Five Nights at Freddy's 1 and 2 complete timeline of events
In this post I’m attempting to lay out a full timeline of events for Five Night’s at Freddy’s and Five Night’s at Freddy’s 2. In other words, this is the chronology I believe everything in the games takes place in. All of it is based on in-game evidence and my personal interpretation of those events. Again, this is my own speculation after doing lots of research into every detail of both games. Although I make some inferences based purely on what I think happened, I did my utmost best to give evidence for all of the main points in the timeline. If you find anything in the timeline that’s contradicting, or if you feel like I made a mistake somewhere, please let me know!
If you would like to post this timeline elsewhere (besides just hitting “Reblog”), please give me (Yumeka) credit and link back to either my main blog here or my Tumblr. Thanks!
An entertainment restaurant called “Fredbear’s Family Diner” opens. The main attraction of the restaurant is four animatronic robot animals that entertain the kids: Freddy (called “Fredbear” at this time), Bonnie, Chica, and Foxy. Perhaps due to unknowingly good technology, the animatronics have a certain level of “sentience” to them, but nothing extreme or bad at this time. Nothing beyond wanting to do their duty of bringing happiness to children. The Puppet is also part of the entertainment, but doesn’t have the sentience that the animatronics do.
(Evidence: This is the original restaurant that Phone Guy mentions on Night 5 of FNAF2 and the “old location” he refers to in Night 1 of FNAF2. Since the “Missing Children Incident” occurs in June of 1987, the restaurant must have been established before then, but 20 years prior to the events of the original FNAF, since Phone Guy mentions on Night 1 of that game that the animatronics have been "singing the same stupid songs for 20 years")
One day during Fredbear’s Family Diner’s normal operation hours, a company employee dressed in the company’s signature purple uniform, pulls up to the front of the restaurant in a car, murders a child that was crying outside, then gets back in the car and drives off. Freddy/Fredbear, who was busy doing his usual task of giving cake to demanding children inside the restaurant, noticed the child outside and wanted to save him, but his programming prevented him from leaving. A few witnesses saw that the suspect was a Fredbear employee due to his purple uniform, but no one could identify him and he was never found. The spirit of the murdered child wanders the restaurant and takes possession of The Puppet.
(Evidence: The “Take Cake to the Children” minigame. The purple person obviously murdered the crying child. The fact that he drove up in a car makes it obvious that this murder occurred outside the restaurant, perhaps on a curb near the front entrance. The fact that during the minigame we hear a robotic voice calling out “Save him” while Freddy is giving cake to the other children is evidence that it could be his voice, telling himself that he should save that child but being unable to ignore his programmed duties as restaurant mascot. The reason I believe the child’s spirit possessed the Puppet is because the Puppet jumpscares at the end of this minigame, and it makes sense in terms of events that I’ll describe later)
The company tries to keep this incident out of the press as much as possible with some success, but the story still gets around through word-of-mouth. They soon decide that changing the company name might help, so they officially become “Freddy Fazbear’s Pizza” and change the name of their mascot character(s) accordingly. The original owner is replaced with a new one as well. Regardless, the restaurant starts to suffer some sales decreases. Phone Guy may have been hired around this time for some kind of supervisor position and occasional night duties.
(Evidence: On Night 5 of FNAF2, Phone Guy refers to an “original owner” called Fredbear’s Family Diner, so the restaurant must have changed owners at some point. This would be a likely time for that. I feel like Phone Guy was hired around this time, with occasional night duties, because during both games, he has extensive knowledge about the behavior of the animatronics and all the “shady” events that go on at the restaurant from this point on. And because he always seems to take the side of the company in all his phone messages, trying not to let any bad news slip and come up with “scientific” reasons for why the animatronics act the way they do, he’s probably in a higher position than a low-level employee who doesn’t know anything, and is under pressure from the company to make sure everyone below him doesn’t know the truth)
The “Missing Children Incident” occurs. Another murderous employee remains inside the restaurant after his day shift and dresses up in the Golden Freddy costume. He manages to lure five children into the back room soon after the place closes and murders them. He decides to stuff their bodies in the empty mascot suits, taking off the one he’s wearing first and puts one child inside. After that, he suddenly feels like someone else is in the building with him. In his panic, he runs by the surveillance cameras, getting his identity caught on tape. Along the way, Foxy senses the five children’s distress and comes over to save them, only to find them all dead. Before the man can leave, Foxy bites him, severing his frontal lobe.
The Puppet finds the bodies of the four children. He tries giving them gifts, which is the only thing he knows that makes children happy and is his daily role at the Prize Corner during business hours. When they don’t respond, he then binds each of their bodies and souls inside the four animatronics. The fifth child’s spirit possesses the Golden Freddy costume that she was stuffed inside.
By now it’s early morning and police arrive at the scene, finding the employee surprisingly not dead, and the video footage of him trying to flee the scene of the crime. The restaurant is searched but to everyone’s surprise, the bodies of the children are not found. The Golden Freddy costume is kept around in case it can help in identifying the murderer.
(Evidence: The “Missing Children Incident” takes place on June 26, 1987 according to the newspaper clippings from the original FNAF, so it must have occurred about 5 months prior to the start of FNAF2, which takes place in November 1987. Foxy’s minigame clearly shows a time when he was one of the main animatronics, coming out of Pirate Cove much to the delight of the children, so it must have been before the events of both games. Also shown in the minigame is the one time he came out and found five children dead with a purple-clad employee close by. His jumpscare follows at this point in the minigame, so it’s likely he attacked the employee and this is the so-called “Bite of ‘87.” The “Give Gifts Give Life” minigame shows the Puppet doing as I described; first giving the four dead children gifts, and then turning each of them into the four main animatronics. Since five children went missing and because we don’t see the Puppet putting the fifth child in any animatronic, I’m guessing he/she possessed the Golden Freddy costume since that one moves about in the games despite not having an endoskeleton, plus we see Golden Freddy’s jumpscare at the end of this minigame)
Once again, the company tries to cover up the story, but only succeed in making people believe only two children were lured away and murdered by the employee instead of five. Eventually it comes to light that a total of five children were linked to the incident. Their sales begin to rapidly decrease. Suspecting that Foxy may have “malfunctioned” and bit the former employee during the incident, Pirate Cove is closed down and he’s kept inactive behind the curtain, which further hurts sales since he was one of the most popular characters. A new safety precaution is implemented, which is to not let the animatronics roam freely during the day.
The final blow comes when parents and other restaurant patrons begin to report a foul odor coming from the remaining three animatronics, as well as blood and mucous seemingly oozing from their eyes and mouth. Reports are made to the police and the company decides to dismantle all the animatronics to get to the bottom of this. However, they don’t find anything of note inside.
(Evidence: The newspaper clippings from the first FNAF describe these events. Since the four original animatronics are all broken and dismantled at the beginning of FNAF2, seemingly being replaced by the new animatronics, it’s likely they were taken apart at this time, as a result of these incidents)
Without the finances to put the animatronics back together, and sales continuing to decrease, Freddy Fazbear’s Pizza is officially closed down.
(Evidence: In Night 1 of FNAF2, Phone Guy makes it seem that the restaurant had recently closed down and then reopened. The newspaper ad at the very beginning makes this clear, too. So the “old location” must have been closed before the new establishment opened in November of 1987 at the beginning of FNAF2)
After months of being left to rot, Freddy Fazbear’s Pizza is reopened and moved to another location. In an attempt to give the company a new image, “cuter” animatronics are made: Toy Bonnie, Toy Chica, Toy Freddy, BB, and Mangle. Not wanting to take any chances of having another criminally-inclined employee, the company also gives the new animatronics facial recognition tied to a criminal database. Because the company feels like these new animatronics won’t have any “problems” like the old ones, they’re allowed to roam freely during the day. The dismantled and smelly old ones are kept as spare parts in a separate room. The Puppet resumes his position as mascot of the Prize Corner. The tune of the music box there is what he had always listened to at the old location as well, so as long as that plays, he’ll forget his goal of seeking revenge on the man in purple and will be at peace.
(Evidence: The phone calls on Nights 1 and 2 of FNAF2 describes pretty much all of this)
The first nighttime security guard is hired at the new location. Unbeknown to anyone, he’s the same employee that murdered the crying child all those months ago and was never caught. Sensing his return, the spirits of the dead children bound to the animatronics begin to haunt the building, causing them to move around and seek out the restaurant employee that murdered them. They even possess the new animatronics and have them act in a similar fashion. During his first week, the new guard notices the animatronics wandering around and trying to get into the office. He expresses his concern and is moved to the day shift.
(Evidence: Once again, the phone call on Night 1 of FNAF2 says that the previous security guard before Jeremy Fitzgerald complained of “conditions” and was moved to the day shift. Although the vengeful spirits of the dead children are still haunting the animatronics, it’s plausible that they can extend their control to the new animatronics too. The reason I believe he’s the same guy that murdered the crying child is explained later)
Night 1 of FNAF2 occurs. Jeremy Fitzgerald is hired to work the night shift, replacing the aforementioned guard. On his first night, he’s haunted by the new animatronics and the Puppet, but seeing as how he’s a new guard, they aren’t too aggressive towards him.
Night 2 of FNAF2 occurs. The old animatronics now begin to go after Jeremy themselves, still seeking revenge on the employee that killed them, even though he’s not the same one. However, if he puts the Freddy mask on, they’re unsure if he’s another animatronic or not, and leave him alone. Since Foxy and the Puppet played a role in the “Missing Children Incident”/”Bite of ‘87,” and saw that an employee fooled children into believing he was a mascot by wearing the Golden Freddy costume, they’re not tricked by Jeremy’s Freddy mask.
Night 3 of FNAF2 occurs. At the end of his day shift, the original guard that was hired for the night shift before Jeremy (and the one who got away with killing the crying child), decides to reenact the “Missing Children Incident.” The main reason he returned to the company despite risking his cover being blown, is because he desires to kill even more children, so he decides to mimic what the employee from the previous incident did: he puts on the Golden Freddy costume, lures five children away, and murders them in the restaurant right after the restaurant closed for the day. He tampers with the facial recognition system of the new animatronics so they’ll be more aggressive to other people except him, then flees the restaurant, confident that he’ll be able to go into hiding again and no one will find him.
(Evidence: Here’s where things get a tricky. Another “unfortunate incident” must have happened during the events of FNAF2 based on Phone Guy’s messages for Nights 3 through 6. I suspect it must have taken place before Jeremy’s shift on Night 3 because Phone Guy tells him that night not to believe any recent rumors he hears and it has nothing to do with the company no matter how tragic. Going by the one remaining death minigame that hasn’t been accounted for yet - Freddy’s “Save Them” game - which reveal that more children were murdered in the restaurant by the “purple man,” this is probably when that event takes place. It appears like it could be a memory of the “Missing Children Incident” like the other minigames, but the reason this isn’t so is because the new animatronics are seen on the Show Stage and the old ones are seen in Parts/Service (as shown in this video), so this minigame must take place during FNAF2 and thus after the “Missing Children Incident.” I say five children were murdered because that’s how many dead ones are seen during the “Save Them” minigame. It couldn’t have been the same man from the “Missing Children Incident” that killed them, since he had been captured by the police back in June and was likely a vegetable due to having his frontal lobe bitten off, so it must be another employee. I say it’s another employee as opposed to anyone else because he once again appears purple in Freddy’s minigame, and also because of what Phone Guy says on Night 5 about the building being on lockdown due to “previous employees.” The reason I think he wears the Golden Freddy suit is because Phone Guy mentions this in his message on Night 6, saying that someone got in and used the yellow suit, the same one used in…he trails off at this point but he’s obviously referring to the “Missing Children Incident” from June when that employee used the same suit)
Freddy and the Puppet sense the distress of the children but are too late to save them. They find their bodies that the guard had tried to hide in random parts of the restaurant, pools of blood all over. The Puppet sadly returns to his box at the Prize Corner while Freddy stands over the body of one of the children and laments that he couldn’t save them again.
(Evidence: This is the “Save Them” minigame. See evidence above)
Police are called to the scene and find the dead children. Fazbear Entertainment tries their best to get the whole matter quickly cleaned up and hushed as much as possible via paying large sums of money.
When Jeremy comes onto his shift some hours later, the restaurant has been cleaned up as if nothing had happened there, and Phone Guy tries to act like nothing’s wrong by going on about Foxy in his message. Eventually he tells Jeremy not to believe any local stories he might be hearing and that it has nothing to do with their establishment. He tries to avert any suspicion towards the employee who committed the crime too, saying that he reported nothing unusual during his day shift. The animatronics are more aggressive this night due to the horror that occurred earlier.
Night 4 of FNAF2 occurs. Despite their best efforts, Fazbear Entertainment is forced to concede to further investigation by the authorities due to the previous day’s incident. Phone Guy once again tries to smooth things over in his message to Jeremy, saying that there’s an investigation going on and the restaurant may have to close for a little while, but it’s just a precaution and nothing wrong has been done. It was noticed earlier in the day that the new animatronics’ facial recognition software had been tampered with, so he mentions that too.
(Evidence: The phone message in Night 4 of FNAF2 describes all this. At this point, the vengeful spirits inside the animatronics are so angered that yet more children have been murdered that they’re being aggressive towards all the staff. But they would never harm children since the spirits are children themselves, which is also alluded to in the phone message)
Night 5 of FNAF2 occurs. By now the company can no longer cover up no matter how much they pay. The building is put on lockdown by the end of the day and it’s pretty clear that a previous employee was the culprit and that he may have been involved in a wrongdoing earlier in the company’s history (the murder of that one crying child outside, when they were still called Fredbear’s Family Diner). Desperate for any further info on this suspected employee, management contacts the previous owner. Due to the suspected employee being on the run now, his day shift position becomes available, as Phone Guy mentions in his message to Jeremy this night. After completing his shift, Jeremy receives his paycheck.
(Evidence: The phone message in Night 5 of FNAF2 explains all this. This is also why I feel that this second murderous employee is the same as the very first one that murdered the lone crying child before getting away – why else would they want to contact the company’s previous owner if this employee wasn’t connected to the old location somehow?)
Night 6 of FNAF2 occurs. Jeremy fails to get the memo that the building is on lockdown and goes into work anyway. When Phone Guy finds out, he calls him. He ends up revealing more than he should about the incident, saying that someone had sneaked in and used the yellow suit just like in a previous incident (but doesn’t go into detail about that). He confirms that Jeremy will take the day shift the next day because they have one more event planned. Jeremy receives his overtime pay and the local newspaper reports that Freddy Fazbear’s Pizza will be closing but hopes to reopen eventually.
(Evidence: The phone message in Night 6 of FNAF2 and the completion screen at the end describe all this. The message also sheds a bit of light about the uniforms. Phone Guy tells Jeremy to wear his because he’ll be on the day shift, indicating that the overnight security guards probably don’t have to wear them. This also makes it probable that all the employees that murdered the children were day shift employees since they have their purple uniforms on in the animatronics’ memories)
The Custom Night of FNAF2 occurs. With Jeremy on the day shift for the restaurant’s final event, and due to many employees quitting over the past few days after all the horrible incidents that have occurred at the restaurant being brought to light, the company desperately seeks someone to hire even if just for one day. They get a hold of a Fritz Smith, who agrees to take the position for a quick buck. Not knowing what he’s getting himself into, Fritz has the worst night of his life combating the haunted animatronics. He tries to dismantle them and gets the foul odor of the old ones all over him in the process. He receives a pink slip the next day indicating that he’s fired, which he would be anyway since the restaurant closed its doors for good the following day.
After years of being closed down, some ex-Fazbear Entertainment CEO decides to wager a large sum of money on reviving Freddy Fazbear’s Pizza. He figures enough years have passed and all the horrible incidents that occurred at the restaurant before have been forgotten by the public. He doesn’t want to throw too much money at the project just in case, so he cuts some corners: the new building has fewer rooms than the original, a limited power supply is allocated to things like room lights and security cameras, and only the four original animatronics are put back together and reactivated. The new ones from the company’s previous revival are scrapped, and Bonnie, Chica, Freddy, and Foxy are reassembled. Still a little wary about previous incidents, particularly the "Bite of ‘87," it’s decided that the animatronics’ free-roaming mode will still be restricted to nighttime only, and Foxy’s Pirate Cove attraction is temporarily placed as "out of order" until they make the final decision as to weather he’s safe enough to join the others. Supervisors are also told to write up an "introductory letter" for new employees to further prevent any law suits. Phone Guy rejoins the company as well. Despite being reassembled, the old animatronics are still possessed by the vengeful spirits of the dead children and haunt the building in an attempt to kill the adult employees. During its first few weeks of opening, several employees quit due to the animatronics, some go missing on the job, while at least one was killed by being stuffed inside one of the spare animatronics and getting cut up by all the beams and wires. The company covers up everything bad that happens.
(Evidence: The phone message on Night 1 of FNAF, and a little of Night 3, describe most of this. There’s no official evidence as to what year FNAF takes place in, but going by how much Mike Schmidt earns and the US’s minimum wage, it should take place in the early 90s, so I picked 1993. On Night 6 of FNAF2, the newspaper article says that the new animatronics will be scrapped, including the Puppet since this new building doesn’t have a Prize Corner, but the original ones will be kept in case the company reopens, so this is why we only see the original four in this game. Because it may be an important piece of evidence for eventually finding the murderous employee that got away, the Golden Freddy costume is kept around as well, albeit hidden away. Evidence that the “Bite of ‘87” took place before the events of FNAF and that Foxy is the one who did it, is the fact that the animatronics are still only allowed to roam freely at night and Foxy’s room is still closed off, plus he’s not included in any of the company’s promotional posters and kids’ drawings. Phone Guy implies in his message on Night 3 that employees have "moved on to other things" or perhaps "died," which shows that employees before Mike have worked there and had similar problems. Phone Guy also talks more in this game than FNAF2 about the animatronics stuffing people into the suits, even going into gruesome detail)
Phone Guy begins his night shift. He does his best to ward off the animatronics and wait out his shift until morning. Not wanting to continue this torturous job any longer, he hears talk that the company is in the process of hiring a new nighttime guard who will begin his shift on November 8th. He figures he’ll just get through this last week in the office before quitting for good. He decides to save himself time later and record a message on the office phone that will play for the new guard on his first day, warning him about the “quirks” of the animatronics and giving him the required introductory speech.
(Evidence: Phone Guy’s message on Night 1 of FNAF1 explains this. He was obviously the nighttime security guard before Mike Schmidt was hired, and since they couldn’t have been working that shift at the same time, he must have recorded his messages prior to Mike taking his place)
Phone Guy manages to get through another night shift, but the animatronics are getting more aggressive. Not wanting to overwhelm the upcoming new guard with too much (bad) information at once, he decides to record a separate message for him that he sets to play back on November 9th, which would be the new guy’s second day. He records more information about Foxy, Freddy, using the door lights, etc,.
(Evidence: Phone Guy’s message of Night 2 of FNAF)
During his shift, Phone Guy makes an attempt to try and look inside the animatronics, including all the empty suits and heads in the Backstage, desperately trying to figure out why they act the way they do. He almost gets killed by them in the process, but manages to save himself by "playing dead." Since that may be an important survival tactic, he decides to record a message about that for the new night guard to play back on his third night.
(Evidence: Phone Guy’s message on Night 3 of FNAF)
Phone Guy once again tries to get to the bottom of the animatronics mystery and reveal what the company isn’t telling him. However, when tries to browse around the Backstage again, the animatronics are super aggressive. He runs back into the Office and closes the doors. He knows that his power is going to run out soon, so he decides to record one final message to the guard that will take his place, asking him to try and look inside the empty suits in the Backstage while the animatronics’ banging on the doors can be heard outside. Before he can completely finish, they break in and kill him.
(Evidence: The phone message on Night 4 of FNAF is probably the most telling one. It establishes that Phone Guy was indeed on night duty when he recorded it, since he says “it’s been a bad night here for me,” so he must have recorded this one and the others before Mike Schmidt took over the night shift. Further evidence for that is what he says afterwards: “I’m kinda glad I recorded these messages for you,” indicating that they were all pre-recorded for Mike. His last request to have Mike look inside the suits means that he must think that’s very important. Perhaps he was able to piece together the fact that there really is paranormal activity going on here and not just robots malfunctioning, and the animatronics are possessed by the spirits of the five children killed during the “Missing Children Incident”)
Phone Guy is found dead the next morning, stuffed inside one of the spare suits. Once again, deals are made and money is passed around to keep everything hushed up.
Night 1 of FNAF occurs. Mike Schmidt begins his first day of work on the night shift. At 12am, the phone rings and Phone Guy’s first pre-recorded message plays for him. It makes him a little uneasy but the animatronics don’t seem too aggressive, so he makes it through.
Night 2 of FNAF occurs. Mike returns for his second shift and receives Phone Guy’s second pre-recorded message, giving him more warnings about the animatronics.
Night 3 of FNAF occurs. Phone Guy’s message this night makes him especially nervous since he mentions that most employees don’t last this long and goes into more detail about being stuffed inside a suit. The animatronics get increasingly more aggressive.
Night 4 of FNAF occurs. Mike gets really scared after hearing Phone Guy’s last message. Sheer curiosity and wanting to get to the bottom of Fazbear’s dark secrets compel him to stay on his shift.
Night 5 of FNAF occurs. Mike had tried to inquire about Phone Guy from his supervisors earlier in the day, but they act as if nothing happened and Phone Guy had simply finished up his last week and quit. The phone messages were mysteriously erased from the Office phone too. However, as soon as Mike starts his shift at 12am this night, he gets a phone call from an eerie robotic voice accompanied by strange beeps and screeches. Determined to find the answers he’s not getting, he stays on his shift. He receives his paycheck the next morning.
(Evidence: It’s obvious that the message Mike gets this night is from the animatronics, who have become so aggressive at this point that they even tried to communicate their anger towards him in some kind of audio form)
Night 6 of FNAF occurs. Still willing to risk his life to get to the bottom of the animatronics mystery, Mike works the next night for overtime hours. The animatronics are relentless and he still isn’t able to figure out anything new. The next morning he receives his overtime paycheck and is informed that they’d like to name him “employee of the month.”
The Custom Night of FNAF occurs. Mike decides not to hold back anymore and tries to tamper with the animatronics, look inside their suits, and find out what Phone Guy seemed so desperate about. He gets himself smelly and almost killed by doing so, but thinks he might be a bit closer to the truth. But at the end of his shift the next morning, he receives a “notice of termination” for tampering with the animatronics, unprofessionalism, and bad odor. He’s told not to come back.
Mid-November to mid-December 1993:
With sales decreasing and employees dropping out left and right, Fazbear Entertainment is forced to announce that the restaurant will close before the end of the year. The CEO tells the press that the characters will live on in the hearts of kids.
(Evidence: The last newspaper article occasionally seen in FNAF describes how the restaurant will have to close after its struggle to stay open since the tragedy that struck many years ago, probably referring to the “Missing Children Incident” from 1987)
1. How did the employees murder the children without their parents stopping them? They probably got the kids attention when the parents weren’t looking, maybe outside the restaurant, and led them in through the back before quickly locking everything up. The parents didn’t suspect they went back in the restaurant, especially if it was at closing time. Bad parenting probably played a role too.
2. Why does Fazbear Entertainment keep hiring killers? Whoever is among the hiring staff is a poor judge of character. Bad luck too.
3. Why do the animatronics only kill the night watchmen and not the staff during the day? The spirits of the murdered children want to get revenge on the employees because they were murdered by one. When it’s dark and quiet at night, with only one lone employee in the restaurant with them, I’m guessing it reminds them of when they were killed under similar conditions, and so become more aggressive at this time. Also because the four main animatronics have their free-roaming mode at night.
4. What’s the significance of the “It’s me” hallucinations and the cut scenes in FNAF2? I think they’re both just hallucinations resulting from the supernatural powers of the possessed animatronics. In FNAF2, Jeremy is wearing the Freddy mask during the cut scenes, so maybe the animatronics can “mess with his head” while he’s wearing it.
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