What would she have been like?

Let's say she wasn't possessed by BOB and she was able to escape Twin Peaks and Leland, as well as BOB, or in someway had stopped being victimized. Would she/could she have ever made it to adulthood (and how), or was she doomed from the start? Even though eventually almost (if not) everything about her personality/actions were shaped by BOB, what if he hadn't chosen to target her or Leland? Was BOB always present? Because according to her diary, she knew of BOB before she turned 12, and at the time her "fears and pleasures" were becoming evident. Is this because of BOB, did he show up early on in her life because she was already depressed, and at a certain point, having sexual thoughts, etc. This idea always intrigued me. Does it make any sense?

I think this is a really great question and something I've thought about a lot before. 

Starting with her cocaine use, I agree with what Dr Jacoby says to Agent Cooper in one of the episodes. It's along the lines of the fact that Laura was self medicating with the cocaine. Of course one could make the same argument for all drug addicts - that their addiction results from a misguided attempt to find a 'cure' for their problems or at least to ease their suffering.

Laura's life was utter hell. And it wasn't a self made hell. The external forces she faced were so malevolent and so destructive and it doesn't seem that there was any escape from them, at least none she could have known about. Therefore in the circumstances her drug use seems understandable. 

It was the same with her involvement with various men and her prostitution. I always feel that Laura is totally beyond any conventional moral judgements that we would otherwise make. Laura knows she is doomed and each relationship she has with a man is a desperate attempt to fill some sort of need of hers while she still can. James is the 'pure' soul that can guide her out of the darkness, Leo and Jacques are the bad-boys that can help satisfy her sexual desires, Bobby is the handsome football star - the boyfriend that on the surface at least is the most acceptable official boyfriend, Ben Horne is the powerful older man, Jacoby is the one capable of understanding her split identity and dark dreams, etc.

If Laura was an ordinary girl we might label her, rightly or wrongly, as a 'slut'. I have never thought of her that way and don't think it would be appropriate to use that tag or judge her. What she is facing every day is just too heinous and evil. Rather than judge her for her behaviour I hugely admire her strength.

On the other hand I have always wondered to what extent Laura played a part in her own downfall. Was it her carnality or innocence (early on) that attracted Bob so much? If, in spite of Bob's presence, she had stayed the 'good girl' would Bob have left her alone? Was he feeding off her downward spiral into prostitution and drugs, grimly enjoying the corruption of this young girl?

Back to the original question, if Laura hadn't been tormented by Bob all of those years I think she would have emerged as a normal and happy adult. She might have experimented with drugs and with men but there is no way it would have reached the same extent as it did. For me that's the terrible tragedy of Laura. She had vast potential to be a happy and well adjusted woman but was utterly destroyed by Bob/Leland. In the FWWM movie she is already totally out of control and, by that point, even if you took Bob out of the picture completely, her life still resembled a hell. I think if you took Bob away though, even at that late point she would recover and go on to lead a 'normal' life. Of course that didn't happen.

M 

Yes, you are making a very good point that, in the end, she did defeat BOB, although it ended up in a tragic way. But BOB never got her ("she said she'd die before she let him in") and he had to give away the garmonbozia he gathered... he was defeated totally.

However if we want to discuss Laura's possible adult future, we have to think her without BOB

And I'm sure we would - yet we wouldn't but for BOB. Like you say, if there was no BOB, she had all the chance to become a happy healthy adult with a good life. Of course she might become a thoughtless leming with a pure green garden under a clear blue sky (I'm thinking the beginning of Blue Velvet here) but that's another matter. She might be a criminal, she might be a perfectly average citizen of USA, she might be an outstanding person of the XXI century - it's all possible but the point is that she would have an OPEN DOOR. Her future would not be determined.

Thinking along the lines of her early secret diary, where she already was influenced by BOB but not so thoroughly yet, I think she was very promising... a girl who had her eyes wide open, interested in the world, with strong moral roots and a good heart... who knows.

Bobi 1 Kenobi

B. Beware
O. Of
B. BOB