Shadow Freddy FNAF Guide

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Ognjen Miljkovic

Ognjen has been a fan of the FNAF series since the beginning and has followed the series religiously since then. He knows the storyline back to front, he understands every character's quirks and twisted motives, and he also has a sizable collection of FNF plushies to watch over him at night. Creepy, huh?

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The Five Nights at Freddy’s franchise would never be successful at the point where it is today without having a dedicated creator who made smart moves along with the development of FNAF.

Since the beginning of the franchise, and since the first game, there were always small and large secrets that would be scattered across the game, waiting for the player, or even better, a YouTuber, to discover them by accident.

The implementation of these little Easter eggs that would follow every game led to creating a secret animatronic that would endure a lot of mysteries in the FNAF community – Shadow Freddy.

Shadow Freddy is one of the most interesting Five Nights at Freddy’s characters whose backstory we don’t know even to this today, with the fact that the game, where he had his first debut, was released eight years ago – in late 2014.

Summary

This article guide will talk about Shadow Freddy’s characteristics and appearances – it will briefly mention all essential data and facts that you should be aware of in an easy-to-read format. It will serve you as some sort of a Wikipedia page, where you can always find all the correct information you need. Because after reading this guide, you will be completely informed about the secret animatronic – Shadow Freddy.

Appearances

Five Nights at Freddy’s 2

In the entire series, Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 is probably the FNAF game with the most secrets and Easter eggs. It is filled with a plethora of surprises that many people don’t have enough time even to experience, and it is a miracle if you even catch an Easter egg on camera.

Shadow Freddy appears on the Parts and Services camera mostly on the fourth night and after. His appearance is so rare because, at that point in the game, you might not even look at the cameras anymore. For him to appear, the disappearance of all Withered animatronics from the Parts and Services is mandatory, and even then, you only have a 1/100 chance of seeing him.

Shadow Freddy will be sitting on the floor where Withered Bonnie was resting in the Parts and Services. It’s a sitting pose that resembles how Golden Freddy is usually found, and he is holding a microphone in his right hand. Looking at him will for too long will cause the game to crash, and it’s a frightening sight for new players.

Five Nights at Freddy’s 3

In Five Nights at Freddy’s 3 Shadow Freddy appears on multiple occasions – he is a prominent character in the minigames, and there is a rare chance that he can appear in the office, right next to you. In this FNAF installment, his appearance sparks even more questions, as it was such an ordinary place where not many conclusions can be drawn.

He is a reoccurring character in almost every end-of-night minigame, where he is the one who leads you to the Purple Guy, as you play as one of the first four animatronics. Shadow Freddy will enter the room from which Purple Guy will come out a few seconds ahead. This appearance sparked a belief that Purple Guy and he are somehow related.

The second time he appears in Five Nights at Freddy’s 3 can happen during one of the nights. Shadow Freddy has a low chance of appearing on the far left side of your office. He looks dismantled, still in the same position from FNAF 2. His eyes and teeth will remain dark this time, and only a tiny portion of him can be seen entirely.

FNAF World

FNAF World is one of the most hated FNAF games that have come out over the years. It’s a non-cannon addition to the FNAF series, which most people disliked as it’s viewed as too family-friendly for the series.

Though surprisingly, Shadow Freddy made his appearance as one of the selectable characters along with the other secret animatronics from previous FNAF games. In the beginning, he is a helpful character, and he can be difficult to beat when trying to acquire him. But, unfortunately, he isn’t the greatest after the early game.

Freddy Fazbear’s Pizzeria Simulator

Freddy Fazbear’s Pizzeria Simulator, in my opinion, is one of the best Five Nights at Freddy’s games to this day. The game starts off as a poorly done 8-bit pizzeria simulator, where you design your pizza that you later throw at children to feed them.

You are playing as 8-bit Freddy Fazbear, and after some time, Shadow Freddy will make his appearance after a long time. He will block the children from receiving pizzas, making your time delivering them much harder.

You will stun him if you feed him a few pizzas, so if you manage to feed the children even with him stopping you, the game will start to glitch out. And you will see dozens of Shadow Freddy’s appear, leading you into the main game.

Five Nights at Freddy’s VR: Help Wanted

In Five Nights at Freddy’s VR: Help Wanted, there is a wide variety of game modes that recreate the original settings from all past Five Nights at Freddy’s games, but in VR.

There is a Parts and Service level with Freddy Fazbear, where you have to fix the original Freddy animatronic. After you finish that, you will be able to play the so-called Blacklight version of the level, where everything gets more challenging and different animatronics are present.

Dark Freddy will replace Freddy Fazbear, and around him, you will be able to see a shadow version of Nightmare Freddy’s Freddle, floating in the air. Even though Shadow Freddy and Dark Freddy have different names, they still physically look the same.

Design

Shadow Freddy has an overall simple design that is still really unique and mysterious. However, he shares the same model with Golden Freddy, as they are both Freddy’s counterparts.

Shadow Freddy’s suit is always of a dark color with a purple tint. He has bright white eyes and teeth that are always standing out in contrast to his dark body. He has a top hat and holds a microphone in his right hand. Shadow Freddy is almost always found in the sitting position in which we saw Golden Freddy in the first game.

In 8-bit minigames in Five Nights at Freddy’s 3, you can see how purple he is, and as he is constantly walking, you can see that he has a black bow tie and a button. That same design is present in FNAF World, where he is an Adventure animatronic, the only difference being that one of his ears is cut off. In Five Nights at Freddy’s VR: Help Wanted, he is shown in the form of Dark Freddy, where his purple tint is gone.

Theories

There are many theories about Shadow Freddy’s origin and role in the series. A lot of new ones kept appearing due to the constant game releases and updates. However, it never really got clear how and why he was created and what even his purpose is within the games, but here are some of the best guesses that the FNAF community has.

Former Employee

One of the most popular theories on the existence of Shadow Freddy is that he is one of the former employees who died in the Fredbear spring lock suit. A lot of people stick by this theory because, in one of the end-of-night minigames in FNAF 4, you can see shadowy appearances of Springbonnie and Fredbear in the background.

Implicating that there could’ve been multiple spring-lock suits at the same time. And another piece of evidence is the quote of Phone Guy saying how there have been multiple spring-lock failures occurring at the same time.

Nightmare

One of the theories related to Shadow Freddy is that the Nightmare is the Nightmare counterpart of Shadow Freddy. They share a similar appearance, and they are both related to Golden Freddy and Fredbear because they share the same models as those animatronics. Shadow Freddy with Golden Freddy, and Nightmare with Fredbear.

They are just dark recolors of the same animatronics, but it is still a low possibility since Nightmare doesn’t have any purple color on him, which is a signature feature of Shadow Freddy. But even more confusing are the file names in FNAF 4, especially the one labeled “Shadow Freddy – Extras,” which contains content for Nightmare and the 20/20/20/20 mode where he appears.

Good Guy Shadow Freddy

People have also been theorizing that Shadow Freddy is a good character that doesn’t have any intentions of killing the player. First off, when you catch him on the cameras in Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, he will not crash your game as Shadow Bonnie does.

And in Five Nights at Freddy’s 3, he is the character that is responsible for trapping William Afton in the spring lock suit. Then, he will lead all four original FNAF animatronics back to their tormentor while revealing to them who’s their killer so they can have their revenge.

The animatronics get dismantled, and their souls leave the broken parts, and that is how they will corner William Afton in the room where he was hiding, then forcing him to go into the Springbonnie suit where the spring-lock failure is indicated to happen.

And he also appears for a brief moment in the FNAF novel The Twisted Ones, where he acts as a guide. This all contributes to the theory that Shadow Freddy is helping the murdered children instead of being William Afton’s puppet, as many believe.

Manifestation of Agony

The last theory is about how he is the manifestation of the murder victim’s agony and sorrow that they experienced because of their fast and unavoidable death.

One of the main reasons for even bringing up this theory is Nightmare’s voice line from UCN, “I’m your wickedness, made of flesh,” implicating that he is the physical manifestation of William Afton’s evil deeds because you are playing as him in the Ultimate Custom Night.

But this could also mean how he was William Afton’s creation that got physically manifested into his personal hell that Cassidy made for William because similar voice lines can be found amongst other Nightmare animatronics.

The second reason for bringing up this theory is the fact that in Five Nights at Freddy’s AR: Special Delivery, as you collect more and more remnants, Shadow Bonnie will start to appear. Alluding to the possibility of the shadow animatronics only showing themselves in locations where there is too much remnant.

As Shadow Freddy appears in only a few locations famous for having a lot of child murders over the years. Especially rooms like Parts and Services, where he appears for the first time.

FAQs

Shadow Freddy FNAF Guide: Conclusion

Shadow Freddy is one of the most interesting animatronics in the Five Nights at Freddy’s series. He is mysterious, and no one quite knows yet who he is and what purpose he serves. Besides the questionable backstory, his design is also unique, and it’s an interesting character that you can encounter, especially when playing the game for the first time.

Therefore the mysteries are what keep the FNAF community still alive. There is always something to talk about and discuss. It’s a series full of secrets and hidden details that make the big picture in the end.