In a season that's more like expensive fan service than immersive world-building, Game of Thrones writers are almost certainly going to deliver the battle viewers have been waiting years for: The Cleganebowl. That is, of course, the showdown between brothers Sandor and Gregor Clegane, better known as The Hound and The Mountain.

The two haven't been in each other's presence for years, as The Hound fled King's Landing during the Battle of Blackwater and The Mountain remained at Cersei's side, eventually turning into a monstrous zombie slave. But at the end of Episode Six, The Hound joined Jon Snow on the path south to King's Landing, where they hope to prove to Cersei that the Army of the Dead exists.

In the trailer for the Season Seven finale, Cersei, Daenerys, and Jon find a neutral spot to have their meeting—something like a rundown colosseum. And that looks like the same setting where we saw a glimpse of The Hound preparing for battle in an early Season Seven trailer.

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If there's a fight, we know exactly who The Hound has been waiting his entire life to kill. Back in Season One, it's established that his face was disfigured as a child when The Mountain burned The Hound as punishment for playing with one of his toys. After years of torture and abuse from his brother, The Hound hates The Mountain. In Episode Five of Season One, we see the two briefly engage in battle. The Mountain is beaten in a jousting contest by Ser Loras Tyrell, and ambushes the young knight in anger. The Hound steps in to defend Loras and fights his brother before King Robert puts a stop to it.

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Like everything in Game of Thrones, the Clegane relationship has become a complex tale of good vs evil.

The Mountain is guilty of a number of atrocities—including the rape and murder of Elia Martell during Robert's Rebellion. In Season Four, Elia's brother Oberyn Martell arrives from Dorne, also eager to kill The Mountain. And he nearly does so during trial by combat until The Mountain crushes Oberyn's skull. The Mountain is also mortally wounded during the fight, but is brought back to life thanks to the the dark science of Qyburn. Now he exists as Cersei's terrifying undead Mountain.

As for the The Hound, his narrative arc has been the example of one of Game of Thrones's greatest accomplishments—characters' ability to change from evil to grey to good or vice versa. Despite his loyalty to The Lannisters, The Hound has shown kindness to both Sansa and Arya, eventually abandoning King's Landing to go off on his own. During that journey, his character has begun to atone for what he's done at the command of the Lannisters. He eventually is defeated in battle against Brienne of Tarth and is presumed dead, before being nursed back to health by a pacifist group. In that sense, his path is the opposite of The Mountain's, with the two poised to do battle as evil and good. "You can still help a lot more than you've harmed, Clegane. It's not too late for you," Beric Dondarrion told him when The Hound agreed to join the Brotherhood Without Banners on their journey north. Taking down The Mountain seems like a good place to start.

From: Esquire US