'Game Of Thrones' season 6 news, spoilers: Episode reveals how Hodor got his name
While there have been many tragic and horrifying deaths over the past six seasons of HBO's "Game of Thrones," the fantasy drama's latest casualty was particularly heartbreaking.
In "The Door," viewers finally found out the meaning behind "Hodor," the name of Bran Stark's (Isaac Hempstead-Wright) protective and loyal companion, whose real name was Wyllis. Incidentally, "Hodor," was also the only word the gentle giant could say.
Unfortunately, that discovery came at the expense of Hodor's (Kristian Nairn) life and, as the episode revealed in a truly devastating twist of fate, it was Bran who was responsible both for unintentionally naming Hodor and for killing him as well.
The episode also proved what fans have long been speculating about. Apart from being able to visit and observe past events, Bran can, in fact, interact with the past and thus alter the course of history. Sadly, this theory was proven accurate when Bran inadvertently named and condemned his long-time friend and protector.
In one of the episode's final moments, Hodor was killed by the White Walkers while attempting to save the lives of Bran and Meera (Ellie Kendrick). With the undead wights launching a full-scale attack on the cave, Hodor leaned his back against the secret door while Bran was being dragged away by Meera. "Hold the door," Meera instructed Hodor, and he did just that.
Meanwhile, Bran, still in his vision where he had travelled back in time to Hodor's youth in Winterfell, heard Meera's words and accidentally warged into young Wyllis. This caused Wyllis/Hodor to convulse on the ground as he repeated the words over and over. "Hold the door! Hold the door! Hold the door!" he said.
Back at the cave, in the present, Hodor was still valiantly holding the door, and did so until the wights got to him. Back in Winterfell, Bran watched in anguish as Wyllis' speech turned into Hodor's, "Hold the door!" becoming "Hodor!"
In an interview with Entertainment Weekly, Nairn, the Irish actor who has played Hodor since "Game of Thrones" debuted, said that he loved how Hodor exited the series.
"I couldn't be happier how he has gone out," he said. "The interesting thing is it's kinda left open. You don't actually see him [die]. It's implied. So who knows? He may come back as a White Walker, maybe he got away. But it's a really good way to do it. I couldn't have asked for a better goodbye to a character I love."
"Game of Thrones" airs Sundays at 9 p.m. ET on HBO.
