If you were going to be one of the leaders among the Free Folk north of The Wall, it probably helps to have one gigantic kickass beard. And while in the books, I believe Tormund Giantsbane is supposed to be older with a large white beard, I give all the credit in the world to Benioff and Weiss for casting the Norwegian actor Kristofer Hivju in the role of Tormund. I know that some of you haven’t seen all of the episodes yet (shame on you) and probably more haven’t read all the books (That I can understand… I’m still on the 5th book anyway) so I won’t go into the full details of Tormund’s story.
Hivju himself seems to have adopted this impressive beard as a lifelong companion. My guess is he was probably to grow this thing around the age of 5. I’ve only ever seen Hivju in one role outside of Game of Thrones, in the 2011 remake of The Thing. (It’s OK. The original is better and one of my favorite horror movies of all time. The remake does have Mary Elizabeth Winstead in it though… so that alone makes it instantly watchable). My guess is after his role in Game Of Thrones we’ll start to see him in far more roles… at least I hope so.
