Bran Warging Hodor

[The Wull]

I have pretty strong feelings on this but not a lot of time, so I'll condense my answer for now:

Yes, it's an abomination.  The first time was understandable, as Bran didn't even realize what he was doing.  Once he got to the cave, however, he begins essentially joyriding in Hodor's body as @The Fattest Leech was so kind to point out.  

He's written as mature enough to understand right from wrong, and demonstrates his knowledge that what he's doing is wrong by keeping it secret.  

He's essentially enslaved Hodor, a betrayal of trust that's hard to forgive or overlook.  I hope he quickly realizes how wrong this is, because I don't think he's a bad kid at all - he just misses his legs like any one of us would. It's a tragedy. 

[John Doe]

8 hours ago, Maxxine said:

This came up in the Top 6 Character Thread and it's something I've always been curious about. Are people upset about Bran warging Hodor? I've found that I've mostly given him a pass for it. I'm not a fan Bran but my feelings for him really have nothing to do with Hodor. In fact, I don't think I've ever given too much thought to Bran warging Hodor unless I'm reading the Varamyr chapter. My reason is Varamyr tells us that warging a human is this great sin, but no one has told Bran. Bran didn't get to be some great skinchanger's apprentice and learn all of the do's and don't's of warging. Yeah he's learning from Bloodraven, but BR has not told him all of the rules and Jojen didn't say anything about this rule either iirc. He's completely oblivious to the rule apparently.

Of course the argument can be made that Bran knows it's wrong on some level because of the way Hodor reacts and he's keeping secret. But, I'm still inclined to give him a pass because if his circumstances. Warging Hodor has saved his life and will probably do so again. How do other people feel about the issue?

I would give him a pass if he had only done it to save their lifes, but he does it to spy on Meera too and notices that Hodor reacts like a beaten dog, or something similiar, I'm not sure what the wording was. So he knows Hodor doesn't like it and does it anyway, so even without having heard of the rules he shouldn't do it, just like not knowing about the law is no excuse for killing someone.

[Foot_Of_The_King]

11 hours ago, Maxxine said:

I get that argument. But I think I'm just like this kid has been dealt such a bad hand. He's paralyzed and potentially stuck in a cave for the rest of his life. Even if he gets out of the caves he's never going to have the chance to achieve the dreams he had. All this before the age of 10. If the one thing he does is warg Hodor so he can explore the cave and do some of the things he would be able to if weren't pushed out a window I can't be upset with him.

You verbalized my thoughts exactly. It's wrong ,but.....

[Macgregor of the North]

I hate to be the picky one but I always find the term Warging in regards to Bran and Hodor confusing. 

Warg is the term for a skinchanger who has the connection with a Wolf and it is Wolf related. 

Bran is not Warging Hodor, he is 'skinchanging' him, Infact Bran is not 'Warging' anything really, but Because he has the bond with Summer, he is a Warg. 

Sorry if I come across picky.

[Springwatch]

Bran treated Hodor more respectfully in Winterfell:

Quote

Little Walder cast his splintered lance aside, spied Bran, and reined up. "Now there's an ugly horse," he said of Hodor.

"Hodor's no horse," Bran said.

So skinchanging Hodor is not totally an innocent mistake - Bran knew better once; he just needs to remember.

[Staenerys Stargaryen]

The cool Walder cannot voice his frustrations if he minds so I don't see why everyone else gets so worked up about it. He is already Bran's taxi and never complains about that either. Plus it has saved them in the past and most likely will have to save them again, sadly to Hodors grave it would seem.  

Would be much cooler if Hodor was Bran's personal knight of the seven kingdoms, eventually becoming the Lord commander of Jon snow's kingsguard.  Hodor's story gets infinitely more interesting, to me at least, if Bran can utilize his strength for something positive.  Joyriding around the caves is like a guilty pleasure for Bran but im all for finding more about Bran tapping into his magical potential.

[Tijgy]

On 8-8-2016 at 8:33 PM, The Fattest Leech said:

I love Bran. He is a high listed fav of mine, but I also recognize that he is not Lilly-white and problem free because no character is.

I gave Bran a pass in the beginning when he doesn't know any better, even though we readers knew by way of Varamyr. But then Bloodraven tells him a few things about warging and Bran decides to still do it. Soooo, Bran needs to stop at some point before something bad happens and he can't be forgiven for it. However, this is in keeping with Bran being a naughty child all along. He was told to stop climbing the walls at WInterfell and he didn't listen and he was pushed (he was destined to fall anyway). Bran was told to not spend so much time in Summer, but he did it anyway and for longer and longer times. Bran was told to stay where he was in the cave, but he warged Hodor and went walking around anyway.

Bran knew what he was doing, but chose to do it for fun, and like I mentioned up above, he needs to stop before it goes to far and is unforgivable.

• A Dance with Dragons - Bran III

  The big stableboy no longer fought him as he had the first time, back in the lake tower during the storm. Like a dog who has had all the fight whipped out of him, Hodor would curl up and hide whenever Bran reached out for him. His hiding place was somewhere deep within him, a pit where not even Bran could touch him. No one wants to hurt you, Hodor, he said silently, to the child-man whose flesh he'd taken. I just want to be strong again for a while. I'll give it back, the way I always do.
  No one ever knew when he was wearing Hodor's skin. Bran only had to smile, do as he was told, and mutter "Hodor" from time to time, and he could follow Meera and Jojen, grinning happily, without anyone suspecting it was really him. He often tagged along, whether he was wanted or not. In the end, the Reeds were glad he came. Jojen made it down the rope easily enough, but after Meera caught a blind white fish with her frog spear and it was time to climb back up, his arms began to tremble and he could not make it to the top, so they had to tie the rope around him and let Hodor haul him up. "Hodor," he grunted every time he gave a pull. "Hodor, hodor, hodor."

I agree with TF Leech. 

Bran is my favorite character. And while I still love him - it is sort of unconditional-, I do not give a pass for this behaviour. 

It is wrong. Bran knows it is wrong. Bran knows Hodor doesn't like it. Bran knows he should treat Hodor this way. It is really bad behaviour. I might give him a pass if he did this to protect Hodor, to save himself and his friends, ... but he does it here indeed to have some fun.  Just like how he used to like to climb (which was not allowed by his mum) to explore, he is know using Hodor to explore the cave. 

And this is not only dangerous to Hodor, it is also dangerous to himself. I agree with some other posters here that while this behaviour is in fact a little selfish, he also does this because he is depressed, because he doesn't want to be Bran the Broken, because he wants to walk, ... It is certainly understandable why he does this. But here also lies the danger for him. He is warned that if he stays too long in Summer he might lose himself. The same would happen if he stays too long in Hodor. 

So, my sweet lord prince, stop doing this and be the boy again whose darkest deed was sending beets to the bullies. 

Anyway, I do think this is a dark deed and I will just not give him a pass for this. I really hope he will stop doing this for something bad happens. I also think this is something similar as what is happening with the other Little Starks. At this moment they are tempted "by the darkness": Bran with skinchanging Hodor, Arya with the whole Faceless Man Stuff, Sansa with LF, ... And I think they all will be forced to chose between their good characteristics and their bad ones.

[BricksAndSparrows]

I think Bran is too young to understand just how wrong it is to warg Hodor. But it's okay to forgive him, because most kids in his position, at his age would be doing the same thing or worse.