Gravity Falls is a show by Alex Hirsch that uses adventure, action, and mystery to draw the viewer in. Every detail has a story behind it which makes it so enjoyable to watch and analyze. The show centers around two twelve-year-old twins, Dipper and Mabel Pines, although the protagonist’s spotlight is often shared with Stanley Pines, their great-uncle. In season two, we are introduced to Stanley’s twin brother: Stanford Pines, a six-fingered genius with a massive ego. 

We learn that his history connects to the history of the town, as it is revealed that he is the author of the three journals that progressed the story. We find out that Stanley has been working on a project to bring his brother back, later finding out that it is a portal to another dimension, known as “The Nightmare Realm.” Stanford was shoved into this portal by Stanley during an argument. This took 30 years of blood, sweat, and tears for Stanley to reverse engineer the portal as the only way to properly work the portal is if you have the three journals previously mentioned. This brings us to our antagonist: Bill Cipher.

Bill Cipher is a sadistic and demented intergalactic demon who will stop at nothing to get his dream of universal domination. Bill takes the form of a yellow 2D triangle with a black top hat, one eye, and long black limbs that can shift anywhere on his body. Bill is also occasionally seen with a black cane. Bill tore apart his dimension, the Second Dimension (2D); he describes the place as, “a flat world full of flat ideas and flat dreams.” 

Despite the atrocities he commits, he is often humanized by the fandom, forgetting that he intends to manipulate those around him. Stanford, despite being so smart, was one of those who fell for his flattery and praise. One of the most notable things Bill did was cause George Washington, the first president himself, to grit his teeth into dust due to the nightmares Bill gave him for failing to build a portal in exchange for red coat strategy plans. Another was a shaman who set himself on fire after finding out what Bill’s true intentions were. 

The only way Bill can access our world is through our dreams or through a rip in the dimension, i.e., the portal. This is why Bill pined for Stanford so much: he was the only one with the true knowledge to build the portal. However, their relationship would go deeper than surface-level two geniuses working together…

Bill and [Stan]Ford met while Ford was investigating the mysteries of Gravity Falls, the town where the show takes place. He came across an ancient painting with a key to summon Bill, described as a “Being with Knowledge”. Bill visited Ford’s dream while he took a nap and offered to play chess with him. I notice that chess is often used to communicate between geniuses in fiction. Bill and Ford began working together closely while building the portal, much to Ford’s already existing partners’ dismay. Bill would take over Ford’s body and, while he did work, he made Stanford get into tons of trouble and even injured him. 

His most well-known injury was the time Bill hammered a nail into Ford’s hand. These shenanigans would end soon when they finished the portal. Ford’s actual assistant was a man named Fiddleford Hadron McGucket, another popular character in the show who was also Ford’s college roommate. He is often portrayed as a crazy old man, but there’s a whole other story behind the reasoning as to why Fiddleford became who he is.

In short, when Fiddleford and Ford finished building the portal, Fiddleford was accidentally sucked into the portal, but only up to his chest as Ford caught him with a rope around the ankle. When Ford pulls Fiddleford out of the portal, we see Fiddleford stare at the ceiling while lying on the floor, panting heavily with dilated eyes. He utters “Votmzrig Ivskrx Oory! When gravity falls, the land becomes sky, fear the beast with just one eye!” We find out that the actual phrase Fiddleford first says is “Yroo Xrksvi Girzmtov!” which translates into atbash, a coded language that switches letters around. What Fiddleford was saying was “Bill Cipher! Triangle!” We now know, thanks to the 3rd journal, what caused Fiddleford to go insane: He saw Bill Cipher’s true form. Specifically, he saw Bill take off his exoskeleton to feed. 

With this new knowledge, Stanford confronts Bill and is dismayed to see Bill confirm Fiddlefords cryptic words: He was going to use the portal to tear apart the main dimension. As soon as he found out, Ford shut down the portal and scribbled more cryptic messages in his notebook warning against Bill. Ford did the near impossible and escaped Bill alive, but Bill would continue haunting his mind for 30 more years, though they didn’t have any more face-to-face confrontations until the series began in 2012.

Their relationship represents toxic exes that miss each other’s egos. They miss feeding off and using each other. In toxic relationships, you become addicted. The relationship is not founded on trust and love. The victim is used to that abuse and does not think there’s anything better for them so they stay. In Ford’s case, he left immediately although he didn’t want to leave but he had to. In The Book of Bill, after getting “dumped” by Ford, Bill went to a bar and asked for a “sixer,” to drink his sorrows away. He trashed the place, in an effort to get attention and to make himself feel better. 

It is not specified in the Disney show, though the fans dug deeper into what the relationship was. Bill developed feelings towards Ford, not the genuine human feelings we are used to, but confusing feelings of love. Ford was scared of losing the person who gave him everything he wanted, so he went along with it and developed feelings as well. Bill was Ford’s “muse.”

The fandom has grown tremendously from when the show first started. Fans used to be obsessed with the toxicity of Dipper and Bill having a romantic relationship. However, now their attention has shifted towards the original mystery twins. As they grew up, so did their taste. Old man yaoi is now more interesting than an illegal ship. The fandom became more soft over the years as well, warming up to Ford and Mabel. With the rise of Ford and Bill’s relationship, Ford’s popularity has been booming. There was never any fan art of him back in 2013, though now there is arguably more than the art of Dipper and Mabel. 

Although the fandom has grown, it does not change the fact that Bill and Ford are still toxic and we often glorify that. Bill saw Ford as the perfect pet, his perfect pet. Bill had tattooed “If found, return to Bill,” on Ford’s back. Bill manipulated him due to his ego. 

They both thought they were changing the world. 

Ultimately, due to their inability to change, they destroyed it.