Summary

• William Afton, also known as the Purple Guy, is the most important and resilient character in the Five Nights at Freddy's series, responsible for the horrific events and murders in the games.
• Despite being killed multiple times, Afton always finds a way to return in a new form, never reaching a permanent end. This raises the question of what happened to him and keeps the story centered around its ultimate villain.
• Afton's evil soul and determination to kill children allow him to come back from anything. Breaking his will to commit crimes may be the key to truly defeating him, but he remains a villain who is too bad to stay dead.

The entire story of Five Nights at Freddy's involves numerous creepy animatronics, but it ultimately revolves around a single character. William Afton is personally responsible for almost every horrific event in the series, as he's the co-founder of Fazbear Entertainment and the one who originally built the iconic animatronics. In the Five Nights at Freddy's lore, he's also the murderer of the children that now possess those various suits, which attack the player throughout the games. This makes William Afton, AKA the Purple Guy, easily the most important character in the series, not to mention the most resilient.

In many of the games, William Afton meets his demise, but he always finds some way of returning in a new form. No matter how many times Afton is killed, trapped, or destroyed, he never reaches his permanent end. One of his most famous quotes is "I always come back!" and he's constantly proved those words to be true. This makes the question of what happened to William Afton a highly loaded one, with the FNaF story never quite letting go of its ultimate villain.

Updated by Timothy Blake Donohoo on December 6, 2023: The Five Nights at Freddy's franchise continues to enthrall gamers, and the mania for the series has now hit the big screen. The FNaF movie has been a major box office success, and it also faithfully brought numerous elements of the games to theaters. This included the villainous William Afton, whose defeat and machinations heavily resemble his actions in the source material.

The Rise And Fall Of Springtrap

In Five Nights at Freddy's 3, what happened to William Afton when he first died was revealed through mini-games. Using a spare Spring Bonnie suit, Afton lured five children away at one of the Freddy's restaurants and murdered them. The souls of these five children then went on to inhabit the Freddy Fazbear, Bonnie, Chica, Foxy, and Golden Freddy animatronics. Consumed with vengeance, the spirits of the children waited for Afton's return. When he eventually did, the spirits attacked him and chased him through the restaurant. William Afton hid in the Spring Bonnie suit, but the spring-lock failure within the suit activated, crushing his body and causing him to die a slow and gruesome death.

Just like the children he murdered, Afton's soul refused to rest and possessed the Spring Bonnie suit, turning him into Springtrap. For years, William Afton was trapped within the suit in the abandoned restaurant. Eventually, the restaurant was rediscovered and turned into a horror attraction called Fazbear's Fright. Afton stalked the night guard of the new attraction until the building mysteriously burned down. This dangerous and all-consuming fire destroyed Fazbear's Fright and seemingly Springtrap as well, but this part of FNaF lore wasn't the end for the franchise's villain.

The Creation Of Scraptrap

In Freddy Fazbear's Pizzeria Simulator, it was revealed that Willaim Afton had survived the fire and had become something new once again. The fire had heavily damaged the Springtrap body to the point that it needed repair. Once Afton repaired himself, he became Scraptrap and ended up outside a new Freddy Fazbear's Pizza Place. This restaurant was built by Afton's former business partner, Henry Emily, as part of his revenge against Afton. He planned to finally put all the possessed animatronics to rest.

Scraptrap was brought inside the restaurant and salvaged. By the end of the game, Scraptrap and all the other animatronics were destroyed as the restaurant burned to the ground. All the spirits that possessed the animatronics were finally put to rest except for William Afton and the spirit possessing Golden Freddy. The spirit inside Golden Freddy trapped Afton inside an eternal nightmare where he would be tormented by his past victims. It was a fitting end for the story's biggest monster.

The Resurrection Of Glitchtrap And Burntrap

Despite seemingly reaching a satisfying ending, William Afton managed to revive himself once again. Scraptrap's remains were discovered by developers attempting to create a video game based on the murders at the Fazbear restaurants. Scraptrap's circuit boards were scanned, which allowed Afton's soul to escape his endless torture. His soul was placed inside the video game, where he became Glitchtrap. While in the game, he brainwashed a beta tester to do his evil bidding.

In Security Breach, William Afton used his newest victim to infiltrate Freddy Fazbear's Pizza Megaplex. Once there, he downloaded his soul back into the charred remains of Scraptrap. With the soul of William Afton back inside his original body, he became Burntrap. From underneath the Megaplex, Afton manipulated the events of Security Breach and attempted to kill Gregory and Glamrock Freddy. The two were able to defeat Burntrap and set fire to the Megaplex. Once more, William Afton was consumed by fire and seemingly killed. Given Afton's history, it's almost guaranteed that he will make another return.

Why Does William Afton Always Come Back?

So far, William Afton has been crushed to death within a spring suit and been through three different fires. Despite all of that, he's shown no signs of stopping at any point in FNaF lore. William Afton seems to be motivated by an unstoppable urge to kill children. Throughout the majority of his original life and in each of his incarnations, his sole focus is the murder of children, inverting the family-friendly image of the Freddy Fazbear pizzerias. Through sheer willpower and his selfish desires, William Afton has remained alive to continually plague innocents.

The power of his evil soul seems to allow him to come back from anything, which is likely why William Afton can't die. It's possible that the only way to truly defeat him is to somehow break his will to come back and commit more crimes. Without his determination or drive for murder, William Afton could lose his ability to resurrect into new forms. Attacking Afton's soul instead of his physical body might be the key to truly killing him, but he may be a villain who's simply too bad to stay dead.

William Afton's Portrayal In The Five Nights At Freddy's Movie

Portrayed by veteran horror actor Matthew Lillard, William Afton in the Five Nights at Freddy's movie is a fairly accurate take on the villain. He's once again shown as a child murderer who led to several Freddy Fazbear's Pizza Place animatronics being haunted by his victim's spirits. Likewise, he also has a daughter named Vanessa that he uses for his own nefarious purposes, which matches the FNaF lore of the video games. One major change is that he alters his name to Steve Raglan in order to become an unsuspecting career counselor.

Beyond this change in moniker, William Afton in the Five Nights at Freddy's movie is the same sadistic villain that fans might expect. In the movie's finale, he notably says his iconic line "I always come back" after experiencing springlock failure while wearing the Spring Bonnie suit. This sets up his likely return in the eventual Five Nights at Freddy's sequel. Given the current movie's success at the box office, William Afton is sure to make good on his promise by terrifying the parishioners of Freddy Fazbear's for several nights to come.

Five Nights at Freddy's is now playing in theaters and streaming on Peacock.