We Will See Each Other Again Clegaine

HBO's Game of Thrones is a dumbo series with a huge weight of history behind its story. So in practically every episode, something happens that could employ a trivial explanation. Every week, The Verge will dive into a scene or effect from the latest episode of the series and explain how we got here. Whether y'all're basically a Game of Thrones maester or you demand a piffling reminder about previous events, we'll try to assist you keep your history straight.

This episode of Game of Thrones was… a lot. Bad decisions were made. People died. Seasons of buildup and character arcs came to their culmination. But instead of looking at that, let's dive into what might be the least impactful (from a larger story perspective) merely most anticipated (past certain fans) upshot: the Cleganebowl.

Spoilers ahead for Game of Thrones in general, but specially season 8, episode 5, "The Bells."

GET HYPE

"Cleganebowl" was perhaps the best Game of Thrones theory, somewhere at the intersection of plausible books / prove development, internet meme, and incredible catchphrase: Go HYPE! (Which seems to originate in this 2013 YouTube video, at least according to Know Your Meme.)

The long-speculated fan theory postulated that two brothers, Sandor "The Hound" Clegane and his older brother Gregor "The Mountain" Clegane, would eventually face up off in a climactic duel. Fans dubbed this issue Cleganebowl, a portmanteau of their shared surname and "bowl," from the term used for many big football playoffs.

In tonight's episode, "The Bells," fans finally got the showdown they've been waiting for, with the Hound and the Mountain confronting each other for the last time. This showdown has been a long time coming. Here'south how we got here.

The brothers Clegane

To understand why the Hound / Mount face-off is important to fans, if non to the larger story, nosotros accept to go back to the beginning. Sandor and Gregor grew up together, and even in childhood, Gregor was cruel and inhuman. Gregor is infamously responsible for the horrific scars on his brother's face. He shoved Sandor into a fire when they were young because Sandor played with 1 of Gregor'due south toys.

Sandor'southward fright of fire stemming from that moment never went abroad, nor did his hatred for his blood brother. He despises his brother, knowing he's a monster even as he'south fabricated a knight of the realm. Gregor is a killer, rapist, and general thug. And while the motives for his feelings about Sandor aren't as clear, he clearly hates his blood brother just equally much.

Books versus show

George R.R. Martin's A Song of Water ice and Fire novels haven't reached the point of covering whether the Cleganebowl happens because they haven't fully made it articulate whether either blood brother is still alive. In the books, Cersei faces off against the humiliations of the dominant High Sparrow, final with the at present-infamous Walk of Shame through Male monarch's Landing. She's met on the steps by the ousted ex-Maester Qyburn and a towering, silent behemothic, Ser Robert Strong, whom she names her champion for her upcoming trial by gainsay against the Loftier Sparrow and the Faith of the 7.

Fans theorized (and the show confirmed, at least for its own version of the story) that "Ser Robert" was the zombie-corpse of The Mountain, preserved and reanimated by Qyburn following Gregor's poisoning by Oberyn Martell.

The other side of the Cleganebowl, withal, was where things got catchy. As book-readers and testify-watchers akin know, Arya Stark left the Hound to die afterwards a battle. The circumstances of said battle differ between Martin's novel A Storm of Swords and the season 4 episode on the show. On the show, Sandor turns up again in season 6, revealed to have been saved by a septon played by Ian McShane. Afterwards, he'south murdered, and the Hound avenges him.

The story in the book is less articulate, given that it's incomplete. Just in A Feast For Crows, Brienne of Tarth and Podrick Payne, while searching for the Hound (who they doubtable has Sansa Stark in his custody), see a district led by the Elderberry Blood brother, a priest who is extremely familiar with the Hound'southward exploits and mindset. He claims that he encountered the dying Sandor and cared for him until he died. The Hound'due south horse is also at the commune. Merely readers latched onto sure nuances in the Elder Brother's choices of words (he refers to "The Hound" as dead, simply says Sandor Clegane is "at rest"), likewise as an unnamed gravedigger at the commune, with injuries like to the Hound'due south. It's generally presumed that the gravedigger is Sandor, who's put aside his vehement past and joined The Religion.

Trial by gainsay

At this point, events betwixt the book and show get muddier. The original Cleganebowl theory was that the reformed Hound, representing the faith of the Seven, would confront off against his sort of-undead blood brother for Cersei'due south trial by gainsay, resulting in her downfall. (That also gels with another volume theory that revolves around a prophecy that Cersei would exist killed by "the Valonqar," meaning "the piffling brother," which could refer to Sandor, who is Gregor's younger brother.) And who knows? That still might happen in the books — if they're e'er finished.

The show plays out differently. Cersei is unable to defend herself through trial by combat at all afterward her son King Tommen outlaws the practice due to the Loftier Sparrow'southward machinations. The resurrected Mount never fights for her in single combat. Instead, she solves the problem of the Faith Militant past nuking the entire High Sept with wildfire.

There were two Clegane brothers out there, and even without anyone else'southward life riding on their face-off, fans were holding out to run into the two siblings settling things once and for all.

100 percent confirmed

Which brings us to "The Bells," episode v of the prove's last flavor. After eight years of hating each other a lot, the Clegane brothers reached the end of their roads. Both sides saw callbacks to before duels: Sandor attempting to cease the job Oberyn Martell started by impaling the Mount, and the Mountain trying to beat Sandor'southward head merely equally he crushed Oberyn'due south. Ultimately, the boxing could have only ended in one mode: with fire, simply like it began when they were immature.

One question remains: why did fans care near this conflict so much? The answer is twofold. Function of it is how Cleganebowl theories came together: fans picked up on the clues Martin scattered throughout the books, filtered it through the prove's added lore, then blew it up into countless memes. Information technology's Game of Thrones fandom writ in microcosm, with all the ridiculous prophecies, backstories, revenge plots, and theories rolled into a single, easy-to-shout catchphrase.

The Cleganebowl also highlights the diverging paths that the stories have taken over the years: the Hound in the books has seemingly accomplished some measure of peace, for example, while the evidence's iteration continues down his path of vengeance until it literally kills him. At least he manages to impart to Arya that the path she's following doesn't atomic number 82 anywhere skillful.

The other reason? Because it was fun to see two of the show's most lethal characters try to destroy each other later on spending so much time watching their carve up paths: i of mortality and horror, and one of a sort of semi-redemption on the way to getting the catastrophe he apparently wanted. Not every battle has to have the fate of the world resting on it. Sometimes, yous just want to lookout a adept erstwhile-fashioned long-destined smackdown.

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Source: https://www.theverge.com/2019/5/13/18617276/game-of-thrones-got-season-8-hbo-final-cleganebowl-hound-mountain-clegane-the-bells