[Book Spoilers] The Hound

[Le Cygne]

I meant to add, the Hound helm part is also covered La Belle et la Bete, the fake Beast. That's an unusual part of the tale that Cocteau added. Not on the show, but more indications that GRRM is following that version. It is his favorite version. And they filmed the Blackwater scene that way, with the doll replacing the glove.

This is also a nice part, the fear plus attraction, that's about the underlying sexuality in the story, she's afraid to go from father to lover, and in the end, there is this exchange:

Beast: You won't be afraid, will you?

Belle: I don't mind being afraid ... with you.

It's a very sexy story. And of course, phallic symbols, which GRRM loves, they are all throughout this and other stories. This is a nice review, Roger Ebert:

He appears behind her and approaches silently. She senses his presence, and begins to react in a way that some viewers have described as fright, although it is clearly orgasmic. Before she has even seen him, she is aroused to her very depths, and a few seconds later, as she tells him she cannot marry--a Beast!--she toys with a knife that is more than a knife.

http://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/great-movie-beauty-and-the-beast-1946

[Mad Madam Mim]

There's also:

"It's warm in here. We've got beautiful women. And good brown ale. Plenty for everyone. And all you want is to put one of us in the cold ground."

And we saw the beautiful woman part, "your pretty sister," and the good brown ale part, "How can a man not keep ale in his home?" So what's left, putting bodies in the cold ground.

Ha ha ha! That's perfect.

Ha! Great spot.

Rory is obviously getting his limping practice in! Looking at the severity of the injury on the show, poor Sandor is going to need a lot of TLC and a very big plaster to heal that wound.

Just following up on the possiblity of 'Cleganebowl', I feel soooo much has been set up for it that I sooooooo badly wished it could happen but yes you are right, Sandor is moving away from hate towards the light...err....love. Sansa represents Sandor before his face got burnt, whereas Arya is a representation of the hound persona after he was burnt.

Sandor expressed several times his desire to kill Gregor:

"Gregor never knew what he had, did he? He couldn’t have, or he would have dragged you back kicking and screaming to King’s Landing and dumped you in Cersei’s lap. Oh, that’s bloody sweet. I’ll be sure and tell him that, before I cut his heart out.

Even a dog gets tired of being kicked. If this Young Wolf has the wits the gods gave a toad, he’ll make me a lordling and beg me to enter his service. He needs me, though he may not know it yet. Maybe I’ll even kill Gregor for him, he’d like that.”

Obviously there is also the EB's speech too. yet when presented with the opportunity to actually kill his brother, he deliberately does not aim for his weak spot. Whilst this could be another example of Sandor's bravado and crudity of speech, something was psychologically holding Sandor back at this point from fulfilling his desire to kill Gregor.

Is it, as suggested by the EB because it was the 'bread that nourished him" and the "fires that kept him going" and therefore killing Gregor would mean he had nothing left to live for? If so, Sansa has become his 'nourishment' now so there is no reason for Gregor to remain alive as a motivator.

Is it the fear of committing the ultimate sin of kinslaying? Gregor is no longer Gregor but Frankengregor so this may no longer apply.

Was it fear of Gregor himself that meant he would not kill him? What if Gregor was somehow a direct threat to Sansa? That would be an interesting conflict for Sandor.

i think I am just rambling now because it's bedtime but getting killing Gregor may no longer purely be about hate for Sandor.

[Mad Madam Mim]

I meant to add, the Hound helm part is also covered La Belle et la Bete, the fake Beast. That's an unusual part of the tale that Cocteau added. Not on the show, but more indications that GRRM is following that version. It is his favorite version. And they filmed the Blackwater scene that way, with the doll replacing the glove.

This is also a nice part, the fear plus attraction, that's about the underlying sexuality in the story, she's afraid to go from father to lover, and in the end, there is this exchange:

Beast: You won't be afraid, will you?

Belle: I don't mind being afraid ... with you.

It's a very sexy story. And of course, phallic symbols, which GRRM loves, they are all throughout this and other stories. This is a nice review, Roger Ebert:

http://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/great-movie-beauty-and-the-beast-1946

This is very interesting. Thank you for sharing!

I like how you phrased "the fear plus attraction, that's about underlying sexuality." Sexual 'awakening' is thrilling, exciting but also scary. Its about having agency and power over your body and I can imagine that particularly for Sansa, it is an enticing, yet scary concept. Sansa's sexuality is entwined with Sandor and she physically becomes a woman in front of him; he comments on her developing breasts, she has the stabbing pains of her first period in front of him, she also later experiences erotic dreams and the fantasy of the 'unkiss'.

Sandor acts as Sansa's 'needle' during her time in the Vale. Her increasingly erotic thoughts around Sandor could be an indication of her holding onto her agency and power through her sexuality when the reality of her situation suggests she has increasingly less autonomy over her situation and identity .

Beast: You won't be afraid, will you?

Belle: I don't mind being afraid ... with you.

I completely agree with your comparison to the Blackwater scene. Sandor poses a sexual threat to Sansa and Sansa in turn acknowledges her fear, evaluates it, confronts it and concludes "you won't hurt me."

Sansa's fear in the books is very evident in the Blackwater scene and although it plays out differently, the same elements are there. Sandor pulls her in for what Sansa assumes is a kiss and she closes her eyes, wanting it to be over. She is readying herself (as you said fear vs. attraction) but nothing happens. She then sings for him and she instinctively cups Sandor's face. She has confronted her fear.

I'll have to read the review in detail tomorrow because it I am typing with my eyes half closed but this is really interesting stuff.

....and who dosn't love a good phallic symbol.

[Mad Madam Mim]

I have now had a proper read of the link you posted and will expand on my previous comments.

Source: http://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/great-movie-beauty-and-the-beast-1946

“Consider the extraordinary shot where Belle waits at the dining table in the castle for the Beast's first entrance. He appears behind her and approaches silently. She senses his presence, and begins to react in a way that some viewers have described as fright, although it is clearly orgasmic. Before she has even seen him, she is aroused to her very depths, and a few seconds later, as she tells him she cannot marry--a Beast!--she toys with a knife that is more than a knife.”

My initial thoughts are the parallels between this and when Sansa and Sandor first meet along the King’s Road:

“A terror as overwhelming as anything Sansa Stark had ever felt filled her suddenly. She stepped backward and bumped into someone.

Strong hands grasped her by the shoulders, and for a moment Sansa thought it was her father, but when she turned, it was the burned face of Sandor Clegane looking down at her, his mouth twisted in a terrible mockery of a smile. “You are shaking, girl,” he said, his voice rasping. “Do I frighten you so much?” He did, and had since she had first laid eyes on the ruin that fire had made of his face, though it seemed to her now that he was not half so terrifying as the other.”

Sacred of Illyn, Sansa unwittingly backs into Sandor and her fear of Illyn is mistaken by Sandor for fear of his face. She is visibly trembling. She also mistakes Sandor for her father, recognising at this early stage his role as a protector. In a similar way to the beauty and the beast reference, the protectiveness of the father to being transferred to the lover.

There are also several instances of Sandor ‘lurching’ out of the darkness and scaring Sansa; serpentine steps, on top of the roof, in her bedroom. For Sandor this could be a literal coming out of the darkness and stepping into the ‘light’ as his allegiance switches from the Lannisters to Sansa. For Sansa, she is being forced to confront ‘the beast’ which could also mean confronting the ‘beast’ in her, her sexuality. Sandor is forcing her to face this and although she is fearful, by the end of all these scenes she has resolved her fear and concludes she does not need to be afraid.

Emotions all come to a boil in the Blackwater scene which is riddled with sexual tension and the fear/attraction theme again comes into play. Sandor has had to face his (very real) fear of fire. He is scared, vulnerable, drunk, angry, and he is trying to reconcile these emotions with his feelings of attraction, desire and protectiveness towards Sansa. When he perceives rejection from Sansa by her refusal to look at his face, he is almost defeated by his emotions and almost succumbs to the Hound persona completely.

I see this moment as the clash between Sandor and the Hound. Both have existed together for a long time but this is the pinnacle moment where the Hound may take over for good as Sandor tries to reconcile all of these conflicting emotions. He pushes her onto the bed and holds the knife to her throat; this is a sexually aggressive act and a threat to Sansa’s innocence. If the hound wins, there is no return for Sandor. Sansa’s response to this threat is fear and for a moment she is almost defeated by it but after her song she manages to confront it and control it. She has killed the beast, she has conquered her fear. Sansa is ready to embrace her sexual ‘awakening’.

[Le Cygne]

I agree with most of that, and nicely put. But I don't think it was about Sandor vs. the Hound, nor was there a real threat. It was like you said, about mutual sexuality, and his dagger and her song was symbolic of that. I think he got ahead of her, but then she caught up to him. And then she caressed his face ("some instinct" was her understanding on a deeper level) and then she pretends they kissed, because that's what she wished happened.

Just popping in some show commentary, GRRM:

There was a line in the script that was cut unfortunately where Sansa says to him well, how are you going to get out of the city, there are guards at all the gates. And he draws his sword and says, "I'm going to get out with this and no man is going to stop me," and then he sort of hesitates and says, "unless he's on fire." I was sorry to lose that line, I really liked that little moment which emphasized the whole fire thing here.