Father. It's me, Michael. I did it. I found it. It was right where you said it would be. They were all there. They didn't... recognize me at first but then, they thought I was you. (Heavy sigh) And I found her. I put her back together, just like you asked me to. She's free now. But something is wrong with me. I should be dead. But I'm not. I've been living in shadows. There is only one thing left for me to do now. I'm going to come find you. I'm going to come find you...
„
~ Michael Afton talking to his father in the final cutscene of Sister Locationnoicon
Michael Afton, also known as Eggs Benedict and Mike Schmidt, is the main protagonist of the ScottGames era of the FiveNights at Freddy's franchise.
He is the son of the notorious serial killer William Afton and the older brother of Elizabeth Afton and the Crying Child. Starting out as a cruel bully, after accidentally killing his brother, he decided to atone for his mistakes by becoming a technician at Circus Baby's Entertainment and Rental so he could save his sister's soul.
After discovering the horrible truth about Michael's father and being reduced to a living corpse by Elizabeth, he goes on a quest to "find" his father, eventually culminating in him working under Henry Emily, Afton's former business partner, while remaining unaware of his true plans.
It's also theorized that he took the identities of Fritz Smith and/or the unnamed Fazbear's Fright night guard during the search for his father.
Michael's younger self serves as the main antagonist in the fourth game's minigames from 1983, particularly on the second, third, fourth and fifth nights. It is revealed on Night 5 that he plays the role of the child's bully of an older brother. In the five days leading up to his brother's birthday, Mike torments him in numerous ways, such as locking him inside his room, jumpscaring him behind the TV and under the bed in a Foxy mask, and locking him in the Parts/Services room at Fredbear's. However, on his birthday, Mike and his friends went too far, when they dragged his brother up to the Fredbear animatronic, shoving his head inside his jaws. When Fredbear malfunctioned and crushed his head, Mike and his friends were genuinely horrified.
After the bite, the child begins to die. Michael comes to his little brother's bedside, and apologizes in a brief yet remorseful statement.
Night Segments[]
Michael is confirmed to be the main protagonist of the night segments. While the minigames take place in 1983, the nights are implied to take place after the first game, and thus somewhere after late 1993. In these dreams, Mike is a a scared boy within his childhood bedroom, being haunted by nightmarish versions of the main four Fazbear animatronics. As well as facing them, from Night 5, Michael was also tormented by Nightmare Fredbear, before facing a dark, black bear known simply as Nightmare. Michael manages to survive him, and the nightmares presumably end after this.
Five Nights at Freddy's: Sister Location[]
Michael appears in this game as the main protagonist. He works as a technician and was sent there by his father to free his sister's soul from Circus Baby. However, it's equally possible that Afton tried to get Mike killed.
On night 1, Michael arrives at Circus Baby's, and HandUnit welcomes him, showing him how to check the animatronics' stages, and if they are not in their proper places, he must shock them to put them back on their stage. Michael successfully shocks Ballora and Funtime Foxy but even though he shocks Baby, she does not appear.
On night 2, Michael checked Ballora and Foxy, but when he checked Baby, the controlled shocks did not work, requiring HandUnit to shut down the system in a bid to restart the power supply. Baby began speaking to him, telling him to hide under the desk. After surviving the Bidybabs, in an optional scene, Michael is told by Baby of what happened to Elizabeth. Michael then crawled through Ballora Gallery, avoiding her by listening out for her music. He then reaches the Breaker Room, where he restarted all the systems while playing audio to keep Funtime Freddy from attacking him. Michael then crawls back through Ballora Gallery, and leaves the facility.
On night 3, Michael returned, checking Ballora and Funtime Foxy. He then ran through Funtime Auditorium while avoiding Funtime Foxy. Michael reached Parts and Service, where he performed a repair on Freddy, and caught Bon Bon in order to get Freddy's second power module. When he returned through Funtime Auditorium, Foxy attacked him, knocking him out.
On night 4, Michael woke up in a spring lock suit. Baby began talking to him, explaining she kidnapped him. Then, two technicians entered the building and sent Ballora to the Scooping Room, where Michael was. He then witnessed Ballora get scooped, and survive an attack of Minireenas.
On night 5, Michael checked the stages, only to see two hanged technicians. He then returned through Funtime Auditorium, and entered Parts and Service, to see a lifeless Circus Baby. She explained that she is pretending and something bad happened that day, and that Ballora's endoskeleton is after him. He then enters a random number sequence into a keypad that flips out of Baby's left central face plate. After entering the passcode, Michael gets a chip from her upper arm plate so she can communicate with him after she's been scooped.
If the player chose to follow Baby's instructions, Michael enters the Scooping Room, where he discovers that Baby was manipulating him, as part of a plan to escape the facility. Michael then has the Scooper used on him by Ennard, which kills him by having his insides extracted, leading to the amalgamation taking his body. This the game's canon ending.
Fake Ending[]
In the non-canon Fake Ending, Michael disobeys Baby's instructions and enters his father's Private Room. Left locked inside up until 6AM, Michel uses the office's resources to fend off Ennard, who uses Baby's voice to guilt him into giving up. When Ennard spoke with Elizabeth's voice, Michael was still unswayed, despite the emotional turmoil he must have been in. At 6AM, Michael was let out of the room and fired, and he returned home to watch the final episode of this season of The Immortal and the Restless. However, Ennard followed him home.
Transformation[]
After beating a Custom Night preset on Very Hard mode, you will be greeted to a secret minigame, which shows the events after Ennard had been stuffed inside of Michael.
In the first three minigames, everything is mostly the same, "Michael"/Ennard having a walk while his neighbors greet him. In the fourth minigame, Michael's skin becomes a darker greenish-brown; his eyes are also now completely black. The last three people he walks by look in confusion. In the fifth minigame, he looks much more decrepit than he did in the past minigames, with a strange glowing in one eye. Everyone around him appear very concerned. In the sixth minigame, his skin has turned a dull purple, now having a white glow in both of his eyes. He also acts to be more senile and less cheerful than he was before. There are much fewer people around him and one of them is hiding behind their house in fear.
In the last minigame, he is hunched over and his skin is a dark purple color. His appearance is now very reminiscent of a literal purple guy. Everyone around him have hid behind their houses in dread. Eventually, his body has a spasm, and he regurgitates the robotic parts belonging to Ennard into the sewer. His body collapses onto the ground, presumably dead. The player then hears Circus Baby's voice repeating "you won't die", and Michael stands up while Ennard's eyes show up in the sewer.
Golden Freddy V. Hard Cutscene[]
After beating V. Hard Golden Freddy mode, Michael Afton speaks to his father William, telling him that he was successful in freeing Baby and the others from the facility, but because they mistook him as William, they used him to escape. However, he somehow was left alive, but horribly disfigured, and because of this was forced to hide in the shadows. He then vows to William the one thing he's got left to do is come find him, darkly reiterating his vow. After this, Springtrap is seen walking out of the burnt-out remnants of Fazbear's Fright for a second before the screen goes black.
Five Nights at Freddy's[]
Michael first appears under the alias "Mike Schmidt" and becomes the night guard of the third Freddy Fazbear's Pizza. Mike worked from the 7th to the 14th of November 1993, and found himself fending off the animatronics, who were hostile towards him. On the first night of the job, Mike listened to the recordings made by his predecessor, giving him advice on the night shift, and was given the excuse that the animatronics were only attacking because they saw humans as endoskeletons without costumes. While on shift, Mike suffered hallucinations, caused by all the paranormal activity going on around him. On Night 4, he heard Phone Guy die, and on Night 5, only heard a disturbing message. After Night 6, he was called "Employee of the month", due to his dedication, and praised for overtime. On Night 7, however, Mike tampered with the AI of the animatronics, and was subsequently fired. As well as this, other reasons were cited such as supposed unprofessionalism, and odor.
Freddy Fazbear’s Pizzeria Simulator and death[]
Michael returns in this game as the main protagonist taking the job of manager of Freddy Fazbear's Pizza Place. After buying a Fazbear franchisee package, he was left with $100 as a starter budget, and was aided by Tutorial Unit. As well as working on the Pizzeria itself, he became acquainted with his managerial office, where he would do managerial duties such as ordering supplies, printing flyers and doing maintenance. He was told to prepare for a "big party" on Saturday, which would act as his "ultimate test". Michael was also tasked with salvaging vintage animatronics under paragraph 4 of his contract, which had appeared in the back alley, supposedly for parts. The first of these on Monday was Molten Freddy, the remnants of Ennard which were now led by Funtime Freddy.
On Tuesday, as Michael worked on the Pizzeria, Freddy would enter the vents and began stalking Michael during his managerial shift, so that it could kill him to get to the children in the Pizzeria. Michael managed to keep him distracted with an audio system, and that evening found himself salvaging his own father, now in the form of Scraptrap. Over the next few days, Michael had to also deal with the more mundane struggles of running a Pizzeria, such as having enough money to buy high enough quality and safe attractions and animatronics, and deal with any potential lawsuits. Afterwards on Wednesday, Michael was hunted by both Scraptrap and Molten Freddy, both of which mocked him, but he was able use the audio lure, and his flashlight to fend them off. That evening, he salvaged his sister, who had become Scrap Baby, who joined their father and Freddy in the vents. On Thursday, however, Michael salvaged the mysterious Lefty, who was already purchasable. Unlike the others, Lefty was silent, and Michael found himself dealing with all four, as well as his barely functional office on Friday.
On Saturday, after a hard shift of dealing with the Scrap animatronics, Mike's boss revealed that the Pizzeria was a trap for all the remaining animatronics, with Mike having kept them distracted by luring them around the labyrinth's vents in circles. Henry praised Michael as his "brave volunteer", telling him that, while he was planning a way out, he knew Michael wanted to stay behind to end his own suffering. Henry then lit the pizzeria ablaze in a deadly inferno killing everyone there including Michael, thus redeeming himself for what he did to his brother, putting an end to his suffering and allowing him to rest in peace with his brother and sister in the afterlife.
Personality[]
Michael's personality, like most things in the franchise, is vague and mysterious unless one reads between the lines throughout the games he was featured in as well as the Survival Logbook which Michael used to write in.
He is suggested to be a silent individual, never speaking or showing much emotion. However, it’s later suggested he is a rather simplistic person. enjoying things like television, snacks and pizza, claiming he signed up for the job at Freddy’s because employees get free food. He is also shown to be quite nervous, easily stressed and paranoid, being disturbed by what happens at his job so much so he both slept on the job with one eye open, developed a bad habit of anxiously chewing bubblegum, and wishes he could take take a vacation.
He was also shown to be quite lazy and a slob, his office in the first game being quite messy and being fired for "odor", implying he doesn't take care of his hygiene. He was also shown to be sarcastic, cynical and spiteful through his annoyance at Fazbear Entertainment’s incompetence and disregard for their employees safety. Michael has also shown himself various times in the series to be brave, cunning and willing. For instance, despite the fact that many of the shenanigans he partakes in are extremely dangerous and could result in his death, he continues to do them and push through. He can also be very clever and resourceful as several of his tasks involved quick thinking and wits.
When Mike was younger he was a terrible person and arguably no different than his father. He was remorseless bully who teased his younger brother for no discernible reason and showed no care or consideration for his feelings and took sadistic pleasure in his emotional turmoil. However, when his antics go too far and end up getting his brother killed, he showed immense guilt for his actions and apologized to him before he died. It’s possible Michael was crippled with guilt for his actions and everything he did throughout the franchise was in an effort to redeem himself, such as trying to free the soul of his sister Elizabeth and presumably the souls of William’s victims as well.
After his death and re-animation as a corpse, he became depressed and saddened with himself and claimed his only purpose of in life left was to "find" his father, which is why he showed no objection to burning to death after achieving this. His menacing tone at the end of said declaration implies that he understandably resents his father after learning everything the latter is responsible for. Ultimately, despite any of the flaws he might have had, Michael proved himself to be a genuinely good person who stopped at nothing to make things right.
Gallery[]
Michael[]
Eggs Benedict
Michael's presumed avatar in Freddy Fazbear's Pizzeria Simulator.
Michael's corpse in a Freddy Fazbear endoskeleton in FNAF 1's game over screen.
A security guard from Steel Wool Studio's Twitter artwork for FNAF's 8th anniversary that may be Mike Schmidt.
Michael slowly beginning to decompose.
Trivia[]
It is heavily theorized that Fritz Smith and the Fazbear's Fright guard are both Michael.
It is also theorized that Michael is the main protagonist of Ultimate Custom Night. After the events of Pizzeria Simulator, his little brother's soul trapped Michael's soul in a hell-like purgatory, where he is forced to endlessly fend off nearly all of the animatronics, while being killed over and over again, because of the actions he did to the victim. However, this theory was later debunked by the Fazbear Frights series, which confirms that William is the player character, being tortured in his endless nightmares.
If Michael is indeed all of them, this would contradict the fact that Michael seemingly has no interior organs now, due to being scooped, but some of the other protagonists can clearly be heard breathing and in Pizzeria Simulator his heartbeat can be faintly heard. It could be that after Ennard left Mike's body, he somehow retained his organs, or at least his lungs. However, it's possible that Sister Location takes place after FNaF 2, which would explain Fritz's breathing, but the heartbeat is no where to heard.
For the longest time, Michael Afton was thought to be the same person as his father William, but the V. Hard Golden Freddy cutscene in Sister Location revealed that he is not. However, it accidentally caused fans to believe that Michael is Springtrap, something that had to be debunked by series creator Scott Cawthon.
It is speculated that the TV show, The Immortal and the Restless, that Michael watches between the nights of Sister Location, where Vlad denies being the father of the baby, is a parallel between the relationship between William and Michael. It is because Vlad shares similarities with William, while the baby looks similar to his father like Michael does with his father.
Due to his revival through Remnant, Michael is vulnerable to heat; if his office reaches too high a temperature, he passes out, and given that Remnant's effect wear off in extreme heat may actually kill him. This is how he dies in his final appearance.
Michael is the second protagonist to die in the Five Nights at Freddy's series, the first being his younger brother from the Five Nights at Freddy's 4's minigames.
When Michael said that "they" (the animatronics) mistook him for his father, this would explain why the animatronics come after you in the first and second games. However, he was most likely talking about the Funtime Animatronics.
Three figures watching tv in FNAF World's "Happiest Day" ending, believed to be Michael hugging his younger siblings after reuniting in the afterlife.
It is speculated that the "Happiest Day" ending in FNAF World that can be accessed in the Old Man Consequences's area, depicts Michael with his siblings the Crying Child and Elizabeth watching tv together in the afterlife, after their souls had been set free and were reunited.
In Ultimate Custom Night, there is an anime series depicting a rivalry between the samurais the Bear and the Fox. It's speculated by fans that the Fox represents Michael, while the Bear represents the Crying Child. The Bear tries to assault the Fox for revenge, but the Fox is always a step ahead of him and humiliates the Bear when the latter fails, similar to the brother.
His silhouette seems to be of the singer Rick Astley, as shown when Ennard looks in the mirror during the real/bad ending in Sister Location.
Movie Animatronics Freddy Fazbear |
Bonnie the Bunny |
Chica the Chicken (Mr. Cupcake) |
Foxy the Pirate |
Golden Freddy Prototype Animatronics Prototype Freddy |
Prototype Bonnie |
Prototype Chica |
Prototype Foxy
Toy Animatronics The Marionette |
Toy Freddy |
Toy Bonnie |
Toy Chica |
Mangle |
Balloon Boy
Humans William Afton |
Michael Afton |
Aunt Jane |
Max, Jeff, Hank and Carl
