Sandor Clegane

From A Wiki of Ice and Fire

Sandor Clegane

Artwork by Anja Dalisa ©
Alias	The Hound Dog
Allegiance	Kingsguard House Clegane
Born	In 271AL,
Died	In 300AL (supposedly),
Book(s)	A Game of Thrones A Clash of Kings A Storm of Swords A Feast for Crows
Played by	Rory McCann
TV series	Season 1 | Season 2

Sandor Clegane is a member of House Clegane. He is the younger brother of the current head, Ser Gregor Clegane. He is nicknamed "The Hound" for his savage nature and unquestioning obedience to his masters and for the three dogs featured in his family's crest. He is considered one of the most dangerous fighters in Westeros, though he frequently drinks himself into stupors. As a child, Sandor received gruesome facial burns when Gregor shoved his face into a brazier.^[1] He came to loathe fire, his brother, and the hypocrisy of knighthood in general.

Contents 1 Appearance 2 History 3 Recent Events 3.1 A Game of Thrones 3.2 A Clash of Kings 3.3 A Storm of Swords 3.4 A Feast For Crows 4 Family 5 References and Notes

Appearance

Sandor is a huge and heavily-muscled man. The left side of his face is hideously burned. He has a gaunt face, sharp cheekbones, grey eyes and a heavy brow. He has long black hair that he brushes over the burned section of his head where no hair grows. He has no left ear, a twisted mass of scars around his left eye and down by his jaw, bone is apparent, where the skin had burned away.^[1] He regularly wears plain armor and a distinctive helm sculpted into the shape of a snarling dog's head.

History

Sandor's childhood appears to have been overshadowed by his older brother Gregor's brutality and martial prowess. Aged seven, his father explained the burns inflicted by Gregor by claiming his bedding caught fire.^[1] There are rumours of a sister who died young in mysterious circumstances, and their father was killed in a hunting accident which is also implied to have been suspicious, leaving the family estates to Gregor.^[2]

Sandor left to join the Lannister household the same day Gregor came into his inheritance.^[2] He claims to have killed a man when he was twelve years old,^[3] presumably during Robert's Rebellion.

Recent Events

A Game of Thrones

Clegane acted for a time as bodyguard and servant of Prince Joffrey Baratheon, who regularly called him "Dog". Cersei suggests that he looked to the Hound as a surrogate father. En route from Winterfell to King's Landing, he earned the enmity of Arya Stark by acting on Lannister orders to kill her friend Mycah, the son of a butcher, believed to have harmed Joffrey.

He won the Tourney of the Hand after saving Ser Loras Tyrell from Gregor's wrath. After the tourney, Joffrey has him escort Sansa back to the castle. Drunk off his winnings, Sandor becomes enamored with Sansa Stark. Angry that she can't look him in the eye due to his disfigurement, he mocks her for her polished manners, calling her a "little bird" who chirps on command.

Clegane was eventually named to the Kingsguard despite refusing to become a knight. In this capacity he was often assigned to watch over Sansa. Despite his loyalty to Joffrey, he strategically defended her from Joffrey's wrath several times and is the only Kingsguard who was never commanded to beat her. Instead he treated her with relative kindness and tried to spare her from Joffrey's sadism.

A Clash of Kings

During the Riot of King's Landing, Sandor came to the aid of Sansa Stark when the girl was nearly dragged from her horse by the angry mob. Sandors savage fury and sword fighting driving the away the mob from her in fear. Sandor's intervention saved Sansa from rape and possible murder by the mob.

He fought heroically during the Battle of the Blackwater, but eventually deserted after refusing to Tyrion's command to return to the fiery battlefield.^[4] Before fleeing, he waited for Sansa Stark in her chambers and drunkenly offered to take her with him, but instead settled for a song elicited at knifepoint.^[5] Sansa believes that he kissed her, and kept the bloodied Kingsguard cloak he left behind.

A Storm of Swords

As a vagabond, he was arrested in the Riverlands by the Brotherhood Without Banners, who also had Arya Stark in their custody. The Brotherhood put Sandor on trial for various atrocities committed by Lannister soldiers, but no crime could be attributed to him personally until Arya testified to his killing of Mycah the butcher's boy. He chose trial by combat, facing the Brotherhood's leader Lord Beric Dondarrion. A follower of R'hllor, Beric fought with a magic flaming blade, but Sandor managed to defeat him despite his hangover and fear of fire.^[6]

The Brotherhood stripped him of most of his possessions, including the remains of his winnings from the Tourney of the Hand, and set him free, though he was allowed to keep his arms, armor and his warhorse Stranger. When several of the Brotherhood stated that Sandor should be killed, Lord Beric said R'hllor must have a purpose for the Hound.^[7] Clegane soon returned to try to reclaim his gold by force, upon which he stumbled across Arya as she was escaping. He kidnapped her instead^[8] and intended to ransom her her back to her brother Robb Stark^[9] at the Twins^[10], but arrived just as the Red Wedding massacre was taking place^[11][12].

Clegane stole Arya off again in the hopes of finding another relative to whom he could ransom her. With Riverrun besieged by the Lannisters and the Eyrie inaccessible,^[13] the prospect of the ransom faded and they spent some time living rough and moving from village to village. Arya continued to name the Hound every night among the people she wanted to kill.

Seeking shelter at the Inn at the Crossroads, they ran afoul of two of Gregor's men and their squire. Sandor killed Polliver and held off The Tickler, but was seriously injured in the fight. Though Arya dressed his wounds, they quickly became infected; still hating him, Arya refused to grant him the mercy of a quick death. She abandoned Sandor to die under a tree by the Trident, and his fate becomes uncertain after this point.^[14]

A Feast For Crows

The Elder Brother of a nearby monastery claims to have encountered Sandor dying in the woods and says he buried "the Hound" there. He also stabled Sandor's warhorse, Stranger, at the monastery. However, there are hints in the passage suggesting the Elder Brother considers "the Hound" to be simply an aspect of Sandor's personality, and that Sandor himself may have survived and joined the monastery on the Quiet Isle.^[15]

The Elder Brother described Sandor thusly...

“

"...this was a bitter tormented soul, a sinner who mocked both gods and men. He served but found no pride in service. He fought but took no joy in victory. He drank, to drown his pain in a sea of wine. He did not love, nor was he loved himself. It was hate that drove him. Though he committed many sins he never sought forgiveness. Where other men dream of love, or wealth or glory, this man Sandor Clegane dreamed of slaying his own brother, a sin so terrible it makes me shudder just to speak of it. Yet it was the bread that nourished him, the fuel that kept his fires burning. Ignoble as it was, the hope of seeing his brother's blood upon his blade was all this sad and angry creature lived for...and even that was taken from him when Prince Oberyn of Dorne stabbed Ser Gregor with a poisoned spear". [15]

”

Meanwhile, Rorge recovered Sandor's distinctive 'snarling dog' helm from his gravesite and embarked upon a brutal spree of banditry across the region, culminating in the vicious sack of Saltpans. With reports identifying the culprit only by the helm, Rorge's crimes have been attributed to Sandor.^[16][15] Rorge was later killed by Brienne of Tarth^[17] and the helm was taken by Lem Lemoncloak when the Brotherhood arrived. Thoros of Myr advised Lem to abandon the helm, seeing it as a symbol of Sandor's rage, but the bitter Lem refused.^[18]

Family

References and Notes

This page uses content from the English Wikipedia. The original content was at Minor houses in A Song of Ice and Fire. The list of authors can be seen in the page history of Minor houses in A Song of Ice and Fire. As with the A Wiki of Ice and Fire, the content of Wikipedia is available under the GNU Free Documentation License.