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| “ | Power is a curious thing... Power resides where men believe it resides. It's a trick, a shadow on the wall, and a very small man can cast a very large shadow. | „ |
| ~ Varys, talking to Tyrion Lannister about power. |
Lord Varys, also known as The Spider, is one of the overarching antagonists of the A Song of Ice and Fire novel series and one of deuteragonists in its television adaptation Game of Thrones.
Born a Lysene commoner, he is the enigmatic member of the small council and Master of Whisperers, the spymaster for the Iron Throne of the Seven Kingdoms. He served for four kings before disappearing: Aerys, Robert, Joffrey, and Tommen, the latter for a short time.
In the TV show, he was portrayed by Conleth Hill.
Personality
Outwardly, Varys puts on the personality of a calm, collected, passive, squeamish, and obsequious servant of the realm. His effeminate appearance, plumpness, and status as a eunuch make him someone who avoids conflict for himself.
Despite this, his history of consistently feeding information to whoever he chooses and aiding both allies and enemies has earned him with a dishonest reputation. Indeed, Varys is an incredibly cunning, calculating, perceptive, manipulative, and intelligent man who's motives - in A Song Of Ice And Fire - remain a mystery, although he appears to be supporting a man he claims is Aegon Targaryen, son of Rhaegar, to win the throne. In the Game of Thrones TV show, Varys reveals that he has been working to find a ruler who will truly serve the realm and look after the interests of the people.
Biography
| “ | Westeros needs to be saved from itself. | „ |
| ~ Varys to Tyrion Lannister. |
Though nothing that Varys says can be completely trusted, he claims to have been born a slave in Lys that was sold and apprenticed to a traveling folly, a troupe of mummers who worked the Free Cities, Oldtown, and occasionally King's Landing, by means of a fat little cog owned by the troupe's master. During their stay in Myr, a man offered Varys a large sum of money, an offer his master found too tempting to refuse. The man gave Varys a potion that made him powerless to move or speak but did nothing to dull his senses as his manhood was cut off at the stem, then burned in a brazier in a bloodmagic ritual. Varys claims to have held a hatred for all things magical ever since.
With the ritual complete, the man had no further use for Varys and tossed him out on the streets. Varys asked the man what he should do, to which the sorcerer replied that he supposed to die. Varys, to spite him, vowed to live.
By that time, the mummers had sailed, and Varys was left alone. He resorted to begging, prostitution, and thievery and soon was as good a thief as any in Myr, eventually becoming recognized as the best thief in the city until a rival forced him out and he fled to Pentos.
In Pentos, Varys befriended a poor bravo and sellsword named Illyrio Mopatis, and they started a business where Varys would steal objects from lesser thieves and Illyrio would get the objects back for their original owners for a small fee. Soon, every man and woman in Pentos who ever had valuables stolen from them knew who to ask to get their valuables back. In addition, the thieves in Pentos soon began to seek Illyrio and Varys out, half to try (and fail) to kill them and the other half to sell them the objects they stole in order to prevent Varys from stealing them back. Varys and Illyrio grew very rich.
Varys came to the realization that information was much more valuable than gold and gems and began training his spy network, then known as "little mice," to acquire the information, letters, ledgers, and charts of the wealthy and powerful. The "mice" were orphans purchased by Varys; he chose those that were small, quick, and quiet and taught them to read and write, as well as the skills required for sneak thievery such as climbing walls and slipping down chimneys, so that they might copy the information Varys desired without disturbing or alarming their targets.
These secrets increased Varys and Illyrio's wealth tenfold, and in time Varys became so infamous that word of his talents reached the ears of King Aerys across the Narrow Sea, who, in his growing paranoia, no longer trusted his son, his wife, or his Hand.
As spymaster in King's Landing, Varys's influence grew with Aerys's paranoia, as he was quick to point out traitors and schemers to his liege. Varys mastered the secret passages within the Red Keep and made good use of them with his spy network, which became known as his "little birds." He had them memorize the passages and come to him whenever one discovered something of importance. Notably, Varys alerted Aerys to the possibility that his son Rhaegar was using his attendance at the Tourney at Harrenhal as a pretext to rally the Lords to his cause in removing Aerys as king, causing Aerys to attend the tournament, the first time he had left the Red Keep in years since the Defiance of Duskendale.
Following the Battle of the Trident during Robert's Rebellion, Varys counseled Aerys to close his gates to Tywin Lannister, as he could not be trusted. Aerys, however, listened to Grand Maester Pycelle and opened the gates to the Lannister forces, who proceeded to sack the city and kill the remaining Targaryens present.
Though he continued in his post for King Robert, Varys's loyalty seemingly remained with House Targaryen. He kept a secret arrangement with Illyrio Mopatis, who seeks to put a Targaryen back on the Iron Throne. In fact, it was claimed by Varys and Illyrio that Varys switched the baby Aegon with that of a peasant infant (the "pisswater prince"). With the realm and Robert falsely believing him dead, Varys had Aegon smuggled across the Narrow Sea to be raised by Rhaegar's friend and exiled Hand of the King, Jon Connington. To conceal Connington's activities, Varys concocted the false story that Connington had drunk himself to death after being caught stealing from the Golden Company.
Once the boy was safe, Vays began searching for Aegon's uncle and aunt, Prince Viserys and Princess Daenerys Targaryen, although he could not find them for many years, as they were constantly moving in order to avoid King Robert's spies. After over thirteen years, Varys located both of them in Pentos and told his friend, Magister Illyrio, about them to welcome them into his mansion.
From then on, Varys and Illyrio began to look for an army for Viserys and negotiated their sister's betrothal with a Dothraki khal named Drogo, whom they would marry in exchange for supporting House Targaryen with his warriors. Simultaneously, Varys contacted the exiled Ser Jorah Mormont, to whom he promised a royal pardon and return to Westeros in exchange for him promising his sword to Viserys so he could keep both of them under surveillance.
At the same time, for fourteen years, Varys pretended to be an unconditional ally of both King Robert I Baratheon and Queen Cersei Lannister. Varys completed the task entrusted to him by Robert of watching over and protecting all his bastards (especially Mya Stone, Gendry, and Edric Storm); meanwhile, he delivered all kinds of rumors to Queen Cersei, making her believe that she had no servant more loyal than him. All this was a prop so that the monarchs would not suspect his true loyalty and would not make a decision about him.
During these years, he noticed a new and dangerous character in the king's court: Lord Petyr Baelish, whom Varys tried to spy on because he knew he was hiding something but was unable to discover what it was. In the television series, Littlefinger, as Baelish was nicknamed, paradoxically spied on Varys and discovered a thing or two about him.
During the time the Golden Company, led by Aegon, lands on the Stormlands and begins its invasion, Varys murders Grand Maester Pycelle and Tommen's regent, Ser Kevan Lannister. As Kevan is dying from a crossbow bolt (which Varys thought would be fitting, considering Kevan's brother), Varys tells him Aegon has been trained for the Iron Throne and to relate to the smallfolk since birth. He says Kevan's death will plunge the realm into chaos, as Kevan was undoing Cersei's incompetence and antagonism with the Tyrells and the Faith, and Kevan and Pycelle's deaths will lead to more suspicion and further destabilization of the realm. Apologizing to Kevan, Varys then calls in some of his "little birds," who finish off Kevan.
Quotes
By Varys
| “ | Secrets are worth more than silver or sapphires. | „ |
| ~ Varys to Illyrio Mopatis. |
| “ | When I was a young boy, before I was cut, I traveled with a troupe of mummers through the Free Cities. They taught me that each man has a role to play, in life as well as mummery. So it is at court. The King's Justice must be fearsome, the master of coin must be frugal, the Lord Commander of the Kingsguard must be valiant... and the master of whisperers must be sly and obsequious and without scruple. A courageous informer would be as useless as a cowardly knight. | „ |
| ~ Varys to Eddard Stark. |
| “ | A eunuch has no honor, and a spider does not enjoy the luxury of scruples, my lord. | „ |
| ~ Varys to Eddard Stark. |
| “ | You are an honest and honorable man, Lord Eddard. Ofttimes I forget that. I have met so few of them in my life. When I see what honesty and honor have won you, I understand why. | „ |
| ~ Varys |
| “ | Varys: Cersei gave him the wineskins, and told him it was Robert's favorite vintage. A hunter lives a perilous life. If the boar had not done for Robert, it would have been a fall from a horse, the bite of a wood adder, an arrow gone astray... the forest is the abbatoir of the gods. It was not wine that killed the king. It was your mercy. Ned: Gods forgive me. Varys: If there are gods, I expect they will. The queen would not have waited long in any case. Robert was becoming unruly, and she needed to be rid of him to free her hands to deal with his brothers. They are quite a pair, Stannis and Renly. The iron gauntlet and the silk glove. |
„ |
| ~ Varys and Eddard Stark discussing Cersei's reasons for killing King Robert. |
| “ | The king's brothers are the ones giving Cersei sleepless nights... Lord Stannis in particular. His claim is the true one, he is known for his prowess as a battle commander, and he is utterly without mercy. There is no creature on earth half so terrifying as a truly just man. No one knows what Stannis has been doing on Dragonstone, but I will wager you that he's gathered more swords than seashells. So here is Cersei's nightmare: while her father and brother spend their power battling Starks and Tullys, Lord Stannis will land, proclaim himself king, and lop off her son's curly blond head... and her own in the bargain, though I truly believe she cares more about the boy. | „ |
| ~ Varys to Eddard Stark. |
| “ | The High Septon once told me that as we sin, so do we suffer. If that's true, Lord Eddard, tell me... why is it always the innocents who suffer most, when you high lords play your game of thrones? Ponder it, if you would, while you wait upon the queen. And spare a thought for this as well: The next visitor who calls on you could bring you bread and cheese and the milk of the poppy for your pain... or he could bring you Sansa's head. The choice, my dear lord Hand, is entirely yours. | „ |
| ~ Varys to Eddard Stark. |
| “ | May I leave you with a bit of a riddle, Lord Tyrion? In a room sit three great men, a king, a priest, and a rich man with his gold. Between them stands a sellsword, a little man of common birth and no great mind. Each of the great ones bids him slay the other two. ‘Do it,’ says the king, ‘for I am your lawful ruler.’ ‘Do it,’ says the priest, ‘for I command you in the names of the gods.’ ‘Do it,’ says the rich man, ‘and all this gold shall be yours.’ So tell me—who lives and who dies? | „ |
| ~ Varys's riddle. |
| “ | The storms come and go, the waves crash overhead, the big fish eat the little fish, and I keep on paddling. | „ |
| ~ Varys |
| “ | Power resides where men believe it resides. No more and no less. | „ |
| ~ Varys to Tyrion Lannister. |
| “ | Tyrion: Lord Varys, sometimes I feel as though you are the best friend I have in King's Landing, and sometimes I feel you are my worst enemy. Varys: How odd. I think quite the same of you. |
„ |
| ~ Varys and Tyrion Lannister. |
| “ | The dark arts have provided Lord Stannis with his armies and paved his path to our door. For a man in service to such powers to sit on the Iron Throne, I can think of nothing worse. And tonight, I believe you are the only man who can stop him. | „ |
| ~ Varys to Tyrion Lannister. |
| “ | One day at Myr, a certain man came to our folly. After the performance, he made an offer for me that my master found too tempting to refuse. I was in terror. I feared the man meant to use me as I had heard men used small boys, but in truth the only part of me he had need of was my manhood. He gave me a potion that made me powerless to move or speak, yet did nothing to dull my senses. With a long hooked blade, he sliced me root and stem, chanting all the while. I watched him burn my manly parts on a brazier. The flames turned blue, and I heard a voice answer his call, though I did not understand the words they spoke. The mummers had sailed by the time he was done with me. Once I had served his purpose, the man had no further interest in me, so he put me out. When I asked him what I should do now, he answered that he supposed I should die. To spite him, I resolved to live. I begged, I stole, and I sold what parts of my body still remained to me. Soon I was as good a thief as any in Myr, and when I was older I learned that often the contents of a man's letters are more valuable than the contents of his purse. Yet I still dream of that night, my lord. Not of the sorcerer, nor his blade, nor even the way my manhood shriveled as it burned. I dream of the voice. The voice from the flames. Was it a god, a demon, some conjurer's trick? I could not tell you, and I know all the tricks. All I can say for a certainty is that he called it, and it answered, and since that day I have hated magic and all those who practice it. If Lord Stannis is one such, I mean to see him dead. | „ |
| ~ Varys |
| “ | Varys: Ser Kevan. Forgive me if you can. I bear you no ill will. This was not done from malice. It was for the realm. For the children. Kevan: There are ... there are hundreds of Lannister guardsmen in this castle. |
„ |
| ~ Varys assassinating Kevan Lannister. |
| “ | He is here. Aegon has been shaped for rule since before he could walk. He has been trained in arms, as befits a knight to be, but that was not the end of his education. He reads and writes, he speaks several tongues, he has studied history and law and poetry. A septa has instructed him in the mysteries of the Faith since he was old enough to understand them. He has lived with fisherfolk, worked with his hands, swum in rivers and mended nets and learned to wash his own clothes at need. He can fish and cook and bind up a wound, he knows what it is like to be hungry, to be hunted, to be afraid. Tommen has been taught that kingship is his right. Aegon knows that kingship is his duty, that a king must put his people first, and live and rule for them. | „ |
| ~ Varys telling a dying Kevan about Aegon Targaryen. |
About Varys
| “ | He smelled as foul and sweet as flowers on a grave. | „ |
| ~ Thoughts of Ned Stark. |
| “ | Lord Varys knows all. | „ |
| ~ Petyr Baelish |
| “ | But Varys has ways of learning things that no man could know. He has some dark art, Ned, I swear it. | „ |
| ~ Catelyn Stark |
| “ | You are more than a juggler, old friend. You are a true sorcerer. All I ask is that you work your magic awhile longer. | „ |
| ~ Illyrio Mopatis to Varys |
| “ | Cersei: You put too much trust in that eunuch. Tyrion: He serves me well. Cersei: Or so he'd have you believe. You think you're the only one he whispers secrets to? He gives each of us just enough to convince us that we'd be helpless without him. He played the same game with me, when I first wed Robert. For years, I was convinced I had no truer friend at court, but now ... |
„ |
| ~ Cersei and Tyrion, discussing Varys. |
| “ | Ser Barristan once told me the rot in King Aerys's reign began with Varys. The eunuch should never have been pardoned. | „ |
| ~ Stannis Baratheon |
| “ | Tyrion: How is it that the Spider became so dear to you? Illyrio: We were young together, two green boys in Pentos. |
„ |
| ~ Tyrion and Illyrio Mopatis. |
| “ | Illyrio: In Myr he was a prince of thieves, until a rival thief informed on him. In Pentos his accent marked him, and once he was known for a eunuch he was despised and beaten. Why he chose me to protect him I may never know, but we came to an arrangement. Varys spied on lesser thieves and took their takings. I offered my help to their victims, promising to recover their valuables for a fee. Soon every man who had suffered a loss knew to come to me, whilst city's footpads and cutpurses sought out Varys ... half to slit his throat, the other half to sell him what they'd stolen. We both grew rich, and richer still when Varys trained his mice. Tyrion: In King's Landing he kept little birds. Illyrio: Mice, we called them then. The older thieves were fools who thought no further than turning a night's plunder into wine. Varys preferred orphan boys and young girls. He chose the smallest, the ones who were quick and quiet, and taught them to climb walls and slip down chimneys. He taught them to read as well. We left the gold and gems for common thieves. Instead our mice stole letters, ledgers, charts ... later, they would read them and leave them where they lay. Secrets are worth more than silver or sapphires, Varys claimed. Just so. I grew so respectable that a cousin of the Prince of Pentos let me wed his maiden daughter, whilst whispers of a certain eunuch's talents crossed the narrow sea and reached the ears of a certain king. A very anxious king, who did not wholly trust his son, nor his wife, nor his Hand, a friend of his youth who had grown arrogant and overproud. I do believe that you know the rest of this tale, is that not so? |
„ |
| ~ Illyrio Mopatis discussing Varys's background with Tyrion. |
Victims
Books only:
- Grand Maester Pycelle - Ordered or done by Varys; possibly impaled while he was reading; manner unclear, as he was found dead with a deep red gash in his skull, blood pooled beneath his head, with bits of bone and brain on his table.
- Ser Kevan Lannister - Shot with a crossbow by Varys to maintain the realm destibilized and let parties accuse each other; finished off by the “little birds” on Varys’s orders.
TV Series only:
- Sorcerer (assumed) - Tortured, presumably to death, for castrating him as a child.
Gallery
Trivia
- In both novels and TV series, Varys supports the claim to the Iron Throne of a character named "Aegon Targaryen", son of Rhaegar Targaryen. However, the novels and the TV series have two separate Aegons, whom Varys supports.
- In the novels, Varys and his partner Illyrio Mopatis are the masterminds of an ongoing ploy aiming for the ascension of Aegon VI Targaryen, the disputed son of Rhaegar Targaryen and Elia Martell. The plan started with the Golden Company's invasion of the Stormlands, the Westerosi kingdom ruled by House Baratheon's original branch. Varys and Illyrio wish for Aegon and his aunt, Daenerys Targaryen, to marry and seal their reign with it. It is believed there's some untold personal and self-serving motive for Varys and Illyrio to do this, as their constant meddling in Westerosi politics is odd, given the two are from the Free Cities.
- In the TV series, Varys initially supports the ascension of Viserys III Targaryen (presumably), then the ascension of Viserys's sister as Daenerys I Targaryen, and finally Jon Snow's ascension as Aegon VI Targaryen, being the son of Rhaegar and Lyanna Stark. His plans ultimately backfired and failed, while Illyrio's role and motives in the show were seemingly simplified as just him wanting to help his friend Varys.
- In the TV series, Varys has more heroic traits than his book counterpart. For example, in the show, even saying it was not right to disobey the Kingslayer, Varys behaved much more willingly to follow Jaime's order to rescue Tyrion, while in the novels he was unwilling to do so and was forced through Jaime threatening him and slightly injuring him with a blade. Additionally, no mention is made in the TV series of his child servants having their tongues cut out.
- Varys' death in the TV series is quite similar to Ned Stark's death, an event that Varys tried to prevent but failed. Both of them believed that they had seen an alternative to the heir of the Iron Throne. Ned Stark believed that Stannis Baratheon would make a better king than Joffrey Baratheon. He also discovered that Joffery was a bastard born of incest, and therefore Stannis had a far better claim. Varys, who was fighting to put the Targaryens back on the throne, first believed that Viserys Targaryen would make a better king than Robert Baratheon, whom he had fought for against the Mad King, unaware that Viserys was a mad Targaryen. Later, he made himself believe that Daenerys would make a great queen for Westeros, and initially he might have been right, arguably. Unfortunately, after the deaths of Jorah Mormont, Missandei, and two of Daenerys's dragons, she had ultimately become a mad Targaryen, just like her father and brother. Varys sealed his own fate when he tried to put Jon Snow (born Aegon Targaryen) on the Iron Throne, which ultimately failed. In the end, Varys's mission to put the Targaryens back on the Iron Throne was all for nothing when Daenerys died and Jon Snow was sent back to the Wall. The same thing did go for Ned Stark, as Stannis died trying to take Winterfell from House Bolton. By the end of the show, neither House Targaryen nor House Baratheon managed to reclaim the Iron Throne, and the former house became officially extinct, while the latter was revived (ironically by the former) after having been extinct for a while.
- His death had been prophesied by Melisandre in Season 7, that both he and she would die in Westeros.
- However, even if his mission of placing the Targaryens back on the Iron Throne was a failure, his mission of aiding Tyrion Lannister in restoring peace and prosperity to Westeros was a success. Even if Tyrion betrayed Varys in order to save Daenerys, Tyrion Lannister's role as Hand of the King/Queen might ultimately have been Varys greatest accomplishment.
- Varys' claim that he serves the realm and his sudden loyalty to the Targaryens seem quite odd, leading to fans believing Varys has ulterior motives. Varys helped to fuel the paranoia of Aerys II Targaryen, even though Aerys was becoming increasingly insane and his rule was clearly not good for the realm. Varys also likely prevented a possible attempt by Rhaegar Targaryen to remove the Mad King peacefully, leading to Robert's Rebellion and the fall of the Targaryen dynasty. Also, Varys and Illyrio Mopatis's conspiracy with Aegon Targaryen didn't assist Aegon's uncle and aunt, Viserys and Daenerys, until relatively recently.
- The appearance of Aerys II in the tourney at Harrenhal discredited his figure Rhaegar's favor, when the public saw how emaciated and unkempt the crazy king had become and how unstable he seemed, in addition to attracting more noble lords to the tournament to witness this. It is theorized by some readers that maybe Varys planned to make the public see that their ruler was not right and that they needed to depose him and crown Rhaegar in his place.
- Varys is theorized by some fans to be loyal to the House Blackfyre, a cadet branch of Targaryens founded by Daemon I Blackfyre, one of Aegon IV's legitimized bastards. The Blackfyres were apparently wiped out when Ser Barristan Selmy slew Maelys "the Monstrous" Blackfyre on the Stepstones in 260 AC. However, Illyrio telling Tyrion Lannister this was the end of the male line of House Blackfyre led to theories that the Blackfyres survived in the female line. According to this theory, "Aegon VI" is a female-line Blackfyre. This would explain why Varys was assisting Aerys; Varys was aiming to overthrow the Targaryen dynasty in favor of the Blackfyres.
- It is theorized that Varys, who is publicly known to be a Lyseni, may be a descendant of House Blackfyre himself. Some suggest that Varys might have been a brother to Aegon's supposed real mother, Serra of Lys (theorized to have been a Blackfyre descendant), and that Illyrio Mopatis, who's Serra's husband, is Aegon's real father.
- It is also theorized by some readers that Varys shaves his head is to avoid hide his Targaryen hair, similar to "Egg," the future Aegon V Targaryen from "The Tales of Dunk and Egg." When Varys first appears, he is even compared to an egg.
- However, this theory neglects to remember the fact that the nearly all the Lysene people are silver-haired or light gold-haired, and most of them have purple, lilac, or blue eyes, as they're Valyrian (Lys is one of Valyria's settlements that survived the Doom). As it is public knowledge that Varys is from Lys (or at least Pycelle and Ned Stark knew this), it seems unnecessary for Varys to hide his supposedly silver hair, as the Targaryens aren't the only people with such appearance, and him displaying his silver-hair doesn't mean anything nor makes him different than any other Lysene foreigner. Another possible reason for Varys to shave his head might be to avoid drawing too much attention and be less recognizable, especially since Varys constantly wears different disguises and fake hair and beards.
- Some readers theorized that Varys having "royal blood" from his relation to Houses Blackfyre and Targaryen might be a reason why the Myrish sorcerer who bought him used him for a bloodmagic ritual, as per belief of King's blood having power. This could also explain why the sorcerer bothered to come to Varys's mummer employer specifically, and pay him a lot of money, when he could've simply found his slave boy in any slave market in Myr. However, it's possible the sorcerer could've just randomly picked the nearest available place owning slaves in the moment, out of convenience, and just paid for Varys without concern about spending much.
- It is also theorized by some readers that Varys shaves his head is to avoid hide his Targaryen hair, similar to "Egg," the future Aegon V Targaryen from "The Tales of Dunk and Egg." When Varys first appears, he is even compared to an egg.
External Links
- Varys (television) on the Heroes Wiki.
- Varys on the A Wiki of Ice and Fire.
- Varys on the Wiki of Westeros.
