I have a question about this mysterious white horse in Sarah's visions.

Why does Sarah see this horse exactly when BOB comes in the house!We see the horse just before Maddy's murder,when BOB appears,and in FWWM again,when BOB comes through the window of Laura's bedroom.Is the appearance of the white horse connected with the appearance of BOB?And what does it symbolize?Any thoughts?

"behold the white horse, the man who sat on him was death. And Hell followed with him"
-some apocolyptic bible passage

others say the horse symbolizes the drug that Leland gave her. I feel otherwise

Just some mindless rambling but,

I always saw the horse as having possible multiple meanings/ relationships to other things going on.... (potentially)

1. Its drug related. Leland (or Bob - depending on your perspective) drugs Sarah before he does his dirty work in the house. I think we see this in FWWM. Maybe something like she's riding a white horse...?

2. The idea that there is a big pink elephant in the room and no one is saying anything about it....Sarah is in denial about Leland doing terrible things. Maybe she wishes / manifests that someone will see what is going on and she is in too much shock to accept it....?

3. The horse reminds me of the giant a little bit. The grand size of its apperance, the purest white color... Maybe the horse is from another world and is their to warn or somehow bring salvation to sarah....or its her version of the ol' "It is Happening again" message that cooper recieves from the giant.

4. finally , perhaps the pure white color of the horse some how related to Lelands hair changing to the same color. Im not sure how, but I always felt their was a connection...

Anyway, I do not claim any of this a absolute truth, I'd love some feedback and shared thoughts.

"behold the white horse, the man who sat on him was death. And Hell followed with him"-some apocolyptic bible passage

On second thought, maybe this horse is just Bob's ride....

I would have pegged him as driving a black 1968 mustang or something.....

Thanks,gang!!!

You helped again ;)

I have one more question about this-what about the smell of scorched oil?Before the murder Maddy was screaming"Oh,my God,what is that smell,it smells like something's burning" is this the smell of the oil?I know it's connected with BOB's appearance,but my question is why?

 It's marely a referrence to BOB's connection to fire. Fire, walk with me, one chants when BOB appears. There isn't a detailed explanation to this... Simply, where BOB goes, fire follows. Thus the smell of scorched oil or smoke in various scenes...

Erm, no it is not "marely" a "referrence" to BOB's connection with fire.

There is a pool of oil in Glastonbury Grove, at the entrance to the Black Lodge - hence those entering and leaving the Lodge will be tainted with the smell of oil.

Heroine is sometimes called Horse.  I always took it as a reference to Leland drugging Sarah.  She has visions of hte white horse instead of seeing what's really happening.

"If ya wanna ride, don´t ride the white horse"

Ditte 

Erm, no it is not "marely" a "referrence" to BOB's connection with fire.

There is a pool of oil in Glastonbury Grove, at the entrance to the Black Lodge - hence those entering and leaving the Lodge will be tainted with the smell of oil.

 ok it's merely a reference. And i'm quite sure that's true. BOB was always linked with fire. The idea for the pool came from that, not the other way arround.

Heroine is sometimes called Horse. I always took it as a reference to Leland drugging Sarah. She has visions of hte white horse instead of seeing what's really happening.

This is what I always assumed. Either that or Lynch though "Hey, let's put a white horse in here, that would be neat!" 

I personally think that the horse was more of a ride in for bob, would explane it just standing in the bedroom waiting. The white i think is just related to the "death" quote. But i do not believe that Bob is entirly bad and i think the white inocence in someway relates to him/lealand.. controversial i know but i think that almost all the heart aching questions cum down to the ambivolent messages we get from bob. Certainly hes not all bad. The other very viable option is that Lynch likes white horses I believe that he likes putting things like this into his films just because he knows people like us are pondering over it for 10s of years after it!. Mandozilla

This is what I always assumed. Either that or Lynch though "Hey, let's put a white horse in here, that would be neat!" 

 This is where I tend to lean with almost all things Lynch.  But if pressed for a more rational explanation, I'd go with the white horse = drugs bit.  No one else (even those who share Sarah's "gifts") sees a white horse in Bob's presence, so the only variable here is the drug Sarah is given.

ah, c'mon... I don't like it when people try to make Lynch's work not make sense

The possible fact that he is not fully aware of what he wants to say by putting one or another symbol/ icon/ etc. in his movies does not mean that there is no sense behind it.
Like someone said, if we can call him a genius, that's the reason: that his instinct works in such a way that things always MEAN something.

Some other filmmaker might include some elements to his film beacuase "they are going to be neat", but they would make no other sense than "wow, that's trippy". But Lynch's symbols are more than a fun ride because his subconscious naturally drifts towards the archetypal. And of course - because he knows perfectly how to translate his intuitions into film language.

P.S. Excuse, why did somebody say BOB wasn't all evil??  I thought that was the point of his character that he was!!!

You know, I think you are right bob1, about Lynch and his ideas for things like the horse, but the human interpratation factors hevily in his desistions in what to include. I think if he can see the reasons why he is including something + he can imagine a number of other ways people could interprate "the white horse" (in this case) and they all help the mysterious nature of the film while not shooting off in the completly wrong direction then its a keeper. Who know what i am saying? lol

Additionally: I was trying to sugest (albeit in the wrong words) that i sence a confused and verging on decent side of Bob. There are a few occations in the film and show that he appears to take pitty on people and almost helps... Tell me if im wrong but what was he doing when he removed Lelands injury? Id like to discuss this futher, in another thread if there are anyone who would be interested.

I mean i could b comletly shooting the wrong way i just get a strange ambivalent feeling about him.

Cheers Mandozilla

 P.S Please excuse my spelling, and know i am here to promote controversy in its purest form. what better place to do that?

Tell me if im wrong but what was he doing when he removed Lelands injury?

 What makes you think that Leland was injured? He had Laura and Ronnette's blood on his shirt, is all.

Good Call, i may hav got this one completly wrong. I just did not understand including him removing the blood in this sequence but i suppose i could say that for alot of it lol. Please excuse my ignorance. Im going back, way back to the start and gona watch it all again. I need more here!

No problem pal - I just thought you might have seen something I didn't. I think in the original script of FWWM, the description of that scene says something like "BOB makes Leland's injury vanish" - so I thought you may have been referring to that!

In case you don't already know, probably the most important element in that scene is the creamed corn - it is called "garmonbozia" by the residents of the Black Lodge - Lynch has said that it represents "pain and suffering". Earlier in the movie, we see Mike ranting at Leland in the traffic jam. He is angry and tells Leland "you stole the corn". Then in the red room scene, he says "BOB, I want all my garmonbozia". The implication is that, although Mike is trying to stop all the killing, if BOB does kill someone, he wants a share of the spoils, i.e. the pain and suffering of the victim.

So, while you may have been wrong to attribute goodness to BOB, I think you were along the right lines: BOB may not be good, but Mike is no angel either. Mrs Tremond, on the other hand....

Going back to the idea of the white horse... Sarah first sees it (in terms of narrative chronology) just before Maddy's death as she's crawling down the front steps and passing out.  Leland is standing just a few feet away and doesn't seem to mind that she's passed out.  So, as others here have mentioned, he's pretty clearly drugged her. "Later," in FWWM, Lynch reinstates the horse as a trope of a drugged state prefacing an attack, or at least the victimization of Sarah's family.

If we run with the idea of the white horse/death symbolism, it seems like it's Sarah's manifestation of what she perceives, albeit in a drugged, perhaps partially psychic, state.  She's on the edge of unconsciousness, perhaps more susceptible to "sending" forces.

I don't know if I'm arriving at any answers, but basically I think the white horse is Sarah's own manifestation.  Perhaps it would have a personal significance to her, but as the viewer isn't privy to that information, it seems that it can only represent a general feeling of dread, foreboding, and unease.  I think, then, that there is no answer we can arrive at; the most we can do is recognize the use of motifs and extrapolate by comparison.

I will say, though, that it would seem a little silly to me (and quite hard handed) if the horse was thought to be a literal reference to heroin; in addition to the banality of the word play this connection would constitute, this doesn't work for me because Leland delivers the drug (as seen in FWWM) via a glass of milk.  I think ingesting heroin would kill you, especially if you did it somewhat regularly as the Leland/Sarah exchange in FWWM implies.  But now I'm being far too concrete and have destroyed any semblance of analysis.  My bad!  :)

No problem pal - I just thought you might have seen something I didn't. I think in the original script of FWWM, the description of that scene says something like "BOB makes Leland's injury vanish" - so I thought you may have been referring to that!

In case you don't already know, probably the most important element in that scene is the creamed corn - it is called "garmonbozia" by the residents of the Black Lodge - Lynch has said that it represents "pain and suffering". Earlier in the movie, we see Mike ranting at Leland in the traffic jam. He is angry and tells Leland "you stole the corn". Then in the red room scene, he says "BOB, I want all my garmonbozia". The implication is that, although Mike is trying to stop all the killing, if BOB does kill someone, he wants a share of the spoils, i.e. the pain and suffering of the victim.

I see what you are saying, the whole cream corn is a new concept for me and thank you for giving me a taste (lol or not). I am going to have to check that all out over my next attempt at the show (i dont know if there is any reference to it in the show because all i can think about right now is when Adam West has it in the cinema in Family Guy [sorry for going off topic])

But as to the point made by the person above regarding it being to do with the drugs affecting Sarahs brain i have just considered another option which fits with that: So shes wasted on drugs but could possibly still know what is going on. It could be a protective mechanisum to calm her down and relax her mind to help forget about all that is going on. But whether or not this is the case the fact that she sees it is a good indication that not only are we having to work out what the writer is thinkin but what a disturbed and druged up mother is thinking at this point. Extremly difficult.

 All this can be shot out the park if the other vision of the white horse is nothing to do with her or the drugs but as i cant remember write now when the other vision was , i am useless...