Midnight Motorist, an Ongoing Exploration
Hello everyone! I have another FNAF theory for you today that I wanted to post before the movie comes out in case I’m wrong and did all of this work for nothing. It’s about Midnight Motorist, one of FNAF’s greatest mysteries.
This theory is mainly for people who already have an understanding of FNAF lore because it would be impossible for me to explain all of it here, in one blog post. If you are unfamiliar, I suggest you watch as many MatPat videos as you can before reading this, and explore other FNAF theorists on YouTube as well. My favorites are FuhNaff and RyeToast, but there are many more.
Let’s get right into it: what if the “Orange Guy” is Mrs. Afton and the “Gray Shirt Guy” is Michael and William is the one who locked himself in his room and broke out to get into the Springtrap suit.
Yes, I know Orange Guy still drives a purple car, but it could be the Afton family car. They may have had just one car at the time, seeing as there are no other cars parked outside the house when the orange character arrives home.
By this point, Elizabeth and Crying Child are both dead, and it appears some time has passed since both of their deaths. Michael is an adult, still pleading for his parents to not fight, but Mrs. Afton does not listen.
Ballora’s song gets at the point of William locking himself in his back office, with the Sister Location right under the house. And her line in Ultimate Custom Night, “Admit it, you wanted to let me in” has both physical and metaphorical meaning.
What “later that night” might be referring to is the later that night of when Afton was springlocked and died in/possessed the suit and was sealed away for 30 years. When “someone used one of the suits” (quote from phone guy) he was likely referring to William using the suit to lure and kill children in the back room of the Freddy Fazbear’s Pizza–the same suit sitting outside, waiting for him.
Note: part of the reason the springlocks may have failed is because of the rain William was walking through. He probably didn’t wear the suit to “that place,” but took it with him since we can clearly see he is roaming around out of the suit while the ghosts of the five missing children chase him around the old restaurant.
It makes sense that he was provoked to go back to the Freddy Fazbear’s by one of the ghosts of the dead children, presumably Cassidy since she is the one who chases him around the safe room until he gets into the springlock suit, the springlocks fail, and William dies. He could have seen Cassidy’s ghost from the window and broke it get her to go away. He then climbed out of the broken window to grab the springlock suit and go to the restaurant, leaving the door to his room locked so nobody would suspect he was gone.
This happens after William dismantles the FNAF 1 animatronics, which allows the souls of the five dead children to roam free. I guess that makes the year of Midnight Motorist 1993 since that is the year William was sealed in the safe room.
The irony of “He’ll be sorry when he gets back” is that he never does get back. But it’s interesting that Michael would say “He had a rough day.” because why would he have a rough day? Is it because he is mourning the loss of his son and daughter? Does he feel guilty for killing five children so he feels compelled to go to Fazbear’s to see them (doubtful)? Does he merely want to do more experiments on them (probably)? He must have had a rough day tinkering with the funtime animatronics in the basement, I guess.
So, what’s up with “Jr’s?” Some people think it is the FNAF 2 location, others think it is a bar Orange Guy is banned from. There is a “bouncer” outside making sure those who are permitted to enter the building can, and those who aren’t permitted cannot. If this is the FNAF 2 location, the person outside was placed there specifically to keep William out during the 1987 investigation, and the cars parked outside are the investigators.
This explanation isn’t satisfying to me because the investigators would be in marked vehicles and there would likely be signs and caution tape around the building to keep people out. Plus, it wouldn’t make sense from a timeline standpoint because I’m claiming this minigame takes place in 1993.
I believe Jr’s is a bar the orange guy is banned from. There has been little debate over whether Orange Guy is a drunk, and a person usually has to do something out of the ordinary to get banned from a bar. I’ve never gotten banned from a bar and don’t spend enough time in bars to know what it takes to get banned, but I’m sure the rules vary at each place.
If this theory that Orange Guy is Mrs. Afton is to be believed, Crying Child died first. William promises to put him back together and begins grieving his son’s death. He then kills Charlie in a fit of rage against Henry, who created the Fredbear animatronic that killed Crying Child. Then, William kills the children who bullied his son (seen in the FNAF 4 minigame, I talk more about them below) and gets to work on the Funtime animatronics immediately after in order to begin experimentation, all for the sake of bringing his son back to life.
Two years after the death of Crying Child and Charlie, the Missing Children’s Incident (1985) occurs. This is the incident where William lures five children: Gabriel, Fritz, Susie, Jeremy, and Cassidy one by one into the “safe room” in the back of the Freddy’s Pizzeria and kills them. He then stuffs their bodies into the animatronic suits: Freddy, Bonnie, Chica, Foxy, and Golden Freddy, an animatronic also possessed by Crying Child.
William’s efforts to bring Crying Child back cause him to lose another kid: Elizabeth. It makes sense that she would be buried at the unmarked grave the player can get to by getting out of the car during the minigame. Her gravestone is nowhere to be found alongside the missing children, and William certainly wouldn’t want word of her death by Circus Baby getting out.
By the time Sister Location gameplay takes place, Michael is looking for his sister’s remnant because that’s what his father told him to do. Then, he goes to find William, newly escaped from the old safe room and the FNAF 3 fire, ready to hunt down his son.
While I don’t want to get into when each game takes place in the timeline, it is clear that there is a FNAF 4 comes first. Circus Baby’s Pizza World opens a few years after Crying Child dies, but Sister Location gameplay doesn’t take place until long after it becomes Circus Baby’s Entertainment and Rental. I don’t even want to get into when FNAF 4 gameplay takes place and whether it’s Michael or Crying Child we’re playing as, because both explanations are plausible.
I am not sure if there was another missing children’s incident at the FNAF 2 location or if the lockdown had to do with the missing children’s incident at the FNAF 1 location. If Charlie was killed at the FNAF 2 location, the lockdown definitely pertained to that, which means the original MCI wouldn’t happen for another two years.
Now, I’m not saying I 100% think this theory is correct, but it does provide a different way of looking at the Midnight Motorist minigame that has perplexed FNAF fans for so long.
This video by Brensnorf inspired this theory, so thank you fellow creator! And to the people out there out there who already thought of this theory, please know that I am not trying to copy you, merely add to the conversation.
Thank you for reading and I will follow up with a more in-depth reading of the FNAF 4 8-bit minigame in a later post!
Edit: A lot of people think orange guy is William and the reason he’s orange is because he would blend in too much with the background of the minigame if he was purple. This seems like a lazy explanation to me. What color is the car orange guy drives? Purple.