Matching 50 Game of Thrones characters with 50 European countries

Lithuania: Hodor

If you’re looking to fill spots on a basketball team, you need not look any further than Lithuania. This country has a reputation for pumping out players, the most famous of whom is Arvydas Sabonis.

While he might not have any athletic training, Hodor of Winterfell wouldn’t need it; should Westeros ever take up basketball, he’d get by on height alone. He’s surprisingly dexterous, too, hauling Bran as he does to the far corners of the planet. When we flash back to his early days as Wylis, Lyanna Stark even mentions that he’d make a good sparring partner for Benjen, and Ned says he’d make a good fighter. Given a little training, Hodor could definitely hold his own on the court.

Also, Lithuanian is one of the most conservative languages in all of Europe, changing very little over the course of several centuries. This makes me think of the way Hodor talks. Due to a horrific accident in his youth, his vocabulary is reduced to one word: “Hodor.” Like the Lithuanians, he doesn’t have a lot of new words to learn.