Game of Thrones Gossip #30 Sandor Clegane

Welcome to my Game of Thrones Gossip, where all of us fanatics get the chance to discuss everything we love about this amazing TV series. I decided to do a whole series of these discussion posts that let us say everything we want and enjoy every second of it! The topics may talk about a death, an event, a character or be season reviews and so on. Please feel free to comment fully and without restriction!

I have to warn you that it is important that you have seen all six seasons before reading any of these posts because these posts and blogger comments will be oozing and exploding spoilers all over the place. If you haven't watched the series and plan to, be warned that it's a bad idea to be here right now! I take no responsibility if you read on and things are spoiled for you.

Now I'm going to look at the main characters introduced in season two, what our season one characters were doing in season two and looking at all the bests bits. Enjoy the season two posts! 

In season one Sandor 'The Hound' Clegane is the shadowy figure protecting Prince Joffrey, known for his grim demeanor and burned face. The burns were inflicted on him by older brother Gregor for the crime of playing with a discarded toy of his. He is present at Winterfell when Tyrion slaps Joffrey for not giving his regards to Catelyn after Bran's accident, with the Hound warning that Joffrey will remember the insult. After Joffrey confronts Arya and Mycah on the riverbank, it is The Hound who is given the job of tracking and killing Mycah despite him having done nothing wrong. Joffrey claims that Arya and Mycah attacked him with weapons to get sympathy.

Sandor watches in disgust as The Mountain kills Ser Hugh of the Vale in the jousting to celebrate the arrival of Ned as Hand. He is amused when Loras Tyrell uses a mare in heat to help him unseat his brother in the next round which leads to Gregor killing his horse and trying to kill Loras. Sandor steps in to stop Gregor and gets the gratitude of Loras and the crowd which embarrasses him. It is the first time we see him do something to defend someone but it is not the last. It is Sandor that defends Joffrey in the Throne Room when Ned leads his revolt and he is also the one who captures Sansa while Arya escapes. He is also there at Ned's execution. He becomes Kingsguard after Ser Barriston Selmy is fired, though he won't take knight's vows. Later when King Joffrey takes Sansa to view her father's head, Sandor notices that she is going to push him over the edge and kill him, and he is quick to stop her with the excuse of giving her a handkerchief for her bleeding nose, which she gained from Meryn Trant when Joffrey says he cannot his his lady. No doubt Sandor knew her fate if she did it. Perhaps he did not think Joffrey deserved a quick death or perhaps he was acting in his duty as Kingsguard. Either way, he did help Sansa that day.

Sandor starts season two fighting and killing a man in Joffrey's Name Day celebrations and when Ser Dontos is to be killed for being drunk, Sandor agrees with Sansa that it is bad luck to kill someone on your Name Day, saving the man's life. He comes to her assistance again when Tyrion stops Meryn Trant from publicly beating and stripping Sansa on Joffrey's orders, giving her his cloak to cover her up. With Joffrey becoming more hated every day as a ruler, a simple trip to see Myrcella off to Dorne turns into a city wide riot. Sandor's first job is to grab Joffrey and protect him as he fights his way through the crowd, handing him over to other guards so he can fight better. He is the only one other than Tyrion to notice that Sansa is missing and he goes to rescue her, killing her would be rapists. Later she thanks him but he is gruff, prompting Sansa to ask why he is so hateful. He responds by telling her that she will be glad of that when he is all that stands between her and Joffrey.

It seems that Sandor does not greatly enjoy being Kingsguard to someone like Joffrey and for him the Battle of the Blackwater is enough. It starts with him picking a fight with Bronn before the action gets underway but the men are called to arms before they can fight. He watches in horror as Tyrion unleashes the wildfire on the troops of Stannis Baratheon, knowing what kind of pain the men must be in from his own terrible experience. Sandor warns the leader of the archers what will happen to him if any flaming arrows come near him! He then leads his men out to the beach on Tyrion's orders and begins to fight, but watching the burning men on the beach freezes his brain and he is saved from death from death by Bronn. Seeing the fire everywhere and his men dying, he orders a retreat back into the city.

Tyrion is not impressed to see him back in the city and drinking wine instead of fighting and confronts him with Joffrey. Sandor loses his temper, says 'fuck the King' and leaves the battle to return to the Keep. Sansa finds him waiting in her chamber and he offers to get her out of the city and take her to Winterfell. Sansa believes that Stannis has won the battle and will treat her well but Sandor has less faith in that, saying that she will be surrounded by killers. He is unable to persuade her to leave with him so he heads off on his own. Oh Sansa you should have went with him!