Sandor Clegane

"Does it give you joy to scare people?"

- Sansa Stark to Sandor "No, it gives me joy to kill people"

- Sandor Clegane in response

Sandor Clegane aka "The Hound" is a main character in A Song of Ice and Fire book series as well as its T.V. adaption, Game of Thrones.

He is portrayed by Scottish actor Rory Mccann in the HBO series.

He is a member of House Clegane. He is the younger brother of the current head, Ser Gregor Clegane. He is nicknamed "The Hound" for his savage nature and unquestioning obedience to his masters and for the three dogs featured in his family's crest. He is considered one of the most dangerous fighters in Westeros, though he frequently drinks himself into stupors. As a child, Sandor received gruesome facial burns when Gregor shoved his face into a brazier. He came to loathe fire, his brother, and the hypocrisy of knighthood in general.

Early Life
Sandor was born the second son of the head of House Clegane, a minor House in the Westerlands. Sandor's childhood was difficult, due in large part to his brutally cruel brother Gregor "The Mountain" Clegane. Gregor was an unusually large and vicious child, once inflicting horrific burns onto his brother when he caught him playing with one of his toys. The scars would marr Sandor's face for the rest of his life. Gregor also reputedly killed their sister, when Sandor was very young. Their father died in mysterious circumstances in a hunting accident, and the very day Gregor came into his inheritence as the new Lord of House Clegane, Sandor left to take up a position in the Lannister household.

At some point he aquired the nickname "The Hound", in part for his House's sigil (three dogs) and his helmet, shaped into the likeness of a snarling dog.

A Game of Thrones
Sandor made a name for himself as a great warrior, and acted as the bodyguard and servant of Prince Joffrey Baratheon. Joffrey's father, Queen Cersei, would later suggest that Joffrey looked towards the Hound as a surrogate father. Sandor was part of King Robert Baratheon's retinue in his journey to Winterfell to recruit Ned Stark as the new Hand of the King. Sandor would earn the enmity of Stark's daughter; Arya Stark, by killing her friend Mycah at the Queen's order.

Back in the capitol of King's Landing, a tourney was held in honour of Ned Stark's appointment. Sandor fought in the tournament, and on the first night, Joffrey dispatched him to escort his bethroed; Sansa Stark, to her quarters. In his drunkeness, Sandor became enamoured of the beautiful lady, but to his rage, she refused to look him in the eyes due to his disfigurement. Sandor would go on to win the tournament, after saving Ser Loras Tyrell from his brother The Mountain, after which Ser Loras named Sandor the winner.

After Eddard Stark attempted to take Cersei and her illegitimate children into custody for treason, not knowing that the city guards he believed under his command had betrayed him, Sandor participated in the slaughter of Ned Stark's household guards and loyalists.

When Ser Barristan Selmy, head of the Kingsguard, was dismissed, the newly crowned King Joffrey appointed Sandor in his stead, despite the fact that Sandor refused to be knighted. In his new capacity, Sandor was often made to guard Sansa Stark. He subtly and repeatedly defended her from the king's wrath, and was the only Kingsguard never commanded to beat her. He treated her with relative kidness.

A Clash of Kings
Sandor is present at the tourney held in honour of King Joffrey's 13th name day. He is dismissive of the competitors and declines to take part himself, believing it to be a waste of his time. When Sansa attempts to save the drunken Ser Dontos from the king's wrath by telling him that killing a man on his name day would be bad luck, Sandor backs her claim, which Joffrey initially dismissed.

Sandor catches Sansa returning from the Godswood after meeting with Ser Dontos for the first time. He drunkenly confronts her and questions her on where she had been, and dismisses her excuses as lies; but when another Kingsguard; Ser Boros Blount, asks the same questions, Sandor backs Sansa's claims. Despite her fear of him, Sandor escorts Sansa back to her quarters unharmed. When she asks him why he takes offense at being called "knight", yet doesn't mind being called "dog", he tells her the story of his House's founding, and his brother's cruelty.

After the loss the Kingship suffered at the Battle of Oxcross at the hands of Sansa's brother; Robb Stark, King Joffrey orders Sansa to be beaten by the Kingsguard present. Sandor refuses however, and is spared by the intervention of Tyrion Lannister, who stops the beating.

During a riot in King's Landing, Sandor saves Sansa from an angry mob, saving her from rape and murder.

When King's Landing faced invasion by Stannis Baratheon in the Battle of the Blackwater, Sandor fought heroically, but finally deserted after refusing Tyrion Lannister's command to return to the now burning battlefield, due to his crippling fear of fire. Before fleeing, he confronts Sansa in her chambers, drunkenly asking her to come with him. After she refuses, he settles for a song elicited at knifepoint, and steals a kiss from her before leaving.

A Storm of Swords
Sandor is captured as a vagabond in the Riverlands by the Brotherhood Without Banners, who also had Arya stark in their custody. Sandor is put on trial for the various attrocities commited by Lannister soldiers, but no specific crime could be attributed to him, until Arya told the Brotherhood about his murder of her friend Mycah. Since the court lacked evidence, the Brotherhood's leader; Beric Dondarrion, decreed that the matter would be settled in trial by combat. Beric fought with a magically enchanted flaming sword, and despite a severe hangover and his crippling fear of fire, Sandor won the duel and his life. The Brotherhood stripped him of his money and possessions, and sent him on his way, but Sandor soon returned with the intention of reclaiming his possessions by force. He came accross Arya escaping, and captured her, hoping to ransom her to her brother.

Unfortunately, he arrived at the Twins just as Robb Stark was being betrayed and slaughtered by the Freys. Sandor decided to change course and find another of her relatives to ransom her to. With Riverrun under siege, and the Eerie inaccessible, the prospect of ransom grows dimmer and dimmer, as the two travel the Riverlands. They come accross an inn being accosted by some of Sandor's brother's leal men, with whom Arya holds a grudge. A fight breaks out, and despite severe hunger and drunkeness, Sandor and Arya manage to kill them. Sandor suffered a wound to his leg, and despite Arya's best efforts, it grew infected. Sandor eventually collapses underneath a tree, and begs Arya for a swift death. Arya refuses him however, and leaves him to die in pain as revenge for murdering her friend.

A Feast for Crows
After his supposed death, Sandor's fate becomes uncertain. The Elder Brother of the Quiet Isle told Brienne of Tarth that he came accross Sandor dying underneath the tree, and treated his wounds, giving the Hound some peace as he died, and that he left his snarling dog helm at his purported gravesite. The Elder Brother takes care to claim only that "The Hound"  is dead, and not "Sandor Clegane." While on the Quiet Isle, Brienne comes across an unusually large gravedigger of Sandor's build, with a limp, petting a dog.

Sandor's helmet was found by the remnants of the Brave Companions mercenary company, and was donned by Rorge, leading people to believe that Sandor was still alive and had turned into a vagabond.

Abilities
The Hound was one of the most renowned fighters in the Seven Kingdoms of his time. He was known for his large size, great strength and skill with the sword. According to Jaime Lannister, Sandor was deceptively fast, much more so than a man of his size should have been.

Personality and Appearance
The Hound was hard and brutal, filled with hatred, especially for his brother. He frequently drank himself into a stupour, and suffered from pyrophobia, a crippling fear of fire, brought about by his brother holding his head into a fireplace for playing with one of his toys. He sometimes displayed a tender side, shown almost exclusively with Sansa Stark.

The Hound is described as a huge and heavily muscled man. The right side of his face is gaunt, with sharp cheekbones and a heavy brow. His nose is large and hooked, his hair long, dark, thin and brushed so that it covers his burned left side, where no hair grows. The left side of his face is a ruin. His left ear is gone, leaving only a hole. His eyes are grey, and his left eye is covered by a twisted mass of scars and slick black flesh is pocked with craters and deep cracks that ooze red and wet mark the left side of his face. On his jaw, bone shows.

He wears plain armour, and is denoted by his distinctive helmet, sculpted into the shape of a snarling dog's head.