Preacher = Ghost ?

look at the trivia section.

. "Clint Eastwood revealed in interviews that his character is in fact a ghost."

I have been of two minds about this ever since the fist time I saw this movie back in 1985.

After just watching PR again, I'm going to go with ghost. There is a great deal of symbolism in the film - from his appearance, the breaking down of the rock, his affect on the character played Richard Keil, his maneuvers, his explaining to the people that they must stand up to the 'LaHoods of the world', the gun shots in his back, the way that everyone says 'he's gone' and even the eerie music playing at the end when he disappears. It just seems more other-worldly and like a morality tale. No human being is able to be pure and moral no matter how hard we try - it's just not possible.

So, I believe now that the character is indeed a ghost or some manifestation of vengeance on the greedy and selfish.


The Force is my Ally and a powerful Ally it is. Luminous Beings are we - not this crude matter.

[deleted]

I don't see him as a ghost but as an avenging angel of sorts. He did have intimate relations with Meagan's mother and he wasn't an entity type of creature because he was attempting to help the miners. When he went to town and retrieved his .45 revolver and put away the bloodied collar, it indicated that it was time for him to exact revenge. Until then, he was giving advice and helping the people more than anything. He even helped Club, the big guy, that worked for LaHood after he beat him in the groin with the sledgehammer.

A google search will turn up the audio or Eastwood briefly stating that Preacher is a ghost.
http://www.clinteastwood.net/welcome/alt/

But I disagree.

I believe there's two ways possible ways to imagine this film's backstory:

1. Clint Eastwood was a great gun-slinger whose luck eventually caught up with him. He was shot in the back by Stockburn and left for dead. Yet he somehow survived, perhaps through luck or perhaps through Divine help. After recovering from his wounds, the gun-slinger decided his gun-slinging days were over. Since he was presumed dead, he could take on a new identity and not have to worry about his old enemies looking for him. He chose to adopt the Preacher identity because it was as far as possible from his previous identity. He left the town(s) he had once called home to head to places where no one would know him. One day, after Megan Wheeler prays for a miracle, Preacher arrives in her area, perhaps by chance or, more likely, because the Divine Hand leads him there.

2. Clint Eastwood was a great gun-slinger who was shot in the back by Stockburn and died. He was sent back to Earth to avenge his own death and/or to help others.

****

If Possibility #2 is correct, Preacher is a ghost who was sent to Earth on a mission to kill Stockburn, LaHood, etc. Preacher knew all along that he was going to kill them.

If Possibility #1 is correct, then this film contains the classic Western storyline of the gun-slinger who decides to quit the gun-slinging business to live a more simple/innocent/peaceful life but then later gets pulled back into his gun-slinger lifestyle by circumstances he had not anticipated. (You can see this motif in The Unforgiven as well as other Westerns.) Preacher hoped to resolve the miners problems without bloodshed, but ultimately, once LaHood called in Stockburn, Preacher realized that picking up his old guns was his only option.

For me, the scene that answers the ghost question is the scene where Preacher goes and picks up old guns (the symbols of his old gun-slinger identity) out of the safe deposit box and puts his Preacher collar into the box (removing his Preacher identity). This scene only makes sense under Possibility #1. This scene is the moment where Preacher finally accepts that he must fight with lethal force.
If Preacher really were a ghost sent on a divine mission of death, he would've been carrying the guns all along in anticipation of the fight that he knew was coming.

It's abundantly obvious that he is a tea kettle.

From what I've read, even Eastwood himself said the Preacher was a ghost.
From what Stockburn says about him hints at it. There is a scene where LaHood asks him about the Preacher and he says that the Preacher reminded him of someone he once knew but that it wasn't possible it could be the same guy as that man was dead.

What I assume is at some time in the past the Preacher was a living normal human ,who may or may not have been a reverend or maybe he was and then turned gunfighter. As for his acquaintance to StockBurn - I can only assume that Stockburn killed him some years ago in a gunfight ,it doesnt say whether or not he left him to die or made sure he was dead but I guess he was dead in Stockburns memory , how or why is left to your imagination but based on the Preacher saying that it was time to settle an old score meant they had a history.

So IMO , I think Eastwood's character was given a second chance by some other power to wander the land for retribution and his happening upon the miners was no coincidence . I believe he was lead there knowing it was time he finished what he started out to do. All the events leading up to the final showdown and the ghostly voice calling to him at night -almost beckoning him that his time was up and he needed to finish his quest and be at peace ,returning to heaven or to whatever place lies beyond this world.

"So, a thought crossed your mind? Must have been a long and lonely journey"