Hello to you all. I recently discovered the wonders of Twin Peaks and have watched both the series and film. I have also read "The Secret Diary of Laura Palmer." Naturally, with all these Lynchian works fresh in my mind, I searched the Internet and this site for interpretations of some of the more confusing aspects of the world of Twin Peaks.

I would like to offer some of my own interpretations of three of the more mysterious aspects of the show: the motives of the Lodge spirits; the purpose of Teresa Banks' ring; and some musings about Dale Cooper's doppelganger. These theories may differ wildly from the more commonly accepted ones, so try to bear with me.

 The Lodge spirits

First of all, I see all the Lodge entities as literal beings. Leland, for example, is completely under BOB's control when he molests Laura and murders people. BOB does work metaphorically, of course, but for the purposes of the plot, he and the other supernatural entities are very real.

 So, it seems to be a popular theory that the Little Man From Another Place is evil, because he represents MIKE's left arm, which was cut off after MIKE saw the face of God and dedicated himself to stopping BOB. The operative word being "after." How can the MFAP be evil if MIKE cut his arm off after becoming good? Also, we never see the MFAP performing evil acts, so how do we know he is evil? In fact, he is helpful to Cooper and is on good terms with Laura in the infamous dream of Episode 2.

And let's not forget that at the end of "Fire Walk With Me," the MFAP and MIKE are clearly allied against BOB. We know from the series that MIKE is one of the good guys, on a mission to find BOB and stop him. Therefore, since we know that the MFAP is opposed to BOB, who really is evil, we can reasonably deduce that the little guy is on the side of good. Of course, this leads into the whole "garmonbozia" thing, which I'll get to in a minute.

 Now for a word concerning the remaining Lodge spirits. The Tremonds/Chalfonts (the old woman and her grandson Pierre) are working alongside the MFAP in "Fire Walk With Me," and warn Laura about BOB's search for her secret diary, so it seems reasonable that they, too, are good. This leaves only the Giant, who is obviously benevolent and also seems to be on good terms with the MFAP. Therefore, I submit that, with the exception of BOB, all the Lodge spirits we see are on the side of good.

 The ring

Alright, so many people believe that the mysterious green ring that MIKE throws at Laura and she puts on just before she dies prevents BOB from possessing her, forcing him to murder her. MIKE apparently does this because BOB stole garmonbozia (creamed corn/pain and suffering) from himself and the MFAP, and the ring exists to "wed" them to a victim of BOB's that puts it on, so that they can be repaid. I would like to challenge thus theory.

Firstly, MIKE is clearly trying to prevent Laura's death. He even yells at her "It's him! It's your father!" in an obvious attempt to warn Laura that Leland is possessed by BOB. Why on Earth would MIKE, who is trying to prevent BOB from murdering innocents, get into a vindictive spat about stolen garmonbozia?

Rather, I believe that BOB is breaking some sort of moral code within the Lodge when he murders people. Therefore, after Teresa's murder, the MFAP institutes the ring to discourage BOB from killing again. If MIKE can get the ring to BOB's victim before she/he is killed, BOB will be unable to take their garmonbozia and the victim's soul will ascend to the White Lodge, as Laura's soul does at the very end of the movie. And BOB knows this.

In regards to the ring preventing possession: I don't think it does. The way Leland words his story in Episode 16, it would appear that Laura stopped BOB from possessing her through sheer force of will, and not due to the ring's protection. There is no indication that BOB even saw Laura putting on the ring at all. The way I see it, BOB fails at possessing Laura before she puts on the ring, and begins to stab her just after she does. MIKE throws the ring into the train car because he knows that Laura is going to die, but wants to provide her with post-death salvation from an eternity in the Black Lodge.

MIKE would probably have given the ring to Maddy as well, but at the time he is in Haloperidol withdrawal and incapable of remembering too much about his past. This dooms poor Maddy to the Black Lodge.

Cooper and his doppelganger

So if the ring was not given to Laura in the hopes that doing so would ensure her death, why did Cooper tell Laura not to take the ring?

Well, it could be Cooper's doppelganger who appears in Laura's dream. This makes sense because there would be no purpose for time-travel during this visit to the Lodge. There was in Episode 2, because Cooper was being warned about his future visit and imprisonment in the Black Lodge.

If there is no time-travel involved in Laura's dream, that means that the Cooper she meets has to be the bad one. The real Cooper is at the moment safe and sound in Philadelphia!

Of course, you could argue that Cooper should then have the blank white doppelganger eyes. To that, I retort that it would make no sense for the good Cooper to tell Laura not the take the ring. The ring is her salvation. On the other hand, the bad Cooper is allies with BOB, who does not want Laura to be wearing the ring when he kills her.

So, let me know what you guys think.

Laura and Cooper both recognise the ring is cursed. Cooper tells Laura not to take the ring because he's trying to save her. Laura ignores his warning because she'd rather die rather than be possessed by Bob.  

I don't believe that the ring prevents BOB from possessing Laura. She's already succeeded in defying him before MIKE throws the ring into the train car. And why would Coop warn Laura to not take the ring that prevents BOB from consuming her garmonbozia and allows her soul to ascend to the White Lodge? If Laura had listened to Cooper, she would be doomed to the Black Lodge. Therefore, I think that the Cooper we see in Laura's dream is in fact the doppelganger.

 Incidentally, the script indicates that it's the real, good Cooper we see in the dream. However, considering that the script does not include Laura putting on the ring, and in fact says that she ends up in the Black Lodge, I'm not taking it into consideration for my theories.

IMHO

The ring doesn't prevent Bob from possessing Laura, it forces him to kill her. That's why taking the ring and allowing herself to be killed saves Laura from possession by Bob. Cooper warns Laura not to take the ring because he's trying to save her life. He doesn't understand the true nature of her predicament. Cooper telling her not to take the ring is a narrative device so that when Mike throws it into the train car we know it's a bad thing. It becomes a literal manifestation of Laura's death wish. The beauty of FWWM is that Laura ultimately has the strength to defeat Bob whereas if she'd taken Cooper's (logical) advice she would have lived and been possessed by Bob (logic doesn't save Cooper from Bob).  

I could be wrong. There were other Twin Peaks films (tentatively) planned that would have explored the nature of the Lodge and it's inhabitants and who knows where that would have led. 

im am completely with you on this faceintheleaves. i was trying and failing to say this in the JUDY thread. actually, i just wrote a long reply on this thread 20 minutes ago and hit a key that made the page go back and now its gone and ive already blown my load on this point and dont have the energy to do it again. but really, i am wrong to feel i have to. your example is exactly what i meant in saying my main point in the JUDY thread was that one must be using the rules the film makes for itself to dissect the ring's purpose, and i couldnt agree with you more.

forgiveness-if youre reading this, i am not attacking you personally or your ideas. i am talking about your approach to discourse. i think you have a very interesting and well thought out interpretation, but youre letting the abstract parts of the film become the basis for your narrative instead of the narrative being disrupted by the abstract. there's nothing i can see in the film to suggest the former logic over the latter and this lead to a stalemate. and generally in western popular culture, this culminates in some people have the most apathetic opinion possible, that its "weird for weirdness'" sake(again, im not point the finger at anyone on this site(well, maybe a couple) but not the ones who have been most active. so i apologize for my failure to make a clear point. if i had faceintheleaves erudition and brevity, maybe i could have made a better arguement. but its been said best, and right here.

That still leaves the problem of why MIKE, who is trying to stop BOB from killing innocents, is giving Laura a ring that ensures her death.

Maybe the ring prevents possession and BOB just killed Laura in frustration that he couldn't have her. Laura might have known that BOB wasn't going to let her leave that train car alive, which would explain the look on her face in her final moments. If BOB can't be in her, he'll just take her life instead.

 Altogether, we really don't have enough evidence to prove it one way or another. All we know is that:

1.) If BOB kills someone when they have the ring on, he has to give the accrued garmonbozia to the Man from Another Place.

2.) MIKE is trying to save Laura's life, so the ring cannot ensure death.

3.) Laura ends up in the White Lodge after putting on the ring.

4.) BOB was trying to possess Laura before she put on the ring. When he saw the ring, he killed her. But then, BOB thought he had killed Ronette, and she wasn't wearing any ring. He kills Maddy and Leland and they don't have the ring.

5.) Cooper warned Laura against taking the ring (due to a lack of knowledge?).

Also, I don't think that human conceptions of good and evil can be perfectly applied to Lodge Spirits. BOB is undeniably bad, but I don't think that TLMFAP or MIKE can be accurately described as either good or evil. IMO, the exact nature of their motives is beyond human understanding.  So, I don't buy the idea of MIKE's intent to stop BOB having anything to do with protecting "innocents." I see it more as MIKE being intent upon enforcing the established rules that BOB was rebelling against. 

Oh... I forgot to add that, again IMO, when Laura put on the ring, it irrevocably thwarted BOB's long held plan of wearing her down to the point that he could take possession of her body. He was bound kill her and to turn over her Garmonbozia.

I've always felt the Lodge spirits were evil, and they weren't trying to stop (or help stop) Bob because they were good, but more because he wasn't playing by the rules. Whatever those rules were. It could also be that his actions drew too much attention to them.

The ring, however, still remains a mystery to me. 

About the ring: both Laura and Teresa had a numb left arm and they both used the ring. This could mean that Mike possessed them both at some point. His spirit would not be able to control their left arm since he is not a complete spirit; LMFAP is missing. Maybe putting on the ring lets Mike inside and therefore BOB cannot enter because two spirits won't fit into one body. Another reason why I think that they were possessed by Mike is that we see LMFAP inside the red room reacting to the killing of Laura (or was that Maddy or Teresa? My memory is too bad). Since he is connected to Mike, he should sense the killing. It could actually be that Mike, being inside the victim, experiences the feeling of being killed and that's why he can rightfully claim his garmonbozia - it's his pain and sorrow instead of the real (physical) victim's. It doesn't need to imply that Mike is good though - he just does it to get garmonbozia, his bread and butter.

We also know that Mike saw the face of God so the above seems to relate to the Bible where Jesus grants salvation to others by being crucified. Mike grants salvation to the victims of BOB.

But why would Mike still want to be associated with LMFAP if that was the evil he cut off? Maybe because that's the only way to keep BOB under control. BOB is only afraid of the full Mike.

Hi again.

I just noticed that some of the things I mention above were also in a post by 'forgiveness' (are you still out there? I'm missing your posts) in the convenience store thread.

I can't get behind the idea of Mike possessing Laura or Theresa, as he's already in the body of Phillip Gerard. As to why Mike is still associated with the LMFAP, there could be any number of reasons. One is that it's like the phantom limb syndrome you see in people with amputation. It could also be that LMFAP is his link to the Black Lodge. Hard to say really, though I always thought it eerie when LMFAP would hold the Gerard's shoulder stump and they would speak in unison. 

Back to the ring: I think it's fairly clear that the ring prevented Bob from possessing Laura. Well, probably. Theresa wore it as well, though she was never a candidate for hosting Bob. And what about Agent Desmond? Again, hard to say. I agree with the poster (Forgivness or Bob1 possibly), that Coop was trying to prevent being trapped in the Black Lodge. Laura being possessed by Bob would most likely stop his ever coming to Twin Peaks, and one has to imagine that Cooper's ability to communicate from within the Lodge were few and far between. It could easily be a case of grasping at straws in his case. And remember, if he's not in the Black Lodge, neither would Annie, to those who think Coop was too noble to let Bob have Laura.

I think the ring has both symbolic and physical properties. Much like the inhabitants of the two Lodges. Certainly I think that no matter what those properties are, it was a tool of the Black Lodge. 

As to how Mike could possess BOB's victims: it might be that spirits can leave their hosts from time to time. This is supported by the changing behaviour of Leland (especially clear in FWWM when he starts crying after having frightened his daughter at the dinner table earlier in the day). Also, we see Mike in the lodge after Laura's murder, yet he is in the same host (Gerrard) both before and after. But then again, time works in strange ways in the lodge so it's impossible to say anything conclusive I guess.

I think part of the reason for killing Teresa was to feed Mike. She was given the ring, not to protect her from BOB, but to let Mike/LMFAP have garmonbozia. Without the ring, Mike would not feel her pain and sorrow. And wasn't Teresa trying to blackmail Leland? I don't recall if that was made explicit in FWWM but if that was the case, BOB would also have an interest in the murder - he would not want her to reveal secrets about Leland as he was a good host, giving easy access to Laura.