Dolorous Edd
Ever the optimist
Very quickly going to post this theory up, so please excuse any mistakes/holes etc.
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I've been thinking where poor old Sandor can go now. He's pretty much ostracised himself from everyone. On the one hand he was too long the lannister's man ( quite openly performing any dirty and unpleasant tasks they needed doing) for any of the other factions to trust him, and yet fleeing the siege of king's landing has severed his ties to the Lannisters, probably for good.
He was heading north with Arya to try and ransom her, but's he's lost her, so where can he go?
Why, to the Wall of course.
I doubt he'd head there with that in mind, but i can easily see him being gradually forced North by circumstances, and perhaps being taken by one of the Watch's patrols and being brought before Jon.
Now, why would Sandor join ther watch, and more importantly, why would they accept him?
Sandor's damaged goods; traumatised by his brothers cruelty, melded into a viscous brute by Tywin Lannister, he has done many shameful things in his life.
But so have many others on the Wall. It is often mentioned that the Wall has became the home of murders and rapists, thieves and scoundrels. Most of the Brother's did not join the watch voluntarily, but were given a choice: Death/imprisonment - or or a chance to redeem themslves in service to the realm.
A man's sins are forgiven in the watch, his past errased. A second chance at life.
But i don't think the chance to redeem himself will be enough to sway Sandor. I think one man will sway him - Jon Snow.
We don't know a great deal about Sandor's parents, but we know his brother terrorised him, and we can surmise from the suggestions that his father's death in a hunting accident(?) was the work of gregor, and the fact that gregor's acts of cruelty went unpunished, that his father was not strong enough to stand up to his brother. So it's very likely that Sandor had no love as a child, brutalised by his brother and left to fend for himself by his weakling father.
He then went and took service with the Lannisters, who exploited the imotionaly damaged Sandor to mould him into a frightening tool to terrorise their enemies, with no thought as to what it would do to Sandor.
He is, in essance, a houd, who has been beaten and starved to make it more viscious when unleashed.
Now, what would jon snow be able to say, or do to sway sandor? I point to the one thing they have in common - fire, they have both been burned.
Now, From Jon's perspective we know that he does not harbour the same overwhelming fear of fire that Sandor does (his own nightmares of that night being more about the wights themselves then being burned). but it does give him an inside understanding of what Sandor must feel.
Added to that the fact that they both were part of, but apart from their respective families and i think that they will each sense in the other a kindred spirit and Sandor will take the black, and became Jon's strong right hand and shield, much as he was Joffrey's - But won with kindness, faith and offered fellowship as oppossed to the carrot-and-stick approach of the Lannisters.
Oh, and no matter what he does, Sandor Clegane will undoubtly be burned to death doing something frightfully heroic, saving Sansa from a burning building or whatnot and having her say "Oh You ARE a true knight!" and him saying "I'm no bloody KNIGHT!" before throwing her out a window and having the roof cave in on him
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Not too happy with that reading it through, doesn't put all my thoughts across but it's an O.K start for people to add to (Or weak foundations for naysayers to easily uproot ) .
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I've been thinking where poor old Sandor can go now. He's pretty much ostracised himself from everyone. On the one hand he was too long the lannister's man ( quite openly performing any dirty and unpleasant tasks they needed doing) for any of the other factions to trust him, and yet fleeing the siege of king's landing has severed his ties to the Lannisters, probably for good.
He was heading north with Arya to try and ransom her, but's he's lost her, so where can he go?
Why, to the Wall of course.
I doubt he'd head there with that in mind, but i can easily see him being gradually forced North by circumstances, and perhaps being taken by one of the Watch's patrols and being brought before Jon.
Now, why would Sandor join ther watch, and more importantly, why would they accept him?
Sandor's damaged goods; traumatised by his brothers cruelty, melded into a viscous brute by Tywin Lannister, he has done many shameful things in his life.
But so have many others on the Wall. It is often mentioned that the Wall has became the home of murders and rapists, thieves and scoundrels. Most of the Brother's did not join the watch voluntarily, but were given a choice: Death/imprisonment - or or a chance to redeem themslves in service to the realm.
A man's sins are forgiven in the watch, his past errased. A second chance at life.
But i don't think the chance to redeem himself will be enough to sway Sandor. I think one man will sway him - Jon Snow.
We don't know a great deal about Sandor's parents, but we know his brother terrorised him, and we can surmise from the suggestions that his father's death in a hunting accident(?) was the work of gregor, and the fact that gregor's acts of cruelty went unpunished, that his father was not strong enough to stand up to his brother. So it's very likely that Sandor had no love as a child, brutalised by his brother and left to fend for himself by his weakling father.
He then went and took service with the Lannisters, who exploited the imotionaly damaged Sandor to mould him into a frightening tool to terrorise their enemies, with no thought as to what it would do to Sandor.
He is, in essance, a houd, who has been beaten and starved to make it more viscious when unleashed.
Now, what would jon snow be able to say, or do to sway sandor? I point to the one thing they have in common - fire, they have both been burned.
Now, From Jon's perspective we know that he does not harbour the same overwhelming fear of fire that Sandor does (his own nightmares of that night being more about the wights themselves then being burned). but it does give him an inside understanding of what Sandor must feel.
Added to that the fact that they both were part of, but apart from their respective families and i think that they will each sense in the other a kindred spirit and Sandor will take the black, and became Jon's strong right hand and shield, much as he was Joffrey's - But won with kindness, faith and offered fellowship as oppossed to the carrot-and-stick approach of the Lannisters.
Oh, and no matter what he does, Sandor Clegane will undoubtly be burned to death doing something frightfully heroic, saving Sansa from a burning building or whatnot and having her say "Oh You ARE a true knight!" and him saying "I'm no bloody KNIGHT!" before throwing her out a window and having the roof cave in on him
-----
Not too happy with that reading it through, doesn't put all my thoughts across but it's an O.K start for people to add to (Or weak foundations for naysayers to easily uproot ) .