The 50 Best Game of Thrones Characters, Ranked
29. Sandor Clegane a.k.a. “The Hound”
Like Tyrion, I also have a soft spot for “cripples, bastards and broken things” in the Game of Thrones universe, and the Hound is as broken as they come. Expertly played by Rory McCann, Sandor Clegane is a boorish, brutish, violent man who’s rude to almost everyone all the time. But we like this admitted murderer nonetheless.
The Hound’s backstory—his older brother burned half his face off over a dispute about a toy—is heart-wrenching, and has scarred him for life in more ways than one. He’ll chop your head off in a sword fight, but he’s deathly afraid of fire, for obvious reasons. Clegane also seems to have a soft spot for the innocent. He fends off Sansa’s would-be rapists, and develops a surprisingly warm relationship with Arya, when they’re not talking about killing one other, of course.
A brush with death courtesy of Brienne of Tarth helped the Hound form a new, more hopeful outlook on life. But those rogue members of the Brotherhood Without Banners should have known better than to screw with him. They paid dearly for that, as does everyone who crosses the Hound, but we’re interested to see if his softer side reasserts itself. If the Hound meets back up with Arya in Season 7, how do you think that will go?