Brace Yourselves: It Looks Like 'GOT' Is Finally Going To Give Us The Cleganebowl
Back in Game of Thrones' first season, the show laid the foundations for characters who start out villains to become sympathetic faces the more you got to know them. The Hound was one of the first to flip, initially introduced as a horror show of a bodyguard who killed small children, only to be revealed as an abused little boy still being beaten up by his older brother. Since then, fans have asked, will the Cleganebowl happen in Game of Thrones?
Unlike the Hound (real name: Sandor Clegane), who at this point is one of the underdog characters we're rooting to make it to somewhere near the end of the tale, his older brother Gregor Clegane, known as The Mountain, has never really been redeemed. He's the Lannister's evil heavy, a guy who gets off on squashing someone eyeballs like grapes. It was he who burned Sandor's face as a child, giving the Hound a lifelong terror of fire.
But in the finale, we got to feel a moment's sympathy. Perhaps, just a little. After all, the Mountain isn't fully alive anymore. He's a weird rotted Undead Corpse In A Shell, a mindless beast to do Cersei's bidding. As Sandor said, upon seeing his purpley-blue face and red eyes, "What did they do to you?"
It's a long way from that initial meeting way back in Season 1. The Mountain might not be able to speak anymore, but he still recognizes Sandor. And Sandor might only vaguely recognize the Undead Mountain That Shuffles as his long hated brother, but revenge is still in the cards.
That not how it ends for you, brother. You know who's coming for you. You've always known.
Fans are interpreting this scene to mean that it's the Hound who's coming for him and that that one-on-one confrontation will be soon. (At least in the next six episodes.) But though the Hound has waited a long time to take him down, one has to wonder, how much of it would be a mercy killing at this point, putting the undead man out of his rotted misery?
We'll find out in Game of Thrones Season 8...