Out of all the ASOIAF characters that want Sansa Stark, Sandor Clegane is the ONLY ONE that HATES HIMSELF for it! Unlike SO MANY other men in this series {who will see someone they like and take them with no hesitation, and zero regard to that desired person and everyone else around them}, from the moment Sandor laid his Stark like grey eyes on her, and every blessed second he had with her after that, he actually FOUGHT those desires {which were made worse by his alcoholism}! He KNOWS Sansa is far too young for him, far too sweet for him, and miles above his station! He's SEEN how the world treats people like her! And most importantly, Sandor WAS HER!
Like Sansa, Sandor thought his life would be like the songs. While Sansa dreamt of being some beautiful, brave, gentle, and strong man's Lady or Queen and then be the mother of his children, Sandor dreamt of being a knight. They trusted too much, wanted to be loved by everyone, and had their lives shattered in the most DEVASTATING ways. And while their traumas affect them differently, she's still the ONLY one on the entire planet that TRULY understands him {you could argue that Arya *Sansa's little sister* does too, but not as much as Sansa}. And while Sandor grew to HATE everything about knights, the songs, etc, part of him still WANTS to be the kind of hero that he and Sansa used to love. And despite his many flaws, he's actually one of the very few "true knights" in the series.
And so, unlike those many men, Sandor fought his feelings for Sansa by trying to DISTANCE HIMSELF FROM HER. He stayed close enough to be sweet to her and protect her, of course, but also tried to make himself look as awful as possible. Said lots of cruel and lewd things, called her Little Bird, Child, Girl, etc instead of My Lady, Lady Sansa, Lady Stark, or just Sansa. And even after she REJECTED HIM, he also reminded a group of men {as well as himself} who were speaking ill of Sansa that not only is Sansa a LADY, but a PROPER LITTLE LADY. But to his great surprise and even greater despair, instead of watching her run for her life like everyone else does, all of his attempts to preserve what little honor they have left, only make {sadly just Book} Sansa all but CLING TO HIM like a damn FACEHUGGER.
Sadly, there were a few times {mainly in the books} where Sandor slipped up {mainly while he was drunk, which was almost the whole time they knew each other} and almost turned into Gregor {Sandor's older brother that's like ten to twenty million times worse} and all of those other men. He checked Sansa out, made some sexual comments about her still growing body, grabbed her too tight, broke in her room while she wasn't there and slept in her empty bed, pinned her to her bed at knifepoint, allegedly led a raping and killing spree at Saltpans, and admitted to Arya that he regrets not raping Sansa and tearing her heart out before he reluctantly left King's Landing without her.
But as disappointing as it sounds, Sandor {who again was almost always insanely drunk during those times} realized what he was doing, quickly stopped, and then went back to being what she REALLY needed at that time: Her guardian angel. Her dearest true knight. {I know, I know! "The bare minimum!", "The bar is in hell!", but Sansa and all the other girls and women in this series are BARELY even getting that!} He's innocent of what happened at Saltpans {it was another huge man, Rorge, who somehow got his grubby paws on Sandor's famous Hound helmet, and then wore it during the spree}. Also, Sandor's "confession" to Arya was made while he was literally DYING from some injuries he sustained while fighting that same group of men that were speaking ill of Sansa {which in my mind was Sandor trying to kill himself cause he just learned that the one he loves most married a man that they hated *and for good reason*, is accused of killing a king that they hated *and for good reason*, and is now on the run} and was hoping to be PUT OUT OF HIS MISERY. And since Arya didn't want to, he said awful things that he DID NOT MEAN FOR EVEN A MILLISECOND, things he KNEW would finally get her to change her mind, only for it to backfire on him BIG TIME.
While everyone else that wants Sansa Stark only wants her for her CLAIM, her STOLEN ANCESTRAL HOME, and her STILL DEVELOPING WOMB, Sandor Clegane is the ONLY ONE among them that wants Sansa because he actually LOVES HER. And though he many never know that Sansa DOES love him back {the way Sansa talks about Sandor in her chapters is DEFINITELY NOT out of hatred, though it would be understandable if it was. And if I told y'all to take a shot every time Sandor is mentioned in Sansa's chapters, y'all would die of alcohol poisoning} and get to be with her in that way, just seeing her and protecting her one last time would probably be enough for him. And if it isn't, well, then he'll probably just leave her again {either the normal way or through dying}. Because the only thing WORSE than never ending up with Sansa Stark is turning into his older brother.
