Our Runner-Up of the Week Is . . . the Hound!
I personally cannot stand the Hound, but I will admit that his soft spot for Arya Stark is endearing. Their relationship is one of the few connections Arya has after her father's death that isn't transactional. He doesn't want anything from her, rather he just wants to keep her safe. Considering how very left Arya's adventures tend to go, it's nice that she was able to form this human connection with someone who wasn't looking for anything to gain.
So to see them make this final trek into King's Landing together feels like a fitting end to their bond. The Hound is able to convince Arya not to go after Cersei, especially when the Red Keep is seconds away from fully collapsing and killing everyone inside. She leaves, but not before thanking him and calling him by his first name, a rare occasion that shows how deeply the two hold one another in regard. And then Sandor goes off and fights his zombie brother to the death.
While that's all well and good, couldn't Sandor have done that before? It seems pretty late in the game for him to suddenly turn around and tell Arya that her mission for revenge is only going to get her killed. We BEEN knew that, Sandor! That's why she says that she's not going back to Winterfell in "The Last of the Starks." They had an entire journey to King's Landing for him to try and change her mind — why wait until she could be killed by dragon fire or falling debris?
I get that the Hound is probably the only person who could convince Arya to let go of her Kill List and I get that her being in King's Landing will set her up for her grand finale. But it's still ridiculous to think that the Hound waited for that very minute to talk her down. And the fact that Arya just acquiesces so easily? When Cersei has always basically been the list? Outrageous. Do better, people.