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William Afton

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"Purple Guy" redirects here. For the Marvel Comics character, see Purple Man.
William Afton
File:Springtrap FNAF.webp
William Afton as Springtrap, in Five Nights at Freddy's 3.
First appearance
Created byScott Cawthon
Designed byScott Cawthon
Voiced byPJ Heywood (2016–2019)
Portrayed byMatthew Lillard (2023)[1][2]
In-universe information
Full nameWilliam Afton
AliasDave Miller (novel)
Steve Raglan (film)
NicknamePurple Guy
SpeciesArtificial intelligence/Ghost possessing animatronic
Human (formerly)
Title
Occupation
AffiliationAfton Robotics
Fazbear Entertainment
Children

William Afton, colloquially known as the "Purple Guy", is a fictional character and the overarching antagonist of the Five Nights at Freddy's franchise. Introduced as a minor character in Five Nights at Freddy's 2, the character's role was significantly expanded in Five Nights at Freddy's 3 and subsequent installments, in which his children Elizabeth "Circus Baby", Vanessa "Vanny", and Michael respectively appear as antagonists and protagonists. A genius roboticist and businessman, William causes the death of several children over the course of the series while wearing a bunny rabbit mascot costume, binding their souls to animatronics in a quest for immortality. In Five Nights at Freddy's 3, William dies after being crushed inside an animatronic-costume, before possessing the suit as the undead cyborg Springtrap, returning in the sequels Sister Location, Freddy Fazbear's Pizzeria Simulator, Help Wanted, and Security Breach, exploring William's relationship with Elizabeth and his eventual aim to bring about a society of artificial intelligence as Glitchtrap/Burntrap.

PJ Heywood voices the character in the video game series, while Matthew Lillard portrays the character in the 2023 Five Nights at Freddy's feature film.[1][2] In February 2023, Lillard revealed that he had signed a three-film deal to reprise the role across a film trilogy.[3][4]

Development

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",[5] also appearing in Five Nights at Freddy's 3 as the main antagonist in the form of an undead corpse called Springtrap.[6] He would later appear in Five Nights at Freddy's: Sister Location, Freddy Fazbear's Pizzeria Simulator, and Five Nights at Freddy's: Security Breach.[6] 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.[7]

Afton is also the antagonist of the Five Nights at Freddy's book series, as well as the film adaptation, in which he is portrayed by Matthew Lillard.[8][9] Lillard will portray the character in at least two more films.[10]

Fictional character biography

Afton was a British 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.[11]

William would later team up with Henry Emily in order to create Fredbear's Family Diner, and he murdered Henry's daughter Charlie. His youngest son would also die to an animatronic, Fredbear. Afton and Henry also founded Freddy Fazbear's Pizza, and in 1985 Afton murdered five children while dressed in a mechanical "springlock" suit of a yellow rabbit. He would then stuff their corpses into the restaurant's animatronic entertainers: Freddy, Foxy, Bonnie, Chica, and Golden Freddy.[9][11][12]

After witnessing the spirits of the children he murdered possess the animatronic robots within the restaurant, he donned the yellow rabbit suit in an attempt to scare them away, but was killed due to the suit's faulty mechanics crushing him to death.[13][14] Thirty years later, Afton returned as an undead corpse called Springtrap.[6][9][12][15] The suit and his body were almost entirely destroyed in a fire, and his remains became a disfigured form called Scraptrap.[6][14] After being once again burned by a fire engineered by his son Michael as well as Henry, his soul would then possess a microchip and begin to haunt an in-universe virtual reality video game as Glitchtrap,[16] with his body surviving destruction once again and becoming Burntrap.[12][14]

Afton is incapable of dying due to being eternally tormented by the spirit of Cassidy, one of the children he killed. She keeps Afton alive in order to torture him with a recurring cycle in which he is continuously destroyed by his own creations.[7]

Reception

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.[17] Afton has been described as "the only character throughout the series that doesn’t have any redeeming qualities" by Pocket Tactics.[12]

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.[18] 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.[19][unreliable source?]

Screen Rant called the designs of Springtrap and Glitchtrap "terrifying", praising them for their fear factor,[20] and the Gamer called Springtrap one of the best villains in horror games.[21]

References

  1. ^ a b Cite error: The named reference Casting was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  2. ^ a b Cite error: The named reference CastingConfirmed was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  3. ^ Cite error: The named reference ThreeFilm was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  4. ^ Cite error: The named reference :SR was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  5. ^ 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.
  6. ^ 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.
  7. ^ a b Hoban, Brie (2023-08-04). "Five Nights at Freddy's Lore: A Comprehensive Timeline - Part 2". Game Rant. Retrieved 2023-10-28.
  8. ^ Squires, Bethy (2023-05-17). "Vanessa: Blumhouse Is Making a Five Nights at Freddy's Movie". Vulture. Retrieved 2023-10-28.
  9. ^ 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.
  10. ^ 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.
  11. ^ 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.
  12. ^ a b c d "FNAF William Afton – lore, personality, and appearances". Pocket Tactics. 2023-10-26. Retrieved 2023-10-28.
  13. ^ Troughton, James (2023-10-09). "Five Nights At Freddy's Fans Think William Afton Has Springtrap Scars". TheGamer. Retrieved 2023-10-28.
  14. ^ a b c Bridges, Ryan (2022-05-27). "Five Nights at Freddy's: Will William Afton Ever Truly Die?". CBR. Retrieved 2023-10-28.
  15. ^ Colangelo, B. J. (2023-10-27). "That Five Nights At Freddy's Credits Scene Needs An Explainer". /Film. Retrieved 2023-10-28.
  16. ^ 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.
  17. ^ 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.
  18. ^ Krum, Rebekah (2022-11-02). "10 Most Roastable Video Game Villains". CBR. Retrieved 2023-10-28.
  19. ^ "Breaching into "Five Nights at Freddy's"". The Slate. Retrieved 2023-10-28.
  20. ^ Jr, Richard Northrup (2023-03-06). "The 10 Scariest Animatronics In FNAF, Ranked". ScreenRant. Retrieved 2023-10-28.
  21. ^ Molloy, P. J. (2023-04-05). "Best Villains In Horror Games". TheGamer. Retrieved 2023-10-28.
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