While reading the duel between Gregor and Oberyn today, I had a thought. I know the heraldry for House Clegane features three black dogs on a yellow field.... and in the chapters throughout ASOS I kept reading of Lem of the Brotherhood. Lem wears the big yellow cloak that causes discussion wherever he goes. He has a deep voice and brown hair. He looks like a soldier. He can look Sandor in the eye.
From the physical description, I just had a thought... could Lem be related to the Cleganes? Why a yellow cloak? Could he be a Clegane or ******* Clegane who has denounced the dogs but honors the family color?
Also, we do not know Lem's real name. Lem is just short for Lemoncloak. Anguy is always around Lem and Anguy once fondly remembered a Dornish girl who cooked him duck in lemon sauce. Is Lem supposed to be from Dorne, the Westerlands, or the Riverlands?
I think Lem is supposed to be the anti-Hound. In appearance he's very similar, but in character he's the opposite.
The big yellow cloak made him look like a bird the first time Arya sees him. A bird is not a dog, I know... but I for the sake of argument I'm ignoring the bird and looking for connections to House Clegane. (A few houses of the Riverlands have symbols on a yellow field... Smallwood, Whent, and Wode. And interestingly, House Blackmont has a black vulture on yellow and House Gargalen has a red cockatrice on gold... both families hail from Dorne. Lem always hangs out with Tom and Anguy, an amiable rogue from the Dornish Marches.)
At the inn, one of the women asked Lem why he never washed his cloak. She said if he did, then it might wash out the urine and end up white and therefore reveal him to be one of the Kingsguard.
Lem hates the Lannisters. He tells Merrett he knows about murder. He tells Gendry most of the Brotherhood are low born scum. At one point, Arya wished she had a big mean dog to guard her... Lem was her guard at the time... of course, shortly after she was kidnapped by the Hound.
Lem loves Beric. Lem stands for the helpless. Lem warns Gendry the hardship and likely death of joining them. Lem goes looking for the Hound after the attack on Saltpans... of course, Rorge was wearing the Hound's helm, but Lem didn't know it. After Rorge's death, Lem took the helm for his own.
I'll compare Lem to Sandor. Lem is as tall as Sandor. He's a soldier like Sandor. He has a deep voice and brown hair like Sandor. Lem's companions are Tom and Anguy. Anguy was the archer champion of the Hand's tourney, when Sandor was the jousting champion. If Lem washed his cloak, he'd look like he was a Kingsguard... Sandor was a Kingsguard. Lem embraces R'hllor, Sandor hates fire. Lem is presumably a commoner who became a knight against all odds while Sandor is a noble who hates knights. In the Brotherhood, Lem hates the Mad Huntsman (who uses a large pack of hunting dogs) and faces him down in order to save Sandor. Sandor hates Gregor and confronts him over Loras. Lem took up the Hound's helm after Sandor discarded it.
I know there's really nothing here.... just some similar character traits and circumstances. We may see Sandor find redemption while Lem and the Brotherhood damn themselves following Stoneheart.
