"There must always be a Stark in Winterfell..."

[WindBreaker]

Whenever a character says those words, it used to bring thoughts of tradition or birthright into mind. The Starks have ruled Winterfell for thousands of years, so naturally everyone in the world who knows about House Stark can decisively say that Winterfell belongs to them and them only. Because of this, whenever I heard the words, "there must always be a Stark in Winterfell", I chalk it up to this reason. Not anymore.This isn't a sentence that defends tradition of birthright. There is so much more to these words as well as their House words. 

"There must always be a Stark in Winterfell..."

 

We know that Hodor's real name is Walder and that he could talk at one point. Sometime while he a stable boy, he ventured knowingly or unknowingly into the crypts of Winterfell. The crypts are a sacred and very unknown place. They extend for miles underneath Winterfell. They hold the graves and remains of the all Starks from Eddard all the way back to the First Kings of Winter. From their description, the Kings of Winter have statues carved in their likeness. They are all seated and have a sword across their laps, a posture of standing guard. But what exactly are they guarding?

Rh'llor is the God whom Melissandre worships. She speaks of an enemy of Rh'llor who's very name is forbidden to say. She simply calls it the Great Other. She believes it is the Great Other who brought about the night that never ends (The Long Night). While the White Walkers do have immeasurable strength and power, they can be killed. They are beings who bow to a higher power. That power is known as the Great Other, deity or God of the White Walkers.

I believe the crypts of Winterfell hold the soul, spirit, or essence of the Great Other; imprisoned there through blood magic by the first Starks. This theory comes from the vision Bran saw through the heart tree in Winterfell, "A bearded man forcing a captive down on his knees, and a white-haired woman killing the captive with a bronze sickle." Sacrifices to heart trees were common in the North. Perhaps this was a form of blood magic that those who followed the Old Gods practiced. Keep in mind that the Great Other personifies the brutality, harshness, and cold of Winter. The Starks are the only ones who figured out the power of this old blood magic and used it to their advantage; that is why there are called the Kings of Winter. So when Azor Ahai (likely a Stark) imprisoned/captured/slayed the Great Other in the Battle for the Dawn, the spot where its spirit would be watched forever by the Starks would be where "WINTER FELL".

Remember how Winterfell happens to be the ONLY castle in the North that has a natural hot spring beneath it that warms the castle? Why is that? Could it be because of some great supernatural force being contained there through blood magic? The books say that Bran the Builder built the Wall with magic to make it impenetrable and that there is old magic in the Wall. The same holds true for Winterfell since it was Bran the Builder who built it as well. What if the magic used was blood magic? Blood magic that allowed the Wall and Winterfell to be built but on these premises. The Wall was built to keep the White Walkers OUT, Winterfell was built to keep the Great Other IN. This 2 pronged defense ensures that the White Walkers and the Great Other are never allowed to unite. The power of the Wall and the power of Winterfell are formidable and can be used as salvation as long as a person who has the blood of House Stark is in Winterfell. 

While the political turmoil of House Stark started when Jon Arryn was poisoned, the climatic consequences of the attempted destruction of House Stark only began once the last Starks (Bran and Rickon) left Winterfell. Once they left after Theon had betrayed them, the weather started to change. It started to get much colder and snow started falling. You can chalk this up to the fact that the White Walkers are on their way but I believe the fact that a Stark is not in Winterfell means trouble for all of Westeros.

To round out this theory, after Walder goes into the crypts, something happens to him and when he returns, all he can say is "Hodor". No one knows what Hodor means and no one has ever heard of it. Only someone who knew what it meant would be able to recognize it. I believe that while Walder was venturing through the crypts, he came across something he wasn't supposed to. Some old blood magic or evil that should've killed him but because of his giant's blood, only scarred him. For this, he was scarred with saying a word that defined the evil that was trapped in the crypts long ago. The God of the White Walkers, the Great Other...Hodor.

I am not saying that Hodor (Walder) is the Great Other. I am saying that Hodor is the NAME of the Great Other. It was the Great Other's NAME that was scarred upon Walder and forced him to only speak his name, Hodor. Also, the name of the Gods sound alike when you say them consecutively. Rh'llor/Hodor.

That is what is beneath the crypts of Winterfell. That is what the noble House of Stark is sworn to guard. For if they fail in their duties, and the Great Other is allowed to be unleashed, then we will know death is on it way. Winter is Coming

"There must always be a Stark in Winterfell..."

 

Please let me know what you think.

 

[DasallmaechtigeJ]

I think your theory has some interesting aspects to it. Nevertheless, it is quite unlikely that Hodor ventured that far down the crypts, considering that the Great Other is likely kilometers deep in a labyrinth of passages, most likely sealed of by magic and/or traps. Also, a scarring that severe would also make it impossible for him to enter the crypts under any circumstances I would assume. Still, I do think there is some significance to the crypts, the Starks are one of the oldest houses in Westeros with one of the oldest and most mysterious castles, I wouldn't be suprised if it would stand on the same type of stone ruins Hightower is built upon. I mean, a castle this big and this old must have some secret. Nevertheless, it would be weird that nobody has catalogized or mapped the secret passages down there or found any hidden chambers over all those years.

Btw, the Dreadfort is also built on hot springs, and I would consider it highly unlikely that the Grat Other, the bringer of eternal winter, would emit heat.

[Damon_Tor]

Personally I'm of the opinion that the word "Stark" did not begin as a family name but as a title. If the people North of the Wall are any indication of what pre-Andal First Men might have been like, hereditary leadership may not have been the norm. South of the wall, we're seeing the society after centuries of Andalization, but you can see some artifacts of the old system (earned tribal titles over family names) by a few hints:

-The leaders of the mountain clans of the North are referred to as "The NAME" not "Lord NAME". So Theo Wull of house Wull was called "The Wull".

-More direct evidence can be seen on Skagos, where there is a house called "House Magnar" where further North (where Andal culture had spread not at all) "Magnar" is still a title, not a house name.

In this way, we can infer that "There must always be a Stark in Winterfell" might have nothing to do with a particular bloodline at all. If you were reading a book of laws, and came across one that reads "There must always be a President in the White House" would you assume that an individual from "House President" was required? You might if your culture passes on positions of leadership from father to son.

[Adam Targaryen]

I've always liked the Hodor/Great Other theories, and I guess it's not completely impossible that The Great Other is trapped beneath Winterfell, but since the Others started appearing before Eddard even left Winterfell, I don't think their return has anything to do with House Stark leaving Winterfell. I'd say it could have something to do with the Targaryens/Valyrians, for example the death of the dragons, or maybe even the Doom. Maybe they have gathered their forces and planned the invasion for hundreds of years. I haven't read any of the books, but is it really that weird that it's gotten colder there? Winter is literally coming. To me the fact that the castle is called Winterfell and there are hot springs there seems like an indication that maybe the Battle for the Dawn was fought and won at Winterfell, with some magic fire power having warmed the soil ever since then or something. I don't know. If the Dreadfort also has hot springs, which I was not aware of before, then maybe they're just normal hot springs and Winterfell is a name like any other.

[Seams]

The name Walder is a pretty strong indication that Hodor is a Frey or closely related to the Freys. The Freys are gatekeepers: Their castle, The Twins, is the gateway in or out of the North, and the family guards the passage and exacts payment.

I am of two minds regarding Hodor / Walder and Catelyn's wards, Little and Big Walder, at Winterfell. 1) They could be tired of being gatekeepers and want to get past the gate and be "in" the North; to take over from the old families that have looked down on them. 2) Because they open and close "doors" for a living, they may be on a mission to open or close a hidden, legendary door of some kind - perhaps a "door" that would release the Great Other, as the OP posits.

There is a definite connection between the Winterfell Walders and the Winterfell crypt. They all go in there. Recall, too, however, that Hodor bathes in the hot spring in the godswood, and Little and Big Walder play the "Lord of the Crossing" game on a footbridge over the pool. What is up in that holy place that interests all of the Frey agents?

In response to the comments about the hot spring being too hot for The Great Other: Maybe the hot spring is part of what keeps the Great Other docile and powerless in its Winterfell prison. Keeping the monster or spirit in a warm or hot environment may be the key to imprisoning it.

What do you say to the possibility that the Great Other has skin changed into Hodor? Bran is a very inexperienced warg, we are led to believe, and breaks the rules about skin changing into humans. Maybe he is also unable to recognize when there is another skin changer already present in a person's body/mind.

Another big question raised by the Hodor / Frey connection, in my mind, is whether Old Nan is a loving, benign presence, or if she is a Frey spy who has been at work for generations, watching, interpreting stories, waiting for the birth of the greenseer. Perhaps she is The Winterfell equivalent of Maester Aemon at The Wall, but with a different agenda.

[the trees have eyes]

Fell has another meaning in English: evil.  This is an old usage that often appears in poetry.

I know it fits neatly with conjecture that the battle for the Dawn occurred at Winterfell and that there is a more important, magical purpose behind both the castle and the Stark bloodline but I think it's just GRRM being poetical and making his nameplaces sing like Sunspear, Hellholt, Highgarden, etc...  Winterfell feels pretty satisfactory and evocative to me without some world changing back story to it that everyone has somehow forgotten.

[Dorian Martell]

Book Hodor never had the ability to talk.  

[John Doe]

On 5.5.2016 at 9:03 PM, Damon_Tor said:

Personally I'm of the opinion that the word "Stark" did not begin as a family name but as a title. If the people North of the Wall are any indication of what pre-Andal First Men might have been like, hereditary leadership may not have been the norm. South of the wall, we're seeing the society after centuries of Andalization, but you can see some artifacts of the old system (earned tribal titles over family names) by a few hints:

-The leaders of the mountain clans of the North are referred to as "The NAME" not "Lord NAME". So Theo Wull of house Wull was called "The Wull".

-More direct evidence can be seen on Skagos, where there is a house called "House Magnar" where further North (where Andal culture had spread not at all) "Magnar" is still a title, not a house name.

In this way, we can infer that "There must always be a Stark in Winterfell" might have nothing to do with a particular bloodline at all. If you were reading a book of laws, and came across one that reads "There must always be a President in the White House" would you assume that an individual from "House President" was required? You might if your culture passes on positions of leadership from father to son.

Interesting way to look at it, but wouldn't the title still be known in some way?