Hodor
Will This Sunday’s G.O.T. Top The Hodor Scene?
Easily, the final scene of last week’s episode “Hold the Door” was one of the most eye-opening and significant turn of events for Game of Thrones fans, as we finally learned the importance of the mumbling oaf Hodor and the origins and designs of the dreaded White Walkers. We always knew Hodor (aka Willas) was Bran’s loyal protector but it turns out he also fills that role for all mankind as he held the door from the most serious threat to all of the Seven Kingdoms.
“Hold the door! Hold the door … Hodor!”
Certainly there is plenty of drama unfolding as the plotlines continue to twist and turn, but the fact that the White Walkers are the reason for Hodor inappropriately uttering his name over and over was an Earth-shattering reveal. While all in Winterfell always assumed that a childhood seizure was responsible for reducing Willas into an ignoramus, albeit a loveable and fiercely loyal one to the Stark family, instead it was his last-ditch effort to hold off the dreaded humanoid ice gods who were in hot pursuit of Bran.
In this fantasy world of visions, dragons and zombie snowmen, Game of Thrones creators David Benioff and D.B. Weiss have succeeded in taking the seminal series to new heights even while departing from George R.R. Martin’s book. First we see John Snow resurrected from the dead, the further maniacal rise of Ramsay Bolton, and then Daenerys Targaryean lay fiery waste to the council of Khals, with the Dragon Queen again emerging unscathed (and nude) to be worshipped (again) by the Dothraki. With Episode 6 on the near horizon, we are promised juicier meat to sink our collective teeth into.
Even as two bastards are destined to clash in a fight for the North, with Sansa Stark coming into her own, Khaleesi is once again riding high on her continued push to claim her birthright, and Ceirse and Jaime are hatching a plot to undermine High Sparrow and regain crown control. Meanwhile, Arya Stark is advancing in her assassin studies with Jaqen H’ghar, the Greyjoys are involved in their own civil war, Tyrion Lannister continues his rise as a power broker, and Bran assumes the role of the new Three-Eyed Raven, even as he narrowly escapes the White Walkers, thanks to his trusty friend Hodor’s heroism.
So many questions, so much anticipation, so little time, as we are half-way through what very well may be the last full, 10-episode season, as Benioff and Weiss have already said they are in “the final lap” and are contemplating a shortened Season 7 and, perhaps, Season 8.
May the Games re-commence!