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Why would someone like Varys help someone like Aerys?


Ingelheim

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Remember how he "tried" to keep Tyrion from confronting his father.

 

From the wiki: 

 

"Varys makes a curiously weak and obligatory protest against this course of action, advising him to make haste and flee...while also giving precise directions on how to reach Tywin. Tyrion then ascends the ladder to kill his father Tywin."

 

Maybe it was that kind of "help".

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Remember how he "tried" to keep Tyrion from confronting his father.

 

From the wiki: 

 

"Varys makes a curiously weak and obligatory protest against this course of action, advising him to make haste and flee...while also giving precise directions on how to reach Tywin. Tyrion then ascends the ladder to kill his father Tywin."

 

Maybe it was that kind of "help".

 

Well, considering Varys also sent his "little birds" to put an end to Kevan as well.

 

Varys is slowly, but surely, killing off the Lannisters, outside of Tyrion, who it seems he has a fondness for.

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Varys helped Aerys since he came to Westeros. He even advised him against opening the gates of KL to Tywin.

 

If he is indeed a Blackfyre supporter, why would he do that?

Because if he intended a Blackfyre to sit the IT, then the Targaryens clearly needed to go. Toppling the Targaryens was always part of the Blackfyre plan. 

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Varys helped Aerys since he came to Westeros. He even advised him against opening the gates of KL to Tywin.
 
If he is indeed a Blackfyre supporter, why would he do that?

He was a plant. Illyrio, Daemon Blackfyre's heir, sent him to King's Landing to pave the way for the return of the Blackfyre. I suspect they intended to return in the midst of Rhaegar's coup attempt, but as Pycelle tells Tyrion, Robert was too strong, and Eddard moved too fast. But in the wake of the Rhaenys and Aegon murders, they concocted the pisswater switcheroo.
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Because if he intended a Blackfyre to sit the IT, then the Targaryens clearly needed to go. Toppling the Targaryens was always part of the Blackfyre plan. 

 

First things first, long time no see, my friend :)

 

Now, I do believe that Varys intended Targs to go, but at the time of RR, I am not sure that was the game. Hear me for a moment. What we know about Varys? He "helped" Aerys in several occasions. He stopped the Harrenhal coup d'etat, he told Aerys not to open the gates when Tywin was coming. This indeed aligns with being loyal to Aerys, but in that moment, I think that is the game. Varys certainly played the game even that, prepping the terf for Blackfyres. But how to do it? By maintaining weak power of the Throne, even allowing some power blocks to be created in the meantime. He stopped Rhaegar from consolidating Targ power (the last one Targs had) and then the war started. It all led to the day of Sack. I am inclined to believe that Varys intentionally said Aerys to close the gates, not just to leave Tywin outside, but also to cause the battle outside the city. We know that Ned and Tywin were running to the city, we know Ned knew nothing about what to expect and that they were ready to fight. It only needed push in the right direction and Ned and Tywin would destroy each other. Aerys would remain on his Throne, weaker than ever, with voices for change constantly being louder and louder. So, I do believe that even that advice was nothing more but a calculated decision made in order to preserve Aerys' fainted reign.

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I don't know if Varys is a Blackfyre supporter, but I agree with all the posters before who questioned whether he was indeed helping him (and concluded that he was not). Varys was a factor for Aerys' paranoia to go wild, IMO.

 

However, he had good reason to advise him against opening the gates to Tywin (and I believe he was sincere in that case): he'd most likely go down with them too. His own life was at stake, and he could not predict what would be the policy of whoever got in charge.

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A +1 to the "he didn't help him at all" theory.

 

There are textual references (from Barristan and from Jaime) about the Spider playing on Aerys's paranoia after Duskendale to bring him to a more openly psicothic behaviour.

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First things first, long time no see, my friend :)

 

Now, I do believe that Varys intended Targs to go, but at the time of RR, I am not sure that was the game. Hear me for a moment. What we know about Varys? He "helped" Aerys in several occasions. He stopped the Harrenhal coup d'etat, he told Aerys not to open the gates when Tywin was coming. This indeed aligns with being loyal to Aerys, but in that moment, I think that is the game. Varys certainly played the game even that, prepping the terf for Blackfyres. But how to do it? By maintaining weak power of the Throne, even allowing some power blocks to be created in the meantime. He stopped Rhaegar from consolidating Targ power (the last one Targs had) and then the war started. It all led to the day of Sack. I am inclined to believe that Varys intentionally said Aerys to close the gates, not just to leave Tywin outside, but also to cause the battle outside the city. We know that Ned and Tywin were running to the city, we know Ned knew nothing about what to expect and that they were ready to fight. It only needed push in the right direction and Ned and Tywin would destroy each other. Aerys would remain on his Throne, weaker than ever, with voices for change constantly being louder and louder. So, I do believe that even that advice was nothing more but a calculated decision made in order to preserve Aerys' fainted reign.

 

 

And more to the point than having the two parties outside the walls battle each other:

He's made a significant inroad with the King of the 7 Kingdoms. Why would he want to start all over again? There is absolutely ZERO guarantee that Robert doesn't kill every single one of Aerys' advisors. It's actually extremely lucky that the Unich even survives the regime change at all, let alone maintains his place as the Master of Whispers.

 

And finally, even if he somehow magically knew he would maintain his post: He also has no idea if he would be able to weaken or manipulate Robert in the same way. Presuming he wanted a weakened realm.

 

He has very clear and strong motivations to help Aerys when it came to Roberts Rebellion. If they weren't ready for the return of the Blackfyre at the moment RR occurred, best to sit tight with the status quo of an increasingly weak King.

 

Known versus unknown. The Devil you know, and whatnot.

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And more to the point than having the two parties outside the walls battle each other:

He's made a significant inroad with the King of the 7 Kingdoms. Why would he want to start all over again? There is absolutely ZERO guarantee that Robert doesn't kill every single one of Aerys' advisors. It's actually extremely lucky that the Unich even survives the regime change at all, let alone maintains his place as the Master of Whispers.

 

And finally, even if he somehow magically knew he would maintain his post: He also has no idea if he would be able to weaken or manipulate Robert in the same way. Presuming he wanted a weakened realm.

 

He has very clear and strong motivations to help Aerys when it came to Roberts Rebellion. If they weren't ready for the return of the Blackfyre at the moment RR occurred, best to sit tight with the status quo of an increasingly weak King.

 

Known versus unknown. The Devil you know, and whatnot.

 

The flaw in that is that Robert was not the devil he didn't know. Robert has already pardoned the lords fighting against him, he was making friendships and alliances instead of killing. So, he knew that more or less, he is safe. Plus Varys is not someone who would be terrified by the change of regime. The thing is that we don't know who is Varys loyal to. My guess, it certainly wasn't Aerys. If it was, he would be still breathing.

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The flaw in that is that Robert was not the devil he didn't know. Robert has already pardoned the lords fighting against him, he was making friendships and alliances instead of killing. So, he knew that more or less, he is safe. Plus Varys is not someone who would be terrified by the change of regime. The thing is that we don't know who is Varys loyal to. My guess, it certainly wasn't Aerys. If it was, he would be still breathing.

This, plus Varys needed time for his candidate(s) for the Iron Throne to grow up. Robert makes a nice stopgap ruler, until he's overthrown or otherwise eliminated.

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Varys helped Aerys since he came to Westeros. He even advised him against opening the gates of KL to Tywin.

 

If he is indeed a Blackfyre supporter, why would he do that?

 

It is almost impossible to understand the true purpose of Varys' actions for the time being.

 

 

First things first, long time no see, my friend :)

 

Now, I do believe that Varys intended Targs to go, but at the time of RR, I am not sure that was the game. Hear me for a moment. What we know about Varys? He "helped" Aerys in several occasions. He stopped the Harrenhal coup d'etat, he told Aerys not to open the gates when Tywin was coming. This indeed aligns with being loyal to Aerys, but in that moment, I think that is the game. Varys certainly played the game even that, prepping the terf for Blackfyres. But how to do it? By maintaining weak power of the Throne, even allowing some power blocks to be created in the meantime. He stopped Rhaegar from consolidating Targ power (the last one Targs had) and then the war started. It all led to the day of Sack. I am inclined to believe that Varys intentionally said Aerys to close the gates, not just to leave Tywin outside, but also to cause the battle outside the city. We know that Ned and Tywin were running to the city, we know Ned knew nothing about what to expect and that they were ready to fight. It only needed push in the right direction and Ned and Tywin would destroy each other. Aerys would remain on his Throne, weaker than ever, with voices for change constantly being louder and louder. So, I do believe that even that advice was nothing more but a calculated decision made in order to preserve Aerys' fainted reign.

 

The World Book revealed that the cliff between Rhaegar and Aerys was growing everyday which reminded Pycelle of the onset of the Dance of Dragons. The court was divided into two between the cronies/lickspittles of Aerys and Rhaegar's supporters. If Pycelle could see that a Targaryen civil war between the Mad King and his heir was on the way, surely Varys could have foreseen it and made plans to exploit the future weakness of the Targaryens if they crumble into a civil war. In fact, by helping Aerys against the beloved Crown Prince, Varys ensured that the problems would grow and could not be solved without civil war.

 

That means if Robert’s Rebellion did not happen, the Realm was going to have the Second Dance of Dragons.

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Varys helped Aerys since he came to Westeros. He even advised him against opening the gates of KL to Tywin.

 

If he is indeed a Blackfyre supporter, why would he do that?

Because there was no guarantee that Varys would survive Tywin sacking the city or if he did, that he would keep his position.

Varys needed to be Master of Whispers so he could control the information going to the King and Small Council and have access to the secrets and going on of the main powers in Westeros for his plans to work.

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Because as a young Essosi slave boy he would have heard about this prophesied savior figure being preached about at the R'hllor night fires.

 

Where does it say that the prophesized savior of the Rhlorrists ought to be Targaryens?

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Varys helped Aerys since he came to Westeros. He even advised him against opening the gates of KL to Tywin.

 

If he is indeed a Blackfyre supporter, why would he do that?

I don't think Varys is a Blackfyre, or Blackfyre supporter.

 

But the reason he did the job he was hired to do likely had something to do with the fact that employees who displeased King Aerys tended to end up barbecued a la wildfire.  Not something Varys would have enjoyed, and eerily similar to what he said happened to certain parts of his anatomy.  Different colored flame, but still a magic fire.

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