Is Hodor a Targaryen? If there’s one thing we’ve learned about Westeros’ royal family, it’s that the Targaryen family tree is full of secret children that no one seems to know about. The obvious example is Jon Snow, who for the longest time presumed he was a Stark bastard, only for it to be revealed in the fantasy series’ final season that he was the rightful heir to the Iron Throne.
In the books, there are even more mysterious Targaryen kids, including Young Griff, who claims to be Rhaegal’s supposedly dead son Aegon. There are plenty of theories that a whole host of Game of Thrones characters are secret Targaryens as well, including Tyrion, Meera, Viserys, and even Mance Rader. The strangest supposed Targaryen, though, is Hodor, the Winterfell stable hand. So is Hodor a Targaryen?
Is Hodor a Targaryen?
No, Hodor is not a Targaryen. In the TV series, it’s revealed that Hodor was originally a stable hand called Wylis who was essentially lobotomized when Bran attempted to warg into Wylis, connecting him with present-day Hodor who was holding back an army of wights.
Wylis suffered a violent seizure after seeing his own death, and his mind was left broken. All he could say after the seizure was “Hodor”, a slurring of the last words he ever heard “hold the door”.
So why do people think Hodor is a Targaryen? Well, the book readers think everyone’s a secret Targaryen, and some believe that Hodor is, in fact, Prince Rhaegal’s son Aegon. The theory goes that ‘book Hodor’ like ‘TV Hodor’ is traumatised and is repeating his mother’s last words “, hold the door” when The Mountain comes to assassinate them.
Yeah, it pretty obviously bollocks, and there’s no real evidence to support it. If you love Westeros, check out our guide to the best House of the Dragon characters, where e break down favourites like King Viserys Targaryen, Rhaenyra Targaryen, Otto Hightower, and Alicent Hightower. We’ve also cast an eye into the future to bring you everything we know about the House of the Dragon season 2 release date.