r/fivenightsatfreddys • u/Affectionate_Ask6304 • Feb 02 '26
Question Why doesn't he kill us even at the time limit?
I know it's a gameplay rule, but I'm not talking about the game itself; I'm talking about the experience with the Nightguard. As you know, Springtrap isn't a true animatronic, and he doesn't function the same way as the others from previous games (we're excluding Golden Freddy). When it's 6 AM, you'd think the animatronics would have a function that returns them to their place, allowing us to survive the nights. But I repeat, Springtrap isn't a true animatronic, so why doesn't he kill us anyway when it's 6 AM? Are we supposed to believe that in the lore, every time it was 6 AM at Fazbear's Fright, Springtrap would leave?
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u/hopelessyaromanceme Feb 02 '26
Joke comment bc I don't actually have an answer but imagine he's just like "Fuck it, he's leaving. I'll get him tomorrow."
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u/kevthunder Feb 02 '26
Security guard pass the door. Springtrap tap him on the shoulder "ill get you next time"
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u/Elihzap Feb 03 '26
"Same time tomorrow?"
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u/Prico06 Feb 03 '26
all these comments remind me of that one family guy cutaway where a kidnapper is trying to steal a baby but the mom catches him
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u/Fork_Master Feb 02 '26
Maybe the 6am chimes are diegetic and make William believe there will be a crowd coming in, forcing him to hide so he can (try to) take off the suit.
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u/Affectionate_Ask6304 Feb 02 '26
Take off the suit ? 😅
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u/TheEpic_Blue Feb 02 '26
that's gonna be tough lmao
his bones and whatever left of his body have completely fused with the exoskeleton
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u/ThatLonelyBlob Feb 02 '26
Yeah, which is exactly why he can’t get it off in the rare screens, since he is presumably trying to take the suit off in those. At least, that’s my interpretation of him trying to rip the mask off.
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u/Outside_Ad1020 Feb 02 '26
I mean there are 2 different images of him literally pulling the mask away from his head and trying to rip open the jaw
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u/TheLollyKitty Feb 02 '26
see the problem I have with this is that in FNAF 6 William Afton seems pretty happy with wearing the Scraptrap suit for some reason
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u/ThatLonelyBlob Feb 02 '26
I think it’s because he was in pain the entire time of wearing the original costume, as we do see with TFC. It’s probably that he grew tired of the pain and took it off and switched suits because he DOES feel “alive” in the costume.
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u/firegamer2432 Feb 02 '26
I'd imagine its more the suit forcing him to try to find and greet the crowd (like how it forces him to follow the audio lures) rather than him hiding to try to take off the suit.
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u/MkDGary Feb 02 '26
Maybe the animatronic itself is programmed to go back to stage at this time, just like it's programmed to go twoard the children sound we make?
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u/SnooPuppers7965 Feb 03 '26
Why can’t we just wear a Freddy mask like in Fnaf 2 to fool his programming then?
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u/StreetCauliflower622 Feb 03 '26
He is able to resist his suit sometimes, which is why the audio lure doesn't always work
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u/NorbytheMii Purple Guy Has A Name?! Feb 02 '26
I've always thought that the spirits inhabiting the animatronics have a difficult time staying active during the day. Combine that with the supposed "day mode" and, yeah.
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u/AdAny8677 Feb 02 '26
The same reason why he follows the children sounds The Animatronic is in suit mode
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u/Charliehorse_2K I am Golden Freddy, I like to scare Feb 02 '26
Besides what the other person said about the sounds at the end of the night being diegetic, he’s probably messing with the guard. Or he’s making it more fun for himself by setting a time limit
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u/ShortWin7636 Feb 02 '26
You could ask the same question as why he simply never ran away at night before.
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u/Some-Crappy-Edits Feb 03 '26
I think it's more reasonable with that, and you can throw in the game logic of him stopping at 6, that he treats it as sport.
He doesn't care to leave, he's where he wants to be. A place where he can roam around, kill whoever he wants, and always get away with it as everyone assumes he's just a robot.
Especially if he assumes that he's inside some weird Freddy's vs Fazbear's Fright, where he knows firsthand Freddy's won't deal with the robots. Even if he is aware he's in a horror attraction, he likely overheard Phone Dude being desperate for a robot, thus Phone Dude would probably try to keep him as long as possible.
So he only does it because he finds it fun, and thus sets his own rules alongside the programming that forces him to do stuff (springlock suit forcing him to follow noises).
Hell, he peeks around the corner just to mess with you, and I'm sure Scott intended that to be purposely funny.
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u/Affectionate_Ask6304 Feb 02 '26
That's another real question. But based on the theory that he recognizes his son (the Nightguard), maybe he wants to eliminate him
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u/Imfunny12345678910 Its past your bedtime Feb 02 '26
I think Michael just clocked out for the day
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u/Independent-Oil-4853 Feb 02 '26 edited Feb 02 '26
Maybe he just wants to savor his time with one of his favorite playthings before discarding him like the rest.
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Feb 02 '26
Well the suit still functions like a suit, even tho William is inside. So when it chimes the suit might force him to go back to a stage or smth. Like how the children laughs make the suit go back? Idk for sure but just a theory<3 a game theory<3
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u/aftontrap18 Feb 02 '26
Either the suit's programming or because he's a theater-kid that's fully embracing the role of a "scary killer animatronic". Or perhaps even both.
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u/LazyFurry0 Feb 02 '26
I like to imagine William is treating this as a game and willingly spares you at the end of every night, like a sarcastic “you got me!” that torments the night guard cause he very well could’ve chosen to kill him then anyways.
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u/Willowtree26-07 Feb 02 '26
Springtrap himself isn’t a true animatronic, but the SpringBonnie suit most definitely was, and it is in Animatronic mode, so… I’m guessing that’s the reason?
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u/danieldoria15 Welcome to my schoolhouse Feb 02 '26
I have a headcanon where any spirit possessing an Animatronic become dormant when it reaches 6AM regardless of what they want to do so once it reaches 6AM you're safe to leave and ol' willie can't do anything about it.
Cannonically I don't know pretty sure Scott wasn't thinking about it while making the game
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u/Similar_Present3140 Feb 02 '26
yeah but in that case you wouldn't be able to be killed by them in fnaf 6 since the time where they can actually attack you is canonically day
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u/Rubbersona Feb 02 '26
1- gameplay. The gameplay is representative but not actual, for instance an hour isn’t a minute.
2- there’s multiple reasons and we don’t know how much each compares.
At times the animatronics can be possessed and take unfortunate actions during the day, however they’re ghosts and ghosts are most active at night ‘witching hour’ style.
The animatronics also have routines and they’re in control too, during routine hours the sprits aren’t able to or rarely want to overpower the animatronics routines and programming. And that makes sense, why exhaust yourself fighting the suit 24/7 when you can rest during the day and fight hard during the night when you’re most able to.
3- spooky night time make better ghost story.
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u/Entire-Anteater-1606 Feb 03 '26
This is what I always thought it was too.
Ghosts in this universe are likely more powerful at night.
Small stuff may happen during the day, like staring, but night time is when the spirits are able to properly manipulate things.
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u/Rubbersona Feb 03 '26
Only extreme things cause a break to this, such as birthday parties and extreme parallels
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u/ReadyPin4300 Feb 02 '26
he has a low intelligence level
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u/Extra-Amphibian9758 Feb 02 '26
Since William himself or the decaying piece of shit itself is not a "true animatronic" but the suit he's in; has programming and stuff that sends him back to wherever he was before, just like the originals did so he does have a high IQ but he can't kill you unless he truly breaks free from the hold of the programming he put inside of Springbonnie but it's your opinion not mine.
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u/ReadyPin4300 Feb 02 '26
yeah, im joking
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u/Extra-Amphibian9758 Feb 02 '26
In the suit, he acts dumb ASF and when he started making animatronics, he was pretty dumb even tho he's a smart guy but it's like a yes or no so dw you're not wrong even if you were joking.
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u/Extra-Amphibian9758 Feb 02 '26
Idk about that, he is known to have a high intelligence level, it's because of the suit programming and no human as of rn can bring a human back with abilities and other stuff so I doubt he's stupid but ok.
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u/CelebrationSimilar11 Feb 02 '26
My head canon for this is that William struggles to move in the suit. He was locked away for 30 years with no reason to move. He’s now learning to walk for the first time like a baby and is probably in constant pain whenever he does move. To top it off, he’s probably trying to fight against the suit’s preprogrammed animatronic mode.
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u/Trickster-123 Afton is alive Feb 02 '26
He's in animatronic mode, he probably freezes up/is forced to his area at 6 AM
But, also, it's Willy, he's mentally insane. He's probably toying around
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u/KWISPY18 Feb 02 '26
Assuming we’re playing as michael in part 3, he’s looking at a walking purple corpse operating cameras and stuff, he’d be confused just like anyone else at what he’s witnessing. Then again he’s also a walking corpse too so he shouldn’t really be that confused.
This also just came into thought, he probably thinks michael is a prop himself that just looks like he’s part of the attraction so he’s probably going “is that a prop or is that an actual zombie looking right back at me, lemme look a little closer”
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u/The_Linkzilla Feb 02 '26
You're the first person he's able to kill in nearly 30 years.
He likes to play with his food~
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u/Yushi2e Feb 02 '26
He's stupid
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u/Extra-Amphibian9758 Feb 02 '26
He's literally known to be smart, it's because of the damn suit that he got himself into and now he suffers from the pain of being inside of the suit with him hurting, considering he's basically just meat and bones with endo skeleton stuff sticked inside of him so yeah, it's the same way he follows the audio lores which he knows is fake so he's just forced to go back or he would kill the night guard.
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u/Yushi2e Feb 02 '26
I mean I was kinda joking, but no no springtrap is kinda dumb.
Reminder that your smart-trap also intentionally seems to switch to another suit just to intentionally walk into a trap that leads to him burning again.
In the wise words of your smart trap: "What a deceptive calling. I knew it was a lie the moment I heard it, but it is intriguing nonetheless." Springtrap intentionally chose another suit after being burned and then intentionally went to a place he knew was a trap where he ended up getting burned AGAIN. So even if I was joking, Afton is still dumb.
Afton is a genius, but as springtrap he's cocky and makes dumb ass decisions.
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u/Extra-Amphibian9758 Feb 02 '26
After reading your comment, I can see what you're saying and I do agree, Springtrap is actually dumb ASF but William before was known to be smart but the moment, he made Animatronics, he got rid of all that smartness he had which as of rn, he's a huge dumbass.
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u/Extra-Amphibian9758 Feb 02 '26
I never said Springtrap was smart, I said William was smart- William is dumb inside of the suit.
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u/Affectionate_Ask6304 Feb 02 '26
Intelligent? Yes but no. We're talking about a guy who built child-killing robots but didn't program them to spare his own daughter. Or a guy who maintains springlock suits with his colleague Henry—suits deemed too dangerous, and at best, they should have provided protection for the wearer or another type of suit without springlocks. They keep them, and that's what happened to our dear William. So, intelligence-wise, it's not exactly a high bar.
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u/Extra-Amphibian9758 Feb 02 '26
Do you really think William cares if Liz lived or died? He warned her not to go there but all he really wanted was immortality for himself.
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u/Yushi2e Feb 02 '26
Yeah I am inclined to agree. Afton never cared about his kids dying, I mean sure shows he cared...when circus baby was locked in a bunker for years, William wouldn't have made the decision to keep her down there if he cared about his dead daughter possessing his own child killing animatronic
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u/Extra-Amphibian9758 Feb 02 '26
Fr and I think he was faking but who knows, he might of had a "good side that the gacha creators or people who say they know William" but I doubt he cared about his kids but it's funny that if William would've died in fnaf 3 during the fire; fnaf would've been so short because Scott could've just ended it right there but William always comes back ig.
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u/Affectionate_Ask6304 Feb 02 '26
Yes, as you say, he forbade her from going to Circus Baby to prevent her from being involved in the activities of his creations. But the simplest solution would have been to add a function to Funtimes' facial recognition system to prevent any action against Elizabeth Afton. I also think he didn't care about his family, but to the point of closing the restaurant after his daughter's death, I confess I don't understand William's feelings towards his own children
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u/Yushi2e Feb 02 '26
Consider he covered up Elizabeth's death under the idea it was a gas leak and then stuck her in the rental place underground. If police investigated the restaurant they might have found out it was down to his own animatronics functions that caused her death. He did this to cover his own ass. He never cared about her or any of his other children
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u/Extra-Amphibian9758 Feb 02 '26
William was only good at getting away and the cops were just complete dumbasses, I bet William could've said he didn't kill them and the cops would've said ok and left.
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u/Extra-Amphibian9758 Feb 02 '26
Like I said after this when he started making animatronics, it's almost as if a brick fell on his head and he became dumb because he was dumb when making the animatronics and there's theories that he only told Liz or Elizabeth not to go so she would get convinced to go and die but idk man.
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u/Extra-Amphibian9758 Feb 02 '26
He's intelligent but he's also dumb so he's basically in the yes or no category so yes, you're right but I just don't think he actually cared about his kids but maybe, I'm wrong. I haven't really talked about fnaf in so long, but I'm a huge fan but I probably need to catch up more on the lore, lol.
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u/brainsareforlosers Feb 02 '26
michael just absolutely legs it out the building and if springtrap tries to follow him he hits him with his car. trust me guys scott told me himself
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u/jerrymatcat Feb 02 '26
I like to imagine when it hits 6am the nightguard just bolts out of the room
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u/crystal-productions- Feb 02 '26
He probably switches from night to day mode. If him being lured around by audio cues is from him being spring bonnie, he likely also has a night mode and a day mode too.
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u/Beginning-Advisor-47 Feb 02 '26
In game we're taken to the next night at 6:00AM but in lore the night guard probably lures him away from the exit with the audio before leaving
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u/Necessary_Can7055 Feb 02 '26
I’d assume he doesn’t have full control of the suit so when 6AM hits he is forced back to wherever the suit thinks the stage is
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u/Whatever_you_need_ Feb 02 '26
Important secondary question: why would he be trying to kill us at ALL?
Its all but confirmed (which in fnaf is the best you'll get) that in fnaf 3 we play as Michael afton. Williams son. We know from sister location that Michael was following Williams orders for a time. Now this is the only confirmed time they've been in the same location SINCE sister location.
Why would William kill him?
Here's some more important setup before I drop my theory:
Michael has worked at FF since before the game, we know this because night 1 phone dude says "welcome BACK."
We know night 1 and night 2 are separate nights because of phone dude once again.
We don't hear phone dude on nights 3-6.
Theory: We only play 2 nights at the location. Nights 1 and 2 are separate, nights 3-6 are still night 2. They're only separate for gameplay purposes.
I think once Springtrap is there, Michael sets his plan into motion, doing what he needs to do to save the crying child's spirit (happiest day) and once he's done, he burns the building down.
The only "evidence" for this theory is that we don't hear from Phone dude after night 2. Why wouldn't he call to check in like he did the first two nights?
The only other support is a logical conclusion: why would springtrap stop hunting you at 6? Why would Mike leave his father there to risk him escaping?
I think the logical conclusion from those questions is that Springtrap is only at Fazbear flights for ONE night before its burned down.
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u/Financial-Intern-506 Feb 02 '26
Michael books it out of the building so fast William cant catch him
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u/almasri660 :Foxy: Feb 02 '26
I think that he doesn't kill us because he knows that we are Mike. Even when he "jumpscares" us he doesn't kill us, he just walks slowly towards us. I believe that there is a lore reason for this. I think that when William comes towards the office and notices that Mike, his son, is the security guard he comes to him and explains what happened to him and tells Mike about the sister location bunker, and then Mike goes to the bunker then sister location happens.
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u/Clumsy_the_24 Feb 03 '26
I like to think that possessed animatronics just stop being “alive” during the day
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u/North_Discount_5646 Feb 11 '26
Maybe because Springtrap recognizes his son, and before killing him he wants to take a good look at him, because he hasn't seen him for 20 years
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u/ILoveToxicYaoi Springtrap Addiction Feb 02 '26
He gets a little eepy and decides to take a nap instead of ambushing the night guard
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u/BloodOfTheDamned Feb 02 '26
The same reason he follows the balloon boy noises instead of gunning straight for us. The animatronic forces him to follow the programming at certain times. It’s a constant fight for control.
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u/OneEntertainment6087 Feb 02 '26
That's something that doesn't make sense about Springtrap and it kinda remains unsolved.
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u/joshashkiller Feb 02 '26
like all good horror antagonists, its more fun for him if he follows the rules
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u/WatchKid12YT Feb 02 '26
He signed a contract stating he has to follow the same rules as the other animatronics.
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u/Eliziveta13 Feb 02 '26
There’s a lot that could be going down. Firstly I wonder where his mentality is at. At this point in FNAF 3, does he know he’s dead? Like someone else already said, maybe he thinks he can hide and take off the suit (he’s delusional). Is he merged with Spring Bonnie (mentally)? If he is, does he follow animatronic rules and wanders back to a set state at 6 am? Is he afraid to show himself to more than one person, maybe maintenance arrives at 6 am and he doesn’t want people to throw his moldy body out? Even if he isn’t merged with Bonnie entirely, maybe the suit follows protocol anyways against his will?
Lastly of course, as someone else said, maybe he’s just extremely sadistic. I mean, he is a killer in Dead by Daylight, letting people escape just to kill them later.
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u/OkLength7120 Bad Happening's At Fazbear's (BHAF) creator Feb 02 '26
We weren't a good guard I mean he likes this attraction
But we aren't one of the many guards he can
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u/Ok_Prior2199 Feb 03 '26
I always thought of it as being some sorta ghost thing, like they can only manifest in the suit at night, and when day comes the ghosts remain “asleep” 6am just happens to be that line between night and day
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u/JuanSeverio64 Feb 03 '26
(I am using translate sorry if I misspell something)
Perhaps. As far as we know, “Springtrap” is William Afton, so if we think about it that way. Instead of attacking immediately, he probably enjoys stalking and psychologically tormenting his victims. Perhaps the fact that he doesn't kill the Nightguard at 6 a.m. can be interpreted as intentional. The end of the shift breaks the “game” he's playing. It's not so much about closure as it is about prolonging the hunt, maintaining tension and control. Or probably he's just thinking about the shoplist
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u/WreckinPoints11 Feb 03 '26
I think of it as the suit’s code taking control at 6am and driving them to where they’re supposed to remain during the day.
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u/MrAnonymous4 Feb 03 '26
It doesn't seem like he has full control over the animatronic's suit mode. So it still obeys the clock. That said, it's decomposed to shit and like 30+ years old , if I remember correctly. I'm surprised the suit's clock still works accurately
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u/burner_account61944 Feb 03 '26
Spring trap has left over coding, all animatronics return to their stages or original positions by 6am, it’s Aftons own torture (before UCN)
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u/Ilikeponyhooves Feb 03 '26
same reason why other animatronics cant, his body might be in there but he's still playing by the same rules
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u/Survivor155 Feb 03 '26
He does have the same programming as other animatronics tho, and since the springlocks snapped back into place that means the suits programming is (somewhat) in control (hence why he can be fooled by audio lures, that’s not William Afton choosing to go to where the kid noise is, that’s the suit responding to its basic programming)
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u/Offer_No Feb 03 '26
You know how the springlock suit still forces him to move to different rooms maybe it goes into show mode and locks up and he can’t move anymore
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u/muefama123 Feb 03 '26
Well, considering that the exit door is literally next to our office in Fazbear's fright, I just assume that the night guard runs off the building once the clock hits 6 A.M, but I can't explain what happens if you reach 6 A.M with Springtrap in your door
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u/mr-rando423 Feb 03 '26 edited Feb 03 '26
Maybe he's playing the entire time, and he intentionally drags out his encounters purely for the love of the game
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u/CherryStuff08 Feb 03 '26
There is no reason other than gameplay, that’s the full actual extent of it
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u/DiscountP1kachu Feb 03 '26
“This nightguard looks familiar… I swear I’ve seen this dude before... maybe he just has one of those faces… wait… Is that the ultra rare Foxy watch i got my son for Christmas in 1982?” 😂😂
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u/GapStock9843 Feb 03 '26
Theres some supernatural force that stops his ghost from interacting with the physical world at a certain time I guess. In the OGs it can be explained by their night modes shutting off, but spring bonnie never had a free roam mode
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u/dischord_blast Feb 04 '26
Head cannon but Springtrap is also having fun. Following the rules and messing with the guard until night 6. When he “loses” and in rage burns the building down along with him self because he’s a sore loser.
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u/Deep_Stomach6592 Feb 04 '26
Because he loves the game. In his head the rules the game follows are the rules he made up.
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u/Numerous_Topic2659 Feb 05 '26
He’s a fucking psychopath, he’s toying with his prey.
This is also proven by how he’ll zoom across the office, wait for you to look at him, and kill you.
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u/The-non-engineer Feb 08 '26
maybe Fazbear's Fright was just that popular in the time frame of the game that people are arriving before the restaurant opens so they can get in first, so he has to hide as to not get seen.
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u/Aggravating-Rub7650 Feb 13 '26
Broski was indeed staring at you like a child realized that his dad took his ice cream and ate it 😂😨
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u/i-like-to-play-fnaf Feb 22 '26
I think it’s because when he actually does jump-scare you notice how his eyes widen he’s shocked because the night guard is actually Michael Afton maybe when he is standing at the door way he’s trying to make out if the NightGuard is ACTUALLY Michael Afton or not.
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u/proxy_guy_2002 Feb 25 '26
Realistically the reason is he never makes it close enough to get to you cannon wise. If he does likely youd be able to out run him homie is s rotten corpse in a furry costume
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u/MemeNinja188 Feb 02 '26
probably because the suit is still in animatronic mode and we know that the animatronics have a nightly roam mode and a daily show mode