The Clegane brothers, Sandor (the Hound, played by Rory McCann) and Gregor (the Mountain, played by Hafþór Júlíus Björnsson), are two of the biggest guys in Westeros, looming over everyone they encounter. One of the few characters who could match them inch for inch was Hodor (Kristian Nairn), the lovable man servant of House Stark. (At 7’0”, actor Kristian Nairn is actually taller than both McCann and Björnsson (the Mountain).) As Nairn revealed to SFX Magazine, the similarity in size made him wonder if the connection didn’t run deeper:
"A theory I had, being a big guy, maybe he was another one of the Clegane brothers, and something happened to him as a child, like it did with the Hound, having his face burnt, which made him the way he is."
So under that theory, the Mountain would have bashed Hodor on the head as a child and made it so he could only say the one word? Leaving the Hound and Hodor being permanently injured as children of House Clegane? Well, it’s far from the weirdest Game of Thrones fan theory we’ve ever heard. Actually, it’s a lot easier to understand than what actually happened to Hodor, so we can forgive Nairn for thinking it in the early days of the show.
And in those early days, he didn’t have much else to go on, and A Song of Ice and Fire author George R.R. Martin wasn’t helping, despite Nairn’s attempts to bribe him. “I bought him whiskies, vodkas, everything,” he said. “Never worked. He has a good poker face.”
We heard a rumor Martin enjoys margaritas; gotta do your research.
Anyway, shame this theory didn’t pan out. If Nairn gets to come back to Game of Thrones as a wight in season 8, maybe he can take out some of his frustration on the living.
You can pick up the new issue of SFX to get more of Nairn’s thoughts.
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h/t GamesRadar