Hodor is a minor character from George R. R. Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire and its HBO adaptation Game of Thrones, notable for only being able to say the single word 'Hodor'.

Where did Hodor come from?

The character reached mainstream viewers when Game of Thrones premiered on HBO on April 17, 2011, with the earliest fan meme pages appearing on Quickmeme by August of that year.

What does Hodor mean?

Within the story, 'Hodor' is the only word the character can say, and fans use it as a general purpose exclamation covering everything from a battle cry to an expression of emotion.

How do you use Hodor?

Fans build image macros where the joke is repetition of the word itself, from three-line rhymes that end in 'Hodor' to captioned images that just repeat 'hodor' several times in place of any real sentence.

Is Hodor still popular?

The character's peak meme output was between 2011 and 2014, with over 380 DeviantArt submissions tagged 'hodor' by April 2014 and remix videos like the johannhat opening credits edit crossing 940,000 views in their first year.

Hodor

2011catchphraseclassic

Published August 28, 2026

Hodor is the gentle giant from HBO's Game of Thrones whose only spoken word is his own name. Starting in 2011, fans turned that single syllable into image macros, remixed opening credits, and Calvin and Hobbes tributes, spawning one of the show's earliest sustained character memes.

game of thrones memes catchphrase memes character archetype memes early 2010s memes image macro memes

Overview

The Hodor meme runs on one simple joke: a hulking stableboy who can only say his own name1. Image macros built on this constant repetition took several forms, from rhyming lists that end in 'Hodor' to 'keep calm and carry on' posters showing him carrying the paralyzed Bran Stark3.

Common formats include captioned screencaps where the caption is just the word 'hodor' typed several times, fan illustrations reimagining Hodor and Bran in other pop culture contexts, and remixed video edits where the character's name is sung over other soundtracks2. Urban Dictionary entries even lean into the joke by defining the word using nothing but the word itself4.

Gallery

Origin & Background

Platform

HBO Game of Thrones (source) / Reddit (viral spread)

Key People

George R. R. Martin, HBO

Date

2011

Hodor first appeared in the HBO series Game of Thrones, which premiered on April 17, 20111. Played by Kristian Nairn, the character is a stableboy at Winterfell who carries the paralyzed Bran Stark and can only say the single word 'Hodor'1. He was adapted from George R. R. Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire novels.

Fan pages started up almost immediately after the show aired. A Quickmeme collection dedicated to Hodor image macros was live by August 2011, only four months after the premiere3.

How It Spread

Reddit's /r/gameofthrones subreddit was the main early hub for Hodor content. In July and August 2012, users Von_Skyhawk and BrittaUnfiltered posted two of the most upvoted early Hodor image macros: a three-doors-then-Hodor rhyme that pulled over 1,600 upvotes, and a 'keep calm and carry on' style poster with Hodor carrying Bran that topped 2,800 upvotes3.

On the definitions side, Urban Dictionary user Maester Luwin filed an entry for 'Hodor' on March 12, 2012 that used the word ten times as its own definition4. Fan art followed a similar path a year later, when Redditor IIGeOII posted a Calvin and Hobbes style illustration of Hodor and Bran on April 9, 2013.

Remixed video edits picked up in 2013 as well. YouTuber johannhat uploaded a version of the Game of Thrones opening credits where 'Hodor' is sung in place of the theme, and the video crossed 940,000 views within its first year2. By April 2014, the tag 'hodor' had over 380 submissions on the art site DeviantArt3.

How to Use This Meme

The classic Hodor format is any list, poem, or dialogue where the only spoken response is 'Hodor,' typically repeated for absurd emphasis4. Rhyming setups that end on Hodor's name are a common convention, as are captioned screencaps where the caption is just the word 'hodor' typed over and over2. Fan illustrations that drop Hodor and Bran into unrelated pop culture settings, like Calvin and Hobbes strips, are another popular variation.