as Sandor Clegane
Character Overview: Sandor Clegane is the younger brother of Gregor Clegane and a retainer to House Lannister. He is nicknamed “The Hound,” in part because his family arms feature three dogs, and in part for his savage nature in battle and unquestioning obedience to his masters. – Wikipedia
Recent Events: The Hound, being in service to House Lannister, travels with the King and Queen to Winterfell as King Robert wishes to recruit Ned to be his Hand of the King. He displays himself as a “loyal dog”, killing the baker’s boy whom Arya had been dueling with before scuffling with Queen Cersei’s son Joffrey. After Barristan Selmy is dismissed from the Kingsguard, he is made a knight officially, though he refuses to take the vows of knighthood. When Joffrey takes Sansa out to Widow’s Walk to taunt her with the heads of her friends and family, the Hound accompanies them; he offers Sansa a handkerchief to wipe the blood off her face after Joffrey orders one of his knights to smack Sansa for an insolent comment she makes.
From here on, the Hound seems to take a liking to the older Stark sister, offering words of harsh guidance to her during her trying period as a captive of the Lannisters. When he flees the Battle of Blackwater Bay due to the excessive fire (having had his face burnt by his older brother Ser Gregor Clegane as a child, the Hound has a terrible fear of flames), he comes to Sansa’s room, drunk, and offers to take her to Winterfell and safety. She refuses him, and he eventually leaves the city under the cover of the end of the battle.
Sandor is captured by the Brotherhood Without Banners, who also have Arya Stark in their possession. He is forced into trial by combat for having killed Arya’s friend Mycah (the baker’s boy) on the kingsroad. He fights and “kills” the leader of the Brotherhood, Ser Beric Dondarrion; having won his innocence, he is set loose. Sometime later, Arya breaks free of the Brotherhood, and the Hound takes her hostage, intending to ransom her for a healthy bit of gold. They arrive at the Twins just before the Red Wedding, where Catelyn and Robb Stark, as well as their retainers, are brutally murdered by the Freys and Boltons. In the chaos, Sandor is forced to knock Arya out in order to carry her to safety.
Sandor next intends to ransom Arya to Arya’s aunt Lysa Arryn, ruler of the Eyrie and the Vale. On the journey, they encounter many dangers from both plunderers and king’s men alike. The Hound also shares with Arya his desire to kill his brother Gregor, a desire Arya shares. During one scuffle on their journey, the Hound is bitten; the wound begins to fester, though Arya tries to clean it up for him. When they arrive at the Vale, they discover that Lysa Arryn was recently deceased, which sends Arya into a laughing fit over the Hound’s continued misfortune. Soon after, they encounter Brienne of Tarth and Podrick Payne. Brienne attempts to win Arya over to her side, but Sandor notices the Valyrian steel of her blade (“Oathkeeper”, a gift from her former traveling companion Jaime Lannister, and forged from the steel in Ned’s old greatsword “Ice”) and declares her a king’s man. Brienne and the Hound fight each other to exhaustion; after, Brienne and Pod depart, hoping to find Sansa Stark. Arya denies the Hound his wish of having her kill him to end his suffering, instead leaving him to die with his wounds wide open.
Actor Bio: Six foot six inches tall, Rory McCann from Glasgow began his working life at the top – as a painter on the Forth Bridge in Scotland. He came to notice in a television commercial for Scotts’ Porridge Oats in which he appeared as a scantily-clad hunk in a vest and kilt and little else wandering snowbound streets but warmed by the inner glow of the porridge. He claims that as a consequence he was often approached by people demanding that he “lift his kilt.” In 2002 he was seen in the TV comedy-drama The Book Group playing a wheelchair-bound lifeguard, a part for which he won a Scottish BAFTA award for the best television performance of 2002. Since then he has taken television roles as Peter the Great in Peter in Paradise (2003) and a priest in Shameless. He made his Hollywood debut in Oliver Stone’s Alexander. In 2007, he also appeared in Hot Fuzz as Michael Armstrong. He divides his time between homes in London and Glencoe, Scotland, where he aims to have his own castle. He is an accomplished singer, pianist and harmonica-player as well as an all-round sportsman.
He will be appearing in the upcoming film Slow West and the upcoming TV series Banished. – IMDb & Wikipedia
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