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NOTE: This article is about the incarnation of William Afton from The Silver Eyes. The mainstream version can be found here.
“ | I helped him create. We both wanted to love. Your father loved. And now I have loved. | „ |
~ William Afton referencing his and Henry's separate work as he's being interrogated. |
“ | I’ve been a master of all these creatures... All the animatronics are linked together; it was a system designed to control the choreography for the shows. Now I control the system. I control the choreography. All of this is mine. | „ |
~ William Afton as Springtrap. |
“ | Jessica: Everyone is afraid to die. And you should be more afraid than anyone else, because if there's a Hell, there's a hole at the bottom of it reserved for you. William: In time, I'm sure that's where I will find myself. But the devil has knocked on my door before, and I've turned him away. |
„ |
~ William Afton in response to Jessica telling him that Hell has a special space reserved for him. |
William Afton is the main antagonist of the Five Nights at Freddy's novel trilogy. He is the archenemy of Charlotte "Charlie" Emily.
The co-owner of Freddy Fazbear's Pizza, William betrayed his best friend Henry Emily by murdering one of his children and later five others. Ten years later, William took the fake identity of Dave Miller and was hired as the night guard of the mall that was built over the long-closed pizzeria.
A confrontation with his old friend's daughter Charlie ended with his painful demise, but allowed him to become the undead Springtrap. His efforts at getting revenge and achieving immortality would then be aided by his twisted creations and his daughter respectively.
Personality[]
“ | Afraid of them, now? ...Don’t fear them. Fear me... I’m the only thing in this room you should be afraid of... I’m just as dangerous as I always have been. | „ |
~ William Afton intimidating a child he has kidnapped. |
William Afton is an evil, selfish, and sadistic murderer. He kills any witnesses to keep from getting caught. Nevertheless, he is still a determined and extremely fierce serial killer, who will not hesitate a single moment to get in a fight with any of his foes or murdering people for experiments or his own amusement. William Afton is also rather ungrateful, having murdered Charlotte Emily, despite the fact that if it wasn't for her father, then the franchise wouldn't have achieved its earlier success. Afton is also abusive and neglectful towards his daughter, Elizabeth, who later on seemingly only accepted her once she became Baby. However, he continues to act abusive towards her regardless. Afton prioritizes his work over his own family.
He sometimes appears to be a compassionate man, but like many serial killers, this is just a mere façade that he uses to manipulate others, especially children. In The Silver Eyes, after he realized that the children's souls are trapped into the cursed place, for a time, Afton actually believed this to be a good thing, while he was in fact trapping his victims' souls in the animatronics forever. He momentarily refers to his victims as his "family". He is fascinated with the animatronics to the point where he disguises himself as one of them until he becomes that in his Springtrap form.
It is shown in The Twisted Ones that upon becoming Springtrap and being released from the small room he was trapped in, William is in an invigorated state of being, having felt powerful due to his newfound strength and his control of the Twisted Animatronics. He expressed how he felt like he was ‘more’ than both his past self and Henry.
In The Fourth Closet, once he escaped from the Spring Bonnie suit, William began to regain his sanity, which in turn made him feel that he doesn’t need to be inconspicuous due to his state of condition. He is miserable, commanding and impatient, yet he still remains to be theatrical, even when he is in pain. Considering the fact that his organic, human body is full of mechanical parts, William seemingly has a tolerance for pain, as he continues to commit experiments.
Despite popular belief, William is not actually insane, as he makes mention of the fact that what he is doing is wrong, yet goes through it anyway, likely suggesting that he does not care about morality and simply does it for his own gain. However, it is previously learned in The Silver Eyes that he had an unhealthy obsession with Henry, so obsessed to the point where he wrote countless diaries about him ranging from jealousy to near worship, proving that he wasn't very mentally sound to begin with. He also appears to have no regrets, as he says that killing the missing children led to great things.
It is shown that William is calm and exact with his murders, suggesting that he has a different way of showing delight in committing his cruel and twisted acts. This is also alluded to later on in The Fourth Closet, where when he is about to kill an innocent boy for his next experiment, he tells the child with a grin that even if it doesn't work, he will at least enjoy killing him, just like he enjoyed killing his past victims years ago.
William fears one thing and one thing only, and that is death. While in his weakened state in The Fourth Closet, he expresses that he is afraid of thinking about how his time is running out, how he’d die if his goal of transporting his soul into a robot isn't achieved. He also mentions how he would rather live eternally in the state he is in than pass on.
Appearance[]
Originally in the 80s, William was shown to be quite overweight with ruddy skin. He had dark brown hair in the neat shape of a combover, pale silver eyes which were described as being "dull' and "flat", a rather toothy large smile and sharp facial features. For his attire he wore a white dress shirt with a yellow bow tie.
Later on when he used the alias Dave Miller he was shown to be tall, skinny, and had a long neck (much like his main series counterpart in the SAVETHEM minigame). His hair was also much more longer and unkempt, his skin was pale and sickly and his eyes were tired and sunken. For his attire he wore a white security guard shirt with black shoulder pads and a name tag on his right peck that spelled “Dave”. He also had black dress pants and shoes as well as a utility belt with keys.
As Springtrap, William’s body was trapped inside the Spring Bonnie suit following his lethal spring-lock failure in the first book. The suit became withered, dirty and stained in Afton’s blood, having several holes and scratches all over it with the right rabbit ear on the suit having rotted away. Unlike his game counterpart the Springtrap suit retain its yellow coloring (as the suit only decayed for one year rather than 30). Inside the suit was William’s corpse although it was intact it was ravaged, twisted and scarred by the spring-locks. William also lost several of his teeth and his bloodshot gray eyes could be seen through the eyeholes of the suit.
After escaping the Spring Bonnie suit, William was left in critical condition. He was painfully thin, so thin that when he smiled his tendons could be seen moving like snakes under his skin. His head was bald and covered in pink ridged scars, and where there were no scars were strange metal pallets fused to his head. his scalp was torn off, leaving all but a small patch of hair which still grew. One of his eyes were missing, which was shot through with a thin steel rod. In the middle of his torso was a mass of twisted flesh that was diagonally sewn together with black stitching thread. The new scars from the latest spring-lock incident were angry-red in color. He wore silky purple pajamas with a robe and a pair of slippers.
Biography[]
Background[]
Not much is none about Afton's early life but it's shown he owned and created a company known as Afton Robotics which he would use to supply parts for his creations. Later on William met a man named Henry Emily and the two became business partners. They purchased a dance hall in New Harmony, Utah and used it to open a local restaurant called Fredbear's Family Diner with it's two mascots being the titular Fredbear and his companion Spring Bonnie which were springlock suits, animatronic/costume hybrids. Henry and William would also preform in the suits for the children at the diner with Afton mainly wearing the Spring Bonnie suit. However during a Halloween party in 1983, Afton donned his Spring Bonnie suit and kidnapped and murdered Henry’s three year old daughter Charlotte.
While William was suspected of committing this murder, he wasn't charged; as a result, the diner ends up closing down, likely because of unpopularity. Henry's wife and his son Sammy then leave him which consequently causing him to go insane from his grief and invent four robotic duplicates of Charlie to simulate her growing up as a means of coping with his pain. However, Afton ended up stealing the fourth and final one, intending to use it for his own machinations.
Henry and Afton then established Freddy Fazbear's Pizza a few miles south of Hurricane, Utah, with it's main mascots being Freddy, Bonnie, Chica and Foxy. However in 1985, Afton disguises himself as Spring Bonnie, and lures five children named Gabriel, Susie, Fritz, Cassidy and Michael Brooks to the backroom and murders them all. To hide the evidence of his crimes he stuffed their bodies into the animatronic suits. However his victims souls would end up haunting the animatronics with Michael specifically haunting an animatronic called Golden Freddy.
Afton was then arrested by the Hurricane Police Department specifically by a detective named Clay Burke. The police searched his house and found the Spring Bonnie suit as well as multiple journals which detailed a strange obsession with Henry. Despite all signs pointing to him being guilty of the crime, without the bodies of the children as evidence and the fact the police didn't read his Miranda rights, William was let go and subsequently skipped town. Out of grief from both his daughter and the five children's deaths, Henry commits suicide, and the pizzeria is closed down, resulting in a mall being built over it, but said mall was abandoned as well as the owners felt a strange presence emanating from Freddy's
Sometime afterwards Afton would father a girl named Elizabeth but had little interest in her and was more focused on finishing the robot he stole from Henry and turning it into Circus Baby. One day when Elizabeth came home from kindergarten she tried to show her father a piece of artwork she created only for William to strike her across the face twice for disturbing him while he was working. Elizabeth then became obsessed with Circus Baby and that obsession led to her death at the hands of Afton's creation a event in which he likely planned as he had camera's watching Elizabeth's death. Despite, Elizabeth becoming Circus Baby, Afton still only viewed his daughter as pawn and nothing more. Afton would then return to Hurricane under the false identity "Dave Miller" and get a job as security guard at the abandoned mall to stay with his victims souls as his "family"
The Silver Eyes[]
Ten years later in 1995, a memorial was held by the parents of the late Michael Brooks, and Charlie and her childhood friends return to Utah to attend it. Charlie and her friends then decide to sneak into Freddy's for old times sake only to be confronted by the security guard "Dave". "Dave" questions why they are here to which they simply ask his if they could just tour Freddy's, "Dave" seeing this as an opportunity to kill them all obliges and leads them on a tour of the building. He explains the history of why the mall was abandoned before it opened and insinuates that the reason might be due to a 'mystic energy". Charlie however is weary of "Dave" and notices a large weird scar on the back of his neck. Once they enter the restaurant Charlie and her friends attempt to use the control panel under the stage to get the animatronics to preform but they don't know how it works. "Dave" then offers to work it for them and uses his mechanical expertise to program the show and get the animatronics to preform perfectly. However the animatronics catch a glimpse of "Dave" and recognize him as their killer. They begin glitch out and break free from the stage.
In the chaos, "Dave" drops his guise and goes into the backroom and retrieves the Spring Bonnie suit. Wearing the suit, Afton then kidnaps Carlton, one of Charlie's friends. When the group of friends notices that Carlton was missing, they report it to his father the now police chief Clay Burke, but these claims were not taken seriously, due to Carlton's habit of being a troublemaker. However thanks to prodding from Carlton's mother, Clay sends officer Dunn to Freddy's to investigate Carlton's disappearance. However, Afton puts on the Spring Bonnie suit and pretends to be an empty costume only to immediately stab Dunn to death when his guard is down. The last thing Officer Dunn see's is Afton pale dead silver eyes.
William then puts Carlton in a springlock suit and warns him not to move while he is inside of it. Afton explains the suits functionality and how the springlocks can malfunction if he isn't careful and makes sudden movements. He goes into great detail on how excruciating a death via springlock failure would be. Afton says that the springlocks and the mechanical parts inside the suit would snap back into place making deep cuts all over his body, he notes that Carlton may try to scream but his vocal cords will be severed by the suit. He finished off the description by saying that the suit will grown wet with his blood until he drowns in it. Carlton asks how he knows how bad a springlock failure would be to which he takes off the torso of the suit and reveals his scarred body from a narrowly survived springlock failure.
Charlie and her friends return to the pizzeria to search for Carlton. Once they find him they free him from the springlock suit before it goes off. William then confronts the teenagers only to be knocked out by Charlie with a metal pipe. Charlie and her friends tie him up with some wire and interrogate him on his actions. However, William feigns into a catatonic state. Carlton then calls out William for murdering the five kids ten years ago. Although, John doesn't believe him at first he soon ponders this notion comes to the shocking realization that Afton did kill those children. John enraged at Afton punches him square in the jaw for his actions.
Afton continues to remain unresponsive to them until he eyes the mask of his Spring Bonnie suit. Charlie then places the mask on his head in which he finally begins to talk. Afton confirms that the animatronics are possessed by the ghosts of the children he killed and that they are together with him as a family citing it as their "Happiest Day". He then tells Charlie and her friends that the animatronics don't take kindly to adults and taunts that they will all be killed by them and he will walk over their corpses and leave in the morning. They of course point out that he will be killed as well seeing as he was the one who murdered them in the first place, however he claims that he will survive as he is "one of them", intending to use his Spring Bonnie suit as a disguise.
The group however manages to survive the animatronics wrath thanks to help from their old friend Michael who now haunts Golden Freddy. Michael keeps the animatronics at bay long enough for Clay to break in the restaurant and rescue Charlie an her friends. Afton becoming desperate grabs Charlie by the neck, and threatens to choke her to death unless they comply with his demands. Remembering all the horrible things Afton has done, Charlie reaches into the neck of the suit and sets off the spring locks telling him that if he wants to be one of them he can be one of them. The springlocks then pierce, crush and mutilate Afton's entire body, slowly killing him just as he described would happen. William then collapses on the floor twitching in agony and pain while lying in a pool of his own blood. The main animatronics - Freddy, Bonnie, Chica, and Foxy - appear, and they drag the dying Afton away into the depths of the building.
The Twisted Ones[]
One year after the traumatic events Charlie went through at Freddy Fazbear's Pizza, she attends college but soon learns that Freddy's has been further abandoned and desolated but much to he horror she is informed that despite poilice searching the building, Afton's body wasn't found. Charlie and Jessica then go to the remains of Freddy's and find the Spring Bonnie suit with Afton's mutilated corpse stuffed inside a closet. Satisfied with the conformation of his death the girls take their leave but little did they know that Afton was somehow still alive. Afton as some point leaves the pizzeria in his new form and creates the Twisted Animatronics, grotesque perversions of Henry's creations, brought to life by illusion discs which were manufactured by Afton Robotics. Afton ordered these machines to hunt down and kill or capture Charlie for an unknown goal. The Twisted One's go on a murder spree across the county killing a few people who remotely look like Charlie. Oddly enough their corpses were found to have wounds on them similar to the ones suffered from a springlock failure.
After some investigating and several stakeouts Charlie foolishly decides to confront the animatronics alone hoping to get answers pertaining to the "death" of her twin brother Sammy. However, Twisted Freddy captures Charlie and brings her to a underground replica of Freddy's. It's here where her, John, Jessica and Clay come face to face with not only the Twisted One's, but William Afton himself now trapped in the withered Spring Bonnie suit citing it as becoming one with his creation. The group question who or what he is to which he insanely boasts that he is no longer Afton he is Springtrap and claims that he is far more than Afton even was and far more than Henry. He reveals that Twisted One's are linked to a system designed to control the choreography of the shows and since he controls that same system the animatronics obey his commands. He also insults Henry's robots and claims that his are far better built. Charlie asks what he's after but Afton insists that he won't hurt her friends but she has something that he needs. Clay then shoots Springtrap with his gun but it does no damage at all and he consequently goes on the offensive and attacks Charlie and the group.
Suddenly however the original animatronics arrive on the scene and assist Charlie by destroying their twisted counterparts. Springtrap then grabs Charlie by the neck and tries to choke her like he did at the end of the Silver Eyes. However this time Charlie is prepared and breaks Springtrap's grasp. She grabs a metal spike, driving it into Sprintrap's chest and beating him to a pulp. Charlie demands to know why Springtrap killed Sammy all those years ago but Springtrap laughs and taunts her for her delusions, claiming he didn't kill Sammy he killed her. The underground pizzeria then begins to cave-in and Springtrap escapes through a hidden trapdoor. Despite Charlie and her friends escaping, Springtrap got the last laugh and one of his creations, Twisted Freddy managed to capture Charile in his chest cavity and seemingly kill her via a springlock failure. However afterwards a woman meets up with Charlie's friends and pretends to be her with only John seeing through this facade.
The Fourth Closet[]
Sometime after his escape William managed to undergo a operation and remove most of the Spring Bonnie and reclaimed his identity as William Afton. However several pieces of the suit were still lodged in his body and no matter how many operation he went through he could not get all metal shrapnel removed. Ultimately, his injuries coupled with his various operations left Afton both scarred, disfigured and in a constant state of agony, needing to rely on a wheelchair to get around. Realizing he will die from his injuries sooner or later he captured the original animatronics and fused their endoskeletons into one amalgamation to find out how his victims possessed the animatronic in the first place. William hoped to replicate the process on himself and gain immortality by transferring his soul into a robot. He also has his daughter Elizabeth/Baby join him on this quest and become his accomplice having her impersonate Charlie as well as kidnap several kids to experiment on. As a front for his goals he also opened a restaurant called Circus Baby's Pizza where he designed the animatronic performers Funtime Freddy, Funtime Foxy and the Baby Crawlers.
Later he experiments on the amalgamation and although Baby notes it is in extreme pain during the process he of course does not care. He then takes a syringe and extracts the Remnant from the amalgamation and injects it into Funtime Freddy giving it life. Sometime afterwards he has Baby capture Jessica and reveals himself. He explains his horribly decrepit state and how he is constantly in pain because of it, but of course Jessica does not feel bad for him considering his unspeakable atrocities. Jessica even goes on record to state that the reason Afton is so desperate to become immortal is because he fears dying and potentially going to Hell for his actions. Afton agrees with her statement but arrogantly claims that he has "turned the devil away before". He then explains his plans to transfer his soul into an animatronic to become immortal and has both a begrudging Jessica and Baby preform an operation on him to remove his kidney and smash it against the amalgamation hoping for some kind of result. He then takes Jessica prisoner and locks her away with the other kids he kidnapped.
Afton then orders Baby to kidnap Charlie, William knows that she is really an android and hopes to uncover how she came to life without the need for a soul. Baby of course is confused by this notion and asks if she is still not enough, Afton coldly response with a no. Soon, Charlie's friends break into the building and rescue the children. However Carlton decides to go rescue the last child Jacob and put an end to Afton's machinations for good. However, Afton unexpectedly injects Carlton in the heart with molten Remnant. Carlton collapses on the ground and Afton believes that injecting it into heart may have been to direct but claims that it was "trial and error". As, Carlton is knocked out the remnant allows him to enter a realm where he is able to communicate with the souls of the children. The children however still think that Afton is the benevolent Spring Bonnie and are completely subservient to him. However with help from Michael, Carlton puts together a drawing that depicts what Spring Bonnie truly is: the monster that took their lives. Afton then decides to conduct a deadly experiment on Jacob and although he notes that it will likely not work he still goes through with it anyway hoping to have fun killing him just like he killed all the other kids. However the amalgamation soon regains control of itself and grabs hold of Afton dragging them both into the furnace which burns both it and Afton to death, putting an end to his reign of terror for good.
With, William Afton finally dead the deaths of Charlie, Michael, Henry and all the innocent kids he murdered are at last avenged. The souls now free from the control of their nemesis then fade away, passing on to the afterlife in peace.
Relationships[]
Allies:[]
- Henry Emily (formerly)
- Twisted Freddy
- Twisted Bonnie
- Twisted Foxy
- Twisted Wolf
- Elizabeth Afton/Circus Baby
- New Freddy
- Mangle
- Baby Crawlers
Enemies:[]
- Henry Emily
- Jen Emily
- Charlotte Emily
- John
- Jessica
- Gabriel/Freddy Fazbear
- Cassidy/Bonnie
- Susie/Chica
- Fritz/Foxy
- Michael Brooks/Golden Freddy
- Carlton Burke
- Clay Burke
- Officer Dunn
- Lamar
- Marla
- Jason
- Alanna
- Ron
- Lisa
- Jacob
List of Victims[]
- Charlotte Emily: Henry's daughter and Sammy's twin sister. Charlie was killed at Fredbear's Family Diner by William Afton, while she and Sammy were hiding in one of the closets playing with costumes.
- Michael Brooks: Lured to the backroom of Freddy Fazbear's Pizza and murdered by Afton; friend of Charlie and the others.
- Cassidy, Susie, Fritz and Gabriel: Lured into the backroom of the pizzeria and murdered by William masquerading as Spring Bonnie. It was revealed that it was three boys (Freddy, Foxy, and Golden Freddy) and two girls (Bonnie, and Chica) that were killed. Their souls lived on in an afterlife where they believed that "Spring Bonnie" was their friend, until Carlton revealed the truth about their murderer.
- Officer Dunn: stabbed to death when he was trying to find Carlton.
- Tracy Horton and an unnamed man (by proxy): Killed by his creations, the twisted animatronics, before their bodies were left in cows' fields.
Quotes[]
The Silver Eyes
“ | They are home with me. | „ |
~ Afton on the kids he had killed. |
“ | There isn't a way out anymore. All that's left is family. | „ |
~ Afton |
“ | Oh, you're something beautiful, aren't you? | „ |
~ Afton to Charlie. |
“ | John: Well, then you're trapped too, and you're not going to be hurting anyone else. William: I don't have to. When it gets dark, they will awaken; the children's spirits will rise. They will kill you. I'll just walk out in the morning, stepping over your corpses, one by one |
„ |
~ John and Afton |
“ | They don't remember; they've forgotten. The dead do forget. All they know is that you are here, trying to take away their happiest day. You are intruders. You are grown-ups. | „ |
~ Afton stating his confidence at the possibility of surviving the night. |
“ | Because I am one of them. | „ |
~ Afton professing his faith in the Spring Bonnie suit. |
“ | You are staying; I will kill this one right here, while you watch, unless you do as I say. | „ |
~ Afton threatening to kill Charlie; also his final words. |
The Twisted Ones
“ | I’ve accepted the new life that you gave me. You’ve made me one with my creation. My name is Springtrap! | „ |
~ William accepting his fate to be Springtrap. |
“ | Did you think my robots would be as poorly designed as your fathers? | „ |
~ William as Springtrap to Charlie. |
The Fourth Closet
“ | No! | „ |
~ William Afton's last words before he's dragged into the furnace by the Amalgamation. |
Gallery[]
Trivia[]
- Just like his mainstream counterpart, his reasons for killing the children are unknown, and since the novel trilogy has ended, it's possible that his motives and backstory will remain unknown.
- Even though The Fourth Closet shows he's trying to become immortal through the use of remnant from his victims, it's only because of his weakened state from being in the Spring Bonnie suit.
- In the The Fourth Closet, William seems to think very lowly of his “Dave Miller” persona, claiming it was only a disguise to fool others and nothing more. He also seems to have a low opinion of security guards in general, saying "it doesn't take a thespian to play an idiot night guard".
- While a man speculated to be Afton is featured in the cutscenes of Freddy Fazbear's Pizzeria Simulator, the graphic novel version of The Silver Eyes marks the first time in the franchise that his appearance has been confirmed. However, since this is an alternate timeline, his video game counterpart might look different. However it’s heavily implied that they do share the same appearance, as William’s look in the novels appears to have been designed to be consistent with Afton's established traits in the games to make a cohesive and definitive look. Such traits are.
- Afton's tall skinny frame, long neck, large sadistic smile and sharp jawline from the SAVETHEM minigame in FNAF 2.
- His pale gray eyes which he had as Springtrap and Scraptrap and the Fruity Maze minigame.
- His pale white skin and large ears which he also had as Scraptrap.
- He also appears to bear a striking resembles to his son in the games Michael Afton, as it’s established that they look quite similar.
- Susie, one of the victims of the Missing Children Incident, talks about how "Spring Bonnie" found her dead dog and promised to give it back to her, until William revealed himself and killed her. This is referenced in the Fruity Maze minigame in Freddy Fazbear's Pizza Simulator, where the face of a girl resembling Susie's description can be seen, but the minigame takes a darker turn as the fruits are replaced with dead dogs and Spring Bonnie can be seen beside the girl. The minigame is speculated to be an allegory for Susie's murder.
- According to Baby's flashback in The Fourth Closet, it's shown that William used to be abusive towards his own daughter, Elizabeth, where he pushed her to the ground and stomped on her graded work from school, which she showed to impress him, and even hit her when she tried to retrieve it, sending her running away in tears. As a final attempt to gain her father's approval, she merged herself with his favorite creation Circus Baby, who feels jealous towards Charlotte Emily for having a better life than she did when she was alive. Had William not abused Elizabeth, she wouldn't have become Baby, nor would she have been corrupted into the envious and resentful killer that she became.
- The original Afton warned Elizabeth never to approach Baby (since he programmed the machine to kill children) and sent Michael down to the facility to free Elizabeth after she died, hinting that he may have cared for her (although it's later implied that this was for his own selfish reasons). Here, Afton never showed any consideration towards Elizabeth, and seemingly had no care for her whatsoever.
- In the 2023, Five Nights at Freddy’s film, William Afton’s film counterpart appears to be identical to his novel counterpart albeit with the addition of a goatee and glasses.
- In The Fourth Closet's graphic novel adaptation, William's robe repeatedly switches from white to purple, this is most likely a coloring mistake.
External Links[]
- William Afton on the Pure Evil Wiki