Five Nights at Freddy's 4

Five Nights at Freddy's 4 (FNaF4) is the fourth title in the Five Night's at Freddy's horror game franchise. It is proceeded by Five Nights at Freddy's 3 and followed by the spin-off FNaF World and the installment Five Nights at Freddy's: Sister Location.
==Plot and Gameplay==
Five Nights at Freddy's 4 was originally interpreted to be set in 1987, but it was later revealed to be a prequel set in 1983. The main character, an unnamed young boy, has to fend off animatronics stalking his home. Animatronics in FNaF4 are "nightmare" versions of existing animatronics. From his bedroom he can run around and shut doors or look down dark halls with his flashlight. He is only comforted by his plushies, one which is a Freddy plush. 
Every night a timer counts down to the day of a birthday party. Through cutscenes it is revealed he is terrified of the animatronics, and his big brother taunts him for it. In the end, he is forced to attend a birthday party at Freddy Fazbear's Pizzeria. His brother and his brother's friends push the boy's head into the mouth of a Freddy animatronic as a prank, and the jaw crushes his head, killing him. Fans call this the "Bite of '83."
==Fandom==
An untitled FNaF AU by DeviantART user Noxivaga was made on Jun 28, 2015. It consisted of several original characters and a less dark plot than the canon material.Five Nights at Freddy's AU, DeviantART. Jun 18, 2015 (Accessed 7/21/2022) In Noxivaga's AU, each animatronic runs their own part of the pizziaria, such as Toy Chica running a playground area. As of July 2022 the main character lineup of the AU has 2k favorites and 98k views.
FNaF4 introduced Nightmare Freddy and the Freddles; many fans have made fanart of Nightmare Freddy with cub-like Freddles, or draw Freddles as cubs on their own.Freddle, DeviantART. (Accessed 7/22/2022)Freddle, Tumblr. (Accessed 7/22/2022)
===Shipping===
By Aug 20, 2016, nearly a year since FNAF3 and FNaF4 and few months before the release of Sister Location, Archive of Our Own's FNaF tag grew to 1155 fanfics. Phone Guy/Mike Schmidt remained the most popular ship, but grew to 62 fanfics. By this time Golden Freddy/Springtrap made it's way into the top ten most popular ships, ranking at number 5 with 28 fics.Five Night's at Freddy's, Archive of Our Own. Aug 20, 2016 (Accessed 7/17/2022)
====Ship Names====
Ships that include a Nightmare version of an animatronic from FNaF4 attach "Nightmare" as a prefix. For example, Freddy x Lolbit is Fredbit, while Nightmare Freddy x Lolbit is Nightmare Fredbit.
*Nightmare Bonnie x Nightmare Freddy - Nightmare Fronnie
*Nightmare Freddy x Lolbit - Nightmare Fredbit
*Nightmare Bonnie x Nightmare Chica - Nightmare Bonnica
===Theories===
Theories quickly arose with the release of FNaF4, just as they had with previous titles. One Tumblr post from July 2015 by user the-nightwatchmans-log theorizing about the protagonist's brother has 975 notes as of July 2022. They suggested that the brother could have been Foxy, because the brother could be seen jump scaring the protagonist while wearing a Foxy mask.Five Nights At Freddy’s 4 Theory, Tumblr. July 29, 2015 (Accessed 7/21/2022) 
An alternate theory from August 2015 by fnaf-theory and Tumblr is that the brother is the Phone Guy, due to Phone Guy once saying that Foxy was his favorite. fnaf-theory also suggested that the player character isn't the one who died, but is actually the brother, and that the animatronics were haunting his dreams. Lastly, they theorized that after the little brother died he possessed one of the animatronics, the older brother took at job at Fazbear's out of regret, and thus why the animatronics attack the player of past titles. As of July 2022 the post has 99 notes.The Brother From FNAF 4 is Phone Guy, and You Play as Him in FNAF 4, Tumblr. Aug 18, 2015 (Accessed 7/21/2022)
Some varied 2015 theories from FNaF4's Steam discussion page are below.
*Plushtrap is the Marionette, or per replies to this theory, Plushtrap is possessed by "Purple Guy."Ok Now I wanted to post a theory of what I think we will be expecting.., Steam. Jul 20, 2015 (Accessed 7/22/2022)
*The player character is Phone Guy's child, and Phone Guy is actually the person who frightens the player character by wearing a Foxy mask. The player character becomes the Marionette and seeks revenge.WE ARE PHONE GUY'S CHILD!, Steam. Jul 23, 2015 (Accessed 7/22/2022)FNAF Theories, Steam. Jul 27, 2022 (Accessed 7/22/2022)
*Golden Freddy's endoskeleton was taken from his outer shell due to being the cause of the Bite of '83, Purple Guy killed his daughter, and Phone Guy, Purple Guy, and the father from FNaF4 are the same person.The Mangle Angle Theory/The Girl Theory, Steam. Jul 28, 2015 (Accessed 7/22/2022)
==Fanworks==
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