Scariest FNAF Characters List

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The main thing that Five Night’s and Freddy’s is known for is its horror. The game would be nowhere near where it is today without its scary and often really realistic ambient and animatronics that hunt you down throughout the entire night. It is what made the game popular in the first place, it was a unique idea that no one else thought of.

All FNAF games left strong impressions that are still around after all these years of continuous releases. New animatronics were featured in almost every new FNAF game. The design knows how to change but it is always based on the same foundation of an animalistic, and sometimes anthropomorphic, animatronic that doesn’t look neither too real, nor too fake.

In this article, I’m going to cover around ten scariest FNAF animatronics. I’ll take in the accountability a few factors that are going to decide how scary an animatronic actually is.

Design

In FNAF games, the animatronics are filled with little details that make up the bigger picture in the end. They are really crucial even when the player doesn’t notice them. In most cases, they decide how scary an animatronic actually is.

Behavior

This factor covers the animatronics behavior in the game, how much tension does he bring with just his appearance in-game, and all other things he does to make the player feel afraid.

For example, Springtrap chasing you down in FNAF 3 is terrifying. You are basically fighting against an undead human stuck in a spring-lock suit seeking revenge after it went through a huge amount of agony and pain.

Jumpscare

jumpscare

And the final factor is the scariness of a jumpscare, an animatronic can be terrifying but at the same time, he can have a jumpscare that is just not worth any recognition.

We are going to use an example similar to the one that we used in the behavior factor. Springtrap’s jumpscare isn’t really that scary compared to ones in past games, while his appearance throughout the game is much more fun and exciting.

Now after clearing everything up, we can begin talking about the scariest FNAF characters and about what makes them so scary.

Golden Freddy

Image from Fandom

He is one of the most mysterious FNAF characters. Golden Freddy was an unnamed animatronic that was featured first in FNAF 1. His appearance was the last thing a player would expect at that time, if you stared at him for too long the game would just crash. He used to continuously appear in the next FNAF games.

He is at the bottom of this list because the only scary thing is him mysteriously appearing through almost all FNAF games without a proper message, especially in FNAF 2 where he appeared again in the minigames that were introduced for the first time. There are many rumors and theories that are circling around this animatronic, which leads to a very big rabbit hole.

Design-wise Golden Freddy is not really so special, it’s just a yellow (or golden) version of the classic Freddy animatronic. He is usually sitting down with a microphone in his hand while looking at the player with his small white dot eyes.

It’s scary when you see an unexpected animatronic appear out of nowhere right in front of you, especially if you are not aware that he is in the game. It’s a great detail that was added in the game that definitely sparked more mysteries.

His jumpscare is the worst on this list, it is less scary than ones from other animatronics and it is not really well done, it will scare you only the first time you encounter him.

Mangle

mangle

He, or she, is animatronic that everyone is familiar with. Introduced in the second FNAF game, Mangle is quite disturbing. It is supposed that the reason why she is torn apart is because of children that used to play with her roughly. So over some time they slowly tore her apart. That backstory is enough to make you feel uneasy.

She became an animatronic that is being loved by the entire community. Her gender is not really specified.

When you are wandering through the cameras in the second FNAF game, you’ll most likely be surprised by an animatronic that is not in one piece, laying on the ground while playing an eerie static. It’s a pretty well-done design that will make you constantly keep wondering “What happened to her?”.

You will recognize her by the eirie sound that she produces. That is how you will notice that she is in your right vent, staring at you ready to exit and kill you. If you fail to make her go away, you will have her literally above your head waiting for the right moment to bite you, it’s exhausting thinking about if or when is that going to happen.

Her jumpscare is not really that special, it can be unnerving because you can’t know when it’s exactly going to happen. She will bite literally bite you while standing upside down.

Springtrap

Image from Fandom

William Afton, or Springtrap to be exact, is one of the first humanoid characters in the entire FNAF series. Introduced in the most hyped FNAF game, FNAF 3. He is certainly alive after all years that he has spent locked up in a spring-lock animatronic suit. I think he is definitely looking for revenge.

He is undoubtedly the smartest character in the series.

His humanoid design makes him look and feel much scarier because it’s more realistic when he resembles us, humans. Scott did a great job designing his suit overall, it is not that scary, but the fact that you can see his rotting corpse that is still alive to this day makes the design even better.

Personally, I’ve spent a lot of time trying to beat him in FNAF 3. He is way smarter than the other animatronics but easily deceived by audio clips. But the feeling of being hunted down for 6 hours (in-game time) by a half-human half-animatronic is frightening, it adds excitement to the gameplay.

Regardless of how much I endorse him, he has one of the least scary jumpscares in the entire FNAF series. He doesn’t even jump on your or anything, he will just show up in front of you. It can be scary if you are not expecting him at all, but the jumpscare isn’t really that fun.

Nightmare Balloon Boy

nightmare balloon boy

He is not that important as an animatronic. His first appearance is in FNAF 4 Halloween Edition, in the “Fun with Balloon Boy” minigame, where you have to stop him from jumpscaring you. It’s a nightmare version of Balloon Boy from FNAF 2, with major tweaks and new additions.

He has a drastically different design from his predecessor. His annoying smile has been replaced with two rows of sharp and pointy teeth that seem really deadly. His eyes are also much larger, they now look like they lack emotions.

There is not much to talk about his behavior. The minigame is pretty scary, it is unsettling when you are hearing how he is approaching you in the dark, where he can just launch towards you at any given moment.

His jumpscare is scary mostly because of the momentum. The only thing you can do is hope that it won’t happen, it will definitely make you jump once it happens.

Ballora

ballora

Introduced in the FNAF game that changed the entire series, FNAF Sister Location. Despite the looks, Ballora is a terrifying animatronic, she is the most human animatronic out there, which makes it even worse. To be fair, I was pretty afraid of her when playing SL for the first time, the voice acting was done really well. Her singing still creeps me out to this day.

As I said, she has the most humanoid design. Her eyes are always shut. She does not look like a scary animatronic at a first glance, but if you take into consideration the fact that her presence is always being followed with a scary music box tune or her singing, then it’s a different story. She is just not an animatronic that you would think is actually scary.

Voice acting made the FNAF games much scarier. You will be hearing her theme or singing in a pitch-black space closing upon you, and it’s even scarier when you see her dancing on her tiptoes like a ballerina.

You can see a lot of improvement in FNAF SL jumpscares. Ballora is no exception to that, seeing her endoskeleton appear out of nowhere is just frightening, and the scream is more high-pitched, and it perfectly suits her. The jumpscare is pretty good.

Phantom Mangle

phantom mangle

I’m mentioning Mangle once again in this article, in my opinion, this variation is the scariest one out there, even scarier than the nightmare variation. Introduced first in the third installation of FNAF, this time she is not really animatronic, but a hallucination.

FNAF 3 is considered as the least scariest FNAF game out there, of course, if you disregard FNAF World. And we still don’t know her gender, but that doesn’t really matter since she is pretty terrifying.

She is now even more withered and torn apart. Her entire body has that greenish color that all phantom animatronics have. That is not a bad addition since it makes her new startling white eyes stand out really hard.

Do you remember that eirie sound that she produces? Now it’s even worse, when you see her on a camera she comes right in front of your office to stare at you while purposely playing a much louder sound, while also messing with your audio systems. That moment will definitely shock you every time it happens.

She doesn’t have a proper jumpscare, instead, she just plays that eirie sound in front of your office. But I’m sure that doesn’t make her less scary, it’s better that way.

Phantom Puppet

Image from Fandom

Another phantom animatronic that is worth mentioning here. The Puppet was first introduced in the second FNAF game, and again in the third installment. With a changed and even scarier design, the Phantom Puppet will hunt you in your dreams outside the game.

It’s weird how people consider FNAF 3 as the least scary FNAF game, maybe the Springtrap’s jumpscare is not that great, but others are really worth the credit.

It has the same changes as Phantom Mangle. It’s basically a burned version of the classic Puppet animatronic. Not to mention that it also has the new scary white eyes that you will definitely remember.

He only spawns at CAM 08, if you don’t switch the camera fast enough, you will be surprised by the next thing that is going to happen, in my opinion, it’s the scariest jumpscare in the game if you can even call it that. He will in most cases end the night for you.

The most horrifying jumpscare in FNAF 3, and one of the most horrifying in the entire series. He will appear right in front of you, constantly staring at you, followed by loud noise and heavy breathing, while everything is malfunctioning in the background. After it, you will be totally disoriented.

Ennard

Image from Fandom

Another animatronic that was introduced in FNAF Sister Location, and first of its kind. He is an amalgamation of the main funtime animatronics. It’s an interesting concept, he has the physical characteristics of all those animatronics.

I don’t want to be biassed or anything, but in my opinion, he is one of the best-designed characters in FNAF.

Ennard is basically a mix of cables and wires, the messiness really adds to the horror effect. You can see parts of all funtime animatronics in him, and the thing that really makes him stand out is his clown mask. It is scary enough to see a monster made out of cables and old metal parts, but imagine seeing the same monster but with a clown mask with a shiny red nose. Scott nailed it with the design.

He behaves similarly to Springtrap. He will hunt you throughout the whole night, where you can see him on the cameras most of the time looking at you. He as an animatronic is pretty disturbing, even if you are not a fan of FNAF games you must admit it.

His jumpscare is scary, especially because it’s followed by a high pitch robotic scream. Ennard aggressively gets into your face, which will definitely startle the player under all that tension of him hunting you down.

Nightmare

Nightmare

He is animatronic that was added in FNAF 4. Nightmare appears on the sixth night as the main antagonist. He is exclusively a nightmare animatronic, that’s the only version that exists. He also features a new unique jumpscare that was never seen before in the entire series.

You’ve probably guessed that he is going to be on this list, hence why he comes from the scariest FNAF game.

He is a recolored version of Nightmare Fredbear with a pitch-black body, a yellow top hat, and a bowtie. The main things that stand out on him are his red eyes and pointy bloody teeth. He is one of the scariest, if not the scariest nightmare animatronic.

In the game, he is just as terrifying as he looks. Nightmare will hunt you down throughout the entire FNAF 4 house. You will experience a lot of pressure when you hear him running around. You’ll even see him in your closet, that’s terrifying enough to give you real nightmares outside the game.

His jumpscare is extraordinary, he will not walk up to your nor will he launch towards you. When you fail to counter him you will get a still image of his large face across your entire monitor. The unbearable sound of static, his teeth, and his red eyes will leave you petrified.

Nightmarionne

Nightmarionne

He is an exclusive animatronic added in the Halloween update for FNAF 4. While other animatronics added in that update weren’t really that scary. Nightmarionne is definitely the scariest one in the entire FNAF series. He deserves the first spot, Nightmarionne is the most terrifying animatronic out there. Personally, I don’t think that there is an animatronic that is scarier than him. He is the real winner here.

He is also featured in the newest update for FNAF World, and he is located on the Ultimate Custom Night’s icon.

Nightmarionne in my opinion is the scariest animatronic that Scott has ever made. He is slim and slender, and his mask is utterly terrifying. His body is pitch black and the worst thing is that you can even see his ribs that are coming out of his body. And his hands are separated into three long sharp spikes.

In the Halloween update, he replaces Nightmare, they both share the same behavior. So basically, you are going to be alone in the entire house, closely listening to his steps and breathing so you can somehow beat the night. I’m really happy that he replaced Nightmare, that was a great way to fit him into the FNAF series.

His jumpscare is like Nightmares. Once he catches you, you will get a close-up of his mask across your entire screen. Which can be shocking when undergoing all that tension of him chasing you. The eerie static will leave you still in place, you will be completely shocked.

FAQ
Question: Why are the rest of nightmare animatronics not included?

Answer: There were already two of them, and there were just animatronics that were worth mentioning more. Even though they come from the scariest FNAF game, they don’t have to be the scariest animatronics.

Question: Why do other lists say otherwise?

Answer: People have different ways of thinking. Opinions are always going to vary, this list was done objectively as possible.

Question: Why isn’t Scrap Baby on the list?

Answer: She isn’t mentioned here because there is just no available space to put her in. She is a scary animatronic indeed, a honorable mention to be exact.

Scariest FNAF Characters List: Conclusion

Everyone can have their opinion, some people may find certain animatronics more or less scary. It’s up to you and your perception of the game. The FNAF franchise is full of scary animatronics, in this article I’ve mentioned roughly ten of them. It’s what made the series so popular, the new animatronics that were constantly being added to the game.

Now, of course, there are more animatronics that could have been included, but these are in my opinion the scariest. As I said, everyone can have their own opinion, this list isn’t official.

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