Shadow Freddy

Shadow Freddy is an antagonist in Five Nights At Freddy's 2 and Five Nights at Freddy's 3. He is an enigmatic character in the second game whose intentions are unclear, whereas in the third game, he is clearly seen helping the Killer destroy the animatronics.

Role in the game
In Five Night At Freddy's 2, the player may rarely encounter what seems to be a shadow or a dark model of Freddy Fazbear. It appears in Parts/Service, sitting in the location old Bonnie normally sits. Shadow Freddy's appearance doesn't affect the game anyhow.

It appears to be in a slumped position, similar to that of Golden Freddy's. It also uses Golden Freddy's model. Brightening up this image reveals that this hallucination is purple in color as with several other key items/characters in the franchise, bearing comparisons to the purple figure from the secret mini-games, the Marionette's "tears," Fredbear's hat and bow tie among other things.

In Five Nights at Freddy's 3, within the in-between night mini-games, an animatronic bearing heavy resemblance to Shadow Freddy is used by the purple figure and utters the phrase "follow me," to lure the animatronics to a secluded spot, so that he may ambush and dismantle them. While the Freddy suit is recognized as purple due to its association with the purple figure, its purple coloration and the darker color of its hat and bow tie lends credit to the theory this particular animatronic is indeed Shadow Freddy.

Theories

 * Fans have made theories that Shadow Freddy is actually Golden Freddy.
 * Shadow Freddy is also theorized to be the apparition of one of the employees whom wore the original Freddy suit, which malfunctioned and fatally wounded the employee. Thus the suit itself was put in storage.
 * Shadow Freddy bears comparisons to Nightmare in overall appearance and behavior, suggesting they may be one in the same.
 * Unlike Shadow Bonnie, who is a hero in Five Nights at Freddy's 3, Shadow Freddy is an antagonist in the end of nights (save for Night 5) minigames of said game.
 * Unlike popular beliefs, he doesn't crash the game like Shadow Bonnie in the second game, or Golden Freddy in the first game.