The Book of Bill

Content Warning: This section of the guide includes discussion of emotional and physical abuse.

“If this book has somehow found its way to you, then you are the next target it has chosen. I offer a warning: destroy it. I tried to destroy it, heaven knows I tried, but every attempt proved futile. Whatever you do: DO NOT TURN ITS PAGES. DO NOT WRITE YOUR NAME. DO NOT BELIEVE A WORD.”

Stanford’s immediate warning about Bill’s danger sets the tone for the reality behind Bill’s playful exterior. While the book may at times feel silly, the interactive, fourth-wall-breaking nature of the book and the horrors of Stanford’s experience are woven throughout as a sinister undercurrent using his journal entries. This continually reminds the reader that Bill is not to be trusted. Additionally, addressing the reader immediately helps to cement the setting, which is the book itself: a living experience rather than a printed copy.

“Oh, you might feel silly about meeting me. After all, ‘Bill Cipher’ is imaginary. You’re real and I’m not, right? BUT ARE YOU SO SURE ABOUT THAT? After all, you’re mortal. One day, you’ll be dust. But I’m an idea. And an idea can’t be killed.”

This passage emphasizes Bill’s arrogance and force of will, as well as a playfulness with the concept of death. While he ‘died’ at the end of Gravity Falls, his ‘death’ was less a physical death and more a loss of power. Bill’s entire identity is driven by attention, a point Stanford later makes; without attention, he has no power, and vice versa. Bill cannot die so long as he is enjoyed, providing an ominous perspective on the power of entertainment and art as a form of immortality, for better or for worse.