The world ofGame of Thronesis so rich that even the sprawling series of novels, and only-slightly-less sprawling TV series, is unable to explore every facet of every character in as much depth as possible. That, and it’s nice to leave a little mystique on the table. This is where fan theories start to fill the void.
Naturally, Game of Thrones is packed with dozens upon dozens of fan theories, from minor headcanons that deepen the relationships between two characters who interact without much backstory, to fairly unhinged suppositions of time travel, ghosts, and nonsensical family trees. However, one big theory about Brienne of Tarth’s family tree makes a lot of sense, and adds a lot of depth to some of her interactions.
Is Brienne Of Tarth Secretly A Clegane?
Brienne of Tarth is a key character in Game of Thrones, having meaningful interactions with core players like Jaime Lannister, Catelyn Stark, Sansa Stark, Arya Stark, and Renly Baratheon. However, because her homeland of Tarth is not in Westeros itself (it’s an island in The Narrow Sea), we never learn much about it. In fact, this ignorance of Tarth is an important plot point - Jaime lies and says Tarth is famous for its sapphires,which results in him losing his hand.
Since we learn little of her homeland, and since Brienne is a private, stoic individual, we don’t learn all that much of her past, only her future. What we know about her past is simple - she was always large for her age, which continued into adulthood, and thus was bullied. Renly Baratheon once asked her to dance out of kindness, and he felt she continued to owe him a debt for that. She also remained deeply, but secretly, self-conscious about her looks.
One theory,originally posted to Reddit by u/juvegirlbe, adds a lot of colour to this backstory. It is canon that the Cleganes have a long-lost sister, though it is assumed Gregor (AKA the Mountain), the most violent brother, killed her. It’s also canon that the Cleganes are absolutely massive, and it’s theorised that this is because the are descened from book-only character Duncan the Tall. It’s not two hard to link these two known facts to Brienne, especially considering where she ends up.
Another core thing we know about Brienne is that her family allowed her to serve as a fighter, eventually becoming a knight, which is extremely rare for a relatively higborn daughter. It may be that her father, knowing she was an adopted Clegane (or perhaps just knowing she was adopted at all) was more willing to let her follow an atypical path.
Brienne is one of the few people we see get the best of Sandor Clegane (AKA the Hound) in combat, which is already a crucial moment for the plot - in that it kickstarts Arya’s departure to Bravos - and thematically, given that the fury of powerful women is an overarching motif for the show. If it’s also a moment of familial violence, however, it grows in stature, and could be seen as foreshadowing the Cleganebowl battle of the finale season, as well as giving Brienne some closure on her family ties.
