#varys

[azulolivart]

An unequal marriage in Westeros.

[wodania]

stole this and drew it with asoiaf characters

[georgescitadel]

George R.R. Martin on power and Varys' riddle

Interviewer: I think one of the things that is so involving about the story is that the people who start out with power might be quite limited in some ways and lose it while the people that are allegedly powerless with the right kind of cunning and guile and smarts and heart can find a way out of situations that seem hopeless. Did you intend to examine this idea of power and hierarchy and how these things are not as fixed as people think that they are?

George: Definitely! The whole subject of power is fascinating to me! How does power work? What’s it based on? In Varys’ riddle - which I was very glad they included (in the show), I think it’s one of the most important parts of the book – he asks Tyrion who has the real power in that situation. The rich man, the priest and the king are each telling the sellsword to kill the other people… It’s actually the sellsword who has the power since he's the one who has a sword in his hand. He has the power of life and death over the other three, but he’s going to obey one of the other three because of some allusion of power… When I see that scene played out in my mind’s eye, these are three old fat guys and none of them can do anything themselves to the sellsword and yet they command him because they can summon other sellswords… Well, why do all of those other sellswords obey? Our societies are built on this structure of sand and you see that periodically with the falls of great empires and nations… The Soviet Union, it looked solid and eternal and one day it just blew away – “we're not going to follow those guys anymore, let's get rid of them and we'll bring in some new guys.” and suddenly the Soviet Union was gone overnight. Why does that happen?... I was reading a book a couple months ago about the history of Jerusalem and this one particular crazy sultan or caliph. At one point he decided his doctors were trying to kill him so he had all of his doctors killed… okay. Then he decided that the women of the court were conspiring against him, but he liked women as they had babies and other uses, sexually and stuff like that, so he commanded his guards to cut off the hands of all of the women in the court, not only his own wives and concubines, but evidently their wives and concubines as well, and they did it! Now… what the hell was going on there? Why doesn’t the captain of the guard say to the sergeant: “this guy is fucking nuts! We have swords!!! Why don’t we kill him instead of cutting off our wives’ hands?”. I don’t really know where the matter comes from, but it’s a fascinating issue to explore and huge drama comes out of that. Don’t be surprised if sometime in ASOIAF I have a crazy king cutting off the hands of a bunch of people!

- George R.R. Martin, Chicon 7

[allovesthings]

Arya, after outspying accidentally the master of whisper at age 9 and hiding under the nose of Roose Bolton at age 10:

[barelyanartblog]

Say what you will but at least Cersei and Tyrion have never sunk low enough to try to kill each other.... yet

[glussy]

when Tyrion comes into Varys room to fuck Shae and instead is met with Varys in full drag with a curly brown wig, dress, and beat face and saying "Is something amiss?" like asoiaf is a comedy

[stormborns]

GAME OF THRONES 1.09, Baelor

[knightsickness]

i like how tyrion scornfully assumes this is illyrio being stupid (when it seems more like he’s ignoring his sarcasm/joking back) and then shortly after actually does completely miss illyrio’s joke at his expense. tyrion varys was not telling his buddy how clever and cool you are he is making fun of you rn

[groundrunner100]

Upon seeing this poll & voting, reblogs are sincerely appreciated. Let as many people as you possible see this poll.

The 5 year anniversary of one of the BIGGEST tragedies in entertainment history deserves more recognition this time around.

Lastly, go in detail in reblogs as to why you voted for a certain character.

(This is the last time I ever do a poll on this subject.)

[claudraws34]

they're gay

[fromtheseventhhell]

High-key want Arya and Varys to cross paths again at some point, like I need Varys to know that he was spied on by a 9-year-old Arya and that his plans could've potentially been foiled by her

[wyattabernathyus]

[georgescitadel]

Fan: How would you describe Littlefinger and Varys’ relationship?

George: Adversarial! Both of them know a lot about the other, including some very damaging things. They're essentially in a stalemate because they know that if one reveals what they know about the other, the other would reciprocate, and then they could both be destroyed. I think Littlefinger has a better idea of what Varys wants than Varys has an idea of what Littlefinger wants. Littlefinger is an agent of chaos who likes to be unpredictable and succeeds in that.

- George R.R. Martin, Penguin Random House México

[allovesthings]

I will never get over the fact that 9 years old Arya freaking Stark actually heard accidentally information she wasn't supposed to hear from Varys: the master of whispers. The literal master of spy was kinda outspyed by a 9 year old being what is essentially a little bird.

And same thing with Bolton. Arya Stark was right here. He had her and the signs were here if he had just taken any interest in the Smallfolks he had in captivity and in his service.

I don't know which is funnier though. That Varys still doesn't know his conversation with Illyrio was overheard or that Bolton realized it was Arya after the fact (probably...unclear).

I love that little girl so much.

[warsofasoiaf]

We know that Varys tried to convince Aerys to keep the gates closed the Lannister army and that Pycelle encouraged Aerys to open them wide. That indicates that they were both present in KL during the final days of the Rebellion. My question is this, do you think once the doors were open and the Lions started sacking the city, that both the master of Whispers and Grand Maester simply ‘vanished’ until the dust had settled?

I believe Pycelle probably went to his apartments, barricaded the door, and waited until Lannister troops came to escort him safely to Tywin's forces. The Grand Maester, as a position, benefits from "maester neutrality," so that does assist him in not being seen as an Aerys loyalist, even if Northern troops happened to get to him first.

Varys though, almost certainly disappeared into the labyrinth of secret passages honeycombing the Red Keep to ensure the safety of his person. He perceived that he would have probably been killed in the sack. and so he'd look for a place no one knew until he could arrange to surrender himself to Robert. Robert's legendary status as those who pardoned his former foes probably worked in Varys's favor there.

Thanks for the question, Anon.

SomethingLikeALawyer, Hand of the King