The Book of Bill

The Book of Bill is a 2024 companion publication of the Disney Channel animated series Gravity Falls, written by showrunner and creator Alex Hirsch. It is a graphic novel intended for an adult audience. Hirsch, who voiced Bill and many other characters in Gravity Falls, created the book to explore Bill’s backstory and a variety of details and lore from the show, in line with his other companion pieces, Journal 3 and Gravity Falls: The Lost Legends. The Book of Bill is primarily from the point of view of Bill Cipher, the series’ triangular, demonic antagonist, with parts written from the perspective of Stanford Pines and other protagonists of Gravity Falls.

The novel interacts with the “reader” as it progresses. Bill attempts to use his backstory and knowledge of the world to get the reader to make a deal with him so he can be freed from the afterlife, which is revealed to be a therapeutic prison bent on helping him become his best self. Stanford’s perspective and past help illuminate Bill’s cruelty and manipulation of others, emphasizing the importance of genuine human connection over lust for power or attention. The Book of Bill was an Amazon and New York Times bestseller, continuing the success of the critically acclaimed show and providing readers with clues, ciphers, and puzzles to solve that dig deeper into the lore of Gravity Falls.

This book uses the first-edition 2024 Hyperion Avenue hardback.

Note: There are no page numbers within the book. This guide counts them manually.

Content Warning: The source material and guide feature depictions of physical and emotional abuse.

Plot Summary

Stanford Pines explains in a journal entry how ever since a strange, undestroyable book appeared to him, he is afraid Bill Cipher is not dead and is attempting to regain power in Earth’s dimension. He writes cautionary journal entries and throws the book into the nightmare dimension to dissuade any future readers from consuming its knowledge; however, it eventually makes its way to the hands of the reader, who is invited to sign their name, summon Bill, and make a deal with him for knowledge. When Bill appears, he invites the reader to make a deal with him by continuing to read his book.

Bill designs the book cover and asks the reader to give him their blood through the page for ink. He provides a mock interview where he explains who he is and what he wants, including an explanation that he sees and knows “all” due to his ability to peer through reproductions of his image. He explains his strengths and weaknesses but grows angry that the reader is reading his weaknesses and “ends” the book, replacing it with part of Chapter 2 of The Great Gatsby.

Stanford’s journal entries return, disappointed in the reader for continuing to read the book and engage with Bill. Bill takes over again and tests the reader with an incomprehensible mock exam for their capacity to take on the secrets of the universe. Completing the test results in failure; skipping questions earns Bill’s praise.

Bill explains the nature of the universe and the multiverse—which reside on a trading card of a multidimensional child named Dennis—and details his understanding of the human body. He suggests the reader tattoo Bill on their body to bind them together, providing examples of tattoos as encouragement. He devotes multiple pages to “Love,” which he thinks is a scam, but provides dating tips. He then discusses the afterlife and death, offering 23 different possible deaths. The instructions for getting into heaven are a blank page since the words can only be read by someone who has never had a perverted thought. Morality, too, is useless to Bill, although he includes the moral “test” of turning the page and crushing a helpless elf to prove to the reader that they, too, are immoral.

Bill then details the multiple dimensions of reality, including the Mirror Realm, which is full of horrific cryptids. He insists that there are no codes within the book on a spread of two pages covered in symbols and codes. “Dreams” details the inner dreams and secrets of multiple Gravity Falls characters, all of which contain challenges and even pain for Bill when he enters them. He then decides to explain the nonexistent meaning of life to the reader by telling them his own life story.

Bill was born on a two-dimensional planet but was able to see the third dimension, which drove him “mad,” in his own words. Despite being beloved by his family and peers, he destroyed them all in a violent outburst, then he fled to establish the “Nightmare Realm” with a variety of horrific “henchmaniacs.” When entropy struck his realm, Bill and his henchmaniacs set out to find a new home, settling on Earth, although they had to defeat the Time Baby to do so. Bill was unable to enter Earth, however, requiring a portal to fully attain power there, so he set out to find a mortal to coerce into building the portal.

Bill’s first victim was an Indigenous shaman in prehistoric Gravity Falls, who eventually got wind of his malicious intent and created the Prophecy, establishing the Zodiac symbols that would later spell Bill’s defeat during the conclusion of the TV series. He then went to Egypt, the Aztecs, and Easter Island, but had no luck; most ancient societies used symbols of him to ward him off. Bill’s luck seemed to improve in the Middle Ages, but the wizard he allied with trapped him in a glass ball and forced him to dance for the king, inciting his rage. Bill gave up on Europe and returned to America, influencing the Salem Witch Trials and the Founding Fathers with minimal success. Bill’s exploits in America eventually led to a man named Thurburt Mudget Waxstaff III founding the Anti-Cipher Society in 1901 to expel him from human minds. Thurburt and his compatriots, however, were mocked publicly for their efforts, resulting in Thurburt being sent to a psychiatric hospital and his friends dividing across the country.

Bill attempted to use cartoons, music, small figurines, and Area 51 to control humanity, all to no avail. Eventually, however, Bill found the perfect victim in Gravity Falls—Stanford Pines, an isolated genius primed for manipulation. Bill quickly asserts himself as Stanford’s “muse,” giving him instructions for how to build the portal and praising him for his intellect. Stanford grows dependent on Bill, getting angry when he leaves for extended periods of time, despite Stanford’s close relationship with Fiddleford McGucket, his best friend from college and research assistant. Fiddleford saves Stanford from the Krampus over Christmas, but Bill’s manipulation and Stanford’s refusal to stop working on the portal lead to McGucket leaving. Now alone, Stanford quickly realizes the depths of Bill’s intentions and tries to shut down the portal. He prevents Bill from accessing it, but Bill possesses him in his sleep and punishes him in various horrific ways, both physical and emotional. Using Thurburt’s research, Stanford tries to build a Bill-repelling suit but fails. The cycle of possession and abuse continues until Stanford reaches out to his brother Stanley, the only person he can, to help him hide his research.

When Bill reclaims the narrative, he insists he was hazing Stanford affectionately but is doing fine in the wake of Stanford’s rejection—contradicted by a transcript of Bill drinking to excess at an interdimensional bar and sobbing over him. Bill insists the reader is a much better partner than Stanford, and he has been using them this entire time to regain power in the world. If they agree to his deal, he’ll kill everyone on earth except them, but they’ll have a lot of “fun.” He begs the reader not to let him down like Stanford did.

Stanford reappears and explains in a journal entry that he found his family reading the Book of Bill and laughing at it and realized he was afraid of it out of vanity, not wanting them to discover the extent of how much Bill manipulated him. Taking attention away from Bill and focusing on what truly matters—those he loves—has freed Stanford, and can free the reader, from Bill’s control. Dipper, Mabel, and Stanley Pines also provide journal entries threatening Bill and encouraging the reader to accept themselves and refuse Bill.

Bill takes over the pages again, insisting he knows they’re stronger than that, but his power begins to fade. He screams at the reader as his power over them diminishes, promising revenge. The final pages of the book reveal that Bill has been illegally using craft time at his prison, the Theraprism, to create a book to contact mortals on Earth. Bill is undergoing therapy at the Theraprism but has been put in isolation for his chaos and refusal to cooperate. Allowed five final minutes to complete his communication through the book, Bill erases the reader’s knowledge of the secrets of the universe and promises he’ll escape someday—he just needs one person to let him out.