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Video: 'Game Of Thrones' Showrunners Apologize For Hodoring Hodor
By
Ben Yakas
Published May 25, 2016
Modified May 25, 2016
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By
Ben Yakas
Published May 25, 2016
Modified May 25, 2016
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[GAME OF THRONES SPOILERS BELOW]
Last Sunday night's episode of Game Of Thrones left millions of people Hodoring when Hodor bit the big Hodor and sacrificed Hodorself in order to help idiot Bran, the worst teenager in Westerosi history, escape the clutches of the Night's King and his army of dancing skeletons. The episode-ending reveal that Hodor's "name"—and his inability to say any other words but Hodor—were both caused by Bran was heartbreaking.
Showrunners D.B. Weiss and David Benioff appeared on Jimmy Kimmel last night to apologize about Hodoring everything up—well, they didn't apologize for killing him ("We kill a lot of main characters. We've killed 739 main characters so far"), but for all the annoying people who will now incessantly use Hodor as a shorthand for "hold the door."
"We're sorry for all the idiots who, from now on, will be shouting 'Hodor' every time you go through a door," Benioff said. "We forgot how annoying people can be. That's our bad," added Weiss. "Again, so, so sorry. People are the worst."
Of course, a lot of fans would probably prefer if Benioff and Weiss apologized for some fundamental narrative issues rather than one of the most emotionally satisfying moments in the show's history. In the immortal words of YouTube commenter Quinn Dang, "You guys should apologize for butchering Dorne's plot arc and showing Davos reacting to Stannis' death for like three seconds before jumping on Jon Snow's dick."
Hodor himself, actor Kristian Nairn, talked to ScreenCrush about the reveal and death, and explained what he thought happened in the final scene to lead to Hodor's condition (and added that he, thankfully, doesn't think Hodor will become a White Walker):
My take is that it’s almost like a telephone call with crossed wires. Fundamentally I don’t think Bran even understands what he’s done. He’s in a new territory for himself. He’s still discovering these powers he has, which obviously is telling to his lack of study. [Laughs] But I think stuff starts to happen in present day with the White Walkers and the wights, and he knows he has to - he heard Meera shouting “Warg into Hodor” and somehow [Bran] managed to affect both Hodors at the same time.
I think somehow the electricity - I think his powers are somehow electrical in the connectivity, electrical parts of animal brains, and obviously Hodor’s brain as well, creates some sort of vortex, some sort of flux. [It] just almost wipes Hodor’s brain unfortunately, and almost leaves [him] like an echo chamber. Then the poor guy has to learn how to communicate all over again and is left, I’m not going to say an empty shell because he was never an empty shell for me. But he definitely has to relearn how to be a little boy again. I don’t believe that he remembers what’s happened. I don’t believe that when he saw [Bran] for the first time he as like, “Oh my god, it’s him!”
At least one person—blogger Michael A Ventrella—accidentally guessed the true meaning of Hodor's name after meeting George R.R. Martin in 2013 inside an elevator. Martin made a throwaway comment about once wanting to be an elevator operator, and Ventrella later tracked him down to ask:
Me: I finally figured out why you have a character named “Hodor.”
Martin: Oh?
Me: I was thinking about your comment about wanting to be an elevator operator. It’s clear to me now that “Hodor” is short for “Hold the door.”
Martin: (laughing) You don’t know how close to the truth you are!
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game of thrones
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Ben Yakas
Ben Yakas is a former Gothamist reporter.
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