Who Is the Big Guy in the Game of Thrones Kingsguard Finale?

Who is the Game of Thrones big guy in the Kingsguard?

"Mother's Mercy," the tenth episode of Game of Thrones season 5, aired on HBO on June 14, 2015. David Benioff and D. B. Weiss wrote it, David Nutter directed it, and it won Emmys for Outstanding Writing and Outstanding Directing for a Drama Series. It was a crowded hour, with Stannis's attack on Winterfell, Ellaria's poisoning of Myrcella, Arya's blinding and the stabbing of Jon Snow by his Night's Watch brothers. In the middle of all that, a new face appeared, or a face that only looked new.

The finale arrived with a long list of cliffhangers, so the Kingsguard reveal could easily be missed. It sits in the middle of the Cersei storyline, which had moved from scheming to public humiliation across the season. The High Sparrow's faith had turned on her, and the show needed to show her recovering without undoing the consequences.

After Cersei's walk of atonement through King's Landing, she returns to the Red Keep as the High Sparrow's prisoner, still waiting for her trial. Qyburn is the only person to show her any sympathy. He greets her at the gate and introduces her to the newest member of the Kingsguard, a giant of a man who has taken a vow of silence. The knight lifts Cersei like a toy and carries her out of the room with a grunt.

The knight never speaks and never removes his helmet, and viewers who search for the Game of Thrones big guy usually want a name. In the books, the character is called Ser Robert Strong. On the show, the character is the undead Gregor Clegane, also known as the Mountain, a link that the following seasons make explicit.

Who is Gregor Clegane?

A quick word on the nickname. Readers who talk about the Game of Thrones big guy are usually describing the Mountain, since few other characters in Westeros approach his size, and Hafþór Júlíus Björnsson, an Icelandic strongman, has the build to match. Physical scale is part of the character, and the show uses it as a visual shorthand for threat.

Gregor Clegane is the older brother of Sandor, the Hound, and one of the most feared fighters in Westeros. Three actors have played him: Conan Stevens in season 1, Ian Whyte in season 2 and Hafþór Júlíus Björnsson from season 4 through season 8. He serves the Lannisters, and he is the man who commits some of the war's worst acts.

His last major appearance before the finale came in season 4. Cersei chose Gregor as her champion in the trial by combat that would decide Tyrion's fate after King Joffrey's death, and Oberyn Martell volunteered to fight for Tyrion. Oberyn wounded Gregor with a poisoned spear, but Gregor killed him by crushing his skull, then collapsed. The fight ended Tyrion's chance and left Gregor close to death.

Gregor was later revealed to be dying of manticore venom, the poison Oberyn used. Cersei had the former maester Qyburn treat him, and Qyburn warned that the procedure would change him.

Why viewers recognized him

The new knight's size is the main clue. He is as big as Gregor, he is covered in armor, and he behaves in a way that reads as strange: no words, no hesitation and a stillness that suggests he has no need to speak. Qyburn describes his silence as a vow, a convenient explanation for a man who cannot or will not talk.

Season 5 supplies the rest. Throughout the season, Cersei and Qyburn exchange hints about the progress of Qyburn's experiments. Qyburn lost his status as a maester after he conducted forbidden research, and so he is not afraid of the kind of work that would turn a dying man into something else. Taken together, the finale's reveal feels less like a surprise than a payoff.

The book version: Ser Robert Strong

In George R. R. Martin's novels, Qyburn presents Ser Robert Strong as the newest Kingsguard member and Cersei's champion for her trial by combat, after her walk of atonement. He is nearly as large as Gregor and wears full armor, and readers have long debated whether he is Gregor in a new form. The books have not confirmed it, and the knight's identity remains a theory there.

The show was clearer. By season 5 the character is treated as Gregor, mute and serving as Cersei's bodyguard, which turns the book's open question into a closed one.

Gregor Clegane across the series

• Season 1: Conan Stevens plays Gregor, the Lannister knight known as the Mountain.
• Season 2: Ian Whyte takes over the role.
• Season 4: Hafþór Júlíus Björnsson becomes Gregor and fights Oberyn Martell in the trial by combat.
• Season 5: Qyburn treats the dying Gregor, and the silent Kingsguard knight appears at the end of "Mother's Mercy."
• Season 8: Gregor kills Qyburn and fights his brother Sandor as the Red Keep collapses. Both fall into a fire below.

What the reveal meant for Cersei

The idea of a trial by combat sits at the heart of why the knight matters. In Westeros, an accused person may demand that the gods decide the question through a duel, and a champion fights in their place. Gregor already won once in that arena, at the cost of nearly dying. Having the same man return as a silent, sturdier bodyguard turns that victory into a long-term investment.

For Cersei, the knight is a weapon. She expected a trial before the Faith, and a champion who has already won such a fight is an obvious asset. The scene also sets the tone for the next stage of her arc, in which she relies on fear and force, not allies.

It also says something about Qyburn. A man who can bring back a dying fighter in a more terrifying form is a dangerous ally, and the scene of the two of them with the Mountain shows how much power Cersei has gathered in a few episodes. The grim question is what she will ask of him next.

It also changes how the audience reads Cersei's season. Her humiliation at the hands of the faith has just ended, and she walks into the Red Keep looking broken. Within minutes she has a protector and an ally, and the final shape of the scene is not one of defeat but of regrouping. A shot of one man lifting her away from the crowd makes the point in a single gesture.

As a piece of television, the beat works because it respects the viewer. The show doesn't explain, and it doesn't need to. A giant in armor, a vow of silence and a mad scientist standing at his shoulder are enough for anyone who has been paying attention, and the Game of Thrones big guy joins the long list of characters who return in a form no one expected.

Qyburn, the man behind the knight

Anton Lesser plays Qyburn, and the character is the story's version of Dr. Frankenstein, a disgraced physician whose methods drove the Citadel to strip him of his maester's chain. Cersei, who values loyalty and results above scruples, takes him in. In return he repays her with what she needs most: a bodyguard who cannot be bribed, frightened or turned.

Qyburn's relationship with Cersei grows steadily across season 5. They share quiet exchanges about the progress of his work, and the audience is never told what he is building. The finale answers that question with a flourish, and it signals that the show's next chapter will be darker.

The character also illustrates a theme of the series: in Westeros, institutions that punish dangerous knowledge also create the people who will use it without restraint. The Citadel threw Qyburn out, so he found a queen. The Faith humbled Cersei, so she found a champion. Each rejection feeds the next monster.

Sources

• Gregor Clegane, Wikipedia — Checked against: character background and casting history.