Gregor Clegane
From A Wiki of Ice and Fire
 Gregor Clegane Portrait by Amoka© | |
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| Alias | The Mountain That Rides The Mountain The Great Dog Ser Robert Strong |
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| Title | Ser Knight of Clegane's Keep |
| Allegiance | House Clegane House Lannister |
| Born | In 266AL |
| Died | In 300AL |
| Book(s) | A Game of Thrones (Appears) A Clash of Kings (Appears) A Storm of Swords (Appears) A Feast for Crows (Mentioned) A Dance with Dragons (Appears) |
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| Played by | Conan Stevens Season 1 Ian Whyte Season 2 |
| TV series | Season 1 | Season 2 |
Ser Gregor Clegane is head of House Clegane which are landed knights and bannermen to House Lannister. Gregor is a freakishly large man and for this he is often called The Mountain That Rides or simply The Mountain.
In the TV series he is played by Conan Stevens (season 1) and Ian Whyte (season 2).[1]
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Character and Appearance
Gregor Clegane is well known for his size, cruelty, and prowess in battle. Gregor is extremely tall (close to eight feet). He has "massive shoulders and arms thick as the trunk of small trees." [2] Gregor weighs over thirty stone (420 lbs), nearly all of it muscle, making him near inhumanly strong. Gregor's strength allows him to wield a six-foot, two-handed greatsword with just one hand, giving him enormous reach while still wielding a shield. Such is the power of Gregor's strength that he has been known to hack men in half with just a single blow.
In battle he wears the heaviest, thickest plate armor in the Seven Kingdoms. His armor is so heavy that no ordinary man would be able to move, let alone fight effectively while wearing it, making him nigh-invincible in combat. Below the plate he wears chainmail and boiled leather. He also wears a plate helm with only a narrow slit for vision, atop of which is a stone fist punching up towards the sky. Gregor carries an extremely thick oaken shield bearing the three black dogs of House Clegane on a yellow field.[3]
Gregor is known for his violence and cruelty. Despite being a dim and brutal man he has excellent warrior instincts.[3] He is very solitary, never leaving his own lands except for wars or tournaments.[2]
According to his squire, Gregor constantly suffers from extreme headaches and consumes vast quantities of milk of the poppy to dull the pain. The cause of these headaches is unknown, perhaps due to some condition of his giantism, though we know from Merrett Frey that a tourney injury or head blow in battle can be debilitating.[4] This might be an explanation for Gregors near uncontrollable temper. According to his own brother, Gregor once even killed one of his own men just because the soldier snored too loudly.[5]
History
Gregor's history is dark and filled with blood. As a twelve-year-old, he caused his brother Sandor's facial scars by holding the seven-year-old boy's face to a hot brazier as punishment for playing with a toy he had discarded. Their father spread the story that the injuries were caused by bedding that had caught fire.[6]
Four years later, he was knighted by Prince Rhaegar Targaryen.[6] There were rumors that Gregor killed his father, sister, and his first two wives. His keep is said to be a grim place where servants vanish unaccountably and even the dogs are afraid to enter the halls. Gregor has committed rapes and cold blooded murders beyond count but his most infamous deed came from his service to House Lannister during Robert's Rebellion.
Aged 17, he was one of the first Lannister soldiers to enter King's Landing during its sack at the end of the war. He and Ser Amory Lorch scaled Maegor's Holdfast when the Lannister troops reached the Red Keep. Gregor entered the nursery of the infant Prince Aegon, son of Prince Rhaegar, and killed the baby present by dashing the boy's head against a wall. Then he raped and murdered Aegon's mother Princess Elia, supposedly with the boy's blood and brains still on his hands.[2][7][8]
Recent Events
A Game of Thrones
Ser Gregor takes part in the Tourney of the Hand. He slays Ser Hugh of the Vale in his second joust when his lance rides up and pierces the new-made knight's throat. According to Sandor Clegane, Gregor noticed the knight's gorget was not fastened properly and Gregor purposely drove his lance there. [6] He defeats Ser Balon Swann, but is finally unhorsed by Ser Loras Tyrell, who rides a mare in heat to the joust, which unnerves Ser Gregor's stallion. Gregor falls into a rage and kills his stallion with one blow of his sword. He then attacks the unprepared Ser Loras, and would have killed him if his brother had not intercepted him. He finally comes to his senses when King Robert orders him to stop.[2] After the tourney, Gregor rides back to his keep.
After Tyrion Lannister is kidnapped by Catelyn Stark, Gregor is commanded by Tywin Lannister to raid the Riverlands to draw Eddard Stark out into the field. However Eddard, due to his injured leg, could not go and execute Gregor himself, sending Lord Beric Dondarrion and Thoros of Myr to lead a party and bring Gregor to the king's justice.[9] Gregor and Tywin ambushed this party, Gregor killing Beric for the first time in the ensuing clash.[10] After the outbreak of the War of the Five Kings, he joins with Lord Tywin's host and commands the vanguard and the left flank during the Battle of the Green Fork, leading by intimidation.[11] After the battle, Tywin withdraws to Harrenhal but leaves Gregor and other raiders behind to harry the Riverlands.
A Clash of Kings
Clegane's band sacks Castle Darry, where Ser Gregor kills the eight-year-old Lord Lyman Darry. The Mountain also takes Stone Hedge, putting the castle to the torch, taking its food supplies, and burning the harvest of Jonos Bracken. He then rapes one of Bracken's daughters.[12]
He continues his raiding, causing enormous destruction and killing entire villages with impunity. For a time he unwittingly holds Arya Stark as a captive, and she witnesses many of his atrocities firsthand.[13] His band marches any surviving captives back to Harrenhal where they are forced into servitude to House Lannister. During the War of the Five Kings Cleganes band fights numerous skirmishes with the Brotherhood Without Banners, one such skirmish results in Ser Gregor killing Lord Beric a second time.
During the Battle of the Fords, Gregor Clegane's band joins up with Tywin's host and attacks the crossing at the Stone Mill, which is defended by Ser Edmure Tully's forces. Gregor's force is pushed back, however, and he is forced to retreat.[14]
A Storm of Swords
Ser Gregor's band joins with Randyll Tarly's army to surround what is left of the retreating Northern army that attacked Duskendale. He chases Roose Bolton's army as they march to the Twins, taking several highborn captives including Wylis Manderly in the Battle of the Ruby Ford. Tywin Lannister then orders Ser Gregor to retake Harrenhal, which is being held by Vargo "The Goat" Hoat, and put the castle to the sword. A cook who had his foot cut off by Hoat opens a postern gate for Clegane. Inside, Gregor's men slaughter the inhabitants and the defenders (bar the cook who opened the gate, the castle smith Ben Blackthumb and a girl named Pia who the Mountain and his men rape repeatedly). The Mountain gives special treatment to Vargo Hoat, forcing him to eat his own cooked limbs ("Roast Goat") and serving him to the captive Northmen as well.
When Tyrion Lannister demands trial by combat to prove his innocence in the murder of King Joffrey, Tyrion's accuser, Cersei Lannister announces that her champion will be Ser Gregor.[15] Elia's brother, Prince Oberyn Martell, seeing a chance to fulfill his family's long-held desire for vengeance against her murderer, champions Tyrion in opposition. Clegane fights in his usual style - with heavy armor, his thick oaken shield and his greatsword in one hand - but Oberyn outfights him with speed and a poisoned spear. Though most of Oberyn's attacks were deflected by Gregor's plate, Oberyn cleverly attacked the joints in the armor, and eventually wounded Clegane after the Mountain tired from chasing Oberyn. After being poisoned and crippled by numerous wounds, Clegane manages to grab hold of Oberyn and crush him to death. Before killing Oberyn, however, Clegane roars that he killed Elia and Aegon for all to hear.[3]
A Feast for Crows
Despite Gregor's victory, Oberyn's poison results in a long, agonizing death by mortification. The venom turns the blood in Clegane's body black and any leeches that touch him die instantly. His piss is full of pus, and the venom also eats a hole the size of a fist in Clegane's side. His screams of agony are so loud they can be heard in the entire Red Keep, and even wake several people up during the night. Insensible and dying, he is brought to the dungeons below the Red Keep by Qyburn, who is allowed to experiment on him before his impending death. According to Qyburn the poison was manticore venom thickened with sorcery to draw out the Mountain's dying instead of killing instantly.[16]
An enormous skull said to be Gregor's is sent to Sunspear as recompense for the deaths of Elia, Aegon, and Oberyn.[17] However, Qyburn mentions working on creating an unbeatable champion for Cersei and has her order a suit of plate armor so thick and heavy that the armorer who created it states that no man is strong enough to move and fight in it. This generated speculation among readers if Westeros had truly seen the last of Gregor Clegane.
A Dance with Dragons
The ostensible skull of Ser Gregor is brought to Sunspear by Ser Balon Swann of the Kingsguard, and is presented to Prince Doran, Arianne Martell, and the eldest of the Red Viper's eight bastard daughters: (Obara, Tyene and Nymeria Sand).
Obara ponders if the head is really Gregor's. Doran notes that it is certainly large enough to be so and Tyene confirms that if the poison her father used so much as broke the Mountains skin, then Clegane is dead.[18]
Meanwhile, in King's Landing, the death of Arys Oakheart in Dorne leaves a vacancy on the Kingsguard. The imprisoned Queen Cersei requests that the white cloak be brought to Lord Qyburn,[19] who unveils an enormous eight-foot-tall knight encased from head to heel in gleaming white armor.[20]
Other members of the Kingsguard claim that their new brother does not eat, sleep, drink, or even visit the privy. He is never seen without his armor and never removes his helm. He never speaks and it is claimed by Qyburn that he has taken a holy vow of silence until Cersei's innocence is proven and the realm purged of evil. He wears a helm bearing seven plumes in the colours of the Faith and his cloak of office is clasped with icons in the shape of seven-pointed stars.
Though he is introduced as Ser Robert Strong many in the Red Keep have guessed the identity of the silent giant. Given the skull being sent to Dorne, it is unknown what will be revealed if that helmet is ever removed.[21]
Family
| Founder of House Clegane | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Unknown Clegane | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Gregor Clegane | Sandor Clegane | Unknown daughter | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
See also
- Gregor Clegane/Theories
- Gregor Clegane on the Game of Thrones wiki.
References and Notes
- ↑ HBO: Game of Thrones: cast and crew
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 A Game of Thrones, Chapter 30, Eddard.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 A Storm of Swords, Chapter 70, Tyrion.
- ↑ A Feast for Crows, Chapter 7, Cersei.
- ↑ A Storm of Swords, Chapter 47, Arya.
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 A Game of Thrones, Chapter 29, Sansa.
- ↑ A Clash of Kings, Chapter 17, Tyrion.
- ↑ A Storm of Swords, Chapter 53, Tyrion.
- ↑ A Game of Thrones, Chapter 43, Eddard.
- ↑ A Game of Thrones, Chapter 55, Catelyn.
- ↑ A Game of Thrones, Chapter 62, Tyrion.
- ↑ A Dance with Dragons, Chapter 48, Jaime.
- ↑ A Clash of Kings, Chapter 26, Arya.
- ↑ A Clash of Kings, Chapter 45, Catelyn.
- ↑ A Storm of Swords, Chapter 66, Tyrion.
- ↑ A Feast for Crows, Chapter 6, Arya.
- ↑ A Feast for Crows, Chapter 16, Jaime.
- ↑ A Dance with Dragons, Chapter 38, The Watcher (Areo I)).
- ↑ A Dance with Dragons, Chapter 54, Cersei.
- ↑ A Dance with Dragons, Chapter 65, Cersei.
- ↑ A Dance with Dragons, Epilogue.
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