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the first one

there isn't a lot to say with fnaf 1 because it was way before the lore expanded. but i do want to highlight the newspaper that talked about two children being lured into a back room, and the suspect being captured. this subsequently leads to five children being linked into separate incidents where Someone lured them into the back with a mascot costume. (wow i wonder who.)

the newspaper specifically highlighted two kids, and this incident in particular was what lead to people finding out there were three other kids that went missing. i don't think i need to say that cassidy is the last one who died. the death orders of the MCI is still up for debate, but it's implicated throughout the series that the Only Appears As A Hallucination Ghost died last. which is why it's likely that she is the Second kid in the newspaper.

now, you tell me — i don't think luring two kids is... Practical, to put it. it would be very easy for one of them to just run away. or help the other when they're in danger. either way, there's a lot of problems to this plan.

obviously william loves killing children more than anything, so it's not unlikely that he just did That for the love of the game. but if it's intentional... five is just an odd number, isn't it? with the newspapers, it's very easy to connect that the five children were stuffed into the animatronics... except there's only four of them. this number is emphasized through the custom night screen alone; there's just only four animatronics. the only way you could see golden freddy in this screen is through an easter egg.

i am not arguing that there's no reason for william to put the fifth child in the fifth smelly animal suit laying around. frankly, there is nothing stopping him from stuffing a child in fredbear.

what i'm saying is that the first game kept golden freddy under wraps. he's hidden in one camera, and i think it's likely there was a portion of players that have Never come across him. the game practically never alludes that there was a fifth animatronic.

which is what leads to my personal interpretation: i don't think cassidy's death was intentional. i don't think that she was Even supposed to be there. maybe she witnessed a kid being lured and decided to follow. or that she saw springbonnie and was like Ooo yello rabt ((: i'm personally subscribing to the former for reasons we'll get to later.

either way — this is what leads to a persistent allusion towards the fifth victim; they're an outsider. they might've been forgotten.

the second one

i'll get the minor details out of the way. in foxy go go go, the scanlines make it so the fifth kid's expression looks less enthusiastic compared to the other children. if i could be confident about One storytelling technique when it comes to scott cawthon, i'm pretty sure he does understand the purpose of Intent (even if the intent is unclear more often than not.)

it would be easy to move the sprite so it would look like the other kids. considering that the first game already has a thing going on with the fifth kid being kinda Special in some way, i'm sure that the downcast expression was intentional.

i don't think there's much to read there aside from being a Neon Arrow Sign pointing towards the fifth kid and going Hey! They're Weird! but if i were to make a personal interpretation anyway, the feeling that jumps out to me is Disconnection. either she isn't connecting to the MCI's joy of seeing an animatronic... or considering the Purple Man at the next room over, maybe she has a feeling that there is something wrong.

but that's just an interpretation. maybe she had like. 2 hours of sleep and didn't feel like cheering over foxy running that day LOL

Give Gifts, Give Life is where it gets interesting.

let's consider what GGGL means for a second; it's an abstract of the puppet awakening the child spirits in the animatronics. in henry's speech, this was charlotte's way of lifting others into her arms.

it's charlotte giving the gift of life! and that's how she became their spiritual guide in some way... which is why it's interesting that she didn't get to the fifth kid.

there is another thing i find Very fascinating; when cassidy appears at the frame before the jumpscare, she isn't wearing a mask. it would've been so Easy to recolor the freddy mask to yellow. but... nope, no mask! it's clear that charlotte didn't get to give her the gift of life. and once more, there's only Four kids instead of Five. once more, cassidy's being pushed aside by the game itself.

the common interpretation is that cassidy just Didn't need the help because she already awakened in the smelly yellow bear suit she was trapped in. besides i'm sure she looked at charlie and went No thank you i don't need a guide Go away. she got there through sheer willpower

and it's reasonable because, well...! if there's something that will be Pervasive through the little ambiguous text we have of cassidy, it is that she's also Restless.

in fnaf 2's end-of-night cutscenes, there'll be these sequences where you'll be in freddy's POV. apparently, according to the game files, these are dreams jeremy had — so this is my opportunity to say Can everyone make gabriel the freddy spirit and jeremy fitzgerald interact more Please.

i'm not going to talk about what these cinematics possibly mean. instead, i will talk about the Imagery here. have you noticed that, when golden freddy's in the frame, chica and bonnie seem more Hostile? then right after that, in the cinematic where the puppet's in the frame, chica and bonnie are calmer again.

like, if i want to say 'this kid's Pissed Off!' through imagery alone, this is one way i would go about it. cassidy is... Very much displeased. and i would assume that this was enough to awaken her inside golden freddy without needing the gift of life. agony and all that. but i also like the interpretation of her just being Lost the entire time.

i actually don't have Much to say about SAVETHEM other than that it shows golden freddy haunting the place when the DCI happened. cassidy could've witnessed the DCI happening. and i think that gave her another reason to be pissed off at william.

the third one

the 'follow me' minigame is why i Personally subscribe to cassidy having witnessed a kid being lured — because the fifth victim never got to follow william. i mean, Okay obviously golden freddy's an unmoving suit but shouldn't william come to destroy that as well. he could put a plate of cheese on the ground and wait for the smelly yellow bear suit to teleport itself

either way! this is probably the most characterization we'll ever see of cassidy in any of the games that isn't outright just... Implications. she's outright confronting william, who is somehow afraid of a Tiny Kid. this is consistent with the general idea of her being restless — of course she is the one with the energy to fistfight the purple guy LOL

as for the secret minigames, the one i specifically want to highlight is chica's party. because chica gives four cupcakes to four children. another instance of the number Four being emphasized when we know for sure that there's a hidden Fifth. where is that hidden fifth? in the Secret Area in the minigame.

there's an area in chica's party where there'll be a shadow cupcake following you around, but not be able to kill you. in the next room over, there's four more cupcakes, which wouldn't move.

two things pop out to me. first, it supports the idea of the fifth kid being Restless. it's moving, it's Chasing the player. it is doing that by itself.

second... if there is one word i would use to describe this sequence, it is Desperation. desperation to take revenge on their killer, of course,the night 5 cutscene does show that. but by this point, this is the third game in the series, and this is another instance of the cassidy being pushed aside by the game. the narrative is obscuring her once more.

going back to my point of how the fifth kid throughout the games is being Hidden in a way, having its visage follow you around does feel like this; I am also here! Do you see me? Please notice me! it's a cry, and of course no one hears it because in this area in the game you would be in a dead end and you'll have to try things over again. you got four kids to save, does this even matter.

as for happiest day... i am a BVReceiver truther, but for this post, i will assume that cassidy is the receiver. because this was initially Supposed to be the final game in the series. and doesn't it seem like a perfect way to wrap things up?

after two games of cassidy being pushed aside and being made to a ghost in her own narrative, she gets noticed by being given cake and friends to attend her party. this time, we know that there's a number five. this time, she's not being hidden. and they all can finally move on and rest.

happy ending, right?

haha!

WRONG! GO MY ULTIMATE CUSTOM NIGHT

the other games

i have only One very minor thing to say about sister location, and that is the existence of yenndo. considering the many hints towards the mci being in the funtimes, i like to think that's cassidy's spirit in an uglier animatronic. she probably gets pissed off every day about looking like that thing.

as for fnaf 4... i don't think i even want to touch it right now. i just want everyone to know that the mci has a presence throughout the games, however subtle it is.

on to the fnaf pizzeria simulator side of things...

the grass is on the Foreground, so it's not like the gravestone was covered by overgrowth. but! what makes this interesting to me is that even in this end screen, the fifth kid just gets pushed aside once more, which contrasts with the third game's happy ending where the focus is on cassidy Being Noticed. this emphasizes the number four again!

Obviously, to get meta, this is to keep up the mystery and so people would buy the survival logbook. but like — it's honestly no fuckin wonder that golden freddy's a big part of UCN, sixth game in the series and they don't even get to have the name in their gravestone revealed.

it's honestly fitting that for the final game to wrap up the classic era, it's golden freddy essentially shoving himself to the forefront after games of being obscured and being like The narrative can't hold me back now.