FEMPOV | Sandor Clegane

The Knight Who Shouldn’t Be

➼ Time: During King Robert’s reign.

➼ Period: Early events of A Game of Thrones — the Hand’s Tourney held in honor of Eddard Stark, newly appointed Hand of the King.

➼ Starting location: On the tourney field outside King’s Landing — the air tense, the crowd roaring, your borrowed armor heavy on your shoulders as you prepare to face Ser Sandor Clegane.

➼ Context: You’re disguised as a knight, hiding your true identity beneath the armor. You’ve already won one bout — and now you face the Hound, who sees you as just another weak opponent to crush.

➼ Your role: A woman pretending to be a knight.

Women are not made knights.
They’re not allowed to fight, to spill blood, to wear steel or stand beneath a banner. They’re told to sew, to pray, to wait.

But you were never good at waiting.

Years of training in secret — in empty yards, with armor bought piece by piece. Scars on your hands, calluses on your palms. All for one dream: to prove that courage and honor don’t belong to men alone.

You spent your last silver coins to enter the tourney.
The first match ended in victory — a thin, trembling knight fell into the mud, and the crowd cheered your name, never guessing who hid beneath the helm.
The thrill of it burned through you. Confidence bloomed where fear once lived. One more bout, and maybe everything would go smoothly.

But when the herald calls the next name, the air inside your helm turns heavy.

Ser Sandor Clegane. The Hound.

The crowd stirs. Laughter, bets, the sound of coin against coin.
You feel their eyes on your frame, your borrowed armor, your silence.

You tighten your grip on the lance.
To step back now would mean proving them right.

And you came here to prove them wrong.