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There are Houses that rule over seven kingdoms, and the monarch in King’s Landing rules them all. Monarchs like that don’t preside over a democracy, but they do operate under a form of consent. I will act in their interest, no matter the personal cost.” “We don’t know their names, but they’re just as real as you and I. “Millions of people, many of whom will die if the wrong person sits on that throne,” Varys says. “A vast continent, home to millions of people, most of whom don’t care who sits on the Iron Throne.” “What is the realm?” Tyrion asks in the same scene from last week. That’s the whole divine birthright thing - her entire claim to the throne. Absolute monarchs like Dany wants to be aren’t elected. The less literal meaning of men - as in humans - is also just as relevant. “I don’t think a cock is a true qualification, as I’m sure you’d agree.” “He’s a man, which makes him more appealing to the lords of Westeros, whose support we are going to need.” “He’s temperate and measured,” Varys said. One reading is about one meaning of the word “men,” as in male humans. This is an echo of a scene from the previous episode when Varys and Tyrion discussed the Dany problem and the possible Jon solution. Jon’s made his way south leading an army from the North, which is two days behind him, and his first question is about Dany. Varys and Jon on the beachįrom his perch above, Tyrion watches as Varys meets Jon on the shores of Dragonstone. He’s looking beyond Dany, toward what he believes to be the best possible future for the realm. As such, he looks at the game of thrones on a longer timeline, not just through the spyglass of the current (or would-be) ruler. He’s basically a bureaucrat who’s served under many administrations. Varys told Ned the same thing that he told Tyrion in the previous episode: Some people are loyal to families or leaders, but Varys is loyal to the realm. When things went south for Ned Stark in King’s Landing and Ned was wasting away in a dungeon, Varys visited him. He reminded us of this in the previous episode, too. Varys believes that telling the world about Jon’s lineage is the right thing to do, and it’s entirely consistent with the earliest glimpses we got of his character way back in season 1. Trying to do the right thing doesn’t tend to pay off for people. It’s a mirror of what our beloved Ed Stark did in season 1. He dismisses her, telling her to go back to the kitchen. And it’s as true for Martha as it is for Varys, the writer of treasonous notes. “The greater the risk, the greater the reward,” she says. “What have I told you, Martha?” Varys asks. Martha is worried that Dany’s soldiers are watching her, and Varys agrees but tempers her fear a bit. She brings bad news about Dany who isn’t eating. She’s one of Varys’ little birds, effectively spies in service of Varys, the Master of Whisperers.
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He puts his quill away, and hides the parchment paper in a stack of blank paper. He hears a noise and looks up, startled, toward the door.
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Varys sits at a desk in Dragonstone Castle, the ancestral home of the Targaryens, writing a note that explains Jon’s origins and therefore the line of succession that makes him, as our bald eunuch friend writes, the “true heir to the Iron Throne.”