Game Theory - The SECRET Afton (FNAF Security Breach)

Episode Date: November 26, 2023

Join Game Theory Host MatPat as he gives more context to his ICONIC Gregory is a robot theory!

Gregory, do you see that bit of green spinach in your teeth? Have you ever heard of Fortnite, Gregory? You need to floss. You need to floss, Gregory. Well, this is embarrassing. I'm gonna let you guys have this one, and I'll see you next game. I always come back and you know the bit. Did we just win?

No, no we did not, Superstar. Oh, Internet, welcome to you. It's a game theory, the show that's proud to pick the nerdiest option available. Anyone that picks Monty Golf is just a nerd. Woo, Gator Golf. Jokes on you, Mark. FasCAM is O-P. Plus, being a nerd, allow me to discover the secret daycare room and sister location room.

So who's the nerd now? Me. It's still me. Last time we dove into the time travel ball pit that is five nights at Freddie's security breach, I walked away with some, um, let's just call them divisive conclusions. Basically, it was an episode with three separate theories packaged together. We proposed one, that glam rock Freddy wasn't just your average sentient animatronic, but rather was possessed by the spirit of Michael Afton doing everything he can to protect Gregory.

This one was generally well received, so cool, let's keep going. Why would Michael protect this random kid? Well, because two, Gregory, whether literally or symbolically, is Michael's younger brother, Fnaf 4's crying child. I started to lose people at this point, but it was really theory number three, threw us for a loop because there's a good bit of evidence in both the game and in the history of the franchise to suggest that three Gregory is a robot the crying child's consciousness literally transplanted into a robotic body sometime after he dies in the bite of 83 ha ha ha ha ha ha oh and there were a lot of strong opinions on that with some people really liking the theory and others not so much suddenly I was flooded by people saying that I had rushed it out just to ride the trend or that it was my dumbest theory ever the outcry

was so huge that I ended up trending on Twitter because of it. You know, didn't get much better from there. Weird side note, later in the same week, I was trending again because a group of performers juggled to the song Megalovania during an event for none other than the Pope. It only took five years, my friends, but it looks like that steam code I gave him for Undertale finally paid off. They called me a madman. Anyway, like I said, a lot of heated opinions on the last one.

With Twitter basically boiling down this 18-minute long 4,000 word theory, down to this single image. So, uh, yeah, thanks. Thanks for not including literally anything else from that last video. So before we get to the next theory all about Vanessa, let me just address some of the biggest counterpoints I saw to the previous theory. Not because I'm convinced I'm right. Far from it, in fact, but because I think that the Gregory is Crying Child theory currently fits the best with everything the game is presented to us thus far. First, one of the key pieces of evidence last episode was this line right at the start of the game where Freddie says to Gregory, I feel you are broken. This, to me, was a clear

connection back to the crying child from PhnaF4 where psychic friend Fred Bear says to him, You are broken. I mean, kind of speaks for itself. It's a parallel that's made stronger when you actually remember how that line gets delivered back in that game. There was really no way of knowing back when Phna 4 was released, but thanks to a secret room found in sister location, we know that psychic friend Fred Bear is actually a plushy with a walkie-talkie inside of him, a walkie-talkie that allowed William Afton to scare and manipulate his youngest son. Father of the Ladies and gentlemen, also know that throughout FNAF 4, all of Williams' lines use the color FFFF 57, a bright golden yellow. Golden yellow makes sense. But the iconic final lines of

you're broken, I will put you back together, actually use a different color. A lighter yellow, FFFFFA zero. Back then, we never really came to a satisfying explanation. Was it a mistake? Was it another spirit? Was it maybe the puppet? But now, seven years of investigation later, we know for sure. Someone else is indeed talking here. Someone who in sister location is mistaken for his dad. Someone who turns purple just like his dad. Someone who can't die like his dad. And someone who had the lines immediately prior apologizing to his kid brother, but when that didn't get through, decided to try comforting him through the voice of his best friend. It's Michael Afton, represented by a lighter color of yellow, a color that symbolically connects him back to his father.

In short, we have Michael Afton and Fnaf 4 saying the line, you're broken to a his brother through the voice of a Fred Bear plush. And here in Security Breach, if we're right about all this, we once again have him saying the same line. You're broken to his brother through the voice of another Freddy, this time, glam rock Freddy. I personally think it's a really cool narrative connection between all these games. But a lot of people were quick to point out that there's dialogue in the game files

that was cut from the final release, where Freddy says that Gregory is bleeding. Specifically, he says, Your arm is cut badly. And, I am detecting blood. You are injured. This, for many people, disproved that Gregory's an animatronic, and I actually have two things to say about that.

First, when I've used cut lines of dialogue in the past, the internet has no uncertain terms told me that I can't. But now apparently it's okay. Kind of inconsistent there, guys, and honestly, I think cutting it, regardless of the reason, shows that it didn't fit the final creative intent of the game. But anyway, if that's the case, then I got to bring this line up. A cut line of dialogue discovered by G.B. ORA recharged in the game files. This one is Freddie saying, Gregory, I know why you're not in the customer database.

I remember you from the... And it cuts off. Obviously, it's vague. It's kept very intentionally vague. But it also shows that Gregory is special in a way that the other disappeared kids aren't. There's a reason he's not in the customer base. He's from somewhere specific that Freddie knows about.

If I were to guess, I'd say like, the underground pizzeria. But, you know, that's just me hypothesizing. Adding to the Gregory is special idea is the fact that Chica knows his name. She calls it out in the middle of the pizzeria. Strange detail for a kid who supposedly has no records in the system. Secondly, and I, uh, I hate to be the bearer of bad news here, but in the books, because everybody loves when I go back to that well, animatronic children do actually bleed.

They can also cry and feel cold. Heck, they can even feel hungry and eat. And you don't even have to go to the books for that one. You can just see it with Chica's pizza obsession and security breach. So to tell me that a robot child can't bleed, Yeah, I think you gotta really look at the franchise that we're talking about here. And for everyone who is confused about the timeline of crying child still being alive, and the fact that he would be older at this point, that wouldn't actually be the case.

Animatronic children in the books stay at whatever age they're built to be. Charlotte Emily actually had four separate versions of herself built, one for each stage of her life, so that way she could grow older, but she would just assume a new animatronic body each time. So crying child still being young would actually make more sense here. And to everyone's saying, why would he say stuff like, Don't want to be crushed and twisted into a meat pretzel?

No, again, Charlotte in the books is shocked to learn her true nature in the final chapters. Her consciousness had been grafted onto a childhood toy while she was alive, and after her tragic death, had been placed inside of a robot body to function as her memory. So for all she knew, she was just a normal human being just like anyone else. Is it dumb? Yeah, I'll say that it is. Is it complicated? Oh, yeah, absolutely.

But is it giving us insight into the rules that Scott and everyone who touches this universe verse operate by? Yes, it undeniably is. Lastly, for everyone who spammed my feed with pictures of sad white boys and striped shirts saying that you had found the crying child, thank you for your help uncovering the lore. I get the joke. All white boys with brown hair and striped shirts are apparently the crying child. But remember what series we're talking about here, friends. Visual design details have always been an important part of figuring these games out. Take a look at baby. During sister location, she has green eyes. But when you play her mini-game, she has blue ones, at least until she kills Elizabeth Afton, who,

lo and behold, had green eyes. Superficial design features like this help us to connect the dots. Are they the be-all and end-all of evidence? No, but they do help support an argument. So a little brown-haired boy in shorts with a shirt and two stripes seems suss. Have you ever heard of Among Us, Gregory? Speaking of eyes, for all the complaints about the last episode, no one seemed to have any answers to what I see as the two strongest pieces of physical evidence here. Why does Gregory look different when Freddy gets Roxy's x-ray eyes. You look different to me.

And secondly, why does Gregory's vision glitch when he sees Vanney? Why does he have such a weird visual reaction to her and to literally no other character in the game? Well, you hear that high-pitched ringing sound as Vanney skips and gets closer? It seems to be a disruptor that makes her invisible to animatronics with older model eyes. In the fire ending, Freddie, who couldn't see her at any point in the game, explicitly says, I can see you now. I have new eyes. I mean, this is exactly how the much-hated sound illusion discs from the books work,

creating a high-frequency sound to make people in robots invisible and or look differently. But I'm already fighting a losing battle over here, so I'm just gonna gloss over that one. Anyway, to me, it reads as Gregory's robotic eyes being disrupted. I mean, why have CRT lines over the screen and not some other type of filter to show that his vision is getting disrupted? In fact, why have the same CRT lines as the security cameras all around the Pizzaplex. But there's one final piece of evidence I'd like to talk about to help solidify that previous theory before we move on. And that is the screenshot here of the final scene from the Savior ending, where you rescue Vanny from the control of glitch trap. And, uh, I use

quotation marks here because there aren't any official sources giving names to the various endings. In the game files, they're just labeled as S1, S2, and S3 based on the number of stars that you get for them. It is worth noting though that this is the only three star ending that currently exists, which seems to imply that it has some level of importance to it. But here we see our three main characters, Gregory, Freddie, and Vanessa all sitting on a hill, which, as I pointed out last time, is very similar to the Fnaf 6 Gravestone Hill. But that's not what's important here. What I want to point out is the ice cream.

Gregory is holding a Golden Freddy-shaped ice cream with part of its head bitten off. If Gregory is not meant to parallel back to the crying child in any way, shape, or form, then this detail is just mean and irrespective This ice cream is the crying child story coming full circle. He was terrified of animatronics and ended up being bitten by the Golden Freddy's spring suit, but now he's the one sitting on a hill taking a big old bite out of Golden Freddy. That is not me reading too much into this. That is me lightly interpreting a very clear image that was put directly into this game by the designers.

It is barely even subtle. And despite him wearing a blue shirt in most of the endings, here his shirt is colored purple, just like his father's signature color. Double that with literally everything else, his lack of records, the fact that he goes into the charging station. So, I stand by my theory that Gregory is an animatronic of the crying child. Is it a perfect answer? No. Do I love the fact that it complicates the lore even more? No.

But does it answer the most questions with the evidence that we have? I believe it does, and it's a heck of a lot better than Fasgu. But now, four pages into this episode, let's actually stop to talk about Vanessa, shall we? Last episode, I made a passing statement about how this final image fits. felt me like the three Afton children getting reunited, crying child, Michael, and Elizabeth Afton, Williams' daughter that done got scooped by baby back in sister location. It's a scene that, to me, feels like the narrative,

finally giving them a sense of closure, after they quite literally die as a result of their dad's evil deeds. Last time I briefly made mention of Vanessa's blonde hair and green eyes, which is the same as Elizabeth. And here, in this ending, we actually see two scenes of her wearing the signature Afton purple. Even the ice cream cone, as opposed to something like, Gregory's novelty pop is a potential callback to her death where baby delivered an ice cream cone to her before she did the scoop and when you look at the connections between these two characters it's more than just a couple of visual similarities

the biggest secret in security brief right now is a series of 16 retro CDs invisible collectibles that only freddie can see hidden in every obscure corner of the game's map then to play these things he actually need to have also found the secret sister location room that we talked about last time now these CDs are well, uh, they're problematic. They open up a whole separate can of worms. Their recordings of therapy sessions following two separate individuals, Patient 46 and Patient 71. The exact identity of Patient 46 is a theory for next time that will absolutely launch us into yet another Flame War, but early in Patient 71's tapes, we learned that it's actually Vanessa speaking. Hello, Vanessa. How are you feeling today? These are recordings from therapy sessions that Vanessa had while she was at the job for the FNAF AR games special delivery. She mentions speaking to a man named Lewis on several occasions, and we discover that she's also buying fake fur,

both of which are things that we see in emails from FNAF AR. By the last of Vanessa's recordings, she's leaving that job for a new job somewhere else, most likely the job of security guard here in security breach. I'm needed somewhere else now. But let's dive into the good stuff, shall we? In Vanessa's second tape, we learn about a custody battle that happened between her parents. Her dad won using manipulative tactics, forcing his daughter to falsely testify. Your dad made you follow instructions, didn't he?

I'm talking about the custody battle between your mom and your dad. Your dad didn't play a fair, did he? He used to make your mom look bad in court. After losing custody of her daughter, Vanessa's mother, well, here's what the tape does. I know your mom after she lost the custody case. It glitches, implying that her mother ended her own life. Which would explain why Mrs. Afton is missing from all the games, and why she may have wound up being rebuilt as the motherly Ballora in sister location.

A robot that, wouldn't you know it, sings about her inescapable depression now that the walls of her house are empty. All I see is an empty room. No more joy, an empty tomb. We also hear Vanessa lines like this. Oh, you like those? Apparently, the janitor on this floor has a garden and has been putting bouquets in the offices here for years. Vanessa likes flowers. A small detail, but you know me, small details could often be the biggest evidence. Who else do we know in the series that has an affinity for flowers? Well, think back to FNAF 4.

Remember this random, empty bedroom with a huge portrait of a flower on the wall? It's Elizabeth's room before she got scooped. Then you have Vanessa lines like this. Lots of people know more than I do. Sometimes I need to listen. Now this might be a stretch, but I believe it's referring to when Elizabeth got scooped by baby. Her dad had repeatedly and explicitly warned her not to go near baby, but she didn't listen. And in doing so, she ended up getting herself trapped inside the animatronic. Don't tell Daddy that I'm here. I wanted to watch your show too.

I don't know why he wouldn't let me come see you. You're wonderful. Vanessa also says in her tapes that she doesn't like dark basements. I have a craft space in my basement. Maybe I could come up with something you could learn to do. I don't like dark basements. It's another line that seems to be pointing us in the direction. a baby who is trapped underground for years in circus babies entertainment and rentals looking for a way back to the surface.

I've been out before, but they always put me back. They always put us back inside. There's nowhere for us to hide here. There is nowhere to go. And to put one final nail in this coffin, right back in the second CD we actually learned the name of Vanessa's father. I feel like I know your dad too. Bill, right? Bill is short for William. That's just the game trolling us with a coincidence, right? Wrong. You see, going back to FNAF AR, we learned that Vanessa's last name begins with an A. From there, we can connect the dots. Bill A, William Afton. But didn't baby burn at the end of Fnaf 6? Well, yeah, she did.

But you see how effective that was? How are you not dead? I mean, to be fair, the thought that burning him is going to work is stupid, because people have tried to burn him to death no less than three times in this franchise. Spoiler alert, it doesn't work! But here's the kicker. At the end of the game, we mean,

meet the blob. A weird tentacle monster made up of all the original members of the series. Fnaf 1's Chica and Bonnie. Fnaf 2's Mangle. Sister locations, Fun Time Freddy. A random endoskeleton crawling out of the bottom. The puppet mask without tears, I might point out, and Baby's face. Now, don't get me started on this being Baby's original face and not scrap baby's updated look where she came back to Fnaf 6 in. I have words about that. Anyway, look at them all here on You notice anything strange? Most of the animatronic's eyes are lit up. Funtime Freddy, Cheekah, Mangle, even this random endoskeleton at the bottom.

But now take a look back at Baby's mask. The eyes are blacked out. So although the blob has absorbed Baby's body during the burning down of Freddy Fasbear's Pizza Place, her spirit, the spirit of Elizabeth Afton is no longer present. It is unaccounted for. It is on the loose. And as such, potentially at large within the game. Is she, in some way, Vanessa? Vanessa, and if so, how?

The truth is, I don't know. This game has got my brain in so many knots, I might as well be a sailboat. I don't think there's any evidence to support any conclusion at this point in time. But I do know that this is what the evidence is heavily pointing us towards. The design similarities, the missing spirit, the purple color, the ice cream, the voice lines, the personality traits, and again, the narrative theme of three Afton kids reuniting and moving on after a traumatic past. It gives everyone this nice full circle ending, even if it's only meant to be, symbolic. And the screen really does feel like it's the end, finally, for these three characters.

Maybe next time we'll finally see some new faces. But hey, that's just a theory. A game theory. Thanks for watching.