Bill Cipher

Bill Cipher is the main antagonist of the Disney Channel/Disney XD animated series , serving as the overarching antagonist of Season 1 and the main antagonist of Season 2.
An immensely powerful dream demon from the Second Dimension, Bill wants to bring chaos and destruction across the multiverse by achieving a physical form and opening a rift between the Nightmare Realm and Earth. He is the archenemy of the Pines family, mainly Stanford Pines due to being his former best friend.
He was voiced by the series' creator, , who also voiced Grunkle Stan, Old Man McGucket, Jeff, and Dippy Fresh in the same show. While possessing Blendin Blandin, he was voiced by , who also voiced Blendin himself, the Earl of Lemongrab in Adventure Time, and Rick Sanchez in Rick and Morty.
==Appearance==
Bill is a floating yellow triangle with a single cat-like eye in the center (though sometimes near the upper corner; also known as the Eye of Providence), a black bow tie, a top hat, and thin black limbs. He is sometimes seen holding a yellow or black cane as well. Bill's body also flashes when he speaks as he has no actual mouth. Bill's top hat is not an accessory or article of clothing; it is actually part of his body. This can be seen in the episode "Weirdmageddon Part 1" when Stanford shoots his quantum destabilizer gun at Bill and misses, hitting his hat and revealing flesh and bones within.
However, when angered, his color is inverted, with his eye turning black, outline turning white, and yellow turning glowing red, although his form can change to that which is desired at will. A tapestry hanging from the wall in "Northwest Mansion Mystery" depicts him as black or ash gray instead of yellow and with a red-eye. In "The Last Mabelcorn", he appears for a few moments as black with a yellow eye. As seen in the finale, he also sometimes changes colors when distressed.
In the three-part series finale "Weirdmageddon", Bill assumes multiple three-dimensional forms as a result of finally entering our world through the destroyed Interdimensional Rift, including a black multi-tiered and multi-armed pyramid, a three-dimensional version of his default yellow form (including a giant version), and his most horrifying and terrible form of all, that of a colossal red multi-tiered pyramid with eight different glowing limbs resembling a spider, sharp teeth and tongues erupting from his body, and a black eye with a lizard-like yellow pupil, which he assumes during the final battle as he hunts down Dipper and Mabel Pines.
As he is being erased and speaking his hidden resurrection spell, he transforms into several different forms in an attempt to escape, including his angry red form, a stone-like form with two stone pyramids which could rotate with one eye on each side that also rotate and a stone block having his arms and bow tie, a distorted form with several green eyes and limbs, flashing between yellow, pink, blue, and orange, before finally assuming his black form with red-eye as seen on the tapestry. When Stanley punches him, he briefly flashes back to his default yellow form before being wiped out completely.
While possessing a person, that person's body will take on a pale tone to their skin and their eyes will appear to be yellow with black slits, similar to his own. If necessary, both Bill's yellow main portion and the eye can portray images similarly to a television screen, all of which are seemingly what he is thinking about at the time.
==Personality==
At first, Bill seems to be a charming and charismatic figure, willing to help people with their problems while making deals with them, but this easily changes within minutes of his debut, especially when he reveals his true nature: that of a highly intelligent and manipulative individual, who only wants to benefit himself. Because of his harmless appearance and charismatic nature, he often enjoys playing games with people, either to make himself more trustworthy or because he likes manipulating people, regarding how easily they fall into his traps. It also gives whoever doesn't know his true nature the false impression that he isn't evil when in actuality, Bill is a completely heartless monster. He is unfailingly nice and friendly to his Henchmaniacs as well as long as things go the way he wants. However, when this is not the case, he is quick to lash out to them and does not care about their well-being.
He usually speaks with a high-pitched voice with a synthesized effect, but when furious or expressive, it becomes very deep and intimidating in a way that's more in line with traditional demon depictions. When he gets mad, Bill becomes full of rage, attacking without mercy and for the most part, stops fooling around. He is also very masochistic, as he enjoys hurting himself, as shown when he tortures Dipper's body while possessing it, even exclaiming that pain is hilarious. He also has no problem killing or hurting children like Dipper and Mabel, as shown when he purposefully harms Dipper's body while possessing it and nearly kills Mabel to force Stanford to surrender to him. An expert manipulator and a masterful liar, he is clearly capable of fooling others into trusting him long enough for him to betray them in a heartbeat and is falsely affable enough to influence others into playing pawns or making deals with him (which he will almost always double-cross to his advantage).
However, while an easily angered madman, he is also highly authoritative, perspicacious, influential, and decisive, knowing when to pull out of a fight. As of "The Last Mabelcorn", Bill is an extremely calculating and diabolical mastermind. Sometimes, even those who are aware of how depraved he is fall for his charm. Bill is also known for his complete disregard of rules and morals, as he considers laws and physics to be quite senseless and doesn't even care about the consequences of his actions even if they can endanger the fabric of existence; likewise, the idea of destroying the Earth is a mere game to him. Ultimately, he dedicated his existence to spreading complete chaos and followed his selfish philosophy of doing whatever he wants without any care for the consequences.
In his final moments, Bill is shown to be absolutely terrified of dying as seen when being exploited by his own weakness. Also, he is implied to have some guilt about destroying his homeworld and killing his own parents but is unable to admit it, as seen in Axolotl's words: "Misses home but can't return. He says he's happy; he's a liar. Blames the arson for the fire". However this could also just be an act of fake remorse to save himself, considering he tried to kill Stan in his last moments. Bill seemingly hates perverts, shown when a fan asked him if his triangular sides were equilateral or not, Bill replied: "THAT'S A SICK QUESTION YOU PERVERT." His madness might stem from the restrictions of his own homeworld, as shown when he talks with Stanford and his extremely negative relationship with his family that was confirmed to be "worse than Stan's". However, this does not serve as an excuse for his crimes, because it only shows how heinous he really is, and highlights his desire for utter chaos with no restrictions.
==Powers and Abilities==
While Bill is vastly powerful and competent, he cannot normally interact with the physical world while trapped inside the Nightmare Realm. He is able to observe the world, but not influence it, as he can only appear to people in dreams, being virtually omnipotent within the dreamscape. Bill can also act by making a pact with a willing vessel, but in doing this he is subject to all the constraints of the vessel body and cannot use his own power to reshape the world at will. He also has a great vast of knowledge available, claiming he knows "lots of things". However, he doesn't know everything in the universe.
When Bill Cipher escapes the Nightmare Realm, he becomes able to use his full power within the real world, and his power seems to be almost limitless, possibly next to godlike. He is able to reshape reality and everything in it to his will and can even defeat similarly powerful entities such as Time Baby.
On the brink of defeat, he offered Stanley Pines "his own galaxy", implying that his power could potentially be on a cosmic scale. However, he has some weaknesses. Namely, he cannot escape the weirdness-attracting bubble around Gravity Falls on his own and lack the knowledge of how to undo the bubble, and he is unable to use his powers directly on objects that are protected by a barrier of unicorn hair.
Also, he cannot possess someone as long as the host refuses to shake his hand. In the mindscape, Bill is nothing less a thought which means if Bill was in someone's mind that is about to be erased, he will be erased along with it, presumably this will annihilate him from existence but there is evidence that he may survive even this, though greatly weakened and possibly unable to return to the physical world.
==Other Media==
===Gravity Falls: Lost Legends===
A memorial statue of Bill can be seen at one point in the graphic novel Gravity Falls: Lost Legends with the caption "He was the WORST".
===Don't Color This Book! It's Cursed!===
Bill makes a small cameo in the book Don't Color This Book! It's Cursed!, where he appears on one of the pages, sobbing uncontrollably alongside Li'l Gideon to the point that their tears make an entire ocean with a fish in it.
===Rick and Morty===
Bill has had several cameo appearances in Justin Roiland and Dan Harmon's hit animated series Rick and Morty. In the episode "Big Trouble in Little Sanchez", he is briefly seen on a computer monitor. Bill is also seen in "The Wedding Squanchers" on a screen when Rick Sanchez is being studied by both Nuptia 4 and the Galactic Federation. In the Rick and Morty episode "Morty's Mind Blowers", where it's discovered that Rick Sanchez secretly stores Morty's memories, there are two memories labeled "Stanford" and "Bill C". It's very likely that they are memories of encounters with Ford and Bill Cipher, since the two series are considered to occur in the same multiverse, and both Ford and Bill, as well as Morty, have traveled between dimensions.
===The Simpsons===
Bill Cipher makes a cameo appearance in The Simpsons episode "Bart's in Jail". When the Simpsons family spend $500 at a fancy restaurant eating appetizers, they hallucinate Loki. He shows them some of the other forms he takes, one of which being Bill Cipher, who exclaims "Buy crypto, suckers!".
===Paradise P.D.===
Bill Cipher has also several cameos in Paradise P.D., appearing in the episode "Who Ate Wally's Waffles?", where a hieroglyphic resembling him, dressed as Mickey Mouse, was seen on the pedestal containing Walt Disney's frozen brain.
==Quotes==
==Trivia==
*Contrary to popular belief, Bill Cipher cannot be identified as male or female, as he is a being above the concept of gender or race. He also claims his home dimension has 14 billion different gender identities and there is paperwork involved in determining the sexual orientation and he's not exactly been keeping track of his. That said, Cipher does sound like a male which combined with his name, are the reasons people assume he is one. As such, this wiki refers to Bill with "he/him" pronouns.
* was the original choice to voice Bill, but he declined the role. Alex Hirsch (who already voiced many characters of the show) decided to voice him instead.
*His full name is likely a reference to the Beale ciphers; encrypted manuscripts which are said to lead to a great, hidden treasure and which only one of three have been decoded. This is entirely possible as codes and ciphers are hidden all throughout the series.
*He was based on the , a common symbol allegedly used by the Illuminati (which is theorized to follow the New World Order concept), as creator Alex Hirsch confirmed in the Special "Behind the Pines" stating: "What if I took the triangle off the back of the dollar bill, dress him up in a top hat, and stupid little arms and legs, and named him Bill after the dollar?". This is also mentioned in one of the Journals, where someone (presumably Ford) has scribbled a note, saying "He's in my wallet!", and sketched the seal from a dollar bill. However, it is currently unknown why he was based on the Eye of Providence, although it is likely because the Eye is meant to be representative of God watching over everyone, lending over to Bill being nigh omniscient and watching the series' events unfold.
*Various things were discovered about Bill Cipher during a Reddit AMA, including the fact of him once having a family, having something to do with Gompers in the past, his favorite music being 10 hours of Rising Shepard Tone, thinking in capital letters, hating the magical symbol Kryptos, and having once known Jack the Ripper, who, according to him, used to wear clown masks and asked Bill not to tell anyone about it.
*His backstory parallels Flatland, a mathematical novella written by Edwin Abbott Abbott about a flat world where the shapes live, and the more sides they have, the higher the position they got in their society (thus circles are the highest, and triangles are the lowest). Bill refers to this on his AMA when saying "Edwin Abbott Abbott has a decent idea". It is implied that a similar case happened in his home dimension which would explain his thirst for power, as since he is a triangle, Bill had no power in his world. Evidence of this is when Ford visits a similar dimension called Exwhylia during his interdimensional trip when he disappeared for 30 years, which also has a similar case.
*It was never made clear what Bill truly is. While he is called a "demon" by other characters, creator Alex Hirsch has confirmed that this is just a name for lack of better description. Ford even states that no one knows really what he is. Because of his reality-warping abilities and bizarre nature, it is likely that he is inspired by the Outer Gods of Lovecraftian lore.
*Bill originally had a villain song titled "It's Gonna Get Weird", but the song was cut due to time restraints. A demo version is sung by Neil Cicierega still exists and was released on his Tumblr.
*Bill Cipher originally had a much smaller role, being a minor comic relief by invading Dipper's dreams and yelling conspiracy theories. That idea was scrapped, and Bill was made into the main antagonist.
*Bill was originally supposed to be green. That was changed, as Alex didn't want people to make jokes about him being a leaf. Ironically, people started making jokes that he is a Dorito.
*In the book Dipper's and Mabel's Guide to Mystery and Nonstop Fun! he states several things, such as:
**Making a reference to Killer BOB, the main antagonist of the Twin Peaks, by writing "Nostradamus was a hack! Morality is a mental cage designed by the weak! How's Annie?".
**Chairs have feelings and feel pain when being sit on.
**The lunar landing was faked to hide the fact the Moon doesn't exist. It's a two-dimensional disk hiding alien space surveillance.
**Western democracy is a sham propped up by an elite cabal of the super-rich.
**His ideas of "fun", which include:
***Pulling teeth out of a deer's mouth.
***Asking "why" until someone runs out of answers and starts sobbing uncontrollably.
***Bending your fingers backwards as far as you can.
***Eating childhood memories.
***Making time stop forever.
***Transforming into whatever form people fear most.
***"Silly straws", which crack him up.
*Contrary to popular belief, Bill Cipher is not his real name. Bill Cipher is a name he uses to communicate with others and also to hide his real name, which is so horrifying it could evaporate someone while leaving an expression of terror and ecstasy on their face.
*He hates synthesized music and says it hurts when he hears it.
==External Links==
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==Navigation==
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