TWIN PEAKS MYTHOLOGY

Introduction

Some of the spirits of the Black Lodge are often found on earth, more precisely in or near the woods surrounding Twin Peaks. The woods hold many secrets, referred to by the local people as the "evil in the woods." Twin Peaks, and the surrounding area is indeed a center for such strange activity, and somewhere in those woods is a passageway into the Black Lodge, the place holding the passageway is called Glastonbury Glove, named after the legendary burial grounds of King Arthur.

The Black Lodge

After Cooper was shot, the Giant gave him three clues, one of which was "the owls are not what they seem." This might indicate that the inhabitants of the Lodge take on the shape of owls when on earth.

The Lodge consists of many rooms, however the main appearance is as following:

+-----------+-----+-----------+
|           |  p  X           |
|  Waiting  |  a  |           |
|           |  s  |           |
|    room   |  s  |           |
|           |  a  |           |
|           |  g  |           |
|           X  e  |           |
+-----------+-----+-----------+

Within the Lodge you will meet your own shadow self. If you are unprepared or in any way distracted when entering the Lodge you will not be able to "defeat" your doppelganger and pass on to the White Lodge (or back to earth if you entered through a passageway as opposed to after death). NOTE: The process of "defeating" your doppelganger is not in any way reflected in the serial, what instead happens when Cooper is in the Lodge is that Cooper's doppelganger touches the good Cooper and thus the evil Cooper returns to earth whilst the good Cooper remains trapped in the lodge. Another question for speculation is: Windom Earle, when entering the lodge, does this with evil intent, and is as such a creature of evil, if Earle were to meet his Doppelganger, would it be a good version of Earle? Whether or not Earle met his Doppelganger before he met his demise (Bob took his soul) is of course unknown. A passageway, or portal, to the Lodge is found in the Twin Peaks forest. A place called Glastonbury Grove, which contains a circle of 12 sycamore trees, and in the middle a pool (of something, looks like engine oil). This passage is opened when Jupiter and Saturn meet, an event which happens towards the end of the serial. Also closely connected with the Lodge and the passageway is the smell of scorched engine oil. Margaret (The Log Lady) described the oil as being able to open a passage. Creatures from the Lodge are accompanied by the smell whenever they walk the earth (It is unknown whether the smell is there all the time, or just when a creature enters/leaves, or when the creatures perform vile or evil acts, such as killing.

"And there's always music in the air" speaks the Little Man from Another place (LMFAP). Apparantly the Lodge is at all times filled with music. Also in connection with the Lodge is the so called "Indian whooping sound" as mentioned in the FWWM script, this sound can be heard whenever one sees electricity lines etc. in the movie. This may suggest that electricity is a mean of transport for spirits.

NOTE: Another possible interpretation of that which I have referred to as the Lodge, is that it simply is the waiting room, as LMFAP calls it in Cooper's dream. Personally, I don't like that interpretation.

The inhabitants of the Lodge

Bob is a rouge spirit who breeds on fear and murder. He walks on earth to seek out weak souls which he can posess. Having posessed a person's body, he can take control over it and kill. He seems to be acting on his own accord, and not according to the will of the other inhabitants of the Black Lodge. This explains why most every other Black Lodge inhabitant we meet wants to stop Bob in one way or another.

Leland Palmer was one of the people unfortunate enough to be posessed by Bob. When he was young and trusting he could not resist Bob's powers. As years went by, Leland became the father of Laura Palmer. Bob coveted the girl, and insisted that she kill for him. Laura was however strong enough to resist Bob's powers, and Bob was therefore forced to kill her. Later Bob also killed Madeleine Ferguson, Laura's cousin (she reminded him of Laura). And ultimately he commited "suicide" on Leland. In the final episode of Twin Peaks, we find that Special Agent Dale Cooper is posessed by Bob as he (more precicely: his evil shadow self) returns from the Lodge.

NOTE: It may be that Cooper is not posessed by Bob, but is merely working with him. This is probable, seeing that it was the evil Cooper who returned from the lodge.

As to Bob's relation to the other inhabitants in the Lodge (apart from Mike) one can only speculate. For example: Who holds absolute power? Bob or the Little Man from Another Place (hereafter referred to as LMFAP)?

"Fire Walk With Me" - This is Bob's catchphrase. One possible interpretation is that fire means soul. What Bob actually does is to take souls, isn't it?

Little Man from Another Place

Little is known of the LMFAP. What we do know is that he is an important figure in the Lodge, and he is the first creature Cooper meets in the Lodge (LMFAP is also in Cooper's dream). LMFAP is the one who tells Cooper what to do in the Lodge (sort of anyway) and he even offers him some coffee, which he turns into oil by merely rubbing his hands together.

"I am the arm, and I sound like this (makes Indian Whooping sound)" - This is LMFAP's own words, the meaning, I take it, can be anything. The explanation which immediately pops into mind is the LMFAP is Mike's arm (which he amputated after he stopped killing with Bob.) Whether or not this reveals something about the LMFAP's actual "job" is hard to say. Seeing that he is an arm, he seems of little importance. Then again, he is Mike's arm, and thus represents the evil Mike, which still thrives on misery and woe. In a sense, Bob is also an arm, seeing as it is he who performs most of the "dirty work," presumably at the behest of the Lodge (Bob seems to be beyond contol, though. More on that later).

The Giant / Senor Droolcup

As LMFAP says, The Giant and Senor Droolcup (as Albert once called him) are "one and the same." The Giant's function in the series is to provide clues and warnings to Cooper.

It is important to note that the Giant says something like "this is all I am permitted to say," and also (in the shape of Droolcup) he says to Cooper after Maddy's been killed: "I'm so sorry." This indicates that the Giant would like to say more, but he can't. Then two questions arise:
1) Why is he not permitted to say more?
2) Why would the inhabitants of the Lodge allow him to say anything at all?
The questions are of course not given in the serial, but it naturally allows some speculation.

Perhaps there is some sort of conflict within the Black Lodge. Think about it: Mike has turned away from evil, and has sworn to stop Bob, who seems to act on his own will, and not on the command of whoever is in charge in the Lodge. And finally, there is the Giant, who works against the Lodge, by giving Cooper important clues (or perhaps he is working for the Lodge, trying to stop Bob, who has gone on a rampage - which puts everything into a rather different perspective).

Mike

Mike used to kill with Bob, but he saw the light of God and was reformed. He cut his right arm right off, for it had a tattoo saying "Fire Walk With Me" on it. Mike has sworn to stop Bob's evil series of murder, will he ever succeed?

The mythological / religious approach is used in many of the movies/serials I find interesting, examples of which are Wild Palms, Dune, VR. 5 and the UFO parts of the X-Files. All of which, with the exception of Dune (of course) are inspired by Twin Peaks.