Yeah, he's the self-insert neckbeard not-Samwise-Gamgee character's little brother. I'm surprised that they didn't change his name in the show to something more American-friendly, like Pennis.

...which is exactly what they did with Hodor. His real name in the books is Walder, but in the show it's "Wylis" so that burgerbrains wouldn't get confused and think he was David Bradley's character, I guess.