Mike Schmidt

Mike Schmidt is the main protagonist of the first Five Nights at Freddy's game. He was a security guard employed by Freddy Fazbear's Pizza, working on a 7-night shift from midnight to 6 AM, until he was eventually fired. The game is played in the first-person perspective, through Mike's eyes.

Physical Appearance
There is no possible way to see Mike's physical appearance in the game, as the player is forced to stay in the first-person view for its entirety.

The only body parts of Mike that can be seen in the game are his blue eyes and teeth, which can only be seen in the Game Over screen after he has been stuffed into a Freddy Fazbear suit. Mike is one of two characters to show part of his corpse (the other being William Afton in the rare Springtrap boot screens and his vent jumpscare).

Personality
Little is known about Mike's character. The reason he would continue to work at a failing pizzeria with a high risk of death for pay at minimum wage (this game is known to take place in the 1990s) is unknown and could possibly be attributed to either altruism (so nobody else would have his job and risk being killed), desperation, or thrill-seeking on his part. Considering Freddy's "Toreador March" is one of the main themes of the game and that it deals with thrill-seeking, the latter is somewhat more likely.

Role
Despite the low pay and clear danger, Mike continues his job every night for the rest of the week for unknown reasons. At the end of Night 5, Mike Schmidt receives a check for $120.

At the end of Night 6, he receives a comparatively minuscule check of $120.50, an increase of fifty cents. He also receives a note from his boss, stating that he has "earned some overtime!"

Upon completing the Custom Night, he receives a notice of termination, likely due to the in-game interaction right before said night, customizing the animatronics A.I. (which the notice describes as tampering with the animatronics).

Theories and Speculation
It is believed by many that Mike Schmidt was an alias used by Michael Afton, the son of William Afton and the main protagonist of Five Nights at Freddy's: Sister Location. Although there is not a specific piece of evidence that makes this claim irrefutable, there are numerous subtle hints that may suggest this is the case.


 * It is made very clear that Michael Afton is the owner of the survival logbook. This implies that Michael is the protagonist of Five Nights at Freddy's 4, strengthening the evidence for Mike Schmidt and Michael Afton being the same person, since there is also a lot of evidence that Schmidt is the protagonist of FNaF 4:
 * Phone Guy's calls can occasionally be heard during the nights, and Mike is the only known character to have heard them.
 * The gameplay itself seems to mirror that of the first game's. The layout of the Bedroom strongly resembles the office. The behavior of the animatronics is also eerily similar, with Bonnie attacking from the left, Chica attacking from the right (occasionally going into the kitchen to interfere with the pots and pans), Foxy hiding in the closet with different stages indicating when he will attack (in addition to running in the halls), and Freddy manifesting in the dark.

Despite the evidence, and large consensus among fans, there is still yet to be direct confirmation on these hypotheses. The upcoming movie seems to be focused on the character of Mike Schmidt (as Scott said that the film will be based on the first game, where Schmidt is the protagonist).