#sandoq

[thelittlebirdandthemeandog]

After how many coincidences can we speak of a clue?

Because it seems to me that 10 canonical similarities are a clear reference and raises the doubt of what GRRM wants to point out to us. It is sincerly not possible to ignore the resemblances between SandoR and SandoQ, and not just for their names!

Canonically both are described as:

1. incredibly tall and strong men; SandoQ is canonically described as almost 7 feet tall and SandoR is tall enough to towering over other man and both of them are described as strong enough to be fearesom in fights.

2. feral and "mortal" in battles,

3. men with a terrible past, SandoQ had to fight as a "gladiatior" in Meeren and we all know that SandoR was abused as kid,

4. having half of their faces almost destroyed, Sandoq miss his toungue and his lips's area is strongly scarred and Sandor's left side was partially burned.

5. in charge to protect a beautiful and sad lady, from a far away kingdom (Lys and the North), that is promised to the heir of KL,

6. the real protectors and friends and only "safe places" for both "their ladies" that are incredibly sad and uncomfortable in KL,

7. brutal men but sensitive to music and songs that they tie to their ladies; SandoQ play his sad but beautiful music mostly for Larra and SandoR desire to receive a song from Sansa and even when far away from her he connect her to songs in Arya's chapter.

8. they both seems connected to shadows and darkness; Sandoq is called "the shadow" and Sandor often seems to appare from nowhere near to Sansa like a shadow (on the serpentine or Sansa and Sandor's first conversation).

9. they both "saw" their ladies being accused to change their apparence to animals (Larra in a cat and Sansa in wolf with bat wigs)

10. they both saws their ladies disapper from King's Landing and being researched by someone really near to the heir.

Now, name aside, it is so weird that a character that is described in very few lines as SandoQ have, at least, 10 canon points in common with SandoR that is mentioned in at least 5 characters's pov (Sansa, Arya, Jaime, Ned and Tyrion)! it cant be just for coincidences. No?

It can mean everything and nothing for the future: we dont know if SandoQ stayed and lived in King's Landing or died no long after lady Larra disappered, if he stayed away from everyone after his protected went away or if he went to research for her, or if SandoR is still alive somewhere and if he will ever try to find Sansa or will stay away from the world in that small island, but it surely mean that GRRM likes Sandor and Sansa's dynamic, ROMANTICALLY OR PLATONICALLY, enough to write it 2 times.

[horizon-verizon]

Sandoq the Shadow had come from Lys with Lady Larra, a gift from her father the Magister Lysandro. Black of skin and black of hair, he stood almost seven feet tall. His face, which he oft kept hidden behind a black silk veil, was a mass of thin white scars, and his lips and tongue had been removed, leaving him both mute and hideous to look upon. It was said of him that he had been the victor of a hundred fights in the death pits of Meereen, that he had once torn out the throat of a foe with his teeth after his sword had shattered, that he drank the blood of the men he killed, that in the pits he had slain lions, bears, wolves, and wyverns with no weapon but the stones he found upon the sands. Such tales grow in the telling, to be sure, and we cannot know how much of this, if any, is to be believed. Though Sandoq could not read or write, Mushroom tells us he was fond of music, and would oft sit in the shadows of Lady Larra’s bedchamber playing sweet sad notes on a queer stringed instrument of goldenheart and ebony that stood near as tall as he did. “I could sometimes make the lady laugh, though she did not understand more than a few words of our tongue,” the fool says, “but the Shadow’s playing always made her weep, and strange to say she liked that better.”

Fire and Blood, by George R.R. Martin, pg 683-684

[thelittlebirdandthemeandog]

After how many coincidences can we speak of a clue? Even in a "past life" Sandor had his Sansa.

It is very hard to belive that the same author that is working on his next book since 14 years ago and that created a so intricate and complex yet very well organic story, like a spider's web, can create 10 canonical similarities among two characters for error. NO?

But let's see.

Canonically both are described as:

Incredibly tall and strong men; SandoQ is canonically described as almost 7 feet tall and SandoR is tall enough to towering over other man and both of them are described as strong enough to be fearesom in fights.

feral and "mortal" in battles.

men with a terrible past, SandoQ had to fight as a "gladiatior" in Meeren and we all know that SandoR was abused as kid,

having half of their faces almost destroyed, Sandoq miss his toungue and his lips's area is strongly scarred and Sandor's left side was partially burned.

in charge to protect a beautiful and sad lady, from a far away kingdom (Lys and the North), that is promised to the heir of KL,

the real protectors and friends and only "safe places" for both "their ladies" that are incredibly sad and uncomfortable in KL,

brutal men but sensitive to music and songs that they tie to their ladies; SandoQ play his sad but beautiful music mostly for Larra and SandoR desire to receive a song from Sansa and even when far away from her he connect her to songs in Arya's chapter.

they both seems connected to shadows and darkness; Sandoq is called "the shadow" and Sandor often seems to appare from nowhere near to Sansa like a shadow (on the serpentine or Sansa and Sandor's first conversation).

they both "saw" their ladies being accused to change their apparence to animals (Larra in a cat and Sansa in wolf with bat wigs)

they both "saw" their ladies disapper from King's Landing and being researched by someone really near to the heir.

Now, name aside, it is so weird that a character that is described in very few lines as SandoQ have, at least, 10 canon points in common with SandoR that is mentioned in at least 5 characters's pov (Sansa, Arya, Jaime, Ned and Tyrion)! it cant be just for coincidences. No?

It can mean everything and nothing for the future: we dont know if SandoQ stayed and lived in King's Landing or died no long after lady Larra disappered, if he stayed away from everyone after his protected went away or if he went to research for her, or if SandoR is still alive somewhere and if he will ever try to find Sansa or will stay away from the world in that small island, but it surely mean that GRRM likes Sandor and Sansa's dynamic, ROMANTICALLY OR PLATONICALLY, enough to write it 2 times.

[horizon-verizon]

Sandoq tore Viserys’s battleaxe from the wood where the prince had buried it and split Ser Amaury’s head and helm in half from crest to gorget. Leaving the corpse to topple onto the spikes, the Shadow paused long enough to shove the dead and dying from the drawbridge before retreating inside Maegor’s Holdfast, whereupon the king commanded the bridge to be raised, the portcullis lowered, and the gates barred. The castle-within-the-castle stood secure. And so it would remain for eighteen days. The rest of the Red Keep was in the hands of Ser Marston Waters and his Kingsguard, whilst beyond the castle walls Ser Lucas Leygood and his gold cloaks kept a firm grip on King’s Landing. Both of them presented themselves before the holdfast the next morning, to demand that the king leave his sanctuary. “Your Grace does us wrong to think we mean him harm,” Ser Marston said, as the corpses of the men Sandoq had slain were brought up from the moat. “We acted only to protect Your Grace from false friends and traitors. Ser Amaury was sworn to protect you, to give his own life for yours if need be. He was your leal man, as I am. He did not deserve such a death, at the hands of such a beast.” King Aegon was unmoved. “Sandoq is no beast,” he answered from the battlements. “He cannot speak, but he hears and he obeys. I commanded Ser Amaury to be gone, and he refused. My brother warned him what would happen if he stepped beyond the axe. The vows of the Kingsguard include obedience, I thought.” “We are sworn to obey the king, sire, this is so,” replied Ser Marston, “and when you are a man grown, my brothers and I will gladly fall upon our swords should you command that of us. So long as you remain a child, however, we are required by oath to obey the King’s Hand, for the Hand speaks with the king’s voice.” “Lord Thaddeus is my Hand,” Aegon insisted. “Lord Thaddeus sold your realm to Lys and must answer for it. I will serve as your Hand until such time as his guilt or innocence can be proved.” Ser Marston unsheathed his sword and went to one knee, saying, “I swear upon my sword in the sight of gods and men that none shall do you harm whilst I stand beside you.” If the Lord Commander believed those words would sway the king, he could not have been more wrong. “You stood beside me when the dragon ate my mother,” Aegon answered. “All you did was watch. I will not have you watch while they kill my brother’s wife.” Then he left the battlements, and no words of Marston Waters could induce him to return that day, or the next, or the next. On the fourth day Grand Maester Munkun appeared together with Ser Marston. “I beseech you, sire, end this childish folly and come out, that we may serve you.” King Aegon gazed down on him, saying naught, but his brother was less reticent, commanding the Grand Maester to send forth “a thousand ravens” so the realm might know the king was being held a captive in his own castle. To this the Grand Maester made no answer. Nor did the ravens fly. In the days that followed, Munkun made several further appeals, assuring Aegon and Viserys that all that had been done was lawful, Ser Marston went from pleas to threats to bargaining, and Septon Bernard was brought forth to pray loudly for the Crone to light the king’s way back to wisdom, all to no avail. These efforts drew little or no response from the boy king beyond a sullen stubborn silence. His Grace was roused to anger only once, when his master-at-arms, Ser Gareth Long, took his turn attempting to convince the king to yield. “And if I will not, who will you punish, ser?” King Aegon shouted down at him. “You may beat poor Gaemon’s bones, but you will get no more blood from him.”

Fire and Blood, by George R.R. Martin, pg 685-686