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|---|---|---|---|---|
| Culture | Myrish | |||
| Book | A Clash of Kings (mentioned) | |||
| Played by | Harold James McMullan | |||
| TV series | Game of Thrones: Season 3 | |||
During his childhood, Varys was the victim of a certain man, a sorcerer who gelded him in a demonic ritual. The sorcerer's true name is not mentioned.[1] In the television adapation Game of Thrones, the sorcerer is portrayed by Harold James McMullan.
History
[edit]
When Varys was an orphan boy, he was apprenticed to a traveling folly. The folly's master owned a fat little cog, and they sailed up and down the narrow sea performing in all the Free Cities, and from time to time in Oldtown and King’s Landing.[1]
One day at Myr, a certain man came to the folly. After the performance, he made an offer for young Varys that his master found too tempting to refuse. As he was sold, Varys was in terror, afraid that the man meant to use him as he had heard men used small boys. However, the only part of Varys the man had need of was his manhood. The man gave Varys a potion that made him powerless to move or speak, but did nothing to dull his senses as his manhood was cut off at the stem with a long hooked blade, then burnt in a brazier in a bloodmagic ritual while the sorcerer chanted. Varys saw the flames turn blue and heard a voice within them answer the man's call, but he did not understand the words they spoke.[1]
With the ritual complete, the man had no further use for Varys and tossed him out on the streets. The mummers' ship had sailed away by then, so Varys asked the man what he should do. The sorcerer replied that he supposed Varys should die. To spite him, Varys vowed to live.[1]
Recent Events
[edit]A Clash of Kings
[edit]In King's Landing, Tyrion Lannister asks Lord Varys, master of whisperers, how he became a eunuch, but Varys refuses to answer.[2]
Some months later, while Tyrion and Varys discuss the mysterious deaths of King Stannis Baratheon's enemies, Ser Cortnay Penrose and King Renly Baratheon, Varys suggests that they were performed by magic. Tyrion is scornful of the idea, so Varys tells the story of his gelding and the ritual, referring to his mutilator as "a certain man". Varys explains that since that day, he has hated magic and all magic practitioners, and it is for this reason he opposes Stannis.[1]
Quotes
[edit]Tyrion: Dwarfs are a jape of the gods... but men make eunuchs. Who cut you, Varys? When and why? Who are you, truly?
Varys: You are kind to ask, my lord, but my tale is long and sad, and we have treasons to discuss.[2]—Tyrion Lannister, to Varys
I still dream of that night, my lord. Not of the sorcerer, nor his blade, nor even the way my manhood shriveled as it burned. I dream of the voice. The voice from the flames. Was it a god, a demon, some conjurer's trick? I could not tell you, and I know all the tricks. All I can say for a certainty is that he called it, and it answered, and since that day I have hated magic and all those who practice it. If Lord Stannis is one such, I mean to see him dead.[1]
—Varys, to Tyrion Lannister
Behind the scenes
[edit]In an interview, George R.R. Martin suggested that the passage of time may have colored Varys's memory of the events.[3]
References
[edit]- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 A Clash of Kings, Chapter 44, Tyrion X.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 A Clash of Kings, Chapter 8, Tyrion II.
- ↑ Chalkskin 10: George R.R. Martin (part two). April 23, 2016. Event occurs at 5:27. https://youtu.be/rgGOiUxxA8k?si=BmKERIEqYRBcfuUn&t=327.