Five Nights at Freddy's Lore and Timeline, Explained

You put any franchise and its plot on paper and, more often than not, you can make sense of what you’re reading. Sure, there may be some plot holes or continuity errors, but there are no questions regarding the synopsis and timeline. This is not the case for Five Nights at Freddy’s. A sprawling multimedia franchise, there are mainline games, DLCs, graphic novels, and films, all with their own version of events for this mascot horror.

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This breakdown will look at explaining Five Nights at Freddy’s in its most basic, digestible form, mostly through the story delivered in its original format: video games. Things get a bit muddy when it comes to figuring out exactly what’s canon in the franchise, especially as stories have been reimaged for different mediums. With so much to dive into, let’s lay out the story of FNAF, a tale throughout the years, told in chronological order. Knowing when key events happened gets confusing, especially when new information gets added that contradicts previous entries. As most of the lore isn’t confirmed aside from the Bite of ’83 and ’87, this retelling of the events will come down to the most plausible storyline to explain William Afton’s motives.

The biggest question mark when it comes to understanding the beginning of FNAF’s lore is whether Charlotte died before or after The Crying Kid. Henry Emily’s “a wound first inflicted on me, but then one that I let bleed out to cause of them” seemingly refers to Charlotte dying first, followed by The Crying Kid. However, a more popular telling of the events is that The Crying Kid died in an accident, where William sought revenge for Henry’s malfunctioning technology that killed his son, thus killing Charlotte in return.

Important FNAF Characters You Must Know About

William Afton: Main antagonist
Mimic: Secondary antagonist
Michael Schmidt: William’s eldest son
The Crying Kid: William’s youngest son
Elizabeth Afton: William’s daughter
Henry Emily: Animatronic engineer
Charlotte Emily: Henry’s daughter
Edwin Murray: Creator of the Mimic
David Murray: Edwin’s son
Jeremy Fitzgerald: Bite of ’87 victim

FNAF Canon Timeline

Five Nights at Freddy’s 4 – 1983
Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 – 1987
Five Nights at Freddy’s -1993
Five Nights at Freddy’s: Sister Location – Estimated between 1994 to 2000
Five Nights at Freddy’s 3 – 2023
Freddy Fazbear’s Pizzeria Simulator – 2023
Five Nights at Freddy’s: Help Wanted – Estimated between 2025 to 2029
Five Nights at Freddy’s: Special Delivery – Estimated between 2025 to 2029
Five Nights at Freddy’s: Security Breach – Estimated between 2029 to 2031
Five Nights at Freddy’s: Help Wanted 2 – Estimated between 2029 to 2031
Five Nights at Freddy’s: Security Breach Ruin DLC – Estimated between 2029 to 2032

1970 – Fall Fest

While it’s unknown who exactly founded Fazbear Entertainment, this company existed prior to Afton and Emily’s infamous involvement in the franchise. The earliest recorded history of this company is 1970, referenced in a Fall Fest poster for a carnival act. These featured mascots that are very different from those we know and love. Worn by humans, the mascots were one part of the act in the Autumn-themed carnival, becoming so popular that the company went on to create Fredbear’s Family Diner.

At the same time of their expansion, the carnival went up in flames (this would become a signature in the franchise), likely due to the Mimic (who would have been the only animatronic at the time). This will be the setting for Secret of the Mimic with Henry Emily as our playable character. The Mimic won’t make another appearance in the franchise for many years. Secret of the Mimic should (hopefully) describe the origin story of Fazbear Entertainment and explain the newest antagonist to FNAF lore: the Mimic.

1973 – The Opening of Fredbear’s Family Diner

Business partners William Afton and Henry Emily launched Fredbear’s Family Diner. Henry was the brains, bringing his springlock tech to the animatronics, where William naturally focused on the business side and customer service. The Diner centered around Fredbear and Bonnie, performing musical numbers for the children. These suits were unique because of their springlock design that allowed these animatronics to be opened up for people to jump inside and control the suit.

1975-1980 – Mimic1

Edwin Murray created Mimic1 to look after his son, David. He coded it to first copy Edwin’s toy. When David suddenly dies as he’s hit by a van, Edwin takes his wrath and devastation out on Mimic1, teaching it violence and fury. Mimic1 was left inside an abandoned factory where a team would be murdered by this endoskeleton after attaching legs to its body. The Mimic would deactivate and disappear for several decades afterwards.

1983 – Charlotte Emily

Fredbear and Bonnie were remade with the opening of Freddy Fazbear’s Pizza, and Chica and Foxy were added to the band. These animatronics would mostly stand stationary on the stage to perform their hit numbers.

Juggling both restaurants, the duo became so consumed with work that they weren’t around their families as often. This led Henry to craft the Marionette (referred to as the Puppet in FNAF 2), a security puppet that would watch over his daughter, Charlotte. The puppet ensured Charlotte would remain safe at the Pizzeria while Henry worked behind the scenes on the animatronics. I wonder if there was another reason Henry felt he had to create the Puppet to look after his daughter. Could there have been murders prior to the events we know about?

What Henry couldn’t predict, however, was that his business partner would trick, manipulate, and kill Henry’s only child, Charlotte. Although the Marionette was coded to prioritize her safety, it was trapped at the time of her death when she was locked outside the Pizzeria, because of a childish prank (or was it orchestrated by William?). Now free, the Marionette went and found Charlotte’s body dumped in a nearby alleyway, where it broke down from water damage.

Because the Marionette died alongside Charlotte, her soul latched onto its body, transforming the puppet’s appearance to permanently have tears on its face. The Marionette was moved into storage as it could no longer serve its primary function. This is the first known case of a haunted animatronic, where Charlotte would later become influential.

The Infamous Bite

William and Henry sank further in their work, where William left his eldest son, Michael, to look after his youngest, The Crying Child. Michael spent most of his time scaring his brother, thus giving the youngest Afton the placeholder name, Childing Child. The boy would later confide in his imaginary friend, the Fredbear plushie. He was also bullied for being scared of the Pizzeria after seeing William help an employee go into Golden Fredbear’s suit. This terrified him because he saw the animatronics as real and that Fredbear was his friend.

As he was terrified of the Pizzeria, The Crying Child’s birthday was held at the Diner. Michael and his friends tried to prank his brother, but it went horribly wrong. Knowing his fear of the animatronics, Michael lifted his brother to Fredbear’s head, holding him inside Fredbear’s mouth. What they didn’t anticipate was the fragile animatronic locking into place, where Fredbear’s mouth suddenly shut. The blunt force trauma Crying Child suffered from put him in a coma, where he died in the hospital. Michael became guilt-ridden, and the Diner shut for good shortly after, where Henry didn’t help William save his son.

Michael would suffer from nightmares as the guilt consumed him, where monstrous animatronics, resembling images his brother would see and fear. While it’s unconfirmed who the protagonist of FNAF 4 is, evidence points to it being Michael, with the story of The Crying Child shown through the mini-games. Whether this means Michael was being punished and tested by his father or if this is simply the result of a very traumatic experience, is down to your interpretation. FNAF 4 features nightmarish animatronics that don’t make another appearance in the timeline (implying they weren’t real or were manufactured for testing purposes only).

1984 – Elizabeth Afton

As William realized the Marionette was possessed by Charlotte’s ghost, he developed a dark craving. Hoping to recreate the same effect with new victims, he created a standalone restaurant called Circus Baby’s Pizza World, but it wasn’t to entertain the children.

Disguised as a fun place, perfect for kids, new animatronics were made, and they were very different from the musical animals before. Older models (Freddy, Bonnie, Chica, Foxy, etc) were taken elsewhere for repairs, making room for Circus Baby, Ballora, Funtime Freddy, and Funtime Foxy. Their systems and mechanisms were very different, being animatronics you weren’t supposed to jump into. These animatronics included new ways to interact, entertain, and lure children.

One in particular was Circus Baby, who had a large compartment in her stomach, specifically to produce ice cream. But this wasn’t Circus Baby’s true intention. William wanted a way to steal children for his experiments, but this would quickly backfire. William’s daughter, Elizabeth, grew attached to Circus Baby even though she wasn’t allowed to interact with her. With the luring and tracking capabilities in place, however, Circus Baby would invite Elizabeth over one day to make her some ice cream. As Elizabeth approached, alone and curious, she went up to Circus Baby, and was consumed, killing her on impact. This happened on Circus Baby’s Pizza World opening, resulting in immediate closure.

William had built underground facilities, likely to experiment on children and his son, Michael, with his version of nightmare animatronics. This was Sister Location. As Elizabeth was trapped inside Circus Baby, her soul possessed the animatronic, giving William a nefarious idea.

1985 – The Missing Children Incident

With two separate cases of children haunting animatronics (Charlotte in Marionette and Elizabeth in Circus Baby), William continued his killing and planned on stuffing the bodies with five more children. This was The Missing Children Incident (MCI), where William returned to Freddy Fazbear’s Pizza, disguised in the Diner’s Spring Bonnie suit, and lured five children out back to kill them.

He then stuffed each child into the Pizzeria’s animatronics. The order is as follows: Chica (Susie), Foxy (Fritz), Freddy (Gabriel), and Bonnie (Jeremy). As the Diner was closed, allowing William to dress up as Spring Bonnie, Golden Freddy collected dust in the backroom too, where Cassidy suffered an excruciating death as the mechanism closed on her, bleeding her out slowly. What’s strange about this order is that Help Wanted 2 shows the Puppet (Charlotte) as the final murder correlating to the MCI.

All of these children (murdered by William) went on to possess the animatronics with the guidance and help of Charlotte. Now they could live on forever, their souls trapped inside the suits. Due to the smell coming from the suits and the growing concerns and fears from parents, the Pizzeria was forced to close down.

1987 – The Bite of ’87

The Pizzeria reopened two years later, which housed new Toy and Withered animatronics (meant to stay in storage). The new technology Henry created focused on facial recognition. But these animatronics didn’t take a liking to adults. The animatronics were hostile towards the guards at night due to their technology, which used parts from the old models. They were haunted by the souls of the MCI kids, which passed over to the Toy animatronics.

William worked the day shift, with Jeremy Fitzgerald working the night. The Spring Bonnie suit went missing because William committed five more murders. The Pizzeria is immediately closed down, but Jeremy shows up to work, not realizing what has happened. The following morning, Jeremy is put on a day shift for a birthday event, where the Bite of ’87 occurs, resulting in his frontal lobe being forcefully removed by an unnamed animatronic. The Pizzeria was open for a mere three weeks before its inevitable closure.

After committing multiple murders under Fazbear Entertainment, William had his son, Michael, replace him at the now-closed Pizzeria, where Michael would take the haunted animatronic endoskeletons, but the original models were taken away at the time of the Pizzeria’s closing. His alias for this job was Fritz Smith. The tampering with animatronics and his “unpleasant odor” would get him fired after one shift.

Circus Baby’s Entertainment & Rental

Due to the closure of both the Diner and Pizzeria, William opened yet another standalone business, this time being the Sister Location. He moved the Funtime animatronics over (including Circus Baby) to his intricate underground facility. This wasn’t for events or visits, however. The animatronics were rented out during the day and tested at night using shock therapy. This was the Circus Baby’s Entertainment & Rental, another ploy set up by William to kidnap children.

1993 – Spring-Locked

Fazbear Entertainment tried to reopen Freddy Fazbear’s Pizza one last time, but no one could trust it anymore (and rightly so). Set to close at the end of the year, the original models of Freddy, Bonnie, Chica, and Foxy roamed the Pizzeria at night, where William lures the souls of the children and melts their endoskeletons to create Remnant. This would give “life” to the animatronics. William returns to the Pizzeria to get the Spring Bonnie suit he used to trick those poor kids time and time again, but this time, the children would fight back. William retreated to the suit, stepping inside, and the springlock activated, killing him slowly (the same way Cassidy died). But he knew he’d haunt the suit, just like the kids did.

The Spring Bonnie suit stayed in the back room of the Pizzeria. Meanwhile, the Toy animatronics who were injected with Remnant remained in the underground facility where the rental company continued to thrive.

2000 – The Power of Remnant

Michael ventures into Sister Location, where he is tricked by Ennard (an amalgamation of William’s victims). Realizing that his sister, Elizabeth, was trapped inside Circus Baby, he is lured into the Scoop Room where his innards are removed, and Ennard steps inside this newly acquired flesh suit.

When “Michael” returned home, his rotting body turned purple. Ennard removed itself from the “suit”, where Michael then became immortalized as a result of the Remnant, regaining control of his corpse.

2023 – Henry Emily and Childrens’ Souls are Freed

With Ennard and the souls of the children now roaming free after years of confinement, Michael becomes the security guard at Fazbear’s Fright (a new attraction spot with Fazbear relics) in hopes of finding his father and enacting revenge for all his wrongdoings. He burns Fazbear’s Fright down with Spring Bonnie (William) inside.

Henry and Michael work together to bring all animatronics to an underground facility where they’d burn it to the ground, alongside the Remnant. Trapped once again, with no way out, Henry wanted to free the spirits and give peace to his daughter, Charlotte, so that she could finally rest. The missing kids were finally able to move on with the help of Charlotte, who gave them eternal life in the first place.

2029 – Vanessa and The Mimic

The Mimic returns, this time in a virus form called Glitchtrap, possessing the circuitry of the Mimic, which is currently copying William Afton. A brand new Freddy Fazbear’s Mega Pizzaplex opens, where Glitchtrap attaches himself to Vanessa’s mind, creating Vanny (a rabbit mascot), who is forced to help Mimic1. New animatronics are made with Glamrock Freddy, Bonnie, Chica, Roxanne Wolf, and Montgomery Gator.

2031 – Security Breach

Gregory is trapped inside the Pizzaplex and works with Glamrock Freddie to escape. They use the parts of fellow Glamrock members to upgrade Freddy. They work together to free Vanny from the mask that has her under Glitchtrap’s spell. The Pizzaplex is destroyed by an “earthquake,” but the truth is that most of Pizzaplex’s power was being used to keep Burntrap (physical form of the Mimic) alive, where Gregory and Freddy set the Pizzaplex alight to stop Burntrap from escaping.

The animatronics inside survive, where Cassie is tricked by Mimic, who uses Gregory’s voice to lure her back into the now abandoned Pizzaplex. Burntrap uses old mascot costumes, resembling characters from Fall Fest. The Pizzaplex security program (M.X.E.S.) freed Mimic1 when it was shut down, giving the antagonist another chance to escape. The story concludes with Cassie’s only route of escape being cut off by Gregory to limit the risk of the Mimic escaping along with Cassie. The elevator falls with Cassie inside and the screen fades to black as Roxanne tentatively says, “Cassie?“