#her little yellow journal oh i'm obsessed with her

[dalekofchaos]

William Afton's motivations and goals

From this reddit thread

and this reddit thread

I'll say this right off the bat: I am 100% certain that William's motives for murder revolves around his family. I think everything we know about William from the games, novels, and now film is pointing to this being the case.

However, there is nuance to this that should be understood. Even with this being the case, with William somehow caring about his kids in his own twisted way, William can not love.

Look to The Silver Eyes:

"We both wanted to love," he [William] said in those melodious tones. "Your father [Henry] loved. And now I have loved." "You killed."

Then The Fourth Closet:

"I wanted so desperately to have been the one on that stage, but it was always her. All of his love went into her." "You're talking about Afton." Jessica stopped, and Charlie [Really Circus Baby/Elizabeth] nodded confirmation. "William Afton never made anything with love," Jessica snarled.

Baby then described the moment of Elizabeth's death, from both of their perspectives.

“The little girl approached me and pulled the sheet away. I felt nothing; it’s no more than a record of what happened. But there is feeling, my feeling as I pulled the sheet away, and stood in awe before this creature my father loved, this daughter he had made for himself. The daughter who was better than me, the daughter he wished I had been. I wanted to be her, so badly.”

William did not love Elizabeth, he loved Circus Baby, which remember, in the novel's storyline was originally created by Henry as the oldest-aged Charlie. William is obsessed with Henry, his creations, and his family. Quote from The Silver Eyes: (this was when the police was investigating him following the Missing Children's Incident)

A search of his house had found a room crammed with boxes of mechanical parts and a musty yellow rabbit suit, and stacks of journals full of raving paranoia, passages about Henry that ranged from wild jealousy to near-worship.

Another quote from The Silver Eyes:

“Oh,” he gasped. “You’re something beautiful aren’t you?” Charlie recoiled as if he had touched her. What’s that supposed to mean?

With later context, we know better why he said that- Quote from The Fourth Closet:

“Even after this; embodying the one thing Father did love, I'm not enough. Because he can’t duplicate this, he can’t make himself like me.” Her [Elizabeth's] voice began to grow angry again. “He can’t duplicate what happened to me, or maybe he’s too scared to try it on himself. I broke free of my prison, I emerged from the flames and the wreckage of Henry’s last great failure, and I went to my father. I gave myself to him, to study, to use, to learn the secrets of my creation. And still it is you [Charlie, the 3rd robot] he wants.” “You, maybe he can re-create. Henry somehow got a piece of himself into you, and that’s something we haven’t seen before. That’s ... unique.”

Throughout The Fourth Closet, we see William trying to do this, to recreate what Henry did: to put a piece of himself into his own creation.

That was in the chapter immediately after Carlton finds William, next to what's revealed to be the molten amalgamation of all of his victims. That amalgam makes an appearance earlier in the book, but let's look at what William says in that scene, describing his goal and reasoning for this. (I am trimming down these lines for the sake of this post)

“I have faced my own mortality, Jessica. I knew I was dying and through every broken fragment of my body, I was profoundly, immeasurably afraid. I fear it more than I fear life like this, even when every waking instant is pain, and sleep is possible only when induced by enough medication to kill most people.” “Everyone is afraid to die,” Jessica said. “And you should be more afraid than anyone else, because if there’s a hell, there’s a hole at the bottom of it reserved for you.” Afton nodded with a moment of honest resignation. “In time, I’m sure that’s where I will find myself. But the devil has knocked on my door before, and I’ve turned him away." “So, what? You want to live forever?” “Certainly not like this,” he said. “So, what, you’re making yourself into a robot?” “No, that’s science fiction,” he said, unamused.

Then, William says this.

“The most terrible accidents sometimes bear the most beautiful fruits,” he said, as if to himself. “Re-creating the accident—that is the duty and the honor of science. To replicate the experiment, and obtain the same result. I give my life to this experiment, piece by piece.” He nodded at the girl, and she approached Jessica with deliberate steps.

He then shows Jessica the "melted scrapheap," then asks her how she thinks the original animatronics came to life.

“How did the creatures at Freddy’s move, of their own will, with no outside force controlling them?” he asked mildly. “The children were still inside. Their souls were inside those creatures,” “Oh, Jessica, come now. What else? What else was inside them, to bind their spirits so inseparably to the bear, to the rabbit, to the fox? How did they die, Jessica? How Jessica?” “You killed them. They died in the suits,” she said hoarsely. “Their bodies were bound inside, along with their souls.”

Then, he describes how he plans to live forever:

“The spirit follows the flesh, it would seem, and also the pain. If I wish to become my own immortal creation, my body must lead my spirit to its eternal home. Since I am still ... experimenting ... I move my flesh piece by piece.” He looked thoughtfully over at the creature on the table. “More and more,” he murmured, almost to himself, “it is a test of the strength of my own will. How much of myself can I carve away, and still remain in control?”

He wants to surgically remove his organs, piece by piece, with Elizabeth's help, into his 'eternal home,' the amalgam, to become "his own immortal creation."

William is trying to recreate what Henry did, putting a piece of himself into his own creation. In Henry's case, he put a piece of himself into the robotic recreation of his deceased child; in William's case, he is putting a piece of himself into the fused amalgamation of all of his victims, which I think is important to my next point.

William sees the animatronics and his victims as family.

This was already clear with Baby, as Elizabeth described earlier. But here's more lines from The Silver Eyes.

“You're a sick bastard,” Carlton sputtered. “And you’ve created monsters. The kids you killed are still here. You’ve imprisoned them!” “They are home, with me.” Dave’s voice was coarse as he said it, and the large mascot head slid forward, tilting. “Their happiest day.” “How do we get out?” Charlie placed one hand on the mascot head and pushed it back into position on Dave’s shoulders. The fur felt wet and sticky, as though the costume itself were sweating. “There isn’t a way out anymore. All that’s left is family.” His round eye reappeared through one of the sockets, glimmering in the light.

I don't think its wrong to say that the story of FNAF (at least early FNAF) was about "the Afton family," because that is exactly how he sees the missing children. He finds comfort in living amongst them, especially as Springbonnie, and he even says why-

“Because I am one of them,” he said.

Most of what I'm referencing in this post comes from the novels, but this is not an exclusive trait to his character in these books. Look to the recently-released film:

“The Little ones tell me you have a sister, she will love it here!"

and...

"Wake up Children! I brought someone for you to play with!"

That line I also find really interesting, because of William's language elsewhere in the movie, referring to his daughter, Vanessa:

"Put that thing away, and help me clean up the mess that you created!"

With the first line, he's referring to Mike like he's a toy for the animatronics. In the second line, he's referring to Vanessa's gun, but its also as if he's talking to a child, asking her to put her toys away and help him. Think about it, he's blaming Vanessa for something that is not her fault at all, it's the language of an abusive father to his little kid. I bet this is actually something William has told her before, to persuade and manipulate her. ("He really messed you up, didn't he?" as Mike put it.)

Anyway, I just wanted to bring it up because it just strengthens this point, William sees the characters like his own family; which is ultimately where I think his motives come from. He finds comfort in his robotic family because of his disdain for his real family.

William's kids change between each continuity.

In the games, he has 3 real children- Michael, the Crying Child, and Elizabeth- and kills Gabriel, Jeremy, Susie, Fritz, Cassidy, and so on. Michael of course, kills his brother. In the novels, he only has Elizabeth, and rather than killing Gabriel and Jeremy, he kills a kid named Michael (Brooks), and a kid without an established name (who is characterized by his black-and-white striped shirt, crying, and who gets told he'll be put back together by Carlton-- all relating back to the CC. All of this is stripped from the Graphic Novel, where that kid becomes Gabriel). Again, there's juxtaposition between the kids he murders and his real children. In the film, Vanessa is established to be his daughter, but only her- Michael and his siblings are not presented as being related to Afton (There could still be a plot twist regarding this though). We also don't know the identities of William's victims, aside from the fact that Mike's brother (Garrett) was kidnapped by William rather than bullied to death by Mike.

Ultimately, these continuity differences is why I can't say "William kills because he wants to bring back his son after Mike killed him," or whatever, because that objectively does not happen in either the novels or the film. He becomes deranged no matter what.

In my opinion, the Bite of 83 is the first thing that happens in the games timeline, and does result in William killing Charlotte (and also the creation of the Puppet, hence why it doesn't exist in the novels and why she doesn't possess anything).

In the books, William is established to be jealous of Henry, even before he brings his creations to life- and I think it's still because of his family- hence why he goes for Charlotte. William doesn't have his sons, and he clearly doesn't care much for his daughter, so he robs Henry of his perfect family.

In the film, I think his motives are more speculative. William's first kill in the other continuities is Charlie, but its unconfirmed if she (or Henry) exist in the film. William kills Mike's brother, Garrett, separate from the five missing children, but we have no established motive as to why.

This will probably be a big reveal in a future film, maybe Mike and Garrett are related to William and thats why he abducted Garrett (Affair Theory?). When Mike tells Vanessa about his family, he says they'd sit around the table, say graces, etc.- its a cookie-cutter perfect family. Maybe William wanted to destroy that, like he did with Henry's. Maybe, again, I don't know.

Now for my spin on the theory. I believe this was William's goal, but his goal in the games was to became immortal, but also to bring his family back as the Funtime Animatronics. Mrs Afton would become Ballora, Elizabeth as Baby obviously, CC as Funtime Freddy and once Michael is killed, he would become Funtime Foxy. And they would live forever as the Funtimes, eternal and killing together as a family unbroken!

[brionysea]

any characters specifically?? there's so many lol

ooo i was mainly thinking abt (what i call) the gang- Lucas, max, dustin, el, Mike, will etc- and possibly Nancy if that’s okay? im sorry if this is too much to ask of you and I hope you have a great day!!!!! :D

lucas

colour - green

deepest fears - ??? idk. assuming this is for a vecna fic or something, i guess play around with whatever's happened at this point in the timeline. seeing max die is a huge one, and all the "being violently targeted by insane white boys for daring to Exist While Black" is bound to have taken a toll on him (not that canon's acknowledged any of it, of course)

aesthetic - uh... basketballs. they look good on the aesthetic moodboard for him in my brain right now

max

colour - orange and/or rainbow. the first part might just be because i'm obsessed with red hair (hello, childhood obsession with the little mermaid and red-haired!paige from charmed), but max wears a LOT of rainbows

deepest fears - becoming like billy (continuing the cycle of violence) and that her friends (and mother) think she deserves the same fate as him (dying horribly and painfully via the upside down and traumatising someone as she does). season 4 was great for her :)

aesthetic - skateboards

dustin

colour - ???? my brain is saying blue but i have no idea. maybe someone in the notes knows?

deepest fears - probably a loss of control. he likes to Be Prepared and Have All The Knowledge. having no idea what's going on and being completely unprepared for any bad things that might pop up is the inverse of that

aesthetic - library books

el

colour - pink

deepest fears - that she's a monster

aesthetic - she doesn't really know who she is yet, so like... idk, some of those bright oufits she wore in season 3?? there were a LOT of hearts scattered around her bedroom in season 4, she seems to really like those <3

mike

colour - blue. including (but not limited to) a blue so deep that it looks black

deepest fears - being unwanted, being rejected for something he can't change about himself. in essence, that he's inherently unlovable

aesthetic - i went for a bike for my aesthetic mike wheeler playlist picture. wheels, wheeler. you get it

will

colour - yellow

deepest fears - oh god. i don't think about him enough for this. considering his two biggest breakdowns so far have been about losing mike, i guess that? the whole thing about being a freak, keeping parts of himself secret, being treated like this fragile little baby (when if anything being a survivor makes him the opposite). i'm not the right person to ask about will tbh

aesthetic - art, drawing, sketchbooks. dungeons and dragons, nintendo, wizard imagery

nancy

colour - purple/pink

deepest fears - maybe just watch her vecna vision sequence again? lol. she's mostly got survivor's guilt and blames herself for not saving barb. she's scared of that happening again, e.g. when she was the first to dive into the lake after steve, because she refuses to do nothing again like when barb got dragged into steve's pool yelling for nancy's help (which fred dying on her watch was an echo of)

aesthetic - my initial, instinctive thought is "girlboss" lol. guns, notebooks (re: investigative journalism). there's a wall of stuff in her room that el looks at in season 1 which might be helpful (i'm thinking of the little photostrip of nancy and barb messing around and laughing like el and max did in season 3)

[sparkyz-plug-writes]

🏵️?!Eye on you three?! Bill cipher x Elizabeth (Platonic)🏵️

!!Requested by @fanfics7283 also the oc Elizabeth belongs to her!!

Characters:

Bill cipher: He/They (still Maniac a little dorito dude but a little bit more kind)

Elizabeth Mayday: She/Her (main pep, symbol is Starlight)

Dipper pines: He/Him (tired boio, ofc pine tree)

Mabel Pines: She/Her (bouncing off the goddamn wall someone help her- da shooting star)

+ grunkle Stan, Soos and Wendy!

☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆

Elizabeth woke out of bed from her alarm, Utterly a bit annoyed bc she was having a wonderful dream, one with the stars! But that stupid fucking alarm ruin that for me- I got out of bed and went to the bathroom to get ready. So after one hot shower later, a hair dryer Grunkle Stan got her (THANK GOD) And she put on her normal white sweater and Olive skirt with a pretty Olive and yellow headband and she was off, running into the living room smelling breakfast! She sat down

"Hey Elizabeth guess what?!"

"Hm? What is it Mabel?"

"I made MABEL JUICE!!"

". . . . Oh no-"

Mabel gave Elizabeth a glass, she was scared at what Stan said "Like coffee and nightmares had a baby" but she took a sip, instantly the flavor was too much for her and her face showed it

"g-great...!"

"Wow thanks so much!! But could you get Dipper, he's gonna help me with my puppet show!"

Mabel hugged Elizabeth but the taste of the juice was still getting to me- She then got up to go get Dipper because that worked her up!! But he was probably digging into that journal again, he's OBSESSED but that thing kind of scares her! But passing by Wendy and Soos she at least said hi

"Hey Wendy, hey Soos!"

"Hey" "Sup dog?"

"you know, gonna go get Dipper out!"

They laughed a bit, they knew about the mysterious things going on in this town but they still kind of joked about Dipper and his obsession with that book, but Elizabeth just took up to the roof, but Dipper wasn't there... It worried her bc she thought that he was up here but suddenly the world went dull, things stopped moving, what was going on-

"HeheheHAHAHA! Well aren't you back Starlight?!"

"Who are you?!

A triangle Man appeared it was Bill you know him for when Dipper and Mabel fought him, Elizabeth didn't get to fight him though, she was out of town for a bit but she was scared, TOO SCARED

"P-Please don't hurt me.!!"

"hey hey calm down kid I'm not gonna hurt you- YET, HAHA! Just kidding, but listen I've been watching you, Pine-tree and shooting-star for a while now! So I want to ask you for a FAVOR for me!"

"What is it..?"

"I just need a bit of a puppet! I've been soooooo bored in this realm so I wanna help you and you friends!" (He just wants to cause mayhem)

"Wait you wanna help? That's great!!"

Elizabeth tone changed, she was happy he wanted to help, poor fool, it was all a lie, or was it..?

"So if you're like a ghost and I can definitely get you something to possess and I have a lot of ideas I have in mind-"

Elizabeth started ranting about stuff that bill could do he was annoyed by it but never had the idea of different things to possess even though he was really just going to possess her but one thing stuck out

"-Also wanna be friends?"

"Friends? You serious?"

"yeah! We can help you and you can help us!!"

". . . Yeah we could be "friends"..."

"okay I'll get Dipper and Mabel!!! They'll be glad we can make amends and be buddies!!"

"WAIT KID DONT GET THEM-"

Elizabeth was already gonna get Dipper and Mabel, Bill trying not to, something tells me these four are gonna get into some trouble, but, what's a burned town between friends...? :]

☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆

OMG I ACTUALLY REALLY LIKE THIS AJSBSLANAKSNW