Twin Peaks: Riding the White Horse
When we, the audience, are first introduced to the image of the White Horse in Season 2, Episode 7 of Twin Peaks, the look on Sarah Palmer’s face flickers briefly from one of surprise at seeing the horse, to one of relief or pleasure. It is for this reason, upon seeing this episode when it first aired, that my interpretation was that the White Horse was a protective spirit, come to take Sarah away and to save her from the pain and sorrow of experiencing the brutal murder of Madeline at the hands of her own husband. This makes further sense as the white horse has traditionally been a symbol of good or purity. It is the White Knight, or the Cowboy Hero who rides into the village, or the town, on the White Horse to save the day. Although I would certainly not put it past Lynch to subvert the traditional use of this image, there is absolutely nothing in this scene its self to suggest that the White Horse is anything other than this traditional symbol of good. When the White Horse appears to Sarah in Fire Walk With Me, although there is not that accompanying look of pleasure from Sarah, I simply assumed what I had first come to believe, as I had seen absolutely nothing this far to counter it: the White Horse is a protective spirit shielding Sarah from pain. One could make the argument, in fact, that since the incident in Fire Walk With Me actually takes place chronologically before the incident in Season 2, that it is her memory of the incident in Fire Walk With Me, being taken away from the pain, that leads to her look of relief in Season 2, as she now knows that the spirit is going to protect her.
After the White Horse fades from the spotlight in the Palmer residence, the Giant fades into the spotlight on the stage at the Roadhouse. Could there be a connection here? Could the White Horse be a manifestation of the Giant himself? After season 3, we also have another contender for the protective spirit of the White Horse. Rather than the Giant, could the White Horse be a manifestation of his own twin, the Fireman? When the curtains within the Lodge flutter back to reveal the White Horse, simply seeming to be hanging around behind the scenes in season 3, could it be that the Fireman himself is there to witness the events that are playing out?
Despite the cracks that later appear within this theory, which I will discuss in a bit, this remains my favorite interpretation of the White Horse. Perhaps it is just wishful thinking on my part, but the sense that the White Horse is a protective spirit the first time that we witness it is so certain, so solid and strong, it feels so absolutely right in that moment, in that scene, that it is difficult to ignore. Of course the other argument is that it is indeed intended to be a protecting spirit at the time that it is shot, and it is only later that Lynch reinterprets the White Horse and imbues it with other meanings.
In season 3, when the curtains flutter back in the Lodge to reveal the presence of the White Horse, there is nothing within the scene it’s self to suggest whether it is good or bad, other than what we the audience may bring to it. We could argue that it is the Fireman witnessing events, or we could argue that it is a symbol of the presence that is now in the Lodge that the Fireman warns Cooper about, but there is no sense of either peace or of foreboding present within this scene. The White Horse is simply there.
In Part 18 of season 3, when we see the statuette of the White Horse on Carrie Page’s mantle, it makes perfect sense that Carrie (or Laura), senses the protective spirit imbued within the image of the White Horse and is drawn to it. It makes sense that she would want that protection present, and keep it there. It makes no sense that she would want to keep a symbol of evil or death, or of Judy, in her house. It could also be interpreted as a sign that the Fireman is watching over her in this new reality and protecting her from Judy.
Then come the cracks . . .
When the Log Lady Introductions are added to the original series, the Log Lady references a “Pale Horse” in her introduction to season 2, episode 7. This is first time that we, as the audience, get any real suggestion that there could be another interpretation surrounding the image of the White Horse. Since the Pale Horse is obviously a reference to the Bible, where Death is seen to be riding a Pale Horse, and since this is in the introduction to the episode in which we get the first appearance of the White Horse, we must add Death to the interpretation of the White Horse. If you have heard anything at all about the Tarot, however, you probably know that Death does not always necessarily mean physical Death. It is a symbol of change. It is a dying of the old, and a birth of the new. When the White Horse first appears, Madeline dies directly after. Although Laura certainly dies, her own death does not immediately follow the appearance of the White Horse in Fire Walk With Me. What does happen right after the appearance of the White Horse in Fire Walk With Me is that Laura recognizes her father in Bob while he is raping her. Death, in this case, is not a literal death, but a profound change in Laura’s understanding.
What is more important to remember, however, is who the White Horse appears to. It does not appear to Madeline, to Laura, or even to Leland (who also later dies). The White Horse appears to Sarah. When the Log Lady says “woe to ones who behold the pale horse,” she is referring to Sarah. This is certainly played out in her own suffering and misery throughout every iteration of Twin Peaks, and especially in season 3. The fact that Cooper also sees the White Horse, when he is in the Lodge, in season 3, suggests that we should now expand that woe to him as well.
In Part 18 of season 3, we also get a reference to a horse. As the Woodsman recites an incantation over the radio station, which puts those listening to sleep, he says “the horse is the white of the eyes, and dark within.” While this does not have to be a direct reference to the White Horse that we have been witness to throughout Twin Peaks, the fact that he specifically uses the word “white” along with the word “horse” no doubt conjures an associative link between the two. When you go unconscious, your eyes roll up into the back of your head, revealing the white of your eyes. The state of unconsciousness it’s self can be interpreted as darkness within, or you could interpret that your pupils are literally turned into your head, seeing only darkness within. When the people hear this incantation, they fall unconscious. When Sarah sees the White Horse, she falls unconscious. There certainly seems to be a strong connection here. The fact that the frog-moth crawls into Sarah’s mouth while she is unconscious from this very incantation suggest a further link to unconsciousness and the White Horse.
The fact that the Woodsman, who is associated with Bob, and with Evil, uses the image of the White Horse for his own nefarious purposes, and the fact that you hear a horse whinnying as the Woodsman walks off into the darkness afterwards, would suggest a link to evil rather than to good surrounding the White Horse.
So the questions then become: 1) Can you separate each appearance of the White Horse at the time that it was created and say that each interpretation is a valid one for that moment in time? 2) Can you say that that the White Horse has multiple layers of meaning, as many things in David Lynch’s works do, and so each is valid in it’s own right even if they seem to contain some contradictory elements? 3) Must you take the entire cannon as a whole, even though it spanned so many years, and come up with a cohesive explanation to cover it all?
I myself am partial to number 2, but what do you think? Are there multiple valid interpretations of the White Horse, or is there only one? What is your interpretation, or at least your favorite interpretation if there are more than one, of the White Horse?
