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Welcome brothers and sisters to this week's meeting of the Royal Order of the Holy Mackerel.
A secret society dedicated to discovering, decoding, and protecting the secrets of Gravity
Falls. I am this chapters founder and duly appointed High Exhaulted Big Fish, Douglas
Mackrell. As always, if you would like to see the minutes of last week's meeting you
can click this link - right here. And now for this week's order of business: Bill Cipher!
Though I may not always get a chance to get back to your comment or message directly,
I do always take account of what our members say and what you ask of me. And much like
last week - I wanted to continue the trend of focusing on some of my most requested topics.
And right after Robbie V on that list, is the isosceles monster and snappy dresser - Bill
Cipher.
Our very first introduction to Bill was a secret message hidden in unlockable text in
the game Rumble's Revenge. After collecting all of the messages and combining the capital
letters in each, it spells out "MY NAME IS BILL". And this came months before Bill was
properly introduced in the show! Though Bill's big debut doesn't come until Gravity Falls
nineteenth episode - his reach in the series can be seen from the first episode - as images
of him appear all throughout the series!
Bill is based on the symbol called The Eye of Providence - usually denoted by an eye,
radiant lines, and a triangle. Some form of this symbol is actually found in religions
all across the Earth. Though it's meaning can sometimes vary slightly - loosely it stands
for god directly overseeing humankind. The Eye of Providence is notably connected to
Bill Cipher for two reasons - one, is it's use on American currency, and two, it's connection
to conspiracy theories.
In 1782, a committee settled on the Eye of Providence being included in the Great Seal
of the United States - which is found on the reverse side of every dollar bill. The Eye
itself sits atop a pyramid comprised of 13 steps - each representing the original thirteen
states. On the bottom most step is the number 1776 in roman numerals. The pyramid is also
encircled by two latin sayings: Annuit Cœptis "He approves [our] undertakings" and Novus
Ordo Seclorum "New Order of the Ages".
Now the reason the Eye of Providence has been the subject of so many conspiracy theories
is because it has long been associated with the iconography of the Freemasons. Although
I'll be touching on the Freemasons in greater detail in an upcoming meeting, it's important
to know that people claim that the Eye above the pyramid is undeniable proof of the role
Freemasonry had in the formation of the United States!
Although proving any of these theories would be VERY hard - the impact of these theories
on society and pop culture has led to the Eye of Providence being perceived as having
otherworldly, supernatural, and occult undertones. That's most likely what influenced Alex Hirsch
in his creation of Bill Cipher.
But as for Bill himself, there are still a lot of unanswered questions about him. We
know from the timeline established by the journals, that Bill met and was probably summoned
by their author - who writes in the second journal, "This odd, triangular being has appeared
in my dreams every night for weeks." Ultimately the author must have been betrayed by him
in some way. Something so terrible happened to author that they made another entry about
Bill in the third journal warning others not to summon him.
We know specifically that he's a demon of some sort because of how Gideon addresses
him after he's summoned - and although we know he has powers over the mind and can easily
enter dreams and wield nightmares, we also see him have some fairly terrifying powers
over reality when he steals the deer's teeth and then returns them just as easily.
Bill makes large claims to know lots of secrets - but he's not all-knowing. For example he
was forced to enter Stan's mind to retrieve the combination - and he had to rely on Dipper,
Mabel, and Soos to find the code first so he could steal it. Two acts that prove that
he's slightly less powerful than he appears to outwardly be.
We also can ascertain that Bill needs something Gideon has. The breaking of their contract
lost Bill something that would have expedited his mysterious goals. But these goals somehow
include Dipper, Mabel, and Soos - because Bill spares their lives... Saying that they
may be useful someday.
Before he departs at the end of Dreamscapers, Bill says "A darkness approaches! A day will
come in the future where everything you care about will change." This cryptic sentence
tells us a lot more than it seems. Firstly, there's the overt message that a terrible
event is coming and it will cause some major changes in Gravity Falls. Something directly
connected to the six fingered hand symbolized on the front of the journals. But more importantly,
this sentence tells us that Bill has nothing to do with that approaching darkness. He only
knows about it.
So - what does a powerful mind demon want? Well, two things probably. Here's my theory.
Bill knows about Stan's portal, and needs it to escape the coming apocalypse. I had
toyed around with the idea that Stan's secret twin brother - who you can hear about in this
video - had swapped places with Bill. I'm less sure of it nowadays because of the timeline
the Journals paint. Bill has been around for a long time. Long enough to end up on the
negative 12 dollar bill!
Aside from escape from the apocalypse - Bill may want some sort release from his demonic
barriers. We know that anyone can summon him - and that he's willing to make informal and
bonding contracts with those who do. Perhaps Bill really seeks freedom from whatever realm
he exists in and rules he's forced to obey so that he can be permanently bonded to this
plane of reality.
But what do you think? Is Bill Cipher a friend, a foe, or something inbetween? Leave your
theories and suggestions in the comments below. And now before we close today's meeting, I
have three more orders of business.
The Royal Order of the Holy Mackerel continues to grow! I've gained over 400 YouTube subscribers
in the last week alone - and I've welcomed close to 100 more card-carrying members into
our ranks! Congratulations and welcome to all who have entered the society - but again,
for those who are new to these meetings: Membership is open to everyone, membership is completely
free, and there are multiple ways to consider yourself a member!
If you're a fan of Gravity Falls and wish to be a part of The Royal Order, just subscribing,
watching these meetings each week, and joining the conversation is enough to consider yourself
a member. But if you'd like to be a bigger part, you can tackle the challenges I've created
to unlock downloadable rewards that you can print out and show off your pride as a member
of this secret society! Plus you'll be included in our public membership roster if you can
beat the first challenge!
Secondly - as I stated last week - I'll be receiving the last of the parts I need to
create the physical Membership Kits tomorrow. I'll be putting a few together, and I'll film
an emergency meeting to be released this Thursday the 16th of January where I'll show off what
the kit contains, open the entry form for the next giveaway, and announce the opening
of the small store I've created that will sell the physical membership kits.
Finally, it's time to announce this week's challenge! Bill Cypher's Cryptogram! Those
who are able to Decode and answer all three of this week's riddles will not only receive
a specially designed Bill Cipher Maze - they'll also receive a cipher for the Alchemy Font
code. I've never publically given the cipher for this code before - so you'll want to tackle
this challenge.
Well, with no further 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!
vickytheplatypus asks: "What is your favorite Gravity Falls Character?" Answer: Though I
love Quentin Tremblay - and I hope we see more of him in the second season - my favorite
character is Bobby Renzobbi. Alex said in his AMA that Bobby's products are shoddy and
unsafe and he's always just a few days away from jail. I think that's hilarious.