FNaF: Silver Eyes

**Five Nights at Freddy's: The Silver Eyes** is a 2015 horror mystery novel written by **Scott Cawthon** and **Kira Breed-Wrisley**\. It is based on Cawthon's bestselling horror video-game series ***Five Nights at Freddy's***, and is considered by Cawthon to be separate-canon to the events that occurred in the game series.

A sequel to The Silver Eyes, entitled ***Five Nights at Freddy's: The Twisted Ones***, was released on June 27, 2017. ***Five Nights at Freddy's: The Fourth Closet***, a second sequel to the book, is scheduled for release on June 26, 2018.

## Plot

In 1995, 17-year-old Charlotte, better known as Charlie, returns to her childhood home in Hurricane, Utah to attend the launch of a scholarship dedicated to her school friend Michael Brooks, who died ten years earlier. She reunites with her childhood friends Jessica, John, Carlton, Lamar, Marla, and Marla's little brother Jason, and they decide to revisit the place where Michael died: Freddy Fazbear's Pizza, a family restaurant Charlie's father once owned. An incomplete shopping mall has been built in the restaurant's place, but upon further investigation the friends discover the restaurant is still standing, and the mall has been built around it. Breaking in, they explore the abandoned restaurant and find that its animatronic mascot characters – Freddy Fazbear, Bonnie the Bunny, and Chica the Chicken, built by Charlie's father – have been left behind.

The next day, Charlie and her friends attend the scholarship's launch ceremony at their old school, where Michael's parents give a speech about him. Afterwards, John confesses to Charlie that he remembers seeing a strange person in a Golden Freddy costume at Freddy Fazbear's Pizza on the day of Michael's death, and he now suspects this person to have been Michael's killer. That night, Charlie, Jessica, John, and Carlton return to the restaurant, accompanied by their friends Lamar, Marla, and her 11-year-old brother Jason. They discover the still-functioning control panel which makes the robots move, and Charlie finds a fourth robot - Foxy the Pirate Fox - which caused a cut on her arm with his hook and would have killed her if she hadn't moved away. The next morning, haunted by the recent events, Charlie tells John that before moving to Hurricane her father owned another restaurant called Fredbear's Family Diner, which featured two performing robots, yellow versions of Freddy and Bonnie.

John drives Charlie to the abandoned diner in New Harmony, and she remembers the day her brother Sammy was abducted by someone in a Bonnie costume, which led to the diner going out of business and Charlie's parents divorcing. She suspects that Sammy's abduction and Michael's murder are connected. That evening, the friends go to Freddy Fazbear's Pizza again, but are caught by the mall's security guard Dave, who threatens to call the police. Charlie offers to let Dave explore the restaurant with them, and he accepts. Inside, the friends play with the control panel, and while they are distracted Dave retrieves a yellow Bonnie costume from a closet and abducts Carlton, which Jason witnesses. They flee the restaurant and fetch Police Officer Dunn, only to find that the restaurant's door has been chained up while they were gone. Police Chief Clay Burke - Carlton's father - does not believe their story, and assumes Carlton is playing a prank. Charlie later talks with John about her father; he closed the restaurant and committed suicide after Michael was murdered, leading many people in the town to suspect he was the killer.

Officer Dunn returns to the mall the next day to search the restaurant, but is attacked and killed by Dave. Charlie and John go to a library to research the history of Fredbear's Family Diner, and find an old newspaper article about Sammy's kidnapping with a photograph of Dave, who the newspaper identifies as the diner's co-owner. In the restaurant, Dave has Carlton trapped in one of the costumes, and explains that some of them can convert into robots through a series of spring-loaded mechanisms called "spring-locks". If these locks trigger while someone is wearing the costume, the metal components will crush the wearer to death. Dave's true identity is William Afton; the co-owner of both restaurants. He is a deranged psychopath responsible for the deaths of Sammy, Michael, and four other children.

Jason runs off, intending to be rescued by Carlton, Charlie, John, Lamar, Jessica, and Marla who break into the restaurant to find him. Finding Carlton, Charlie undoes the spring locks and frees him from the costume. As they search for a way out, the four robots come to life and pursue them through the restaurant. William reveals that the robots are possessed by the vengeful ghosts of his victims, and boasts that they will hunt down and kill any intruders. The group tries to hide in a party room, but all four robots corner them. However, they are halted by the arrival of a fifth robot, the Golden Freddy from Fredbear's Family Diner, which Charlie realizes is possessed by Michael's ghost. It was then that they realized the animatronics were trying to protect them from Afton. The yellow Freddy grants them permission to leave, and Chief Burke arrives to search for the missing Officer Dunn. William attacks in the yellow Bonnie costume, but Charlie activates its spring locks, killing him. As the robots drag William's corpse away, Chief Burke breaks in with a sledge hammer and escorts everyone out of the mall. The friends go their separate ways to their hometowns the next morning, and before leaving Hurricane, Charlie visits her father's grave, remembering a happy day she had with him when she was a child.

## Background

On December 11, 2015, *Scott Cawthon* posted a teaser on his website for an upcoming untitled novel. According to him, the novel was written **"alongside a professional writer for the last ten months"** and **"expands the mythos"**, revealing **"a human element never before seen in the games"**. On December 15, 2015, Cawthon revealed the title of the book. The book was originally called *Five Nights at Freddy's: The Untold Story*, but was renamed shortly after. It was supposed to be available for Amazon Kindle on December 22, 2015, but because of an error in Amazon's system, it was released slightly earlier on December 17, 2015. The paperback edition of the book was published by Scholastic on September 27, 2016.

## Reception

Although it was released to resounding success, **Five Nights at Freddy's: The Silver Eyes** has drawn in a lot of criticism from fans. According to **Design and Trend**, it all started when a fan got the ***Five Nights at Freddy’s: The Silver Eyes*** novel with the hope that the novel will have the answers to the mysteries on the game franchise. However, he was then disappointed because as for him, the novel doesn’t have anything to do with the game at all.

Therefore, as fans had claims of the book's lore conflicting with that of the games' lore, Cawthon replied that:

**"The games and the books should be considered to be separate continuities, even if they do share many familiar elements. So yes, the book is canon, just as the games are. That doesn't mean that they are intended to fit together like two puzzle pieces. [...] The book is a re-imagining of the Five Nights at Freddy's story, and if you go into it with that mindset, I think you will really enjoy it."**

**Design & Trend** surmised that based on Cawthon's statements, both the book and games are meant to be enjoyed separately, meaning that those who have not yet played the titles under the ***Five Nights at Freddy's*** games series can still cope with the events that happen in The Silver Eyes.

Quoting on how The Silver Eyes could be improved, **Latin Post** stated, **"Perhaps, it is better if Cawthon will give in to the request of the fans and reveal some clues in the book. Five Nights at Freddy's is a game that one won't be able to finish easily. Filled with challenges and puzzles, it tests one's strategy to play hard and survive. Its difficulty level is something one should not undermine. That is why many are hoping to find the answers between the book's pages. Cawthon will be doing his gamers a favor if the book will explain some of the mysteries of the game. If he does, for sure his fans will love it."**

One the positive side, **Kevin Anderson & Associates** complimented Cawthon and their very own associate, Breed-Wrisley on writing the novel. They commented that it had a **"rousing narrative and animated pace"** that **"brings you into the main character, Charlie's world as she returns to her home on the tenth anniversary of Hurricane, Utah’s most gruesome homicide."** Ending the quote, they said, **"The first in a three-book series, Five Night’s at Freddy’s: The Silver Eyes has fans hungry for more. We are so proud of Scott and Kira’s amazing accomplishment and look forward to celebrating many more in the near future."**

The book spent four weeks at ***#1 on The New York Times bestseller*** list in Young Adult Paperbacks.

## Sequels

*Five Nights at Freddy's: The Twisted Ones* is the second novel written by Cawthon and Breed-Wrisley. The direct sequel to **The Silver Eyes**, its events take place one year after. It was first discovered on Amazon in early 2017, sparking controversy on the legitimacy of the product. Later, Cawthon confirmed that the novel was in fact official. The book was released early in some bookstores, but was released publicly on June 27, 2017. It depicts about the main character, Charlie, who "had a new fresh start", but finds herself *"drawn back into the world of her father's frightening creations"* as she tried to move on.

The third and final book in the trilogy, **Five Nights at Freddy's: The Fourth Closet**, has been slated for release on June 26, 2018. The novel takes a focus on Charlie's friends, who discover the truth behind Charlie's fate in *The Twisted Ones*, while mysterious events unfold after the opening of a new Freddy-themed restaurant. And supposedly a movie...