A Time Pirates Theory (SPOILERS) [Now ‘Same Coin’]

(…AKA, Stan is not what he seems. Again.)

I have a theory based on the secret page of the new Time Pirates book, the one with the axolotl that Bill invokes in the finale for the show - who gives Dipper and Mabel some very interesting information about our favorite floating triangle and the terms of his resurrection (included under the read more.)

Basically: I have a cool idea about how Bill is going to come back. Or should I say, came back?

((I would love to hear what y’all think. Also, a big thanks to everyone I rambled to about this spoiler [most of whom I ended up tagging below ayy] as well as @fordtato for walking me through general spoiler theory post etiquette!))

I’m going to start with my evidence first, because it is kind of a really crazy theory *puts on tinfoil hat* First of all, here is the actual page of spoilers:

There are several things in here that I found interesting. First, the terms of Bill’s resurrection:

“One way to absolve his crime.” The axolotl isn’t a malevolent being, as we see in Journal 3, it’s an extradimensional power of good (it reminds me of the Turtle from ‘It’ by Stephen King, really.) Bill is allowed to return as a way to redeem himself for his actions (read: trying to end a world. Whether that is his world or the GF world is up for interpretation.)

So in Bill’s new existence, he will be doing something that will make up for his crimes. But what can he do in order to make up for something as big as destroying dimensions and starting Weirdmageddon?



“A different form,” Bill will be returning not as a floating triangle, not as a dream demon, not as anything he was before. And somehow, I don’t think this is just referring to a stone statue. So what will he be?



“A different time.” And now it gets interesting, because the emphasis is odd. There’s two possibilities here. The first is that he comes back in the future. The thing is, Bill isn’t returning immediately, we know that. So if he does make a return chronologically, no matter what, he’ll be coming back in the future. It’s generally assumed, and it doesn’t really have an effect on the Gravity Falls canon as we know it. So why would Alex mention Bill’s future redemption arc? For post-canon fic and shenanigans?

Possibly. But I had a different idea: what if Bill comes back in the past?

We know time has no meaning for Bill and creatures like him, like the axolotl. This way, Bill’s return and redemption does have a confluence with the events of the show as we know it. (And I know this part is a bit weak, but just accept that he could come back in the past.)

The big question now is, if Bill came back in a different form to absolve his crimes, where is he now?

This leads on to my next point of interest:

I found these two bits of description familiar. Very, very familiar.

In fact, without context, I would say those two lines describe someone else entirely.

“Misses home and can’t return.”

“Says he’s happy. He’s a liar.”



Then comes the fire motifs:

Or maybe the question should be, who is he now?

The only thing that could make up for trying to end the world for the most selfish of reasons? Saving it for the most selfless of reasons.

What is Bill when he isn’t a triangle or a demon? The best con man in the world.

We have the many, many Stan and Bill parallels we’ve seen throughout the show, that for the sake of length, I’ll just briefly mention highlights:

We have the ‘STAN IS NOT WHAT HE SEEMS’ cipher, with emphasis on the /what/. We can accept the cipher as just being given by Alex Hirsch, but with the existence of the fourth-wall breaking axolotl (its ‘free-form poem’ seems pretty similar to the end-of-episode ciphers, huh?) we might have an in-universe explanation for the cipher as well. Not to mention, the axolotl is also the one behind Bill’s return (and so would definitely know this information, which is something Bill - or any other entity in the GF verse - would not know.)

We know that Bill’s laughter in the Last Mabelcorn shifts into Stan’s cackling, and for ‘_____ is not what he seems,’ in the original show in which it appears, Twin Peaks, the phrase refers to the show’s main villain (both credits to @renmorris!)

There’s the similarity in dress and in speech (”Buy gold!”, “Eeny meenie miney you!”), and even the way Bill and Stan both immediately like Mabel for her weirdness and takes every opportunity to mess with Dipper. There’s how Bill and Stan are grouped together in every piece of merchandise, and how Alex Hirsch offers us, “THESE TWO KNUCKLEHEADS TOGETHER AT LAST.” (…Knuckleheads? Hm.)

And then… there’s the fact that, over the course of those thirty years, Bill never made a deal with Stan. Even when Stan was desperate and would have taken any deal, even when Bill would have gained enormously it. It doesn’t make sense that Bill wouldn’t seize the opportunity, unless… There’s something that would and also have the power to protect Stan from outside meddling - the Axolotl. (Which, according to Journal 3, is often invoked for protection by the extradimensional locals.)

(And didn’t Stan keep an axolotl as a pet in the fish tank in the Shack… which mysteriously disappears in the Inconveniencing and the absence is highlighted throughout the rest of the series (even being shown in the finale!) and in the season finale, Bill finally gets access to Stan’s mind, meaning the protection was lost.

In addition, we now have the clues in the Cipher Hunt to find the Bill Statue - first with the phone calls in Stan’s voice and identity, then the ‘FILBRICK’ written in invisible ink behind every Stanbuck in bag. Not to mention, now a Grunkle is missing! Stan is involved, some way, somehow.

COINCIDENCE? In a show like Gravity Falls? I THINK NOT.

In short, my theory, or crazy guess is - in some way or another, Stan is Bill. Or rather, he was at some point and has grown to be much, much more. Some way, somehow - maybe Bill’s hitching a ride and auditing the college class of humanity, or maybe Stan is just a clean slate who made different choices.

I can already see the question now - is this heading towards an edgy, ‘Bill possesses Stan and makes the Pines family miserable again’ idea? (No offense BTW, for anyone who’s read my writing, you know how much of a sucker I am for that trope.)

No. Just the opposite.

See, this is Bill’s redemption. He returned, in a completely different form, in a completely different time, for the purpose of absolving his crimes - with, and we can be pretty sure about this, no memories of his past existence (at least, until the stable time loop closes.) Not to mention, in this new identity, Bill really can make it up to the specific people he has hurt the most (thank you, @eregyrn-falls​!)

Stan had plenty of opportunity to go off the rails over the course of his life, from the ten years as a criminal and con man, to his thirty years of pretending to be his brother, even to the deal that Bill offers him (fame! riches! the galaxy!) He is put into the same situation Bill presumably once was (the earlier parallels of ‘misses home’ and ‘says he’s happy, he’s a liar’) and he’s all set up to make Bill’s mistakes.

But he doesn’t. He gives up power and fame and money, all for the sake of his family and his home. He destroys the original Bill, sacrifices himself, and saves the world completely selflessly.

Because the thing is, Bill’s crime isn’t Weirdmageddon. Not exactly. His real crime (according to the Oracle in Journal 3) is choosing power over his family, and causing the destruction of his dimension and everyone he knows. But Stan, put in the same situation, under the same circumstances… chooses his family instead.

That is how Bill absolves his crimes.

In return, Stan gets to go back home and be with his family. He doesn’t have to lie about being happy anymore. He’s going to live a long, long life (how long depends on your interpretation) and spend every day of it loved by and loving his family. It fits with the show’s whole theme of family and redemption, and Bill’s getting out of the experience fundamentally changed, if he even gets out at all.

Stan has already earned his own happy ending. And he’s keeping it.

(And the Cipher Hunt? To keep with the optimistic approach, maybe the whole family’s working together to root out Bill cultists [a la @thesnadger‘s post] using Stan’s returning memories following the closing of the time loop. After all, Stan does seem more like he’s reading from [Mabel’s?] cue cards than actual possession, right?)

[addendum/clarification post. PLEASE READ]