The latest episode of Game of Thrones, “Oathbreaker,” confirmed that Cersei Lannister hopes to deploy the Frankenstein-ed Gregor Clegane in a trial by combat, the monstrous giant winning her freedom by killing some other dude. But who will the High Sparrow nominate to fight on behalf of the Faith Militant? There’s only one right answer: Gregor’s brother, Sandor “The Hound” Clegane.
Wait, but isn’t The Hound dead? Probably not, and the newly revealed title for Game of Thrones Season 6 episode 7 is our best evidence yet that he’ll be back for Cleganebowl.
607 is called "The Broken Man". Septon Meribald & "The Gravedigger" confirmed??? #AFFC #ASOIAF #GoT #CLEGANEBOWL #WhatisHypeMayNeverDie
— Sean Gallagher (@sgtalkstoomuch) May 10, 2016
Episode 7 is titled “The Broken Man,” alluding to a monologue given by Septon Meribald in George R.R. Martin’s novel A Feast for Crows:
“ Watching their friends die, or perhaps entering the service of an unfamiliar lord when their original liege dies, the broken man runs away in the heat of battle or sneaks off in the dead of night. Having become accustomed to living off the land of the smallfolk where the war is being fought, it is a small adjustment for the broken man to begin stealing their daughters, or killing for what he likes.”
Not only is it an apt description of Sandor, who abandoned King’s Landing during the Battle of the Blackwater in the second season, but the speech comes shortly before Brienne and Podrick Payne run into a gravedigger many readers believe to be Clegane, who has abandoned his identity as The Hound and now lives with the monks of Quiet Isle.
Ever since their tense encounter at Robert Baratheon’s jousting tournament, viewers and readers have been clamoring for Cleganebowl: The Hound vs. The Mountain in a fight to the death.
episode 7 of S6 #GameofThrones is titled "The Broken Man"
— Secretly A Targaryen (@SsgtGriggs) May 10, 2016
we all know, what that means#getHYPE #CLEGANEBOWL
There’s plenty of evidence that Game of Thrones Season 6 will give it to them. The best may be Ian McShane and his big mouth. The actor, who is expected to play either Septon Meribald or the Elder Brother of Quiet Isle (probably a composite of the two), revealed in an interview that he’d be instrumental in the return of Sandor Clegane. “I’ll give you one hint,” McShane said at the Los Cabos International Film Festival. “I am responsible for bring[ing] somebody back that you think you’re never going to see again. I’ll leave it at that.”
Now, with an episode titled “The Broken Man,” we know exactly when Sandor’s return will come. Then it’s on to the Cleganebowl.
