[Sandor Clegane — Characters]
Tyrion and the court assemble at the shore of Blackwater Bay for the departure of Princess Myrcella. Cersei remains angry about Tyrion's arrangements for her daughter, threatening to one day deprive him of someone he loves. As they return to the Red Keep through the city, they are confronted by angry crowds of starving Smallfolk. Sensing the imminent danger, Tyrion orders a guard to escort Prince Tommen back to the Keep by another route. Shortly after, Joffrey is hit by thrown excrement and triggers a riot by demanding that his guards kill everyone in the crowd. Tyrion is horrified when the High Septon is torn to pieces by the famished crowd. He marshals his guards to lead him to safety. Once the royal family is safely separated from the mob, Tyrion confronts Joffrey for triggering the riot and the war that preceded it, calling him a vicious idiot. He slaps Joffrey when his nephew refuses to listen to the criticism. Tyrion orders Meryn Trant to retrieve the missing Sansa, knowing that Jaime's life is also on the line, but Meryn will not follow his orders. He is relieved when Sandor Clegane brings her to safety.
She is initially hesitant to leave the Red Keep, but eventually gives in to Qyburn's suggestion to leave for Maegor's Holdfast . Her Queensguard , however, is either crushed by debris or killed at the hands of Sandor Clegane . Gregor abandons her to fight Sandor, and Qyburn is killed by Gregor when he tries to stop him, causing her to flee alone before both the Clegane brothers fight. The wounded Jaime finally finds her in the war room and they embrace.
Tywin Lannister has raised Jaime and Cersei with the principle of ruthlessness as a virtue. Yet even though Jaime often behaves unapologetically amoral, in his own warped way, Jaime is the only member of the core Lannister family (Tywin and his three children) aside from Tyrion who shows any hint of honor or principles, whilst Tywin claims to see family as his highest priority but simultaneously is willing to have Tyrion, whom he views as an incalculable disgrace, killed, and Cersei herself ironically sees no immorality whatsoever in anything she does. This is largely based on his arrogance and pride at being a member of the Kingsguard. Jaime became extremely disillusioned with ideals of honor and loyalty when he saw firsthand the atrocities committed by the Mad King, how other "honorable" members of the Kingsguard stood by and did nothing while Aerys had people burned alive for imagined insults, because they felt bound by vows of faith and fealty - in this sense, Jaime is surprisingly similar to Sandor Clegane, since they both have powerful disillusionments about honor and nobility, yet they both frequently avoid unnecessary violence.
Arya, Hot Pie, and Gendry continue traveling to Riverrun. They are eventually captured by the Brotherhood Without Banners , who mistake them for war refugees. They are taken to a local inn where they are fed. Just as they are about to leave, Sandor Clegane is brought in as a captive. Despite trying to stay out of his sight, Clegane spots Arya and reveals her true identity.
Later at the hideout, Arya is disillusioned with the Brotherhood for selling Gendry, and rejects Dondarrion's argument that it was the will of the one true god, revealing the only one true god she believes in is Death . When Dondarrion decides to postpone delivering Arya to Riverrun to raid a group of Lannister soldiers for their armor and weapons, Arya angrily calls them out on their hypocrisy and runs away, hoping the Lannister soldiers will kill them all. She evades the Brotherhood but before she gets too far, she is kidnapped by Sandor Clegane , who was lying in wait for her.
A subplot in the books which is only somewhat alluded to in the TV series is that in her desperation, Sansa starts latching onto the idea of Sandor Clegane as her protector from Joffrey or a potential source of an escape attempt.
Joffrey takes after his mother in terms of looks and personality, his blond hair being a subtle clue that he isn't really a Baratheon, who famously always possess black hair even when only one parent is Baratheon. Cersei herself lets it slip to Catelyn Stark that she once had a child with black hair who died prematurely of a fever before she had Joffrey. He is usually accompanied by his sworn shield, the formidable Sandor Clegane , better known as the Hound. Even before he ascends to the Iron Throne , Joffrey is spoiled, arrogant, cowardly, childish and sadistic, though he tends to hide these traits before his ascension, appearing to be the typical charming heir to Seven Kingdoms . However, these traits are further exacerbated upon Robert's death and his ascension to the crown, proving to be one of the most twisted and malevolent Westerosi monarchs.
En route to the Bloody Gate , Brienne and Podrick Payne stumble upon Arya and Sandor Clegane, who have just returned from The Eyrie after hearing of Lysa’s death. Upon realizing that she finally caught up with one of Catelyn’s daughters, Brienne beseeches Arya to come with her but the Hound casts aspersions on Brienne’s intentions. Each of them believing they should be the one to look after Arya, Brienne and the Hound engage in a brutal fight that ends with the latter being knocked off a cliff. However, an ever-wary Arya hides from Brienne and Pod, making the former miss her first chance to fulfill her oath to Catelyn.
Brienne and Podrick arrive in King's Landing ahead of Jon's party and are greeted by Bronn and several Lannister men. They accompany him as he welcomes Jon's party when they arrive, and Brienne is shocked to see Sandor Clegane alive and siding with the North. As they collectively walk to the Dragonpit for the armistice meeting , Brienne tells the Hound that she thought he was dead. He remarks that she came pretty close to rendering him so. She counters that she was only trying to protect Arya, and the Hound says he was as well. Brienne tells him that Arya is alive and home at Winterfell, much to his surprise. When he asks who's protecting her there if Brienne is here, she quips, "The only one that needs protecting is the one who gets in her way." They share a smile over that.
Sandor Clegane arrives on horseback with Daenerys's army of Unsullied . He is seen later in the forges while Gendry prepares him an ax made of Dragonglass . While he waits for the weapon, he makes a snide remark to Gendry, only to be cut off by Arya who defends Gendry. He points out that she left him for dead, to which she replies, "First I robbed you." He realizes just how ruthless and trained the girl has become, by saying, "You're a cold little bitch, aren't you? Guess that's why you're still alive", before stalking off.
Sandor Clegane shares many traits with his brother, such as his large build, immense strength and toughness. He is a skilled swordsman, but favors heavy strikes and brute force. Like his brother, he utilizes his sword in a one-handed style. His skill combined with his immense strength makes him one of the most feared and formidable fighters in Westeros.
When Daenerys and her retainers are set to arrive in King's Landing to negotiate an armistice with Cersei and her royal army, Cersei has Clegane stand in as her personal bodyguard. Even before they set out to the Dragonpit , where the meeting is stated to be held, she makes preparations with Qyburn, Jaime and Clegane. She orders Ser Gregor to first kill Daenerys, then Tyrion, then Jon, and the rest of them in any order if the meeting goes wrong. Together with Clegane, Cersei then sets out to meet their guests. When their procession arrives in the Dragonpit, Sandor Clegane—who is with the group of Daenerys—is shocked to see the state of his hated brother.
Known as "the Mountain That Rides", Gregor is one of Tywin Lannister's chief enforcers. Gregor's knighthood is regarded as a hypocritical mockery of justice by many, as he is a thoroughly dishonorable and undisciplined butcher. While Gregor is so strong that he can easily fight the strongest knights in Westeros, his greatest enthusiasm in wartime is for burning out the homes of peasants who cannot possibly fight back, and torturing their women and children to death. Indeed, Gregor's immense size isn't really his main attribute to Tywin, so much as his utter enthusiasm for committing atrocities. With a "might makes right" mentality, Gregor feels that his immense bulk and strength gives him impunity to behave as he does, as few would dare to challenge him. While Gregor is incredibly dangerous in combat, he relies more on sheer strength than on speed or skill. Gregor has gone through two wives, who died from the extremely rough treatment they received from him, though there are rumors that he killed them on purpose. His father and younger sister also died on suspicious circumstances. Sandor Clegane left when Gregor succeeded their father and never returned.
When Sandor escorts Sansa back to the Red Keep after the tournament feast, at Joffrey's command, he tells her the story of how his face was burned (not Littlefinger as happens in the TV series): a wood carver gave toys to both of the Clegane children in order to gain their father's patronage. Sandor wanted the articulated jointed knight that Gregor got, so he took it. Gregor was ten and already big enough to be training so he didn't even care about the toy, but when he found six year old Sandor playing with it - without warning he pushed Sandor's head into a brazier and held him there. It took three men to get Sandor away from him, and their father told people that Sandor's bed linens had caught fire. It was later when Gregor was anointed a knight that Sandor Clegane lost all respect for the institution of knighthood, and has steadfastly refused to be knighted himself.