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- Mason "Dipper" Pines (voiced by Jason Ritter) [1] is the 12-year-old [2] twin brother of Mabel, who was born 5 minutes after her. [3] He possesses Journal 3, which he discovered in the woods and has helped him solve the mysteries of Gravity Falls. As an adventurer, Dipper has trouble sitting still and is always looking for riddles to solve, leaving him restless in mundane situations. His attention to detail seems helpful when solving mysteries, but others question his credibility. He is considered wise beyond his years and cannot wait to grow up and become a man. He is portrayed as goal-oriented and rooted in facts, and sometimes overthinks possible scenarios and obsessively makes lists, which also makes him more perceptive of the danger Gravity Falls faces. Between seasons, Dipper hosted a series titled "Dipper's Guide to the Unexplained". It is revealed in one of the episodes that Dipper has a crush on Wendy. While he knows that he will never really be her boyfriend, this does not stop him from trying to please her. Another episode reveals that he likes bubblegum pop music. He got his nickname from a birthmark on his forehead shaped like the Big Dipper. [4] His formal name was never revealed during the series, but was later revealed to be Mason in the release of Journal 3. [5]
- Mabel Pines (voiced by Kristen Schaal) [1] is the 12-year-old twin sister of Dipper, who was born 5 minutes before him. [3] She is eccentric, energetic, and optimistic, and expresses herself through various colorful knitted sweaters, as well as her skills in arts and crafts. Her outgoing, curious personality often helps Dipper solve mysteries, though her silliness is often seen as a burden. Mabel enjoys preteen novels and seeks romance, as she once went on a date with Li'l Gideon, but broke it off after realizing he is dangerous and nearly killed Dipper. In the episode "Irrational Treasure", she is made an official U.S. congresswoman by the eighth-and-a-half president, Quentin Trembley, with a political platform of "legalize everything". She wins a pet pig in the episode "The Time Traveler's Pig" and names him Waddles. She also makes guest appearances in "Dipper's Guide to the Unexplained", and has her own series titled "Mabel's Guide to Life". She is inspired by Alex Hirsch's twin sister, Ariel. [6]
- Stanley "Stan" Pines (voiced by Alex Hirsch as an adult [1] and Declan J. Krogman as a child [7] ) is the great-uncle of Dipper and Mabel, who is best characterized by his grumpyness, selfishness and abrasiveness. He has been going by the name Stanford Pines, the name of his older twin brother, but his real name is Stanley. He runs and lives in the Mystery Shack; a tourist trap billed as "the world's most bizarre museum". He is primarily a salesman, putting most of his effort into showmanship, and is eager to sell the Shack's knick-knacks, trinkets, and baubles for exorbitant prices in the gift store section. Because of his drive to make money, his methods of obtaining it are not always legal and frequently commits petty crimes, having a laundry list of crimes a mile long. When he's not making money, he's usually at home watching television. Stan usually wears a fez and carries around an 8-ball topped cane; he sometimes wears an eyepatch over his glasses. He frequently sends the twins on what they consider outrageous and unpredictable errands, but is protective and loving towards them. Despite his age, Stan is physically fit to the point of being able to fight back when threatened. Behind his vending machine, he has a hidden staircase to an unknown location, which the season 1 finale reveals contains a large hidden device powered by encrypted information in the three journals. Later, he collects all three after Li'l Gideon's arrest and after Dipper shows him Journal 3, but later returns it to him. "Not What He Seems" reveals he was attempting to retrieve his older twin brother Ford after he was stranded in another dimension. In the series finale, Stan sacrifices his memory to defeat Bill, but regains it after seeing Mabel's scrapbook. He is based on Alex Hirsch's grandfather Stan. [8] [9]
- Jesus Alzamirano "Soos" Ramirez [10] (voiced by Alex Hirsch) [1] is a 22-year-old [10] Hispanic man who works as a handyman at the Mystery Shack and is a friend of Dipper and Mabel, who provides them transportation when needed. He is a portly and adventurous man-child with buck teeth, which is frequently compared to that of a beaver. He is clumsy and often makes mistakes, but has various talents, including engineering, DJing, and pinball, and enjoys bonding with Dipper by doing "boy stuff". "Blendin's Game" reveals his birthday to be July 13. It was also revealed he didn't have a good father-son relationship with his dad. [10] At the end of the series, after Ford and Stan leave Gravity Falls, Soos becomes the new Mr. Mystery of the Mystery Shack. After breaking up with his dating sim girlfriend, GIFfany, Soos enters a long-distance relationship with Melody, a girl from Portland who moves to Gravity Falls and becomes the Mystery Shack's new cashier after he takes over. [11] [12] Hirsch based Soos on Jesus Chambrot, an animator he was friends with at CalArts. [13] [14] Hirsch emulates Jesus' "blunt-like consonance" way of speaking through Soos' voice. [15]
- Wendy Corduroy (voiced by Linda Cardellini) is a tomboyish yet laid-back 15-year-old [16] who works as a part-time employee at the Mystery Shack. She is Dipper's crush, and several episodes focus on his attempts to impress her. Wendy has stated that she had many boyfriends, including one ex-boyfriend whom she cannot remember breaking up with. Wendy is the oldest and tallest child in her family; her father is Manly Dan, one of the local lumberjacks and fishermen of Gravity Falls. Throughout the series, she proves herself to be her "father's daughter", having experience as a lumberjack, tremendous physical strength, and survival skills. Being a typical sociable and nonchalant teen, she has many friends around her age. Her boyfriend at the start of the series is Robbie, whom Dipper despises and sees as a rival until she breaks up with him.
- Stanford Filbrick "Ford" Pines (also known as The Author, Grunkle Ford, and Great Uncle Ford as of "The Last Mabelcorn"; [17] voiced by J. K. Simmons as an adult [18] [19] [20] and by Christian Mardini as a child) is Stan's six-fingered long-lost identical older twin brother and the author of the journals. "Not What He Seems" reveals that in 1982, he was transported into an alternate dimension through a portal underneath the Mystery Shack, which he was stranded in until Stan reopened the portal. In "The Last Mabelcorn", he recounts his friendship with Bill Cipher and how he attempted to create a teleporter to enter his realm. In the present, after learning of Bill's plan to invade the mainstream dimension, he destroys the teleporter, but at the cost of a dimensional rift leaking out of it, which he contains. In "Dipper and Mabel vs. the Future", Bill takes the body of Blendin Blandin, who then tricks Mabel into giving him the rift, which he then breaks the glass ball containing the rift, causing Weirdmageddon. In "Weirdmageddon Part 1", he attempts to defeat Bill, but is captured, petrified, and his journals are destroyed. He is later freed and restored to normal. After Weirdmageddon, he tells Stan that he found remaining anomalies and offers him to go sailing around the world with him to find them, which Stan accepts.
- Bill Cipher (voiced by Alex Hirsch) is a powerful interdimensional dream demon and the main antagonist of the series. [21] [22] He is a one-eyed yellow triangle that resembles an Eye of Providence and wears a top hat and a bow tie. Living in the Nightmare Realm, an interdimensional area lacking consistent laws of physics, Bill has the ability to make deals with and possess characters in the Gravity Falls main universe. He first appears physically in "Dreamscaperers", where Li'l Gideon summons him to steal Grunkle Stan's deed to the Mystery Shack. In "Sock Opera", Bill tricks Dipper into making a deal with him, briefly possessing his body until Mabel forces him out. In "Dipper and Mabel vs. the Future" he possesses the time traveler Blendin Blandin to release a dimensional rift and escapes into the main dimension. In "Weirdmageddon Part 1", he takes on a physical form, unleashes various monsters from the Nightmare Realm, and takes over Gravity Falls. In "Weirdmageddon Part 2", he realizes that a force field prevents him from escaping Gravity Falls to conquer the rest of the universe. In "Weirdmageddon Part 3", he fails to learn how to disable the force field and is apparently destroyed for good by Stan. However, his last words, when played in reverse, are revealed to be "A-X-O-L-O-T-L, my time has come to burn! I invoke the ancient power that I may return!". The Book of Bill reveals that because of his final words, Bill is sent to a "tank outside of space" where a deity known as the Axolotl resides. [23] Bill is spared by the Axolotl and sent to the Theraprism, an interdimensional mental hospital, with the book itself revealed to be created by Bill during therapeutic arts and crafts sessions. [23] Journal 3 and The Book of Bill reveal that Bill originated from a Flatland-like dimension called Euclydia which he destroyed in his thirst for power. Film director David Lynch was offered to voice Bill but declined the role. [24] Hirsch voices the character with what he calls a "bad impression" of Lynch, [25] as his Twin Peaks character, Gordon Cole. [26] Bill has enjoyed a prominent status in the Gravity Falls fandom and in popular culture, possessing a cameo role in The Simpsons episode "Bart's in Jail!" [27] and serving as the subject of the real world Cipher Hunt, a scavenger hunt to find a stone statue of Bill. The Mary Sue described Bill Cipher as one of the "sexiest" Tumblr Sexymen, writing that Bill's "confusing and scary" nature made him attractive to Gravity Falls fans online. [28] Critical analysis of Bill by Ars Technica has credited him as being the manifestation of the fear of the unknown, with journalist Cassandra Khaw noting Bill as one of the most prominent incarnations of fear within Gravity Falls. [29] Part of Bill's intrigue for fans comes from his mysterious presence; he has a cameo appearance in the end of Gravity Falls’ opening credits and is spotted in multiple freeze-frame shots throughout the series. [30]
