The Hound: A theory

[viZion]

Originally Posted by scalem X

He's dead to me. Maybe undead, but no more.
After al Martin won't dodge everyone's dead. Before we know Eddard and Tywin are alive again.

This is akin to the theory that pretty much everyone in the book is a Targaryen bastard.

[viZion]

Originally Posted by Boaz

He did find some kindred spirit in Arya. Both of them were filled with rage. Both of them have a sibling that they hate. Both have killed for survival, for convenience, and out of anger. I think Sandor was secretly delighted when Arya backed him in combat at the Twins and in the inn. He really was proud of her when she gave the gift of mercy to that boy.

I really like the scene where Arya gives mercy to that boy. Sandor has a teaching quality in that scene. Almost like a father teaching a daughter the correct way to do things. Kind of a twisted father-daughter scene but nonetheless I think the sentiment exists in that particular moment.

[Boaz]

The Hound is Arya's father figure? Interesting. Eddard the Wolf died only to be replaced by Sandor the Dog.

[TK-421]

Sandor sure has his moments, especially with the Stark girls.

Seriously, he is a character that as Shrek would say, is like an onion. He has many layers.

[DeannaBelle]

Hilarious. Yes, I did enjoy the Hound's affection for Arya, but I hadn't thought of him as a "father figure." So crazy I love it! So, with the Hound possibly be a priest-type and Arya becoing a Faceless Woman, what kind of reunion/partnership do you see coming?

(See? All we all really want - even in Westeros - is to love and be loved. Even the Hound.)

[DeannaBelle]

Also, Arya makes a better son than Joffrey did.

[JDP]

MY £1,000,000 PREDICTION: Sandor (The Hound no longer) will return... as the High Septon's champion at the trial of Cersei and Maergery!!! Just when Cersei's managed to wangle the Un-Gregor as her champion instead of a member of the Kingsguard, Sandor will kill Un-Gregor, thus condemning Cersei, only to be killed by Maergery's champion (a disfigured Loras - yes, he was burned, but not that badly).

[DeannaBelle]

No, JDP, I'll bet you $1,980,000 instead.

[Young stormlord]

Have you noticed that Hound and Arya look a lot like Dunk and Egg.
Hound= Dunk.
1)Both are tall
2)both were in kings guard
3)there were not knights but were acting as true knight would
4)both roamed through seven kingdoms with someone of kings blood
Arya=Egg
1)both are small
2)both are weird though on a different way
3) both have king for a brother
4) both saved their protectors from death

[vervain_ashe]

Originally Posted by Boaz

I disagree that Sandor has found a home and a master in his current location. These brothers are more the ASPCA or the Humane Society. He's given food and shelter, but he's just basically waiting to die... he's devoid of real social contact. He's digging graves and being forced to stay mute. What fighting dogs like to be forced to dig holes and wear muzzles? Dogs dig from boredom and for escaping a pen.

Sandor called Sansa a little bird. To him she was a pretty little minature. He despised her innocence and frailty while wishing that he could regain his own innocence and child-like trusting nature. His own innocence ended when he stole Gregor's toy soldier. The toy soldier was a pretty little miniature... like Sansa.

He seems drawn to the pretty little miniature. He was Joffrey's sworn sword when Joff was very young. He dragged Arya around for half a year... okay, so Arry/Lumpyhead/Weasel might not have been pretty, but she was little.

Last year, in honor of the plethora of Hollwood couples nicknames over the last few years, such as TomKat, Benifer, BenJen, and Brangelina, I coined the Sandor - Sansa match as SanSan. Use it. Promote it. It'll come true.

Gawd! I hope that's not what it'll be called!

[Fourth Hunter]

Boaz was being sarcastic, don't worry...well, he may have been being sarcastic...

[Aegon the Unworthy]

The Hound is an interesting character....he obviously has some good nature left in him, some sense of right that hasnt been damaged by his traumatic upbringing.

On the day Gregor burned his face, it changed his outlook to the point where his moral compass lost meaning. I suspect he was a great deal like Bran as a small child, with his now bitter views of knighthood and chivalry. He still strives to be a knight of some sort, if we discount his slaying of the butcher's boy Mycah he has definitely behaved in the most chivalric manner of all the knights we see....

Defended Loras from his brother on the tourney field
Consoled and councilled Sansa
Attempted to return Arya to her mother

There was always an air of anger, and selfishness in his actions but I suspect its a cover and coping mechanism that enables him to stand against the world. I think he would have tried to return Arya regardless of whether or not he got paid, but the money would enable him to survive and that is one thing Sandor is good at...surviving.

Clearly he was delighted when Arya fought beside him, I dare say very few others have ever stood with Sandor like that and that changed their dynamic greatly. Of course he lacks the ability to properly process basic human emotion and would probably lash out shortly thereafter but thats his upbringing not his character.

His growth and story cycle seem more genuine than Jaime's. Jaime had no horror stories that mitigate pitching Bran off a ledge, but the Hound at least has a reason for his anger. Whereas Jaime calculates his sins before he does them, Sandor reacts in a haze of red violence which makes his sins less onerous. Even his callous dismembering of Mycah can be rationalized in part by a zealous overprotectiveness of Joffrey.

No real point, just kinda chatting about the Hound.

[viZion]

Nice thoughts, Aegon. In a way, I think he views his brutal slaying of Mycah and other innocents as exactly the way a knight would act which is another reason he despises knights. They act noble but many are also brutal cold-blooded killers. Anyway, you said it better than I can.

[Slyde]

I've seen several people state that they think Sandor will do battle with his 'undead' brother.

From what I remember, I thought that Gregor's head (or skull) was being sent to Dorne.

Being headless, it seems he would not be a likely candidate to become 'undead'.

Am I wrong ?

[Tysha]

So many interesting thoughts!
The Hound found a refuge in religious place and so did Arya. I just hope that it's a temporary shelter for both of them. With all the respect for Faceless Men, I don't really want to see Arya loosing herself and her identity to become a religious killer. And the same about the Hound.