| “ | Follow me. | „ |
| ~ Shadow Freddy's only quote in the actual series. |
| “ | I will eat your soul. | „ |
| ~ Shadow Freddy's loading screen in FNAF World. |
Shadow Freddy is a supporting antagonist in the Five Nights at Freddy's franchise.
He appears as a minor character in Five Nights at Freddy's 2, the secondary antagonist of Five Nights at Freddy's 3, the first antagonist of Freddy Fazbear's Pizzeria Simulator and a minor antagonist in Five Nights at Freddy's VR: Help Wanted.
He is also a supporting protagonist in the RPG spinoff FNAF World and a minor character in the novel Five Nights at Freddy's: The Twisted Ones.
He is an enigmatic character who in the third game is helping William Afton destroy the animatronics. He's implied to be the evil of said man.
Appearance
In his original and most known appearance, Shadow Freddy has exactly the same appearance as Withered Golden Freddy, although the color is changed from golden/yellow to dark purple. Due to this, he's in disrepair. He completely lacks a left ear and has many tears over his body. Unlike Golden Freddy, his eyes and teeth glow white. In Five Nights at Freddy's 3, Shadow Freddy lacks the glowing white effects for the eyes and teeth, and covered with green levels that appears to be lighting from the Office itself.
In the VR game Five Nights at Freddy's VR: Help Wanted, he shares the exact appearance as the original Freddy Fazbear. Although he has glowing white eyes and teeth, his overall color is completely black rather than purple.
In the minigames of FNaF 3, he looks like Freddy, except purple.
Biography
Five Nights at Freddy's 2
Shadow Freddy appears as a rare easter egg encountered in the Parts/Service room after everyone leaves it (including Foxy the Pirate). He sits in Withered Bonnie's place.
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 Shadow Freddy 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 Puppet's "tears", and Fredbear's hat and bow tie among other things.
Five Nights at Freddy's 3
Shadow Freddy's role in Five Nights at Freddy's 3 is more significant. In this game's all end-of-night minigames (except the final one). Shadow Freddy lures each of the animatronics to the secret room where they are attacked by Afton.
Rarely, the player may see Shadow Freddy slumped in the leftmost end of the Office. This Freddy assumes the same position that Golden Freddy does in the previous games. However unlike from the second game, he doesn't cause the game to crash. This is also true for the mobile version. He also does not attack or jumpscare the player. He's revealed to be Shadow Freddy only when checking the game files.
Freddy Fazbear's Pizzeria Simulator
Shadow Freddy makes a brief appearance in Freddy Fazbear's Pizzeria Simulator, only in the beginning minigame.
In the beginning minigame, Shadow Freddy first appears in the third level, in an attempt to stop Freddy from giving the children pizza. He can be stopped by throwing pizza directly at him. In the fourth level, he begins duplicating and the entire minigame starts glitching. The minigame cuts to black and we are introduced to Scrap Baby and the Cassette Man.
Interestingly, in the game files, he is called Dark Freddy.
Five Nights at Freddy's VR: Help Wanted
Shadow Freddy serves as Freddy Fazbear's replacement during the Parts and Service mode in hard mode.
Other Media
FNAF World
Shadow Freddy is a unlockable character. He uses three attacks in the game:
- Unscrew: 30% chance to insta-kill one enemy.
- Esc Key: 15% chance of insta-killing multiple enemies.
- Waterhose: Kills all enemies under 30% health.
Shadow Freddy's attacks all only have a small chance of actually killing someone, it's necessary to have stronger party members alongside him. If Shadow Freddy will successfully insta-kill an enemy, the fight can go in the player's favor.
Five Nights at Freddy's: The Twisted Ones
Shadow Freddy makes a small cameo in the book. He took Clay Burke, John and Jessica into the underground location where Twisted Freddy and Charlotte Emily are.
Gallery
Images
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Videos
Speculation
- 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 spring-lock Fredbear suit, which malfunctioned and killed the employee. Thus the suit itself was put in storage. If this is so, it could be possible that he is a victim of William Afton.
- Shadow Freddy bears comparisons to Nightmare in overall appearance and behavior, suggesting they may be one in the same.
- This has been basically confirmed in the Fazbear Frights, as the story Hide and Seek from the sixth book had Shadow Bonnie as the main antagonist, and he appeared in the dreams of Toby, the main protagonist, as a monster with sharp teeth and claws.
- Nightmare was even called "shadow freddy" in the game files for Five Nights at Freddy's 4.
- It's been also speculated that Shadow Freddy is nothing but pure agony due to Shadow Bonnie's connection to Remnant, which is implied to be agony.
- A popular theory is that Shadow Freddy is the spirit of the Crying Child from Five Nights at Freddy's 4, taking the form of the animatronic who killed him. It would explain why Shadow Freddy hides away in the storage room in the second game, much like the Crying Child (albeit, he was forced into the room) and also why he helps William Afton in the third game, as Afton is heavily implied, if not, outright confirmed to be his father. Additionally, this theory would still hold up if the Crying Child is possessing Golden Freddy alongside the vengeful spirit of Cassidy, as it's possible that while the two spirits inhabit the suit, the Crying Child can take a pseudo-physical form of the animatronic resembling the one who killed him. It would also make sense as to why Shadow Freddy follows William to Fazbear's Fright and doesn't follow him after the events of the sixth game, as his father is (for the most part) dead (despite it being highly likely he is now Glitchtrap).
- A recent and most plausible theory is that he's William's evil in a somewhat-physical form.
- Nightmare says "I am your wickedness made of flesh" in Ultimate Custom Night, which is heavily implied to be William's hell or repeated nightmare.
- He's purple, the colour used to represent William.
- He says "Follow me" in the third game: The same thing William says in the secret ending of the Fruity Maze minigame in Freddy Fazbear's Pizzeria Simulator.
- He follows William, appearing where he is/was: The second game's location, Fazbear's Fright, and even The Freddy Fazbear Virtual Experience (although that's likely not the real Shadow Freddy).
- Assuming he is Nightmare, then him tormenting Michael could be explained: If William wants Michael dead, then Shadow Freddy would also want Michael dead.
- It's been also theorized that he's just William Afton putting on a Freddy costume. However, Shadow Freddy can teleport during the Five Nights at Freddy's 3 minigames if the player doesn't follow him (although this is not common), thanks to which the theory isn't true.
- He's also been speculated to be the true identity of the Other Evil.
Trivia
- Unlike Shadow Bonnie, who is a hero in Five Nights at Freddy's 3, Shadow Freddy is heavily implied to be a villainous character in the series.
- Unlike popular belief, he doesn't crash the game like Shadow Bonnie in the second game, or Golden Freddy in the first game.
- The crumpled Freddy suit in the third game's office was often mistaken to be Golden Freddy.
