‘Game of Thrones’ The Viper vs. The Mountain: Pre-Fight Breakdown
With three more episodes left, HBO's epic fantasy series "Game of Thrones" is counting the deaths brought about by this season. The highly-anticipated episode 8 will add more to the body account as it features two of Westeros finest fighters, Oberyn Martell played by Pedro Pascal and Gregor Clegane played by Icelandic actor Hafthor Bjornsson.
"He's nearly a foot taller than me. He's 6-foot-9; I'm 5-foot-11," says Pascal in an interview with TVGuide. "I think he's nearly three times my weight. He's 420 pounds of muscle. It felt like I was with a giant. And then put him in the armor, and his sword alone was exactly my height. It was incredibly intimidating but also really delightful because I think that the character Oberyn really relishes that kind of challenge."
The Dornishman's height was not mentioned on the book, but the Chilean actor only stands 5'11 and he is fighting a 6'9" former basketball player who can move as fast as him. But Oberyn is not just fast but he is also smart than his well-armored adversary, the reason why he confident enough to volunteer as Tyrion's champion.
To avenge his sister's death and her children, the Red Viper has been planning for this fight since he came to Kings Landing, but the question now is will he have the chance to defeat a giant like The Mountain?
A fight that could go down as one of the many great moment of the show, the episode this Sunday will seal the fate of Tyrion Lannister as he asked for trial by combat. "It's not hard for Oberyn to recognize that Tyrion is the smartest man in the room," Pascal added. "Oberyn is not a fan of the Lannisters, so it's not very hard for him to see through the trial and recognize what's really going on."
To get ready for the show's epic fight, the actor was put into classes with a master of Wushu, an acrobatic martial art. He also revealed that his teacher is the same guy who did Shaolin movies with Jet Li and thinks the he is the real deal when it comes to learning the acrobatic skills.
Check out the fight between The Viper and The Mountain in HBO this Sunday, June 1.