Who does Varys truly serve? (spoilers)

I agree, it seems to me that Varys is more loyal to humanity than to individual rulers. I think that more than anything else Varys is pragmatic and realistic. He will serve anyone who is in a position of power because attaining the position proves their worth.

Varys' eagerness to spare Ned and Gendry shows that Varys likes to keep his options open. I think that he has worked to develop Daenyrs as a possible ruler, but if she proves to be insane and unmanagable I could see Varys working to unseat her in favor of someone better for the kingdom.

Pretty sure he serves Crab people

Varys is the individual that installed Ser Jorah Mormont as a spy with Viserys and Daenerys, and then immediately afterward informed Robert of their location. This happened when Robert and Ned were on the kingsroad back to King's Landing. The intelligence Robert receives from Varys directly leads to the attempt on Dany's life.

I think this is the best guarded secret in the book. It's possible that he serves some as-yet unknown player, but leaving that out, he could be working for the benefit of the realm (scheming against bad kings when he thinks a better prospect is available, and trying to keep people he thinks might do well for the realm alive).

This still leaves things to explain - was he behind the attempt on Dany's life, or did he warn Jorah? What of his scheming with Ilyrio? Is he playing him off against the current government in an attempt to preserve stalemate and stave off war? Does he want Dany to raise an army and invade or not? Is he just trying to make sure he's on the winning side by being on both? Or is there a Yojimbo/Fistful of Dollars theme here?

We have seen him be genuinely helpful to the more competent Hands (Ned and Tyrion) (without endangering himself too much, of course) and, unlike Littlefinger, doesn't seem to be willing to aid Cersei so much. And yes, he does seem to give a shit about the Wall.

I'm inclined to see him as the hero you say, but that's judging from the iceberg-tip we get to see. I would love there to be a POV from him in the future.

You know how David Eddings milked his Belgariad series with those awful Polgara and Belgarath books? It might be interesting to see GRRM do something similar in the future with accounts from characters who are mysterious prime movers in the main series. Varys would be a candidate, as would Melisandre, and possibly Benjen. Also the Great Other.

Not marking anything because this thread is spoiler toxic to begin with.

I think he serves the realm, he was telling Ned the truth. What he meant by it was that he would do what he thought was in the best interest of the Seven Kingdoms. He knew Cersei would be a terrible ruler for example, and worked against her, regardless of houses.

His seeming contradictory actions regarding Dany are a case of him keeping his options wide open. He doesn't know if Dany will be a good ruler, and he knows he can't affect her too much. But by helping Robert and by helping the Dornish, he can side with whoever wins the war, living another day to serve the realm.

Someone wrote a very long and serious essay about how Varys serves the Mermaid Men.

If his allegiance really belongs to the Targaryens, letting Gendry live would open up the possibility of a future Blackfyre Rebellion.

But Gendry's claim to the throne is through Roberts lineage. Not the Targaryens. And if the existence of Gendry helps keep whoever is on the throne through Robert's lineage unstable, that makes it that much easier for a Targaryen to reclaim it in the future. If Robert's line is allowed to secure the throne and rule a stable, peaceful, happy, thriving Seven Kingdoms, that makes it that much harder for a Targaryen to return to power there.

Isn't it in his best interest to just let Joffrey kill Ned, increasing the enmity between House Stark and House Lannister? Allowing both houses to fight each other will make it easier for Daenarys to conquer the Seven Kingdoms.

Placing the North into the power of a 16 year old Robb while keeping them folded into the Seven Kingdoms as a whole would make it a lot easier for Dany to conquer the Seven Kingdoms as a whole imo, as the North is widely seen as impossible to invade due to the Neck. And of course, at the time of all this happening, Dany doesn't have dragons to use.

I think he probably saw it as easier to give the North to Robb, keep them tied to the Seven Kingdoms instead of plunging them into war -- at least until Dany is ready to return to the continent at least -- if not even take that time to politically maneuver a naive 16 year old into his court if possible.

Well, I personally have a hard time as seeing him too much the hero, but that has more to do with my adoption of Littlefinger as my own personal protagonist than anything else.

"The Realm, someone has to" He has no House, unlike Maesters he has no alegiance to Oldtown and he has no familly or friends across the narrow sea.

As you pointed out, Varys serves the realm. This means he doesn't serve one house or another, therefore one king or another, out of loyalty. He does what he thinks needs to be done for the good of the realm, that being Westeros as a whole.

Another thing that struck me as odd was sending Gendry to the Wall. If Gendry takes the black, he would relinquish his claim to the Iron Throne, just as Maester Aemon and Blackraven did. If he was interested to shape Gendry into a piece of the game, it would make sense to send him to the Free Cities instead. I'm sure Illyrio could have arranged for this to happen.

Varys: chaotic good? or chaotic neutral?

I'm pretty sure he and Illyrio serve Doran Martell, whose ultimate purpose is reinstalling Dany. His purpose in allowing Ned to take the black was to preserve peace for the time being as the war was coming too soon for their purposes. I belive they wanted Viserys to die as he was mental, and that saving Dany from assasination was to a degree staged for the Khal's benefit. Perhaps the motivation is simply revenge for Elia or a sense that things were better for the little people under the Targaryens. Also when Illyrio gave her the eggs he knew damn well they weren't fossils.

[deleted]

Varys is a spider, and as a spider he does what he needs to in order to stay alive. That is his basic motivation. The only pleasure in his life comes from his ability to take the foibles of men and women who hold desires he no longer carries and play them against each other.

I believe his current goal is to get Danaerys on the throne. If he didn't want the targs back, he could have had ser jorah or illyrio get rid of them at any time. But instead, he dawdles, he keeps the lords and ladies of kings landing occupied, all while appearing to be the dutiful servant that everyone wants dead but no one can live without.

Now, his conversation with illyrio in the crypts shows that they don't want the lions and wolves killing each other yet. At each others throats, yes, but not open warfare. That's why he tries to keep Ned alive, though Joffrey borked that one.

As to gendry, why else scatter the bastards to the wind than to distract cersei or anyone else who wants Joffrey on the throne? So long as they chase bastards across westeros in the midst of a war, no one is paying attention to Danaerys.

Finally, his partnership with Tyrion is because he sees someone capable who he can keep ingratiated to the spider and is smart enough to keep kings landing from burning; after tyrions fall from grace, he ships him across the narrow sea because he is too valuable to lose.

As soon as Dany crosses the sea, Varys will obviously try to enter her service, or at least place a pawn to act through in her service. To what ends, though, who knows.

[deleted]

Without a women's emotional, hormonal irrationality and without a man's endless lust or pride he may very well have everyone's best interests in mind.

But then again he could just as easily be a sociopath.