The Puppet

“The others are like animals, but I am very aware.” — The Puppet, Ultimate Custom Night

The Puppet (also known as the Marionette) is an animatronic puppet from the 1987 Freddy Fazbear's Pizza location, although it's implied that it was also in the Fredbear's Family Diner. It first debuts in Five Nights at Freddy's 2 as the main antagonist, but later games show its heroic side.

Physical Appearance

“FIVE NIGHTS AT FREDDY'S Graphic designed animatronic marionette doll, Marionette, wearing black and white striped one-piece and attached to puppet strings.” — Scott Cawthon's page, "Intellectual Property Rights (IPR)"[1],

The Puppet has a white face (which looks like a mask) with black, hollow eyes (aside from its jumpscare and a small in-game cutscene, in which it gains small, white pupils). Its face is similar to that of a Pierrot, with rosy red cheeks, purple stripes that stretch from the bottom of its eyes to the top of its mouth, and red lipstick painted on in an exaggerated pucker.

Its body is somewhat reminiscent of a sock monkey's, with its round, oblong shape, thin waist, three white buttons, rounded hands that feature three spindly fingers each, and white stripes on the wrists and ankles, along with a thin, long neck. It has no feet, but its legs are tapered to a point. It has neither hair nor head accessories. It's quite lanky, and according to one of the hallucinations in which it appears, it stretches from the floor to the ceiling of the pizzeria.

In Five Nights at Freddy's VR: Help Wanted, the Puppet's body has a rusty looking brown color covering its entire body, head downwards. Its mask is also scratched, especially on the cheeks and lips. It is depicted in both animations and the gallery as moving its arms in a wavy fashion.

Personality

The Puppet was originally an inanimate object, and therefore had no personality of its own, until it was seemingly possessed by the spirit of Henry's daughter who is implied to be named Charlotte by the book series. As evident by the Completion ending of Freddy Fazbear's Pizzeria Simulator as well as the Security Puppet minigame, the Puppet short-circuited in the rain, while holding the child, allowing her spirit to enter the Puppet and take over. As it is confirmed to speak in Ultimate Custom Night, the spirit possessing the Puppet is seemingly vengeful and sadistic, claiming to be very aware; even Phone Guy states that it is "always thinking".

Despite this, the Puppet seemingly harbors no resentment against anyone it deems a threat (claiming they need to stay out of the way), though it does display sadistic tendencies, especially towards the player character in Ultimate Custom Night, such as comparing "them powerless" to music. It is also protective of the "Others", possibly referring to the other children murdered by William Afton, who now possess the animatronics Freddy, Bonnie, Chica, Foxy, and Golden Freddy, although it also claims they are "like animals" (incapable of thinking for themselves). It talks to the player with familiarity, mentioning that it is no longer afraid of them, suggesting that the player is someone who used to be feared by the Puppet.

Appearances

Five Nights at Freddy's 2

The Puppet is located in the Prize Corner and will only appear if the Music Box is left unwound for too long.

Phone Guy mentions that the night guard needs to keep the Music Box wound, as the animatronics have a feature where they attempt to find sources of noise or potential customers. The source, in this case, is the Office. Keeping the Music Box wound is vital to keep the Puppet at bay; if it is left unwound for too long, the Puppet will exit the Prize Corner and will attack the night guard, ignoring the Freddy Fazbear Head, resulting in a Game Over.

The Music Box can be wound remotely by going to CAM 11. As it unwinds, a warning sign will appear next to the CAM 11 box on the camera map, as well as on the bottom right of the screen when not using the Monitor. The warning sign starts out orange, signalling that there is only one piece of the counter left before the music nears its end. It then blinks red when the timer has run out, meaning the music is about to end, and the Puppet is seconds away from beginning its attack. Once the red exclamation mark disappears, action must be taken immediately, or the player will be completely helpless against the Puppet.

It was previously thought that once the timer ran out, there was no way to stop the Puppet, but this is not true. Since the Puppet will not move while the light is on it, it is possible to hold the light on the Puppet and wind the Music Box, keeping it there as long as the Music Box is still wound. If the Puppet is caught in its first stage of exiting the box, the player still has one last chance to stop the Puppet in its tracks and prevent it from reaching the second stage. The player must still treat this as a normal Music Box rewinding, as the other animatronics can still attack the night guard.

Regardless of what happens after it begins its attack, even if the Music Box is wound up after it has left the Prize Corner, the Puppet will still make its way towards the Office, attacking in a manner very similar to Withered Foxy. There is no way to stop it once it has begun its approach and will kill the night guard, even if they are wearing the Freddy Fazbear Head; the only way of surviving at this point is making it to 6 AM. The player will know it has left if they hear the tune "Pop! Goes the Weasel" begin to play. The player will be unable to find the Puppet on any camera once it has left the Prize Corner to attack, except in rare cases of seeing it in the Main Hall camera, in at least three different nearly-visible images as a hallucination. Depending on the night, it will take anywhere from as long as 2 minutes to as little as 6 seconds to reach the Office. This is mainly demonstrated by the Custom Night where its attack time is based on other animatronics' A.I.s.

The Puppet also appeared in the fourth cutscene from the end-of-night series of dreams that took place in Freddy Fazbear's Pizza from the first Five Nights at Freddy's game. It will copy the player's movements until the cutscene ends, ending up as a black screen with the "it's me" text from the top left.

Five Nights at Freddy's 3

The Puppet returns in Five Nights at Freddy's 3 as one of the attractions in Fazbear's Fright. Along with Chica, it can be seen in the hallway in CAM 08. Its appearance does affect gameplay, and if the player stares at the Puppet for too long the Phantom Puppet will attack.

For the Phantom Puppet, not much can be seen about it, as only its head is shown. The Puppet lacks a body entirely and the back of its head which makes it partly empty. Although sometimes on CAM 08, the player can see the real Puppet, with the same design from the second game, real enough to see its reflection until it is actually revealed to be Phantom Puppet after lowering the Monitor down.

Perhaps the Puppet's only notable appearance in the game is in the minigame "Happiest Day". In this minigame (which can be accessed on any night by double-clicking the drawing of The Puppet on the right wall of CAM 03), the player plays as the Puppet and is only capable of walking left and right. Walking right, the player will pass by several children wearing animal masks (appearing to resemble Happy Frog, Pigpatch, Mr. Hippo, and Orville Elephant, along with a fifth unknown blue character), and on the very far right, a crying child can be found next to a table. Also next to the table are several children wearing gray masks (the number of children present being the same as the number of children unlocked from previous minigames). If the player has not completed all the Cake Endings from all previous minigames, the only exit will be via the Exit door to the far left.

However, once the player has completed all other Cake Endings, they will then find four children wearing masks of Freddy Fazbear, Bonnie, Chica, and Foxy to the left of the table (in place of the children previously wearing gray masks). Touching the table will place a cake on it, and the crying child will now have on a Golden Freddy mask. All five children will disappear, as well as the player character, leaving their six masks lying on the ground. The six balloons previously seen in the room will now float up towards the room barrier, and the game will abruptly end. Upon completion of this minigame and getting the Cake Ending, the player will be rewarded with a third star on the main menu screen, and completing Night 5 will now give the player the "Good Ending".

The giant figure in the background of "Mangle's Quest" minigame bears some resemblance to the Puppet, although it serves no function and is only part of the background.

Five Nights at Freddy's 4

Although the original Puppet doesn't appear in Five Nights at Freddy's 4, its nightmarish incarnation, Nightmarionne, replaces Nightmare in the Halloween Edition of the game. In addition, the music of the original Puppet's music box plays throughout Nightmarionne's presence.

Freddy Fazbear's Pizzeria Simulator

The Puppet returns in Freddy Fazbear's Pizzeria Simulator. It appears in the minigame for the Security Puppet item, and is also trapped inside Lefty.

Should the player buy the Security Puppet item from the Catalog and place it in The Pizzeria, they can play test it as a minigame. During the game, the player is tasked with stopping a child with a green security bracelet from leaving the restaurant. The Puppet will hide in their box and occasionally peek out to observe the children. It can leave its box and wander around with player input as well, though making contact with any wrong child will end the minigame.

During the usual iteration of the minigame, the child will never appear and no Faz Score or money will be awarded to the player. However, should the player play test the game enough times, a special version of the game will play out. This is required for the Lorekeeper certificate.

The following information contains spoilers. To view them, click the [show] tag.

During this iteration of the game, the Puppet has been trapped in its box as the child with the green bracelet, looks in from outside, clearly distressed. Once the Puppet breaks free of its box, it is free to go outside to reach the child who has now disappeared. As it rains outside, the Puppet travels outside the restaurant looking for the child, shorting out from the rain. It eventually finds the child's corpse near some trashcans and crawls over to them.

The following information contains spoilers. To view them, click the [show] tag.

Freddy Fazbear's Pizza Simulator reveals that the Puppet was made to keep children in Fredbear's Family Diner safe. However, when a child was locked outside in the rain, the child was taken by Purple Guy, shown in the Take Cake to the Children death minigame from Five Nights at Freddy's 2. The Puppet then goes outside after the child, taking significant damage from the rain before finally finding the child's corpse. During the Completion ending, Cassette Man takes time to speak to his daughter as images of the aforementioned child and the Puppet show on screen, revealing that the Puppet had been possessed by his daughter. His monologue also confirms that she, as the Puppet, had done the same with the other murdered children from The Missing Children Incident by restoring their lives by making them animatronics as well.

Ultimate Custom Night

The Puppet, alongside its nightmare counterpart and the animatronic its inside of appear in Ultimate Custom Night as one of the many antagonists.

Like in the second game, the Puppet resides in its music box, now located in the Kitchen. The player needs to wind up the music box to keep it tamed. However, if they neglect its music box, the Puppet will escape and proceed to eventually attack the player. It cannot be put back into its music box, and the ventilation system will start draining much faster, causing blackouts and eventually a game over. If the Global Music Box is activated, the music box will automatically wind itself up (along with soothing other audio-based animatronics), but this puts a substantial drain on the player's power supply.

The challenges in which the Puppet is present are as follows:

• Pay Attention 1
• Pay Attention 2
• Creepy Crawlies 1
• Creepy Crawlies 2
• Old Friends
• Chaos 1
• Chaos 2

Five Nights at Freddy's VR: Help Wanted

The Puppet returns in Five Nights at Freddy's VR: Help Wanted. It appears in the FNAF 2 levels, where its behavior remains the same: the player must wind the music box to keep it at bay. Failure to do so results in the one seeing the Puppet walking down the hallway and the power seeming to go out. Then the Puppet will attack the player. It also appears in the Pizza Party level of Night Terrors, emerging from the Music Box in a room resembling the Game Area. Take too long to leave the room and the Puppet will jumpscare the player.

Five Nights at Freddy's 2

Gameplay

Textures

Minigames

Miscellaneous

Five Nights at Freddy's 3

Gameplay

Minigames

Freddy Fazbear's Pizzeria Simulator

Minigames

Miscellaneous

Ultimate Custom Night

Five Nights at Freddy's VR: Help Wanted

Gallery Menu

Gameplay

Model and Animations

Teasers

Merchandise

Miscellaneous

Ultimate Custom Night

“The others are under my protection.”

---

“Seeing you powerless is like music to me.”

---

“The others are like animals, but I am very aware.”

---

“I don't hate you, but you need to stay out of my way.”

---

“I recognize you. but I'm not afraid of you... Not anymore!”

Five Nights at Freddy's 2 / Ultimate Custom Night

The melody that plays when the Music Box is wound. The song is "My Grandfather's Clock".

The "Pop! Goes the Weasel" Music Box melody.

The sound the Puppet makes when killing the night guard. This same sound is played when any animatronic attacks the night guard, Golden Freddy and BB being exceptions.

Warning: Loud!

Five Nights at Freddy's 2

• The Puppet is the second animatronic in the series - with Golden Freddy in the original game being the first - who is not on the Custom Night menu, despite being a threat to the player. This is likely due to the fact that The Puppet's A.I. is caused by player reaction.
• When the Puppet launches at the night guard, its trajectory always will show it jumping directly in front of the player's sight, even if the night guard is not facing forward at a 90-degree angle. This will make it seem as if it is emerging from the wall.
  • This can also happen with Foxy and Golden Freddy.
• The Puppet is one of very few antagonists in the entire series who doesn't have teeth, the others being Phantom Puppet and Minireena.
• The Puppet cannot leave the Prize Corner as long as the player views CAM 11, but as soon as they lower the Monitor, it will begin its approach. It is possible for it to attack even while viewing CAM 11 if it has already left the area.
  • After the Puppet has left the Prize Corner, the static in CAM 11 becomes less harsh.
• Like Foxy, the Puppet can attack the night guard even if another animatronic is inside The Office, or if the Freddy Fazbear Head is in use.
• The Puppet is one of three animatronics to have a jumpscare preceded by music. The others are Ballora and Freddy Fazbear from the first game, although Ballora is seen singing all the time.
  • This is assuming, as with Freddy, that the night doesn't end first.
• The Puppet is one of the four animatronics that does not have an unlockable plushie on the Custom Night, along with Toy Chica, Toy Freddy, and Mangle.
• The Puppet is one of four animatronics who do not appear in the hallway before attacking, with the others being Toy Bonnie, Chica, and BB.
• The Puppet and its mechanics are likely inspired by the popular Jack-in-the-box children's toy, due to the fact that it comes from a box, music precedes its attack, and it launches itself to attack.
• It is unknown if the Puppet was scrapped with the other toy animatronics at the end of the Night 6.
  • It might be likely because its mask is seen in Fazbear's Fright.
• The Puppet is one of the animatronics that does not appear in the air vents; four others are Toy Freddy, Freddy Fazbear, Golden Freddy, and Foxy.
• The Puppet is believed to be sentient and sapient by the Phone Guy, as he claims that it is "always thinking."
  • This could be out of a sense of paranoia, however, as he directly states that he never liked the Puppet.
• The Puppet is only one of the three animatronics to never enter the Office aside from when attacking the night guard, the others being Toy Chica and Foxy.
  • In the game files, there is an unused image of the Puppet with strings attached to it. This file is originally meant to be used while inside the Office.
• The Puppet is one of the three animatronics not shown in the Five Nights at Freddy's 2 trailer, the others being Golden Freddy and Toy Chica.
  • However, both the Puppet and Golden Freddy are shown on children's drawings at the beginning of the trailer, and Toy Chica can be seen on several posters throughout the trailer.
• There is an unused file of the Puppet's close-up that resembles the last frame of its jumpscare, albeit with a lack of white pupils.
• The Puppet is one of the six animatronics who do not set off the alert ambiance in select situations, the others being Mangle, Bonnie, Toy Chica, Golden Freddy, and BB.
  • In the Puppet's case, it does not trigger the alarm at all, as it goes directly from the Prize Corner to The Office.
• All of the children's drawings depict the Puppet with strings and a handle. These are absent in its jumpscare and in all of its hallucinations with the exception of one.
  • When the Puppet is still in the Prize Corner, it can be seen with its strings and handle. However, once the Puppet leaves the Prize Corner, the strings and handle disappear. It is unknown why this occurs.
    • It is possible that the handle runs on a conveyor belt that is on the ceiling throughout the pizzeria (or at least leading to the Office), and once it reaches the end of the hallway, the strings detach from the Puppet's wrists and ankles, sending it flying at the night guard due to the momentum at which it was traveling.
• While in the Prize Corner, the Puppet's mask appears glossy, even though in most other instances, the mask has a matte look.
• The Puppet's jumpscare also appears in the "Take Cake to the Children" Death Minigame. As soon as the minigame ends, the Puppet's jumpscare animation will play, sending the player back to the main menu.
  • This might hint that the child murdered by William Afton outside the diner is what eventually became The Puppet.
• It is theorized that the Puppet stuffed the children into the original animatronics' suits in The Missing Children Incident, as implied by the Death Minigame in Five Nights at Freddy's 2.
  • One can assume that it was the intention of the Puppet to "Give Life" and to "Help Them".
• During the second game's development, one of Scott's sons helped Scott with the skin texture for the Puppet, including its face.^[2]
• The Puppet is one of five animatronics not to be seen in a party room, the others being Toy Freddy, Foxy, BB, and Golden Freddy.
• In the PC version, the Puppet has its head sticking out of the box before the entire body is shown. Yet, in the mobile version, the Puppet's body is shown first.
• The Puppet is possibly the tallest animatronic in the series.
• When the Puppet is about to attack and "Pop! Goes the Weasel" plays, the music consists only of the first two lines played on loop.
• Oddly, the Puppet's mask bears a resemblance to the No-Face/Kaonashi from the Japanese anime movie Spirited Away.
• According to The Freddy Files, the Puppet is a male. In Ultimate Custom Night, however, the Puppet speaks with a little girl’s voice, however, this could just be the voice of the soul possessing it.
• The Puppet appears on four Five Nights at Freddy's trading cards.
• The following is how The Puppet's AI works:
  • The music box has a counter that goes up to 2000.
  • Every 0.05 seconds, a value is subtracted from the counter. This value increases over the nights, and is also different based on wether the player is playing the demo or not. These are the values:
    • Night 1: 2 every 0.05 seconds (Starts after 2AM)
    • Night 2: 2 every 0.05 seconds
    • Night 3: 4 every 0.05 seconds
      • Night 3 (Demo): 3 every 0.05 seconds
    • Night 4: 4 every 0.05 seconds
    • Night 5: 5 every 0.05 seconds
    • Night 6: 6 every 0.05 seconds
    • Night 7: 6 every 0.05 seconds
  • When the player is winding the music box, the counter will increase by 5 every tick (around 0.01 seconds)
  • If the counter is less than 300 and the player is winding it, it will directly be set to 300.
  • Once the counter has reached 0, The Puppet will escape the music box, and make its way towards the player.
  • When this has happened, a number between 0 and 20 will be chosen every second. If this number is equal or lower than the Puppet's movement AI, it will move forward. It will follow a set path of these rooms:
    • Cam 11 > Cam 10 > Cam 7 and either (Cam 3 > Cam 1 > Death) or (Cam 4 > Cam 2 > Death)
    • It cannot be seen on any cameras, however if you happen to be on the same camera as it and use the flashlight, it cannot move.
  • This is The Puppet's Movement AI per night:
    • Night 1: 1
    • Night 2: 5
    • Night 3: 8
    • Night 4: 9
    • Night 5: 10
    • Night 6: 15
    • Night 7: 15

Five Nights at Freddy's 3

• Phantom Puppet appears in the Office through a visual trigger from CAM 08, similarly to the other phantoms. Oddly, this trigger appears to resemble the original Puppet.
  • Also, said trigger has a reflection on the floor, implying that for that brief moment, the Puppet was actually there.
• The Puppet is one of the three attractions to only show its head. Two others are Foxy and Chica.
• The Puppet is one of the two attractions to not have a light bulb in it, the other being Freddy.
• There is a drawing of the Puppet on one of the cameras, but The Puppet appears to have no tears.
  • This might hint that the Puppet had no tears before it was possessed.
• The Extra menu refers to the Puppet's phantom counterpart as Phantom Puppet which, by extension, means that "The Puppet" is likely its official name.
• The Puppet's cameo in "Mangle's Quest" bears a slight resemblance to the crying child's last appearance in the cutscene at the end of Night 6 in Five Nights at Freddy's 4.
  • If the sprite was brightened and saturated two times, the Puppet appears to be a brilliant blue in color. This is also true for Shadow Bonnie (from the end-of-night minigame after completing Night 4), silhouetted BB (from "BB's Air Adventure" minigame), and dark-looking Cupcakes (from "Chica's Party" minigame and the end-of-night minigame after completing Night 2).
• It is a common misconception that the Puppet's mask disappears when Springrtrap is in CAM 08. This is simply caused by Springtrap blocking the lights emitted by Chica's head.

Freddy Fazbear's Pizzeria Simulator

• The community has often argued that the child in the Security Puppet minigame may actually be Charlie, the main character of the book universe, as evidenced by the fact that the name, Henry, is brought up in the Insanity ending through the tape's name, "HRY223".

Ultimate Custom Night

• The Puppet's mechanic description uses male pronouns, despite having a feminine voice.
  • It is speculated that the Puppet itself is a male, while the spirit possessing it is a girl.

Five Nights at Freddy's VR: Help Wanted

• The Puppet's appearance features fabric fur on it.
• When the Puppet emerges from its Gift Box, it is seen waving its arms around as if it was controlling Marionette dolls.
  • After a couple of moments of dancing, static goes out a few times and the Puppet disappears, and the camera is knocked down. This is when it starts walking down the hallway.
• The Puppet's icon in the gallery resembles its mugshot for Ultimate Custom Night.