Gravity Falls: The Final Chapter

Gravity Falls: The Final Chapter is a Disney XD movie based on the popular animated tv show Gravity Falls and was released in the summer of 2018

The Plot
The movie is set several years after the events of the finale and Dipper and Mabel are now nineteen years old and are both returning to Gravity Falls for the summer. Stan and Ford have both returned to the shack where they have been employed by Soos to run the shack alongside him as co-owners. After the first few weeks of living in the shack, Stan tells Ford that he had been getting hallucinations of Bill Cipher and Ford creates a machine so that he, Dipper and Mabel can see into Stan's mind. The trio makes the horrifying discovery that Bill has managed to resurrect himself with a spell and has managed to implant fragments of himself into a new employee of the Mystery Shack named Lewis.

Once Bill has been able to possess Lewis; Bill plans to meet the elder gods, beings who existed before the creation of the universe and Bill plans to convince them to destroy the universe, so a new one can be born and a new cycle of life can begin.

It's up to Dipper, Mabel, Wendy, Soos, Stan, and Ford to stop Bill and save their very existence.

Motivations and intentions
 Dipper:  Dipper has anxiety about his love life, he's entering university and the final trip to Gravity Falls is the moment where he wants to tie up all loose ends. He came with the intention of confessing his feelings to Wendy so they can become an official couple. However, after spending the day with Pacifica and having a pep talk with her, he realises that he may have feelings for Pacifica as well and becomes conflicted about what he wants.

 Appearance:  Dipper wears a navy blue jacket, a reddish-orange shirt with its sleeves rolled up, grey jeans with black sneakers.

Mabel: Mabel has dreams of Broadway and approached the college to sign up but she's put under pressure from her teacher and she's struck with fear. In Gravity Falls, she's suffering from writer's block and hoped her stay in Gravity Falls would allow her to reconnect with her glory days. While she's happy to see everyone, she's still wary of Gideon despite his efforts to atone and stay on the right path.

Appearance: In the begining of the movie, Mabel wears a red sweater with a rising sun emblem. During the movie, she wears a red sweater, a pink polo shirt, purple shorts, and black shoes. At the end of a movie, the emblem on her sweater changes to a sunset.

 Wendy:  After leaving highschool and moving out, Wendy started questioning what she wants in life and began questioning her own identity. Wendy knows Dipper still has feelings for her but doesn't feel the same way because of her identity crisis. When Dipper tries to confess his feelings to Wendy, the words just don't come out. After a brief talk about Pacifica, Wendy kisses Dipper on the cheek as a test but neither of them feel any chemistry. In the end they both agree that they're better off as friends.

 Soos:  Soos is moving into a new stage of his life. Melody announced she was pregnant to him and Soos is scared of becoming a father since his own dad abandoned him and he's afraid of the responsibilities of parenthood and repeating the cycle. A part of Soos wants to hold on to Dipper and Mabel because he feels young around them despite the fact that he has to grow up and accept that he has to take responsibility for his life.

 Pacifica:  Pacifica has been working at the diner and has made a lot of money through tips. Through the movie, it's revealed that she never forgave her family for using her to maintain their public image. She matured greatly as the loss of her family wealth; she's learned to be independent because her family had to focus on recovering their wealth and her friends abandoned her due to the loss of her social status. This has also made Pacifica more down to earth since she no longer has the safety net of her family to fall back on. Pacifica is conflicted about her relationship with the Pines twins, Mabel reconnects Pacifica to her past as a bully and she has feelings for Dipper but doesn't know how to act on them healthily.

 Appearance:  Pacifica wears a lavender polo shirt with a zipped-up purple harrington jacket, black skinny jeans, and dusty rose sneakers. At work, she wears the standard Greasy's Diner uniform and her hair is still the same as it was in the TV series.

 Gideon:  Gideon has matured a lot since he was 10 but at 16, he's was able to reflect on his past and he blames himself for releasing Bill Cipher all those years ago. Now Gideon is struggling to redefine himself after living as a spoiled bully who scammed people with phony psychic shows and his parents have been struggling financially because Gideon has given up his role as a child psychic. Everyone in Gravity Falls is wary of him for going to prison and for alligning with Bill Cipher and while Gideon tries to accimate to the life of a civilian, people (especially Mabel) are still giving him a hard time and making unfair assumptions about him.

His family offer very little help with his attempts to reform himself and he admits to Dipper that he feels tempted to fall back on his villainous instincts because it would make his life easier but he keeps reminding himself why he needs to be better. By the events of the movie, Gideon has come to respect and value Manly Dan, who gave him a chance to be a lumberjack and through Dan's willingness to help him.

 Appearance:  Gideon now appears burly and muscular. He has balding hair with an utterly bald crown that he hides with a wig. Instead of his suit, Gideon now wears a baby blue polo shirt that shows his muscles, brown cargo pants with black suspenders, and black boots. At the end of the movie, he removes his wig, shaves his head and goes bald as a symbolic gesture of moving forward and accepting his past.

The Trials
For each elder god. the heroes must undergo a trial. Each trial is unique and the number of contestants is chosen by the god.

Corpus's Trail
For Corpus's trial; Wendy must fight one of Corpus's champions and she is told that The Champion of Corpus is a ruthless, brutal fighter who hates anything different and won't stop until she succeeds. Wendy enters a dark cold area and told to find the champion, she traverses through the area and is unnerved by the number of mannequins. Wendy keeps seeing something in the corner of her eye and she's spooked when a mannequin head is suddenly thrown at her and smashes against the wall. Unsettled but not afraid, Wendy continues walking until she sees something in the distance. She sees a person moving but unaware of something behind them. A figure stands behind them and knocks the person to their knees, before using a wire-like object to cut through the person's neck and decapitate them.

Wendy is horrified but she begins to run after the figure, she walks up to body but sees that it was really just a mannequin that resembled Dipper. She chases after the figure and runs through a door to see The Champion of Corpus standing in the middle of the room. Without second thought, she charges at The Champion and initiates the dual. After a long, brutal fight, Wendy tries to end the fight by hanging the Champion with a rope but The Champion causes a weight shift. The Champion falls while Wendy is caught up in the noose and is pulled upward to be hung by one of her legs.

The Champion approaches her, Wendy assumes the Champion is going to kill her but she instead cuts her loose while fearfully muttering "Don't be afraid" and "Please don't make me hurt you" and quickly retreats and makes a defensive stance after Wendy stands back up. Afterwards, Wendy realises the champion never struck first and that the champion is only fighting in self-defence; so she throws her weapon aside, surrenders and apologises as The Champion charges at her to perform a deathblow. Instead, The champion stops short of beheading her and reaches her hand out as a gesture of forgiveness and as a peace offering. They shake hands, The Champion unlocks the door and Wendy passes the trial.

Anima's Trail

For Anima's trial; Soos, Dipper, and Mabel have to find a rune to escape a bathhouse but they must avoid the rising the water before they drown in it. As the water begins to rise, the trio starts looking but are eventually forced to run up the stairs to avoid the rising water. When they have nowhere else to go, they decide to climb out a nearby window and forfeit the trial, however, Mabel notices a glowing rune beneath the water but realises she can only see it in shadows.

Learning this from Mabel; Soos and Dipper use their clothes to block the sunlight and the trio dives into the water, they reach the rune and pull it out. This flushes the three out and they are reunited with Wendy and Anima, who tells them they have passed the trial.

Vita's Trail
For Vita's trial; Each hero must go through a trial individually and all four of them must pass.

Soos
For Soos, he is confronted with a boulder rolling towards him down a hill, each time he dives out of the way the room will get smaller. After diving out of the way several times, Soos realises he must grab the boulder and roll it back over the hill and roll it through the doorway on the other side. Soos grabs it and starts rolling it up the hill; as he is rolling it, the boulder starts speaking to him and cursing him in his father's voice and expressing pride for abandoning him.

Soos ignores it at first but realises the boulder cannot fit through the door. After enduring more insults, Soos finds the strength to fight back and starts berating his father for abandoning him and swearing to be a better father than him. By doing this, he successfully shrinks it to the size of a coin. The boulder still insults him but it's too small for Soos to hear and he simply walks through the door with the boulder in his pocket. This allows him to pass the trial.

Wendy
Wendy walks into an empty room and sees a record playing in the background, a song she recognises because it was the same song Robbie used to brainwash her into staying with him. She goes to turn the music off and as she does so, a monster appears behind her and takes a form. Wendy is overcome with an instinctual feeling of confusion and kinship but doesn't understand why. After hearing something behind her, she turns around and sees the monster in the form of Robbie.

Before the monster can say its first line, Wendy jabs the end of her axe into the monster's stomach, knocking it to its knees. Wendy then quickly gets behind it and puts the axe across the monster's throat, choking it until it becomes semi-conscious. Wendy then decapitates the monster with her axe and crushes the head under her foot, causing it to crack into pieces of clay and porcelain that splatter all over the floor.

Wendy calms down from and is immediately horrified by her brutality but is reassured somewhat when the monster reassembles itself since it confirms that it wasn't actually Robbie. The monster doesn't take Robbie's form this time but Wendy hears multiple voices coming from it as the monster constantly changes shape and form, as if not sure who or what it wants to be. It then settles on Dipper's form and begins to make her feel guilty about rejecting Dipper's feelings for her but she finds the strength to fight back and shouts back at the monster.

The monster shrinks down but Wendy is unable to destroy it, she tries putting it in a box but the door doesn't open for her. She then notices something about the monster. Like the champion of Corpus, it never struck first and it wasn't an active threat. Wendy also realises the monster was never threatening her, it was replaying dialogue from her memories. Realising her mistake, she goes back to the box and nervously opens it to release the monster. The monster jumps at her but she just closes her eyes in preparation for the worst.

She opens her eyes and see the monster is actually hugging her, it then shrinks down to take form of a broach which resembles a violet flower. Wendy picks up the broach and pins it to her clothes, the door then opens and it allows Wendy to pass the trial.

Dipper
Dipper walks into a room and sees a bird sat on a perch, it has scratch marks on its body and its feathers are missing due to overgrooming and stress. Dipper is told that he must nurse the bird back to health. Dipper's vaguely recognises the bird but dismisses this. His first thoughts are to search the room in order to recover the feathers, which he does but the bird is stressed out by the sight of Dipper. Confused, Dipper then tries to befriend the bird by feeding it but it rejects him and bites his finger instead. Dipper tries to clean the bird's cage but it freaks out and squawks at him in anger.

Frustrated, Dipper tries to figure out what to do next and he finally remembers the bird from the journal. He recognises it as a phoenix and realises he must set the bird on fire so it can ressurect itself. Dipper captures the bird through a bird cage and uses a rag from his clothes to set it alight. The bird stretches its wings as it bursts into flames after letting out one final screech. After moving around the ashes, Dipper finds a nestling and dusts it off, afterwards the bird quickly grows up into fledgling. The phoenix shows affection towards Dipper before he opens a window to let it out. The door opens for Dipper and he walks out, passing the trial. It's also revealed that Dipper had kept the phoenix feathers out of sentimentalism.

Mabel
Mabel finds herself in a dark cave, as she walks across she feels a sticky, silk-like substance on the ground. She hears a hissing sound and instinctually hides for cover when she sees a light. While staring at a blank cave wall, she sees the shadow of a large spider being projected on to it and immediately fears for her life, especiallt when she realises that she's been walking across the spider's web. Mabel holds her breath and desperately hopes that the spider doesn't notice, thankfully the spider scurries off in pursuit of prey.

Mabel goes against her instinct and chooses to stay until she's absolutely sure the spider is gone. An uncertain amount of time passes and Mabel prepares to move but the plan is interupted by the shadow of a coyote. Desperate to escape, she grabs a rock and is prepared to attack but more coyotes arrive and Mabel is forced again to delay her plan. Mabel sees the light is dimming and realising that she'll be in more danger if she lets the fire go out, she chooses to rush out of the cave by crawling through the tunnels.

Mabel gets up, she pushes her way through the webbing (while also using it as a guide to the exit) and she crawls her way through the dark tunnel to the light. Before going out of the exit, she hears scratching marks and growling and assumes it's the coyotes from before. Prepared for a fight, Mabel pushes her way through and jumps out with her weapon at the ready. Instead of being attacked, the coyote is actually revealed to be harmless as it just runs away instead at the sight of Mabel. The spider is also revealed to be an average size tarantula that just walks past Mabel, back inside its burrow.

Mabel is relieved and sees a doorway, she gathers the webbing and puts it in a container. The door opens and Mabel walks through it, passing the trial.

The Death of Bill Cipher
When Dipper, Mabel, Soos, and Wendy return to Gravity Falls, they see the town in ruin again. They meet up with Stanley, Stanford, and Pacifca with an unconcious Lewis. Stanley informs them that Bill broke out of Lewis's body and Ford made a portal they can chase after Bill. Ford tells them it will be incredibly dangerous but the four decree that they have no choice. Before they leave, Pacifica finally gets the courage to confess her feelings to Dipper as Mabel squees in delight, Ford tells them to get going before he closes the portal and Dipper runs through the portal. He quickly returns to kiss Pacifica before going back through the portal to fight Bill.

They see Bill trying to curry favour with Omnes, who looks bored and tempted to destroy the universe just to shut Bill up but he looks excited when he sees Dipper, Mabel, Soos and Wendy. Bill is surprised too and the four plea with Omnes to reconsider and reject Bill's offer. Instead, Omnes tells them they must fight for his amusement and the battle initiates after Omnes opens a portal to a new dimension. After outrunning Bill, the four come up with a plan and put it into action. Wendy distracts Bill by running around throwing her axe at him to get his attention. Bill pursues her and is ambushed by Mabel, who uses the vial of webbing to blind him.

Infuriated, Bill tries to tear the webbing off of his face but accidentally rips his own eye out. As Bill screams in pain, Soos rolls Bill's eye into the portal and places the boulder from Vita's trial in front of Bill, who mistakes it for his eye and places it in his eye socket, causing Bill's regeneration to take longer than usual. While Bill blindly stumbles around; Mabel, Soos, and Wendy lure Bill in front of the portal so Dipper can summon Erimus the phoenix through its feathers to knock him into it. Once Dipper summons it, Erimus becomes gigantic and flies into Bill, knocking him down into the portal. When Bill's eye finally regenerates, he realises where he is as Omnes begins to close the door to the new dimension. Bill frantically tries to run back through the portal before it closes.

However, Bill doesn't make it in time as the lower half of his body still in the new dimension as it seals itself closed. Once the door is sealed, Bill is cut in half in the process and reduced to nothingness. Omnes chuckles sadistically and Dipper asks what happened, Omnes explains that he knew all along what Bill's plan really was and he knew that he was destined to fail. Mabel asks what happened to Bill, Omnes simply says that he ceased to exist because he was in-between dimensions when the portal closed. Wendy then asks why he let Bill carry out his plan even though he knew he was going to fail, Omnes tells them he was bored and wanted some entertainment from the five.

Omnes then reopens Ford's portal to let them out, Omnes wishes them well and says that he hopes to see them again in Gravity Falls. Mabel teases Dipper about "Goming home to his girlfriend" as she runs ahead of Dipper who is then followed suit by Soos and Wendy on the way out. Erimus the phoenix flies through the portal with Dipper.

Central Theme
The central theme of the movie is growing up, letting go of one's childhood and accepting responsibility for the future.

Dipper : Dipper's story ties in with Pacifica and Wendy; he has to grow up and finally let go of his feelings for Wendy and Pacifica teaches him that it's OK to lighten up once in a while and care about more things than just his future. In the movie, Dipper has let go of his childhood view of science and what it means to be scientist like Ford (who isolated himself from everyone, severed contact with his family out of shere pettiness, and then got lost in an alternate dimension because he refused to share his knowledge with the people who could have helped him). His friendship with Wendy and his kindling relationship with Pacifica are the moments where he finally matures into a well-rounded adult.

 Mabel : Mabel reflects on her past but her adult mind recontexualises her adventures in Gravity Falls, she's disturbed by the amount of times she's been in danger and she begins to hate herself for being selfish. Mabel begins to take responsibility for her life and move on from her bad experiences, even letting go of her childhood, nostalgia-fuelled view of adulthood. Mabel's teacher, Virgil, may be the one telling her to grow up into a respected artist but it's actually her adventure in the movie that has the deepest effect on her. While she accepts that she was a selfish person in Gravity Falls, it makes her appreciate the friends she had, the steps she made to be a better person, and it gives her the fuel for her art project. She not only grows up, she loses the unhealthiness and self-destructive habits of selfishness, and gives herself the adventure she always wanted through her art.

Soos: Soos has to grow up under a heightened circumstance since he's becoming a father. Melody and Abuelita want him to grow up but he doesn't feel like he's ready. Soos sees his adventure with Dipper and Mabel as a form of escapism and, deep down, he's terrified of becoming a deadbeat dad like his father before him. Through the trials and his relationship with Dipper and Mabel that he finally learns to respect himself and he learns to pass on his wisdom to his son; one of how to be a good person, have fun, and how to look out for the people who rely on him.

Pacifica's Trial
Pacifica's trial was ultimately cut because there wasn't a way to fit it into the main plot.

In the trial, Pacifica would be surrounded by people and she jokingly asked if her trial was to overcome her social anxiety. Suddenly, the audience is turned to stone by a yellow light and Pacifica quickly seeks cover behind a tree. The statues are then reduced to rubble and a smartly dressed figure wearing a porcelain mask steps forward with light emitting from its eyes.

Pacifica gets the idea to use a nearby axe to cut the tree down so she can climb onto a ledge and evade the monster but she realises that it's not helping and only drawing attention to her from the monster. Pacifica then gets the idea to take off her apron and use it to climb the tree. She wraps the apron around the tree and climbs up while avoiding the monster's gaze. She reaches the ledge and moves forward, distracting the monster by throwing stones in the opposite direction. She sees a ruined bell tower and sees a golden bell. She gets the idea to loosen it so it will fall and make an exit for her by smashing a hole in the wall. She throws several objects to damage the rope but runs out of ammunition before one more throw will loosen it. She then remembers the gift Dipper gave her and she reluctantly throws it, allowing the bell to fall but it gets stuck in the tower instead, angering Pacifica.

This alerts the monster, forcing Pacifica to hide and come up with a different plan. After a puzzle where she lures the monster into place, Pacifica throws an object at the monster's forehead so it would look up in pain. The structure holding the bell in place is then turned to stone by the monster's gaze and is reduced to rubble, causing the bell to be dislodged and fall on the monster, crushing it instantly and leaving only its feet sticking out from under the bell. Before walking out of the door to pass the trial, Pacifica notices the monster's shoes are the same as her father's, causing her to become unsettled as she walks out of the door to pass the trial.

Mabel's Alternate Trial
Mabel's original trial was action orientated and full-fledge horror but had to be toned down by the censors for being too violent and scary.

Mabel is placed in a dark cold area and told to find a way out. Mabel traverses through the area and is unnerved by the number of mannequins. She keeps seeing something in the corner of her eye and she's spooked when a mannequin head is suddenly thrown at her and smashes against the wall. Unsettled but not afraid, she continues walking until she sees something in the distance. She sees a person moving but unaware of something behind them. A monster stands behind them and knocks the person to their knees, before using a wire-like object to cut through the person's neck and decapitate them.

Mabel is horrified and hides until the monster disappears, she walks up to body but sees that it was really just a mannequin. As Mabel keeps walking, the monster jumps down in front of her. A terrified Mabel is then forced to run from a giant spider into an arena, where the spider starts attacking her and covering the area with cobwebs. After dodging web attacks and strikes, the spider tries to end the fight by hanging Mabel with its web but she causes a weight shift in the webbing. Mabel falls while the spider is caught up in its own webbing and is pulled upward to be hung by one its legs. After trying one more attack, the spider goes deeper into the ceiling after Mabel falls down and lands on the ground.

After reaching the end of the trial, Mabel learns that she needs the spider to pass the trial, she goes back and uses her grappling hook so she can reach the spider and cut it free with a knife. Grateful for her help, the spider helps her pass the trial without issue and gives her a vial of webbing that she can use in the future.

Gideon's Trial
Gideon finds himself in a forest and as he begins to walk through it, he hears flute music and begins to follow it. Gideon then starts hearing familiar voices but has trouble recognising them, some voices are praising him out of fear and some cursing him for how he's treated them but Gideon retaliates by shouting back at them about he's a changed man. As he is shouting, Gideon hears his own voice and turns around, where he meets a clone of him that has a ponytail,a long chin strap beard, a salmon pink unbuttoned shirt, brown shorts, and a belt buckle of a horse.

Gideon awkwardly greets the clone but it only replies by lustfully licking its lips. Gideon turns around to leave out of disgust but is met by a replicant of the clone, who tells him that he can't be rid of that easily. Gideon pushes it aside and runs away, now hearing that the clone has multiplied again and that there is now 3 clones chasing after him. Gideon sees a reflective pool and jumps into it to escape his clones.

Gideon then submerges into the water to hide from his clones and gets scared when he hears the amplified voices from his past, realising the pool is made out of the tears of those he had hurt in the past. After submerging a second time, Gideon sees a tunnel and forces himself to swim through it. After swimming through it, he reemerges and is met by a large satyr who's playing a pink flute. The creature quickly establishes itself as a lazy and egotistical pervert when Gideon notices that the clone is looking at him lustfully and comparing Gideon's experience in the pool to a romantic or sexual reference with Mabel.

Gideon notices a gold statue of Mabel under a pink spotlight, something the satyr notices and tries to convince him to revert back into his villainous ways and uses his magic to dress Gideon in his old baby blue suit. Gideon is briefly tempted after being reminded of how people have treated him despite his efforts to better himself but he rips off the suit as a rejection of the offer, which enrages the satyr and causing itself to be revealed as a selfish, entitled narcissist who believes Gideon "owes" him for his help and affections.

Gideon pushes the satyr away and runs away, causing the satyr to pursue him as he yells obscenities for rejecting him. Gideon then notices an amulet embedded in the Mabel statue and tricks the satyr into destroying the statue. Gideon quickly grabs the amulet and uses it to trap the satyr within it. Gideon hears the voice of the satyr cursing him but he simply puts it his pocket and walks through the portal door, passing the trial.

God Descriptions
 Corpus:  Corpus appears as a pair of conjoined twins with opposing personalities. The dominant twin is called Deimos and he's aggressive, eager to fight, and is famously quick-tempered. Due to his strength, Deimos appears to be the strongest of the pair. The other twin is called Phobos and he's far more intelligent as he's shown to be tactical and strategic in battle as well as diplomatic, level-headed, straightforward, and wiser in comparison. Phobos the source of magic as he usses telekinectic abilities to subdo their opponents, something Deimos frowns on as he finds it unsporting.

The relationship between the two is strained, as the two bicker frequently and Phobos can't control his brother's temper, so Phobos finds it easier to simply direct Deimos into the path of least destruction. When the two are put into battle, they are formidable as a unit and a force to be reckoned with. As the pair were able to defeat the group with minimal effort: Deimos caused an earthquake by punching the ground to create a shockwave, while Phobos used his telekinesis to catch Wendy's weapon and then grab the group.

 Anima:  Anima has an enclopedic knowledge of everything: She learns something new every day, she knows every secret, and she can learn everything about a person by simply looking at them. However, she is quite sluggish and irritable due to not having slept properly since Bill Cipher was turned into a statue. Bill spent years screaming, scheming, and plotting inside of the statue and it kept her awake the entire time. So when Bill finally got out, the first thing Anima wanted to do was lie down and sleep but her duties with the trial is preventing that.

Cast

 * Jason Ritter as Dipper
 * Kristen Schaal as Mabel
 * Alex Hirsch as Grunkle Stan, Soos and Bill Cipher
 * Jackie Buscarino as Pacifica
 * Linda Cardellini as Wendy
 * Carl Faruolo as Grenda
 * Niki Yang as Candy
 * J.K. Simmons as Ford
 * Thurop Van Orman as Gideon
 * Seth Green as Lewis
 * Clancy Brown and Kumail Nanjiani as elder god Corpus (Deimos and Phobos respectively)
 * Ellen McLain as elder goddess Anima
 * Diana Rigg as elder goddess Vita
 * Rick D. Wasserman as chief god Omnes

Continuity References

 * Disco Girl by Babba appears in the scene with Dipper and Pacifica.
 * "Wendy's Song" from the episode "Boyz Crazy".
 * Lewis' lack of awareness towards Bill is because of the 'nevermind all that act' which prevents the townsfolk from speaking about weirdmageddon. Lewis is also new to the town and is only hired to work in the shack to fill Wendy's work shifts at the Shack.
 * Wendy mentioning the Weirdness magnetism when the group discovers that the elder gods live in different locations references the fact that the magnet attracts all sorts of weird creatures and beings to Gravity Falls.

Endings
Narrated by Dipper

Symbolism

 * Wendy's trials was designed to represent her coming to terms with her sexual identity. On Twitter, Alex Hirsch teased the idea of Wendy being bisexual in a pair of tweets and Wendy's storyline was designed as a coming out story. The ending of the movie also shows Wendy holding hands with an unknown woman as they watch a movie together, implying that she's in a relationship with another woman.
 * Wendy's trial represents her internalized oppression. In the movie, Wendy is afraid and deeply confused about who she is and what she wants because she started being attracted to other women and she's afraid that these feelings have cost her friendship with the Pines family. She knows Dipper still has feelings for her and assumes he'll stop being friends with her once she tells him the truth, so she resorts to self-destructive methods so Dipper would just stop having feelings for her. Only to become frustrated that Dipper is instead concerned by her behavior and trying to help through compassion, empathy, and by being patient with her. In the trial, The Champion of Corpus never struck first and when Wendy tries to outwit it through a trap, the knight cuts itself loose and still tries to approach her. This is reflecting how Wendy's fear of rejection has made her her own worst enemy and in another bit of symbolism, The Champion of Corpus has the same voice actress as Wendy, further showing her inner conflict.
 * The clay monster is allegorical of Wendy's sexuality,
 * Wendy is afraid of it despite feeling a kinship with the creature, like how a gay person would react to their feelings for the first time. She dismembers the monster but it only comes back stronger, like how someone would try to rationalise their sexuality. She tries to diminish it but it never completely goes away, like how someone try to avoid the person they are attracted to. She tries to put it in a box but she can't ignore it, like how someone would try ignore their attraction altogether.
 * The voices from the monster are rewound voices of her friends taken out of context since Wendy feared her friends and family would reject her for being bisexual and her fight against Clay-Dipper represents how she feared how her bisexuality ruined their friendship. When Wendy accepts the monster, she realises that it wasn't a threat to her and she realises that the monster makes her feel that she understands herself better and makes her feel complete. The violet broach references how violet flowers are symbols of the LGBT, specifically the love between 2 women.
 * Dipper's trial represents Dipper's inability to let go of the past and the phoenix represents his relationship with Wendy.
 * In the movie, Dipper held onto his feelings for Wendy all his life despite the harm they were doing to his self-esteem and he had to finally confront these feelings. He tried buring these feelings, he tried accepting her friendship, and he tried appealing to her identity crisis but none of the these options worked. In the end, Dipper consoled Wendy and helped her find love with another woman, accepting that she'll never see him in the same way. In the story, the phoenix rejected Dipper's help and reacted aggressively towards him when he tried to help, it's only when Dipper helped it with its ressurection that it truly appreciated him and helped him in turn.
 * In another act of symbolism, Dipper also changed with the phoenix. His argument and discussion with Wendy about Pacifica broke the rest of Dipper's self-seem issues and personal feelings of inadequency. By breaking Dipper's heart, Wendy pushed these feelings to their breaking point but allowed Dipper's confidence to reset and heal properly. Which is proven by Dipper becoming increasingly confident in the movie and finally let go of his crush on Wendy.
 * Mabel's trial represents her fear of the future.
 * The tarantula reprents Virgil, her teacher. Who intimidates her on her first day and accidentally scares her so much that it nearly deters her from following her dream. The tarantula was ultimately a neutral figure who's webbing allowed Mabel to escape, reflecting how Virgil isn't as mallicious as Mabel thinks and he will help her when asked.
 * The coyote represents Gideon, who Mabel distrusted and didn't believe his sincerety when he told her he wanted to atone and how he still regrets his past. In spiritualism, coyotes are seen as tricksters and a teacher of past mistakes, something that reflects Gideon's past as a manipulative trickster who forced Mabel to date him while he was an active threat to the Pines family. While Gideon in the movie is fitting the spirit animal interpretation of the coyote by; learning from his past mistakes, making quick-witted jokes to deflect insults, captivating some of the townsfolk, adapting to his new life as a lumberjack, being loyal to Manly Dan, and by being honest in his attempts to better himself. Mabel doesn't believe him and lets her trauma blind her to his attempts to do the right thing, as she assumes Gideon is up to his old tricks.
 * The cave is allegorical of Mabel's fears as she lets her fear of the future effect her dream job.
 * Soos' trial represensents his fear of fatherhood. He had to overcome his insecurities to be a better man than his father and while he's not free of his past, was able to internalise the problem and was able to overcome it and move on to be his own person.
 * Pacifica's unused trial reflects her fear of the Northwest reputation, the fear that she will never escape her past as a bully and escape her bloodstained lineage as a Northwest. The monster represents the hold her family had over her and the bell represents how they controlled her, the tree represents Dipper and Mabel Pines due to being a pine tree and the fact that Pacifica tries to cut it down. The apron being used to climb the tree represents the work Pacifica did to redeem herself.
 * Gideon's trial reprents his fear of the past and his obsession with Mabel.
 * The clones represent Gideon's past, the more he avoids them the stronger they get and they become more problematic. Gideon must remember the past so he can learn from it, not ignore it or avoid it because those things still happened and he can't erase his victim's memories.
 * The pool of tears symbolises all the sins Gideon commited in the series: objectifying Mabel, trying to kill Dipper, his rivalry with Grunkle Stan, how he manipulated his father, drove his mother into a nervous wreck, and how he betrayed the town by assisting Bill during Weirdmaggedon. Gideon must learn how his actions have truly effected others and why they are slow to forgive him, he has endure that prejudice to get through the dark times of his life.
 * The satyr represents gideon's sex drive and lust for Mabel. Through the satyr, Gideon was forced to see himself as Mabel saw him, and realised the truth about himself—that he was a creepy, manipulative, selfish, and entitled pervert who wanted to dominate and control Mabel by stalking her, sending unrequited advances, and throwing a tantrum when she didn't automatically love him back. The fact the satyr isn't killed, only trapped, reflects how Gideon can never fully be rid of his dark side because this will always be a part of him but he's learned from his experiences. He's internalised the problem so he can heal and move past it.

Trivia

 * The names of the elder gods are Latin: Erimus is Latin for "We shall be", Corpus is Latin for "Body", Anima is Latin feminine for "Spirit" or "Intelligence", Vita is Latin for "Life" and Omnes is Latin for "Everything" or "All".
 * Soos' trial is in reference to the legend of Sisyphus, a king who was punished for his self-aggrandizing craftiness and deceitfulness by being forced to roll an immense boulder up a hill, only for it to roll down every time it neared the top, repeating this action for all eternity.
 * Anima's trial and Soos' trial were inspired by the Salad Fingers episode "Glass Brother". For Anima's trial, they had to wait until the room was dark so they can complete the puzzle.
 * Mabel's trial is based on Plato's Allegory of the Cave.
 * Pacifica's trial was inspired by a few things; The Gorgon from Greek Mythology, The Wicked Witch of the East from The Wizard of Oz, Jed from Dead Rising 2, Disaster: Day of Crisis, and Mulan (1998).
 * Wendy gruesomely destroying Clay-Robbie is a jab at T.J Miller, Robbie's voice actor who went into multiple legal disputes since Gravity Falls.
 * Wendy's fight against The Champion of Corpus is reflected by the quote "Be careful who you choose as your enemy because that's who you become most like" by Friedrich Nietzsche.
 * Phobos and Deimos are the names of Ares's sons, with their names meaning "Fear" and "Panic" individually.
 * The central of theme of growing came from The Cornetto Trilogy.
 * In this alternate continuity of Gravity Falls, "Roadside Attraction" actually takes place between "The Love God" and "Northwest Mansion Mystery". This was done after Alex Hirsch stated that he felt that Roadside Attraction was aired too soon in the series and after he had tried retcon it in Journal 3 by saying Ford encouraged them to take the trip so he could find a way to the fix the rift. Roadside Attraction was moved so there would be a fluid transition between Wendy and Pacifica, with Dipper finally being able to move on and developing an interest in Pacifica.
 * The conversation between Dipper and Soos was inspired by the movie "The War of the Roses" and were largely based on the conversation between Gavin D'Amato and Gavin's client.
 * Gideon's trial was inspired by Greek mythology, Hal from Megamind, God of War 3, Meat Canyon's "Trapped in a Family Guy Cutaway", Salad Fingers "Glass Brother", and Harry Potter.
 * Corpus's design was based on Castor and Pollux from God of War Ascension and their personalities were based on Ares and Athena, who represented the brutality of war and the knowledge behind war respectively.
 * During the creation of the story, the song "Smile Like You Mean It" by The Killers was planned to appear in the movie, however this was hard to add into the movie without feeling like "You were telling or forcing the audience to feel something for the characters". While the song is open to interpretation, it's use in the movie is to emphasise the feeling of looking back and reflecting on the choices that have been made.
 * Dipper is looking back on his life in Gravity Falls, he believes he moved on from Wendy but he's mistaking nostalgia for love. He wants to get closure between him and Wendy and recreate that spark between him and her. His arc is that although it hurts for him to accept, he must encourage Wendy to explore these confusing feelings and fake a smile as they both move on with their lives. Dipper accepts that he needs to move on for both Wendy's sake and his own as he allows himself to find love again than play it safe with Wendy.
 * Mabel is looking back on her decisions in Gravity Falls and is appalled by her own decisions, often deciding to repress her personality and her own sense of urgency because she believes her decisions have only made things worse for herself and others by being selfish enough to cause Weirdmaggedon by asking for more days of summer. With Dipper's help, Mabel accepts that although she made some bad choices in her past, they don't define who she currently she is and there's always a chance for her to be a better person.