Hodor. Hodor. Hodor!!!

Game of Thrones

Season Six

Episode Five

The Door

After receiving a raven bearing his sigil, Sansa Stark, accompanied by Brienne of Tarth, meets secretly with Petyr Baelish. Littlefinger is surprised to see Brienne and relieved that Sansa is unharmed but Sansa quickly corrects his assessment of her.

Sansa tells Petyr of the horrific abuse and violence she suffered at the hands of Ramsay Bolton and dismisses his offer of aiding her with the forces of the Vale. Sansa vows to take back the North from Ramsay with her own army but Littlefinger reminds her that the Wildings follow Jon Snow, not her and informs her that Brynden ‘Blackfish’ Tully has retaken Riverrun.

At Castle Black, Jon Snow seeks advice on who will join the Stark/Snow army and Davos Seaworth has concerns about Jon’s appeal but Sansa is confident that her trueborn status will bolster their cause. Sansa then shares the news that Littlefinger gave her but not his name as her source.

Once back in her chambers, Sansa orders Brienne to go to Riverrun and enlist the Blackfish to their cause. Brienne, hesitant to leave her behind, also questions why Sansa withheld naming Littlefinger as her source.

As Jon readies to leave Castle Black, Sansa gives him a handmaid cloak bearing the Stark sigil, modelled on the one their father Ned Stark used to wear.

The group which consists of Tormund and Brienne as well then departs for their journey, while Eddison Tollett in his first act as Lord Commander, remains in the courtyard and orders the gate closed behind them.

In Braavos at the House of Black and White, the Waif continues to train Arya and mocks her high-born origins. Jaqen H’ghar explains that the Faceless Men were slaves in Valyria before founding the free city of Braavos and the House of Black and White.

Handing Arya a vial, Jaqen tells her that an actress, Lady Crane, is the next to receive the ‘gift’ from the Many Faced God.

Arya enjoys the spectacle of a play about the War of the Five Kings, with actors outrageously playing Lannisters and Baratheons to comical effect but her mirth ceases when her fathers execution is portrayed in the same manner.

Arya then sneaks into the dressing room and observes that Lady Crane, the actress playing Cersei Lannister, is actually a clever and decent woman.

Arya later shares her plan with Jaqen to poison Crane’s rum and suspects that a younger, jealous actress called Bianca has arranged for the murder. Jaqen cuts her off and reminds her that a servant does not question.

Thousands of years in the past, in a lush green forest clearing, Bran Stark and the Three Eyed Raven observe the Children of the Forest huddled in front of a weirwood tree with a man tied to it. Leaf, suddenly inserts a shard of dragonglass into the man’s chest and his eyes turn ice blue.

It was the Children of the Forest that created the Night’s King and the White Walkers.

Pulled back from the vision back into the cave, Bran demands to know why they made the White Walkers and Leaf tells him that they needed to defend themselves, from men.

In the Iron Islands, Yara Greyjoy is met with scepticism and derision until Theon throws his support behind her and declares her the rightful ruler. The cheers of her supporters are suddenly silenced by the appearance of Euron Greyjoy who steps forward to lay his own claim to the Salt Throne.

Immediately accused of Balon’s murder, Euron only apologizes for not having done it sooner and proposes the rebuilding of the enormous Iron Fleet which he will deliver to Daenerys Targaryen in exchange for her hand in marriage. Together, they will destroy the Lords of Westeros and rule over the Seven Kingdoms, not just the Iron Islands. With this said, he is chosen as the new King.

In accordance with tradition, the priest Aeron Greyoy drowns Euron and then when he revives, places a driftwood crown on his head. Euron then rallies his supporters to kill Yara and Theon but discovers they have stolen his best ships and sailed away.

The new king orders his subjects to begin building anew.

With Daario present, Daenerys decides what to do with Jorah and acknowledges that despite his past transgression that he has always been completely loyal to her, saving her many times.

Revealing his rapidly spreading greyscale, Jorah finally confesses his love to her and makes ready to leave.

To both his surprise and Daario’s, Daenerys suddenly gives Jorah one command: to find a cure and return to her side.

In the cave, Bran grabs the weirwood and returns to the location where the first White Walker was born and finds it an icy, barren wasteland. He then sees an Army of the Dead and walks amongst the wights until the Night’s King, on a horse, looks directly at him. Frozen in fear, Bran realizes that the entire army is now looking at him as well and the Night’s King suddenly grabs his forearm.

Screaming, Bran awakens in the cave and the Three Eyed Raven tells them that they all must leave because by touching Bran, the magical protection of the cave has been broken. But first, Bran must become the Three Eyed Raven himself.

While the Three Eyed Raven transfers his knowledge to Bran, Meera Reed suddenly notices that the cave has suddenly become rather chilly and rushes to the entrance to find the Army of the Dead gathered outside. The Children of the Forest try to hold them off as she rushes back into the cave.

Bran is trapped in a vision of his own father Ned saying goodbye to his Rickard Stark and cannot be awakened. Meera yells for a panicked Hodor to help her get Bran on to a sledge and Bran, hearing her in the vision, wargs into him.

Chased by wights from all sides of the cave, Hodor bravely pulls Bran through the tunnels along with Meera. Bran’s direwolf, Summer, bravely attempts to aid in their escape but is killed and then Leaf sacrifices herself so that they can escape out of a hidden back door.

Inside the cave, The Night’s King approaches the Three Eyed Raven with his blade and turns to ash in Bran’s vision as his body is destroyed. Bran suddenly sees Wylis looking directly at him before falling to the floor, eyes rolled back.

Finally outside the cave, Meera now pulls the sledge into a blizzard while yelling at Hodor to ‘Hold the door’ against the Army of the Dead. As he does so, his past self, linked to him through Bran’s powers, begins yelling Meera’s command.

The dead grasp and tare at Hodor but he refuses to let through, bravely sacrificing himself to save his companions.

Back in the past, Bran watches as convulsing young Wylis fuse ‘Hold the door’ into one word.

Hodor.

Review:

Both epicness and sadness combined as one long standing character finally fulfilled their destiny and revealed the meaning of the only word they ever spoken.