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In Season 1 episode 5, The Wolf and the Lion, of Game of Thrones, Sandor Clegane (the Hound) saves Ser Loras Tyrell from Gregor Clegane (the Mountain), when the Mountain attacks the Ser Loras and fights him. However I am confused why he would do that, due to the below reasons:

  1. The Hound has no obligation to save Loras as he is neither his lord nor related to Joffrey.
  2. Even if he does it out of hatred towards his brother the Mountain, then also killing Loras would have brought the wrath of Tyrell house on the Mountain. I believe even Tywin would not have saved the Mountain from that.
  3. Loras was a fancied Knight kind of person, whom the Hound doesn't like.
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    Sandor states many times that he wants to be the one to kill his brother. That would answer your second point.
    – Zikato
    Sep 2, 2015 at 10:32
  • Sorry but I don't remember him, stating same many times. Specially the part that he wants to kill his brother by himself.
    – Panther
    Sep 2, 2015 at 11:11

2 Answers 2

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Sandor Clegane is a complex figure who has spent his entire life hating his brother and waiting for the day in which he would take revenge. Skin burns that he has over his face are the consequence of Greg's brutality and torture, when he was only seven years old.

I don't think The Hound admired Ser Loras, neither any other knight. On the contrary, he despised those who bore that title precisely because of his brother.

The moment in which he decided to help Ser Loras is the moment in which he relived his own demons of the past. In that moment for him, Ser Loras represented only frightened child, powerless in front of The Mountain's cruelty. My opinion is that he recognized himself in Ser Loras and that's why he saved him.

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  1. Just an idea - if he had NOT intervened, The Mountain had killed Loras, and therefore was maybe sentenced to death. This would have ripped The Hound from the chance to kill him himself.

    This seems to me a much better reason for The Hound as to save the prototype of the (from him) dispised knight.

  2. Sandor saw an opportunity to potentially kill his brother (his main goal in life) and jumped at the opportunity and wasn't really concerned with Loras at all and just used him as an excuse to attack his brother. He also may have actually cared about saving Loras because of admiration and we have already seen strong examples of admiration from him concerning Sansa and Arya, but I find this highly unlikely.

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