| “ | You know, I wasn't a chief back then. I was still a detective, and I was working on those disappearances. To this day, it was the worst thing I've ever had to see. It's not something to joke about. | „ |
| ~ Clay talking to Charlie's friends about the horrific events of the Missing Children Incident |
| “ | Charlie. Justice penalizes the guilty, but it must also protect the innocent. It means that sometimes the guilty get away with terrible things, but it is the price we pay. | „ |
| ~ Clay telling Charlie why they had no choice but to let Afton walk after committing his crimes. |
Clay Burke is a major character in the Five Nights at Freddy's Novel Trilogy.
He is the Chief of the Hurricane Police Department and the father of Carlton Burke. Ten years prior to the story he was the lead detective investigating the Missing Children Incident and arrested the culprit William Afton. However he was forced to let him go due to lack of evidence. Ten years later when Carlton's childhood friends return to Hurricane he helps them uncover and fight off the supernatural mysteries around town to defeat Afton.
Appearance[]
Clay is shown to be a tall, thin middle aged man with graying short brown/blonde hair and noticeable wrinkles on his face. After being attacked by Baby he was shown to have a large scar running through the right side of his face narrowly missing his eye. For his attire he primarily wears a white dress shirt with a bluish tie. He also has dark brown pants held up by suspenders.
Personality[]
Clay was naturally an upbeat, kind, wise and supportive man and a loving father and husband. He always maintained a calm judgment and a sense of reasoning even in the most dire situations. He generally acted like a mentor to Charlie and her friends helping them in their endeavors and giving them helpful council and advice. He even insisted they simply call him by his first name as they were essentially adults now However he is known to be quite oblivious and arrogant at times. He refused to believe Carlton had actually been kidnapped and insisted he was playing an elaborate joke as he tends to do. He also initially did not take Charlie and her friends seriously either despite sympathizing with them and dismissed them due to their status as teenagers.
Underneath his kind and positive demeanor is a man who carries a lot of guilt. He heavily regretted not being able to bring Afton to justice for his crimes and solve the case of the missing kids. This guilt is so heavy he is disappointed and ashamed at Charlie and her friends when he believed they were joking about Freddy's considering what happened there years prior. He however rationalizes this by stating he needed to stick to the confines of the law showing that he was unable to compromise his morals even in desperate times. However he slowly begins to put aside these principles for the greater good as he did many things to help Charlie even if they were unethical. He broke into Freddy's to rescue her, Carlton and their friends, he allowed Charlie to help with the investigation involving the Twisted One's murder spree even though she has no legal authority. He was also brave and daring not hesitating to put himself in dangerous situations for the greater good. He fought off the Twisted animatronics with nothing but a handgun and investigated Circus Baby even though she nearly killed him. However, Clay does show himself to be obsessed at times and dwells on the past. He kept the animatronics in his basement due to feeling pity for the spirits trapped inside and when his wife found out she was less than pleased and left him. However in spite of his flaws, Clay is truly an incorruptible and lawful man.
Synopsis[]
According to Carlton his family had been living in Hurricane, Utah since the 19th century so it's probable that Clay was born and raised there. He also once ran for mayor but he did not get elected. At some point he got a job as detective for the local police department and met the D.A Betty Burke and the two bonded over their obsession with their work. Eventually they married and had a child named Carlton in circa 1978. Clay also knew Henry Emily and William Afton the founders of the local restaurant Freddy Fazbear's Pizza. However he noted that while William was affable and lively Henry was withdrawn and shadowy, almost shell-shocked. In, July of 1985 he was called to a crime scene at Freddy's where five kids went missing and were presumed dead. They initially suspected Henry to be the culprit as when they interrogated him he was nervous and jumpy. However, Clay resisted arresting him and investigated his partner William Afton. They arrested Afton and found a staggering amount of evidence that he was guilty. However without the bodies of the children to confirm these suspicions Clay and the force had no choice but to let him walk. This decision would haunt them all for years to come.
The Silver Eyes[]
Ten years after the murders Carlton's childhood friends return to Hurricane to attend the memorial of Michael Brooks one of the kids killed at Freddy's. Afterwards they sneaked into the now abandoned restaurant which resulted in Carlton getting kidnapped by a man in a yellow rabbit suit. When, Henry's daughter Charlie and her friends tell him about this he laughs it off as a elaborate joke that Carlton is pulling. He invited the gang into his home and they drink hot cacao. It's there that Clay admonishes them for "joking" about Freddy's considering what happened there. He shares the story of the incident there and how he personally arrested the suspect but let him go due to lack of evidence. Clay is ashamed of it and knew he was guilty but claims that the laws job is to penalize the guilty and protect the innocent even if it means the guilty get away. Clay allows Charlie and her friends to spend the night and the next morning he makes pancakes for them. However, his wife Betty finds out Carlton is missing and gets mad at Clay for not doing anything about it. She insists that Carlton would never joke about Freddy's as Michael died there whom was his best friend. Clay then relents and sends Officer Dunn to investigate but he never returns. Later on Clay gets no word or update on the situation. He does some digging and investigates the mall that was built around Freddy's. He recognized the night guard of the mall Dave Miller and pulls out an old photo revealing that Dave is actually William Afton albeit more decrepit and miserable looking. Clay realizing the danger of the situation breaks into Freddy's and rescues Charlie, Carlton and their friends. Just as they are about to leave William wearing his Spring Bonnie suit takes Charlie hostage and threatens to kill her if they don't comply with him. Clay seeing he has no choice agrees. However, Charlie triggers the springlocks in Afton suit which kills him brutally. Afton is then dragged away by the animatronics who are haunted by his victims. Outside the mall, Clay tells Charlie an her friends that with what happened they now have enough evidence to close the missing children case, however he still needs to retrieve Dunn's body. Clay then tells the group that it time to finally let Freddy's go after all these years of carrying it.
The Twisted Ones[]
Shortly after the events of the previous book Clay and Betty sent Carlton to study out east and live with his aunt to get his mind of things.. In the meanwhile Clay and his officers tore down Freddy's and raided whatever evidence they could find to close the missing children case. He also retrieved Officer Dunn's body to give him a proper burial. However, Clay himself salvaged the animatronics out of pity and kept them in his basement. He would often watch them at night to see if they would move but the spirits were inactive somehow and the animatronics remained motionless. His wife quickly found out about this and called out Clay for being obsessed with them. She then left him leaving Clay all alone. One year later Clay gets a report about a man who was murdered in the area. On his body were strange scars that he could not identify. He enlisted the help of Charlie whom was attending college in St. George. Charlie determines that the persons scars are identical to the ones suffered in a springlock failure much like the one William Afton sported. Charlie then theorizes that the person may have been forced to wear the suit when they were killed. On the way back Clay informs Charlie about some shocking news, despite police searching the building Afton's body was not found. However, Clay notes that they did find fake blood at the scene which makes him theorize that William faked his death. However, Charlie looks into it and confirms these suspicions are false. However more murders end up happening with one of the victims being a woman named Tracy Horton who Clay notes looks identical to Charlie even commenting they could be twins. This offends Charlie as her actual twin Sammy is "dead" which prompts Clay to apologize. Clay decided to give Charlie some time to investigate and gives her Tracy's address to scope the place out for clues, however she is only given a twenty minute window to do so before he is forced to report her death. Later on Charlie calls Clay and asks for the other addresses to do some more digging. Charlie then determines that the deaths were caused by Twisted animatronics somehow created by Afton. Charlie realizes that the animatronics are after her and they must’ve mistake Tracy for her.
Later on they find one of the Twisted Animatronics buried in the ground during the day, a twisted version of Freddy. Clay is called in to help deal with it but when the sun goes down in attacks and the gang runs back to the car. They then find that the Twisted One’s are actually just animatronic dummies that are being manipulated by illusion discs to appear monstrous. That night they continue their stakeout and Clay thinks back to the night Betty found out about the animatronics in the basement and left him something he regrets. However the street lights soon Burt and Clay wakes the others up to tell them about the danger. They are suddenly attacked by a Twisted Wolf who releases one of it victims from it’s chest cavity. Thankfully, Clay rushes her the hospital and saves her. Later on, Charlie decides to confront the Twisted Animatronics alone to avoid more people getting hurt however she ends up getting captured. Clay seeing no choice enlists the help of the original animatronics that are residing his basement. The spirits however are disinterested in their plight until they mention that William Afton may be behind it. The animatronics gear into action hoping to kill their nemesis. Clay and the gang are lead by the spirit of Michael Brooks to an underground pizzeria where they find and rescue Charlie. They then learn that the only way to stop the twisted ones is to break the illusion discs which prompts Clay to shoot Twisted Freddy which deactivates him. However they are soon confronted by William Afton who’s body and soul have fused with Spring Bonnie suit rechristening himself as Sprintrap. Clay then shoots Sprintrap but it does not do anything. The gang flee’s from the animatronics but neither drowning them nor burning them works. However as they are cornered the original animatronics rescue them and destroyed their twisted counterparts. Meanwhile, Charlie confronts and beats Springtrap but they are both forced to retreat when the underground pizzeria prepares to collapse on it. They find a door that leads them to Henry’s house oddly enough. Charlie however is attacked by Twisted Freddy and pulled into his stomach where she seemingly dies via a Springlock failure. As the police arrive they escort Jessica and John out of the house before it’s destroyed by a falling tree. However soon enough a mysterious woman appears who looks almost exactly like Charlie leading everybody to assume it her except for John.
The Fourth Closet[]
Six months after the events of the previous book everyone is assumes that the woman that emerged after the events of previous book is Charlie. However, John is the only one who can tell otherwise. Meanwhile, Carlton comes back home from school for spring break and Clay and him invite John and the gang for a gathering. John asks Clay if Betty came back however he admits that she is still gone. Later during the party Clay see's that John is uneasy and talks to him. Clay knows John is still reeling from what happened all those months ago and tries to tell him to relax but John does not listen. Later on Clay visits John at his apartment and the two talk. Clay asks John if he really saw Charlie's Aunt Jen the night of the incident. He claims they found some things in the wreckage of Henry's house and he does not believe that Springtrap/William Afton is dead. He suspects thinks "Charlie" is hiding something and asks John to go see her in hopes of getting answers. Later that night John pays a visit to Clay's house where he reveals that following the incident with the animatronics he has reinforced his door. Clay asks if he got any answers from "Charlie" but John says that she has little memory of the incident from months ago or so she says. However she does voice a desire to find her Aunt Jen. John asks Clay about what he knows of Charlie's family. He claims that he never knew Jen and was surprised he took Charlie when Henry died. He does claim that following the "death" of Sammy Henry's wife divorced him and he took custody of Charlie. Clay claims that he asked Henry about his ex-wife and he vaguely responded, "She wouldn't know what to do with my little girl" John notices that Clay has Charlie old Ella doll and he claims it's one of the few things they managed to salvage from the destruction of her old house, however "Charlie" wanted nothing to do with it. Clay then drops a bombshell; a new batch of children have been going missing around town and another was abducted that day. Of course Clay suspects that Afton is behind it. Clay claims that he is also looking for the original animatronics but he has had no luck. He then begins to sadly compares everything it to the Missing Children Incident ten years prior. Clay then tells John that if there is something bigger going on he is going to once again need the help of "Charlie" and John. Clay tells John to keep and eye out and he leaves. However, later that night as Clay is looking over the files regarding the disappearances he is attacked by a mysterious figure and almost killed. He ends up getting hospitalized and he calls Jessica and John to visit him. He briefly wakes up and gives them a file telling them vaguely "It has to have a maximum range" before passing back out. Inside the files are various photos of "Charlie" and the others but in all of them "Charlie" is blurred out.
Later on they learn they go to Aunt Jen's house to investigate and find the real Charlie. They look over the files and find out that the Charlie they have been seeing for the past six months is actually Circus Baby, the mascot of Circus Baby's Pizza.
Trivia[]
- In the original novel Clay is stated to have blonde graying hair but in the graphic novel adaptations he instead has brown hair. This is likely an oversight.
- Clay is similar too and may have loosely inspired Everette Larson a major character in the Fazbear Frights books as both are law enforcement agents who end up fighting supernatural being linked to Freddy Fazbear's Pizza.