The Door (Game of Thrones)

Bran Stark learns the origin of the White Walkers, Jon Snow plans to unite the north against the Boltons, Euron Greyjoy reveals his return to the Iron Islands at the Kingsmoot, Tyrion Lannister meets with the Red Priestess Kinvara, and Daenerys Targaryen sees the depths of Jorah Mormont's devotion to her.

"The Door" received universal acclaim from critics, who found the episode to be emotional with effective action sequences involving the White Walkers and Hodor, in addition to providing "important answers regarding [the show]'s mythos."

This episode marks the final appearance for Kristian Nairn (Hodor) and Max von Sydow (the Three Eyed Raven).

Tyrion summons the red priestess Kinvara, who agrees to preach to the people that Daenerys is the chosen one of the Lord of Light.

He intends to sail to Slaver's Bay, bring Daenerys Targaryen back to Westeros as his wife, and conquer the Seven Kingdoms with their combined forces.

During one of his visions, Bran is shown the darkest secret of the Children: they long ago created the White Walkers from captured First Men.

Benioff stated, "We had this meeting with George Martin where we're trying to get as much information as possible out of him, and probably the most shocking revelation he had for us was when he told us the origin of Hodor and how that name came about.

Even sitting in a hotel room having someone tell you this was going to happen in the abstract in some way and that 'hold the door' was the origin of the name Hodor, we just thought that was a really, really heart-breaking idea.

"[2] Benioff also alluded to the many references and foreshadowing throughout the series that preceded the reveal of the Children creating the White Walkers, saying, "There are certain symbols and patterns that recur throughout the show.

The first time we saw that was one of the first scenes in the pilot, when Will the ranger sees the Wildling body parts in an odd pattern displayed by the White Walkers.

I was reading it with such excitement, because this is a real story unfolding, with so many mysteries and quantum leaps and Inception-style traveling between the past and the present.

Kevin Eldon, who played the role of Eddard Stark, was also cast, and Essie Davis as the lead actress Lady Crane, among others.

[7] Israeli actress Ania Bukstein was also introduced in the series as the High Priestess Kinvara, who is brought to Meereen to spread propaganda about Daenerys Targaryen's supposed success at eliminating the problem with the Sons of the Harpy.

"[11] Most of the exterior shots with the White Walkers and their army took place at Magheramorne, a small hamlet in County Antrim, Northern Ireland near where Castle Black is also filmed.

"[11] In the conclusion of the segment Bender stated, "The big climactic cave sequence was hugely complex, and although it's very scary that this really terrifying thing is happening to our characters, at the end of the day I think the emotion from what we are experiencing is hopefully going to be the shock that people will stay with," referring to Hodor's implied death.

[11] In an interview with Kristian Nairn (Hodor), he described filming the scene, "It was a really heavy day — you’ve got these 100-mile-per-hour winds being blown into your face with false snow.

Having to recreate that feeling of immediacy, in a stuffy studio at 4 p.m. on a Thursday when you've been filming the same scene for a couple of days, it was difficult.

We had the Night King, three White Walkers, six Children of the Forest including the hero, Leaf, and countless Wights."

Kae Alexander, the actress who played Leaf stated that it took between 9 and 10 hours to get the full body prosthetic ready for filming, a process which Bender described as challenging.

[16] The White Walker army was first shot in front of a green screen in Magheramorne quarry, and according to a piece in The Hollywood Reporter "A scan was taken from a drone and used as the basis for a CG model of the location, which was augmented with VFX and joined with volcanic hills that were photographed in Iceland.

"[13] Spain-based El Ranchito, one of several special effects companies used by Game of Thrones, was responsible for the White Walker army shots.

"[17] Iain Glen, who has portrayed Jorah Mormont since the beginning of the series, also spoke about his participation in the episode, with his farewell to Daenerys Targaryen, noting "They've got a worried actor on their hands.

[20] "The Door" received universal praise from critics, with many citing the emotional revelation involving Hodor, the action scenes with the White Walkers, as well as the Kingsmoot and Daenerys Targaryen's farewell to Jorah Mormont as high points for the episode.

The site's consensus reads "An exquisitely crafted episode, "The Door" culminates in a gut-wrenching revelation that makes the loss of a beloved character all the more poignant.

"[22] Matt Fowler of IGN wrote in his review of the episode, ""The Door," directed by Lost's main director, Jack Bender, gave us one of the most emotional deaths on the show to date.

Mostly because the scene itself was paired with a big origin-style reveal and a newly opened avenue of time travel mysticism.

[21] Emily VanDerWerff of Vox noted, ""The Door", continues last week's trend of feeling as if it's offering up some major, important answers regarding [the show]'s mythos.

"[24] Jeremy Egner of The New York Times wrote in his review of the episode; "As with many epic sagas, the story and action in “Game of Thrones” are driven largely by characters moving toward and eventually becoming the people they are supposed to be.

While we tend to focus on the big-ticket destinies, whether it's Daenerys Targaryen emerging triumphantly from the flames last week or Jon Snow rising from the dead to fight again, the smaller figures have their own slots to fill.

"[25] James Hunt of What Culture noted, "The Door ... delivered not only the best episode of the season to date, but one that is likely to go down as an all-time favourite.