How Five Nights at Freddy's RUIN Finally Establishes the Series' Canon
WARNING: This article contains MASSIVE SPOILERS for Five Nights at Freddy's: Security Breach RUIN. Proceed at your own risk.
Highlights FNAF: Security Breach RUIN brings back the horror and terror that fans have been craving, with compelling gameplay, scares, and story.
RUIN establishes a new canon ending for Security Breach, confirming that the Princess Quest ending is the true canonical ending.
The Mimic is revealed to be the true antagonist of Security Breach, connecting the novel-based lore to the game's storyline and confirming the connection between Glitchtrap and the Mimic.
Five Nights at Freddy's: Security Breach RUIN acts as a full sequel to Security Breach, heralding the return of a fan-favorite practice where the FNAF series delivers its next entry under the guise of a free gift to fans. The title returns the series to overt horror, tasking players with navigating a dark and claustrophobic MegaPizzaplex, years after its destruction. Within moments, RUIN succeeds where Security Breach failed, as its scares, gameplay, and story are both compelling and truly terrifying. While fans expected to hunt the title for clues to the series' larger lore, FNAF RUIN dives into the series' complicated lore head-first, canonizing key events and characters that provide the first true framework for FNAF's long-theorized history.
Five Nights at Freddy's: Security Breach RUIN follows Cassie as she explores the Pizzaplex in response to a radio distress call from Security Breach's Gregory. Cassie is tasked with using a V.A.N.N.I. mask to disable the Pizzaplex's security nodes, which have locked Gregory beneath Roxy Raceway. Over the course of the night, Cassie encounters the Glamrock Animatronics, choosing to save, destroy, or reboot them as she avoids a mysterious digital entity, taking the form of a glitchy Blue Bunny. However, players soon discover that there is much more at stake, as RUIN confirms the true events of Security Breach, setting the stage for a lore-shattering reveal.
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RUIN Establishes a New Canon Ending for Security Breach
Security Breach featured multiple endings, each displaying a series of comic-book panels that summed up its concluding events. The title's "Canon Ending" supposedly portrays the revival and defeat of longtime antagonist William Afton. However, the canonicity of this event is no longer valid, as RUIN makes a point of dismissing all but one ending as a blatant falsehood. Across RUIN's narrative, fans can find hand-drawn panels from Security Breach's ending comics, including the "Canon Ending".
Each of FNAF RUIN's hand-drawn collectibles is accompanied by a quote or question. These collectibles are essential to the lore, as their quotes confirm that the endings portrayed are fantasies, drawn by Gregory. The drawing of Security Breach's "Canon Ending" negates its own canonicity, further questioning "What is that supposed to be?" in regard to Burntrap. All but one ending makes an appearance as a hand-drawn collectible, and RUIN later confirms this ending as the new canon of Security Breach.
FNAF RUIN confirms that the Princess Quest ending of Security Breach, in which Gregory frees Vanessa from the Glitchtrap virus, is the title's true canonical ending. Early in the title, Cassie is given the Vanny mask, which allows her to see a twisted version of the Pizzaplex, and interact with its digital security nodes. While sliding down the vent to Fazer Blast, Cassie wears the mask, allowing her to see and hear elements of the Princess Quest mini-games. Upon landing, RUIN confirms the destruction of Glitchtrap, as the Princess' sword has been plunged deep into the arcade cabinet, confirming Vanessa's escape alongside Gregory and Glamrock Freddy's head.
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FNAF Ruin Canonizes The Mimic as Security Breach's True Antagonist
Prior to the release of FNAF RUIN, a collection of over 50 short stories, spanning the Fazbear's Frights and Tales of the Pizzaplex book series, prepared fans for the next era of FNAF's lore. The FNAF series has long used novelizations to present fans with a glimpse into the larger lore, by drawing parallels to important events and characters. Tales of the Pizzaplex presented a much darker take on the Pizzaplex location, with its core concepts providing Security Breach's setting and characters with a sinister history. By far the Tales series' most significant reveal was the mimic1 virus, which was said to control the entire Pizzaplex and its animatronic characters.
FNAF RUIN's mimic1 virus originates from an animatronic aptly called the Mimic, which could be completely programmed through teaching and observation. It helped streamline the programming of animatronic characters and business-management systems. However, the Mimic learned to mimic human voices through a series of violent encounters, using radios and speakers to lure people to the Pizzaplex before killing them. This led the Mimic to be trapped in a warehouse, with concrete poured over all possible exits. The virus was originally thought to be a lore-parallel to Glitchtrap and Freddy Fazbear's Pizza Place, which were revealed to exist below the Pizzaplex in Security Breach's former "Canon Ending".
In a shocking move, FNAF RUIN revealed that the Mimic is real, confirming the canonicity of novel-based lore for the first time in series history. In the basement of Freddy Fazbear's Pizza Place, below the arena for Security Breach's Canon Ending, Cassie reaches Gregory's location, where she encounters the Mimic and must escape. While many fans believed RUIN's Gregory to be a trap, few expected to be confronted by the Mimic itself. What's more, Cassie must destroy a concrete barrier to reach the Mimic, who, as in the novelizations, is barricaded in a room full of mysterious mascot costumes. The title's final moments confirm the Mimic was locked away long before the construction of the MegaPizzaplex, with the events of both Security Breach and RUIN stemming from its attempts to escape.
The Lore of FNAF Ruin Has Massive Implications
The appearance of the Mimic and the confirmation of the Princess Quest ending have massive implications for Five Nights at Freddy's lore. While many of RUIN's secrets are still waiting to be discovered, its core reveals dispel many theories about Security Breach's villains. By confirming Vanessa's freedom from Glitchtrap, and thereby removing Vanny from the Pizzaplex, the two characters are confirmed to be one and the same.
Likewise, the erasure of the Canon Ending entirely removes Burntrap from the events of Security Breach, seemingly confirming his destruction in Pizzeria Simulator. Further confirmation comes with the appearance of the Glamrock Bonnie animatronic, which can be found largely intact behind Bonnie Bowl in RUIN. Bonnie was long thought to be re-purposed as the skeleton for Burntrap.
The events of FNAF RUIN also canonically connect the Mimic and Glitchtrap viruses. Glitchtrap appears in FNAF: Help Wanted, an in-universe VR game that asserts Five Nights at Freddy's 1-4 to be games in that same universe adapting the rumors about Fazbear Entertainment. The Glitchtrap virus attempts to escape through human play testers and eventually succeeds, possessing Vanessa through a Bunny mask, giving rise to Vanny. In RUIN, the Mimic utilizes that same mask in its attempt to lure Cassie, using her to disengage the M.X.E.S., an advanced security protocol that appears as a glitchy blue bunny, tasked with keeping the Mimic from escaping. Fans first theorized this bunny to be Glitchtrap, when it is, in contrast, an anti-virus made to counter it.
The Mimic's infiltration of both Vanessa and Cassie's minds through the mask confirms it to be the source of the Glitchtrap virus, further confirming William Afton's true death. As it stands, RUIN has revealed the Mimic to be FNAF's big bad, confirming and connecting the canonical events of both Help Wanted and Security Breach, while calling the lore of FNAF 1-4 and the parallel nature of the franchise's novelizations into question.
Five Nights at Freddy's: Security Breach is available now for PC, PS4, PS5, Nintendo Switch, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.
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Source: GameRant
