Alright, ladies and gentlemen; it's the moment you've been truly waiting for. It's time I reveal my opinion on what I believe the time line of Five Nights at Freddy's is. This is going to completely contradict my entire book series I've created, but that's okay; I like that I ended up making something a bit more original. Anyway, let's get cracking. Just a head's up, though; it's a LOOONG one!

First off, let's make one thing clear: not everyone is going to agree with what I have to say, and that's fine! One of the things about FNAF that's so special is the fact we can all talk and debate about this stuff. But if I see ANY hate in the comments about how someone is wrong, I will not be a happy camper. This is all my theory and speculation based on evidence from the games; I am in no way saying this is truth, and I don't expect any of you to treat it as truth unless it's in the games or Scott Cawthon himself confirmed it.

Now, let's start in the beginning: Fredbear's Family Diner. There's no official confirmation as to when this place started, but I'm going to assume it was either the late 60s or early 70s. In this location, there was one animatronic: Fredbear. The only thing, though, was that he wasn't golden. I speculate that he was, at first, but they decided to change his color from gold to brown to possibly try new ideas.

As most of us speculate, FFD was a small building with not much of a budget, so we can assume the building in the "Bring Cake to the Children" mini game we see in FNAF 2 is Fredbear's Family Diner. It's there where we see one animatronic, aka Fredbear, serving the angry, bratty children. Outside the establishment, though, we see a child being murdered by a purple man. This is the start of a series of events that will forever change everything.

Now, I'm not entirely sure where the original Puppet body came from. Maybe it was a failed attraction in the diner they put into storage? No matter where it came from, though, I believe the child we see killed outside of Fredbear's Diner came to possess the Puppet, for the obvious reasons of the tear streaks we see it give off when he dies and the Puppet jumpscare after Purple Man drives away.

After the murder outside Fredbear's, the diner closed down and sold the company name and property to a new company: Fazbear Entertainment. Using the brown Fredbear animatronic, as well as a whole cast of new characters, we see the creation of Freddy Fazbear, Bonnie the Bunny, Chica the Chicken, and Foxy the Pirate. This location lasts for a bit before tragedy strikes again.

This time, the Purple Man kills not one, but five children in the establishment. How did he do this? Just look at the FNAF 1 newspaper clippings: they say he possibly dressed as a cartoon mascot to lure them. And maybe, just maybe, we were right all along; he may have used the old Fredbear, aka Golden Freddy, costume to do this.

They were then placed into the animatronic suits of Freddy, Bonnie, Chica, and Foxy, as well as the original Golden Freddy/Fredbear suit, to be hidden for a while until he could find a new and safer spot to place them. The newspaper claims that, even though there was video evidence, he wasn't convicted.

Some people don't seem to understand there's a difference between arrested and convicted. Arrested means you're taken into police custody on suspicion of a crime. Convicted means you are found guilty of the crime. I speculate that Purple Man wasn't convicted because, according to one of the articles, the bodies were never found. A body is a big piece of evidence in a murder case and can make or break a suspect.

Anyway, we are then greeted to a big part of the FNAF story: the first animatronics coming to life. In the "Give Gifts, Give Life" mini game in FNAF 2, we see the Puppet putting animal heads on top of the children's bodies. People speculate this is showing the Puppet literally putting the bodies in the animatronics, but I believe it's a metaphorical sense of him using the souls of the already-stuffed children to bring life to the robots.

After the whole murder incident, the first FFP closed. Possibly wanting to wait and gain popularity before opening a new restaurant, the company decided to fund/produce a cartoon series using one of the old characters from the old company they bought. A while later, in 1983, we are introduced to the Fredbear & Friends cartoon series, starring a golden Fredbear, brown Freddy Fazbear, bright-blue Bonnie, yellow Chica, and red Foxy. 

The show did very well and gained lots of popularity. It got so popular that, in 1987, Fazbear Entertainment had a big enough budget to fund two new restaurants: a big, brand new Freddy Fazbear's Pizza, with all new, redesigned characters inspired from the original crew, and a new, smaller diner named Fredbear and Friends, with characters directly based on the ones from the cartoon, as well as a new character: Golden/Spring Bonnie.

This explains a few things we find in FNAF 4, such as why the Toy animatronics can be seen as literal toys in FNAF 4 and Mangle can be found in the house; the FNAF 2 location, the location they originated from, is open at the same exact time. It also shows why the FNAF 4 child has plushies of the original FFP characters; they still exist in this new sister location. It also answers the question of whether the bite we see in FNAF 4 is actually the Bite of '87...it is.

We all speculated that just because the FNAF 2 location was set in 1987, that's where the Bite took place. But it wasn't. It was actually at Fredbear and Friends and was caused by Fredbear himself, which explains why we never see him in production again.

Now, I'm sure you're asking why, then, Phone Guy says, "they used to be able to walk around in the day, but then there was the Bite of '87." Well, think about it. He didn't say that the Bite was caused by a roaming animatronic; he said that they weren't aloud to walk because of the Bite. Keep in mind, according to this time line, that the FNAF 2 location is open at the same time, where the animatronics are walking around in the day.

After the boy was bitten in Fredbear and Friends because of an animatronic, the company decided it was too risky to let children get too close to the robots again. According to the FNAF 2 Night 6 ending, the newspaper claims that the robots are scrapped for POSSIBLE malfunctions. These robots in particular weren't dangerous to children ("the interact with the kids just fine"), but the company couldn't risk another problem, so they just closed the restaurant altogether.

A while later, in the early 1990s, they reopen again with the third Freddy Fazbear's Pizza. Because of the Fredbear and Friends incident, though, they restricted the animatronics to only be on the stage during operating hours and only move around at night to stop their servos from locking. They also added more security to the stage to keep another incident like the one at Fredbear and Friends from happening again. 

While I don't know for sure how the FNAF 1 location closed, we do know that there had to have been more murders. We know that the animatronics are at least possessed by spirits because of Scott's confirmation that the characters were 'haunted'. It's also backed up by FNAF 3, the next stage of our time line.

Between the nights of FNAF 3, we are given mini games that all end with the Purple Man dismantling the animatronics. We know it's the FNAF 1 location because the layout is exactly the same. I don't have an exact explanation as to why the Bonnie we see in those mini games are turquoise, but my best guess is so we can distinguish him from the Purple Freddy and Purple Man.

Anyway, the robots are dismantled, and we see the 5 spirits torture the Purple Man in the secret "safe room" mentioned by Phone Guy in the FNAF 3 tapes. Now, that leads us to another question: how did Spring Bonnie get into the FNAF 1 location? Simple; the FNAF 1 Freddy Fazbear's Pizza and the Fredbear and Friends location are, in fact, the same place! How do we know this? Well, it's difficult to explain here, so I placed a picture that explains it better.

It makes sense, when you think about it; using a smaller budget, as stated in FNAF 2, they could easily remodel the Fredbear and Friends building instead of building a new restaurant.

With that, we know how it goes; Purple Man runs into the Spring Bonnie suit, the suit collapses on him, he dies, becomes Springtrap, and sits there for 30 years. After that, we're at the final point of our time line: Fazbear's Fright.

This part is pretty straightforward, which is shocking for a FNAF game. Springtrap is found and placed into the attraction on Night 2 and begins his attempts to get to the guard. Why? Well, it's most likely because he's a murderous madman who just wants to kill anyone he can.

He follows the sounds of Balloon Boy, not because he thinks it's a child, but because his robotic part is naturally attracted to sound. I'm sure if the audio was replaced with, say, the Toreador March, he'd still go towards it. Why else would Phone Guy make the point of how animatronics are programmed to go towards sound?

Now, one thing is bugging me and could throw this whole time line out, and it's this line right here by Phone Guy: "After an unfortunate accident at a sister location involving multiple and simultaneous spring lock failures..." Why is that bugging me? Because Fredbear and Friends was the only location in our time line with the spring lock suits. The only other way around this was that there was a THIRD location at the same time of the FNAF 2 FFP and Fredbear and Friends, but hey, this theory is just that: a theory. (A GAME theory!)

Anyway, Fazbear's Fright burns down, yet Springtrap and a few trinkets manage to survive. What happens after that is up to imagination, but I do believe I've finally covered everything we've experienced in these 4 games. I could stop the time line here, but one other thing is bugging me...

As MatPat put it, there is no true ending to FNAF if we follow the time line given. We still aren't sure who the FNAF 4 child could be, simply because there's so much evidence saying he's either the Puppet or Golden Freddy. I'll just let you look up what I'm talking about on the Game Theorists channel, but he's right on how there's no one answer...but what if there is?

With the recent clues from Scott himself that were released at the Game Theory live stream a few weeks ago, it's opened up a new possibility of a new time line. One we'd never expect or even think about. Why? Because it's not real.

Guys, what if the truth about Five Nights at Freddy's is that FNAF 1, 2, and 3 are all dreams created by the FNAF 4 child in his comatose state?

Now, I will say right now that this is not my idea; this was actually a Steam post that Dawko did a video on and it just blew my mind. I've left the video in question right above. For now, though, I'll go through a few points that are very important/relevant. 

When we saw the FNAF 4 trailer, we were instantly saying it seemed exactly like FNAF 1, and that this setup was based on the FNAF 1 setup. But what if it's the other way around? What if the FNAF 1 location was based on the FNAF 4 bedroom because it was created by the child?

There are the obvious parallels of Bonnie on the left, Chica on the right, Freddy sneaking unknowingly behind you, and Foxy needing constant attention, but there are more connections than that.

For instance, why is Foxy, in all the games, the odd man out? Why is he so different than the others when it comes to mechanics? It's because Foxy was always the one torturing the child, which is why he is sometimes considered harder to handle/keep back.

Also, the missing children incident never really happened, but after those 4 bullies placed the child in this state, he was so angry that he wished they were dead.

In FNAF 4, as the child is walking home, he meets this redheaded girl who tells him that the robots stuff people into suits and that they die. This is why the robots are after the child throughout the entire comatose state. 

Speaking of believing people are stuffed into suits and killed, let's talk about a certain FNAF 4 Easter Egg where we can see the fan-favorite Purple Man. All he does is help place the head of a Spring Bonnie costume onto an employee. This is because Purple Man is actually just a normal employee doing his job. He's no killer or child hater (well, he could still be both, but you know), but since the boy relates being stuffed into a suit with death, he believes that this Purple Man is actually a killer who stuffs people into suits to kill them. And what better and more ironic way for him to die than for him to be put into and crushed by a robotic suit...?

The two 'endings' of FNAF 3 are also important to this theory. The bad ending represents the child's inability to forgive the 4 bullies and they will always continue to torture him; however, the good ending represents his ability to forgive the bullies and pass on to the other side, leaving him in peace.

Ever wonder why they were called the "Toy" animatronics? Well, it may have been revealed when Scott left this clue on his site: "In the FNAF 4 mini game, why would the toy Chica be missing her beak?" Sure enough, we can see that the toy Chica we see in FNAF 4 is, in fact, missing her beak. Could this confirm that the Toys are literally based on the toys we see, seeing as how the actual Toy Chica is missing her beak as soon as she starts moving?

"What is seen in shadows is easily misunderstood in the mind of a child." This was another clue Scott left us. In FNAF 4, when we see the shadows of the Fredbear and Spring Bonnie robots on stage, what color are they? Purple. Have we found the explanation behind the purple Shadow Freddy and mysterious Purple Bonnie?

"Four games. One story." This was the 3rd and final clue. We all obviously assumed the four games created one story, but what if we can get more literal than that? What if FNAF 4 is the only true story out of all the games since, according to this theory, the other three games take place in this game?

The biggest piece of evidence, in my opinion? Scott himself said the community may not accept the true answer to Five Nights at Freddy's. Be honest; if this dream theory was true, would you honestly accept and believe it? If not, then you're more proof towards this theory.

Anyway, that's all I got for you, folks. You can believe whichever time line/theory you want to, whether it be one I presented or not. As long as we're theorizing, Five Nights at Freddy's won't be dying any time soon.