MurrayMatrix Theory: Afton and Henry Are Not Who You Think, and Edwin May Have Had Two Children
It’s been almost a year since the release of SOTM, and it’s easily the most twisted game in the entire franchise. It completely changes the way we look at every event that happened across FNaF.
I honestly doubt we’ve even understood half of what Scott was trying to tell us through this game but… let’s not expect too much from this fandom 😅
One of the things that still won’t leave my head is the similarity between the character we’ve known so far as William Afton (even though technically we only officially learned his initials, W.A.), Henry, and Edwin.
Every single one of these characters has almost the exact same story repeating itself over and over again.
At first glance it could just seem like coincidence, or maybe Afton intentionally recreating the same cycle… but what if someone else is actually pulling the strings?
To understand what I mean, we need to dive into the nature of the Cradle System, or if you prefer, F10-N4 (rearrange the letters and you get 4F10N).
The story of Cradle is familiar to all of us, but I feel like it’s still being interpreted completely wrong.
We also need to remember one basic fact: MACHINES DO NOT FEEL EMOTIONS. They execute commands.
So after Fiona’s death, a devastated Edwin decided to create a disabled caretaker for David, one that essentially took Fiona’s role. But the command he gave that machine may have shaped the fate of the entire franchise.
Yes. I genuinely think that the moment M1 was given its purpose, we created EVERY future event in FNaF.
“Keep David safe and provide boundaries.”
Again.
“Keep David safe and provide boundaries.”
And this is where the problem begins, because we have reasons to believe Cradle never truly understood the command in the first place. Honestly, there probably isn’t and never will be a machine that truly understands human instructions. Ask your ChatGPT if it actually understands what we say to it. Theoretically it creates the illusion of reasoning, but in practice it’s just statistics, word prediction, and system corrections designed to feel more human. I highly recommend reading I Have No Mouth, and I Must Scream.
Back to the point.
In the SOTM minigame, we see her as a witch, as someone who intentionally wanted David gone because in order to give identity to her “robotic son,” M2 needed David’s identity so he could function as David.
But then that raises the real question: who killed David in real life?
There are a few theories, but the two most likely options are W.A. or the Cradle system itself. There’s also the possibility that Fiona’s computerized replacement manipulated Afton, showing him the benefits of going through with it.
For Afton, the motivation would’ve been taking everything Edwin owned, from the technology to the family home. But that clashes with the story shown in the minigame, because we clearly see Cradle had its hands in David’s death.
Personally, I believe David is actually TOYSNHK, which only strengthens the argument that Afton killed him. More than that, I also think David may have been the ONLY victim William Afton consciously murdered himself… but that’s a theory for another day 🙌
At this stage, it doesn’t really matter who killed David. What matters is that Cradle may have created another Mimic under the excuse of bringing David back.
So where do Afton and Henry fit into all this?
After MCM went bankrupt, Afton could’ve peacefully taken over both MCM and Edwin’s family house.
And this is where things start getting interesting because I want you to look at Afton’s sprite. We’ve known it for years and nobody ever questioned the purple color. And honestly it didn’t matter… until you notice who ELSE has purple skin and glowing eyes. See where I’m going with this?
Maybe during the takeover, Afton himself became nothing more than a vessel for the Edwin/Fiona archetype that Cradle needed in order to rebuild the Murray family.
And before people lose their minds, this hypothesis can actually be argued pretty well. But to understand it, you have to completely open your mind and forget almost everything we thought we knew about FNaF.
So let’s restart from the core hypothesis:
William and Henry are ONLY costumes for the Cradle system.
Cradle needs to fill the void left by Fiona and Edwin in order to rebuild Edwin’s family.
From the books, which act as direct parallels, we know that William in the trilogy already had scars all over his body before getting trapped inside Spring Bonnie. We also know his face looked exhausted and his eyes were empty and emotionless. That’s a strangely specific description, and in fiction it often means there’s some kind of passenger inside the body :P
On top of that, his fake name is Dave Miller… D.M.
In Into the Pit, Yellow Rabbit clearly does NOT behave like a human.
William’s immortality doesn’t necessarily have to come from his agony.
Something carrying the agony of David, Edwin, and Fiona could’ve entered his body instead 🙌
Yes, I’m serious.
I think M2, or another “failed Mimic version,” took control of William.
One simple argument supporting this idea is Glitchtrap and Burntrap, while Scraptrap, who is officially called William Afton, might actually explain where that identity originated from.
With Glitchtrap and Burntrap, Mimic couldn’t have seen Afton from a third-person perspective. Cradle could, but M2 couldn’t. Which means the only logical explanation is William operating on a kind of autopilot.
Under this interpretation, the MCI victims weren’t murdered for fun.
They were fuel for rebuilding the Murray family. Fuel for rebuilding David.
Notice how Mimic, during its identity crisis in Prototype Freddy’s, combines all the costumes into one giant amalgamation, exactly like Blob, Molten Freddy, or Ennard.
And in the ending where we repair Mimic, WE ALSO CONNECT THE ANIMALS TOGETHER IN A SPECIFIC ORDER.
First, I’m going to shamelessly bring up the unused SOTM ending that still exists in the game files. I know unused content isn’t canon, but it still shows ideas they were considering at one point.
In the fourth ending, Mimic becomes… EDWIN.
Exactly. Our funny little endo literally takes Edwin’s personality. It’s extremely similar to Sister Location and Ennard, and honestly, people have no idea how much sense this could make.
That would mean William’s children probably aren’t actually his children.
And notice how we never get information about William having a wife or partner. And biologically speaking, you need a living woman to have biological children.
So then Dave/CC is a robot. Mike is a robot. Even Elizabeth is a robot.
Why? What’s their purpose?
Their purpose is simply rebuilding the Murray family.
Cradle replaced Fiona, then David, and the unused ending suggests it replaces Edwin too. It’s just repeating the same pattern someone assigned to it long ago. It continues following the command until somebody stops it.
We covered Afton, but Henry still remains.
Henry is more mysterious because we don’t have a direct connection between Edwin and Henry… although wait. Doesn’t the novel trilogy basically tell Edwin’s story almost 1:1?
And yes, unfortunately the only strong argument here is the parallel between the trilogy and Edwin’s story in the game. Henry also has a daughter, so where would Edwin suddenly get one from?
Sadly we don’t have an answer yet. The only defense for this theory is distorted memories and the unreliable story shown in SOTM.
I’ve always wondered why SOTM is framed through the perspective of a film, and I don’t think that’s accidental. In FNaF there are no accidents.
Besides, we’ve already seen an entire three-part story turn out to be the complete opposite of what we originally believed. (Alleluia, Trilogy.)
So does that mean Charlotte Emily is… also a robot?
aghhhhgsg
Charlotte has way too many strange similarities to Fiona, which actually supports the possibility that she’s Edwin and Fiona’s daughter. On top of that, her death is almost identical to David’s murder.
So then what exactly are we watching in the FNaF 2 movie murder scene? A robot being killed, or a real child?
I think it still could’ve been a living child.
Because where would Henry even get a robot child from? If Afton is already a robot, Henry could still be human, while Edwin may have taken over his identity under circumstances we still don’t understand.
Maybe GoldenDuo is literally Edwin’s two children.
Maybe Cassidy is Edwin’s daughter appearing through multiple identities (Charlotte, Elizabeth, Vanessa, Vanny), while David appears as (Mike, Michael, David, CC, Garrett, Gregory).
And going back to the FNaF 2 movie, Afton and Henry look incredibly similar. Almost like they’re two halves of Edwin himself.
One side driven by rage, the anger Edwin transferred into Mimic, and the obsession that made him sacrifice time with his family in pursuit of creating life.
The other side representing creativity, love for his child, guilt over neglect, and the consequences of never having enough time.
I know that there are still many unanswered questions and open threads in this theory, if by some miracle it is true, we will only get confirmation of this theory in future games and projects.
I promise that I will develop each thread by focusing on individual characters one by one, I still have many arguments that I will present for each character individually.
For now, treat this more like a thought experiment.