[ADwD Spoilers] Varys

[Ser Frank Haven]

Varys could well be a Targaryen blackfyre bastard. His head is shaved in the manor of Egg and his cock was cut off to use for a nasty bit of blood magic that worked quite well (king's blood). He serves his 'family' but he's getting vengeance on them as well and reestablishing them on his own terms.

Who said the spell worked?

[Sword in the Morning]

So does he support the Targs or not?

He serves the realm... someone must.

That being said, Aerys was insane. Disposing of an insane king is in the best interest of the realm.

[Selmy]

He serves the realm... someone must.

But he doesn't. He's doing everything he can to destabilize the realm.

[Anya, Vengeance Demon]

That being said, Aerys was insane. Disposing of an insane king is in the best interest of the realm.

Varys didn't dispose of Aerys. Jaime disposed of Aerys. Varys actively encouraged Aerys's insanity, leading him to be so overwhelmed by paranoia that he planned to burn down King's Landing.

[Ceri]

The sad thing is Tommen under Kevan's guidance could probably have grow into the very King Varys wants to install my force.

It is incredibly ironic, but what is is even more ironic is that Varys kills Kevan for essentially being a good Regent, in "threatening to undo all the queen's good work, to reconcile..., bind the faith..., unite the Seven Kingdoms..." The queen's good work is sarcasm, and now Kevan is dead for being the best of the Lannisters. Varys may be honest in his desire to protect the children and the commoners, but it's only by his path, making him just as gray as everyone else. (And I am so excited he's back! Even if it is just in the shadows...)

[Michael Jon Snow]

Aerys

Danaerys

Jaehearys

Viserys

Varys

I am surprised that this isn't obvious to everyone.

[TheMalcolm]

Pycelle seemed to think he was intentionally feeding his paranoia, and I'm pretty sure I've seen it mentioned elsewhere as well (i could be wrong).

You probably mean Barristan saying that Aeris suspected Rhaegar of treason because of what Varis whispered to him. But I'd say it's just Selmy's opinion. Army always distrust police.

[Anya, Vengeance Demon]

It is incredibly ironic, but what is is even more ironic is that Varys kills Kevan for essentially being a good Regent, in "threatening to undo all the queen's good work, to reconcile..., bind the faith..., unite the Seven Kingdoms..." The queen's good work is sarcasm, and now Kevan is dead for being the best of the Lannisters. Varys may be honest in his desire to protect the children and the commoners, but it's only by his path, making him just as gray as everyone else.

Well, that just goes to show that Varys's desire to protect the common people is meaningless. Kevan was murdered because he might have taken steps towards peace. Varys doesn't want peace because it would interrupt his agenda. So Varys kills Kevan, ensuring that more common people and children will die.

[Lord Damian]

Varys believes that all of the chaos and bloodshed now is a small price to pay for the prosperity his "Aegon" will bring. He also banks that Dany will marry Aegon but be submissive to him in the event that he is found to be a farse, he will already be established on the throne and hopefully popular. For this reason, if Dany would find out the truth, he could tell her that she is queen, the realm is good, why rock the boat, your children will have Targ blood and the line is unbroken, why upset the apple cart?

[Cinn-a-Bronn]

That doesn't make sense. If he doesn't care about the Targaryens and really just wants a peaceful and stable realm, he'd be better off with Tommen.

It goes back to what I said. If Tommen remains in power, he will be a man someday. A man who thinks that divine powers have given him the right to rule over all that he sees. As Varys said, he has never known hardship in his life. So how is he to relate to those whose lives are composed almost entirely of struggle when he makes a decision to raise taxes, or plunge the realm into a frivolous war? Aegon has had to live a hard life, and understands what common folk go through, day-to-day.

The Lannisters care about nothing but the prosperity of house Lannister. The common folk can be damned. Those are the advisers that would be giving Tommen council on matters of state. Varys sees this war as a way of installing a ruler, perhaps a dynasty, that would put the peace and properity of the realm ahead of their own petty glories.

Aegon is just a pawn in Varys' game. He knew that Clegane, or someone, would come and kill them. So, he took the child to use for this purpose and placed a stand i for the assassin to kill. The baby is a Targaryen because it had to be someone with a legitimate claim to the throne. Elsewise, they would never be able to take the moral high ground in the grab for the throne. Will the plan work? I don't know. But, yes, it does makes sense from that perspective.

[uberstellar]

It's too late to be quoting exacts, but in GoT when Arya overhears Illyrio and Varys talking, Varys is requesting more 'little birds' because, apparently, they don't live very long after their tongues are cut out (at Varys request). From the epilogue I gather that these pale little birds crawling through the Red Keep's walls are pretty messed up and most likely stunted from their duties.

I always wanted to believe that Varys was for the good of the realm (talking Ned into confessing for the Night's Watch would've prevented war and suffering), and his story of slavery and castration is very sympathetic. But since then, he has demonstrated no issues abusing his child slave servants and creating chaos.

Sorry, Varys is working on some mysterious personal goal, he doesn't give a damn about the realm. At this point, I think he wanted to prevent Ned's death not for peace, but solely as a delay for more planning time. All that said, I haven't a clue what his aim is, and it's one of the more fascinating intrigues of the series.

[Cinn-a-Bronn]

He's doing everything he can to destabilize the realm.

He's doing everything he can to destabilize the Lannister's position in the realm. He setting things up so that the realm, which was destabilized in book one by the Lannister power grab, will unite again behind Aegon.

[Michael Jon Snow]

Varys needs more birds because they grow up and can no longer crawl in the tunnels.

Varys is working to restore his family to the throne. Plain and simple.

[History of Westeros]

Aerys

Danaerys

Jaehearys

Viserys

Varys

I am surprised that this isn't obvious to everyone.

This means very little, that's why it's obvious but unimportant, thus largely unmentioned. It would mean something but for the fact that there are quite a few non-Targaryens whose names end with -rys.

Examples:

Orys Baratheon

Arys Oakheart

Gorys Edoryen

Harys Swyft

[Anya, Vengeance Demon]

He's doing everything he can to destabilize the Lannister's position in the realm. He setting things up so that the realm, which was destabilized in book one by the Lannister power grab, will unite again behind Aegon.

If he wanted the realm to unite against the Lannisters, he could have supported Renly's scheme to have Cersei put aside in favor of Margaery. Ned would have readily gone along with it if he knew of the incest, and Robert could have been brought around. This would have left the Lannisters isolated, and if a war was fought then, it would have been a much shorter and less bloody war than what actually occurred. Of course, Varys had no interest in that. He spent Game of Thrones isolating Ned from potential allies and encouraging him to make a rash move, making him a large reason why there was a Lannister power grab to begin with.

The trouble with your theory is that Robert's reign was already a fairly prosperous time with some serious underlying tensions that could have erupted into bloodshed. If Varys truly served the realm rather than any particular king, he would have made Robert's reign more secure, not less.

[Ouroboros]

The trouble with your theory is that Robert's reign was already a fairly prosperous time with some serious underlying tensions that could have erupted into bloodshed. If Varys truly served the realm rather than any particular king, he would have made Robert's reign more secure, not less.

Robert's reign wasn't that prosperous. Peaceful yes, but Littlefinger was bankrupting the realm through shady business practices and Robert through wasteful spending.

[Cinn-a-Bronn]

If he wanted the realm to unite against the Lannisters, he could have supported Renly's scheme to have Cersei put aside in favor of Margaery. Ned would have readily gone along with it if he knew of the incest, and Robert could have been brought around. This would have left the Lannisters isolated, and if a war was fought then, it would have been a much shorter and less bloody war than what actually occurred. Of course, Varys had no interest in that. He spent Game of Thrones isolating Ned from potential allies and encouraging him to make a rash move, making him a large reason why there was a Lannister power grab to begin with.

You're missing my entire point. Aegon is the one who he, and his, spent 17 years training to rule the realm in the way that they saw fit. Why even bother if you're going to give the crown to Renly, or someone like him? All of these people are lords who have never struggled a day in their lives. Illyrio and Varys came from nothing. They want someone who knows what that is like to have the rule, so that they might show some compassion to those that still live their lives the way that theirs began. Everything else they have done is a means to that end. Aegon is the king that they want because they made him into what they needed with their own persons, and resources.

[Sword in the Morning]

Varys didn't dispose of Aerys. Jaime disposed of Aerys. Varys actively encouraged Aerys's insanity, leading him to be so overwhelmed by paranoia that he planned to burn down King's Landing.

Right. He pushed him to be so overwhelmed by paranoia that the lords rose up in rebellion to defeat him. And who points the finger at Varys for causing that war? Nobody, because he was hiding his role in the whole thing by making use of Aerys's madness.

But he doesn't. He's doing everything he can to destabilize the realm.

...thereby making it more receptive to a Targaryen monarch, who can strongarm an end to the strife between the great houses.

Varys works in the loooooooooooooooooooooooooooong-term.

EDIT: Oh, and I was mostly being clever with the "he serves the realm.." bit. That's a quote from him.

[Cinn-a-Bronn]

...thereby making it more receptive to a Targaryen monarch, who can strongarm an end to the strife between the great houses.

Varys works in the loooooooooooooooooooooooooooong-term.

Exactly. A true peace, rather than one that must be constantly enforced with the threat of military intervention (i.e. the peace of Robert "fetch-me-my-hammer" Baratheon).

[History of Westeros]

Varys needs more birds because they grow up and can no longer crawl in the tunnels.

Varys is working to restore his family to the throne. Plain and simple.

Agree about the little birds. Possibly agree that Varys is a Targ/Blackfyre.

I'd like to challenge the notion that Varys helped Aerys lose the throne. We are told several times this is the case, but that doesn't make it so. It's largely accepted here on the forums but I believe it's an open question. If you take a close look there is no real evidence that Varys worked towards Aerys' downfall. All we have is hearsay, and all of it vague. It could easily be that Varys was made a scapegoat. (shades of Tyrion being blamed for much of the Lannister evil by the common folk).

We know for certain he didn't want Aerys to let Tywin in. This doesn't make much sense if he wanted Aerys deposed.

We also know Aerys was at least somewhat insane before Varys became MoW. We also know that Aerys started off normal. After his normal phase he had lapses. Eventually he was the Mad King. Why credit Varys for hastening Aerys' insanity when it was clearly happening on it's own?