Varys: The Ambition of Secrets | Character Analysis | ASOIAF

if a whisper crossed into the borders of Westeros it would find its way to King's Landing any rumor tall tale or sailor story found its way to the small Council and to the king himself usually by way of a single person this person was Varys hello everyone and welcome back to exploring fiction born to poverty Lord Varys Rose all the way to one of the most important positions in the world by way of collecting and distributing Secrets he was a plotter and a schemer but also an individual full of knowledge unknown to his peers riding the tide of the word of mouth Varys ascended to Great importance and developed his own aspirations beside so who exactly is Varys and why is is he such an interesting character let's explore Varys was born a slave in the eastern city of Liss in an unspecified year according to the master of Whisperers himself he was an orphan who joined a troop of mumbers that traveled between the free cities Oldtown and King's Landing to perform their shows while temporarily lodging himself in the city of Meir Varys was bought away from the mumbers for a large sum of gold an offer the leader of the troop couldn't refuse the man of whose identity Varys didn't disclose for either lack of knowledge or want forced him to drink a potion that paralyzed his entire body though his senses were still present the man relieved Varys of his manhood burning the parts in aaser as part of a ritual of blood magic with no further use for the maimed boy the man tossed Varys out onto the streets assuming he would die instead Varys vowed to live out of spite from that point forth regarding anything related to magic with disgust and hatred with no money and no manhood to his name Varys slunk about the streets engaging in whatever activities would pay even rising to become the greatest thief in the city of Mir but but a rival Thief threatened his life and Varys was forced to flee to pentos in this new free City Varys at first found neither the success nor Prosperity he searched for instead met with hardship and notoriety one day however he met a poor cell swword named yio mopatis and the two struck a deal using his skills as a thief Varys would steal items from lesser bir burglar and AO would offer their return for a fee before long the richest people in pentos went straight to Varys and AO whenever anything disappeared from their stores or persons and through this Enterprise Varys not only grew quite rich but learned how valuable information could be training a massive band of Orphans which he called his little mice verus sent them forth to gather all all the information on which they could get their grubby little hands due to the Colossal amount of wealth he and AIO procured through their Shady Ventures varys's reputation preceded him into Westeros where the Mad King Aris Targaryen II heard of his success growing ever more paranoid even to the point where he distrusted his wife his son and his hand ays invited Varys to to the Seven Kingdoms to serve as his master of Whisperers sometime around 278 AC once in King's Landing Varys adorned himself as a lavish Lord plump and bald his hands were white and soft and he covered himself in powders and perfume smelling of lilacs and lavenders at court Varys wore silk and slippers but he was also a master of disguises due to his time with the Mummers thus making him the perfect candidate to slink about the deep dark recesses of King's Landing though not truly Lord of anything his status on the small Council LED people to address him as such and many throughout Westeros believed him omniscient in reality his orphan Network now called Little Birds was unthinkably vast as most Nobles and Highborn served only their own ends they scorned Varys and found him distasteful but the master of Whisperers claimed only to serve the ideals of order and peace still his arrival in Westeros only seemed to worsen the Mad King's fits of paranoia varys's power grew hand in hand with the distrust stemming from the King and he seemed to even instigate the onset of the king's Madness through the use of his spy Network ever building up his little birds with aid from the Kingdom's coffers Varys mastered and memorized the secret passages of the red keep learning more about the capital city than almost any man alive on the eve of Robert's Rebellion Veris suggested to the Mad King that his son rhaegar was using the attorney at heren Hall as an excuse to meet and rally bannermen to help him overthrow his father father and thus ays attended the attorney himself leaving the confines of the red keep for the first time in four years soon Robert's Rebellion raged all across the Seven Kingdoms and when rhaegar was granted death at Robert's hand at the Battle of the Trident vys pled with the Mad King not to open the gates of King's Landing outside Lord Tywin Lannister sat with his enormous host of soldiers grandmeister pyel however advised the opposite and the Mad King listened the gates were opened and King's Landing was sacked by tywin's force sir jimie Lannister cut down the Mad King and Varys disappeared into the shadows for a time when Robert Baratheon took the throne though he pardoned Lord Varys among others and allowed him to keep his position as master of Whisperers upon the small Council this is where Varys sits when we first see him in a Game of Thrones as King Robert returns to the capital with his new hand of the king Lord Ard Stark Varys sends word to him that one of his spies in the East sir Jor Mormont has witnessed the wedding of Daenerys Targaryen to the dothi Cal Drogo when the party arrives at King's Landing Varys assesses the dagger of Valyrian steel that was used on the attempt at Bran's life but claims not to know its origin the longer the Lord of Winterfell stays in King's Landing the more suspicious of the Lannisters he becomes and his unrest is only heightened after the H's turny Varys also known as the spider visits Ned in his Chambers warning that Queen Cersei Lannister is conspiring to kill King Robert Varys explains that all he desires is peace for the realm and so will Aid Lord edhard as best he can before departing he informs Ned that Lord John Aaron the previous hand of the King was poisoned by a lethal substance known as the tears of Liss Lord edhard is troubled but his resolve is stronger than ever before as he continues his investigation his daughter Arya sneaks about the red keep learning stealth and sword play and she soon stumbles into a dark room beneath the hole of the keep there she overhears Varys and Ayo mopatis and the latter pleads with the former to delay a war between the houses Stark and Lannister for the foreseeable future what's more Varys soon learns from Sir Jora of daenerys's pregnancy a detail he passes on to King Robert the king commands for both her and her child to be executed a message Varys relays back to the east this decree sits poorly with the king's hand however and when Robert suffers hunting wounds edhard tells Varys to Cease the assassination attempts on Daenerys ard's Authority soon means little though as Varys watches the great lord of the north fall under arrest at the Cry of Queen Cersei finally Robert succumbs to his festering injuries and Joffrey ascends to the Iron Throne Varys retains his position under the new king and even suggests the blame of Robert's death be placed on Sir barriston seli Lord commander of the King's Guard the new king and his mother agree and send the leader of the white cloaks away in a move unprecedented in the history of Westeros meanwhile Lord edhard rots in the black cells of the capital's Dungeons and using his pensant for disguise which he learned from the Mummers Varys secretly visits Ned after much harrowing discussion Varys convinces Lord Ard to confess despite his innocence for the sake of his daughter Sansa who remains in the queen Regent's clutches the spider explains that the king will allow edar to take the black thus saving his life and preventing a stark Lannister War Varys Retreats and Ard sees the unix's words as his only true hope brought forth before the great sept of Baylor edhard confesses but King Joffrey shows no mercy instead he orders the beheading of Ned Stark and Varys is just just as shocked as the rest of the onlookers in a Clash of Kings Veris still acts as the master of Whisperers pedling his secrets for the good of the realm when Tyrion Lannister arrives at King's Landing taking up residence as acting hand of the king in place of his father Lord Tywin Lannister Varys helps the dwarf smuggle and hide his lover sheay into the capital as two of the cleverest men in the city Varys and Tyrion respect each other and even form a tepid Alliance Varys supplies Tyrion information that would previously pass him by and even AIDS the Imp in placing the city watch the gold cloaks in his pocket maybe most helpful of all Varys informs Tyrion that his cousin sir Lancel Lannister is sleeping with his sweet sister Queen Cersei likely a poor replacement for the captured sir jimie yet for all his Newfound power Tyrion is still under scrutiny from Cersei and his father Lord Tywin and his lover sheay is in danger merely by her presence in King's Landing Varys again helps the king's Hand by watching out for sheay and even sets up a secret route for Tyrion to visit her out of sight as their relationship grows Varys reveals more and more to Tyrion including the story behind his castration and that he placed Gendry under the supervision of yurin sending him off to the knight's watch instead of keeping him in the capital to die for being Robert's bastard however King's Landing gets no safer even for the likes of the Imp and the spider in A Storm of Swords the capital and its residents are reeling from the aftermath of the battle of the Blackwater including Lord Varys resuming his Mutual cooperation with Tyrion Lannister who suffered significant personal injury in the fighting Ferris helps the man in his continued visits with sheay for which the dwarf is quite grateful tyrion's luck runs dry however as he is demoted from King's hand to master of coin with the arrival of his father in King's Landing and is soon blamed for the death of King Joffrey Baratheon during his time as interim hand of the king Tyrion made many enemies through his cunning moves and counter moves but even his friends seemed to turn on him upon the day of his trial no seeming betrayal is greater than that of the spiders when Varys testifies against him while revealing secrets and evidence of their past formerly private conversations devoid of Hope Tyrion requests a trial by combat and is championed by Prince oberin Martell of Dorne in a ferocious duel oberin is slain by Sir Gregor Clan and thus Tyrion is found guilty by both Gods and Men thrown into the black cells to await his ex ution Tyrion gives up all hope for his life yet all is not lost his older brother sir Jaimie cannot bear to see him killed and so forcefully recruits Varys to release Tyrion from the prison Varys cooperates and leads Tyrion through the secret passages beneath the red keep on his way out Tyrion spies a ladder he recognizes as leading to the Chamber of the hand of the king and ascends it and kills both sheay and his father Lord Tywin Varys finishes leading him to escape but quickly realizes the heinous acts the Imp has committed and the part he's played in them meanwhile across the narrow sea sir barriston seli now an adviser and protector to Daenerys Targaryen outs joram Mormont as one of varys's spies and the exile Knight is banished from the mother of dragon's service even away from Westeros the influence of Varys looms large the appearance of Varys in A Feast for Crows is but Whispers and shadows as he realizes how dire his situation has become due to his involvement with tyrion's Escape Varys goes into hiding Vanishing Without a Trace at about the same time the gaoler rugan disappears too and a coin belonging to house Tyrell is found in his personal quars cersei's suspicion of the tyrells grows yet she and the rest of King's Landing are blind to yet another of varys's schemes rugan is merely a disguise and Persona invented by The Spider and the Tyrell coin is a purposefully placed piece of false evidence in need of a new master of Whisperers queen regent Cersei Lannister appoints her puppet kurn and he finds that many of varys's little birds approach him with Secrets they wish to sell showing Cersei that Varys may have been less essential than previously believed while these events all unfold Varys merely watches and waits peace for the real realm still his utmost goal in A Dance with Dragons details about the past and future plans of Varys the spider come to light with the unix's aid Tyrion Lannister boards a ship for pentos where he meets and Converses with Magister yo mopatis Tyrion learns that during Robert's Rebellion vys on the side of the targaryens switched baby Aon Targaryen son of Prince rhaegar with a decoy and shipped him off to exiled Lord John conington across the sea Ferris produced a fake story about John connington's fate and thus the former hand of the king and his Targaryen Ward took up disguises all with the spiders Aid in his escapades across the free cities on the way to see Daenerys and Marine Tyrion even comes across two cell swords he realizes to be John conington and Aon in hiding Tyrion also learns that Varys along with Magister Alo and the golden company plot to Wed aegon to his cousin Daenerys and seat him at top the Iron Throne as the conclusion to the current narrative is reached Varys finally appears again in flesh and blood once again employing the dark passages with which only he is so familiar Varys sneaks into the room of grandmeister pyel and kills him he sends a little bird after sir Kevin Lannister now ruling Regent of the Seven Kingdoms After cersei's Fall with the message that pisel wishes to see him sir Kevin arrives at pel's Chambers and is promptly shot with a crossbow by Varys the spider laments having to kill Kevin explaining that throughout every conflict there are good men lost to doomed sides and says that Kevin's competence as a ruler threatens the scheme Varys has concocted for so long as cersei's fall helped to speed up those plans Varys wishes to see House Lannister and house Tyrell grow further entrenched against each other thus clearing the path to the iron throne for young aegon Targaryen this Varys says is all for the good of the realm with a heavy heart Varys summons more of his little birds who put an end to Sir Kevin's misery ever since the unfortunate event that made him a unic Varys has dealt in the most seductive currency of all secrets denying death when he could have easily accepted its cold Embrace he resolved to build his own Empire an Empire of knowledge Varys uses his various skills and relationships to gain enough notoriety to become the master of Whisperers in Westeros and once there he serves his purpose well he is clever and resourceful making sure he's always needed by the figure with the most Authority still Varys does not serve one single ruler but according to him serves for peace and the good of the realm through his pedaling of Secrets he becomes one of the most feared respected and untrustworthy men in Westeros all at once a contrast from his seemingly harmless physical appearance yet there is also an aspect of false grandiosity to his shadowy Enterprise well the common folk and many Nobles think him omniscient as they cannot fathom how he obtains his Secrets varys's methods are actually less mystical than they seem the use of the orphans or little birds to obtain his knowledge is picked up rather quickly by his replacement kurn revealing that behind the shroud of power lies the cogs of a well-crafted operation yet regardless of his methods Varys makes himself indispensable amassing his power on the foundation of information and underneath the innocent facad lies his true ambition Varys works both for and against the reigning powers in Westeros doing what he can to sew Discord and spread peace where he deemed seems each necessary he does this all while waiting the arrival of young Aon Targaryen son of Prince RAR upon the shores of the Seven Kingdoms Rising higher in prominence than even he could have imagined Varys is free to create and set forth schemes from the Shadows to which he is so accustomed not by swords or coins does Varys operate but by information more powerful than any physical medium many Sly individuals yearned for the king's ear and even more pleaded for his power Lord Varys did desire power but he found it in different ways than other figures of authority the spider gathered information and rumors from across the entire Known World putting him in a position quite unknowable to his peers Varys Rose from nothing an orphan sold to a cruel blood magician all the way to the master of Whisperers a position through which he can manipulate others and enact his own plots and he did this all on the ambition of secrets so that's all for this video leave a comment with your thoughts I'd love to hear them leave a like if you enjoyed And subscribe if you're new here I'd love to have you visit my website Russell awells author.com for exclusive fiction and more and sign up for my mailing list for free exclusive content the links for both are in the description below and like always I will see you next time

Channel: Exploring Fiction

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Id: mBxB70u4sys

Length: 23min 54sec (1434 seconds)

Published: Sun Dec 24 2023