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* WeCanRuleTogether: Offers [[spoiler: Ford Pines]] an opportunity to join him twice during the [[spoiler: Weirdmageddon]]. The second time he gives quite an awesome speech to make it sound good.
-->''"Listen, [[spoiler:Ford,]] if you just tell me that equation, finally your dimension will be free. (Projects himself drawing a smiley face in the midwest United States, then takes a bite out of the Earth and flies past his friends, who are destroying other planets, then to Ford, who is standing in the middle of a galaxy) Anything will be possible. I'll remake a fun world-- a better world! A party that never ends with a host that never dies! No more restrictions! No more laws! You'd be one of us. All-powerful. Greater than anything you've imagined! And all I need is your help."''
-->''"Listen, [[spoiler:Ford,]] if you just tell me that equation, finally your dimension will be free. (Projects himself drawing a smiley face in the midwest United States, then takes a bite out of the Earth and flies past his friends, who are destroying other planets, then to Ford, who is standing in the middle of a galaxy) Anything will be possible. I'll remake a fun world-- a better world! A party that never ends with a host that never dies! No more restrictions! No more laws! You'd be one of us. All-powerful. Greater than anything you've imagined! And all I need is your help."''
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* EvilCounterpart: To Stan[[spoiler:ley]]. They're both rather ruthless [[ConMan con men]], they're {{man child}}ren and they have a knack for writing up deals with people. [[spoiler:It's this that does Bill in the finale.]]
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* EvilCounterpart: To Stan[[spoiler:ley]]. They're both rather ruthless [[ConMan con men]], they're {{man child}}ren and they have a knack for writing up making deals with people. [[spoiler:It's this these similarities that does allow Stan to trick and defeat Bill in the finale.]]
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* EvenEvilHasStandards: Apparently hates (those he perceives to be) perverts. When asked by a fan on reddit whether his triangle sides were equilateral or not, Bill retorted "THAT'S A SICK QUESTION YOU PERVERT".
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* Expy: Downplayed, but takes some elements from [[VideoGame/NuclearThrone Yung Venuz]], including physical appearance and affinity for destruction.
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* Expy: {{Expy}}: Downplayed, but takes some elements from [[VideoGame/NuclearThrone Yung Venuz]], including physical appearance and affinity for destruction.
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* BeenThereShapedHistory: We don't get to see the full extent of his impact on the world, but he's been around for a long time, and he has been busy. Wherever you see the Eye of Providence or a similar symbol, that's a sure sign that Bill has gotten himself involved.
* BenevolentBoss: He's unfailingly nice to his Henchmaniacs...though then again, they're also every bit as insane and evil as he is. [[{{Subverted}} However]], he's also been shown to summon a mini storm, not caring about their safety, and yell at them when things don't go his way.
* BenevolentBoss: He's unfailingly nice to his Henchmaniacs...though then again, they're also every bit as insane and evil as he is. [[{{Subverted}} However]], he's also been shown to summon a mini storm, not caring about their safety, and yell at them when things don't go his way.
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* BeenThereShapedHistory: We don't get to see the full extent of his impact on the world, but he's been around for a long time, and he has been busy. Wherever you see the Eye of Providence or a similar symbol, that's a sure sign that Bill has gotten himself been involved.
* BenevolentBoss: He's unfailingly nice to hisHenchmaniacs...Henchmaniacs at first...though then again, they're also every bit as insane and evil as he is. [[{{Subverted}} However]], he's also been shown to summon a mini storm, not caring about their safety, and yell at them when things don't go his way.
* BenevolentBoss: He's unfailingly nice to his
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** It seems that he really hates his deals being broken. In his first appearance, Mabel's interference caused him unable to fulfill his end of the deal, resulting in him lashing out to the Pines ("Do you know what I'm like when I'm '''MAD?!'''"). In the flashback between him and [[spoiler: Ford]] where the latter called him out, he's visibly annoyed while saying that "A deal's a deal".
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** It seems that he really hates his deals being broken. In his first appearance, Mabel's interference caused him to be unable to fulfill his end of the deal, resulting which resulted in him lashing out to the Pines at them in rage ("Do you know what I'm like when I'm '''MAD?!'''"). In the flashback between him and [[spoiler: Ford]] where the latter called him out, he's visibly annoyed while saying that "A deal's a deal".
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[[folder:#-F]]
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* AmbiguousSituation: Was Bill's [[spoiler:MotiveRant to Ford even true? Bill said himself he was a compulsive liar. And Ford ''went'' to the second dimension and it was just fine. And was Bill really KilledOffForReal? Or did he just go back in time or laying dormant in Stanley's mind?]]
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* AmbiguousSituation: Was Bill's [[spoiler:MotiveRant to Ford even true? Bill said himself he was a compulsive liar. And Ford ''went'' to the second dimension and it was just fine. And was Bill really KilledOffForReal? Or did KilledOffForReal or is he just go back in time or laying lying dormant in Stanley's mind?]]
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* BackFromTheDead: [[spoiler: Bill invokes this trope in his backwards message just before he's destroyed by Stan: "AXOLOTL my time has come to burn! I invoke the ancient power that I may return!" It's not clear rather this will hold true or not. [[Literature/GravityFallsJournal3 Journal 3]] references to [[SpellMyNameWithAThe The Axolotl]] as some sort of divine being, and there's an Aztec god of death (and twins!) called Xolotl.]]
* BadBoss: When things are going his way, he's the LifeOfTheParty among his Henchmaniacs. When things turn sour, he starts randomly discharging his power in anger with no concern for their safety. He's also insensitively tells his Henchmaniacs to "Walk it off!" when they were hurt slamming into the ForceField.
* BadBoss: When things are going his way, he's the LifeOfTheParty among his Henchmaniacs. When things turn sour, he starts randomly discharging his power in anger with no concern for their safety. He's also insensitively tells his Henchmaniacs to "Walk it off!" when they were hurt slamming into the ForceField.
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* BackFromTheDead: [[spoiler: Bill invokes this trope in his backwards message just before he's destroyed by Stan: "AXOLOTL my time has come to burn! I invoke the ancient power that I may return!" It's not clear rather whether this will hold true or not. [[Literature/GravityFallsJournal3 Journal 3]] references to [[SpellMyNameWithAThe The Axolotl]] as some sort of divine being, and there's an Aztec god of death (and twins!) called Xolotl.]]
* BadBoss: When things are going his way, he's the LifeOfTheParty among his Henchmaniacs. When things turn sour, he starts randomly discharging his power in anger with no concern for their safety.He's He also insensitively tells his Henchmaniacs to "Walk it off!" when they were hurt slamming into the ForceField.
* BadBoss: When things are going his way, he's the LifeOfTheParty among his Henchmaniacs. When things turn sour, he starts randomly discharging his power in anger with no concern for their safety.
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[[caption-width-right:350:''"Oh, I know LOTS of things... [[VoiceOfTheLegion LOTS OF THINGS]]..."'']]
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[[caption-width-right:350:''"Oh, I know LOTS lots of things... [[VoiceOfTheLegion LOTS OF THINGS]]..."'']]
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* BrightIsNotGood: His default form is a bright yellow triangle, and he lights his hand with vibrant blue flames when he's about to make a deal. His OneWingedAngel form in ''Weirdmageddon Part 3'' is a red pyramid with glowing yellow arms.
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* EvilWearsBlack: His black top hat and bow tie evoke this. When he takes control of [[spoiler:Dipper]], he wears a black reverend's outfit to infiltrating Mabel's play.
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* JackassGenie: Averted. Bill doesn't ''have'' to complete his side of the bargain, and typically just outright ignores his side of the agreement.
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* JackassGenie: Mostly Averted. Bill doesn't necessarily ''have'' to complete his side of the bargain, any bargain he makes. His usual level of trickery results in getting what he wants before hand, [[spoiler: such as gaining Dipper's permission to possess him with some clever wording ]], and once that happens he typically just outright ignores his side of the agreement.agreement. That being said if the person making the agreement can't be immediately tricked into giving Bill what he wants Bill has been compliant in fulfilling his part of the bargain. Further more it appears that without finishing the contract Bills magic isn't permanent. For example [[spoiler: he asked for a puppet from Dipper, as a means to possess him, in return for access to a laptop. Bill destroyed it instead to protect his plans but the next time Dippers body fell asleep Bill got kicked out giving Dipper control over his body again.]]
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Not an example. Hrs just a psycho and not morally impaired like this trope requires.
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* BlueAndOrangeMorality: It's subtle, but it's there. While his goals mostly involve self-gratification, his attempt to convince [[spoiler: Ford]] to join him has some suggestions of this. As shown in the Journal 3 book, Bill's idea of "liberation" as expressed below was canonically burning everyone there to death, and he seems to consider the very idea of laws or rules of any kind to be evil. Even laws of reality.
-->'''Bill''': You think those chains are tight? (Eye shows a planet on a two-dimensional plane, which burns) Imagine living in the second dimension, flat minds in a flat world with flat dreams. I liberated my dimension, [[spoiler: Stanford]], and I'm here to liberate yours. There's just one hitch. (Eye projects a hologram of him pushing against the dome around Gravity Falls) As it turns out, my weirdness can't escape the magical confines of this town. There's something keeping me in.
-->'''[[spoiler: Ford]]''': Incredible! Gravity Falls natural law of weirdness magnetism. I studied this years ago!
-->'''Bill''': And did you find a way to undo it?
-->'''[[spoiler: Ford]]''': Of course. There's a simple equation that could collapse the barrier. But I'd never tell you!
-->'''Bill''': Listen, Ford, if you just tell me that equation, finally your dimension will be free. (Projects himself drawing a smiley face in the midwest United States, then takes a bite out of the Earth and flies past his friends, who are destroying other planets, then to Ford, who is standing in the middle of a galaxy) Anything will be possible. I'll remake a fun world-- a better world! A party that never ends with a host that never dies! No more restrictions! No more laws! You'd be one of us. All-powerful. Greater than anything you've imagined! And all I need is your help.
-->'''Bill''': You think those chains are tight? (Eye shows a planet on a two-dimensional plane, which burns) Imagine living in the second dimension, flat minds in a flat world with flat dreams. I liberated my dimension, [[spoiler: Stanford]], and I'm here to liberate yours. There's just one hitch. (Eye projects a hologram of him pushing against the dome around Gravity Falls) As it turns out, my weirdness can't escape the magical confines of this town. There's something keeping me in.
-->'''[[spoiler: Ford]]''': Incredible! Gravity Falls natural law of weirdness magnetism. I studied this years ago!
-->'''Bill''': And did you find a way to undo it?
-->'''[[spoiler: Ford]]''': Of course. There's a simple equation that could collapse the barrier. But I'd never tell you!
-->'''Bill''': Listen, Ford, if you just tell me that equation, finally your dimension will be free. (Projects himself drawing a smiley face in the midwest United States, then takes a bite out of the Earth and flies past his friends, who are destroying other planets, then to Ford, who is standing in the middle of a galaxy) Anything will be possible. I'll remake a fun world-- a better world! A party that never ends with a host that never dies! No more restrictions! No more laws! You'd be one of us. All-powerful. Greater than anything you've imagined! And all I need is your help.
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-->'''Bill''': You think those chains are tight? (Eye shows a planet on a two-dimensional plane, which burns) Imagine living in the second dimension, flat minds in a flat world with flat dreams. I liberated my dimension, [[spoiler: Stanford]], and I'm here to liberate yours. There's just one hitch. (Eye projects a hologram of him pushing against the dome around Gravity Falls) As it turns out, my weirdness can't escape the magical confines of this town. There's something keeping me in.
-->'''[[spoiler: Ford]]''': Incredible! Gravity Falls natural law of weirdness magnetism. I studied this years ago!
-->'''Bill''': And did you find a way to undo it?
-->'''[[spoiler: Ford]]''': Of course. There's a simple equation that could collapse the barrier. But I'd never tell you!
-->'''Bill''': Listen, Ford, if you just tell me that equation, finally your dimension will be free. (Projects himself drawing a smiley face in the midwest United States, then takes a bite out of the Earth and flies past his friends, who are destroying other planets, then to Ford, who is standing in the middle of a galaxy) Anything will be possible. I'll remake a fun world-- a better world! A party that never ends with a host that never dies! No more restrictions! No more laws! You'd be one of us. All-powerful. Greater than anything you've imagined! And all I need is your help.
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* BeenThereShapedHistory: We don't get to see the full extent of his impact on the world, but he's been around for a long time, and he has been busy. Wherever you see the Eye of Providence or a similar symbol, that's a sure sign that Bill has gotten himself involved.
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* DarkMessiah: [[AmbiguousSituation He either sees himself as a messiah or is actively posing as one]]. Either way, his hench-maniacs certainly seem to place him on a high pedestal and at one point the farmer tries to hold him on messiah status to try to get on him good side. [[TakenForGranite It didn't end well]].
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* DarkMessiah: [[AmbiguousSituation He either sees himself as a messiah or is actively posing as one]]. Either way, his hench-maniacs certainly seem to place him on a high pedestal and at one point the farmer tries to hold him on messiah status to try to get on him his good side. [[TakenForGranite It didn't end well]].
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* DarkMessiah: He either sees himself as a messiah or is actively posing as one.
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* DarkMessiah: [[AmbiguousSituation He either sees himself as a messiah or is actively posing as one.one]]. Either way, his hench-maniacs certainly seem to place him on a high pedestal and at one point the farmer tries to hold him on messiah status to try to get on him good side. [[TakenForGranite It didn't end well]].
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** [[spoiler:At some point, he had a family. It's unclear exactly why he destroyed his home dimension and killed his family in the process, but he wishes he could go back.]]
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** [[spoiler:At some point, he had a family. It's unclear exactly why he destroyed family, and the Nightmare Realm isn't his home dimension -- the Second Dimension is. But, as Bill puts it "flat minds on a flat world with flat dreams"; it's expressed that the stiflingly static nature of the dimension drove him to madness, and killed his family he obliterated it in the process, but he wishes he could go back.turn.]]
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* ILetYouWin: He claims to have stopped fighting in "Dreamscapers" by his own choice and responds sarcastically when Dipper referred to that as defeating him. He's got a vested interest in seeming undefeatable, though, so he might not be the most unbiased authority on the subject.
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* ILetYouWin: He claims to have stopped fighting in "Dreamscapers" by his own choice and responds sarcastically when Dipper referred to that as defeating him. He's got a vested interest in seeming undefeatable, though, so he might not be the most unbiased authority on the subject. [[spoiler: A FreudianSlip during his last episode VillainousBreakdown reveals that yes, the Pines twins' victories over him were legitimate, and it ''drives him up the wall.'']]
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* InsistentTerminology: [[spoiler: No, Bill isn't ''destroying'' dimensions, he's ''liberating'' them. Glaringly, this is the only matter in which Bill refuses to own up to his madness, whereas everywhere else he's all-too-happy to revel in it. See NeverMyFault for elaboration upon why.]]
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* Expy: Downplayed, but takes some elements from [[VideoGame/NuclearThrone Yung Venuz]], including physical appearance and affinity for destruction.
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No redirecting to other parts of the page.
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* DarkMessiah: He either sees himself as a messiah or is actively posing as one. See KnightTemplar below.
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* DarkMessiah: He either sees himself as a messiah or is actively posing as one. See KnightTemplar below.
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* DarkMessiah: He either sees himself as a messiah or is actively posing as one. See KnightTemplar below.
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** He does try framing himself as a liberator when trying to convince Stanford to [[spoiler: reveal how to get around the unicorn spell]], though its not clear if he's being genuine or not since all he shows is [[ItsAllAboutMe his personal indulgence]].
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** He does try framing himself as a liberator when trying to convince Stanford to [[spoiler: reveal how to get around the unicorn spell]], weirdness magnetism]], though its not clear if he's being genuine or not since all he shows is [[ItsAllAboutMe his personal indulgence]].
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[[OverarchingVillain The main antagonist of the series]], working behind the scenes in the first season, and being more prominent in the second season. He is a mysterious demon summoned by Gideon in his efforts to take over the Mystery Shack. He is a trickster who makes [[DealWithTheDevil devilish deals]] to get what he wants, claims that [[VaguenessIsComing something big will change the world soon enough]], and is far more dangerous than any other creature that the Pines family has ever faced. Bill also exists on a slightly more meta level than the rest of the show's cast.
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[[OverarchingVillain The main antagonist of the series]], working behind the scenes in the first season, and being more prominent in the second season. He is a mysterious demon an [[EldritchAbomination interdimensional demon]] summoned by Gideon in his efforts to take over the Mystery Shack. He is a trickster who makes [[DealWithTheDevil devilish deals]] to get what he wants, claims that [[VaguenessIsComing something big will change the world soon enough]], and is far more dangerous than any other creature that the Pines family has ever faced. Bill also exists on a slightly more meta level than the rest of the show's cast.
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* BigBad: The main antagonist of season 2, and the entire series.
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* BigBad: The main antagonist of season 2, and the entire series. He's the most powerful and dangerous threat in Gravity Falls, after all.
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* HateSink: As much as he makes us [[LaughablyEvil laugh]] the writers made it clear that Bill is a sadistic, cruel monster who wants nothing more than to cause suffering, misery and destruction where ever possible with no care for the consequences. Everything in [[GrandFinale "Weirdmageddon"]] firmly pushes him into this territory, especially the fact that [[spoiler:[[ColdBloodedTorture he tortures Ford]] and he is more than willing to kill [[WouldHurtAChild two children]]]]. He also has furniture made of living human skin. Furthermore, [[spoiler:we must not forget that Stan almost lost all his memories to stop this bastard, [[TearJerker a very sad moment in the series]].]]
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* HateSink: As much as he makes us [[LaughablyEvil laugh]] the writers made it clear that Bill is a sadistic, cruel monster who wants nothing more than to cause suffering, misery and destruction where ever possible with no care for the consequences. Everything in [[GrandFinale "Weirdmageddon"]] firmly pushes him into this territory, especially the fact that [[spoiler:[[ColdBloodedTorture he tortures Ford]] and he is more than willing to kill [[WouldHurtAChild two children]]]]. He also has furniture made of living human skin. Furthermore, [[spoiler:we must not forget that Stan almost lost all his memories to stop this bastard, him, [[TearJerker a very sad moment in the series]].]]
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* KarmaHoudiniWarranty: [[spoiler:He finally gets his comeuppance at the end of [[GrandFinale "Weirdmageddon"]].]]
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* HateSink: [[LaughablyEvil As much as he makes us laugh]] the writers made it clear that Bill is a sadistic, cruel monster who wants nothing more than to cause suffering, misery and destruction where ever possible with no care for the consequences. Everything in [[GrandFinale "Weirdmageddon"]] firmly pushes him into this territory, especially the fact that [[spoiler:[[ColdBloodedTorture he tortures Ford]] and he is more than willing to kill [[WouldHurtAChild two children]]]]. He also has furniture made of living human skin. Furthermore, [[spoiler:we must not forget that Stan almost lost all his memories to stop this bastard, [[TearJerker a very sad moment in the series]].]]
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* HateSink: [[LaughablyEvil As much as he makes us [[LaughablyEvil laugh]] the writers made it clear that Bill is a sadistic, cruel monster who wants nothing more than to cause suffering, misery and destruction where ever possible with no care for the consequences. Everything in [[GrandFinale "Weirdmageddon"]] firmly pushes him into this territory, especially the fact that [[spoiler:[[ColdBloodedTorture he tortures Ford]] and he is more than willing to kill [[WouldHurtAChild two children]]]]. He also has furniture made of living human skin. Furthermore, [[spoiler:we must not forget that Stan almost lost all his memories to stop this bastard, [[TearJerker a very sad moment in the series]].]]
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![[center:'''[[Characters/GravityFalls Index]]:''' [[Characters/GravityFallsMysteryShack The Mystery Shack]] | [[Characters/GravityFallsMysteryShackTheAuthor The Author]] | [[Characters/GravityFallsMainAntagonists Main Antagonists]] | '''Bill Cipher''' | [[Characters/GravityFallsAdults Adults of Gravity Falls]] | [[Characters/GravityFallsYouth Youth of Gravity Falls]] | [[Characters/GravityFallsCreaturesAndOtherOddities Creatures and other Oddities]] ]]
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** He does try framing himself as a liberator when trying to convince Stanford to [[:spoiler: reveal how to get around the unicorn spell]], though its not clear if he's being genuine or not since all he shows is [[ItsAllAboutMe his personal indulgence]].
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** He does try framing himself as a liberator when trying to convince Stanford to [[:spoiler: [[spoiler: reveal how to get around the unicorn spell]], though its not clear if he's being genuine or not since all he shows is [[ItsAllAboutMe his personal indulgence]].
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** To the main characters as well, most especifically in "[[GrandFinale Weirdmaggeddon]]".
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** To the main characters as well, most especifically in "[[GrandFinale Weirdmaggeddon]]".Weirdmageddon]]".
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* HateSink: [[LaughablyEvil As much as he makes us laugh]] the writers made it clear that Bill is a sadistic, cruel monster who wants nothing more than to cause suffering and destruction where ever possible with no care for the consequences. Everything in [[GrandFinale "Weirdmaggeddon"]] firmly pushes him into this territory, especially the fact that [[spoiler:[[ColdBloodedTorture he tortures Ford]] and he is more than willing to kill [[WouldHurtAChild two children]]]]. He also has furniture made of living human skin. Furthermore, [[spoiler:We must not forget that Stan almost lost all his memories to stop this bastard, [[TearJerker a very sad moment]].]]
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* HateSink: [[LaughablyEvil As much as he makes us laugh]] the writers made it clear that Bill is a sadistic, cruel monster who wants nothing more than to cause suffering suffering, misery and destruction where ever possible with no care for the consequences. Everything in [[GrandFinale "Weirdmaggeddon"]] "Weirdmageddon"]] firmly pushes him into this territory, especially the fact that [[spoiler:[[ColdBloodedTorture he tortures Ford]] and he is more than willing to kill [[WouldHurtAChild two children]]]]. He also has furniture made of living human skin. Furthermore, [[spoiler:We [[spoiler:we must not forget that Stan almost lost all his memories to stop this bastard, [[TearJerker a very sad moment]].moment in the series]].]]
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[[quoteright:370:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/billcipher_9.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:370:''"Pain is hilarious!"'']]
[[caption-width-right:370:''"Pain is hilarious!"'']]
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[[caption-width-right:370:''"Pain is hilarious!"'']]
[[caption-width-right:350:''"Oh, I know LOTS of things... [[VoiceOfTheLegion LOTS OF THINGS]]..."'']]
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[[quoteright:350:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/billcipher.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:230:''"Pain is hilarious!"'']]
[[caption-width-right:230:''"Pain is hilarious!"'']]
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!!Bill Cipher
[[quoteright:350:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/billcipher.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:230:''"Pain is hilarious!"'']]
->Voiced by: Creator/AlexHirsch
->''"A darkness approaches. A day will come in the future where everything you care about will change... Until then I'll be watching you! I'll be watching you.."''.
[[OverarchingVillain The main antagonist of the series]], working behind the scenes in the first season, and being more prominent in the second season. He is a mysterious demon summoned by Gideon in his efforts to take over the Mystery Shack. He is a trickster who makes [[DealWithTheDevil devilish deals]] to get what he wants, claims that [[VaguenessIsComing something big will change the world soon enough]], and is far more dangerous than any other creature that the Pines family has ever faced. Bill also exists on a slightly more meta level than the rest of the show's cast.
----
[[foldercontrol]]
[[folder:#-F]]
* AboveGoodAndEvil: Suggested heavily by ''[[AllThereInTheManual Dipper and Mabel's Guide to Mystery and Nonstop Fun]]'' where he writes "Nostradamus was a hack! Morality is a mental cage designed by the weak! [[ShoutOut How's]] [[Series/TwinPeaks Annie?!]]"
* AchillesHeel:
** The one thing that keeps him from being more dangerous is that he's unable to leave the mindscape and doesn't possess a physical form. Among other things, this is keeping him from attacking the Time Baby.
** "The Last Mabelcorn" reveals two more: Unicorn hair can act as a barrier to his magic, and in a quite ironic twist, [[spoiler:the memory erasing gun [=McGucket=] created to get Bill's dimension out of his head turns out to also be a handy way to kick him out of a person he's possessing.]]
** [[spoiler: And if Bill ''can't'' get out of the mind as it's being wiped, forced or not? He gets erased along with it, or weakened enough that the mind's subconscious can finish him off. This ends up being his final fate at the hands of Stanley.]]
* AcidTripDimension: His home realm of existence, the Nightmare Realm. [[spoiler:It is populated by many other {{Eldritch Abomination}}s, who have been trapped there for one trillion years or more. Not only this, but Bill describes his dimension as "decaying". Naturally, they want out, and in "Dipper and Mabel vs. The Future", a gateway finally opens for them to the physical world, with the Nightmare Realm visible on the other side.]]
* TheAgeless: He claims to have been trapped in his dimension for ''one trillion years'', making him way way older than our universe. See TimeAbyss, below.
* AllThereInTheManual: A lot of background information is dubiously revealed or implied by his ongoing CharacterBlog on reddit.
* AmbiguousSituation: Was Bill's [[spoiler:MotiveRant to Ford even true? Bill said himself he was a compulsive liar. And Ford ''went'' to the second dimension and it was just fine. And was Bill really KilledOffForReal? Or did he just go back in time or laying dormant in Stanley's mind?]]
* ArchEnemy:
** To the Time Baby. It's more evident when [[spoiler: he is confronted by, and then ''obliterates'' Time Baby. For the most part, he treats his torments on the people of Gravity Falls as a game. But in the case of the Time Baby, his murder was a lot more malicious and spiteful]].
** To the main characters as well, most especifically in "[[GrandFinale Weirdmaggeddon]]".
* AuthorityEqualsAsskicking: Bill is both terrifying and the leader of the {{Eldritch Abomination}}s for good reason, in "Weirdmaggedon Part 1" he [[spoiler:conquers the entire town with his chaos magic and the help of his demonic friends, [[FacialHorror twists and mangles the face]] of [[AssholeVictim Preston Northwest]], [[BadassInDistress immobilizes Stanford Pines]] and [[TakenForGranite turns him into a golden statue/backscratcher]], and [[CurbStomp completely obliterates]] the [[DidYouJustPunchOutCthulhu Time Baby]].]]
* AxCrazy: A psychopathic, [[OmnicidalManiac omnicidal]] creature who enjoys pain and destruction.
-->'''Gideon:''' YoureInsane
-->'''Bill Cipher:''' [[CardCarryingVillain Sure I am.]] What's your point?
* BackFromTheDead: [[spoiler: Bill invokes this trope in his backwards message just before he's destroyed by Stan: "AXOLOTL my time has come to burn! I invoke the ancient power that I may return!" It's not clear rather this will hold true or not. [[Literature/GravityFallsJournal3 Journal 3]] references to [[SpellMyNameWithAThe The Axolotl]] as some sort of divine being, and there's an Aztec god of death (and twins!) called Xolotl.]]
* BadBoss: When things are going his way, he's the LifeOfTheParty among his Henchmaniacs. When things turn sour, he starts randomly discharging his power in anger with no concern for their safety. He's also insensitively tells his Henchmaniacs to "Walk it off!" when they were hurt slamming into the ForceField.
* BadassAdorable: While his adorable personality is [[FauxAffablyEvil false]], his appearance is still pretty cute, even when he does terrible things.
* BadassInCharge: The leader of the EldritchAbomination army that invades the earth and accomplishes quite a lot. He conquers the entire town with his chaos magic and the help of his demonic friends, [[FacialHorror twists and mangles the face]] of [[AssholeVictim Preston Northwest]], [[BadassInDistress immobilizes Stanford Pines]] and [[TakenForGranite turns him into a golden statue/backscratcher]], and he [[CurbStomp completely obliterates]] the [[DidYouJustPunchOutCthulhu Time Baby]].
* BadassInANiceSuit: As "[[DemonicPossession Bipper]]", he wears a snazzy reverend outfit. Even as a basic triangle, his black limbs, cane and bow-tie suggest a dapper outfit in a minimalistic sort of way.
* BaitTheDog: Because he's funny, goofy and charismatic, the threat he presented wasn't immediately obvious to the characters ''or'' the fanbase until it was too late.
* BenevolentBoss: He's unfailingly nice to his Henchmaniacs...though then again, they're also every bit as insane and evil as he is. [[{{Subverted}} However]], he's also been shown to summon a mini storm, not caring about their safety, and yell at them when things don't go his way.
* BerserkButton:
** It seems that he really hates his deals being broken. In his first appearance, Mabel's interference caused him unable to fulfill his end of the deal, resulting in him lashing out to the Pines ("Do you know what I'm like when I'm '''MAD?!'''"). In the flashback between him and [[spoiler: Ford]] where the latter called him out, he's visibly annoyed while saying that "A deal's a deal".
** Bill has a ''special'' kind of hatred for Time Baby, whom in his Reddit Q&A session he promised to see murdered in quite a horrible fashion. [[spoiler: Come Weirdmageddon Part 1, ''he makes good on his word.'']]
** Bill seems to get ''really'' angry when his [[EyeScream eye is damaged.]] [[spoiler:He had plans to ''kill'' Mabel because she sprayed him in the eye.]]
* BewareTheSillyOnes: He's a rather silly-looking pyramid thing that wouldn't look out of place on a neon sign, and has a laid-back, jokey personality. He's also every bit as dangerous as [[TheDreaded his reputation]] suggests, and can make your life hell in a variety of inventive ways.
* BigBad: The main antagonist of season 2, and the entire series.
* BigBadEnsemble: In his first episode, he teams up with Gideon. But his second appearance is entirely independent of Gideon.
* BitchInSheepsClothing: He's fairly affable if everything's going his way. Unfortunately, if he's talking to a normal human, that just means he's luring them into a false sense of security so he can manipulate them to his own ends. And if things aren't going well for him as he wreaks his brand of carefree mayhem and he becomes even slightly inconvenienced, he's ''pissed''.
* BizarreAlienBiology: That "hat" is part of his body. [[spoiler:When Ford blasts it with a gun, you can see what appears to be bones and organs.]] His eye also doubles as his ''mouth''.
* BizarreAlienSexes: His home dimension has 14 billion different gender identities and there is paperwork involved in determining sexual orientation. He's not exactly been keeping track of his.
* BlueAndOrangeMorality: It's subtle, but it's there. While his goals mostly involve self-gratification, his attempt to convince [[spoiler: Ford]] to join him has some suggestions of this. As shown in the Journal 3 book, Bill's idea of "liberation" as expressed below was canonically burning everyone there to death, and he seems to consider the very idea of laws or rules of any kind to be evil. Even laws of reality.
-->'''Bill''': You think those chains are tight? (Eye shows a planet on a two-dimensional plane, which burns) Imagine living in the second dimension, flat minds in a flat world with flat dreams. I liberated my dimension, [[spoiler: Stanford]], and I'm here to liberate yours. There's just one hitch. (Eye projects a hologram of him pushing against the dome around Gravity Falls) As it turns out, my weirdness can't escape the magical confines of this town. There's something keeping me in.
-->'''[[spoiler: Ford]]''': Incredible! Gravity Falls natural law of weirdness magnetism. I studied this years ago!
-->'''Bill''': And did you find a way to undo it?
-->'''[[spoiler: Ford]]''': Of course. There's a simple equation that could collapse the barrier. But I'd never tell you!
-->'''Bill''': Listen, Ford, if you just tell me that equation, finally your dimension will be free. (Projects himself drawing a smiley face in the midwest United States, then takes a bite out of the Earth and flies past his friends, who are destroying other planets, then to Ford, who is standing in the middle of a galaxy) Anything will be possible. I'll remake a fun world-- a better world! A party that never ends with a host that never dies! No more restrictions! No more laws! You'd be one of us. All-powerful. Greater than anything you've imagined! And all I need is your help.
* BreakoutVillain: In season 1, he was originally a one-shot villain, but with so many cameo appearances and [[spoiler: having some connections to the author, Ford Pines]], he became the main and final villain of the entire series, also having a special intro of him [[spoiler:succeeding]].
* BrownNote: "Bill Cipher" is [[http://www.reddit.com/r/gravityfalls/comments/315yoy/im_bill_cipher_i_know_lots_of_things_ask_me/cpynn77 a name he goes by to make his dealings with mortals easier]] -- his real name would apparently turn a human to dust if said aloud.
* CardCarryingVillain: He's fully aware that he's a madman and proud of it. Whether he's being directly antagonistic (''Sock Opera'') or not (''Dreamscaperers''), everything he does is without remorse and with insane glee.
* CatchPhrase: He's rather fond of saying 'Well, well, well' to start a conversation in a number of instances. Taken to a [[BrokenRecord greater extent]] when he taunted [[spoiler: Ford]] in his dream.
-->'''Bill:''' Well, well, well, well, [[MotorMouth wellwellwellwellwellwellwell!]]
* CharacterBlog: Bill has [[http://www.reddit.com/user/_BILLCIPHER a Reddit account]] run by the show's staff, and did an AMA session with it.
* ChekhovsGunman: Bill appears as a FreezeFrameBonus at the very end of the opening theme, and the Eye of Providence itself is an ArcSymbol that sometimes appears as a drawing of him.
* TheChessmaster: Bill has been engineering events for at least the last thirty years, all to complete his plan of [[spoiler:merging his world with the real world, freeing him and his other nightmare demons]]. This was just the final and first successfully completed plan in a long line of plans executed since, presumably, [[spoiler: the beginning of the universe.]] Previous plans included [[spoiler: convincing a shaman to try and build a portal long before it was technologically feasible. When the shaman found Bill out, he set himself on fire ("DRAMA QUEEN"). Also, the original intention for Ford's portal was simply a gateway for Bill and Co. to pass through which Ford thought was for his own research purposes. After Ford spent thirty years in various dimensions, breaking the Rift the portal created upon his return became the new plan.]] As a VisualPun, he's seen playing chess with Ford. Ford also writes in code in the journal after he discover's Bill's trickery, "INTERDIMENSIONAL CHESS ISN'T FUN WHEN YOU'RE A PAWN."
* ClippedWingAngel: [[spoiler:During his ShapeshifterSwanSong, Bill keeps spawning various forms of himself in a last ditch effort to break out of Stanley's mind before it's erased, but the erasure screws all of them up so badly that he can't even maintain them for more than a second. When he finally gets a form that's stable, it's so weak and fragile that Stan destroys him in one hit.]]
* CloudCuckoolander: He thinks deer teeth and a permanently screaming head are good rewards.
* ConsummateLiar: He wrote [[https://www.reddit.com/r/gravityfalls/comments/315yoy/im_bill_cipher_i_know_lots_of_things_ask_me/cpyowrs?context=3 the 'bible' for compulsive lying]], in fact.
* CoolCar: He may be a sadistic, inscrutable and unpredictable EldritchAbomination, but ''damn'' that's a ''wicked'' hot rod he has. And it flies!
* CuteAndPsycho: His simplistically goofy design, generally small size, shrill voice, cartoony effects and general cheerfulness can sometimes come across as cute. Like when he was messing with Gideon, or trying to convince Dipper to make a deal with him. And, when possessing the latter, most of his actions come across as both this and creepy.
* {{Cyclops}}: Most of his forms only have one eye. The only exceptions are [[spoiler: his OneWingedAngel form and his ShapeShifterSwanSong]].
* DarkIsEvil: [[spoiler: In some episodes he takes on a pitch black appearance. Like in the beginning of "The Last Mabelcorn" or "Weirdmageddon, Part 1".]]
* DealWithTheDevil:
** He agrees to help Gideon take over the Mystery Shack in exchange for help with his secret plan. He acts as the devil in this scenario, and the way he phrases the deal implies that Gideon wouldn't agree to help if he knew what was in store for him. [[spoiler:However, Mabel's interference keeps Cipher from upholding his end of the bargain, so Gideon gets off with no consequences. However, at the end of "The Stanchurian Candidate", Bill gets another chance when Gideon summons him to make another deal.]]
** Tries it with Dipper in "Sock Opera". Dipper knows that it's a horrible idea, [[spoiler:but he ends up agreeing to help Bill anyway, after the laptop prepares to erase all of its data. Naturally it goes horribly, with Bill taking Dipper's body and destroying the laptop before trying to get his hands on the Journal.]]
** [[spoiler:Makes one with Ford and Stan in the finale... but finds out too late ''he'' [[KarmicDeath was the one on the losing end that time.]]]]
* DeathCryEcho: [[spoiler:Lets out one when Stan finally destroys him completely.]]
* DemonicPossession: Bill Cipher can take control of a mortal body if he [[DealWithTheDevil obtains the consent of his host]] ([[ManipulativeBastard or tricks them into giving consent]]), thus allowing him to directly interact with the physical world. He has done this to [[spoiler:Dipper (in "Sock Opera"), Stanford (as seen in a flashback to the past from "The Last Mabelcorn"), and Blendin Blandin (in "Dipper and Mabel vs. The Future")]].
* DiscardAndDraw: [[spoiler:His entrance to the physical world. He gains near omnipotent power, but because he was watching the physical world from the Nightmare Realm (since they're now the same thing) before, he loses his ability to keep an eye on everything at once. And because he is now physical, he can ([[FightingAShadow unlike before]]) be directly confronted and destroyed.]]
* DragonAscendant: Went from Gideon's "minion" to [[spoiler:unleashing madness on Earth by merging it with the Nightmare Realm]] and effectively turning Gideon into ''his'' Dragon.
* DragonInChief: ''Somewhat'' to Gideon in ''Dreamscapers''. Bill is very much his own boss and the deal was only temporary. Upon his plan being thwarted, he compliments the heroes and leaves Gideon to eventually be defeated.
* DragonWithAnAgenda: He only followed Gideon's orders in his debut because they match up with his goals (which have something to do with Stan Pines), and because Gideon agreed to aid him in return.
* TheDreaded: The journal describes him as the single most dangerous creature in Gravity Falls. Even Gideon is scared of him.
** Hell, he's even portrayed with very real dread, as evidenced by Dippers and [[spoiler:Great Uncle Fords]] interaction.
-->[[spoiler:'''Stanford Pines''']]: Just hand me the gun[[note]]The memory gun[[/note]], p-
-->'''Dipper''': ''Pinetree?!'' Is that what you were gonna call me?!
-->[[spoiler:'''Stanford Pines''']]: I was gonna say "please", kid!
* DreamWeaver: He's a RealityWarper on his own, but even restricted to interacting through our world mostly through dreams, he still retains near total control over that environment.
* EldritchAbomination: Very quirky and [[FauxAffablyEvil seemingly affable]], but is at least a trillion years old, and is still a very alien and incomprehensible being. Even his moniker as a "[[OurDemonsAreDifferent demon]]" is rather superficial.
** [[spoiler:The 3D form he takes after breaking into the physical world in "Weirdmageddon Part 1" counts even better than his standard 2D form.]]
* TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt: [[spoiler:His plan is to merge the human world with the dream world, which will destroy the world according to Ford. He dubs the event "Weirdmageddon" and as of the end of "Dipper and Mabel vs. The Future," it's begun.]]
* EnergyBeing: Describes himself as a being of pure energy.
* EstablishingCharacterMoment: Upon first appearing, Bill psychically ripped out a deer's teeth and gave them to Gideon as a gift, showing both his powers and his psychotic nature.
* EvilCannotComprehendGood: Bill is incapable of understanding that someone would put the well-being of another ahead of their own. This is apparently why Bill's TheReasonYouSuckSpeech to Mabel fails.
--->'''Bill Cipher:''' I mean, who would sacrifice everything they've worked for just for their dumb sibling?\\
'''Mabel:''' ... ''Dipper'' would.
** Bill's reaction to [[spoiler:[[HeroicSacrifice Stan letting both their minds being erased]]]] is to [[YouFool call him an idiot]]. Bill then offers him only personal gain even after being explicitly told [[spoiler:by Stan that his mistake was "messing with [Stan's] family"]].
* EvilCounterpart: To Stan[[spoiler:ley]]. They're both rather ruthless [[ConMan con men]], they're {{man child}}ren and they have a knack for writing up deals with people. [[spoiler:It's this that does Bill in the finale.]]
* EvenEvilHasLovedOnes: Though ultimately a FalseFriend to [[spoiler:Ford]], the implication exists that Bill genuinely found something of an interesting kindred spirit. Or at least a favorite toy, which is about as close as [[AxCrazy Bill]] gets to caring about anybody.
** Despite apparently being an implied SelfMadeOrphan, according to Axolotl [[spoiler:he may miss his home and wish to return. Maybe.]]
* EvilFormerFriend: The journals have [[spoiler:Ford]] speaking favorably and personally of Bill until a certain point where he suddenly starts calling him insanely dangerous and untrustworthy. Given his behavior, Bill was likely a FalseFriend even back then. [[spoiler: Turns out Ford had made a deal with Bill in the past, helping him build the portal without telling him that it would lead to the merging of his world with ours. Ford, of course, didn't take this betrayal well and shut down the portal.]]
* EvilGenius: He's a clever demon and [[spoiler:been manipulating everyone behind the scenes.]]
* EvilHasABadSenseOfHumor: The things Bill considers funny or 'rewards' tend to be bizarre and gruesome, like [[TheToothHurts telekinetically yanking all of a deer's teeth out]] ''(Deer teeth! For you, kid! Ahahaha!)'' or gifting Dipper with [[LosingYourHead "a head that's always screaming"]].
* EvilIsHammy: Regardless of motives, he's definitely immoral and a hell of a ham.
* EvilIsNotAToy: Gideon was out of his depth the minute he summoned Bill.
* EvilIsPetty: A major part of Bill's driving motivation, [[http://www.avclub.com/article/gravity-falls-creator-alex-hirsch-talks-v-clubs-ow-232059 according to]] WordOfGod, is pent-up anger over small frustrations he's experienced throughout his eons of existence. This results in his desire to MC to the biggest non-stop party ever, an act that proves to be extremely hazardous to human life.
-->'''Alex Hirsch:''' I think Bill is angry at the world for the same reason anyone can get mad at the world. Everyone has days where they don't get their way, where you have to go to bed early or you have too much homework to do or you can't eat the candy you want or your miss your favorite TV show, and in those moments you just want to tear the whole world down. Bill is a character who's been around for countless billions of eons, but [[PsychopathicManchild he hasn't grown up in that time.]] He's a character who has accumulated many frustrations, many moments of destruction like that, and they've built up over time. Now he's decided he wants a world where where is no homework, where there is no bedtime - where you can eat any candy you want and do anything you want.
** In the cut song:
-->'''Bill Cipher''': Look at this loser,
-->Drinking his coffee.
-->({{beat}})
-->Now it's decaf!
* EvilLaugh: Alex Hirsch actually strained his vocal chordes.
* EvilPlan: [[spoiler:He plans to open a doorway from the Nightmare Realm to the real world so he and his fellow dream demons can enter the real world and terrorize it, in effect, bringing about TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt]]. An earlier hint to this was one of the ciphers in ''Sock Opera'':
-->"[[spoiler:No Puppet Strings Can Hold Me Down, [[SinisterSurveillance So Patiently I Watch This Town]], Abnormal Soon Will Be The Norm, [[AStormIsComing Enjoy The Calm Before The Storm]].]]"
* EvilVersusEvil: He hates the Time Baby's guts, and wants a physical form partly just to get at him. The Time Baby, in turn, is aware of, and unnerved by, his existence.
* EvilerThanThou: To Gideon, whom he DemotedToDragon. Also Preston Northwest, whom he turned into a ButtMonkey.
* EyeBeams: One of his powers.
* EyeScream: A RunningGag in the finale. "AAAAAH, my ''eye!''"
* ExactWords: When he asks Dipper for a puppet, he never claims it has to be one of the ones that Mabel created, and when he gets consent, he makes Dipper into his own puppet (i.e. a mortal body for him to walk around in). Other than that, he actually averts this trope and lies constantly.
* FalseFriend: To [[spoiler:Stanford, claiming to be a muse of geniuses while manipulating Stanford for his own ends.]]
* FamousLastWords: [[spoiler:[reversed] ''[[HealingFactor Axolotl]]/Ah, [[Myth/AztecMythology Xolotl]], my time has come to burn! I invoke the ancient power that I may [[BackFromTheDead return]]!'' [normal speech] '''[[SayMyName STANLEY]]!''']]
* FatalFlaw: {{Pride}}. Bill has a lot of confidence in his power and knowledge and this causes oversights of critical details -- such as how much Mabel loves her brother or Dipper is capable of fighting with or without the Journals despite his insecurities. Bill also likes toying with enemies rather than treating them like actual threats and simply eliminating them (for example, he put off destroying Journal 3 to mess with Dipper), which can give them time to gather themselves for a HeroicSecondWind. His biggest one however, is the flaw of every tyrant -- [[spoiler:his big fat ego]], and that's what does him in.
* FauxAffablyEvil: The author's entry on Bill goes from nothing but compliments to a caps lock warning that he's not to be trusted under any circumstances which implies that this is Bill's MO. By playing nice and downplaying his sinister, ulterior motives, he's able to coerce people into going along with his plans without realizing just what they've signed onto.
* FightingAShadow: A recurring problem fighting him: he's still an incorporeal entity in another dimension, so no matter how badly damaged the body he's using is, Cipher himself isn't hurt. [[spoiler:He loses this when he assumes physical form, but he also becomes nigh-omnipotent, so it doesn't help much.]]
* FinalBoss: [[spoiler:He's the final and one of the most dangerous demons the Pines ever face.]]
* FlawExploitation: As a being that can only influence the world through the deals he makes, Bill is an expert in using what he knows to push just the right buttons to get people to agree to his deals. He manipulates Dipper through his desperation and desire for knowledge, [[spoiler:the Author]] through his intelligence, and Mabel through her fear of the future.
* TheFourthWallWillNotProtectYou:
** The fourth wall doesn't even protect ''the show's creator''. Showrunner Alex Hirsch has been "possessed" by Bill on at least three occasions.
** Some of the end page cryptograms are clearly written from Bill's perspective. Given he's [[SinisterSurveillance constantly watching everyone]], it's possible ''most'' of them are.
** [[spoiler: During the "Weirdmageddon" episodes, the theme song is taken over by Bill, with the "Created By Alex Hirsch" replaced with "Created By Bill Cipher".]]
** [[spoiler:In the finale, Bill's backwards message[[note]]"My time has come to burn. I invoke the ancient power that I may return."[[/note]], the cryptogram on the bus[[note]] "Hidden deep within the woods, a buried treasure waits. Secrets lost and statues found beyond the rusty gates.[[/note]], and the very last shot of the series[[note]]A statue of Bill in ''live-action''[[/note]] vaguely hint that Bill died in the world of ''Gravity Falls'', but came back in ''ours''.]]
* FreezeFrameBonus: A lot about Bill can be viewed in the Journal's pages if checked close enough.
* FreudianExcuse: Maybe. According to WordOfGod, his relationship with his family was even worse than Stan's.
* FromNobodyToNightmare: If we take his account of his origin as being trustworthy, [[spoiler:he was originally a citizen of the flat, second dimension. He got bored with that, so he 'liberated' his world, resulting in him becoming what he is now.]]
[[/folder]]
[[folder:G-L]]
* TheGlovesComeOff: [[spoiler:Throughout the last episode, Bill's henchmaniacs get curbstomped and Bill himself gets put through the wringer solely because of Dipper and Mabel's planning and quick thinking. By the end, he has ''had it'' with the younger Pines twins and decides they need to die now, taking his most monstrous form ever seen in the show and outright stating he will murder them horribly. He nearly follows through on it until [[TwinSwitch "Ford"]] gives in.]]
* {{Gonk}}: While non-canon, Alex Hirsch said "canon" human Bill would look like ''[[https://i.redd.it/fgiy44ijixwx.png this]]''. Talk about a TakeThatAudience
* GracefulLoser: Averted when his FauxAffablyEvil goes straight out of the window when his plans are ruined, [[spoiler: but then played straight when he decides to let the kids go for their effort]].
** Completely averted in Weirdmageddon, where he loses with no grace or dignity, begging Stan for a chance to save himself.
* GrandTheftMe: [[spoiler:Takes over Dipper's body after Dipper agrees to a deal with him.]]
** [[spoiler: He does the same thing to Blendin.]]
* GreatGazoo: So long as he's in the Dreamscape, he can bend it to suit his whims.
* GreaterScopeVillain: Bill was introduced as someone Gideon summoned for a job near the end of the first season, but with vague mentions of a wider plan. He quickly became the BigBad proper in the second season, [[spoiler:and turned out to have been a major figure in the Author's background as well]].
* HateSink: [[LaughablyEvil As much as he makes us laugh]] the writers made it clear that Bill is a sadistic, cruel monster who wants nothing more than to cause suffering and destruction where ever possible with no care for the consequences. Everything in [[GrandFinale "Weirdmaggeddon"]] firmly pushes him into this territory, especially the fact that [[spoiler:[[ColdBloodedTorture he tortures Ford]] and he is more than willing to kill [[WouldHurtAChild two children]]]]. He also has furniture made of living human skin. Furthermore, [[spoiler:We must not forget that Stan almost lost all his memories to stop this bastard, [[TearJerker a very sad moment]].]]
* HellOnEarth: [[spoiler:A bridge to the Nightmare Realm would allow him and his fellow nightmare creatures to cross over to Earth, where Bill's DreamWeaver powers would become straight up {{Reality Warp|er}}ing and they could do whatever they wanted forever. He's finally successful in "Dipper and Mabel vs the Future".]]
* HiddenAgendaVillain: It's clear that he's planning something, but it's not clear what it is. [[spoiler:Finally revealed in "The Last Mabelcorn." He wants to bring the Nightmare Realm into our world, effectively bringing on TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt. And as of "Dipper and Mabel vs. the Future", he's succeeded. Uh-oh.]]
* HiddenDepths: Who would have thought an ancient, extra-dimensional nightmare being liked playing piano and singing?
** [[spoiler:At some point, he had a family. It's unclear exactly why he destroyed his home dimension and killed his family in the process, but he wishes he could go back.]]
* HighPressureEmotion: He turns bright red when he's angry enough.
* HoistByHisOwnPetard:
** Turns out that [[spoiler:Dipper wasn't an ideal host because he'd been sleep-deprived from obsessing about the laptop (which Bill himself manipulated into his favor in the first place). Constantly and senselessly damaging the body he was in didn't help.]]
** Even more fittingly, [[spoiler:his ultimate fate came from being burned by one of his own deals]].
* HumiliationConga: "Take Back the Falls" is essentially this for him. [[spoiler:In order, when the resistance arrives in a giant robot, he sends his henchmen, thinking that they'll be able to take care of the problem, only for them to fail horribly. When he decides to fight himself, he finds out that the shack is protected from him and gets his eye yanked out, the first part has him being thrown around like a rag doll before finding the robot's weakness. When it looks like he has the upper-hand, he gets sprayed in the eye, allowing Dipper and Mabel escape and outmaneuver him until he manages to catch them, forcing 'Ford' to make a deal with him. However, when it seems like he's finally won, it turns out that Stan conned him and traps him in his mind while they both get erased, reducing Bill to a screaming, begging wreck.]]
* {{Hypocrite}}: He hates deals that ended up being broken yet he almost never stick up to his end of his bargain and always backstab anyone whom he made deals with.
* IgnoredEpiphany: [[spoiler:Axolotl implies that [[MyGodWhatHaveIDone Bill regrets destroying his home world]], but at the same time he [[NeverMyFault he refuses to believe that it's his fault]].]]
* IJustWantToBeFree: [[spoiler:His core motivation. He grew sick of being stuck as a 2D being bound by restrictive physical laws and responsibilities, so he unleashes Weirdmageddon to permanently remove anything that might impede his freedom.]]
* ILetYouWin: He claims to have stopped fighting in "Dreamscapers" by his own choice and responds sarcastically when Dipper referred to that as defeating him. He's got a vested interest in seeming undefeatable, though, so he might not be the most unbiased authority on the subject.
* ImmortalsFearDeath: [[spoiler:When he's about to be erased after living over a trillion years, Bill is ''terrified''. It's the first, and naturally last, time he shows any fear.]]
* InsultBackfire: We see that calling Bill insane is never an insult to him. Both Gideon and [[spoiler: Ford]] called him this and he readily admits to being so.
* IronicEcho: Bill seems to be a fan of this. Bill's "Eenie, meenie, miney, you" phrase has been said by Stan in the first episode, [[spoiler:in the end of "Dipper and Mabel vs The Future", the cryptogram asks "DID YOU MISS ME?", something he asked Dipper in Sock Opera and he says "Right? Isn't that what you're all thinking?", something Grenda asks in Sock Opera.[[note]]"Right? Isn't that what we're all thinking?[[/note]]]]
* {{Jerkass}}: A selfish and sadistic jerk through and through.
* JackassGenie: Averted. Bill doesn't ''have'' to complete his side of the bargain, and typically just outright ignores his side of the agreement.
* KarmicDeath: [[spoiler:After making [[DealWithTheDevil twisted deals]] the entire series to harm others, he's destroyed when Ford and Stan turn his final deal back against him.]]
* KickTheSonOfABitch: [[spoiler:Twists and mangles Preston Northwest's face, ''then'' turns him to stone. Preston being a lying, no-good, thieving, rich jerk who had just attempted yet again to profit at the expense of others, it's hard to feel too bad for him]].
* KilledOffForReal: [[spoiler: Ford completely erased him in Stan's mind, with his brother punching him directly in the eye]]. However, Bill [[spoiler: invokes what seems to be a regeneration spell in his final moments via translated backwards audio, but it's unclear whether or how it worked. After everything returns to normal, a statue of Bill remains in the woods...]]
* KnightOfCerebus: Introduced in what's being considered the darkest and most terrifying episode of the series to date, despite his LaughablyEvil personality and oddball design. Within his first few seconds onscreen, he telekinetically yanks out a deer's teeth and gives them to Gideon. At least he undoes it a moment later, though it's still rather horrifying. He only gets worse in his second episode, where he starts by he gives Dipper a "present" of his own: ''a severed head that's constantly screaming''. Even his entry in Journal #3 is horrifying. Not only are the pages covered in what is likely '''blood splatters''', a warning is written in red ''never to summon him''. Take into account the Author wrote both Journal #2 (which summons him) and Journal #3 (which has an incantation to fight against him), it was an early hint about what happened between him and Ford. [[spoiler: Even more so after he merged Earth with his Nightmare Realm, causing an ApocalypseHow.]]
* KnightTemplar: His [[WhatCouldHaveBeen would-be]] VillainSong definitely implies he sees himself as TheHero.
-->'''Bill Cipher''': Look, I’m just a triangle trying to save you
-->From the delusions society gave you
-->Look at these people, calling me evil
-->Right back at you, [[DisproportionateRetribution now you’re all statues!]]
** He does try framing himself as a liberator when trying to convince Stanford to [[:spoiler: reveal how to get around the unicorn spell]], though its not clear if he's being genuine or not since all he shows is [[ItsAllAboutMe his personal indulgence]].
* KnowledgeBroker: ''Very'' knowledgeable, may potentially know all the answers to the greatest mysteries. Every deal he has made so far has been leveraged with information only he could provide or acquire. He's often suggested that knowledge is the key to true power. Ironically, [[spoiler:he is forced to go to ''Ford'' for help in the finale because Ford knows how to bypass the WeirdnessMagnet effect of Gravity Falls and Bill does not. This likely means that Bill's vast knowledge is due to his DreamWalker abilities more than actual omniscience - since Ford safeguarded his mind against Bill's intrusions later on, the dream demon did not have access to some of his latest discoveries.]]
-->"Oh, I know lots of things! '''''[[VoiceOfTheLegion LOTS OF THINGS...]]'''''"
* LackOfEmpathy: He actually seems to be confused by the human concept of empathy.
* LaughablyEvil: All of his villainy is accompanied by a strange and twisted sense of humor. [[spoiler:Taking over and/or destroying the world is no different; he's doing it because it's all just a funny, cosmic joke to him.]]
* LaughingMad: He combines this with his SlasherSmile as he [[spoiler: tricks Mabel into bringing about the apocalypse]].
* {{Leitmotif}}: Two. Whenever he appears in a talkative mood, [[https://soundcloud.com/bradbreeck/gf-e120-gideon-summons-bill-2 a soft, mischievous bass figure with cascading high notes]] plays; when he gets angry and begins to show the full extent of his powers, though, [[https://soundcloud.com/bradbreeck/gf-e120-dreamscaperers-bill he's backed by a frenzied Shepard's Tone synth arpeggio]].
* LightIsNotGood: Bill is always accompanied by a bright glow. It's also based on the Eye of Providence and TheIlluminati's solar/eye symbolism.
* LiterallyShatteredLives: [[spoiler:When Stan punches him, he shatters into pieces.]]
* LogicalWeakness: [[spoiler:When he pulls a GrandTheftMe on Dipper, he is bound by the physical limitations of his body. And as Mabel points out, she knows all her brother's physical weaknesses and Dipper is very sleep deprived]].
* LouisCypher: One of his namesakes.
* LyricalDissonance: His cut VillainSong "It's Gonna Get Weird" is an upbeat, cheerful number...about [[spoiler:him raining down Weirdmageddon on Gravity Falls]] and all the horrible things that entails.
[[/folder]]
[[folder:M-S]]
* TheMadHatter:
-->'''Gideon:''' You're insane!\\
'''Bill:''' [[InsultBackfire Sure I am. What's your point?]]
* ManipulativeBastard: He takes advantage of people's desperation to keep them from examining his own motives too closely. He's also only been seen making deals when the other party is either overconfident, or not in their right mind. [[spoiler:He expertly manipulated Stanford Pines into creating the portal, through a combination of charm and appealing to Stanford's ego.]]
* MeaningfulName: It's no coincidence that the most mysterious entity of the show (and possibly the one [[KnowledgeBroker with the answer to all the mysteries]]) has almost the same name as one of the most famous [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beale_ciphers unsolved cipher codes]] in US history. [[note]]The reddit AMA has him advising everyone not to do business with the guy who wrote it.[[/note]] "Bill" might also refer to a banknote, as Cipher's body shape closely resembles the Eye of Providence found on the US dollar bill (which was confirmed in the Between the Pines special). Last but not least, a possible reference to LouisCypher.
* MindRape: His bubbles of pure madness drive anyone who makes contact with them insane.
* MonsterFangirl: Discussed by Bill on his Reddit AMA regarding his fangirls:
-->'''Bill:''' WHAT CAN I SAY - [[EvilIsSexy CHICKS DIG PSYCHOPATHS!]] I STRONGLY ENCOURAGE ALL MY OF "FAN GIRLS" TO TAKE SOMETHING PSYCHEDELIC, WALK INTO THE NEVADA DESERT, AND FORM THEMSELVES INTO A LARGE HUMAN THRONE TO AWAIT MY COMING!
* MultiArmedAndDangerous: [[spoiler: His 3D form in "Weirdmageddon Part 1". He also uses this trope several times throughout the final episode]]
* MyGodWhatHaveIDone: Subverted. [[spoiler:The Axolotl states that he misses his home dimension and is saddened by its destruction, but he also refuses to admit the fact that ''he'' destroyed it in the first place]].
* MysteriousPast: Was in Gravity Falls a long time ago and he has some connection with Stan Pines and the author. [[spoiler: He also possessed a body at some point. And, considering the banner hanging in their mansion, may have a connection to the Northwest family]]. His AMA states that he used to have family, is old enough to imply that the Egyptian pyramids were designed to look like him, and that [[spoiler: the tapestry in Northwest Manor]] depicts a prophecy that ''would'' have come true on time for Bill had a shaman accomplice of his been more cooperative. He also apparently made a banking deal with [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beale_ciphers Thomas J. Beale]], and regrets it thoroughly.
* NecessaryDrawback: [[spoiler:Bill Cipher's abilities allows him to invade another person's mind. Unfortunately for Bill Cipher, in the event that he's inside someone's mind and their memories end up being erased, he'll be erased along with them.]]
* NeverMyFault: [[spoiler:According to the Axolotl, he regrets the destruction of his home dimension, but refuses to admit that it was his fault--to quote the amphibian itself, he "blames the arson for the fire"]].
* NiceHat: A skinny topper. In contrast to his body, it's three-dimensional. It's not really clothing, though, it's part of his body.
* NiceJobFixingItVillain: By unleashing Weirdmageddon, he inadvertently saved the crumbling relationship between the Pines family, allowing them to [[EarnYourHappyEnding earn their happy ending]] in the first place.
* TheNicknamer: When speaking to someone, he'll often refer to them by a symbol associated with them (typically visible on an article of clothing; they've also appeared in a circle around him), e.g. calling Dipper "Pine Tree" and Soos "Question Mark." The only times he drops the habit are when he's addressing close friends or people he respects, or when things have gone to hell in a handbasket.
* NoIndoorVoice: He seems to shout everything he says, not unlike the [[Creator/AdultSwim Williams Street]] interpretation of [[WesternAnimation/TheBrakShow Brak]]. Somehow, he manages to shout even louder when he loses his cool. This is a holdover from the original intention of having Creator/DavidLynch voice him, which fell through. Instead, Hirsch does an impression of Lynch's character Gordon Cole, who always shouted his lines. In the AMA, every answer he writes is in ALLCAPS.
* NoMouth: [[TheNoseless Or nose]]. He's quite expressive with his single eyeball, though. [[ActionFigureSpeech His outline pulses in turn with his words.]] It turns out that [[BizarreAlienBiology his mouth IS his eye]], by way of morphing the lids to act like lips to eat/drink like he does in Weirdmageddon.
* NoNonsenseNemesis: After Bill and his fellow abominations [[spoiler:enter the physical world]], Bill finds his lair assailed by [[spoiler:Time Baby and the TimePolice]]. Bill's response is '''''frighteningly''' abrupt''.
* NotSoDifferent: From Grunkle Stan. Both are theatrical conmen who enjoy pulling the wool over others' eyes. They also share similar speaking habits ("Eeney-meeny-miney-''you!''") and traits, to the point where Bill predominantly replaced Stan is his own opening credits. It is their similarities that eventually [[spoiler: make Stan the best candidate to take Bill down.]]
** [[spoiler:Apparently, they both had lousy childhoods.]]
* NotSoWellIntentionedExtremist: He claims he wants to [[spoiler:liberate the heroes' dimension, and make it a fun world with no rules or restrictions. However, that would [[RealityWarpingIsNotAToy render it pure chaos inhospitable to non-demonic life]], and it and his Weirdmageddon back in his own decaying world is heavily implied to be why it's decaying in the first place. Considering his sadism and how he admits [[CardCarryingVillain he's insane either way]], it's very likely his claim is just an excuse [[ItsAllAboutMe for his own enjoyment]].]]
* NoodleIncident: The author wrote in the journals that he considered Bill his best friend. Then something happened that made him cross out that entry out and write "Can't be trusted" and "DO NOT SUMMON AT ALL COSTS!" His entry in Journal #3 is covered in ''blood''. [[spoiler:Eventually revealed to be that Bill had told the author that he was a muse who came to visit and assist geniuses once a century, he helped the author with constructing the portal, but when the truth got out, the author changed his mind about everything. Also, it turns out that it's red pen ink, not blood]].
** [[spoiler: Then even more is revealed in the Journal 3 book release - some of it ''is'' blood; Ford's eye bled after Bill possessed him and dropped onto the page.]]
* OhCrap: An epic one when [[spoiler:Stan traps him in his mind, allowing Ford to use the memory gun to weaken Bill before Stan destroys him.]]
* OminousFloatingCastle: He creates a floating citadel in the shape of himself (i.e. a pyramid). Then he names it the "Fearamid".
* OmnicidalManiac: The Time Baby tells Bill that if he doesn't stop, he could possibly destroy the fabric of the universe. Bill doesn't care.
* TheOmniscient: Claims to see a "kaleidoscope of temporal probability with fluctuating range" and infinite alternate universes as well as alternate versions of himself.
* OneWingedAngel: [[spoiler:While just getting a physical body probably counts, one of his shapeshifted forms in particular stands out: the form he chases Dipper and Mabel through his castle with is by far Bill's most terrifying incarnation in the show. He goes 3D, his body turns red, he gains an eye (now with black sclera) on each side, his bottom segments become mouths with jagged yellow teeth (with the bottom-most having ''two'' tongues), and he has six arms (two of which come out of his bottom mouth).]]
* OptOut: In his first appearance, he leaves of his own accord after deciding that killing Dipper, Mabel and Soos was more trouble than it was worth.
* OurDemonsAreDifferent: He's referred to as a demon on two separate occasions, though he hasn't use this term himself. While looking and acting very atypical, he has almost all of the powers and methods that you'd expect a demon to have: [[VoluntaryShapeshifting shapeshifting]], [[DemonicPossession possession]], [[PlayingWithFire using fire]], [[MoreThanMindControl temptation]], and [[DealWithTheDevil striking up deals in order to get what he wants]]. He's implied there is a hierarchy of sorts by his comments on dressing for the job he wants instead of the one he has, and has [[BadassBoast claimed other demons would be lucky to be on good terms with him]].
* OutGambitted: Twofold and both times by the elder Pines twins.
** Firstly, while he [[spoiler: does manage to get the rift and blend Gravity Falls with the Nightmare Realm, Ford took precautions to make sure both the Mystery Shack was protected and that he didn't disclose about the barrier over the town which keeps Bill from getting any further. Bill has to practically try to force Ford into removing it so he can take continue his world domination plan.]]
** [[spoiler: And secondly when trying to convince Ford to join him doesn't work, he holds Dipper and Mabel hostage to get Ford to cooperate. Not only does keeping the kids contained take a large amount of effort, but he made the mistake of leaving Stan and Ford together to hash out a quick plan "B" and forgetting to take into account that the two are ''twins'', thus leading to him accidentally bargaining with Stan rather than Ford. By the time Bill's realizes his mistake, it's far too late. He's back in the dream world where's he vulnerable, Ford erases Stan's mind with Bill trapped inside, and no amount of bargaining is going to keep Stan from taking him out.]]
* OverarchingVillain: He is the one who was behind [[spoiler:the creation of the Portal, and was the one the Author was hiding his journals from]]. His ultimate plan is [[spoiler:merging his home dimension, a Nightmare Realm full of other demons and [[EldritchAbomination abominations]], with Earth, to try and rule both realms and cause the Apocalypse (or "Weirdmageddon", as Ford calls it). The end of "Dipper and Mabel vs. The Future" shows him finally having opened the gateway.]]
* PaperPeople: He's quite specifically a ''triangle'', not a geometric pyramid. He implies [[Literature/{{Flatland}} Edwin Abbott Abbott]] guessed the closest to what his origin may have looked like. [[spoiler:His entrance into the physical realm involves him taking a 3D form, and though he takes on several different triangular and pyramid-like shapes, his ShapeshifterDefaultForm is still a thin triangular plate.]] Justified; [[spoiler:if his account of his origin is truthful, he was originally from the second dimension; continuing the ''Literature/{{Flatland}}'', he decided the Gospel of Three Dimensions was thinking too small.]]
* PerpetualSmiler: His affable tone in his pyramid form suggests this, but he has NoMouth to smile with. Once he [[spoiler:possesses Dipper's body]] and actually has a mouth, it stays in a cheery grin for most of the time.
* PetTheDog: Within seconds of being introduced, he rips the teeth out of a deer. He undoes it afterwards and, considering [[{{Sadist}} who Bill is]], this is actually rather kind of him.
* PintsizePowerhouse: Although he is a SizeShifter, he tends to stay small most of the time.
* PlayingWithFire: Although he uses blue fire, as seen on the picture.
* PragmaticVillainy: He's impressed by the Pines and Soos' efforts to beat them, and remarks they might come in handy later, so he lets them be. The fact that they were visibly causing him pain obviously had no influence on his decision.
* PsychopathicManchild: Ford said Bill's plan to [[spoiler:[[HellOnEarth merge the Earth with the dreamscape he's from]]]] is just a game to him. When Bill and his fellow demons were taunting Ford about it being inevitable, they sound like a bunch of guys excited for a night on the town. Once [[spoiler: he and his gang are free to roam the physical realm]], he acts like a bully who picks on people just to impress them, and their party at the Fearamid is a Teen Comedy Romp, complete with Bill telling everyone to play it cool once [[spoiler: the Time Cops show up]].
-->'''[[http://www.avclub.com/article/gravity-falls-creator-alex-hirsch-talks-v-clubs-ow-232059 Alex Hirsch]]:''' Bill is a character who's been around for countless billions of eons, but he hasn't grown up in that time.
* PungeonMaster: Bills really likes puns, from literally turning himself yellow when saying "ny'hello?" to his numerous eye/I jokes.
* PunnyName: Given his name, SinisterSurveillance and the ubiquitous Eye of Providence on US dollars, having bills on you means having Bill on you.
** It's also a pun off of the Baele Cypher, the most complex cypher in American history (and much like Bill, almost certainly all a lie/scam to boot)
* RealityWarper: Is pretty near omnipotent... [[DreamWeaver when he's in the dream realm]]. Not so much in the waking world, [[spoiler:until he makes the two one and the same.]]
* RedAndBlackAndEvilAllOver: He has this color scheme in the final form he takes before [[spoiler: Stan literally [[DidYouJustPunchOutCthulhu punches him out]]]].
* {{Sadist}}: Bill likely has [[TheNeedless no physical needs]] and [[TheAgeless doesn't age]]. On a most basic level, his actions are purely motivated to control and torment people in creative ways for his own amusement.
* SatanicArchetype: A more subtle example, and despite also being [[EldritchAbomination rather Lovecraftian]], Bill fits this trope quite well. For starters there is the Cipher part of his name, while obviously connected to the algorithm of encryption, but also to LouisCypher. He also uses a lot of common tropes associated with Satan and devils, including DealWithTheDevil, DemonicPossession, VoiceOfTheLegion, and is outright called a "demon". His [[LightIsNotGood association with light]] connects him directly to Lucifer, and the "Eye of Providence" symbol that he is based on is connected to {{God}} and His [[OurAngelsAreDifferent angels, who often are described manifesting as strange, geometric shapes (including a whole choir called Wheels)]]. On top of all that, [[spoiler: the actual Stanford Pines]] mentions in his backstory that a friend of his referred to a "beast with one eye" when he accidentally peeked into an AlternateUniverse.
* SelfMadeOrphan: According to Bill's reddit AMA, he ''used to'' have a family, and now doesn't. [[spoiler: He hints this in "Weirdmaggedon: Take Back The Falls".]]
* SenseFreak: Bill mentions that he hasn't been in physical form for a long time, so he enjoys the physical sensations he can experience [[spoiler:while possessing Dipper's body, ''especially'' pain, which he inflicts on the body throughout the episode. This contributes to his defeat later.]]
* ShapeshifterSwanSong: [[spoiler:Goes through one as he's being erased along with Stan's mind.]]
* SigilSpam: Look closely in past episodes. Pictures of a triangle with an eye are seen in otherwise random places.
* SinisterSurveillance: Yeah, those images of him mentioned earlier? Those are [[ParanoiaFuel peepholes he can look through from the Dreamscape]]. A page about him in Journal #2 has a picture of him on the -$12 bill that says [[PretentiousLatinMotto "Semper vigilantem"]], "Always watching". [[spoiler:Becomes AscendedFridgeHorror at the end of "The Last Mabelcorn" where it shows him spying on the Pines family. He loses this when he merges the two world, resulting in him being easier to take off guard]].
* SlasherSmile: He sports a rather unsettling smirk while possessing [[spoiler:Dipper Pines, and later Blendin Blandin]].
* SlidingScaleOfComedyAndHorror: Horror dominant, since he's TheDreaded. But he still has a very twisted sense of humor.
* SmugSnake: Bill has three layers to his personality. A [[FauxAffablyEvil goofy facade]] while buttering up up to his potential partners, a [[SmugSnake smug mocking state]] when he's got the upper hand and all parties know it, and a [[ILetYouWin petulant state]] when he knows he's been bested and needs to save face. No matter which mode he's in, he positively oozes condescension.
* SmugSuper: [[spoiler:Once Weirdmageddon begins and Bill gets a physical form, he brings his RealityWarper abilities with him and proceeds to flaunt his power at every opportunity, conquering the town within ''minutes''. The number of scenes where he ''doesn't'' flaunt can be counted on one hand. He's gradually brought through a VillainousBreakdown in the finale as the heroes repeatedly prove that his vast power doesn't make him invincible.]]
* TheSociopath: [[BlueAndOrangeMorality To the extent that they can be judged by human standards]], Bill shows all the symptoms of sociopathy, from LackOfEmpathy, [[ManipulativeBastard manipulativeness]], [[AxCrazy Ax Craziness]], to an unbridled taste for hurt others. It doesn't help the fact that he's fully aware of his actions and doesn't care.
* SpellMyNameWithAnS: His name is often mispelled Bill ''Cypher'', even though his name is spelled out on his page in Dipper's journal. [[IncrediblyLamePun Spell My Name]] [[EyeMotifs With An Eye?]]
* StepfordSmiler: [[spoiler:According to Axolotl, Bill's not as cheery as he always seems, implying that he might regret destroying his own dimension.]]
-->[[spoiler:Saw his own Dimension burn. Misses home and can't return. Says he's happy. He's a liar.]]
* SurrealHorror: ''All the time,'' thanks to his eldritch powers and warped sense of humor.
-->"You deserve a prize! Here, have a head that's always screaming."
[[/folder]]
[[folder:T-Z]]
* TakeOverTheWorld: [[spoiler:Bill's ultimate goal is to merge the Nightmare Realm with the Physical Realm, and let loose his demon friends to rampage through our dimension and rule over what remains.]]
* TakenForGranite: [[spoiler: When he leaves his physical body to re-enter the dreamscape, his body turns to stone.]]
* TechnicolorDeath: [[spoiler: He starts thrashing around glitching out more horribly [[Film/Terminator2JudgmentDay than the T-1000]], as Stan's mind, memories, and him, are being slowly erased.]]
* TimeAbyss: He claims that he's been trapped in the Nightmare Realm for over a ''trillion'' years, making him at least some 70 to 80 times older than the projected age of the universe.
* TomTheDarkLord: You wouldn't expect some guy called "Bill" to be a powerful dream demon who managed to [[spoiler: cause an apocalypse on a city and coming close to unleashing it on the entire universe]]. Despite his name, he is the BigBad of the show and the most dangerous creature the heroes have faced.
* TooKinkyToTorture: As shown in "Sock Opera", it has been so long since he [[spoiler: possessed a physical body (Dipper's in this case)]] that he enjoys inflicting pain on himself. [[CrossesTheLineTwice He slaps himself, tumbles down the stairs, smashes his arm in a drawer and stabs it with forks.]] [[spoiler:When Dipper gets his body back towards the end of the episode, Dipper discovers that Bill caused so much damage to his body that he feels he need to go to a hospital.]]
** However, he [[DeconstructedTrope thoroughly deconstructs]] this trope in the climax. Between his constant self-harm and Dipper's own self-inflicted sleep-deprivation, Bill ends up being [[RealityEnsues too exhausted and crippled to get The Journal back from Mabel]] while confined to Dipper's body, and [[OhCrap doesn't seem to be enjoying himself either]].
* TheTrickster: Described by [[WordOfGod Alex Hirsch]] as a "trickster jerk."
* UncertainDoom: [[spoiler:He was killed either way, but it's unclear if the spell he rattles off before his death was meant to revive him after his death or was what allowed him to stabilize his ShapeshifterSwanSong long enough to make one last attempt on Stanley. The scene could be read either way.]]
* TheUnfettered: Big time. In fact, he's so dedicated to his own freedom that [[spoiler:he destroyed his home dimension to break down all physical laws and restrictions, which he now seeks to do again by bringing Weirdmageddon.]]
* UngratefulBastard: His response to being summoned by Gideon is to terrify him by pulling a deer's teeth out in front of him. (Unless that [[CloudCuckoolander was Bill's idea of gratitude]].) Either way, he then promptly tries to sucker Gideon into a deal that would probably have blown up in his face if it hadn't fallen through for other reasons.
* VaguenessIsComing:
** His warning as he leaves: a mysterious darkness that will change everything they care about.
** Comes up again in "Sock Opera", and we learn this time that Bill will somehow be responsible for the "big changes" ahead but nothing more.
** Eventually, we learn that Bill's EvilPlan is to [[spoiler:use the inter-dimensional portal to [[HellOnEarth merge his home (the nightmare realm) with our dimension]].]]
* VileVillainSaccharineShow: Had shades of this from the start, but officially crossed into it in [[GrandFinale the Weirdmageddon arc]]. Basically, in a show with a fair share of SliceOfLife and daily moments, [[KnightOfCerebus Bill manages to be the darkest villain who ever appeared in the series]].
* VillainExitStageLeft: Bill isn't too proud to fold when his plans become unsalvageable. He also tries to spin it [[ILetYouWin that he was in control the whole time.]] How true this is is up for debate.
* VillainousCrush: He hits on Wendy a couple times while in Dipper's body, partially to troll Dipper, and partially due to this trope.
* VillainHasAPoint: It was a strategy to manipulate Dipper, but Bill wasn't wrong when he pointed out that Dipper has made constant sacrifices for Mabel and that at best she has done nothing to pay him back and at worst keeps putting herself before him.
* VillainTeleportation: Part of his DreamWalker abilities is teleporting and going wherever he wants in the dreamscape.
* VillainousBreakdown:
** In "Dreamscaperers", losing the code to the vault and Gideon cutting off his deal does not make him happy. So he reaches a UnstoppableRage level and TurnsRed. [[spoiler: This is then subverted when he calms down, concedes the fight, compliments the group for their ingenuity, gives some cryptic warning and vanishes.]]
** When he realizes [[spoiler: that he and his creatures are trapping in a bubble around Gravity Falls - and even worse, he doesn't know why -]] he ''snaps''. His outburst even scares his Henchmaniacs, with whom he ''never'' raises his voice.
** His ultimate breakdown in the finale is when [[spoiler: he becomes increasingly enraged as he starts to lose the final battle; it finally comes to a head when he's about to be erased, the powerful dream demon gets reduced to begging for his life as his body rapidly changes into out of control forms before he's destroyed by Stan.]]
* VillainSong: TheMusical-style tune [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vq5sZPPF9ao "It's Gonna Get Weird"]] written by Creator/NeilCicierega. [[WhatCouldHaveBeen It didn't actually make it into the show]], but it can be heard online.
* VillainsWantMercy: [[spoiler:He pathetically begs Stan to spare him, offering Stan anything he could imagine. Stan has none of it and finishes him off.]]
* VocalEvolution: In his first appearance Bill's voice was much calmer and less filtered in comparison to his second appearance only a few episodes later.
* VoiceOfTheLegion: When he wants to emphasize something.
* VoluntaryShapeshifting: [[spoiler:Takes the form of Soos to trick the twins into showing him the combination to the safe.]]
* WalkingSpoiler: His relationship to [[spoiler:Stanford]] as well as [[spoiler:his plan to bring about the apocalypse by merging his nightmare realm with the world]] makes it hard to explain much beyond his surface motives.
* WeWillMeetAgain: He says this to Dipper and company at the end of their first meeting.
** He sings Vera Lynn's 'We'll Meet Again' from the film Dr. Strangelove to Ford in Weirdmaggedon part 3.
* WeaksauceWeakness: He ''really'' hates synthesized music. No problem with dance music, though.
* WhereIWasBornAndRazed: [[spoiler: He reveals to Ford that he was a denizen of a flat "Second Dimension", but that he 'liberated' it by causing a Weirdmaggedon there as well.]]
* WorthyOpponent: He compliments Dipper and company's wit, and as such, [[ILetYouWin claims to have let them live.]] He seems to have kept this viewpoint in "Sock Opera" [[spoiler: to the point that he sees them as a threat to whatever his plans are. WordOfGod says that he felt the need to destroy Journal 3 because with it, Dipper was capable of discovering and stopping the activation of the Portal and thus stopping Bill's HellOnEarth plan, which is what would have happened if not for [[UnwittingInstigatorOfDoom Mabel]].]] However, Bill maintains the ideology that because they're weaker than him, they're still not a ''critical'' threat, which comes back to bite him.
* WouldHurtAChild: As "Sock Opera" clearly demonstrates, Bill has no qualms about hurting children. In fact, while he [[spoiler: is possessing Dipper's body]] he hits Dipper in the face, throws his body down a flight of stairs, pours soda in his eyes, and repeatedly slams his arm into a drawer -- only to retract said arm with forks sticking out of it. By the end of the episode, Dipper outright says he thinks he needs to go to a hospital.
** [[spoiler:In "Weirdmaggedon Part 1", he ''vaporizes the Time Baby.'']]
** The finale has him drop all pretensions of civility and [[spoiler: flat out intending to ''kill'' Dipper and Mabel unless Ford gives him what he needs to break the barrier surrounding the town]].
*** [[spoiler: "I've got some CHILDREN I need to make into CORPSES!" and "When I get my hands on you kids, I'M GONNA DISASSEMBLE YOUR MOLECULES!"]].
** Included in ''[[Literature/GravityFallsJournal3 Journal 3]]'' is a note from Bill written [[spoiler: while inside Dipper]] outright stating that he subjected Dipper's body to stabbing, burning, and drowning. He then goes on to mention that his ultimate goal, had Mabel not forced him out, was to throw Dipper from the water tower and make it look like the boy committed suicide! He then ominously asks Mabel if she would like to get in on the "fun".
* YouCantMakeAnOmelette: An... interesting variation in his reddit AMA.
-->'''Bill:''' HEY IF YOU WANT TO MAKE AN OMELET YOU HAVE TO BREAK A FEW SKULLS! I'M TALKING ABOUT A BRAIN-OMELET HERE, MOMMA.
* YouWouldntLikeMeWhenImAngry:
-->'''Bill:''' ''Do you have any idea what I'm like '''[[VoiceOfTheLegion when I'm MAD?!]]'''''
----
[[/folder]]
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[[quoteright:350:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/billcipher.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:230:''"Pain is hilarious!"'']]
->Voiced by: Creator/AlexHirsch
->''"A darkness approaches. A day will come in the future where everything you care about will change... Until then I'll be watching you! I'll be watching you.."''.
[[OverarchingVillain The main antagonist of the series]], working behind the scenes in the first season, and being more prominent in the second season. He is a mysterious demon summoned by Gideon in his efforts to take over the Mystery Shack. He is a trickster who makes [[DealWithTheDevil devilish deals]] to get what he wants, claims that [[VaguenessIsComing something big will change the world soon enough]], and is far more dangerous than any other creature that the Pines family has ever faced. Bill also exists on a slightly more meta level than the rest of the show's cast.
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* AboveGoodAndEvil: Suggested heavily by ''[[AllThereInTheManual Dipper and Mabel's Guide to Mystery and Nonstop Fun]]'' where he writes "Nostradamus was a hack! Morality is a mental cage designed by the weak! [[ShoutOut How's]] [[Series/TwinPeaks Annie?!]]"
* AchillesHeel:
** The one thing that keeps him from being more dangerous is that he's unable to leave the mindscape and doesn't possess a physical form. Among other things, this is keeping him from attacking the Time Baby.
** "The Last Mabelcorn" reveals two more: Unicorn hair can act as a barrier to his magic, and in a quite ironic twist, [[spoiler:the memory erasing gun [=McGucket=] created to get Bill's dimension out of his head turns out to also be a handy way to kick him out of a person he's possessing.]]
** [[spoiler: And if Bill ''can't'' get out of the mind as it's being wiped, forced or not? He gets erased along with it, or weakened enough that the mind's subconscious can finish him off. This ends up being his final fate at the hands of Stanley.]]
* AcidTripDimension: His home realm of existence, the Nightmare Realm. [[spoiler:It is populated by many other {{Eldritch Abomination}}s, who have been trapped there for one trillion years or more. Not only this, but Bill describes his dimension as "decaying". Naturally, they want out, and in "Dipper and Mabel vs. The Future", a gateway finally opens for them to the physical world, with the Nightmare Realm visible on the other side.]]
* TheAgeless: He claims to have been trapped in his dimension for ''one trillion years'', making him way way older than our universe. See TimeAbyss, below.
* AllThereInTheManual: A lot of background information is dubiously revealed or implied by his ongoing CharacterBlog on reddit.
* AmbiguousSituation: Was Bill's [[spoiler:MotiveRant to Ford even true? Bill said himself he was a compulsive liar. And Ford ''went'' to the second dimension and it was just fine. And was Bill really KilledOffForReal? Or did he just go back in time or laying dormant in Stanley's mind?]]
* ArchEnemy:
** To the Time Baby. It's more evident when [[spoiler: he is confronted by, and then ''obliterates'' Time Baby. For the most part, he treats his torments on the people of Gravity Falls as a game. But in the case of the Time Baby, his murder was a lot more malicious and spiteful]].
** To the main characters as well, most especifically in "[[GrandFinale Weirdmaggeddon]]".
* AuthorityEqualsAsskicking: Bill is both terrifying and the leader of the {{Eldritch Abomination}}s for good reason, in "Weirdmaggedon Part 1" he [[spoiler:conquers the entire town with his chaos magic and the help of his demonic friends, [[FacialHorror twists and mangles the face]] of [[AssholeVictim Preston Northwest]], [[BadassInDistress immobilizes Stanford Pines]] and [[TakenForGranite turns him into a golden statue/backscratcher]], and [[CurbStomp completely obliterates]] the [[DidYouJustPunchOutCthulhu Time Baby]].]]
* AxCrazy: A psychopathic, [[OmnicidalManiac omnicidal]] creature who enjoys pain and destruction.
-->'''Gideon:''' YoureInsane
-->'''Bill Cipher:''' [[CardCarryingVillain Sure I am.]] What's your point?
* BackFromTheDead: [[spoiler: Bill invokes this trope in his backwards message just before he's destroyed by Stan: "AXOLOTL my time has come to burn! I invoke the ancient power that I may return!" It's not clear rather this will hold true or not. [[Literature/GravityFallsJournal3 Journal 3]] references to [[SpellMyNameWithAThe The Axolotl]] as some sort of divine being, and there's an Aztec god of death (and twins!) called Xolotl.]]
* BadBoss: When things are going his way, he's the LifeOfTheParty among his Henchmaniacs. When things turn sour, he starts randomly discharging his power in anger with no concern for their safety. He's also insensitively tells his Henchmaniacs to "Walk it off!" when they were hurt slamming into the ForceField.
* BadassAdorable: While his adorable personality is [[FauxAffablyEvil false]], his appearance is still pretty cute, even when he does terrible things.
* BadassInCharge: The leader of the EldritchAbomination army that invades the earth and accomplishes quite a lot. He conquers the entire town with his chaos magic and the help of his demonic friends, [[FacialHorror twists and mangles the face]] of [[AssholeVictim Preston Northwest]], [[BadassInDistress immobilizes Stanford Pines]] and [[TakenForGranite turns him into a golden statue/backscratcher]], and he [[CurbStomp completely obliterates]] the [[DidYouJustPunchOutCthulhu Time Baby]].
* BadassInANiceSuit: As "[[DemonicPossession Bipper]]", he wears a snazzy reverend outfit. Even as a basic triangle, his black limbs, cane and bow-tie suggest a dapper outfit in a minimalistic sort of way.
* BaitTheDog: Because he's funny, goofy and charismatic, the threat he presented wasn't immediately obvious to the characters ''or'' the fanbase until it was too late.
* BenevolentBoss: He's unfailingly nice to his Henchmaniacs...though then again, they're also every bit as insane and evil as he is. [[{{Subverted}} However]], he's also been shown to summon a mini storm, not caring about their safety, and yell at them when things don't go his way.
* BerserkButton:
** It seems that he really hates his deals being broken. In his first appearance, Mabel's interference caused him unable to fulfill his end of the deal, resulting in him lashing out to the Pines ("Do you know what I'm like when I'm '''MAD?!'''"). In the flashback between him and [[spoiler: Ford]] where the latter called him out, he's visibly annoyed while saying that "A deal's a deal".
** Bill has a ''special'' kind of hatred for Time Baby, whom in his Reddit Q&A session he promised to see murdered in quite a horrible fashion. [[spoiler: Come Weirdmageddon Part 1, ''he makes good on his word.'']]
** Bill seems to get ''really'' angry when his [[EyeScream eye is damaged.]] [[spoiler:He had plans to ''kill'' Mabel because she sprayed him in the eye.]]
* BewareTheSillyOnes: He's a rather silly-looking pyramid thing that wouldn't look out of place on a neon sign, and has a laid-back, jokey personality. He's also every bit as dangerous as [[TheDreaded his reputation]] suggests, and can make your life hell in a variety of inventive ways.
* BigBad: The main antagonist of season 2, and the entire series.
* BigBadEnsemble: In his first episode, he teams up with Gideon. But his second appearance is entirely independent of Gideon.
* BitchInSheepsClothing: He's fairly affable if everything's going his way. Unfortunately, if he's talking to a normal human, that just means he's luring them into a false sense of security so he can manipulate them to his own ends. And if things aren't going well for him as he wreaks his brand of carefree mayhem and he becomes even slightly inconvenienced, he's ''pissed''.
* BizarreAlienBiology: That "hat" is part of his body. [[spoiler:When Ford blasts it with a gun, you can see what appears to be bones and organs.]] His eye also doubles as his ''mouth''.
* BizarreAlienSexes: His home dimension has 14 billion different gender identities and there is paperwork involved in determining sexual orientation. He's not exactly been keeping track of his.
* BlueAndOrangeMorality: It's subtle, but it's there. While his goals mostly involve self-gratification, his attempt to convince [[spoiler: Ford]] to join him has some suggestions of this. As shown in the Journal 3 book, Bill's idea of "liberation" as expressed below was canonically burning everyone there to death, and he seems to consider the very idea of laws or rules of any kind to be evil. Even laws of reality.
-->'''Bill''': You think those chains are tight? (Eye shows a planet on a two-dimensional plane, which burns) Imagine living in the second dimension, flat minds in a flat world with flat dreams. I liberated my dimension, [[spoiler: Stanford]], and I'm here to liberate yours. There's just one hitch. (Eye projects a hologram of him pushing against the dome around Gravity Falls) As it turns out, my weirdness can't escape the magical confines of this town. There's something keeping me in.
-->'''[[spoiler: Ford]]''': Incredible! Gravity Falls natural law of weirdness magnetism. I studied this years ago!
-->'''Bill''': And did you find a way to undo it?
-->'''[[spoiler: Ford]]''': Of course. There's a simple equation that could collapse the barrier. But I'd never tell you!
-->'''Bill''': Listen, Ford, if you just tell me that equation, finally your dimension will be free. (Projects himself drawing a smiley face in the midwest United States, then takes a bite out of the Earth and flies past his friends, who are destroying other planets, then to Ford, who is standing in the middle of a galaxy) Anything will be possible. I'll remake a fun world-- a better world! A party that never ends with a host that never dies! No more restrictions! No more laws! You'd be one of us. All-powerful. Greater than anything you've imagined! And all I need is your help.
* BreakoutVillain: In season 1, he was originally a one-shot villain, but with so many cameo appearances and [[spoiler: having some connections to the author, Ford Pines]], he became the main and final villain of the entire series, also having a special intro of him [[spoiler:succeeding]].
* BrownNote: "Bill Cipher" is [[http://www.reddit.com/r/gravityfalls/comments/315yoy/im_bill_cipher_i_know_lots_of_things_ask_me/cpynn77 a name he goes by to make his dealings with mortals easier]] -- his real name would apparently turn a human to dust if said aloud.
* CardCarryingVillain: He's fully aware that he's a madman and proud of it. Whether he's being directly antagonistic (''Sock Opera'') or not (''Dreamscaperers''), everything he does is without remorse and with insane glee.
* CatchPhrase: He's rather fond of saying 'Well, well, well' to start a conversation in a number of instances. Taken to a [[BrokenRecord greater extent]] when he taunted [[spoiler: Ford]] in his dream.
-->'''Bill:''' Well, well, well, well, [[MotorMouth wellwellwellwellwellwellwell!]]
* CharacterBlog: Bill has [[http://www.reddit.com/user/_BILLCIPHER a Reddit account]] run by the show's staff, and did an AMA session with it.
* ChekhovsGunman: Bill appears as a FreezeFrameBonus at the very end of the opening theme, and the Eye of Providence itself is an ArcSymbol that sometimes appears as a drawing of him.
* TheChessmaster: Bill has been engineering events for at least the last thirty years, all to complete his plan of [[spoiler:merging his world with the real world, freeing him and his other nightmare demons]]. This was just the final and first successfully completed plan in a long line of plans executed since, presumably, [[spoiler: the beginning of the universe.]] Previous plans included [[spoiler: convincing a shaman to try and build a portal long before it was technologically feasible. When the shaman found Bill out, he set himself on fire ("DRAMA QUEEN"). Also, the original intention for Ford's portal was simply a gateway for Bill and Co. to pass through which Ford thought was for his own research purposes. After Ford spent thirty years in various dimensions, breaking the Rift the portal created upon his return became the new plan.]] As a VisualPun, he's seen playing chess with Ford. Ford also writes in code in the journal after he discover's Bill's trickery, "INTERDIMENSIONAL CHESS ISN'T FUN WHEN YOU'RE A PAWN."
* ClippedWingAngel: [[spoiler:During his ShapeshifterSwanSong, Bill keeps spawning various forms of himself in a last ditch effort to break out of Stanley's mind before it's erased, but the erasure screws all of them up so badly that he can't even maintain them for more than a second. When he finally gets a form that's stable, it's so weak and fragile that Stan destroys him in one hit.]]
* CloudCuckoolander: He thinks deer teeth and a permanently screaming head are good rewards.
* ConsummateLiar: He wrote [[https://www.reddit.com/r/gravityfalls/comments/315yoy/im_bill_cipher_i_know_lots_of_things_ask_me/cpyowrs?context=3 the 'bible' for compulsive lying]], in fact.
* CoolCar: He may be a sadistic, inscrutable and unpredictable EldritchAbomination, but ''damn'' that's a ''wicked'' hot rod he has. And it flies!
* CuteAndPsycho: His simplistically goofy design, generally small size, shrill voice, cartoony effects and general cheerfulness can sometimes come across as cute. Like when he was messing with Gideon, or trying to convince Dipper to make a deal with him. And, when possessing the latter, most of his actions come across as both this and creepy.
* {{Cyclops}}: Most of his forms only have one eye. The only exceptions are [[spoiler: his OneWingedAngel form and his ShapeShifterSwanSong]].
* DarkIsEvil: [[spoiler: In some episodes he takes on a pitch black appearance. Like in the beginning of "The Last Mabelcorn" or "Weirdmageddon, Part 1".]]
* DealWithTheDevil:
** He agrees to help Gideon take over the Mystery Shack in exchange for help with his secret plan. He acts as the devil in this scenario, and the way he phrases the deal implies that Gideon wouldn't agree to help if he knew what was in store for him. [[spoiler:However, Mabel's interference keeps Cipher from upholding his end of the bargain, so Gideon gets off with no consequences. However, at the end of "The Stanchurian Candidate", Bill gets another chance when Gideon summons him to make another deal.]]
** Tries it with Dipper in "Sock Opera". Dipper knows that it's a horrible idea, [[spoiler:but he ends up agreeing to help Bill anyway, after the laptop prepares to erase all of its data. Naturally it goes horribly, with Bill taking Dipper's body and destroying the laptop before trying to get his hands on the Journal.]]
** [[spoiler:Makes one with Ford and Stan in the finale... but finds out too late ''he'' [[KarmicDeath was the one on the losing end that time.]]]]
* DeathCryEcho: [[spoiler:Lets out one when Stan finally destroys him completely.]]
* DemonicPossession: Bill Cipher can take control of a mortal body if he [[DealWithTheDevil obtains the consent of his host]] ([[ManipulativeBastard or tricks them into giving consent]]), thus allowing him to directly interact with the physical world. He has done this to [[spoiler:Dipper (in "Sock Opera"), Stanford (as seen in a flashback to the past from "The Last Mabelcorn"), and Blendin Blandin (in "Dipper and Mabel vs. The Future")]].
* DiscardAndDraw: [[spoiler:His entrance to the physical world. He gains near omnipotent power, but because he was watching the physical world from the Nightmare Realm (since they're now the same thing) before, he loses his ability to keep an eye on everything at once. And because he is now physical, he can ([[FightingAShadow unlike before]]) be directly confronted and destroyed.]]
* DragonAscendant: Went from Gideon's "minion" to [[spoiler:unleashing madness on Earth by merging it with the Nightmare Realm]] and effectively turning Gideon into ''his'' Dragon.
* DragonInChief: ''Somewhat'' to Gideon in ''Dreamscapers''. Bill is very much his own boss and the deal was only temporary. Upon his plan being thwarted, he compliments the heroes and leaves Gideon to eventually be defeated.
* DragonWithAnAgenda: He only followed Gideon's orders in his debut because they match up with his goals (which have something to do with Stan Pines), and because Gideon agreed to aid him in return.
* TheDreaded: The journal describes him as the single most dangerous creature in Gravity Falls. Even Gideon is scared of him.
** Hell, he's even portrayed with very real dread, as evidenced by Dippers and [[spoiler:Great Uncle Fords]] interaction.
-->[[spoiler:'''Stanford Pines''']]: Just hand me the gun[[note]]The memory gun[[/note]], p-
-->'''Dipper''': ''Pinetree?!'' Is that what you were gonna call me?!
-->[[spoiler:'''Stanford Pines''']]: I was gonna say "please", kid!
* DreamWeaver: He's a RealityWarper on his own, but even restricted to interacting through our world mostly through dreams, he still retains near total control over that environment.
* EldritchAbomination: Very quirky and [[FauxAffablyEvil seemingly affable]], but is at least a trillion years old, and is still a very alien and incomprehensible being. Even his moniker as a "[[OurDemonsAreDifferent demon]]" is rather superficial.
** [[spoiler:The 3D form he takes after breaking into the physical world in "Weirdmageddon Part 1" counts even better than his standard 2D form.]]
* TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt: [[spoiler:His plan is to merge the human world with the dream world, which will destroy the world according to Ford. He dubs the event "Weirdmageddon" and as of the end of "Dipper and Mabel vs. The Future," it's begun.]]
* EnergyBeing: Describes himself as a being of pure energy.
* EstablishingCharacterMoment: Upon first appearing, Bill psychically ripped out a deer's teeth and gave them to Gideon as a gift, showing both his powers and his psychotic nature.
* EvilCannotComprehendGood: Bill is incapable of understanding that someone would put the well-being of another ahead of their own. This is apparently why Bill's TheReasonYouSuckSpeech to Mabel fails.
--->'''Bill Cipher:''' I mean, who would sacrifice everything they've worked for just for their dumb sibling?\\
'''Mabel:''' ... ''Dipper'' would.
** Bill's reaction to [[spoiler:[[HeroicSacrifice Stan letting both their minds being erased]]]] is to [[YouFool call him an idiot]]. Bill then offers him only personal gain even after being explicitly told [[spoiler:by Stan that his mistake was "messing with [Stan's] family"]].
* EvilCounterpart: To Stan[[spoiler:ley]]. They're both rather ruthless [[ConMan con men]], they're {{man child}}ren and they have a knack for writing up deals with people. [[spoiler:It's this that does Bill in the finale.]]
* EvenEvilHasLovedOnes: Though ultimately a FalseFriend to [[spoiler:Ford]], the implication exists that Bill genuinely found something of an interesting kindred spirit. Or at least a favorite toy, which is about as close as [[AxCrazy Bill]] gets to caring about anybody.
** Despite apparently being an implied SelfMadeOrphan, according to Axolotl [[spoiler:he may miss his home and wish to return. Maybe.]]
* EvilFormerFriend: The journals have [[spoiler:Ford]] speaking favorably and personally of Bill until a certain point where he suddenly starts calling him insanely dangerous and untrustworthy. Given his behavior, Bill was likely a FalseFriend even back then. [[spoiler: Turns out Ford had made a deal with Bill in the past, helping him build the portal without telling him that it would lead to the merging of his world with ours. Ford, of course, didn't take this betrayal well and shut down the portal.]]
* EvilGenius: He's a clever demon and [[spoiler:been manipulating everyone behind the scenes.]]
* EvilHasABadSenseOfHumor: The things Bill considers funny or 'rewards' tend to be bizarre and gruesome, like [[TheToothHurts telekinetically yanking all of a deer's teeth out]] ''(Deer teeth! For you, kid! Ahahaha!)'' or gifting Dipper with [[LosingYourHead "a head that's always screaming"]].
* EvilIsHammy: Regardless of motives, he's definitely immoral and a hell of a ham.
* EvilIsNotAToy: Gideon was out of his depth the minute he summoned Bill.
* EvilIsPetty: A major part of Bill's driving motivation, [[http://www.avclub.com/article/gravity-falls-creator-alex-hirsch-talks-v-clubs-ow-232059 according to]] WordOfGod, is pent-up anger over small frustrations he's experienced throughout his eons of existence. This results in his desire to MC to the biggest non-stop party ever, an act that proves to be extremely hazardous to human life.
-->'''Alex Hirsch:''' I think Bill is angry at the world for the same reason anyone can get mad at the world. Everyone has days where they don't get their way, where you have to go to bed early or you have too much homework to do or you can't eat the candy you want or your miss your favorite TV show, and in those moments you just want to tear the whole world down. Bill is a character who's been around for countless billions of eons, but [[PsychopathicManchild he hasn't grown up in that time.]] He's a character who has accumulated many frustrations, many moments of destruction like that, and they've built up over time. Now he's decided he wants a world where where is no homework, where there is no bedtime - where you can eat any candy you want and do anything you want.
** In the cut song:
-->'''Bill Cipher''': Look at this loser,
-->Drinking his coffee.
-->({{beat}})
-->Now it's decaf!
* EvilLaugh: Alex Hirsch actually strained his vocal chordes.
* EvilPlan: [[spoiler:He plans to open a doorway from the Nightmare Realm to the real world so he and his fellow dream demons can enter the real world and terrorize it, in effect, bringing about TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt]]. An earlier hint to this was one of the ciphers in ''Sock Opera'':
-->"[[spoiler:No Puppet Strings Can Hold Me Down, [[SinisterSurveillance So Patiently I Watch This Town]], Abnormal Soon Will Be The Norm, [[AStormIsComing Enjoy The Calm Before The Storm]].]]"
* EvilVersusEvil: He hates the Time Baby's guts, and wants a physical form partly just to get at him. The Time Baby, in turn, is aware of, and unnerved by, his existence.
* EvilerThanThou: To Gideon, whom he DemotedToDragon. Also Preston Northwest, whom he turned into a ButtMonkey.
* EyeBeams: One of his powers.
* EyeScream: A RunningGag in the finale. "AAAAAH, my ''eye!''"
* ExactWords: When he asks Dipper for a puppet, he never claims it has to be one of the ones that Mabel created, and when he gets consent, he makes Dipper into his own puppet (i.e. a mortal body for him to walk around in). Other than that, he actually averts this trope and lies constantly.
* FalseFriend: To [[spoiler:Stanford, claiming to be a muse of geniuses while manipulating Stanford for his own ends.]]
* FamousLastWords: [[spoiler:[reversed] ''[[HealingFactor Axolotl]]/Ah, [[Myth/AztecMythology Xolotl]], my time has come to burn! I invoke the ancient power that I may [[BackFromTheDead return]]!'' [normal speech] '''[[SayMyName STANLEY]]!''']]
* FatalFlaw: {{Pride}}. Bill has a lot of confidence in his power and knowledge and this causes oversights of critical details -- such as how much Mabel loves her brother or Dipper is capable of fighting with or without the Journals despite his insecurities. Bill also likes toying with enemies rather than treating them like actual threats and simply eliminating them (for example, he put off destroying Journal 3 to mess with Dipper), which can give them time to gather themselves for a HeroicSecondWind. His biggest one however, is the flaw of every tyrant -- [[spoiler:his big fat ego]], and that's what does him in.
* FauxAffablyEvil: The author's entry on Bill goes from nothing but compliments to a caps lock warning that he's not to be trusted under any circumstances which implies that this is Bill's MO. By playing nice and downplaying his sinister, ulterior motives, he's able to coerce people into going along with his plans without realizing just what they've signed onto.
* FightingAShadow: A recurring problem fighting him: he's still an incorporeal entity in another dimension, so no matter how badly damaged the body he's using is, Cipher himself isn't hurt. [[spoiler:He loses this when he assumes physical form, but he also becomes nigh-omnipotent, so it doesn't help much.]]
* FinalBoss: [[spoiler:He's the final and one of the most dangerous demons the Pines ever face.]]
* FlawExploitation: As a being that can only influence the world through the deals he makes, Bill is an expert in using what he knows to push just the right buttons to get people to agree to his deals. He manipulates Dipper through his desperation and desire for knowledge, [[spoiler:the Author]] through his intelligence, and Mabel through her fear of the future.
* TheFourthWallWillNotProtectYou:
** The fourth wall doesn't even protect ''the show's creator''. Showrunner Alex Hirsch has been "possessed" by Bill on at least three occasions.
** Some of the end page cryptograms are clearly written from Bill's perspective. Given he's [[SinisterSurveillance constantly watching everyone]], it's possible ''most'' of them are.
** [[spoiler: During the "Weirdmageddon" episodes, the theme song is taken over by Bill, with the "Created By Alex Hirsch" replaced with "Created By Bill Cipher".]]
** [[spoiler:In the finale, Bill's backwards message[[note]]"My time has come to burn. I invoke the ancient power that I may return."[[/note]], the cryptogram on the bus[[note]] "Hidden deep within the woods, a buried treasure waits. Secrets lost and statues found beyond the rusty gates.[[/note]], and the very last shot of the series[[note]]A statue of Bill in ''live-action''[[/note]] vaguely hint that Bill died in the world of ''Gravity Falls'', but came back in ''ours''.]]
* FreezeFrameBonus: A lot about Bill can be viewed in the Journal's pages if checked close enough.
* FreudianExcuse: Maybe. According to WordOfGod, his relationship with his family was even worse than Stan's.
* FromNobodyToNightmare: If we take his account of his origin as being trustworthy, [[spoiler:he was originally a citizen of the flat, second dimension. He got bored with that, so he 'liberated' his world, resulting in him becoming what he is now.]]
[[/folder]]
[[folder:G-L]]
* TheGlovesComeOff: [[spoiler:Throughout the last episode, Bill's henchmaniacs get curbstomped and Bill himself gets put through the wringer solely because of Dipper and Mabel's planning and quick thinking. By the end, he has ''had it'' with the younger Pines twins and decides they need to die now, taking his most monstrous form ever seen in the show and outright stating he will murder them horribly. He nearly follows through on it until [[TwinSwitch "Ford"]] gives in.]]
* {{Gonk}}: While non-canon, Alex Hirsch said "canon" human Bill would look like ''[[https://i.redd.it/fgiy44ijixwx.png this]]''. Talk about a TakeThatAudience
* GracefulLoser: Averted when his FauxAffablyEvil goes straight out of the window when his plans are ruined, [[spoiler: but then played straight when he decides to let the kids go for their effort]].
** Completely averted in Weirdmageddon, where he loses with no grace or dignity, begging Stan for a chance to save himself.
* GrandTheftMe: [[spoiler:Takes over Dipper's body after Dipper agrees to a deal with him.]]
** [[spoiler: He does the same thing to Blendin.]]
* GreatGazoo: So long as he's in the Dreamscape, he can bend it to suit his whims.
* GreaterScopeVillain: Bill was introduced as someone Gideon summoned for a job near the end of the first season, but with vague mentions of a wider plan. He quickly became the BigBad proper in the second season, [[spoiler:and turned out to have been a major figure in the Author's background as well]].
* HateSink: [[LaughablyEvil As much as he makes us laugh]] the writers made it clear that Bill is a sadistic, cruel monster who wants nothing more than to cause suffering and destruction where ever possible with no care for the consequences. Everything in [[GrandFinale "Weirdmaggeddon"]] firmly pushes him into this territory, especially the fact that [[spoiler:[[ColdBloodedTorture he tortures Ford]] and he is more than willing to kill [[WouldHurtAChild two children]]]]. He also has furniture made of living human skin. Furthermore, [[spoiler:We must not forget that Stan almost lost all his memories to stop this bastard, [[TearJerker a very sad moment]].]]
* HellOnEarth: [[spoiler:A bridge to the Nightmare Realm would allow him and his fellow nightmare creatures to cross over to Earth, where Bill's DreamWeaver powers would become straight up {{Reality Warp|er}}ing and they could do whatever they wanted forever. He's finally successful in "Dipper and Mabel vs the Future".]]
* HiddenAgendaVillain: It's clear that he's planning something, but it's not clear what it is. [[spoiler:Finally revealed in "The Last Mabelcorn." He wants to bring the Nightmare Realm into our world, effectively bringing on TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt. And as of "Dipper and Mabel vs. the Future", he's succeeded. Uh-oh.]]
* HiddenDepths: Who would have thought an ancient, extra-dimensional nightmare being liked playing piano and singing?
** [[spoiler:At some point, he had a family. It's unclear exactly why he destroyed his home dimension and killed his family in the process, but he wishes he could go back.]]
* HighPressureEmotion: He turns bright red when he's angry enough.
* HoistByHisOwnPetard:
** Turns out that [[spoiler:Dipper wasn't an ideal host because he'd been sleep-deprived from obsessing about the laptop (which Bill himself manipulated into his favor in the first place). Constantly and senselessly damaging the body he was in didn't help.]]
** Even more fittingly, [[spoiler:his ultimate fate came from being burned by one of his own deals]].
* HumiliationConga: "Take Back the Falls" is essentially this for him. [[spoiler:In order, when the resistance arrives in a giant robot, he sends his henchmen, thinking that they'll be able to take care of the problem, only for them to fail horribly. When he decides to fight himself, he finds out that the shack is protected from him and gets his eye yanked out, the first part has him being thrown around like a rag doll before finding the robot's weakness. When it looks like he has the upper-hand, he gets sprayed in the eye, allowing Dipper and Mabel escape and outmaneuver him until he manages to catch them, forcing 'Ford' to make a deal with him. However, when it seems like he's finally won, it turns out that Stan conned him and traps him in his mind while they both get erased, reducing Bill to a screaming, begging wreck.]]
* {{Hypocrite}}: He hates deals that ended up being broken yet he almost never stick up to his end of his bargain and always backstab anyone whom he made deals with.
* IgnoredEpiphany: [[spoiler:Axolotl implies that [[MyGodWhatHaveIDone Bill regrets destroying his home world]], but at the same time he [[NeverMyFault he refuses to believe that it's his fault]].]]
* IJustWantToBeFree: [[spoiler:His core motivation. He grew sick of being stuck as a 2D being bound by restrictive physical laws and responsibilities, so he unleashes Weirdmageddon to permanently remove anything that might impede his freedom.]]
* ILetYouWin: He claims to have stopped fighting in "Dreamscapers" by his own choice and responds sarcastically when Dipper referred to that as defeating him. He's got a vested interest in seeming undefeatable, though, so he might not be the most unbiased authority on the subject.
* ImmortalsFearDeath: [[spoiler:When he's about to be erased after living over a trillion years, Bill is ''terrified''. It's the first, and naturally last, time he shows any fear.]]
* InsultBackfire: We see that calling Bill insane is never an insult to him. Both Gideon and [[spoiler: Ford]] called him this and he readily admits to being so.
* IronicEcho: Bill seems to be a fan of this. Bill's "Eenie, meenie, miney, you" phrase has been said by Stan in the first episode, [[spoiler:in the end of "Dipper and Mabel vs The Future", the cryptogram asks "DID YOU MISS ME?", something he asked Dipper in Sock Opera and he says "Right? Isn't that what you're all thinking?", something Grenda asks in Sock Opera.[[note]]"Right? Isn't that what we're all thinking?[[/note]]]]
* {{Jerkass}}: A selfish and sadistic jerk through and through.
* JackassGenie: Averted. Bill doesn't ''have'' to complete his side of the bargain, and typically just outright ignores his side of the agreement.
* KarmicDeath: [[spoiler:After making [[DealWithTheDevil twisted deals]] the entire series to harm others, he's destroyed when Ford and Stan turn his final deal back against him.]]
* KickTheSonOfABitch: [[spoiler:Twists and mangles Preston Northwest's face, ''then'' turns him to stone. Preston being a lying, no-good, thieving, rich jerk who had just attempted yet again to profit at the expense of others, it's hard to feel too bad for him]].
* KilledOffForReal: [[spoiler: Ford completely erased him in Stan's mind, with his brother punching him directly in the eye]]. However, Bill [[spoiler: invokes what seems to be a regeneration spell in his final moments via translated backwards audio, but it's unclear whether or how it worked. After everything returns to normal, a statue of Bill remains in the woods...]]
* KnightOfCerebus: Introduced in what's being considered the darkest and most terrifying episode of the series to date, despite his LaughablyEvil personality and oddball design. Within his first few seconds onscreen, he telekinetically yanks out a deer's teeth and gives them to Gideon. At least he undoes it a moment later, though it's still rather horrifying. He only gets worse in his second episode, where he starts by he gives Dipper a "present" of his own: ''a severed head that's constantly screaming''. Even his entry in Journal #3 is horrifying. Not only are the pages covered in what is likely '''blood splatters''', a warning is written in red ''never to summon him''. Take into account the Author wrote both Journal #2 (which summons him) and Journal #3 (which has an incantation to fight against him), it was an early hint about what happened between him and Ford. [[spoiler: Even more so after he merged Earth with his Nightmare Realm, causing an ApocalypseHow.]]
* KnightTemplar: His [[WhatCouldHaveBeen would-be]] VillainSong definitely implies he sees himself as TheHero.
-->'''Bill Cipher''': Look, I’m just a triangle trying to save you
-->From the delusions society gave you
-->Look at these people, calling me evil
-->Right back at you, [[DisproportionateRetribution now you’re all statues!]]
** He does try framing himself as a liberator when trying to convince Stanford to [[:spoiler: reveal how to get around the unicorn spell]], though its not clear if he's being genuine or not since all he shows is [[ItsAllAboutMe his personal indulgence]].
* KnowledgeBroker: ''Very'' knowledgeable, may potentially know all the answers to the greatest mysteries. Every deal he has made so far has been leveraged with information only he could provide or acquire. He's often suggested that knowledge is the key to true power. Ironically, [[spoiler:he is forced to go to ''Ford'' for help in the finale because Ford knows how to bypass the WeirdnessMagnet effect of Gravity Falls and Bill does not. This likely means that Bill's vast knowledge is due to his DreamWalker abilities more than actual omniscience - since Ford safeguarded his mind against Bill's intrusions later on, the dream demon did not have access to some of his latest discoveries.]]
-->"Oh, I know lots of things! '''''[[VoiceOfTheLegion LOTS OF THINGS...]]'''''"
* LackOfEmpathy: He actually seems to be confused by the human concept of empathy.
* LaughablyEvil: All of his villainy is accompanied by a strange and twisted sense of humor. [[spoiler:Taking over and/or destroying the world is no different; he's doing it because it's all just a funny, cosmic joke to him.]]
* LaughingMad: He combines this with his SlasherSmile as he [[spoiler: tricks Mabel into bringing about the apocalypse]].
* {{Leitmotif}}: Two. Whenever he appears in a talkative mood, [[https://soundcloud.com/bradbreeck/gf-e120-gideon-summons-bill-2 a soft, mischievous bass figure with cascading high notes]] plays; when he gets angry and begins to show the full extent of his powers, though, [[https://soundcloud.com/bradbreeck/gf-e120-dreamscaperers-bill he's backed by a frenzied Shepard's Tone synth arpeggio]].
* LightIsNotGood: Bill is always accompanied by a bright glow. It's also based on the Eye of Providence and TheIlluminati's solar/eye symbolism.
* LiterallyShatteredLives: [[spoiler:When Stan punches him, he shatters into pieces.]]
* LogicalWeakness: [[spoiler:When he pulls a GrandTheftMe on Dipper, he is bound by the physical limitations of his body. And as Mabel points out, she knows all her brother's physical weaknesses and Dipper is very sleep deprived]].
* LouisCypher: One of his namesakes.
* LyricalDissonance: His cut VillainSong "It's Gonna Get Weird" is an upbeat, cheerful number...about [[spoiler:him raining down Weirdmageddon on Gravity Falls]] and all the horrible things that entails.
[[/folder]]
[[folder:M-S]]
* TheMadHatter:
-->'''Gideon:''' You're insane!\\
'''Bill:''' [[InsultBackfire Sure I am. What's your point?]]
* ManipulativeBastard: He takes advantage of people's desperation to keep them from examining his own motives too closely. He's also only been seen making deals when the other party is either overconfident, or not in their right mind. [[spoiler:He expertly manipulated Stanford Pines into creating the portal, through a combination of charm and appealing to Stanford's ego.]]
* MeaningfulName: It's no coincidence that the most mysterious entity of the show (and possibly the one [[KnowledgeBroker with the answer to all the mysteries]]) has almost the same name as one of the most famous [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beale_ciphers unsolved cipher codes]] in US history. [[note]]The reddit AMA has him advising everyone not to do business with the guy who wrote it.[[/note]] "Bill" might also refer to a banknote, as Cipher's body shape closely resembles the Eye of Providence found on the US dollar bill (which was confirmed in the Between the Pines special). Last but not least, a possible reference to LouisCypher.
* MindRape: His bubbles of pure madness drive anyone who makes contact with them insane.
* MonsterFangirl: Discussed by Bill on his Reddit AMA regarding his fangirls:
-->'''Bill:''' WHAT CAN I SAY - [[EvilIsSexy CHICKS DIG PSYCHOPATHS!]] I STRONGLY ENCOURAGE ALL MY OF "FAN GIRLS" TO TAKE SOMETHING PSYCHEDELIC, WALK INTO THE NEVADA DESERT, AND FORM THEMSELVES INTO A LARGE HUMAN THRONE TO AWAIT MY COMING!
* MultiArmedAndDangerous: [[spoiler: His 3D form in "Weirdmageddon Part 1". He also uses this trope several times throughout the final episode]]
* MyGodWhatHaveIDone: Subverted. [[spoiler:The Axolotl states that he misses his home dimension and is saddened by its destruction, but he also refuses to admit the fact that ''he'' destroyed it in the first place]].
* MysteriousPast: Was in Gravity Falls a long time ago and he has some connection with Stan Pines and the author. [[spoiler: He also possessed a body at some point. And, considering the banner hanging in their mansion, may have a connection to the Northwest family]]. His AMA states that he used to have family, is old enough to imply that the Egyptian pyramids were designed to look like him, and that [[spoiler: the tapestry in Northwest Manor]] depicts a prophecy that ''would'' have come true on time for Bill had a shaman accomplice of his been more cooperative. He also apparently made a banking deal with [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beale_ciphers Thomas J. Beale]], and regrets it thoroughly.
* NecessaryDrawback: [[spoiler:Bill Cipher's abilities allows him to invade another person's mind. Unfortunately for Bill Cipher, in the event that he's inside someone's mind and their memories end up being erased, he'll be erased along with them.]]
* NeverMyFault: [[spoiler:According to the Axolotl, he regrets the destruction of his home dimension, but refuses to admit that it was his fault--to quote the amphibian itself, he "blames the arson for the fire"]].
* NiceHat: A skinny topper. In contrast to his body, it's three-dimensional. It's not really clothing, though, it's part of his body.
* NiceJobFixingItVillain: By unleashing Weirdmageddon, he inadvertently saved the crumbling relationship between the Pines family, allowing them to [[EarnYourHappyEnding earn their happy ending]] in the first place.
* TheNicknamer: When speaking to someone, he'll often refer to them by a symbol associated with them (typically visible on an article of clothing; they've also appeared in a circle around him), e.g. calling Dipper "Pine Tree" and Soos "Question Mark." The only times he drops the habit are when he's addressing close friends or people he respects, or when things have gone to hell in a handbasket.
* NoIndoorVoice: He seems to shout everything he says, not unlike the [[Creator/AdultSwim Williams Street]] interpretation of [[WesternAnimation/TheBrakShow Brak]]. Somehow, he manages to shout even louder when he loses his cool. This is a holdover from the original intention of having Creator/DavidLynch voice him, which fell through. Instead, Hirsch does an impression of Lynch's character Gordon Cole, who always shouted his lines. In the AMA, every answer he writes is in ALLCAPS.
* NoMouth: [[TheNoseless Or nose]]. He's quite expressive with his single eyeball, though. [[ActionFigureSpeech His outline pulses in turn with his words.]] It turns out that [[BizarreAlienBiology his mouth IS his eye]], by way of morphing the lids to act like lips to eat/drink like he does in Weirdmageddon.
* NoNonsenseNemesis: After Bill and his fellow abominations [[spoiler:enter the physical world]], Bill finds his lair assailed by [[spoiler:Time Baby and the TimePolice]]. Bill's response is '''''frighteningly''' abrupt''.
* NotSoDifferent: From Grunkle Stan. Both are theatrical conmen who enjoy pulling the wool over others' eyes. They also share similar speaking habits ("Eeney-meeny-miney-''you!''") and traits, to the point where Bill predominantly replaced Stan is his own opening credits. It is their similarities that eventually [[spoiler: make Stan the best candidate to take Bill down.]]
** [[spoiler:Apparently, they both had lousy childhoods.]]
* NotSoWellIntentionedExtremist: He claims he wants to [[spoiler:liberate the heroes' dimension, and make it a fun world with no rules or restrictions. However, that would [[RealityWarpingIsNotAToy render it pure chaos inhospitable to non-demonic life]], and it and his Weirdmageddon back in his own decaying world is heavily implied to be why it's decaying in the first place. Considering his sadism and how he admits [[CardCarryingVillain he's insane either way]], it's very likely his claim is just an excuse [[ItsAllAboutMe for his own enjoyment]].]]
* NoodleIncident: The author wrote in the journals that he considered Bill his best friend. Then something happened that made him cross out that entry out and write "Can't be trusted" and "DO NOT SUMMON AT ALL COSTS!" His entry in Journal #3 is covered in ''blood''. [[spoiler:Eventually revealed to be that Bill had told the author that he was a muse who came to visit and assist geniuses once a century, he helped the author with constructing the portal, but when the truth got out, the author changed his mind about everything. Also, it turns out that it's red pen ink, not blood]].
** [[spoiler: Then even more is revealed in the Journal 3 book release - some of it ''is'' blood; Ford's eye bled after Bill possessed him and dropped onto the page.]]
* OhCrap: An epic one when [[spoiler:Stan traps him in his mind, allowing Ford to use the memory gun to weaken Bill before Stan destroys him.]]
* OminousFloatingCastle: He creates a floating citadel in the shape of himself (i.e. a pyramid). Then he names it the "Fearamid".
* OmnicidalManiac: The Time Baby tells Bill that if he doesn't stop, he could possibly destroy the fabric of the universe. Bill doesn't care.
* TheOmniscient: Claims to see a "kaleidoscope of temporal probability with fluctuating range" and infinite alternate universes as well as alternate versions of himself.
* OneWingedAngel: [[spoiler:While just getting a physical body probably counts, one of his shapeshifted forms in particular stands out: the form he chases Dipper and Mabel through his castle with is by far Bill's most terrifying incarnation in the show. He goes 3D, his body turns red, he gains an eye (now with black sclera) on each side, his bottom segments become mouths with jagged yellow teeth (with the bottom-most having ''two'' tongues), and he has six arms (two of which come out of his bottom mouth).]]
* OptOut: In his first appearance, he leaves of his own accord after deciding that killing Dipper, Mabel and Soos was more trouble than it was worth.
* OurDemonsAreDifferent: He's referred to as a demon on two separate occasions, though he hasn't use this term himself. While looking and acting very atypical, he has almost all of the powers and methods that you'd expect a demon to have: [[VoluntaryShapeshifting shapeshifting]], [[DemonicPossession possession]], [[PlayingWithFire using fire]], [[MoreThanMindControl temptation]], and [[DealWithTheDevil striking up deals in order to get what he wants]]. He's implied there is a hierarchy of sorts by his comments on dressing for the job he wants instead of the one he has, and has [[BadassBoast claimed other demons would be lucky to be on good terms with him]].
* OutGambitted: Twofold and both times by the elder Pines twins.
** Firstly, while he [[spoiler: does manage to get the rift and blend Gravity Falls with the Nightmare Realm, Ford took precautions to make sure both the Mystery Shack was protected and that he didn't disclose about the barrier over the town which keeps Bill from getting any further. Bill has to practically try to force Ford into removing it so he can take continue his world domination plan.]]
** [[spoiler: And secondly when trying to convince Ford to join him doesn't work, he holds Dipper and Mabel hostage to get Ford to cooperate. Not only does keeping the kids contained take a large amount of effort, but he made the mistake of leaving Stan and Ford together to hash out a quick plan "B" and forgetting to take into account that the two are ''twins'', thus leading to him accidentally bargaining with Stan rather than Ford. By the time Bill's realizes his mistake, it's far too late. He's back in the dream world where's he vulnerable, Ford erases Stan's mind with Bill trapped inside, and no amount of bargaining is going to keep Stan from taking him out.]]
* OverarchingVillain: He is the one who was behind [[spoiler:the creation of the Portal, and was the one the Author was hiding his journals from]]. His ultimate plan is [[spoiler:merging his home dimension, a Nightmare Realm full of other demons and [[EldritchAbomination abominations]], with Earth, to try and rule both realms and cause the Apocalypse (or "Weirdmageddon", as Ford calls it). The end of "Dipper and Mabel vs. The Future" shows him finally having opened the gateway.]]
* PaperPeople: He's quite specifically a ''triangle'', not a geometric pyramid. He implies [[Literature/{{Flatland}} Edwin Abbott Abbott]] guessed the closest to what his origin may have looked like. [[spoiler:His entrance into the physical realm involves him taking a 3D form, and though he takes on several different triangular and pyramid-like shapes, his ShapeshifterDefaultForm is still a thin triangular plate.]] Justified; [[spoiler:if his account of his origin is truthful, he was originally from the second dimension; continuing the ''Literature/{{Flatland}}'', he decided the Gospel of Three Dimensions was thinking too small.]]
* PerpetualSmiler: His affable tone in his pyramid form suggests this, but he has NoMouth to smile with. Once he [[spoiler:possesses Dipper's body]] and actually has a mouth, it stays in a cheery grin for most of the time.
* PetTheDog: Within seconds of being introduced, he rips the teeth out of a deer. He undoes it afterwards and, considering [[{{Sadist}} who Bill is]], this is actually rather kind of him.
* PintsizePowerhouse: Although he is a SizeShifter, he tends to stay small most of the time.
* PlayingWithFire: Although he uses blue fire, as seen on the picture.
* PragmaticVillainy: He's impressed by the Pines and Soos' efforts to beat them, and remarks they might come in handy later, so he lets them be. The fact that they were visibly causing him pain obviously had no influence on his decision.
* PsychopathicManchild: Ford said Bill's plan to [[spoiler:[[HellOnEarth merge the Earth with the dreamscape he's from]]]] is just a game to him. When Bill and his fellow demons were taunting Ford about it being inevitable, they sound like a bunch of guys excited for a night on the town. Once [[spoiler: he and his gang are free to roam the physical realm]], he acts like a bully who picks on people just to impress them, and their party at the Fearamid is a Teen Comedy Romp, complete with Bill telling everyone to play it cool once [[spoiler: the Time Cops show up]].
-->'''[[http://www.avclub.com/article/gravity-falls-creator-alex-hirsch-talks-v-clubs-ow-232059 Alex Hirsch]]:''' Bill is a character who's been around for countless billions of eons, but he hasn't grown up in that time.
* PungeonMaster: Bills really likes puns, from literally turning himself yellow when saying "ny'hello?" to his numerous eye/I jokes.
* PunnyName: Given his name, SinisterSurveillance and the ubiquitous Eye of Providence on US dollars, having bills on you means having Bill on you.
** It's also a pun off of the Baele Cypher, the most complex cypher in American history (and much like Bill, almost certainly all a lie/scam to boot)
* RealityWarper: Is pretty near omnipotent... [[DreamWeaver when he's in the dream realm]]. Not so much in the waking world, [[spoiler:until he makes the two one and the same.]]
* RedAndBlackAndEvilAllOver: He has this color scheme in the final form he takes before [[spoiler: Stan literally [[DidYouJustPunchOutCthulhu punches him out]]]].
* {{Sadist}}: Bill likely has [[TheNeedless no physical needs]] and [[TheAgeless doesn't age]]. On a most basic level, his actions are purely motivated to control and torment people in creative ways for his own amusement.
* SatanicArchetype: A more subtle example, and despite also being [[EldritchAbomination rather Lovecraftian]], Bill fits this trope quite well. For starters there is the Cipher part of his name, while obviously connected to the algorithm of encryption, but also to LouisCypher. He also uses a lot of common tropes associated with Satan and devils, including DealWithTheDevil, DemonicPossession, VoiceOfTheLegion, and is outright called a "demon". His [[LightIsNotGood association with light]] connects him directly to Lucifer, and the "Eye of Providence" symbol that he is based on is connected to {{God}} and His [[OurAngelsAreDifferent angels, who often are described manifesting as strange, geometric shapes (including a whole choir called Wheels)]]. On top of all that, [[spoiler: the actual Stanford Pines]] mentions in his backstory that a friend of his referred to a "beast with one eye" when he accidentally peeked into an AlternateUniverse.
* SelfMadeOrphan: According to Bill's reddit AMA, he ''used to'' have a family, and now doesn't. [[spoiler: He hints this in "Weirdmaggedon: Take Back The Falls".]]
* SenseFreak: Bill mentions that he hasn't been in physical form for a long time, so he enjoys the physical sensations he can experience [[spoiler:while possessing Dipper's body, ''especially'' pain, which he inflicts on the body throughout the episode. This contributes to his defeat later.]]
* ShapeshifterSwanSong: [[spoiler:Goes through one as he's being erased along with Stan's mind.]]
* SigilSpam: Look closely in past episodes. Pictures of a triangle with an eye are seen in otherwise random places.
* SinisterSurveillance: Yeah, those images of him mentioned earlier? Those are [[ParanoiaFuel peepholes he can look through from the Dreamscape]]. A page about him in Journal #2 has a picture of him on the -$12 bill that says [[PretentiousLatinMotto "Semper vigilantem"]], "Always watching". [[spoiler:Becomes AscendedFridgeHorror at the end of "The Last Mabelcorn" where it shows him spying on the Pines family. He loses this when he merges the two world, resulting in him being easier to take off guard]].
* SlasherSmile: He sports a rather unsettling smirk while possessing [[spoiler:Dipper Pines, and later Blendin Blandin]].
* SlidingScaleOfComedyAndHorror: Horror dominant, since he's TheDreaded. But he still has a very twisted sense of humor.
* SmugSnake: Bill has three layers to his personality. A [[FauxAffablyEvil goofy facade]] while buttering up up to his potential partners, a [[SmugSnake smug mocking state]] when he's got the upper hand and all parties know it, and a [[ILetYouWin petulant state]] when he knows he's been bested and needs to save face. No matter which mode he's in, he positively oozes condescension.
* SmugSuper: [[spoiler:Once Weirdmageddon begins and Bill gets a physical form, he brings his RealityWarper abilities with him and proceeds to flaunt his power at every opportunity, conquering the town within ''minutes''. The number of scenes where he ''doesn't'' flaunt can be counted on one hand. He's gradually brought through a VillainousBreakdown in the finale as the heroes repeatedly prove that his vast power doesn't make him invincible.]]
* TheSociopath: [[BlueAndOrangeMorality To the extent that they can be judged by human standards]], Bill shows all the symptoms of sociopathy, from LackOfEmpathy, [[ManipulativeBastard manipulativeness]], [[AxCrazy Ax Craziness]], to an unbridled taste for hurt others. It doesn't help the fact that he's fully aware of his actions and doesn't care.
* SpellMyNameWithAnS: His name is often mispelled Bill ''Cypher'', even though his name is spelled out on his page in Dipper's journal. [[IncrediblyLamePun Spell My Name]] [[EyeMotifs With An Eye?]]
* StepfordSmiler: [[spoiler:According to Axolotl, Bill's not as cheery as he always seems, implying that he might regret destroying his own dimension.]]
-->[[spoiler:Saw his own Dimension burn. Misses home and can't return. Says he's happy. He's a liar.]]
* SurrealHorror: ''All the time,'' thanks to his eldritch powers and warped sense of humor.
-->"You deserve a prize! Here, have a head that's always screaming."
[[/folder]]
[[folder:T-Z]]
* TakeOverTheWorld: [[spoiler:Bill's ultimate goal is to merge the Nightmare Realm with the Physical Realm, and let loose his demon friends to rampage through our dimension and rule over what remains.]]
* TakenForGranite: [[spoiler: When he leaves his physical body to re-enter the dreamscape, his body turns to stone.]]
* TechnicolorDeath: [[spoiler: He starts thrashing around glitching out more horribly [[Film/Terminator2JudgmentDay than the T-1000]], as Stan's mind, memories, and him, are being slowly erased.]]
* TimeAbyss: He claims that he's been trapped in the Nightmare Realm for over a ''trillion'' years, making him at least some 70 to 80 times older than the projected age of the universe.
* TomTheDarkLord: You wouldn't expect some guy called "Bill" to be a powerful dream demon who managed to [[spoiler: cause an apocalypse on a city and coming close to unleashing it on the entire universe]]. Despite his name, he is the BigBad of the show and the most dangerous creature the heroes have faced.
* TooKinkyToTorture: As shown in "Sock Opera", it has been so long since he [[spoiler: possessed a physical body (Dipper's in this case)]] that he enjoys inflicting pain on himself. [[CrossesTheLineTwice He slaps himself, tumbles down the stairs, smashes his arm in a drawer and stabs it with forks.]] [[spoiler:When Dipper gets his body back towards the end of the episode, Dipper discovers that Bill caused so much damage to his body that he feels he need to go to a hospital.]]
** However, he [[DeconstructedTrope thoroughly deconstructs]] this trope in the climax. Between his constant self-harm and Dipper's own self-inflicted sleep-deprivation, Bill ends up being [[RealityEnsues too exhausted and crippled to get The Journal back from Mabel]] while confined to Dipper's body, and [[OhCrap doesn't seem to be enjoying himself either]].
* TheTrickster: Described by [[WordOfGod Alex Hirsch]] as a "trickster jerk."
* UncertainDoom: [[spoiler:He was killed either way, but it's unclear if the spell he rattles off before his death was meant to revive him after his death or was what allowed him to stabilize his ShapeshifterSwanSong long enough to make one last attempt on Stanley. The scene could be read either way.]]
* TheUnfettered: Big time. In fact, he's so dedicated to his own freedom that [[spoiler:he destroyed his home dimension to break down all physical laws and restrictions, which he now seeks to do again by bringing Weirdmageddon.]]
* UngratefulBastard: His response to being summoned by Gideon is to terrify him by pulling a deer's teeth out in front of him. (Unless that [[CloudCuckoolander was Bill's idea of gratitude]].) Either way, he then promptly tries to sucker Gideon into a deal that would probably have blown up in his face if it hadn't fallen through for other reasons.
* VaguenessIsComing:
** His warning as he leaves: a mysterious darkness that will change everything they care about.
** Comes up again in "Sock Opera", and we learn this time that Bill will somehow be responsible for the "big changes" ahead but nothing more.
** Eventually, we learn that Bill's EvilPlan is to [[spoiler:use the inter-dimensional portal to [[HellOnEarth merge his home (the nightmare realm) with our dimension]].]]
* VileVillainSaccharineShow: Had shades of this from the start, but officially crossed into it in [[GrandFinale the Weirdmageddon arc]]. Basically, in a show with a fair share of SliceOfLife and daily moments, [[KnightOfCerebus Bill manages to be the darkest villain who ever appeared in the series]].
* VillainExitStageLeft: Bill isn't too proud to fold when his plans become unsalvageable. He also tries to spin it [[ILetYouWin that he was in control the whole time.]] How true this is is up for debate.
* VillainousCrush: He hits on Wendy a couple times while in Dipper's body, partially to troll Dipper, and partially due to this trope.
* VillainHasAPoint: It was a strategy to manipulate Dipper, but Bill wasn't wrong when he pointed out that Dipper has made constant sacrifices for Mabel and that at best she has done nothing to pay him back and at worst keeps putting herself before him.
* VillainTeleportation: Part of his DreamWalker abilities is teleporting and going wherever he wants in the dreamscape.
* VillainousBreakdown:
** In "Dreamscaperers", losing the code to the vault and Gideon cutting off his deal does not make him happy. So he reaches a UnstoppableRage level and TurnsRed. [[spoiler: This is then subverted when he calms down, concedes the fight, compliments the group for their ingenuity, gives some cryptic warning and vanishes.]]
** When he realizes [[spoiler: that he and his creatures are trapping in a bubble around Gravity Falls - and even worse, he doesn't know why -]] he ''snaps''. His outburst even scares his Henchmaniacs, with whom he ''never'' raises his voice.
** His ultimate breakdown in the finale is when [[spoiler: he becomes increasingly enraged as he starts to lose the final battle; it finally comes to a head when he's about to be erased, the powerful dream demon gets reduced to begging for his life as his body rapidly changes into out of control forms before he's destroyed by Stan.]]
* VillainSong: TheMusical-style tune [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vq5sZPPF9ao "It's Gonna Get Weird"]] written by Creator/NeilCicierega. [[WhatCouldHaveBeen It didn't actually make it into the show]], but it can be heard online.
* VillainsWantMercy: [[spoiler:He pathetically begs Stan to spare him, offering Stan anything he could imagine. Stan has none of it and finishes him off.]]
* VocalEvolution: In his first appearance Bill's voice was much calmer and less filtered in comparison to his second appearance only a few episodes later.
* VoiceOfTheLegion: When he wants to emphasize something.
* VoluntaryShapeshifting: [[spoiler:Takes the form of Soos to trick the twins into showing him the combination to the safe.]]
* WalkingSpoiler: His relationship to [[spoiler:Stanford]] as well as [[spoiler:his plan to bring about the apocalypse by merging his nightmare realm with the world]] makes it hard to explain much beyond his surface motives.
* WeWillMeetAgain: He says this to Dipper and company at the end of their first meeting.
** He sings Vera Lynn's 'We'll Meet Again' from the film Dr. Strangelove to Ford in Weirdmaggedon part 3.
* WeaksauceWeakness: He ''really'' hates synthesized music. No problem with dance music, though.
* WhereIWasBornAndRazed: [[spoiler: He reveals to Ford that he was a denizen of a flat "Second Dimension", but that he 'liberated' it by causing a Weirdmaggedon there as well.]]
* WorthyOpponent: He compliments Dipper and company's wit, and as such, [[ILetYouWin claims to have let them live.]] He seems to have kept this viewpoint in "Sock Opera" [[spoiler: to the point that he sees them as a threat to whatever his plans are. WordOfGod says that he felt the need to destroy Journal 3 because with it, Dipper was capable of discovering and stopping the activation of the Portal and thus stopping Bill's HellOnEarth plan, which is what would have happened if not for [[UnwittingInstigatorOfDoom Mabel]].]] However, Bill maintains the ideology that because they're weaker than him, they're still not a ''critical'' threat, which comes back to bite him.
* WouldHurtAChild: As "Sock Opera" clearly demonstrates, Bill has no qualms about hurting children. In fact, while he [[spoiler: is possessing Dipper's body]] he hits Dipper in the face, throws his body down a flight of stairs, pours soda in his eyes, and repeatedly slams his arm into a drawer -- only to retract said arm with forks sticking out of it. By the end of the episode, Dipper outright says he thinks he needs to go to a hospital.
** [[spoiler:In "Weirdmaggedon Part 1", he ''vaporizes the Time Baby.'']]
** The finale has him drop all pretensions of civility and [[spoiler: flat out intending to ''kill'' Dipper and Mabel unless Ford gives him what he needs to break the barrier surrounding the town]].
*** [[spoiler: "I've got some CHILDREN I need to make into CORPSES!" and "When I get my hands on you kids, I'M GONNA DISASSEMBLE YOUR MOLECULES!"]].
** Included in ''[[Literature/GravityFallsJournal3 Journal 3]]'' is a note from Bill written [[spoiler: while inside Dipper]] outright stating that he subjected Dipper's body to stabbing, burning, and drowning. He then goes on to mention that his ultimate goal, had Mabel not forced him out, was to throw Dipper from the water tower and make it look like the boy committed suicide! He then ominously asks Mabel if she would like to get in on the "fun".
* YouCantMakeAnOmelette: An... interesting variation in his reddit AMA.
-->'''Bill:''' HEY IF YOU WANT TO MAKE AN OMELET YOU HAVE TO BREAK A FEW SKULLS! I'M TALKING ABOUT A BRAIN-OMELET HERE, MOMMA.
* YouWouldntLikeMeWhenImAngry:
-->'''Bill:''' ''Do you have any idea what I'm like '''[[VoiceOfTheLegion when I'm MAD?!]]'''''
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