiced by PJ Haywood, who also voiced his son Michael Afton, and his alter-ego Springtrap.

Backstory
An unknown man emerged in Freddy Fazbear's Pizza with plans for death and chaos for the company. One day, in an unnamed location, as a Freddy-like animatronic was serving cake to the children, a girl was crying outside because she was locked out of the restaurant by three other children. As she cried, William drove over in a purple car and murdered the girl.

William drove away, leaving the child's corpse outside. The girl's spirit, possibly driven by revenge, and a desire to help William's other victims, was theorized to have possessed an animatronic a certain time after that, known as The Puppet.

Later, Fazbear Entertainment opens Freddy Fazbear's Pizza, with only Freddy Fazbear, Bonnie, Chica, and Foxy as the mascots. These new animatronics were added alongside the original Fredbear and Spring Bonnie characters, which were made as springlock suits that doubled as both animatronics and costumes that a person could wear. William returned to the restaurant and wore the Spring Bonnie suit to lure five children, one by one, into the establishment's Safe Room before murdering them.

Five Nights at Freddy's 2
In Five Nights at Freddy's 2, William can be seen in the Foxy Go! Go! Go! Minigame.

On the third playthrough, William, who killed the crying child in the Take Cake to the Children minigame, is seen standing in the corner of the starting room, smiling. When Foxy approaches the children, they seem lifeless. The minigame ends with Withered Foxy's jumpscare.

He also appears in the S-A-V-E-T-H-E-M minigame on rare occasions, where he attacks Freddy and crashes the game by saying "You can't," which is in response to the various messages about saving the children.

Five Nights at Freddy's 3
William Afton then returns to Freddy Fazbear's Pizza to dismantle the animatronics. After Night 1, the player can have the ability to play as 8-bit Freddy, and Shadow Freddy appears and says "Follow me." After you follow it to a secret room, it will say "ERROR" at the left-hand corner of the screen, followed by a static noise, and Purple Guy can be seen taking Freddy apart.

He then continues to do the same to the other animatronics as each night goes on. After Night 5, the player has the ability to play as the ghost of one of the murdered children. The player then has to walk to the Safe Room, which they have the ability to enter. William can be seen scared, with 4 of his victims blocking the exit. The player has to chase him around, and William will then immediately run into the empty Spring Bonnie suit. He then laughs at his victims, thinking he is safe, until the suit's spring-locks malfunction. As a result, the numerous mechanical parts lining the inside of the suit crush and puncture William's body until he died from serious injury and blood loss. In an ironic turn, Afton's spirit possessed the Spring Bonnie suit just like how his victims possessed other animatronic suits, turning him into Springtrap. The managers of the pizzeria found the broken animatronics and permanently shut down Fredbear Etertainment, leaving Springtrap to rot in the safe room.

30 years later, a horror attraction called "Fazbear's Fright" was made in an amusement park. Springtrap was found and placed inside this attraction. William, as Springtrap, noticed that he had no escape and attempted to kill the player for five nights. After Night 6, the attraction burns down. In Sister Location's Custom Night ending on Very Hard Golden Freddy mode, it is revealed that Springtrap has survived.

Five Nights at Freddy's 4
William Afton only appears in the Fazbear location shown in the minigames, at the end of Night 3. If the player heads toward the left side of the section of restaurant with the double doors, and then heads back via proceeding right, they will see William placing the head of a Spring Bonnie costume on the head of an employee. In the following game, 'Sister Location,' it is implied that William is the father of the minigame protagonist of FNAF 4, the Crying Child.

Five Nights at Freddy's: Sister Location
In the opening scene of Sister Location, an entrepreneur is interviewing William about the Circus Baby's Pizza World animatronics. They inquire why certain features were added and express their concerns, but he avoids answering their questions regarding these specific features, which he had actually designed to make it easier for him to kidnap and murder children under the guise of kid-friendly entertainers.

William is also the CEO of Afton Robotics, the creator of the Circus Baby animatronics, the former owner of Circus Baby's Entertainment and Rental, and, by extension, Circus Baby's Pizza World. It's revealed that during Circus Baby's Pizza World's opening, William instructed his daughter, Elizabeth, to not go near Baby, due to her being programmed to kill children when they are alone. But Elizabeth does find herself alone with Baby, who lures her close with ice cream. Once she is within reach, Baby drops the ice cream and grabs William's daughter with a robotic claw, pulling the girl into her chest cavity and killing her.

It is revealed in the Custom Night's final cutscene that William sent his son, Michael, to his rundown factory to find his daughter. This ends up getting his son killed by his daughter Elizabeth, who is now possessing Circus Baby. After Ennard vacates Michael's body, he repossesses his own corpse, which has decomposed into a purple colour. At the end of the cutscene, Michael vows to find his father and possibly kill him to get revenge for all the murders. In the end, it's shown that William, as Springtrap, survived the destruction of Fazbear's Fright.

Freddy Fazbear's Pizzeria Simulator
William Afton returns in the sixth and final installment as Springtrap once more, as one of the two main antagonists of the game, alongside his daughter, Elizabeth, who possesses Scrap Baby. He makes his first appearance as Springtrap, after Tuesday's night is complete, during his salvaging phase. Like the other hostile animatronics, the player can choose whether to throw him back into the alley outside the pizzeria or to salvage him. If the player chooses to throw him back into the alley, he will be absent for the rest of the game. If the player chooses to salvage him, they will have to observe him while listening to five audio prompts. Springtrap, like the other animatronics, will move when the player's view is obstructed by the maintenance checklist. If the player fails, Springtrap will jumpscare the player and taunt them. If the player succeeds, William will disdainfully remark that the player deceived and lured him to their establishment.

Regardless of the outcome, the player will have to defend themselves from Springtrap onwards. After Saturday’s night shift is complete, Elizabeth, possessing Baby, speaks to the player about how she and her father manipulated the player into inadvertently granting them children to kill, and souls to collect, before declaring that she will make her father proud. Her speech is then interrupted by the player’s supervisor, known in-game as the Cassette Man (heavily implied to be William‘s former business partner, Henry). He sets the building on fire, and then informs the animatronics that they have all been lured to the player’s establishment, as a trap set for them, in order to force the spirits possessing them to pass on to the afterlife. The Cassette Man specifically addresses William, telling him that he will be sent to Hell for his murders.

He also appears in all three secret minigames, he appears as Spring Bonnie in the Fruity Maze minigame with Susie "helping" find her dead dog, the second time he appears is in the Security Puppet minigame after he kills Charlotte and drive away in his purple car, and the third and final time he appears is in the Midnight Motorist after he drives home only to discover animatronic track and that his youngest son jumped out of his bedroom's window and went to the FNaF 4's restaurant.

Ultimate Custom Night
In this spin-off to the main series, it is heavily speculated that Afton is the main protagonist, being made to fight off several of the animatronics as part of his personal hell for every deplorable action he committed throughout his life. Some evidence pointing to this conclusion comes from lines the animatronics give towards the player one, in particular, being from Withered Chica, who is revealed to have been Afton's first victim from the previous game. In The Puppet's taunting lines, it states that it used to fear him, but is now in a position where it can exert judgment on the player for eternity, and how seeing him powerless was was like music to it. And how Nightmarionne goes on to proclaim that it was a nightmarish reflection (his murder of Cassette Man's daughter) of the consquences of his actions. Many also believe that the ambient noises heard in the secret Old Man Consequens minigame is, in fact, Afton declaring his eternal hatred for his son and his former business partner whilst burning in Hell much like how the Cassette Man foretold in Pizzeria Simulator.

FNAF World
In the spin-off game, Afton appears in his original form and Springtrap forms.

Five Nights at Freddy's Help Wanted
An incarnation of William Afton appears in the VR game in his Springbonnie persona. He appears in the main menu, originally as a pair of purple glowing eyes. As you collect more tapes in levels throughout the game, he gets closer and closer to you, mostly waving at you. At the end of the Pizza Party Night Terrors level in blacklight mode, he beckons you behind a curtain. If you follow him, you spawn as Freddy Fazbear onstage. After this, the credits roll, with Afton dancing in the background. If you collect all 16 tapes throughout the game, Afton will attempt to possess your body and escape into the real world at a random point. One ending to this has you locked in front of a metal door, with Afton appearing through the door's lock and shushing the player before walking off. This may imply his success in escaping the game in the player's body.

Novel Series
William Afton appears in the novel trilogy as the main antagonist including his Springtrap persona.

Personality
"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..."

- Henry talking to William Afton. William Afton's background is mostly told via silent actions within retro-graphics, or by reading between the lines throughout the games. Between his mini-game presence and piecing together information gleaned from the phone calls as well as the posters in Five Nights at Freddy's, the community has been able to piece together some information about William. He seems to be malevolent, sadistic, and cruel, ominously smiling as he kills children. He is also increasingly psychopathic and demented, as he is able to hide his true nature under a mask of politeness, judging from the intro of Sister Location, and also psychologically manipulates his son, Michael, by presumably using his guilt over unintentionally causing his younger brother's death in 1983 (if Michael is the older brother), in order to force Michael to obey his every order. Despite his sadistic and dangerous tendencies, he is shown to genuinely love and care for his daughter, Elizabeth, and does express grief over her death, though Freddy Fazbear's Pizzeria Simulator implies that he is responsible for influencing Elizabeth's bloodlust and sinister behavior, and may have even wanted her to continue his murderous legacy, and carry on his experiments for him.

William Afton's motives for his actions as of Sister Location remain unknown. He is seen dismantling the animatronics at Freddy Fazbear's Pizza twice, which appears to be linked to the spirits within the animatronics being released.

Quotes
"Save them? You cant."

- Text in Five Nights at Freddy's 2 death minigames presumably from Afton's perspective.

"She can dance, she can sing. She's equipped with a built-in helium tank for inflating balloons right at her fingertips. She can take song requests. She can even dispense ice cream."

- William Afton talking about Baby in the opening of Sister Location.

Trivia

 * His actual motivation for killing the children is still a mystery, although 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 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.
 * Youtuber, Lewis Dawkins, theorized that he was upset at his other son's death, causing him to seek revenge, he also theorized William is trying to protect his kids.
 * 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.
 * In the final Custom Night cutscene of Sister's 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 MatPat's final Five Nights at Freddy's theory video, as well as the credits of Freddy Fazbear's Pizzeria Simulator, confirmed William as the spirit possessing Springtrap.
 * In the 1.031 update of Five Nights at Freddy's 3, Scott added the sound of William's groaning.
 * He seems to have a British accent, with his son and daughter having one as well.
 * It has been heavily speculated that Spring Bonnie is the digital manifestation of William Afton/Springtrap due to his mannerisms and how he tries to lure the player. However, this theory can be debunked as, if UCN is indeed canon as theorists like MatPat assume, then it cannot be Afton, as he is still suffering in his own personal hell.

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