GoT S6E5: Hodor's Story
Oct. 22nd, 2022 06:03 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
canyonwalkerHodor is a popular minor character in the Game of Thrones series. He's mentally disabled and can only say his name, "Hodor"— which he does enthusiastically at times, to viewers' amusement. He's a strong and loyal servant at Winterfell whom the Stark family value.
In the TV series it's implied in earlier seasons that Hodor wasn't always mentally disabled. The books so far never address it. Perhaps he was kicked in the head by a horse as a youth and suffered a brain injury? Certainly there were people at Winterfell who knew him when he was a boy... including his grandmother, Old Nan... who'd know when he was injured, if not also how/why.
In S6E2 we get a small spoiler about Hodor's past. In S6E5 we see the full story. It's a major reveal. And... Holy shit, it hits hard.
Spoilers ahead. Note this is also a spoiler for not-yet-published book 6. These scenes have not occurred in the 5 published books. In a behind-the-episode featurette the showrunners explain that author George R.R. Martin revealed these events to them as plot twists that will be in book 6 or later.
The first reveal comes in S6E2 when Bran Stark is learning to manage his power to see the past. His mentor, the Three-Eyed Raven (who's actually a man), guides him to a vision of Winterfell 30-ish years ago when his father, Ned Stark, and Uncle Benjen were boys. Young Hodor, a stable boy, is in the yard watching them practice swords under the tutelage of master-at-arms Rodrick Cassel. Hodor's real name is Wylis (in the books it's Walder). And most importantly he's not mentally handicapped. He's maybe a little slow, perhaps; but definitely able to converse with kids and adults in the yard.
So what happened that turned Wylis into Hodor?
Bran's curious, too, and wants to keep visiting old Winterfell in his visions. He casts his sight there again in S6E5. But while he's studying the vision and is only semi-lucid in the present day, wights led by the Night King attack. His companions, Meera and Hodor, flee with him towed on a sled. The Three-Eyed Raven and the Children of the Forest (an ancient magical demi-human race) sacrifice themselves fighting the undead so Bran, Meera, and Hodor can escape.
The sacrifice only buys them seconds of time. The final obstacle/challenge in their race to escape is to force open an old door at the end of a tunnel. The wights are only seconds behind them. Hodor forces the door open then forces it back closed. "Hold the door!" Meera shouts to him.
Bran, semi-lucid and fluttering back and forth between his vision and the present moment, uses his mind-meld power ("warging") to tell Hodor to hold the door. In his confused state in the heat of the moment, Bran wargs into Hodor's mind both in the past and the present. This creates a time loop that causes past-Hodor to suffer something like an epileptic seizure. Bran watches, horrified, in his vision of the past as adolescent Wylis falls to the ground, convulsing.
"Hold the door!" young Wylis shouts over and over. "Hold the door, hol' th' door, Ho'dor. Hodor. Hodor. Hodor!"
Present-day Hodor holds the door. He sacrifices himself. The wights eventually rip through the door and kill him. But he's bought Bran and Meera more valuable seconds to disappear into a blizzard.
In the TV series it's implied in earlier seasons that Hodor wasn't always mentally disabled. The books so far never address it. Perhaps he was kicked in the head by a horse as a youth and suffered a brain injury? Certainly there were people at Winterfell who knew him when he was a boy... including his grandmother, Old Nan... who'd know when he was injured, if not also how/why.
In S6E2 we get a small spoiler about Hodor's past. In S6E5 we see the full story. It's a major reveal. And... Holy shit, it hits hard.
Spoilers ahead. Note this is also a spoiler for not-yet-published book 6. These scenes have not occurred in the 5 published books. In a behind-the-episode featurette the showrunners explain that author George R.R. Martin revealed these events to them as plot twists that will be in book 6 or later.
The first reveal comes in S6E2 when Bran Stark is learning to manage his power to see the past. His mentor, the Three-Eyed Raven (who's actually a man), guides him to a vision of Winterfell 30-ish years ago when his father, Ned Stark, and Uncle Benjen were boys. Young Hodor, a stable boy, is in the yard watching them practice swords under the tutelage of master-at-arms Rodrick Cassel. Hodor's real name is Wylis (in the books it's Walder). And most importantly he's not mentally handicapped. He's maybe a little slow, perhaps; but definitely able to converse with kids and adults in the yard.
So what happened that turned Wylis into Hodor?
Bran's curious, too, and wants to keep visiting old Winterfell in his visions. He casts his sight there again in S6E5. But while he's studying the vision and is only semi-lucid in the present day, wights led by the Night King attack. His companions, Meera and Hodor, flee with him towed on a sled. The Three-Eyed Raven and the Children of the Forest (an ancient magical demi-human race) sacrifice themselves fighting the undead so Bran, Meera, and Hodor can escape.
The sacrifice only buys them seconds of time. The final obstacle/challenge in their race to escape is to force open an old door at the end of a tunnel. The wights are only seconds behind them. Hodor forces the door open then forces it back closed. "Hold the door!" Meera shouts to him.
Bran, semi-lucid and fluttering back and forth between his vision and the present moment, uses his mind-meld power ("warging") to tell Hodor to hold the door. In his confused state in the heat of the moment, Bran wargs into Hodor's mind both in the past and the present. This creates a time loop that causes past-Hodor to suffer something like an epileptic seizure. Bran watches, horrified, in his vision of the past as adolescent Wylis falls to the ground, convulsing.
"Hold the door!" young Wylis shouts over and over. "Hold the door, hol' th' door, Ho'dor. Hodor. Hodor. Hodor!"
Present-day Hodor holds the door. He sacrifices himself. The wights eventually rip through the door and kill him. But he's bought Bran and Meera more valuable seconds to disappear into a blizzard.
