House Clegane

"House Clegane—because every lord needs a beast from time to time."

— Tywin Lannister

A young knightly house of the Westerlands with humble origins, one of the vassals to the Lannisters. It was raised to knighthood by Lord Tywin's father, the late Tytos Lannister.

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In General

Animal Motifs: Their sigil is three dogs, and their members are often compared to them. Sandor — who is referred to more as The Hound or Dog than by his name — is gruff, but loyal and honorable in his own way; Gregor is Tywin's Right-Hand Attack Dog for all purposes.
The Brute: They have this reputation.
Bright Is Not Good: Not the core members themselves, but the House uses bright yellow banners while raising some of the most vicious fighters around.
Cain and Abel: Gregor and Sandor despise each other intensely, and would rather fight each other than team up.
Everybody's Dead, Dave: With the Hound and the Mountain dead, plus the Mountain having killed the other members of their family, House Clegane is extinct.
Faceless Goons: Fully armoured, both◊ Cleganes◊ wear imposing helmets that almost completely obscure their faces.
Just Following Orders: Be it Tywin's or Joffrey's, they often use this reasoning to their advantage when committing heinous actions. Even Sandor, the more decent half of the Clegane brothers admits to this when confronted over his murder of the butcher's boy Mycah and was very proactive when cutting down Ned Stark's guards.
Nouveau Riche: Not Lords, but just a knightly house raised to nobility by Lord Tytos Lannister.
Older Than They Look/Younger Than They Look: Gregor was old enough to be knighted by Prince Rhaegar approximately 18 years before the first season and he is five years older than his brother. Hafthór Björnsson plays a character ten years older than he is while Rory McCann plays a character at least 15 years younger than he is. In reality, the older brother is 20 years younger than the younger brother.
Professional Killers: They serve no other purpose than killing, Sandor makes numerous speeches that it is what knights are at the core and Gregor shows it. They are regularly used by the Lannister to kill specific target such as butcher's son and heir to the throne.
Rags to Riches: The Clegane's grandfather was the kennelmaster serving Lord Tytos, who knighted him for saving his life from a lioness.
Rape, Pillage, and Burn: This is basically their M.O. and sole function under Gregor.
Red Oni, Blue Oni: Kinda. Sandor isn't exactly serene and emotionless, but he's much more stoic and in control of himself than Gregor. Emphasised by their fight at the Hand's Tourney, when King Robert orders them to stop, Sandor immediately drops to one knee (handily ducking Gregor's swing), while Gregor tosses aside his sword and storms off in a rage.
Right-Hand Attack Dog: To House Lannister.
The Spartan Way: See Tykebomb.
Tyke-Bomb: Of the attack/guard dog variant. Both Clegane brothers were trained from a young age to serve as the Lannisters' most loyal, skilled and brutal fighters.
Sandor: When Tywin Lannister became Lord of Casterly Rock, he wanted more from his former kennel-master than fealty, he bet that training hounds to kill isn't far from training boys to kill. In just two generations my brother Gregor and I proved him right. I gutted my first man at twelve.
War Is Hell: The House that epitomizes this trope. Gregor's savagery is reflected by the men under his command, who commit atrocities on the Riverlands smallfolk with casual nonchalance. While Sandor, despite professing a distaste for random brutality or harming girls, never fails to remind everyone (even those he protects) of his love for killing and the realities of war.

Ser Gregor Clegane

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/gregor_clegane_s4.png

"Who am I fighting?"

^{Click to see undead Gregor.}

^{Click to see Gregor as played by Conan Stevens.}

^{Click to see Gregor as played by Ian Whyte.}

Played By: Conan Stevens (Season 1), Ian Whyte (Season 2), Hafþór Júlíus Björnsson (Season 4 Onwards)

Voiced By: Hiroshi Shirokuma (Japanese)

"Elia Martell! I killed her children! Then I raped her! THEN I SMASHED HER HEAD IN, LIKE THIS!"

Head of House Clegane. Called "The Mountain", he is a massive and obscenely brutal knight in the service of House Lannister and is the older brother of The Hound. Does most of Tywin Lannister's dirtiest work, and enjoys every second of it. After his duel with Oberyn Martell in Tyrion's trial by combat, Gregor is fatally wounded and poisoned, and is experimented on by Qyburn to save his life. He comes back among the living as a new a member of the Kingsguard whose identity is an Open Secret, and becomes Cersei Lannister's bodyguard from then on.

Abled in the Adaptation:
- In the books, Gregor suffers from headaches due to his gigantism that even milk of poppy can't numb. In the show, no mention is made of his opiates consumption and there are no effects to made him look like an inhumanely huge brute except for the camera angles.
- His head is presented to the Martells after Oberyn's death prior to becoming the headless Robert Strong. Here, he keeps his head even after being zombified.
Adaptational Badass: In his Duel to the Death with Oberyn Martell in the books, he can't get a hit on him until he (Gregor) is down. In the show, he manages to kick Oberyn off his feet, smash his spear, and throw him across the arena before Oberyn spears him several times.
Always Someone Better: Despite being the largest and strongest man in the world, it is implied that his younger brother Sandor is the better swordsman and fighter overall. This is shown during both of their duels, especially the last, when Sandor successfully disarms and impales Gregor with his sword, which would have been a fatal blow if Gregor was still human. He only gets the upper hand when both he and Sandor are unarmed, since Sandor is nowhere near as strong as his brother.
Adaptational Dumbass: Granted, he wasn't exactly a Mensa candidate in the books but he was capable of surprising cunning at times, standing in front of the sun while fighting Oberyn to limit his vision, and being at least a fairly good battlefield commander and a horrifyingly skilled interrogator. Here, he never shows any aptitude for anything beyond killing and doesn't even show much intellect in that regard. And that's before Qyburn's experiments take away what intelligence he had.
Arch-Enemy:
- To his brother Sandor. Sandor would love nothing more than to kill his brother and the feeling is quite mutual. This is due to Gregor pushing his brother’s face into the fire just for playing with his toy. Their hatred reaches its peak in Season 8 with their long awaited duel. Both brothers die killing each other.
- To Oberyn Martell, who has spent most of his adult life looking forward to exact revenge from Gregor's savage murder of his sister Elia and her children. While this is not reciprocal at all, Gregor does remember the deed, which given his record is something remarkable.
Ascended Extra: He gets more screen time in Season 6 after his "resurrection" because Cersei makes him as her Right-Hand Attack Dog.
Ax-Crazy: There are a plethora of examples to list that show just how crazy he is. The list includes burning off half his brother's face when they were kids, killing a woman's children and then raping and murdering her with their blood still on his hands, decapitating his own horse and then trying to kill a jousting opponent he lost to and his own brother when he interfered in the fight, personally picking out which war prisoner would be tortured to death each day in Harrenhal, murdering prisoners as part of his exercise routine, murdering every Northen captive in Harrenhal before leaving as a final "fuck you!" to the Stark army, even though the nobles that could have been ransomed for money, without caring about the fact that he is setting a precedent and the Starks could very well retaliate by executing their far more numerous Lannister prisoners. Also, according to his younger brother Sandor he once "killed a man for snoring."
Back from the Dead: It's unclear if Qyburn revived him after death or prevented it, but the effect is this trope either way, with how Gregor was wounded beyond normal means of healing.
Badass Boast:
Gregor: Who am I fighting?
Cersei: Does it matter?
Gregor: No.
Bare-Fisted Monk: Played with in his undead form. He does carry a sword but he doesn't really need it to kill a man, and so far he seems to prefer using his bare hands.
Bald of Evil: After Qyburn experimented on him, he no longer has hair on his head and is as evil as ever.
Beard of Evil: One of the more repugnant characters in Westeros, with a sinister beard to boot. All three actors have one, though it appears to be gone after his resurrection.
BFS: It's about the size of a normal person.
Berserk Button: Several.
- Don't snore too loudly.
- Whatever you do, don't actually put up a fight against him and DON'T mock Cersei post Season 6.
- Don't call him or imply he's a monster. In his final duel with Sandor, all he does is sit there and tank hits until we get the following gem. Then it's on.
Sandor: That's you. That's what you've always been.
Big Brother Bully: To Sandor. He infamously pushed Sandor's face into a fire for playing with his toy.
Black Eyes of Evil: The glimpse we get through his visor is black dots that are bloodshot and wide awake. Turns into Red Eyes, Take Warning as they begin to rot.
Black Knight: He wears a heavy suit of coal-black armour. A bit subverted in Season 2 when he drops the Shoulders of Doom and wears a Lannister cloak and helmet, but he goes back to full black armor when he appears in Season 4. After two seasons of wearing gold Kingsguard armor, Cersei does a dark redress and he goes back to black plate.
Bling of War:
- Under King Tommen, unlike the other Kingsguard, his armour is completely gilded.
- In Season 7, he dons a fancy black and silvery armor that oddly makes him look thinner than he is.
Blood Knight: It's pretty clear that he became a warrior to quench his bloodthirst. Subverted in that people who can actually put up a fight just angers him more; he likes killing, but not a challenge.
Body Horror: During his final confrontation with Sandor, he removes his helmet and then his armor, revealing that his entire body is rotting.
The Brute: He's a massive, muscled monster that exists to do the killing of House Lannister and its members, with one of the highest bodycounts to boot.
The Bully: His idea of a good time is raping and killing people — especially those who can't feasibly fight back. A woman and her baby in the backstory, his own little brother when they were both children, a surprised Loras Tyrell who had nothing but a wooden shield while he was swinging a huge sword, a bunch of helpless unarmed prisoners...and it's mentioned that he regularly goes raping and pillaging the smallfolk. He isn't even a typical Blood Knight, as facing an actually challenging opponent like his brother Sandor and Oberyn Martell just makes him even angrier. Unlike most bullies however, he averts Dirty Coward which makes him all the more dangerous.
Came Back Strong: When Cersei asks Qyburn if Clegane is going to come back weaker, he's quick to dismiss the notion, implying this trope. He confirms this to be the case when he casually rips a man's head off with his bare hands. Cersei proudly rubs in Ellaria Sand's face that this new Clegane is stronger than ever.
Came Back Wrong: Although much, much stronger than before, Qyburn’s work on him has twisted him so badly he isn’t even human anymore, and it’s not really clear if he’s actually alive or not.
Can't Hold His Liquor: Tywin advises Arya to not serve him wine. It makes him worse.
Cain and Abel: Cain to Sandor's Abel. Apart from being the source of Sandor's burns, the two of them appeared quite willing to fight to the death in full view of the court for very little reason. It speaks volumes of how horrifyingly awful the Mountain is that Sandor is the Abel in their relationship.
The Champion: For Cersei in Tyrion's Trial by Combat. She plans to use him again in her trial by the Sparrows, so the High Sparrow convinces Tommen to outlaw the practice.
Charles Atlas Superpower: Capable of crushing a man's head with his bare hands, as seen with Oberyn Martell. Elia went the same way. In his zombified form, he's able to rip a man's head off with his bare hands.
Cold-Blooded Torture: He is commanded by Cersei to inflict it on Septa Unella and prolong it as long as he can.
Composite Character: He seems to have taken over Ser Ilyn Payne's position as the Queen's Justice (executioner), as shown in Season 8 when Cersei has him execute Missandei.
Deconstructed Character Archetype: Sandor thinks that Gregor's very existence belies the image of knights as defenders of the weak and helpless. Furthermore, the evil brute trope becomes a lot more horrifying when there's no hero around to stop them.
Disney Villain Death: Sandor tackles him off the Red Keep into an inferno.
Disproportionate Retribution:
- According to Sandor, he once killed a man for snoring too loudly.
- As for Sandor, Gregor's reason for burning his face was that Sandor had played with one of his old toys, and Sandor emphasizes that he hadn't even stolen said toy (Gregor could have, you know, ''asked for it back'').
The Dragon: After Jaime's capture, Tywin settles for Gregor Clegane within his army while sending Tyrion to act as his Evil Genius in King's Landing. A Played With example in that unlike Jaime, Gregor's missions are not especially tactically difficult but require an innate ''nastiness' and too much squick for soldiers who have standards.
- He is later Cersei's attack dog and Co-Dragon to Jaime after he's inducted into the Kingsguard Season 6 onwards.
The Dreaded:
- Feared for his cruelty, especially when he's leading his personal band of psychopaths throughout the Riverlands. Even other badasses like Bronn are unashamed of admitting fear of him.
- In Season 6, the Lannister soldiers ordered by Tommen/Kevan to keep Cersei in the Red Keep are clearly horrified at the sight of Gregor despite their superior number.
  Lord Tywin Lannister: Ser Gregor strikes terror into the hearts of our enemies and our friends.
Dumb Muscle:
- A killing machine with little to no sense of tactics or restraint, as he's too Ax-Crazy to consider whether his acts of brutality are actually detrimental in the long run. Nor does it seem likely that he cares, it's not like the Lannisters pay him for being smart, his job is to apply Disproportionate Retribution to those who cross the family.
- After his transformation, Qyburn implies he's even dumber than before as the "experiments" he did to save him affected his mind, and most of his free will appears to be gone, becoming instead an obedient drone. Jaime even asks if he can understand what's being said, "to the point that he ever understood complete sentences." Though after Jaime says this, Clegane immediately turns towards him and appears to give him a Death Glare, so it is probable he has retained some ability to think. Also, this comment might have come back to bite Qyburn later as his order for Gregor to abandon a possible fight with his brother to protect Cersei ends with Qyburn being turned into a stain on the nearest castle wall.
Dying as Yourself: Not at all played for redemption or sympathy, but Gregor refusing Cersei's final order in favor of the fight with his brother proves, for the first time since season 4, that there really was still a bit of his individual personality left. Just in time for him to fall into a sea of dragonfire.
Establishing Character Moment: Due to his physical absences in the narrative, he gets two of these.
- He kills Ser Hugh in a joust, and after losing to Loras soon after he angrily kills his horse before trying to kill Loras, then engages in a ferocious duel with his brother Sandor and only reluctantly stops when the king commands it so.
- After sitting out Season 3 and being fairly inactive in Season 2, he then gets re-established in Season 4 with "Mockingbird"; where in which he cuts through several defenseless men, swinging an enormous greatsword like it was a stick.
Evil Is Bigger: One of the most evil men in Westeros, and there's a good reason he's called 'the Mountain'. George R.R. Martin has said that there isn't anyone in the world who could physically match the way he's described in the books, but they sure try hard to get it close. By the time the 6'9" Hafþór appears, they even use camera trickery to make him look even bigger. For the curious, he was originally construed as being nearly 8 feet in height and around 420 pounds.^*
Evil Makes You Ugly: His evil deeds ultimately lead him to becoming an undead rotting abomination. His outside now truly matches his inside.
Sandor: Yeah, that's you. That's what you've always been.
Evil Sounds Deep: Especially when played by Ian Whyte, who seems to be channeling Christopher Lee.
Eye Scream: By the time of the Season 7 finale his eyes have begun to rot. It's also one of his more infamous scenes, doing this to Oberyn Martell and later attempting this on Sandor.
- Thankfully, he is on the receiving end of this by Sandor when he stabs him in the eye with a knife before Sandor tackles him into to a fiery pit.
The Faceless: After the fight with Oberyn Martell and Qyburn's treatment, he wears a mask that conceals his horrid face^note.
Facial Horror: His face is rotten and deteriorating more and more over time.
Fat and Skinny: The Fat to Sandor's Skinny. Downplayed in that both men are muscular giants, but Gregor is slightly larger and much bulkier while Sandor has a leaner, more traditional build.
Feels No Pain: Post-treatment, he doesn't even flinch when a Sparrow hits him with a spiked truncheon, despite the spikes penetrating his plate armor. This horrifies all of his attackers and they decide to withdraw.
Frankenstein's Monster: After Qyburn's treatment, Clegane becomes a giant, hulking, speechless monstrosity that lumbers about killing people on Cersei's orders. Like the monster, he ends up rebelling and killing his creator.
Giant Mook: He's little more than a brute to the Lannisters, but he's too damn huge and deadly to be considered "just a Mook" by everyone.
Hair-Trigger Temper: He chopped the head off his horse over losing a joust, and he pushed his brother into a fire for touching his toys. It doesn't take a lot to set him off.
Hate Sink: The Mountain is by far the most psychotic and animalistic of the Lannisters' supporters, being utterly terrifying and devoid of humanity. While seeing him kill his brother Sandor might not be fun for some, it is incredibly satisfying to see Sandor get the last laugh by way of a fall into the fire in one of the high points of Season 8.
Hates Small Talk: When being welcomed back to King's Landing by the Queen Regent, he doesn't bother with chit-chat and plainly asks who he gets to kill this time.
Head Crushing:
- Appears to be one of his favorite methods of execution, considering that he crushes the skulls of Elia Martell, Oberyn Martell and a random civilian who was badmouthing Cersei.
- He almost does this to Sandor during the penultimate episode but Sandor manages to stop him in time and proceeds to shove both himself and Gregor out of the Red Keep to their fiery deaths.
Heavily Armored Mook: He's noted to wear boiled leather, chainmail, and full plate armor without slowing down that much, as well as a shield.
Hero Killer: Clegane is deadly, bloodthirsty and widely feared for it by other heavy hitters. His record includes maiming and killing Ser Beric Dondarrion, slaying Ser Hugh of the Vale in a tournament and Oberyn Martell in a trial by combat, by a very close margin. In Season 8, he adds Missandei to his list of victims.
Impaled with Extreme Prejudice: Courtesy of Oberyn Martell. Unfortunately, it isn't immediately fatal. During their Duel to the Death in Season 8, The Hound impales him with his sword, only for Gregor to pull it out.
Implacable Man: Due in no small part to his size, it takes quite a bit of damage from Oberyn before Gregor finally goes down, and even then, he's strong enough to turn the tables and kill Oberyn before he collapses. He becomes even more of this post-treatment from Qyburn and seems to shrug off a spiked truncheon blow that penetrates his breastplate, though Cersei notes that he's not truly implacable enough to fight off hundreds of Faith Militant without going down. Sandor impales him through the chest and head and it doesn't slow him down. It takes Sandor plunging the two of them from the ruins of the Red Keep into the dragonfire burning King's Landing to put him down for good.
Informed Flaw: If anything, Qyburn's experiment fixed his mind. He went from a brute of few words who goes on a rampage out of anger to a restrained mute who only kills when told to by Cersei.
...In That Order: In their duel, Oberyn demands that Gregor makes a confession for his crimes against the Martells. Although less clearly shown than in the books, Gregor's problem is not the accusation itself, but that Oberyn got the events in the wrong order:
Oberyn: You raped her! You murdered her! You killed her children! (multiple times)
Gregor: I killed her children. Then I raped her. THEN I SMASHED HER HEAD IN, LIKE THIS!
In-Series Nickname: "The Mountain."
Irony: He was knighted by Prince Rhaegar Targaryen on Tywin's recommendation. One year later, after Rhaegar's defeat at the Trident, Lord Tywin ordered him to kill the Prince's children and Gregor took the extra step of raping and murdering Rhaegar's wife too.
Ironic Hell: He is saved from death by Qyburn, a renowned maverick physician, known for having... rather unorthodox methods of prolonging life - whom Ser Gregor had previously attempted to summarily execute back at Harrenhal.
It Can Think: If his reaction to Jaime calling him an idiot even before is any indication, there is still a somewhat of sentience in Clegane. He can be seen smiling when he is about to torture/rape Unella. He proves that there's still a functioning mind beneath all the rot when he defies Qyburn's orders to protect Cersei (even killing the former) so he can try to kill Sandor one last time.
Karmic Death: His earliest known act of villainy was burning his little brother Sandor. Sandor kills him for good by plunging them both into fire. Even better, given his size and the general immunity that came with Qyburn's experiments, it would not be the fall, but the fire that would do him in by slowly but surely cooking him alive.
Karma Houdini Warranty: He's such a vicious giant of a man, and working for people who are even worse, that he suffers absolutely no punishment for any of his horrific crimes...until Season 4, where he suffers the effects of Oberyn's poisoned spear during their duel. He does survive, more or less, but that might not exactly be a good thing. He finally dies for good in Season 8.
Kick the Dog:
- Beheading his own horse after he loses a joust.
- Torturing prisoners to death just because there is no room left in the dungeons, and executing the prisoners that had room as psychological warfare.
- Crushing Oberyn's skull while gloating about killing his sister's children before raping and murdering her.
Knight in Shining Armor: The gilded armor he wears as Kingsguard member is clearly meant to invoke this. Unfortunately, this character utterly averts this.
Knight of Cerebus: Unlike most villains like Tywin and Ramsay, there is not a twinge of levity or black comedy to Gregor Clegane. Every time he appears, someone or something always dies horribly, and his nightmarish actions have caused some of the darkest hours for several characters like Tyrion, Unella, and Ellaria. He almost literally embodies this trope; a terrifying monster of a black knight with a dog motif, where he dramatically alters the already dark tone of the series, even when characters are simply discussing him.
- He is also the first of the purely evil villains to show his true colors, even before Joffrey who seemed like just a particularly vicious bully at first. His actions in Season 1 alone set the tone for the rest of the series.
Let's Get Dangerous!: During his fight with Sandor, the Hound just throws hit after hit against Gregor, but then he calls the Mountain a monster and then Gregor promptly fights back hard.
Lady and Knight: As Kingsguard he's the Knight to Cersei's Lady. He kills on her command and is never far from her side for long.
Large and in Charge: He's a giant and the head of his house.
Laser-Guided Karma: The man who willingly served as the Lannister's attack dog loses all free will beyond serving as their attack dog. For bonus points, the process deforms him like how he deformed his brother, much to the latter's amusement.
Sandor: You're even fucking uglier then I am now!
Last Lousy Point: The Brotherhood Without Banners do a lot of good (and some bad) across eight seasons but they never quite get around to killing Gregor Clegane, the guy they were sent by Ned Stark to round up to start with. Sandor Clegane, their final recruit, who also has a personal vendetta on the Mountain, ends up killing him before his death, with the Brotherhood terminating itself by completing its original mission.
Lean and Mean: In Season 2, where he doesn't have as much muscle as the other times he shows up.
Lightning Bruiser: As Bronn notes, the Mountain is not only "freakish big, and freakish strong", he's also a lot faster than you'd expect for a man as huge as he is. Though after Qyburn's treatment he seems to have lost this aspect, becoming more of a Mighty Glacier.
Mirror Character: To Ser Meryn Trant. Like Meryn Trant, Gregor Clegane is brutal and sadistic as well as preferring to target those who can't or won't fight back in any way. Both are assigned to the missions with too much squick for the Lannister soldiers that actually have standards, but whilst Meryn is Joffrey's Pet Rat who's on a defensive bodyguard duty, Gregor Clegane is Lord Tywin's mad dog on an offensive role. Also, unlike Trant, he has the size, strength and badass warrior's instincts to back up his sadistic brutality and make him compete with opponents in the same league as the likes of The Hound, Jaime, or Ser Barristan in his prime. It's telling that Jaimes tells Tyrion that Cersei names him as champion and not Ser Meryn. Being severely wounded makes Meryn cry Tears of Fear when in pain, whilst in Gregor's case it makes him all the more eager to kill his opponent, as poor Oberyn found out. It's also telling that whilst Trant is forgotten about in Season 6, Gregor remains a credible threat throughout the program until the Hound finally takes him out in the penultimate episode. Both are also disliked by The Hound for their brutality towards women and mocked by Jaime for their stupidity and incompetence. Trant even looks like a smaller version of The Mountain: dark hair, beard, perpetually grim and unfriendly expression, etc.
Malevolent Masked Man: The Mountain becomes this after Qyburn reanimates him. As the name suggests, and combined with his lust for killing, the Mountain is essentially one step away from joining the ranks of Jason Voorhees and Michael Myers.
Mook Lieutenant: Reinforced in Season 2, where he drops his trademark black armor and black & yellow colors for the usual red Lannister soldier garb.
Nice Job Fixing It, Villain: His horrible rampage across the Riverlands has the unintended consequence of forming the group that would become the Brotherhood Without Banners, who through their actions, intentional and unintentional, end up playing a major role in saving the world from the White Walkers and averting the Zombie Apocalypse.
No-Sell: In his final confrontation with Sandor in the Red Keep, the latter impales him with his sword. It doesn't kill him, and he simply pulls it out. A similar thing occurs when Sandor stabs him several times with a dagger.
Offstage Villainy: Most of Ser Gregor's worst acts, and those of the soldiers he commands, have occurred offscreen. Though given the sheer level of brutality described, this is certainly a blessing. In his most infamous act, before the events of the series, he murdered and raped the Princess Elia Targaryen but not before killing her infant son Aegon in front of her.
Off with His Head!:
- In Season 6, Gregor rips a Sparrow's head off his shoulders.
- In Season 8, he beheads Missandei on Cersei's orders.
One-Handed Zweihänder: From time to time, he uses a single hand to wield a freaking Irish longsword of all things, a weapon that most people even struggle to use with two hands.
One-Hit Kill: As Bronn stated, one can attempt to fight Gregor by out-maneuvering him. But if he gets one hit in, that person is dead. This is illustrated in "The Mountain and the Viper." After spending an entire fight flailing at— and missing— the much more nimble Oberyn Martell, Gregor manages to get his hands on him and ends the fight in seconds.
Our Zombies Are Different: It's unclear what exactly he is after Qyburn's experiments, but he's clearly not alive in the conventional sense. Physical wounds don't impair him in the slightest. When he faces off against Sandor in the penultimate episode, even being stabbed through the eye and into the brain fails to do more than stun him for a minute.
Paper-Thin Disguise: Qyburn isn't really fooling anyone withholding the identity of the new, mysterious, helmed and mute Kingsguard who is built like a mountain. In Season 6, he and the other Small Council members drop the pretense in private.^{From the books...}
Parental Favoritism: According to Sandor, Gregor was their father's favorite who hoped he would become a knight and also gave a cover for his scarring of little Sandor so as to protect him from justice. The same father Gregor later murdered (probably).
Perpetual Frowner: His unfriendliness is always reflected in his face. And that's one of his less distasteful traits.
Pre-Mortem One-Liner: Gregor isn't usually the most charismatic of folk, but he does manage to deflect Oberyn's My Name Is Inigo Montoya moment.
Oberyn: Have they told you who I am?
Gregor: Some dead man! [swings at Oberyn's head]
Psycho for Hire: Tywin Lannister is his "employer" and unleashes him on the peasantry of those whom he feels have acted against Lannister interests.
Psychopathic Manchild: Was already a psychopathic child when growing up as he burned his younger brother Sandor's face for playing with his toy. He's no better as a grown man and frequently throws temper tantrums as shown during the tourney when he beheads his own horse for failing him.
Pyrrhic Victory: Despite managing to kill Oberyn during the trial by combat, the Mountain is ultimately rendered comatose by Oberyn's poisoned spears and left at the mercy of the torturously pragmatic Qyburn.
Rape, Pillage, and Burn: Seems to be his day job, when he's not "accidentally" killing people in tourneys.
Red Baron: He's known as "The Mountain" for his immense size and unstoppable nature.
Sadist: Gregor does not specifically love battle, just wanton slaughter—he gets just as many jollies from butchering civilians, raping women and murdering children.
Screw This, I'm Outta Here: Abandons Harrenhal, but not before massacring all the North and Rivermen captive there.
Self-Made Orphan: Season 2 extras (and the books) all but state outright that he murdered his father and probably his (unnamed) sister as well.
Shirtless Scene: In "Mockingbird" when he's shown training for his Duel to the Death by massacring prisoners at the Red Keep. For his final appearance in Season 8, his armor falls apart, revealing his rotting torso under his armor.
Shoulders of Doom: Wears a pair of awesome pauldrons. Though he doesn't wear them in the second season, he puts them on again when he appears in the fourth.
A Sinister Clue: The third Mountain, Hafþór Júlíus Björnsson, is left-handed, as shown when chopping up prisoners in the yard and later in the Trial by Combat one episode later. And as usual he's a vicious Sociopathic Soldier. This changes for some reason from Season 6 onward, as the Mountain has a sword on his left hip and is later seen drawing his sword with his right hand.
The Sociopath: The most clear-cut example in the entire series (which is saying something in a story overflowing with vile and loathsome characters like Joffrey and Ramsay). While his appearances are few and far between, the few scenes in which he does appear along with the sheer magnitude of his crimes make it glaringly apparent that he lives only for wanton carnage and brutality. Likewise, he is consistently portrayed as almost entirely lacking in impulse control except at the most basic levels of Pragmatic Villainy. Furthermore, he is COMPLETELY devoid of empathy or principles given that he permanently maimed his brother for playing with one of his toys and is all but explicitly stated to have murdered his father simply to expedite his own inheritance (while being the object of Parental Favoritism no less).
Sociopathic Soldier: It's why Tywin keeps him around!
Tywin: Have you gone soft, Clegane? I always thought you had a talent for violence. Burn the villages, burn the farms!
Sore Loser: After Loras beats him in a joust, the angry Gregor kills his own horse and then proceeds to attack Loras in front of the entire royal court.
Stout Strength: Downplayed. He’s not fat by any means, but when shirtless he’s shown to have a very blocky, undefined musculature and a thick midsection.
Stupid Evil: Noted to be this In-Universe. Gregor's Ax-Crazy, but he's so Ax-Crazy that he's incapable of showing restraint or strategic thought (though Robb never gets a chance to fully exploit this). Attempting to kill the heir of a great house in a fit of rage is a good example too.
Taking You with Me: Gregor kills Oberyn before succumbing to poison shortly after.
Tested on Humans: Who needs things like practice dummies when you can train by chopping up real prisoners instead?
Tranquil Fury: After Qyburn's treatment. Just because he's not screaming bloody murder as much as before, doesn't mean his Hair-Trigger Temper has become much better.
Turned Against Their Masters: In the penultimate episode, when Qyburn orders him to continue defending Cersei instead of killing Sandor, Gregor simply smashes Qyburn's skull open against a rock.
The Quiet One: In the first season, he only said two things, "Sword!" and screaming. As of "Garden of Bones", he's had a few more lines, but is hardly what one would call verbose. In Season 4, he's had a grand total of three lines of dialogue, but all memorable. In Season 5, he is mentioned to have taken a vow of silence by Qyburn - perhaps it just means that he can't speak.
The Undead: The third variation introduced in the series.
Undeathly Pallor: His skin seems to be a pale purple, likely a result of congealed blood and/or partial decomposing. When he removes his helmet and armor in the penultimate episode, it's shown that his skin is a horrifically pale, corpse-like mess, covered in visibly necrotic sores.
Undying Loyalty: To Cersei. Or not, as he abandons her in the penultimate episode to face his brother.
Unstoppable Rage: Seems to fall into these rather often, given his temper.
Vader Breath: Very noticeably breathes heavily after Qyburn's treatment.
Viler New Villain: Of the Lannister's enforcers, he proves much more vile than Tywin Lannister. While Tywin is cold and ruthless, he's has some principles, more class, tries to avoid too much bloodshed (though partly because bloodshed wouldn't help his cause) and while it's twisted he's motivated by family. Gregor however lives for Rape, Pillage, and Burn, tries to murder his brother and isn't even loyal to his benefactor when he turns on Cersei and Qyburn so he can kill Sandor.
Villainous Breakdown: Gregor is already murderously angry and unhinged even when on his best behavior, but he really loses his cool during his fight with Oberyn.
Villainous Widow's Peak: The first and third Mountain are slightly balding at the front of their heads, with a slight notch of hair just above the forehead.
The Voiceless: He doesn't speak after he's deadly encounter with Oberyn Martell, voluntarily according to Qyburn, until the crown's enemies are defeated. More likely he simply can't speak anymore.
We Can Rebuild Him: Oberyn Martell's spear's venom almost killed him but Qyburn found a way to heal him, albeit with a process that is best left to imagination. It also made him much stronger. His Vader Breath, Frankenstein's Monster-like behavior and concealing armor make him very close to a medieval fantasy version of the trope.
World's Strongest Man: Even in comparison to the show's other hulking badasses, such as Hodor and Tormund, the Mountain is insanely strong. After Qyburn's treatment, he seems to be even stronger — but he's not exactly human anymore. Fittingly, from the fourth season onward, he's been played by the strongest man on Earth.
Would Hurt a Child: He killed the Targaryen crown children during the Lannister army's sack of Kings Landing, possibly on Tywin's direct orders. During the present-day campaign in the Riverlands, it's reported that he and his contingent slaughtered every peasant they could find, including the rape and murder of children.
You Have Failed Me: Apparently the reason he beheads his horse after losing to Ser Loras.
You Have Outlived Your Usefulness: As the war starts winding down, Tywin has no problem selling him out to Oberyn Martell.

Sandor Clegane

"Hate's as good a thing as any to keep a person going."

Played By: Rory McCann

"There's plenty worse than me. I just understand the way things are."

Called "The Hound," personal bodyguard to Prince Joffrey Baratheon. His brother shoved his face into a fire when he was a child, burning and scarring him horrifically. He's briefly a member of Joffrey's Kingsguard (despite not being a knight) before abandoning Joffrey, the Kingsguard, and the city during the Battle of Blackwater Bay. Since then, he's wandered the Riverlands and taken Arya Stark as his captive, hoping to ransom her first to Robb and Catelyn, and, after their deaths, to Lysa Arryn. He encountered Brienne of Tarth and fought her to defend Arya, and was wounded and left for dead.

Accidental Misnaming: Tormund calls him "the Dog" rather than the Hound... possibly intentionally.
Adaptational Attractiveness: His facial burns are much less extensive than they are described in the book series (but still fairly gruesome all the same). Apparently the actor couldn't see out of a truer-to-the-book prosthetic, which would naturally be rather important when filming swordfights.
Adaptational Heroism: In the novels, he goes to Sansa's room during the Battle of Blackwater with the apparent intention of raping her, holding her down with a knife at her throat. The show makes their confrontation much less frightening, making Sansa's refusal to escape with him much less understandable. In the previous season, he is implied to have killed the butcher's boy Micah by accident and shows no joy in it, whereas in the book he deliberately cut him down and laughs about it.
Adaptational Villainy: It is heavily implied that Sandor after his injury is living as a peaceful, gravedigging monk in the books, while in the show he continues much of the anger and rage that made up his past.
- Sandor in the books never robbed a peasant family while travelling through the Riverlands with Arya. He actually ends up coming to an arrangement with a small village in the Riverlands, helping them with work and protection for a few weeks in exchange for money. When they eventually have to ask him and Arya to leave, he doesn’t make a big deal about it, or attempt to hurt anyone in retaliation.
Age Lift: From 27 in the books to... late 30s? Although this range could easily be thrown off by his facial scarring and Perma-Stubble, which naturally make him look older than his character probably is. Rory McCann, at 46, is notably older than most of the actors that have played Gregor, who is stated to be five years older than him - and in the case of the most recent (Thor Bjornsson), there's a twenty-year age-gap. (Although, to be fair, the casters were likely looking more at body type than age range.) For the record, in all incarnations, Gregor appears at a glance to be in the mid-30s to 40 at most.
- Sandor claims to have killed his first man at the age of twelve. If this was during the Sack of King's Landing, then Sandor would be roughly 31 years old in Season One.
A Lighter Shade of Black: He's brutal, but unlike Gregor has some sort of morals (see more at Even Evil Has Standards). This only becomes more pronounced over time as Sandor begins to develop more of a conscience and feel more remorse for his crimes, whereas Gregor remains as monstrous as ever.
The Alcoholic: Sandor is constantly drinking wine. During the Battle of Blackwater, Sandor demands wine instead of water, and appears to be drunk when he talks to Sansa after abandoning his post.
Ain't Too Proud to Beg: After being gravely injured fighting Brienne, he asks Arya to Mercy Kill him, and when she refuses he's soon tearfully begging her to do it, then screaming after her when she walks away after robbing him.
Ambiguous Situation: At the end of Season 4, Sandor is badly wounded and believes that he's finished, but the audience doesn't learn if he actually does die. Made further ambiguous when the Blu-ray's roundtable discussion of actors who were killed off in Season 4 doesn't include Rory McCann. His survival is finally confirmed in Season 6; he was found and brought back to health by Septon Ray. The end of Season 6 has another instance, as it's left open whether he'll join the Brotherhood Without Banners, or go off on his own again. Season 7 confirmed that he has joined them.
Animal Motifs: In addition the obvious connection between his nickname, former job and sigil there is significance to him becoming a loyal (if reluctant) guardian to Sansa and Arya, as the sigil of their house is a direwolf.
Anti-Hero: Hovers between Unscrupulous Hero and a Nominal Hero at the end of Season 3 during the Red Wedding where he goes out of his way to save Arya from being slaughtered with her mother and brother (despite there obviously not being a ransom anymore) as well as trying to shield her from the nightmarish aftermath, and is even fully on board with helping her kill a squad of Frey soldiers (so long as she tells him before she tries it again), thus putting him on the "good" side of things. Further, his utter butchery of Polliver's squad in Season 4 seems to be at least partially triggered by how unrepentantly awful they are, on top of their being his brother's men. He moves more firmly into this role after Septon Ray's community is massacred. He's willing to resume his killing again, but targeting people who are far worse than him.
Anti-Hero Substitute: To Ned Stark where the Stark girls are concerned - he takes to protecting them and in the case of Arya becomes a Parental Substitute outright, teaching her about the world and giving her some lessons on how to fight. It's a bit of a case of Becoming the Mask, since during their travels he has to pretend to be her father a few times. Later he's playing the part of the Boyfriend-Blocking Dad for her when Gendry comes into the picture.
Anti-Villain: While a brutal warrior, Sandor demonstrates both compassion (primarily towards Sansa) and honour. In Season 3, this is further emphasised by his defection from the Lannisters and his willingness to bring Arya back to her family for a ransom reward despite their mutual hatred.
Appropriated Appellation: Sandor is nicknamed "the Hound" and is often likened to a mad dog. Sandor accepts this, and his helm is shaped like the head of a snarling dog. The sigil of House Clegane is three dogs on a yellow field, as his grandfather and his hunting dogs saved off his lord, and was knighted for it.
Ascended Extra: In the books and the early seasons, Sandor is seen from the perspectives of Ned, Sansa, Arya, and Tyrion. He has his own story starting from Season 6.
At Least I Admit It: What sets Sandor apart from Gregor and some other villains in the series is that although he does horrible things, he at least admits it and doesn't make a point of trying to disguise or hide what he did.
The Atoner: Slowly, but steadily, Sandor is beginning to show remorse for many of his past crimes. This is most evident when he returns to the cottage where he robbed the devout man and left him and his daughter to die. While he does his best to hide it, Thoros sees right through his facade when he's burying them.
Aw, Look! They Really Do Love Each Other: Platonic version but Sandor has demonstrated that ever since Season 3, whether he admit or not, he came to love Arya as his surrogate daughter. Throughout the seasons, Sandor has gone out of his way to keep Arya safe, not just physically but mentally as well. This is demonstrated in the penultimate episode, where Sandor sends Arya away from the Red Keep, actually convinces her to drop her revenge against Cersei and warns her to not let revenge dictate one's life, lest one end up hateful and alone like he did. Getting through to her, Arya calls Sandor by his true name for the first and last time, grateful for their companionship and thanking him for what he did. This gets a smile out of him before they part ways forever.
Badass Boast:
- Threatens Polliver who did torturing for the Mountain.
  Polliver: You lived your life for the King. You gonna die for some chickens?
  Sandor: Someone is.
- From "A Man Without Honor"
  Sandor: A dog doesn't need courage to chase off rats.
- From the Season 7 finale
  Sandor: You know who's coming for you. You have always known.
Badass and Child Duo: With Arya, though the relationship is tenuous at best. Sandor's feat's of badassery are as follows:
- He fights his Ax-Crazy brother to a standstill and obeys King Robert's order to stop within seconds whilst making Gregor look stupid.
- He guts through Sansa's would-be rapists during a riot.
- He cuts down at least a dozen of Stannis' men during Blackwater.
- He kills a squad of Frey men in the S3 finale.
- He cuts through Polliver and his men in S4.
- He puts up a much better fight against Brienne of Tarth than Jaime Lannister in the S4 finale, though Brienne winds handily.
- He fights against the White Walker's undead army in S7 and S8 and survives.
- He finally kills Ser Gregor during Danaery's Fantastic Nuke of Kingslanding.
Bad Guys Do the Dirty Work: The Hound's massive, Ax-Crazy brother Ser Gregor attacks Ser Loras after losing a joust to him. Sandor jumps in and blocks the blow because he hates his brother, not because he cares about Ser Loras. He is impressed with Loras for taking his asshole brother down a peg, and is unwilling to allow the young knight to be murdered for it.
Sandor: And this is all your idea? Seems every bad idea has some Lannister cunt behind it.
Tyrion: And some Clegane cunt to help them see it through.
Battle Cry: One that also happens to be a particularly vulgar threat directed at his own men.
Sandor: Any man dies with a clean sword, I'll rape his fucking corpse!
Because You Were Nice to Me: He turns up in Season 6, having been saved and brought back to health by Septon Ray and his people. Though Clegane is gruff and grouchy as ever, it's clear that he cares about them. He is truly horrified later when he finds them butchered by Lem Lemoncloak and the other rogue Brotherhood men. When Sandor retrieves his axe, it's clear that Lem and his buddies done fucked up.
Beneath the Mask: Despite claiming otherwise, he really doesn't like most of the things he's been forced to do, and acts like a brutal thug and hurls insults around as a coping mechanism. By Season 4, it's ultimately shown that's he's just a scared, traumatized little boy in a rough man's body.
- For most of season one and two, while harsh, Sandor does a pretty good job of hiding his vulgarity. That is, until he sees the wildfire destroy Stannis' fleet. From this point on in the series, he's Sir Swears-a-Lot, as he doesn't have to act polite anymore.
Beneath Notice: A subtle example. Sandor makes himself appear like any other Lannister brute, but also shows clear disgust for his masters' actions when they're not looking. In particular, he absolutely hated Joffrey, which Joffrey never seemed to notice until Sandor literally spelled it out to him.
Sandor: Fuck the King!
Berserk Button: He's not a knight, so don't call him "ser". Really, don't.
- Naive optimism really pisses him off sometimes. One of his angriest moments in the series is when Brienne offers to take Arya to safety.
  Brienne: Come with me Arya, I will take you to safety.
  Sandor: Safety?! Where the fuck's that?! Her aunt in the Eyrie is dead! Her mother is dead, her father is dead, her brother is dead. Winterfell is a pile of rubble! There is no safety you dumb bitch. If you don't know that by now, you're the wrong one to watch over her.
BFS: Carries one of these, though only uses it in specific circumstance, such as open battle, or against his brother, who uses an even bigger one. He has a short sword for quick draw.
Big Damn Heroes:
- Saves Sansa single-handedly from an attempted gang rape in "The Old Gods and the New". Heroic music and all.
- When Gregor's response to losing a joust against Ser Loras Tyrell is to behead his own horse and attack the unarmed Loras with a live blade, Sandor runs in without prompting and fights off Gregor.
- Halfway through the Long Night, Sandor has another panic attack and gives up fighting. Then, he sees Arya in danger, and immediately snaps out of it. When Arya is pinned down by the wights, Sandor and Beric show up to save her just in time. Sandor himself picks up Arya and carries her to safety.
Big Eater: In the latter part of Season 3 and the beginning of Season 4, Sandor has formed a habit of immediately tucking in to the food of the poor schmucks who get in his way and end up very, very dead or very, very unconscious, which makes sense given he has spent much of his life guarding (and getting paid and fed by) the richest family in Westeros and now he is living rough. Justified, as maintaining the strength in such a large body requires a high energy intake, and he can't fight as well on an empty stomach (which he admits to Arya).
The Big Guy: To Arya while accompanying her. He definitely serves this role while riding with the Brotherhood Without Banners.
Black Knight: In both appearance and effect. His armor is uniformly ominous black, and like the black knights of historical Europe, he no longer serves a master. Granted, he was never officially a knight, but still. Particularly noticeable after Arya gets a White Stallion, while Sandor rides his dark courser.
Blood Knight: Insists that "killing's the sweetest thing there is". And he further goes on to say that everyone who has ever done it loves it on some level. May be partially subverted, despite his above quote. Most of his fighting he's done has been a means to an end, and he certainly doesn't glorify the act of killing.
Brutal Honesty: Some of the things he says to Sansa about her situation are very blunt, but they're not wrong either, and are even good advice in the sense that he was urging her not to have any naïve illusions. For example, when he says he's a good killer and she's upset, he accurately points out that both her father and brother Robb are soldiers and both killed men too, whatever reasons they had for it.
The Brute: To Joffrey. However, his Screw This, I'm Outta Here at the Battle of Blackwater has put an end to this.
Bunny-Ears Lawyer: A rather dark example. Sandor is a member of the Kingsguard despite refusing to become a knight (he's the first non Knight to ever join) and wear the Kingsguard uniform, he is also blunt and rather crude unlike most other members. However he is such a fierce fighter that people are willing to overlook this and he is one of the most important Kingsguard members.
The Bus Came Back: After being presumed dead for all of Season 5 and most of Season 6, he makes a triumphant return in "The Broken Man".
Cain and Abel: He's the Abel to Gregor's Cain. Gregor burning his face seems to be only the tip of the iceberg between them, and he's more than willing to "defend" Ser Loras. DVD extras reveal that this relationship is actually the basis for why he worked for the Lannisters more directly; he was unwilling to live under the Clegane roof once Gregor became head of the house. He eventually kills both Gregor and himself in the penultimate episode of the series.
Carry a Big Stick: His first scene in Season 2 has him wielding a mace in a tourney melee.
The Champion: Is supposed to serve as one to Joffrey. He actually is one towards Sansa. He offers to protect her from the brunt of Joffrey's malice, but admits he might not succeed. By the end of Season 3, he can be considered a champion for Arya Stark.
Cluster F-Bomb: Cluster C-Bomb. One of the most foul-mouthed characters in the series. "Cunt" seems to be his favorite word.
Combat Pragmatist: Watch him when he fights Polliver's men. He spends almost as much time punching his enemies in the face as he does tearing them apart with his sword — to say nothing of the man whose crotch he rips out. It speaks volumes of how little he thinks of honorable knightly standards.
Sandor: Your friend is dead and Meryn Trant's not, because Trant had armor and a big fucking sword.
Composite Character
- He, rather than Vargo Hoat (or his show counterpart Locke), gets his ear bitten off by Brienne. Though this is after he escaped losing an ear in the fight with Polliver's men as in the books, so it evens out.
- Like Victarion Greyjoy, Sandor is a big brute of a man being told by a follower of the Lord of Light (Beric instead of Moqorro) that he has some great destiny ahead of him.
- He gets his Sir Swears-a-Lot personality from Shitmouth, who like Sandor, is gruff and vulgar while also having Pet the Dog moments.
Country Matters: A big fan of this.
Crippling Overspecialization: He's a powerful fighter when fighting single opponents or small groups, which makes sense considering that he was literally bred to be the Lannisters' guard. However, he does poorly in open battles. In every battle he was in he started out strong, but eventually got sensory overload and shut down.
The Cynic: Shows his rather justified apathy and world-weariness in almost every conversation.
Dangerous Deserter: How the Lannisters regard him, especially after news of his slaughter of Polliver and his goons reaches the Small Council, after which Lord Tywin puts a sufficiently large bounty on him to tempt any idiot to take a shot at the Hound.
Deadpan Snarker:
- He's quite blunt and not at all subtle about it, but Sandor gets a bit of snark in every now and again.
  Sandor: Of course you named your sword.
  Arya: Lots of people name their swords.
  Sandor: Lots of cunts.
- Following his return in Season 6, The Hound somehow got even snarkier. Particularly while chasing down the murderers of Septon Ray.
  Rogue: Fuck you!
  Sandor: Those are your last words? "Fuck you"? Come on, you can do better.
  Rogue: ...Cunt!
  Sandor: You're shit at dying, you know that?
- Later...
  Sandor: There was a time I would have killed all seven of you just to gut these three.
  Thoros: (Amused) You're getting old, Clegane.
  Sandor: He's not. (Kicks out stool, hanging Septon Ray's murderer.)
Declaration of Protection:
- With Sansa. He genuinely despises the abuse she goes through, saves her from an Attempted Rape and clearly states he's going to protect her from Joffrey when they'll eventually marry.
  Sandor: You'll be glad of the hateful things I do, one day, when you are Queen and I will be all that stands between you and your beloved King.
- He makes another, more subtle declaration about Arya during a confrontation with Brienne.
  Sandor: There’s no safety, you dumb bitch. If you don’t know that by now, you’re the wrong one to watch over her.
  Brienne: And that's what you're doing? Watching over her?
  Sandor: Aye, that's what I'm doing.
Defector from Decadence: He has enough of the Lannisters and leaves them in "Blackwater".
Despair Event Horizon: Sandor is in this state for most of the series, ever since his brother was knighted despite burning Sandor's face and murdering their sister. This made Sandor lose any shred of idealism, and develop the Hound as a persona (similar to Tyrion). He keeps his trauma and sadness hidden under layers of cynicism, snark, and brutality. Whenever the mask of stoicism falls, what we see is a scared, broken man who has lost all hope.
Diagonal Cut: Cuts two people in half during the battle of Blackwater, one like this, one clean across the belly.
Don't Call Me "Sir": People often mistake him for a knight and call him "Ser". He doesn't like this, since he hates knights, particularly because his brother is a vicious murderer but gets away with it because he's "an annointed knight".
The Dreaded: Not quite as much as his brother, but he's more than capable of making an entire room full of happy go lucky Lannister soldiers go silent as the grave when he enters.
Dual Wielding: Subverted. Although he typically carries two swords: a BFS slung over his back and a normal sword at his hip, he never uses them simultaneously. The normal sword is seen more in combat, while the BFS is reserved for whenever he fights his brother Gregor.
Dying Moment of Awesome: Facing down his evil, zombified brother Gregor in a brutal, prolonged Duel to the Death amongst the ruins of the collapsing Red Keep, before tackling him so the Cleganes will plunge to their deaths together in a Mutual Kill.
Ear Ache: Has his ear bitten off by Brienne, when they fight over Arya in "The Children".
Enemy Eats Your Lunch:
- In "Blackwater", Bronn and some gold cloaks and Lannister soldiers are drinking, singing, and whoring in a tavern, expecting Stannis' siege. Then Sandor Clegane enters with a guy, and he motions to two guys to get out from their table. They don't even say a single word and go. One of them tries to take his mug of ale with him, but the Hound calmy takes it from his hands, sits, and starts drinking. Pure alpha dog.
- Pulls this intimidation technique on Polliver shortly before slaughtering him and three or four of his men, complete with Badass Boast.
  Polliver: You don't seem to understand the situation.
  Sandor: I understand that if any more words come pouring out your cunt mouth, I'm going to have to eat every fucking chicken in this room.
Establishing Character Moment: While he's in the first episode, he doesn't actually do anything until the end of the second, where he murders Mycah and shows absolutely no remorse. His lack of action in the first episode can be one as well; when Tyrion slaps his royal nephew for being an obnoxious brat, he just stands there and watches with no intervention despite supposedly being Joffrey's bodyguard.
Even Evil Has Standards:
- Despite his taste for violence and death, he defends Ser Loras from his brother Gregor when the latter goes batshit and immediately goes on one knee after being told to by the King while dodging his brother's sword in the process, and goes against Joffrey's orders to protect Sansa. At one point, he actually abandons Joffrey's side to find and rescue Sansa in the middle of a massive riot.
- Even though he's not going to get a ransom payment for Arya — what with her mother and brother being killed — Sandor doesn't leave her behind in the chaos of the Red Wedding. When he sees what the Freys have done to Robb's corpse, he is horrified, and quickly leaves so Arya doesn't have to witness any more of it, and when she later kills a Frey soldier in front of the rest of his unit, he gladly slaughters them, only slightly irritated that Arya didn't tell him first.
- In the first episode of Season 4, Arya asks why Sandor didn't steal anything of Joffrey's when he fled King's Landing. His response? 'A man's got to have a code.' He backpedals on this two episodes later, stealing a farmer's money after he and his daughter had given them food and shelter and offered work. It says something about how deeply buried his decency is that the most heroic thing he does during the scene is to leave them alive after he robs them. Arya points out that he said he's not a thief, and the Hound simply tells her "I wasn't."
  - He also justifies his theft by claiming the farmer was too soft and wouldn't survive anyway. Sadly he was correct with that dark observation. It is very notable that when he later finds the corpses of the farmer and his daughter, he feels profound guilt for what he did to the point of personally burying their skeletons despite the freezing weather at the time.
- He also has a subtle but very clear dislike towards seeing the women he cares even slightly about abused or hurt, with him going out of his way to protect Sansa in King's Landing from rioters (and promising to do the same from Joffrey) and in Season 4, his butchering of a squad of his brother's men was partially triggered by Polliver offering to trade food in return for being able to rape Arya.
- He's not a fan of casual sadism. His kills, whilst brutal, are always quick - with the exception of the Brotherhood outlaws and Lem Lemoncloak, who thoroughly deserved it. Furthermore, he's visibly disgusted by Joffrey's sadism, rarely lifting a finger to help the king and abandoning him when the opportunity presents itself.
- He is visibly distraught by the sight of the dead villagers and Brother Ray hanging at the end of 6x07, though by this point he's more of an Anti-Hero.
Eye Scream: This nearly happens to him during his fight with Gregor, aka The Mountain. While he manages to prevent fully losing his eyes, they are bloodied from the strain of fighting off Gregor and Sandor uses the last of his strength and remainder of his vision to shove both himself and his brother to their deaths.
Fat and Skinny: The Skinny to Gregor's Fat. Downplayed in that both men are muscular giants, but Sandor has a leaner, more traditional build while Gregor is slightly larger and much bulkier.
Fatal Flaw:
- His fear of fire always gets the best of him, it causes him to abandon the Battle of Blackwater and it renders him usless against the bear wight during the venture North of the wall.
- His fatalistic worldview has screwed him over many times and caused him to pick a fight with Brienne due to thinking she was allied with the Lannisters — to be fair, Jaime Lannister did give her that sword after all. That particular encounter incapacitated him for the better part of two years. In the Battle against the Undead, Sandor is hit with a bad Heroic BSoD and despairs on how pointless the fight is, since they are fighting death itself...up until he sees Arya being chased by Wights, that is.
Face Your Fears: Despite being terrified of fire, he still manages to win when Beric Dondarrion fights him with a Flaming Sword.
Freudian Excuse:
- Littlefinger tells Sansa that the Hound's scars come from his brother pushing his face into a fire when he was eight-years-old because he played with one of Gregor's toys, implying it's a reason for his roughness. Sandor openly suggests that the incident marked him psychologically even more than physically when he relates the story to Arya.
  Sandor: My brother gave me this. Pressed me to the fire like I was a nice juicy mutton chop. Thought I stole one of his toys. I didn't steal it. I was just playing with it. The pain was bad. The smell was worse. But the worst thing was that it was my brother who did it. My father, who protected him, told everyone my bedding caught fire. You think you're on your own?
- His attitude towards Sansa (and to a lesser extent, Arya) could be partially because they remind him of his younger sister whom was murdered by Gregor years ago.
Genius Bruiser: Not only is he one of the greatest fighters in the show, he also knows how to survive in a horrible place like Westeros. Almost everything he says, even if it's mean, is correct.
Good Scars, Evil Scars: His horribly disfigured face can be... off-putting to say the least.
Sandor: (to Sansa) Look at me! Stannis is a killer. The Lannisters are killers. Your father was a killer. Your brother is a killer. Your sons will be killers some day. The world is built by killers, so you better get used to looking at them.
Hates Being Touched: He'll usually bark at people to stop touching him or to go away if they get too close to him. There is an exception to this rule, and that's Sansa Stark.
Heel–Face Door-Slam: In the fourth season finale, he does truly act to selflessly protect Arya, taking on a strong foe believing she's tied to the Lannisters. This gets him badly wounded and abandoned by Arya. Subverted later when he survives and they forgive one another when they meet again, showing no hard feelings.
Heel–Face Turn: Deserts Joffrey and the Lannisters in "Blackwater".
Heroic Second Wind: During his Heroic BSoD in "The Long Night", Sandor seems all but ready to give up...until Beric points out that Arya's still fighting. When Sandor sees the Stark girl fleeing for her life from Wights, he immediately gets up and runs after them.
He's Back!: When Sandor returns in "The Broken Man", he seems to have renounced violence and is living his life as a peaceful and humble villager. But then the Brotherhood Without Banners slaughters his friends, and the Hound returns with a vengeance.
Hidden Depths: He tries to come off as a dumb brute like his brother, but Sandor has a lot of qualities that show he is fairly intelligent and philosophical. He is essentially an expert on how to survive a place like Westeros, almost showing a similar level of savvy to Tyrion. He also has an understated but clear respect for the smallfolk, even when he mistreats them at times, especially when he helps euthanize a dying merchant.
Hyper-Awareness: Often demonstrates shades of this, presumably honed by having been around Lannisters for so long. He notices the riot in King's Landing before it even breaks out and in "The Rains of Castamere", as soon as the guard began to act suspicious, immediately figured out exactly what's about to go down at the wedding. He's also able to spot a Valryian steel sword and quickly piece together that Brienne of Tarth has been equipped by a Lannister, having spent so much time around their men.
I Need a Freaking Drink: His reaction to seeing a man burn to death in front of him during the Battle of the Blackwater.
Sandor: Fuck the water. Bring me wine.
Insistent Terminology.
Sandor: I am no Ser.
Intergenerational Friendship: With Arya, eventually, after much hate and heartbreak between them.
Irony: Sandor, a man with an intense fear of fire after his brother burnt his face many years ago, ends up joining with the Brotherhood Without Banners, who worship the Lord of Light whose will they believe can be seen within fire. He's well aware of the irony in this one.
Jerkass: Unrepentantly so, at least at the start of the series. Later appearances reveal that he is more of a Tragic Villain who is not without standards.
Jerk with a Heart of Gold: His transition from a Noble Demon to a straight up Unscrupulous Hero showcases this and he vows to avenge the death of Septon Ray's crew. This is shown again during his warmer interactions with Sansa in Season 8.
Jerkass Has a Point: His Kick the Dog moments with Arya, while unpleasant, serve to teach her how to survive in a Crapsack World like Westeros, especially given how her family was decimated by those not willing to play by the rules.
Just Following Orders: How he justifies his crimes when he's put on trial by the Brotherhood, including killing Mycah, as he had to obey Joffrey's commands.
Kick the Dog:
- His murder of Mycah the Butcher's Boy.
  Sandor: He ran... but not very fast.
- Applies to the Stark guardsmen that he butchers in the throne room once Slynt has betrayed Ned. Also a case of Punch-Clock Villain.
- After winning his Trial By Combat and being acquitted of Mycah's murder he needlessly mocks Arya, who has to be restrained from killing him.
  Sandor: Looks like the Gods like me more than your Butcher's Boy.
- Taken in by a man and his young daughter and trusted under Sacred Hospitality, he beats up the man and steals what few valuables he has. Arya gives him a brief but impassioned "The Reason You Suck" Speech for it.
Knight in Sour Armor: More than hinted that despite his Blood Knight exterior he's this underneath. It becomes more evident in season 6 and beyond. Sandor is as bad-tempered and cynical as ever, but he keeps fighting for a cause that's bigger than him because he understands precisely what is at stake.
Lady and Knight: The closest thing you get in the Game of Thrones setting, with Sansa as the Lady.
Last of His Kind: Sandor Clegane is the last recruit of the Brotherhood Without Banners and he becomes the last of the Brotherhood after the Long Night, dying in battle facing Gregor Clegane, the man the Brotherhood was dispatched by Ned Stark to hunt down in Season 1.
Lightning Bruiser: Sandor is a big guy, but he moves quickly. This is how he's become such a feared swordsman, and how he stands toe-to-toe with Gregor at the Tourney of the Hand.
Lima Syndrome: Ends up identifying with Sansa (a hostage in King's Landing) and Arya who is kidnapped by the Hound for ransom. It looks like Arya is starting to bond with him in return, but that turns out not to be the case — though she does start to sympathise with him, her hatred for him due to Mycah's death and her contempt for his more petty actions (such as robbing the poor farmer) mean that she is not quite able to truly make peace with him. Ultimately, she grants him Cruel Mercy because he wants to be given a Mercy Kill, and Arya doesn't want him going out on his own terms given all the things he'd done up until then.
Made of Iron: He can take a lot of punishment as shown in his fight with Brienne and Gregor. When Biter jump and bites him Sandor takes it almost like a mosquito bite and snap his neck.
Manly Man: Grizzled, scarred, bearded, foul-mouthed, chauvinistic and above all badass.
Meta Casting: Rory McCann is known for his solitary and transient lifestyle, almost like Sandor... or at least, Sandor after deserting the Lannisters.
Morality Pet: Sansa and Arya are this to him. Sandor and Tyrion are the only people in King's Landing who make an effort to be kind and protective towards Sansa, and he offers to spirit Sansa away from the capitol when it looks like Stannis will be victorious. He also watches over Arya when he no longer has any reason to, and flat out tells Brienne that he is Arya's protector.
Multi-Melee Master: Initially, he's fond of carrying around a longsword, greatsword and dagger. The first scene of Season 2 has him using a mace in a tourney duel. In season 6, he uses a woodcutter's axe to kill the guys who destroyed the village he'd settled into after his fight with Brienne. Against the undead, he makes use of Gendry's warhammer as well as a pair of Dragonglass hatchets. At the beginning of Season 8 he has a Dragonglass battle axe forged by Gendry.
My God, What Have I Done?: He has this reaction when returning to the farm from Season 4 only to find that the old peasant and his daughter killed themselves so they wouldn't starve to death. He is immediately broken with guilt for having stolen from them and proceeds to bury their remains.
Named Weapons: Not a fan. Possibly exacerbated by Joffrey giving his swords delightful names like 'Hearteater' and then never actually using them.
Sandor: Needle? Of course you named your sword.
Arya: Lots of people name their swords.
Sandor: Lots of cunts.
Neck Lift: In "The Old Gods And The New", he does this to one of the men trying to rape Sansa. Then he disembowels the man with his dagger.
Noble Demon:
- The Hound does not lie. When the Brotherhood tries to blame Gregor's crimes on him, he rebukes the accusation, but when they bring his actual crimes he admits to them without hesitation.
- When Arya snaps and kills a Frey soldier out of revenge (and food and fire). Sandor pulls her aside afterwards and tells her if she ever does that again... at least warn him first.
Nominal Hero: In Seasons 3 and 4. Having abandoned his position as a Kingsguard for the tyrannical Lannister regime, the Hound works to return Arya Stark to her family, which is a heroic goal, though his primary motivation is the ransom he expects to be paid for her. He's still not by any means a good person, as he robs innocent peasants on two separate occasions, on the first barely being convinced not to murder his unconscious victim by Arya, and on the second leaving a kindly farmer and his young daughter to starve after the man had invited him into his home, given him a free meal and offered him a job. However, he despises (and helps Arya kill) monsters like the Frey soldiers who murdered her family at the Red Wedding and Psycho for Hire Polliver, and by the end of Season 4 he has come to care for Arya enough that he is now looking after her with no hope of a reward. After a near-death experience, he returns in Season 6 as a much more heroic character, albeit still not a particularly nice one, fighting to save the world from the White Walker invasion for purely noble reasons.
Not Quite Dead: He managed to hang on after his duel with Brienne, and survived to return in Season 6.
Only Sane Man: Tries and fails to deal with Arya's psychotic bouts. This really says more about her than him.
Opt Out: In "Second Sons", when Arya thinks he's taking her back to King's Landing, he makes it clear he's no longer allied with the Lannisters:
Sandor: Fuck Joffrey! Fuck the Queen!
Papa Wolf: At first he views Arya as nothing more than an annoying brat to ransom, but he subconsciously grows very protective of her over time:
- He decides to attack Polliver after Polliver reveals his intent to rape Arya.
- He fights Brienne (and almost gets killed as a result) because he doesn't think she'll be capable of protecting Arya from the Lannisters.
- He overcomes his fear of fire to save Arya from the wights.
- A small example, but he gives Gendry a subtle (and hilarious) Death Glare when he asks where Arya is. While he approves of their relationship and encourages Gendry to go for it, he still comes off as a bit of an Boyfriend-Blocking Dad in this scene.
- He sends Arya away when the Red Keep starts to collapse, because he doesn't want her to throw away her life for revenge like he's doing. Arya thanks him for this, fully forgiving the Hound and putting any animosity between them to rest. Sandor smiles at this, then they part ways forever, never seeing each other again...
Parental Substitute: To Arya. Whether she cares to admit it or not, Arya grows to see him as a father figure since during their time traveling together, she learns from him how to become ruthless and savvy enough for the environment they live in for survival purposes, as well as learning to empathize with Sandor's tragic background, thus leading Arya to remove him from her "list of names". This works in reverse as well, since Arya becomes someone worthwhile for Sandor to protect and watch over, having grown disillusioned with the Knight life and the lack of decent people in the world. This makes it especially hard when she is forced to leave Sandor behind at his request in the penultimate episode of the series. Fighting back tears, she thanks Sandor for all that he's done for her.
Percussive Therapy: This is at least part of the reason why he does so much work with Ray and the villagers, as he's clearly blowing off steam. It seems to do him some good, as he is much more calm and even-tempered when we see him in Season 6. It was probably the closest thing he had to therapy his entire life.
Pet the Dog:
- It becomes exceedingly clear that he cares a lot about Sansa; despite being gruff to her, he treats her kindly, and even asks her to flee the city with him in "Blackwater". And then he offers to take Arya to the Freys to meet up with her mother and brother despite the fact that he knows Arya would rather kill him. Then he saves her at the Red Wedding, despite having no reason to do so.
- After discovering the corpses of the farmer and girl he robbed in Season 4, he is saddened by their fate and gives them a proper burial. Unable to recall the Faith of the Seven funeral rites, he simply declares that they both "deserved better" than what they received.
- Despite incessantly snarking at Beric and Thoros over the course of his association with the Brotherhood, Sandor does his best to comfort Beric when Thoros succumbs to hypothermia during the wight-hunting expedition.
- When he meets Brienne of Tarth again at the Dragon Pit for the first time in years he, almost congratulatory, tells her she'd come the closest anyone's ever come to actually killing him. And when Brienne tells him that Arya is alive, back home at Winterfell, and a more deadly fighter than either of them put together, he positively beams with pride.
- In the penultimate episode, he tells Arya that she needs to give up on hatred, lest she end up like him, and talks her out of the suicide mission they're on.
The Power of Hate: Septon Ray remarks that Sandor's wounds should have killed him several times over, and asks what kept Sandor alive. Sandor replies "hate." He realizes the toxicity of fully living this way and manages to talk some sense into Arya during the penultimate episodes, not wanting her to throw away her life and her state of mind for the sake of pointless revenge.
Pre-Mortem One-Liner: When he finds some of the men who murdered Septon Ray, he splits the last one's nutsack with an axe, then begins interrogating him. The man screams, "Fuck you!" Sandor replies, "Really? 'Fuck you?' That's your last words?" The man then stutters, "Cunt!" Sandor replies, "You're shit at dying, you know that?" before hacking the man's skull in two.
Progressively Prettier: The makeup job becomes much less pronounced with each advancing season after 2, which coincides with his becoming a (marginally) more sympathetic character.
Properly Paranoid: Being around Lannisters all the time, tends to have this effect.
Prophetic Names: Who’s pack does “The Hound” run with once he turns ‘feral?’ The ‘wolves’.
Punch-Clock Villain: Looks like one. While he blatantly admits that he loves killing, he's also completely obedient to whoever he's serving and has a soft spot for Sansa, showing her small kindnesses wherever he can. He also stood up to his brother's attempt to kill Loras. He's also rather decent to Arya, who tried to kill him on at least two occasions.
Put on a Bus: He missed out on the entirety of Season 5 and the first half of 6.
Rage Helm: His helmet looks like a snarling dog.
Ramming Always Works: He kills himself and Gregor by spearing the latter through a wall and falling into a dragonfire.
Red Baron: Nicknamed "The Hound" for his gruff but loyal character and the snarling dog helmet he uses.
Reformed, but Not Tamed: He's a better person after his near-death experience, but it hasn't softened him up very much. He even considers Beric and company "a bunch of Nancys" because they won't let him execute the outlaws who massacred his village with his axe. He didn't deride them as weak because they wouldn't let him execute them — they were going to execute them — he jeered at them for not letting him torture them a bit first.
Retired Badass: He looks to be at peace with Septon Ray and his followers, and seriously considers just giving up his hate and living a normal life. The Brotherhood Without Banners derails that, though.
The Rival: He and Bronn have a lot in common, as he points out. He'd also rather like to rip Bronn's head off for no other reason than Bronn working for Tyrion and being a bit grating on the nerves.
Roaring Rampage of Revenge: He finds himself forced to help Arya carry out her own on Frey soldiers after the Red Wedding. In Season 6, after the massacre of the smallfolk building the sept and Brother Ray's hanging, Sandor resolves to go on one of these against renegades of the Brotherhood Without Banners.
Robbing the Dead: He is quite pragmatic about death and is seen several times taking food from people he has killed or who happen to be dead. Most often it's food, or once he took boots from a guy he executed by hanging.
Scarily Competent Tracker: They call him "The Hound" for a reason. He's an expert at locating and tracking people. He's even able to find and rescue Sansa in the middle of a riot in King's Landing.
Screw This, I'm Outta Here:
- At the Battle of Blackwater.
  Sandor: Fuck the Kingsguard. Fuck the city. Fuck the King.
- DVD extras for Season 2 show that this was actually the reason he served the Lannisters more directly in the first place; the day his father died and Gregor took over their family keep, he got the hell out of there and rode to Casterly Rock.
Self-Proclaimed Knight: He is an inversion of this trope. He's totally eligible to be a knight, but isn't because he doesn't want to. He views the entire institution of Knighthood to be deeply hypocritical because they claim to have lofty ideals yet monsters like his brother are knighted without issue.
Shell-Shocked Veteran: Even if he wasn't this before, the Battle of the Blackwater (specifically the Blackwater being on fire) really screwed him up.
Sherlock Scan: Downplayed, but several scenes show that Sandor is very observant and has good judgement of people's intentions and character. He picks up on the Red Wedding before it even starts just based on how the Frey guards were acting, and notices that Brienne is wielding a golden-hilted sword (which only someone working for the Lannisters could afford). Another good example is him summing up the level of danger when he and Arya come across Polliver.
Arya: I'm hungry. You're hungry.
Sandor: Five horses, five men. More than I can take on an empty stomach.
Sir Swears-a-Lot: Few characters on the show swear more than he does. "Fuck the King" or some variation thereof is practically his Catchphrase.
Sitcom Archnemesis: To Tyrion. But considering the nastiness of the Lannister faction as a whole, it also resembles an Odd Friendship, especially in regards to protecting Sansa and being annoyed at Joffrey. And as of Season 3, he's shaping up to be this to Arya.
The Snark Knight: Has a fatalistic view of the world, expressed through either complaints or snarky zings.
So Proud of You:
- While Arya isn't around to see it, he genuinely beams when Brienne tells him that she doesn't think the Stark girl needs protecting anymore. While their reunion at Winterfell in Season 8 bristles with tension, it becomes clear quickly that it's mostly preformative on both their parts and each of them are quietly impressed at how far they've both come.
- This his also reaction when Sansa tells him that she had her abusive rapist of an ex-husband fed to his own hounds, even laughing about it before telling his Little Bird that she's grown up.
Sour Outside, Sad Inside: His unpleasant personality is rooted from the traumatic incident in his youth that literally burned all the idealism out of him, as well as the lingering guilt for some of the things he has done in life. Tormund outright says he has "sad eyes."
The Stoic: The most emotion you get out of Sandor comes from brief flickers of expression on his face.
Strong and Skilled: Unlike his Unskilled, but Strong brother, he may not be as elegant as Jaime or Ser Barristan but Sandor uses as much technique in his fighting as he uses his above average strength.
Sword and Fist: Sandor's combat style is brutal and underhanded. He's almost as likely to swing with a fist as he is with his sword. This is best shown in his fights against Polliver and his men and Brienne.
Taking You with Me: He dies tossing himself and Gregor from the ruins of the Red Keep into the dragonfire burning King's Landing.
That Man Is Dead: While Sandor Clegane may have survived the fight and the fall at the end of Season 4, Brienne killed "the Hound". Until the Brotherhood unintentionally resurrected it.
Think Nothing of It: He refuses to be thanked or complimented for saving Sansa.
Took a Level in Kindness: When returning in Season 6, he's still pretty cynical but is less of a Jerkass and tries to leave his past behind him to lead a normal life. Even when he returns to being "the Hound" while he's partly motivated by revenge he's also at least partly motivated to avenge the innocents he was living among, pushing him more in an Anti-Hero direction than before.
Trademark Favorite Food: Sandor has a memetic love of chicken.
Tragic Villain: As he tells Arya, Sandor has no one who loves him, with his only living family being his Ax-Crazy psychopath of a brother who burned half of Sandor's face off when they were children, and whom Sandor despises. The Hound is by no standard a nice person, but he's led a horrible life.
Tranquil Fury: A particularly brutal example. Sandor rarely shows any emotion while slaughtering people. When he rescues Sansa from would-be rapists he does so with a grim, emotionless expression while ruthlessly gutting the rioters.
Two-Faced: One half of his face was horribly burned by Gregor.
Troll: Deliberately goads Polliver into attacking him after Polliver boasts about being able to rape and murder with impunity under his brother's command. (And for offering him food in exchange for raping Arya.)
- Taunts Arya with Syrio Forel's death, mocking her that her 'real killer' was supposedly killed by Meryn Trant and getting amused by her angry retorts.
Undying Loyalty: "The Long Night" makes it clear, despite hitting the Despair Event Horizon, the man will fight through fire and the undead for Arya Stark.
Unscrupulous Hero: Even at his least villainous, Sandor has no qualms with ruthless actions that benefit himself.
Violent Glaswegian: Shades of this. He claims to greatly enjoy violence and killing — the guilt-free killing of fighting other soldiers who are trying to kill you first. He will only fight someone once given an excuse, though once given an excuse he will happily rip your guts out. Still, instead of a hair-trigger temper, he's much more Tranquil Fury. Of course, Rory McCann is authentically Glaswegian himself, and while he massively tones down his native accent (which one might call explosively Scottish) to play Sandor, it's still quite audible.
Vitriolic Best Buds: With Thoros. They've clearly known each other a long time (both living in King's Landing and being part of Robert Baratheon's court) and understand each other's quirks, to the extent that when Sandor tries to insult or berate Thoros, he barely reacts. Sandor is clearly upset when Thoros dies, even going so far as to try and comfort Beric, with whom he has an even more hostile relationship with up to that point.
Walking Spoiler:Brienne didn't kill him, and he returns in Season 6.
Why Did It Have to Be Snakes?: Due to how he got his own burns, he is uncharacteristically unnerved by the sight of wildfire during "Blackwater". Visibly shaken he then threatens the man leading the fire arrow volleys that he'll strangle him with his own entrails should any land near him. The final straw however is when he sees a man burning alive charging toward him. It causes him to freeze up, quit from the battlefield and demand a strong drink. Probably also the reason why, when its demanded to return to the defense, he tells the Kingsguard and Joffrey to go fuck themselves.
- He does deal with it considerably better in Season 3 when Beric Dondarrion attacks him with a flaming sword — he even wins the duel!
- He eventually joins the Brotherhood Without Banners, and remarks: "It's my fucking luck that I end up with a band of fire worshippers."
- During the venture beyond the Wall, Sandor is too terrified to even defend himself from an undead polar bear because the bear is swathed in flames, having been hit by Beric's Flaming Sword. As such, Thoros has to shove Sandor out the way and fight the bear himself, an action that ends up costing Thoros his life.
Why Won't You Die?: When his attacks to Gregor, including impaling him with his sword, do absolutely nothing to slow him down, all Sandor can do is screaming at him to, "FUCKING DIE!!" before deciding to tackle Gregor into the Red Keep miles below, into the giant inferno left behind by Drogon.
Worf Had the Flu: He gets bitten near the end of Season 4 and the wound festers because he won't let Arya cauterize it. Arya points out that Sandor got a lot slower because of it and he's clearly not at his best when he fights Brienne.
- A case of Truth in Television as bite wounds inflicted by humans are notoriously prone to becoming infected.
Worthy Opponent: He lets Brienne know that he sees her as this when they meet again at the end of Season 7, noting that she came closer to killing him than anyone else.
Would Hit a Girl: In "Blackwater", Sandor notes that he has put several women in the ground, and that Bronn has, too. In "The Children", he fights Brienne and doesn't pull any punches at all, even going far enough to kick her in the lady parts.
Would Hurt a Child: Killed Mycah the Butcher's Boy when Joffrey commanded it. When he learns Arya did the deed that Mycah was accused of, he says he should have killed her.
- He also punches Arya in the face at one point while she's Water Dancing, knocking her to the floor and giving her a split lip. Though in all fairness, he largely did this to demonstrate his point to her, about the tradeoffs of power vs speed: she outmaneuvered him with fast Water Dancing moves and a light rapier...only for her stab to accomplish nothing, because he was wearing heavy armor, and her fast moves didn't help block the raw power of a heavy mailed fist.
Would You Like to Hear How They Died?: After his rather impressive battle with Brienne of Tarth in the Season 4 finale; he tries to pull this on Arya, so that she would give him a quick death, by commenting on what he did to her friend Mycah the butcher's boy and talking of how he should have raped Sansa. It doesn't work at all, and he is left screaming for Arya to come and kill him.

Clegane Retainers and Household

The Tickler

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/tickler_s2.png

"Is there gold and silver in the village?... Are there any gems?... Where is the Brotherhood?... Who's helping them?"

Played By: Anthony Morris

A torturer and interrogator serving under "The Mountain".

Asshole Victim: The Tickler is a ruthless sadist who tortures people to death in a particularly horrible way. His death doesn't exactly incur sympathy.
Body Horror: His corpse is found with his head turned around almost 180 degrees.
Catchphrase: "Where's the Brotherhood? Is there gold hidden in the village? Jewels?"
Death by Adaptation: Type 2. He takes the place of Chiswyck, a man-at-arms sworn to the Mountain.
For the Evulz: After he gets a prisoner to confess, he has the torture continue just to kill the man. The Tickler's set of four questions never changes, nor does his non-chalant way of asking them. It looks more like he is playing a creepy killing ritual than trying to obtain information at all.
Icy Blue Eyes: He has them.
In-Universe Nickname: His real name isn't known, just 'Tickler'.
Neck Snap: On Arya's orders, Jaqen snaps his neck.
The Nondescript: He has a totally average, unremarkable appearance and carries out his horrible actions with casual nonchalance.
Only Known by Their Nickname: It's enough for Jaqen H'ghar, however.
The Snack Is More Interesting: He calmly eats a pear while supervising people being tortured to death. Appropriately, after Jaqen kills him, Jaqen is seen standing casually with a pear in hand.
Soft-Spoken Sadist: He never raises his voice while conducting his interrogations.
Torture Technician: His job under Gregor. With the help of Weasel, he asks a series of standard questions while torturing someone to death...with rats.
White Hair, Black Heart: He has very light hair and is a cold-hearted Torture Technician.

Weasel

Played By: Paul Kealyn

The Tickler's torture assistant.

Beard of Evil: He's bearded, and considering he's a sadistic Torture Technician, he's evil.
Composite Character: Includes some traits of some of the Mountain's men.
Demoted to Extra: In the books 'Weese' is the steward of Harrenhal with a more prominent role while 'Weasel' is actually a little girl whom Yoren finds in a burnt out holdfast. After she runs off when the party are captured, Arya adopts the moniker as a cover.
Smug Smiler: Weasel constantly wears a sadistic smirk.
Torture Technician: Or rather, assistant to the Torture Technician but he's the one who implements the Tickler's instructions.
What Happened to the Mouse?: After the death of the Tickler, he disappears from the plot altogether.

Characters / Game of Thrones - House Clegane

See also the book character sheet for these characters.

House Clegane

Ser Gregor Clegane