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[Book Spoilers] Varys


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Seemed one of the more Varys centric episodes of the series so far. We got two backstory monologues, one about his castration, the other about growing up a thief, and later met with the Queen of Thorns.

Also, controversially I will imagine, we got a reveal that Varys keeps the sorcerer who castrated him ritualistically in a small box in his room. That was... pretty unexpected. There's been a lot of theories over the years about "Is Varys possibly not even a eunuch? Maybe his whole backstory is bunk and something else is going on (IE, Blackfyres)?" so this would appear to make it pretty concrete... then again, all we saw was a shivered old man with his mouth gagged; it doesn't have to be who Varys said he was.

Nevertheless, I thought Conleth Hill (one of my favorite actors on the show) continued to do fine work.

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I took the scene as he was unpacking the box for the first time, meaning it just arrived.

What Varys is going to do with the sorcerer and why he is even in the show is yet to be seen.

I figured it was just a one off character appearance to prove what varys was saying. iirc right before that he was talking of being pateint, and then he opens up the box to see that his pateince paid off, and he opened it in front of tyrion while tyrion was wanting revenge of his own.
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Same here, I don't think he'll be a recurring character. Maybe just one more time to show how scheming and cruel Varys can actually be, but he won't play any serious part in the story.

Same for me, I'm pretty sure he just arrived in King's Landing, as Varys makes it clear that it is up to that moment that he has been spreading his birdies and power throughout the world so far that they can even reach the sorcerer. Tyrion happened to walk in then (could be that Varys knew and planned it) and Varys was sure it would create a nice opportunity show his cunning to Tyrion so that Tyrion would place his trust in him for future plans.

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Same for me, I'm pretty sure he just arrived in King's Landing, as Varys makes it clear that it is up to that moment that he has been spreading his birdies and power throughout the world so far that they can even reach the sorcerer. Tyrion happened to walk in then (could be that Varys knew and planned it) and Varys was sure it would create a nice opportunity show his cunning to Tyrion so that Tyrion would place his trust in him for future plans.

Yeah, he could have easily have gotten the information from one of his birdies that Tyrion was heading his way, and then just picked up the crowbar. Seems mighty coincidental that it would have just happened, but you could say that it was for storytelling purposes as well.

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the beginning scene with tyrion and varys was great :bowdown:

After this episode I'm a little more convinced that Varys might be related to the Targaryens. The sorcerer throwing his manhood on the brazier to complete his spell sounds a lot like what a red priest would do if he had some blood of a king.

that's an interesting point which would make sense later when he helps tyrion escape

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After this episode I'm a little more convinced that Varys might be related to the Targaryens. The sorcerer throwing his manhood on the brazier to complete his spell sounds a lot like what a red priest would do if he had some blood of a king.

Same here. I'm totally convinced that Varys is at least a Blackfyre, and I think that part of the story was deliberately dropped in as a clue to show-only watchers. We had Mel talking about needing the blood of a kind in the previous ep, and now Varys tells the story of having his stuff cut off and thrown in the flames.

I feel the sorcerer in the box was to illustrate that 1) Varys plays the long game, he was patient and finally has his revenge, and 2) that he can be cruel. I think the box had just arrived, but he really didn't *need* to open in it in front of Tyrion, but he did for effect.

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After this episode I'm a little more convinced that Varys might be related to the Targaryens. The sorcerer throwing his manhood on the brazier to complete his spell sounds a lot like what a red priest would do if he had some blood of a king.

It also sounds exactly like what the Unsullied do miuns the chit chat about the voice.

Regardless, liek all things this season, we have themes. Jamie, Theon, Varys, Bran etc. are all people who have experienced physical loss and thus the character study of how each one reacts. Theon is regret, Jamie is self pity, Vary's revenge, etc.

Int he world of TV, especially HBO, it's common to introduce a theme each season and then have each character react in a way that helps flesh out their character. Betrayl is another motif this season.

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I just want to say Conleth Hill was amazing, as always. I love his work, and I hope they keep him on the show when he's off-screen in the books (Feast & Dance).

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Great scene, and I agree the box had just arrived and was opened in front of Tyrion to make a point.

But ewww, wouldn't Tyrion have noticed the box smelled really, really badly and asked, "What the hell is in that anyway???" right off the bat? Sorcerer friend had come a long way, and there were air holes to let out his scent.

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