Probably the most important Black Lodge Encyclopedia entry not yet written, I finally present the long-awaited entry on the primary villain of Twin Peaks: Bob. Also known as BOB, or Killer BOB, or Robertson.

BOB

BOB and Leland

BOB is arguably the primary antagonist of Twin Peaks. It are his actions which directly or indirectly cause the deaths and disappearances of several people in and around Twin Peaks, including Teresa Banks, Chester Desmond, Laura Palmer, Maddy Ferguson, Jacques Renault, Windom Earle and Dale Cooper. Throughout the second season, it is revealed that BOB is an inhabiting spirit, a demon possessing Leland Palmer. Exactly how this possession came to be is hinted at by Leland himself in episodes 2.07 and 2.09. According to Leland, BOB used to live near the summer house of his grandparents at Pearl Lakes under the name of Robertson. He flicked matches at the young Leland, asking:

"You wanna play with fire boy?"

When Hawk investigates, however, no man under the name of Robertson turns up at Pearl Lakes. None of the older residents in the area remember such a man. It appears that only Leland ever met Robertson. This is later elaborated upon in Leland’s final confession:

"I was just a boy. I saw him in my dreams. He said he - he wanted to play. He opened me and I invited him and he came inside me."

Not much is known about BOB’s actions between the time Leland was a boy and his later life in Twin Peaks, as a respected lawyer and father of Laura Palmer. Leland/BOB began abusing Laura from the age of 12, possibly with the implicit knowledge of Sarah Palmer, who retreated into cigarette and alcohol abuse. Leland later claims he was unaware of being possessed by BOB, and of his own actions when BOB was in control:

"When he was inside, I didn’t know and when he was gone I couldn’t remember. He made me do things, terrible things. He said he wanted lives, he wanted others. Others that they could use like they used me."

FWWM takes a more ambiguous stance on this issue, however, suggesting that to an extent, Leland was aware of and even complicit in the abuse of his daughter. He singles out Teresa Banks in Flesh World because she "looked like [his] Laura", later killing her. For much the same reason, Maddy Ferguson suffers a similar fate. Perhaps this is one of the reasons David Lynch felt the need to revisit the series in a feature length film. The show had let Leland off the hook too easily, sidestepping the most precarious issues by shifting all the blame to a supernatural character.


Mike and BOB

The BOB storyline never reaches a truly satisfying conclusion on the show. This is probably the main reason why, to many, the Season 2 finale feels like such an anticlimax. Perhaps many, including myself, expected an ultimate stand-off between BOB and Cooper. Instead, when the two finally face off inside the Black Lodge, Cooper is paralysed with fear as he watches BOB consume Windom Earle’s soul. As Hawk states:

"You may be fearless in this world Cooper, but there are others."

Cooper then unceremoniously fails the confrontation with his shadow-self and falls to the possession of BOB; an ignominious ending for our two antagonists indeed. FWWM places the actions of BOB in a somewhat larger context, however, revealing that much of the events in Twin Peaks are a direct or indirect result of a "power struggle" between the MFAP/Mike and BOB. And although BOB may act as the primary antagonist of Twin Peaks, both the Season 2 finale and FWWM suggest that it was the MFAP who was pulling the strings all along.

In episode 2.06, Philip Gerard reveals more about the origins and nature of Mike and BOB. He states that both are inhabiting spirits, demons requiring a human hosts to move in the real world. Mike claims he and BOB were partners once and killed together in a perfect harmony of "appetite" and "satisfaction". They lived above a place enigmatically described as a "convenience store". The symbiosis appears to have been disrupted when Mike "repented". He excised the “evil” from his body by cutting off his left arm, which went on to lead an existence of its own as the Man from Another Place. The MFAP represents what is left of the old Mike, the evil Mike. By losing most of his former power, however, Mike also lost control over BOB. One of my most important theories concerning FWWM is that the Lodge meeting described by Philip Jeffries more or less depicts what happened to the Lodge hierarchy after Mike cut off his arm. New rules were established to ensure that the balance between the MFAP and BOB was maintained. On the show, Mike talks about the unity between him and BOB as being a "golden circle". He is referring to the green "owl cave" ring. In the Lodge meeting, the green ring is introduced as a bond between the two spirits, at the same time functioning as a mark of death for its wearer.

It appears that the primary pursuit of the Lodge spirits is the collection and consumption of pain and suffering, known as Garmonbozia, which appears to them in the form of creamed corn. The green ring ensures that the MFAP is not deprived of this food. Whoever wears the ring must be killed by BOB and the resulting Garmonbozia handed over to the MFAP.

One such victim was Teresa Banks. BOB disobeyed the rules, however, and stole the corn resulting from her death. This leads to the showdown we see in the traffic stop scene of FWWM. Mike reprimands Bob for his theft and reminds him of the oath his swore during the Lodge meeting by holding up the green ring. He warns him “the thread will be torn”. BOB’s fear of Mike ultimately proves stronger than his desire to inhabit Laura. When she slips on the green ring in the train car, BOB is forced to kill her and give up the resulting Garmonbozia to Mike. Thus, the dispute between Mike and BOB is settled. Much of this backstory is summarized by Leland while he is dying:

"They wanted her. They wanted Laura ... but she was strong. She fought ‘em. She wouldn’t let them in. Oh god, they had me kill that girl Teresa. And they... and they said... and if I didn’t give them Laura they’d have me kill her too."

"They" most likely refers to the MFAP and his servants (such as the Tremonds) or perhaps the MFAP and what’s left of Mike (Philip Gerard).


BOB and the cycle of abuse

It is not uncommon in the works of David Lynch to see thoughts, emotions or desires personified as actual characters. For instance, the Mystery Man from Lost Highway seems to be a personification of Fred Madison’s jealousy towards his wife, his paranoia that she is sleeping or has slept with other men. Likewise, in Twin Peaks, BOB to a large extent symbolizes the frictions within the Palmer family. Whereas the Mystery Man from Lost Highway may be entirely a construct of Fred Madison’s mind, BOB seems more like an abstraction from a collective (sub)conscious, or as Albert Rosenfield puts it, a conception of "the evil that men do".

BOB exists at least on some plane of reality, however, and is "real" in the sense that he moves around and kills people in Twin Peaks but on a symbolical level he also acts as a distancing device for the Palmer family, a state of denial about the incest taking place between Leland and Laura. All three acknowledge or recognize the presence of some "evil" within their house, but project these feelings unto quasi-supernatural characters. For Leland, BOB is a defence mechanism to deny his own feelings of lust towards his daughter, a strategy to maintain the semblance of ordinary life and reconcile his desire to be a devout family man, and his desire for Laura. For Sarah, BOB fulfils a somewhat similar, if darker role as the White Horse. Whereas the White Horse may represent the comforting bliss of ignorance, BOB is a more head-on confrontation with the evil within her husband. For Laura finally, BOB is her strategy to deny that it is actually her father that is abusing her. Like Leland, BOB is a necessary "fiction" for her to maintain the stability of the every-day Palmer family life.

In a more general way, BOB may represent the cycle of abuse whereby the abused becomes the abuser. There are some hints that Leland was abused as a child, perhaps by this "Robertson" he refers to, or perhaps even his own grandfather. And if we take this analogy one step further: why not both at once? We could theorize that Leland’s own grandfather was in fact the former host of Bob. Perhaps Robertson was not a "neighbour" any more than Laura claimed BOB was a "friend of her father". Again, we find a dual role for BOB as 1) an actual demon, and 2) as a distancing device to repress memories of abuse. It is interesting therefore that in FWWM, it is BOB’s ultimate intention to "become Laura".


BOB's motives

In general, I believe some people overstate BOB’s importance within the Lodge hierarchy. Although his actions drive much of the plot of Twin Peaks, he is ultimately not much more than a savage force of nature, an attack dog on Mike's leash. As Mike states in episode 2.06

"He is BOB, eager for fun. He wears a smile. Everybody run."

As Albert Rosenfield puts it, BOB represents the evil that men do, a purely emotional bundle of rage, greed and fear. He feeds on the fear and suffering of others, and literally derives his principal food from this source: Garmonbozia. The nature of BOB is probably the reason why we never see a stand-off between him and Cooper in episode 2.21. BOB is only as interesting as the people he inhabits. Otherwise he has nothing to say. He exists solely on an emotional level. For me personally, this is also the reason why I find BOB generally less interesting than most of the other Lodge spirits. BOB’s motivations are clear: he has none. He’s driven by basal, animalistic desires. The motives of the MFAP, the Tremonds, or even the Giant, on the other hand, are much more obscure, and therefore intriguing.

Although as user MisterGrey points out, BOB arguably has more relevance as a villain because his motivations are "real". The MFAP has little to do with everyday concerns or fears. He is just a shadowy figure enacting bizarre and impenetrable schemes from the Black Lodge. BOB represents forces of terror which are known to us: incest, abuse, torture,...

Scorched engine oil

Throughout Twin Peaks and FWWM, the appearance of BOB is associated with a sharp, penetrating scent of scorched engine oil. This element is first introduced in season 2 of Twin Peaks: Dr. Jacoby mentions the smell of engine oil in connection to the attack at the gazebo, and then later when Jacques Renault is smothered in his hospital bed by Leland Palmer.

The scent alerts people to BOB's presence. During the traffic stop scene in FWWM, Leland has to cover it up during his confrontation with Mike by overheating the engine of the car. It is also this scent which alarms Maddy in episode 2.07 before Leland/BOB murders her. Lastly, we must also surmise that the scent was present during the torture/murder of Ronette and Laura in the train car, as Ronette reacts with terror when she is confronted with the oil in the final episode.

This last element adds further depth to the idea of BOB being an abstraction of "abuse". It is common for victims of abuse or rape to strongly associate certain smells with their experience, for instance a particular brand of after-shave the attacker wore. If exposed to this scent, it could act as a powerful trigger for the victim to relive the trauma, even years after the event has taken place. A similar reaction is observed when Ronette is confronted with the oil in the final episode.

A pool of the "engine oil" lies at the centre of the twelve sycamore trees at Glastonbury Grove, the gateway to the Red Room. The night before the husband of the Log Lady died, he retrieved some of this oil and gave it to the Log Lady, who in turn passes it on to Agent Cooper in the final episode. This enables Cooper to enter the Red Room at Glastonbury Grove. Some also associate this oil with the viscosity changes of Cooper's coffee inside the waiting room. When his coffee turns to a thick, oil-like fluid, the MFAP shouts the line "Wow BOB, Wow". Interestingly, the same line is spoken by Pete several episodes earlier.

This is the grandaddy of them all, Sourdust!  I don't have time now, but will read and comment later.

Future posts could be - The Red Room itself, the convenience store, Laura's picture from the Tremonds,etc.

"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

For me at least, the fact that we know Bob's motivations make him a more compelling villain, because his motivations are so... real. The Tremonds and the MFAP seem tied up in feeding on human pain and suffering, which, while fascinating from a literary standpoint, doesn't have much relevance in the real world. However, the things which Bob represents-- and I do believe you nailed most, if not all of them, on the head, Sour-- are all very real and very frightening. Sexual abuse, incest, child molestation, the compulsion of good people to do evil things, basic human wickedness... Bob is a picture perfect physical manifestation of them all.

Glad you picked up on "they" in Leland's death scene, Sourdust.  One would think Leland would refer to "he" (BOB), but he refers to "they" multiple times which means he either had dreams or visits to the Red Room and saw the other Lodge spirits.

I have never understood the theory held (by my ex-girlfriend and many others) that BOB was a figment of Laura's imagination to mask the horrors that Leland was committing upon his daughter.  This is just not possible because multiple characters within Twin Peaks have seen him and he looks the same in every vision, dream, Red Room visit, etc!

I still can't figure out for the life of me how anyone could "defeat" BOB since he attacks from within.

I said this a long time ago and still stand by it - BOB is the scariest villian in TV/Film history.  I rarely get scared of anything, but man oh man did I used to think about him crouching behind furniture in the dark when I was 14.

"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 can actually get how one would see Bob, to a degree, as a "figment." It's a very complicated idea founded in metaphysics and Freudian psychology with a bit of Jungianism thrown in for good measure, one which I kinda sorta grasp but have difficulty articulating. It essentially boils down to mass hallucination on the subconscious level, combined with a physical manifestation of subconscious reflection in a pradoxical sort of manner-- Bob paradoxically being a non-existant symbolic entity and a real entity, both at once and neither at any one time.

Yes that was more or less my interpretation. An "evil" from a collective (sub)conscious.

I'll have to add that stuff about the engine oil.

Sourdust, I love your theory that Bob could have inhabited one of Leland's family members at the Pearl Lakes house. It just makes Bob seem timeless, like he has been terrorising people (the Palmers?) for centuries.

And MisterGrey, there were a lot of long words in your post, but not much meaning. I do think it is possible though that Bob is just a manifestation of evil within people. Or perhaps Bob is attracted to people that already have high potential to commit these acts. Like Leland, who can't be completely absolved of blame for what he did to Laura. Could Bob not inhabit Laura because she was purer than Leland and Cooper? She obviously wasn't a perfect human being, but after what Leland/Bob had done to her throughout her adolescence she still isn't corrupted, which is why she ends up in the White Lodge. Although I'm probably just retreading old ground now, about Hawk's "imperfect courage" quote aswell.

No I don't think it's meaningless at all. It pretty much comes down to my theory regarding Bob as the "archetypical abuser". Btw, the use of Freudian or Jungian symbolism (heavy-handed as it sometimes may be) is not new for Lynch either.

Blue Velvet for instance could be read as a fairly straightforward adaptation of the Oedipus complex, with Dorothy and Frank as grotesque personifications of Jeffrey's inner conflicts about sexuality. The difference between Blue Velvet and many of Lynch's later works is that the story is self-contained on a "surface level". It could be read both ways (straightforward, or symbolical) without inconsistencies. In Lost Highway, Mulholland Drive and Inland Empire, we are largely looking at the emotional "innerspace" of a single character (Fred Madison, Diane Selwyn, Nikki Grace). It's hard to argue that the Mystery Man, the Blue-Haired Lady, or the Phantom are anything other than the figment of a single person's imagination.

Twin Peaks exists somewhere on the dividing line between Blue Velvet and Mulholland Drive, with supernatural characters who could be read as symbolical abstractions of collective fears or emotions, but are nevertheless grounded in some form of reality. Either reading of the story contains loose ends, to an extent.

 Well, there's plenty of meaning there.

Psychologist Carl Jung theorized the idea of the collective subconscious, a realm of the human mind into which all humans tapped without conscious knowledge. He further theorized that within this realm there were archetypes, images and ideas which were shared by all people of all cultures despite geographic and cultural seperataion. All cultures, for example, developed ideas of gods, tricksters, wise men, etc.

Jung further elaborated on the idea of the Shadow, an aspect of the self composed of repressed urges and weaknesses. The shadow is not inherantly evil, and is capable of empathy, but its nature is defined by the individual and the nature of their urges/weaknesses. Jung himself referred to it as "the reservoir of human darkness."

We have, then, Bob acting as the junction of the minds of those who knew Laura (and Laura herself) and were either consciously or subconsciously aware of her pain and suffering, with Bob acting as both a physical manifestation of Leland's shadow and the projected emotions which surrounded it.

Tremendous post, Sourdust (in fact they've all been fantastic and offered a lot of food for thought), but are there really - as you assert - a lot of people who feel that the last episode was an anticlimax? Perhaps I'm missing something (it happens a lot!), but to me - and obviously there could be a degree of revisionism here, given the amount of time since it was first shown - it couldn't have ended any other way. Arguably, Bob and Cooper did face off - it's just that we didn't get the result that we expected. (Like I said, though, I'm not trying to score points off you, so I hope this doesn't come across that way.)

"There is no need for medicine. I am not in pain."

Thanks. I do believe the final episode is generally perceived as something of an anticlimax yes. Most reviews seem to talk about it in that way, but from personal experience I remember being thoroughly depressed by the conclusion of the second season. As a work of art I do admire the final episode. On that level it is probably among the very best episodes of Twin Peaks. And of course I won't deny that the final 20 minutes have given me endless food for thought. But as a conclusion to stories and characters we've come to care about over the course of 28 episodes, I think it's a very unworthy ending.

I mean sure, sometimes life is not fair, and people die who might not deserve to (Ben, Leo), but Lynch takes this idea to such grotesque extremes in the Season 2 Finale that he falls just short of wiping Twin Peaks off the map. I think the ending is a disservice especially to Agent Cooper, who is perhaps the greatest character Lynch ever created. What's the point in having him possessed by Bob? It doesn't fit into Cooper's character arc at all. Is Lynch trying to say that ultimately, despite the best of intentions, evil will triumph?

I don't know, the final episode looks too much like Lynch taking out his anger for Twin Peaks' cancellation on the audience. Confounding expectations is one thing, but why do it in such a spiteful manner?

The irony of course is that Fire Walk With Me was sort of Lynch's way of making up for it, but this apparently got lost on most viewers, no doubt adding insult to injury to many.

Great post, Sourdust.

I always wanted to see more of BOB when it first aired.  Every episode I would be thinking - is BOB going to be in this one?  You always knew he would be in a Lynch directed episode.

Episode 29 is one of my faves, but it did royally tick me off back in the day that the show I cared about the most and still do wasn't going to get a proper ending.

I liked FWWM from the first time I saw it (although I was underwhelmed when I found out the first TP movie was going to be about Laura Palmer) - (we already know that story!)

Lynch was basically bringing the last episode back in line with what his vision of Twin Peaks is and not the other writers that handled that duty for a large chunk of Season 2 when it lost its way for a while.

I love it, warts and all.  I always wanted more BOB.  What we have been given is okay too with the perfect circle of the series and FWWM.

"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

Excellent work, sourdust.

I've been reading all your encyclopedia-posts with great enthusiasm.

didnt lynch say somewhere that BOB was an "abstraction in physical form"? so that in our world of the audience he may/may not have psychological undertones, but in the world of TP, he WAS a physical entity. 

and to coolspringsj, if TP had to end at ep.29, then i thought it went out the best way it could. and having that last turn of the knife at the end was just beautiful. still one of my favorite endings to any of lynch's work.

 On what you said about BOB, isn't that like pataphysics?

As to the ending, I agree with you. Just thinking off the top of my head, Lynch has never been that great with endings has he? I really like FWWM's ending though.

"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