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Why is the Mountain so loyal to the Lannisters?


KingAemon

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House Clegane owes everything they have to House Lannister.

he first knight of House Clegane was kennelmaster at Casterly Rock until one autumn year when he saved Lord Tytos Lannister from a lioness and lost a leg and three dogs in the effort. As a reward, Tytos gave him lands and a towerhouse and took his son as his squire. The three dogs on the Clegane sigil represent those that died saving Tytos.[4][5]

The kennelmaster's son, the father of Gregor and Sandor, died in a hunting incident shortly after King Robert Baratheon was crowned. Their sister died young under queer circumstances.[6] Gregor is known for his unspeakable cruelty; this is mirrored in his men, who casually commit atrocities during their campaigns. Sandor was driven away by this behavior, taking service with House Lannister and refusing to take a knight's vows to avoid association with his elder.

This is from the wiki.

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Because there were still very strong vestiges of the feudal system where one follows one's *local* lord above all. A feudal system that was pretty much bottom-up rather than top-down: if someone in the middle of the ladder chose to rebel against his overlord, then all his own followers would generally be expected to be more likely to follow him in rebellion (because they were loyal to *their* master) than to support the overlord.

Such things were commonplace in, for instance, old England and France right up to the Renaissance period - England, of course, had the Wars of the Roses over it, and even the initial stages of the Civil War. France, too, had similar incidents up to and including the "Fronde" double revolution where a popular revolt was co-opted by disgruntled aristocrats, but then both the royal and revolutionary leaders ended up arguing amongst themselves like cats in a sack and the royal family were eventually the victors...

So, Gregor's primary loyalty is to his local overlord (i.e. the Lord Paramount of the Westerlands, namely Tywin Lannister and his House) and he had neither the intelligence nor imagination to think of rebelling against them. In any case, the Lannisters mostly stayed OUT of Robert's Rebellion, turning up - like the Freys at the Trident - only when the issue was already decided, to throw their weight behind the side already certain of victory: they did not actually fight any battles at all before the Sack of King's Landing. Tywin knew that if he now came out against Robert, he would lose: and Gregor neither knew nor cared but trusted Tywin to make whatever move was necessary to put himself, and therefore Gregor, on the winning side.

Meanwhile, earlier in the war, both Robert Baratheon and Jon Arryn had to deal with rebellious bannermen who insisted on remaining loyal to House Targaryen despite the atrocious conduct of Aerys. Possibly these bannermen may have been genuinely principled: also possibly, they may have decided that they were in position to profit if House Baratheon and Arryn should fall. One has to wonder if Roose Bolton entertained the same thoughts, of declaring himself a Targaryen loyalist and possibly profiting from the fall of House Stark, right back at the time of the Rebellion: however the loyalty of the North to House Stark was probably sufficiently strong and sufficiently obvious that Bolton knew he would be the first to fall if he did go against Eddard Stark. (Especially if he had heard of, and learned from, the defeat of the Vale and Stormlands Targaryen loyalists.)

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Just because Gregor is a thug and a brute does not mean that he don't know loyalty. In the world of Westeros people are not either noble elves or evil orcs but are a mix between dark and bright. And as such the Mountain has a sense of loyalty, just like the overwhelming majority of people in Westeros do possess.

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The answer is practically the same as for the question of "Why does the knight X stay loyal to their overlord Y?" There is the feudal contract, the benefits a landed knight, or a household knight gets, and of course going against your liege would be close to a suicide in 99% of the cases.

Rhaegar knighting Gregor means little to nothing. I don't think Aerys was very loyal to Tywin either, even when he was knighted by Tywin.

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It sort of reminds me of "The Godfather" (the novel, not the movie), where Michael asks his father why he'd have such a brutal man as Luca Brasi work for him. The Don replies that there are men in the world who don't fear death, and in fact wish to be killed. Luca Brasi was such a man, but no one was able to kill him for a long time. So the Don saw the potential in this man, and to make sure he could control Brasi, he made Brasi fear death if it was the Don who killed him. That bit of psychology would make Brasi forever loyal to the Don and his family.

And given what Brasi does in the novel, it's pretty fair to compare his brutality and loyalty to Gregor.

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Gregor has nothing to gain and everything to lose by not being loyal to his overlord. It's not like he can move to another district and chose a different employer. He'd be long dead if his liege was someone more akin Ned Stark or Jon Arryn rather than Tywin Lannister. All he needs to do is to keep being useful and Tywin will turn a blind eye to his numerous crimes. Even an idiot like the Mountain understands that. 

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Gregor is a weapon. I would compare him to the weapon of wildfire. Like an inanimate object, he has no will of his own; we see very little of him and hear almost nothing from him. His purpose in life is to kill and wreak havoc, and he will do that for whoever wants to use him. Tywin Lannister saw his potential and put him to use. Like the named Valyrian steel swords bond with their traditional houses, he may have a special bond with House Lannister, as others have already pointed out on this thread. Those swords "remember" and don't like change, according to Tobho Mott. They stay loyal to the house where they originated or with which they have been associated through history.

When Gregor was no longer useful to Tywin - i.e., he became a diplomatic liability in relationships with Dorne and/or he was disabled by his fight with Oberyn - it seems he was "reforged" to become Ser Robert Strong. Now he is a new weapon in the increasingly insane hands of Cersei Lannister. Without Tywin's finesse at coverups and pay-offs, it will be interesting to see whether Gregor remains an effective weapon.

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"Is there gold in the village? Gems? Silver? Where is Beric Dondarrion?"

The Mountain is loyal to gold. Gold and gore and milk of the poppy. The Lannisters are paying him gold, are giving him the chance to get more gold and kill things, and probably provide him with the milk of the poppy he desires. So, in his (now dead/rotten) eyes, the Lannisters are as goos a master as any, to a mad dog.

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I don't think Gregor is loyal to the Lannisters in the sense that most Northmen are loyal to the Starks. There's no emotional attachment there, it's just, as most people here have already pointed out, a feudal contract. We should probably note that the tasks to which Gregor are assigned are likely things that Tywin would never ask of his other bannermen -- i.e. deliberately terrorizing, raping, and murdering women and children -- simply because that would be crossing a line. The reason Gregor raped and killed Elia and Aegon/the Pisswater Prince is because Tywin allowed him to do so, not because Gregor had some unfailing loyalty to House Lannister and so he grudgingly did his duty. Gregor Clegane is not Arys Oakheart hesitating to hit Sansa. He's a wild animal on the loose, and his master has given him implicit instruction to wreak as much havoc as possible. As a point of comparison, I think Sandor was far more loyal to the Lannisters in an emotional attachment sense.

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1- House Clegane owe everything they have thanks to the Lannisters, they were peasants and they become a knightley house with a keep and lands and their sigil don't let them forgot it. Their origin is too early and it is very fresh in their memory. Basically the same reason that makes Davos so loyal to Stannis.

2 - Being loyal to House Lannister is pretty advantageous, without a doubt.

3 - Why rebel against Tywin? The Mountain is unstoppable and almost unbeatable, but he can't defy Tywin or House Lannister, in general. He would lose everything (lands, keep, wealth). Even him can't defy the Lannisters and he knows it. 

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per Alanysa Starne: "We should probably note that the tasks to which Gregor are assigned are likely things that Tywin would never ask of his other bannermen -- i.e. deliberately terrorizing, raping, and murdering women and children -- simply because that would be crossing a line. "

I generally agree - but apparently, Ser Amory Lorch was another bannerman who had no problem with terrorism.

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