Entertainment

The Hound Could Become An Ice Zombie On 'Game Of Thrones'

by Jordan Lauf
Helen Sloan/HBO

The Game of Thrones episode "Eastwatch" ended with a truly epic squad, filled with some of the show's most beloved characters, embarking on what seems like a suicide mission. Seriously, sending like six people to go capture a single wight to bring back to King's Landing is perhaps the stupidest idea. It's like you weren't even at Hardhome, Jon Snow. But even though fans are super worried about the fate of those sent beyond the wall to face the undead, one fan-favorite in particular might be vulnerable to a gruesome fate. Will The Hound become a White Walker on Game of Thrones?

The probability that someone will die during this mission seems high. As we know, the White Walkers don't seem to be traveling in small packs, but rather in this huge massive wight army that even has giants! How Jon Snow and squad think they're going to capture one of these creatures when they are so greatly outnumbered is truly a mystery. But if people die during this mission, that means in all likelihood, the Night King will transform them into wights. Therefore, if The Hounds bites it, he'll probably have a second chance at life as a ice zombie. ...Congrats?

If the writers were feeling extra dramatic and vengeful when they wrote Episode 6, they could even have The Hound be the wight the crew brings back to the south to prove their existence. After all, he's someone the people in the capitol would recognize— to see him completely transformed would no doubt convince them of the legitimacy of Jon's extreme paranoia. And this could satisfy another prominent fan theory — Cleganebowl. A face-off between The Mountain and The Hound in which both brothers are somewhat inhuman and partially already dead would be a truly epic battle.

Helen Sloan/HBO

But before you get too excited (or sad, idk how you feel about The Hound okay?) There are a few reasons this is a particularly unlikely set of events. For one, if Jon and the others were to choose a wight to bring back to King's Landing, bringing The Hound would be the next-worst thing to bringing one of the giants. He is huge and famously strong — trying to control him as an ice zombie would be just about impossible.

The other reason I don't think we'll be seeing an undead Cleganebowl any time soon is that the writers have spent way too long on The Hound's character development for him to die in such a way. Remember that long scene at the beginning of this season you almost fast-forwarded through, when The Hound digs a grave for the man and his daughter who he basically killed? Or the whole time he and Arya were enacting some kind of weird buddy road tale? Or the fact that they literally brought him back from what we mistakenly thought was the dead for reasons that still seem unclear? Yeah, the writers of this show really like The Hound. And I doubt that they would go to all the trouble to develop his character if they were only going to turn him into an mindless zombie.

But that doesn't mean one of our other favorites won't be the newest addition to the Night King's army. (Tormund seems likely). But if I'm wrong (though I hope I'm not), I'll be the first one in line for tickets to that Cleganebowl. Team Ice Hound all the way.