Image credit: HBO/Helen Sloan
Brother Ray and Lem
In Season 6, fans learn what we had wondered since Arya set sail for Braavos. Had the Hound died at the bottom of that cliff, or had he somehow, miraculously, survived? Indeed it was the latter. The Hound was taken in and mended by a septon of the Seven, Brother Ray, who was living proof that not everyone ends up like the High Sparrow.
Sadly, hip youth pastor Ray did wind up in rather the same position as the High Sparrow—dead. But in this case, it was a violent, senseless crime. Some wayward members of the Brotherhood Without Banners destroyed their makeshift village, slaying all in the process. Ray’s body was left to hang from the sept they’d been building. Having seen that, the Hound abandons his new peaceful way of life, grabs an axe, and sets off to avenge the man who had saved his life and turned it around for the better.
Enter Beric Dondarrion and Thoros of Myr, who apprehended the mutineers before the Hound could get to them. He is allowed to kill two of the three, although more humanely than he would have liked. Lem and his fellow die hanging, much as Brother Ray had done.
Alas, there’s just not enough room on Game of Thrones for such a simply-named man. It seems, though, that his influence may be enough to set the Hound on a new path.