The Cliffs | The Breaking Wheel | He Told Me Everything
"Why don't you go to the cliffs?"
Robert looked down at the rocky ground beneath him and then up at the pink clouds above him. Life was hard, but it could also be beautiful. The two people he loved most in the world wouldn’t want him to lose sight of that.
Robert is tired. After his wife died in childbirth, he's been raising their son all on his own, and Tyler is a little bundle of energy that seems ready for trouble wherever he goes. Then Tyler asks for a toy– a Tag-Along Freddy Fazbear, a little bear that's advertised as being able to watch and communicate with the parents of toddlers. At first, the toy works amazingly. Then Tyler goes missing, and the toy only sends one message to Robert, which seems to be prompting him to give up on everything– including finding Tyler and living his own life.
The nineteenth Five Nights at Freddy's: Fazbear Frights story, and the first of the seventh book. It was adapted into the graphic novel collection in 2023.
Tropes related to “The Cliffs”:
- Beary Friendly: Tyler immediately falls in love with the plush Freddy, which matches his Freddy Fazbear t-shirt.
- Cheerful Child: Tyler is overly happy and energetic, which tires out his father even more.
- Children Are Innocent: It turns out that Tyler ran off simply because he saw a dog, and found himself lost.
- Commonality Connection: Jess, Robert's coworker, tells him that they can bond over both being single parents.
- Cool Toy: This Freddy can both watch a toddler and report back to the parents! And possibly track the child, too.
- Covers Always Lie: Averted on the original book, but the Tag-Along Freddy on the cover of the fourth volume graphic novel, based on the scrapped illustration, looks a lot different from the actual character. It has human teeth, claws, and seems to be eerily crawling towards the camera, where Tag-Along Freddy was actually just a toy.
- Creepy Blue Eyes: On Tag-Along Freddy, specifically on the book covers.
- Creepy Doll: Robert sees Tag-Along Freddy as this, and it becomes more and more creepy as it gets slowly destroyed.
- Cue the Sun: To symbolize hope, as Robert decides not to kill himself.
- Death by Childbirth: Anna has this fate before the story begins, after experiencing some health issues that prompt doctors to perform an emergency C-Section before the baby is due. She has a stroke on the operating table and dies soon after.
- Driven to Suicide: Robert is about to leap from the titular landform after his son's disappearance magnifies his grief from losing his wife, but resolves against it after realizing that she wouldn't want him to choose an early death.
- The Eeyore: After Anna's death, Robert stopped hanging out with friends, and has been down all the time. When Tyler goes missing, he immediately jumps to all of the worst possible explanations. Considering the situation, it's decently justified.
- Happy Ending: Robert actually manages to find Tyler and bring him home. Though it might be a bit awkward when Tyler asks where is Freddy toy is.
- Like Parent, Like Child: Tyler is incredibly like Anna, in both looks and personality, which is hard on the still-grieving Robert.
- Madness Mantra: "Why don't you go to the Cliffs?"
- Maybe Magic, Maybe Mundane: Is Tag-Along Freddy somehow omnisciently able to tell where his charge is, or did he simply see which direction Tyler was going and make a geographic guess? Then at the end, did it manage to crawl away on its own, or did the tide wash it back?
- Missing Child: As soon as Tyler goes missing, Robert is frantic and terrified. Unlike a lot of other missing children in this franchise, Tyler ends up found safely.
- Missing Mom: For Tyler. When the other children at daycare ask him about it, he gets confused and upset, and the teacher swiftly takes over to tell the kids that there are all different kinds of families.
- Mistaken Message: Robert continually gets notices from Tag-Along Freddy saying "Why don't you go to the Cliffs?" Robert sees this as some kind of Madness Mantra goading him into committing suicide (as the Cliffs were a common location for such decisions); however, when Robert gives in and plans to jump, he hears his missing son's cries and finds him in a hole. Tag-Along Freddy was just telling him where the child was.
- The Mourning After: Robert is still grieving hard for his wife. He hasn't even shown Tyler pictures of her, because it's too painful for him.
- No Antagonist: Tag-Along Freddy turns out to be benevolent (albeit terrible at communicating).
- No-Holds-Barred Beatdown: Robert continuously tries to destroy the Tag-Along Freddy. Each time, it's progressively more violent and unhinged, until the toy is nothing but a broken endoskeleton.
- Poor Communication Kills: Suffice to say that the vast majority of the second half of the story could have been averted if it had phrased its statement of Tyler's location in a way that didn't sound like a Suicide Dare.
- Signature Headgear: Tag-Along Freddy has Freddy Fazbear's top hat.
- Struggling Single Father: A less-common male variant, Robert is tired, overworked, and struggling to take care of his kid all on his own.
- Suicide Dare: "Why don't you go to the Cliffs?" sets Robert off, as the cliffs are famous in their area for being where people kill themselves. So, over and over, he sees this message as suicide bait from the toy, rather than a clue to his son's location.
- Suspiciously Similar Substitute: As pointed out in the Ultimate Guide, it's a little suspicious how this story introduces a mechanic where a Freddy Fazbear plush can watch a toddler and report back to their parents, when Five Nights at Freddy's 4 had the Crying Child's eerily ever-present Fredbear plush speaking to him in his father's voice.
