Is the crying child the one you shouldnt have killed

Hi, this is a "theory", or moreso a prediction for what will be revealed soon, regarding the person that is being referred to in the voice lines that mention "the one you should not have killed".

Please bear in mind that I haven't made a proper theory for the series in a long time. I don't know everything, and I know essentially nothing about the book series. All I know is that the book series contradicts with the games a fair bit, so I'm going to just pretend they don't exist at the moment.

But before I begin, I'm going to summarise my theory here because I'm nice:

I believe that Ultimate Custom Night is a canonical and real event, showcasing a looping hellscape of memories and souls. Every single night, whether it be 0/20 or 50/20, is a REAL chapter in the suffering of... William Afton.

I also strongly believe that "the one you should not have killed" is referring to the soul inside of Golden Freddy.

Let's first dissect "the one you should not have killed". Some people believe that this line is saying that the killer in question has only murdered one person, hence "one". I would disagree with this.

I think by stating "the one" in this phrase (consistently, over four different voice lines by different characters), the line is implying that there are multiple people who have been killed by "you". "One" is used in sentences to distinguish one, of many. If you were to tell someone "I am the one in a red shirt", you are implying that although you are the only person wearing red... there are multiple other people with you, which are distinguished by their LACK of red shirt. If you were to ever say that to someone and yet you were alone, you would be looked at like you are crazy.

I think this alone concludes that we are playing as someone who has killed multiple people, but is now regretting the murder of one person in particular (the one).

There are many other lines in the game that seem to imply we are playing as William Afton. Some examples are "I was the first. I have seen everything!" by Withered Chica, which implies that the protagonist has interacted with multiple souls before, and Nedd Bear's "This is how it feels, and now you get to experience it over, and over, and over again. Forever. I will never let you leave." Let's please consider what is happening in Ultimate Custom Night. We are being killed over and over and over again (this phrase of "over and over again" is also repeated a lot elsewhere in the game). The only character who is known to have killed over and over again, is obviously William Afton. By saying to the protagonist "This is how it feels", surely it's implying that MANY characters in UCN have been killed by the protagonist, rather than just "the one"?

The distinction of "the one" does not imply that the killer SHOULD have killed the other people. It implies that the killer is, or soon will, REGRET killing "the one".

Something small but Nedd Bear also shouts "stranger danger!" which is a reference to this, a campaign run in schools for children to be wary of strange adults. Unless I'm missing something here, I think this is yet another jokey voice line regarding us being William.

I find the actual scenario - all of the protagonist's seemingly deserved suffering in Ultimate Custom Night - to be the most compelling evidence that we play as William. No matter how you twist things around, Michael Afton, whether he be the FNAF4 victim's brother or not, does NOT deserve this. There is no way, in this series focused entirely on murder and revenge, that the absolute finale of it all is an endless torture setup for Michael, someone who accidentally killed his brother and then immediately apologised. It makes no sense. Ultimate Custom Night is the worst punishment anyone in this game's universe could ever experience. William Afton is the one who deserves it. He's the purple guy. He killed 20+ children. He's the one who we wanted to see punished from the very beginning, and this is it. This has to be his end.

I've seen some arguments saying that this is Michael's hell, and William's hell is in the Old Man Consequences cutscene, and that apparently the hell shown in that cutscene is "worse"? As if Michael is in purgatory and William is in some secret hell we are never shown? That is such an awful idea. That is SUCH a stupid idea. Michael simply does NOT deserve this. He deserves none of it. He accidentally killed his brother, and FNAF4 is written so that we feel bad for him at the end of the game (with him apologising on his brother's deathbed).

We, as an audience, deserve to see WILLIAM suffer. It makes every single death in UCN feel more satisfying. We deserve it, and we know exactly why we do.

I also believe that the scene in Old Man Consequences is telling us that OMC is the equivalent of "Satan" and that the POND IS the Ultimate Custom Night. We, William Afton, are screaming OUT of the lake. The character we play as in the OMC cutscene isn't the protagonist of UCN. It's the protagonist of FNAF World. Just another tormented piece of the puzzle who is going to enjoy William suffering.

"If you sit by the river long enough... you will see the body of your enemy float by." - Pigpatch

Okay so, who is "the one you shouldn't have killed"? It's Golden Freddy.
I even think he's telling us this in FNAF1. "It's me."

"The one you shouldn't have killed" implies that the killer has murdered many, but only one victim is capable of making the killer regret his actions.

How is the answer not obvious? From the very beginning, from the first hour of the first game, we knew that FIVE children were originally killed. We know now from Withered Chica's voice line that these five children were the Withereds. How many Withereds are there? Withered Freddy, Withered Bonnie, Withered Chica, Withered Foxy, Withered Golden Freddy. Hey, that makes 5. Which is how many children initially died.

Wait... Golden Freddy? You mean, the outcast in the entire series? The one who can somehow teleport? The one who seems to be more supernatural than The Puppet? The one who can kill you simply by looking at his face for too long? The one with a strange, seemingly unobstainable cutscene, in Ultimate Custom Night, entirely dedicated to him twitching in rage and/or pain? The one, out of five original animatronics, who was there from the beginning, being... very, VERY different from the others?

While we know that The Puppet is haunted by a girl... I guess we still don't know who Golden Freddy is haunted by.

Well actually, I think we kind of do. Not by any bite victim. Not by any sole incident at all. He's haunted by the one, out of five, that William should NOT have killed.

Nobody special. Nobody interesting. Just somebody.

Just some kid.

Who is the one you should not have killed in FNAF UCN?

What do the animatronics mean by the one you shouldn't have killed?

Why is Cassidy called the one you shouldn't have killed?

Who is golden Freddy possessed by?