The Book of Bill

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

Bill finally introduces Stanford, who he refers to as Sixer, with an illustration of his hand picking up Stanford’s chess piece from a collection of chess pieces representing the main characters of the show. Bill then shows a catatonic Stanford held up in puppet strings. He describes Stanford as the perfect partner—brilliant but wasting his potential, isolated, and destined for greatness. Bill offers to show the reader the pages Stanford ripped from his journal, since he would destroy any pages regarding his relationships with others, particularly with Bill.

The first section of Stanford’s journal starts with the title, “The Missing Journal Pages,” half-burned; Bill stands on them, saying he hopes Stanford draws him “pretty.” In “Lost in the Woods,” Stanford explains that he is struggling to make friends in Gravity Falls, as he misunderstands social interactions and makes people uncomfortable by playing chess and giving out fiber supplements on Summerween. In “Cipher Speaks,” Stanford explains the “greatest day of [his] life” (143), or the day he met Bill. Stanford wonders if he is hallucinating and should seek therapy, but Bill tells him everyone is just intimidated by Stanford’s talent.