HBO
I don’t know about you, but for me, one of the most memorable moments in Game of Thrones was the revelation of how Hodor got his name. In reality, the life of Kristian Nairn, who played the character, was also full of challenges, as he tells in his book Beyond the Throne: Epic Journeys, Enduring Friendships, and Surprising Tales.
Nairn suffered from drug addiction and found his rescue in a surprising place – World of Warcraft. After one especially horrible experience, he left for Ireland’s Mourne Mountains and played WoW “from dawn till dusk” while detoxing.
“If I look at the damage-results scale from addictions, a whole different scale [from drugs]. Although I know people have definitely lost friends and partners over Warcraft. I’ve definitely receded from the world with it. But I needed to do that at the time. I needed to recede a bit, and that’s how I used it. I’m in a much healthier place now — and I actually think the evolution of the game allows you to play it and stay in a healthier place now, because you can do things faster,” he told Polygon.
Blizzard
He also shared that he’s “a collector and a completist”:
“The mounts and the gear and the transmogrifications for your character — you can change your clothes to look like whatever you want — that’s what I really go for. I’d like to come swanning in on a really hard-to-get mount, that kind of thing.”
He isn’t into PvP because he gets too stressed, and that’s why he never plays as a healer, although he has respect for them and tanks, “who have all the responsibility.”
He appreciates the game’s characters and lore, although he agrees to players’ criticism to an extent. One of the characters who players think has been “ruined” in recent updates is actually his favorite – Sylvanas Windrunner.
“Some weird lore decisions were made about her, but I still love her. Patty Mattson, who plays her voice, I even had her on my answering machine as my greeting — I had Sylvanas reading my greeting, that’s how much I love Sylvanas.”
To fulfill his WoW addiction, Nairn brings a small laptop and a Razer Nostromo keypad with him everywhere. While he loves his work as an actor and DJ, he sometimes feels lonely, and Warcraft helps with that.
Aside from WoW, he was really into Jet Set Radio Future, Pac-Man, Street Fighter 2, and racing games at one point. “And I’m ignoring Mario because everyone talks about those games.”
Blizzard
WoW has changed many lives and most of all – its creator’s, Blizzard Entertainment. Bloomberg’s Jason Schreier says it’s the biggest reason why the company has fallen, as “when millions turn into billions, everything changes.” You can learn more about it here.
If you’d like to learn more about Nairn’s life, buy his book on Amazon. Also, join our 80 Level Talent platform and our Telegram channel, follow us on Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn, TikTok, and Reddit, where we share breakdowns, the latest news, awesome artworks, and more.
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