Sandor Clegane

Sandor Clegane Portrait by Amoka©
Aliases	The Hound Dog
Allegiances	Kingsguard House Clegane
Born	271 AC
Died	300 AC (supposedly)
Books	A Game of Thrones (Appears) A Clash of Kings (Appears) A Storm of Swords (Appears) A Feast for Crows (Appears) A Dance with Dragons (Mentioned)
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. He came to loathe fire, his brother, and the hypocrisy of knighthood in general.

Appearance

Sandor is a huge and heavily-muscled man. The right side of his face is gaunt, sharp cheekbones and heavy brow. His nose is large and hooked, and his hair is dark and thin worn long and brushed so that it cover the left side since no hair grew there. The left side of his face is a ruin with no ear but a hole. There is a twisted mass of scar around his good left eye. Slick black flesh is pocked with craters and deep cracks that ooze red and wet. His eyes are grey. On his jaw, bone shows. 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. 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.

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

Recent Events

A Game of Thrones

Sandor Clegane by Ammotu©

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.

When Eddard Stark attempted to take Cersei and her illegitimate children into custody with the help of the goldcloaks (unbeknownst to the fact that Janos Slynt had already been under the employ of the treacherous Littlefinger all along and was plotting betrayal), Sandor Clegane participated in the widespread slaughter of Eddard's remaining household guard alongside his erstwhile allies, personally killing Cayn.

Rory McCann as the Hound.jpg

A Clash of Kings

Sandor flees King's Landing on Stranger by M.Luisa Giliberti©

Tourney for King Joffrey's 13th Name Day the Hound, who is standing with King Joffrey Baratheon, Myrcella Baratheon, and Tommen Baratheon, announces Sansa’s arrival. When Sansa asks Joffrey if he will be in the lists, he replies “My lady mother said it was not fitting, since the tourney is in my honor. Otherwise I would have been champion. Isn’t that so, dog?” Clegane states that “Against this lot? why not.” When Sansa asks the Hound “Will you joust today, my lord?” he replies “Wouldn’t be worth the bother of arming myself. This is a tournament of gnats.” Joffrey laughing states “My dog has a fierce bark. Perhaps I should command him to fight the day’s champion. To the death.” To this the Hound replies “You’d be one knight the poorer.” Sandor has never taken a knight’s vows.

Joffrey is disgusted with the first two jousts of the day and states “This is a feeble show;” the Hound responds “I warned you, Gnats.” For the next joust, Ser Dontos arrives half naked and so drunk he cannot mount his horse. He finally sits in the dirt and shouts “I lose, Fetch me some wine.” Joffrey, already in a foul mood stands and says “A cask from the cellars! I’ll see him drowned in it.” Sansa protests without thinking; she is immediately shocked that she spoke knowing Joffrey is in a foul mood . Joffrey turns on her, furious at being gainsaid, and Sansa struggles to make up a story that it is a curse to kill a man on one’s name day. Joffrey spits out “You’re lying. I ought to drown you with him, if you care for him so much.” The Hound comes to her rescue by telling Joffrey, “What a man sows on his name day, he reaps throughout the year.”

When Joffrey attempts to call off the tourney in disgust, Tommen vehemently protests that he was supposed to ride against the quintain. An argument among the royal siblings ensues. Myrcella finally points out that mother agreed, Joffrey mocks “Mother said. Don’t be childish,” and Myrcella responds that they are children. The Hound, laughing, tells Joffrey. “She has you there.” Joffrey sullenly agrees.

After Tyrion Lannister arrives with the Lannister troops and the Mountain clans], Sandor comments to Tyrion “They said you were dead,” to which Tyrion replies “I was speaking to the king, not to his cur.” After Joffrey leaves with his brother and sister, the Hound tells Tyrion “I’d guard that tongue of yours, little man.”

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. 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. Sansa believes that he kissed her, and kept the bloodied Kingsguard cloak he left behind.

A Storm of Swords

Sandor Clegane - Artwork by Asiulus ©

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.

Sandor Clegane vs Beric Dondarrion - by Michael Komarck ©

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. 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 and intended to ransom her her back to her brother Robb Stark at the Twins, but arrived just as the Red Wedding massacre was taking place.

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, 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. When the two groups came to blows, Sandor killed Polliver and held off The Tickler but was seriously injured in the fight due to inebriation and hunger. The two were victorious, and 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.

A Feast For Crows

Rorge, Biter, and some of the remaining Brave Companions travel east to the town of Saltpans where Rorge recovers and dons Sandor Clegane's ‘snarling dog’, helm from his purported gravesite, and embarks 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 , which results in rumors of Sandor Clegane’s alleged atrocities spreading throughout the region.

Just prior to King Tommen’s nuptials Kevan Lannister comes over to Cersei and mentions that Sandor Clegane was reported to have joined Beric Dondarrion's outlaws. The queen is already aware of this, having read a report that outlaws had pillaged Saltpans and savagely raped the townswomen. The report had come from a septry on an island hard by the mouth of the Trident, she read that included in the band of outlaws was a roaring brute in a hound's head helm. Cersei suggests that Lancel Lannister hunt down the Hound, but her uncle is displeased by this insolent comment and answers that his son is not the man to deal with Sandor Clegane. When she then suggests that he go after Clegane, Ser Kevan responds,

When a dog goes bad, the fault lies with his master.

Rorge was later killed by Brienne of Tarth at the Inn at the Crossroads. The snarling dog’s helm came to be in the possession of 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.

Prior to Rorge’s death Brienne acted on information that she received from Timeon that Sansa Stark had been stolen and carried away by the Hound. Her travels with septon Meribald take her to a monastery on the Quiet Isle. On the isle she speaks privately to the Elder Brother of the monastery and tells him of her quest and her past. Elder Brother informs her that it was the other sister that Sandor made off with, the younger one, Arya Stark.

Brienne is shocked by this news as she believed Arya to be dead. Elder Brother goes on to tell her that he is certain that Arya was with Sandor at the inn beside the crossroads, the one old Masha Heddle used to keep. He knows that they were headed for the Saltpans but beyond that he tells her that all he knows for a certainty is that:

The man you hunt is dead.

This is another shock to Brienne. She asks him how Sandor died. Elder Brother replies,

By the sword, as he had lived.

Brienne asks Elder Brother,

You know this for a certainty?

He answers by saying that he buried him himself and that he knows where his grave lies and if she wishes he can show her. He says to Brienne,

I covered him with stones to keep the carrion eaters from digging up his flesh, and set his helm atop the cairn to mark his final resting place. That was a grievous error. Some other wayfarer found my marker and claimed it for himself. The man who raped and killed at Saltpans was not Sandor Clegane, though he may be as dangerous.

He adds that the riverlands are full of such scavengers and that he will not call them wolves, saying:

Wolves are nobler than that … and so are dogs, I think.

The Elder Brother tells Brienne that he knows a little of this man, Sandor Clegane. Then he goes on to say to her what he knows of him:

He was Prince Joffrey ’ sworn shield for many a year, and even here [on the Quiet Isle] we would hear tell of his deeds, both good and ill. If even half of what we heard was true, 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.

Brienne remarks that its sounds as if Elder Brother pitied him. He replies that he did and that she would have pitied him as well if she had seen him at the end,

I came upon him by the Trident, drawn by his cries of pain. He begged me for the gift of mercy, but I am sworn not to kill again. Instead, I bathed his fevered brow with river water, and gave him wine to drink and a poultice for his wound, but my efforts were too little and too late. The Hound died there, in my arms. You may have seen a big black stallion in our stables. That was his warhorse, Stranger. A blasphemous name. We prefer to call him Driftwood, as he was found beside the river. I fear he has his former master’s nature.

Brienne’s thoughts turn to the black stallion she has seen, but she understands destriers are trained to kick and bite, she concludes to herself that,

In war they were a weapon, like the men who rode them. Like the Hound.

Brienne is disappointed as her plans on confronting the Hound and finding out what has happened to Sansa or Arya have been thwarted. She comments dully to Elder Brother,

It is true, then … Sandor Clegane is dead.

Elder Brother simply replies,

He is at rest.

Elder Brother then pauses and the conversation turns to Elder Brother himself.

Many readers of the series believe that there are hints in what Elder Brother has said about the Hound to Brienne, that Elder Brother considers "the Hound" to be simply an aspect of Sandor's personality, and that Sandor Clegane himself may have survived and is living as a novice on the Quiet Isle monastery. Readers have identified Sandor as the novice gravedigger espied by Brienne.

Sometime later, while having dinner at Castle, Jaime Lannister hears of the rumors concerning Sandor Clegane from the other people at the dinner table. He asks what makes them so certain it was the Hound in the Saltpans. He thinks what the people at the dinner table are describing sounds more Gregor Clegane’s work than Sandor’s. Jaime nurses doubts about the rumors and thinks privately to himself:

Sandor had been hard and brutal, yes, but it was his big brother who was the real monster in House Clegane.

During the dinner Ser Lyle Crakehall claims to have been moved by the distress of Lady Mariya, and LadyAmerei and gives them his word that once Riverrun has fallen he shall return to hunt down the Hound and kill him for them, adding that dogs do not frighten him. Jaime thinks that to himself this one should, he thinks to himself that,

both men are large and powerful, but Sandor Clegane is much quicker, and fights with a savagery that Lyle Crakehall cannot hope to match.

Family

Clegane

Unknown wife

Clegane

Unknown wife

Unknown three wives

Gregor

Sandor

Daughter

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 A Wiki of Ice and Fire, the content of Wikipedia is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License.