An actor who starred in the series Game of Thrones was in deep crisis a few years ago. Only World of Warcraft saved him from this.
Which actor is it about? Kristian Nairn played the giant Hodor in Game of Thrones, who was always taciturn but still won a place in the hearts of the audience. His colleague Peter Dinklage was skeptical as to whether the series would work. Luckily he was wrong. Game of Thrones was a huge success and also brought Kristian Nairn a lot of attention. In addition to his work as an actor, Nairn is also a DJ and drag performer.
One of his biggest hobbies is gaming – he is particularly fond of World of Warcraft. When Kristian Nairn struggled with a severe addiction a few years ago, Blizzard’s MMORPG even proved to be a salvation.
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What addiction are we talking about? In his book “Beyond the Throne,” Nairn talks, among other things, about a time in his life when he was addicted to drugs. According to his own statements, he consumed cocaine and other substances in order to spend nights at the DJ booth.
The actor’s condition soon deteriorated, both physically and mentally. This also had an impact on his professional life, as his performance suffered from addiction.
At some point Nairn pulled the ripcord and retreated to a bungalow in the mountains. There he played World of Warcraft from morning to night and escaped into the fictional world. This took his mind off the drugs and helped with the detoxification, which eventually succeeded.
What type of player is Nairn? In his book, the actor emphasizes that he always embodies non-human characters in the game. He is already human in real life, with all the problems that come with it.
In an interview with Polygon, he also explains that he is a really bad PvP player. Collecting and completing things, the characters and the story would be more important to him. He is not uncritical of WoW. He himself has already “lost” friends and partners to the game and another type of addiction.
For Nairn himself, it was the right decision to withdraw from the world through gaming. Today he is in a “much healthier place.”
Does he still play WoW? Yes, he does, even on the go. When he travels, Nairn always has a small laptop with him that runs the game. In total, he has been playing the MMORPG for almost 20 years. The actor continues to love it and is grateful to it – after all, an important part of his life was decisively shaped by the game.