#sandor is an outlaw

[dr3adlady]

I'm almost done with my fic, Born to Burn. Only one chapter, epilogue, remains. If you want an angsty dark romance about outlaws and school teachers and lawmen, you might want to give this a try :)

[carebooks]

i wanna talk about how cool brynden “blackfish” tully is and there’s no one to talk to about it, most of them go “huh?”

anyway, i just think he’s a really gnarly cool dude

[agentrouka-blog]

Sandor confessing to Arya about how he almost raped her sister and killed Mycah is quite similar to Gregor confessing to Oberyn how he raped and killed his sister and nephew. Arya after his confession refused to mercy kill him while Oberyn was succeeded in harming Gregor.

Sandor may be his brother's victim but in many instances he became like his brother.

So much so!!

By this point they have essentially switched places. The former war criminal terrorizing the Riverlands has become a kingsguard, but actually he's dead and his head is travelling without him. He is a zombie puppet , a toy knight like the one he burned his brother over. Whatever else may happen to him now, he is no longer Gregor. He is Ser Robert Strong.

The former kingsguard has become, to the public, an outlaw terrorizing the Riverlands, but actually he's "dead" and his head helm is travelling without him. He is a gravedigger, a repentant servant on the Quiet Isle, and for the time being no longer Sandor.

His lifelong obsession, his villainous brother, the object of his hate and all of his contrary life choices, is both gone and not gone.

He might choose life. He might choose to be free.

But the Stranger is in the stables, waiting, implacable.

If the gravedigger transforms back into Sandor, there can be only one destination for him.

[atopvisenyashill]

there’s a few potential sansa romantic endgames that i think have some textual basis and i think all of them come with a lot of issues wrt sansa being able to publically claim these relationships which is why i think sansa will say her children are “fathered by a wolf” because regardless of Who she’s with or even the legality of it, she’s going to be actively concealing their identity AND YET she needs to have children.

i think especially that even though arya’s love life is guaranteed to be less complicated, sansa will feel obligated to take this “burden” of ensuring their line onto herself; she wants arya to have the freedom to go where she pleases, be with who she pleases, and follow her passions and that is not easy to do if everyone is expecting you to come home and start popping out kids. I consider them a sort of reflection of ned and lyanna in this way in that sansa, second born and not meant to rule, uses her newfound power to let the wild, youngest girl (but not youngest child) in the family follow her passions wherever they may take her.

this is all kind of weird with the nixed time jump but considering that george has talked about writing stories from arya’s pov about her adventures, I think it’s going to be fairly important in story regardless of their ages that arya will attempt to offer to stay home and marry and have children as a way of helping to protect sansa’s very shaky claim on winterfell but that sansa encourages arya to do whatever she wants. to travel, to help shepherd the boatloads of refugees from the various wars to wherever they want to call home, to settle displaced northerners in other parts of westeros as well, to get involved in the lives of the people arya is helping and agree to help them liberate their own homes by using her skills (crucial here that arya is A leader but not the SOLE leader), or to go out into the woods and be a secret not-quite-an-outlaw (bc sansa isn’t outlawing anything that could hurt arya’s lil crusades, probably is helping bankroll arya) to bring justice to the smallfolk, like whatever it is arya wants to do with her life, the point is that she offers to give it up and sansa refuses to take the offer.

and then we have the idea that her kids are fathered by a wolf. not elizabeth-ing herself here exactly because she’s having children but never publicly acknowledging a father or a husband or even a lover.

i think the candidates most likely are jon snow and theon, with both brienne and podrick as like “i’m not saying he’s gonna do it but i am saying they make a lot of sense narratively” and aegon vi as a huge long shot but still undeniable contender. if briensa does go canon everyone owes me five bucks each tho. i think the options other people float are not just wildly unserious they also clearly don’t think sansa will be The Ruling Lady Of Winterfell, but some much more minor or less emotionally resonant title and i just do not vibe with that shit at all. harry the heir, sandor, sweetrobin, tyrion, littlefucker, like never mind sansa never once showing any real interest in these guys and NONE of these dudes being satisfied by the idea of being her secret husband, if sansa says to arya “yeah i’m marrying tyrion” arya is going “blink twice if you’re being held hostage and you need me to kill him” but it’s too late because jon snow is already unsheathing longclaw and bran is attacking with every raven in winterfell. it’s not fucking happening and imo it’s unserious to pretend like it could happen in canon. (and if it DOES happen in canon you will find me rocking up to george’s house in jersey and demanding to know why he’s so weird about teenage girls). i think margaery is a huge long shot here (and not just bc it would make them both canonically on screen gay) because i don’t think she’s gonna live to the ending, and jeyne poole is too traumatized at this point in time for me to feel confident in putting her in the same category as brienne and pod.

(theon’s trauma is WHY i think he’s still a contender - post reek theon is going to struggle a lot with figuring out where he’s supposed to be, who he’s supposed to be, and who he can trust as he puts himself back together, and that lends itself nicely to the idea of a secret husband/lover imo. once again, we are talking extreme trauma bonding here - that’s just the only way i see sansa’s romances going).

if you’re asking “who do you think arya is winding up with” it’s gendry. i don’t doubt that there were some plans for edric dayne, arya, and gendry but i think gendry was always going to be her great love here, that she’s always going to turn down the idea of marriage to him but gendry doesn’t care so long as they are still together. there’s a neon blinking sign over gendry’s head that says “endgame material” and i think it’s unserious to pretend it’s not there too!!

[laurellerual]

Arya and Sansa storyswap: an exercise in imagination

Premise: I tried to speculate what might happen if Sansa manages to escape King's Landing and Arya gets stuck in the capital. I collected my thoughts on this scenario trying to make logical, credible choices that respected the characterization of the characters and the timeline of the books (the wiki was very usefull for this). I discarded all the scenarios that end in "…and then she dies horribly" because they're boring. I write with assumption that they would still remain POV characters and therefore mantain a minimum of plot armor. Like everyone, I have my biases so it's not perfect, but I tried to put myself in the most neutral mindset possible. Enjoy and let me know your thoughts. Part 1, Part 2

Part 3/3: Reunion

A Storm of Swords

Sandor and his “squire" are captured and bringed to Stoney Sept in the Riverlands. The Brotherhood without Banners takes them to Hollow Hill. Clegane is put on trial for various atrocities committed by Lannister soldiers, but he survives and is freed.

Arya is recognized by Harwin and Sansa. The two sisters reunite and remain under the "protection" of the outlaws. Because of this, the story takes a very different turn from here on.

For example, I don't think Arya would try to escape the Brotherhood so soon. As a result I don't think the Hound would be unable to kidnap the Stark girls again. However, the Hound could also decide to stay with the Brotherhood. He could plan to go to the Twins, introduce himself to Robb as Arya's savior, and ask him for a job.

So the Brotherhood proceeds as planned, they now have another valuable hostage and intend to take both girls to Lord Edmure's wedding and ransom them to their family. A group of men (like Lem, Harwin, Tom, etc) accompanies the sisters to Harroway to cross the Trident, but their journey is delayed because they find it flooded (like in Arya IX).

They reach the Twins just in time for the Red Wedding, and the outlaws manage to drag the Stark sisters away and save them. Arya and Sansa go through a complicated period of mourning but the fact of being together helps them. The two want to hold onto hope that perhaps their mother might have survived.

One night Arya has her first wolf dream in a long time: she sees Cat's body and drags it out of the river. In the morning Sansa suggests asking the men to go back and look for the woman, but Arya tells her that she's dead. As per canon Lord Beric, Thoros and the others come across the corpse and Dondarrion dies to resurrect her.

Lem's group continues their journey, this time they intend to take the girls to Lysa Arryn, but they discover that the mountain clans are bolder than ever and decide not to take the risk and return to the Riverlands.

The Stark sisters are getting impatient, Arya suggests that the two could run away and try to get to Winterfell alone. Sansa has to inform her sister that Winterfell was conquered by Theon months ago. She is devastated and abandons all plans. Lem's group returns to the Hollow Hill to discuss a new plan with Beric or perhaps to take more men as escorts before returning to the Vale.

Waiting for them in the hill, there isn't the lightning lord but Lady Stoneheart! Mother and daughters reunite.

A Feast for Crows

That's it. Final cliffhanger, sorry.

[libraryofneith]

Old Dog, New Tricks - Chapter Five (Sandor Clegane x Female Reader)

@ladysandorclegane1968 @broadsdrinkwhisky @northwindsdaughter

Summary: Sandor and Kya catch up with the Brotherhood

Tags: Graphic depictions of violence, proceed with caution, Sandor and reader being cute, apologies for the wait it will happen again, college has the crazy idea that i should work for my degree

Series Masterlist

It didn’t take them long to find them. Idiots didn’t even see them coming. Hadn’t bothered to have a look-out, probably thought they’d killed all the people who could threaten them. First man had only just noticed his friends looking nervous and turned around only to lose his head. The second just stood there gawking as he put an axe in his chest. Third had only just gotten his sword out when Sandor slashed the axe across his throat. The last one he decided to draw out a bit longer. He drove the axe up between his legs, causing him to fall to his knees, entrails pouring out the hole where his cock used to be. He grabbed the top of his bald head, forcing the man to look up at him and growled: “Where’s the other one, the one with the yellow cloak?” “Fuck you!” the man cried out desperately. “Those are your last words, fuck you? Come on you can do better.” The man paused before whimpering out pathetically: “cunt.” “You’re shit at dying, you know that?” Then he brought the axe down, with all the force he could muster on top of the man’s head. Sandor looked back and saw Kya standing at the camp, he’d been too focused to notice she was there. She was staring at the first man he killed, the youngest of them. She didn’t look sad or angry. She just looked. He touched her shoulder lightly to get her attention. “The others can’t have gotten far. We should go now.” She nodded and off they went; him taking long, purposeful strides, and her scurrying to keep up with him. They didn't need to walk long before they found the rest of them. They were standing on boxes with ropes around their necks, the one with the yellow cloak stood in the middle. They were surrounded by armed men but he didn’t recognise any of them until the middle two turned around. The last time he’d seen them they’d put him on trial for his so-called crimes then stole his gold: Beric Dondarrion and Thoros of Myr.

“Clegane.” Beric said casually, as if they’d just met yesterday for tea and a quick catch-up.

“The fuck you doing here?” Thoros said, always the blunter of the two.

“Chasing them, you?”

“Hanging them.” He’d save them the trouble.

“Any particular reason?” he asked, struggling to keep the malice out of his tone.

“They’re our men or they were.” Beric replied. “They attacked a nearby sept and murdered the villagers.” He could feel Kya tense beside him. “Why do you want them?”

“Same reason. I was helping build it. They killed a friend of mine.”

“You got friends?” Thoros smirked. He looked at Kya, could he really call her a friend yet? He decided to ignore the question.

“They’re mine.” But before he could reach them Beric stepped in his way.

“It’s the Brotherhood’s good name they’ve dragged through the dirt.” Kya snorted. Beric gave her a quick look but ignored her.

“Fuck your name, they’re mine. I’ve killed you once before Dondarrion, happy to do it again.” Beric didn’t seem to take offense at the threat, merely smiled. He could hear the sound of a bow being stretched.

“Drop that arrow you bloody girl” he said, never breaking eye contact with the outlaw leader. “Tougher girls than you have tried to kill me.” Out of the corner of his eye, he thought he saw the girl smirk. He turned, intending to chop the cunt’s bow hand off, but before he got to him, he heard: “You can have one of them.” Sandor gave Beric a look.

“Two.” Beric looked at Thoros for confirmation and he nodded. Sandor went to the one on the left and raised his axe, earning a whimper out of the murderer. But before he could cut into him, Thoros stayed his hand.

“No no no no, we’re not butchers, we hang them.”

“Hanging!” he barked back. “All over in an instant. Where’s the punishment in that?”

“They die.”

“We all bloody die, except this one.” He nodded at Beric. “I’ll only gut on of them.”

“No.” Beric said firmly.

“I’ll chop off one hand.”

“We gave you two out of three, in respect for your loss. That’s generous.” Sandor looked at him. He clearly wasn’t going to budge. He looked at Kya and she just shrugged, clearly not caring how they died so long as they were dead. He dropped the axe.

“Bunch of nancies. There was a time I would’ve killed all seven of you just to gut these three.”

“You’re getting old Clegane” Thoros said.

“He’s not” Sandor retorted, and kicked the stool out from under the left man. He looked back at the girl. “You can have the other.” Beric looked like he was going to protest until she moved towards the middle one.

“Please milady, I’ll do anything.” She simply stared at him, then did something Sandor did not expect: grabbed the man around the legs, lifted him up briefly (she was stronger than she looked) and kicked the stool out before slowly lowering him down. She wanted him to die slowly, he realised with a start. Got more steel than I thought. He watched her as she watched him kick and struggle, never breaking eye contact until at last the man’s struggle ceased.

They all turned to leave but before Sandor joined them, he surveyed the dead man’s boots. Good make, looked pretty sturdy, his own shoes were wearing thin from all the tracking. He took one of them off and measured it next to his foot – should fit well enough, and the previous owner wouldn’t be needing them. He could feel their eyes on him as he swapped his own boots with the corpse’s. Beric and Thoros looked at him with contempt but he could see the ghost of a smile on Kya's face. He stared right back at Beric and Thoros.

“Got anything to eat?”

As they made their way to the camp, he heard Thoros whispering to her “Who are you then, his little camp follower?”

The girl’s fist shot out so quickly he didn’t even realise what had happened until Thoros reeled back, howling in pain and clutching his nose. He turned to Beric protesting.

“She hit me!” Beric looked at her, then back at him.

“I think you deserved that one.”

Sandor smiled, not a smirk this time, but an actual smile. Kya looked back at him and grinned. The girl was starting to grow on him.

[mybworlds]

Chapter 9: Kissed by fire

Pairing: The Hound x Sansa Stark

Summary: Sansa and Sandor meet the brotherhood without banners and Sansa reunites with her sister Arya.

Chapter Warnings: language, violence

Masterlist

Before to start... thank you to follow me, if you want to be tagged in the next chapters, please let me know! if you want to ask me smt, you can write down here or you can inbox me. Please remember English is not my first language. And in this chapter you can read many abstracts of the chapter thirty four of "A Storm of Swords" book; I put them in italics.

Thanks @vase-of-lilies for the banner

Her eyes had grown accustomed to blackness. When a man pulled the hood off her head, the ruddy glare inside the hollow hill made Sansa blink.

A huge firepit had been dug in the center of the earthen floor, and its flames rose swirling and crackling toward the smoke-stained ceiling. People were emerging from between those roots as she watched; edging out from the shadows for a look at the captives, stepping from the mouths of pitch-black tunnels on all sides. In one place on the far side of the fire, the roots formed a kind of stairway up to a hollow in the earth where a man sat almost lost in the tangle of weirwood.

Big as the fire was, the cave was bigger; it was hard to tell where it began and where it ended. Sansa saw men and women and little children, all of them watching her warily.

"Who are you?" Sansa asked frightened as she looked around.

"Sansa?" a voice made her turn to the left, Sansa could not believe her eyes and ears, it was her sister Arya, she was alive. Sansa stood up and went to meet her sister hugging her, Arya did not return the hug, she remained rigidly composed in her position.

Sansa dissolved the embrace "I thought-I thought you were dead!"

"But here I am!" she replied coldly, Sansa looked at all those men, women and children, who were they?

"What is this place?" a strong-looking, dark-haired young man asked sitting next to Arya.

"A place where neither wolves nor lions can disturb us." Thoros of Myr replied.

Sansa and Arya shivered even as one hid it from the other.

Sansa looked around for the Hound and saw him standing by the fire with a hood over his head and his hands bound.

“How did you take him?” the priest asked.

“The dogs caught the scent. He was sleeping off a drunk under a willow tree, if you believe it.”

“Betrayed by his own kind.” Thoros turned to the prisoner and yanked his hood off. “Welcome to our humble hall, dog. It is not so grand as Robert’s throne room, but the company is better.”

The shifting flames painted Sandor Clegane’s burned face with orange shadows, so he looked even more terrible than he did in daylight. When he pulled at the rope that bound his wrists, flakes of dry blood fell off.

The Hound’s mouth twitched. “I know you,” he said to Thoros.

“You did. In mêlées, you’d curse my flaming sword, though thrice I overthrew you with it.”

“We are brothers here,” Thoros of Myr declared. “Holy brothers, sworn to the realm, to our god, and to each other.”

“The brotherhood without banners.” someone shouted “The knights of the hollow hill.”

“Knights?” Clegane made the word a sneer. “Dondarrion’s a knight, but the rest of you are the sorriest lot of outlaws and broken men I’ve ever seen. I shit better men than you.”

“Any knight can make a knight,” said the scarecrow that was Beric Dondarrion, “and every man you see before you has felt a sword upon his shoulder. We are the forgotten fellowship.”

“Send me on my way and I’ll forget you too,” Clegane rasped. “But if you mean to murder me, then bloody well get on with it. You took my sword, my horse, and my gold, so take my life and be done with it . . . but spare me this pious bleating.”

“You will die soon enough, dog,” promised Thoros, “but it shan’t be murder, only justice.”

Sansa's eyes widened in terror at the idea that Sandor - the Hound - could be killed.

“Aye,” said the Mad Huntsman, “and a kinder fate than you deserve for all your kind have done. Lions, you call yourselves. At Sherrer and the Mummer’s Ford, girls of six and seven years were raped, and babes still on the breast were cut in two while their mothers watched. No lion ever killed so cruel.”

“I was not at Sherrer, nor the Mummer’s Ford,” the Hound told him. “Lay your dead children at some other door.”

Thoros answered him. “Do you deny that House Clegane was built upon dead children? I saw them lay Prince Aegon and Princess Rhaenys before the Iron Throne. By rights your arms should bear two bloody infants in place of those ugly dogs.”

The Hound’s mouth twitched. “Do you take me for my brother? Is being born Clegane a crime?”

“Murder is a crime.”

“Who did I murder?”

An endless string of names resounded along the cave walls, and Sansa looked worriedly at the Hound.

“Enough.” The Hound’s face was tight with anger. “You’re making noise. These names mean nothing. Who were they?”

“People,” said Lord Beric. “People great and small, young and old. Good people and bad people, who died on the points of Lannister spears or saw their bellies opened by Lannister swords.”

“It wasn’t my sword in their bellies. Any man who says it was is a bloody liar.”

“You serve the Lannisters of Casterly Rock,” said Thoros.

“Once. Me and thousands more. Is each of us guilty of the crimes of the others?” Clegane spat. “Might be you are knights after all. You lie like knights, maybe you murder like knights.”

Arya screamed “You are a murderer! You killed Mycah, don’t say you never did. You murdered him!”

The Hound stared at her with no flicker of recognition. “And who was this Mycah, boy?”

“I’m not a boy! But Mycah was. He was a butcher’s boy and you killed him. Jory said you cut him near in half, and he never even had a sword.”

“Who’s this now?” someone asked.

The Hound answered. “Seven hells. The little sister---" Sandor's eyes sought Sansa's, who immediately returned the gaze.

“The girl has named you a murderer. Do you deny killing this butcher’s boy, Mycah?”

The big man shrugged. “I was Joffrey’s sworn shield. The butcher’s boy attacked a prince of the blood.”

“That’s a lie! It was me. I hit Joffrey and threw Lion’s Paw in the river. Mycah just ran away, like I told him.”

“Did you see the boy attack Prince Joffrey?” Lord Beric Dondarrion asked the Hound.

“I heard it from the royal lips. It’s not my place to question princes.” Clegane jerked his hands toward Arya. “This one’s own sister told the same tale when she stood before your precious Robert.”

“Sansa’s just a liar,” Arya said, furious at her sister all over again. “It wasn’t like she said. It wasn’t.” the Stark shouted, forgetting that her sister Sansa was in the cave with them.

Thoros drew Lord Beric aside. The two men stood talking in low whispers, Dondarrion turned back to the Hound. “You stand accused of murder, but no one here knows the truth or falsehood of the charge, so it is not for us to judge you. Only the Lord of Light may do that now. I sentence you to trial by battle.”

The Hound frowned suspiciously, as if he did not trust his ears. “Are you a fool or a madman?”

“Neither. I am a just lord. Prove your innocence with a blade, and you shall be free to go.”

Sansa breathed a sigh of relief, the Hound was virtually unbeatable with the sword, everyone knew it, including her sister Arya who was furious.

“So who will it be?”

“It’s me you’ll face,” said Lord Beric Dondarrion.

Thoros brought the Hound his swordbelt.

The Hound ripped the sword free and threw away the scabbard.

The Hound made to step toward his foe, Thoros of Myr stopped him. “First we pray.” He turned toward the fire and lifted his arms. “Lord of Light, look down upon us.”

All around the cave, the brotherhood without banners lifted their own voices in response. “Lord of Light, defend us.”

“Lord of Light, protect us in the darkness.”

“Lord of Light, shine your face upon us.”

“Light your flame among us, R’hllor,” said the red priest. “Show us the truth or falseness of this man.

Strike him down if he is guilty, and give strength to his sword if he is true. Lord of Light, give us wisdom.”

“For the night is dark,” the others chanted, “and full of terrors.”

And then the sword took fire.

The Hound retreated half a step totally shocked at the sight of his flaming sword, Sansa for her part was totally astonished.

The Hound charged him, he moved fast enough.

The flaming sword leapt up to meet the cold one, long streamers of fire trailing in its wake like the ribbons the Hound had spoken of. Steel rang on steel. No sooner was his first slash blocked than

Clegane made another, but this time Lord Beric’s shield got in the way, and wood chips flew from the force of the blow. Hard and fast the cuts came, from low and high, from right and left, and each one Dondarrion blocked. Each move Lord Beric made fanned them and made them burn the brighter, until it seemed as though the lightning lord stood within a cage of fire.

Now it was Lord Beric attacking, filling the air with ropes of fire, driving the bigger man back on his heels. Clegane caught one blow high on his shield, and a painted dog lost a head. He countercut, and Dondarrion interposed his own shield and launched a fiery backslash. The outlaw brotherhood shouted on their leader. “He’s yours!” Sansa heard, and “At him! At him! At him!” The Hound parried a cut at his head, grimacing as the heat of the flames beat against his face. He grunted and cursed and reeled away.

Lord Beric gave him no respite. Hard on the big man’s heels he followed, his arm never still. The swords clashed and sprang apart and clashed again, splinters flew from the lightning shield while swirling flames kissed the dogs once, and twice, and thrice. The Hound moved to his right, but Dondarrion blocked him with a quick sidestep and drove him back the other way . . . toward the sullen red blaze of the firepit.

Three steps up and two back, a move to the left that Lord Beric blocked, two more forward and one back, clang and clang, and the big oaken shields took blow after blow after blow. Lord Beric’s flaming sword whirled and slashed. In one wild flurry, the lightning lord took back all the ground the Hound had gained, sending Clegane staggering to the very edge of the firepit once more. The Hound screamed as he felt the fire licking against the back of his thighs. He charged, swinging the heavy sword harder and harder, trying to smash the smaller man down with brute force, to break blade or shield or arm. But the flames of Dondarrion’s parries snapped at his eyes, and when the Hound jerked away from them, his foot went out from under him and he staggered to one knee.

Sansa cried out in terror.

At once Lord Beric closed, his downcut screaming through the air trailing pennons of fire. Panting from exertion, Clegane jerked his shield up over his head just in time, and the cave rang with the loudcrack of splintering oak.

Sandor Clegane had fought his way back to his feet with a reckless counterattack. Not until Lord Beric retreated a pace did the Hound seem to realize that the fire that roared so near his face was his own shield, burning. With a shout of revulsion, he hacked down savagely on the broken oak, completing its destruction. The shield shattered, one piece of it spinning away, still afire, while the other clung stubbornly to his forearm. His efforts to free himself only fanned the flames. His sleeve caught, and now his whole left arm was ablaze. “Finish him!” someone shouted “Guilty!” Arya shouted with the rest. “Guilty, guilty, kill him, guilty!”

Smooth as summer silk, Lord Beric slid close to make an end of the man before him. The Hound gave a rasping scream, raised his sword in both hands and brought it crashing down with all his strength.

The Hound’s cold steel plowed into Lord Beric’s flesh where his shoulder joined his neck and clove him clean down to the breastbone. Sandor Clegane jerked backward, still burning. He ripped the remnants of his shield off and flung them away with a curse, then rolled in the dirt to smother the fire running along his arm.

Lord Beric’s knees folded slowly, as if for prayer. The Hound’s sword was still in him as he toppled face forward.

“Please,” Sandor Clegane rasped, cradling his arm. “I’m burned. Help me. Someone. Help me.” He was crying. “Please.”

Sansa jumped up and made to grab the canteen of one of the men who were watching the fight, but Sansa was stopped by her own sister Arya "What the hell is wrong with you?" she scolded her "You know who he is, don't you? Then why are you going to him?"

"He saved my life, I owe him that," replied Sansa who made to get past her sister, but to no avail.

"He's a murderer, he doesn't deserve your sympathy," she shouted angrily.

“You go to hell, Hound,” she screamed at Sandor Clegane in helpless empty-handed rage. “You just go to hell!”

“He has,” said a voice scarce stronger than a whisper.

When Arya turned, Lord Beric Dondarrion was standing behind her, his bloody hand clutching Thoros by the shoulder.

With Arya's disgust, the Hound was freed: the outlaws had healed Sandor Clegane's burned arm, returned his sword, armor, and horse, the only thing they had taken was his gold.

Arya felt a great and very strong anger at seeing him go, while Sansa a great despair: her only, their only chance of return was fading and she was once again a prisoner along with her sister, who, however, hated her.

"You're such a fool!" railed Arya to her sister's despair.

"Stop it!" implored Sansa with shining eyes.

"Crying for that monster! A murderer! You're crazy." Sansa pulled up her nose "Stop crying, you're pathetic!" continued Arya "That one doesn't care about anything or anyone but his own filthy skin!"

"That's not true." replied Sansa between sobs "He's rough, but…he saved me, he took me with him from King's Landing, he could have abandoned me to my fate, but he didn't, how can you call someone who saves your life a monster? " then Sansa continued her tale by narrating to her sister all that she had experienced, but Arya did not flinch, in fact her features became even harsher and her lips stretched into a straight line laden with reproach toward her older sister.

"You are a fool, Sansa, as well as a liar. First you defended Joffrey and forced me to let Nymeria go, with your words you condemned Mycah to death, and now you are defending that filthy murderer. You are a disgrace to our family!" sentenced Arya with contempt.

Sansa lost control of herself and forgot her manners, she slapped her sister who vehemently attacked her by scratching and beating her, it was that guy, Gendry, who separated the two sisters, someone else looked on in curiosity at that scene.

"What's the matter with you people?" the light-eyed, dark-haired boy intervened, tearing up Arya, who had thrown herself impetuously at her sister.

"My sister is mad, that's the matter," replied Arya furiously.

Sansa breathed heavily, then curled up in a corner and began to cry.

"All she can do is cry," Arya continued, "And lie."

She hated her, she hated her sister.

"Come on, leave her alone. Calm down," Gendry said again and then dragged the little Stark away from Sansa.

Sansa brought her knees to her chest and wept silently.

She wanted him to come back to her, to find a way to keep his promise, but days passed, the Sun rose and set, and he was gone.

Maybe she really was as stupid as her sister said!

"I brought you something to eat," Gendry told her when again the moon was high in the sky.

Sansa's eyes were swollen, hurting, and she was sure she looked decidedly grotesque, but by now the elder Stark did not even pay much attention to her appearance.

"Thank you." said Sansa.

She reached for the small wooden plate from which she picked up a cooked potato and chunks of meat with her hands; she had not eaten these foods for so long that they seemed a real treat to her palate.

"Don't mind Arya." he told her "She's angry, she's seen … so many bad things she'll never forget."

Sansa nodded "I know, I know how she feels. But she can't stand me. She didn't before… she won't now that I've taken the side of the Hound she despises with all her might. Arya and I will never love each other, even trying. We are so young and yet we have so much resentment already toward each other."

Gendry laid a hand on hers gently taking on a sorry expression "I hope you will understand each other and be able to talk peacefully sooner or later." he said to her before walking away from her and leaving her alone.

Sansa remained alone for the next few days, she struggled to sleep and eat, but by now she was getting used to even not eating or sleeping anymore, on the sixth day-when she got up again-every muscle ached, she had to maintain herself. She found in a corner not far from her Arya staring into the fire, she had an angry expression, when she approached her, her little sister looked venomously into her face "Gendry is gone too! Your prayers have been answered. I am alone too. The difference between us is I have lost a friend, you -- a lousy murderer!"

"Where did he go?" asked Sansa.

"The Brotherhood has… sold him." replied Arya, angrily throwing a handful of dust into the fire.

"Why?"

Arya did not answer, "We cannot trust them. They might do the same to us in exchange for a few gold coins! We have to…" Arya looked around before adding "…flee." Sansa looked at her for a long time, "Are you capable of doing that? Or are you going to cry and ask for help?" bounced Arya at her.

Sansa just looked at her sister, there was nothing she could do she had not forgiven her for losing her direwolf, not forgiven her for supporting Joffrey, not forgiven her for being there and doing nothing to prevent her father's death, not forgiven her for supporting the Hound.

Night came and along with it many men went to sleep, but neither Sansa nor Arya slept. They were awake and ready to flee. Arya had a strange light in her eyes, thought Sansa who instead merely stared at the exit in the hope of seeing Sandor Clegane enter it, take the two Starks and flee, but that did not happen. The Hound must have been many leagues away by now!

"Lannister guards a hundred feet from us!" someone shouted, that was the signal the two sisters had been waiting for, the two in the general confusion managed to easily get past the two knights placed to guard the cave. Sansa and Arya fled at breakneck speed into the dark woods, Sansa trudged on, but did not stop. She was suddenly grabbed as she ran, the one who tugged her was strong and had armor that stood out clearly in the moonlight, she kicked and flailed, but when she heard his voice she stopped, "By the Seventh Hells, stop!" Sansa turned around; it was the Hound.

She wanted to hug him, smile at him, but he asked her abruptly, "Where is that little monster?"

"She kept running."

She didn't even stop to check to see where I was….

The Hound left her there saying, "Hide in this bush and don't make a sound, got it?" then ran and ran in the hope of not making too much noise.

The younger Stark was running, she was fast.

Although she was fast, Sandor was more. He caught her from behind by encircling her by the arm and then said in her ear, "Kick all you want, little wolf, it won't do you any good."

Sandor would have liked the little one to be as docile as Sansa, but if Sansa was as gentle as a lamb, Arya was uncontrollable, a veritable wild wolf, he, for their sake, was forced to strike her, and so, having loaded her onto his shoulders and retrieved Sansa, the three of them walked away from the Whispering Wood.

[ewinofthelake]

Arya was raised on a small farm in the Mountains of Winter. She had never owned fancy dresses, never pampered her long dark hair, but she was all the same the most beautiful girl in the North. She just didn't know it.

Her favourite pastimes were running in the woods with her direwolf Nymeria and tormenting the farm boy that worked for her family. His name was Jaqen, but she never called him that. To her, it was as if he had no name.

Nothing gave Arya as much pleasure as ordering Jaqen around.

"Farm boy, brush my direwolf's coat, I want to see it shining by morning," she told him one day, her hand petting Nymeria.

He was always so quiet, so courteous. "A man must serve." And maybe as handsome as she was beautiful.

A man must serve was all he ever said to her. He just looked at her. He always looked at her, always smiling. He saw her.

"Farm boy, fill these with water," she told him on the morrow, two buckets dropped near him.

He was outside, chopping firewood with an axe. "A man must serve." And a man obeyed.

She never looked at him. She just turned and left. But that day, her eyes stayed on him. That day, she chewed her lip to keep a please from escaping. That day, she was amazed to discover that when he was saying a man must serve what he meant was I love you.

"Farm boy, fetch me that kettle," she told him at the turn of the moon, the kettle so close she could reach it herself from where she was sitting.

He was in the kitchen doorway, a pair of heavy padded mitts soon in his hands. "A man must serve." And kneeling beside her, Arya drunk on his smile, they finally gazed into each other's eyes.

Even more amazing was that day. The day she realised she wanted to kiss that disarming smile. The day she realised she truly loved him back.

How their love survived the adventures with the three outlaws Tyrion the witty dwarf, 'Big Man' Sandor Clegane and Syrio Forel the fencing master, with the evil prince Bolton and his six-fingered goon Meryn Trant, and with the kindly magician in his robe of black and white, well... That is a story for another day.

Arya Stark Valentine’s Day Challenge 2023, prompts Secret Admirer/Alternate Fandom/Fairytale: Jaqen H'ghar/Arya Stark, The Princess Bride AU

[wpmorse]

Sandor Clegane looked at their faces, every one, as if he were trying to commit them all to memory. Then he walked back out into the darkness and the pouring rain from whence he'd come, with never another word. The outlaws waited, wondering . . .

Arya VII -pg 542

Sandor wants the money the Brotherhood took from him back. Since they don't have it, he remembers faces, takes names, and leaves.

This one was okay. When I first read this scene I visualized happening at a campsite and only realized it was in an inn when I reread it for the picture. Hatching isn't that effective for night scenes.

[gggoldfinch]

I've been slowly working my way through your Sandor fic, looked at your tumblr and discovered that you ALSO write for cooper Howard??? Amazing

What can I say. I fancy weird fucked up lookin outlaws 🕺🏻

[dr3adlady]

I'm working on a new fic which I'm going to name "born to burn", and it's going to be a western. I always loved the genre, and Sandor is one of those characters who look like they have just walked out of a duel alive, so it was just a matter of time till I made such an au :))) I'm very excited about it, and the first chapter will be released soon.

[dappled-grey]

So I finally watched Outlaw King...who wants to write a Sansan AU?

[iremainunvanquished]

Ser Shadrich: You’re wanted, Clegane. 

Sandor: I reckon I’m right popular. You a bounty hunter? 

Ser Shadrich: A man’s got to do something for a living these days.

Sandor: Dyin’ ain’t much of a living, boy. 

[lieutenantseivarden-tomove]

I don't care for Sandor in general, but the duel with Beric Dondarrion was iconic.

"This cave is dark too, but I'm the terror here."

#legendary

[bookhousestark]

ARYA STARK APPRECIATION MONTH 2022 ↳ Day 23: Men in Arya’s life → Men searching for Arya throughout the series

She would have been better alone. If she had been alone, the outlaws would never have caught her, and she'd be with Robb and her mother by now. They were never my pack. If they had been, they wouldn't leave me. She splashed through a puddle of muddy water. Someone was shouting her name, Harwin probably, or Gendry, but the thunder drowned them out as it rolled across the hills, half a heartbeat behind the lightning. The lightning lord, she thought angrily. Maybe he couldn't die, but he could lie.

***

It had been so long since he had last seen Arya. What would she look like now? Would he even know her? Arya Underfoot. Her face was always dirty. Would she still have that little sword he'd had Mikken forge for her? Stick them with the pointy end, he'd told her. Wisdom for her wedding night if half of what he heard of Ramsay Snow was true. Bring her home, Mance. I saved your son from Melisandre, and now I am about to save four thousand of your free folk. You owe me this one little girl.

***

We are five thousand strong as I write, our numbers swelling every day. And word has come to us that Roose Bolton moves toward Winterfell with all his power, there to wed his bastard to your half sister. He must not be allowed to restore the castle to its former strength. We march against him. Arnolf Karstark and Mors Umber will join us. I will save your sister if I can, and find a better match for her than Ramsay Snow. You and your brothers must hold the Wall until I can return.

***

The outlaw gave him an encouraging smile. "Well, as it happens, we're looking for a dog that ran away." "A dog?" Merrett was lost. "What kind of dog?" "He answers to the name Sandor Clegane. Thoros says he was making for the Twins. We found the ferrymen who took him across the Trident, and the poor sod he robbed on the kingsroad. Did you see him at the wedding, perchance?" "He would have had a child with him," said the singer. "A skinny girl, about ten. Or perhaps a boy the same age."

***

You know nothing, Jon Snow. He thought of Arya, her hair as tangled as a bird's nest. I made him a warm cloak from the skins of the six whores who came with him to Winterfell … I want my bride back … I want my bride back … I want my bride back … "I think we had best change the plan," Jon Snow said.

***

"I mean to have Arya as well. I have men searching."

[aegor-bamfsteel]

So Rhaegar Frey, a southern lord, whose son named Jonos Frey and had other son named Robert was potential match for Wynfred Manderly a northern daughter. Rhaegar's first wife was dead from illness. He insulted North king Robb Stark and wanted Manderlys to bend the knee to Iron Throne. His family was responsible for killing killing Starks and Wendel. Though he died before he married Wynafrd. I do think grrm is mocking Rhaegar Targ through Rhaegar Frey and fans don't even recognize it.

Despite GRRM saying he has good fans (as per this response comparing us favorably to Rowling’s after he lost the 2001 Hugo Award), he does seem to like trolling us, doesn’t he? There’s also Melisandre saying if she’s ever mistaken about her visions “the fault lies with the reader, not the book” like he’s poking fun at fan speculation.

GRRM does like using the Frey namesakes to play around with character fates. Sandor Clegane killed Tytos Frey, whereas his grandfather saved Tytos Lannister. There’s Sandor Frey, a squire of Donnel Waynwood, who for all we know Sansa will meet as she leaves the Vale. Half of the Beesbury-Raymund Freys have main branch Lannister names (twins Jaime and Tywin, “little Bee” Cersei), and their father Raymund personally slit Catelyn Stark’s throat. Speaking of, Cat killed Aegon “Jinglebell” Frey at the Red Wedding as “a son for a son”, which has some similarity to Aegon son of Elia’s presumed fate (killed while a mother was begging for mercy). There’s Aegon “Bloodborn” Frey son of Aenys, an outlaw, who again has parallels to Aegon VI (you could consider the alleged baby swap him born in blood, and certainly he lived as an outlaw during his youth). Then there’s Bloodborn’s brother Rhaegar, who as you said had three children (Robert, “White” Walda—maybe for her pale hair as she’s part Beesbury?, and Jonos) with a mother named Tyana (Lyanna?) who died in childbirth presumably with him, lied about the Starks’ involvement in the Red Wedding, was betrothed to a northern heiress, and presumably died and was fed to his kin, including his own father Aenys (I guess substitute for Aerys, who outlived Rhaegar before being killed himself). The details are mixed up from what we know of the Targaryens (Lyanna the mistress not the mother, Aegon the son not the older brother, Robert the cousin not the son), but considering how Wyman points out that Rhaegar was “a smirking worm who wears a dragon’s name) I’m sure this branch of the Frey tree having some Targaryen names has significance (probably that they’re doomed). In addition, it seems that Rhaegar’s kids are double cousins with Raymund‘s Lannister named kids (both have Beesbury mothers), so their fates are possibly connected (again, I wouldn’t put it past GRRM murdering some Lannister namesakes even if they’re infants).