My introduction to Twin Peaks, and some other stuff

[Ygdrasel]

Born in 1991, Twin Peaks was cancelled a mere two months or so after I came into existence. Around...15, 16...I happened upon a fellow called Marilyn Manson and became quite the fan. In the course of my rather extensive fondness, I discovered references to something called "Twin Peaks" in his lyrics. Looking it up, I found my interest piqued but did not pursue it further. I knew there was a murder, I knew the name "B.O.B.", always spelled that way in the text, and I knew a single still image of the Giant against the Red Room's backdrop. But no more. At various points in the years to follow, I would find myself returning to Twin Peaks via Wikipedia or TVTropes (spoilers successfully avoided) but never digging into the show itself. Finally, at some point, I decided it was time.

And so it began. I immediately found myself hooked and binge-watching three, four, five episodes at a time. Even season two was great (though the James/Evelyn stuff drags, I find most of it still quite enjoyable). I immediately found myself purchasing collectable cards, the Palmer diary, the Access Guide to Twin Peaks, and I would have bought up the Cooper tapes but they don't come with a cassette player and I don't really care to buy one for such a trivial purpose. I also developed an interest in trying spruce gum, a favorite of the Log Lady (have yet to do so, sadly), and decided that I'd give coffee a second try (years earlier, I had deemed it repulsive) because hey, Cooper loved it, and he's got decent taste. I've since developed a fondness for the drink that possibly borders on excessive, by the way. Though unlike Cooper (and most Americans), I prefer it as a nighttime pleasure.

I should also note that, in the course of viewing season one, I often found myself enamored with the music and setting up loops of it via Youtube. One particular nuisance commented on a music video in ALL CAPS LIKE THIS TO FORCIBLY DRAW EYES TO THE TEXT, revealing Laura's killer. Nonetheless, I take a lax view to spoilers. Yes, the identity was spoiled but no details of how or why were even hinted at, so that's still a story to tell. Spoiled the destination, not the journey.

Then. The movie. I read the 'Reception' section of its Wikipedia article first, just to get some impressions. People trashed this flick. But, I often disagree with people when it comes to media reception, so whatever. I watched the movie. And I wasn't quite sure what I had just watched. Full disclosure, I made the mistake of multitasking during the first viewing. So I was confused but not outraged or repulsed by what I'd seen. It was bleak, to be sure, but I've always had a fondness for media that decided to be bleak and twisted. Happy endings and saccharine settings and "kid friendly" (because letting a kid believe doggy style is some sort of "wrestling" TOTALLY won't screw them up) euphemisms and censorings were tired and cliche long before I even exited my childhood years so I didn't mind the oppressive bleakness of the film. The other big issue seemed to be that it was "incomprehensible" to people unfamiliar with Twin Peaks...Well, yeah. And the internet would probably be incomprehensible to George Washington. And then of course, some just anticipated a really long Twin Peaks episode as opposed to a David Lynch film which is a fault of misguided expectation. Some just didn't enjoy seeing Laura "Prom Queen" Palmer put on the spot as a kinky messed up coke addict. Eh.

Point is, I liked the film. But I didn't return for a second viewing until recent rumors of a third season. Note, these were not the confirmed rumors of its Showtime return. Months before that broke, a casting call circulated for a Twin Peaks revival. Lynch and Frost both denied this but, seeing what is now happening, I think they were both just jerking us around there. I still refuse to believe the "25 years later" timing is a mere coincidence.



Now - The second viewing. My first attempt at a second viewing ran into technological difficulties that trashed the device. That was a year or so ago. It's been repaired. For the second second viewing, I thought back to talk of a great deal of cut footage and wondered "Did he ever release it?"

He did, as it turned out, but before I ever got my hands on that release, I tracked down a fancut of the film that reinserted all of that footage into the film. The legality on that is questionable but I bought the proper official stuff anyway so my karma's balanced. Now, I stumbled upon another fanedit by the same fellow who put together this 3.5 hour behemoth of a film. It's known here, Northwestern Passage. As the film is very much focused on the Palmer case alone, I felt it appropriate to re-watch the series in this more focused form prior to viewing the complete film. I enjoyed it quite a lot.

Having done so, I've found myself delving back into the mad web of lore that makes this universe such a grand place (and as such, I wouldn't mind even more seasons if things pan out that way), and found myself mostly fixated this time on the Black Lodge. The exact rules, the motives of its inhabitants, these have often been ambiguous at best...So I've spent some time with it, and thought I'd share my ramblings:

Now, the composition of the Lodges appears to be the white lodge and the black lodge. They appear to occupy the same point in space - the red room - but on different planes of reality hence making them separate places. This judging from how Cooper is cast into the Black Lodge without moving a muscle from his seat in the red room.


The White Lodge is referred to by Windom in the past tense only and we never do see it. It may be that this place was swallowed up into oblivion or simply cut off from the material world (as opposed to the Black Lodge which is still connected and accessible under the right conditions). Given that Major Briggs claims to have been there (though he remembers little) and is later spirited away there from the woods, the latter case seems more likely, that being that the White Lodge exists but is cut off from worldly access. Laura appears to cross over to this Lodge at the end of FWWM.

The Red Room is the "waiting room" prior to entering either Lodge, though it is mostly seen inhabited by Black Lodge spirits. The spirits we see here are the Little Man, the Giant, and Laura Palmer.

The Black Lodge is a place of tribulation for humans who enter it. They are tested and, if they fail, they are doomed. Within the Lodge, they face doppelgangers of themselves and others. The mad behavior of these creatures resembling loved ones along with the flickering darkness of this place serves to frighten and torment the entrant. Deputy Hawk tells them "If you confront the Black Lodge with imperfect courage, it will utterly annihilate your soul." and indeed, Cooper does falter when faced with the Lodge. And in that faltering, he is cast out from his own body, his physical form being taken by Bob. Why Cooper's soul is not actually "annihilated" will be explained soon. Anyway, Cooper's soul is trapped and Bob seizes onto the empty body left behind. This trick by Bob would lead Dale, trapped inside the Lodge, to attempt stopping Bob by way of manipulating events to negate Laura's murder at all and thus all events that followed up to his imprisonment there. (This attempt is portrayed in FWWM and ultimately fails due to Mike's interference.)

On the subject of FWWM and more specifically, the ring: I believe the ring to be an artifact by which Mike lays claim to garmonbozia. If a victim puts the ring on, Bob cannot touch them. Undoubtedly, Bob has been "stealing corn" for some time before the LMFAP sends the ring out into the world. Dale warns Laura not to take the ring: Though this will result in Bob possessing her (the ring prevents this, sending him into the murderous fury that sparks the series proper), she will still be alive and potentially saveable (as well as negating the subsequent events that trap Cooper there). It is this act of "pure love" for her which facilitates Laura's ascension to the White Lodge at FWWM's end.

Of course, the LMFAP doesn't care about Cooper's intentions, simply serving Mike's will here. He needs Laura to take the ring to lay claim on the garmonbozia that Bob will surely extract. It's a vendetta, simply put. However, in exchange for taking Cooper's chance at redemption away, he does appear to offer a trade: Annie is last seen damaged but safe in a Twin Peaks hospital, the LMFAP's ring on her hand. (Note: This scene is in The Missing Pieces. Whether it was cut for time or because it is not canon, I cannot say with certainty.)


Anyway, about the Lodge:

There do appear to be unique properties within the Lodge. Space seems infinite, or at least quite plentiful. Cooper passed through numerous rooms and never hit a wall. Time, as opposed to the one-way linearity of the material world (imagine a single thread), is more like a vast sheet. Bob reverses it at will when he confronts the trespasser Windom and in FWWM, events from past and present and future all seem to be meddled with out of order and at will by Cooper and other spirits. Burning oil and electronic oddities (like static) often accompany the presence or activity by Lodge inhabitants, as well as a strange whooping sound. Interestingly, visitors to the Lodge occasionally seem to carry residual effects back into the material world, such as when Jeffries (FWWM) arrives and the security cameras appear to malfunction, lagging behind the real-time recording. Or when Jeffries singled out Dale saying "Who do you think that is there?", as if he knew it was a doppelganger...Yet in the time period during which Jeffries returned, Dale hadn't been trapped in the Lodge yet. This coupled with his puzzled utterance of a calendar date suggests that the abnormal flow of time within the Lodge had disoriented the man and left him confused about time in the material world. Also of note are the blackened scorch marks left when Jeffries teleports away from the FBI building and onto presumably a hotel stairway. These same deep burn marks are seen on the spot where the Chalfont trailer stood before mysteriously vanishing.

In addition to properties within the Lodge, there are rules both inherent and enforced.

- The gateway (at least in the grove) only opens with a certain planetary alignment.
- The gateway to the waiting room (which is itself a gateway to the Black Lodge) only opens in the presence of fear, possibly because fearful entrants are easier prey for the doppelgangers, suggesting a certain sentience possessed by the Lodge itself to be able to separate prey this way.
- Inhabitants cannot exit the Lodge. A temporary material host is required.
- Possession of hosts is rendered difficult, imperfect, maybe impossible, if the host's system is tainted by chemicals. (Philip uses injections of some drug to ward off possession by Mike.)
- Hosts do not remember events while possessed but may remember the fact of being possessed. (In FWWM, Leland often expressed distress and sorrow after a period of Bob's influence.)
- Garmonbozia, human suffering transmuted into cream corn for nourishment, is the sustenance of Lodge inhabitants.
- *Hosts notwithstanding, Inhabitants cannot directly influence humans outside the Lodge. This is why everything they say and do to aid Cooper is cryptic like all the clues in his dream.
- Inhabitants in the Red Room speak in a strange, distorted manner. Human visitors, like Dale and Windom, do not.


That last rule is interesting because of the other human we see inside the Red Room: Laura Palmer. She speaks in the same distorted tongue as the Little Man, both in Cooper's dream and his actual visit. Yet Cooper speaks in his plain human way both times. This might suggest that human souls who linger long enough in the Lodge may adopt this speech. Note that this speech is distinctive of Lodge spirits only (again, Cooper and Windom are unaffected), and so a case could be made that if a human soul lingers too long, they are quite literally consumed by the Lodge and become a full-time inhabitant. "If you confront the Black Lodge with imperfect courage, it will utterly annihilate your soul..." - Utterly annihilate, yes...But Hawk never said how long that would take. It's quite possible that Laura was on her way to being so annihilated, and Dale himself had only just begun toward that fate.

This manner of the Lodge consuming and assimilating lost souls is another hint at the location itself possessing some form of sentience. Whether or not the Little Man, the Giant, Mike and Bob are native inhabitants or assimilated is debatable (Note: Cooper encountered a doppelganger of The Little Man) but assuming they were assimilated, it may be that the human hosts they choose are physically reflective of what humans they once were (the Giant was an old man, for example - "One and the same"). Also of note is the appearance of these spirits themselves: A dwarf and a giant. Following the "The Black Lodge is somehow sentient" concept, it may be that over time, the Lodge "forgets" what its residents looked like prior and so their forms become distorted.




The inhabitants of the Lodge:

The Giant
The Giant appears to be a lesser subservient inhabitant of the Lodge, aiding Mike. His host may be Senor Droolcup.

The Tremonds/Chalfonts
The Tremonds are an interesting case. Both in the show and FWWM, they appear capable of appearing and vanishing at a whim, such as when Donna tries to revisit them or when their entire trailer vanishes in FWWM. This ability coupled with their actions, often peaceful warnings or predictions, suggest that they act as messengers of sorts, setting up wherever they may be needed. Among the information they pass on is a prediction of Harold's suicide (via foreseeing the note he would write) and warning (cryptically, of course) Laura about Leland's possession (the eyeless mask and Pierre's words, "the man behind the mask...") and actions in FWWM. Notably, Mrs. Tremond seems offended, if not frightened, when presented with creamed corn.


Laura?
Laura appears in the Red Room, speaking in the distorted tongue of Lodge inhabitants. As noted above, this may suggest that over time, trapped souls are assimilated into the Lodge as permanent residents.

The Jumping Man, Woodsmen, and the Electrician
These are minor inhabitants seen in FWWM. Given this minor status and more normal appearance of the Woodsmen and Electrician, they may be relatively new residents. The Jumping Man emits a screeching sound for unknown reasons. One of the Woodsmen is sometimes theorized to be the lost husband of the Log Lady communicating from the Lodge via the log she carries, which would explain both her clairvoyance and why the log's advice is often cryptic.

Mike
Mike is only ever seen within his human host, Philip Gerard. He and Bob killed together, until he "saw the face of God" and cut his arm off. He seems to be the tip-top of the hierarchy.

Bob
Aside from when piloting Leland, Bob is seen only in his natural form. He and Mike are the two most powerful inhabitants of the Lodge. He prefers to obtain garmonbozia by directly inflicting pain upon the human populace, gorging himself on the grief and death. He possesses Leland in childhood. Personally, I've determined that question Leland recalled, "Do you want to play with fire?" as a sort of request to enter a host. Not that Leland would have understood...

The Little Man From Another Place
The LMFAP is apparently "the arm" that Mike cut off. He aids Cooper in the series yet appears at least somewhat allied with Bob in FWWM.


Actually, the exact nature of the LMFAP and Bob's quarrel is one of the more difficult nuts to crack here. All that stuff about the face of God and tattoos and such, I could write that off as early episode stuff that fell by the wayside (and it may well be)...But that's boring so I instead sifted through series and film lore trying to find some way to feasibly reconcile all of these elements...And I came up with an interesting theory. Note that the following is drawn from the full film, including The Missing Pieces, and does not account for any potential season three events. Also a quick note on season two: I like it. Nadine's garbage and Ben's madness sadly never paid off but it was fun to watch. Windom was great. Otherwise, I just assume the oddly not-horrified reactions to the Leland-Laura issue and general escalated oddness is a deliberate effort of the Lodge to pacify its preying grounds.

Now I could analyze Cooper's dream in full but much of it is unimportant. What is important is Mike's speech and the poem he recites.

Through the darkness of future past
The magician longs to see
One chants out between two worlds
"Fire, walk with me"

Through the darkness of future past... - May refer to the nonlinear state of time inside the Lodge and/or general uncertainty and weakness in life overall
The magician longs to see... - Refers to a person ("magician") seeking access to the Lodge and its abilities to overcome said darkness
One chants out between two worlds - Refers to a chant which serves as the method of entering the Lodge
"Fire, walk with me." - Refers to the chant itself

The arm Mike cut off bore a tattoo, "Fire, walk with me", which served as a key into the Black Lodge proper presumably through some manner of interaction with the imprinted words. When Dale enters the red room (waiting room) in the finale of the series, the LMFAP says "Fire, walk with me". At this time, the room bursts into flames and while the decor is much the same, it is now filled by flickering darkness and doppelgangers. This is the Black Lodge proper and most importantly, those words are key to moving between worlds. They must be invoked within the Red Room ("between two worlds") and this allows travel into the material world where a host may be taken.

Mike speaks of a tattoo and seeing the face of God. I believe the god he refers to is the Black Lodge itself. It is more than some room in another dimension, it is in some sense alive and sentient...And hungry. The inhabitants of the Lodge are extensions of its hunger, making the Lodge something of a "god" to them. It traps and annihilates/assimilates human souls over time. They become permanent inhabitants and live on in this form, gathering the garmonbozia to feed the Lodge and themselves.

Remember the rules of the Lodge? One in particular: "Inhabitants cannot exit the Lodge. A temporary material host is required."

Mike used Philip. The Giant used Droolcup. Bob used Leland.

But I think Bob was sick of Leland. Sick of temporary. After a particular kill, Bob "stole the corn", took all the garmonbozia from that kill for himself. And he liked it. He decided he was tired of sharing his spoils. Bob wanted out and Mike "seeing the face of God" was simply Mike being swayed to enforce the Lodge's will: Bob cannot get out.

So Mike cut off the arm and the arm became a separate entity. In doing so, he cut Bob off from regular access to the Black Lodge, and he needed access to make his escape. Note, it was the LMFAP - the arm itself - who spoke the words and sent Cooper there. Mike insured the only key remained a part of him yet more difficult to utilize than a tattoo. Cooper reads the words in the series off a paper slip. I believe this utterance serves to alert Lodge inhabitants, specifically Bob though others took note as well. In FWWM, Mike recites the words during a ritual, the purpose of which I believe was to pinpoint Bob's location to hunt him.

Yet to merely speak the words and be transported, I believe that requires not only being inside the red room but also the cooperation of TMFAP, the arm which once bore the key and since became the key. Nobody else can operate the 'key' in this way. But Bob found a way around that. All he needed was for a human to enter the Lodge and get trapped there, and he could latch onto the empty body and stroll right out into the material world. No more "temporary", no more "hosts" - Just Bob, a body all his own, unfettered and free to consume garmonbozia all for himself beyond the reach of consequences.

[marchug]

Hey!
I love what you wrote. I feel like a lot of things about the Lodges have been talked about before but you've dialed in and come the closest to how I feel about them and their inhabitants. While also giving me a slightly differing view of them. I will try and organize my thoughts and post something later. Anyway, thanks for the post!

[Ygdrasel]

Hey!
I love what you wrote. I feel like a lot of things about the Lodges have been talked about before but you've dialed in and come the closest to how I feel about them and their inhabitants. While also giving me a slightly differing view of them. I will try and organize my thoughts and post something later. Anyway, thanks for the post!

Glad to be of service. (Though apparently those thoughts of yours never got organized. )

The concept of the Lodge being a sentient and malevolent entity came to me some years back but the idea of it assimilating inhabitants is a newer thing.

I also forgot something about the Tremonds and Jeffries: Mrs. Tremond shows revulsion/fear at the sight of creamed corn (I.E. garmonbozia) while Pierre magics it all into his own hands. Mrs. Tremond may just disdain that she has to feed off of suffering, or perhaps she is actually subservient to Pierre(suggested by the way he promptly gathers the corn for himself, and her old, withered form what with lacking nourishment and all).

As for Jeffries, judging by his behavior and sudden vanishing after some electrical disturbance, I figured he had somehow escaped from the Lodge and was rushing to tell what he'd seen before they tracked him down and pulled him back.