Is Varys going to die? Conleth Hill weighs in on Melisandre’s ominous prediction

On this Sunday’s new episode of Game of Thrones, Melisandre of Asshai made an unsettling proclamation to Varys the Spider.

I will return, dear Spider, one last time. I have to die in this strange country, just like you.

That would be creepy no matter who said it, but when you consider that Melisandre actually makes prophecies, it’s especially unsettling. Does this mean we’re going to live to see Varys die?

We can’t be sure, but it’s on actor Conleth Hill’s mind. “As soon as Hodor happened, I went, ‘Oh, God, I bet I have to hold a door at some point,'” he joked to The Hollywood Reporter. “Just because of the scenes we shot through the years about the sacrifice and everything, and Varys heard something [in the flames]. I hope that’s not exactly what it is, but it’s ominous, yeah.”

[D]oes Varys take this to heart, or does he get on with his life? I don’t think he has very much respect for the red priestesses, so there’s an argument that he won’t take it to heart. It’s the familiarity, that trick of we know what you said, that gets him every time. It’s something he can’t really be logical about. His distaste of their human sacrifices and all of that is perfectly alright. But I don’t know what the sorcerer said [to Varys when he was castrated]. I’ve never been told. I’ve never read it anywhere.

If you need a refresher, Varys’ origin story involves him being castrated by a “second-rate sorcerer” who wanted to use his parts in a spell. Varys was around to watch it being carried out, and when the sorcerer tossed his genitalia onto the flames, Varys heard an otherworldly voice that haunts him to this day. The Red Priest Kinvara brought the voice up to Varys last year when he was in Meereen. “Maybe he doesn’t remember or know specifically what was said, but he knows it said something, and that’s what freaked him out,” Hill ruminated. “The fact that these red priestesses know … I think in this story, the only person he’s told is Tyrion (Peter Dinklage), and I don’t think Tyrion would betray him and wind him up. So, it’s pretty ominous. But you know, at this stage? None of us are getting out of this alive. (Laughs.)”

Well, he’s just full of dark portents, isn’t he?

Of course, Melisandre’s prophecy could be wrong — she certainly doesn’t have a perfect track record.* And as someone with a lifelong prejudice against practitioners of magic, Hill says that Varys isn’t likely to take her at her word, anyway. “Even if they have a validity in this plot and within the story, I don’t think he’ll change his mind.”

We’ve seen the red priestess breathe life into Jon Snow (Kit Harington), or she was there when he came alive, and some of her prophecies have been pretty accurate. But not all of them. That’s the only thread to hang onto. “Maybe she got that one wrong!”

Frankly, the idea of losing Varys sucks particularly hard right at this moment, when he has a new prominence in the story. For example, his tête-à-tête with Daenerys in “Stormborn” was a lot of fun to watch. Hill enjoyed playing the scene as much as I enjoyed watching it.

It was fantastic. It was brilliantly directed by Mark Mylod. I have so much admiration for Emilia. She’s the first one in every morning and the last one home every night. She works so hard. She’s word-perfect. She’s wonderful to work with. It was great fun. And I think it was a long time coming, that scene. Why we didn’t have that conversation on the boat — who knows? (Laughs.) Why we didn’t have it in Meereen — who knows? But it was really enjoyable and lovely to work with her.

Yeah, I have no idea why Varys and Dany didn’t have that talk on the way to Westeros, either. Best not pull on that thread — it’s making me remember how weird it was to see Varys on that boat at the end of season 6 in the first place.

Emilia Clarke as Daenerys Targaryen and Conleth Hill as Varys. Photo: HBO.

For the moment, the two of them seem to have put any tension between them behind, which must please Varys. After all, he’s been trying to help the Targaryens reclaim their position in Westeros for years. “And I think he helped her escape as a baby, although I’m not 100 percent sure about that,” Hill said. “He’s always been very honest about his admiration for the Targaryens.”

Also, the book plot is different than the TV plot. There’s no king in waiting here. In the books, there’s a young prince they think is the new Targaryen, but we didn’t use that story in the TV [show]. None of us know what happens, but it was very exciting. He’s been consistent. Whether he’s lying or not — who knows? I hope not. But he’s been very consistent over the last few seasons with saying, “I want to help the people.”

But just because Hill knows about the book plot doesn’t mean he’s read the books — he hasn’t. “I knew from the very beginning that I’m doing [David Benioff and Dan Weiss’] version of Varys,” he said. “I didn’t want to read stuff in the books that didn’t appear on the show. I think that would have disappointed me. I was employed by HBO, Dan and David to do that Varys, not the Varys of the books.”

Fair enough. However, Hill did say that, after he was cast, George R.R. Martin wrote him a letter outlining his view of the Varys character. “I tried to stick with that. It wasn’t a huge amount of information, but it was just enough to get you from scene to scene — and when it’s all over, I’ll tell you what he said.” Yes, please.

Hill also revealed what Varys thinks of Jon Snow. “I think he would be okay with him, yeah. I’m sure it will unfold, but I think he had a soft spot for Sansa as well. He kept trying to get her away from Littlefinger before he took off with her. I think he likes the Starks and thinks that they’re decent and good people. The fact that Melisandre is hiding from them probably puts them up in his estimation.”

In a separate interview with Variety, he got a little more detailed. Does Varys think the meeting between Jon and Dany was a success? “They’re both headstrong kids. They’ve been the leader of their own pack for so long, and there’s of course a history of bad blood between their families. But they managed not to kill each other.”

It was ice and fire really. I think Tyrion’s temperature control helped a lot. I don’t think it went as badly as it could have. Had their characters met earlier, they might have pulled a knife or had a fight. I think they’re just getting to the stage now where the future of the world is more important than any ego trip they might have had.

Y’see? A Varys-Stark team-up would be great, but if it comes to pass, now we have to worry about Varys exiting it prematurely. Thanks, Melisandre.

Conleth Hill as Varys and Carice van Houten as Melisandre. Photo: HBO.

Finally, Hill reflected on some of Varys’ finest moments, and his role in the story going forward.

I think some of the stuff he had with Tyrion on the way to Meereen was some of the best stuff: “We’ll never be leaders, people like us.” He’s very aware of his place in the world and how he’s looked on by others. He’s also very aware that information is so much more powerful than money sometimes. But I think he’s been consistent. We’re not leaders, but we can help those who do lead, and we can counsel those who lead. He and Tyrion managed to stop Daenerys from invading, which I think would have been her gut reaction, just to go out all guns blazing.

Stay alert, Varys. We’re not ready to lose our Spider just yet.

Hill also spoke to Insider about all things Varys, where he touched on the fact that Qyburn is now in control of Varys’ network of Little Birds, at least the ones in King’s Landing. Does Varys have any of his own Little Birds tucked away somewhere?

I don’t know, you’ll have to wait and see. He hasn’t mentioned them so far, but maybe next episode there will be a mention of them. It’ll be interesting to see how that develops, if it develops. Because if Qyburn is taking over his network, will that affect the information that he gets and how he gets it? So yeah, lots to look into, but he’s just got a genuine fondness for the victim and the underdog and the poor and the hungry.

And of course, he weighed in on the incredibly durable fan theory that Varys is secretly a Merman.

Yes. I don’t get it. I really don’t get it. I mean I’m not annoyed or anything, I think it’s funny, but I really don’t know where it comes from. I think someone got too stoned one night and came up with it…I don’t know where the source of that is, where the beginning of that rumor came from, but it does make me laugh…Yeah [the theory] started because they’d never seen my legs and I’m going “What? What about my pointy shoes? You can’t get a fishtail into that.

Whatever. We know it’s real.

To stay up to date on everything Game of Thrones, follow our all-encompassing Facebook page and sign up for our exclusive newsletter.

Watch Game of Thrones for FREE with a no-risk, 7-day free trial of Amazon Channels.

*My personal pet theory is that Melisandre was just annoyed that Varys was interrupting her brooding time and made up a prophecy to spook him, which would be hilarious. I don’t expect it to happen, though.

• Published on 08/02/2017 at 12:00 PM CDT
• Last updated on 08/02/2017 at 12:10 PM CDT