CHECK OUT THE ABOVE GALLERY TO SEE EVERY CANONICAL APPEARANCE OF WILLIAM AFTON, AND WHICH BOOK/GAME/MEDIA THEY COME FROM!
WHO IS WILLIAM AFTON?
william afton is a fictional character from five nights at freddy's, known for being the main antagonist of the series. he's the father of 3 children, a businessman, an entertainer, and a murderer. william and his business partner/friend henry emily were the co-founders of fazbear entertainment, and he himself created afton robotics LLC at some point. in a tragic accident, william's son (never named in the games) was shoved into the fredbear animatronic's mouth by his brother michael, and his head was subsequently crushed after the springlocks went off (the bite of '83). afterwards, presumably as some way of taking out his anger, william kills henry's daughter charlotte, who goes on to haunt the puppet animatronic. fredbear's closes down shortly after, but from this murder, william discovers a substance called remnant (believed to be the thing which binds a soul to an animatronic.). in 1985, william murders 5 children in freddy fazbear's pizzeria, who all go on to possess the animatronics there. his actions came back to haunt him when he accidentally frees the ghosts of his victims and they corner him, leading him to try and hide inside a springlock suit (the suit which he murdered them in) only for the springlocks to go off and kill him. instead of death, he ends up possessing his own creation, his mangled corpse now stuck inside the springlock suit.
BUT WHAT'S HIS PERSONALITY?
as a person, william afton is portrayed as charismatic and charming, described by scott cawthon as a 'snake oil salesman' of sorts, who can "convince anyone of anything" (TSE 344). he's theatrical, dramatic, he likes to perform and play a character. despite all this, he's shown to be honest most of the time and never outright lies. it's implied he doesn't hate children - he created a family entertainment place after all, and his victims trusted him and followed him willingly. william is known to be envious and obsessive, showcased by his feelings of jealousy and resentment towards henry. he's also a genius, creating such advanced animatronics that could walk around on their own, as well as making ones specifically designed to lure and kill children. however, william does not kill for fun. he's never portrayed as being insane, nor is he portrayed as particularly enjoying murder. quote taken from canon-william-afton on tumblr, who got it from the books: "In TFC p. 318, William is talking about killing Carlton, however, he looks almost bored. William is speaking calmly and quietly and talking about science the whole time." it's implied that william is only interested in science and experimenting on people, rather than actively looking to kill for fun. this leads into another aspect of his personality: william is very selfish. he doesn't care what he has to do or who he has to harm to get results, he will get results. he killed the children for their remnant, a substance which he believed would make him immortal, and he's shown to be so afraid of (his own) death he'd do anything to avoid it.
WHY DO YOU LIKE THIS GUY SO MUCH?
i think william is a fascinating character. i believe that, at its core, the FNAF story is a tragedy. the story of a man losing his child in a terrible accident, lashing out in the belief that if he cannot be happy then nobody else can - taking out his anger on henry's daughter and killing her out of jealousy, discovering remnant in the process and realizing: "i could bring my children back." then proceeding to lose everything that he had left because he just couldn't let go of the dead. he would do anything to bring them back, even taking the lives of other children, and it costs him what he still had left: his remaining son, his best friend henry, his wife, his dreams, his business, and (eventually) his life. william didn't start life as a monster - he was twisted and corrupted so thoroughly by his own grief and love that he has become a monster, losing the thread of what started his descent along the way and realizing that some part of him enjoys killing. no, he was never a saint, but now he's become something much, much worse.
his downward spiral and pure selfishness took so many others down with him, and i think the tragedy of that is beautiful. i find his characterization to be incredibly compelling. william is charming, theatrical, he's kind of ridiculous and was probably a theatre kid at some point. he loved kids, he loved entertaining - and he's someone who you would never expect to be a monster. the kids trusted him, his family trusted him, only to realize he wasn't the person they thought he was. i think a lot of people tend to mischaracterize him as always having been heartless, insane, or being an abuser, and while it's understandable why they may think of him that way, it's just not true. (see above analysis of his personality) that's what makes him so fascinating to me, his grief drove him to do terrible things, always claiming that they were a necessary evil to bring back his children, to make himself immortal, to never have to fear death ever again. he's a fun and compelling villain when he's not being portrayed as pure unfiltered evil!