thespian Kristian Nairn officially left theGame of Thronesuniverse in 2016 , but viewers have hardly forgotten about him . Nairn ’s character , Hodor , was Bran Stark ’s loyal servant for six seasons before tragically dying while hold the room access close to hold off the Army of the Undead , countenance Bran to scarper .
Nairn lately reflect on the role , admitting that though he only ever retell one production line , Hodor was a unmanageable type to limn .
“ The key to play Hodor is just being actual — you really have to put yourself into the situation because you do n’t have words to express yourself , ” NairntoldStar 2 . “ You really had to immerse yourself into the reality of the scene and put in your organic structure language with suffer just one Word of God . ”
Most surprising about Nairn ’s portrayal of Hodor is the fact that not even the worker knew the meaning of his character ’s name . In his last moments , fans finally incur out that “ Hodor ” came about from Bran warging into Hodor as a youth at Winterfell at the same prison term they were being pursued by the undead . As Meera yelled at Hodor to " hold the doorway , " a immature Hodor seemed to see Bran at Winterfell . Then it seems that Bran also wargs into untested Hodor , who endure a seizure , which leave him unable to say anything but the truncated version of his kick the bucket words .
lover were shocked by this Book of Revelation , and it turns out that Nairn was , too .
“ I think of over the years , I have asked the showrunners and George RR Martin whatHodormeant , but they would never tell me , ” Nairn said . So he created his own theory for where the name came from , guessing that Hodor was a Clegane due to his unusually large size of it — but obviously that theory did n’t pan out .
“ I was surprised just like everyone else when I found out what Hodor meant . But I never expect the response that came from all over the world , ” Nairn aver , commenting on the corporate imprint that fan fall into after his character ’s death .
While a fictitious character who only ever verbalize one line over six time of year might not be an enticing role to every actor , Nairn state that showrunners David Benioff and Dan Weiss ascertain him the part would be worth it .
“ It was challenging in some way but David and Dan say me , ‘ You ’re gon na be one of the fan favorites of the show , ' and this was before we even go . I did n’t really understand ; I was like ‘ Really ? But he just says one word , guy . ’ But they turned out to be right , ” Nairn shared .
Nairn has taken a jailbreak from acting in ordering to focalise on his DJ career , but he knows he ’ll refund to television eventually . “ I love illusion roles , sci - fi stuff . But I am up for anything . I will never do a part like Hodor again … I decidedly have too much to say , ” he order .
