As the antagonist who was behind some of the most horrific events inFive Nights at Freddy’s, William Afton receives the most attention among all the characters who play a role in the series' lore. Since William Afton appears as a villain possessing animatronics in multiple games, he’s generally known by players, and they can likely name at least a few crimes he committed purely from their exposure to his narrative beingimportant to most ofFNAF’soverall lore. However, there’sone character that could’ve stopped himbefore he killed so many children, since he seemingly knew about it.
Five Nights at Freddy’srevolves around Fazbear Entertainment and the many forms that the company takes over time, as it ends up being involved withmultiple scandals that result from Afton’s actionswhile he’s both alive and dead. At first, the games seemed like they relied heavily on jump scares, but when players dug into the small details they noticed while playing, the underlying creepiness of the story itself started to show. To an extent, it seems like William Afton would have committed murder no matter what in his state of mind, but there was a chance to stop him.
Who Is Henry Emily And Why Is He Important?
William Afton’s Counterpart
Henry Emily is the co-founder of Fazbear Entertainment, but he’s never seen in-game despite playing an important role in the series' lore. Afton created the ideas for the characters who would become the mascots of Fazbear Entertainment, butit wasEmily who brought those ideas to life by creating the springlock animatronics. Unfortunately, the design of the springlock would end up being the cause of many of Fazbear Entertainment’s tragedies; even if Emily hadn’t designed them with the intent of harming anybody, the springlock suits would be used to commit multiple murders.
One animatronic, the Puppet, was designed to protect children, but specifically to protect Henry Emily’s daughter, Charlotte. However, when Charlotte was locked out of Freddy Fazbear’s Pizza, William Afton showed up and killed her for reasons that are never explained. The Puppet comes outside to lie next to Charlotte, andher soul possesses it, making her the first child to take control of a Fazbear Entertainment animatronic. Since Afton and Emily were friends, it seemed like he didn’t suspect that Afton committed this first murder. If he did, then he didn’t mention it in his recordings.
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The next death wasn’t targeted, like Charlotte’s, and instead it was the result of the Crying Child being bullied and forced into an animatronic’s mouth, which led to the springlock jaw activating and killing the boy. Although it’s not confirmed,the Crying Child is implied to be one of William Afton’s sons. If he had died first and was Afton’s child, then it would make more sense for him to target Charlotte, possibly as a form of revenge. However, the series of events is different and doesn’t provide clear, confirmed answers about what drove Afton to kill so many children.
Henry Emily eventually traps the animatronics and himself in a Fazbear location, then sets the building on fire. During this, there’s a monologue where he says that he contemplated removing himself from the picture earlier and leaving this mess for somebody else to deal with. However, he decided that he played a role in William’s actions, and that he should’ve stopped him before he was able to kill so many children. Therefore, he came up with a plan to lure the possessed animatronics to one place andset them on fire with the hope that he would free the trapped souls.
Henry Knew To An Extent That The Springlocks Were Dangerous
They Moved With Too Much Force
In their design, there was always an inherent level of danger that came with thespringlock animatronics inFive Nights at Freddy’s. Theforce of the springlocks is at their greatest when they are are in their suit mode, or when the springs in the suit are locked to allow somebody to wear the suit without injury. Then, the springs are released when the suits are in animatronic mode, allowing them to move and be animatronics without somebody inside the suit. A springlock failure is when the lock stops working, releasing the springs in a burst of force.
Since Henry made these suits, he would be aware of how dangerous it could be if the springlocks failed with somebody inside the suit. He likely made the locks as safe as he could, butthere’s no way to make it impossible for them to fail. Instead, it seems like they fail rather easily, considering how many times they injure or kill somebody in the series. After the first bite incident, where the strength of an animatronic’s jaw after the springlock failed was enough to kill the Crying Child, it would’ve been smart for Fazbear Entertainment to retire this suit.
Is Henry Guilty Or Insane?
How Much Did He Know?
The design ofFNAFlore and its many theoriesmake it difficult to know what’s true and what’s speculation for a lot of the details included in the franchise. Henry appears mostly in the books. In the games, he has a limited presence. He’s mentioned inFNAF 2, then he shows up as the Cassette Guy inFreddy Fazbear’s Pizzeria Simulator. His limited presence makes it difficult to know if he was aware of Afton’s actions early on and ignored them, or if he learned about his murders until later on, but feltguilty as the designer of the suits.
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In the Insanity Ending ofFreddy Fazbear’s Pizzeria Simulator, Henry has a unique monologue where he says that he finally understands the depth of Afton’s depravity. The way he says it makes it seem likehe might’ve suspected that Afton was somebody who would do depraved things, but underestimated the extent of that part of him. At the same time, it’s called the Insanity Ending, so it’s possible that the guilt and loss of his daughter compounded over the years, leading him to believe that he should’ve seen the signs and stopped Afton.
Depending on how much he knew versus how much of his final appearance in the games is driven by insanity, it’s possible that Henry could’ve stopped Afton before he killed so many children. However, it’s hard to say that he would’ve been able to save Charlotte, since it’s not clear what motivated Afton to kill her, or if it was just a crime of opportunity, since she was locked out of the building and alone. While the true answer about how much Henry knew will likely never be revealed, it raises some interesting questions aboutFive Nights at Freddy’shistory.
Five Nights at Freddy’s
Five Nights at Freddy’s is a multimedia horror franchise created by Scott Cawthon that began with the first entry in the video game series, Five Nights at Freddy’s. The core story of the franchise focuses on a pizza franchise known as “Freddy Fazbear’s Pizza,” a kid-friendly entertainment center with animatronic hosts. The stores are closed when the animatronics begin to go berserk, slaying some of their guests. However, for most entries, a security guard is tasked with observing them at night, completely unaware of the horrible history behind the mysterious, murderous robots.
