The Book of Bill

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

Bill Cipher is the titular protagonist and villain of the book, serving as the narrator (and supposedly the illustrator and writer as well). Bill is an extradimensional dream demon, a being capable of warping reality and time and seeing into other dimensions through symbols resembling his singular eye within a triangle. His primary character trait, which he references himself many times, is chaos and “weirdness.” The way Bill characterizes himself and the way his actions and others characterize him are vastly different; Bill speaks of himself as largely playful and innocent, ascribing good intentions to many of his horrific actions and taking a blameless approach to his quest for power and love of violence. Others, however, accurately characterize him as manipulative, demeaning, egotistical, and aggressively possessive, with a warped perception of the world.

Bill is dangerously intelligent and lacking in morality; he is utterly ruthless and remorseless, except possibly for the deaths of his family, which he caused. Bill’s appearance only enforces this duality, as he mostly appears as a small, innocuous triangle, wearing dapper accessories and appearing cartoonish and harmless. When angered, however, Bill’s body and eye turn red.