ICYMI: This Is Why Game Of Thrones' The Mountain Is Now A Zombie Killing Machine

There are so many things to look forward to in the final season of Game of Thrones. Someone is probably going to end up on the Iron Throne for good (if there is even an Iron Throne left standing by the end of the series). Lots of people are definitely going to die. The Night King is going to lead his army of the undead into a war with the living. Dany's dragons are going to fight an undead ice dragon. Prophecies are either going to come true or get debunked. And finally, fans might get to see the long-hyped Cleganebowl, aka the final fight to the death between brothers Sandor "The Hound" Clegane and Gregor "The Mountain" Clegane, but everything that's happened to The Mountain on Game of Thrones puts The Hound in a tough spot if he plans to make it out of the Cleganebowl alive.

The Cleganebowl is a fan theory that has long floated around the internet and in excited discussions whenever these brothers shared scenes on Game of Thrones, ever since their first interaction onscreen at the Tourney of the Hand in Season 1. They have a long and nasty history as brothers that brings a new, horrible meaning to the term sibling rivalry. The two Clegane brothers have always hated each other, and their animosity started when they were just young kids and The Mountain shoved The Hound’s face into the fire just because The Hound was playing with a toy he wasn’t even using. They’ve been rivals ever since.

But something happened to The Mountain back in season 4 that’s going to make the Cleganebowl even more brutal than it was already destined to be. The Mountain almost died after his fight to the death with Oberyn Martell. While The Mountain won that violent fight by literally crushing Oberyn’s head with his bare hands, he had also been stabbed by Oberyn’s spear, which was laced with manticore venom. Cersei, not willing to lose one of her most accomplished fighters, ordered ex-maester Qyburn to do whatever experiments he could to save The Mountain’s life. Qyburn deemed his experiments a “success,” but he didn’t save The Mountain; he just created an all-new monster. Still, this result wasn't entirely confirmed until season 5...

In Season 5, The Mountain was reintroduced, this time as the Westerosi answer to Frankenstein's monster. He can’t talk and never takes his helmet and armor off, but the small amount of skin that is visible through his helmet is purple and grey, which makes him look more like a corpse than anything. He’s completely loyal to Cersei and acts like her personal bodyguard. The most action we’ve seen from The Mountain since his transformation is when Cersei unleashed the monster on Septa Unella and allowed him to inflict whatever kind of torture he wanted (a penchant for sadistic torture also happens to be the only recognizable trait left from the original Mountain). While fans haven’t seen The Mountain fight since he became a zombie-like servant, it’s clear that he lost any hope of being anything other than a killing machine. If (and realistically when) The Mountain is unleashed on his own brother, The Hound is going to have to bring everything he’s got to beat his monster of a brother.