Five Nights At Freddy’s: Sister Location story theories are already starting to wrap up, but the new game still leaves players with a bunch of unanswered questions. As we strive to solve Scott Cawthon’s complex lore, here are five huge details we must know!
1) Who Do We Play As: Probably the single biggest Sister Location debate revolves around who the player controls in the game. From the opening cutscene we know that William Afton’s story appears to be a big part of the plot, but there are quite a few different theories about whether the player is actually the character creator, someone close to him or someone else entirely.
As we discussed in our previous theory article, it’s possible that we’re playing as Afton and he has returned to the Sister Location to make peace with his daughter that was killed by Baby. Ultimately that doesn’t go too well, and his body gets stuffed with a vengeful animatronic soul that now takes pleasure in murdering children. It would explain why Afton, the Purple Man, is a killer in the subsequent games but there are a few noteworthy contradictions. Why does Baby not recognize him at first? Why can’t he control his own animatronics? Is Springtrap really an animatronic inside an animatronic? That’s a bit weird even for Cawthon.
Then there’s Afton’s son who famously wears the Foxy mask in Five Nights At Freddy’s 4. After the death of his sister, maybe he goes to Sister Location for closure. He gets scooped, and this infuriates Afton who has now lost all of his children at the hands of his creations. As a result, he becomes a killer.
Third is the original Five Nights At Freddy’s guard, Mike Schmidt. When the player starts Sister Location, Mike is the default name on the keypad. He gets scooped and eventually goes back to Freddy Fazbear’s Pizza. Being a human animatronic would explain why he’s fired for odor at the end of the first game and why the animatronics are so serious about stuffing him into an actual suit. We also know Schmidt has blue eyes just like the Sister Location protagonist.
The point is, we have no idea who we play as. Knowing that detail would certainly help iron out these story theories.
2) What Does The Beginning Cutscene Mean: Five Nights At Freddy’s: Sister Location opens with someone talking to Afton about his animatronics. He expresses concern for some of their more sinister features. What we still don’t know, however, is who’s talking in that clip. Many theorists suggest that Afton could be speaking to police about his murderous deeds. Then there’s also the possibility that he’s selling his franchise to someone else that has a few questions. A past teaser mentioned a local entrepreneur that helped finance the location. Maybe that’s who’s speaking.
Knowing the context for this conversation would give us more background overall because we could then see how the Sister Location game relates to it. The fact that it starts with this moment is crucial, but nobody has really dug in too deep to explain why.
3) The Links To FNAF 4: One thing that is certain, however, is that Scott wants us to relate Sister Location’s plot to the events of Five Nights At Freddy’s 4. In the breaker room mini-game with Funtime Freddy, we see that the underground establishment map also features the blueprints for the final chapter’s house. Typing “1983” into the keypad in the Secret Room shows that cameras are rigged to peer into its rooms too. There’s even a Fredbear plush with a walkie talkie nearby. What does it all mean?
One theory is that Afton was actually experimenting with kids inside the Five Nights At Freddy’s 4 house with the actual Nightmare animatronics. He would then take some of the “failures” downstairs to the Sister Location to get scooped. The cameras are used to watch his subjects, and the talking plushie is meant to control them. In other words, there’s a good reason why this area is secret.
Another idea is that maybe Afton has these plans of his house because he’s a protective parent. Knowing how dangerous his animatronics can be after the death of his daughter, he rigs cameras to watch his kids and warns them with the plushie to stay away.
Both of these perspectives are wildly different, so answering this question drastically impacts what Sister Location means. Is Afton darker than we ever knew, or is there actually a human side to him?
4) Was It All Real: The classic Five Nights At Freddy’s question is wondering how much of the events are real. Did the Nightmare animatronics exist in real life, or are they just hallucinations? We can’t say for sure because of the establishment's known problem with “gas leaks,” but the perspective chosen here can change how one views the series.
Theorists previously thought of Five Nights At Freddy’s 4 as a trip into the mind of a single, broken child. If it’s real, that would force us to reconsider our assumptions about the game. Are we playing as multiple children? Do these children have a role in the larger story that we don’t know? Again, is Afton truly sadistic enough to design something so terrible?
5) Is There More: Many of these story theories assume that Five Nights At Freddy’s: Sister Location is immediately connected to other games in the series, but what if it’s not? What if the Five Nights At Freddy’s 4 blueprints and plushie are just Easter eggs and we’re starting a whole new plot? It’d mean that lots of the gap filling we did above was pointless.
Cawthon has said that he intends Sister Location to be a standalone project, but we all know how he loves to playfully mislead his followers. We can assume this game is all about Afton, but maybe his lore is deeper than we comprehend.
Five Nights At Freddy’s: Sister Location is available now on PC. Mobile versions are likely coming soon.
What do you think of these story theories? Which question do you want answered most? Tell us in the comments section!
