The Missing Orphans SOLVED! | Poppy Playtime Theory

One of the biggest questions from Poppy Playtime chapter 3, is where are all those orphans?

For such a huge part of the story, we barely got any information on what happened to all the orphans in the playcare during the hour of joy.

Well today I bring you possibly the best explanation yet!

#poppyplaytimechapter3 #poppyplaytime #poppyplaytimesecrets

Thank you to @Nized for helping me get some new footage!

My name is Tericho!

On this channel I investigate lore, secrets and hidden details in horror games! I make theories on are Little Nightmares, Poppy Playtime and more!

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[CamdenKaneakaNeptunesdaughter]

I think this makes a lot of sense.

There is no good reason for the kids to be killed, and we have yet to hear of the toys being hostile to them.

Maybe they really did hide them away where no one would find them

[djgrizzly]

Good eye on the cartoon. I remember assuming that the thunder storm would tease that there would be simulated weather in the playcare since it was underground, but the children being scared of the hour of joy being translated into the smiling critters being scared of thunder is not only a great idea from the devs, but also an amazing call out from you

[Solar_Axis]

I really don't think Dogday is a transformed employee. I feel like he was probably an orphan too considering so few staff members were actually converted into toys. Maybe he was one of the older kids? He was still supposed to be the leader, after all. His resistance of the Prototype just earned him the same treatment

[TheLeK]

I feel like Catnap is one of the saddest characters so far
Sure, all "animated toys" wanted to protect the children, but Catnap is the one that tried to do so more than anyone else. Granted, it could just be due to the fact that he might have had more access to them during the hour of joy, but still I feel his drive was on a completely other level.
His faith in 1006, born of being saved by it when he was a bout to die, is so unshakeable, so unwavering, so complete it makes him a very tragic character in my eyes.
We have no real idea what the relationship between Huggy and 1006 was, we clearly saw Mommy was afraid of 1006 and went "rogue", in a way... Catnap was the one that we know never doubted 1006 for even a second.
Catnap just wants everyone to leave him, 1006 and, supposedly, the children alone, and has complete confidence 1006 is doing what is best for the children, seemingly without even questioning what that might be or how.

The scene at the end of the fight with him in chapter 3 is just heartbreaking to me: the fear of having disappointed his "god", the relief of not being immediately punished, the at least apparent understanding and acceptance of what has to happen next... I think those few seconds perfectly encapsulates the complex and deep relationship between 1006 and Catnap.
When 1006 snatched Mommy's body, its movement almost seemed eager, somewhat "excited", while in Catnap's case, the mannerism of the arm and hand is much more contained, much more careful, much more compassionate, in a way.
I don't know, I just think this chapter was indeed not only the darkest but also the saddest so far on so many levels.

[JessicaRabbit]

I think something important to remember is that its been 10 years since the hour of joy. At the very least, i don't think the children are children anymore. I recon we've got a grusome discovery coming up. Either they're dead - used to feed the toys as they grew up or maybe killed in the hour of joy but catnap has kept their bodies safe - or theyve been turned into toys too

[HuffyPup]

4:29 Dude that's actually terrible.. the fact DogDay is chained up and the little critters just go snack on him at times..

I can't imagine how dark chapter 4 will be

[c.m.]

There's just one problem: the Hour of Joy took place at 11am, not 10:03pm, according to the 8/8/95 Emergency Alert tape. Logically, the kids would have been in school, as this was a Tuesday morning. It might be that during the emergency, the teachers were ordered to evacuate them to a safe room, where CatNap sedated them before proceeding with the staff killings. However, after that point, I don't think it's likely they've just been keeping those kids down there this whole time. It is very costly in terms of money and resources to keep even just one person alive in a bunker for any extended period of time, much less a whole orphanage of growing children for ten years.

[aarushiroy]

i love how at 0:36 it said "Tericho: Professional overthinker" 😂

[manastodi]

It has to be huggy who attacked kissy. If he is dead then why are they giving him so much importance

[Ghostvface]

My Poppy Playtime Lore Theory:

Our protagonist is Harley Sawyer or someone important that had something to do with the experiments:
In chapter 2 we go down a slide that brings us to a room. When we turn around we see 4 slides. 3 visible names of the heads of the innovation team and 1 completely purposely covered and ruined with the letters of the name everywhere on the floor. I believe it’s our protagonist’s name. (Still haven’t seen someone try to make a name out of the letters)
In chapter 3 The Hallways with the radio talking about a dead body of a child found outside the premises of the facility in a muffled bag with missing bones, spine and organs is actually what I suspect our protagonists doing before escaping the facility and leaving the bag to be found (because of our guilt) so people could realize what was going on in the facility. Catnap is the only creature with bones and a very visible Spine. He was the kid found in the muffled bag. The place is structured the same as in the infamous horror game ‘Silent Hill PT.’ It’s way to hint to us that this is our protagonist having PTSD going on having guilt trip while hallucinating his actions. The kids pictures are hallucinations of the children our protagonist knew and eventually transformed into toys. The prototype is making us experience the horrors that we created guiding us through the facility with VSH Tapes he purposely placed, using Poppy, and making us undo all our wrong doing making us kill all the toys/horrors we created along the way.

Who and what is the Prototype?:
The Prototype might be an amalgamation of different kids and employees. (Elliot Ludwig too) The same employees they wanted to get rid of. That explains the skeleton with the construction worker’s helmet. Catnap was tasked by the prototype to put Poppy in stasis with the poppy gas to keep her safe during the “Hour of joy” therefore not being able to do anything and listening to all the horrors while under the gas and vividly hallucinating everything. A Horrible Experience as she describes.
We find hung toys in catnap cell, and later on we see him scooping up a small Bunzo Bunny. It was Catnap who hung all the toys around the facility and outside poppy’s room, warning other toys not to get in that room therefore protecting Poppy from the the toys going berserk during the Hour of joy, as the Prototype asked. (He even placed the prototype’s introduction tape outside of her room).

In Chapter 3 we can find some “Baby Cots”:
The baby infants that disappeared got transformed into the small smiling critters that later crawl towards the player just like babies because they never got taught to walk.

Poppy’s Angel:
When Dogday refers to us as “Poppy’s Angel” because Poppy calls us like that, I think she is implying we are the Angel of death. In certain horror stories the Angel of death is attributed to serial killers or Surgeons (Doctors) Just like i suspect our protagonist, Harley Sawyer or a cruel surgeon that took part in the experiments.
At the end of chapter 3, Poppy and the prototype, lead us down to the Laboratories or as someone found out going through cut files, a “Prison” (a sign was found in beta version) she needs us down there “to kill the prototype”. We know the prototype was held in a cell, But how would the prototype still be trapped down there if the vault was sealed shut and we see him roam around the whole facility through all the chapters following us? Very suspicious. I think she and the prototype might be planning to bring us to the laboratories and use our body as a vessel (Just like in FNAF when our body gets scooped and occupied by the amalgamation, the prototype is an amalgamation too and he might be scooping the toys as Mommy Longlegs says to “make me part of him” so he can make everyone finally escape in a human body.) that’s why Poppy says: “we need you”.

The Protagonist’s PTSD:
The Screams we hear from pressings the buttons on the cardboard cutouts, might be flashbacks or some form of ptsd from when the protagonist was experimenting (transforming) the kids into the “smiling critters” while they where still conscious. We know that the gas triggered some memories and flashbacks visually and audible too. that explains why the smiling critters are talking directly to the protagonist. I think since the beginning of the game the cardboards don’t actually work and in reality they all Buzz or glitch like some that we find malfunctioning. The ones we are able to hear is because our PTSD triggers and flashbacks of the children our protagonist directly Experimented on. The Buzz or glitching of some cardboards is because our protagonist didn’t experiment on them and therefore it doesn’t trigger ptsd or direct memories that makes our protagonist hallucinate voices because we didn’t have direct connection with those experiments or children. The cardboard talking directly to us was a big clue.

Kissy Missy’s death and the return of Huggy Wuggy:
In Chapter 3 Kissy Missy turned blue for a good moment when she first catches us before being stopped by Poppy in chapter 3. It was a very weird purposely lighting color change.
I strongly believe that this is Mob Games hinting at us that Kissy was going to get killed by Huggy Wuggy. He’s back, he never died. Huggy has always been stalking us since the beginning of chapter 1. He crawls through vents to peek at the player (most people don’t notice this detail while playing) In chapter 2 you can find his “Furr”and blood next to some vents and walls. In the end of chapter 3 You can clearly hear Huggy’s jumpscare/attack scream. Kissy was not designed to be dangerous as Huggy Wuggy. Huggy was designed to be a Security System, meant to kill and have those sharp teeth. I don’t think kissy can even emit a sound or even open her mouth. It’s a bit far stretched but could it be possible that Kissy’s body is going to be used by a badly injured Huggy, to get revenge against us when we least expect it in the next upcoming chapters? (This would explain Kissy Missy’s suspicious color shift)

Who is Ollie?:
A mysterious and very suspicious character that sometimes refers as “We” for some reason.
All of us think he’s a surviving kid, but the math doesn’t add up, in the present time, when chapter 3 takes place, he should be 18 years old or more. Then why does he sound like a child? The only explanation is that he is a child in a toy’s body as well. He’s been watching us ever since we turned on the power of the facility in chapter 1. Spying on us through the CCTV cameras we see all around the facility, Opening doors and vents for us. Even back when Huggy Wuggy first chases us through the vent, he was closing doors not to get us killed but to make sure we reached poppy.
In Poppy Playtime Chapter 2 poster shows us the hand of the prototype ‘controlling’ Mommy Long Legs, therefore telling us ‘The Prototype Has Control Over Everything’
"That shrine, did it scare you? If you thought that was terrifying just wait until you see the real thing!" Ollie is admitting that he himself has seen the Prototype. (Because he is part of it)
I strongly believe Ollie is a voice/soul part of the amalgamation of the Prototype.

[Edit: Ollie might be the “Security System” that Elliot Ludwig, in the first VSH tape in Chapter 1, was referring to. An Artificial Intelligence, AI, or soul of a child) with access to all the security systems of the facilities.]

Thank you for reading this, let me know what you think about this Poppy Playtime Lore theory, and I would like to hear yours too!

[thetealturtwig]

If the Cartoon Dogday is meant to foreshadow how we find him in Chapter 3, what if he's also meant to be himself rather than a stand in for the children. before Catnap arrives he's the only one to try and keep the others calm, which is inline with his character, but then why is Kicken Chicken cowering as well? according to his character he's "the cool kid of the crew, and he maintains that sense of cool through anything, even in the most tense of situations." yet in the cartoon he's no less afraid than the others.

I think Dogday was with the children during the Hour of Joy, or at least was in the Playcare during it. If the children were familiar enough with Catnap that they saw him as a friend and we know Playtime Co made the other Smiling Critters in the Bigger Bodies Initiative, then like how Mommy Long Legs worked in the Game Station the Critters probably worked in the Playcare. Finally we know that the Critters (with the Exseption of Catnap) resisted against the Prototype afterward, and when Poppy shows us The Hour of Joy VHS we only see the Mini Critters and Catnap attacking the Staff none of the others. So maybe they weren't part of the slaughter, i think they were hiding with the children and or trying to get them to safety.

Dogday in particular could've hidden with the Children, If the noises of The Hour of Joy was right outside then it would've been far to dangerous to try and move so they instead stayed put to avoid the slaughter and probably to prevent the Children from witnessing the horrific event, then Catnap appears and uses the gas to put them all to sleep.

[Papierkorb]

You are raising good points, but I have a few problems with this theory:
1. To me, it seems like the cartoon only shows the fate of the actual smiling critters, meaning CatNap killed most of them and chained DogDay. I don't see much evidence that those would represent the children.
2. What interest would 1006 have in keeping the children down there? If he cared for them, he surely wouldn't want them to grow up sealed away from the outer word. I think it would be more plausible that the children were released after the hour of joy: Many people knew that Playtime Co. had an orphanage, so there might have been rescue attempts for them. To keep most of the rescuers from going into the facility, the children could have been let out to be directly rescued outside the facility.
3. I see it as improbable that the company saw a possibility for the children needing to be looked away in a bunker at the bottom of this elevator for *ten* years. Similarly, they also wouldn't have kept food for 10 years for 100(?) or more orphans down there. Than what were the children eating? Poppy only mentioned one food source, and I doubt there were enough employees to feed over 100 children for 10 years (with 3 meals a day, we would get to a total of over a million meals and that's not taking into account how much the toys need to eat). And even if there were, that makes the life in the shadows the children live even darker, thus strengthening my point 2.

Edit: Also (just a small correction), in the tape where CatNap says that the children are safe, we not only have to take CatNap's word for it, but also Miss Delight's, since she's repeating it. And since she already hallucinates Barb talking to her and she's just overall crazy, this might not have actually been said by CatNap.

[samurexatlas]

Chapter 4 is gonna be huge, this theory only helps that notion.
And I don't mean in scale, though likely still.

[bigupsliquidrichard]

It’s even funnier to me if the clocks don’t have a purpose because that means the prototype goes around changing each hand to say 1006 like it’s his graffiti tag lmao

[evilscience]

This actually puts the the letter the protagonist gets at the start of chapter 1 into perspective and makes a lot of sense.
If the person who wrote the letter was being truthful then it indicates that this person was obviously a member of staff and they want us to find Poppy likely because they're allied with her and adding everything you mentioned here, especially with 1006 making it pretty clear he would rather the protagonist to just leave, even giving them multiple chances to do so makes it very unlikely he had anything to do with that letter.

And just to reiterate this but the protagonist, who is ex-staff, was lured back to the factory with this letter where they encounter and kill the original victims of this company who Poppy thinks of as obstacles, she calls Catnap this. She still isn't telling us everything either but considers it crucial that we're on her side which Ollie also makes that pretty clear, not really giving us any choice.

[pballen]

My theory: the Hour of Joy was at 11, and according to the schedule in the classroom, 11:00-11:45 was the kid's snack time. We haven't seen where the kids ate. We know the toys took the adult's bodies further into the facility to eat, which implies there's some kind of kitchen facility/meat processing equipment down there.

I think the kids have been locked in the cafeteria.

[creativenewt]

Your theories are the best in my opinion

[brooksclan]

I think the prototype is evil, but he has good intentions. Same with poppy.

[gregoryjames]

Nice to have these mini theories while we wait on the bigger theory initiative

[captainkat]

I've been saying this for awhile, I feel MOB is NOT taking the easy ending with us finding the kids alive. They're SAFE, nothing more nothing less. We'll have to see what 1006 counts as safe and what poppy would prefer as safe to figure out the actual antagonist of this storyline, espensive if thats us!