Gregor Clegane
| House / Order | House Clegane |
|---|---|
| Race / Culture | |
| Status | Deceased (transformed) |
| Origin | The Westerlands; King's Landing |
| Born | 264 AC (approx.) |
| Died | 300 AC, of manticore venom; his body reanimated thereafter |
| Weapon | A massive greatsword wielded one-handed |
| Fate | Poisoned by Oberyn Martell's envenomed spear; his remains experimented upon by Qyburn and raised as a monstrous guardian |
| Portrayed by |
Ser Gregor Clegane, called the Mountain That Rides or simply the Mountain, was a knight of House Clegane sworn to Tywin Lannister, and one of the most feared and brutal figures in all of Westeros. A giant of a man, nearly eight feet tall and immensely strong, Gregor was infamous for his savagery in battle, his atrocities against smallfolk, and the murders he committed during the Sack of King's Landing. He was the elder brother of Sandor Clegane, the Hound, whom he scarred horribly in childhood.
Background
Gregor and his younger brother Sandor were the grandsons of a kennelmaster raised to lordship for an act of valor. When Sandor was a small boy, Gregor caught him playing with a toy and, in a fit of unprovoked rage, pressed his brother's face into a brazier of burning coals, giving Sandor the terrible burn scars he carries for life. This act, and the family's fear of Gregor, defined both brothers ever after.
Knighted young for his size and prowess, Gregor became a loyal and useful instrument of Tywin Lannister, precisely because his viciousness could be aimed at Tywin's enemies. He was widely suspected of murdering his own father and other members of his household.
Crimes and war
During the Sack of King's Landing, at Tywin's command or with his sanction, Gregor and his men slaughtered the family of Prince Rhaegar Targaryen. He killed the infant prince Aegon, raped Princess Elia of Dorne, and then murdered her, crimes that Dorne never forgave. In the War of the Five Kings, Tywin loosed Gregor to raid and burn his way across the Riverlands, spreading terror, torturing captives, and laying waste to the countryside as a deliberate strategy.
Trial by combat and death
When Tyrion Lannister demanded trial by combat for the murder of King Joffrey Baratheon, Prince Oberyn Martell of Dorne volunteered as Tyrion's champion, seeking vengeance for his sister Elia. Gregor stood as champion for the crown. In their duel, Oberyn fought brilliantly and wounded Gregor gravely, all the while demanding the Mountain confess Elia's murder. Gregor, seemingly beaten, caught Oberyn, confessed his crimes, and crushed the prince's skull, but Oberyn's spear had been coated in the slow, agonizing venom of a manticore.
Gregor lingered for days in unspeakable pain as the poison rotted him from within. The disgraced maester Qyburn took the dying giant for grotesque experiments, and from his ruined body produced a towering, silent, monstrous guardian, encased in armor and never seen to eat or speak, who entered the service of Queen Cersei Lannister as Ser Robert Strong.
Character
Gregor Clegane is one of the purest embodiments of cruelty in the series, a man of monstrous strength and no restraint, defined by sudden, terrible violence and a complete absence of conscience. He serves as the dark mirror to his brother Sandor, whose hatred of knighthood springs in large part from having grown up beneath Gregor's brutality.
In the television series
In HBO's Game of Thrones, Gregor is portrayed across the seasons by Conan Stevens, Ian Whyte, and Hafþór Júlíus Björnsson. His duel with Oberyn and subsequent reanimation as a silent enforcer for Cersei follow the broad strokes of the novels.