Robert Strong is Gregor's shadow.

three-eyed monkey · December 31, 2016

“Tell me, ser, where did this man come from?” demanded Mace Tyrell. “Why have we never heard his name before? He does not speak, he will not show his face, he is never seen without his armour. Do we know for a certainty that he is even a knight?”

We do not even know if he is alive. Meryn Trant claimed that Strong took neither food nor drink, and Boros Blount went as far as to say he had never seen the man use the privy. Why should he? Dead men do not shit.

The broad consensus amongst readers is that Qyburn resurrected Gregor, in George’s nod to Mary Shelley’s classic, with the Mountain’s reanimated corpse astride the halls of the Red Keep in armour too heavy for any man to move or fight in. That Ser Robert is/was Ser Gregor lies beyond dispute in my opinion, but can we be as certain as to what exactly lies encased within Ser Robert’s armour?

The similarities between Qyburn and Victor Frankenstein are clear, but it doesn’t automatically follow that Qyburn’s creation is the product of some sort of dark science. The late introduction of a new method of bringing back the dead is completely unnecessary when all the elements required to achieve the same result already exist within the story. By that I mean Robert Strong is not the result of a Frankenstein-style process but a magical process, and one we have already seen.

Qyburn is introduced at Harrenhal amidst rumours of black magic and necromancy. He arrived with the Bloody Mummers and Gendry is quick to tell Arya that “Qyburn does black magic”. Arya later observes, Though he wore maester’s robes, there was no chain about his neck; it was whispered that he had lost it for dabbling in necromancy.

Qyburn was later part of the Kingslayer’s escort to King’s Landing. Along the way, he reveals the following to Jaime:

“Do you believe in ghosts, Maester?” he asked Qyburn.

The man’s face grew strange. “Once, at the Citadel, I came into an empty room and saw an empty chair. Yet I knew a woman had been there, only a moment before. The cushion was dented where she’d sat, the cloth was still warm, and her scent lingered in the air. If we leave our smells behind us when we leave a room, surely something of our souls must remain when we leave this life?” Qyburn spread his hands. “The archmaesters did not like my thinking, though. Well, Marwyn did, but he was the only one.”

Unlike the majority of maesters, Qyburn is clearly open-minded towards the supernatural. And he believes that something of our soul remains when we leave this life, perhaps a ghost or shade. It is also interesting that he mentions a connection to Marwyn, who will come up again later.

In King’s Landing, Cersei put the dying Ser Gregor in Qyburn’s care in the hope that the Mountain could be nursed back to health for beheading.

“Ser Gregor.” Qyburn shrugged. “I have examined him, as you commanded. The poison on the Viper’s spear was manticore venom from the east, I would stake my life on that.”

“Pycelle says no. He told my father that manticore venom kills the instant it reaches the heart.”

“And so it does. But this venom has been thickened somehow, so as to draw out the Mountain’s dying.”

“Thickened? Thickened how? With some other substance?”

“It may be as Your Grace suggests, though in most cases adulterating a poison only lessens its potency. It may be that the cause is... less natural, let us say. A spell, I think.”

Is this one as big a fool as Pycelle? “So are you telling me that the Mountain is dying of some black sorcery?”

Quburn ignored the mockery in her voice. “He is dying of the venom, but slowly, and in exquisite agony. My efforts to ease his pain have proved as fruitless as Pycelle’s. Ser Gregor is overly accustomed to the poppy, I fear. His squire tells me that he is plagued by blinding headaches and oft quaffs the milk of the poppy as lesser men quaff ale. Be that as it may, his veins have turned black from head to heel, his water is clouded with pus, and the venom has eaten a hole in his side as large as my fist. It is a wonder that the man is still alive, if truth be told.”

Qyburn is not adverse to spells and sorcery.

“Your Grace,” said Qyburn, “mayhaps I might move Ser Gregor to the dungeons? His screams will not disturb you there and I will be able to tend to him more freely.”

“Tend to him?” She laughed. “Let Ser Ilyn tend to him.”

“If that is Your Grace’s wish,” Qyburn said, “but this poison... it would be useful to know more about it, would it not? Send a knight to slay a knight and an archer to kill an archer, the smallfolk often say. To combat the black arts...” He did not finish the thought, but only smiled at her.

He is not Pycelle, that much is plain. The queen weighed him, wondering. “Why did the Citadel take your chain?”

“The archmaesters are all craven at heart. The grey sheep, Marwyn calls them. I was as skilled a healer as Ebrose, but aspired to surpass him. For hundreds of years the men of the Citadel have opened the bodies of the dead, to study the nature of life. I wished to understand the nature of death, so I opened the bodies of the living. For that crime the grey sheep shamed me and forced me into exile... but I understand the nature of life and death better than any man in Oldtown.”

Qyburn is ambitious and is not constrained by ethics, and clearly wants to combat the black arts with black arts of his own. And of course we get another nod to Marwyn, who is first mentioned in AGoT.

“When I was younger and more fair, I went in caravan to Asshai by the Shadow, to learn from their mages. Ships from many lands come to Asshai, so I lingered long to study the healing ways of distant peoples. A moonsinger of the Jogos Nhai gifted me with her birthing songs, a woman of your own riding people taught me the magics of grass and corn and horse, and a maester from the Sunset Lands opened a body for me and showed me all the secrets that hide beneath the skin.

Ser Jorah Mormont spoke up. “A maester?”

“Marwyn, he named himself,” the woman replied in the common tongue.

This ties in with what we later learn about Marwyn.

When Marwyn had returned to Oldtown, after spending eight years in the east mapping distant lands, searching for lost books, and studying with warlocks and shadowbinders, Vinegar Vaellyn had dubbed him "Marwyn the Mage."

He is not like other maesters. People said that he kept company with whores and hedge wizards, talked with hairy Ibbenese and pitch-black summer Islanders in their own tongues, and sacrificed to queer gods at the little sailors’ temples down by the wharves.

Interestingly, Mirri Maz Duur, was in a similar position to Qyburn at the time, beseeched by a queen to keep a dying man alive.

“Make him another poultice,” Dany begged. “This time I will make certain he wears it.”

“The time for that is past, my lady,” Mirri said. “All I can do now is ease the dark road before him, so he might ride painless to the night lands. He will be gone by morning.”

“No,” she pleaded. “Save him, and I will free you, I swear it. You must know a way... some magic, some...”

Mirri Maz Duur sat back on her heels and studied Daenerys through eyes as black as night. “There is a spell.” Her voice was quiet, scarcely more than a whisper. “But it is hard, lady, and dark. Some would say that death is cleaner. I learned the way in Asshai, and paid dear for the lesson. My teacher was a bloodmage from the Shadow Lands.”

“This is blood-magic, lady. Only death may pay for life.”

Qyburn shared his own view on blood-magic with Cersei.

“Maegi?”

“Is that how you say it? The woman would suck a drop of blood from your finger, and tell you what your morrows held.”

“Blood-magic is the darkest kind of sorcery. Some say it is the most powerful as well.”

Cersei did not want to hear that.

Now if blood-magic is the most powerful kind of sorcery, then surely ambitious Qyburn would be interested. Especially if it can do what Mirri says it can.

“Once I begin to sing, no one must enter this tent. My song will wake powers old and dark. The dead will dance here this night. No living man must look on them.”

Inside the tent the shapes were dancing, circling the brazier and the bloody bath, dark against the sandsilk, and some did not look human. She glimpsed the shadow of a great wolf, and another like a man wreathed in flames.

Central to Mirri’s ritual was Drogo’s bath of blood.

When they left the stallion fall, the bath was a dark red, and nothing showed of Drogo but his face.

This brings us back to Harrenhal, the place we first met Qyburn. A place once held by House Strong; a place where it’s said that Harren and his sons still walk the halls by night, afire, like the burning spirit in Dany’s tent; and a place that was no stranger to baths of blood.

He found himself remembering tales he had first heard as a child at Casterly Rock, of mad Lady Lothston who bathed in tubs of blood and presided over feasts of human flesh within these very walls.

House Lothston, who replaced House Strong and took up the curse of Harrenhal, was a house of ill repute.

“My old ma used to say that giant bats flew out from Harrenhal on moonless nights, to carry bad children to Mad Danelle for her cookpots.”

Their line was ended in madness and chaos when Lady Danelle Lothston turned to the black arts during the reign of King Maekar I.

“Lord Lucas bore that bat, the Pander, and Manfryd o’ the Black Hood. Why wear such arms, I ask myself, unless your own sin is fouler still... and fresher.”

We shall return to Mad Danelle, Lord Lucas the Pander, and Manfryd o’ the Black Hood later, but let’s first focus on the House Lothston sigil, the black bat. It was the sigil Jaime bore upon his shield from Harrenhal to King’s Landing while in Qyburn’s company.

He found an old shield in the armoury, battered and splintered, the chipped paint still showing most of the great black bat of House Lothston upon a field of silver and gold. The Lothstons held Harrenhal before the Whents and had been a powerful family in their day, but they had died out ages ago, so no one was likely to object to him wearing their arms.

The bat is a symbol of rebirth, its cave a symbol of the womb. Then perhaps it is no surprise that back at King’s Landing, Qyburn expresses a preference for female subjects to aid him in his work.

“For the puppeteers, the axe.”

“There are four. Perhaps Your Grace might allow me two of them for mine own purposes. A woman would be especially...”

“I gave you Senelle,” the queen said sharply.

“Alas. The poor girl is quite... exhausted.”

Cersei did not like to think about that. The girl had come with her unsuspecting, thinking she was along to serve and pour. Even when Qyburn clapped the chain around her wrist, she had not seemed to understand. The memory still made the queen queasy. The cells were bitter cold. Even the torches shivered. And that foul thing screaming in the darkness... “Yes, you may take a woman. Two, if it please you.”

I believe the reason for this is because a female subject can provide him with something no male subject ever could, something vital to the process. A womb.

Panting, she squatted and spread her legs. Blood ran down her thighs, black as ink. Her cry might have been agony or ecstasy or both. And Davos saw the crown of the child’s head push its way out of her. Two arms wriggled free, grasping, black fingers coiling around Melisandre’s straining thighs, pushing, until the whole of the shadow slid out into the world and rose taller than Davos, tall as the tunnel, towering over the boat. He had only an instant to look at it before it was gone, twisting between the bars of the portcullis and racing across the surface of the water, but that instant was long enough.

He knew that shadow. As he knew the man who’d cast it.

We don’t know much about the shadows Mel brought forth, but there are some things we can discern quite easily. We know Mel required Stannis’ seed to make it work. We know it emerged from her womb and only required a brief gestation period. We know it can interact with the physical world, like when throwing Courtney Penrose to his death, and we know it has supernatural strength, as seen when slicing through Renly’s armour. We know it resembles its sire, with both Davos and Brienne recognising that it was Stannis’ shadow.

For a long time the king did not speak. Then, very softly, he said, "I dream of it sometimes. Of Renly's dying. A green tent, candles, a woman screaming. And blood." Stannis looked down at his hands. "I was still abed when he died. Your Devan will tell you. He tried to wake me. Dawn was nigh and my lords were waiting, fretting. I should have been ahorse, armored. I knew Renly would attack at break of day. Devan says I thrashed and cried out, but what does it matter? It was a dream. I was in my tent when Renly died, and when I woke my hands were clean."

And we know that Stannis was asleep in his tent when his shadow killed Renly, yet he remained connected to the events in Renly’s pavilion through a dream.

Mel once said, Such shadows as I bring forth here will be terrible, and no creature of the dark will stand before them. This sounds very similar to what Qyburn’s was aiming for.

“Alas, no,” said Qyburn. “I had another sort of champion in mind. What he lacks in gallantry he will give you tenfold in devotion. He will protect your son, kill your enemies, and keep your secrets, and no living man will be able to withstand him.”

None of the wights we have seen so far would be classed as something that no living man could withstand. Beric was beaten several times while Ghost and Jon took down Othor in the Lord Commander’s Tower. But who could withstand Renly’s killer? Perhaps there is a way but I'll return to that at the end.

There is one character who has glimpsed behind Ser Robert’s visor, even if it was in a dream or mystical vision. This, of course, was Bran.

There were shadows all around them. One shadow was as dark as ash, with the terrible face of a hound. Another was armoured like the sun, golden and beautiful. Over them both loomed a giant in armour made of stone, but when he opened his visor, there was nothing inside but darkness and thick black blood.

The darkness refers to the shadow. The thick black blood is an obvious reference to Gregor, who I believe is still alive in the dungeons, dreaming Ser Robert just as Stannis dreamed of Renly’s killer. That’s why Qyburn wanted to move Gregor to the dungeons, so that his screams, which Cersei heard when she escorted Senelle to the dungeons, would not be heard by others.

This would obviously mean that the skull Doran received was large, but not the Mountain’s.

“The flesh mortifies and the wounds ooze pus," Pycelle told the council. "Even maggots will not touch such foulness. His convulsions are so violent that I have had to gag him to prevent him from biting off his tongue. I have cut away as much tissue as I dare, and treated the rot with boiling wine and bread mold, to no avail. The veins in his arm are turning black. When I leeched him, all the leeches died.”

"I have, Your Grace. I am sorry that it took so long. Such a large head. It took the beetles many hours to clean the flesh. By way of pardon, I have lined a box of ebony and silver with felt, to make a fitting presentation for the skull."

"I'll take that." Obara Sand plucked the skull from him and held it at arm's length. "What did the Mountain look like? How do we know that this is him? They could have dipped the head in tar. Why strip it to the bone?"

"Tar would have ruined the box," suggested Lady Nym, as Maester Caleotte scurried off. "No one saw the Mountain die, and no one saw his head removed. That troubles me, I confess, but what could the bitch queen hope to accomplish by deceiving us? If Gregor Clegane is alive, soon or late the truth will out."

How did beetles clean the skull when maggots will not touch such foulness and all the leeches died? Obara is right, the skull should have been dipped in tar so that it was recognisable. But it had to be picked clean because it is not Gregor. Gregor is still alive in the dungeon, screaming and dreaming.

We should also ask why pick House Strong? It seems like Qyburn’s nodding Harrenhal, as if the place played a significant role in the creation of Ser Robert.

Roose Bolton was seated by the hearth reading from a thick leatherbound book when she entered. "Light some candles," he commanded her as he turned a page. "It grows gloomy in here."

She placed the food at his elbow and did as he bid her, filling the room with flickering light and the scent of cloves. Bolton turned a few more pages with his finger, then closed the book and placed it carefully in the fire. He watched the flames consume it, pale eyes shining with reflected light. The old dry leather went up with a whoosh, and the yellow pages stirred as they burned, as if some ghost were reading them. "I will have no further need of you tonight," he said, never looking at her.

Who knows what Qyburn found there in the libraries of the houses that held the castle? Was that really a giant bat that came for children in the old tales or was it Mad Danelle’s shadow? Did Manfryd o’ the Black Hood keep his head covered for the same reason Ser Robert never removes his helmet? Were the secrets of the baths of blood revealed? Did Lord Lucas bring in blood mages from the Shadow Lands and shadow-binders from Asshai as part of his pandering, and what books or scrolls might they have left behind?

Shadow-binding is not specifically defined but we do know that Mel is described as a shadow-binder. Much about Mel is false but we know she can conjure a powerful shadow and bind it to her will. It is interesting to note that the words shadow and shade, a common Westrosi term for a ghost, are easily interchangeable.

So in summary, this theory suggests the following:

1. Qyburn studies all the dark arts including forms of sorcery.

2. At Harrenhal, he discovers information that advances his understanding of shadow-binding or some similar form of sorcery, as practiced by House Lothston.

3. King’s Landing provided everything he needed to complete his work. An incapacitated Gregor, deep dungeons where Gregor’s screams could not be heard, and prisoners to be used as test subjects, women most importantly.

4. Qyburn prevented Gregor’s death by using blood magic similar to that used by Mirri Maz Duur.

5. Ser Gregor lives, trapped in a perpetual nightmare deep in the dungeons of the Red Keep, dreaming Ser Robert.

6. Ser Robert is Gregor’s shadow.

7. And finally, to kill the dream you must kill the dreamer.

cyberdirectorfreedom · December 31, 2016

An interesting idea, certainly, though I don't think it's true, for many reasons. One being, why would they make it so obvious that it's Gregor if it's just his shadow? We know that shadows can fit within places much smaller than themselves. They're full grown at birth, and somehow Stannis's shadow fit within Melisandre. Gregor was uniquely large, and as "Lady" Nym said:

"If Gregor Clegane is alive, soon or late the truth will out. The man was eight feet tall, there is not another like him in all of Westeros. If any such appears again, Cersei Lannister will be exposed as a liar before all the Seven Kingdoms. She would be an utter fool to risk that."

There's only one reason that I can think that they'd make the armour as large as they did, and that's because Gregor's body is within.

Now, of course, it's possible that Qyburn didn't know that a shadow would be able to fit within a smaller space. It's even possible that shadows can't fit within smaller spaces, after they've been born. Still, the feeling I have is that Gregor's (physical) body is within the armour.

As I said, interesting idea, but it relies on Gregor still being alive, and I really don't think he is. Still, time will tell, as it so often does.

GloubieBoulga · December 31, 2016

Interesting hypothesis

12 minutes ago, cyberdirectorfreedom said:

An interesting idea, certainly, though I don't think it's true, for many reasons. One being, why would they make it so obvious that it's Gregor if it's just his shadow? We know that shadows can fit within places much smaller than themselves. They're full grown at birth, and somehow Stannis's shadow fit within Melisandre.

Perhaps the shadows can have their full "capacity of acting as if they were solid" only when they have plainly the original form of the man/woman they were (I don't know if I'm clear). I think particulary to Others, who are also shadows, sometimes with a quasi solid appearance, some other times only as mists or invisible intensive cold air. I suspect a story of concentration/thinning down (depending of blood ?).

So I think @three-eyed monkey is possible. By the way, it's not so crackpot, even if Robert Strong is revealed as a body animated.

5 hours ago, three-eyed monkey said:

King’s Landing provided everything he needed to complete his work. An incapacitated Gregor, deep dungeons where Gregor’s screams could not be heard, and prisoners to be used as test subjects, women most importantly.

You just make me remind that Oberyn was looking for a "beautifull blond whore" - officialy to share her with and Ellaria - but I wonder now if it was really for bedding, or to practice blood-magic and change the poison. Oberyn had studied at the Citadell after all.

chuck norris 42 · December 31, 2016

Perhaps Robert strong is a shadow and Headless Gregor

necromancy means using magic on the dead I really think Gregor is dead

The maggots would not go near Gregor's wounds, However he was not wounded in the head,
A carrion beetle can eat what a leach cannot, even if you dispute that maybe some carrion beetles ate some flesh and died just like
the leeches and they kept on being replaced that is why it took so long

So my counter theory is the Robert strong is a shadow And Gregors Body.

This agrees with Brans dream

The shadow baby is the ash shadow and Sir Gregor is represented by a bright shinging shadow (A bright shiny shadow is not a shadow it is a night) , The both combine to make a giant without a face.

So my Recipe of making invulnerable warrior is as follows
Ingredients:
One unlucky large Man
One unlucky lady

Directions

1) Take the seed from the large man and combine it with the lady to make a shadow baby

2) Cut the mans head off

3)....

4).....

5).....

6)....

7) Combine headless corpse with shadow baby

December 31, 2016

i love 3-eyed monkey's idea. It also fits with how GRRM spreads clues out across time and space for what has happened. Good luck I hope book 6 and 7 are here soon and will answer this.

Also makes sense as a GRRM homage to Mary Shelley.

three-eyed monkey · December 31, 2016

If It is gregor's body inside the armor then it is similar to one of the Wights we have seen at the Wall or perhaps someone like Lady Stoneheart or Beric. I don't see any evidence of a Wight of this type having enhanced strength, strong enough to move or fight in such heavy armor. And as I have said, I don't think any of the above would be considered to be someone no living man could withstand. Perhaps Qyburn's claim could be explained if he was simply overestimating the power of a Wight. But that seems a bit weak.

The only other option is the Frankenstein-style dark science theory. My problem with this is that there is no set up. While Qyburn does have Gregor's body and access to other prisoners body parts if need be, there is no sense that Qyburn is building an electrical apparatus or needs to harness lightning, etc. Qyburn does not really speak in scientific terms at all, but he does speak of and clearly has respect for the power of magic.

YOVMO · December 31, 2016

1 hour ago, three-eyed monkey said:

If It is gregor's body inside the armor then it is similar to one of the Wights we have seen at the Wall or perhaps someone like Lady Stoneheart or Beric. I don't see any evidence of a Wight of this type having enhanced strength, strong enough to move or fight in such heavy armor.

Well Othor as a wight was, presumably, much stronger than Othor as a man. It took Jon, Jeor and Ghost to bring him down and even then it was only by luck that Jon threw fire at him.

If Un-Othor was that powerful and if the strength of a wight is commensurate with the strength of the man while alive then ungregor would be incredibly powerful and Qyburn's words wouldn't not be hyperbolic.

it is possible that the magic that Qyburn used on Gregor (and your claim about Qyburn never talking about science but treating magic with deference really struck a chord and I believe it) was diffeeent an that he magic used to reanimate LSH or Beric. I have long looked at the battle of ice magic versus fire magic starting really from the death of the wizards who regulated the 14 flames leading to the doom.

the faceless men are natural enemies of fire because of their history as former slaves and I believe turned to Ice magic -- warlocks of qarth, the others etc

It could be that that ice magic yields a different type of undead. The ice wight is clearly less sentient than the fire wight though much stronger as you can see clearly between the thralls of the others and LSH or Beric.

so if it is the case that both fire magic an and ice magic exist, are different from one another and can be used in reanimating the dead and if Qyburn is using some form of ice magic, the same that the Others use to raise the wights, then Ungregor makes perfect sense.

just a thought

three-eyed monkey · December 31, 2016

YOVMO,

With regard to fire and ice magic I would say this. There are three types of magic perhaps. Red, blue, and green, as represented on the arms of House Strong, but just like the forks of the Trident I believe that they are all part of the same river.

aryagonnakill#2 · December 31, 2016

1 hour ago, YOVMO said:

Well Othor as a wight was, presumably, much stronger than Othor as a man. It took Jon, Jeor and Ghost to bring him down and even then it was only by luck that Jon threw fire at him.

If Un-Othor was that powerful and if the strength of a wight is commensurate with the strength of the man while alive then ungregor would be incredibly powerful and Qyburn's words wouldn't not be hyperbolic.

it is possible that the magic that Qyburn used on Gregor (and your claim about Qyburn never talking about science but treating magic with deference really struck a chord and I believe it) was diffeeent an that he magic used to reanimate LSH or Beric. I have long looked at the battle of ice magic versus fire magic starting really from the death of the wizards who regulated the 14 flames leading to the doom.

the faceless men are natural enemies of fire because of their history as former slaves and I believe turned to Ice magic -- warlocks of qarth, the others etc

It could be that that ice magic yields a different type of undead. The ice wight is clearly less sentient than the fire wight though much stronger as you can see clearly between the thralls of the others and LSH or Beric.

so if it is the case that both fire magic an and ice magic exist, are different from one another and can be used in reanimating the dead and if Qyburn is using some form of ice magic, the same that the Others use to raise the wights, then Ungregor makes perfect sense.

just a thought

I don't think he was stronger than alive Other, I think it is just that he was unable to feel pain, so once he got his hands around a wrist, there was nothing that could be done to remove them.

YOVMO · December 31, 2016

38 minutes ago, aryagonnakill#2 said:

I don't think he was stronger than alive Other, I think it is just that he was unable to feel pain, so once he got his hands around a wrist, there was nothing that could be done to remove them.

I would need to re read the section. I feel he did some pretty absurd things strength wise. However, it's possible you are right. I'll re read that chapter and get back tonyou

YOVMO · December 31, 2016

1 hour ago, aryagonnakill#2 said:

I don't think he was stronger than alive Other, I think it is just that he was unable to feel pain, so once he got his hands around a wrist, there was nothing that could be done to remove them.

Ok just re read. There is nothing definitive but I would bring your attention to several points

when Jon sees the guard at Mormont's door that Othor killed he was limp on the floor with his head twisted all the way around.

Now this is a guy on guard duty. I'm assuming boiled leather and chainmail. Also assuming he put up at least a token struggle. Granted Othor was a large man in life but to turn a persons head around 180 degrees would take a serious feat of strength

next, after ghost attacks UnOthor the wight grabs the Direwolf by the neck. Ghost is trying frantically to get away and can't until Jon chops the arm off his body and even then ghost struggles with just the arm. Ghost is fairly large by now. Even given an inability to feel pain it would take a lot of strength to hold onto a grown direwolf's neck like that

Next the now one armed Othor hits Jon so hard that he knocks the breath out of Jon and knocks him to the floor--with one hit. Again, not impossible but this is serious strength not just lack of ability to feel pain or fear.

I would like to look deeper but it does seem at least possible that whatever magic was reanimating dead Othor was making him stronger than normal.

Gregor Clegane is huge and much stronger than most people so even if the magic gave him a minor increase in physical strength coupled with a total inability to feel pain we can see why he can a) carry such heavy armor and b why Qyburn would say that no man could stand before him.

again, jury is still out and the idea is brand new but nevertheless it doesn't look impossible or even unlikely that the wight is stronger than the man the wight was before

YOVMO · December 31, 2016