#And the armor and the horse and the inhumanly large frame

[thebluelemontree]

SanSan time! So in ASOIAF we get the Hand’s Tourney scene with Sansa & Sandor, and the whole “he was no true knight” moment. It seems like Sandor is still thinking she’s just a “little bird” here - but later, her father as Hand attaints Gregor, stripping him of his titles for his violent crimes. How do you think this makes Sandor feel about Sansa & his perceived seriousness of her moral ideals, considering his trauma re: Gregor being anointed and his other crimes covered up by everyone but Ned?

I don’t think Sandor was ready at the time to draw any positive conclusions between Sansa and her father, because his cynicism always gets in the way of that.  While her compassion made him take notice, he doesn’t regard her beliefs as a good thing.  To him, they are still woefully naive and a weakness that will only lead to being victimized by the strong and cruel.  If Sansa is so ill-prepared for the brutality and bleakness of reality, well, he would point a very judgemental finger at her parents for that.  This is not to say Sandor wasn’t quietly making observations about Ned, because I do think a few books in we see subtle indications that Ned’s character and decision to bring Gregor to justice perhaps did make an impression after all.  And I think it’s his experience with Sansa that causes him to have a more charitable conception of Ned in hindsight rather than Ned influencing his view of Sansa.         

It’s just that Sandor requires a lot of evidence over time before he will consider altering his opinions.  He sees exactly what he expects to see, so his point of view is always validated.  It takes more than just Sansa saying “he was no true knight,” as groundbreaking as that moment was.  It’s precisely that fact that makes him want to work harder at trying to find the cracks in Sansa’s idealism to prove that it can’t be real.  It’s only until the conclusion of the Blackwater scene that Sandor can finally accept that she is sincere in her beliefs by treating him with compassion when he least deserved it.  To him, Sansa is such an anomaly that the idea of anyone else being that authentic and principled is an even bigger stretch of the imagination than she is.   

And what experience does Sandor have with fathers doing right by their children?  None.  His own father covered up Gregor’s vicious attack and made him uphold the lie.  Then he’s a witness to Tywin and Robert Baratheon’s parenting.  Sandor always initially gives his life experiences more weight than any counterevidence he saw from Ned or Sansa.        

We are given a glimpse of Sandor’s reaction upon hearing the news that Beric Dondarrion was sent by Ned to put down Gregor Clegane through Littlefinger:  

Robert was in a fury [over the loss of the white hart], until he heard talk of some monstrous boar deeper in the forest. Then nothing would do but he must have it. Prince Joffrey returned this morning, with the Royces, Ser Balon Swann, and some twenty others of the party. The rest are still with the king.“

“The Hound?” Ned asked, frowning. Of all the Lannister party, Sandor Clegane was the one who concerned him the most, now that Ser Jaime had fled the city to join his father.

“Oh, returned with Joffrey, and went straight to the queen.” Littlefinger smiled. “I would have given a hundred silver stags to have been a roach in the rushes when he learned that Lord Beric was off to behead his brother.”

“Even a blind man could see the Hound loathed his brother.”

“Ah, but Gregor was his to loathe, not yours to kill. Once Dondarrion lops the summit off our Mountain, the Clegane lands and incomes will pass to Sandor, but I wouldn’t hold my water waiting for his thanks, not that one… “  – Eddard XII AGOT

Granted Littlefinger is framing this information in a certain light to pique Ned’s paranoia as he’s been doing throughout their interactions.  Ned just tipped his hand as to who he’s worried about and Littlefinger ran with it, making it seem like Ned just crossed Sandor personally.  Early on, Sandor is still invested in the idea that killing his brother is the only way to end the pain of his trauma.  Not that I think that he genuinely wants to be a kinslayer, but keeping the revenge fantasy alive is a coping mechanism that Sandor doesn’t want to be taken from him.  I have no doubt that Sandor did go to Cersei immediately to discuss the situation, but there’s a lot more going on here.  This is going to be a long recap and a good deal of rambling.  You have been forewarned. 

At the inn at the crossroads, Catelyn arrests Tyrion as a person of interest in the assassination attempt on Bran based on Littlefinger’s claim of who won the Valyrian steel dagger.  She takes Tyrion to Lysa in the Eyrie, holding him prisoner.  Word of Tyrion’s arrest reaches King’s Landing via Yoren.  In retaliation, Jaime Lannister and his men attack Ned Stark in the streets, leaving Ned with a badly broken leg.  Ned is unconscious with a fever for “six days and seven nights.”  When he awakens, he tries to speak to Robert about the conflict with the Lannisters, but Robert will not hear of it.  The situation is escalating with both Riverrun and Casterly Rock calling their banners in anticipation for war.  Robert decides he’d rather go hunting than deal with this mess, tells Ned they should just simply stop fighting and leaves the next day.  Thanks, Robert.  

Ned is back to holding court as Hand and dealing with official business.  Marq Piper and Karyl Vance, Hoster Tully’s bannermen, show up to accuse the Lannisters of sending Gregor Clegane to attack villages in the Riverlands under the guise of common brigands.  They brought with them the few remaining survivors of the attacks to testify that despite the lack of sigils or banners, these brigands were definitely outfitted like proper knights.  They had war horses, good weapons and armor, and their inhumanly large leader couldn’t be anyone else other than the Mountain.  Ned believes them and suspects what Tywin may be trying to accomplish:  “should Riverrun strike back [openly attacking Tywin’s soldiers or bannermen], Cersei and her father would insist that it had been the Tullys who broke the king’s peace, not the Lannisters. The gods only knew what Robert would believe.”  The ruse gives Tywin plausible deniability of being responsible, but it is flimsy enough so the Riverlanders to take the bait.  There’s no guarantee that Robert, the weak king that he is, wouldn’t cave under pressure to side with his in-laws.  We also learn later that Tywin was counting on Ned leading his forces personally to come to the aid of his wife’s family.  Away from King’s Landing, Ned could be killed, captured, or traded for Tyrion.  Either way, the Starks would be removed from power; however, Ned’s leg was broken during the street fight with Jaime, who knew nothing of his father’s plan.  

So Ned sends Beric Dondarrion to bring down Ser Gregor for his crimes against the villagers in the name of the king’s justice, thwarting Tywin’s provocation of Riverrun to retaliate.  By putting Robert’s stamp of approval on Gregor’s death sentence, he’s also gambling that this will position the king to side against his in-laws later.  You know, when he finally gets Robert to have that big talk about his wife and kids.  Sigh. 

“Lord Tywin is greatly wroth about the men you sent after Ser Gregor Clegane,” the maester confided. “I feared he would be. You will recall, I said as much in council.”

“Let him be wroth,” Ned said. Every time his leg throbbed, he remembered Jaime Lannister’s smile, and Jory dead in his arms. “Let him write all the letters to the queen he likes. Lord Beric rides beneath the king’s own banner. If Lord Tywin attempts to interfere with the king’s justice, he will have Robert to answer to. The only thing His Grace enjoys more than hunting is making war on lords who defy him.” – Eddard XII, AGOT.

Ned sends Ser Robar Royce to Robert’s hunting party to inform the king (and Yohn Royce) of Dondarrion’s posse and Gregor’s attainment/death sentence.  Fast forward to Robert on his deathbed, where he voices his displeasure with Ned putting him in a difficult spot with his wife’s family.  

“Ah, fuck you, Ned,” the king said hoarsely. “I killed the [boar], didn’t I?” A lock of matted black hair fell across his eyes as he glared up at Ned. “Ought to do the same for you. Can’t leave a man to hunt in peace. Ser Robar found me. Gregor’s head. Ugly thought. Never told the Hound. Let Cersei surprise him.” His laugh turned into a grunt as a spasm of pain hit him. – Eddard XIII, AGOT.

Robert admits to Ned that he never told Sandor himself.  Surprise, Robert dodged an uncomfortable conversation and intended on leaving that task to Cersei so he could get back to having a good time.  Because Sandor returned with Joffrey and the Royces, he most definitely heard the news through them.  Why does this detail matter?  Well, if you were Sandor, wouldn’t you be irked that the king didn’t have the basic courtesy (or balls) to tell you himself?  The natural progression of that conversation would be discussing what that means for Sandor’s future, the inheritance of Clegane lands, and his standing with the Lannisters during this conflict.  But Robert doesn’t want to touch that topic with a ten-foot pole.  What I’m saying is, at that moment, he’s probably more pissed at Robert than anyone else.  Following that would be Ned’s decision interfering with one of his primary coping mechanisms.  So Sandor marches off straight to Cersei where he was probably told of Gregor’s purpose in the Riverlands and assured that Ned’s order would come to nothing.  Indeed, Gregor was ready for Donddarion, ambushing his party from all sides at Mummer’s Ford, soundly defeating them.  Meanwhile, Cersei was already making moves to remove both Ned and Robert.  But how did Sandor feel about all this? 

The grey light of dawn was streaming through his window when the thunder of hoofbeats awoke Eddard Stark from his brief, exhausted sleep. He lifted his head from the table to look down into the yard. Below, men in mail and leather and crimson cloaks were making the morning ring to the sound of swords, and riding down mock warriors stuffed with straw. Ned watched Sandor Clegane gallop across the hard-packed ground to drive an iron-tipped lance through a dummy’s head. Canvas ripped and straw exploded as Lannister guardsmen joked and cursed.

Is this brave show for my benefit, he wondered. If so, Cersei was a greater fool than he’d imagined. Damn her, he thought, why is the woman not fled? I have given her chance after chance … – Eddard XIV AGOT

He’s right there under Ned’s window, mocking and intimidating him.  If there was any tiny glimmer in Sandor that maybe Gregor would be finally held accountable for any of his crimes, it was almost immediately overshadowed by his cynicism and confirmation bias.  Knowing that Ned’s goose is cooked, Sandor would think Ned a great, naive fool for not understanding how the world really works and how outmatched he is.  His worldview is validated yet again by the cunning of his masters.  The only thing he can do is attempt to cure Sansa of the same infirmity before its too late for her. 

Just before the Blackwater battle, Sandor brings up her father and tries to put some dents in his image to argue his points.  For a little context, Sandor was alone on the roof of the Red Keep until Sansa showed up.  We can infer with his anxieties about the wildfire that Sandor was up there contemplating his own mortality, which is why he goes so particularly hard in needling Sansa.  It seems as if Sandor must have been in the middle of some pretty intense brooding.  If he dies in the battle by fire no less, it is in the thankless service of awful people, and Gregor still goes on living and unpunished.  If this is how it all ends, well, it’s pretty depressing and of course, as he should have always expected.  And here Sansa is still insisting on her idealistic worldview. He goes for a low blow.  In that process, he reveals his anger and trust issues with fathers.   

She hated the way he talked, always so harsh and angry. “Does it give you joy to scare people?”

“No, it gives me joy to kill people.” His mouth twitched. “Wrinkle up your face all you like, but spare me this false piety. You were a high lord’s get. Don’t tell me Lord Eddard Stark of Winterfell never killed a man.”

“That was his duty. He never liked it.”

“Is that what he told you?” Clegane laughed again. “Your father lied. Killing is the sweetest thing there is.” He drew his longsword. “Here’s your truth. Your precious father found that out on Baelor’s steps. Lord of Winterfell, Hand of the King, Warden of the North, the mighty Eddard Stark, of a line eight thousand years old … but Ilyn Payne’s blade went through his neck all the same, didn’t it? Do you remember the dance he did when his head came off his shoulders?” – Sansa IV, ACOK.

Of course, Ned must be a liar because his father was.  He’s got to be no different than Tywin, the high lord he knows best.  All fathers and killers are the same.  This is the truth as he sees it:  those on top, who hold near-godlike power of life and death over their subjects, secretly enjoy exercising that power behind a virtuous countenance.  Does Sandor honestly believe this about Ned, or is he trying really hard to convince himself of that?  Because for a flickering moment there, it almost sounds like a part of Sandor thinks of Ned in a grand, larger-than-life image before he pauses in thought…  

And since he’s the one who brought up Ned and his execution, he also can’t deny that he witnessed a man condemning himself as a traitor in exchange for the safety of the daughter the Lannisters held hostage.  He did the very thing his own father would not do:  endure the public shame and stigma for love of his child.  That is proof that Ned’s honor wasn’t just about his public image, which surely didn’t go unnoticed by someone sensitive to such things, whether he was ready to accept that or not.  That Ned wasn’t just merely outmatched by more cunning players, he was the victim of treachery and deceit, failed by a negligent king uninterested in dealing with corruption.  While he still does think Ned a fool, there’s a sense that Sandor has adjusted to thinking of him as a decent, honorable, and tragic sort of fool, much like his daughter.  What good did that integrity do him?  None.  The monsters won.  Illyn Payne still took his head off while he and his daughter watched.  Did you catch how the detail of Ned’s twitching limbs was burned into Sandor’s memory, the same one that plagued Sansa’s nightmares?  Yeah, it affected him too.  So I do think Sandor is trying to convince himself that Ned was actually a phony and a shitty person because Sandor doesn’t want to empathize with anyone and yet finds himself doing so anyway.  Like with Sansa, caring* means having confused and conflicted feelings that force him to re-examine his own life.  Add to the fact that Sandor is also the child of a murdered father.  I could see a young Sandor having very complicated feelings about mourning his own massive disappointment of a father if he allowed himself to mourn him at all.  I don’t see how those memories could not be dredged up.       

* I’m still debating whether or not “caring” is too strong a word in regards to Ned.  Let’s just say that upon later reflection, I think certain things about Ned’s life and death resonated with Sandor.    

It’s a very small, but not unremarkable shift considering how much of a jaded idealist cynic Sandor is.  Death probably also has a way of memorializing Ned in a similar way to how separation causes Sandor to reframe Sansa’s courteousness as something he highly esteems; however, Sandor just can’t say that he was wrong these things openly, so you have to read between the lines.  Later while telling Arya of his intention to return her to Catelyn and Robb, Sandor says he’s willing to wager that Robb won’t kill him:

If he doesn’t take me, he’d be wise to kill me, but he won’t. Too much his father’s son, from what I hear. – Arya IX, ASOS.

What Sandor is hoping for first and foremost is for Robb to take him into his service, right after stating that he’s done with loathsome and unappreciative masters.  In an indirect way, it is an admission that Ned, Sansa, and the other Starks are not just different, but better.  Still foolish because it would be “wiser” to kill someone like him, but definitely better.  Sandor assumes Robb will be pointing his army toward King’s Landing to free Sansa, so he believes his Lannister intel will make him a valuable asset.  “Maybe I’ll even kill Gregor for him, he’d like that.“  What’s also interesting is that he fantasizes about changing Robb’s negative opinion and winning his favor by taking down Gregor for him (in the name of the king’s justice), essentially fulfilling the duty Ned charged Dondarrion with.  While he may think he’s got one over on Robb and his long-awaited revenge will be the cherry on top, his wording points to a subconscious desire to please and serve Ned through his stand-in eldest son.  That he wants a chance to earn positive recognition from a worthy king, someone who Sansa also loves and admires.  The thought eases the pain of his failures and screw-ups regarding her during the Blackwater.  Except this goes up in smoke with the Red Wedding.  

I don’t know if in the future Sandor will ever have any lines where he openly and positively speaks of Ned, but that would be something I would love to see.  Since I am sure he and Sansa are bound to reunite, it would probably come up then.  Or Ned’s presence could be quietly felt in the continuation of Sandor’s arc through his choices and actions.  Or it could be both.  We just have to wait until Winds to find out.