Warning: This post contains spoilers for Game of Thrones season 8.
After rejecting Gendry’s proposal and turning down the chance to become the Lady of Storm End, Arya left Winterfell with the Hound to ride south to King’s Landing. And as everyone’s favorite traveling duo began their latest road trip, it seemed like Game of Thrones may have been hinting at who Arya’s next big kill could be.
After the Hound indicated that he was headed to the capital to finally confront his brother, the Mountain, for holding his face in fire as a child, both the Hound and Arya admitted that they had no intention of returning to Winterfell.
“I don’t plan on coming back,” the Hound told her. “Neither do I,” she responded.
Fans have long suspected that the Hound and the Mountain would eventually face off in a fight to the death that has been preemptively dubbed “Cleganebowl.” The Mountain also holds one of the top spots on Arya’s kill list for torturing and killing people at Harrenhal while Arya was imprisoned there. In fact, he was one of the three remaining targets that Arya named — in addition to Cersei and Walder Frey — after admitting to the Waif in season 6 that she had taken the Hound off the list.
And considering how much emphasis they’ve put on the bond between Arya and the Hound this season, it seems like Thrones may be setting up a possible two vs. one fight in which the Hound sacrifices himself to protect Arya from the Mountain before Arya kills the Mountain.
The Hound asking Arya if she would leave him to die again if he gets hurt seems like further foreshadowing that this could be the direction things are headed. Arya’s kill list has also been one of the show’s most enduring plot devices, but since she ended up being the one to kill the Night King, it seems unlikely that she will also be the one to kill Cersei. Therefore, the Mountain is a perfect person to bring Arya’s story full circle.
