*BOOM* Varys is working for... (new theory, EXPLAINS IT ALL, Mystery Solved!)

[Barristan the G.O.A.T]

He's his nephew. LOL ... ok. How do you know Varys has a sister or a brother? Dany isn't going to marry Aegon. He'd be better off killing dany.

Oh, as long you're no saying thee bullshit about caring about the realm is the truth. But still How do you know Varys has siblings? I mean besides Gillie.

I find it amusing you are belittling everyone's rebuttals when this is seriously one of the most ridiculous theories I have heard, up there with Varys being a merman.

[aedalia]

I think Varys is an escaped Unsullied. What he did to join their ranks is a mystery, though. It may have been nothing, though the could be somoene important's kid sent away by a villian. Only time will tell.

But, if you use that lens to explore his actions, it's interesting.

I don't think he could have anticipated Drogo going to the big pasture in the sky so early, but I can imagine that had he lived, Drogo and Dany would have taken over all of Essos eventually, which would have lead her to to the Unsullied. I think it was always her destiny to free them, given her situation growing up.

By then, Dany should have had a couple of kids, ideally one female who gets hooked up with fAegon and the combined Dothraki/Unsullied army just takes over the place with fAegon on the Iron throne.

Varys likes the long game. :)

[JLE]

Yeah. Nobody expected Drogo to die so early.

But what if Dany *had* been poisoned? Drogo's the kind of person who would ride to the ends of the earth to avenge such an insult, the murder of his wife. You could be sure he would have done his damnedest to invade Westeros. And of course, had plenty of wealth (in the form of three dragon eggs) to sell to buy ships to get him there.

Drogo wouldn't have actually won, of course, but he'd have caused loads of death and destruction in the process. As it is, Drogo never came, but the various actions of the Lannisters, Littlefinger and others left the kingdom a confused wasteland anyway. In either case, "Aegon" is being kept up the sleeve precisely by all the direction towards Dany as "Last of the Dragons".

Viserys was never going to last long anyway. As Jorah points out, "Viserys could not sweep a stable with ten thousand brooms". It would have been only a matter of time before Drogo killed him. But I suspect that at least ONE possible version of the plan was a Dothraki invasion of Westeros WITHOUT Dany, Drogo's motives being partly "because this is land the Dothraki have never conquered yet" and partly "they murdered my wife".

Not the only possible version, but *a* possible version.

[Hotpie4theironthrone]

I don't think he is working for the Blackfyres.

There is evidence, but i just think it would be too much of a confusing story line, considering how much readers know about the Blackfyres and the great bastards. It's something for people that are really into the series and have read Dunk and the Egg. I just don't think it is significant enough to come into the story and play such a huge part at this stage. Would be a bit of a let down if it was revealed that all of what Varys has done has been for team Blackfyre

I do believe that his cross support of Daenerys and Aegon has been for insurance purposes as people have said.

Yes it's a crackpot theory but i still think he may have some connection with the others. If not, will be very ironic if he's restoring a Targaryen to restore peace to the realm and then the others invade and ravage the north

[Syphon the Sanitator]

I don't buy this theory. At all. Why the hell would Varys invest so much time in Dany and Aegon if he was working for the Other(s)?

Why would he put all that effort in restoring the Targaryens, whose affinity for FIRE and DRAGONS is legendary, if he were some sort of harbinger of the Others?

I don't care how conniving Varys is. You do NOT help those that are potent and potential foils to your own employers.

That'd be like Coca-Cola giving tips to Pepsi in order to somehow help Coca-Cola get better. If they were false or worse half truths, I would understand. But Varys did this for the benefit of both Dany and Aegon!

[Prince of the North]

Interesting discussion here. I don't know about it all yet, I'm still thinking on it. But I do agree on one thing: Varys was lying to Kevan. From the very first reading of it I thought Varys was laying it on a little thick to a dying man. So, I theorize that the message wasn't really meant for Kevan at all but that it was meant for the Little Birds to relay to...someone. Under this scenario the Little Birds would be spying on Varys for someone and he knows it. If this is the case, I believe the most likely person is Illyrio. Now, as to why Varys may need to keep Illyrio thinking that he's team fAegon? I don't know but I think it's as was said early on in this thread: I think Varys' motivations have diverged (if they ever were truly the same) from Illyrio's but he still needs Illyrio to believe they are working for the same thing. :dunno:

[Hotpie4theironthrone]

I don't buy this theory. At all. Why the hell would Varys invest so much time in Dany and Aegon if he was working for the Other(s)?

Why would he put all that effort in restoring the Targaryens, whose affinity for FIRE and DRAGONS is legendary, if he were some sort of harbinger of the Others?

I don't care how conniving Varys is. You do NOT help those that are potent and potential foils to your own employers.

That'd be like Coca-Cola giving tips to Pepsi in order to somehow help Coca-Cola get better. If they were false or worse half truths, I would understand. But Varys did this for the benefit of both Dany and Aegon!

I can see where you're coming from. Restoring Daenerys with the dragons doesn't make a lot of sense if he is working for the Others

But how much effort is he actually making for them?? Daenerys or fAegon could have died easily at any point. Speculation for the Others can still hold up though, maybe he is just playing on their potential for a Targaryen rebellion to keep the realm in a state of war? Think about it without fAegon's run at the Iron Throne, the Lannister/Tyrell alliance could start to consolidate some stability with Stannis and the Ironborn as their only remaining enemy who they could easily defeat.

This crackpot theory may all be irrelevant but i am not ruling it out that he may have some connection with the others

[Syphon the Sanitator]

I just got to thinking... Varys hates magic, right? Then why would he even work for the Other(s)?

I concede the point that if the person doing the blood ritual where Varys lost his stones (Hahahahahah, a pun) was associated with R'hllor, Varys might consider joining the cause of the Other(s), but there is no evidence that this was R'hllor.

The next question is: how did they get in touch with Varys? Did Varys seek them out or did they come to him? Varys would have been missed over the long time it'd take to travel north. Them coming to him? That should be impossible, considering that anything that isn't part of the Night's Watch and not human gets blocked, like Coldhands in the tunnels.

[Corvo Attano]

Varys is working for nobody but himself. That was obvious the instant we met him. What exactly his endgame is we still don't know.

One highly crackpot theory is that he's the keystone in a faceless men plot to bring about the doom of Westeros (thats also assuming they were key to the Doom of Vaylria)

[Syphon the Sanitator]

There isn't much known on the Doom, but how can Faceless Men affect what in its description seems to be a natural disaster?

Every hill for 500 miles split asunder to fill the air with ash and smoke and fire: Volcanos

Great rents opened in the earth: Earthquake

Lakes boiled or turned to acid: Extreme heat

Mountains burst, fiery fountains spewed molten rock: Volcanos again

An angry sea came rushing in: A tsunami

I know that the Faceless Men are good, but to create what by all accounts looks like a natural disaster? Nuh-uh.

[Prince of the North]

There isn't much known on the Doom, but how can Faceless Men affect what in its description seems to be a natural disaster?

Every hill for 500 miles split asunder to fill the air with ash and smoke and fire: Volcanos

Great rents opened in the earth: Earthquake

Lakes boiled or turned to acid: Extreme heat

Mountains burst, fiery fountains spewed molten rock: Volcanos again

An angry sea came rushing in: A tsunami

I know that the Faceless Men are good, but to create what by all accounts looks like a natural disaster? Nuh-uh.

I think in ASoIaF magic can be used to bring about "natural" disasters. I think that's at least part of what the Doom of Valyria was. We know the Children of the Forest used magic to sunder the bridge of land that used to connect Essos and Westeros leaving the Stepstones, right?

[MaxFlynn]

Let's put it this way: Little Birds don't retire. You picking up what I'm putting down?

As to the OP, Varys is Team Blackfyre and it doesn't have to be any more sinister than that.

Haha, that actually caused me to chuckle out loud. This theory has been covered before in greater detail with the faceless men working with the Others but generally it reminds me of a conspiracy theory similar to the Masons. I think it pretty clear that Illyrio was pretty clearly trying to get rid of Viserys and Dany but when did he clearly say he thought they were going to die? Also while this may only be tangentially be related to the OP in comparing it to the Blackfyre theory which I subscribe to. I find a whole in the theory is wasn't Aegon supposed to initial go to Dany and then changed his mind with some goading on Tyrion? How did the original plan fit with the theory?

[Stannis ftw]

Suddenly the Others haven't just be the peripheral force, separate from the Game of THrones, they've been in the think of it, for years.

I think this is important for the whole story: linking the Others to the whole realm. Otherwise the Others are just big fail in Martin's big pic, big fail that would have been best left out altogether. But the Bolton connection (topic "drawing blood from the Bolton") makes this link much more convincingly. Varys and the Others in cahoots dont fit in the overall "psychopathology" of Varys, as much as we know Varys.

Varys the Blackfyre theory has strong merits but I have to say I am disappointed if Varys is just another proponent for one of the families. I hope there was some truth in his line to Ned that he is in it "for the Realm". There have been plenty of ppl like that in the real history, who didnt seek to advance their own lot or their familys lot but devoted themselves to what they deemed "good of the Realm" (however good or destructive that might in each case really be). Why not Varys be player of his own rank.

[Ser Brandon Badwater]

Varys is and always has been working for Bloodraven. Varys has his children Bloodraven has his children. Varys knows everything Bloodraven has a thousand eyes and one. Bloodraven stopped the first 3 rebellions but was not present for Roberts rebellion and after this has been using Varys as a puppet to put a Targaryen back on the throne. IT IS KNOWN

[Isobel Harper]

Varys doesn't make any sense. Based on his actions, no coherent plan can be discerned.

Illyrio expected Dany to die. He underestimated Dany to say the least. Varys and Illyrio seem to downplay women in their scheming. Note that they only saved Aegon instead of Aegon and his sister. Varys couldn't have known Dany's dragon eggs would hatch. Dothraki don't have a monetary system. They barter through trade. Illyrio was more or less giving them goods so that they might buy ships to head to Westeros. Viserys was crazy. The Dothraki were never very likely to cross the ocean and invade Westeros. According to the Golden Company, Viserys and Drogo were originally supposed to meet up with them to invade Westeros. Are we really to believe Varys' entire plans have hinged on 4 guys on a raft? What is this giligan's island? "Aegon" is supposed to be safe, in a pirate strewn, disease encrusted, war torn, corner of the world. Is that really where you store your most valuable asset?

Varys says he cares for innocents (when talking to Ned or Kevan) but murders children constantly to run his spy ring. I've wondered this as well. Perhaps his "little birds," as some stated earlier, simply have a perilous job working within the walls and secret passage ways.

Why would Varys help a faceless man on mission to the Citadel to learn secrets about killing dragons? How did Jaqen get into the black cells? I'm not sure about these two, though I'm not sure they're related. Jaqen is most likely gaining information for the FM, or perhaps for someone who paid him to do so.

Either Varys' plan to put Aegon on the throne is terrible Possibly. or Varys is working for someone else.

Varys is not working for Littlefinger or the Lannisters. He's not working for the Starks. He doesn't seem to be working for Aegon's benefit, leaving him on that raft for 15 years. He wasn't doing Dany any favors marrying her to Drogo at 13. What faction is left?

The Others. No, I think he's working against them.

Maybe it was the Great Other Varys heard in that fire where his nuts were roasted. This is was makes me think that he's against them, though maybe not in the literal sense. The ritual is reminiscent of a sacrifice to R'hllor, but the flames were blue, which is symbolic of death in this series. Perhaps it was the Great Other or some sort of spirit of the Others that he heard in the flames. In a World of Ice and Fire, it's mentioned that one of Aegon's incentives for conquering Westeros was due to a prophecy that the end of the world would come from Westeros, and Aegon meant to prevent it. I assume that Varys made a connection between his own incident and this. Think of it as a take on the Stark words, "there must always be a Targaryen in Westeros" Maybe Varys has worked out a deal like Craster, and that's why he runs through so many children spies.

(either that or Varys is working for Euron, there's no one else left.) (No, I doubt he's working for him either.)

[Suzanna Stormborn]

OP, for the Others? really? OK break down the basics...How do they communicate with Varys in KL?

How did they recruit Varys to begin with?

What is wrong with the already (reasonable) established thought process that Varys is Blackfyre? ANd that him and Illyrio first planned to overthrow the Targs, and are now trying to put their BF (fAegon) kin on the IT.

[WTF's a Lommy]

Why do people assume Varys was lying to Kevan? Why would Varys lie to a dying man with no one else around to hear?