“We only seek one outlaw. The Hound.”
“May the Seven save you, child. It’s said he leaves a trail of butchered babes and ravished maids behind him. The Mad Dog of Saltpans, I have heard him called. What would good folk want with such a creature?”
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SANDOR CLEGANE - THE HOUND
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That’s so interesting! I love reading about translations! Though I really had to laugh about Littlefinger and Shaggydog.
I don’t really know if the “hound” name for Sandor is supposed to be just another name for “dog” or if it refers to a hound dog? In German he’s called “Bluthund”, which is “bloodhound” or “hound dog”.
Thanks! Well, in English there’s a different connotation to the word “hound” from just plain “dog”. It signifies unrelenting persistence, pursuit, hunting, a few other things — including a certain sexual aspect, which you get with “dog” too, but it’s more intense with “hound”.
Another interesting use of the different connotations between the word “hound” and “dog” in English, is that “hound” is slightly classier, whereas “dog” is more low, more degraded. For example, Sansa doesn’t blink at Sandor being called “The Hound”, but she does wonder why he allows people to call him a dog.
Now, “hund” is just German for “dog”, right? So I guess “Bloodhound” works to help differentiate the different aspects of Sandor’s titles. Certainly a good choice if you take it literally.
#the hounds of love are hunting
I always think of Sandor when that song comes on, and then I laugh.
When I hear the word “hound,” I think of a specific kind of mysterious black diabolical dog that stalks and hunts at night in the shadowy darkness. This is probably because of The Hound of the Baskervilles.
It’s hard to explain the connotation, but “hound” is cooler, more useful (as it’s known for hunting), and more noble than “dog,” but in a way it’s also more frightening.
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Dragon Egg #1: Rory McCann as Sandor Clegane/The Hound
Good morning! My Blu-Rays just arrived an hour ago, and I thought I’d track down that dragon egg for all my fellow Hound fans. If you don’t want to know where it is, don’t look below the cut.
SCREAMING SAHSDLFKAHSDFLKAHSDFLKAJDSHFLHF
(Source: watsonary)
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Concept art for the Hound bust sculpture.
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But it’s so historically inaccurate and impractical.
With such a long sword, the length of the blade is longer than the reach of your arm. You actually really can’t draw a longsword in a scabbard over your shoulder without hurting yourself or breaking the scabbard. (If you wanted to use a sword this long, you would have to take it off your back before drawing it. It would take a minute.)
Pretending like you can easily draw a longsword over your shoulder is really common in TV shows and movies, but it’s just not practical. Even in Game of Thrones, you never actually see Sandor drawing this sword over his shoulder because it’s impossible and dangerous. No, seriously, go watch that part again. They can’t show him drawing his sword because it’s impossible, so they just pretend he draws it. When he goes to save Loras, it just magically appears in his hand!
A more practical example of great sword use in movies is in the movie Ladyhawke, where Navarre keeps his family sword hung from the saddle of his horse. This is by far how those types of swords were usually carried - if you had a horse, you wouldn’t wear your huge encumbering ungainly sword across your back, you would let your horse carry it.
It is kind of weird to talk about historical inaccuracy in a fantasy series. But the books are pretty well-researched when it comes to medieval shit. Sandor uses a sword (worn at the waist like a normal, practical person) with a shield, and wears a surcoat over chain mail, with extra armor like a helm, gorget, vambraces, gauntlets, pauldrons, greaves, etc. It’s all very sexy, and while it’s sort of a mishmash of different armor time periods, it’s at least made up of what real knights used historically and we can pretend it’s practical.
(The armor in A Song of Ice and Fire in the Seven Kingdoms actually spans several hundred years of armor history - more primitive armor is used in the North (ring mail) at the same time as more modern armor is used in the south (plate mail in the Reach) If these armor types were to really fight each other, the south would win so hard, but GRRM said this was just to have some interesting visual differences. The knight in shining armor kind of plate armor was never used with a surcoat (which was used to protect chain mail from sun and water damage) or a shield (the plate armor was so protective a shield wasn’t necessary) but GRRM mixed the time periods around because he thought it was more interesting, and he wanted to use plate armor with heraldic symbols. GRRM talks about it here.)
TL;DR: An enormous sword worn over the shoulder is kind of okay, maybe, if you’re just carrying it around while marching? But if you try to draw it that way you’ll decapitate the hell out of yourself. DON’T PLAY AROUND WITH ME, IT’S NOT PRACTICAL.
Not to say the sword over the shoulder thing isn’t hot. It kind of is? It’s just really impractical and I can’t get over it. I realize it’s to show he’s a total badass (with a bigger sword than any other character, lalala, this is phallic in no way), but it’s pretty damn silly if you stop to think about it. Maybe I shouldn’t stop to think about it.
(Source: asongoficeandfireconfessions)
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Anonymous asked you: Have you read the new post on Making Game of Thrones? THE HOUND IS HUNTING.
WHAT DID YOU JUST SAY TO ME.
THE HOUND IS HUNTING.
THE HOUND IS HUNTING.
THE HOUND IS HUNTING.
(DO YOU REALIZE WHAT THIS MEANS? THE HOUND IS APPARENTLY SO IMPORTANT IN SEASON 2 THAT THIS CHICKA IS LISTING HIM ALONGSIDE ROBB, JON, ARYA, LITTLEFINGER, and TYRION.
LIKELIHOOD THAT SANDOR WILL GET ACTUAL LINES IN SEASON 2?
+27 LIKELIHOOD POINTS)
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Sandor Clegane. Again. I can stop whenever I want, bro. Procrastination doodles.
Haven’t done a Fanart Friday in a while, so I scanned this out of my sketchbook. I found this amazing pre-production sketch of the Hound’s helm from the HBO show and wanted to riff on it. And then it kind of kept on going I guess. :| Stupidly tall broad-shoulded dudes, let me love you.
Oh hey Pythias what are you doing there.
(same deal as always, please keep away from spoilers in the comments)
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(Hound scenes that HBO did not keep in Game of Thrones)
17/30 - THE PART IN WHICH SANDOR KNOCKS JAIME ON HIS ASSA ragged cheer went up from the commons.
“I wonder how I ought spend your money,” Littlefinger called down to Lord Renly.
The Hound just managed to stay in his saddle. He jerked his mount around hard and rode back to the lists for the second pass. Jaime Lannister tossed down his broken lance and snatched up a fresh one, jesting with his squire. The Hound spurred forward at a hard gallop. Lannister rode to meet him. This time, when Jaime shifted his seat, Sandor Clegane shifted with him. Both lances exploded, and by the time the splinters had settled, a riderless blood bay was trotting off in search of grass while Ser Jaime Lannister rolled in the dirt, golden and dented.
Sansa said, “I knew the Hound would win.”
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(Hound scenes that HBO did not keep in Game of Thrones) - 16/30
THE PART IN WHICH I CAN’T THINK OF ANYTHING BUT PHALLIC JOKES
Sandor Clegane dropped his visor with an audible clang and took up his position. Ser Jaime tossed a kiss to some woman in the commons, gently lowered his visor, and rode to the end of the lists. Both men couched their lances.
Ned Stark would have loved nothing so well as to see them both lose, but Sansa was watching it all moist-eyed and eager.
The hastily erected gallery trembled as the horses broke into a gallop. The Hound leaned forward as he rode, his lance rock steady, but Jaime shifted his seat deftly in the instant before impact. Clegane’s point was turned harmlessly against the golden shield with the lion blazon, while his own hit square. Wood shattered, and the Hound reeled, fighting to keep his seat. Sansa gasped.
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(Hound scenes that HBO did not keep in Game of Thrones)
15/30 - THE PART IN WHICH SANDOR HAS NO FASHION SENSE (AGAIN)Sandor Clegane was the first rider to appear. He wore an olive-green cloak over his soot-grey armor. That, and his hound’s-head helm, were his only concession to ornament.
“A hundred golden dragons on the Kingslayer,” Littlefinger announced loudly as Jaime Lannister entered the lists, riding an elegant blood bay destrier. The horse wore a blanket of gilded ringmail, and Jaime glittered from head to heel. Even his lance was fashioned from the golden wood of the Summer Isles.
“Done,” Lord Renly shouted back. “The Hound has a hungry look about him this morning.”
“Even hungry dogs know better than to bite the hand that feeds them,” Littlefinger called dryly.
Theme: Linear by Peter Vidani
