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The finale of House of the Dragon has sparked an interest in the world of Westeros among fans once again, something that hadn’t been seen since the early seasons of Game of Thrones. With this came a lot of rewatches, and fans once more remembered how awesome the characters were, particularly that of The Hound.
Sandor Clegane was a complex character of dubious morals, but people loved to watch him nonetheless. His intimidating presence and boundless cynicism were a good contrast to the facades of the other characters, but there are some distinct differences to his literary self.
He's Much More Disfigured
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The biggest visual difference was one made for practical reasons. In the books, The Hound’s disfigurements are more akin to Harvey Dent’s face in The Dark Knight. His entire left ear is missing and parts of his jawbone are openly visible on the left side of his face. Originally, this was to be kept in the show.
However, Rory McCann was unable to act at 100% with the extensive prosthetics on his face, and with hour-long episodes, it simply wasn’t practical to keep the effect. Of course, the disfigurements in the show are far from pretty, but it’s not quite as over the top as it was in the books.
His Age Is Different
This is a difference that pretty much all of the book characters go through, and Sandor is no different. In the show, he looks to be in his mid-40s and is played by the very much mid-40s-looking Rory McCann. While this does make The Hound look very grizzled, it slightly dilutes The Hound’s appearance from the books.
In the book, The Hound is only 27 years old at the beginning of the series, yet looks worse than he does in the show. This showcases just how much the slaughter he’s grown up with aged the character in real-time, both mentally and literally.
He Enjoys Murder Openly
Although The Hound talks a lot about enjoying death in the show, he never openly shows it. He’s always stoic in his rage, never even cracking a smile while chopping people in half with his sword. This was most certainly not the case in the books, where The Hound is a lot more emotional.
During the Battle of the Blackwater and even while cutting down the butcher’s boy Micah, The Hound is seen laughing about the whole thing. The enjoyment of murder isn’t told but shown, and this makes The Hound a lot more frightening o some readers. If nothing else, it makes him a lot more memorable to the men who fight with him.
He Cries Without Shame
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An aspect that isn’t at all shown in the show is that The Hound cries quite a lot. The Hound is a man who is clearly hurting, but the show’s version deals with it by bottling it up and lashing out with insults. In the books, The Hound openly cried in important scenes.
During the Battle of the Blackwater, he threatens Sansa to sing for him, and he cries at her beautiful voice before leaving. In the battle with Beric Dondarrion, he cried after he’s burned by the knight’s flaming sword. Dying at the Trident, he cries as he confesses his crimes to Arya. This is a facet of his character that makes him a lot more sympathetic to the cynical show version.
He's More Eloquent
The Hound sneers at all the noble lords and ladies in the show, oftentimes contrasting his demeanor and speech to be more “common” than the people he serves. It’s a big point of his character that he hates pomposity and prefers to say things bluntly. This quality still holds slightly true in the books, but in a more subtle way.
It’s easy to forget that The Hound is still Sandor Clegane, the son of a noble lord of a newly formed noble house. Even as he is, Sandor did receive more education than most, having eloquent conversations with Sansa and the Brotherhood Without Banners. His blunt cynicism is tempered by a genuine education, showcasing a very jaded man.
He Never Robbed A Peasant Family
While The Hound is still pretty ruthless in the books, as seen by his enjoyment of murder, he’s surprisingly a lot more relaxed once he leaves the Lannisters. Without the influence of the murderous Lannisters, The Hound is a lot happier and even personable, at least as much as he can be.
For one, instead of robbing a peasant family as he does in the show, he actually found work as a bodyguard for a small village located in the Riverlands. During this time, he worked without complaint and Arya even helped out. When they were finally asked to leave, The Hound holds no hard feelings and leaves without incident. Certainly a far cry from the “mercy” he gave the peasant family.
He Never Fought Brienne
Brienne of Tarth and The Hound may share some common ground in their “protection” of the Stark children, but they still clashed swords in Season 4, with Brienne eventually overcoming the severely injured Sandor Clegane. In the books, this brutal fight never happened.
In fact, Brienne and The Hound have never even met in the books. Instead, it was a band of The Mountain’s men that gave Sandor his fatal injuries. Admittedly, this was one change that many book fans actually preferred, as it gave both characters a much deeper narrative than the Arya storyline had in the books.
He Has A Distant Relationship with Arya
Despite how much of Season 4 was focused on Arya and The Hound’s friendship, they were never as close in the books as they were in the show. It’s not as a back-and-forth, with The Hound spending most of his time with his captive in stony silence. In fact, he doesn’t even go out of his way to make a connection with Arya until the Trident.
Only when he was dying did he start opening up to Arya, and truthfully, it was only because Sansa wasn’t there. He confessed all the sins he had to Arya, even admitting to his uglier desires, sobbing all the while. Ironically, it’s a very different final exchange compared to the more cynical one they had in the show, where they were a bit closer.
He Has A Closer Relationship with Sansa
Other than a few exchanges early in the show, Sansa and The Hound don’t really have a real relationship. The Hound clearly has some care for the Stark child, but his cynicism and selfishness scared her away. In the books, their relationship was a lot more complicated. In the book, Sandor Clegane actually talks a lot with Sansa.
In fact, many exchanges between Littlefinger and Sansa in the show were actually conversations she had with Sandor in the books, specifically the story about his scars. Of course, this was no friendship, as he threatened Sansa with a blade to sing for him during the Battle of the Blackwater. Yet, Sansa sang for him and even comforted him through his tears before he ran out, never to be seen again.
He Truly Wants To Be A Knight
In the show, The Hound holds nothing but disdain for the knights he has met. He may acknowledge them as strong fighters, but any mentions of honor, and he spits on the notion. He wants nothing to do with it because he saw what “knights” like his brother have done to the realm.
However, the book tackles this in a different way. It’s less that he disrespects knights, but more he doesn’t believe that true knights still existed. He outright refuses the title in the show and books for this reason. However, as his relationship with Sansa shows, he always wanted to be a true knight deep down. Unfortunately, fate made him The Hound.