Sumith Prasad
Vanessa Shelly becomes Mike Schmidt’s friend soon after the latter starts working at Freddy Fazbear’s Pizza in Peacock/Universal Pictures’ horror film ‘Five Nights at Freddy’s.’ At first, she meets Mike as a police officer who is posted in the region but soon she starts to remind him to be alert when he is working at the pizzeria. While the viewers wonder how the police officer is extremely familiar with the entertainment center, Vanessa reveals that she is related to William Afton, the apparent owner of the place and a cold-blooded serial killer. By trying to protect Mike and Abby, the police officer risks her own life as well. Here’s everything you need to know about Vanessa and her fate! SPOILERS AHEAD.
The Serial Killer’s Daughter
Vanessa is William Afton’s daughter. Although she knows about all the kidnappings and murders her father committed, Vanessa remains silent about the same, until the murderous Afton targets Mike and Abby. Likely not to betray Mike’s trust in her, she reveals that she is the daughter of the person who kidnapped and killed his brother Garrett. Vanessa’s revelation helps him fight Afton, who has been working as Mike’s career counselor using the name Steve Raglan, to save his sister. Vanessa sides with Mike and Abby to defeat her father and stop him from killing any more people.
Afton kidnapped and killed Garrett and five other children during the time Vanessa was growing up at Freddy Fazbear’s Pizza. At some point in her upbringing, she discovered that her father was a serial killer. Afton expected Vanessa to be loyal to him like the animatronics at the pizzeria, which are controlled by him. She may have befriended Mike because her father asked her to do so. That can be the reason why he tells her that she should have kept Mike in the dark and killed the latter when he came close to the truth about the murders. Since Afton describes the same as Vanessa’s job, it is clear that he has been controlling her as well.
In Scott Cawthon’s video game series ‘Five Nights at Freddy’s,’ which serves as the source material for the film, Vanessa is really a security guard who follows Glitchtrap, a variant of Afton. After getting corrupted by the same, Vanessa becomes Vanny, a sadistic serial killer like the owner of the pizzeria. Elizabeth Afton is the daughter of Afton in the games. Elizabeth is an ardent admirer of her father’s murderous animatronics and she trusts him blindly, making her different from Vanessa.
Vanessa’s Fight for Life
Vanessa is not dead in ‘Five Nights at Freddy’s.’ She is currently in a coma, fighting for her life after getting stabbed by Afton. Upon remaining silent about the murders her father committed, Vanessa must have felt liberated when she unraveled the truth to Mike. The same feelings must have motivated her to turn against Afton for the sake of her new friend and his sister Abby. Vanessa must have wanted to separate herself from her father’s viciousness and the duties he assigns to her, to attain a sense of freedom, by pointing a gun at him. But the moment Afton realizes his daughter is not loyal, her life gets threatened.
Afton gives considerable importance to loyalty. When Vanessa turns against him, her loyalty ceases to exist. Afton must have started to stop seeing her as his daughter anymore, which explains how he can easily stab her without any remorse. Although Vanessa gets stabbed, her sacrifice results in the death of her father before he can kill Mike and Abby. The brother and sister then carry her to a hospital to save her life. Since she receives the necessary medical care, it is safe to expect her to come out of the coma to stay alive.
Vanessa’s video game series counterpart Elizabeth, however, dies in the same. She is killed by Circus Baby, one of the murderous animatronics created by Afton to kill children. Although the serial killer warns Elizabeth to not go near Circus Baby, she does, only for the robotic creature to kill her. Circus Baby then gets possessed by her spirit.
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