Not too long ago, creator Scott Cawthon confirmed that he would not reveal the key to the lock box at the end of "Five Nights at Freddy's 4." Instead, fans and theorists have been left to scour each game, read every theory, note every detail, and make sense of it on their own.
Personally I'm not sure if it's possible, but I'm still hoping Matthew Patrick of the Game Theorist will give it another shot.
After all, he's the only theorist to ever be officially endorsed by Cawthon himself.
Nevertheless, a new "Five Nights at Freddy's 4" theory is now making the rounds through Steam and the official Reddit thread. The theory, available to view here courtesy of JeliLiam, suggests that the key to figuring out what everything means is to stop viewing the game literally. Instead, fans are now encouraged to throw out their seemingly blatant facts in favor of a more symbolic take over the events of "Five Night's at Freddy's 4."
"So far we have been given all the clues at face value, yes the clues where hidden but they tell/show the events that happened clearly (newspapers in fnaf 1 minigames in fnaf 2 ect...). But not Fnaf 4, Fnaf 4 uses symbolism, things are not what they seem," said JeliLiam in his theory.
Though symbolism has always somewhat lived within the "Five Nights at Freddy's" franchise, as one fan notes, it's hard to know what is right if you apply symbolism everywhere.
"If you take the symbolism route, then all sanity goes straight out the window in favour of praying at the altar of story themes," said Kiyanavasala.
Perhaps what is most peculiar about the recent theory is that it comes just as Scott Cawthon's official website updated to a new "dark" image. The "dark" image seems to suggest that for now, Cawthon is focused on "FNAF World," but then again, it is also possible that another reveal might be coming.
Whatever the case may be with the theory and Cawthon's upcoming projects, one thing is for certain.
The mystery of "Five Nights at Freddy's 4" remains to be solved.
