William Afton

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Fictional character

"Purple Guy" redirects here. For the Marvel Comics character, see Purple Man.

Fictional character

William Afton

Five Nights at Freddy's character

William Afton as Springtrap

First appearance|

* Five Nights at Freddy's 2
* (2014)

Last appearance|

* Five Nights at Freddy's
* (2023)

Created by| Scott Cawthon
Portrayed by| Matthew Lillard
Voiced by| PJ Heywood

William Afton, also known as Purple Guy or Springtrap, is a fictional character and the main antagonist of the Five Nights at Freddy's horror media franchise. Afton is characterized by his merciless and deceptive personality, as well as his catchphrase: "I always come back".

## Development[edit]

William Afton first appeared in Five Nights at Freddy's 2 as a purple figure appearing in backstory minigames, causing him to be dubbed "Purple Guy",[1] also appearing in Five Nights at Freddy's 3 as the main antagonist in the form of an undead corpse called Springtrap.[2] He would later appear in Five Nights at Freddy's: Sister Location, Freddy Fazbear's Pizzeria Simulator, Five Nights at Freddy's: Help Wanted, and Five Nights at Freddy's: Security Breach.[2] In Ultimate Custom Night, Afton serves as the protagonist, with the player experiencing his never-ending nightmares as a malevolent entity keeps him alive to torment him for his crimes.[3]

Afton is also the main antagonist of the Five Nights at Freddy's book series, as well as the film adaptation, in which he is portrayed by Matthew Lillard, and for most of the film uses the fake name "Steve Raglan".[4][5] Lillard will portray the character in at least two more films.[6]

## Fictional character biography[edit]

Afton was a businessman with ties to the robotics and restaurant industries. He founded Afton Robotics, providing animatronic robots for a pizza restaurant called Circus Baby's Pizza World. His daughter, Elizabeth Afton, would ignore his warnings and got too close to the titular Circus Baby animatronic, which killed her. Elizabeth would go on to possess Circus Baby.[7]

William would also team up with Henry Emily in order to create Fredbear's Family Diner, which was represented by their two creations: Fredbear and Spring Bonnie. Afton would go on to murder Henry's daughter Charlie. His youngest son would also die to the Fredbear animatronic. Afton and Henry also founded Freddy Fazbear's Pizza, and in 1985, Afton murdered five children while dressed in the Spring Bonnie suit. He would then stuff their corpses into the restaurant's animatronic entertainers: Freddy, Foxy, Bonnie, Chica, and Golden Freddy.[5][7][8]

After witnessing the spirits of the children he murdered possess the animatronic robots within the restaurant, he donned the Spring Bonnie suit in an attempt to scare them away, but was killed due to the suit's faulty spring lock mechanics crushing him to death.[9][10] Thirty years later, Afton returned as an undead corpse called Springtrap.[2][5][8][11] The suit and his body were almost entirely destroyed in a fire, and his remains became a disfigured form called Scraptrap.[2][10] After being once again burned by a fire engineered by his eldest son Michael Afton as well as Henry, his soul or conciousness would then seemingly go on to possess a microchip and begin to haunt an in-universe virtual reality video game as Glitchtrap,[12] with his body surviving destruction once again and becoming Burntrap.[8][10] However, the events of Five Nights at Freddy's: Security Breach — Ruin make the canonicity of Burntrap unclear.[13][14]

Afton is incapable of dying due to being eternally tormented by Cassidy, the spirit of one of the children he killed who possess Golden Freddy. Cassidy keeps Afton alive in order to torture him with a recurring cycle in which he is continuously destroyed by his own creations.[3]

## Reception[edit]

William Afton's role in the Five Nights at Freddy's franchise has been compared to that of Jigsaw in the Saw franchise; Slash Film described them each as the "puppet master behind all of the carnage" in their franchises.[15] Afton has been described as "the only character throughout the series that doesn’t have any redeeming qualities" by Pocket Tactics.[8]

Afton's character has received criticism, being described by Comic Book Resources as "roastable" due to his constant failures to achieve his goals and being defeated by "unremarkable" enemies.[16] His return in Security Breach as Burntrap was described as "unnecessary" and "a slap in the face to Michael Afton’s character development" by The Slate, stating that his character should have ended in Pizzeria Simulator.[17][unreliable source?]

Screen Rant called the designs of Springtrap and Glitchtrap "terrifying", praising them for their fear factor,[18] and TheGamer called Springtrap one of the best villains in horror games.[19]

## References[edit]

1. ^ Writer, Nadia Oxford Staff; USgamer (2018-06-29). "Murder, Dysfunctional Families, and Purple Guys: The Larger Story Behind the Five Nights at Freddy's Games [Updated for Freddy Fazbear's Pizzeria Simulator and UCN]". VG247. Retrieved 2023-10-28.
2. ^ a b c d Selway, Jake (2022-10-23). "Five Nights at Freddy's Lore: The Story So Far". Game Rant. Retrieved 2023-10-28.
3. ^ a b Hoban, Brie (2023-08-04). "Five Nights at Freddy's Lore: A Comprehensive Timeline - Part 2". Game Rant. Retrieved 2023-10-28.
4. ^ Squires, Bethy (2023-05-17). "Vanessa: Blumhouse Is Making a Five Nights at Freddy's Movie". Vulture. Retrieved 2023-10-28.
5. ^ a b c Pomales-Diaz, Luis (2023-09-27). "HORROR 101: Five Nights at Freddy's and The Story of William Afton Explained". horrorpress.com. Retrieved 2023-10-28.
6. ^ Watel, Stephanie (2023-02-04). "Matthew Lillard Confirms He Signed a Three-Film Deal for Five Nights at Freddy's". MovieWeb. Retrieved 2023-10-28.
7. ^ a b McCoy, Joshua Kristian (2023-09-15). "Who Plays William Afton in the Five Nights At Freddy's Movie?". Game Rant. Retrieved 2023-10-28.
8. ^ a b c d "FNAF William Afton – lore, personality, and appearances". Pocket Tactics. 2023-10-26. Retrieved 2023-10-28.
9. ^ Troughton, James (2023-10-09). "Five Nights At Freddy's Fans Think William Afton Has Springtrap Scars". TheGamer. Retrieved 2023-10-28.
10. ^ a b c Bridges, Ryan (2022-05-27). "Five Nights at Freddy's: Will William Afton Ever Truly Die?". CBR. Retrieved 2023-10-28.
11. ^ Colangelo, B. J. (2023-10-27). "That Five Nights At Freddy's Credits Scene Needs An Explainer". /Film. Retrieved 2023-10-28.
12. ^ Ji, Yujie; Zhao, Yixuan (2022-06-01). "Follow the Purple Bunny: A Brief Analysis of Five Nights at Freddy's Narrative". Proceedings of the 2022 8th International Conference on Humanities and Social Science Research (ICHSSR 2022). Vol. 664\. Atlantis Press. pp. 153–158. doi:10.2991/assehr.k.220504.028. ISBN 978-94-6239-580-0.
13. ^ Molloy, P. J. (2023-10-07). "What FNAF Ruin Ending Is Canon?". TheGamer. Retrieved 2023-10-30.
14. ^ Sarnowski, Melissa (2023-08-01). "Which FNAF: Security Breach Ending Is Canon? (Ruin DLC & Story)". ScreenRant. Retrieved 2023-10-30.
15. ^ Colangelo, B. J. (2023-09-13). "Why The Five Nights At Freddy's Films Should Treat William Afton Like Jigsaw". /Film. Retrieved 2023-10-28.
16. ^ Krum, Rebekah (2022-11-02). "10 Most Roastable Video Game Villains". CBR. Retrieved 2023-10-28.
17. ^ "Breaching into "Five Nights at Freddy's"". The Slate. Retrieved 2023-10-28.
18. ^ Jr, Richard Northrup (2023-03-06). "The 10 Scariest Animatronics In FNAF, Ranked". ScreenRant. Retrieved 2023-10-28.
19. ^ Molloy, P. J. (2023-04-05). "Best Villains In Horror Games". TheGamer. Retrieved 2023-10-28.

* v
* t
* e

Five Nights at Freddy's

* Scott Cawthon
* List of media

Video games|

| Main series|

* Five Nights at Freddy's (2014)
* Five Nights at Freddy's 2 (2014)
* Five Nights at Freddy's 3 (2015)
* Five Nights at Freddy's 4 (2015)
* Sister Location (2016)
* Pizzeria Simulator (2017)
* Ultimate Custom Night (2018)
* Help Wanted (2019)
* Security Breach (2021)

|

Spin-offs|

* FNaF World (2016)
* Special Delivery (2019)

Other media|

* The Silver Eyes (2015 novel)
* Film (2023)
* soundtrack

Characters|

* William Afton

* Category

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