Entertainment

The Truth About Hodor Revealed

HBO screen grab

David Oliver Contributor
Font Size:

For those of you (me) that lamented the sometimes molasses pace of “Game of Thrones” in episodes and seasons past, fear not: this season is blazing like dragon fire.

I’ll cut right to the most jaw-dropping moment of the season, because why leave you hanging? This week, we found out why Hodor can only say Hodor. And it’s a doozy, so follow me here.

Bran’s visions this week led him to a few key moments: a) He saw the Children of the Forest were the ones who created the White Walkers (gasp) b) He went into the past without the Three-Eyed Raven (double gasp) only to have the Night King touch his arm. This means said enemy could find him in the present.

Because of this, the Three-Eyed Raven says it’s time for Bran to become him. The two travel back to the past to when we first caught a glimpse of Hodor.

This set the stage for one of the more memorable battle sequences in recent “Thrones” lore: the White Walkers and zombies vs. the Children of the Forest and Bran and Co. Amid the chaos, Meera drags a still-in-the-past Bran out of the tree — but not before Bran enters Hodor’s mind (“warged”), literally, to help. She screams after Hodor to “Hold the door” of the tree (do you get it now). Hodor hears this in the past and starts convulsing and shouting “Hold the door,” which turned into “Hodor.” The saddest part of all this? Doesn’t look like Hodor’s destiny goes far beyond his ill-fated doorman duty. But what could be even sadder: that Bran’s time traveling antics aren’t over.

Elsewhere — if you can comprehend that there were 12,000 other plots happening during the episode — for those of you not watching the Billboard Music Awards, you still saw quite a show-within-a-show this week. On a mission, Arya watches a play about the different prominent families in Westeros; the cast included Cersei, Robert, Joffrey, Ned, Sansa, etc. And the actress who plays Cersei is Arya’s target in honoring the many-faced God. Time for her to “face” the music, am I right?

As for the rest of Westeros: Sansa stands up to Littlefinger (yay) only to lie to Jon about a military tip from him they’re going to use (not yay); Euron Greyjoy takes the Salt Throne and intends to build an Iron Fleet to join forces with Daenerys, because she’ll totally go for that; Yara and Theon fled, best ships in tow; Jorah tells Daenerys he loves her and she demands he find a cure for his Greyscale; Tyrion and Varys consult a(nother) red priestess; and the Night King kills the Three-Eyed Raven, ensuring Bran’s stronghold in the role.

WHEW. Catch your breath? Five episodes in, and it’s already the most intense season yet. Can only hope we’re heading toward more reunions, battles and time traveling craziness.