I know I said my previous Black Lodge Encyclopedia entry on Agent Cooper would be the last one for the time being, but I couldn't help writing another, so here are some theories regarding the Electrician and the two Woodsmen:

The Electrician and the Woodsmen

I've long suspected that one of the two woodsmen present during the Lodge meeting is the former husband of the Log Lady (most likely the one played by Jurgen Prochnow). In episode 1.05, the Log Lady herself states that her husband was a lumberjack:

“My husband was logging man. He met the devil. Fire is the devil, hiding like a coward in smoke.”

Apparently her husband died in a fire on their wedding night. This was not “a kind of fire", as the Log Lady puts it. Presumably, he had ventured too close to Glastonberry Grove and was transported to the Lodge. The night before he died, he appears to have retrieved some of the oil at Glastonberry Grove and brought it back to the Log Lady. The fire the Log Lady refers to may allude to BOB are the Lodge spirits in general. In FWMM, it is repeatedly suggested that fire is a metaphor for being possessed. These clues tentatively suggest that her husband was a former host to one of the Lodge spirits and died as a result of it.

I like to believe that his soul is actually trapped inside the Log Lady’s log. This would not only explain why she always carries the log with her but also why she communicates with it and remains informed of Lodge movements. Recall that, upon her death, Josie’s soul became trapped inside the wood of the Great Northern Hotel, so the theory isn't completely far-fetched. Throughout Twin Peaks, there are suggestions that the woods themselves are host to spirits or parts of the spirit world. In the same episode where Josie dies, Hawk states that “The wood holds many spirits”. Even the name of the area reflects this belief: Ghostwood.

Lastly, it would seem quite odd to cast a relatively big name like Jurgen Prochnow in such a pointless cameo if the character didn't have any relevance to Twin Peaks at all. Perhaps this detail more than anything else makes us question his role.

Accidental victims of the Lodge

Sometimes people may wander accidentally into the Lodge, perhaps simply by being near Glastonberry Grove or, in the case of Philip Jeffries, some other portal around the globe. Obviously some classes of people are more at risk of accidentally entering the Lodge than others, primarily by virtue of their occupation: those who work with fire or electricity (The Electrician), those who spend time in the woods (Woodsmen, Log Lady), those who investigate suspicious deaths tied to the Lodge inhabitants (Jeffries, Desmond, Cooper), and certainly those who investigate the Lodge directly (Cooper, Earle). Perhaps the Electrician was simply working on the power lines of Fat Trout trailer park when he accidentally picked up the current from the Lodge spirits. The Woodsmen may have been felling trees near Glastonberry Grove when they were transported.

On the other hand, in the original script for FWWM, the woodsmen actively participate in the “discussion” during the Lodge meeting, suggesting that they are not merely accidental onlookers. The woodsman played by Prochnow makes a strange tapping motion once the MFAP is done talking. Is he signalling his agreement with the "contract" outlined by the MFAP (regarding the green ring)? Or is he calling the meeting to an end?

Engineering department of the Lodge

As has been discussed in previous Black Lodge Encyclopedia entries, the Lodge meeting in FWWM outlines the hierarchy among the Lodge spirits. Mike/the MFAP is clearly in charge here, while the more “menial” spirits, watch on from the background. Note also the distribution of Garmonbozia in this scene. While Mike and BOB share multiple bowls of creamed corn, the lower order spirits (or perhaps indeed, only Pierre Tremond) have to be content with a single bowl (more on this issue in the Tremonds’ entry).

These menial spirits are literally used as pawns in the world outside the Lodge. The Tremonds, for instance, are used to lure the victims of Mike toward the green ring. Perhaps the Electrician and the Woodsmen are “construction” workers of the Lodge, manipulating fire and wood almost like an engineering department. Obviously an electrician would be useful to transport Lodge spirits out into the real world, constructing power lines where necessary. Perhaps the Woodsmen fulfill a similar purpose, gathering wood as fuel for fire.

The empty seat

An intriguing mystery regarding the Lodge meeting is the empty seat between the two Woodsmen, roughly on the same level as the Jumping Man. Is it merely an insignificant piece of furniture to add to the desolation of the room? Or was the seat occupied by a Lodge spirit?

Perhaps the question is whether the characters depicted during the meeting are meant to comprise the entire Lodge or merely a part of it. The most notable absentee is the Giant, a fact which was one of my primary arguments against the idea that the Tremonds are benign spirits. It could be that the empty seat belongs to him. This would make his absence less significant, of course, but in all truth I am not quite ready to accept the theory. The Giant seems to stand largely outside of the Lodge and may just be a personal spirit protector to Cooper, like the White Angel (and the White Horse?). This is corroborated by the fact that the MFAP literally refers to the Giant as Cooper's friend in the final episode.

Note that the seat is just one step below the (seemingly) most powerful Lodge spirits. Perhaps the seat was once occupied by Philip Jeffries, who is otherwise nowhere to be seen in the meeting he claims to have attended. The point of view would be consistent with the very first image we see during his narration of the story: a frontal shot of the Jumping Man.

But maybe the seat doesn't mean all that much. Neither does the presence of the Electrician and the Woodsmen have to, for that matter. Perhaps it is a just a way to show that there are other Lodge spirits besides the Tremonds, Mike, BOB etc, their role remaining purposely vague. Or perhaps they exist merely as an artistic touch to embellish the scene.

Interesting. I've always been fascinated by these characters and what their roles may be.

Given the size of their roles in FWWM, they may as well have been extras, however the First Woodsman and the Electrician are played by Jurgen Prochnow and Calvin Lockhart respectively, implying that their characters may have had greater roles later on (in future films?). Prochnow's name even appears on the opening credits.

 As for the garmonbozia... could that be an upturned pot of garmonbozia beside the jumping man?

Finally, could the electrician outside Haps be one of the Woodsmen in the lodge? I haven't got a screen capture of the Haps scene to compare, but the ZZ Top style beards are similar...

Also, the empty stool in front of the second woodsman... is this reserved for someone?

If this is the meeting Jeffries attended, why is there no sign of him?

Yes, exactly! All pertinent questions. I was wondering about the empty chair too. The Giant perhaps?

Or maybe Jeffries? Remember that the first image we see of the Lodge meeting is a frontal shot of the Jumping Man. If the shot implies someone's point of view, it could only have been viewed from the empty chair.

 Could it be that the chair is empty because Jeffries is sitting on a chair in the FBI HQ and reporting on what he sees 'as it happens' (time, in the Lodge, seeming to work differently from elsewhere). When he vanishes from Cole's office, could it be he reappears on the empty stool in the convenience store?

Of course the Beunos Aires scenes in the shooting script blow that theory out of the water...

Never thought about the entire woods themselves outside Twin Peaks being filled with spirits, moreso just Glastonbury Grove.  The trees themselves, interesting.

Very cool theory about the First Woodsman being Margaret's husband.

Never noticed the empty chair before!  Phillip Jeffries seat!

Sourdust, you continue to enhance my already rich Twin Peaks experience!

Lots of stuff to chew on in this thread - some of those cats outside Hap's did look similar to the Woodsman and/or Electrician!

"Harry, I'm going to let you in on a little secret. Every day, once a day, give yourself a present. Don't plan it, don't wait for it, just let it happen. Could be a new shirt at the men's store, a catnap in your office chair, or two cups of good, hot, black coffee. Like this."  -Dale Cooper

 I know, I just never thought about it LITERALLY ! :)

"Harry, I'm going to let you in on a little secret. Every day, once a day, give yourself a present. Don't plan it, don't wait for it, just let it happen. Could be a new shirt at the men's store, a catnap in your office chair, or two cups of good, hot, black coffee. Like this."  -Dale Cooper

Well Bob is clearly accountable to Mike too. But I think we can at least be sure that Mike is in control. He presides over the Red Room, acts as a gatekeeper to the Black Lodge, and controls the green ring. But he and Bob did used to be (still are?) friends. And as mentioned: notice the copious amounts of Garmonbozia shared between Mike and Bob, compared to the little bowl at Pierre's feet (if the bowl is indeed filled with Garmonbozia).

Presides over the red room?  I don't agree.  We don't even see him in there until FWWM.  And he's never a "gatekeeper" that I can see.  Yeah, he has control over the owl cave ring, but since we don't really know the full significance of the ring, that is hardly reason to support an argument that he's "in control."

I think we're assigning too much importance to garmonbozia and generalizing it across all the lodge spirits.  Remember that Mrs. Tremond doesn't want creamed corn in episode 9.  Pain and Suffering is BOB's thing (Mike's too, formerly), and the other lodge characters are castigating him over his "stealing the corn" (which I take to mean the Banks murder), but I don't get the impression that it is otherwise a commodity that they are especially interested in.

Well I beg to differ. Here's what I wrote in my entry on the MFAP:

"Judging from MFAP’s appearances both in FWWM and the show, it must be surmised that he is somehow the Lord of the (Black) Lodge. Not only does his own appearance correspond to the style of the Red Room, he is usually the first character to be encountered when anyone ventures into the Lodge. This is the case in Cooper’s dream, Laura’s dream and Cooper’s final visit to the Lodge. During the final episode, the MFAP acts as a gatekeeper into the Black Lodge, which Cooper enters upon the MFAP’s invocation of the words "Fire Walk with Me"."

No-one ever ventures into the Red Room without meeting the MFAP. As for Mrs Tremond refusing the creamed corn: from my entry on the Tremonds:

"An interesting mystery regarding the Tremonds is why they so adamantly refuse to eat creamed corn. Notice the frightened expression of Mrs. Tremond when Donna presents the creamed corn to her. Obviously the food reminds them of the Garmonbozia which is consumed by Mike and Bob.

Two questions arise: a) do they refuse the Garmonbozia because they don't consume it, or because it is forbidden to them? b) do they both refuse to eat Garmonbozia, or is it just Mrs. Tremond? An obscure detail in the Lodge meeting of FWWM may answer both. Study the wide shot of this scene for a minute, and you will notice several bowls of Garmonbozia on the formica table of Mike and Bob. This is immediately apparent. Look more closely however, and you will also notice a small bowl (of Garmonbozia?) resting at the feet of Pierre Tremond. As previously mentioned, the Lodge meeting outlines the hierarchy among the Lodge inhabitants. The small bowl at Pierre's feet adds the interesting detail that the "menial spirits" do in fact consume Garmonbozia, but in much smaller quantities. The bulk of the food is reserved to Mike.

The lower order spirits are not the only ones to whom Garmonbozia is more or less forbidden. Even Bob cannot consume more than he is allowed. Taken together then, the expression on Mrs. Tremond's face as she is presented with the creamed corn, seems to be one of fear, not disgust.

I can see many of your points, but I think they are certainly not the only ones that can be drawn.  I think you may be overstating the case of how far we can glean hierarchies and other relationships onto what basically amount to extremely underdeveloped characters.

What you seem to have here is a series of interpretations that work for you.  I think it is misleading to call your work an "Encyclopedia" if you resist alternative interpretations (even an interpretation that we can draw no definitive interpretation) based on inconclusive evidence.

I think you're overstating the importance of the "encyclopedic" aspect of my threads. They're not meant to be definitive. It's primarily a compilation of different theories and observations which, given the amount of debate and controversies a lot of these TP characters still spark, could be a useful point of reference for newbies and "veterans" alike. But all observations are valid as far as I'm concerned. And when someone offers their own thoughts, I try to incorporate them into the original text. Some of these intepretations could be right, others wrong, and some even mutually exclusive. But most are highly speculative all the same. I don't ever present my opinions as facts. Note the liberal use of the words "perhaps" and "may"... :)

See I don't mean to be reading too much into this either. What can usefully be said about the Electrician or the Woodsmen anyway? As mentioned, their presence may be purely artistical (the above shot is masterfully composed), BUT, as much as some people would believe that Lynch just stitches together any random weirdness that pops into his head, it's clear to me that a lot of thought went into the Black Lodge mythology, especially in FWWM.

Sourdust is a cool cat.  Now do the BOB entry!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

As a matter of fact, I have enjoyed these threads so much, I have thought about printing them out as reference tools for my TP experience.

"Harry, I'm going to let you in on a little secret. Every day, once a day, give yourself a present. Don't plan it, don't wait for it, just let it happen. Could be a new shirt at the men's store, a catnap in your office chair, or two cups of good, hot, black coffee. Like this."  -Dale Cooper

Gosh, thanks for the totally uncalled for insult there.  Way to add to the discussion.  I am "able to appreciate the work" ...I even enjoy reading these threads or else why would I reply?  I just don't think they should be called something they aren't.  These are interpretations.  And I just hope that if someone is going to print them out as "reference tools" then it is made clear that these theories are by no means definitive.

Seriously people... :)

Let's get back to the Electrician and the Woodsmen. 

'Even with complex languages used by intelligent people misunderstandings are common' (Sorry for the ham fisted paraphrase.)

One thing I've wondered about the Lodge beings in general is why are they all european?  I would imagine that at least some of the spirit beings  would appear more like the native inhabitants of the region.

Two hypotheses;

1)Spirits have a certain reflective aspect, showing an image that is close to what the viewer is expecting.

2)The spirits  appearance is reflective of the bodies they possessed in mortal life.  The beings we see are either people who 'fell into' the lodge, were enslaved by other occupants or were seekers after power, like Earle, who got what they were after, unlike Earle.  The native people of the region, through centuries of experience, know better than to fall for/into the lodge.

rb

"It's not so bad as long as you can keep the fear from your mind." - D. Cooper

"I must not fear. Fear is the mind killer." - P. Atreides

"Whoever can see through all fear will always be safe" - L. tzu