The dialogue about Game of Thrones season 6 on the Internet has been laser-focused on two issues: Whether Jon Snow is dead and if he’s staying that way, and whether the show is going to reveal his true parentage this season. And that’s important, but a) there are so many other things going on in Westeros and b) shut up about Jon Snow already. So today I’d like to take a look at another issue: Queen Cersei’s upcoming trial by combat and her newfound champion, Robert Strong. And I have a dream today: I’d like The Hound to kill them both.
The Hound Vs Gregor, Again: Will He Get His Revenge?
If you’re a strawman concocted for the purposes of this article, you might say: Wow, this guy’s dumb. Doesn’t he know that Gregor Clegane and The Hound are both dead? Pshaw, strawman! Read between the lines: It’s patently obvious that Robert Strong, Cersei’s new champion, is in fact Gregor Clegane, brought back to life by the efforts of Qyburn the necromancer—yep, I went there.
The Hound’s survival is less obvious. In the book, there’s strong evidence that he survived his final fight and has been repenting for his sins among people of the Faith, living life not as The Hound but as Sandor Clegane. In the show, all we know for sure is that Arya couldn’t find his body. And in Game of Thrones, that alone means a lot. It’s easy to imagine him turning up at someplace like the Quiet Isle in the next season.
It’s even easier to imagine Sandor coming out of his penitential retirement to serve as the champion of the Faith against Cersei. He hates Gregor more than anyone alive. Gregor burned his face as a boy, and on purpose; Gregor is one of the cruelest, most vicious men in Westeros. The Hound has always wanted to put him down. But when he fled Joffrey’s side and ended up traipsing around the wreck of the Riverlands, that chance ended.
The Hound, in the books, seems to be working for the monks of Quiet Isle now. That means he may be known to higher-ups in the Faith, and if the High Sparrow puts out a call for a champion to bring justice to Cersei, the Hound will jump at the chance. And maybe he’d finally be the one to kill Gregor once and for all… and with his death in a trial by combat, Cersei’s life would be forfeit (and Varys’s machinations, and the preparations for a Targaryen return, would finally be complete).
Call it hokey if you want: We’re speculating about Winds of Winter and none of us really know anything. That’s not new. We’re all just fans, speculating about what could happen—what we hope will happen. Maybe The Hound’s appearance on Quiet Isle was just a red herring. Maybe he’s dead, or it was just a cameo, and we’ll never see him again. But I hope not. I hope he’ll get a chance to kill his brother.
