Brief history of Cleganebowl, the best theory of Game of Thrones fans

HBO Game of thrones is a dense series with a huge history weight behind its story. So, in virtually every episode, something happens that could use a little explanation. Every week, The edge will dive into a scene or event from the last episode of the series and explain how we got there. That you are basically a Game of thrones maester or if you need a little reminder of previous events, we will try to help you keep your history.

This episode of Game of Thrones was … a lot. Bad decisions have been made. People are dead. The accumulation seasons and the character arcs have reached their climax. But instead of looking at this, let's look at what could be the least impactful event (in a broader perspective), but the most anticipated (by some fans): Cleganebowl.

Spoilers coming for Game of thrones in general, but especially season 8, episode 5, "The Bells".

BECOME HYPE

"Cleganebowl" was perhaps the best Game of thrones the theory, somewhere at the intersection of plausible books / exhibition development, even on the internet and an incredible slogan: GET HYPE! (What seems to come from this 2013 YouTube video, at least after 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 end up fighting in a decisive duel. Fans have dubbed the event Cleganebowl, a coat rack for their common last name and "cut", the term used for many major football playoffs.

In tonight's episode, "The Bells," the fans finally had the confrontation that they were waiting for, the Hound and the Mountain facing each other for the last time. This confrontation has been long in coming. This is how we got here.

The Clegane brothers

To understand why the Hound / Mountain showdown is important for fans, if not for the big story, we have to go back to the beginning. Sandor and Gregor grew up together and even in their childhood, Gregor was cruel and inhuman. Gregor is sadly responsible for the horrible scars on his brother's face – he pushed Sandor into a fire when they were young, because Sandor had played with one of Gregor's toys.

The fear of fire caused by Sandor from that moment never disappeared any more than his hatred. He despises his brother, knowing that he is a monster even though he is a knight of the kingdom. Gregor is a murderer, a rapist and a thug. And although the reasons for his feelings about Sandor are not so clear, he hates his brother just as much.

Books vs show

George R.R. Martin's A song of ice and fire The novels have not only reached the point of knowing if Cleganebowl is happening, they have not made it clear whether any of the brothers were still alive. In the books, Cersei confronts the humiliations of the ascendant High Sparrow and ends with the now infamous March of Shame at King's Landing. She met on the steps former fallen Maester Qyburn and a giant and gigantic giant, the Ser Robert Strong, whom she named her champion for her next trial in fight against the great sparrow and the faith of the seven.

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

On the other side of Cleganebowl, however, things got complicated. As readers and observers know, Arya Stark left The Hound to die after a battle. (Circumstances differ between Martin's novel A storm of swords and the episode of season 4 of the show.) In the show, Sandor returns in season 6, revealed to have been saved by a septon played by Ian McShane. Later, he is assassinated and The Hound avenges him.

The story of the book is less clear because it is incomplete. But in A feast for crows, Brienne de Tarth and Podrick Payne, while they were looking for The Hound (they suspect Sansa Stark in his custody), meet a commune run by the elder brother, a priest who knows very well the exploits and the mentality of The Hound. He claims to have met the dying Sandor and cared for him until his death. The dog's horse is also common. But readers have understood some nuances in the older brother's word choices (he calls it a "hunting dog" of "death", but says that Sandor Clegane is "at rest"), as well as an anonymous gravedigger of the common, with injuries similar to those of Hound's. It is generally assumed that the gravedigger is Sandor, who has put aside his violent past and joined The Faith.

Battle Trial

At this moment, the events between the book and the show become more confusing. According to Cleganebowl's initial theory, the reformed dog, who represented the faith of the Seven, would face his brother to the Morte-Mort genre for Cersei's battle trial, which would result in his fall. (This is also consistent with another theory of the book, which revolves around a prophecy that Cersei would be killed by "the Valonqar", which means "little brother" – which could refer to Sandor, Gregor's younger brother. .) And who knows? It could still happen in the books, if they ever finished.

The show sees things unfold differently. Cersei is unable to defend himself in a battle trial after his son, King Tommen, banned the practice because of the great sparrow's machinations. The risen mountain never fights for it in singular combat. Instead, she solves the problem of the Faith Militant by attacking the entire High Seven with a forest fire.

But there were two Clegane brothers, and even without anyone's life, fans expected to see both siblings solve their problems once and for all.

100 percent confirmed

Which brings us to "The Bells" episode 5 of the last season of the series. After eight years of mutual hatred, the Clegane brothers found themselves at the end of their roads, facing each other. Both parties were reminded in previous duels: Sandor trying to finish the job. Oberyn Martell began by impaling the mountain, and the mountain trying to crush Sandor's head as he crushed Oberyn. But in the end, the battle could only end in one direction: on fire, as if it had begun when they were young.

The question remains: why do fans care so much about this conflict? The answer is twofold. This is partly the way Cleganebowl's theories were collected: the fans collected the clues dispersed by Martin in the books, filtered them through the new story of the series, then exploded it into innumerable memes . His Game of thrones Fandom Writ in a microcosm, with all the ridiculous prophecies, stories, plots of vengeance and theories, put together in one easy-to-cry slogan.

Cleganebowl also highlights the divergent paths taken by the stories over the years: The Hound in the books seems to have reached some peace, for example, while the series iteration continues on its path of revenge until that she literally kills him. At least he manages to make Arya understand that the path she follows leads nowhere.

The other reason? Because it was fun to see two of the deadliest characters in the series trying to destroy themselves, having spent so much time looking at their distinct paths: a murder, a bloodbath and a horror, and l & # 39; 39; one of a kind of semi-redemption on the way to get to the end that he apparently wanted. All battles do not necessarily have to be based on the fate of the world. Sometimes you just want to look at a good old-fashioned old-fashioned smackdown.