Why do we think Varys is a Blackfyre?

[Liaraeyne]

No idea whether this has been mentioned before, but ''rys'' means fire in Valyrian. Could be a hint. No idea what ''va'' means though.

Lol imagine if ''va'' means black. Giveaway.

[Buried Treasure]

Shaved head hints at Egg's shaved head to hide his Targ hair.

The cutting for use in magic points towards King's blood.

He's from Lys, so a possible Aerion Brightflame connection.

He is playing the Game of Thrones.

All pretty vague really but has some merit.

Shaved heads are useful for mummers so they can better fit wigs, Varys wears lots of disguises.

The cutting indicates the sorcerer gains power from reproductive organs, as he used Varys bollocks in the ritual but found him no longer useful whilst he was still full of blood.

The possibility that any two people 80 years apart from a city of thousands are related is low, especially when one is of royal blood and the other little better than a slave.

Plenty pay the Game of Thrones and I am sure we will find our Varys has his own motives.

[zev16]

No idea whether this has been mentioned before, but ''rys'' means fire in Valyrian. Could be a hint. No idea what ''va'' means though.

Lol imagine if ''va'' means black. Giveaway.

Actually I found a High Valyrian dictionary on a wiki and fire is perzys, while va means towards, to or near. There is no entry for rys

[Rhaegal Targaryen]

Vary means heir in persian,it could be a hint.

[Lady Blizzardborn]

Shaved heads are useful for mummers so they can better fit wigs, Varys wears lots of disguises.

The cutting indicates the sorcerer gains power from reproductive organs, as he used Varys bollocks in the ritual but found him no longer useful whilst he was still full of blood.

The possibility that any two people 80 years apart from a city of thousands are related is low, especially when one is of royal blood and the other little better than a slave.

Plenty pay the Game of Thrones and I am sure we will find our Varys has his own motives.

Yes and Egg was totally a mummer, i.e. pretending to not be a Targaryen. Thus we have seen a Targaryen use the mummer's cut before. There's a reason he's described as "bald as an egg" instead of any number of other things he could be bald as.

And it's never occurred to you that if king's blood has power then maybe king's reproductive organs have more? If that guy wasn't going based off the royal blood theory then it had to be the most extreme measure ever to combat erectile dysfunction.

Low yes, but not impossible. The rest of the sentence is silly though. Actually if he's descended from Aerion based on Aerion's time in Lys it makes sense that he would be a slave. Know why? Because Aerion would likely have left before his son--Varys' father--was born, and no one in Lys cared if that crazy silver-haired guy left a bastard in town. Varys' father's mother could have been one of the legendary bed slaves. Children born to bed slaves do not get any special treatment, in fact they are most likely considered slaves themselves.

Of course he has his own motives. Everyone who plays the game has their own motives. Being a Targaryen of some stripe might be part of what makes up his motivation.

To all the people talking about his support of Aegon Blackfyre. Am I seriously the only person who allows for the possibility that Illyrio is a Blackfyre and is pulling a fast one on Varys? More to the point though... it's speculation, people. We're looking for actual text here, not more theories. Buried treasure and Paper Weaver did a good job of covering the most important potential clues.

By the way, I'm not of the opinion that Varys is a BF. A Targ descendant yes; could be legitimate--from a number of options--or a dragonseed, and still not be a Blackfyre.

[Liaraeyne]

Actually I found a High Valyrian dictionary on a wiki and fire is perzys, while va means towards, to or near. There is no entry for rys

Peterson's dictionary for the TV show. I think GRRM meant for ''rys'' to mean fire.

[denny717]

I think it's possible that both aegon or varys, or both of them are both blackfyre and bright flame decendants. I'm pretty sure I remember reading that aerion was the LC of the GC at some point. Even though they were 2 different branches of the family, I'm sure they were still obsessed with pure valyrian bloodlines. They were both around the gold company, there's no way the two families didn't run into each other.

[zev16]

the only entry regarding

Peterson's dictionary for the TV show. I think GRRM meant for ''rys'' to mean fire.

The only word containing rys in it and related to fire is Drakarys. -rys is imho just a common suffix for words and names in Valyrian, but I could be wrong. Anyway, if there's a hint in his name I'm pretty sure Dany would have noticed when Jorah saved her from the poisoning. I mean, she speaks Valyrian, if Varys meant something like "hidden flame" she would have at least thought about it for a moment and told to her self or to Jorah something about it

[Lord Varys]

There is no textual evidence I'm aware of which strongly suggests or hints at the fact that Varys himself may be a Blackfyre. One can reasonably assume that he has his own agenda (apparently backing Viserys/Drogo against the Baratheons; obviously backing Aegon against the Lannisters/Tyrells), which is connected either to the Targaryens or the Blackfyres in some fashion, but as of yet we have no real clue about his own heritage.

The best circumstantial evidence I can come up with is the fact that the sorcerer who castrated him may have had a reason - dragon blood - as to why he chose this boy over so much else he could have used for his ritual.

Anything else Varys knows or says can go back to stuff he learned later on after he rose to power, knowledge and influence, both in Essos and Westeros. In fact, he would have gotten his knowledge about the Red Keep and its secrets from Aerys II (or rather some plans the Targaryens inherited from Maegor), not from his Targaryen/Blackfyre ancestors - especially not from the Blackfyres, who were never in control of the Red Keep as far as we know (and neither did Daemon ever serve as Master of Whisperers).

Larys Strong also knew pretty much everything about the secret passageways and tunnels, it seems, suggesting that the office of the Master of Whisperers had access to the secret plans of Maegor I throughout the reign of the Targaryen kings.

I'm also pretty sure that the quote about his own blood is not conscious hint. What's that supposed to imply? If he was dragon blood, then both the Blackfyres and the Targaryens would be his kin, so is the quote supposed to indicate that he hates all of them? That would be pretty strange considering his actions. More importantly, the topic of the conversation when Varys made that remark were not the Targaryens, so who the hell would he be talking to if used that remark to indicate that he was hating the Targaryens? No one there could possibly make that connection, and it makes little sense to assume that GRRM puts a hidden meaning in phrases his characters state in situation where no one could make that connection. That's simply not how rational people behave.

[Mithras]

I'm also pretty sure that the quote about his own blood is not conscious hint. What's that supposed to imply? If he was dragon blood, then both the Blackfyres and the Targaryens would be his kin, so is the quote supposed to indicate that he hates all of them? That would be pretty strange considering his actions. More importantly, the topic of the conversation when Varys made that remark were not the Targaryens, so who the hell would he be talking to if used that remark to indicate that he was hating the Targaryens? No one there could possibly make that connection, and it makes little sense to assume that GRRM puts a hidden meaning in phrases his characters state in situation where no one could make that connection. That's simply not how rational people behave.

Jaime slashed the throat of Aerys and now he grazed Varys' neck. I think there is a connection. Varys also likes his riddles and technical truths.

[Lord Varys]

Yeah, Varys uses subtle clues and references when he is intentionally manipulating people. But in hindsight of the ADwD Epilogue - Aegon has to be Aegon Targaryen, even if he is not, at all times - it makes little sense Varys would include or consciously make a reference to himself, his kind, or his relationship to them.

That's exactly the kind of thing he must have trained himself to not do since his youth/childhood. And although there is little chance that Jaime would make such a connection, somebody might have listened. If he got rid of the habit of doing that, he would have not used such a reference in front of Jaime or anyone else, and thus it is very likely that Varys only literally abhors the sight of his own blood.

In fact, that's very likely, considering the fact that he must have seen a lot of his own blood when he was castrated...

[Born264AL]

From Varys first apperance

Varys lifted the knife with exaggerated delicacy and ran a thumb along its edge. Blood welled, and he let out a squeal and dropped the dagger back on the table.

Larys Strong first big momnt

Lord Larys Strong, master of whisperers, then spoke for the first and only time. “Let us be the first to swear,” he said, “lest there be traitors here amongst us.” Drawing his dagger, the Clubfoot drew it across his palm. “A blood oath,” he urged, “to bind us all together, brothers unto death.” And so each of the conspirators slashed their palms and clasped hands with one another, swearing brotherhood.

Varys was possible forced to swear a traumatic blood oath (like Hannibal Barcas) as child.

[ADB]

The simple answer is this: George takes a helluva long time between books and we get bored talking about R+L=J. In an effort to combat boredom, it was only a matter of time before we started giving legitimacy to the smaller cracks in the pot.

This.

Seriously folks, look at the kind of hints GRRM gave us around R+L=J. It was subtle, but not so subtle you needed a microscope to find it. This sort of stuff on the other hand is grasping at thin air.

[Dofs]

This.

Seriously folks, look at the kind of hints GRRM gave us around R+L=J. It was subtle, but not so subtle you needed a microscope to find it. This sort of stuff on the other hand is grasping at thin air.

Why do we need a microscope? Didn't we spend an entire chapter in the camp of the sellsword company, whose entire purpose was to put a Blackfyre on the Iron Throne? A company with whom Varys is working.

I seriously don't understand why people say that Blackfyres are not mentioned enough for the theory to work. They are mentioned quite a lot actually.

[Buried Treasure]

I thought we spent an entire chapter worth a sellsword company who do not give a shit and are a motivated by self-interest as much as the next person. A company that's spymaster, paymaster, captain of archers and I believe others are of non Westerosi origin. Who had a former second in command leave to raise his crush's supposed son. That agreed to fight for Aegon after discussing that they would win castles.

[The Mother of The Others]

to justify all the secret-ness

[Bryanfury]

Every time someone suggests that kings blood has more power than regular blood, a kitten dies.

[Dofs]

I thought we spent an entire chapter worth a sellsword company who do not give a shit and are a motivated by self-interest as much as the next person. A company that's spymaster, paymaster, captain of archers and I believe others are of non Westerosi origin. Who had a former second in command leave to raise his crush's supposed son. That agreed to fight for Aegon after discussing that they would win castles.

Which in no way changes the fact that this company was created for a sole reason to put a Blackfyre on the Iron Throne and that's why Blackfyres are not too obscure for the theories about them to be true.

[Squab]

Shaved head

[Mithras]

BTW, the hints suggest that Varys has the blood of the dragon and he also seemingly serves the Blackfyre Cause. But these two are not enough to dub him as a Blackfyre descendant. I think Varys being a descendant of Aerion Brightflame makes sense much better than him being a Blackfyre descendant.