Gregor Clegane

"A man who sees nothing has no use for his eyes, cut them out and give them to your next outrider. Tell him you hope that four eyes might see better than two ... and if not, the man after him will have six."

- Gregor Clegane

Ser Gregor Clegane is a character from A Song of Ice and Fire / Game of Thrones series.

He is the older brother of Sandor "The Hound" Clegane and is the head of House Clegane which are landed knights and bannermen to House Lannister. Gregor is a freakishly large man and for this he is often called The Mountain That Rides or simply The Mountain.

He was e originally played by guest star Conan Stevens in season 1, then replaced by Ian Whyte (in season 2) and later by Hafþór Júlíus Björnsson (in season 4-6).

Early Life
Gregor's history is dark and filled with blood. As a twelve-year-old, he caused his brother Sandor's facial scars by holding the seven-year-old boy's face to a hot brazier as punishment for playing with a toy he had discarded. Their father spread the story that the injuries were caused by bedding that had caught fire.

Four years later, he was knighted by Prince Rhaegar Targaryen, a great honor. There were rumors that Gregor killed his father, sister, and his first two wives. His keep is said to be a grim place where servants vanish unaccountably and even the dogs are afraid to enter the halls. Gregor has committed rapes and cold blooded murders beyond count but his most infamous deed came from his service to House Lannister during Robert's Rebellion.

Aged 17, he was one of the first Lannister soldiers to enter King's Landing during its sack at the end of the war. He and Ser Amory Lorch scaled Maegor's Holdfast when the Lannister troops reached the Red Keep. Gregor entered the nursery of the infant Prince Aegon, son of Prince Rhaegar, and killed the baby by dashing the boy's head against a wall. Then he raped and murdered Aegon's mother, Princess Elia Martell, supposedly with the boy's blood and brains still on his hands.

A Game of Thrones
Gregor takes part in the Tourney of the Hand, a tourney thrown in honor of Ned Stark's appointment as Hand of the King. In his second joust, he slays Ser Hugh of the Vale, piercing his throat with his lance. He is eventually unhorsed by Ser Loras Tyrell, who purposefully rides a mare in heat in order to unnerve Gregor's stallion. Gregor flies into a rage, and kills his horse in a single blow before attacking Ser Loras. Gregor's brother, The Hound intervenes, and the two fight shortly before King Robert orders them to stop. He sullenly returns to his keep to brood on his defeat. Upon his journey home from the tourney with seven of his men, Gregor still broods on his loss. An overflowing river detours the group to a nearby alehouse, where he and his men savagely gang rape the brewer’s thirteen year old daughter.

After Tyrion Lannister is kidnapped by Catelyn Tully, Lord Tywin Lannister orderes Gregor to raid the Riverlands in order to draw Ned Stark into the field. Ned Stark had recently been injured however, and sent Lord Beric Dondarrion to bring Gregor to justice. Tywin, Gregor and his men ambush Lord Beric and his party, and Gregor kills Beric at the Mummer's Ford.

After war breaks out in full, Gregor joins Tywin's host and fights the Northmen at the Battle of the Green Fork. During the fight, his horse is killed by Karstark spearmen. He remains behind to bleed the Riverlands along with Ser Amory Lorch and Vargo Hoat.

A Clash of Kings
Gregor sacks several castles, burns down villages and harvests, and rapes and captures innocents. He takes Stone Hedge, putting the castle to the torch, taking its food supplies, and burning the harvest of Lord Jonos Bracken. He then rapes one of Bracken's daughters. He also kills the eight-year Lord Lyman Darry during the Sack of Darry, after Edmure Tully and Robb Stark let the lords of the Riverlands return to their homes. Having already killed  Ser Raymun Darry at the Mummer's Ford, the Mountain is directly responsible for the extinction of House Darry. After that he keeps causing large destruction in the Riverlands, and burns villages for House Lannister. For a time, he unwittingly held Lady Arya Stark in Harrenhal, who swore to kill the Mountain after witnessing his many attrocities. They fight several skirmishes against the Brotherhood Without Banners, and Gregor kills Beric Dondarrion for a second time.

He loses the Battle of the Fords against Ser Edmure Tully, at the Stone Mill.

A Storm of Swords
Gregor and his host continue to fight many battles throughout the war, fighting the Northeners at Duskendale with Lord Randyll Tarly and in the Battle of the Ruby Ford, chasing Lord Roose Bolton and taking several highborn captives including Ser Wylis Manderly. Under the order of Lord Tywin he re-takes Harrenhal from the Brave Companions. He brutally slaughters nearly everyone in the castle, with a special torment reserved for the traitor Vargo Hoat. He cuts off his limbs, cooks them, and feed them to Hoat. There he and his men rapes repeatedly a girl named Pia who the Mountain smashes her face with a mailed fist for talking after he asked for silence.

After Tyrion is put on trial for the murder of King Joffrey and demands trail by combat, Queen Cersei names Gregor as her champion. Seeing a chance to avenge his sister and her children, who were killed by Gregor, Oberyn Martell volunteers to be Tyrion's champion.

The two fight, and Oberyn initially gains the upper hand, his speed and fighting style nullifying Gregor's greatest strengths; his immense strength and reach. Oberyn manages to take Gregor down, but insists on having Gregor confess his crimes before dying. Oberyn gets too close, and Gregor knocks him down and crushes his skull, after confessing his crimes.

Despite winning the duel, Oberyn gets his revenge by having coated his spear with poison, drawing out Gregor's death and making it agonizing beyond belief. Tywin Lannister has Grandmaester Pycelle attempt to cure him, so that he can be executed to appease Dorne, but fails.

A Feast for Crows
Gregor lingers on, and his condition continues to deteriorate. His blood turns black, his piss is full of puss and the Venom eats a hole the size of a fist in his side. His screams of agony are so loud that they wake people up in the Red Keep, prompting Cersei to have him moved to the dungeons below the keep, where Qyburn can experiment on him.

Gregor seemingly eventually passes, and a giant skull ostensibly his is sent to Dorne.

A Dance with Dragons
Gregor's skull is delivered to Dorne.

Meanwhile however, Qyburn unveils a new member of the Kingsguard to champion Cersei Lannister in her trial; Ser Robert Strong. Robert Strong is an eight foot tall giant, the same size as Gregor, encased from head to toe in shining white armour. Robert is said to have taken a vow of silence, which is why he never speaks, but his brothers in the Kingsguard claim he neither eats, sleeps nor shits either. Many in the Red Keep have guessed the silent giant's true identity. With Gregor's skull in Dorne, none can guess what lurks behind his visor. Presumably, he is the headless corpse of Gregor reanimated by Qyburn (who is believed to be a necromancer).

Character and Appearance
Gregor Clegane's size, strength and cruelty are things of legend in Westeros. He is extremely tall, almost eight feet, and weights 420 lbs (190 kg) all of it pure muscle. He wields a six-foot, two handed great sword in a single hand, giving him enormous reach, while still affording him the protection of a shield. He has been known to hack men in half with a single blow.

When in battle, he wears the heaviest armour known to man, so thick and large that no other man can so much as move let alone fight in it. Below it, he wears chainmail and boiled leather, and sports a plate helm emblazoned with a stone fist punching towards the sky. He carries a massive oaken shield emblazoned with the three hounds of his house. These accountrements make Gregor virtually invincible on the field of battle.

Gregor's size appears to be caused by some form of gigantism. A side effect of this are constant debilitating migranes. This appears to be the cause of Gregor's perpetually foul temper. To make his condition bearable, he consumes great amounts of milk of the poppy, to the extent that he has built up a sizeable immunity to its effects.

Gregor is known for his violence and cruelty. He is a sadistic murderer and rapist, and takes great pleasure in tormenting others. His foul temper makes him a danger to all those around him, and he once supposedly killed a man for snoring to loud. He has been compared to a frothing dog. Gregor is very solitary, and never leaves his lands unless he is fighting in a tourney or a war.

Trivia

 * Gregor is often viewed as one of the six most evil villains in Game of Thrones, other seven being Ramsay Bolton, Joffrey Baratheon, Rorge, Walder Frey, Karl Tanner and Craster.
 * He is also considered one of the eight worst villains in the original A Song of Ice and Fire novels and its spin-offs, with other seven being Aerys II Targaryen, Craster, Joffrey Baratheon, Ramsay Bolton, Vargo Hoat, Maegor I Targaryen and Rorge.
 * In the adaptation TV series, his character is more silent and less important to the story. When he is presumably reintroduced as the apparently-zombified Ser Robert Strong, his eyes are seen through his helmet with pale greenish flesh.
 * During A Dance With Dragons occurs, Gregor was still on Arya Stark's list of people who she tried to kill even after his alleged "death", for Arya had no idea that Gregor died and thought he is still alive. This is also implied in the TV series.