Michael Afton Meets a Grisly Fate Throughout the 'Five Nights at Freddy's' Games

The Gist:

• Michael Afton aka Mike Schmidt is a major character in the Five Nights at Freddy's horror game series.
• He appears in multiple titles as his story progresses before meeting a grisly fate.
• Spoiler alert! This article contains plot details for several games in the series.

Now that the film adaptation has been released in theaters, fans are abuzz once more over Five Nights at Freddy's. What started as a horror indie title that quickly became popular among streamers when it was released in 2014 has since become a full-blown franchise with its own sprawling lore told over several games and novels. The first game in the series revolves around a security guard who tries to survive his night shift at an abandoned family restaurant populated by killer animatronic mascots.

In the years since its release and subsequent spin-offs, the FNaF series has also amassed an active fanbase that's always abuzz with theories and lore discussions. Some theories are confirmed while others have been speculated for years and brought back to the limelight as recently as 2023.

With the film having featured plenty of nods to pre-existing fan theories, fans are once again asking about what happened to major character Michael Afton. His story isn't pretty.

Michael Afton was originally introduced as Mike Schmidt. Though he went unnamed throughout several installments of the franchise, Mike is the security guard from the original game who tries to fend off Freddy Fazbear and his team of possessed animatronics who seek to stuff him inside one of the suits, essentially killing Mike.

He goes on to make several appearances in sequels and prequels, where he is eventually revealed to be the son of William Afton, a serial killer who gave rise to Freddy Fazbear and his companions becoming monsters. Subsequently, Mike's real name is shown to be Michael Afton.

Throughout the series, Michael's grisly fate is revealed, though it doesn't exactly play out how you might expect.

In Sister Location, Michael faces off against the animatronics of Circus Baby's Pizza World all while being forced by his father to commit some truly horrid acts. In the end, he is killed and becomes a host body for another mascot named Ennard. Interestingly enough, however, that isn't the end of his story quite yet.

After beating Sister Location on the hardest difficulty under certain conditions, a mini-game plays out that essentially depicts what happens to Michael. He initially appears as a normal man in the game, but slowly becomes corrupted due to Ennard possessing his body. This is signified by Michael's body slowly but surely becoming a dark purple.

When his transformation is complete, however, Michael still retains a desire to seek out his father, presumably for revenge for what William's actions have put him through. However, he officially meets his end in Freddy Fazbear's Pizzeria Simulator. Throughout the events of the game, Michael becomes embroiled in a trap meant to kill all of the Freddy Fazbear animatronics. In the end, the souls trapped within the mascots are released as Michael and his boss at the facility are killed.