Michael

Michael at the end of the game.

**Michael Schmidt** is the main antagonist of *The Joy of Creation: Story Mode*.

Initially presented as a homeless man who appeared in the home of Scott Cawthon, Michael is actually a supernatural entity that made a deal with The Ignited, trying to kill Scott so he can live in his form as a real human being. The player controls him in the Basement memory.

## **Biography**

Michael Schmidt is a doppelgänger who feeds off of the creativity of others to take a form based on the product of that creativity, along with The Ignited. On August 8th, 2016, the 2nd anniversary of the *Five Nights at Freddy's* franchise, prior to the chronological release of *Sister Location* within the events of an alternate timeline, Michael released himself and The Ignited from their own realm and into reality, being guided through The Fallen by Ignited Golden Freddy, allowing him to be discovered by Nick Cawthon as a child in front of the basement door of the Cawthon residence. Interrogated by Scott Cawthon of his name, he responds with a sudden shout that he is named "Michael" after a suspicious period of silence, and Nick offers to let him stay. Scott helps him stand up and takes him to the guest room.

Following the events, Michael proceeds to lure Scott Cawthon to the residence basement after The Ignited proceed with their invasion, failing to kill any of the family in the process. However, as Michael is only willing to kill Scott Cawthon for the sake of his physical form, making anyone else a victim, he warns the rest of Scott's family of the danger and informs them of how to counter the attacks of The Ignited to stay alive, the only victims being Nick Cawthon and Val Cawthon, as The Ignited are too bloodthirsty to have an agenda aside from mindless killing. Notably, everyone within the Cawthon residence is attacked all at once on the same night, requiring Michael to inform those unintended as victims simultaneously. Following the events of Office, Scott Cawthon is successfully lured down to the basement where he is then knocked out by Michael and taken up to the attic and restrained on his swivel chair in front of his monitor, of which is online, showing the furnace in the basement.

Via radio transmission, Michael tells Scott Cawthon that he has to die for himself to live and that Scott Cawthon significantly wore down The Ignited to the extent that they are practically falling apart, requiring them to assemble in the basement, of which they did, emerging from the furnace after doing so as Creation, reveling in his physical form as Michael Schmidt and wishing to live forever due to the euphoria of feeling, which comes at the expense of Scott's life. Having made a promise to allow The Ignited to kill Scott, Michael leaves Creation to complete the goal in question.

Creation and Ignited Golden Freddy fail to kill Scott on Michael's behalf, the latter being defeated and the residence being set on fire to "burn the remains". Due to Scott's relentlessness, Michael recognizes that he loves his family and tells him that the night won't end until he dies. Scott reluctantly complies as he is crying and sputtering over the trauma endured during the attacks, telling him to keep his family safe and not to hurt them, leading to Michael appearing in front of him and picking him up, possessing his physical form in the process and allowing him to live forever, to Scott's pain as he emits a shrieking "No!". Michael, in Scott's body, emerges from the Cawthon residence and tells them that he called 911, having nothing to worry about in particular as he dodges each of their questions based on the destruction of the house and the mystery of the behavior of the supposed Scott Cawthon. Michael tells them that all that matters is that they are safe, looping the false reassurance over and over again until his voice ends up breaking, causing the family to realize that Scott Cawthon is dead as they burst into a wild set of emotions, after which he tells Scott that he will keep them safe as he had requested, having helped them beforehand, thanking him for his cooperation and deciding to take control from that point.

Michael stays true to taking care of the situation as stated, deciding to cancel *Five Nights at Freddy's: Sister Location* on August 16th, eight days following the anniversary, in Scott Cawthon's form as Scott is no longer alive to complete it, thereby also ending the franchise due to the absence of new content, leading the public to forget the franchise as well as Scott Cawthon ever existed.

## **Trivia**

* People initially thought Michael and Creation were one and the same. However, this is incorrect as Michael refers to Creation in third-person instead of first-person, and states that he'll leave actually murdering Scott to them.