This page was created for those of you who are having trouble decoding the cryptograms found in Gravity Falls. I will explain all of them here.
3 letters back (Caesar)
To decode a message with the "three letters back" Caesar cipher, you will first need to know the alphabet.
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
Now, take this message:
ZHOFRPH WR JUDYLWB IDOOV
To decode this message, we need to go three letters back within the alphabet for each letter. So, the first letter is Z. The letter before Z (one letter back) is Y. The letter before Y (two letters back) is X. And the letter before X (three letters back) is W. So, the first letter in our message is W.
The second letter is H. The letter before H (one letter back) is G. The letter before G (two letters back) is F. And the letter before F (three letters back) is E. So, the second letter in our message is E.
Now you try. Decode the rest of the message. The answer can be found at the bottom of this page.
Atbash
The atbash cipher is a mirror code. First, I will write the alphabet. Then I will write it backwards.
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
Z Y X W V U T S R Q P O N M L K J I H G F E D C B A
An atbash cipher simply takes one and turns it into the other. Let's take this message as an example.
GSRH NVHHZTV RH DZWWOVH ZKKILEVW.
Now, reverse the alphabet. The method I will use involves using the A1Z26 cipher below. Then, once you have one letter, take the letter whose number will add up to 27. So A's number is 1, so I will replace it with number 26, which is Z.
The first letter in our puzzle is G. G is the 7th letter in the alphabet. So its number is 7. 27-7=20. Letter number 20 is T, so the first letter in our message is T.
The second letter in our puzzle is S. S is the 19th letter in the alphabet. So its number is 19. 27-19=8. Letter number 8 is H, so the second letter in our message is H.
Now you try. Decode the rest of the message. The answer can be found at the bottom of this page.
A1Z26
An A1Z26 cipher is very simple, and once you understand it, it makes other codes much easier to crack. It is as simple as converting each letter to a number. First, here is the alphabet and numbers from 1 to 26.
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26
Now, simply match up each letter to its corresponding number. So A is 1, B is 2, etc. all the way down to Z is 26, hence the name. Dashes represent letters in the same word; spaces represent spaces.
Now, let's decode this message.
20-15 2-5 3-15-14-20-9-14-21-5-4...
The first number is 20. Letter number 20 is T. So the first letter in our message is T.
The second number is 15. Letter number 15 is O. So the second letter in our message is O.
Then they left a space. So you know that the first word in our message is TO.
Now you try. Decode the rest of the message. The answer can be found at the bottom of this page.
Combined
The combined cipher is simply multiple ciphers combined. In Gravity Falls, the only combined cipher we've seen so far is the combination of A1Z26, to atbash, to Caesar set three letters back. Let's decode the following message.
5-19-23-6-21-16 18-9-6 4-16-19 22-12-15-10-20-19-25-19
The first number is 5. First, we put it through the A1Z26 cipher to translate it to E. Then we use the atbash cipher and we get V. Finally we use the Caesar cipher set three letters back to get S. So, the first letter in our message is S.
The second number is 19. First, we put it through the A1Z26 cipher to translate it to S. Then we use the atbash cipher and we get H. Finally we use the Caesar cipher set three letters back to get E. So, the second letter in our message is E.
Now you try. Decode the rest of the message. The answer can be found at the bottom of this page.
Ottendorf
An ottendorf cipher takes letters out of other texts to form a new message. There is one of these ciphers used in the blindeye symbol page in Dipper's Guide to the Unexplained. There are numbers in each cipher telling you the specific location of each letter in the key text. Let's do an example. Here is our key text and code.
In the grand mystery of Gravity Falls, kickboxing is wrong.
[1-1] [2-3 6-3 2-1] [8-4 6-5 3-5 4-3]
(I know it's silly, but it works.)
The numbers vary from cipher to cipher, but in this case, they are telling you to look for the word in the message, and the letter in that word. Let's try a few letters.
The first number is 1-1. It is telling you to look at the first letter of the first word. The first word is in, so the first letter is I. So the first letter in our coded message is I.
Brackets, in this case, signify the boundaries of words. So you know that the first word is I.
The second number is 2-3. It is telling you to look at the third letter of the second word. The second word is the, so the third letter is E. So the second letter in our coded message is E.
Now you try. Decode the rest of the message. The answer can be found at the bottom of this page.
Vigenere
Think of a Vigenere as a Caesar cipher for each letter. You go a certain number of letters forward or backward in the alphabet, using a keyword to tell you how many. If you need a reference, look up the tabula recta. I don't feel like putting it here. Now, let's try decoding a message.
Cyao khjtr hlk Trpjtxms's hsazv hjzlc?
Keyword: GRAVITYFALLS
Now, let's go through this. The first letter in the message corresponds to the first letter in the keyword. So C corresponds to G. Now, put the keyword letter through an A1Z26 cipher (explained above), subtract 1, and move the message letter that many letters back.
Our first keyword letter is G and our first message letter is C. G is letter number 7. 7-1=6. So we move the C 6 letters back. B is one, A is two, Z is three, Y is four, X is five, and W is six. So the first letter in our message is W.
Our second keyword letter is R and our second message letter is Y. R is letter number 18. 18-1=17. So we move the Y 17 letters back. (In this case, we can also move it 9 letters forward because it comes out the same. This is because 26-17=9. The first letter could also be moved 20 letters forward.) Once we've done the math, it comes out to H. So the second letter in our message is H.
Note: once you have finished the keyword, simply cycle back to the beginning.
Now you try. Decode the rest of the message. The answer can be found at the bottom of this page.
Answers
Caesar: WELCOME TO GRAVITY FALLS
Atbash: THIS MESSAGE IS WADDLES APPROVED
A1Z26: TO BE CONTINUED...
Combined: SEARCH FOR THE BLINDEYE
Ottendorf: I EAT KIDS
Vigenere: WHAT COLOR WAS NAPOLEON'S WHITE HORSE?
