Summary

• Twin Peaks revolves around the mysterious death of Laura Palmer and the disturbing truth behind her murder, implicating even seemingly innocent characters.
• Laura's killer is revealed to be Bob, an evil spirit who possessed her father, Leland Palmer, and went on to abuse and corrupt Laura, leading to her tragic fate.
• Leland's death, both tragic and emotional, leaves viewers questioning whether Bob was merely a representation of Leland's inner demons or a vengeful supernatural entity.

Content Warning: This article contains explicit depictions of violence, incest, and sexual abuse.

Twin Peaks' biggest mystery revolves around the death of Laura Palmer and who was behind her brutal murder. The show begins immediately after Laura's corpse is found wrapped in plastic on a riverbank. Laura's death impacts the life of every single inhabitant of Twin Peaks, and the mysterious circumstances of her murder imply that even seemingly innocent characters were responsible for her tragic fate, at least in part, when the big picture is taken into . Laura's death and the subsequent arrival of Agent Dale Copper are the first signs that Twin Peaks will never be the same again.

Created by Mark Frost and David Lynch, the disturbing yet dreamlike atmosphere meant there were many still-unanswered questions after Twin Peaks season 3. As the investigation of Laura Palmer's murder continues, it becomes clear that something supernatural lurks around the woods of Twin Peaks. Although the mystery is solved in Twin Peaks season 2, the killer continues to influence Twin Peaks and its inhabitants, pulling Cooper to a twisted, inevitable fate at the Black Lodge. The movie spinoff Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me follows Laura Palmer's last days and further explains the terrifying truth about her killer.

Who Killed Laura Palmer

Laura Is Killed By The Evil Spirit Known As Bob

The easy way to answer the question of who killed Laura Palmer is to blame Leland Palmer, her own father, but the truth is much more disturbing. Possessed by an evil spirit named Bob, Leland sexually abused Laura for years, causing her to become mentally unstable and go down a path of depravity, drugs, and violence. It's difficult to define what exactly Bob is, but Twin Peaks leaves plenty of hints.

It's reasonable to think Bob is an evil stimulus, feeding off of the good and kind part of Leland's soul and replacing it with dark impulses, which causes Laura's father to become increasingly dangerous until he reaches a point of no return. When Bob takes over Leland, he gradually turns the man into the embodiment of all these dark feelings. Unfortunately, Leland’s friends and family fail to see the real problem and regard him as mad. Just as Mike, the One-Armed Man, explained, he used to go out with Bob searching for pure fear and pain.

How Did Laura Palmer Die

Bob Possessed Leland Palmer And Stabbed Laura

Laura's death is one of the few things that isn't too confusing in Twin Peaks: she was marked for death the moment Bob set his sights on her. Even worse is imagining that Leland conceived her with the sole purpose of offering the evil spirit a new host when he's no longer useful. After years of abuse by Bob, Laura Palmer began to go down a dangerous path, leading her exactly where the evil spirit wanted her to be: with Laura's soul growing increasingly corrupted, it was just a matter of time until Bob fed on her.

On the night of her death, Leland takes Laura and her colleague, Ronette Pulaski, to an abandoned train car, where he tortures and abuses them. Mike comes to their aid, rescuing Ronette and handing Laura a ring that prevents Bob from possessing her. Enraged, Bob stabs her to death using her own father's hands and dumps her on the river bank the morning after.

Who Is Bob (& How Did He Take Over Leland)

The Ultimate Evil In Twin Peaks Corrupted Leland At A Young Age

Leland Palmer's life took a dark turn after he met a puzzling man named Robertson near his grandfather's vacation home in Palmer Lakes when he was a child. Leland failed to recognize Robertson’s true self: an evil spirit also known as Bob, although he re clearly how the man would taunt him by flicking matches and playing with fire. Bob began to take over Leland’s soul at an early age, and it didn't take long before Bob decided to show his claws, first killing Teresa Banks, a sex worker who worked closely with Laura Palmer.

Bob/Leland's first murder victim was in 1988. However, he regularly molested and abused Laura ever since she was 12, leaving her with constant nightmares, hellish visions, and a burning heat between her legs that warned her of impending danger. Since Leland was her father, he could access her bedroom easily, enabling Bob to do whatever he wanted without anyone noticing, as is detailed in Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me. It's difficult to tell whether Bob was totally in control, or merely induced Leland to let out the very worst of his soul, suggesting Leland wasn't all that innocent.

Through nightmarish sequences, Twin Peaks: The Return dissects Bob's past and links his origins to a mysterious white figure and to Judy — two new eerie entities introduced in season 3. Twin Peaks: The Return's "Part 8" episode shows an image of Bob spilling out from the Experiment after a nuclear test that took place in 1945, suggesting that he originated from the creature in the glass box. Bob's past is directly related to Mike, the One-Armed Man, whom he befriended. The two united forces and traveled across the U.S. feeding off the pain and fear of unsuspecting strangers.

Laura's diary reveals that Bob once told her that Mike is the only man he fears, which is reasonable since Mike eventually becomes the representation of good. He's the only one who truly knows Bob, his weaknesses, his fears, and his past since he participated in a good chunk of it. In Twin Peaks' "Episode 3," Mike appears to Cooper in a dream and reveals he and Bob parted ways after he "saw the face of God," explaining how he decided to cut his own arm in order to get rid of his "Fire Walk With Me" tattoo, which symbolized evil, devoting himself to stopping Bob for good.

What Happened To Laura Palmer's Killer

Leland Palmer Becomes One Of Bob's Victims

After Laura Palmer is killed, Leland becomes hysterical, causing everyone to get some distance from him. The loss of his daughter, added to Bob's presence, makes him completely unreliable and impulsive, resulting in him murdering Jacques Renault with his bare hands, probably without Bob's influence. His isolation is dealt with empathy by Maddy, Laura's near-identical cousin. However, Bob takes over again and brutally murders the innocent girl, which causes Agent Cooper and Sheriff Truman to become extra alert. Leland could have also killed Donna if Sheriff Truman hadn't shown up just in time.

With Leland in jail, Agent Cooper connects the dots and unmasks him as Laura and Maddy's killer, causing Bob to reveal himself in a tantrum. Truman and Cooper finally get their confession as the evil spirit speaks through Leland, but a minor distraction causes another tragedy: as the men discuss Leland's fate, Bob bangs his host's head into the door repeatedly, killing him. It's a sad and tear-jerking scene because Leland realizes only in his final moments all the terrible things he was forced to do while under Bob's control, as he talks about how Laura was strong.

Why Leland's Death In Twin Peaks Was So Emotional

The Death Of Laura Palmer's Killer Wasn't Cathartic For Viewers

Many viewers felt mixed about Leland's death, as he’s a nuanced character. He's far from being a saint: regardless of Bob's presence, Leland was a somewhat abusive father, went along with Horne's controversial business, and, of course, was responsible for Renault's death. Still, he was a caring husband, and his scenes with Maddy prior to her death show how kind his heart is at its core. Leland is a victim of evil in its purest form and can finally rest in peace at the sound of Agent Cooper's inspiring words.

Leland's death makes Cooper and the others confused about whether Bob was merely a representation of Leland's inner demons or a vengeful supernatural entity entirely. Bob decides to lie low for a while until Josie Packard's puzzling death, returning with full power in the Twin Peaks season 2 finale, "Beyond Life and Death." Bob takes over Agent Dale Cooper in one of the show's most shocking twists, sending the real Cooper to the Black Lodge, where he would stay for 25 years.

Bob returns in Twin Peaks: The Return through Cooper's doppelganger, but his true form no longer appears since the actor who played Bob, Frank Silva, died in 1995. Twin Peaks: The Return offers a final face-off between the major characters and Bob. This includes Lucy fatally shooting Cooper's evil doppelganger. Bob is set loose in the form of a terrifying black sphere but is broken into pieces by Freddie Sykes's green glove, implying the evil entity's defeat.

However, in the alternate Twin Peaks pilot produced for the European VHS market, which contains an earlier closed ending, Mike shoots Bob multiple times in the chest and also dies shortly after. This draws the battle between good and evil to a close, but without any winners.