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The Gravedigging Hound - Complete analysis


Cosmic Maintenance Man

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It would totally work, have all the makings of a fantastic story and tie up a bunch of loose ends if somehow Jaime and The Hound end up fighting Robert Strong. Still, I guess the hound in Bran's dream could just as easily be Brienne wearing the helm. Half of me wants Brienne to get knocked out and Sandor to turn up, the other wants Sansa to come running to "The Hound" afterwards to be confronted with The Maid of Tarth.. UNLUCKY haha. I suppose there's at least some dramatic irony in even someone wearing The Hound's old helm dispatching undead Gregor monster thing.. and Brienne's totally gonna get given that because Lem having it is just a plain waste of helm.

But if Martin goes one further and brings back Sandor for one epic final battle you just know readers will be like this -

http://easyquestion....3/HighFive.jpeg

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I can´t help it, I would love to see the Hound fight the Mountain, but I just don´t see that happen.

On the other hand, what is it with all those fighters that have half their face marked in a way.

Sandor has half the face burned and would possibly fight for Sansa. Brienne has half the face bitten off and would no doubt fight for Jaime, Jorah has half his face tattoed and given the slightest chance would gladly fight for Dany.

That seems to much of a coincidence for me, but so far I just can´t figure it out. Does anyone have an idea on that?

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He is a very interesting character no doubt, but he is also indisputably a memeber of the nobility. He was born the second son of lord Clegane (or quite possibly a landed knight) and with his brother's death, he is now heir to his family's lands should he choose to claim them.

He can't claim them. He's wanted for desertion and the Saltpans atrocities. Cersei has a price on his head and the Clegane house is considered extinct.

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He can't claim them. He's wanted for desertion and the Saltpans atrocities. Cersei has a price on his head and the Clegane house is considered extinct.

Desertion, maybe. The Saltpans incident was done by someone in his helmet. Cersei's on a slippery slope. I doubt that anyone is worrying about the status of the Clegane land title at the moment.
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Plus Clegane is a pure badass, he's demonstrated on many an occasion an utter disdain for the trappings of 'nobility'. Although I suppose what makes his character so interesting is that he's so full of contradictions.

Somehow though I can't help thinking of him like Rorschach in The Watchmen, because that was a character that Alan Moore just said was impossible to survive the series. I think if Clegane is alive he'll still die eventually, but I think he'll do it saving someone like in the crackpot theory I wrote earlier on.

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As a beginning forum user, I often found myself going back to older threads and wiki pages in order to accumulate information that other people had already gained through extensive research and discussions. This prompted me to start a series of analyses, in an attempt to clarify the theories people have been making on this site for a long time. After combining many scattered pieces of information regarding much discussed topics in ASOIAF, I ended up with more-or-less complete analyses. I hope sharing these notes with the rest of the community will help out other newer members (and perhaps older ones too) in understanding these theories.

So far we have discussed, in great detail, the theory that the sandsnake Sarella is actually the Sphinx in oldtown and the theory that King Balon Greyjoy was murdered by a faceless man, hired by his brother Euron Greyjoy.

This time the analysis revolves around the theory stating that Sandor Clegane is actually still alive and lives as a gravedigger on the Quite Isle. As you will see, many clues and indications have hinted at possible truth behind this claim:

(First and foremost, another shoutout to 'ghostlovesinger' from 'ToweroftheHand.com' whose essay added tons of information to this analysis and to the many users for providing clues and hints)

.............................................................

Near the end of A Storm of Swords, Sandor Clegane was grievously injured during a drunken skirmish with Gregor's men. Arya denied his request for "mercy" and instead left him to die where he had fallen. We, the readers, have not seen him since. Or have we…?

In AFFC there is a chapter where Brienne travels to the Quiet Isle with Pod and Ser Hyle. There, they meet an Elder Brother of the order of silent monks who claims to have found the Hound during his travels. Supposedly he died after the priest helped him through his final moments. Afterwards he buried him and placed his Hound Helm on top of his grave. In that chapter, however, we can find many clues and indications that point to Sandor being alive and that he is actually the gravedigger on the Quit Isle. In order to maintain a clear and orderly analysis, these clues will be separated into two categories, ‘the Elder Brother’ and ‘the gravedigger’

THE ELDER BROTHER:

1) The first indication can be seen in the way Elder Brother speaks about The Hounds demise. He never says “Sandor is dead”. For instance:

His words appear to be far more delicately chosen. All these sentences look like confirmation of Sandor's death, but when taken along with further observations, it is not quite so clear.

2) The second clue ties in to the first one and can be found in the following passage between the Elder Brother and Brienne:

The last part of the passage suggests that the idea of death means something different to the Elder Brother than it does to Brienne, or anyone else. When he speaks of his own death, of course he does not mean it in a literal sense, but a figurative one. He even uses the phrase, "second life," in contrast with the death of his first. This makes people inclined to believe that his talk regarding “The Hounds" death may also be figurative. The Hound might be dead, but Sandor Clegane could certainly still be alive.

3) The Elder Brother also knows too much about Sandor and his personal issues for someone who supposedly just aided him in a quick death bed. The fact that the priest seems to have a thorough understanding of Cleganes true nature is strange and is also another indication that he is probably not telling Brienne what really happened when he found him.

4) Stranger, Sandor's horse is in the stables on the Quite Isle. The Elder Brother claims to have taken him after burying The Hound. Stranger is known to be vicious and attacks anyone that isn’t Sandor. Even the Brothers of the Quite Isle admitted as much themselves, as seen in the following passage:

Knowing this begs the question: “How did the Elder Brother get Stranger to the Quite Isle without Sandor?” George Martin explicitly described how difficult it is to reach the Quite Isle, as stated in the following passage:

Brienne and her companions had to follow a very specific path to get there unharmed. This makes it nearly impossible to believe that the priest was able to take Stranger calmly with him on such a dangerous trip, where a single false step means death.

5) There is one last indication to be found in a quote relating to the Elder Brother:

This quote tells us that the Elder Brother is an exceptionally gifted healer, making it very possible that he healed Sandor from his critical condition. (Credit to 'Ser Wun Wun' for providing this clue)

THE GRAVEDIGGER:

At one point, Brienne and the Elder Brother have a brief exchange regarding a gravedigger on the Isle. Many believe this gravedigger to be Sandor Clegane. The following passage gives us enough clues to prove that this is most likely correct:

1) Brienne is known to be very big, even though, she specifically notes that the grave digger is bigger than her. Throughout her entire storyline, Brienne has usually been described as larger than most males and females. The Hound happens to be one of the people of whom we know, for a fact, to be bigger than Brienne.

2) He also walks with a limp, which would make sense since one of Sandor's wounds was in his leg, and that the leg wound was the one that, according to Arya, smelled peculiar, as if infected.

3) The gravedigger pats the dog that came with Brienne and the animal instantly takes a liking to the big man. It is known that Sandor loves dogs.

4) Additionally, the gravedigger is a novice, suggesting that he is new to the Isle. It is stated earlier in the chapter that the brothers and novices go cowled, with scarves wrapped around their faces. Clegane's distinctive burned face would be invisible to Brienne.

With this evidence to hand, it is possible, perhaps even likely, that Sandor Clegane is alive, and living as a novice on the Quiet Isle.

.............................................................

I hope this analysis helped out those who have not yet delved themselves into this theory. Feel free to add your own opinion or clues, as I am sure there are still things to be added.

Excellent analysis. For whatever reason it never occurred to me that it would be really difficult to bring along Stranger if The Hound was really dead.
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Although I believe in this theory, I hope it never comes up in the books themselves. GRRM should leave it as something to find for careful (or forum-going) readers and let Sandor die happy.

I know what you mean with that, it's nice to have little easter eggs like this. But at the same time I hate it when authors do this and use it to milk interviews ad infinitum going "oh well.. that is for the reader to decide!" and crap like that (see Syrio Forel). Plus I kinda feel they built up a dramatic emnity between the Clegane brothers early on for absolutely nothing. Sometimes I think you just gotta give the dog a bone.

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This is a very good theory- very well reasoned.

I would say though, if it turns out to be true, Sandor is alive to change his ways, so there is no way he's going to get the chance to be violent again. The will to be such might go out of him if/when he learns that the Mountain is dead(ish).

His story might take him to where he can help out Sam and the maesters. That'd be fun.

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Well, one could reason that his motivation for killing the mountain would be completely different - Before it was because he was full of hate and just wanted blood - now it could easily be set up so he did it to defend the innocent and vanquish what is now an abomination. You've got good ol' irony rearing it's head there again - he only gets to kill him once he's forgiven him.

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Desertion, maybe. The Saltpans incident was done by someone in his helmet. Cersei's on a slippery slope. I doubt that anyone is worrying about the status of the Clegane land title at the moment.

It doesn't matter. The Saltpans atrocities have been contributed to him. If anything, he's going to have a more difficult time defending himself against the rape and pillaging, regardless of how false the claims, than the desertion. People already think the worst of Sandor. They will not forgive him this even if he is innocent. And, as far the the Clegane lands, the Cleganes are bannermen to the Lannisters--the Lannisters gave them the lands and titles. As far the the Lannisters are concerned, the house is extinct. Sandor cannot claim it.

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I think there might be something in this - I'm starting to think that theory there about Strong eventually going after Sansa being interesting.. but it'd probably have to tie in with a few other things I was thinking might happen - firstly we know Littlefinger fully intends to bring Sansa out into the open to claim the North. If this happens and Cercei is in power (after an awesome battle where Robert Strong turns up for trial by battle and turns his challenger into a stain on the tiles), she would likely send him to deal with Sansa.

That is pretty damn close to the Vale. I'm also thinking it'll make a good story anyway - the idea of Gregor reborn as an unholy monstrosity and Sandor being born again as a genuine good-guy - the fact he shows remorse for his life when he last sees Arya shows he has some regrets for his former life. Even if Sandor sacrifices himself to kill unGregor, it'd make a pretty epic end to his story arc. If not and for some insane reason G.r.r. Martin actually does a happy ending to it I guess Sandor could forgive his brother and dispatch him without malice, and leave at peace with himself. Probably not though, I'd totally kill him.

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IMHO Sansa is going to kill Gregor when RS/GREGOR has to fight Sandor, and Sandor won't kill RS. Sansa is going to ride and warg the golden dragon (this was seen in a vision) and come down between them and melt GREGOR. Karmic Retribution, the same way he burned Sandor. And Sansa owes Sandor that. and She owes herself that too, to prove that she can be strong AND true, which she screwed up in the beginning not telling the truth about Nymeria and that pissant Joffrey.
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  • 2 weeks later...

IMHO Sansa is going to kill Gregor when RS/GREGOR has to fight Sandor, and Sandor won't kill RS. Sansa is going to ride and warg the golden dragon (this was seen in a vision) and come down between them and melt GREGOR. Karmic Retribution, the same way he burned Sandor. And Sansa owes Sandor that. and She owes herself that too, to prove that she can be strong AND true, which she screwed up in the beginning not telling the truth about Nymeria and that pissant Joffrey.

Interesting, although I'm wondering which vision you mean? Thus far we've seen no 'golden' dragons as such (viserion being a creamy colour and the other two being green and black respectively) - one would wonder if a reference to riding a golden dragon would mean becoming the master of coin.. something Sansa is in a particuarly obvious position to do. It's a little off-topic but I suspect the starks are being set up as various political forces, Arya as an assassin, Jon as a king/leader (I don't believe for a second he's dead, definitely not with Melisandre on his side), Bran as a man of learning/knowledge, Rickon probably as a warrior given his nature. I don't see Sansa as being set up for command of a dragon at all (or even anything physically powerful) but a player of the game of thrones - I think she will be more of an ambassador and diplomat. I agree it would be sweet if RS gets torched somehow though.

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  • 2 weeks later...

IMHO Sansa is going to kill Gregor when RS/GREGOR has to fight Sandor, and Sandor won't kill RS. Sansa is going to ride and warg the golden dragon (this was seen in a vision) and come down between them and melt GREGOR. Karmic Retribution, the same way he burned Sandor. And Sansa owes Sandor that. and She owes herself that too, to prove that she can be strong AND true, which she screwed up in the beginning not telling the truth about Nymeria and that pissant Joffrey.

What vision are you referring to here? I don't recall anything of the sort. The only Sansa the slayer reference is the Ghost of High Hearth's dream of her as slaying a savage giant in castle of ice/snow.

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  • 3 months later...
  • 3 weeks later...

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