(I just joined the group, hence the belated response); I guess we'd
have found out in Season 3. I never got to see S2 (just read the
summaries, etc); got the impression that WE was in over his head wi
Bob/Black Lodge (sort of like the end of 'Frighteners', when the two
baddies get taken away by the bigger baddie). any system that
demands perfection, i.e. complete fearlessness, isn't going to find
much acceptable (ever see the Star Trek episode 'Specter of the Gun'?
Spock has to hypnotize the guys to remove all their doubts). I
certainly don't think SA Cooper would be trapped in the place for 25
years. As far as WE's agenda, he was 'evil', and destroyed etc. for
the heck of it. the Biblical definition of evil is the adversary who
comes to 'kill, steal and destroy', which means taking life, taking
property, and ruining what it can't carry away, i.e. 'if I can't have
it neither can you, neener neener'. Evil just does mean/bad things
by its nature. I think WE played his vicious 'game' until it caught
up with him.


--- In twinpeaks@yahoogroups.com, "hermitage171" <hermitage171@y...>
wrote:
>
> What happened in the Red Room, in the last episode? I don't
> even know if the writers had a perfectly clear idea, but it's fun
to
> theorize about it.
> What happened to Windom Earle? Why did he try to take Dale's
> soul, and why did he fail?
> I think that the answer to the first question is, he was
> trying to become more powerful. In fact, I think that was the
reason
> for all the murders that he committed in the second season, killing
> the various anonymous people... he wasn't trying to draw out Dale
as
> much as he was trying to gain power as a black magician, through
the
> practice of killing, destroying, refining his evilness. I think
that
> there are various existing black magic ideologies which present
this
> idea: the magician gains black power by committing evil deeds such
> as senseless murder. Windom's ambition was to become an extremely
> powerful black magician.
> So, I think that if he had been able to actually swallow up
> Dale's soul, it would have made him much more powerful, since Dale
> was very powerful in terms of good, and corrupting-destroying-
> coopting him would be an extraordinary evil accomplishment.
However,
> I think that he messed it up. I think that the fact that Dale
> offered his soul out of love, to save someone, meant that Windom
> could not gain black power by taking it, and in fact could not take
> it for black purposes at all. The fact that he tried to take it
> nonetheless led to his collapse. His evil intentions choked on the
> purity of Dale's soul, and he was forced to spit it back out.
> This is not an unusual interpretation, but consider what
> happens next. Bob appears, announces his intention to take Windom's
> soul, and tells Dale to leave. Dale allows Bob to take Windom's
> soul, and he does leave. WHAT IF THIS IS HIS MISTAKE? Consider that
> it is exactly at this point that Dale's shadow self appears, and
> laughs with Bob. WHAT IF DALE COOPER WAS SUPPOSED TO TRY TO SAVE
> WINDOM EARLE?
> Think about it. Windom was Dale's old partner, who taught
> him everything he knew about law enforcement. There must have been
> some kind of bond between them. And now Dale stands by and watches
> as Bob tears Windom's soul out of his body and devours it. Bob
tells
> him to go, to get out of the way, and he obliges. He didn't try to
> stop Bob, didn't try to save Windom. I think that this is his break
> with "perfect courage" and perfect love. Perfect love is not only
to
> love Annie, and to want to save her, but to want to save Windom as
> well, to redeem him. This is the ultimate test of love, to love
your
> enemy. But Dale gives in to his fear of Windom and his fear of Bob,
> as well as perhaps his desire for retribution against Windom,
> retribution for killing Caroline, capturing Annie, etc. So, Dale
> acts in passive compliance to the Bob, when active resistance is
> necessary. And I think that this tiny break with perfect courage is
> enough, not for his soul to be obliterated, but enough for it to be
> detained in the lodge.
>
> James Green-Armytage