The Winds Of Winter Can’t Repeat Why Daenerys Killed Varys In Game Of Thrones (& That’s A Good Thing)

George R.R. Martin won’t be able to use Varys’s ending from Game of Thrones in The Winds of Winter, which would ultimately be beneficial to the story. With six years to reflect on the Game of Thrones ending, it’s still understated how disappointing the deaths of characters like Varys and Littlefinger were. These were the schemers in the show, and they even had heightened roles compared to the novels, with the books never showing any of their conversations alone together. The schemers were the X-factors in Game of Thrones, but their plotting got lost in the final web of events.

One of the many things that went wrong with Game of Thrones was the lack of nuance in the final seasons. While George R.R. Martin’s books expanded the narrative with A Feast for Crows and A Dance with Dragons, the final seasons of the show began to narrow down the number of players contending for power. This led characters like Varys, who had been built up as if they had been plotting potential outcomes for years, to be killed off abruptly after finding themselves in situations that were unworthy of their intelligence.

Why Daenerys Killed Varys In Game Of Thrones

Varys Betrayed Daenerys Due To Her Increasing Cruelty

The show began to lean toward Varys as a protagonist, with him being the schemer fighting on behalf of the Realm. He sought to restore the Targaryen dynasty due to the virtue and kindness of Daenerys Targaryen, hoping to remain alongside her as an advisor, with him and Tyrion steering her in the right direction. However, when Daenerys turned toward madness, Varys quickly turned and betrayed her, resulting in his execution in “The Bells.”

The disappointment here is that we’re discussing Varys, the man who ran a spy network and successfully maintained power through information and secrecy for decades before joining Daenerys. He’s far too smart to be as careless as his final scenes made him seem, and the moment is incredibly anticlimactic. It happens at the start of what’s possibly the most controversial episode of the series, and by the time Daenerys had burnt King’s Landing to a crisp, Varys doesn’t even matter anymore. It’s as if Game of Thrones tried to bury one of its best characters.

Daenerys Can’t Kill Varys For The Same Reason In The Books

Varys Supports Aegon, Not Daenerys

Varys’s main goal in the A Song of Ice & Fire books is revealed fairly early: he wants a Targaryen monarchy restoration. While we’re led to believe this is intended to be Daenerys, due to his allegiance with Illyrio Mopatis, he reveals in A Dance with Dragons that Aegon/Young Griff is the one he wants on the throne. This is a tremendous shift from the show, as the TV adaptation chose not to bring Young Griff into the story, worrying it would overcomplicate matters to add another Targaryen in the later seasons.

With Varys choosing Aegon over Daenerys in the novels, it’s clear that his death will likely be from a different cause. It’s possible that Daenerys could capture and execute him for supporting Aegon, but that would at least be worthy of his merits as a plotter. He would have chosen Aegon, and ultimately chosen wrong, but the move would still have made sense from a practical perspective, as a male Targaryen would likely provide more stability for the realm, particularly since he already has Westerosi backers like Jon Connington.

How Will Varys Die In The Winds Of Winter Or A Dream Of Spring?

Varys Deserves A Death Worthy Of His Intelligence

At this point, there are countless possibilities for how Varys could die, and only George R.R. Martin knows. Whether it’s in The Winds of Winter or A Dream of Spring, there are different angles he could take. An ironic and subversive option would be to have Varys die as a byproduct of unmitigated violence, like a wildfire explosion or dragon fire from above, suggesting that even those who plan for infinite possibilities can be crushed by the harshness of A Song of Ice & Fire’s world.

If Varys is to be betrayed by someone, options like Illyrio and Young Griff are tempting, or he could be executed by Daenerys or a Stark in an “Hour of the Wolf”-mirroring-situation after the dust has cleared in King’s Landing. There are many options for Varys aside from what we saw in Game of Thrones, but hopefully, it will have a more calculated, artistic purpose, fulfilling or contrasting what we believe to be his role in Martin’s books.