What were Scott Cawthon's FNaF 4 hints trying to tell us?

While this will have some evidence, this is more so just my thoughts on what Scott was originally going for with FNaF 4 and won't cover anything that released after that game. FNaF 4 upon release was wildly confusing for many fans, it clearly wanted to tell us something but there were so many pieces that pointed in so many directions that even trusted theorists of the time struggled to see the bigger picture. It got to the point where Scott, in an act he had never done up to that point, threw us a bone, a series of three hints that in Scott's mind would've guided us to what FNaF 4 was all about. These are those hints:

1. In the FNaF4 minigame, why would the tiny toy chica be missing her beak?

2. What is seen in shadows is easily misunderstood in the mind of a child.

3. Four games. One story.

I will attempt to answer these three questions in the order I gave them, in hopes that Scott was right in his belief that these hints were what was needed to solve FNaF 4. This tiny toy chica line confused a lot of fans and continues to confuse a lot of fans, I think this stems from what people wanted FNaF 4 to be and, in comparison, what it actually was. When people saw the teasers showing "Property of Fredbear's" then saw the golden duo performing on stage, everyone came to the conclusion that FNaF 4 was the start of the timeline. In a way, they aren't wrong, I believe that this is the start of the narrative Scott wanted to share with these four games, but this is not the start of the timeline. I believe that by the time of the FNaF 4 minigames: The MCI has taken place, the Withered animatronics have been possessed, and the Toys are in development or already developed and replacing the Withereds. We know that some form of the main gang of Freddy, Bonnie, Chica and Foxy have to exist at this time from the tv show and bully masks, it's likely the Withered animatronics have been performing for years now, and the puppets death is still so unique from every other child that it had to be the first. It had no suit, it had no plan, just a bad man and a trapped kid, It was this child's death that caused the spree that would later be known as the MCI, so then what's the point of Crying Child? What is the death of Crying Child setting up that the MCI wouldn't? We'll get back to this after the second hint.

The second hint states, what is seen in shadows is easily misunderstood in the mind of a child, this point has continuously been a go-to argument against anything bad happening at Freddy's yet. Any idea of MCI, or Purple Guy killing kids, can be waved off as the Crying Child being easily scared by his surroundings or simple children's tales, if it weren't for the Fredbear plush. While pigtail girl and the Purple Guy easter egg can be seen as red herrings, there is no pre-Sister Location explanation for this plush's awareness, movement, or final speech to the Crying Child outside of possession, and if this place was truly safe this plush would not exist. I believe the Fredbear plush is the fifth victim of the MCI, Golden Freddy was already much more ghostly and less tied down in form than the others, and it would explain this plush's guidance for Crying Child and fear of performers. The children's misunderstanding in FNaF 4 isn't the killings, its blaming the animatronics. Whether it be Foxybro jumping at the Crying Child with a Foxy mask on, or an employee in a Fredbear suit approaching the Crying Child, his fear has always been wrongly misplaced on the animatronics, his death seems to be the most obvious reference to this. On the surface its easy to say the Fredbear animatronic killed Crying Child, he died from a wound sustained from Fredbear's bite, but that never could have happened if not for the bullies purposely putting him there. Crying Child feared Fredbear when he should have feared the actor, he feared Foxy when he should have feared foxybro, and feared these animatronics when he should have feared the Purple Guy. This message can even be passed onto the gameplay of the other FNaF games, you cannot blame children for lashing out after being forced to possess these animatronic suits, it was never their call to be put in this situation, they are not the villains here and they never were. It was always the men behind the animatronics, using these shells as excuses or protection, men like the Purple Guy.

Finally, four games, one story. Not the story of Crying Child, or Purple Guy, but foxybro. I believe that's why Crying Child's death is important, not because his death caused a chain reaction of murders, or because he was the first, but because he was foxybro's first, a death caused entirely by him. I believe the original story of FNaF was of foxybro, the nightguard of all previous establishments, attempting to atone for the murder of his brother by finding what remains of him and putting it to rest. I believe as time went by, however, his goal expanded, while he did eventually find his brother in the FNaF 1 location, he had also found a dozen other children forced into the same punishment. So he went to each location, tampered with the animatronics, finding the other children, all leading to him burning it all down in FNaF 3 after setting the children free in happiest day. In this narrative, Purple Guy would've been a warning, a warning of what foxybro could've been, what he almost was, just another smiling bully hurting the very children he was supposed to protect. But the last words Crying Child heard from Foxybro wasn't him laughing alongside his friends as he squirmed in Fredbear's jaw, it was a quiet apology in a hospital bed. "Can you hear me? I don't know if you can hear me.....I'm sorry". The night gameplay of FNaF 4 is foxybro coming to terms with what he did, and moving forward with the clear goal of fixing it, of putting the pieces back together. I believe if we ever figured it out in time, the Golden locks of that box would've fallen off to reveal a Foxy mask, the very mask foxybro once hid behind to feel stronger, to oppress the innocent, but he's moved on from that. Perhaps some things are best left forgotten, for now.