Springtrap

"When I first found you, you were nothing. You were small... pathetic. But now... you are more. Are you ready?" - Springtrap to Vanny
William Afton, also known as the Purple Guy among other names, is the main antagonist of the Five Nights at Freddy's franchise.
He was the co-founder of Fazbear Entertainment, the business partner of Henry Emily and the father of Michael Afton, Elizabeth Afton, and the Crying Child. He helped Henry establish Fredbear's Family Diner and Freddy Fazbear's Pizza, as well as managing the establishments while Henry built the animatronic mascots. Despite being a successful businessman, Afton led a double life as a serial killer who murdered many children across several Freddy Fazbear's Pizza locations in the 1980s, including Henry's own daughter, Charlotte. At one point in his life, he founded Afton Robotics, LLC and created the Funtime animatronics, which were made to capture and kill children.
Sometime after 1993, after making the fatal mistake of destroying the classic animatronics and accidentally freeing the ghosts of his victims, Afton attempted to protect himself with the old, withered Spring Bonnie suit, the same used for his murders. However, the suit's spring-lock mechanisms failed and its suppressed endoskeleton fatally skewered him, transforming him into the undead human-animatronic hybrid, Springtrap. Thirty years later, after narrowly surviving the fire that destroyed the building he was moved to, he would repair himself and become Scraptrap. He was then lured to Freddy Fazbear's Pizza Place by Henry, where he would attempt to kill Michael with the help of his daughter and creations, only to be burnt by Henry alongside everyone else remaining in the pizzeria.
Despite this, Afton survived incineration due to being mentally trapped by the vengeful spirit of one of his past victims, Cassidy, in his nightmares, preventing him from truly dying. Eventually, Cassidy left Afton in the burnt ruins of the pizzeria, where the circuit board of the Scraptrap suit was taken away to help in making a VR game, allowing Afton to escape from his physical body and haunt the game as a virus called Glitchtrap. With the help of his brainwashed acolyte Vanny, his body was reconstructed into his current form of Burntrap as he continued his malicious machinations for the newly-opened Freddy Fazbear's Mega PizzaPlex above the Pizza Place's remains, claiming more and more victims through Vanny.
== Biography ==
William Afton was a British businessman, entrepreneur, and robotics engineer who founded Afton Robotics, LLC and co-founded Fazbear Entertainment, Inc. William was married to an unnamed wife and they had three children: their eldest son Michael Afton, their daughter Elizabeth Afton, and their youngest son, Crying Child.
At some point before the year 1983, William met a man named Henry Emily and the two became good colleagues. In presumably 1982, they opened their first location together, Fredbear's Family Diner.
In 1983, the duo opened their second location together, Freddy Fazbear's Pizza. William, for unknown reasons, murdered Henry's daughter, Charlotte Emily, outside of one of their establishments. Before or after this incident occurred, Afton's youngest son was accidentally killed by Michael after being shoved into Fredbear's operating mouth, which crushed the child's skull. This caused Fredbear's Family Diner to close its doors.
On the night of June 26, 1985, William killed five children: Gabriel, Jeremy, Susie, Fritz, and Cassidy at Freddy's wearing a Spring Bonnie costume in order to gain their trust. However, he was caught on camera and arrested, but was apparently let go by the authorities, likely due to the bodies never being found, and thus leaving no concrete evidence to prove that he was culpable. This allowed him to get away with his horrific crime. However, the five children would later go on to possess the pizzeria's animatronics: Freddy Fazbear, Bonnie, Chica, Foxy, and the elusive Golden Freddy, with the help of the Puppet, who was possessed by Charlie. The spirits would then gain vengeance towards their murderer or any adult like him out of confusion, thus causing their homicidal behaviors and actions towards anyone who enters the pizzeria after dark. Customers started noticing blood and mucus coming from the animatronics, which lead to the pizzeria closing down and the company being sold to unknown buyers.
After the pizzeria's closure, William hosts a private party for his own restaurant called Circus Baby's Pizza World with a new set of animatronics called the Funtime Animatronics. One in particular, Circus Baby, was seemingly made in honor of his daughter, Elizabeth. However, William didn't design these robots with the intent of entertainment, but to capture and kill children to obtain Remnant, a supernatural substance which he discovered from the haunted robots at Freddy's. It's presumed Afton wanted to use remnant in order to become immortal. Elizabeth was warned not to go anywhere near the animatronics, especially Circus Baby. However, she disobeyed his orders, which resulted in her death. This led to the cancellation of the pizzeria's grand opening and the incident to be masked as a gas leak.
William then opened Circus Baby's Entertainment and Rental, which is a service that lets customers rent out the Funtime Animatronics for private parties. He then sold the rights of his independent company to Fazbear Entertainment. At an unknown time period, William sent his son Michael into the facility to locate and "free" Elizabeth, whose spirit was possessing Baby.
In 1987, William, apparently as a security guard under a new alias, proceeded to kill five more children at the New Freddy Fazbear's Pizza Location, who are implied to haunt the Toy Animatronics. Afterwards, William once again vanished.
Sometime in the early to mid 90s, William, went to the abandoned lower-budget Freddy's restaurant to dismantle the original animatronics. presumably to collect their remnant. However, he awoke the ghosts of the five children he murdered all those years ago and unintentionally freed them from their metal endoskeletons that trapped their souls. This resulted in them trying to attack William. Fleeing from the spirits, William escaped into the safe room where Spring Bonnie had been placed for storage. He donned the suit as a means to fool them.
n his arrogance, William stood and laughed at the ghosts while inside Spring Bonnie, believing that his plan had worked. However, the springlock mechanisms within Spring Bonnie went loose due to the rain leaking from the roof, resulting in the endoskeleton parts and gears to be sprung back into place with him inside, severely mutilating his body and causing his slow, agonizing, and ironic death, as he faced the same fate that befell his victims. William was then permanently trapped in the Spring Bonnie suit.
Three decades later, Fazbear's Fright: The Horror Attraction was made as a homage to the Missing Children Incident and other incidents that made Fazbear Entertainment infamous. Employees found the withered Spring Bonnie animatronic in the old safe room and reused it for the attraction. There, William's corpse was reanimated inside the suit, allowing him to come back as Springtrap. He remained there for less than a week, stalking and hunting the night guard during the night, until the building burnt down.
Springtrap was later revealed to have survived the burning, as seen from the final cutscene in Sister Location.
His fate after the fire was revealed in Freddy Fazbear's Pizzeria Simulator. He left the remains of Fazbear's Fright, and because of the damage he sustained in the fire, he presumably repaired himself, becoming Scraptrap. He eventually ended up in the Back Alley outside Freddy Fazbear's Pizza Place, where he was brought in, salvaged, and later defeated in the burning of the pizzeria as part of Henry's (his old friend) revenge and ultimate plan, while the rest of the souls were laid to rest. Only two remained; William, and the vengeful spirit.
Afterwards, the vengeful spirit refused to let William die, which was due to an act of revenge and punishment for his actions. The child trapped him in an artificial nightmare of his past, where apparitions of his creations and the many animatronics who held grudges against him proceeded to torture him for all eternity.
However, he escaped from his torment and came back once again, this time as a digital virus known as Glitchtrap, after the developers of The Freddy Fazbear Virtual Experience scanned the ancient circuit boards of Scraptrap's charred remains, in which William's soul remained latched onto (due to the vengeful spirit keeping him alive in his mind), he was trapped inside the game, and wanting to get out, he invaded the mind of a beta tester, who he brainwashed into committing his evil deeds at Freddy Fazbear's Mega Pizzaplex.
Residing in the remains of Freddy Fazbear's Pizza Place, which was directly underneath the Mega Pizzaplex, William downloaded his soul into his old body in which he previously burned to death in. Vanny was able to repair and modify his original body, and after the transfer was complete, William regained his physical form and became Burntrap. He then saw two intruders, a child named Gregory and his companion Glamrock Freddy. Both of which he saw as major obsticles for his plans, and needed to be eliminated. William, somehow retaining his power from the digital realm to corrupt humans and objects through making contact with technology, attempted to take control of Glamrock Freddy through security monitors and sent the shattered and corrupted Glamrock Chica, Roxanne Wolf, and Montgomery Gator to kill Gregory. However, Gregory was able to reactivate the burning room trap in the old pizzeria that Henry used to kill William beforehand. William tried to exit to the building and pursue the escaping Glamrock Freddy and Gregory, but before he could do so, an animatronic amalgamation (or "The Blob" as referred to in the game files) grabbed him by the neck and dragged him away into the ceiling, leaving his fate unknown as of now.
== Personality ==
Although seeming very cryptic at first, William's character traits and nature can be seen via silent actions within retro-graphics and by reading between the lines throughout the games.
William Afton is the textbook definition of evil. He is the sadistic and depraved serial killer who sparked the downfall of his own company, Fazbear Entertainment. He murdered over a dozen children in cold blood, and started the tragic chain of events that leads various players throughout the series.
Judging by his actions and appearance within the games, William is wicked, cold-blooded and methodical, clearly showing no remorse for his actions. He was even malicious enough to murder his closest friend and business partner Henry's beloved daughter Charlotte, an event which caused Henry immense emotional turmoil to the point where he nearly committed suicide. This alone shows that William is more than willing to harm his friends, whether it be mentally, emotionally, or physically.
As shown in every minigame he appears in, he always smiles in an unhinged manner during his killings, and in the "Pizza Party" minigame in Five Nights at Freddy's: Help Wanted, which appears to be a recreation of one of Afton's murders, William (in his Glitchtrap incarnation) can be seen dancing gleefully after murdering his victim, taunting them while they are trapped inside of a robotic suit and suffering a slow and painful death. This example shows that William is extremely ruthless, taunting, and sadistic, and appears to take delight, satisfaction, and pride in the murder of innocent people and savors watching his victims suffer in agony, especially when his victims are mere children. One of William's voice lines in Freddy Fazbear's Pizzeria Simulator suggest that he is opportunistic and will proceed with his intentions, regardless of the risks.
Heard in the opening cutscene of Sister Location, William shows a rather calm and neutral personality. This is likely to hide his true intentions and evil mindset while showing that he is a manipulator and seemingly theatrical, being able to easily put on a character to fool people. The fact that he created the funtime animatronics, which are very advanced and technological, shows that he has a genius level intellect, a talent for robotics, and is very proud of his creations. He is also fascinated by how they have changed after the events of Sister Location.
His voice lines in Five Nights at Freddy's AR: Special Delivery indicate that he is arrogant, boastful, and overconfident, and even suggests that he wants his victims to fear and respect him, as well as suffer slowly before he kills them. This is in stark contrast to his subtle, poetic, and calculated voice. His mannerisms are incredibly flamboyant and unhinged. It seems that William's hubris grew larger as he became more experienced as a killer, likely due to the fact that he was never convicted for his crimes and always got away with them. This explains his behavior in Five Nights at Freddy's 3 and Freddy Fazbear's Pizzeria Simulator. Given his nature, William is most likely not insane, he just seemingly does not care for the difference between right and wrong, and simply chooses to be evil for no other reason than to achieve his twisted and unethical desires.
However, it's heavily suggested that William's greatest fear above all is his own death. This is shown in one of the Five Nights at Freddy's 3 minigames, where he cowers in fear while facing the vengeful ghosts of his victims. This fear is so immense that he has developed an unbreakable iron will to live, no matter the circumstances. Ultimately, this is what pushes him to survive even in the deadliest situations time and time again. He showcases his willpower by confidently stating "I always come back". This ironically shows that despite William's immense cruelty, arrogance, and love of bloodshed and murder, he is at his core a cowardly excuse of a man when facing his own death and retribution for his actions. William knows Hell awaits him, and he intends to stay away from it at all costs. Despite his cruel nature, it is implied in Sister Location that he loved his daughter Elizabeth, warning her not to go near Circus Baby, as he had programmed the animatronic to snatch and kill children. The Official Character Encyclopedia seems to reiterate this, stating "But William wouldn't let her play with her because of what he'd designed Circus Baby to do," and "William evidently didn't intend his daughter to fall victim to Circus Baby." However, there are contradictory indications that this was for selfish reasons. He was aware that she possessed Baby, yet paid and allowed technicians to shock her for an indefinite amount of time. Taking this into account, William's connection to Elizabeth may have not been as genuine as it seemed. Besides that, his relationship with his son Michael Afton seems relatively unknown, other than the fact that he tried to kill him in Freddy Pizzeria Simulator.
== Enemies ==
* Henry Emily
* Michael Afton
* The Puppet (Victim)
* The Missing Children (Victims)
* Glamrock Freddy
* Gregory
* Tape Girl
* The Princess
* The Blob
== Trivia ==
* In the final Custom Night cutscene of Five Nights at Freddy's: Sister Location, Michael's voice becomes robotic near the end of his dialogue. The franchise's creator, Scott Cawthon, eventually confirmed that Michael's robotic voice was an error, and was unintentional. This error caused debate over whether William or Michael was killed inside Springtrap, until Scott's response to one of MatPat's Five Nights at Freddy's theory videos, as well as the credits of Freddy Fazbear's Pizzeria Simulator, confirmed William as the spirit possessing Springtrap.
* He has a British accent, with his son and daughter having one as well.
* Freddy in Space 2 is the only game so far that has absolutely nothing to do with William.
* In March 2020, various memes of William Afton spawned around referencing the Living Tombstone Five Nights at Freddy's 2 song "It's Been So Long" where the then-unnamed murderer was referred to as "The Man Behind the Slaughter". Memes of this will be portrayed referencing the character in one way or another, often by including the line or a parody of the line in the caption, with the character on-screen being purple while the song plays in the background.
* Springtrap is named after the trap device of the same name that is used for catching animals during hunting and how he is a Spring-lock suit. This is how he "trapped" Afton inside.
* Springtrap is the first, and so far only, confirmed case of an adult possessing an animatronic instead of a child.
* Springtrap is one of the only animatronics with five fingers due to being a wearable suit.
* Strangely, some of the voice lines that Springtrap says in Five Nights at Freddy's AR: Special Delivery are reminiscent of the voice lines said by some animatronics in Ultimate Custom Night.
* The name Scraptrap has never appeared in the games and was simply a name used by fans to distinguish between the earlier iteration of Springtrap and this one. However, similar to names like Phone Guy and Golden Freddy, the name has since come into use in other official sources such as Five Nights at Freddy's: The Freddy Files and by Scott Cawthon himself.
== External Links ==
William Afton on the Villains Wiki
William Afton on the Pure Evil Wiki
William Afton on the Five Nights at Freddys Wiki
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