FNAF: Secret of the Mimic story, explained

There is so much to unpack in FNAF: Secret of the Mimic, but the series has to start from somewhere. We've finally moved away from William Afton (although he does make a cameo in the form of W.A) to take a close look at the story of the Mimic.

Here is our explainer of FNAF: Secret of the Mimic's full story.

FNAF: Secret of the Mimic plot, summarized

The year is 1979. Edwin Murray has mysteriously vanished, leaving his Costume Manor to collect dust, housing empty suits just ripe for the taking. Fazbear Entertainment technician Arnold is invited into its open arms following an exhausting 36-hour shift. For fear that he'll have his pay docked, Dispatch orders Arnold to venture into Murray's Costume Manor and collect schematics. But this wouldn't be a horror game if I failed to mention that the abandoned Facility isn't truly abandoned. Rescue teams were sent to retrieve the same schematics—none of them left the place alive. A rented truck from the company remains outside, with no other employees in sight. Will the same happen to Arnold?

There's something else wandering around the Facility tonight. Taking the form of any animatronic, the Mimic is bloodthirsty for visiting employees. Limbs may get lost, money could get docked, your life is in the balance—and it's all for a $25 gift certificate.

Team 012 died on-site, their bodies stuffed inside old suits. Arnold explores the Manor, updating his Data Diver across a five-hour period. This long night is a death trap for Arnold as the Mimic isn't the only threat. Jackie in a Box, Top Boy, and Nurse Dollie are equally as vengeful as the animatronic hopper (we assume this is because they are being controlled). The Mimic's characteristics alter drastically, depending on which suit it jumps into. Those that have sentimental value—linked to its past—act very differently. The Mimic also doesn't recognize humans when they're inside suits and doesn't see other moving animatronics as threats.

Arnold is allowed to leave when his Data Diver reaches Executive level. If he leaves the Data Diver behind, Dispatch reveals itself to be the Mimic, where Arnold is attacked by M2 in his Fazbear Entertainment truck. If Parachute.exe is initiated, Arnold activates Cradle.exe and accidentally causes a fire in the Costume Manor. But M2 still survives. Both endings result in Arnold's death and the Mimic getting its hands on the upgraded Data Diver. Yet the secret ending reveals far more about the Mimic's backstory.

What is rather confusing about this entry is understanding the difference between the Mimics. Yes, there's more than one. There is seemingly a divide between the endoskeleton we are trying to avoid and the voice we're listening to throughout the game. Dispatch refers to M2 as a separate entity, so what exactly is Dispatch? The two entities aren't connected, so is Dispatch the consciousness of Mimic2, where M2 is the body acting purely on instinct? Both entities are after the same thing: the Mimic schematics and Executive access of the Data Diver. Mimic would upgrade itself by combining the two together. Surely this means they're one and the same?

The inventor: Edwin Murray's story

Edwin Murray created Murray's Costume Manor (MCM) to commercialize his inventions to families, venues, and companies.

He was a contractor for Fazbear Entertainment, coming up with the interior of the Family Diner and the designs for Freddy, Bonnie, Chica, and Foxy. Foxy and Chica are incredibly important as they're Fiona's designs (Edwin's wife, who he met at MCM). These were later changed because of William Afton, becoming more "creepy" and having the springlock mechanisms altered.

Edwin was infuriated when Murray's Costume Manor had parts stolen, likely by Afton and Emily. Fazbear Entertainment purchased MCM and offered to keep Edwin on as lead engineer, but his disappearance was a happy coincidence for the company as they could take Edwin's products without any pushback.

Chica's Party World used updated designs from Fazbear that strayed away from Fiona's art. There were growing concerns that this update would give children nightmares. MCM received their fair share of complaints from customers with Edwin's inventions, with unsafe descriptions and concerns that people would get hurt.

At MCM, Edwin Murray created a Modular System to record his voice and Fiona's, bringing Mr. and Mrs. Helpful to life. These would later be used by the Mimic, further distorting Edwin's reality.

The story of the Mimic

Secret of the Mimic reveals that there was never only one Mimic. Edwin Murray created Mimic1 because his wife, Fiona passed away before their son, David turned three. Although the cause of her death isn't confirmed, she was meant to return after a one-week trip and had another woman look after her son during that time. This is likely when Fiona died and it could be linked to the Fall Fest fire that happened in the 70s, as the timeline adds up.

M1's origins

Following her death, Edwin built a replica of his house in the Costume Manor, where Mimic1 and David would live. Edwin became obsessed with the Modular System and used it to create Mimic1 by copying Fiona voice, mannerisms, and behavior. M1 quickly replaced the real Fiona, where she looked after David while Edwin devoted his time to work. Edwin eventually grew tired of Mimic1 and got rid of her, but her consciousness continued as F10 N4, a security system for MCM. Even though Mimic1 is aware she's a programme, she continued to watch over her family as this is what she was trained to do.

Mimic1 would try to communicate with Edwin, but her efforts were continuously ignored. F10 N4 created the Cradle, a software that would bring down MCM so that people would remain safe from Mimic2's wrath. But who is M2?

M2's origins

Edwin gave up on Mimic1 because he blamed her for his son's death. We see in David's fifth birthday video that Mimic1 (as Fiona) went to bring David in, but it's highly likely that this footage was recorded right before his death at the playground Edwin built. Edwin couldn't bear the loss, so he decided to replicate what he did with Mimic1—thus Mimic2 was created.

This endoskeleton copied David, but Edwin couldn't properly view his creation as his son. Overworked, exhausted, and presumably lonely, Edwin took out his frustrations on Mimic2 (his "son"). This taught M2 rage and copied a neglectful Edwin, who treated the real inventor as poorly as he did the Mimic. An explosion occurred in Edwin's Office, resulting in him getting critically injured. He begged for help from M2, but was ignored, much like Edwin ignoring M1's existence. Presumably, Edwin died that day as he's been missing ever since. We theorize the explosion was actually caused by M2, who was mimicking Edwin at the time; using the Modular System to record audio and listen to MCM employees.

M2 can grow in size, his eyes turn yellow in rage and revert to blue where his height would shrink back down whenever David reappeared. But this only happened if M2 received affection from Edwin and Fiona (which was an impossible task now that both were gone).

M2 would embody different characters, switching its personality depending on the suit it was hiding inside. It would dance as Chica, hum a lullaby as the giant face suit roaming the Retail Showroom basement, and hide in the darkness as the White Tiger (a reference to Tales from the Pizzaplex: Tiger Rock). Each character is referencing staples in David's childhood: Chica is Fiona (his mother), the giant face and a beacon of light in darkness is Edwin (his father), and the White Tiger is the toy David would tightly hold onto for comfort.

Now masquerading as Edwin, M2 took revenge, resulting in Edwin's disappearance. But the copy of David is still in there—the innocence remains. This is a futile dream for us however, as the secret ending cannot be canon for the Mimic is still very much alive, long after the events of FNAF's prequel.

Mimic1 (Fiona) would try to save Edwin still, sending Arnold to their replica home to try and fix Mimic2 with the Glitched Permissions. If this failed, the Cradle would provide safety and bring MCM to its deserved end. The programme to fix M2 (return it to a docile, childlike state) never came to fruition for Edwin disappeared. The malfunctioned M2 lives on and M1 (Fiona) slowly transforms into M.X.E.S., still trying to keep everyone safe and the M2 in check.

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