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Over the course of Season 5 we see Qyburn save Gregor Cleagane from the poisoning he suffered at the hands of Oberyn. This process turn him into what fans of the show have dubbed him "Zombie Mountain". This is fairly accurate as we see that the the knight formerly known as the Mountain does not speak and has what appears to be skin discoloration.

The first time we see this version of Gergor is when Cersei returns to the Red Keep after her imprisonment. Qyburn introduces the newest member of the Kings Guard as "Ser Robert Strong". This makes sense as Gregor was supposed to be dead and the Martells still wanted his head for the crimes he confessed to. It was originally Tywin's plan to honor this request (but we all know how THAT ended...).

However, we see in Oathbreaker (S6E3) at a small council meeting that Kevan Lannister, Mace Tyrell, and Pycell are referring to Cersei's new guard as Gregor Clegane... mentioning what an abomination it is.

Is Ser Robert Strong = Gregor Clegane the worst kept secret in Kings Landing?

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    In the books, they sent the head of Ser Gregor to Dorne, and several references were made to unGregor being made from body parts of different people. Also mentioned was that the poison that Oberyn used was impossible to purge and destroyed all flesh it touched.
    – TLP
    May 9, 2016 at 12:27
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    It's too difficult for us simple viewers to keep track of all of these names.
    – Möoz
    May 9, 2016 at 12:39
  • Seriously though, they've done it with Asha/Yara (so as not to be confused with Osha the wildling), with Hodor's real name (which is Walder in the books and Wylis in the show), and they've done it with "Little Sam" (granted the baby doesn't have a name in the books yet).
    – Möoz
    May 9, 2016 at 12:41
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    @Mooz, Funny because it is true! The writers opinion of TV viewers is much lower than GRRM has of his readers! Same reason why characters are being combined/swapped. The biggest letdown for me is no Strong Belwas!
    – Skooba
    May 9, 2016 at 12:43
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    In fairness to the viewers, when reading a book it's a lot easier to keep the names straight because the narration has to keep mentioning the names of characters (e.g., "Jon walking into the room..." or "Arya cried out...", etc.), whereas in TV shows and movies there are far fewer reminders of the actual names of characters as one watches.
    – Todd Wilcox
    May 9, 2016 at 17:20

1 Answer 1

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In the books,

after the Mountain dies, his head is actually sent to Dorne (the whole Dorne storyline is very different in the books) as proof of his death. If it's truly his head, then Robert Strong is a construct made out of the body parts of several people. Since the head was nothing more than a skull by the time it reached Dorne, there are also theories that Robert Strong is zombie Gregor and the head was someone else's.

This is ignored in the series, and Robert Strong essentially is zombie Gregor.

To make it easier on the viewers or to simplify, the series now identifies the character as Gregor Clegane, but the mention of Robert Strong in S5E10 probably indicates they changed their plan between season 5 and 6.

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    So, this is just another case of character assimilation/simplification?
    – Skooba
    May 9, 2016 at 17:21

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