George R.R. Martin Revealed What Happens To Hodor In The Books And It Sounds 1000 Times More Badass Than What Happened In Game Of Thrones
Scene included for anybody that needs a reminder of what happened or just wants to feel extra shitty during the shittiest year ever
***SPOILERS BELOW (DUH)***
EW- One of the new revelations from my book Fire Cannot Kill a Dragon making the rounds on news sites Tuesday concerns the fate of Hodor in George R.R. Martin's upcoming novels.
As Game of Thrones fans know, the lovable, monoverbal Hodor (Kristian Nairn) perished in the season 6 episode "The Door." The gentle giant was commanded to "hold the door" and used his weight to block an exit as undead wights attacked, allowing Bran Stark (Isaac Hempstead Wright) and Meera Reed (Ellie Kendrick) to escape.
Martin chose the scene to give an example of how his upcoming books will be different than the show, and it also serves as an interesting example of the choices made when adapting a print tale to television. "I thought they executed it very well, but there are going to be differences in the book," Martin said. "They did it very physical — 'hold the door' with Hodor's strength. In the book, Hodor has stolen one of the old swords from the crypt. Bran has been warging into Hodor and practicing with his body, because Bran had been trained in swordplay. So telling Hodor to 'hold the door' is more like 'hold this pass' — defend it when enemies are coming — and Hodor is fighting and killing them. A little different, but same idea."
For the show, the writers felt it would more clearly and visually communicate the concept of "hold the door" if Hodor was shown using his bulk against a door. "For our purpose, holding the door is visually better, especially because we have so much fighting," co-producer Dave Hill noted.
Those Benioff and Weiss assholes done did it again! Don't get me wrong, I was one of the people that was perfectly haunted watching Hodor die an absolute nightmarish death that also completely fucked up the simple life of a simple man going all the way back when he was a simple boy before everything cut to black. But tell me watching Hodor chopping down zombies like Will Smith in I Am Legend as he swing his sword along with that hammercock of his wouldn't have been badass. Was it really too much to ask Benioff and Weiss to follow the vision of ol' Finthooks Martin's vision of the series considering his weirdo brain batted 1.000 beforehand? Again, I thought someone as pure as Hodor getting his face ripped off by an army of the undead while he literally held the door while protecting the most important person in all of Westeros was as raw as it could get.
However, after hearing a fair share of Thrones fans say how the Hodor death did nothing for them, making him go out in a blaze of bloody glory would have been sweet if the emotional angle wasn't the play. Whatever. Complaining about anything Thrones before the last season or two seems silly now. Speaking of which, I swear to God if Finthooks Martin reveals that he is going to have Hodor return to Winterfell as a wight alongside a cluster of giant ice spiders the size of hounds, I am going to hold the pillow right to Benioff and Weiss' face.
Speaking of the books, I have three words for George R.R. Martin:
Wait...earlier in the blog..did Clem call George...
[scrolls up]
I love that spectacular weirdo so much. All Hail Bran the Broken, First of His Name, King of the Andals and the First Men, Lord of the Six Kingdoms and Protector of the Realm, and the WINNER of the Game of Thrones. #Branwagon
