Home (Game of Thrones)

“Home” establishes that Jon Snow’s body can become the site of a supernatural resurrection. At Castle Black, Melisandre performs a ritual over Jon’s corpse after Tormund and several loyal brothers defend it from Alliser Thorne’s supporters; the ceremony appears unsuccessful until Jon suddenly breathes again.¹ The episode does not explain the mechanics of the revival, leaving its consequences deliberately uncertain.

In King’s Landing, Jaime Lannister confronts the Faith Militant while Cersei struggles to see her daughter Myrcella’s funeral procession. In Winterfell, Ramsay Bolton murders his father Roose, stepmother Walda, and infant half-brother, taking control of the North. Bran Stark visits a vision of the past in which his father, Ned, trains at Winterfell, while the younger Hodor is shown as Wylis, a servant capable of normal speech.²

The episode links present political violence with buried family history. Dave Hill’s script moves between the murder of Roose Bolton and Bran’s memory of Ned Stark, contrasting a succession secured through treachery with a past that may reveal the origins of long-standing conflicts. Jeremy Podeswa, who also directed the season premiere, uses the closing resurrection as the episode’s visual and dramatic hinge.

“Home” was adapted from material and characters created by George R. R. Martin, but Jon Snow’s revival had no directly corresponding completed scene in the published A Song of Ice and Fire novels at the time of broadcast. The episode therefore became one of the clearest examples of the television series moving beyond the novels’ released narrative while retaining their political and supernatural framework.³

The episode was widely treated as a turning point because it resolved the immediate question of Jon Snow’s fate while opening larger questions about identity, death, and obligation. Critics also highlighted the revelations involving Bran’s visions and Hodor, whose earlier name and speech give emotional weight to a character previously presented mainly through a single repeated word.⁴

Ramsay’s seizure of Winterfell provides the episode’s principal political shock. His actions remove the last direct Bolton succession obstacle and intensify the North’s instability, while Jaime’s confrontation with the Faith Militant shows that royal power remains constrained even after Tywin Lannister’s death. These threads place private family decisions alongside wider struggles over legitimacy.

“Home” is notable for presenting Wylis before he became Hodor. The flashback shows him as a stable worker who understands conversation and social cues, making the later condition of his speech a mystery rather than an inherent trait. The sequence also introduces the young versions of Ned Stark, Benjen Stark, and Lyanna Stark within Bran’s developing ability to observe the past.²

The episode’s title carries several overlapping meanings: Winterfell is a threatened ancestral home, Castle Black is a temporary home for the Night’s Watch, and the word evokes the Stark family’s fractured relationship to its northern seat. The title also recalls the series’ broader concern with belonging, inheritance, and the costs of returning to places shaped by violence. Jon’s resurrection makes “home” a question of restored duty rather than simple physical return.

“Home” became a reference point for later discussions of resurrection in Game of Thrones. Jon’s return differs from Beric Dondarrion’s repeated revivals because the episode emphasizes ritual, uncertainty, and the personal cost borne by Melisandre and the people around the corpse. The event also changes Jon’s position within the Night’s Watch: his death and return complicate the oath that had defined his political status.¹

The episode’s other revelations proved equally consequential. Bran’s visions eventually connected Hodor’s identity to a traumatic event in the past, while Ramsay’s coup accelerated the northern conflict that led to the struggle for Winterfell. In this way, “Home” functions less as a self-contained resolution than as a compact set of departures for the season’s major arcs.

Night’s Watch

A sworn order guarding the northern frontier of the Seven Kingdoms.

Faith Militant

The armed religious movement restored under the High Sparrow in King’s Landing.

Greensight

A supernatural ability associated with prophetic or historical visions, particularly Bran Stark’s powers.

Resurrection

The restoration of a dead person to life; in this episode, Jon Snow is revived through Melisandre’s ritual.