The cinema of David Lynch is notoriously surreal and filled with figures both terrifying and bizarre. Many worlds are portrayed in his work, and these spaces intertwine and feature characters that are clearly not of the physical world. Ethereal places like The Black Lodge in Twin Peaks and the burning hut in Lost Highway are truly strange and daunting, and are often left almost entirely unexplained by Lynch. The director is renowned for letting his audience interpret his work in their own way. There are many characters that seem capable of contacting or seeing the otherworlds that drive Lynchs stories, including Twin Peaks Dale Cooper, Gordon Cole (alongside Lil The Dancer) and The Log Lady, On The Airs Billy Blinky Watts, the Castigliane brothers of Mulholland Drive and Nikki/Sue in Inland Empire. There are also many larger than life (predominantly monstrous) figures that seem out-of-place in the real world, such as the baby in Eraserhead, Blue Velvets Frank Booth, Dunes Baron Harkonnen and Wild At Hearts Marietta Fortune and Bobby Peru. However, the characters that really stand out are those ephemeral phantoms that seem to know much more than they ever let on about the events unfolding in Lynchs confusing and terrifying narratives. These otherworld characters can be angelic, demonic or even god-like, and they are often portrayed as inhabiting spirits, causing characters to perform actions that they otherwise would not consider. Many of these figures actually seem to be controlling events themselves, and their sequences in Lynchs works are among his most evocative and stylised. Here are 22 of them from across Lynchs career, with practically every feature film (save 1999s more linear The Straight Story) represented.
