The Hound confronts the Mountain at the tourney

The confrontation between Sandor Clegane, the Hound, and his elder brother Ser Gregor Clegane, the Mountain That Rides, erupts during the final day of the tournament of the Hand, a moment that strips away the chivalric pretense of the games and reveals the raw, familial violence festering at the heart of House Clegane. The duel is not a formal joust but a spontaneous, near-lethal brawl born from Gregor's ungovernable fury after being humiliated in the lists by the young Knight of Flowers, Ser Loras Tyrell.

The Provocation and the Charge

Ser Gregor, a man of immense size and ferocity, had been unhorsed in his match against Ser Loras when the Knight of Flowers, riding a mare in heat, exploited the stallion's distraction to place his lance perfectly. Enraged, Gregor dismounted, killed his own horse with a single savage blow that half-severed the animal's neck, and then strode down the lists toward Ser Loras, his bloody sword clutched in his fist. As the Knight of Flowers shouted for his own weapon, Gregor knocked aside his squire, grabbed the reins of Loras's horse, and, when the mare reared, swung a two-handed blow that struck the boy in the chest and knocked him from the saddle. With Loras stunned in the dirt, Gregor lifted his sword for the killing blow.

The Hound's Intervention and the Duel

At that instant, a rasping voice warned, "Leave him be," and a steel-clad hand wrenched Gregor away from the fallen youth. It was Sandor Clegane, the Hound, who had been watching from the sidelines. The Mountain pivoted in wordless fury, swinging his longsword in a killing arc with all his massive strength, but the Hound caught the blow and turned it. For what seemed an eternity, the two brothers stood hammering at each other, their swords ringing across the field. Thrice Ned Stark saw Ser Gregor aim savage blows at the hound's-head helmet, yet not once did Sandor send a cut at his brother's unprotected face, a restraint that spoke of a deep, personal code even in the midst of mortal combat. The commons, who had been cheering moments before, fell into a shocked silence as the brothers fought, their conflict a private war made public.

The King's Intervention and Aftermath

The duel was ended not by a victor but by the king's voice. Robert Baratheon, using the battlefield voice that had commanded at the Trident, boomed, "STOP THIS MADNESS, IN THE NAME OF YOUR KING!" The Hound immediately went to one knee, but Ser Gregor's blow cut air before he too came to his senses. He dropped his sword and glared at Robert, surrounded by the Kingsguard and a dozen other knights and guardsmen, then wordlessly turned and strode off, shoving past Barristan Selmy. The king let him go. The Hound, having saved Loras Tyrell's life, was offered the victory when the Knight of Flowers later walked onto the field in a simple linen doublet and yielded the day. Sandor Clegane took the champion's purse and, for perhaps the first time in his life, the love of the commons, who cheered him as he left the lists. Yet the confrontation left an indelible mark: it confirmed the Hound's rejection of knighthood—he insisted, "I am no ser"—and laid bare the monstrous nature of his brother, a man who would kill a horse and charge a fallen foe without honor, a truth that haunted Sansa Stark when the Hound later confessed to her the story of his burned face, a childhood cruelty inflicted by the very brother he had just faced in the lists.