Who Said This Line? Dontos or the Hound?

Okay... So weird that I never noticed this before! But yeah, I don't see how this could have been anyone but Sandor. Sansa has drifted off into LaLaLand while Dontos is talking (as she's wont to do) and thinking specifically and viscerally about the riot and how the Hound rescued her, so who else could it have possibly been? Good catch!

Yes, I'm afraid I agree with katie's reading that it was Dontos who said it, but on the other hand, in closely reading that paragraph, I think we can find a few things that are interesting all the same. Dontos has told her not to be afraid, but she thinks about the horror of the bread riot where she is reflecting just what the mob could have done to her if "the Hound had not cut his way to her side." It's just one more bit of evidence that when things are really bad, when she's in terror, there has been only one man who has been able to help her. She's certainly doubting Dontos because with just him to help her, how can she help but be afraid (and isn't it later in this chapter, atop of Maegor's Holdfast, that she wishes Dontos had the Hound's ferocity)?

I also think it's interesting the way GRRM had Sansa remembering here that Ser Aron had his head smashed with a rock. Maybe she just learned that the way everyone else did, after the fact, but remember that The Hound reports that to everyone when he gets back with Sansa from the riot.





If Sansa is remembering this, did the Hound do this after he had saved her? Was she watching him as he tried to save Ser Aron as well? If so, she sees that he did not just try to save her, though that was first and foremost, but he was trying to help the others as well--one of the only, if not only, members of that royal party to do so--except for Sansa who encouraged Joffrey to give the coin to the woman with the dead baby. But more to the point, I like the way GRRM often has Sansa ans Sandor notice the same things and report them at different times in the narrative. Another example of this is when the Hound asks her if she remembers how Ned's legs "danced" when he was beheaded. The answer is, yes, because right after the execution in AGOT, Sansa is thinking about it and the most horrible thing was how her father's legs had jerked when he was beheaded. It shows a certain connection between the two, they are noticing the same things, thinking about the same things. Even when the both end up on top of Maegor's Holdfast before the battle. I know some people think he was lurking to be near her, which is possible, but I also think they both were looking for fresh air, feeling afraid, and these two sympathetic souls ended up in the same place. It's subtle, but I think it's purposeful.



One other thing I noticed when looking up the quotations, look at the way they were riding before the riot began:







The Hound is protecting Joffrey. Ser Mandon is protecting Sansa. We know that when a peasant tries to grab Joffrey's leg, Ser Mandon cuts off the man's hand at the wrist and later, Tyrion confronts Ser Mandon because he was supposed to be Sansa's shield, and she's gone:





Funny how when they mobbed the Hound, the Hound himself thought first of Sansa. This is not the only time Ser Mandon and the Hound are compared.  It happens at the Blackwater, too, when Tyrion thinks to replace the Hound with Mandon, but realizes that the men would not follow Mandon like they did the Hound. 

This was a tangent, I know. Sorry!

Do you mean in this particular scene? I think it's possible, if only because I am convinced Sandor knew she was in the godswood the first time she met up with Dontos, which is why he deliberately intercepted her on the Serpentine Steps. I think Sandor has an awareness of Sansa's whereabouts that others don't, just like people seem completely oblivious to Sandor and Sansa's interactions.

It opens the question of WHY he was on the rooftop to begin with. Tyrion mentions that he has the Hound doing some stuff in prep for the coming battle and that Joffrey's personal guard is handed over to the Kettleback. So, it's possible Sandor was sent off on some task, he may have even been sent to the rooftop as some sort of look out, or alternatively he might have been doing something else and slipped away to be by himself on the roof. He might have even been off duty, though it's unlikely with a battle looming. Who knows, but it makes for some interesting speculation!

sillierthings, I'll reply to your post a bit later, but in the meantime, it was my post you were referring to, not eyesofmist! (heehee, I've done that too) I would like to know what she thinks too, though! ;-)

Okay, re: sillierthings's post above... Yes, the whole beginning of that chapter, Sansa is openly exasperated with Dontos. She makes it quite clear that she's sick of waiting and that he hasn't done jack shit for her. So I guess it's little wonder (a) she remembers the riots and how Sandor went out of his way to save & protect her, (b) she later runs into that TRUE knight of hers later that same evening, and (c) she wishes that Dontos had half the sack that Sandor does. She values Sandor's proactiveness - when shit needs to get done, he just does it.


Yes, yes! I pointed that out the other day how it's very interesting how Sandor just oh-so coincidentally brings up the ONE mental image from Ned's execution that haunted Sansa the most. How did he know that??? As for Ser Aron, I'm sure Sandor probably continued cutting bitches down after he had mounted Sansa......'s horse ;-) In my mind, he just made a beeline for her, slashing at anything and anyone in his way, and once he was on the horse, he tried to do what he can as he made his way back to the castle, but honestly I think his first priority was just getting Sansa out of there. Also, in the TV show, when he brings Sansa back into the castle, his sword is drawn and bloody, whereas it was not drawn when he first tosses her over his shoulder, so clearly he had to do a little more shanking on his way back inside. 

And yes, it is interesting to see both Sandor and Ser Mandon's priorities in action, but it also highlights how little the KG regarded Sansa. Joff sends Sandor into the crowd, and Ser Mandon immediately abandons Sansa in favor of Joff, which is more or less understandable since he IS the King, but nobody else bothered to see to Sansa after that... except Sandor. And as we all know, he had little to know obligation to protect her at ALL, but even she states that he deliberately "cut his way" to her (which evokes some very lovely and gallant imagery, no?) while everyone else was content to just let the mob have her.

Agreed, it just doesn't strike me as something Sandor would actually say. He does tell Sansa when she doesn't really have anything to fear, like when he reassured her about Ser Boros, but for someone so adamant about being "honest", it would just be silly for him to tell Sansa not to be afraid when they're in the middle of a freaking riot, LOL.

Yes, I get aggravated when people are like, "Well, she was Joffrey's betrothed, OF COURSE he would go back for her!" Oh really, you mean like Ser Mandon and the rest of the KG dipshits did? Yeah, right. If she was so *important*, then someone else would have taken up her guard instead of basically just leaving her to her own devices. Besides, there's a really great passage in one of Ser Barristan's ADwD chapters where he goes into great detail about a KG duties. The tl;dr version of which is, they are obligated ONLY to the king. Everyone else can just fuck off, the king comes first. Sandor was under NO OBLIGATION WHATSOEVER to rescue Sansa, especially given his OWN precarious situation, being surrounded by the mob himself, ON FOOT no less, and having to literally cut his way through the crowd to get to Sansa. 

I would also like to point out that he went back for Sansa before he went back for Stranger... ;-) (Sorry, Stranger!)


Yes, time and time again, we see Sandor react violently only when ABSOLUTELY NECESSARY. Sandor gets no sadistic kick out of killing people, like his brother does.


One of the very few things the TV show got RIGHT. In fact, I personally think they improved upon it a bit. The scene where he saves her from the rapists was executed brilliantly. And then the extra little "I didn't do it for you" at the end... Squeeee! That was the moment that SanSan went canon for me. ;-)

I think I should clarify, I was referring ONLY to the Riot Rescue Scene on the TV show. I did see the show first, but the books are, of course, far superior! It was just that one scene that I thought they did a good job with.

Yeah, I can't imagine the constant let-down book-readers must have felt at getting screwed over at every turn by the TV show. In that respect, I'm kind of glad I didn't read the books first, because I don't know if I could have handled that sort of relentless disappointment, LOL. Instead I had the opposite experience of watching the show and falling in love with these characters and their relationship and then discovering that there was even MORE to it in the original source material! Of course, it is still disappointing though, realizing how much more it COULD have been and all the missed opportunities after the fact. Anyway, I give props to the riot scene, though, because they did make Sandor look quite heroic and they kept the important parts of his dialogue intact (for a change). IMO, anyway, LOL.