A few days ago I posted a long piece with this theory explored in full. Someone suggested the ideas were interesting, but the post was too long and it might benefit from a quick summary instead. Here it is in a few paragraphs. I have attached an extended and slightly improved run-through as the first comment:
The basic theory is that Dale was manipulated by the Red Room spirits into unwittingly revealing the location of Carrie aka Laura. In Episode 8, when the evil entity sends bad spirits to Earth, the Fireman reacts by sending a golden orb containing Laura’s image. Although Lynch & Frost never explain what the orb actually is, presumably it poses some kind of threat, so naturally once they learn of it’s existence the evil spirits would want to track it down and eliminate it.
The evil spirits have held Dale prisoner for 25 years, subjecting to him to various MK ULTRA-style mind experiments and torture. It’s clear they have also done this to Jeffries too, who seems to have had his mind completely extracted from his body. At some point (it is not clear when) the evil spirits learn that the Fireman has given Dale directions to finding Carrie/Laura, and these directions come in the form of a code that only be interpreted by Dale. Knowing that Dale would never willingly reveal this intel, the evil spirits engineer a variety of mental and real-world simulations to manipulate Dale into delivering Carrie/Laura directly to them.
One of these simulations is the forest rescue sequence, which is designed to manipulate Dale’s emotions from the initial elevated feelings of pride and satisfaction in successfully rescuing Laura, to the abrupt, violently induced feelings of pain, guilt and accountability that comes when she is suddenly taken away again. This places Dale in an extremely vulnerable emotional state, allowing the evil spirits to implant the idea that he must “Find Laura” and rescue her, unwittingly delivering her directly to them. During the various stages of the plan Mike and Red Room Diane act as Dale’s handlers. Mike apparently handles various aspects including mental simulations, while Red Room Diane (sometimes disguised as Naido) handles the compromised Dale mainly in the physical world, at least up until the point where she has to step back to avoid the Fireman’s detection.
The jumping-off point for this theory is asking: What has been happening to Dale during his 25 years as a prisoner in the Red Room? Then answering this question by looking at real-world examples of long-term POWs. Naturally this research might lead us to the MK ULTRA style experiments where prisoners are tortured into submissive states, allowing ideas to be planted, personalities to be altered and minds to be controlled. Some of the Red Room sequences arguably suggest this, and the concept itself is not so different from some of the material covered in the Secret History book, particularly the parts that suggest evil spirits have been using various methods to control human history for decades. Of course we will never know, but we can imagine this initial plot device may have originated with Mark Frost, and was later given the full-heroin surrealist interpretation by David Lynch, who reworked it into something much more improvisational, ambiguous and abstract. Many elements of Season 3 deal with altered realities, the layering of identities and how well we really understand who we are and the world around us. Are we in control of our own actions? Are there larger, unknown forces shaping how we move through the world? How much of what we refer to as our identity is really us, and how much will remain if we are transferred into new situations? Do we live inside a dream and who constructed the dream?
If you are interested, here is a more detailed and slightly improved run-through. The previous run-through can be deleted or ignored!
FOCUS ON THE DONUT, NOT THE HOLE
With all the unanswered questions in Season 3 it is almost impossible to come up with any theory that does not involve speculation at some level. Some of the points below do include speculation, but when possible they attempt to end coming back to the facts we see on screen. As Lynch himself once said “Focus on the donut (what we know), not the hole (what is unanswered).
THE GOLDEN LAURA ORB
In Episode 8, the atom bomb somehow allows the evil entity sends evil spirits to Earth. The Fireman watches this on his screen and reacts by sending a golden orb with Laura’s image inside it to Earth. What this orb represents is never explained. Presumably it is some kind of retaliation, but that is never confirmed. If it is meant as some kind of threat to the evil spirits plan, or even some form of bait, then it makes sense that if the evil spirits learnt of it’s existence, they would naturally want to locate it and destroy it. Or at least know where it was so they could keep tabs on it. Admittedly the motivation in the final part of this theory rests on the assumption that the evil spirits do want to locate this golden orb, which is something that is never actually answered. However this doesn’t effect the idea that during his 25 years in prison, the evil spirits may have experimented on Dale’s mind in some way.
THE FIREMAN’S CONVERSATION WITH DALE
During this sequence the Fireman provides 3 cryptic clues that will ultimately lead him to Carrie. Presumably Carrie contains some form of Laura’s identity, or may in fact be holding the Laura Orb (some people have noted the orb seems to be headed to Texas on the map), but again this is never confirmed. It is also suggested that someone or something, we don’t know who, is listening to this conversation so some things cannot be said aloud. What is in the house, and even which house they are referring to is never explained. However we do know that in this scene Dale receives the clues that will lead him to Carrie, and presumably he is the only person who can interpret them.
NAIDO
Naido will later be revealed to be Red Room Diane in disguise - a figure whose surrealist transformation sequence and costume design clearly associate her with the Red Room. This suggests she may in fact be an evil spirit; some kind of personification of the Red Room itself; or simply that this is the real Diane and the costuming implies she is now under the influence of the Red Room. Ultimately the signal seems to be: don’t trust her.
When Dale meets Naido at the Purple Palace, she pulls a lever which apparently aids his escape, yet sacrifices herself in the process. Later we see she survives with no obvious damage. We have to ask why was Naido motivated to pull that lever, and did she know it would result in her sacrifice? I wonder if this action is designed to induce a sense of trust from Dale. It is similar to how an undercover agent might perform some deliberate act of self-sacrifice in order to gain the confidence of a potential target; or how a doctor might perform some seemingly self-sacrificial act in order to gain the trust of a patient, or in this case prisoner? Ultimately, when Dale does meet Naido/Diane again, he does seem to implicitly trust her. (Also worth noting: when Major Brigg’s appears and says “Blue Rose” is it meant as some kind of warning? “Blue Rose” signifies doubles.)
When we see Naido again she is near the entrance of the vortex behind Jack Rabbit’s Palace. How did she get here? Is the Fireman aware that she is here? Why is she suddenly naked when we last saw her fully clothed? What is happening when we see those close up shots of her hand gripping Andy’s? Is she influencing him in some way? Why is she “important” and why keep her in a cell? Again, these questions are never answered but we do know the ultimate goal in her being here is to make sure she is in the right place to meet up with Cooper at the end of his mission.
DEFEATING BOB
After an extended sequence where Dale takes on the identity of Dougie Jones, and is guided by Mike and some unexplained green lights, he recovers his identity and goes of to fight and defeat BOB. This plan seems to have been partly aided by Mike and The Arm, they guide Dale to where he wants to be and give him the ring to transport Bad Dale’s body back to the Red Room. The Fireman also helps by delivering Bad Dale to the Sheriff’s Office. It seems a bit odd that both the Fireman and Mike are helping Dale defeat BOB, but maybe they are simply unaware of each other’s involvement. It is not explained so we will never know. But once Bad Dale has been sent back to the Red Room, our Dale now becomes the sole Dale in the physical world - clearly still influenced by Mike.
THE SHERIFF’S STATION
Dale looks at Naido with confusion, we see some weird slow-motion edits where she twitches, then the image splits in two: Dale’s confused expression is super-imposed over the screen while the rest of the events play out literally inside his head. The clock is stuck at 2:53 and Dale will shortly say “We live inside a dream”. It is like Dale is frozen in a waking-dream, he is having some kind of out-of-body experience where he watches events unfold from a distance, vaguely aware of what is happening but perhaps powerless to control it. It does seem like seeing Naido/Diane was the trigger for this experience. It may purely be for artistic reasons, and to avoid the clutter of too many effects-shots on screen at once, but notice that while Red Room Diane transforms and then kisses Dale, his super-imposed head disappears for a few moments, as if she has momentarily relaxed her control over him. Again, we will never know what this scene is fully supposed to represent, but one possible explanation is Red Room Diane is Dale’s handler in the physical world, and she is taking control of his mind to make sure he follows the plan the evil spirits have for him.
MIKE
The super-imposed head fades out right before Dale enters the door in the boiler room (there are lots of little details that can be discussed in this scene, including Dale saying “see you at curtain call” as if there is already some established plan, Cole’s suspicious expression throughout the scene, and the magical re-appearance of Dale’s FBI pin). As they enter the scene, we hear the Tibetan Bowl sound that we heard previously when Dale woke up in the hospital and Mike gave him the ring. Immediately after entering the door we meet Mike and he recites the Fire Walk With Me poem. Note that from here until the end of the series Dale’s behaviour slightly changes, he becomes a lot more sluggish and zombie like as if he is under the control of something or someone. This whole sequence reminds me of how the agents were triggered into their zombie-like states in the Mancurian Candidate. Dale’s subsequent behaviour is extremely similar to Liev Schrieber’s performance in the remake of that film: on the surface he appears to be happily aware of what he is doing but the audience knows he has no control over his actions at all. I am not suggesting that Lynch & Frost were influenced by that film in any explicit way, but again the core ideas of that film are not too far removed from the material that shows up in the Secret History. I am interested if the Final Dossier will include any thing related to MK Ultra, and other mind control experiments. We shall have to wait and see!
One thing that is worth noticing is that this all appears to be one long sequence starting with the moment Dale enters the room and Mike recites the poem, to when the moment when Dale turns in the forest to find himself back in the Red Room with Mike, then leaves the Red Room with his “Find Laura” mission. I think that the whole sequence is one long simulation consisting of three distinct sequences: meeting Jeffries, the forest and the Red Room.
JEFFRIES
Jeffries is also a prisoner of the evil spirits. He has been tortured to the point where his body no longer exists, but his mind is kept alive presumably for the information it carries. I think that the meeting between Dale and Jeffries is actually happening, but the whole thing has been staged by Mike. We are watching two compromised prisoners play off each other with responses that they have been pre-programmed to give. Jeffries even expresses confusion that he has had said these things before - no doubt he has many times during the prep drills that led up to this final run-through. People will probably hate me referring to the Mancurian Candidate again, but we do see scenes of a similar nature during the flashbacks to the soldier’s conditioning exercises. The scene appears staged because one prisoner, Dale, has clearly been led to a second prisoner, Jeffries, by Mike who seems to act as his handler of both prisoners throughout. Notice Mike’s shifty behaviour during the whole scene as if he is worried the plan may fall apart at any moment, and he even seems like he might even intervene at certain points. When the plan seems to be a success he shouts out “Electricty!” in celebration. I think the purpose of the scene is just to lend a feeling of authenticity that will set up the mental simulation that follows.
THE SYMBOLS
Some people have asked how Jeffries has the power to send people through time. I think the simple answer is that he doesn’t. The symbols he shows Dale are purely symbolic without any inherent meaning but aid in the manipulation of Dale. First we see the Owl symbol which we already know is the mark of the Red Room spirits. Next the infinity mark with the lock is purely an abstract representation of time-travel for Dale’s benefit, to lead him into the next simulation.
THE FOREST SEQUENCE
Dale now enters a simulation in which the Red Room spirits literally play him back stock footage from FWWM and the Pilot Episode. Joking aside, the whole sequence seems to be designed to manipulate Dale’s emotions in such a way that leads him to a state of emotional vulnerability in which the seeds of motivation can be implanted. First, he apparently rescues Laura, erases her murder and what was once black and white changes to bright colour - this invokes the emotional highs of pride, satisfaction and happiness from carrying out a successful mission. Next, Laura is abruptly and quite traumatically ripped from Dale’s protection - this invokes feelings of fear, confusion, guilt and shame. Immediately after Laura has disappeared Dale turns his head and suddenly he is back in the Red Room with Mike - he has been with Mike ever since entering the door in the boiler room.
THE RED ROOM
This sequence shows how the motivation to seek out Carrie/Laura is implanted in Dale’s mind. The Arm asks Dale if this is “The story of the little girl who lived down the lane? Is It?” People have noted that Audrey also said these lines, and the true meaning of them is never explained. We will never know for sure but one possibility is Lynch is just offering another cryptical cute Red Room line that’s purpose is to make sure Dale keeps thinking of Laura. We also see a replay of the earlier sequence in which Laura flew up into the air and disappeared - also intended to keep Dale’s thought’s on Laura and keep him in an emotionally vulnerable state, clearly visible in his expression after she disappears. Finally, someone who may or may not be Leland asks Dale to “Find Laura”. The seed is planted and Dale leaves the Red Room, in order to follow the Fireman’s clues and find Laura.
RED ROOM DIANE IN THE PHYSICAL WORLD
Dale reunites with Red Room Diane. There are so many questions regarding Diane in these sequences and again Lynch & Frost decided to with-hold any information and leave it willfully obtuse. One simple explanation, suggested by the earlier sequence in which Red Room Diane caused Dale’s image to split in two, is that Red Room Diane is simply Dale’s handler in the physical world. In the car ride she repeatedly makes sure that Dale is still going to carry out the mission. Later in the motel she has sex with Dale, then perhaps disappears in an attempt to further reinforce the emotional impact of loss that will ensure Dale continues to seek out Laura. Her expression during sex may be simply because this is duty sex for her, and is not pleasurable. Or maybe she can only join Dale on his mission up to a certain point, but in Odessa has to pull back to avoid detection from the Fireman? Maybe that is her following in the car later? Or maybe what we see is the real Diane, who is also a severely compromised agent carrying out a plan programmed by the evil spirits, and during sex she is intuitively aware that she doesn’t want to be doing this but is powerless to stop it. Maybe this experience causes her to snap out of it and she runs away, or maybe the second Diane watching her is the evil spirit version observing the unfolding of the plan from afar. When she sees Diane is waking up from her conditioned state she pulls her away to avoid risking the failure of the plan. Basically, everything is pure speculation and there are no answers to any of these questions because Lynch & Frost are the only ones who know what is going on and they won’t tell! (As a side-note I have this weird feeling that perhaps what was written on the paper during these sequences was relatively straightforward, but during filming various intuitive ideas came to Lynch (such as the double of Diane watching at the motel) and he just decided to film them and add them to the final version in true INLAND EMPIRE style, hoping that no matter how contradictory they may be, they may make some kind of sense later. We will never know!)
THE ENDING
Using the Fireman’s clues Dale finds Carrie, in a house marked by the #6 electric pole we saw earlier in the vision given to Andy. Dale is surprised that she does not know she is Laura Palmer, but she does show some recognition at the name Sarah. The white horse may be intended as a signal that despite appearances she truly is a Palmer girl. However contrived, her name does suggest she is “carrying” Laura Palmer. In the car ride Carrie starts to reminisce of her youth, suggesting some kind of memories are coming back. Later, when looking at the house and the voice calls “Laura” it seems like the memories really do resurface (although why she would even have Twin Peak’s Laura’s memories is anyone’s guess).
There is much debate about wether we are in an alternate dimension, in the future or even the past. Actually, as far as this theory goes these questions do not need to be answered. The main purpose of manipulating Dale was to unwittingly lead the spirits to Carrie/Laura, and the final seconds of the episode suggest he was successful. It could be that after the inhabited Sarah left the house, the Chalfonts and Tremonds, who we know to be evil spirits, stayed on to watch over the house for some undisclosed reason. Notice when Dale asks Alice if she knows who owned the house before the Chalfonts, Alice replies “No but… (consults the voice behind the door then states firmly)… NO.” Is the voice behind the door an evil spirit and Alice is simply another puppet under mind control? I expect after this conversation either one of two things happen: 1) The Tremonds basically get in touch with the other spirits saying come quick the personification of this Laura orb thing just showed up here! Or 2) Prompted by the house and Dale’s earlier questions, whatever is inside Carrie that may be identified as the “Laura orb” naturally comes to the surface, allowing the evil spirits to finally sense her and they arrive quickly. Notice that towards the end of the sequence Dale’s true memory also seems to resurface and he feels like time has passed without his knowledge. Now his mission is complete he possibly comes out of his brainwashed state, confused about where he is and how much time has passed.
Again there are many unanswered questions but the final result is that Dale has unwittingly been manipulated into following the Fireman’s clues and delivering Carrie/Laura directly to the evil spirits. What happens next nobody knows.
JUDY
It is maybe worth pointing out that this plan is carried out by the spirits from the Red Room where Dale was held prisoner, mainly guided by Mike. We don’t know if Judy was ever involved in this plan, and along with the Red Room and The Fireman, she may be some third entity that is not connected or involved in the plans of anyone but herself. Who is Judy? Nobody knows!
SARAH PALMER
When Laura disappears in the forest we cut to a shot of Sarah Palmer attacking the picture of Laura. What does this mean and why does it appear here? It is not explained and despite all the speculation the truth is nobody knows. All we know is Sarah suddenly decides to attack the picture, and Lynch decided to edit it in here. Is this proof that the forest sequence is not a simulation at all, and the whole theory comes crashing down? I am ready to admit that may be the case! : )
AUDREY
As a quick epilogue, the Audrey sequences show us that sometimes what we see on screen is in fact the character’s hallucination, and these scenes can be quite extensive. I wonder if Audrey is also being held prisoner by the evil spirits and experimented on. Perhaps Charlie is an evil spirit who will turn out to be her handler. The great thing about this theory is it leaves many options open for a Season 4!
Great effort, thank you. But this theory ignores most of the main subjects. Like:
1) Carrie Page... You suggest Carrie is the Fireman's Orb but wasn't it Laura in the first place? Was the orb transferred to Page after Laura died? It seems unlikely because the events after the forrest scene strongly imply that the Laura's death was literally undone (e.g. her dead body disappearing) and Cooper goes to find Carrie and treats her as the new Laura (not a second one)
Simple question: Does Carrie exist in the world Laura dies? IF so, how? And why did Dale Cooper never know about it and treat her like Laura? IF not, why would Black Lodge spirits bother to trick Cooper to change time to save Laura and get themselves a brand new problem?
2) Bad Cooper (Mr. C) and Dougie Jones... At least 80% of the Return was about ongoing events around Bad Cooper and Dougie but your theory underrates their existence. Bad Cooper did so many things and I believe he was the one that bothers the Fireman. Maybe he was the one in the house.
And Dougie was the medium that let Good Coop get out of the Red Room (if he ever made it :)) Mike's behaviours may look suspicious most of the time but remember when he first saw Dougie and said "Someone manufactured you for a purpose but i think that's been fulfilled".
So I'm sure he wasn't expecting this. Besides, Mike has helped Dougie (Good Coop asleep) a million times. Of course he had his problems with BOB and wanted to avenge but i think he never misled Good Coop.
3) The fireman... Most underrated character of all theories. Everybody gets to trick Coop (in most popular theories) but he never warns explicitly about anyone or anything. "Never make friends with Mike"... is it so hard to tell 🙂 He needs to speak in code, needs to state that "all can't be said aloud" but he, according to theories, always lacks to guide Good Coop.
He couldn't even see the bad in Naido and carried her to Sheriff's department. So weak for the highest ranked White Lodge Officer (we've seen so far).
I can further this list but let's focus on above. cheers.
One of these simulations is the forest rescue sequence, which is designed to manipulate Dale’s emotions from the initial elevated feelings of pride and satisfaction in successfully rescuing Laura, to the abrupt, violently induced feelings of pain, guilt and accountability that comes when she is suddenly taken away again. This places Dale in an extremely vulnerable emotional state, allowing the evil spirits to implant the idea that he must “Find Laura” and rescue her, unwittingly delivering her directly to them.
If the rescue is just a simulation what is the purpose in implanting Cooper with the idea of Find Laura. They don't need to find Laura. She's dead.
If the rescue is just a simulation what is the purpose in implanting Cooper with the idea of Find Laura. They don't need to find Laura. She's dead.
In the red room Dale asks "who are you"? Laura answers " I am Laura Palmer" Dale "But Laura is dead" Laura answers " i am dead, yet i live
If the rescue is just a simulation what is the purpose in implanting Cooper with the idea of Find Laura. They don't need to find Laura. She's dead.
In the red room Dale asks "who are you"? Laura answers " I am Laura Palmer" Dale "But Laura is dead" Laura answers " i am dead, yet i live
Yes, but in the theory presented here everything in the Red Room is just messing with his mind. isn't it?
"Red Room Diane (sometimes disguised as Naido) handles the compromised Dale mainly in the physical world, at least up until the point where she has to step back to avoid the Fireman’s detection."
"Naido will later be revealed to be Red Room Diane in disguise - a figure whose surrealist transformation sequence and costume design clearly associate her with the Red Room. This suggests she may in fact be an evil spirit; some kind of personification of the Red Room itself; or simply that this is the real Diane and the costuming implies she is now under the influence of the Red Room. Ultimately the signal seems to be: don’t trust her."
"When we see Naido again she is near the entrance of the vortex behind Jack Rabbit’s Palace. How did she get here? Is the Fireman aware that she is here?"
But it was the Fireman who apparently informed Andy that Naido was very important and needed to be protected; Naido was included in the images Andy saw when he was with the Fireman.
Upon his return from meeting the Fireman, Andy said: "She's very important and there are people that want her dead...We need to put her in a cell where she'll be safe."
Source: Episode 14, We are like the Dreamer (29:09)
If the rescue is just a simulation what is the purpose in implanting Cooper with the idea of Find Laura. They don't need to find Laura. She's dead.
In the red room Dale asks "who are you"? Laura answers " I am Laura Palmer" Dale "But Laura is dead" Laura answers " i am dead, yet i live
Yes, but in the theory presented here everything in the Red Room is just messing with his mind. isn't it?
That's my point 😉 sorry if you misunderstood me, i was confirming your answer. If she says : yet i live ( fact) , than the theory isn''t right or they must be manipulate him with that scene (i don't believe that). There are a lot of theories on the forum with great things to analyze but i haven't found one that has no plotholes. Most of them are speculaties, not facts. We keep digging 😉
"We keep digging ?"
We'd better get some gold shovels.
"We keep digging ?"
We'd better get some gold shovels.
Hahahaha 😉
gvztt:
Thanks for the replies!
1) Carrie Page... You suggest Carrie is the Fireman's Orb but wasn't it Laura in the first place? Was the orb transferred to Page after Laura died? It seems unlikely because the events after the forrest scene strongly imply that the Laura's death was literally undone (e.g. her dead body disappearing) and Cooper goes to find Carrie and treats her as the new Laura (not a second one)
This is exactly what I have been asking myself since Episode 8: What is this orb with Laura's image in it? What does it represent and what are the technicalities surrounding how it works? Is it to become a physical body, or does it represent the soul? We know the BOB orb can be transferred between different bodies, so can the Laura orb also be transferred too? BOB (Frank Silva) inhabits hosts with different faces than his own Leland (Ray Wise), Dale (Kyle) and an owl. Mike inhabits Gerard, but what does Mike look like? Does he look like Gerard? We never see Gerard look in the mirror - yet in the Red Room Mike is still shown in the Gerard body? It's very contradictory and frustrating. So what about this Laura orb? Why do Laura, Maddy and Carrie all have the same face (my initial thought on watching the episode, and something I posted about last week, was that maybe Carrie was Laura's third cousin). Unfortunately despite all this speculation, the basic answer is this: we just don't know what the Laura orb is!
strongly imply that the Laura's death was literally undone (e.g. her dead body disappearing)
&
trick Cooper to change time
Actually, the theory above suggests the whole forest sequence was just a simulation engineered to manipulate Cooper's emotional state, similar to various MK Ultra style experiments, so Laura's death was never undone and there was no time travel.
Does Carrie exist in the world Laura dies? IF so, how? And why did Dale Cooper never know about it and treat her like Laura?
The first question: we don't know. If Carrie's physical body is different to Laura's physical body (ie. the third cousin) and the Laura orb is something similar to a soul that is passed between them, then yes Carrie would exist in the world at the same time as Laura, just as Maddy did. Oh - what if Carrie turns out to be Laura's long lost twin sister and the Fireman stashed Laura's soul inside her after the murder to protect it! I have no idea why though : ) Why did Dale not know about it? Why would he? He is basically the same as us, he doesn't know exactly what the Laura orb is or the technicalities of how it works, he just knows that it is something to do with Laura and it is valuable. He didn't know about Laura until his dream in FWWM, and then he only came to Twin Peaks after her body was murdered.
Dale doesn't actually have to know what it is he is going to find, just that the Fireman believes it is important and gives him directions how to find it. As the conversation is apparently overheard, the evil spirits overhear this, decide they want it for whatever reasons, and manipulate Dale into delivering it to them. You could replace Carrie with a packet of gum or a baseball card, the theory still holds as it just about the evil spirits manipulating Dale into leading them directly to whatever the Fireman is hiding. If Carrie is the orb and it is a weapon to be used against them then they have even more reason to track it down and destroy it.
At least 80% of the Return was about ongoing events around Bad Cooper and Dougie but your theory underrates their existence
That wasn't the intention at all. 80% of The Return is about those stories and concern Mr.C's hunt and Dale recovering his memory. This theory isn't connected to that story arc at all, it is connected to the points outlined above, that mostly appear in Episodes 1-3, 8, 17 and 18.
And Dougie was the medium that let Good Coop get out of the Red Room....
For this theory, it makes no difference if Mr C or Dougie come in, the important thing is that Dale goes out. When Mr C swapped with Dougie, the plan changed but fundamentally the outcome is the same. If you think about it, Dale leaves the Red Room, there is the long Dougie sequence, then defeats BOB, meets Diane and enters the door in the boiler room that leads him to the motel with Jeffries. What would have happened if there had been no Dougie tulpa and no BOB to defeat? Presumably Dale would have left the Red Room... met Diane, entered the door in the boiler room and went to the motel with Jeffries. The same plan just without the Dougie and BOB parts. The events at the end of E17 and in E18 have no obvious connection to the Dougie, BOB or MR C story arcs at all. It seems that regardless of how the plan might have went, and however long the delay was, the ultimate goal was to get the good Dale back on earth so he could visit the motel with Jeffries.
Besides, Mike has helped Dougie (Good Coop asleep) a million times. Of course he had his problems with BOB and wanted to avenge but i think he never misled Good Coop.
Exactly. Mike is possibly a handler, and is thus pushing Dale to where he needs to be. So what is Mike's motivations? The answer is, we don't know as it is never explained. So then you ask: What happened when Dale was held prisoner in the Red Room for 25 years? Why do Mike and the Arm suddenly decide to let Dale go now? When Dale leaves and his brain is fried, Mike helps him in his recovery and (despite the problems with Mr.C/Dougie/BOB) ultimately leads Dale to the motel to meet Jeffries? An action that in turn ultimately results in Dale using the Fireman's clues to find Carrie/Laura. Why would Mike and the Arm do this? What could their motivations possibly be? Unfortunately, we don't have the answers!
The fireman
I agree with you too. There is so little information about him, we can never know for sure. The Secret History book describes an age-old battle between the Lemurians and the Teros. The Lemurians are also known as the "white people", evil spirits who dine on humans, and associate themselves with the owl symbol - presumably the same group of evil spirits that include BOB, Mike, The Arm etc. Whereas the Teros are a friendlier race who resemble giants and are known to enlist humans to aid their battle. In E8 when the evil entity sends evil spirits, including BOB to Earth, the Fireman reacts by creating the Laura orb. What this orb represents is never fully explained. However as the Secret History book describes an age old battle and sometimes enlisting humans to help, it seems likely that the Fireman is a Teros, and enlists Dale to help prevent the evil entity's plan in some way. He is portrayed as being quite old, calm, slow and extremely cryptic in his actions, in comparison to the Red Room spirits like the BOB and Mike, not to mention whatever was in the glass box. Perhaps he is weak with limited powers and the Teros are losing the overall battle. Again it is something that we just don't know.
Thank you for the questions! It actually made me discover an entirely other theory that I hadn't considered, and may type up later! I guess I have about 50 theories now : )
I said " the events after the forrest scene strongly imply that the Laura's death was literally undone (e.g. her dead body disappearing)" because if it were a simulation it would have been irrelevant to display a body disappearing to your audience... Should your audience find out that Dale Cooper dreamed about that particular frame which he, as long as i remember, had never seen? Or the tasteless monologue on fishing? That's a very long shot.
Orb's properties remain unknown to any of us and yes Carrie may be an entirely different person but if you say Cooper doesn't know much about stuff, I'd say "no way" 🙂
His nearly every move after awakening seemed so confident. He always knew where to go, he always knew what to say. He gave the date when Jeffries only said "Please, be specific". Similarly we shouldn't underestimate the fireman.
And for Mike and the arm. I don't think they can establish any rules by themselves. They may be the enforcers but not the top management staff for sure 🙂
When red room Laura screams after whispering whatever she tells coop she shoots off almost exactly like tulpa Diane when she got shot .. so that Laura scene has something up with it....
If the rescue is just a simulation what is the purpose in implanting Cooper with the idea of Find Laura. They don't need to find Laura. She's dead.
Someone who may or may not be Leland Palmer in the Red Room says "Find Laura" in E1/2 and E18. The motivation to go out and find her comes directly from the Red Room.
I really wonder how many college analysis papers and master's theses are about TPTR......
Fire walk with