Game of Thrones might be long over, but the stories still live on, and so does the frustration viewers had while watching it. There were many problem areas in the final season, a lot that had to do with writing that moved too fast for the story’s own good. But one character that did get what was coming to him was Lord Varys. Despite Daenerys’ “mad” queen end, her execution of Varys was warranted.
Daenerys explicitly warned Varys about this very scenario
In Season 7, Daenerys had landed in Westeros after fighting her own battles through Essos to become the queen she was. As she and her counselors are figuring out strategy, she corners Varys about loyalty. Varys worked under her father, then for Robert Baratheon who overthrew the Mad King. He then left him and worked for Daenerys. “Before I came to power, you favored my brother,” she tells him. “All your spies, your little birds. Did they tell you Viserys was cruel, stupid, and weak? Would those qualities had made for a good king, in your learned opinion?”
To put it plainly, she was none too pleased at Varys’ actions. She didn’t see him as loyal and she certainly knew that he hadn’t chosen her as the queen to get behind from the start.
He, of course, did what had to be done to keep himself alive, but in the long run, he proved to be the opposite of loyal. He tells her that “Incompetence should not be rewarded with blind loyalty,” which is fair and vows himself to her.
This is the pivotal moment when Daenerys tells him, “If you ever think I’m failing the people, you won’t conspire behind my back. You’ll look me in the eyes as you have done today and tell me how I’m failing them.”
Varys did warn Daenerys, but not when it mattered
Obviously, we all know how Daenerys and Varys’ stories end. He did warn Daenerys, as he vowed. In Season 8, after Missandei is taken and Rhaegal is killed, Khaleesi is out for blood. But Varys pleads with her, “Do not destroy the city you came to save. Do not become what you have always struggled to defeat,” referring to King’s Landing.
She says she’s here to free the world from tyrants, no matter the cost, meaning civilian casualties aren’t off the table. Because of this, Varys does what he does best: plots.
Varys took matters into his own hands instead of coming to his queen
Varys and Tyrion have a candid conversation about her time as a ruler. By now, they both know Jon is a Targaryen and see him as the true heir to the Iron Throne. It’s insinuated that he tried to poison her and is putting in work behind the scenes to overthrow Daenerys.
Daenerys literally warned him she’d kill him if he did this. Sure, he warned her as he vowed to, but part of that promise was also not to conspire behind her back. Varys said he was always a servant to the people, not rulers. However, in a democracy or any type of government, even a monarchy, there needs to be order and a hierarchy of command. There should have been a meeting about Jon’s “birthright.”
Or he could have gone another route, like reasoning with the Queen. Ser Jorah was the last person that would have been able to reason with Dany, but Jon was a close second. Varys should have advised him to talk more sense into Daenerys, not go straight to killing her.
Vary tried to kill Daenerys Targaryen, Mother of Dragons. He should have been able to see his pyre building itself.
