Sandor was never written off and brought back, not in the books or the show so yes i assume there is more to it than just to fight the mountain

Sure, a death was not seen on screen. However, after being left for dead with minimal to zero chance of survival, it is reasonable to assume he died... especially since he was not seen for a long time afterward. To me, this is a ploy from the writers to appear that he had been written-off the show. They could easily have not shown him again and most viewers would think him dead.

Point being, why write this fake death? Is it solely for the shock of the reveal of him being back? Or is there a bigger picture or event for him?

Like i said, it is not a fake death, it is heavily implied in the books that he is not dead, they didnt kill him and bring him back, he was always coming back

@Xsploit said:

they didnt kill him and bring him back, he was always coming back

Perhaps from the writer's standpoint but not the viewer's. From the viewer's standpoint, there was no good reason to believe he was coming back. I've seen it mentioned that we did not see him die, but then again we didn't see Stanis die either, and it's safe to assume Stanis is indeed dead. Those who have not read the books could also safely assume that Sandor was dead as well.

I would hope and expect that the writer's always planned on bringing him back, since that is what they did. That shows they had a plan, instead of just writing as they go along. Writing with a plan always makes a better story and one of the reasons why GOT is so great.

@Xsploit said:

Like i said, it is not a fake death

It seems we define this term differently. You appear to define it along the lines of "they killed him and changed their minds". I include the following in defining this term, "they wanted the viewers to think he was dead, but he wasn't".

@GrandTardigrade said:

it's safe to assume Stanis is indeed dead.

Is it?

I would hope and expect that the writer's always planned on bringing him back, since that is what they did. That shows they had a plan, instead of just writing as they go along. Writing with a plan always makes a better story and one of the reasons why GOT is so great.

Writers or Martin? If they (either of them) had a plan, will that mean that Gendry might return?

I think it is safe to assume Stanis is dead. If he is not, then that means there would be 3 fake deaths in the show (Sandor, Jon, Stannis). That seems overkill to me. The fake deaths were nice because it could be believable that they were in fact gone since this show almost prides itself on letting primary characters die. Also, I can't fathom why Brienne would not have finished him.

I think Sandor was more of a major player than Gendry so they could more easily do something significant with him. But sure, maybe Gendry will return. It could be interesting to see what happens with that. Maybe they could do something with him being King Robert's son.

Martin ALWAYS planned to bring him back, thus there always has been a plan in place for sandor, just because you as a viewer didnt pick up on subtle hints, doesnt mean that there was any other plan, the writers arent just making it up as they go along, they are following martins plan more or less. plenty of smallish changes but the grand story is going to stay the same

@GrandTardigrade said:

Also, I can't fathom why Brienne would not have finished him.

True.

I think Sandor was more of a major player than Gendry so they could more easily do something significant with him. But sure, maybe Gendry will return. It could be interesting to see what happens with that. Maybe they could do something with him being King Robert's son.

In the novels I always felt that he would become important. It just seems he's forgotten at this point.

Brienne didnt finish him off because she couldnt find him after she kicked him down a hill... remember?

also it was obvious jon was going to be brought back, do you pay attention to the show at all? There havnt been any fake deaths (maybe to the casual viewer)

@Xsploit said:

Martin ALWAYS planned to bring him back, thus there always has been a plan in place for sandor, just because you as a viewer didnt pick up on subtle hints, doesnt mean that there was any other plan, the writers arent just making it up as they go along, they are following martins plan more or less. plenty of smallish changes but the grand story is going to stay the same

I have to say, as a reader, I also really thought he (the Hound) was dead. We'll find out if Gendry comes along again and what more is in store for Clegane.

There was a really obvious clue that he was the gravedigger at the monestary, i guess you missed it

@Xsploit said:

also it was obvious jon was going to be brought back.

Agreed.

There havnt been any fake deaths (maybe to the casual viewer)

Jon died. So that wouldn't count as a fake death. I think GrandTardigrade means characters we were meant to believe to be dead. At least, that's how I interpreted the post. Though just like Clegane, I can't remember seeing Stannis die. So yes, I probably didn't pay enough attention where that is concerned.

@Xsploit said:

Martin ALWAYS planned to bring him back, thus there always has been a plan in place for sandor, just because you as a viewer didnt pick up on subtle hints, doesnt mean that there was any other plan, the writers arent just making it up as they go along, they are following martins plan more or less. plenty of smallish changes but the grand story is going to stay the same

I do not think you are understanding me. We actually agree more than I think you realize. Martin always planned on bringing Sandor back. That does not mean he couldn't trick the audience into thinking he was (or could have been) dead. In fact, bravo!, a good writer will use surprises to keep the story interesting. When a basketball player needs to get past their opponent, sometimes they will fake like they are going right then quickly change directions to go left. They may have always intended to go left but wanted to fake out the other player first. When a chess player puts one of their pieces in a position that looks compromising, it sometimes baits their opponent to try to take the piece. But sometimes this is a fake out because the player has something bigger in plan after the opponent takes the bait. These are similar concepts. I'm not saying Martin changed his mind. I'm also not saying the writers have different plans than Martin. I'm saying perhaps they purposely wrote the story to trick people into thinking Sandor was dead.

@Xsploit said:

There was a really obvious clue that he was the gravedigger at the monestary, i guess you missed it

I'm guessing you're referring to the beginning of season 6? That wasn't a clue. Until then we were lead to believe that Clegane was dead and that was the moment he was revealed to be alive. The only hint we had was that we never saw him die.