Get to know BILL CIPHER who’s THIRTY-ONE years old and works as a POLITICIAN in town. He is from CORONA and is often times mistaken for DANE DEHAAN while others say he reminds them of BILL CIPHER from GRAVITY FALLS
TW: Drugs, alcohol, violence, self harm, cults, religion talk(?), murder (implied), animal death
So let’s start with his cult.
This cult is generations old. And the Cipher’s have always been at its forefront. They believed that one day the other dimensions—dimensions of chaos and magic and nightmares— would collide with this one and bring about an Armageddon like state to the world. However, there would also be a person that could control and bend these chaotic happenings and twist the nightmares away. But of course, this person couldn’t protect the whole world, so only those who followed this religion would be protected when this savior—who was often described in almost demonic or horrific ways— showed up. And not only would these members be safe but they would be the people who were also granted powers and rule over what was left of the world when chaos reigned. Some people were put off when they realized this was a cult bordering on a type of satanic cult. But the descriptions were to be expected. You wouldn’t expect someone completely sound of mind to be able to manipulate nightmares and control and command chaos. But for decades, this person—this savior— hadn’t come around. There was a member of the Cipher family way back at the second generation of the cult who seemed likely to be this messiah, but she did end up dying before her powers ever developed. Then, decades later, two devout members and members of the Cipher family believed that they had found this person who would be their leader. Who would save them all and help them regain their rightful powers and lead them through the end of days when time dies and reality feels more like an illusion. They believed that this person would be their grandson, Bill.
Bill was only six when his grandparents introduced him to the cult. And it wasn’t this introduction that led him to be the person he is today. They felt like he was meant for this power because when he was only four, he had found a dead bird while visiting his grandparents. But after his parents had scolded him and told him he needed to get the bird out of the house and wash his hands for even touching it, his grandfather asked him where he found the dead bird, and Bill replied, “I found it in the yard. But it wasn’t dead.” And this mixed with other behaviors such as him never being an emotional child and always seeming far more fascinated with death and darker subjects, his grandparents decided to introduce him to the cult. They hadn’t even told their own child—Bill’s father— about the cult. And Bill became the youngest member to ever be initiated into the cult. Because after just meeting him, and seeing him not even wince as his grandparents marked him with the cult’s symbol of an eye, they slowly started to believe them.
It was when Bill was seventeen that he became the leader of the cult. Because he was always very charismatic, always very powerful. And because people believed that he was the person that would protect them in the end of time. But of course there were skeptics that didn’t believe in him yet. They wanted proof that he had these powers and that he had this connection to these nightmare and chaos realms and to the magic of Corona. And Bill told them that he had a vision in one of his dreams that his grandmother would die in three days in a house fire and his grandfather would die five days later of complications from the smoke that filled his lungs in the fire. His grandparents of course were shocked to hear this revelation. Because as far as they knew, Bill hadn’t developed his power. And he hadn’t developed his powers. Bill was just a person; he hadn’t ascended to his position of power yet that he knew he was destined for. But, three days later, his grandparents—who went to their son’s house because they assumed in Bill’s “premonition” he meant their house would burn down—both ended up in the hospital. His grandmother was severely burned and in critical condition, and his grandfather in less serious condition but still pretty bad. Bill’s parent’s didn’t even make it out of the house. Bill was also burned, but not as bad because he had gotten home to see the smoke, and went in to get his grandparents out. He was burned enough to not ask questions. They determined the cause of the fire was a faulty gas line. His grandmother died in the emergency room and three days later, though he seemed like he was doing better, Bill’s grandfather died in his hospital bed. And this was proof enough to all the members of the Cult that Bill truly did have these powers.
He kept up this act by mentioning visiting people in their dreams and making up other ways of showing off his powers without really showing them—like taking a little more than a microdose of lsd during some meetings or special ceremonies such as initiations or rituals to the demons in the other dimensions— and people continued to believe that he had some of these powers. But Bill wanted true powers. He wanted magic and to take hold of his destiny of being practically a god of chaos and nightmares. And he knows that one day it will happen and when it does, he will happily ascend to this position.
Things the cult does include rituals—some of which are sacrifices of personal objects, or blood or hair, or sometimes like on special occasions, an animal. Nobody in the cult will talk about or confirm if there have ever been human sacrifices and new initiates never ask.
All members get a tattoo or a brand of an eye on the back of their neck. Members will also be asked to complete some trials and sacrifices to join and prove they are willing to join and devote themself to this cause and religion. One of these trials is staying in a completely dark room with nothing in it for 12-24 hours. If. You can last the 24 hours, you are welcomed into Bill’s more inner circle of people he trusts more. People who will essentially be his council both in the cult and when the Armageddon they were preparing for inevitably came.
Bill doesn’t do the recruiting because he’s currently trying to rise in political power, and if people knew he was a cult leader well… that’s just bad for approval ratings. People are advised to only invite those who they know would be willing to endure the initiation trials because if they cannot, it will be unfortunate for them if they try to tell the police or anyone about what’s going on.
Most of the cult’s meetings take place in the basement of his grandparent’s home (which is now Bill’s home.) It’s a huge room built at least two stories down into the earth. It has intricate stonework and hand carved altars and sigils burned into the floor. There are braziers that line the room, all burning with a lining of copper and some metal salts—which definitely cause some hallucinations to those around, but Bill will explain it away as just them seeing into these other realms— so the flames burn blue. There are the texts of the religion written in Latin which Bill can read because his parents forced him to go to Catholic school and because his grandparents would teach it to him.
Like most cult leaders, Bill will sleep with members of his cult. He never forces it and anyone is welcome to say no to any of his advances, however these are people who believe he’s destined to become a god so…. And it’s not everyone, and people have said no, but we’re going to be honest this is definitely slightly an abuse of his power.
Bill will hold seances to talk to the other side and the nightmare realms and just make up bullshit about what he hears or he’ll be high and just will describe whatever trip he’s on. Because it’s close enough.
I will talk about more in detail parts of ceremonies and initiation trials if you ask me, but some of the ideas I’m just not writing them down here. Just know they involve things such as self harm for the purpose of blood sacrifices and proving willingness to follow orders, drugs—ones people know they are taking and ones that are either said to be something else and are laced with drugs or ones they’re not even aware of such as the toxins from the pyres Bill burns— and animal death because of making a sacrifice (These are usually only for big ceremonies and on special occasions like eclipses and solstices.) This is a cult people. This isn’t a walk in the park to join. And people who get halfway through the initiation process or who decide to leave the cult often have experiences with extremely bad luck afterwards because while Bill might not have any actual magic yet, he has plenty of members who do, and a few he trusts far more than anyone else in the world. (And honestly having Eris to just give them back luck until they either swear silence or until they rejoin is a great help because before she came around people would just mysteriously go missing)
ANYWAY! On to Bill specifically.
Headcanons
His grandparents always had his back. When there were times his parents would actually pay attention to him and his behavior and they thought about sending him somewhere or taking him to get tested, his grandparents would insist that it was because of his parent’s fighting and that Bill wasn’t doing anything wrong.
He’s a gambler; Bill loves making deals.
While he’s not always honest about the deals he makes or the way he wins, he’ll usually fulfill his end of the deal. Just not always in the way you may be hoping.
Bill definitely has some anger management he needs to work on. But he doesn’t really have any interest in that.
Bill is a bit of a pyromaniac. Just one of the many, many ways he likes to create a little chaos and destruction.
A lot of his chaos isn’t such to him. He thinks it’s just more fun. More interesting.
He learned how to lucid dream when he was young. All his dreams are twisted and would be seen as nightmarish, Bill loves. Because they’re his dreams and he’s in control of every aspect of them.
Being a politician definitely helps him get information on others he wouldn’t normally be able to obtain. And helps him reach a bigger audience, helps him to convince his followers that he has more knowledge and powers and connections to magic than he really does. Helps that it pays well, too.
Has probably committed many felonies, but he will never admit to that.
He sees and hears whispers about people getting powers, and he’s impatiently waiting for his own. And getting a little frustrated that it hasn’t happened yet. Though he’s doing his best to pretend like he has (Think ‘The Wizard of Oz’)
He keeps an eye out for other people who are trying to figure out the mysteries of the island. Not that he thinks any of them could possibly be a threat to him. Just because he’s curious and because you never know when you might find some potential followers.
He’s got eyes and ears in a lot of places. He’s never short of information.
He has symbols tattooed on him. Either from his cult or other satanic religions or demonic symbols. I’ll talk about this more in a bit..
He’s a bit of a sadomasochist. He enjoys the pain and enjoys other people's pain. But in the past—before he figured out, let’s say, other types of pain—he would cut himself just to feel anything.
When he was younger, one hundred percent wrote illuminati conspiracy theories and would tell urban legends to little kids just to freak them out and make them upset.
Has a very dark sense of humor
Even though he does a lot of shady things, he does his best to keep that away from the mainstream media. It’s easier to manipulate people when they don’t have an already negative opinion of you.
He’s still figuring out how he feels about the new people coming to corona. On one hand, this is more people to manipulate; more people he can convince to follow him; more people to rule over someday. On the other, he doesn’t want some nobody coming in here and putting everything he’s working towards at risk. Not that he thinks there’s somebody capable of stopping him or taking his place. Just… a precautionary concern.
He’s charismatic in the way that most psychopaths are.
Also kind of a jerk. He’ll definitely use your insecurities and weaknesses against you.
He’s not going to let anyone stop him. He doesn’t care what he might have to do or who he might have to hurt to get where he’s going. None of that is going to stop him.
You might say he’s cocky and overconfident.
Has not only taken classes studying demonology, but will also do a lot of research on it in his free time.
Bill has definitely dabbled in Satanism and other such practicings, but he wouldn’t say he’s religious in any sense. Well, other than his own.
When he’s fully enraged, he does become more chaotic. He thinks less about his actions, and any reason to what he does is gone.
Is well off from both his career and money left to him by his grandparents.
He’s not an alcoholic, he just likes to drink. A lot.
Same with some drugs. He’s not only here to be a powerful ruler, he’s also here for a good time.
While he doesn’t act like it, he is aware of mortality and the fact that he’s (not yet) invincible or immortal. And that’s definitely one of the first things he wants to figure out how to fix about himself
Has never been in a serious committed relationship. Any time he was in a “long term relationship” it was purely so he could get something from the other person, whether it was information or as a cover to make himself seem more “relatable to the public”.
Any real emotions he has are buried under several layers of just being mostly insane.
There are definitely those who see him for who he is and he doesn’t care. He knows he’s unstable and insane. He thinks it’s more fun that way.
When he was younger, Bill would get in trouble in school for bullying other kids by scaring them, and the counselors were often concerned with the odd symbols he’d draw on himself and his papers. They suggested therapy or medication, but his parents never followed through. And even when they tried to, Bill would just not go to the sessions or take his meds and sell them to some older kids outside the high school.
He enjoys the company of other people who are eccentric and wild and just straight up weird.
Yes, he’s smart, but he definitely always thinks he’s the smartest in the room. He’s conceited and self absorbed.
Despite his odd behaviors and how he behaved, he did very well in school, getting mostly A’s
As wild as he may have been, he wasn’t a fan of partying in high school or college. The only benefit of parties being a bunch of dumb drunk idiots all together in one place. He often liked watching the chaos.
Fun Facts
Would sell his soul to the devil if he thought he had one.
He’s read the lesser key of solomon more times than he can recall.
He’s Pansexual
He listens to a lot of older music because it’s what his grandparents listened to. He doesn’t really have a favorite genre or a favorite anything
His birthday is June 6th.
Bill plays the piano. His grandparents had one and he liked to practice on it when he was at their house before he was really old enough to witness all their meetings.
Tattoos
Also known as “It’s a miracle Poppy didn’t question if he was insane while they were hooking up”. Anyway let’s do this shit.
His arms and back are covered in symbols. Few are done in dark ink, most are done in a lighter ink so they appear less prominent or a redder ink so they appear more like scars or burns. (Some of the images my have repeat symbols but some pictures had more than others.)
Eye on the back of his neck (The Cult symbol)
Symbols on his arms (literally covering them. The symbols don’t overlap but there are very few spots they don’t cover.) 1 2 3 4 5
Symbols on his back (Same again, most of his back is covered. Most of these are the sigils of different demons) 1 2 3 4 5
His one of his larger tattoos on the back of his left forearm.
Largest tattoo on his back in between his shoulder blades. done in dark ink
Chest tattoo
Connections
Poppy Pink - A fling he had a while back that ended up with her being the mother of his child. There are no feelings between the two of them anymore. Not that there were any on Bill’s side in the first place. But they’re friendly enough now. Poppy wanted him in their daughter’s life and Bill was happy to be a part of it.
Eris Pratten - Probably his favorite of his members and definitely one of his favorite people who has come to Corona. They have an odd relationship of getting on each other’s nerves just for the sake of making up for it. And Bill, who isn’t as subtle as he hopes, is definitely infatuated with Eris because of everything about her. And he’s very grateful for all she does to help cover up the cult and keep people from spreading information about it that he doesn’t want to spread (especially information about him being the leader.) He relies on her for more than he’d like to admit and would be maybe a little heartbroken if she ever truly hated him in a way more than their playful banter way of it all.
Lily Rose Cipher - Bill and Poppy’s daughter that Bill thinks the world of. He used to not like children, but he realized he loved his own children because that meant that she was an extension of him. She would carry on his legacy when he ascended to godhood. Because she had his DNA and she was surely meant to be special as well. Because that’s how children worked, right? They just became whatever you wanted them to be? But regardless of these more insanity driven reasons for caring for his daughter, Bill does genuinely care about her and fears the day Poppy finds out more about his bad habits or god forbid that he runs a cult. Because he really doesn’t want to lose visiting rights to her.
Branch Grey - Poppy’s boyfriend who’s the most paranoid person Bill has ever met. He doesn’t like or trust Bill, which is honestly fair and Bill gets it, but being his overconfident self, he doesn’t care and tells him to deal with the fact that he’s stuck with him in his life.
Stan Pines - Is definitely onto Bill in some way, and he knows it. He thinks it has something to do with his twin brother that went missing a while back. But Bill was barely in charge when that had happened. Though he does remember Ford. Interesting guy. Very gullible.
Dipper Pines - A conspiracy theorist that Bill wants to get to know better because he hopes he can convince him to trust him like his great uncle had. Not only to throw him off Bill’s trail for all that he does, but also to try and gather what information he’s gathered about the magic of Corona and its people.
Mabel Pines - Dipper’s sister who is definitely gullible enough to share her brother's information. He’d like to build up a trust with her so that she’ll give him information Dipper is too smart to share.
Wanted Connections
Friends? - Definitely people who don’t trust each other deep down. Friends for power; friends out of necessity. Friends that all are shitty people we love that.
Weird kids - People who know he’s into some weird and perhaps have theories that he runs the cult and just sort of… are interested? He doesn’t love young people so if they mess with him and annoy him that’s a good thing. Or on the other hand, people who feel lost and Bill can manipulate to his side and cause.
Exes - Bill doesn’t really do relationships so people he has been with have probably realized he didn’t care about them at all or that he had ulterior motives for dating them. They could still have feelings for him or they could hate him now. He honestly couldn’t care less either way.
Flings - Bill is all for one night stands and casual hookups. Friends with Benefits also welcomed.
Anything - People who like him, people who hate him, people who are suspicious of him, literally anything. If you need an asshole for one of your plots, he’s good for it, just hit me up.
