Is Game Of Thrones Headed Towards A Clegane Bowl?

WARNING: POTENTIAL SPOILERS FOR GAME OF TRONES FOLLOW

Compared to the first two episodes of the season, Game of Thrones Season 6 Episode 3, “Oathbreaker,” was relatively slow and light on game changing developments. Jon Snow executed his own murderers and left the Night’s Watch, but it was otherwise a small crawl for most of the season’s story arcs. However, the episode did plant a seed that could bloom into an event that has been greatly anticipated by fans.

That event is the Clegane Bowl. What is the Clegane Bowl? It’s the battle between two Cleganes of course! Fans have theorized that, at some point, Gregor “The Mountain” Clegane and Sandor “The Hound” Clegane would have to square off and settle their rivalry once and for all, and Season 6 of Game of Thrones may be setting up just such a showdown.

Now you may be thinking that this situation is impossible since Sandor Clegane died after his run-in with Brienne of Tarth. But did he die? And if he did, so what? People die and get better all of the time in Westeros, including the Mountain himself.

But no, it is more likely that Sandor simply didn’t die after Arya left him alone on the road that day. It all stems from a scene in George R.R. Martin’s novel A Feast for Crows. First, we should make clear that Brienne and Podrick never encountered the Hound in Martin’s novels the way they did on Game of Thrones. Instead, his wounds from his previous fight at the inn become infected. It is when he becomes too weak to ride that Arya abandons him.

Brienne – searching for Sansa Stark, whom she believes to be in the custody of the Hound – makes her way to a monastery on the Quiet Isle. It is there that she meets a man who goes by the name Elder Brother. Elder Brother corrects Brienne’s information, telling her it was Arya Stark with the Hound and not Sansa, and claims that the Hound died in his arms, begging for the “gift of mercy.” He says the Hound left him his war stallion, Stranger, which Elder Brother renamed Driftwood, finding the original name too blasphemous. He claims to have buried the Hound and left Sandor’s dog-shaped helm as a marker, but notes that the helm was stolen, and that someone else is pillaging and raping the countryside in the guise of the Hound.

Brienne has no reason not to believe Elder Brother, but fans suspect that he is speaking metaphorically rather than literally. Several religious novices live and work at Elder Brother’s monastery, and fans believe one of them, specifically a gravedigger, is Sandor Clegane. The “death” Elder Brother speaks of would then be a kind of transition from Sandor’s old life to his new one as a religious ascetic.

The gravedigger is described as being a large man, is noticed petting a dog, and, like all of the novices, wears a scarf that would cover his distinctive burns. Some fans have speculated that he may have been tasked with digging a grave for every person he has killed in order to atone for his sins.

This all ties into an important bit of Season 6 casting. Ian McShane will guest star in a single episode of Season 6. McShane has shown little concern for secrecy, and while he hasn’t specifically named his character, he has described him thoroughly enough that fans have been able to identify his character as Elder Brother. Additionally, McShane has hinted pretty heavily that he is bringing a long absent character back to show, which fans have taken to mean that the Hound will be making his return.

The seventh episode of the season is titled “The Broken Man,” which is a reference to a speech given by a character named Septon Meribald in A Feast for Crows. The speech deals with war and its effects on the men who fight in it. Most fans assume that Meribald’s character will be folded into McSchane’s Elder Brother, as there really isn’t room for both of them on the show, so we should probably expect this episode to be the one featuring McShane and possibly the Hound.

So how does this all come together for the Clegane Bowl? In “Oathbreaker,” Cersei Lannister made her plans for how to topple the High Sparrow’s regime clear. Rather than face him head on, she will call for trial-by-combat, likely for Margaery Tyrell’s crimes. The crown and the faith will each have to select a champion to fight for their respective side. Cersei hase made plain that Gregor Clegane will fight for the crown.

So who will the faith select? Well, if the Hound is now a novice acolyte at a monastery, it is entirely possible that he could be called upon to come to King’s landing and fight on behalf of the High Septon, thus facilitating one on one combat to the death between the two brothers, which sounds like a nice main event to occur within episodes 8-10 of the season. Clegane Bowl achieved.

Will this be what comes to pass? We’ll have to keep watching to find out.

Game of Thrones airs Sundays at 9 p.m. ET on HBO.

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