azulolivart

Someone asked me what make me even feel like there is something "between" Sandor and Sansa that goes over Arya and Sandor's dynamic but that make it..romantic. So here we are, i will share all i can think of about it, for myself and everyone interested in it. It will be long:

1. Maybe it is the fact that Sansa dreamt of a daughter like Arya and in the same book, I REPEAT IN THE SAME BOOK, few chapter away someone had the impression that Arya could easily pass as Sandor's kid. If this is not foreshadow i dont know what else can be.

In Sansa's dreams, her children looked just like the brothers she had lost. Sometimes there was even a girl who looked like Arya. ( A Storm of Swords - Sansa II )

"Come on then, we can have you across before dark. Tie the horse up, I don't want him spooking when we're under way. There's a brazier in the cabin if you and your son want to get warm." "I'm not his stupid son!" said Arya furiously. That was even worse than being taken for a boy. She was so angry that she might have told them who she really was, only Sandor Clegane grabbed her by the back of the collar and hoisted her one-handed off the deck.  ( A Storm of Swords - Arya IX )

2. It could be the fact that Ned promised to Sansa to find her a man that was described with three specif qualities :

“When you’re old enough, I will make you a match with a high lord who’s worthy of you, someone brave and gentle and strong.” ( A Game of Thrones - Sansa III )

Yet the only one man that, in 5 books over 7, ever was described by Sansa with those words and it is Sandor himself .

‘I should have come to you after,’ she said haltingly. ‘To thank you, for… for saving me… you were so brave.’ ( A Clash of Kings - Sansa IV)

 The Hound gave her a push, oddly gentle, and followed her down the steps.  ( A Clash of Kings - Sansa II )

 “A stab went through her, so sharp that Sansa sobbed and clutched at her belly. She might have fallen, but a shadow moved suddenly, and strong fingers grabbed her arm and steadied her.” ( A Clash of Kings - Sansa IV)

i love the post that @qveenofthorns made about him, the take is really well articulate and exhaustive, thank you:

https://qveenofthorns.tumblr.com/post/171857316377/brave-gentle-strong-there-is-only-one-no

3. It could be the fact that they share marriage's symbolisms from all over Westeros's traditions. Sandor not only is the last one still standing during the Hound's tournament, which often rappresent the win of the hand of lord's daughter, but he gave his cloak to Sansa, which is traditionally part of the marriage's protocol in Westeros, and Sansa not only keep it but preserve it in her cedar chest. Sandor and Sansa are not wildlings yet one of their most intest scene is about Sandor trying to kidnapp Sansa with a knife at her throat..as wildlings do for tradition.

"Is the Hound the champion now?" Sansa asked Ned. "No," he told her. "There will be one final joust, between the Hound and the Knight of Flowers." But Sansa had the right of it after all. A few moments later Ser Loras Tyrell walked back onto the field in a simple linen doublet and said to Sandor Clegane, "I owe you my life. The day is yours, ser." (A Game of Thrones - Eddard VII)

Sansa said, "I knew the Hound would win." (A Game of Thrones - Eddard VII)

"Someone give the girl something to cover herself with," the Imp said. Sandor Clegane unfastened his cloak and tossed it at her. Sansa clutched it against her chest, fists bunched hard in the white wool.  (A Clash of Kings - Sansa III)

The night of the battle, Sandor Clegane had come to her chambers to take her from the city, but Sansa had refused. Sometimes she lay awake at night, wondering if she'd been wise. She had his stained white cloak hidden in a cedar chest beneath her summer silks. She could not say why she'd kept it.  ( A Storm of Swords - Sansa I )

@bighound-littlebird made a great meta on this some time ago : https://www.tumblr.com/bighound-littlebird/626455129788481536/do-you-think-sansa-putting-sandors-cloak-in-her?source=share

"A man can own a woman or a man can own a knife," Ygritte told him, "but no man can own both. Every little girl learns that from her mother." She raised her chin defiantly and gave her thick red hair a shake. (A Storm of Swords - Jon V)

He gave her arm a hard wrench, pulling her around and shoving her down onto the bed. "I'll have that song. Florian and Jonquil, you said." His dagger was out, poised at her throat. (A Clash of Kings - Sansa VII)

4. It could be the fact that Sandor romanticize Sansa and that night with Sansa like she does even if he is aware of it:

“Well, maybe it does, but I saved your sister’s life too. The day the mob pulled her off her horse, I cut through them and brought her back to the castle, else she would have gotten what Lollys Stokeworth got. And she sang for me. You didn’t know that, did you? Your sister sang me a sweet little song.” ( A Storm of Swords - Arya IX )

I took the bloody song, she never gave it.  ( A Storm of Swords - Arya XIII)

5. it can be the fact that even if fare away she seems to connect protection and safety to him progressively passing from being scared of him and for him to wish he was with her to her immediantly assuming - even if for a second - that the man that is protecting her must be Sandor even if he is far away:

The silence went on and on, so long that she began to grow afraid once more, but she was afraid for him now, not for herself. She found his massive shoulder with her hand. "He was no true knight," she whispered to him. The Hound threw back his head and roared. Sansa stumbled back, away from him, but he caught her arm. “No,” he growled at her, “no, little bird, he was no true knight.” (A Game of Thrones - Sansa II)

She was afraid of Sandor Clegane . . . and yet, some part of her wished that Ser Dontos had a little of the Hound's ferocity.  (A Clash of Kings - Sansa IV)

I would be gladder if it were the Hound, Sansa thought.  Harsh as he was, she did not believe Sandor Clegane would let any harm come to her.  (A Clash of Kings - Sansa V)

I wish the Hound were here.  (A Storm of Swords - Sansa I)

"Lord Petyr said watch out for you." It was Lothor Brune's voice, she realized. Not the Hound's, no, how could it be? Of course it had to be Lothor... (A Storm of Swords - Sansa VI)

6. It could be even the fact that Larra and Sandoq's relationship is almost identical to Sandor and Sansa's one, till the point that is hard to belive that George Raymond Richard Martin manage to give them 10 CANON SIMILARITIES without a clear reason when he is fully aware that his fanbase over analyze his works to find foreshadows and he likes to play wit it:

https://www.tumblr.com/eerilymercilessthorn/789411897228328960/after-how-many-coincidences-can-we-speak-of-a?source=share

7. It could be the fact that they seems not only to not being able to stop thinking about each other even if far apart but they seems so tied to each other to be able to answer to each other question even if far a part :

She wondered what had become of Sandor Clegane. Did he know that they'd killed Joffrey? Would he care? He had been the prince's sworn shield for years. (A Storm of Swords - Sansa VI)

"The little bird flew away, did she? Well, bloody good for her. She shit on the Imp's head and flew off." (A Storm of Swords - Arya XIII)

8. it could be the fact that Sandor look like a northern man even if he from the south while Sansa look like her southern mom even if she is from the north.

https://www.tumblr.com/eerilymercilessthorn/791858027700666368/sandor-is-sansas-north-in-south

9. It could be they both seems to be keep a new identities before return to themselves.

"I am Alayne, Father. Who else would I be?" (A Feast for Crows - Sansa I)

I am not your daughter, she thought. I am Sansa Stark, Lord Eddard's daughter and Lady Catelyn's, the blood of Winterfell. She did not say it, though. (A Feast for Crows - Sansa I)

The Hound is dead, and in any case he never had your Sansa Stark. ( A Feast for Crows - Brienne VI )

"It is true, then," she said dully. "Sandor Clegane is dead." "He is at rest." The Elder Brother paused. ( A Feast for Crows - Brienne VI )

10. it could be the fact that among all the "not knights" he was the only one that acted as one to her.

A hound will die for you, but never lie to you.  (A Clash of Kings - Sansa II)

She even sang for Tyrion the Imp and for the Hound. He is no true knight but he saved me all the same, she told the Mother. Save him if you can, and gentle the rage inside him. (A Clash of Kings - Sansa V )

"I could keep you safe," he rasped. "They're all afraid of me. No one would hurt you again, or I'd kill them."  (A Clash of Kings - Sansa VII)

The silence went on and on, so long that she began to grow afraid once more, but she was afraid for him now, not for herself. She found his massive shoulder with her hand. "He was no true knight," she whispered to him. ( A Game of Thrones - Sansa II)

 Only Ser Dontos had tried to help, and he was no longer a knight, no more than the Imp was, nor the Hound ...the Hound hated knights . I hate them too, Sansa thought. They are no true knights, not one of them. (A Clash of Kings - Sansa III)

11. It could be because Sandor "died" while talking about her exactlly as, supposedly, Rhaegar did for Lyanna :

I wonder, my lady . . . what do you hope to find there?" "A girl," she told him. "A highborn maid of three-and-ten, with a fair face and auburn hair." "Sansa Stark." The name was softly said. "You believe this poor child is with the Hound?" (A Feast for Crows - Brienne VI)

12. Just be the fact that George Raymond Richard Martin deeply love The Beauty and the Beast and Sansa and Sandor's dynamic resemble it so much that he has Sansa x Sandor's art based on that story in his own house while his favorite version of that story. On @azulolivart 's post you can see in more details :

https://www.tumblr.com/azulolivart/768716861766582272/ladycyprus-kitharington-everything-i-learned?source=share

I am sure that there are other reasons that i dont remember now but for now i will just let here the art that GRRM has and the interview of the artist!

https://www.tumblr.com/florianandjonquil/613142743132356608/remember-when-george-commissioned-john-picacio

https://corseque.tumblr.com/post/24715458945

Am i really in wrong to think that cant be a coincidence that Sansa started to dream about a daughter of her own looking exactly as her northern looking sister and few chapters later we see people think her sister could easily pass as Sandor's daughter? Expecially when we know how important is for Sansa daughter-mother relationship and how much she adored her mom.

Am i really crazy to think it can't be a fortuitous coincidence that he is a southern man looking and acting like a northern man and that she was born into an ancient northern family and yet resembles her beautiful southern mother in appearance, expecially when in a court of southerns he is the only one to really see her and take care of her and she is the only one that he ever trust enough to talk about his past? Sandor is Sansa's north into the south, he narratively is a further demonstration that Sansa dreams about south weren't all corrects and that she is really feel stronger and safer into north and that she misses and loves home more than she could ever imagine, and Sansa is Sandor's south into the north, she is the one that make him feel that all the chivalrous dream from southern traditions and songs that he had as a kid where not just the illusions of child but that core of idealism that belongs to his soul as much as to Sansa's, a northern that loved southern songs from her mother's lands, and that he can be a true knight for her.