History Characters / ASongOfIceAndFireHouseClegane

* YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness: Averted; Lord Tywin considers Tyrion's proposal to hand over Gregor in exchange for an alliance with Dorne, but concludes that his role as TheDreaded makes him too useful to get rid of. [[spoiler:At least until Gregor kills Oberyn Martell during their duel, leaving Tywin with no choice but to execute him to smooth over relations with Dorne. At least, he would have if Oberyn hadn't poisoned Gregor during their duel. As it was, Tywin tried and failed to have Gregor healed only so he could be killed at a proper execution]].

* UngratefulBastard: As Sandor points out, Gregor had the great honor of being knighted by Rhaegar Targaryen. This still didn't stop him from later on brutally murdering Rhaegar's wife (whom he also raped) and son.

* SiblingYinYang: To his brother. While Sandor is a killer and makes no bones about it, he has strict standards he won't go against and is capable of compassion, kindness and surprising introspection, hating both himself for what he does and the world for rewarding him for it. This stands in sharp contrast to Gregor who has absolutely no boundaries he won't cross, revels in all the vile things he does and is completely without any mercy, kindness or concern for anyone but himself.

* OneManArmy: Best shown during the battle of the Green Fork at the end of ''Literature/AGameofThrones''. With a group of other knights, Clegane powers straight through the spears and crashes directly into the Karstark heavy infantry, probably killing four or five at least. Then, he rises completely unscathed while the other knights are dead or retreating, and then begins to wield his {{BFS}} with a single hand, smashing every enemy in the vicinity into oblivion with contemptuous ease.

** He is, however, extremely skilled with a lance, at least according to his brother. When he spots that Ser Hugh of the Vale has a weak spot on his neck, he drives his lance exactly there and kill the man on the spot.

* FacePalmOfDoom: How he kills [[spoiler:Oberyn Martell]], and beforehand how he killed Elia of Dorne.

* YourHeadAsplode: [[spoiler: As soon as Oberyn comes too close, Gregor trips him with an OffhandBackHand, lifts him up above himself with one hand and proceeds to ''pop his skull like a zit'' between his palms. The crowd was suitably horrified at the [[SuperStrength display of ultraviolence]].]]

->''"Elia of Dorne. I killed her screaming whelp. ''Then'' I raped her. Then I smashed her fucking head in. Like this." '''*[[FacePalmOfDoom CRUNCH]]* '''''

* InsistentTerminology: Repeatedly points out that he is ''not'' a knight. This is likely due to his brother gaining a knighthood at an early age, simply for being a murderous thug with a sword.

* MoodyMount: His horse is a massive, bad-tempered black stallion named Stranger who will readily kick or bite anyone who isn't his master.

* {{Jerkass}}: A volatile, angry sadistic knight and UngratefulBastard to his father.

* WhatTheHellHero: A bunch of heroic [[JustLikeRobinHood Robin Hood-alikes]] capture him and accuse everyone associated with the Lannisters of being murdering scumbags. ''[[Awesome/ASongOfIceAndFire He calls bullshit on them]]''. "[[NotSoDifferentRemark Not so different now, are we?]]"

* GutturalGrowler: Gregor is described as having a voice like breaking stone.

* HeroesLoveDogs: He has several he uses for hunting, since they're also both his house emblem and his own RedBaron.

* MoralityPet: Has two -- Sansa and Arya Stark.

* EvilerThanThou: He's bad enough that a face-off against [[SmugSnake Smug]] [[JustForPun Snake]] [[DepravedBisexual Oberyn]] [[RedBaron "The Red Viper"]] [[ReallyGetsAround Martell]] leaves the guy who has a snake theme and likes to use poisoned weapons looking like a LovableSexManiac in comparison.

* StrongAndSkilled: Somewhat averted. While he isn't exactly UnskilledButStrong, he's never said to be a particularly gifted swordsman - he's just both incredibly strong and borderline impervious to any damage, so it doesn't really matter: he's more or less indomitable either way. But before his fight with Oberyn, we never see him going toe to toe with an actual MasterSwordsman; and the moment he does he loses.

* OneManArmy: Best shown during a battle in "A Game of Thrones". With a series of other knights, Clegane powers straight through the spears and crashes directly into the Karstark heavy infantry, probably killing four or five at least. Then, he rises completely unscathed while the other knights are dead, and then begins to wield his {{BFS}} with a single hand, smashing every enemy in the vicinity into oblivion with contemptuous ease.

** However Gregor is actually far from plain stupid. He’s an immensely skilled fighter with a decent grasp at battle tactics and he is an incredibly skilled torturer. He’s just so freakishly big and strong and is feared by everyone that he doesn’t have to bother with being smart. But if he decides to use his brain… well Godspeed to anyone in his way.

* EvilerThanThou: He's bad enough that a face-off against [[SmugSnake Smug]] [[JustForPun Snake]] [[DepravedBisexual Oberyn]] [[RedBaron "The Red Viper"]] [[AnythingThatMoves Martell]] leaves the guy who has a snake theme and likes to use poisoned weapons looking like a LovableSexManiac in comparison.

* TilMurderDoUsPart: He had two wives who died mysteriously. Read the rest of the tropes under his folder, and then draw your own conclusions.

** While in a bad mood after losing the Hand's tourney, he and his men gang-rape a 13-year-old innkeeper's daughter, kill her brother for trying to defend his sister, and then when they're done, he demands back some of the money he paid her father because "she wasn't worth a silver."

* HeyYou: Joffrey refers to him as "dog."

* KickTheSonOfABitch: He murders [[spoiler:Vargo Hoat]] by chopping off bits of him and making him eat them, little by little, bandaging the wounds to keep him alive longer. Gregor is ''far'' from a better person--he might even be worse--but it's still satisfying to read about.