Game of Thrones the television series officially ended in 2019. But the popularity of the show continues to this day. Both because of the original novels the show was based on, and the tv spinoffs still being produced today. The Game of Thrones fandom is a highly active one, especially on the internet.
This high level of engagement means the series is constantly being discussed and dissected. One site where such discussions take place frequently is Reddit, where netizens like to come up with fan theories regarding their favorite characters. Let’s take a look at a fan theory from six years ago made by a user over at the Game of Thrones subreddit regarding the true nature of the relationship between Sansa Stark and Sandor Clegane. Namely, that Sandor might secretly be a version of Sansa’s murdered direwolf.
The Strange Bond Between Sansa Stark and Sandor Clegane
In George R. R. Martin‘s Game of Thrones, Sansa Stark is the oldest daughter of the powerful Stark family. A series of events leads to Sansa getting betrothed to Joffrey Baratheon, a cruel and tyrannical prince. One of the first cruelties Joffrey’s mother Cersei inflicts on Sansa is orchestrating the killing of her pet animal, a direwolf called Lady, on the orders of King Robert Baratheon.
Joffrey’s chief enforcer is Sandor Clegane aka the Hound, one of the kingdom’s biggest and most dangerous knights. Despite a rocky start, a somewhat tender relationship eventually develops between Sansa and Clegane. The formidable warrior goes out of his way to protect Sansa, even at risk to his own life. According to the fan theory by Reddit user MidnightSG, this is because Clegane is the reincarnated form of Sansa’s direwolf Lady.
The theory points out that while Sansa’s direwolf gets taken from her due to Joffrey and his mother Cersei, Sandor subsequently takes on the role of a fierce watchdog to Sansa. Later on, Sansa takes Clegane away from Joffrey and Cersei just like they took Lady away from her. Finally, when Sansa is forced to assume the secret identity of “Alayne,” Clegane also ceases to be “The Hound” and becomes known as the Grave Digger on the Quiet Island.
Sansa and Sandor May Yet Reunite in the Game of Thrones Books
The relationship between Sansa and Clegane does not get expanded upon in the show in later seasons. But that might be because the show deviates heavily from the books they are based on, especially in the final season. As pointed out in MidnightSG’s fan theory itself, the books sometimes go out of their way to draw a more direct line connecting the direwolf Lady to the Hound Sandor Clegane.
George R. R. Martin is yet to release the final few books in the Game of Thrones book series. This means that there is still time left for the “Sandor is Lady” theory to possibly play out in some manner in the novels.
Game of Thrones is now available for streaming on HBO Max.
