Varys

Varys, known as the Spider, is the master of whisperers, a eunuch whose web of informants and secret influence has shaped the course of the War of the Five Kings from the shadows. In the epilogue of A Dance with Dragons, he emerges from hiding to deliver the decisive blow that unravels the fragile peace Kevan Lannister had begun to construct, revealing his ultimate loyalty to the exiled Targaryen cause and his willingness to murder even those he respects to achieve his ends.

Identity and Background

Varys was born in the Free City of Myr, where he began his career as a prince of thieves before a rival informed on him. Fleeing to Pentos, he was despised and beaten once known for a eunuch, but found protection from the young bravo Illyrio Mopatis. Together they formed a partnership: Varys spied on lesser thieves and took their takings, while Illyrio offered to recover valuables for a fee. Varys trained orphan boys and young girls—mice, they called them then—to climb walls, slip down chimneys, and steal letters, ledgers, and charts rather than gold and gems. "Secrets are worth more than silver or sapphires," Varys claimed. His talents eventually crossed the narrow sea and reached the ears of King Aerys II Targaryen, a very anxious king who did not wholly trust his son, his wife, or his Hand. Varys served Aerys, then Robert Baratheon, then Joffrey, all the while nursing a hidden allegiance to the Targaryen dynasty.

Role in the Epilogue

In the epilogue, Varys appears in the Grand Maester's chambers at the Red Keep after having shot Kevan Lannister with a crossbow bolt, a deliberate echo of the manner in which Tyrion Lannister killed his father Tywin. Kevan, the Lord Regent, had been successfully reconciling Highgarden and Casterly Rock, binding the Faith to Tommen's rule, and uniting the Seven Kingdoms under the boy king. Varys explains that this was precisely why Kevan had to die: "You were threatening to undo all the queen's good work." He had already killed Grand Maester Pycelle, slitting his skull open as the old man slept over a book. Varys then summons a troop of white-faced children—his little birds—who emerge from the shadows with daggers to finish the wounded Kevan.

Motives and Allegiance

Varys reveals his true purpose: he has been secretly raising and educating Aegon Targaryen, the son of Rhaegar Targaryen, whom the world believed murdered during the Sack of King's Landing. The babe was smuggled away and replaced with a Pisswater boy, Varys explains, while the real prince was hidden across the narrow sea. Aegon has been trained in arms, languages, history, law, and poetry; he has lived with fisherfolk, worked with his hands, and learned what it is like to be hungry, to be hunted, to be afraid. "Tommen has been taught that kingship is his right," Varys says. "Aegon knows that kingship is his duty, that a king must put his people first, and live and rule for them." By killing Kevan and Pycelle, Varys ensures that the Lannister-Tyrell alliance will fracture, that Cersei will suspect the Tyrells and the Tyrells will suspect her, and that the realm will be ripe for Aegon's arrival.

Methods and Character

Varys is a master of disguise and misdirection, appearing in the epilogue in soft slippers and a moth-eaten robe of brown roughspun, having shed his earlier guise as a begging brother. He speaks with a half-familiar voice, polite and regretful even as he kills. He apologizes to Kevan for the cold dark night and the lonely death, insisting the murder was not done from malice but for the realm, for the children. His little birds—the orphan children he has trained—are his final weapon, appearing silently to finish what the crossbow began. Varys's loyalty is not to any throne but to the idea of a properly prepared king, and he is willing to sacrifice anyone, even a competent and honorable man like Kevan, to achieve that vision.

Narrative Significance

Varys's murder of Kevan Lannister and Pycelle is the final act of A Dance with Dragons, a devastating coda that undoes the fragile stability Kevan had achieved. The epilogue reveals that the Spider has been playing the longest game of all, manipulating events from the shadows for decades to restore a Targaryen to the Iron Throne. His actions ensure that the realm will descend into further chaos, with Cersei and the Tyrells at each other's throats, just as Aegon's forces land in the south. Varys embodies the theme of hidden power and the cost of political machination, a figure whose webs of influence have shaped the entire narrative of the series.