6x05 POST-Episode Discussion (airs 22nd May)

Whatchu Talking ‘Bout, Wylis?

There once was a boy the size of two grown men
A boy who served the Starks from barn to the glen.
Gentle, kind, and fiercely loyal, too,
Wylis was always ready for a task needed to do.

We meet him when he’s aged quite a lot
Grey hair, a soft belly, and his mind turned to rot.
He can say only his name, “Hodor” it seems.
‘Hodor,” the funny name that begat memes.

It was the only word the man could say,
“Hodor!” when asked how was his day.
“Hodor?” when asked how he liked his fish.
“Hodor…” when asked for his fondest wish.

For years we laughed and smiled at him,
This giant man, an unknown past so grim.
“Hodor” he’d say with eyes so sad.
“Hodor?” he’d ask when Osha was mad.

“…Hodor,” he’d sigh when night grew dark.
“Hodor!” he’d cry when missing Rickon Stark.
“Hodor?” he’d ask when tasks were assigned.
“Hodor,” he’d murmur when going blind.

Bran cared for Hodor like a pet dog,
Mildly offput when Bran needed to Warg
into this giant, a giant who wouldn’t fight!
This giant, one who was scared of night!

This gentle man who shouldered a lot,
This gentle giant whose life was naught
but to serve House Stark for all his days
truly living them out in a wary haze.

Did he remember the cave? The beasts within?
Did he remember the fright and the cold on his skin?
Did he remember the horses, his mother, the yard,
anything good before Bran had to Warg?

Or did he spend all his life remembering pain,
the stabbing, the tearing, the muscle strain
of standing between Death and for whom he forswore,
the echoing cry of: “Hold the door.”

“Hold the door!” he heard and hold the door he did.
“Hold the door” he cried out, though he was just a kid.
A child, really, trapped out of body and time,
“Hold the door” he managed for his whole lifetime.

He never wavered. He never did cease.
“Hold the door,” he still uttered though it gave him no peace.
He held the door in his mind for decades, it seems.
“Hold the door” must have haunted his unending dreams.

“Hold the door,” he died crying, “Hold the door!” he exclaimed.

Hodor/Wylis the brave. The kind. The first of his name.