|
| “ | I recognize you... but I'm not afraid of you. Not anymore... | „ |
| ~ The Puppet |
| “ | Seeing you powerless is like music to me. | „ |
| ~ The Puppet |
Charlotte Emily, later known as The Puppet and Lefty, is one of the two main protagonists of the Five Nights at Freddy's franchise.
She is one of the two secondary antagonists of the video games (alongside Elizabeth Afton) and the main protagonist of the novel trilogy.
She serves as the main antagonist of Five Nights at Freddy's 2, a supporting character in Five Nights with Freddy's 3, a major antagonist in Freddy Fazbear's Pizzeria Simulator as Lefty, a major antagonist as both the Puppet and Lefty in Ultimate Custom Night, and a posthumous antagonist in Five Nights at Freddy's VR: Help Wanted. She is also confirmed to return in Five Nights at Freddy's AR: Special Delivery, possibly with a lore-important role.
The Puppet was a security robot specifically designed to protect children at a Freddy Fazbear's Pizza that failed to protect Charlotte Emily from being murdered outside the restaurant. After it shorted out due to rain near her dead body, allowing it to be possessed by her and starting her search for vengeance against the man who murdered her.
In Ultimate Custom Night, it is voiced by Jena Rundus as The Marionette, and by Stephanie Belinda Quinn as Lefty.
History
NOTE: This is in chronological order, and beacuse of FNaF's mysterious storytelling, many things here are unconfirmed.
In the lore
Birth and First Death
Charlotte "Charlie" Emily was the daughter of Henry Emily, the owner of Fredbear's Family Diner and Freddy Fazbear's Pizza. Charlie herself, however, was born a few years before Freddy's has opened, possibly in 1980. Charlie is often speculated to be the friend of the Crying Child from Five Nights at Freddy's 4.
In 1983, Henry opened up Freddy Fazbear's Pizza, with one of the animatronic being the Puppet, which was made to protect Charlie.
Some time after that, three kids locked her outside Freddy Fazbear's Pizza. She cried, and then, behind her, William Afton appeared. William, who was a friend of Henry, murdered Charlie and then escaped with his car. The Puppet, realising Charlie is outside, left the location. The animatronic was slowly being destroyed by the rain, until it collapsed right next to Charlie's corpse. Charlie's soul possesed the Puppet.
On June 26th, some time after Charlie was killed, William, using his Spring Bonnie suit, murdered five children inside Freddy Fazbear's Pizza. The Puppet stuffs them inside Freddy Fazbear, Bonnie the Bunny, Chica the Chicken, Foxy the Pirate, and Fredbear, who would later become Golden Freddy. The Puppet gave life to Freddy, Bonnie, Chica and Foxy, while Cassidy, one of the murdered children, possesed Fredbear herself.
Freddy Fazbear's Pizza was later closed down.
The Second Freddy Fazbear's Pizza
In 1987, Fazbear Entertainment, the company behind the original Freddy's, created a new restaurant with new and original animatronics. The Puppet, however, was reused. William Afton, once again, murdered five children. The Puppet, just like it did 4 years ago, gave life to the new animatronics. The location was later closed down due to The Bite of '87, in which an animatronic attacked Jeremy Fitzgerald, making him lose his frontal lobe, altough he survived. The location was closed down, and the new animatronics were scrapped.
Fazbear's Fright, the Creation of Lefty, and Second Death
The Puppet, however, wasn't scrapped. It is unknown what happened to her before 2023. Meanwhile, Henry, realised his daughter was possesing the Puppet, and made a brand new animatronic - Lure Encapsulate Fuse Transport and Extract, nicknamed Lefty. Lefty was made to capture the Puppet.
In 2023, a horror attraction was made, based on the events that happened in the pizzerias decades ago. The Puppet visited the location, but it isn't known how and why. Meanwhile, Springtrap was roaming the location. Springtrap was William Afton after he died in the Spring Bonnie suit 30 years ago, in 1993. The horror attraction is set on fire, and both Springtrap and the Puppet survive.
After that, Lefty finds and captures the Puppet. Henry meanwhile, opens a fourth Freddy Fazbear's Pizza (There was a third one, in which William died). Lefty is eventually salvaged by Michael Afton, who is the son of William Afton. There, Lefty meets Scraptrap, Molten Freddy, and Scrap Baby. Scraptrap was Springtrap after the fire, and Molten Freddy and Scrap Baby are the remains of the Funtime animatronics, which escaped their location by becoming Ennard and scooping Michael's organs out. Circus Baby was kicked out of Ennard for being too selfish, while Michael survived beacuse he was injected with Remnant.
On Saturday, Scrap Baby was ready to kill Michael Afton, her brother, until Henry interrupted her. Henry revealed that this was all a trap, made to lure the last remaining animatronics in. Henry sets the location on fire, ready to kill all the animatronics, and himself. Henry says his last goodbye to his daughter, before everyone burns to death, allowing the soul of Charlie to be set free, after 40 years of suffering.
A VR game and the Fazbear Funtime Service
Fazbear Entertainment, a few years after Charlie was killed in the fire, made a VR game, with the Puppet in it. However, the Puppet isn't possesed, as it's literally a video-game character. Meanwhile, Glitchtrap is scanned into the game as a virus. Glitchtrap is a reincarnation of William Afton, back from the dead.
Some time after that, Fazbear Entertainment makes the Fazbear Funtime Service, allowing people to send animatronics to their house so they can get entertained. However, a virus is scanned into the game. The virus is highly likely to be the mysterious "C" in the trailers. C most like stands for Charlie/Charlotte, which returned from the dead to stop Glitchtrap and his follower, Vanny.
In video-games
Five Nights at Freddy's 2
The Puppet emerges from the box.
The Phone Guy mentions that the player needs to keep the Music Box wound, as the animatronics have a feature where having no noise will cause them to try to find sources of noise or potential customers; the source being, in this case, The Office. Keeping the Music Box wound is vital; if it is left unwound for too long, the Marionette will exit the Prize Corner and the player will be attacked, resulting in a Game Over.
The Music Box can be wound remotely by going to CAM 11. As it unwinds, a warning sign will appear next to the CAM 11 box on the camera map, as well as on the bottom right of the screen when not using the Monitor. The warning sign starts out orange, signaling that the music is about to end. If it is blinking red, the music is about to end, and the Marionette is seconds away from beginning his attack. Once the red exclamation mark disappears, it is too late, and the Marionette will begin to move towards The Office.
Regardless of what happens after, it begins its attack, even if the Music Box is wound up after it has left the Prize Corner, the Marionette will make its way towards The Office, attacking in a manner like Foxy (but it doesn't come to eat you by opening its mouth). There is no way to stop it once it has begun its approach and will kill the player, even if they are wearing the Freddy Fazbear Head. Its attack can be identified if the tune "Pop! Goes the Weasel" begins to play. Another hint the Marionette left is the disappearance of the danger sign. The player will be unable to find The Marionette on any camera once it has left the Prize Corner to attack, except in rare cases of briefly seeing it (for one frame) on the Main Hall and Party Room 2 cameras.
In the Death Minigames, three of the four involve the Marionette, with the "Give Cake to the Children" minigame giving it a backstory, and the "Give Gifts, Give Life" game showing the process of it binding the murdered children to the withered animatronics. The "SAVE THEM" minigame, however, is very different. Within the game, it shows the Puppet leading the withered Freddy Fazbear animatronic throughout the establishment, Golden Freddy randomly appearing in certain places. The game ends either when Freddy touches the Marionette's box or has a random encounter with the Purple Guy, William Afton.
Five Nights at Freddy's 3
The Marionette sometimes appears in the corridor, teasing Phantom Puppet's attack. A mask of the Marionette from Five Nights at Freddy's 2 is placed on the right side of CAM 08, close to the camera.
Good Ending/Fake Ending Scenario
The Marionette will be encountered twice. In the Mangle's Quest minigame, upon glitching through the wall, a gigantic version of the Marionette can be found, kneeling down and crying. The Puppet is the playable animatronic in the Happiest Day. In this minigame, the player plays as the child possessing Puppet and is only capable of walking left and right. Walking right, the player will pass by several children wearing masks of Happy Frog, Pigpatch, Mr. Hippo, Nedd Bear, and Orville Elephant, and on the very far right, a crying child can be found next to a table. Also next to the table are several children wearing gray masks. If the player has not completed all the Cake Endings from all previous minigames, the only exit will be via the Exit door to the far left.
However, once the player has completed all other Cake Endings, they will then find four children (Gabriel, Fritz, Jeremy, and Susie) wearing masks of Freddy Fazbear, Bonnie, Chica, and Foxy to the left of the table (in place of the children previously wearing gray masks). Touching the table will place a cake on it, and Cassidy will now have on a Golden Freddy mask. All five children will disappear, as well as the player character, leaving their six masks lying on the ground. The six balloons seen in the room will now float up towards the room barrier, and the game will abruptly end.
Upon completion of this minigame and getting the Cake Ending, the player will be rewarded with a third star on the main menu screen, and completing Night 5 will now give the player the "Good Ending".
Five Nights at Freddy's 4
In the Halloween update, the non-canon nightmare version called Nightmarionne appears as the final boss.
Freddy Fazbear's Pizzeria Simulator
Lefty in the allyway.
The Marionette returns in Freddy Fazbear's Pizza Simulator after it is lured to and captured by Lefty, who was designed specifically to contain it. Unlike William and Elizabeth Afton, who possess Springtrap and Scrap Baby, and plan to cause more tragedies in the Freddy Fazbear's Pizza franchise, The Marionette has benevolent intentions and was attracted to the pizzeria to prevent more child murders.
After Lefty captures The Marionette off screen, Lefty, now under The Marionette's control, will appear after Friday's night shift is complete, during his salvaging phase. Despite being against William and Elizabeth's plans to murder more children, like the player, The Marionette still shows hostility to the player, due to misidentifying them as William (Molten Freddy/Scrap Baby's dialogue implies that the player character is Michael Afton, William's son, who is mentioned to look similar to his father), or from maintaining its distrust against adults. Like the other salvageable animatronics, the player has the option to throw it back into the alley outside the pizzeria, or salvage him.
However, it is possible for the player to obtain Lefty early if he is purchased from the Catalog. If the player discards Lefty, he will be absent for the rest of the game. If the player decides to salvage him, they will be required to observe Lefty's behavior while listening to five audio prompts and fill out the maintenance checklist, like the other hostile animatronics. Lefty will move closer when the player's view is obstructed by the checklist. If the player fails to check on him, Lefty will jumpscare them. If the player succeeds, the Tutorial Unit will remind the player that their goal is to get all of the animatronics in one place by Saturday. Regardless, the player will have to defend themselves from Lefty onwards.
After Saturday's shift is complete, the player's supervisor, known as the Cassette Man (Henry, William's former business partner) reveals his plan to trap the animatronics in the restaurant, before setting the establishment on fire. As the restaurant burns down, the Cassette Man speaks to his daughter, who is revealed to be the spirit possessing The Marionette. He apologizes to her for not being there for her on the day she was murdered by William and tells her to rest, as the building, along with the animatronics, Michael, and him inside it, is reduced to ashes/
Ultimate Custom Night
Both The Marionette and Lefty return as customizable enemies in the game Ultimate Custom Night. Like in FNaF 2, The Marionette's music box will go down overtime. To counteract this, The Player must go to the kitchen channel on the camera and wind the music box up or use the global music box. Failure to do this will result in The Marionette heading towards the player's office, causing ventilation errors, and eventually jumpscaring and killing the player, resulting in a game over. Lefty will become more and more agitated the hotter the office becomes and the more noise the player makes. Lefty will head towards the player's office once agitated enough to move from the closet it usually sits in. The only way to soothe Lefty and prevent them from reaching the player's office is to activate the global music box. If the player fails to activate the global music box in time, Lefty will jumpscare and kill the player, resulting in a game over.
Five Nights at Freddy's VR: Help Wanted
The Marionette reappears in FNAF VR: Help Wanted where its gameplay is the same as in Five Nights at Freddy's 2.
Appearance
The Puppet
The Marionette has a white face with black, hollow eyes (aside from its jumpscare and a small in-game cutscene, in which it gains small, white pupils). Its face is similar to that of a Pierrot, with rosy red cheeks, purple stripes that stretch from the bottom of its eyes to the top of its mouth, and red lipstick painted on in an exaggerated pucker.
Its body is somewhat reminiscent of a sock monkey's, with its round, oblong shape, thin waist, three white buttons, rounded hands that feature three spindly fingers each, and white stripes on the wrists and ankles, along with a thin, long neck. It has no feet, but its legs are tapered to a point. It has neither hair nor head accessories.
Lefty
Lefty's upper head looks similar to Toy Freddy's, but his lower jaw is separated and connected with metal rods to the upper part. He has the rosy-red cheeks like the Toys from FNaF 2, and his top hat and bow tie are red. Like the other Rockstar animatronics, he has a star on his grayish chest. He holds his gold microphone in his left hand, fitting the name "Lefty". His left eye is small and black, while his right eye is normal with yellow pupils. His knee pads are also rosy-red. If one looks closely, they can see the Marionette inside of Lefty, which features on a secret death screen.
Overall, it is a black and red version of Rockstar Freddy without his left eye and holds his mic in his left hand as well. He is also a member of the Rockstar Assemble, a band including 'Rockstar' versions of Bonnie, Chica, Foxy, and Freddy.
Personality
The Puppet enjoys listening to its music box. However, once the music box unwinds, it becomes angry, and it is intelligent enough to know precisely where the night-guard is. It will charge straight for the office and must be extremely strong and powerful despite its wiry frame, in order to overpower an adult human or possibly even a teenager. It is also smart enough to not be fooled by the Freddy head trick.
Unlike the rest of the antagonists of the series, The Marionette is a benevolent spirit who only wants to keep children safe and prevent them from dying at the hands of William Afton and his animatronics. The problem is that the Puppet seems to possess a mistrust towards adults and will respond to them violently and most likely like every other animatronic mistake Michael Afton (William's son) for William and blindly attacks him.
The Cassette Man states that even before her death, his daughter always wanted to protect others and wanted to look out and care for them.
In Ultimate Custom Night, the Puppet expresses delight in being able to punish William Afton for his crimes, she also has a high opinion of herself, regarding the others as animals while she is intelligent and aware, and how she's the only one who is capable of protecting them. As Lefty, she acts and sounds tired and hurt, either from being stuffed inside an animatronic a second time or for how long she's been suffering. She appears to want William to suffer her fate, with most of her death lines telling him how he will be stuffed into the Lefty suit also.
Quotes
| “ | So our temporary solution is this: there's a music box over by the Prize Counter, and it's rigged to be wound up remotely. So just, every once in a while, switch over to the Prize Counter video feed and wind it up for a few seconds. It doesn't seem to affect all of the animatronics, but it does affect... one of them. | „ |
| ~ The Phone Guy talking about the Marionette. |
| “ | I'll be honest, I never liked that puppet thing. It's always...thinking, and it can go anywhere...I don't think a Freddy mask will fool it, so just don't forget the music box. | „ |
| ~ Phone Guy regarding the Marionette. |
| “ | The others are like animals. But I am very aware... | „ |
| ~ The Marionette in Ultimate Custom Night. |
| “ | I don't hate you, but you need to stay out of my way. | „ |
| ~ The Marionette |
| “ | The others are under my protection. | „ |
| ~ The Marionette |
| “ | Shh... I've been looking for you... and now I will never let you go... | „ |
| ~ Lefty in Ultimate Custom Night. |
| “ | Shh... It will all be over soon. | „ |
| ~ Lefty |
| “ | Shh... There is room for one more. | „ |
| ~ Lefty |
| “ | Shh... Come spend eternity. Inside... with me... | „ |
| ~ Lefty |
| “ | Shh... I'm so glad that I found you. Let me make room for you... | „ |
| ~ Lefty |
Trivia
- The Marionette is the only antagonist whose intentions are not purely selfish or malevolent in nature and is only truly an antagonist due to it being an enemy in the second game.
- Despite being referred as an animatronic, the Marionette isn't an actual animatronic, due to its limbs being tied by some ropes hanging from a mechanism in the ceiling in order to move, and not having any mechanical part. More resembling an actual marionette.
- The Puppet's appearance resembles a Japanese kokeshi doll, and Slender Man.
- When looking in the front of the Marionette's face, it seems happy. However, during its jumpscare the placement of its face make it seem that it is actually angry. This could be an illusion, and that the spirit possessing it is angry for what happened to her. In the Security Puppet's minigame, before going to Henry's daughter the Puppet is seen without the blue streaks below its eyes. In the games the Puppet has these streaks to look like it is crying, in emulation to the child who was left outside in the rain crying.
- The Marionette cannot leave the Prize Corner as long as the player views CAM 11 and winds the music box, but, as soon as they lower the Monitor and the music box hasn't been wound for a certain amount of time, it will begin her approach.
- Some have noted Freddy will play the same jingle that plays when the power goes out in the Kitchen in Five Nights at Freddy's, leading some to theorize the Marionette may be hiding inside the Kitchen, possibly suggesting why CAM 6 is always disabled.
- It's unknown how this character is even able to move around and enter the room, as it cannot be seen moving on the cameras.
- The Marionette is one of two characters that will attack regardless of whether the player dons/wears the Freddy Fazbear Head, the other being Foxy the Fox.
- When looking out of Freddy's eyes in the cinematic after Night 4, The Marionette appears in front of Freddy, staying near the player's face as they look around, possibly hinting that The Puppet was somehow around at the second restaurant.
- Like Toy Chica, The Marionette doesn't appear in the sequel's trailer.
- The Puppet will also cause a jump scare in the "Take Cake to the Children" Death Minigames. As soon as the player completes it, The Marionette will lunge at the player, sending them back to the Main Menu.
- The Marionette, similar to Foxy, can attack the player even if another animatronic is inside The Office.
- The Marionette is one of the few characters that does not have an unlockable plushie on the Custom Night, along with Toy Chica, Toy Freddy, and Mangle.
- The only times The Marionette can be seen with white dots in its eye sockets are during the cutscene after completing Night 4 and its jumpscare. Strangely enough, the white dots seem to appear in the eyes of other animatronics, possibly signifying possession.
- The Marionette is one of the animatronics who does not appear in the hallway before attacking (save for the rare hallucinations), with three others being Toy Bonnie, Chica, and BB.
- Since the Marionette's attacks on the player are dependent on a box that is wound up and attacks by jumping at the player, it is possible that its mechanics are based on that of a jack-in-the-box.
- It is arguably the most dangerous enemy in the second game as when it escapes the music box nothing will stop it from killing the player (unless the 6 AM mark is reached). It is also the only enemy in the game whose AI cannot be changed in custom night, which means that it will always be active.
- Similarly, in Five Nights at Freddy's 3, it is arguably the most dangerous Phantom animatronic, as it, unlike the others, stands in front of the player, prohibiting them from using the System Reboot and Camera Panels, as well as causing a Ventilation and Audio error, providing easy vulnerability to Springtrap.
- At the time, it was thought The Marionette and Golden Freddy was put to rest in Five Nights at Freddy's 3, as the child who was wearing the Marionette mask was shown ascending to the afterlife with the other children in the minigame, "Happiest Day" (which it is the playable character in). However, some scenes during the gameplay of Five Nights at Freddy's 3 and Five Nights at Freddy's Pizzaria Simulator makes it seem this is not the case.
- The Minireenas physically resembles the Puppet, minus the paint on the Puppet's face. Their eyes can also be seen during their jumpscare.
- Pizzeria Simulator revealed that it is possessed by the daughter of Henry, William Afton's old friend and business partner. It's possible that it is Charlotte from the novels adapted to the game series continuity in which Charlotte Emily was the main character of the first two books and a major protagonist of the third book in which she was the first victim of William Afton and became animatronic of sorts by her father Henry.
- She is confirmed to return in Five Nights at Freddy's AR: Special Delivery as Lefty. Due to the fact that Lefty appears in the trailer as an Easter Egg alongside Glitchtrap and William Afton, and there is a mysterious C which could stand for Charlie, it is theorized she will have a major role in the lore.
