#hodor

one thing (and this is so random) that i point to as another really good example of Being The Kid In A House With Someone Who Is Sick is the comedian daniel sloss, he has these bits about his sister that i find hysterical bc i completely understand them. he details his reaction to his sister’s death & it is, i swear to god, the EXACT reaction i had to my sister’s death. just complete agony & then “okay time to go to school bye!!!” that was the moment i was like “this guy is an ARTISTE” and it’s bc he made one of the worst days of my life FUNNY.

very similarly, i think asoiaf & hodor and sweetrobin mirror my own life so intensely it’s a bit remarkable to me. the things bran struggles with are a much worse, fantastical version of something i remember clearly struggling with & that was that i could be QUITE a bossy little brat with my uncle….bc everyone around me was like that with him! and my uncle is quite different from hodor - in fact, my favorite memory i have of him is when my grandma snapped “are you crazy? are you mad??” at him bc he had poured half a tub of gravy on a paper plate (it was for his mash which was also on the plate he’s valid), and my uncle very drily went “well yeah mom, isn’t that the problem?” and she felt TERRIBLE while he LAUGHED HIS ASS OFF, so to be clear, my uncle was verbal lol & quite witty - but there ARE some crazy similarities that read as so authentic to me within the story (witty he was, but he DID just stop talking & stare sometimes & i say this not to, idk, use him but i think it’s important to be a bit transparent about this stuff, that he struggled his whole life with being present bc he was Not getting the healthcare he needed to be lucid. he was a very tricky sort of case & we did not have money & that meant his downswings were a lot more severe. it sucked, for him especially!).

i think the way that there’s this sort of conflicting idea within the story of “hodor is a man not a mule” and “hodor is bran’s legs” that makes it hard for bran to truly grasp the concept of hodor’s personhood. and i think as a child i saw my uncle as a child bc other people spoke to him like he was one. but when i was his caretaker towards the end of his life, he got quite upset with my grandpa for talking down to him during an argument & it made me really reflect. like yeah, i’m sure it doesn’t help him at all that every time he complains it gets chalked up to “there he is being weird” can the man not just get cold & turn the heat up? why does it have to be a sign of the end times & his meds not working again? and i think a LOT about the way bran rationalizes raping hodor’s mind bc hodor doesn’t fight back & he gives hodor’s body back. it’s this constant fight for autonomy, in a way that everyone else does NOT have to fight. and i see it SO ACUTELY in hodor, that frustration that the people you love do not take your personhood seriously (for the record, i bought him a heated blanket to fix the issue & everyone was happy. like, the man was cold damn).

During the first couple of episodes of the first season, Bran stark, one of the youngest children of "Ned" Stark is pushed of a tall tower in Winterfell after seeing an affair between the wife of the current king and another man, Jaime Lannister.

Due to the extension of the injury its is assumed that Bran suffered an injury to his Thoracic spine or lumbar spine. In addition i assume he's suffered a complete injury where he has total loss of movement and loss of sensation, displayed in episode 4 in season one where Bran has to be a carried out of his bed by Hodor, where his legs looked completely limp.

Bran stark is only one example of the game of thrones representation of disabilities, despite the fantasy realm, it still demonstrates real conditions from likely injuries from the medieval period usually caused by the lack of knowledge in medicine and lack of regard for health and safety.

What makes Brans portrayal particularly interesting is the balance between fiction and non-fiction. His physical limitations are consistent and his struggles are highlighted throughout the episodes however his beginning resilience contributes to his character developments and further develops his character identity, not just another child of Ned Stark. This is a rare example in media of a character who's story line isn't defined solely by its set backs but a transformation which is more satisfying to observe as an audience.

Seeing representation incorporated fundamentally within the plot of a TV Show as mainstream and imaginative as Game of thrones is majorly significant, while bringing to light ableism as a prominent thing in both todays society and older times when the show was set, demonstrated as Tyrion Lannister, whom has dwarfism is consistently referred to as 'The Imp' due to his stature but also his attitude and wit.

It is also interesting so far, to see in the series how ableism in the show is portrayed as influenced by social class, as Hodor with expressive aphasia is only briefly seen in the early episodes and is treated like he's simple minded within the house of Stark, where as the mistreatment of Bran Stark is more subtle as he is a noblemen of Winterfell but is constantly referred to as 'crippled'. However, plausibly this may be just because Hordor is a lowly servant and this is the general treatment of the lower class.

Stay curious

References

I, personally, am not yet convinced that Dunk is related to anyone other than Brienne.

A lot of people speculate that he is related to the Cleganes, Hodor, and basically anyone who is tall. But not only does Dunk swear an oath to father no children (I think that is involved in the Kingsguard vow) but he's also a good guy and I don't know why he'd abandon so many kids.

I haven't ruled out Hodor yet, since he's said to be about 7 feet tall which is similar to Dunk and we have that vision of a knight kissing a girl in the weirwood in Bran's visions. (And I kind of want it to be OldYoung Nan climbing him like a tree.) But in that case, I would think Old Nan is up to something, to bring Hodor about for his eventual purpose defeating the Long Night and may not even have told Dunk. Though I do kind of want him to have giant's blood, like Osha says.

On the other hand, Gregor Clegane is described as eight feet tall, which is bigger than Dunk, though I would imagine Sandor is closer to his size. We also have no indication that Dunk was at Casterly Rock thus far or association with Tytos Lannister besides knowing his mother—Rohanne—briefly (Gregor and Sandor's grandfather saved Tytos' life, and as a reward he was knighted and his son--the father--became Tytos' squire. So we know Dunk is not Gregor or Sandor's father or grandfather, though I suppose he could be a great grandfather or part of the female line. Or maybe he fucked Rohanne after Gerald died? But he’d be actively kingsguarding then? I'm skeptical).

Also, there are other tall people in the world.