Here's What The Mountain From "Game Of Thrones" Looked Like Before He Was A Mountain

    A transformation is coming.

    Unless you've been hiding under a rock for the last few years, you'll recognise this happy chap as the baddest man in Westeros – The Mountain.

    You'll also probably know by now that the actor who plays him – 27-year-old Icelander Hafþór Júlíus Björnsson – is one of the strongest men in the world.

    Here he is pulling a giant truck, because...well, probably just because he can.

    But what did the elder Clegane brother look like before he was capable of crushing someone's skull with his bare hands? Well, a lot like...

    ...THIS! 😱 😱 😱 😱 😱 😱 😱 😱 😱

    Before Björnsson moved into the world of strongman in 2008 and 2009, he was a professional basketball player in his native Iceland.

    Earlier this year he spoke to GQ about why he made this unlikely switch:

    I was always getting injured. I injured my ankles quite badly. I had to have surgery. So the second time I had an operation I decided to take a break from basketball to heal my foot. I could train more then, and I just fell in love with the weights, fell in love with training hard, started to put weight on quite fast, started to get strong really fast. I saw results.

    Shame he got bigger, really. Oberyn would have beaten the 17-year-old Mountain every time...

    What a difference ten years makes!