Varys

Lore & Background

Varys was born as a slave in the Free City of Lys and joined a travelling acting troupe. While the troupe was performing in Myr, a sorcerer bought the young Varys from the troupe's leader, drugged Varys before removing his genitals and burning them in a brazier in a blood magic ritual, and afterwards cast him into the streets. Varys turned to begging, prostitution, and ultimately theft to survive, but soon became known in Myr and fled to Pentos. There he befriended a poor sellsword, Illyrio Mopatis, with whom he teamed up to steal valuables from other thieves and return them to their owners for a fee. Varys eventually realized that there was more to gain from stealing secrets instead of valuables and trained his spies to copy information from the wealthy and powerful. Varys and Illyrio became rich, and Varys' reputation reached the ears of the King of Westeros, Aerys II Targaryen, who appointed Varys as his Master of Whisperers. Jaime claims that Aerys saw traitors everywhere, and Varys was quick to point out any he missed. Apparently, when Rhaegar Targaryen intended to use a Tourney at Harrenhal to call a Great Council to deal with his father's instability, and possibly dethrone him, Varys warned Aerys, and they attended the tourney. Sometime prior to the Sack of King's Landing, Varys allegedly had Rhaegar's infant son Aegon swapped with a lowborn baby and smuggled to Essos to be raised in hiding by Rhaegar's friend Jon Connington, who was exiled by the Mad King for failing to defeat Robert. Varys remains Master of Whisperers after Robert Baratheon seizes the Iron Throne but his true loyalties are implied to lie with Aegon, with his motivations and reasons for supporting Aegon largely remaining a mystery.

In Their Own Story

Soon after Eddard Stark's arrival in King's Landing, Varys warns him that Robert's wife Cersei Lannister intends to kill Robert and offers his help to Eddard in investigating the Lannisters. He later meets in secret with Illyrio to discuss stalling a war between Houses Stark and Lannister until the right moment; this is overheard by Arya Stark, but she is unable to identify the men. When Robert is ultimately killed, Varys remains spymaster for his heir Joffrey and suggests that Ser Barristan Selmy be blamed for Robert's death. Selmy is removed from the Kingsguard and ultimately defects to Daenerys Targaryen. Varys visits Eddard in captivity and convinces him to plead guilty to treason and join the Night's Watch in order to save the life of his daughters Sansa and Arya, which would also avert war between the Starks and Lannisters, and Ned eventually agrees. Varys is horrified, however, when Joffrey has Ned executed anyway and tries in vain to dissuade the King whilst Littlefinger smugly looks on. In the aftermath, Varys arranges for Robert's bastard Gendry to join the Night's Watch, to avoid being killed by Cersei. In A Clash of Kings, Varys is the first to learn that Tyrion Lannister has brought his mistress Shae with him to King's Landing, and tells Tyrion of a route that he can use to visit her. He forms an uneasy alliance with Tyrion to share the information gathered by his spy network. In A Storm of Swords, Varys continues to facilitate Tyrion and Shae's trysts, but testifies against Tyrion when Tyrion is tried for Joffrey's murder. After Tyrion is sentenced to death, Jaime Lannister forces Varys to aid in Tyrion's escape. As Varys and Tyrion escape through the secret passages of the Red Keep, Tyrion decides to seek out his father Tywin's chambers. Varys protests but gives Tyrion the exact directions to Tywin's room. In A Feast for Crows, after helping Tyrion escape, Varys disappears. A Red Keep turnkey, Rugen, disappears at the same time, and a Tyrell coin is found in his chambers. This cements Cersei's distrust of House Tyrell, although she is unaware Rugen is merely a disguise of Varys'. In A Dance with Dragons, Varys sneaks into the Red Keep to kill Grand Maester Pycelle. He also lures Lord Regent Kevan Lannister into Pycelle's chambers and mortally wounds him. As Kevan dies, Varys explains that his death was necessary to destabilise the Seven Kingdoms in preparation for Aegon Targaryen's invasion, before ordering his little birds to finish Kevan off.

Reader's Guide

Varys is not a point of view character in the novels, so his actions are witnessed and interpreted through the eyes of other people, such as Ned Stark, Tyrion and Cersei Lannister. He is defined by his paradoxical nature: a man without country or family who commands more fear than most lords. His primary role is information broker and political engineer; he rarely engages in combat, preferring victory through intelligence and blackmail. His arc demonstrates that information can be more lethal than steel, as he manipulates kings from the shadows to reshape the world order.

Did You Know?

• Varys was castrated by a sorcerer in Myr as part of a blood magic ritual, after which he was cast into the streets.
• He once teamed up with a poor sellsword named Illyrio Mopatis to steal valuables from other thieves and return them for a fee.
• Varys allegedly had Rhaegar Targaryen's infant son Aegon swapped with a lowborn baby and smuggled to Essos.
• In A Dance with Dragons, Varys personally kills Grand Maester Pycelle and mortally wounds Lord Regent Kevan Lannister.
• Varys used the disguise of a Red Keep turnkey named Rugen, which fooled Cersei into distrusting House Tyrell.