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Welcome brothers and sisters to this week's meeting of the Royal Order of the Holy Mackerel.
The Secret society dedicated to discovering, decoding, and protecting the secrets of Gravity
Falls. I am this chapters founder and it's duly appointed High Exalted Big Fish, Douglas
MacKrell. As always, if you would like to see the minutes of our last meeting click
the red link on your screen right now. And now for this week's order of business: The
meaning of the six fingered hand. Although I did have plans to break down another
highly requested character this week, I thought I would take a meeting to explore one of my
personal theories that a lot of people seem to have varying ideas about. Of course I'm
referencing the symbol of the 6 fingered hand. We've seen it all through Gravity Falls most
notably in Bill Cipher's Wheel from the opening credits, on the covers of the three journals,
and it was directly referenced by Bill Cipher in the episode the Dreamscaperers.
Personally my views about what this symbol could mean have swayed over time. It's purposefully
obtuse. We, the viewers, shouldn't know that much about it at this stage of the story,
because the central characters, Dipper and Mabel, don't know anything about it. But much
like most of the grander story Gravity Falls, the devil's in the details.
The only hint we've been given so far behind it's meaning was the cryptic line Bill Cipher
said to Dipper, Mabel, and Soos in Stan's mind: "A darkness approaches! A day will come
in the future where everything you care about will change." Bill says this as an image of
the six fingered hand appears above him. Though it would take me just a moment to tell
you my theory of what the six fingered hand means - in order to fully understand how I
reached this conclusion you have to first take a step back and examine every character
we've seen in Gravity Falls so far. So let's put the symbol aside for a moment so we can
look at the bigger picture. When you take a look at the character designs
of Gravity Falls, you can quickly take account of one discrepancy. Some characters are depicted
with five fingers on one hand and others four fingers. It's easy to discount this as a quirk
of the art style. A cheat for the animators to make those with smaller hands like Dipper
and Mabel easier to animate. But the closer you study the character designs of everyone
we've seen, the less this theory makes sense. If the four finger characters were simply
a cheat for the animators then this would hold true for characters like Lil' Gideon,
one of the smallest characters in the show - but as you can see, he clearly is represented
with five fingers. So if character size isn't the reason for the number of fingers, maybe
age is?
The problem is, this doesn't sync up either. Even if you try to make this theory fit by
saying that Gideon is older than he looks and presents himself to be, there are plenty
of older characters who have four fingers instead of five. Lazy Susan and Ma Duskerton
are great examples of older characters who are clearly not children but have only four
fingers. Similarly, the theory that all men have five
fingers and all women have four falls apart, because there are plenty of female characters
with five fingers and male characters with four fingers and vice versa. For example,
Shandra Jimenez and Mrs Northwest have five fingers and Carla McCorkle and Mrs Gleeful
have four fingers. So if it's not size, age, or sex - why do some characters have more
fingers than others, and what does this have to do with symbol of the six fingered hand?
Well, here's where I drop what I believe the six fingered hand symbol means. The six fingered
hand that's come to represent the journals is in fact a symbol of complete knowledge
of darkness and evil. What's gained by achieving it, and what's lost when you do.
The easiest way to illustrate this is by showing the character designs for Grenda, Thompson,
and the Free Pizza Guy. All three of these characters are represented with five fingers,
but each seems to share a common attribute. Given their physical weight and social standing,
each has seen first hand just how unforgiving other people can be. They've all been bullied
and mocked and taken advantage of in some way, and each has experienced just how evil
people can be when they see an easy target. All of them have lost their innocence about
how the world works, and each has gained a finger because of it.
This distinction between those who have known or experienced darkness and those who haven't
gives birth to some strange dynamics once you become aware of it. Like how Sheriff Blubs
has four fingers, and Deputy Durland has five. What darkness has Durland experienced - and
did it leave him mindless in it's wake? Similarly Bud Gleeful has five fingers, but
Mrs Gleeful has only four. Is there something to her obsessiveness that allows her to retain
her innocence by shutting out everything else but vacuuming?
Soos and Soos's grandmother both have five fingers which only adds credibility to Soos
knowing a lot more than he seems - but how much does he know about the darkness, and
does his grandmother also know those same secrets?
And conversely, something that underlines the fact that Robbie V knows nothing about
the dark evils of reality and is just a poser - is the fact that he only has four fingers
instead of five. For me, this discredits the theory that he may be a Vampire or a Zombie
- but if he is, he may be completely oblivious to it.
Furthermore you can tell that despite Wendy's mysterious past, many breakups, and missing
mother - she still retains her innocent understanding of how the world operates. The same goes for
Toby Determined - who despite being insulted constantly and fancying himself an investigative
reporter, still retains his innocent four fingered views of the world.
Also something to mind is that of the group of teenagers, Nate, Lee, and Thompson have
five fingers, but Tambry, Wendy, and Robbie have four. It's odd how the group is so evenly
split - though it may have something to do with the fact that, as the leaked russian
short shows us, Nate, Lee, and Thompson all work together at the same movie theater.
Something else to wonder about is the fact that every member of Sev'ral Timez has five
fingers despite seeming very naive and innocent. Perhaps the brutal training they had to endure
by the hands of Ergman Bratsman robbed them of their four fingered ideals? Or perhaps
they were created for something far more sinister than a boy band.
And most interesting of all is the dumpster dwelling and insane Old Man McGucket and Bill
Cipher. McGucket is shown having five fingers, but always seems to have a cast partially
covering his right hand and forearm. What does this cast cover? A bound sixth finger
or the scar from where he cut that finger off? And Bill Cipher has only four fingers.
Sure Bill is a mind demon who constantly changes shape - but he only has four fingers. Which
may mean that he knows about this looming darkness, but isn't connected to it.
There are still many questions left about the symbol of the six fingered hand, but as
all of the characters get closer and closer to the truth - we may see some of our favorite
characters have to make tough decisions. Gaining more fingers as they become aware of this
great darkness that threatens to change everything. But what do you think? Is the six fingered
hand a representation of knowledge about the dark events to come or something else? Why
do you think some characters have five fingers and others four? Leave your theories and suggestions
in the comments below. And now, before we close this week's meeting, I have two orders
of business. Folks, I've heard your cries for help, and
that's why I've sunk some time into cleaning up the earlier challenges so they're a lot
easier to decode and answer correctly. If you were hung up on one of those early challenges
from when I first launched these meetings, be sure to check them out and give them another
try! And now it's time for this week's challenge!
Continuing the trend, if you can decode and answer all three of this week's riddles, then
you'll get your hands on journal entry number 4 - my private notes on the symbol of the
six fingered hand! And remember! The keys for your decoder disks are always circled
in red, and you match the coded words with the letters of the inner disk and decode the
words with the letters of outer disk. With no other orders of business, I hereby
call a close to this weeks meeting of the Royal Order of the Holy Mackerel. Until next
time, share, subscribe, and keep cracking those codes.
Bill Cipher's Wheel contains the symbol of the six fingered hand. Many believe that it
represents the journals specifically. But what if it also represents the impending darkness
and looming apocalypse? That would make the apocalypse's greatest adversary, Soos.