New hypothesis regarding Hodor

[adiman83]

I just got a new idea regarding Hodor, and your opinions.

So we know that a warg cannot stay for extended periods of time inside the minds of animals, especially during mating or flying for extended periods of time(in the case of birds), because he/she would eventually lose itself and forget one's humanity.

What if Hodor was a warg in his childhood? Being a child and having nobody to explain and train him (like Jojen teaching Bran), he didn't know about the do's and don'ts. So, when he was warging (uncontrollably in his sleep), eventually stayed too long in the animal's mind and lost himself. The halfwit we see today would be whatever is left of his mind.

What do you guys think?

[fangirl000]

I don't like the idea, if only because I think being a secret warg is an overused theory. And I don't think having Hodor be a warg would be the sort of twist that would have a greater impact on the story, so there's no purpose for it.

[Lady Blizzardborn]

I'm thinking he lost the ability to speak (other than saying Hodor of course) due to some kind of trauma.

Also, I think when someone skinchanges away from their body permanently the body dies. Meera and Jojen were really worried about that with Bran staying longer and longer in Summer's body.

[Jojen]

Or maybe Hodor is being controlled by a warg in the Land of Always Winter. You know, sort of a way of keeping an eye on the Next Last Greenseer maybe.

[Archmaester_Aemma]

His being able to understand instructions but only say one word fits with trauma to a particular brain region called Broca's area (fourth paragraph of the speech research section if you're interested - Paul Broca). If this spread further forward in the brain, it could affect his intellectual abilities as well.

Less exciting, I know. Sorry!

[Lady Blizzardborn]

His being able to understand instructions but only say one word fits with trauma to a particular brain region called Broca's area (fourth paragraph of the speech research section if you're interested - Paul Broca). If this spread further forward in the brain, it could affect his intellectual abilities as well.

Less exciting, I know. Sorry!

Can anyone recover from that? I read somewhere (been searching for the link, haven't found it yet) that Hodor will begin to talk more in the upcoming books.

I was thinking more emotional trauma, something he saw maybe. That at least leaves the door open for possible recovery.

[Lord Damian]

Hodor, whatever it is, I think will do something HUGE and HEROIC and there has to be something about "HODOR", the word.

[Obebb]

To OP, it's definitely an interesting idea. And there would be something funny about Bran skingchanging into a guy who skinchanged too much. I just don't buy it too much though.

[Christy_McKenna]

An interesting theory, especially since we don't hear that much about why he is the way he is. I still think he's just a 'simple minded' boy, and that's that. Nothing as exciting as being a warg :P

[Skoboe]

It will be interesting to see if Hodor loses his nose to frostbite in the next book.

(Referring to Tyrion's vision of him sharing a body...two heads, the other without a nose, weilding an axe as big as himself)

I've always thought it strange that book Tyrion/Hodor are of a similar age, but much younger than the TV Tyrion/Hodor who are of a similar age...even stranger that Joanna Lannister could give birth to twins with no issues, but die giving birth to a dwarf at the same time Old Nan introduces baby-Hodor.

.....cue crackpottery :)

[The Abominable SnowOther]

this theory bums me out. i dont like it :frown5:

[Cyvasse Khal]

I am more of the opinion that the word 'Hodor' itself is significant as well, simply due to the fact that it's not his name, so there's gotta be some reason he's saying it. I don't think there will be anything major with any action Hodor himself can do, but a reveal of Bran learning what 'Hodor' means could just be a nice little reveal to the readers.

[The Abominable SnowOther]

It will be interesting to see if Hodor loses his nose to frostbite in the next book.

(Referring to Tyrion's vision of him sharing a body...two heads, the other without a nose, weilding an axe as big as himself)

I've always thought it strange that book Tyrion/Hodor are of a similar age, but much younger than the TV Tyrion/Hodor who are of a similar age...even stranger that Joanna Lannister could give birth to twins with no issues, but die giving birth to a dwarf at the same time Old Nan introduces baby-Hodor.

.....cue crackpottery :)

So are yous saying Joanna warged Hodor?

[Skoboe]

Nah...but long before I found this forum (or any other) one of my first thoughts was that GRRM was channelling a bit of Caramon/Raistlin and that Hodor was Tyrion's secret twin, and his mental deficiencies were a result of oxygen deprivation during a difficult birth.

A theory born of wanting Hodor to be much more than he is I suppose :)

[Reek Havoc]

In a moment of boredom, I googled "the meaning of the word hodor". Mostly all I came up with where references to the ASoIaF character (of course) but eventually found that it was also listed as a last name.

Under meanings & origin it says:
Polish and Slovak: from the eastern Slavic personal name Chodor, a vernacular form of Teodor (see Theodore).

So then I check out the meaning of the name Theodore at a some baby names websites. Theodore means "divine gift", "God's gift", or "godly" depending on which site you're looking at. Incidentally, there's another character whose name is associated with Theodore. Not that it isn't obvious, but I'll say it anyway...

Theon.

Does it mean anything? Probably not. Total stretch, absolutely. But it's a fun coincidence!

Oh, and another fun coincidence... I looked it up the day after 402 premiered on HBO and the baby name of the day was Joffrey. Ha!

[adiman83]

I don't like the idea, if only because I think being a secret warg is an overused theory. And I don't think having Hodor be a warg would be the sort of twist that would have a greater impact on the story, so there's no purpose for it.

Oh, I'm not talking about a secret warg with some greater purpose further on. I just meant he might be a failed warg who stayed too long in his animal's mind and lost his mind. It doesn't have a major impact on the story but it would be one way of explaining his condition and it could also serve as a lesson for Bran, showing both faces of the coin: a succesfull and powerful warg (Bran and Bloodraven) and also a failed one due to his mistakes and lack of training (Hodor).

I got the idea because they said at some point that warging into birds is dangerous because, if the skinchanger is not careful, he/she would forget his humanity and would only want to fly and I thought maybe that's what Hodor (Walder) did and when the connection was eventually broken he just wasn't there anymore.

[Jojen]

When we finally learn all the answers to our questions, Hodor will be there saying, "That's what I've been telling you the whole time!" *Sigh* "Nobody ever listens to me."