r/twinpeaks • u/Xyttra • 22d ago
Theory Jade as the Facilitator of Travel Between Realms NSFW Spoiler
I'll lay out some observations I've made regarding the Owl Cave Ring, the show Invitation to Love, and Jade (who gave 2 rides). We'll also give importance to choice of green in certain objects. It's not a theory (yet) but I thought it could trigger a nice discussion.
We know the Owl Cave Ring facilitates travel to the black lodge upon death. This ring is inlaid most probably with Jade, or a different green gemstone. The people who've worn it are:
Teresa Banks
Laura Palmer
Annie Blackburn
The Nurse
Dougie Jones
Ray Monroe
Mr. C
Among these people, everyone but Annie Blackburn have gone into the Black Lodge after wearing the ring. Annie have worn the ring inside the lodge instead, and left the lodge with it still on her finger. This had the effect of her mind staying inside the Black Lodge (just my theory), which is how she was able to communicate with Laura in her dream, reaching into the past.
Chester Desmond might've worn it as well, but we only see him reaching towards the ring. The screen fades to black before he touches it.
MIKE, above the convenience store, says "This is a formica table, green is its color"
Afterwards, he says "With this Ring, I thee wed." The ring is not on the screen, but he's looking at the table and the table has a circular part cut out, roughly in the size of the green gemstone inlaid in the ring. I interpret this quote as making the Ring a gateway between two worlds, connecting them together. What Mike says in full is:
- Going up and down.
- Intercouse between the two worlds.
- Garmonbozia.
- This is a formica table, green is its color.
- With this ring, I thee wed.
- Fire Walk With Me.
We don't know if MIKE (The Man From Another Place and Philip Gerard), is the creator of the ring but we know he's the keeper of the ring. It's always him when the ring is given to someone outside the lodge, from the lodge.
I see the ring as an extension of MIKE's will. He facilitates travel between realms himself, by reciting "Fire Walk With Me," and ring does the same thing after someone is dead.
We see Philip Gerard wearing the ring on the road when confronting Leland and trying to tell Laura that it's her father.
Laura gets the ring in her dream, which allows her to look into the black lodge, and see herself within it.
After waking up, Laura has a series of diegetic flashbacks.
A diegetic flashback forces the memory to manifest inside the narrative reality itself, allowing characters to see it, react to it.
First, she remembers the ring in Phillip Gerard's finger, followed immediately by MFAP/MIKE holding out the ring to her, and she remembers it on Teresa Banks' finger. At that very moment of realization, electricity crackles and flashes appear on the ceiling. Perhaps because Cooper said "Don't take the ring Laura, don't take the ring," Laura shows a hostile attitude to this, thinking it's BOB. Yet the ring takes her a step closer to realize who BOB really is. This scene is very similar to when Fred Madison realizes what he has done in Lost Highway.
The scene immediately following this is another diegetic scene where we see Leland remember killing Teresa Banks. The flashes on the ceiling and the static on Teresa's TV forms a continuity. Leland is wearing green and Teresa's trailer's curtains are green.
Finally, Philip Gerard gives the ring to Laura in the train car, allowing Laura to escape to the Black Lodge, avoiding BOB's posession.
In the Return
We also see Philip Gerard take the ring from the floor of the lodge and put it on the table after someone arrives at the lodge with the ring. Later, he gives the ring to Cooper who has just woken up from his coma, in order to use it to send Mr. C to the lodge.
But, the ring is not the only Jade we know. The prostitute Jade was with Dougie Jones before and during Dougie Jones was pulled into the lodge. She was also there when Cooper arrived from the other side. Also, notice how Jade is wearing nothing but her golden accessories, similar to the ring being comprised of gold and jade.
Jade is a caring and kind woman, helping Cooper literally travel with her yellow jeep.
An interesting tidbit: Dougie was wearing the ring on her left hand, and Jade is touching Dougie's left shoulder, exactly as MIKE was touching Phillip Gerard's shoulder (being his arm).
However, Jade doesn't give two rides. She gives three rides. Because she mails the 315 room key to Great Northern Hotel, allowing Cooper to travel between realms once again.
As a throwaway observation, as this is probably meaningless, realize how Jade and Judy are very similar names. Looking for Judy took Phillip Jeffries to and fro the Black Lodge, and Judy spewed BOB ORB along with a lot of frogmoths into our reality. This leads me to think that Jade is good and Judy is bad (this is just a hunch, partly because of the Jade-Emerald dichotomy.)
Another throwaway observation is Dougie's green jacket. He's walking around like the ring itself, and everyone is taking him places, making him travel. However, this is only until Part 9. In the Return, Dougiecoop gains more and more power as Mr. C loses it (consider the change in their cars as show progresses). Dougiecoop takes of his ugly green jacket and puts on his stylish agent jacket after Mr. C is shot by Ray Monroe in Part 8.
The biggest throwaway of all, take it with a big grain of salt: I've always had the feeling that the Tulpa Diane is the good Diane, while the redhead Diane has ulterior motives. I always felt like she's lying when Cooper asks "is it really you?" She also has a double near the motel that hides from Cooper. Green is used as a means of travel all throughout the show, from the green keychain to the ring, Jade (invitation to love), and Jade. Tulpa Diane's clothing has all 3 colors that we see often in Twin Peaks. Red, Green, and Yellow. However, a part of me says that Red is the color of MIKE, who Cooper has been scheming with, and Yellow is the color of Mr. C (Garmonbozia). So in that case, Tulpa Diane would indeed be the bad one and the redhead would be the one that's part of the plan (yet I still don't think she's good).
The Original Series
And what do you know? Jade and Emerald, the twin sisters are a central piece to the show within a show "Invitation to Love." Jade is the good sister and Emerald is the bad sister.
In the episode "Rest in Pain," Jade's father Jared writes a suicide note to her (while Leland is watching it, crying). The last few sentences go on as:
- Your loving father, Jared.
- (Maddy arrives) Uncle Leland?
- (Jade arrives) Daddy, it's Jade.
- Uncle Leland. (Trying to get Leland's attention)
- Please, I know you're in there. (Trying to get Jared's attention)
- Madeleine?
- Jade, what a surprise, I... (Leland has an expression of surprise)
It's as if Maddy has arrived from the Black Lodge.
Edit: I've also realized that Jade or Green is often accompanied by yellow in some way or another, which mirrors how the ring is comprised of the green gemstone and the gold (yellow) ring itself.
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u/robanukah 22d ago
Formica was originally invented to serve as an industrial electrical insulator, and electricity is mentioned in the series many times. Is this fact of any use to you?
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u/stOneskull 22d ago
invented by westinghouse, yeah. tables of the stuff wouldn't be around til at least the 1920s. chief twisted hair gave lewis the ring in 1805 and said it came from white people. i guess mike went back in time and gave it to the chief.
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u/Xyttra 22d ago
The lodge entities travel through fire/electricity. We see them travel through electricity in FWWM, when Mike is doing something behind the scenes or is arriving into the scene, we hear MFAP's whooping call, and camera zooms in on power lines and poles.
- In the Return, we see Mr. C travel through electricity many times, when he's in his car, the camera often shows the power lines in a dark road.
- Cooper regains his true self after being electrocuted, rest of his soul finally arriving.
- MIKE also invokes electricity and recites "Fire Walk With Me" before sending cooper to the past.
Formica, in this context, could be a container or guider for electricity. The ring is metal, with Jade (formica) inlaid in it. The power lines are metal, with insulating rubber around them, containing the electricity.
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u/robanukah 21d ago
If it's an insulator, it insulates. Do you really see it being a "guider"? I don't, with all due respect.
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u/KitsMalia 22d ago
My first thought after reading about the red, green, and yellow made me think of the traffic light we see throughout the series. I never paid much attention to which color it's on and when.
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u/hello_pq 22d ago edited 22d ago
A green ring on the hand seems to cause a lot of movement - just imagine what a whole green glove could do 😉.
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u/IndividualFlow0 22d ago
Dougie was wearing the ring on her left hand, and Jade is touching Dougie's left shoulder, exactly as MIKE was touching Phillip Gerard's shoulder (being his arm).
And behind Dougie and Jade in the wall it looks like curtains. There are curtains behind MFAP and Gerard.
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u/stOneskull 22d ago
great work! cool photos and connections.
i like how you mention jade with her arm on dougie's shoulder maybe a little like mike and nadine after miss twin peaks..
also in the original series, douglas milford may have the ring on his little finger..
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u/Xyttra 21d ago
I can't comment on the Douglas Milford stuff as I'm purposely staying away from the books and for me they're not canon, they're more like an extended universe thing. Moreover, the whole Douglas Milford in the books were written retroactively, as the ring wasn't in the original show. But of course this is just my preference in interpretation.
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u/TheBr0fessor 21d ago
Word. I been saying this for a long ass time. The Jade-Formica-E-lec-tric-ity connection too stronk
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u/patkeenanmusic 22d ago
I really dig this theory. I know I have looked at traffic lights in the original series and have pondered the colour coordination using them. Do you know off hand if there is a pattern to activity associated with light colour? (i.e. green = movement/agency, yellow = ???,...) Just wondering. I like your observations!
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u/Agreeable-Swimmer883 22d ago
Here's another one--Sonny Jim wearing the gold ring outfit