Do we like them?

Do we like The Hound (Sandor Clegane)?

A character from Game of Thrones (2011-2019)

Our score: 6 out of 10. A brutal, bitter man who hates knights and hypocrisy. He's honest, and he has a grudging soft spot for the helpless. We'd back him, but only from a safe distance.

Sandor Clegane is called the Hound, and he's sworn to House Lannister. He's a huge man with a burned face and a famously foul mouth. When the story begins, he is the bodyguard of the young prince Joffrey. He does the dirty work of a court he plainly despises. Unlike the knights around him, he never pretends to be noble.

His anger comes from his childhood. His brother, the monstrous Gregor 'the Mountain' Clegane, hurt him badly, and it left him hating knights and the vows they claim to keep. He calls himself a killer and expects others to admit what they are. That honesty is oddly refreshing in a place full of liars.

He is no hero for much of the story. But he repeatedly shows a reluctant decency, especially toward the young and powerless. The show, per Rory McCann, also gives him a chance at redemption later on. That mix of menace and a buried conscience is why we land in the middle, leaning kindly: 6 out of 10.