Shadow Freddy is a supporting antagonist throughout the series.
He is an easter egg in Five Nights at Freddy's 2 and one of the two secondary antagonists of Five Nights at Freddy's 3 (alongside Phantom Freddy).
Gameplay[]
Five Nights at Freddy's 2[]
In Five Nights at Freddy's 2, the player may rarely encounter what seems to be a shadow or a dark model of Withered Golden Freddy, who is in fact Shadow Freddy. It appears in Parts/Service, sitting in the location Withered Bonnie normally sits, but does not do anything.
It appears to be in a slumped position, similar to that of Golden Freddy's. It also uses Golden Freddy's model. Brightening up this image reveals that this creature is purple in color as with several other key items/characters in the franchise, bearing comparisons to the purple figure from the secret mini-games, the Marionette's "tears," Nightmare Fredbear's hat and bowtie among other things.
Five Nights at Freddy's 3[]
Within the in-between night mini-games, Shadow Freddy is seen, and utters the phrase "follow me," to lure the animatronics to a secluded spot, so that William Afton may ambush and dismantle them. While the Freddy suit is recognized as purple due to its association with the purple figure, its purple coloration and the darker color of its hat and bowtie lends credit to the theory this particular animatronic is indeed Shadow Freddy. He can also be seen in the office as a harmless easter egg.
FNaF World[]
| “ | I will eat your soul. | ” |
— Shadow Freddy's loading screen quote
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Shadow Freddy has the following attacks:
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Has a chance to insta-kill 1 opponent. | |
|---|---|---|
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Has a chance to insta-kill multiple opponents but has a lower chance than Unscrew. | |
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Will insta-kill all opponents under 30% of their normal health. |
Novels[]
'The Twisted Ones[]
A version of Shadow Freddy appears in the novel, who proceeds to lead John, Jessica and Clay Burke to the underground Pizzeria where Twisted Freddy took Charlie. While it is not directly stated, it is implied that this is an alternate form of Michael Brooks.
Trivia[]
- According to the Freddy Files, inside of the Codes, Glitches, and Secrets section of FNaF 3, the name of the Shadow Freddy that appears in Five Nights at Freddy's 3 is called Crumpled Freddy Suit.
- Shadow Freddy was the first actual purple animatronic.
- Contrary to popular belief, he doesn't crash the game like Shadow Bonnie in the second game, or Golden Freddy in the first game.
- If not for him, William Afton would never become Springtrap, and the souls would be stuck at Freddy's forever. Despite his minor role, he is an important character, indirectly kickstarting the events of Five Nights at Freddy's 3.
- In contrast to Shadow Bonnie in FNaF World, who is a support character, Shadow Freddy is far more malicious, with his foreboding loading screen quote, and more dangerous moveset.
- Shadow Freddy has the longest gap between official appearances of any character in the series, at seven years.
- The appearances used are FNaF World (2016) and FNAF: The Movie (2023)
- Excluding FNaF World, this would instead be eight years, with Five Nights at Freddy's 3 (2015) being the previous appearance.
- As of his movie appearance, Phantom Puppet now holds the record of longest time period without appearing.
Theories[]
- Fans have made theories that Shadow Freddy is actually Golden Freddy. This seems to be the case in The Twisted Ones, where he is implied to be Michael Brooks.
- Shadow Freddy is also theorized to be the apparition of one of the employees whom wore the original Golden Freddy suit, which malfunctioned and fatally wounded the employee. Thus the suit itself was put in storage.
- It is also possible that if this theory were true, then it could mean that the employee in the Fredbear suit we see in the FNaF 4 minigame. The same applies with Shadow Bonnie as some believe the person William was helping get inside a Springlock suit was him before he became a spirit.
- He is similar to Nightmare in overall appearance and behavior, leading to some theories of them being the same entity.
- A folder in Five Nights at Freddy's 4's game files suggests that they are the same entity. Although, this could have been done so that he wouldn't be confused with the other Nightmare Animatronics.
- This can be supported as in Fazbear Frights #6: Blackbird, where in the third story Shadow Bonnie appears in the protagonist's dream as a monster with sharp teeth and claws. However, when outside of Toby's dreams, he has been described with having sharp teeth, so this can be seen as being some what debatable.
- Shadow Freddy is believed by some to be the crying child from FNaF 4.
- The Freddy Files indicate Shadow Freddy lured the animatronics to the Safe Room to help them kill their killer.
- For a long time, many people, including MatPat, believed that Shadow Freddy was controlled by Purple Guy.
- Some people believe that Shadow Freddy is the incarnation of William's evil, born out of the Agony of the Missing Children's Incident. Shadow Freddy shares the line "follow me" with William when he lured Susie away, does not aid the Missing Children in FNaF 2 unlike Shadow Bonnie, lures the Classic animatronics to Afton, and whenever he appears he is present alongside Afton, namely the second and third Freddy's Pizzerias and Fazbear's Fright. If this is the case, he may have been destroyed in the Fazbear's Fright fire.
- It is theorized that Shadow Freddy will end up being possessed by Max in FNAF: The Movie due to half of her body being seen in what looks to be a purple Freddy suit.
Gallery[]
Nightmare (also known as Nightmare Shadow Freddy or Nightmare Shadow Fredbear) is a black animatronic in Five Nights at Freddy's 4. He is a nightmarish incarnation of Shadow Freddy. He has ears and what appears to be a golden hat with a purple stripe, this is likely a reference to Fredbear. He also has a yellow bowtie. He only moves on Night 7 and arrives at 4:00. He moves from left hall, right hall, the closet and the bed. He is the final antagonist of FNaF 4.
Appearance[]
He is clearly based on Nightmare Fredbear, being some sort of black, translucent, demonic version of the already demonic looking Fredbear. Unlike Fredbear, his skin is translucent, exposing all of his animatronic parts including the endoskeleton. Upon closer examination, a black mass resides in Nightmare's head, which is Nightmare's endoskeleton skull, as the endoskeleton skull looked similar to Nightmare Mangle's endoskeleton head.
Behavior[]
Five Nights at Freddy's 4[]
Nightmare will only be seen in Nightmare Mode and 20/20/20/20 mode from 4 AM on. While Nightmare is active, no other animatronics will be active. He will show up at either hall and failing to close the door will either give a game over or him sneaking into your room. Once Nightmare is in your room, his head will be seen on the bed or in the closet. And when Nightmare catches you his jumpscare will be a still Picture of Nightmare while a garbled "scream" at the player.
Cheats[]
The only cheats that have Nightmare involved are the "All Nightmare" and "House Map" cheats. The All Nightmare mode is, quite obvious. On the house map, Nightmare will show up as an Orange Square, as the Orange Square is used to represent Nightmare Fredbear, and that Nightmare has a very similar mechanic to Nightmare Fredbear.
FNaF World[]
| “ | This is why you wake up. | ” |
— Nightmare’s loading screen quote
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Nightmare appears as a protagonist of the kid-friendly game FNaF world. Similar to his FNaF 4 appearance, his model is a recolor of Nightmare Fredbear, however his animations are different. He can be found in the Pinwheel Funhouse. Like other characters, once defeated he will join your party, being available to select in the Party menu.
Nightmare has the following attacks,
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Does higher damage than Toxic Bite and inflicts poison on a random opponent. | |
|---|---|---|
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Decreases all opponents defense and also inflicts some damage aswell. | |
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Deals higher damage than Bite 2 or Bite. |
Ultimate Custom Night[]
| “ | Nightmare is invisible to the cameras but his eyes can be seen outside the door, if you fail to close the door on him before you put up your camera you will be jumpscared, resulting in a game over screen. | ” |
— Character description
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Sounds[]
| “ | I am your wickedness, made of flesh. | ” |
| “ | I am here to claim what is left of you. | ” |
| “ | The shadow fears me. | ” |
| “ | You will not be spared, you will not be saved. | ” |
| “ | I will vomit you back, to relive your horror. | ” |
Gallery[]
Five Nights at Freddy’s 4[]
FNaF world[]
Ultimate Custom Night[]
The Twisted Ones[]
Trivia[]
- He is similar to Shadow Freddy and Nightmare Fredbear in several ways.
- His current role in the story is unknown.
- Nightmare is the only one animatronic who doesn't have a jumpscare in the Extras Menu.
- Nightmare is the only animatronic in the fourth game (other than Nightmarionne) who doesn't have an animated jumpscare, similar to Golden Freddy from the first game and Withered Golden Freddy in UCN.
- Upon close inspection, Nightmare has transparent parts in is body, this could imply that he is somewhat supernatural.
- Nightmare might be the embodiment of death or murder, if this is true than the Fredbear-like form he has might just be just an illusion as his true form is incomprehensible.
- His dark parts, where Nightmare Fredbear's brown parts would be, are much more shinier in UCN than in FNaF 4.
- It has been claimed that his jumpscare sound resembles an ambulance siren sped up and distorted, however this does not seem to be the case.
- A games folder refers to the night when he appears as "shadow freddy", implying he is some version of him.
- If this is the case, given how Shadow animatronics have been implied to be supernatural beings that feed on Agony, it is possible that Nightmare is one and the same as Shadow Freddy, who takes this form within Michael's dreams to feed on his Agony.