Bill Cipher

Latest revision as of 05:55, 4 May 2024

Bill Cipher is an animated character who features in Gravity Falls.

Biography

Bill Cipher was an inter-dimensional being that inhabited the universe where it was said that he originated trillions of years ago in the second dimension. Over time, he came to despise living there where he describing it as a dimension of flat minds in a flat world with flat dreams. In time, he came to 'liberated' his dimension by plunging it into burning chaos, along with everyone he had ever known, including his own parents. Eventually, he took over a boiling, shifting intergalactic foam between dimensions: a lawless, unstable crawlspace known as the Nightmare Realm. Unfortunately, the Nightmare Realm's lawlessness and lack of any consistent physics or rules meant that it was fated to collapse into itself eventually. After coming to learn of a prophecy that stated he would merge the Nightmare Realm with the third dimension, Bill started coming into contact with humans to accomplish this goal.

Bill once asked a local shaman named Modoc the Wise to build an interdimensional gateway to the Nightmare Realm, but the result was made out of twigs. When Modoc learned of the prophecy that foretold of an apocalyptic event that would stem from interactions with Bill Cipher, he committed suicide by setting himself on fire in an effort to avert it. The natives eventually discovered a way to defeat Bill by using a zodiac with ten symbols. They left behind elaborate cave paintings about their encounter with the demon, including how to summon him, and more importantly, a warning never to read the incantation that would summon Bill aloud. The valley was deemed a "cursed land" by the natives, who evacuated around 1000 AD.

In the late twentieth century, a young man named Stanford Pines, who had spent the past six years investigating the town's plethora of unnatural creatures and oddities, hit a roadblock in his research and was left without answers as to how the improbabilities of Gravity Falls had come to be. During the roadblock, he uncovered the ancient cave containing the ancients' stories of Bill Cipher. Heedless of the warnings, Ford repeated the incantation aloud, summoning Bill into his mindscape. Bill recognized Ford's brilliant but cocky and insecure nature, and his near-friendlessness as ideal conditions for manipulation, choosing to introduce himself to Ford as a muse who chose one brilliant mind every century to inspire. It was Bill who revealed to Ford that Gravity Falls' weirdness was caused by a rift between dimensions, through which the other side's weirdness leaked through. With Bill's assistance, Stanford drafted blueprints to create an inter-dimensional gateway beneath his home (later becoming the Mystery Shack) and recruited his college friend Fiddleford McGucket for assistance. As Bill and Ford's partnership seemingly grew to friendship, Ford seemed to develop an obsession with Bill's powers, collecting triangular memorabilia such as rugs and statues, modeling his home's architecture in his image, converting his private study into a place of worship. He even allowed the demon to enter his mind; this, along with the amount of information he seemed to simply produce on the spot, made Fiddleford increasingly uneasy of the portal and of Ford's mysterious collaborator, as Ford never mentioned Bill's identity to his partner.

In an attempt to take over the Mystery Shack once again, Gideon Gleeful summoned Bill. Gideon told him to steal "Stanford" Pines' safe combination directly from his head so that Gideon can steal the Shack's deed. Bill thinks about this since Ford is still trapped between dimensions, after checking he realizes that Gideon is talking about his brother, Stanley, who was trying to reactivate the portal and thought this could be useful for him. So, he agrees, but in return, Gideon would have to help him in his own plans, which are not revealed to the viewer at the time. Gideon agrees immediately and the two shake on it. Unbeknownst to Gideon, Mabel and Soos witnessed the deal in the forest, and get Dipper's help to follow him into Stan's mind. Once inside Stan's head, Bill confronts the trio and brags that he even knows what they're all thinking. To prove his statement, he summons Xyler and Craz from Mabel's imagination. He tricks Mabel and Soos into looking for the memory of Stan's safe combination first, knowing they had lead him straight to it. At some point, Soos is separated from everyone else, and Bill takes his place. Once they find the correct memory he takes it and nearly escapes with it. But while he reads the combination out loud to Gideon (to whom he is connected), Mabel shoots the memory door into another memory of the bottomless pit with a nyarf dart. Gideon breaks off the deal, to Bill's fury. Bill turns his anger toward Mabel and Soos by bringing their nightmares to life and killing Xyler and Craz. Dipper returns in a timely manner and tells Mabel and Soos that while they are in Stan's mindscape they can do whatever they want. They battle Bill and he is nearly defeated. Just as though it seems he will be forced out of Stan's head, he puts a stop to everything instead. Impressed, he decides to let them go, and after warning them of a mysterious darkness that will change everything they care about, he tells them that he'll be watching them. He leaves in a representation of the zodiac, almost identical to the one that appears in his entry in Journal 2.

Overview

Personality and attributes

In appearance, Bill Cipher was a yellow skinned, two-dimensional, triangular being who bore a strong resemblance to the reverse side of the Great Seal of the United States, which in turn consisted of an Eye of Providence and an unfinished Egyptian pyramid.

Bill is a cunning, blasphemous, eccentric, sadistic, psychopathic and physically irreverent demon who finds most things amusing, particularly if they cause distress or harm to others. He is outrageous and outlandish, as well as a quick talker and thinker. Though he may come across as simply annoying, he shouldn't be underestimated; for when he is angered, he is a force to be reckoned with as he will unleash his near-omnipotent powers on those unfortunate enough to make him angry. When accused of being insane, Bill proudly agrees with the statement. He is also shown to be somewhat obnoxious, as seen when he makes his presence known to Dipper when the latter is trying to figure out a password within a limited amount of time. occasionally, his voice tumbles to a lower pitch (usually when emphasizing a statement).

Powers and abilities

Another one of Bill's traits is that he is quite manipulative. Bill can flatter others, deceiving them by promising them anything. He can go as far as to make deals with them only to betray them at the end. Bill once did it with Dipper on how he sacrificed everything to make Mabel happy but never returns the favor, trapped Mabel in a dream that contains her desires, he even tricked Ford Pines and Gideon, with the former admitting he lied and the latter being a skilled deceiver himself.

He came to be described as being a dream demon. Bill's most noticeable traits is his power to manipulate the laws of reality. Bill can transform organic matter, disorient the physical world, and cause a ripple in the space-time continuum. After breaking the Nightmare Realm, Bill's powers grew stronger to the point where he can manipulate reality on a cosmic scale. Bill can repair himself if he gets injured, such as his form, his limbs, and his eye. However, he stated it takes an hour for his eye to regrow.

Once within the trance, or within someone's mindscape, Bill's powers are vastly magnified; he becomes capable of changing his appearance, changing the appearance of other people's dream selves, and changing the area at will. He can also pluck information from any others who are also inside and bring those ideas and images to life, as was the case with Xyler and Craz being summoned in Stan's mind as he is proving this to Mabel, Dipper, and Soos. Bill can communicate with his summoner using his body as the screen of a video phone; he can also use his whole body as a projector, displaying past and future events as live video footage.

Physically, he was unable to enter into the third dimension unless he was summoned there. Thus, typically, he had to rely on encountering denizens of that plane through dreams.

One of Bill's most noticeable abilities is that he can make a contract with someone to give the said person who made a deal with him fame, power, or a request. Bill's hand becomes surrounded in a blue flame and, once the person exchanges a handshake, while the flame does not harm the person, the deal will be sealed. However, once the deal is sealed, Bill will want something in return that often ends up in his twisted methods. If the person breaks the deal, Bill's powers won't have any effects on them, as Gideon broke his deal when Bill failed to get the combination for the safe. Also, making deals is the only way Bill's powers could have an effect but only to the ones who made a deal with him. Bill makes a deal with someone, he can enter their dreams.

He came to rule an unstable crawlspace with this lawless dimension known as the Nightmare Realm. However, its very laws meant that it would eventually collapse on itself unless it was merged with another dimension.

Notes

• Bill Cipher was created and voiced by Alex Hirsch with his appearance based on the Eye of Providence.

In the Amphibia episode "Wax Museum", several figures and silhouettes resembling Bill can be seen. A drawing of Bill also appears in the episode "True Colors" as Marcy Wu reads a book containing information about the Calamity Box.

Appearances

• Gravity Falls:

External Links

• Gravity Falls Wiki Entry

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