--- title: Game of Thrones Hodor Theory Explains What Happened to Him description: One popular theory posits that Hodor was a warg, but stayed inside his animal for too long and drove himself mad. canonical: https://time.com/4320018/game-of-thrones-hodor-fan-theory/ author: Megan McCluskey article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-05-05T21:50:50.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-05-11T04:46:38.309Z article:section: Entertainment og:title: Game of Thrones Fan Theory May Explain What Happened to Hodor og:description: There may be more to the gentle giant than meets the eye og:url: https://time.com/4320018/game-of-thrones-hodor-fan-theory/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt834b065065a6c1ab/6988917ebc6cfc09453dccfa/5c2486c7ff5a0f18fc04a031f7232ae62dc282be0a1cd71df46146f4c4a1207fd11dde224088d1468dde97606a5e2a87.jpeg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: young-hodor-game of thrones og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Game of Thrones Fan Theory May Explain What Happened to Hodor twitter:description: There may be more to the gentle giant than meets the eye twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt834b065065a6c1ab/6988917ebc6cfc09453dccfa/5c2486c7ff5a0f18fc04a031f7232ae62dc282be0a1cd71df46146f4c4a1207fd11dde224088d1468dde97606a5e2a87.jpeg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # This _Game of Thrones_ Fan Theory May Explain What Happened to Hodor > Sponsored content. 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Terms and conditions apply. * Savings buckets are a feature of Ally Bank's Savings Account. * No ATM fees from Ally Bank at Allpoint and Moneypass ATMs plus we reimburse for fees charged by other ATM owners nationwide up to $10 per statement cycle. * Early direct deposit offers eligible direct deposits up to two days sooner. * Spending buckets are a feature of Ally Bank's Spending Account.  by [Megan McCluskey](https://time.com/author/megan-mccluskey/)  ## Megan McCluskey Staff Writer May 5, 2016 9:50 PM UTC  Helen Sloan/HBO  by [Megan McCluskey](https://time.com/author/megan-mccluskey/)  ## Megan McCluskey Staff Writer May 5, 2016 9:50 PM UTC **Warning:** This post contains spoilers from both the [_Game of Thrones_ TV show](http://time.com/4289801/game-of-thrones-death-quiz/?iid=sr-link2) and George R.R. Martin’s _A Song of Ice and Fire_ series. Those who watched the [second episode of _Game of Thrones_‘](http://time.com/4318034/jon-snow-resurrection-scene-game-of-thrones/) sixth season Sunday were witness to one of the show’s rare [flashback scenes](http://time.com/4251540/game-of-thrones-season-6-trailer-analysis-breakdown/) — a sequence that featured [Bran Stark](http://time.com/4271544/game-of-thrones-unanswered-questions-season-6/) and the Three-Eyed Raven traveling into the past to see a young Ned, Benjen and Lyanna Stark. They were also given some insight into a character who up until that moment had remained largely an enigma: [Hodor](http://time.com/4314401/hodor-real-name-game-of-thrones/). The scene in question shows Hodor as a young stable boy named Wyllis who could speak in full sentences, causing fans to begin speculating about what made him become the disyllabic gentle giant he is now. One popular theory posits that Hodor was a warg, but stayed inside his animal for too long and drove himself mad — a concept that has been mentioned before in the _G.o.T._ universe. Back in season four, [Jojen Reed tells Bran](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b6fq-elMOKg) that, “If you’re trapped in Summer \[Bran’s direwolf\] for too long, you’ll forget what it was to be human.” So what evidence is there that Hodor possessed the power to warg? Luckily, two Reddit users have explained the theory in detail. “The last episode made a point of showing how \[Wyllis\]/Hodor was friendly with Lyanna, and how eager he was to please her and her family,” [wrote TazoGreenTea](https://www.reddit.com/r/gameofthrones/comments/4hnwpz/everything%5Ftheory%5Fabout%5Flyannas%5Fhorse/). “As a stable boy, it would make sense that his choice would be to warg into a horse since, like dogs, they are docile and are accustomed to his presence. And if the (possibly) only girl treating him nicely was Lyanna, it would make complete sense that this is the horse he would warg into.” **Read More:** [There’s More to That Hodor Flashback on _Game of Thrones_](http://time.com/4314401/hodor-real-name-game-of-thrones/) ### See The Real-Life People Who Inspired Game of Thrones Characters  From left: Cersei and Margaret of Anjou HBO; Getty Images  From Left: Khaleesi and Queen Elizabeth I. HBO; Getty Images  From Left: Melisandre and Bloody Mary Helen Sloan—HBO; Getty Images  From left: Talisa Stark and Anne Boleyn. Helen Sloan—HBO; Getty Images  From left: Brienne of Tarth and Joan of Arc. HBO; DeAgostini—Getty Images  From left: Henry VIII and Robert Baratheon. HBO; Getty Images  From left: Joffrey and Caligula. HBO; De Agostini—Getty Images The Redditor goes on to explain how this also means Hodor could have been present for many of the events surrounding Lyanna and Rhaegar Targaryen’s relationship, a storyline that likely leads to the death of Lyanna’s horse and Hodor’s current state of mind. “Since Rhaegar and Lyanna would eventually run away from everyone, it also makes sense that they would both be on horses while doing so and Wyllis/Hodor would have been witness to many events of that storyline,” the user wrote. “My guess is that the horse was slain during battle while Hodor was warging into it, which would explain why he is a very much a simpleton now and is afraid of fighting and lightning. Would also explain why Bran is able to warg into a human, because the mind inside the human is an animal’s mind (or the remnant of a mind trapped into a horse).” “Oathbreaker,” the third episode of _Game of Thrones_‘ sixth season airs Sunday at 9 p.m. EST on HBO. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4320018/game-of-thrones-hodor-fan-theory/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4320018/game-of-thrones-hodor-fan-theory/"},"headline":"This Game of Thrones Fan Theory May Explain What Happened to Hodor","datePublished":"2016-05-05T21:50:50.000Z","dateModified":"2026-05-11T04:46:38.309Z","description":"There may be more to the gentle giant than meets the eye","url":"https://time.com/4320018/game-of-thrones-hodor-fan-theory/","keywords":["Newsfeed","Television","game of thrones","TV"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt834b065065a6c1ab/6988917ebc6cfc09453dccfa/5c2486c7ff5a0f18fc04a031f7232ae62dc282be0a1cd71df46146f4c4a1207fd11dde224088d1468dde97606a5e2a87.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Megan McCluskey","jobTitle":"Staff Writer","url":"https://time.com/author/megan-mccluskey/"}],"articleSection":"Entertainment","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt834b065065a6c1ab/6988917ebc6cfc09453dccfa/5c2486c7ff5a0f18fc04a031f7232ae62dc282be0a1cd71df46146f4c4a1207fd11dde224088d1468dde97606a5e2a87.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"young-hodor-game of thrones","caption":"","creditText":"Helen Sloan/HBO","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/entertainment/","name":"Entertainment"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4320018/game-of-thrones-hodor-fan-theory/","name":"This Game of Thrones Fan Theory May Explain What Happened to Hodor"}}]}] ```