A Fan-Favorite Game Of Thrones Character Was Killed Off On The Actor's Birthday

Although "Game of Thrones" was famous for killing off major characters, at least the actors in the early seasons had the comfort of knowing exactly when and where their characters would die. Sean Bean knew he had a one-season gig ahead of him, for instance, just like Pedro Pascal did in season 4. But as the seasons went past the source material, that sense of job security dropped for most of its actors. From season 6 onward, pretty much anyone could be written off the show at any moment. 

The first death to make this clear was poor Hodor in season 6's "The Door." After loyally assisting Bran and Meera on their journey across the Wall, Hodor has to stay back to hold a door closed while the others escape an army of wights. Hodor succeeds in saving Bran and Meera, but he's torn apart by the wights in the process. That sounds dark, but it gets darker: In his final moments, we learn that Bran's warging and time-travel meddling is what broke Hodor's brain back in his childhood. Hodor (originally named Wylis) says "Hodor" all the time because "Hold the door" is what Meera's telling him to do in his final moments, and he repeats her instructions until the words blend into one. His catchphrase, the only word he's been able to say for most of his life, was basically him warning everyone about the death looming over him. 

This was a shocking sequence to book readers and show-only viewers alike. It was also a big surprise to Hodor's actor, Kristian Nairn, who, when he auditioned, didn't have the luxury of knowing what was in store for his character. To make matters worse: The show killed him on his birthday. 

"In the most 'Game of Thrones,' Orwellian twist ever, they killed me on my 40th birthday. That was intense," Nairn said in a 2024 interview. "Part of me was looking forward to leaving, honestly, because it have been six years and, as much as I loved the people, this was my new career and I was looking forward to doing something different. ... But, as the day came closer and closer, I dreaded more and more that I'd be leaving the people I really loved and think of as family."

Although Hodor wasn't the first character to die despite still being alive in the books, this was the show's first major spoiler of what the unpublished "A Song of Ice and Fire" books have in store. No disrespect towards showrunners David Benioff and D.B. Weiss, but there's no way they were the ones who came up with this twist; it was a plot point planned early on from author George R.R. Martin himself. 

The time travel reveal in Hodor's final moments was considered by fans and critics to be one of the clear highlights of season 6, even if the pun-based nature of the reveal did put a lot extra stress on the translators behind the show's dubbed versions. It was an insanely bleak ending for such a beloved character, which Nairn found heartbreaking. 

"The showrunners believed he was going to be one of the characters people really latched onto and liked," Nairn said. "I was like, 'Really? He's kind of a glorified wheelbarrow! ... I tried to leave a bit of space in [Hodor] for people to put themselves in there and see how they would feel in that situation. He was always so nice and so obliging. Can you imagine yourself doing that for someone and still having to sleep with the dogs? It's Cinderella syndrome."

Since his time on "Game of Thrones" ended, Nairn has continued his acting career with a series of shorter roles, like in "Robin Hood: The Rebellion" in 2018 and "Unwelcome" in 2023. He played a major role in the 2022 HBO Max series "Our Flag Means Death" as pyromaniac pirate John Feeney. Although Nairn always had his DJ career going for him, his success on TV and film is largely thanks to him landing that first big role as Hodor. As Nairn put it about auditioning for the role, "It changed my life from A to Z."