In A Dance with Dragons, and Season 5 of Game of Thrones, a knight called Robert Strong
appears in King’s Landing. Qyburn brings him to Cersei, to join the Kingsguard and
to fight for her in her upcoming trial-by-combat, where Cersei stands accused of treason. Ser
Strong has apparently taken a vow of silence, swearing not to speak “until all of His
Grace’s enemies are dead and evil has been driven from the realm”. He doesn’t show
his face, or take off his armour. He apparently doesn’t eat or drink or “use the privy”.
And he’s huge, “Eight feet tall or maybe taller”. “[W]here did this man come from?”
[asks] Mace Tyrell. “Why have we never heard his name before? [Is] he [even really] a knight?”
Who or what is this “silent giant”? To answer these questions, we need to turn to
Qyburn. When we first meet Qyburn, he seems nice enough.
He’s described as “fatherly” and grandfatherly, “with warm brown eyes”. But he’s
actually an incredibly sketchy dude. Qyburn serves the “Leech Lord” Roose Bolton at
the notoriously cursed castle of Harrenhal, and before that, he rides with an infamous
sellsword company, the Brave Companions, also called the Bloody Mummers. Qyburn himself
has a reputation for “black magic” and “necromancy”, having been kicked out
of the Citadel for “open[ing] the bodies of the living” “to [better] understand
the nature of death”. The show suggests he performs “dangerous and unnatural”
“experiments on living men”. In any case, he’s a skilled healer, so Qyburn treats
Jaime’s hand – or stump – and comes with him to King’s Landing. There, he wins
the trust of Cersei, who confides in him, tells him her dreams and her secrets at a
time when she feels alone and threatened. Cersei makes Qyburn master of whisperers, after
Varys disappears with Tyrion. According to Roose Bolton, Qyburn hopes to
be made a maester again, and in the show Kevan calls Qyburn a sycophant. Qyburn has
cleverly gained the favour of Cersei and a seat on the small council, but it’s not
like he just wants power. Qyburn tells Jaime, in the show, that his weakness is “Curiosity”.
He’s a sort of medieval mad scientist, talking of “proof” and “reason” and
performing “bold” experiments, out of a genuine passion for unlocking the secrets
of the body. In the show he tells Jaime that the insight from his studies “has saved
many lives”. But, as Cersei says, Qyburn can do horrors as well as wonders.
Qyburn shows an interest in the Mountain, Gregor Clegane, who has been wounded by Oberyn
Martell’s poisoned spear and is “dying of the venom … slowly, and in exquisite
agony”. Cersei wants to put the “mad dog” down, but Qyburn convinces her to let
him “tend to” Gregor instead. In the books he’s very vague about what he plans to do
with the Mountain, just implies it’s related to “life and death” and “the black arts”.
In the show, Qyburn tells Cersei that he’s “saving” Gregor, in a “process” that
will “change him somewhat” but not weaken him. Cersei supports this “work”. She
provides gold, and she also gives Qyburn people, mostly women, who Cersei wants to get rid
of – the handmaiden Senelle, some puppeteers, and Falyse Stokeworth – Bronn’s wife’s
sister. We don’t know what Qyburn does with these women in his dungeon, but we do know
Senelle is “exhausted” , the puppeteers are “used up” and Falyse is “not entirely
… comfortable” and “no longer capable … of feeding herself” before she “die[s]
screaming”. This all seems to be related to Gregor, who remains with Qyburn “screaming
in the darkness” of the dungeon, or, in the show, creepily moving beneath a sheet
in Qyburn’s lab. Before Cersei is arrested by the High Sparrow, Qyburn promises to “produce”
a “champion” who will “protect [Cersei’s] son, kill [her] enemies, and keep [her] secrets”,
someone who “no living man will be able to withstand”. He also orders a suit of
armour so heavy that the armorer says no man is strong enough to move and fight in it. After Cersei’s
arrest, Qyburn visits Cersei in her cell, and in the show, he says “The work continues”.
Shortly after, we meet Robert Strong. So in summary, a “freakish[ly] big” knight
is dying, a necromancer uses him in creepy experiments, then produces a freakishly big
knight who doesn’t seem completely normal or alive. It’s pretty obvious that Ser
Robert Strong is Ser Gregor Clegane, somehow reanimated or kept alive or Frankensteined
together from the parts of Qyburn’s victims, an eight-foot-tall undead Mountain.
Gregor Clegane has probably dealt more death and destruction with his own hands than any
other man in Westeros. Doran Martell says “If ever a man deserved to die screaming,
it was Gregor Clegane”, and with the rise of Robert Strong, Gregor might just die twice.
Some may call that justice, but maybe we should pity Gregor Clegane. We find out in
Feast that Gregor habitually drinks milk of the poppy to dull the pain of blinding headaches.
It may be that Gregor’s extreme brutality ultimately comes from pain, physical, and
maybe emotional. Like, this man is so fucked up that he can only find respite from pain
by inflicting it. So isn’t there something cruel in prolonging his suffering by raising
him from the dead? In the show, Qyburn is at Harrenhal when Gregor puts the place to
sword. So maybe Qyburn resents Gregor, and enjoys having him as his twisted plaything.
It’s ugly however you look at it, someone needs to end this silent knight.
The question is who? Who will represent the Faith by fighting Robert Strong in Cersei’s
trial? To some, the obvious choice is someone like Lancel Lannister, who would probably
be obliterated by Ser Strong. But there’s another theory, that the supposedly dead Gregor
Clegane will fight another supposedly dead Clegane – Sandor, the Hound. This is called
Cleganebowl, and is traditionally explained with dubstep and flashing lights and cries
of “get hype” but what it basically does is combine the idea that Robert Strong is
Gregor Clegane with the Gravedigger theory, that Sandor Clegane is still alive. We won’t
get into Gravedigger here but basically there is a lot of good evidence that the Hound survives
the wounds that nearly kill him, and becomes a monk on a secluded island. Cleganebowl claims
that the Faith in King’s Landing bring the Hound out of this retirement, and set him
to one last fight – to kill his brother, the man he’s hated all his life, the man
who’s been brutally killing and raping across the realm for years. It may be that, like
the white walkers’ wights, the undead Gregor has a weakness to fire. The Hound has a fear
of fire – ever since Gregor gave Sandor his burns. Maybe the Hound will overcome this
fear and use fire to kill his abominable brother in an act of violent redemption. These are
two of the greatest warriors in Westeros, returned from the dead to fight for the fate
of Cersei Lannister before all King’s Landing. Cleganebowl would be pretty fucking sick, and a lot
of people would love to see it happen. However, there’s no strong or direct evidence that
it will happen, and there are a lot of good reasons to believe it won’t – for starters,
it wouldn’t really fit the character arc of Sandor, who has let go of violence and
hatred. He’s embraced a life of peace as a monk, a crippled monk, who no one even knows
is still alive, apart from the Elder Brother, who keeps his identity secret on a remote
island. George R. R. Martin has crafted this beautiful conclusion to Sandor’s story and
it just doesn’t fit to have him kill again, even for a good cause, so Cleganebowl doesn’t
seem likely in the books. But. HBO does seem willing to sacrifice some
character development if it means they can fit in a few more flashy fights, as with Jaime.
And a recent casting announcement suggests that the next season will feature Septon Meribald,
the guy who takes Brienne to the Quiet Isle, where she sees the gravedigger who is probably
Sandor, which seems weird – would the show spend screen time on Sandor unless they plan
to use him for something? HBO is more probably more aware of and receptive to the Game of
Thrones fandom than George is, who says he doesn’t read theories and writes his books
on a computer that isn’t even connected to the Internet. So maybe, just maybe,
even if Cleganebowl doesn’t happen in the books, it could happen in the show, if HBO
knows viewers want it. Perhaps someone needs to tell them.
Regardless. The evidence shows that the Mountain rides again, that Ser Robert Strong is a reanimated
Gregor Clegane zombie, and whoever he fights it’ll be really cool to see how this story
plays out in seasons and books to come. Thanks for watching. As ever, check out the
Song of Ice and Fire subreddit, and Westeros.org, and all the other great communities where
Game of Thrones theories originate and are discussed. You can check out the Gravedigger
video if you’d like to see the evidence that Sandor Clegane still lives. You can also
subscribe to and follow Alt Shift X for more explanations and analysis – both on Game
of Thrones and some other stuff coming soon. Cheers.