In the penultimate episode of Game of Thrones‘ final season, Gregor “The Mountain” Clegane and Sandor “The Hound” Clegane died together in the highly-anticipated and fiery Cleganebowl.
The two brothers finally had their duel an hour into the episode and lived up to the hype. It was bloody, brutal and pushed the limits of what the show could do. At one point, Gregor gouged Sandor’s eyes out.
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The fight began as Gregor disobeyed Cersei (Lena Headey) so he could face his brother. During the fight, Sandor knocked Gregor’s helmet off so everyone could see his scarred face.
After both were so bruised and battered, with a knife inside The Mountain‘s head, The Hound pushed his brother through a wall, into the fire below, killing both.
The episode followed last week’s plot-heavy “The Last of the Starks,” and, just like every episode of the final season so far, there were major casualties. In the episode, Daenerys Targaryen (Emilia Clarke), feeling emboldened by the victory over the Night King in Winterfell, rushed to King’s Landing to attack Cersei Lannister (Lena Headey). The attack did not go well, as Euron Greyjoy’s fleet was outfitted with scorpions on their ship, and they used them to kill Daenerys’ dragon Rhaegal.
During the fighting, Missandei (Nathalie Emmanuel) was captured by Cersei’s forces. Daenerys and Tyrion Lannister (Peter Dinklage) pleaded for her life, but Cersei ordered The Mountain to decapitate her. The last shot of the episode showed Daenerys in a rage as she walked away from the gates of King’s Landing.
Notably, Episode 5 did not leak in full online before it aired. Although details slipped out on social media, the episode did not surface before it debuted on HBO and its streaming services at 9 p.m. ET. The first two episodes were accidentally leaked on Amazon Prime and DirecTV, while episodes three and four were discovered early by fans.
The final season of Game of Thrones has continued to take the show beyond the events in George R.R. Martin’s uncompleted book saga A Song of Ice and Fire. Showrunners David Benioff and D.B. Weiss have been critizied for the direction the show is going for its final season, particularly with the surprisingly quick defeat of The Night King and his Army of the Dead in one episode.
“The Last of the Starks” was also criticized for some of the silly decisions made on the way to King’s Landing and the sudden appearance of Euron’s fleet. The episode also spawned hundreds of memes when fans spotted a Starbucks coffee cup left on a table in front of Daenerys. HBO even went back into the episode to erase the cup.
The final episode of Game of Thrones airs Sunday, May 19 at 9 p.m. ET on HBO.
