Five Nights at Freddy’s 3 features the series villain Springtrap, aka William Afton, for the first time in the flesh, or at least some of the flesh. Despite being the ultimate source of evil in FNAF, Springtrap is shockingly easy to trick in the game. However, there may be a very good, and horrifying, reason why players can trick Springtrap with so much ease.
Set in a horror attraction fashioned after the Freddy Fazbear Pizza restaurants of the past, players take on yet another security guard job. The twist for FNAF 3 is that players only have to manage one animatronic, alongside faulty security and ventilation systems. The murderer that started it all, Springtrap, stalks the halls of the haunted house and players have to do everything they can to keep him away from their door-less office. The biggest tool in the player’s arsenal is a simple audio cue of a child speaking, which draws Springtrap towards it if used strategically.
FNAF Fan Theory Explains Why It’s Easy To Trick Springtrap
The Lone Animatronic Of The Third Game
It might seem strange that players can distract one of the most cunning characters in Five Nights at Freddy’s with a simple noisemaker repeatedly over the course of a few nights. One fan theory posted by Reddit user Sudden_Negotiation71 solves this question with a horrifying answer. It isn’t William Afton himself that’s being tricked by the audio, but instead it is the animatronic suit he possesses automatically moving towards the sound of children due to its programming.
The animatronics in Five Nights at Freddys, before they were possessed by various spirits, were made to be the height of entertainment technology. This included a function in which the animatronics would automatically move towards the sounds of the children, as to best entertain and interact with them, unlike other animatronics bolted down to stationary stages. In fact, the archival recordings of Phone Guy in FNAF 3 explain exactly how these animatronics worked:
"We will discuss how to operate the mascots when they are in Animatronics form. For ease of operation, the animatronics are set to turn and walk towards sound, giving an easy and hands free approach to making sure the animatronics stay where the children are, for maximum entertainment/crowd pleasing value."
Before the endoskeleton animatronics there were the spring lock suits, which allowed employees to move mechanical parts out of the way and wear the suit around the restaurants. The Spring Bonnie suit which William Afton wore is one of those delicate hybrid suits. The suits were so fragile that Phone Guy stressed, “Do not touch the spring lock at any time. Do not breathe on a spring lock, as moisture may loosen them, and cause them to break loose.”
Why This FNAF 3 Theory Actually Makes Sense
The Ultimate Villain Shouldn't Be So Easy To Fool
Springtrap is, by the time players see him in FNAF 3 and learn what happened to him in the past, both man and machine. He has long since died due to the spring locks in his Spring Bonnie suit and rotted inside his own creation. The suit is both a functional animatronic and a mascot suit, which means that it would still have some of its autonomous functions. Players in FNAF 3 are capitalizing on this function by forcing Springtrap’s suit to move away from their office, very much against Afton’s murderous will.
In this context, it makes a lot of sense why the player is so easily able to keep Springtrap away from their vulnerable position in the security office. The spirit of William Afton isn’t being tricked, but is instead simply trapped inside an animatronic suit that he can only partially control.
Why This Is Another Horror Element To Afton’s Character
He Always Comes Back
Springtrap is easily one of the most horrifying characters in all of FNAF, in both life and death. A child murderer who caused almost every awful event in the series, Afton was a despicable human being. His afterlife form, that of Springtrap, is equally horrifying. A corpse left in the backroom of a Fazbear Restaurant for years or decades in the FNAF timeline, Afton’s body became entirely fused with his animatronic suit after the spring locks inside malfunctioned.
While that background is scary enough, the idea that Afton does not have full control of his suit creates an entirely new element of horror to Springtrap. He is no longer William Afton, but a combination of his own work and his own body: Springtrap. A murderous spirit that is determined to keep killing, but is only prevented by programming meant to entertain children. This dichotomy between a wholesome machine still trying to cheer up kids with the most evil spirit in the world trapped inside is what makes Five Nights At Freddy's so fascinating as a horror franchise and Springtrap so iconic as a villain.
The third entry in the franchise, Five Nights at Freddy's 3, takes place 30 years after the first entry and puts players in the role of a security guard again, but this time, in a horror attraction based on Freddy Fazbear's Pizza. Players in this game will only face off against one animatronic, Springtrap. The other animatronics return as "phantoms" that can hinder progress and make it easier for Springtrap to reach his prey.
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