The Axolotl is a powerful extra-dimensional creature whose power ranks massively above that of Time Baby, Bill Cipher, and other types of powerful extra-dimensional creatures. [citation needed] They are mentioned by Bill, while he was being erased by the Memory Gun during the events of Weirdmageddon.
As their name implies, they take the form of a giant, majestic, talking axolotl.
History[]
Alex Hirsch AMA[]
During Alex Hirsch's Reddit Ask Me Anything, any spoiler questions asked by fans were replied to with a photo of an Axolotl, who Alex dubiously referred to as his own lawyer.
Season 2[]
Weirdmageddon 3: Take Back The Falls[]
As Bill Cipher is being erased from reality, his final words are a distorted, reversed message which says: "A-X-O-L-O-T-L! My time has come to burn! I invoke the ancient power that I may return!"
Gravity Falls: Journal 3[]
On the portal aperture page, Bill writes a cryptogram which translates to: "I'LL GET THIS PUPPY UP AND RUNNING ONE DAY AND NEITHER TIME BABY NOR THE BIG FRILLY KNOW IT ALL WILL STOP ME" (Axolotls have their gills on the outside of their heads, giving them a frilled appearance).
Throughout Bill's Ciphers section, there is code which says: "CURSE THE AXOLOTL EVERY CONSPIRACY IS TRUE."
In the section describing Ford's travels in the multiverse, he comes across multiple groups who appear to worship the creature: when he escapes from Bill and meets fellow dimensional refugees trapped in the Nightmare Realm they use the phrase "praise the Axolotl," and he is rescued from danger by an alien woman known as Jheselbraum the Unswerving or The Oracle, who in addition to repairing his wounds, installing the Bill-proof metal plate in his head, and telling him he "has the face of the man destined to defeat Bill," lives in a shrine covered in depictions of axolotls.
In one of the invisible ink entries of the Special Edition of the book, Ford wonders if there is a polar opposite force to Bill in the universe, accompanied by a picture of a starry night that lights up in the shape of a constellation that resembles an axolotl in the black light.
Dipper and Mabel and the Curse of the Time Pirates' Treasure!: Select Your Own Choose-Venture[]
According to Alex Hirsch, the book is non-canon to the actual series, as it follows a "choose your own adventure" format, having many different possible endings. However, he also said it does contain "one enormous 'canon' secret".[1]
It is speculated that the canon secret could be Dipper and Mabel's encounter with the Axolotl in "the time and space between time and space." While not in the book itself, the cipher to reach the page, found on www.disneyxd.com/awrongturn, was included in the book. The Axolotl, a giant talking axolotl, lets each of them ask them a question. Mabel asks them "Who are you?" and they reply with, "The Axolotl." Dipper asks them "what [do they] know about Bill Cipher," to which they reply with this poem:
Sixty degrees that come in threes.
Watches from within birch trees.
Saw his own dimension burn.
Misses home and can't return.
Says he's happy. He's a liar.
Blame the arson for the fire.
If he wants to shirk the blame,
He'll have to invoke my name.
One way to absolve his crime.
A different form, a different time.
This suggests that when, before being erased from reality in the series finale, Bill gives a message that when reversed says "A-X-O-L-O-T-L! My time has come to burn! I invoke the ancient power that I may return!," he is actually invoking the Axolotl for redemption for his crime, and that there is one way to get absolved: he has to take "a different form" in "a different time." This would mean that Bill could return.
The line about "sixty degrees that come in threes" apparently refers to the fact that Bill's shape is an equilateral triangle: three sets of sixty degree angles (adding up to 180 degrees).
The line about "watches from within birch trees" may mean the illusion of eyes from the birch trees in the episode "Dreamscaperers."
The line about "Saw his own dimension burn. Misses home and can't return." may refer to Bill Cipher regretting his decision to destroy his home dimension, as told in "Weirdmageddon 3: Take Back The Falls."
The Book of Bill[]
The Axolotl appears, with their body seemingly being an axolotl-shaped nebula. The interaction upon the death of Bill Cipher and itself is shown where Bill request to be resurrected. Bill speaks to the Axolotl, stating that he saw no big deal with trying to attack the Pines family and asks to be reborn to the Axolotl's disappointment. Axolotl agrees to "regrow" Bill if he can beat their trials. Bill expected it to be a battle between him and some other beings. In actuality, it was what Bill, according to the Axolotl, needed the most: therapy. The Axolotl refers Bill to the Theraprism, a dimension where beings go to atone for their actions.
TMS interview, July 2017[]
Alex Hirsch gave an interview with TheMarySue.com on July 14, 2017, in which he answered several questions about the series. When asked about the Axolotl, he said that while he considers the story finished, the Axolotl is basically a sequel hook in case he ever wants to revisit this world in the future (either an animated project or comics), though he stressed that he didn't actually have anything specific in mind at the moment - he just wanted to leave his options open:
- "In terms of Bill's secret message [about the Axolotl in the series finale]…I like stories that complete their emotional arcs, but still leave some lingering threads to chew on. It gives the fans something to theorize on, and it gives me a window back into that world if I ever choose to return to it."[2]
Sightings[]
Season 2
- 220-221. "Weirdmageddon 3: Take Back The Falls" (mentioned)
Books[]
- Dipper and Mabel and the Curse of the Time Pirates' Treasure!: Select Your Own Choose-Venture
- The Book of Bill (flashback)
Trivia[]
- In the book Gravity Falls: Lost Legends, an alien trucker has a bumper sticker which, when decoded, reads "THE AXOLOTL IS MY COPILOT". A clear reference to the phrase "God is my Copilot" which was started by the US Air-Force in WWII.[3]
- On thisisnotawebsitedotcom.com, if you type in the word "God" you will be given a video of an Axolotl swimming in a tank with a Bill Statue.
- He might inhabit a similar role to Maturin, "The Turtle", from Stephen King's IT. Both act as an unseen counterforce to an ancient evil.
References[]
- ↑ Hirsch, Alex (Mar 30, 2016). Tweet 715311437812371457. Twitter. Retrieved on October 1, 2016. “The book is essentially non-canon (since it has many different endings) but it contains one ENORMOUS *canon* secret”
- ↑ Kaiser, Vrai (July 14, 2017). Interview: Gravity Falls’ Alex Hirsch Talks About Disney’s Censors, Pacifica’s Parents, and Future Plans. Archived from the original on November 14, 2020. Retrieved on June 30, 2018.
- ↑ https://www.wearethemighty.com/articles/how-the-phrase-god-is-my-co-pilot-started-with-the-world-war-ii-air-forces/