Game Theory Was FNAF's Final Mystery REALLY That Simple?
Table of contents
- After nearly a decade of speculation, the crying child's name in FNAF 4 has finally been revealed, solving a mystery that has puzzled fans for years.
- The search for the crying child's name in FNAF has led to countless theories, but the breakthrough came when someone connected the dots to real-world naming trends, revealing that the name David was not just a guess, but a likely fit based on historical popularity.
- Names can reveal deeper connections in storytelling, but sometimes the meanings we assign don't align with the characters' actions.
- Family ties can be twisted; love can be masked by actions that scream indifference.
- Great ideas can come from anywhere, so never underestimate the power of a small voice in a big conversation.
After nearly a decade of speculation, the crying child's name in FNAF 4 has finally been revealed, solving a mystery that has puzzled fans for years.
After 9 years and countless theories, the crying child's name has been found. That's right, on screen right now is the real name of FNAF 4's crying child, and by the end of this episode, you're going to know exactly which one it is.
Hello, Internet! Welcome to Game Theory, the show that's just desperately trying to keep up with the FNAF content train. It feels like there's been a lot lately. We had all that stuff from the 10th anniversary, our first full entry into the Choose Your Own Adventure style book series, and even a FNAF level in the new Funko Fusion game. I swear, if there is lore in this thing, I am going to scream!
While I was busy just trying to keep on top of all of that, someone else decided that it would be fun to add one final slice to my already oversized mountain of lore: Pizza fellow theorist and friend of the channel, Hyperdroid. Normally, another theorist posting a theory of their own doesn't particularly slow me down. I'd usually finish writing what I'm doing and then go back and watch that later. However, this one was different because he claimed he'd done the impossible. He claimed that after years of speculation, he'd finally found the name of the crying child.
That is a massive claim, especially when so many others had tried and failed in the past. But it wasn't all talk; he backed it up with some pretty solid evidence that the fan base seemed to love. We were inundated with messages on our subreddit, Twitter, and YouTube comments, all asking us one thing: Is he right? I get it; Hyperdroid is a fantastic theorist, but this particular puzzle has eluded us for so long that most of us just thought it would never be solved. If he is right, and we're all going to start calling the crying child something other than the crying child, we want to make sure it stands up to scrutiny. We don't want to be caught backing the wrong animatronic horse.
So, let's go through the evidence he's presented, the methods he's used, and see whether this new name holds water. Ladies and gentlemen, it's... um, huh, can't use Morty anymore, can we? And it doesn't look like Matt's going to be interrupting me this time. I’ve got to come up with something new. Oh, I know! Leave your theories in the comments below; I'll pick my favorite in the next episode of Trash. Yeah, that's about right, I guess that's what happens when I let Yosi pick the acronym.
Let's give a trash take then, shall we? To understand how Hyperdroid came to find this new name, we first need to recap where the mystery started: the Survival Log Book. After the release of FNAF 6, we got this book that seemed to just be a kid's puzzle book, but it turned out to be one of the biggest lore clues in the entire series. I really do mean that. Inside, we have three characters talking to us: Mike Aton, writing in red pen; a ghostly spirit writing in faded text; and a final spirit altering the physical text of the book across several pages.
The faded text wrote the words "my name," and on one page, my name was written on a gravestone. This reflected the fifth gravestone with no name that we found at the end of FNAF 6. Thanks to Reddit user u/powerfulone, we realized that you could take the altered numbers on the pages where the words "my name" were found and use those as coordinates for the word search, giving us the name Cassidy, the fifth missing child. This, in and of itself, was a huge dub for the FNAF Community, but it was kind of bittersweet because there was another puzzle in this book that remained unsolved: the Foxy Grid.
This grid had faded letters in the first few boxes, showing us that we needed to fill in the rest, likely meaning we needed more coordinates to figure out a new name—the name of the spirit writing an altered text in the book based on Cassidy's questions about the Purple Plastic Telephone, Psychic Friend Fredbear, as well as a birthday party that was for you. All things seemed to be pointing to this final spirit being FNAF 4's crying child. The Foxy Grid was going to finally help us figure out the name of this character.
The problem was, nobody could solve it. Matt was literally ripping his hair out for years over this thing. Some people tried to find the name in other places and then reverse engineer a solution. In Help Wanted, the FNAF bedroom was called Norman's bedroom, so maybe Norman? Some people thought Garrett because that's Mike's brother in the recent movie. Some even thought it might be Gregory because he's designed in a similar way to the crying child. But none of them were able to link it back to the Foxy Grid, and so it just felt inconclusive. A few Reddit users found the phrase "is springtrap."
The search for the crying child's name in FNAF has led to countless theories, but the breakthrough came when someone connected the dots to real-world naming trends, revealing that the name David was not just a guess, but a likely fit based on historical popularity.
The discussion surrounding the identity of the crying child in FNAF has led to various theories, with many clues pointing towards this character being linked to the foxy grid. However, the challenge has been that nobody could solve it. Matt was literally ripping his hair out over this mystery for years. Some fans attempted to find the name in other areas and reverse-engineer a solution. For instance, in Help Wanted, the FNAF bedroom was referred to as the Norman bedroom, leading some to speculate that the crying child's name might be Norman. Others considered the name Garrett, as it is Mike's brother in the recent movie, while some thought it could be Gregory due to his similar design to the crying child. Unfortunately, none of these theories were able to connect back to the foxy grid, leaving the matter feeling inconclusive.
A few Reddit users discovered a phrase involving springtrap, using six Cassidy coordinates and six page numbers from the My Name section. This seemed to align well with the teaser from FNAF 3, where it states, "My name is springtrap," implying that the ghostly text was actually Aton speaking to the crying child, suggesting his name could be Cassidy. However, this solution overlooked the seventh coordinate necessary to form the name Cassidy, causing the entire theory to unravel.
The most straightforward and well-known theory was proposed by Reddit user Wolfie 1740 Kingdom. They matched the questions Cassidy was asking to the answers provided by the crying child in altered text, such as "The party was for you, it was for me," and "What do you see? I can't see." This process yielded the letters E, V, and A, but they struggled to determine the final letter. Another Reddit user, Godzilla 81315, managed to find a solution by tallying marks to arrive at the final coordinates, which led to the letter N and the name Evan. Many fans appreciated this name and found it to be an intriguing theory; however, the method used to arrive at the final letter proved to be too convoluted.
Then came hyperdroid, who liked the initial method suggested by Wolfie but agreed that the final letter needed to follow the same approach. Notably, the crying child provided a fourth answer: "I'm scared." Hyperdroid took the same three answers to obtain the letters E, V, and A, but instead of skipping the fourth answer, he matched it to another question on page 41, where Cassidy asks, "Do you have dreams?" Although this initially seemed nonsensical given the response, it was noted that Mike had drawn a picture of Nightmare beneath that question. The nightmare animatronics were theorized to stem from William's experiments on his children, which could explain why the crying child was afraid of them in FNAF 4. This connection suggested that the crying child would not only recognize Nightmare but would also be terrified of it, leading to his seemingly indirect answer, "I'm scared."
By using the page number for that question in the foxy grid, Hyperdroid derived the letter D, spelling "IAD." Noticing the numerous references in the book to reflection, along with a random mirror next to the word search that had never been utilized, Hyperdroid reflected the answer, ultimately revealing the crying child's name as Dave. This revelation caused quite a stir among fans. However, Hyperdroid wasn't finished; he also employed real-world evidence in a classic Game Theory style. He pointed out that Dave, or more accurately David, was the third to fifth most popular baby name for boys between 1970 and 1980, which aligns with the time frame of the crying child's birth.
The incorporation of real-world evidence is incredibly useful for theory crafting, as it can provide insights that the games or books might not explicitly convey. Given the significance of this name, it wouldn't be surprising if Scott had conducted some real-world research himself regarding the name. Furthermore, we can expand upon Hyperdroid's idea by delving into more specifics. FNAF is often depicted as taking place in Hurricane, Utah. According to the United States Social Security Administration, between 1970 and 1980, the name David fluctuated in popularity, occupying various positions from fourth to first, which is higher than what Hyperdroid initially presented.
However, there is one detail about the Aons that has not been thoroughly discussed, which could potentially alter the entire narrative. This detail was actually mentioned by Lwig when he binge-watched all of the FNAF lore with Matt during a stream.
Names can reveal deeper connections in storytelling, but sometimes the meanings we assign don't align with the characters' actions.
This name is I wouldn't be surprised if Scott had actually done some real-world research himself into the name. What's more, I think we can actually expand upon Hyperdroid's idea here by getting a little more specific, so let's give it a go.
FNAF is commonly depicted as taking place in Hurricane, Utah. According to the United States Social Security Administration, between 1970 and 1980, David switched positions a few times, occupying either the fourth, third, second, or first most popular spots, which is higher than what Hyperdroid presented. So, we're off to a pretty good start.
However, there is one detail about the Afton family that we never really talk about, which could change all of this. Lwig actually mentioned it when he binged all of the FNAF lore with Matt on stream. Matt asked, "Why are they British?" The kids are raised in Utah, yet they sound British when they speak. They sound British, likely somewhere from England based on the accents. I'd like to say it's nice to have some British representation in video games, but I'm not really sure this is the one I'd want to claim.
Anyway, this detail could throw a spanner into the works, as there's a chance that William named his kids based on what was popular back home rather than where they lived. So, was David still a popular name in the UK? Thankfully, the answer is ABS freaking Lutely! More so than in America, actually. According to the Office of National Statistics, David was the most popular name for boys in England from 1954 to 1974. After that, between 1974 and 1994, it only dropped down to number three. So, still, this is looking like a pretty solid piece of evidence right now.
Plus, we can actually take it a step further. Want to guess what other name was in the top 10 baby boy names during the '70s? Michael! In the UK, Michael was the ninth most popular name for a boy, and in Utah, it was literally the number one name every year in the '70s, except for 1973, where it was overtaken by Jason. God, of course, Jason had to ruin the perfect streak—blame Jason, am I right? Regardless, again, this seems to be lining up pretty well.
But what about the final Afton child, Elizabeth? Well, she is also on these lists, although she's nowhere near as popular in the UK for that time. She was sitting between the 20th and 25th most popular name, and in Utah, it's similar—anywhere between 19th to 24th. That's not really as high as I'd like for it to feel like a solid connection. It isn't super bad; it would be way worse if the names were like 50th or 100th most popular, you know? But if this is being used as evidence for how Scott picked his names, then Elizabeth would likely need to follow that same pattern. In reality, she'd have then ended up being called something like Sarah or Jennifer, both number one names for the time period in the UK and Utah, respectively.
Therefore, while David was a really popular name between the 1970s and '80s, it kind of feels like a weaker connection. Maybe Scott just thought Elizabeth sounded more British because that was the queen at the time—who knows? No need to worry, though, because that wasn't the only real-world evidence Hyperdroid used. He also mentioned the meaning of the name David. While it was a popular name in both the UK and the US, it's actually of Hebrew origin, meaning beloved.
Fun fact: Thomas also comes from a Hebrew word that means twin. I'm not a twin, at least as far as I know. Maybe you could let me know down in the comments if you think you found my long-lost twin. For this theory, though, Hyperdroid claims that the meaning does make sense. He connects the meaning of beloved to the crying child's brother, Mike, and how his whole character arc is caused by killing his brother, showing us that his brother Dave was beloved by him.
This is where I have to press X to doubt. Well, yes, Michael does say sorry to his brother by the end of FNAF 4, but the rest of his actions don't really say that he considered his brother beloved. He jump scares him and actively puts him into an animatronic. He doesn't seem to care about him at all after that. His actions seem to be spurred on more by his father, Afton, who sent him down into Sister Location, where he then learned about Elizabeth and the monster his father was. He subsequently went on a quest to destroy him. Some of that may have come from the guilt of killing his brother, but I'm just not convinced enough to say that Michael considered his brother beloved.
Now, that doesn't mean that I think the meaning of David being beloved is invalid evidence at all. He may not have been beloved by Michael, but he was beloved by someone else—William. William didn't want his little boy gone; he didn't want him to...
Family ties can be twisted; love can be masked by actions that scream indifference.
His actions don't really say that he considered his brother beloved. He jump scares him and actively puts him into an animatronic; he doesn't seem to care about him at all after that. His actions seem to be spurred on more by his father. Afton sent him down into Sister Location, where he then learned about Elizabeth and the monster his father was, and so he went on a quest to destroy him. Some of that may have come from the guilt of killing his brother, but I'm just not convinced enough to say that Michael considered his brother beloved.
Now, that doesn't mean that I think the meaning of David being beloved is invalid evidence at all. He may not have been beloved by Michael, but he was beloved by someone else: William. William didn't want his little boy gone; he didn't want him to die. He needed to save him. "I will put you back together." We've also believed for a long while that he killed Charlie in a drunken or emotional rage after the death of his own son. That wouldn't happen if he didn't care about his kid, if his son wasn't beloved. By associating that meaning with Afton, other pieces fall into place for the other Afton kids as well.
Michael, once again, comes from the Hebrew language and it means "who is like God." Typically, this is meant as a rhetorical question because there is no one like God, but it could also be interpreted as a statement: Michael, who is like God. William is a man who has figured out power over life and death in this world. He sees himself as a God, and Mike tells us himself that the Funtime animatronics confuse him for his father: "They didn't recognize me at first, but then they thought I was you." He is like his father; he is who is like God.
The same thing goes for the name Elizabeth. It's derived from the Hebrew name Elisheva and means "my God is a promise." One of the only lines we get from Elizabeth before she becomes Baby is her begging William to let her play with Baby: "Oh Dad, you let me go to her, didn't you? You made her just for me." Baby was made by Afton for Elizabeth. She's annoyed because she is now being denied the thing made specifically for her, the thing that was promised to her by her father, by the God of this world. After that, she disobeyed and got scooped, and so Afton made her another promise—the same one he made the crying child. He sent Michael down into the bunker to put her back together.
Three Afton kids, three Hebrew names, three meanings that all point back towards dear old dad. It's like poetry; it's like poetry; it's sort of they rhyme. Interestingly, William isn't of Hebrew origin; it's actually Germanic, but it also has an interesting meaning: Resolute protector or strong-willed warrior. He tried to protect Elizabeth; he was resolute in fixing and protecting the crying child after he died. If you don't call surviving a spring locking strong, I don't know what else you'd call it.
So, from a thematic standpoint, the name David does seem to work. Its meaning fits what we know of the character and ties into the same themes as the rest of the Afton family. At this point, though, I should probably address the elephant in the room. Real-world research is great, and strong connecting themes are fantastic pieces of supplementary evidence, but that's the point—they're supplementary. If the core evidence isn't there to back it up in the first place, then it doesn't mean squat.
It all comes down to the actual method that Hyper Droid used to solve this puzzle, and I'll be honest: when I first saw it, I was a little unsure. Using the faded text of "the party was for you" and "what do you see?" makes complete sense for the answers. "It was for me," and "I can't see." I can hear sounds technically works with "does he still talk to you?" though it's not the cleanest. But "I'm scared" being a response to "do you have dreams?" does feel like a bit of a stretch. The line only works because of the nightmare drawing on the same page, even though none of the other questions need context clues from the page.
This feeling was also exacerbated when Hyper Droid pointed back to a Reddit post by the user Ecstatic Maripan 7 from the GT subreddit. They came up with a solution three years ago, so way to represent the GT community! But when I took a look at the original post, they were receiving similar pushback. People were commenting the same things that I'm saying now. However, we theorists are nothing if not thorough. We always dot our i's and cross our t's. Rather than just say this answer feels wrong and throw the whole thing out, I wanted to go back through the logbook and do a bit of my own reverse engineering. I marked down every page number where Cassidy wrote something in the logbook.
Great ideas can come from anywhere, so never underestimate the power of a small voice in a big conversation.
None of the other questions need context. Clues from the page this feeling was also exacerbated when hyper Droid pointed back to a Reddit post by the user ecstatic maripan 7 from the GT subreddit. They came up with a solution three years ago, so what a way to represent the GT Community! However, when I took a look at the original post, they were receiving similar pushback; people were commenting the same things that I'm saying now.
However, we theorists are nothing if not thorough. We always dot our i's and cross our t's. Rather than just say, "this answer feels wrong" and throw the whole thing out, I wanted to go back through the log book and do a bit of my own reverse engineering. I marked down every page number where Cassidy wrote something in the log book. I then used those page numbers in the foxy grid to find all the possible letters we could get, to see if any of them gave us usable answers that we could then go back and pair with I'm scared.
Two of them got ruled out immediately. What do you remember and do you miss them? Because they're on pages 20 and 70, you can't zero down on a grid, so they're out. On page 56, we get was your favorite ride that Carousel, but that spells vve, so that's out too. Three of Cassy's questions do give us letters that technically work. Do you remember your name? is on page 31, do any of these toys look familiar to you? is on page 42, and did one of these belong to you? is on page 43. Page 31 gives us a C, page 42 gives us a W, and page 43 gives us a P. Using these letters, you can spell cave, wave, and pave—all real words but not exactly names, especially considering the very normal Mike and Elizabeth.
Although page 43 isn't actually labeled as 43, it's one of the altered page numbers and it shows 15, so I tried that too, and it gave me yaave, another dud. The only time I got close to another answer was by using page 23, which ironically gives you an N, spelling Evan. Was Wolfie actually right all those years ago? Yeah, no. If you thought do you have dreams made no sense with I'm scared, I feel like what was your favorite childhood toy, plastic telephone? is an even worse answer. It would then mean we haven't reversed anything either, and so the mirror in the middle of the book would also remain unused, which isn't really ideal.
The last page to try was 83, where Cassidy asks, is this song familiar to you? This gives you a T in the foxy grid. I tried using this as both an alternative for I'm scared as well as I can hear sounds, just to be sure, but no combination of those letters made a name either. This means, by process of elimination, do you have dreams does kind of have to be the answer. If it's not, we also have to throw out the letters E, V, and A because we need to find an entirely new method to solve this grid. At this point, I kind of feel like if there was another method, someone surely would have found it by now.
I'm sure that some people still aren't going to be happy with this solution. For all the other questions, the crying child was just responding to the words Cassidy said, but for this final one, you have to use Mike's drawing to get the full interpretation. As I've already said, that kind of breaks the method—not as much as finding the N for Ev using the tally marks did, but enough that it doesn't feel satisfying.
However, when you stop and look back, Scott actually did the same thing with the Cassidy puzzle. Think about it: at the start, we were using altered page numbers from pages with my name written on them, but as the puzzle went on, that changed. Suddenly, we stopped using altered page numbers and began using other altered numbers from the page, like 7 and 2, or 10 and 11. On some pages, we're not even using altered numbers; one of them uses numbers written by Mike, a completely different character. On another, you have to follow Mike's clue to a different page and then use the numbers that are just in the book. They're not altered, they're not written down, they're just there.
We were still following the my name part of the puzzle, but the actual number used for the coordinates was different. That rule was being broken, and yet no one really batted an eyelid when that was pitched out. Why? Because we got an answer that made sense. Yes, the method was a little messy, but clearly, it was the correct solution that Scott had planned, given he then went on to confirm the name Cassidy in his canceled movie ideas.
To me, this is the same situation. We finally have an answer that spells a name and follows the same kind of puzzles, even if the method is a little messy. Maybe Scott wanted to make the puzzles harder as they went on, or, you know, maybe he just isn't that good at planning puzzles to begin with. We theorists are so used to complex ciphers and ARGs that sometimes I think we expect everything we solve to be on that level. But in actuality, not everyone is, and so the simplest solutions can actually be the best.
All that being said, what do I actually think is Dave the real name of the crying child? Well, even though it's a little messy, the solution does fit. It gives an answer for the random mirror in the middle of the book, and it works thematically with all of the Afton children and their parts in the story. Is the crying child's name Dave? For me, after spending days going back and forth, looking at every side of the AR argument, I have to say that the answer is a resounding yes. I believe that Dave is the name of the crying child.
So, to hyper Droid, ecstatic maripan 7, and any other FNAF theorist that came up with this solution over the years, congratulations! You did it! You solved the foxy grid, and you got the theorist seal of approval. Editor, cue the applause! It's so nice to give one of these out, especially to people like ecstatic maripan 7, who solved this thing over three years ago. It's a helpful reminder that there are some fantastic theorists out there. We just need to be open to hearing them out, whether they're a tiny channel here on YouTube, a small post on a subreddit with only two upvotes, or a random reply on a Discord server. They can have ideas that are just as good as any one of us bigger channels.
It may go against our own personal headcanons, but if this experience has taught us anything, it's not to discount those ideas just because they're a little out there. Give them a chance; who knows, they might actually have the solutions we've all been looking for. But hey, that's just a theory—a game theory! Thanks for watching, and if you're looking for more FNAF theory reviews, just click on the video on screen to watch our reaction to Dual Process Theories. Theory review away, theorists!