Dispelling the Hodor time travel (SPOILERS S6 E5)

[Brienne the Bluth]

So I don't 'watch' the show but I keep up with the plot and felt compelled to provide a counter argument to the idea that Bran has sent his consciousness back in time to skinchange Hodor, this essay also provides an outlet for a theory I’ve had for a while, the first of mine to be composed as an essay. If you want to just understand my interpretation from the point of view of the episode, scroll down to the last 5th, the crux of the essay is an analysis explaining why Bloodraven has been skin changing has been Hodor throughout the story and was therefore likely responsible for his transformation. 

 

My hypothesis is that Bloodraven presented him with the vision at a time when Bran sought to skinchange Hodor in order to deceive bran and thus create the impression of time travel. This notion of false time travel by one’s consciousness is a narrative that has featured in another of GRRM's stories.

 

Furthermore I believe that Bran has been in the presence of Bloodraven throughout the story through his proxy Hodor, not merely for the purpose of the aforementioned deception, but also as a way of monitoring Bran's movements and behaviour to accomplish his plots, as well as providing vital assistance to Bran. It certainly wouldn’t be the first time Bloodraven has taken the form of another human, as in Ser Maynard Plumm in ‘The Mystery Knight’, albeit through the use of a Glamour as a disguise instead of skinchanging, although the two processes share common themes.

 

The major precedent for this theory is the more blatant case of Bloodraven interfering in the life of a Stark through skin changing Mormont's Raven which also acts as a spy, but also serves as an important utility, alerting Jon to various dangers such as the high officers and the wight in Mormont's bed chamber. Like hodor the raven has a rather limited vocabulary, substituting "Hodor" for "Corn". I wont comment anymore on bloodraven as the raven as their are plenty of well developed theories. That said Hodor and Ravens are somewhat comparable, Hodor is repeatedly in attendance of Maester Luwin, like a raven perched on the arm of a Maester.

 

Hodor is particularly horse-like, his occupation finds him in the stables, he is ridden by Bran, and this notion is alluded to many times: "Good. Hodor is a man, not a mule to be beaten.", '"Now there's an ugly horse," he said of Hodor', "See, they're talking to each other. Maybe hodor means 'I love you' in horse."

 

The purpose of this connection is that horses and mounts in general are a key outlet for the power of skinchanging, think of the Targaryen Dragonlords, as well as the horsemanship of Brandon, Lyanna and Daenerys. I stands to reason that Bloodraven is operating hodor in the same capacity, one which is vital to Bran's quest.

 

The idea that bloodraven occupies Hodor's body is corroborated by many observations, one of the first indications is during Bran's dream about gargoyles, which is likely sent by the greenseer himself:

 

'The gargoyles watched him ascend. Their eyes glowed red as hot coals in a brazier. Perhaps once they had been lions, but now they were twisted and grotesque. Bran could hear them whispering to each other in soft stone voices terrible to hear. He must not listen, he told himself, he must not hear, so long as he did not hear them he was safe. But when the gargoyles pulled themselves loose from the stone and padded down the side of the tower to where Bran clung, he knew he was not safe after all. "I didn't hear," he wept as they came closer and closer, "I didn't, I didn't."

He woke gasping, lost in darkness, and saw a vast shadow looming over him. "I didn't hear," he whispered, trembling in fear, but then the shadow said "Hodor," and lit the candle by the bedside, and Bran sighed with relief.'

 

While Bran himself is unconcerned, an astute reader should be clued into the notion that Hodor is an extension of Bloodraven who has an affinity for darkness in terms of deeds and philosophy, one mantra is sufficient to illustrate this:

 

"The strongest trees are rooted in the dark places of the earth. Darkness will be your cloak, your shield, your mother's milk. Darkness will make you strong."

 

We must also ask ourselves why Hodor loves the murky pools in the Winterfell Godswood, is this another association with being enveloped in black like Bloodraven, and has he swam in the Black pool, a feature of winterfell which should pique the interest of any reader, perhaps bloodraven is also curious as to where it leads.

 

There are also a couple of descriptions of Hodor which match the most important Bloodraven motif used to highlight his other analogues such as Beric Dondarrion, the absence of a single eye:

'His face was all ugly from the beating, his nose swollen and one eye closed.'

(Hodor after a beating from the Ironborn)

 

‘The snow was falling again, wet and heavy. Hodor walked with one eye frozen shut, his thick brown beard a tangle of hoarfrost, icicles drooping from the ends of his bushy mustache.'

 

This last passage also passage also recalls the Winterfell Heart tree as observed by theon:

'Even the godswood was turning white. A film of ice had formed upon the pool beneath the heart tree, and the face carved into its pale trunk had grown a mustache of little icicles.'

As Bloodraven is fused to the Weirwood network we can consider the two to be a single entity and it is through the Weirwood network that Bloodraven is able to control the form of Hodor, furthermore Hodor as a human with giant's blood can also be likened to weirwoods which are metaphorical giants.

 

If you subscribe to the idea in ASOIAF that one’s descendants take the form of their ancestors reborn, then it is also possible to recognise a parallel between Old Nan and Bloodraven, an aspect of each of them going into the making of Hodor. Old Nan is suspected of being the longest lived human in westeros, the other contender being Aemon, though in truth we know it to be Bloodraven in his state of undeath. Like Old Nan, blood raven is gradually shinking, receding into the tree:

 

‘A little skin remained, stretched across his face, tight and hard as white leather, but even that was fraying, and here and there the brown and yellow bone beneath was poking through.’

 

Bloodraven, Old Nan alike have lived long enough to witness the death of almost all of their descendants, and over the course of their long lives have been known by many names, though most have been forgotten and are now know by a single moniker.

 

‘The last greenseer, the singers called him, but in Bran's dreams he was still a three-eyed crow. When Meera Reed had asked him his true name, he made a ghastly sound that might have been a chuckle. "I wore many names when I was quick, but even I once had a mother, and the name she gave me at her breast was Brynden."’

 

Both are very important figures in Bran’s storyline in terms of shaping bran’s desires and informing him of important events in the past, one through recounting stories by the oral tradition, while the other does so through the more vivid process of exploring the memories of the Weirwoods.

 

Now that we have considered some of the symbolic evidence of Hodor’s skin changing by Bloodraven, we shall consider how and why Bloodraven has taken over the body of the stableboy.

 

Supposing Bloodraven is aware of Hodor’s heritage, we can assume that he chose to occupy his body as his strength and endurance makes him stand out amongst other men, furthermore the idea of simple minded giants such as Small Paul, Gregor Clegane and Dunk the lunk makes the occupation of Hodor less conspicuous to the inhabitants of Winterfell, as well as the readership, furthermore it may be that Walder (Wylis in the show) was more susceptible to being displaced from his body because of his Giantsblood. By reducing Hodor to a simpleton, Bloodraven makes Hodor a superior vessel for subterfuge, moreover the inability for Walder to recover his broken mind when Bloodraven vacates his body means that Hodor’s character appear consistent, even when he is in a dormant state, which is to say unoccupied by a skin changer. Bran even demonstrates the ease with which Hodor can be impersonated through skinchanging, simply by Hodoring.

 

Hodor also exhibits some fairly suspect behaviour by refusing to take Bran down to the crypts following his dream of Eddard's death which we can suspect was sent by Bloodraven:

 

"Go down into the crypts. When I woke, I told him to take me down, to see if Father was truly there. At first he didn't know what I was saying, but I got him to the steps by telling him to go here and go there, only then he wouldn't go down. He just stood on the top step and said 'Hodor,' like he was scared of the dark, but I had a torch. It made me so mad I almost gave him a swat in the head, like Old Nan is always doing." He saw the way the maester was frowning and hurriedly added, "I didn't, though."

 

This only frustrates Bran and so Luwin accompanies him to the crypts, the encounter results in Luwin attempting to dispel the idea of meaningful (but not prophetic) dreams but his histories and Osha's take on the subject only increases Bran and the reader's interest in the culture of the children.

 

Hodor also serves very important roles in the delivery of Bran to Bloodraven’s cave. I propose that Bloodraven used observation through Hodor to coordinate the arrival of Sam and Gilly at the nightfort with it’s occupation by Bran and his party. We know from ADWD that Coldhands is an agent of Bloodraven and takes false routes through the haunted forest in order to delay the journey of those he is guiding (such as to induce starvation in Bran’s party). I propose that Coldhands performed the same deception with Sam and Gilly in order to allow Bran to arrive at the Nightfort ahead of Sam, thus allowing Sam to lead them through the Black Gate and introduce them to Coldhands, a ploy which would require a spy amidst Bran’s party. There are no coincidences in ASOIAF.  To reinforce this idea we have this clue:

 

‘Hodor peered over the knee-high lip of the well and said, "HODOR!" The word echoed down the well, "Hodorhodorhodorhodor," fainter and fainter, "hodorhodorhodorhodor," until it was less than a whisper. Hodor looked startled. Then he laughed, and bent to scoop a broken piece of slate off the floor.

"Hodor, don't!" said Bran, but too late. Hodor tossed the slate over the edge. "You shouldn't have done that. You don't know what's down there. You might have hurt something, or . . . or woken something up."

Hodor looked at him innocently. "Hodor?"’

Bloodraven in the Guise of Hodor, deliberately alerting Sam to the presence of Bran, all the while playing coy.

 

This isn’t the first time Hodor tries to give away Bran’s position, the thunderstorm at Queenscrown, it’s hard to say whether the intention of this outburst was to bring about Bran’s capture by the Wildlings, I think the most logical explanation is that it resulted in the outcome Bloodraven desired, Bran’s skinchanging over hodor, something he achieves without the assistance of integration into the Weirwood network, partly because of his genotype (descent from house Lothston), but more so because Hodor has already been broken in as it were through him being skin-changed by Bloodraven, a concept he himself explains:

 

‘Slipping into Summer's skin had become as easy for him as slipping on a pair of breeches once had been, before his back was broken. Changing his own skin for a raven's night-black feathers had been harder, but not as hard as he had feared, not with these ravens. "A wild stallion will buck and kick when a man tries to mount him, and try to bite the hand that slips the bit between his teeth," Lord Brynden said, "but a horse that has known one rider will accept another. Young or old, these birds have all been ridden. Choose one now, and fly."’

 

One should also keep in mind the fact that skinchanged animals can also be inhabited by more than one consciousness, as with the ravens containing children of the forest, and Orell’s eagle containing his residual soul, while under the control of Varamyr. The same pattern is seen with Hodor:

 

‘Bran shook his head. "I don't know." But he did. I reached for him, the way I reach for Summer. He had been Hodor for half a heartbeat. It scared him.’

 

‘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.’

 

The resistance Walder displayed to Bran’s skin changing may have been a reaction to Bloodraven temporarily relinquishing control, while at the same time being occupied by an unfamiliar consciousness. By causing Bran to take control of Hodor to avert their capture, Blooraven acts as the cause of Bran’s later temptations which sees him skinchange Hodor for trivial ends. I believe that the purpose of encouraging such actions is to develop Bran’s powers as a skinchanger, all the while disregarding the code of skinchanging outlined in Varamyr Six Skins prologue chapter in which the consumption of human flesh or occupation of a human’s body are both considered abominations, but in my opinion likely serve as dark catalysts for the power of a skin changer (e.g. Jojen paste).

 

I recommend reading essays about cold hands and the mysterious sow he finds in the midst of the haunted forest, to cut a long story short, Bloodraven through his agent Coldhands feeds Bran and his party the flesh of the Night’s Watch deserters, Bloodraven even displays his satisfaction:

 

‘"Who were they? Wildlings?"

Meera turned the meat to cook the other side. Hodor was chewing and swallowing, muttering happily under his breath. Only Jojen seemed aware of what was happening as Coldhands turned his head to stare at Bran. "They were foes."

Men of the Night's Watch. "You killed them. You and the ravens. Their faces were all torn, and their eyes were gone." Coldhands did not deny it.’

 

 

The idea of Hodor being occupied by Bloodraven is congruent with the trope of fools possessed of secret knowledge, in this instance we have Hodor, who on the surface is second only to dozy Drogo in terms of mental ability, but is infact host to one of the most scheming and intelligent characters in the whole series, second only to Stannis (personal opinion). I definitely find it hard to reconcile that idea that in ASOIAF wherein mental illness is portrayed with a great deal of gravitas and realism, that a Hodor would be afflicted with an unidentifiable condition that limit’s his ability to communicate yet in many ways preserves most of his faculties, being able to understand a language he cannot speak, as well as learn tasks after a fashion.

 

Now that I’ve provided my analysis of the books I shall turn my attention to the conundrum presented in the show:

 

Hodor is seemingly skinchanged by Bran in the present (not that the show has a timeline, either that or Littlefinger and the sands snakes have jetpacks) for the purpose of their escape, which also coincides with the vision of Wylis suffering a fit brought on by skinchaning (demonstrated with Sweet Robin and Thistle), thus giving the impression of Bran bringing on Hodor’s affliction. Bran, viewers and book readers alike have been tricked! The true perpetrator was Bloodraven himself.

 

I hypothesise that Bloodraven may have instigated the attack on the cave as part of this deception. Firstly Bran is allowed to look through the eyes of a weirwood in front of which is Night’s King and an assembly of baddies, allowing him to locate the cave and bypass the psychic barrier that is designed to ward off Wights by preventing their animation through telekinesis, who can say what effect it has on the White Walkers.

 

In the run up to the attack Bloodraven is showing Bran a vision from the past of Ned leaving to be fostered at the vale, after all the other memories of the past this one is very pedestrian and serves little purpose in Bran’s education, in fact the two are just standing about not saying anything. However this vision is pivotal in terms of revealing the transformation of Wylis into Hodor, something I believe Bloodraven was displaying in an effort for Bran to make the connection and thus believe himself to be cause of Hodors affliction, as well as being possessed of a time travelling consciousness. Although in the show we are given no indication as to how or when Bloodraven joined with the Weirwood, it in conceivable that this occurred prior to Wylis’s transformation and that he did so for the same reason as in the books, as well at perform this deception.

 

Additional evidence of the attack by the White Walkers being a false flag operation by Bloodraven is the fact that Bloodraven in the vision is seemingly aware of his own demise, despite being closed off from the events outside the vision (Bran himself only knows to ‘Warg’ Hodor because of Meera alerting him).

 

 While I hesitate in trying to apply the logic of the books to the show, it seems to me that slaying Bloodraven’s body, even if done so with the weapon of White Walker, doesn’t detract from his ability to act as a Greenseer, to quote Obi Wan:

 

“You can't win, Vader. If you strike me down, I shall become more powerful than you can possibly imagine.”

 

Put simply, the body of Bloodraven isn’t a whole lot of use in it’s throne weirwood throne, the essence of a Greenseer is the immaterial conscious, which as we know lives on in the weirwood network which functions as the afterlife for the Children, as well as their shared Godhood. It’s a bit like the ‘dead Stannis’ cut away shot, it gives the impression that the character is gone, but they are anything but. I should caution that the show doesn’t much care for the fantasy/sci-fi elements of the story, and the fact that bloodraven dissolved during the vision may be proof of his complete demise, on the otherhand that in itself may be an illusion by Bloodraven to give the impression of his death.

 

In summary Bran wasn’t the cause of Hodors transformation, Bloodraven was, and he delivered the scene to Bran during an occasion he himself manufactured in which Bran would need to make use of Hodor to block the only other exit out of the cave. Furthermore Bloodraven has been using hodor to spy on Bran and the other starks in winterfell, as well as likely gathering political intelligence. To me it would make sense that in lieu of Mormonts Raven (cos talking ravens aren’t cheap) the show has at least preserved the use of the Hodor skin as Bloodraven’s vessel, one which is used to trick and manipulate Bran. If the show isn’t using this angle than they’re sacrificing an even bigger reveal, plus the while the idea that Hodor=Hold the door may be true in both the show and the books, the idea that it would be as one dimensional as it seems to be in the show strikes me as being highly irregular for our great author. 

 

-Brienne the Bluth