Varys subsequently appeared in Martin's books A Clash of Kings, A Storm of Swords, and A Dance with Dragons.
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Varys subsequently appeared in Martin's books A Clash of Kings, A Storm of Swords, and A Dance with Dragons.
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Varys proves to be a key ally to Ned Stark and Tyrion Lannister at court, but his true motives remain shrouded in mystery to those who employ his services.
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Varys is not a point of view character in the novels, so his actions are witnessed and interpreted through the eyes of other people, such as Ned Stark, Tyrion and Cersei Lannister.
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Varys was born as a slave in the Free City of Lys and joined a travelling acting troupe.
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Varys turned to begging, prostitution, and ultimately theft to survive, but soon became known in Myr and fled to Pentos.
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Varys eventually realized that there was more to gain from stealing secrets instead of valuables and trained his spies to copy information from the wealthy and powerful.
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Sometime prior to the Sack of King's Landing, Varys allegedly had Rhaegar's infant son Aegon swapped with a lowborn baby and smuggled to Essos to be raised in hiding by Rhaegar's friend Jon Connington, who was exiled by the Mad King for failing to defeat Robert.
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Varys remains Master of Whisperers after Robert Baratheon seizes the Iron Throne but his true loyalties are implied to lie with Aegon, with his motivations and reasons for supporting Aegon largely remaining a mystery.
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Varys, called the Spider, is a eunuch and courtier who serves as Master of Whisperers, the spymaster for the king of the Seven Kingdoms at the royal court in King's Landing.
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Varys knows all of the secret passages in the royal castle, and his spies are found everywhere.
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Varys is a skilled manipulator and commands a network of informants across two continents.
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Varys often puts on the public persona of being nothing more than a bald, pudgy man well suited to the pleasantries of court life; humble, obsequious, fawning, and a little effeminate.
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Unlike Littlefinger, Varys insists that his goals are to achieve what he honestly feels is best for the realm.
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Varys later meets in secret with Illyrio to discuss stalling a war between Houses Stark and Lannister until the right moment; this is overheard by Arya Stark, but she is unable to identify the men.
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When Robert is ultimately killed, Varys remains spymaster for his heir Joffrey and suggests that Ser Barristan Selmy be blamed for Robert's death.
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Varys is the first to learn that Tyrion Lannister has brought his mistress Shae with him to King's Landing, and tells Tyrion of a route that he can use to visit her.
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Varys continues to facilitate Tyrion and Shae's trysts, but testifies against Tyrion when Tyrion is tried for Joffrey's murder.
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Varys' storyline remains, for the most part, identical between the first two seasons of the show and the books.
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Varys informs Tyrion that Cersei has discovered his relationship with Shae.
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Varys offers Tyrion the use of his spy network to maintain order in the city.
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Varys discovers that the Meereenese insurgency, the Sons of the Harpy, are funded by the masters of Yunkai and Astapor and the slavers of Volantis, and brokers a meeting between Tyrion and representatives of those cities.
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Varys departs for the Seven Kingdoms, telling Tyrion that he will seek out allies for Daenerys.
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Varys then tells Daenerys of Euron Greyjoy's attack as well as defeat of Highgarden against the Lannister army.
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Varys reads the raven sent from Winterfell before informing Jon Snow.
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Varys accompanies Daenerys, Jon, and others to King's Landing to discuss a truce with Cersei.
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Varys accompanies her court back to Dragonstone to prepare to attack King's Landing, and is told by Tyrion that Jon Snow is secretly Rhaegar's son and thus the rightful heir to the Iron Throne.
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Varys is played by the Northern Irish actor Conleth Hill in the television adaption of the series of books.
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