Margaret Lanterman
Encyclopedia
Margaret Lanterman, better known as the Log Lady, is a fictional character
in the television series
Twin Peaks
(1990–1991), created by Mark Frost
and David Lynch
. The character makes semi-regular appearances in both seasons, and is played by Catherine E. Coulson
, who also very briefly reprised the role for a single scene in the prequel film Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me.
's murder, and most residents in the town regard her as crazy. This is mainly due to her habit of always carrying a small log in her arms, with which she seems to share a psychic
connection, often dispensing advice and visions of clairvoyance
which she claims come from the log; prior to the murder, she delivers moving and cryptic warnings to Laura Palmer herself. The Log Lady does not interpret the messages transmitted by the log, but instead functions as a medium
for the information it conveys.
In attempting to solve Laura's murder, Dale Cooper
often makes use of the Log Lady's apparent ability to communicate, through the log, with a possibly supernatural
realm. Cooper gradually loses his access to this realm as the series progresses, and the Log Lady becomes a less central figure.
The Log Lady provides Cooper with at least one useful tip, but the character, and her log, ultimately prove to be at least somewhat nonsensical.
When the series was syndicated to Bravo, Lynch created new Log Lady introductions for each episode. They range in length from under a minute to about three minutes.
, the Log Lady was an old idea of his, where he had intended to do a television series based around the character called "I'll Test My Log with Every Branch of Knowledge". The idea came about whilst working alongside Catherine Coulson on the set of Lynch's directorial debut, Eraserhead
.
who died in a fire on their wedding night decades before. (The Log Lady later says that her husband "met the devil"). Nothing is revealed of her husband beyond this, save for that at some point before he died, her husband returned from a trip to Glastonbury Grove (which served as an access point to the metaphysical realms of both the White and Black Lodge
s) with a jar of mysterious oil, which he claimed was for "opening a gateway." (However, when the story of her husband's death is first related in the series, Deputy Hawk mentions that the wood "holds many spirits", so it is possible that her husband's spirit resides in her log.)
Her husband, a woodsman, is thought to be the character played by Jürgen Prochnow
briefly shown in the convenience store scene with other members of The Black Lodge
in the film Fire Walk With Me
On February 18, 1989, five days before Laura Palmer is murdered, Margaret briefly encounters Laura outside the local roadhouse
, the Bang Bang Bar. Putting her hand to the log and then the stunned Laura's forehead, Margaret intones: "When this kind of fire starts, it is very hard to put out. The tender boughs of innocence burn first, and the wind rises, and then all goodness is in jeopardy."
On the night Laura is murdered, Margaret later claims "my log" witnessed "two men, two girls" both approaching Jacques Renault's cabin - which is located a distance away from her own cabin home in the woods. And then, not long after, she alleges the log heard the screams of a girl.
The Log Lady first comes to the attention of FBI Agent Dale Cooper
at a town meeting on February 24 - the day after Laura Palmer's murder, which Cooper is investigating. She later approaches Cooper in the Double R Diner, who is clearly skeptical at her claim "my log saw something that night."
Four days later, Cooper arrives at the Log Lady's cabin alongside Sheriff Truman, Doc Hayward, and Deputy Hawk. Cooper is now more open to the log's power following his questioning (perhaps also noting the local men's reverence for the Log Lady's knowledge).
The Log Lady also provides advice to the other townspeople, most notably an other-worldly message she tells Major Briggs to deliver to Cooper, and it is strongly implied, to Donna Hayward
in a note mentioning Laura's involvement in the Meals-On-Wheels.
She also guides Cooper to the Bang Bang Bar to see a vision of the Giant
on the stage to hear his words: "It is happening again," a reference to Maddy Ferguson's murder, which was occurring at the same time.)
During the disastrous Miss Twin Peaks Pageant, the Log Lady is impersonated in a bizarre disguise by the insane former FBI Agent Windom Earle
, who is seeking to abduct the winning girl to help provide the means to enter the Black Lodge. When Cooper, Truman and the sheriff's deputies later regroup at the Sheriff's Station in a desperate move to learn Earle's location following his abduction of Annie Blackburn, the Log Lady also arrives. She then presents Cooper with the jar of oil her husband retrieved from Glastonbury Grove. (Thereby, providing Cooper with the means to enter the Black Lodge).
Fictional character
A character is the representation of a person in a narrative work of art . Derived from the ancient Greek word kharaktêr , the earliest use in English, in this sense, dates from the Restoration, although it became widely used after its appearance in Tom Jones in 1749. From this, the sense of...
in the television series
Twin Peaks
Twin Peaks
Twin Peaks is an American television serial drama created by David Lynch and Mark Frost. The series follows the investigation headed by FBI Special Agent Dale Cooper , of the murder of a popular teenager and homecoming queen, Laura Palmer...
(1990–1991), created by Mark Frost
Mark Frost
Mark Frost is an American novelist, television/film writer, director, who is best known as a writer for the TV show Hill Street Blues and co-creator of the show Twin Peaks.-Personal life:...
and David Lynch
David Lynch
David Keith Lynch is an American filmmaker, television director, visual artist, musician and occasional actor. Known for his surrealist films, he has developed his own unique cinematic style, which has been dubbed "Lynchian", and which is characterized by its dream imagery and meticulous sound...
. The character makes semi-regular appearances in both seasons, and is played by Catherine E. Coulson
Catherine E. Coulson
Catherine E. Coulson is an American stage and screen actress who also works behind the scenes on various independent films. She is best known for her role as the Log Lady in the David Lynch TV series Twin Peaks....
, who also very briefly reprised the role for a single scene in the prequel film Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me.
Character overview
The Log Lady is a fixture in the town of Twin Peaks by the time of Laura PalmerLaura Palmer
Laura Palmer is a fictional character from the television series Twin Peaks, created by David Lynch and Mark Frost. Her death was the catalyst for the events of the series...
's murder, and most residents in the town regard her as crazy. This is mainly due to her habit of always carrying a small log in her arms, with which she seems to share a psychic
Psychic
A psychic is a person who professes an ability to perceive information hidden from the normal senses through extrasensory perception , or is said by others to have such abilities. It is also used to describe theatrical performers who use techniques such as prestidigitation, cold reading, and hot...
connection, often dispensing advice and visions of clairvoyance
Clairvoyance
The term clairvoyance is used to refer to the ability to gain information about an object, person, location or physical event through means other than the known human senses, a form of extra-sensory perception...
which she claims come from the log; prior to the murder, she delivers moving and cryptic warnings to Laura Palmer herself. The Log Lady does not interpret the messages transmitted by the log, but instead functions as a medium
Mediumship
Mediumship is described as a form of communication with spirits. It is a practice in religious beliefs such as Spiritualism, Spiritism, Espiritismo, Candomblé, Voodoo and Umbanda.- Concept :...
for the information it conveys.
In attempting to solve Laura's murder, Dale Cooper
Dale Cooper
FBI Special agent Dale Bartholomew Cooper is a fictional character from the television series Twin Peaks, portrayed by Kyle MacLachlan. He is the lead protagonist of the series, and briefly appears in the prequel film Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me....
often makes use of the Log Lady's apparent ability to communicate, through the log, with a possibly supernatural
Supernatural
The supernatural or is that which is not subject to the laws of nature, or more figuratively, that which is said to exist above and beyond nature...
realm. Cooper gradually loses his access to this realm as the series progresses, and the Log Lady becomes a less central figure.
The Log Lady provides Cooper with at least one useful tip, but the character, and her log, ultimately prove to be at least somewhat nonsensical.
When the series was syndicated to Bravo, Lynch created new Log Lady introductions for each episode. They range in length from under a minute to about three minutes.
Conceptual history
According to David LynchDavid Lynch
David Keith Lynch is an American filmmaker, television director, visual artist, musician and occasional actor. Known for his surrealist films, he has developed his own unique cinematic style, which has been dubbed "Lynchian", and which is characterized by its dream imagery and meticulous sound...
, the Log Lady was an old idea of his, where he had intended to do a television series based around the character called "I'll Test My Log with Every Branch of Knowledge". The idea came about whilst working alongside Catherine Coulson on the set of Lynch's directorial debut, Eraserhead
Eraserhead
Eraserhead is a 1977 American surrealist film and the first feature film of David Lynch, who wrote, produced and directed. Lynch began working on the film at the AFI Conservatory, which gave him a $10,000 grant to make the film after he had begun working there following his 1971 move to Los Angeles...
.
History within the series and feature film
It is revealed that some time before the events of the series, the Log Lady's husband was a lumberjackLumberjack
A lumberjack is a worker in the logging industry who performs the initial harvesting and transport of trees for ultimate processing into forest products. The term usually refers to a bygone era when hand tools were used in harvesting trees principally from virgin forest...
who died in a fire on their wedding night decades before. (The Log Lady later says that her husband "met the devil"). Nothing is revealed of her husband beyond this, save for that at some point before he died, her husband returned from a trip to Glastonbury Grove (which served as an access point to the metaphysical realms of both the White and Black Lodge
Black Lodge
The Black Lodge is a fictional setting featured in the television series Twin Peaks. It is an extradimensional place which seems to include, primarily, the "Red Room" first seen by Agent Cooper in a dream early in the series...
s) with a jar of mysterious oil, which he claimed was for "opening a gateway." (However, when the story of her husband's death is first related in the series, Deputy Hawk mentions that the wood "holds many spirits", so it is possible that her husband's spirit resides in her log.)
Her husband, a woodsman, is thought to be the character played by Jürgen Prochnow
Jürgen Prochnow
Jürgen Prochnow is a German actor. His most well-known roles internationally have been as the sympathetic submarine captain in Das Boot , Duke Leto Atreides I in Dune , the minor, but important role of Neo-Stalinist dictator General Ivan Radek in Air Force One and the villain Maxwell Dent in...
briefly shown in the convenience store scene with other members of The Black Lodge
Black Lodge
The Black Lodge is a fictional setting featured in the television series Twin Peaks. It is an extradimensional place which seems to include, primarily, the "Red Room" first seen by Agent Cooper in a dream early in the series...
in the film Fire Walk With Me
Fire Walk With Me
Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me is a 1992 American psychological horror film directed by David Lynch and written by Lynch and Robert Engels. The film can be viewed as both prologue and epilogue to the television series Twin Peaks , created by Lynch and Mark Frost...
On February 18, 1989, five days before Laura Palmer is murdered, Margaret briefly encounters Laura outside the local roadhouse
Roadhouse (facility)
A roadhouse is a commercial establishment typically built on a major road or highway, to service passing travellers. Its meaning varies slightly by country.-USA:...
, the Bang Bang Bar. Putting her hand to the log and then the stunned Laura's forehead, Margaret intones: "When this kind of fire starts, it is very hard to put out. The tender boughs of innocence burn first, and the wind rises, and then all goodness is in jeopardy."
On the night Laura is murdered, Margaret later claims "my log" witnessed "two men, two girls" both approaching Jacques Renault's cabin - which is located a distance away from her own cabin home in the woods. And then, not long after, she alleges the log heard the screams of a girl.
The Log Lady first comes to the attention of FBI Agent Dale Cooper
Dale Cooper
FBI Special agent Dale Bartholomew Cooper is a fictional character from the television series Twin Peaks, portrayed by Kyle MacLachlan. He is the lead protagonist of the series, and briefly appears in the prequel film Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me....
at a town meeting on February 24 - the day after Laura Palmer's murder, which Cooper is investigating. She later approaches Cooper in the Double R Diner, who is clearly skeptical at her claim "my log saw something that night."
Four days later, Cooper arrives at the Log Lady's cabin alongside Sheriff Truman, Doc Hayward, and Deputy Hawk. Cooper is now more open to the log's power following his questioning (perhaps also noting the local men's reverence for the Log Lady's knowledge).
The Log Lady also provides advice to the other townspeople, most notably an other-worldly message she tells Major Briggs to deliver to Cooper, and it is strongly implied, to Donna Hayward
Donna Hayward
Donna Hayward is a fictional character from the television series Twin Peaks, created by David Lynch and Mark Frost.Donna is the best friend of Laura Palmer, and after her death she is obsessed with finding out who killed her and why, with the help of James Hurley,...
in a note mentioning Laura's involvement in the Meals-On-Wheels.
She also guides Cooper to the Bang Bang Bar to see a vision of the Giant
The Giant (Twin Peaks)
The Giant is a character from the television series Twin Peaks, created by David Lynch and Mark Frost. He is played by Carel Struycken.The Giant appears to FBI agent Dale Cooper in visions, first right after Cooper has been shot in his hotel room...
on the stage to hear his words: "It is happening again," a reference to Maddy Ferguson's murder, which was occurring at the same time.)
During the disastrous Miss Twin Peaks Pageant, the Log Lady is impersonated in a bizarre disguise by the insane former FBI Agent Windom Earle
Windom Earle
Windom Earle is a fictional character in the American TV series Twin Peaks, played by Kenneth Welsh.He is a former FBI agent, and the former partner and best friend of Agent Dale Cooper. He features in the second half of the second season. He is an evil genius and a master of disguise, well-versed...
, who is seeking to abduct the winning girl to help provide the means to enter the Black Lodge. When Cooper, Truman and the sheriff's deputies later regroup at the Sheriff's Station in a desperate move to learn Earle's location following his abduction of Annie Blackburn, the Log Lady also arrives. She then presents Cooper with the jar of oil her husband retrieved from Glastonbury Grove. (Thereby, providing Cooper with the means to enter the Black Lodge).