CHRIS UHLMANN, PRESENTER: Sex-and-swords TV series Game of Thrones is an award-winning fantasy drama adapted from author George R.R. Martin's novels.

It's so popular that the season finale was the most illegally downloaded program in history.

One of the most loved characters is a gentle giant named Hodor, who can only say one word: Hodor.

He's played by Northern Irish actor Kristian Nairn, who's DJ-ing his way around Australia right now on a "Rave of Thrones" tour.

Monique Schafter reports.

GAME OF THRONES FAN: Hodor.

GAME OF THRONES FAN II: Hodor.

GAME OF THRONES FAN III: Hodor.

GAME OF THRONES FAN IV: Hodor.

GAME OF THRONES FAN III: Hodor.

GAME OF THRONES FAN IV: Hodor.

GAME OF THRONES FAN V: Hodor.

GAME OF THRONES FAN IV: He only says Hodor.

MONIQUE SCHAFTER, REPORTER: It's a weeknight in Sydney and fans of the cult show Game of Thrones are here to see another side of their linguistically-challenged hero, Hodor.

(Excerpt from Game of Thrones shown)

GAME OF THRONES FAN IV: You can see when his heart breaks and all he says was, "Hodor".

MONIQUE SCHAFTER: When he's not giving piggybacks, Hodor, otherwise known as Kristian Nairn, is a DJ and he's here for Rave of Thrones.

KRISTIAN NAIRN, ACTOR, GAME OF THRONES: It's a dress-up party. Everyone comes together with the one interest. It can only be good. ... My career morphed over the years. I actually started off, believe it or not, doing drag. Yep, and I travelled the world because I was completely off-the-wall drag artist. It was really popular, actually. It went down very well. But really, it was like a mask for me to perform behind because I wasn't very confident at the time. And, yeah, then that changed into DJ-ing and I had an agency, all that nonsense, and he put me up for the odd audition and one of them turned out to be Game of Thrones and here I am now, in Sydney.

MONIQUE SCHAFTER: I bet the producers took one look at you and said, "Yep, he can piggyback." How tall are you?

KRISTIAN NAIRN: I'm six foot 10 or six foot 11, so I'm perfect for that role. People say you've only got one line. You either have the hardest job in the show or you have the easiest job. So you have to tread that line between you don't want to do your like (adopts serious expression), you big, huge panto reactions in the background. You have to be so unreal...

... It's challenging. Really - sometimes I really have to snap myself back around afterwards, but - which isn't a bad thing. He's not such a bad guy.

MONIQUE SCHAFTER: While Kristian plays one of the few genuinely good characters in Game of Thrones, he's not put off by the show's evil, dark and often violent themes.

KRISTIAN NAIRN: It doesn't shock me. I grew up in Northern Ireland in Belfast. I've seen some really - I've seen some really shocking things in my life. ... There was a college in the middle of Belfast and every week - every week there would be a evacuation with a bomb or else it would actually go off and it'd just be a matter of fact that you'd be blown out of your desk or you'd be lying on the floor or something. You sort of grew up here with people being maimed and that sort of thing. It's pretty dark, it's pretty dark to grow up with. ... I think that's why people from Ireland have a really good sense of humour. I think we're resilient and that's why I'll always call it home.

MONIQUE SCHAFTER: Early this year you mentioned on a fan site that you're gay.

KRISTIAN NAIRN: Ya.

MONIQUE SCHAFTER: Are you surprised at how interested people are in that particular aspect of your life?

KRISTIAN NAIRN: I never really was in. I never - when I was 13, my mum knew I was gay and she just always knew, you know. I used to play Wonder Woman with her when I was a kid and I was always Wonder Woman, you know. I always stopped short of the outfit, thank God. A seven-foot man who dresses as a woman - that's a job that's not interesting, a lot of people think.

MONIQUE SCHAFTER: Why do you guys love Game of Thrones?

GAME OF THRONES FAN VI: Because it has swords, tits and armour and wine.

GAME OF THRONES FAN VII: You have to love every character for every moment they are. That's ...

GAME OF THRONES FAN VIII: That's one way to look at it, I suppose.

GAME OF THRONES FAN VII: Cherish every moment because you never know when your last moment is going to be.

GAME OF THRONES FAN VIII: When did you get so philosophical?

MONIQUE SCHAFTER: Fans around the world are hungry for the next series of Game of Thrones, but they'll have to be patient.

KRISTIAN NAIRN: We're not actually in Season Five, by the way. We have a season off. We have a year's hiatus.

MONIQUE SCHAFTER: Really?

KRISTIAN NAIRN: Solely because, I imagine, our storyline is up to the end of the books. ... So I get a year off now to do Rave of Thrones and gallivant all over the world.

KRISTIAN NAIRN: Hodor.

CHRIS UHLMANN: Monique Schafter reporting.