The Subtle Season 4 Callback Hiding in 'Game of Thrones' New Episode 'The Bells' [SPOILERS]

This story includes spoilers for 'Game of Thrones' Season 8, Episode 5, "The Bells."

While not all fans are agreeing with the events that took place in last night’s Game of Thrones episode “The Bells,” it’s safe to say Cleganebowl was a very welcome part. The fan-named battle between brothers Sandor Clegane, a.k.a. The Hound, and Gregor Clegane, otherwise known as The Mountain, had been theorized since around 2013, predicted to end in one of their deaths. As The Hound was riding off to King’s Landing for some “unfinished business” earlier in the season, fans got confirmation that the highly anticipated fight was about to happen, and the most recent episode showed just that. But it didn’t end exactly how we were hoping.

Once The Hound was able to get into King’s Landing and convince his travel buddy Arya Stark to go home, he went straight for The Mountain, who was at Cersei Lannister and Qyburn’s side. After the former maester was tossed and killed, and the Queen of the Seven Kingdoms managed to sneak off to avoid the confrontation, Cleganebowl was free to start. And it quickly became evident there was no way The Hound could win this one, at least not without killing himself in the process.

Although The Hound was able to repeatedly stab his brother, The Mountain’s zombie-like status proved he wouldn’t be defeated that easily. And one of his familiar moves had us nervous, as we thought it would take out Sandor. In a callback to the Season 4 episode “The Mountain and the Viper,” where Gregor kills Oberyn Martell, The Verge points out how The Hound attempts to finish what the prince started by stabbing his brother, which is met with The Mountain almost killing him with the same eye-gouging move he did on Oberyn. We’re sure fans could never forget the Red Viper’s head exploding at the hands of Gregor, and apparently neither did he.

But the most symbolic part of the whole showdown was the way it ended, as The Hound chose to tackle his brother off the staircase, going along with him as they plummeted off the castle and into the flames together. As fans will remember, the feud between the pair all started when they were kids, after The Mountain shoved The Hound into a fire, resulting in the severe burns on his face he wore for the rest of his life. Sandor had been afraid of fire ever since, but made an exception to face it when it meant the fight would finally be over.

This article also appears on Mental Floss.