Reinterpreting UCN

Who is the vengeful spirit?

Sorry, it's Andrew.

The Cassidy interpretation is better narratively, and it's overwhelmingly the best theory looking at UCN alone, but later information has long destabilized it. Regardless of Frights' canonicity issues, it's clearly attempting to build off of the events of FFPS and UCN, so I don't think it makes much sense for it to randomly switch up the identity of the vengeful spirit. Scott has said that Frights is attempting to clarify the games.


One's first intuition was likely to reject this, because VengefulCassidy was so deeply internalized, and because, of course, it probably should have been the answer. But it's a false equilibrium. Giving the new interpretation time to sink in, everything eventually clicks into place... even those details which previously did not.

The vengeful spirit uses he/him. The Toy Chica cutscenes reference the MCI, but with 6 victims rather than 5. None of these points are very good in isolation, but their alignment with Frights is very particular, and thus hard to ignore. The game was trying to say this from the beginning, it simply did a bad job.

How were we supposed to learn about Andrew?

I'm guessing Scott didn't expect us to assume the vengeful spirit was a character we already knew. I think the reaction he expected was more like "What's this new character's deal?" rather than "Which of the existing characters is this?" Of course, he should've known better- FNaF theorists broadly tend to interpret new characters as being secretly old characters in disguise. This goes all the way back to MatPat trying to figure out Purple Guy's identity in FNaF 2 and 3, where it was taken for granted that the killer had to secretly be someone else, rather than just being a unique character. And it continues- Gregory is secretly BV as a robot, Vanessa is secretly Elizabeth as a robot, the Pizzaplex AI is secretly Elizabeth and Charlie, Edwin is secretly Henry, the Mimic is secretly Baby... There's a clear pattern of theorists rejecting the possibility of original characters.

So now, let's look at UCN with this in mind, without relying entirely on the hindsight granted by the books. Who is Andrew, according to UCN? What was the game trying to tell us about him, and how?

Where previous entries used arcade minigames to give backstory, UCN uses parody anime cutscenes. Toy Chica: The High School Years tells us who Andrew is: A secret 6th MCI victim. Bear of Vengeance tells us how he got here: His spirit followed Afton. These conclusions are difficult with UCN alone, but in retrospect, now that Frights has said the same thing but with more clarity, I'm pretty confident this was the intent.

Why is Andrew represented as a bear, you ask? Well, why is Afton represented as Toy Chica? I think we're only supposed to take the cutscenes in a very broad way. Toy Chica's actions clearly represent the MCI, but most of the details are just random gags. UCN is introducing Andrew, it needs to give him some kind of backstory- explain his origin, and why he's here. We know the Toy Chica cutscenes are doing this, so it's natural to expect the others are as well. Of course the Bear of Vengeance is a representation of the vengeful spirit. The cutscenes about the vengeful bear who endlessly pursues the evil fox are about the vengeful kid whose spirit endlessly pursues Afton. That's what Frights says- Andrew attached himself to Afton, because he wanted to hurt him.

Now, you can argue that this logic is very slippery, since there is an arbitrary choice of which details matter and which don't. I would completely agree. Scott simply made a bad call, and introduced Andrew poorly. Hence why we needed the books to spell it out for us.

What is Cassidy doing here?

Even in VengefulAndrew circles, there still seems to be confusion and dissatisfaction regarding Cassidy's place in UCN. If she's not the vengeful spirit, why is she here? Some people think the game is trying to contrast Andrew and Cassidy's views, maybe that Cassidy is trying to stop UCN, or trying to join, or she simply disapproves and moves on, or something. There are complaints that UCN is bringing her back from the fire needlessly. I think this is an 'overinterpretation', or something like that. Thematic analysis is fine, but there is a simpler answer.

UCN is simply showing a more personal view of Cassidy's passing at the end of FFPS. It isn't a new plot point, she isn't staying behind any longer than expected. We're revisiting the FFPS fire, but from the perspective of the spirits. Henry burns everyone, Andrew starts UCN to keep Afton alive, Cassidy fades away. That's what's going on in the red lake minigame- Cassidy could stick around with Andrew, but OMC is advising her to leave it be, to rest. She does not linger after the fire, she does not join Andrew in UCN, she chooses to leave the demon to his demons. We already knew Cassidy was put to rest in FFPS (hence the graves in the ending). UCN isn't adding anything, it's just showing it up close.

Why is Scott revisiting this? FFPS was in some ways a satisfying ending, but it misses something that Happiest Day had. FFPS ends with Henry's big speech, but it doesn't show us the characters' reactions. We don't get personal closure on the spirits like in Happiest Day, we're just told that they rest. I think that's why Scott revisited Cassidy in UCN. He wanted the story to end with the children moving on- or at least, the 'main' child, Cassidy, who's used to represent the group.

Thus, the final cutscene- the final scene of the Clickteam era FNaF games -is Cassidy resting. Sure, the music is tense, and she certainly doesn't look restful. Nonetheless, we know that's what's happening. Rewatch for yourself, with this interpretation in mind. She's fading away. The music begins tense, but it softens, slowly calming, and resolving with that final note.

Why does the vengeful spirit call themselves "the one you shouldn't have killed"?

I think this title has been widely misinterpreted. It's not that they necessarily think highly of themselves, or that their death was special somehow. The vengeful spirit is the one Afton shouldn't have killed because they're the one doing UCN. That's all.

It's something like, "The others are content to rest, but I'm not satisfied with that, I'm going to torture you. You shouldn't have killed me, because if you hadn't, then you wouldn't be being tortured right now."

Of course, there could be a double meaning, with Andrew being the secret 6th MCI victim who "shouldn't be here". But that would be the subtext, not the main point.