Game of Thrones: See how much the cast has changed since the first season

The Hound

Sandor Clegane is one of Game of Thrones‘ more interesting characters, as he operates using a strange moral compass—though it’s one he rarely wavers from. The Hound has no issue with killing—even when it comes to an innocent butcher’s boy—yet he also shows a certain amount of empathy where characters like Sansa and Arya are concerned.

It’s hard to say whether the Hound has changed drastically from the beginning of the series. His circumstances certainly have. While he serves the crown without question during the first two seasons, the Hound abandons his post during the Battle of the Blackwater, making the startling decision to put his own life before that of the king.

Still, it’s difficult to discern whether the Hound’s choice to leave Joffrey’s service is a split-second decision made in the face of his greatest fear or a conscious one based on the boy’s incompetence as a ruler. When he travels with Arya, it doesn’t seem much about the Hound is different—though he does pass up the opportunity to ransom her to the Lannisters, which might point to the notion that he did leave for reasons that have nothing to do with fire.

Episode 67 (season 7, episode 7), debut 8/27/17: Rory McCann, Hafþór Júlíus Björnsson.

photo: Macall B. Polay/courtesy of HBO

There’s also the idea that the Hound is “reborn” after his fight with Brienne, brought back by a priest who believes he’s chosen a new path for himself. Again, it’s hard to say if that’s true. The Hound certainly shows his moral compass more in the later seasons of the show, but judging by his interactions with the Stark sisters, it was always there to begin with.

Given that the Hound has fallen in with Jon and Daenerys, it’ll be interesting to see where his decisions take him in the final season of the show. For most fans, though, simply seeing more of him is more than enough.