Five Nights at Freddy's: The Afton Family - TV Tropes (2024)

Afton Family

This creepy, kooky, mysterious, and altogether spooky family serves a big role in the backstory to the games, especially their father, William Afton. The Child from 4 may or may not be part of the family; however, since we're not truly sure, he's not included in this list.

• Ambiguous Situation: Whether it be mistaken identity or the presence of their soul within an animatronic, all known members have a case of this.
• Ambiguously Absent Parent: The children's mother and William's wife is conspiciously the only member of the family who's never been mentioned.
• Ambiguously Related:
  • The Crying Child is heavily implied to be a third child, with Michael as the Big Brother Bully. However, this isn't as explicit as the other siblings.
  • According to later Special Delivery emails, Vanny's last name starts with an 'A', which may stand for 'Afton.' It's unclear if she changed her name as a show of devotion to William, is a relative (and if so, what), or if this is a Red Herring.
• Back from the Dead: It's hinted that every single one of them has come back as a ghost after being killed: William Afton died in Spring Bonnie (becoming Springtrap), Michael Afton repossessed his hollowed-out corpse, Elizabeth's soul possesses Circus Baby, and if the child from FNAF 4 is an Afton, then he may have possibly become either Golden Freddy or Shadow Freddy.
• Big Bad: The Afton family, in general, except for maybe Michael, are the primary villains of the franchise.
• Big, Screwed-Up Family: Well, let's start with the fact that they've, intentionally or not, killed one another and work our way from there...
• Evil Brit: They're the main antagonists of the video games' series, and they're a British family.
• Iconic Sequel Character: Nowadays, the family is considered a central tie of the lore, so one might be surprised to learn not only that they were absent and unmentioned in the first game, but they weren't even properly established as a family or named until Sister Location.
• Meaningful Name: "Afton" is Swedish for "Night" or "evening".
• Older Hero vs. Younger Villain: In a downplayed, Cain and Abel sense, with Michael being the Older Brother Hero to Elizabeth's Younger Sister Villain. Inverted between Michael and William, with Mike being the younger hero to his dad's older villain.
• Red Herring: Michael is probably the same person as "Eggs Benedict" from Sister Location, who ends that game as a literally purple Revenant Zombie, thereby heavily implying that some (or all) of the previous appearances of Purple Guy have actually been Michael, rather than William - and/or that William Afton was also a zombie (even before he got Springtrapped), and that's why he's also purple. However, this never goes anywhere: Pizzeria Simulator confirms William as the guy inside Springtrap, and heavily implies that he was the sole party responsible for the child murders and the eventual destruction of the original animatronics, and his purple appearance is never hinted to be anything except a stylistic choice.
• The Family That Slays Together: William is a Serial Killer, and Elizabeth wants to become Daddy's Little Villain (with Michael being the possible White Sheep of House Afton).
• Walking Spoiler: Every member, due to the vast prevalence they have in the games' story, is this in some way:
  • William is barely mentioned in the first game, in a place few (if any) would ever see, and it requires some — admittedly, a small amount of — luck to see him in the second game, though he is alluded to in passing in the final phone call. He is also the sole antagonist of 3 — is again an antagonist in Pizzeria Simulator — the creator of at least the Sister Location animatronics and responsible for almost, if not everything bad that happens in the entire franchise. He's this in Sister Location, too. It's sort of hard to talk about either the main game or the Custom Nights without mentioning who he is, the fact that he's the CEO of the company who owns the rental facility the game takes place in, the creator of the Circus Baby animatronics, and programmed them to kill children, as well as being the father of Michael Afton, and the girl who was killed by Circus Baby.
  • Elizabeth is a pretty big one for Sister Location, since not only she's the daughter of a murderer, but she was killed by Circus Baby and may have become a part of Ennard. Her death drives the entire plot of Sister Location, and may very well have been the cause of either her father or her brother's Start of Darkness.
  • Michael is also a particularly large spoiler, since he is the son of a murderer, the Player Character in Sister Location and likely Pizzeria Simulator, may also be the player in all of the other games, and is the Only Sane Man of the family.

William Afton

See his page.

Elizabeth Afton / Circus Baby

"Daddy, why won't you let me play with her?"

Voiced by: Zehra Jane Naqvi

The daughter of the serial killer, William Afton. She is heard at the beginning at every night in Sister Location, begging her father to let her play with Circus Baby. She eventually sneaks off to do it without her father's permission... and gets herself murdered for her trouble.

Freddy Fazbear's Pizzeria Simulator (Five Nights at Freddy's 6 by any other name) confirms that her name is Elizabeth.

• Ambiguously Evil: Definitely expresses evil behavior in Pizzeria Simulator, but it's unclear as to how much of it was voluntarily from her. Considering that the Cassette Man only condemns her father to Hell, it's possible that she wasn't in, at least, complete control, even though her long time possessing Baby caused her insanity, as seen with Baby's demeanor in Pizzeria Simulator.
• Big Bad: Like her father in Springtrap in 3, she's essentially this in Sister Location, as she's the one possessing Baby.
• Big Bad Duumvirate: She reprises her villainous role once again in Pizzeria Simulator, this time with her father, William, who possesses Springtrap.
• Brainwashed and Crazy: A plausible interpretation of her malevolence, as the possessed animatronics throughout the series, though haunted, are still restricted by the animatronic's programming to some extent. It's possible that since Baby, and all of the other animatronics that compose Ennard were programmed by her father to kill children, that Elizabeth's evil could be a result of the A.I. influencing her actual soul's intentions.
• Cain and Abel: If Michael really is the protagonist of FFPS, she's the younger Cain to his older Abel.
• Children Are Innocent: Had no idea her father was a monster. Not that she minded in the end.
• Corrupt the Cutie: Another interpretation for how she goes from an innocent little girl, to a Tragic Villain who only wanted freedom, to an openly homicidal machine out to please her father, may have steemed from Papa Afton's influence.
• Daddy's Girl: Her lines in Sister Location indicate that she's close with her father, which says a lot considering he's a serial child murderer. Unsurprisingly, this is upgraded into Daddy's Little Villain.
• Daddy's Little Villain: After possessing Baby, she wished to follow in William's footsteps as a Serial Killer. This carries over to the novels as well.
• Death of a Child: Killed by Baby after approaching her despite her father's warnings.
• The Dragon: Seems to be her primary role in the franchise, as in both the games and novels, she’s always trying to assist her father in achieving his goals.
• Dragon-in-Chief: The antagonist of Sister Location.
• Explain, Explain... Oh, Crap!: "Where did the other children go?" are the final words she speaks before Baby kills her.
• Foil: To the Cassette Man's daughter. Both died when they were children, followed by their souls possessing an animatronic. While the Cassette Man's daughter wants to "help" murdered children, Elizabeth wants to follow in her father's footsteps and be a child killer. Interestingly, their fathers also serve as Foils to each other.
• The Ghost: She only appears in a minigame, the rest of the time her voice is also heard in between nights. She may have also appeared again as a part of Ennard, having literally become "the ghost".
• Laser-Guided Karma: While her death was tragic, of course, it could be seen as karma for what her father did.
• Manipulative Bitch: Managed to trick the others into thinking she was Charlie when impersonating her.
• Maybe Magic, Maybe Mundane: It's unclear as to whether her soul is actually possessing and in control of Baby, or if Baby acts of her own A.I. Evidence can be seen for either possibility. Freddy Fazbear's Pizzeria Simulator confirms that it's the former, with her expressing her wish to be 'complete' and follow in her 'Daddy's' footsteps of being a serial child murderer.
• Meaningful Appearance: Her green eyes serve as a Foreshadowing to The Reveal. Before the ice cream/trapping incident, Circus Baby had blue eyes. However, by the time Sister Location starts, she has green eyes. While Circus Baby still recognizes Elizabeth as a separate entity, this signifies the fact that her and Elizabeth's consciousnesses are slowly merging, a process that is completed by the time of Pizzeria Simulator.
• Morality Chain: Possibly to her father. He was already a child killing bastard, but his possible love for her was his only redeeming quality. After her death he loses what’s left of his humanity to the point of sending his own son on a suicide mission. However this is all assuming he actually did care about her.
• Morality Pet: She might be one for William. In the games that is.
• No Name Given: Her first name is not revealed in Sister Location, but it is in Pizzeria Simulator.
• Pink Means Feminine: She's the only female Afton seen, and is shown wearing pink as a human instead of the shades of purple that her father and brother are known for.
• Pure Is Not Good: Cassette Guy's final speech suggests that William will be the only one rotting in Hell for what happened. Presumably, this means that part of the reasoning for Elizabeth's evil is a pure-intentioned desire to please her father. That said, she's still Daddy's Little Villain.
• Sanity Slippage: The only possible explanation for why she turned evil by the time she became Scrap Baby, deciding to make her father proud.
• Split Personality: Implied when Baby referred to her as another person, despite being possessed by her.
• Tragic Villain: She died pretty gruesomely when she was killed by Baby, and in Sister Location, all she wanted was to be free. Unfortunately, her goals have changed to pleasing her father in Pizzeria Simulator.
  • Retains this in the novels as well. Much like the games, she wants to please her father, though this is because in the novels, William doesn’t truly love Elizabeth, and doesn’t see her as the perfect daughter, even wanting to replace her. Elizabeth is deeply saddened by this and wants to earn her father's affections, which leads to her assisting her father in his experiments, as well as trying to kill Charlie.
• Unwitting Instigator of Doom: Her death is what causes William to send Michael to Circus Baby's Entertainment and Rental, which ultimately gets the latter killed.
• Unwitting Pawn: If you believe that William employed reverse psychology to tempt Elizabeth into disobeying him, so that she would go see Baby, and eventually possess her after her death.
• Vocal Dissonance: Averted before the ice cream incident, as she talks like what you'd expect from a preschooler-age English girl. Played straight post-incident, where she uses Circus Baby's adult voice and American accent.

Michael Afton (Eggs Benedict)

Voiced by: PJ Heywood

That is to say, William Afton's son. He was tasked by his father to find "her" (presumably his sister) and "put her back together". He succeeded, but died along the way... kind of. Is probably the main protagonist of the series. Probably.

• Ambiguous Situation:
  • His role in any other games is left ambiguous. Is he Mike Schmidt from the first game? Is he the Brother from 4? Do those two have any relation to him at all? It's unclear.
    • The official logbook confirms that he is probably Mike Schmidt.
  • Does he want to save the kids? He is aware possession is a thing, but besides that, nothing.
  • Does he want to kill William? Besides one line, there's not much things pointing to this. He does help Henry with his plan to kill William, but again, that was Henry’s plan, not Michael’s.
• And I Must Scream: After Ennard has vacated Michael's body, his soul repossessed his corpse, and is unable to move on to the afterlife.
• Animal Motifs: While not as immediately obvious as his father, Michael is often associated with Foxy. He's heavily implied to be the Foxy mask-wearing Big Brother Bully from the fourth game, and artwork in The Survival Logbook depicts Foxy as a stand-in for the employees. Some of the Fazbear Frights stories that are allusions to his dynamic to the Crying Child reference Foxy either directly or offhandedly for Rule of Symbolism. One of the animatronics that made up Ennard, who wore his corpse as a suit, was also a Foxy. Said animatronic line has a tendency to end up the most damaged throughout the games, possibly tying into Michael's Revenant Zombie status at the end of Sister Location.
• Antagonistic Offspring: His quest to find his father is laced with implications of revenge and retribution. Of course, it's very well justified.
• The Atoner: A huge one maybe. Michael's goal is finding his father, and what that means is a mystery, it might mean undoing the horrors his father inflicted, by freeing his sister and ultimately salvaging the last active Fazbear animatronics and burning to (re)death with them. If he's the Brother from 4, he may also be trying to atone for his Deadly Prank. He manages to fulfill his mission by the time of Pizzeria Simulator.
• Back from the Dead: As his hollowed out, repossessed corpse. From his words, even he's confused on why he's still around and kicking.
• Big Brother Instinct: The tone of his voice during his speech suggests he has no problem finding (at least the soul of) his sister and putting her back together, and that he's happy she's free. The sixth game implies he put her together so he could destroy her and finally grant her peace.
• Big Good: In Freddy Fazbear's Pizzeria Simulator, Molten Freddy and Scrap Baby imply that he is also the protagonist of that game (since both of them recognize the protagonist). Working with someone (identified as "Cassette Man" who is Henry, William's old friend and partner), he seeks out the remaining animatronics by creating a new restaurant, and later Henry burns it, the animatronics (including Elizabeth and William), and Michael down, forever destroying the restaurant chain's reputation until the VR game. Not only that, but it is heavily implied that he is the protagonist of FNAF 1 and FNAF 4 (as shown in his logbook red-ink drawing of Nightmare and the distorted phone call.) As well as this he may be a protagonist of FNAF 2 (probably Fritz Smith since Jeremy Fitzgerald is likely the Bite of '87 survivor) and even FNAF 3.
• Butt-Monkey: He's definitely this. The fact that he's heavily implied to be The Un-Favourite and sent to die in his father's place doesn't help either.
• Cain and Abel: If he really is the protagonist of FFPS, he's the older Abel to Elizabeth's younger Cain.
• Cruel and Unusual Death: He got scooped out by Ennard, came back to life, then burned to death in a building with no escape, though it would seem that he embraced that last bit.
• Daytime Drama Queen: You wouldn't think it, but when not at work, he loves watching TV Soap Opera vampire romance and eating popcorn as he does so.
• Deadpan Snarker: The shred comments he writes about the Fazbear Corporation in the Survival Logbook paints him as one of these.
• Death by Disfigurement: Well, technically he already died, but after getting scooped, his body decays into a thin, bald, noseless purple-skinned mess. He sticks around for one more game and an unknown amount of time in between then and Sister Location, but after that, he goes out with the final animatronics.
• Death Seeker: Freddy Fazbear's Pizzeria Simulator suggests he may be one, since he stays with the animatronics to burn. Not that you can blame an undead sack of rotten flesh for that.

  Cassette Man: Although there was a way out planned for you, I have a feeling that's not what you want. I have a feeling that you are right where you want to be.

• Determinator: If he is the true identity of few of the protagonists in the series (if not all of them), then absolutely nothing will stop this fellow as long as his father isn't found (or if he's alive, depending on his motivation). Not over a dozen different animatronics, not scooping, not death, not decomposition, not 30 years, not fire, nothing. NOTHING.

  Michael: I'm going to come find you. I'm going to come find you.

• Distressed Dude: He gets captured by Funtime Foxy and forced into an old, decommissioned springlock suit.
• The Dutiful Son: Was this to his father, as he was willing to risk certain death in order to "put her back together" on his dad's demands. However, after that certain death became all too real, he's a little too ticked off to be this anymore...
• Edible Theme Naming: "Eggs Benedict", his "name" for the majority of the Sister Location, isn't as random a name as it seems; it's a real dish consisting of English muffins and Canadian bacon. Worth mentioning is that there's a variation of it called "Eggs Michael."
• Foil: He and his father, rightfully so, are opposed in many fields. They both are engineers who have managed at least one Freddy's location, but William's portfolio expands to being the CEO of Fazbear Entertainment and Afton Robotics, where Michael only ever worked as a night guard, technician and the manager of a fake pizzeria. They're both shown as purple, but for William this is symbolic while for Michael this is thanks to his status as a zombie. William died and became Springtrap, his body being stuck inside the suit, while Michael's death was thanks to Ennard hollowing out his body and using him as a suit. William mislead children so as to kill them himself before stuffing them into suits, while Michael distracted the animatronics in Pizzeria Simulator long enough for Henry to kill them and put their souls at rest. William is the overarching antagonist of the series whose presence has been explicit throughout, while Michael is hinted to have been the player character of every game before Pizzeria Simulator barring Five Nights at Freddy's 2. William is associated with Bonnie, using his Spring Bonnie suit to help him with his murders before eventually becoming one with it, while Michael is associated with Foxy, the older brother that may have been him wearing a mask of Foxy's face as he accidentally killed his brother, eventually being killed by an entity that was one fourth Foxy.
• Forced to Watch: In Night 3, Baby puts him in a springlock suit and a night later makes him watch the horrifying scene of Ballora being scooped.
• Good Counterpart: To his father. Both are undead purple men with engineering knowledge and managerial experience around Freddy's, but William uses his knowledge to kill people while Michael exclusively defends and misdirects his murderous animatronic opponents. Even the fire at the end of Freddy Fazbear's Pizzeria Simulator wasn't his doing; his part was just to keep the animatronics in the pizzeria long enough for Henry to burn the place down.
• The Hero: He's the protagonist of Sister Location, and strongly implied to be that of Freddy Fazbear's Pizzeria Simulator (as Molten Freddy/Ennard and Scrap Baby both recognize him). In the latter game, it's him who ultimately undoes the Freddy Fazbear legacy of nightmares by destroying the final animatronics. In fact, the "Lorekeeper" ending and the Logbook suggest that he's the hero of the first game, having applied to the Freddy's location under a false name to undo his father's evil and/or find him. A popular fan theory states that Michael Afton is the protagonist in every game until Ultimate Custom Night; and that Five Nights At Freddy's is ultimately the story of Michael's redemption after killing his Brother by accident before the events of FNAF; working to free the souls of the animatronics to undo his father's actions, give peace to his sister, his brother and Charlotte Emily, and ensure his father can't hurt anyone else, before finally resting at the end of Pizzeria Simulator. Even in Security Breach, it has been speculated that Glamrock Freddy, who was trying to protect Gregory, was possessed by Michael to make him more sentient and save him more easily, which may explain or enforce Glamrock Freddy's protective and fatherly attitude towards Gregory.
• Heroic Sacrifice: He salvages the remains of every animatronic, puts Baby back together, and even fulfills his promise to find his father again, only for Henry to burn the pizzeria from the sixth game down, Michael staying inside.
• Hidden Depths: As shown in the official logbook (using red ink), Michael has a talent for drawing.
• I Have Many Names: The updated ending of Freddy Fazbear's Pizzeria Simulator suggests that some, if not all of the previous night guards were actually Michael under various pseudonyms, as part of his extended quest to find William.
• It's Personal: He has it out for his father but still cares about his sister even if she is Daddy's Little Villain, possibly because he doesn't blame her and recognizes that she only became what she did because of William.
• I Will Find You: Promises to find his father in the final cutscene of Sister Location's Custom Night. He fulfills this promise in the next game.
• Nice Guy: At least that's what the Custom Night cutscenes in Sister Location seems to suggest, as his neighbors are waving happily at him when he goes outside. At least until he turns into a reanimated rotten corpse.
• Perpetual Smiler: Michael keeps his grin in all Custom Night cutscenes, even as he starts to rot, though it seems to drop after Ennard leaves his body.
• Revenant Zombie: A surprisingly classic depiction of this. Regardless of what cybernetics or Applied Phlebotinum was involved, his single-minded determination keeps him going.
• Scapegoat: It's implied that his father intended to use their Strong Family Resemblance to get him killed in his place in the underground facility.
• Self-Made Orphan: His final lines give off a really strong implication of this being his goal.^note
• Strong Family Resemblance: Is hinted to have one, which actually bites him in the ass, as the Funtime animatronics mistook him for his father and scooped him for it. This might also be why the other animatronics are hunting him (if the theory that he is the nightguard of all the previous games is true), as they might not be able to see a difference between him and William and assume for the worst. Mike and William also share the same voice actor, so there may be foundation for this despite both being relatively The Faceless to the player.
• Token Good Teammate: So far, he seems to be the only member who hasn't succumbed to evil. Even if he's the bullying brother who killed the crying child by accident, he has most certainly gone out of his way to make up for it.
• Tranquil Fury: His line in the Golden Freddy cutscene conveys a tone of utter menace directed at his father while sounding positively bored.
• The Un-Favourite: William Afton was extremely protective of his daughter, certainly, but the same cannot be said for Michael; it's implied that he sent Michael to die in his place. Given that he might have held Ennard, and by extension, Baby, inside of him for a while, his possible disliking of Michael is (sort of) understandable.
• White Sheep: It's suggested he's the protagonist of Freddy Fazbear's Pizzeria Simulator (as well as the majority of if not every other game), and that, by extension, he's the only non-evil member of the Afton household, although there are also implications that he was also the Brother who killed 4's protagonist, but he's clearly done better than the rest of his family besides his brother regardless.