Sandor Clegane
| House / Order | House Clegane (sworn to House Lannister) |
|---|---|
| Race / Culture | Westermen |
| Status | Uncertain (presumed near death; possibly the novice gravedigger on the Quiet Isle) |
| Origin | The Westerlands; The Riverlands |
| Born | c. 270 AC |
| Died | |
| Weapon | A longsword |
| Fate | Last seen gravely wounded; the books hint he may have found peace as a lay brother on the Quiet Isle |
| Portrayed by | Rory McCann |
Sandor Clegane, called the Hound, is a fearsome warrior sworn to House Lannister and the younger brother of the monstrous Gregor Clegane. Scarred in body and spirit, he serves as sworn shield to Prince Joffrey before his disgust with cruelty, cowardice, and false chivalry drives him from the Lannister cause.
The Hound is one of the saga's most complex figures: a brutal killer who despises knights and their hollow vows, yet who shows unexpected, grudging tenderness toward the Stark sisters.
Background
As a small boy, Sandor was horribly burned when his elder brother Gregor pressed his face into a brazier for playing with a toy that was Gregor's, an act their father covered up. The burns left half his face a ruin of scarred flesh, and gave Sandor a lifelong terror of fire and a hatred of his brother and of the knighthood that protects men like him. He grew into a deadly fighter and entered Lannister service, refusing ever to be made a knight.
Biography
A Game of Thrones and A Clash of Kings
Sandor serves as sworn shield to Prince Joffrey, a duty that turns his stomach as Joffrey's cruelty mounts. At the Hand's tourney he saves Loras Tyrell from his own brother Gregor. He shows flashes of rough kindness to Sansa Stark, counseling her to tell Joffrey only what he wants to hear. During the Battle of the Blackwater, confronted with wildfire and his own dread of flame, the Hound breaks, abandons his post and the Lannisters, and flees the city, but not before offering to take Sansa with him and leaving her his white cloak.
A Storm of Swords
The Hound captures Arya Stark, intending to ransom her to her family at Riverrun or the Twins. Their journey becomes a grim, bickering companionship. He is wounded in a fight and then arrives at the Twins just as the Red Wedding erupts; he knocks Arya unconscious and carries her away to save her life. Later, gravely wounded in a brawl, the Hound begs Arya to give him the gift of mercy. She refuses, leaving him to die by the roadside.
A Feast for Crows
A novice on the Quiet Isle tells Brienne of Tarth that the Hound is "dead," and that the man he was has been laid to rest. The presence of a hulking, limping gravedigger at the monastery, together with the Hound's horse, strongly implies that Sandor survived, was healed by the Elder Brother, and has renounced violence, though Martin leaves this deliberately unconfirmed.
Character
Sandor is bitter, violent, and contemptuous of hypocrisy. He despises knights because he knows the cruelty they hide behind their vows, and he refuses the title himself out of that same hard honesty. Beneath his savagery runs a vein of decency and a longing for the peace and protection that the world denied him as a child. His fear of fire is his deepest wound.
Relationships
The Hound's defining relationship is his hatred of his brother Gregor, who scarred him. His strange, protective bonds with Sansa and Arya reveal the better man buried beneath the killer. His service to Joffrey is dutiful but loveless, ending in disgust.
Quotes
A hound will die for you, but never lie to you. And he'll look you straight in the face.
There are no true knights, no more than there are gods. If you can't protect yourself, die and get out of the way of those who can.
In the television series
In HBO's Game of Thrones, Sandor was portrayed by Rory McCann. The series follows his book arc closely, then continues it: he is confirmed to have survived as a gravedigger, rejoins the wars, and finally dies fighting his brother Gregor in their long-anticipated "Cleganebowl" amid the burning Red Keep. This confrontation has not occurred in the novels, where the Hound's survival on the Quiet Isle remains only implied.