Is “Game of Thrones” gearing up for an epic brother vs. brother showdown?

Gather ’round, friends, because we’re going to talk about a long-rumored Game of Thrones theory that MIGHT just come true. Obviously, there are spoilers. Spoilers for everything!!

There’s an idea out there in the Game of Thrones Theory Realm about a thing referred to as “CleganeBowl,” and now it appears that’s going to happen. CleganeBowl is an epic fight between the two Clegane brothers:  Sandor “The Hound” Clegane and Gregor “The Mountain” Clegane. Many think, and hope, that one day these two brothers come face to face again and fight to the death. It’s a cool theory, but since Season 4 Episode 10 there’s been one small problem. The Hound is dead.

BUT OH NOT SO FAST. As we learned during Sunday’s “The Broken Man,” The Hound is alive, but not exactly well. He joined up with Brother Ray and renounced his violent past and now he’s real busy building septs. Or he was real busy, until The Brotherhood Without Banners rode into their camp, killed everyone, and the last shot we see of The Hound is him picking up his axe.

He is totally going after the Brotherhood Without Banners, but that is a story for another day. Because we’re here to talk about CleganeBowl. Because let’s assume that The Hound survives this upcoming fight with this Brotherhood, where is he going to go next? Maybe…back to King’s Landing to see his brother?

Oh wait, not see. FIGHT his brother.

The theory around CleganeBowl is quite simple: the two brothers are gonna FIGHT!! That’s literally all this theory is, and it’s a pretty good theory.

How and why? Cersei is going to have to stand trial for her crimes in King’s Landing, and she’s going to decide on a trial-by-combat. We’ve seen this happen already once before, and once again, The Mountain is going to take one of those combat spots. Who’s going to take the other? The Hound, OBVIOUSLY.

Now, this theory is kinda shaky at best. For the past season, we’ve assumed that The Hound is dead. In the books, it sure appears that The Hound is dead, too. So for a theory to spring up that he’s not dead, and he’s going to return to the place he fled (King’s Landing) to fight his now-zombie brother is intense. But the events of “The Broken Man” seem to suggest that this is actually going to happen.

The big question is now WHEN? There are three episodes left of Game of Thrones. The Hound is currently in The Vale. It’s quite a long walk to get to King’s Landing, and also there’s a lot of OTHER STUFF that has to happen before this season wraps up like, IDK, all the Tower of Joy stuff, Arya not being dead, Battle of the Bastards, WTF is happening with the High Sparrow, everything about Dany, etc.

Unfortunately we do not have time for a giant, epic battle between these brothers. But there’s always Season 7!! Gives us something to look forward to.