Phantom Freddy

Phantom Freddy is an antagonist who first appeared in Five Nights at Freddy's 3. He is a burnt and ravaged hallucination of Golden Freddy from the second game.

Physical Appearance

Phantom Freddy has the same details as Golden Freddy from Five Nights at Freddy's 2, but instead has white pin-pricked pupils in his eyes like the other phantoms. He appears to be charred or burnt, possibly foreshadowing the fire that broke out in the establishment. His mouth can usually be seen hanging open. His two lower legs are never seen in the game, but through his walking animation, the lower right leg looks ripped out and torn from his body. His teeth appear to be slightly green (but this is likely down to lighting). He also has an additional wire sticking out of his left eye socket as shown in Ultimate Custom Night, which Golden Freddy didn't have.

Upon closer inspection and brightening, he appears to be colored golden or at least green, though this may simply be from his burnt appearance or the overall green hue of the game, as the other phantom animatronics share the same properties of his color scheme.

In Five Nights at Freddy's VR: Help Wanted, Phantom Freddy sports a completely different look. He now uses Classic Freddy's model from the original Five Nights at Freddy's albeit transparent in places, revealing the endoskeleton underneath. He also appears to be damaged somewhat, with tears in his costume.

Appearances

Five Nights at Freddy's 3

Phantom Freddy has no movement pattern, however, he can occasionally appear in the hallway, right in front of the player, slowly shuffling to the left, before ducking down, as if hiding. He then appears inside the Office, jumpscaring the player.

Phantom Freddy will randomly appear to walk across the window in front of the player. The player must be viewing either the Monitor or the Maintenance Panel until Phantom Freddy finishes walking across the length of the window to avoid triggering his jumpscare. If the player fails to do this while Phantom Freddy is wandering, he will duck down, completely removing himself from the player's sight. He will then jumpscare the player a few moments later.

A very simple strategy to avoid Phantom Freddy is to simply ignore him. The player is advised not to stray away from the camera's view for too long, as this can trigger his attack. The moment the player exits the camera, Phantom Freddy can attack.

If the player stares at Springtrap without pulling up the Monitor or Maintenance Panel when he is in the window or the doorway, Phantom Freddy can attack with no warning, disabling the ventilation system.

Also, if the player is on the Monitor or Maintenance Panel, they can wait until Phantom Freddy finishes walking across the length of the window. This is recommended, as Phantom Freddy will never jumpscare the player if this is attempted, though this can prove to be a little risky, as this involves staying in the Monitor or Maintenance Panel, and the player needs to use both to locate Springtrap and reboot the systems, respectively.

Ultimate Custom Night

Phantom Freddy returns in Ultimate Custom Night as one of the many selectable characters.

Upon active, Phantom Freddy will be noticed slowly appearing out of thin air within the Office. The player is required to flicker their flashlight rapidly (by pressing the Z button) until Phantom Freddy entirely disappears. If Phantom Freddy appear fully solid, he will jumpscare the player to black-out for temporary seconds.

The challenges in which Phantom Freddy appears are as follows:

• Bears Attack 1
• Bears Attack 2
• Bears Attack 3
• Springtrapped
• Chaos 2

Five Nights at Freddy's VR: Help Wanted

Phantom Freddy appears in the mode FNAF 3 (VR). His role is similar to Five Nights at Freddy's 3, lurking in the hall outside the office. Unlike in Five Nights at Freddy's 3, he will not jumpscare the player if he is being stared at for too long. He also makes a cameo in Ennard's Blacklight Vent Repair level, where an enormous red version of him will walk around the background of the 2nd floor of Circus Baby's Entertainment and Rental.

Five Nights at Freddy's 3

Gameplay

Phantom Freddy halfway down the hallway outside the Office.

Phantom Freddy's animation while walking in the hallway outside the Office, animated.

Phantom Freddy ducking down, animated.

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Brightened

Phantom Freddy from the Extra menu, brightened and saturated for clarity.

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Ultimate Custom Night

Phantom Freddy's icon from the main menu

Render of Phantom Freddy standing in the Office.

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Five Nights at Freddy's VR: Help Wanted

In-game

Phantom Freddy halfway down the hallway outside the Office.

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Five Nights at Freddy's 3

• In the original mobile version, Phantom Freddy can jumpscare the player even if they are on the Monitor or the Maintenance Panel. This normally happens if the player keeps watching him and shortly after, opens the Monitor or Maintenance Panel. To avoid this, the player must open either the Monitor or Maintenance Panel as soon as possible when he appears, and, if the player is using one of these while he is walking and must use the other one, they must immediately move to the other side and use either the Monitor or Maintenance Panel, respectively. The ambience cue will also help the player know if Phantom Freddy is there.
• Phantom Freddy is actually a recolored version of Golden Freddy from the second game. The reason for him being identified solely as "Phantom Freddy" as opposed to "Phantom Golden Freddy" is likely due to his different color scheme.
• Oddly, Phantom Freddy moves fluidly instead of his previous counterpart, while Shadow Freddy remains in the slumped position he was in during his appearance in Five Nights at Freddy's 2.
• When viewed through the game files, it is revealed that Phantom Freddy is missing his lower right leg.
• From the mobile version, Phantom Freddy's walking animation is slightly slower.
• As of version 1.031, Phantom Freddy's footsteps can be heard when he is limping outside the window.
• The last frame of Phantom Freddy's jumpscare resembles that of Golden Freddy's from the second game. Whether this was intentional or not is unknown.
• If Springtrap happens to jumpscare the player while Phantom Freddy is at the window, then Phantom Freddy's jumpscare will be shown, and Springtrap will appear in the middle of it as Freddy is disappearing.
• Additionally, the audio for one jumpscare will be heard instead of the audio for two.

Ultimate Custom Night

• Phantom Freddy's mechanic is a reversed version of his original behavior in FNaF 3, where the player had to ignore his presence to avoid getting jumpscared. Right here, the player needs to flash their light at him to prevent him from fully appearing.
• From the Character Guide announcement on the game's Steam page, Scott describes the mechanics for Phantom Freddy:

Five Nights at Freddy's VR: Help Wanted

• Phantom Freddy uses the original Freddy Fazbear model for this game, likely to prevent confusion over his identity, as Phantom Freddy was theorized to be Withered Freddy due to the two having similar models, along with how Phantom Freddy was capable of movement during gameplay whereas Golden Freddy and Shadow Freddy were not.
• Since this design was not changed as of the update that added Withered Freddy to the game, it can be assumed this was intentional.
• The transparency of Phantom Freddy's model resembles that of Nightmare from the fourth game. Whether or not this was intentional is unknown.