Leland Palmer is a
fictional character
In fiction, a character (or speaker, in poetry) is a person or other being in a narrative (such as a novel, play, radio or television series, music, film, or video game). The character may be entirely fictional or based on a real-life perso ...
from the television series ''
Twin Peaks
''Twin Peaks'' is an American mystery serial drama television series created by Mark Frost and David Lynch. It premiered on ABC on April 8, 1990, and originally ran for two seasons until its cancellation in 1991. The show returned in 2017 for ...
'', created by
David Lynch and
Mark Frost
Mark Frost (born November 25, 1953) is an American novelist, screenwriter, film-and-television producer and director. He is the co-creator of the mystery television series ''Twin Peaks'' (1990–1991; 2017) and was a writer and executive story ...
. He also appears in the
prequel, ''
Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me''. He is portrayed in all his appearances by
Ray Wise.
Leland is an
attorney, with his primary client being local businessman
Ben Horne (
Richard Beymer
George Richard Beymer Jr. (born February 20, 1938) is an American actor, filmmaker and artist who played the roles of Tony in the film version of ''West Side Story'' (1961), Peter in ''The Diary of Anne Frank'' (1959), and Ben Horne on the telev ...
). He is well-known and respected in the town of Twin Peaks. Together with his wife
Sarah (
Grace Zabriskie
Grace Zabriskie (' Caplinger; born May 17, 1941) is an American actress. She is best known for her role as Sarah Palmer in ''Twin Peaks'' (1990–1991; 2017) and its film prequel '' Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me'' (1992), Lois Henrickson in '' ...
) and his daughter
Laura (
Sheryl Lee
Sheryl Lynn Lee (born April 22, 1967) is a German-born American film, stage, and television actress. After studying acting in college, Lee relocated to Seattle, Washington to work in theater, where she was cast by David Lynch as Laura Palmer and ...
), his family seems to be perfect. When Laura is murdered, however, Leland's psychological foundations begin to crumble, and it is gradually revealed that extreme dysfunction, including
incest
Incest ( ) is human sexual activity between family members or close relatives. This typically includes sexual activity between people in consanguinity (blood relations), and sometimes those related by affinity (marriage or stepfamily), adopti ...
, lies beneath the Palmer family's idyllic surface.
Appearances
''Twin Peaks''
In the
pilot episode of the series, Leland is called into the morgue to identify Laura's body. The grief pushes him over the edge; he throws himself into the grave at Laura's funeral and has to be dragged out, and for the next few weeks he manically asks people - even complete strangers - to dance with him as Laura had, all while sobbing hysterically.
When
Jacques Renault (
Walter Olkewicz) is arrested as a suspect in Laura's murder, Leland murders him by suffocating him with a pillow. After killing Jacques, Leland's hair turns white overnight. Leland is arrested, but released on a personal recognizance bond pending trial due to personal assurances made by
Sheriff Harry S. Truman
Harry S. Truman (May 8, 1884December 26, 1972) was the 33rd president of the United States, serving from 1945 to 1953. A leader of the Democratic Party, he previously served as the 34th vice president from January to April 1945 under Franklin ...
(
Michael Ontkean
Michael Leonard Ontkean (born 24 January 1946) is a retired Canadian actor. Born and raised in Vancouver, British Columbia, Ontkean relocated to the United States to attend the University of New Hampshire on a hockey scholarship before pursuing ...
) that he does not pose any danger to the community. Leland's behavior at times appears abnormal - manically happy at times, exhibited by singing the 1940s popular nonsense song "
Mairzy Doats
“Mairzy Doats” is a novelty song written and composed in 1943 by Milton Drake, Al Hoffman, and Jerry Livingston. It contains lyrics that make no sense as written, but are near homophones of meaningful phrases. The song's title, for example, i ...
", before crashing into grief. The arrival of his niece-in-law
Madeline "Maddy" Ferguson, who looks almost exactly like Laura (both roles are played by
Sheryl Lee
Sheryl Lynn Lee (born April 22, 1967) is a German-born American film, stage, and television actress. After studying acting in college, Lee relocated to Seattle, Washington to work in theater, where she was cast by David Lynch as Laura Palmer and ...
), is of great help to him in learning how to deal with his daughter's death.
It is eventually revealed that, as a boy, Leland met a strange neighbor who turned out to be a
demonic entity named
BOB
Bob, BOB, or B.O.B. may refer to:
Places
* Mount Bob, New York, United States
*Bob Island, Palmer Archipelago, Antarctica
People, fictional characters, and named animals
*Bob (given name), a list of people and fictional characters
*Bob (surname ...
(
Frank Silva
Frank A. Silva (October 31, 1950 – September 13, 1995) was an American set dresser and actor best known for his performance as the evil spirit Killer BOB in the TV series ''Twin Peaks''.
Silva had a degree in lighting design from San Francis ...
), who would possess him throughout his life. It is also implied that BOB
molested
Sexual abuse or sex abuse, also referred to as molestation, is abusive sexual behavior by one person upon another. It is often perpetrated using force or by taking advantage of another. Molestation often refers to an instance of sexual assau ...
him as a child. It is difficult to tell when and if Leland is truly in control of himself and when he is being possessed by BOB. It is implied that Leland killed Renault on his own – not under BOB's control – and that Leland is lost from that point: he is no longer able to stop BOB and is completely taken over, physically manifested by the change of hair color and a dramatic change in behavior. Finally, BOB takes control of Leland and murders Maddy. The changes in Leland from this point help Special Agent
Dale Cooper
Federal Bureau of Investigation Special Agent Dale Bartholomew Cooper, portrayed by Kyle MacLachlan, is a fictional character who is the protagonist of ABC's and Showtime's television series ''Twin Peaks''. He also plays a supporting role in ...
(
Kyle MacLachlan
Kyle Merritt MacLachlan (; ' McLachlan, February 22, 1959) is an American actor. He is best known for his role as Dale Cooper in '' Twin Peaks'' (1990–1991; 2017) and its film prequel '' Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me'' (1992), as well as roles ...
) to finally identify him as BOB's "host".
Leland is eventually exposed as the murderer of both his daughter and his niece Maddy and is arrested by Cooper and Truman. He later dies in custody following a bizarre interrogation on the night of his arrest. BOB takes control of Leland and forces him to run headfirst into the metal door of an interrogation room. At the moment of his death, Leland remembers the crimes he committed under BOB's control, and cries out in agony. After Cooper recites the last rites from the ''
Tibetan Book of the Dead
The ''Bardo Thodol'' (, "Liberation Through Hearing During the Intermediate State"), commonly known in the West as ''The Tibetan Book of the Dead'', is a terma text from a larger corpus of teachings, the ''Profound Dharma of Self-Liberation ...
'', Leland sees a vision of his daughter Laura and dies. Later on, Cooper explains to the widowed Sarah that he believes the vision was of Laura forgiving Leland and welcoming him into the
afterlife.
In the
final episode of the series, Cooper encounters a grinning
doppelgänger of Leland in the
Black Lodge, who says "I did not kill anybody."
''Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me''
The prequel film ''Fire Walk With Me'', which depicts the last week of Laura's life, reveals that Bob had begun raping her when she was 12 years old while possessing Leland. The abuse drives Laura into a life of drug addiction and promiscuity, and she begins working as a
call girl
A call girl or female escort is a sex worker who (unlike a street walker) does not display her profession to the general public, nor does she usually work in an institution like a brothel, although she may be employed by an escort agency.< ...
. She often turns tricks together with Teresa Banks - whom Leland frequently visits while away on business. He arranges a "party" with Banks and two other girls, only to find out that the two girls are Laura and her friend
Ronette Pulaski (
Phoebe Augustine). He pays Banks and leaves, but comes back later that night and beats her to death.
A year later, he sees Laura having
group sex with Pulaski, Renault and
Leo Johnson (
Eric Da Re); enraged, BOB uses Leland to attack, beat and rape both girls, before killing Laura, even as Leland begs BOB not to make him do it. He wraps Laura's body in plastic and dumps it in a river. He then appears in the
Black Lodge, where he meets
The Man From Another Place
The Man from Another Place (played by Michael J. Anderson), also known as The Arm, is a character from the television series ''Twin Peaks'', created by David Lynch and Mark Frost. He is an inhabitant of the Black Lodge, a realm of pure evil. He w ...
(
Michael J. Anderson
Michael J. Anderson (born October 31, 1953) is a retired American actor known for his roles as The Man from Another Place in David Lynch's television series ''Twin Peaks'', the prequel film for the series, ''Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me'', and a ...
) and
MIKE
Mike may refer to:
Animals
* Mike (cat), cat and guardian of the British Museum
* Mike the Headless Chicken, chicken that lived for 18 months after his head had been cut off
* Mike (chimpanzee), a chimpanzee featured in several books and docume ...
(
Al Strobel), BOB's former partner in murder.
Series relaunch
When ''Twin Peaks'' was revived in 2017,
Ray Wise confirmed that he would appear in the new series, once again portraying Leland Palmer.
In the second episode of the renewed series, Leland appears in the Black Lodge imploring Cooper to "find Laura". In Part 18, he also repeats his instructions to Cooper when he returns to the Black Lodge. Due to time alterations following ''
Part 17'', it is said that Leland committed suicide on February 24, 1990, one year after his daughter’s disappearance (she was never confirmed to have been murdered in the changed timeline).
Notes
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Palmer, Leland
Twin Peaks characters
Fictional characters from Seattle
Fictional lawyers
Fictional serial killers
Fictional pedophiles
Fictional rapists
Fictional characters involved in incest
Television characters introduced in 1990
Fictional filicides
Fictional suicides
American male characters in television
Fictional victims of child sexual abuse