Some concept exploration doodles I did earlier this month, just to try to hammer some ideas down :) Ft. the reveals of Clay Burke and Everette Larson!
+ some Magma doodles of Henry and Michael from a few days ago :)
Should have more actual designs to post soon! Been focused on writing lately, and the Chapter 1 outline is nearly done and scripting has begun! I’m very excited to share what I have in store with you guys <3
"It was like it was singing a song, but too softly for Larson to make out the words. He held up the pendant to inspect it, and the sun shone through it. It was dazzling."
Linkle’s Fazbear Frights & Lore Insights #4: The Stitchwraith I
[Read the general disclaimer and important notes for this series of articles here.]
[View the Masterlist of all completed articles here.]
Some The Stitchwraith I specific notes:
As with all Stitchwraith Stingers in the Fazbear Frights books, it is important to note that The Stitchwraith I is only a very small portion of a much longer story; as I am writing these in chronological order of the stories released as I go along listening to all of them, this article will only be delving into that particular portion of the Stitchwraith story, and the opinions formed on it will be based solely on the information I have having only read the other stories on this particular volume, and any potential volumes prior. If you want to hear my fully formed final opinion after having all the facts, you can go to the masterlist linked above and skip to the final “The Stitchwraith (Complete)” article, once it has been finished.
Furthermore, since the Stitchwraith Stingers all reference the stories of their individual Fazbear Frights volumes and are all pieces of a whole, you can expect me to potentially be referencing all Fazbear Frights stories prior to this one, including any prior Stitchwraith Stingers and their volumes. If you don’t want spoilers for those, then you should probably skip this article until you have read them. I may also be referencing my previous articles for those stories, so if you also don’t want to be spoiled on those, you should probably go read them first, too.
With that said, let’s get going. This is your last spoiler warning for The Stitchwraith I and potentially all prior stories connected to it, so if you want to turn back, please do so now.
Overall Impressions
The Book:
Well, I don’t know how to explain it, but the writing seems…better in this, in some way. I think it’s the notable lack of ‘said’s, and the tendency to not always use descriptors at all for the characters talking, that makes this story noticeably more to my tastes in writing — which is odd, considering it’s allegedly the same co-author (Elley Cooper), but I won’t complain about it.
As for the story itself, there’s not a lot I can say at this point in time on how I feel about it. I definitely think it’s interesting, and I’m curious as to where it’s going, but beyond that, there’s really not much I can comment on. I’m only just getting to know the characters, and it’s over almost instantly, left on a cliffhanger. I’m excited to learn more, but I don’t have any major opinions formed on it as a story just yet.
The only commentary I can make right now is that as of yet, I don’t quite understand why Sarah or her predicament was referenced here, and what connection it has to the Stitchwraith. I know that eventually other victims continue to be referenced, but beyond that I know nothing of it all, so I can only say I hope that it has some actual relevance and isn’t just being casually name dropped for no particular reason, as I’d find that very disappointing.
Lore Relevancy
I honestly don’t think I’m going to have much to say about this, given how short the story is, but let’s go ahead and talk about what little we can so far, anyway.
The Lies and Half-truths
Well, obviously, I don’t think that any of this happened the way it’s presented, if at all, but I think that’s just the most obvious thing anyone can say when speaking from the Frights Fiction stance.
Some things that I noticed right off the bat, though, that I do think is a half-truth hidden within it, is the Stitchwraith themself; now, obviously, I don’t quite know enough yet to anything for certain, but my current thought process is that I believe the Stitchwraith is either a stand-in for — or at least in some way intrinsically tied to — the Puppet, for the following reasons:
1: The Stitchwraith is described in the books thusly: “From under the hood of what looked like maybe a long trench coat, a bulky white face peered out at the night. […] The face wasn't a face, not a human face anyway. Unless it was a damaged human face covered in bandages maybe? It looked more like a mask. The face was round, and its features were drawn onto the curved white surface. Done in thick black marker, the black features looked like a child had made them. […] It had dark eyes, one of which looked blackened, and it had a terrifying mouth with a missing tooth […]”
Apart from the missing tooth and the blackened eyes oddities, this description almost perfectly fits the description of Nightmarione, who is the Puppet’s Nightmare variation in FNAF 4’s DLC (in which it is non-canon) and UCN (in which it is canon).
2: The Stitchwraith’s seemingly suspected victims all are described as having “eyes that bled black down the sides of the face” — a signature trademark related specifically and — as far as we know — solely to the Puppet and its variants. Yes, dead children are often depicted as crying in the main game canon with blue tear trails, but black seem exclusive to the Puppet.
3: In main game canon, the Puppet — AKA Charlie Emily — is known to be the first of William’s six main victims and helped ‘give life’ to at least four of the other five in awakening them to their new animatronic bodies, so it would make sense if Fazbear Frights flipped that reality in this story and made the Puppet the killer of six victims instead (and perhaps some sort of vengeful killer, since so far its mentioned victims seem to be criminals?).
4: The Stitchwraith is seen pulling out a mannequin’s torso out of a dumpster on the camera feed, which could again be symbolic to the Puppet helping the possessed animatronics in some way.
So yes, so far, I believe the Stitchwraith is a parallel to the Puppet. We’ll see, though. No intentional spoilers, please.
The Truths and the Likely-Truths
The things I KNOW are True
Absolutely nothing — I don’t have a clear enough picture yet to say anything with certainty.
The things I FEEL are True
Still nothing with any level of certainty that I didn’t already bring up in the previous section, but since otherwise I have nowhere to put this, here are some things I’ve noted and am keeping in mind for the future, even if I don’t yet feel particularly convinced of any of them:
Detective Everett Larson might be worth keeping an eye on for parallels to William in the future, since it’s noted that he was so dedicated to the job that he negelected his son Ryan, and his wife Angela eventually left him and filed for divorce, leaving him so depressed that he feels “home isn’t home anymore” and avoids it as much as possible, especially since he rarely sees his child now. This is not by any means a 1:1 with William (as a matter of fact, there are several differences), but since I am keeping an eye out for (possibly even distorted) parallels to canon characters, it is something I’m going to keep in mind going forward, to see how much evidence stacks up for this interpretation and determine whether or not it is worth exploring.
The fact the bodies were described as withered was an interesting choice. I want to keep on the lookout for any further signs there might be an intentional parallel to the withered versions of the original animatronics Freddy’s animatronics going forward, since there were the five childrens’ bodies stuffed in them.
Another interesting thing I noted is that, during the second description of the Stitchwraith, it is noted that the black features look like they’re done in black marker, like a child had drawn them, which reminded me instantly of the Paper Pals, but I’ve no idea if that is actually of any relevance here or not, either — just something I thought might be worth bringing up and plan to keep an eye on.
And yeah, that’s…basically all I have to say here right now. Thanks for reading, even if this likely wasn’t the most interesting of my articles out there so far, and I look forward to seeing you in the next one.
