Game of Thrones: Kristian Nairn Discusses Hodor's Destiny

Talking zombies, theories and Warcraft.
By Terri Schwartz

Full spoilers for Game of Thrones continue below.

Game of Thrones fans are still reeling from the loss of Hodor at the end of "The Door." But when star Kristian Nairn gets on the phone from the UK to talk about saying goodbye to his character, he's already looking ahead; the most exciting moment of his week is yet to come, as he is going to watch an early screening of Duncan Jones' Warcraft.

"You have no idea," Nairn, a massive fan of World of Warcraft, tells me of his excitement for the movie. "I feel like my life has been heading toward this moment. It's a very important day for me."

It might be surprising to some that the most important day of Nairn's week isn't the day his fan-favorite character died on Game of Thrones, but he's had months to come to terms with Hodor's death, while fans have only had days. Even so, Hodor was a difficult character for Nairn to say goodbye to, and one that he's come to love.

Read on for our full conversation, where Nairn shares his thoughts on Hodor's arc, breaks down what happened between Hodor and Bran and reveals his theory on what he had thought Hodor's name meant. We also talk about his last day of shooting, whether we'll ever see Hodor become one of the Night King's undead and the extreme lengths it took to get an answer from the creators of Game of Thrones about one of his theories.

IGN: In an early interview, you had said one of your concerns with taking the part of Hodor was you didn't want to be put in a box and limited as an actor. Looking back at the journey he has gone on, what do you think about the character Hodor became?

Kristian Nairn: Oh, I love the character now. It took me a very short time, actually, to fall in love with Hodor. I really realized there was quite a lot more I could do than I first imagined. It's a sensitive character to play. It would have been very easy to overplay; making him too big, making him almost like a clown. I had to be quite restrained about it, which I'm not that type of person. I'm a quite restrained person anyway; I'm British, or Irish. We're quite restrained as two nations.

I've turned down so many other parts of big guys just standing in the background, just that kind of part. I have no interest. That's not why I wanted to be an actor. I have a lot more to say than that. No disrespect to anyone that does, it's just not for me. I think there's more to Hodor than that. There's more to Hodor than just being the big guy. He has quite a lot more going on there.

IGN: What was your reaction to finding out Hodor's origin story and finding out that he was once this normal kid, and that his connection to Bran was sort of the cause of it all?

Nairn: I discovered it at the same time I discovered he was going to die, so I had a mixed reaction to be honest. I was very happy that I was going to find out for real, that the world was going to find out who he was and why this all happened. It was something that was constantly being asked.

It was just immensely sad as well. Tragic in a typical Game of Thrones way: something awesome happens, you get a piece of information that you didn't know before, and then they snatched it back [laughs] and give you a electroconvulsive-style therapy jolt with a horrible death afterwards. It's like negative reinforcement. I think that's what it is. I always said I wanted Hodor to go out in a good way. I wanted him to have a memorable exit.

IGN: You actually said once where you specifically said you wanted him to fight an army of White Walkers.

Nairn: Yeah! Actually that was my prophetic side. Unfortunately I can't predict the lottery numbers. [laughs] Yeah, I was just really happy. I got what I wanted. He got a really good exit. I can't think of any better way, actually.

IGN: I've seen a lot of people trying to interpret what actually happened between Bran and Hodor in the past and present. What's the official explanation?

Nairn: It's not official. It's just my version, and let's just say it's official because I am Hodor. [laughs] I believe that when Bran was back in the past and he heard Meera asking him to warg into Hodor, for a start I don't think Bran really understands his powers yet. He hasn't completed his training with the [Raven]. I think he goes through the motions of warging inside his head, and I think it's an almost like an electrical connection. Somehow it connects him with the Hodor of the past, and suddenly it's no longer just a replay. He's actually there, and unfortunately for Wylis this creates some sort of time paradox inside his brain.

I believe that it almost presses a reset button and leaves him in like an echo chamber, so he hears those words, "Hold the door, hold the door." That's all he has. It just replaces his communication. I think after he had to learn how to communicate again with just what he had. You can see in Bran's face that he knows that he's done something bad, and he's horrified when he's watching Wylis have a fit.

IGN: It's so interesting now with people finding old theories on the Internet where people correctly guessed "Hodor" came from "hold the door." Did you have any theories over the years of who he was and where his name came from?

Nairn: What I keep saying is not only maybe someone got it right, but you realize how many theories there were that were wrong? Someone was bound to get the right one. Seriously, there were so many. But props to the person who got it right, definitely. I mean, they're still stabbing in the dark. There are hundreds of theories -- hundreds of theories -- but I was completely off the mark.

I was going along with a bit of an off-the-wall one where he was one of the lost Clegane brothers. Obviously you have his physical size like those two, and then there's Sandor, Gregor, Hodor -- it's not that much of a stretch.

Continue for details about Nairn's last day of shooting, whether we'll ever see Zombie Hodor and whether George R.R. Martin told him Hodor's destiny.
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