There are so many possibilities to what happened at the end. Dale got
distracted with his former love and she got killed, Dale was getting
distracted a bit even with Annie ---to which could mean his soul
was "ripe for the picking" , but also-- he was such a good man, a man
who was not oppossed to making sacrifices for those he cared about,so
maybe he did the ultimate sacrifice in allowing his soul to be
consumed by the Black Lodge and the evil within in order to save
Annie to whom he loved. He didnt get to save Caroline,so maybe this
was his way of making amends to her and saving Annie in the
meanwhile. Psychologically- he might have saw what was happening and
felt so much guilt inside-without really showing it to us , and he
allowed himself the retribution for his lax behaviour from his
distcraction while being in love with caroline. Nothing wrong with
love--- just has anyone noticed even in a "severe crush" how the
world floats by like a dream and all is new again , and the world is
yours???!!! Imagine being deeply in love- and not keeping reality in
check and your feet on the ground----being so consumed that you lose
touch with your "surroundings" . Hence - the consuming of Dales soul--
- he was a great man-- wish there we real people out there like him--
there are- just few a far between. Enogh of my rambling and
theorizing.......




--- In twinpeaks@yahoogroups.com, "screenersamb" <screenersamb@y...>
wrote:
>
>
> (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