Five Nights At Freddy’s Dream Theory Explained

Warning: This article contains minor spoilers for Five Nights at Freddy’s (2023)

The 2023 movie Five Nights at Freddy’s incorporates a concept called Dream Theory, which plays an important role in Mike Schmidt’s character arc. After years in production hell, Five Nights at Freddy’s has hit theaters, breaking multiple box office records despite also being released simultaneously on Peacock. Although critics lambasted the film, fans of the franchise have given it overwhelmingly positive reviews. Their praise highlights the use of lore and video game references as two reasons the movie fulfilled their expectations.

Five Nights at Freddy’s has many Easter eggs for the video game fandom, including the title of the book Dream Theory, which Mike repeatedly references in the movie. The title hearkens to the popular eponymous fan theory that the Five Nights at Freddy’s video games all occur within a dream. However, the ideas within this book also shape Mike’s character arc, rather than just existing as a callback.

How Dream Theory Works In Five Nights At Freddy’s

An important concept within the Five Nights at Freddy’s movie is Dream Theory – the idea that every detail of an experience is subconsciously ingrained in the brain. The key is knowing how to access those memories through lucid dreaming, allowing a person to look at the experience through new eyes. The excerpt from the fictional book Dream Theory used in Five Nights at Freddy’s doesn’t offer instructions on how to do this. Still, Mike looks at this theory as the key to solving his brother’s kidnapping that happened when he was 12 years old.

As such, Mike uses sleeping pills to help him lucid dream every night. He goes to sleep looking at a poster for the camping site where Garrett went missing and listening to nature sounds. This guides his mind to the correct memory. He then spends the entire night repeating the memory, searching for details about the man who took his brother. Ultimately, no matter how hard he tries, Mike isn’t successful in finding the answer using Dream Theory. Instead, he learns the truth about Garrett’s death in Five Nights At Freddy’s ending.

Is FNAF’s Dream Theory Concept A Real Thing?

Despite the scientific sound of Dream Theory, the Five Nights at Freddy’s concept couldn’t work in real life. As shown in Five Nights at Freddy’s, a person engaging in Dream Theory must be able to recognize and maintain complete control over their dreams. They must also have a photographic recollection of their memories. Neither of these are reasonable expectations in real life. According to the 2017 textbook Principles and Practice of Sleep Medicine, only one percent of the population experiences lucid dreams several times a week. Even in people who lucid dream, there are varying degrees of awareness and control over a dream.

Additionally, there’s no scientific proof that photographic memory exists. A similar phenomenon called eidetic memory exists in less than 10 percent of adolescent children and virtually zero percent of adults (via Cambridge University Press). Eidetic memory isn’t the same thing as photographic memory either, only allowing an individual to recall an image in great detail for a few minutes after viewing it. Moreover, memory is reconstructive, meaning that it’s filtered through a lens every time it’s recalled. As such, Mike’s memory would get less accurate with each dream. Taking all of this into consideration, Dream Theory from Five Nights at Freddy’s is virtually impossible based on present scientific knowledge.

Sources: Principles and Practice of Sleep Medicine and Cambridge University Press