Hey All

 Apologies if this is an obvious question to you guys who are veterans to the show and movie.  I just finished watching the series last weekend, and watched the movie yesterday.

 In Episode 2.20, Pete, Agent Cooper and a random (I think) old woman at the diner all have a strange twitching sensation in their arm/hand.  Similarly in FWWM, Laura has a numbness in her arm when she awakens from a dream, and Theresa Banks apparently had a numb arm according to the waitress at the diner where she works.

 Is there some explanation for this that I overlooked?  Is the twitching related to the numbness?  I find it difficult to isolate a common factor between these characters that would bring this sensation on.

Again, apologies if this is old hat for you guys.  Great website.

Hey there.

 If memory serves-and if I connected the dots correctly- I believe this was referenced in Fire Walk With Me. Theresa Banks (who was one of Bob's earlier victims) suffered from this numbness shortly before her death (this was told to Agent Chet Desmond by a waitress at the diner where Theresa Banks worked).

It's been a while since Ive seen FWWM but I believe Laura had numbness in her arm prior to her death too. I think the numbness was due to the wearing of the owl cave ring.

I also think there is a connection to the "Man from another place" since he said he was the "Arm". Hope this helps. 

I was always wondering about meaning of hand/arm motive in TP.

We had

- "sometimes my arms bend back" in Cooper's dream

- Gerard/Mike's cutted arm

- mentioned arm twitchings near the series finale

-Teresa's arm numbness, "I am the arm" in FWWM

-the Ring which is also connected to the arm theme

-in Cooper's biography two cutted arm holding  black and white paper squares are mentioned

- and then we have Venus de Milo (in the Waiting Room) that is renowned for her missing arms

I have a theory that arm represent some sort of power or control over your own nature/destiny. Perhaps left and right arms represent human's dark and good sides respectively (it's banal, but...).

Near the series finale something happens in the Lodges, the perturbations of their forces make people lose control over themselves (or their destiny) hence the twitching.

Teresa takes the ring - her arm becomes numb, she is "married" and belongs to the Black Lodge, totally submitted to her dark impulses. Wrom this moment she can't make choices anymore and can't escape her destiny.

Gerard/Mike cuts his arm to gain control over his thirst for killing (the Arm, however, start its own life).

I think that the arm twitching during episode 27 was something separate from the numb arms in FWWM.

The arm twitching may have been a sign of the fear that was to come or possibly the death. Earlier on in episode 12 we had seen Harold’s arm twitching once he left his house, something he was terrified of. He died shortly after.

Cooper notes that Josie was trembling with fear before her death and that fear drew BOB to her.

We see both Pete and Cooper’s arms twitching later on. In the finale Pete was probably terrified to discover the bomb at the bank and his fate is uncertain. Also Dale entered the Lodge, was scared and became host to BOB, which linked him to death.

We saw BOB exit the Lodge at the end of episode 27 his right arm twitching in the same manner. At the end of FWWM, BOB’s hand is shaking when he heals Leland’s wound. Before entering the Lodge, BOB had used Leland’s fear to open the way. The wound that BOB seems to heal for Leland could have been fatal.

The numb arm is separate. This numbness usually occurs with the left hand. It happens to those who wear the owl cave ring on the ring finger. It is theorized that the ring means death or that Mike/MFAP gets the resulting garmonbozia but the fact that only the left arm goes numb seems to suggest something other. I still believe that the garmonbozia was Mike's own pain and sorrow for BOB's victims. The ring, to me, symbolizes a union with Mike. This could be how he finds his next host: “With this ring I thee wed”. This may be why the arm of the wearer goes numb. To become host to Mike the human must symbolically remove their left arm.

The ring is worn on the left hand ring finger. The vein of this finger was once believed to lead to the heart. It is called vena amoris or “vein of love”.  Fear opens the Black Lodge and it is the way that BOB also opens his hosts preceding the invitation required for possessing. Love opens the White Lodge. It would make sense that Mike, having conformed, would seek a different entrance to his host than the previous one of fear and he would subsequently connect it to love.

Before Laura enters the White Lodge at the end of FWWM she places her left hand over her heart.