Why CassidyVictim makes sense
Introduction
At this point, there aren't anyone in the fandom who doesn't know about Cassidy: they are part of the MCI and the one to possess the ghostly Golden Freddy. Though the games leave it unclear, over the year people have formed a picture of Cassidy as a character. While interpretations may varies, the general is the same:
A girl with long black hair
Is Faded text who talk to CC in the logbook
Might be the vengeful spirit/TOYSNHK of UCN
As someone who believes in CassidyVictim, I disagree with several of the above statements. I'm aware this theory is not well-like and I hate it when people utterly dismiss the theory as well as CC's relevance to the lore. This post is me sharing how the theory works for me.
The girl with long black hair
This picture is the common portrayal of Cassidy, based on the girl with long black hair from TFC novel and the pigtail girl in the logbook.
Logbook girl
Due to the page features this image being about Happiest Day and the scene similarities to the HD minigame, many believe that it's showing the child who received HD in Fnaf 3.
Is it though?
In Fnaf, "Happiest Day" is a way of saying birthday. And what does the book say about birthday cake?
That it's a three tier cake, which is not the one the girl received.
Next, Fnaf 3's HD is an event for the dead. As in none of those participated in it was amongst the living. How would anyone even have the knowledge to put it in the logbook?
Before you say something like Meta-logbook, have you noticed the absence of the Toy animatronics (save for Mangle) in the logbook?
What are the Toys infamous for? The bite of 87' that caused Fnaf 2's restaurant to close down.
The MCI ruined the business of the restaurant where it occurred. The resulting bad reputation haunts the company for decades. Considering the logbook was issued by Fazbear Entertainment, do you think they would put a reminder of such tragedy in their book?
I don't see why Cassidy (or any of the MCI kids) would be featured in the logbook.
The girl from the novel
The novel outright introduces her as Cassidy.
It as straightforward as it can get.
Hmm. Why didn't the narration call her by name? Michael, Susie, and Carlton were all named. Fritz didn't get named either but he was part of the collective, not individually brought up.
It's not strange to refer to a character by a notable trait (ex: hair color, clothing,..) instead of their name to keep it from being too repetitive. But aside from the initial introduction, this is the only time the girl was brought up individually. It can't be for that reason.
When I checked to see how the narration referred to the characters through this whole sequence, I noticed a pattern. Only those whose names Carlton knew or learnt got named. Those he didn't know/recognize were referred to by Carlton's impression of them. I detailed it in this post. To make it short, the narration referred to the her as "The girl with long black hair" because that was Carlton's impression of her, because he didn't recognize her as "Cassidy". And since Susie was pointing out Cassidy for him, it stands to reason that Susie wasn't talking about the girl, she just happened to approach the group right that moment. Something I believe the narration intentionally brought attention to to mislead people.
But if she's not Cassidy, then who is?
I believe it's the "unnamed" boy in striped shirt that people either dismiss as unimportant or believe him to be Gabriel.
He's definitely not Gabriel.
First, Gabriel is not a particularly spoilery character. If the boy was Gabriel, the novel would have stated so instead of leaving it to wild-guessing. Look at Fritz, the only time he was brought up as an individual was when he got named.
The only scene where he was featured individually and the book makes sure people who he was. If it can do it for Fritz, why not the striped shirt boy who made more than just one appearance?
Second, this section from the Ultimate Guidebook.
It brings up characters with game counterparts and amongst them is the unnamed boy. That alone doesn't disprove him being Gabriel. What does is the note that "he wears a striped shirt", implying we supposed to find his game counterpart based on that detail. In the game, Gabriel was only ever featured as an indistinguishable ghost child. We have no idea what he looked like as a human kid, let alone what he worn. There is no way to connect him to the unnamed boy with the striped shirt. However, we do know a kid who worn striped shirt in-game: CC.
Anyway, back to the unnamed boy being the "Cassidy" that Susie introduced.
Considering how people often portray Cassidy, it clear that people don't find anything strange about the way Cassidy was introduced. But isn't it strange that the girl wasn't even with the group when Susie supposedly introduced her?
It gets even more puzzling when taking into account that Susie was talking to Carlton. Why would Susie introduced to Carlton a girl who never interacted with him before this point or afterward? Doesn't seem to make much sense.
But if she was telling Carlton the name of the boy in striped shirt, things suddenly make much more sense to me.
After Carlton woke up in the weird limbo place, the first child he met was his friend Michael. The next ones were striped shirt boy and Susie, who he singled out among all the ghost children running around.
Though he meant to help all the children, it was to striped shirt boy whom he stated his intention.
And it was this boy who stayed with him and helped putting the drawings together.
The boy was sitting with them (aka Carlton and Michael). Michael was Carlton's childhood best friend. Then there is Susie who was beside the trio. Susie is the one Carlton interacted to the most out of the MCI kids. The fact that striped shirt boy was also there feel important.
Neither Fritz nor the black hair girl were mentioned until a little later, and only briefly.
Just those four sitting together.
Doesn't it just make sense that that Susie introduced the only unnamed member of their little group? Doesn't it just make sense that Cassidy is the boy close-by to Carlton instead of the girl he never spoke to? And if this boy is CC's novel counterpart, isn't it clear who CC is?
If you think all the above reasonings are too elaborate, here is something Scott said in respond to a complaint about him clarifying certain confusion on game lore.
Considering the lore important of Cassidy, do you really think Scott would make this character easy to find? Or revealing them in the off-handed way the black haired girl was introduced?
I think it's like in those mystery novel where the first suspect was dismissed for having some sort of alibi and the investigator focused on a more plausible suspect(s) only for it to reveal that the culprit was the first suspect all along, the alibi was false and the other suspect(s) was a red-herring.
The logbook conversation
Everyone knows and agrees that there are two ghosts talking to each other via faded and altered texts in the logbook. What they can't agree upon is which of the ghosts is Cassidy, though the general consensus is that Cassidy is faded text while altered text is CC.
Let's have a look at the issues of either interpretation:
Cassidy is Faded's name:
Clues comes from altered numbers and Mike, one of the clues isn't on a page with "My name"
Three of the letters for Cassidy are from altered texts
The faded letters in the Foxy grid, suggesting whatever is in there is connected to Faded
Cassidy is Altered's name
Most of the clues are on pages with Faded’s “My name”
Some of the clues comes from Mike
So what do you think happened for the clues to be presented the way it is?
Here is what I think happened:
Faded used the logbook as a mean to contact Altered. They asked many questions, though only a few were responded. Eventually, something Faded said got Altered to ask about who they were. In responding, Faded leaves "My name" all over the logbook. The first "My name" was within an arrow pointing at the page number.
The page number was altered by the time we see it, but I believe it wasn't the case when Faded left their clue. The next pages with "My name" are 32, 43, 47, 79, 85 and 108. Note that on page 79, there's no altered numbers or any number that can be use to get the letter "I" for "Cassidy". Instead we have Mike's text that led to page 61 where we get the clue for the "I". Even if we excuse that Faded was also able to alter text to leave clues, why didn't they leave any here? Why needed Mike's help? Why changed their style for seemingly no reason? The conclusions is that they didn't. The clue they meant to leave was already there: the correct page number.
After Faded left their clues, Altered solved the puzzle and found the name to be of someone he recognized. Cue the "Itsme" mantra in the Word Search. It's not something you just tell a stranger. It's a line you tell someone who you believe will recognize you. Altered knew Faded. And in the spirit of staying discrete, Altered left clues to his name where Faded left theirs. Unfortunately, it seems Altered's ability to alter text has limits, or maybe he worried that the clue would be lost if the vouchers were cut out, but he didn't alter any number on page 79.
This was when Mike came in. He had noticed the ghostly activities in his logbook and recognized who (at least) one of the ghost was as well as his (Altered's) predicament and decided to help him out. It was his line that led to page 61 where not only there was the number to get the "I" but also the image of Foxy talking to Freddy, hinting at Mike's wish to talk to his brother. It seemed that Altered/CC got the hint as the next clue for "Cassidy" is like this.
Instead of changing the existing numbers to different ones, he turned them red, like the color of Mike's pen. The next and last clue was from Mike again, finishing spelling out his brother's name: Cassidy.
Admittedly, I don't have a clue on what I suppose to do with the page numbers and the Foxy grid to get Faded's name so it weaken my argument a bit. Still, there are a few things we can speculate based on their interaction with Altered/CC:
Their name has seven letters ( The number of "My name" )
They know CC beforehand and know him well ( The various questions about things that familiar to him )
Presumably has a kind and caring personality ( Fandom's interpretation )
They are not Michael ( Different handwriting )
So with all of that, I think we have a good candidate for being Faded's identity: Charlie. Her name has seven letters. She was in the position to know CC: being the daughter of his father's business partner. She was implied to be kind and caring. And she's obviously not Michael. Charlie being Faded fits pretty neatly if you ask me.
Golden Freddy and Happiest Day
Happiest Day’s receiver is a bit of a topic of debate: whether it's CC or Cassidy. On one hand, the minigame clearly shows the child to be Golden Freddy, thus Cassidy.
On the other hand, the context of HD being a birthday bring to mind the other candidate: CC.
His birthday was shown on screen. It being ruined give reason for why only this specific minigame is Happiest Day even though all the kids received cakes: this specific child is the only one to have emotional hang-up over their birthday.
During his conversation with Faded, CC hardly answered anything. Of the few answers he gave, most were related to his current state ( can't see, can hear sounds, scared ). The only answer related to the past was "It ( the party ) was for me", suggesting that despite not recalling things from his past, his ruined birthday was still in his mind. This add weight to HD minigame being a way to make it up to CC.
Several kids promised to come to CC's birthday, yet when the day come, none of them were there. Despite the GF child being accessible from the start, HD couldn't happen until all the others arrived.
The setting of the minigame resembles Fnaf 4's restaurant where CC's birthday was held.
With all of the above, the easy (and obvious) solution is that CC is Cassidy. This, however, was rejected due to various reasons, such as:
Cassidy is a part of the MCI while CC was the victim of the Bite of 83' , an entirely separated incident
CC died in the hospital. Therefore, he cannot possess Golden Freddy and consequently can't be Cassidy.
I rather not speculate too much on how CC became a part of the MCI and came to possess Golden Freddy. In his interview with Dawko, Scott stated that the story of Fnaf 4 was too board and mysterious to figure out. So I don't think we have enough information to figure out to the detail what happened. Still, it being unsolvable with current information doesn't mean it's impossible to happen. Look at Charlie, can anyone figure out how she came to possess the Puppet with just information from Fnaf 2?
Still, I want to argue against the idea that CC died in a hospital.
The first thing we see in Fnaf 4 is a black space with only the Fredbear Plush talking to CC, though CC is only shown when it cuts to in him in his room. Presumably, the plushie was talking to him in his mind. After the bite, we see this space again. This time, CC is also there, symbolizing him being trapped in his mind due to the coma from the bite. Due to the traumatic experience, his mind created a safe space for him by letting him be alone with the plushie he considered his friends. However, the child was still unhappy, likely sensing that something was wrong. Then we see his brother talked to him. From the brother's voice lines, CC's body had no reaction to his words. But the fact that we are able see the brother's words despite being inside CC's mind suggesting that he had some awareness of his surroundings and thus being able to hear him.
When people are in comas, they are unconscious and cannot communicate with their environment. They cannot speak and their eyes are closed. They look as if they are asleep. However, the brain of a coma patient may continue to work. It might “hear” the sounds in the environment, like the footsteps of someone approaching or the voice of a person speaking. For each patient, we measured how much the ability of the brain to tell sounds apart changed, from the first to the second day of coma. Only patients who later awoke from their comas showed an improvement in their brains’ ability to discriminate sounds over the 2 days. ( Source )
Michael talking to him awaken CC's further as despite the Fredbear Plush's reassurance, the plushies disappeared one by one with Fredbear dissappearing last. CC, finally remembered what happened to him, cried ever harder until he too faded away, awakening in the real world. The flatline caused by him removing the device connecting him to the heart monitor.
Signs of Coming Out of a Coma
When a person is recovering from a coma, they may periodically open their eyes, begin to move, respond to touch or pain, or toss and turn in bed.
They may also cough or try to pull out medical devices, such as intravenous (IV) catheters or breathing tubes. ( Source )
What happened next? I believe he was taken to Fnaf 4's bedroom to presumably recover. It's where we find the following easter eggs: a vase of flowers, a pill bottle, and an IV drip.
As for what came after this point, it's a complicated matter that I plan to go into in a different post.
Anyway, if nothing else, from a narrative standpoint, I feel that Golden Freddy should be CC. In the trilogy, Golden Freddy is Michael Brook, one of Charlie's childhood friends and Carlton's childhood best friend. Charlie is the protagonist of the trilogy while Carlton plays an important role in TFC. In Fazbear's Fright series, Golden Freddy is ( very likely ) Andrew, who co-possesses the Stitchwraith with Jake, the deuteragonist of the epilogues. Do you see the pattern here? In both of these continuities, Golden Freddy is someone with connections to the protagonist(s). And who is present in most, if not all, of Fnaf games pre-Steelwood era? Michael Afton. Going by this pattern, shouldn't the Golden Freddy of this continuity be someone connected to him? Like, say, his younger brother?
Bonus: The box
Here is what Scott said about the box's content:
What's in the box? It's the pieces put together.
It's been speculated that the pieces put together is the complete lore of Fnaf, supported by Scott's confirmation that the content of the box changes over the years.
At the same time, the content of the box has been linked to CC and his memories.
Say, what if both of the above are correct? What do we have if CC's memory contains the complete lore of Fnaf? Probably something like this.
Just something to muse on.
TOYSNHK / The vengeful spirit
CC or not, people debate over whether Cassidy is TOYSNHK due to conflicts over how each was perceived. Before I get into the heart of the matter, let's examine what we can gleam from UCN.
The VS is a boy murdered by the player character aka William Afton.
I have seen him, the one you shouldn't have killed. - Withered Chica He's here and always watching. The one you shouldn't have killed. - Mangle
He only directly spoke through the cutesy Mediocre Melodies members.
We've only just begun. I will never let you leave. I will never let you rest - Happy Frog This is how it feels, and you get to experience it over, and over, and over again. Forever. I will never let you leave. - Nedd Bear He tried to release you (William). He tried to release us ( VS and the MCI kids ). But I'm not gonna let that happen. I will hold you here. I will keep you here. No matter how many times they burn us. - Orville
He was there when William got springlocked.
This time, death cannot save you. - Nightmarionne
He was experimented on in a manner similar to Rory from Dittophobia.
This time, there is more than an illusion to fear. - Nightmare Fredbear
This is how it feels, and you get to experience it over, and over, and over again. Forever. I will never let you leave. - Nedd Bear
He created the Nightmares, and likely all the other animatronics that weren't one of the dead kids.
I am remade, but not by you. By the one you should not have killed. - Nightmare
He willing to risk himself and his friends ( the other MCI kids ) gets burn over and over if it means keeping his killer trapped and suffering.
He tried to release you (William). He tried to release us ( VS and the MCI kids ). But I'm not gonna let that happen. I will hold you here. I will keep you here. No matter how many times they burn us. - Orville
There are other spirits presented beside VS and William.
I was the first, I have seen everything. I have seen him, the one you shouldn't have killed. - Withered Chica
What is this new prison? Is it me trapped, or is it you? Perhaps it's us both. - Withered Bonnie I don't hate you, but you need to stay out of my way. I recognise you! But I'm not afraid of you. Not anymore. - The Puppet
I know not everyone will agree with the above interpretations but they're the ones I going with. Anyway, one of the things people see as a point against Cassidy ( again, CC or not ) being TOYSNHK is Cassidy's perceived personality. To that, here is the counterpoint:
The child can be both scared and vengeful. The child can be sweet toward their friend and still be hateful towards the person that hurt them. Though in this case, I think VS's hatred for his killer outweighed whatever consideration he might had for his friends. He knew that him not moving on not only trapped the others but put them at risk of being burnt again ( to release them ) but insisted on staying to torment William anyway.
It appears that VS is supposed to be Golden Freddy and part of the MCI kids. At the same time, he's supposed to have been experimented on by William. Here come the issue. The MCI kids were lured into a back room and murdered the same day they were taken. Even if the kidnappings occurred on different days, it must have been noted to happen at a Freddy restaurant for the Fnaf 1's newapapers to put them together as one big incident at Freddy instead of various kidnappings all over the state. If William kidnapped a child to experiment on, he wouldn't unnecessarily do it at Freddy since it kinda hard to remain undetected walking out of the restaurant with a kid that aren't his. And if he kidnapped a child somewhere else, it wouldn't be linked to the incident at Freddy. So how would it work? This is when CassidyVictim comes into play. No one would report a child went missing if said child is the kidnapper's. And we do have hints that CC was experimented on and Fnaf 4 nights was nightmares Mike experiencing through his eyes. When the MCI happened, William took a look at his brain-damaged but alive kid and decided he liked him better if he possessed an animatronic and the rest is history.
That is how I see it.
