Varys and Tyrion – Power is a curious thing

It's the sellsword. Kill the king take the crown. Kill the rich man take the gold. Kill the priest take his Gods.

If the people believe power resides in wealth and great fortune, then rich Man will live; if the people believe in authority and the structure of the culture and society in which the people live, the king will live; if the people believe in holiness and spiritual tradition, the priest will live.

Goddamn, this series used to be clever.

Tyrion should have executed Pycelle (as his father suggested).

Varys is Galadriel in this scene basically

This riddle is a trick, by answering honestly and according to what one thinks he or she becomes at mercy of Varys, for they reveal what is truly important to them be it gold, power or the grace of gods. By refusing to answer Varys's riddle directly,Tyrion flips the frame and does not let the Spider learn about his motives and desires.

varys is best character.

Man, I love the GOT dialogues!

This is why i like varys

there is a lot of real world applications to this

Varys is like CIA in real life, he knows everything.
Baelish is like Israel, he's behind all the major wars and yet no one is even looking at him.

Ned Stark's pride and sense of honor got him executed.The king would offer Noble status and the sellsword would accept for the very same reasons.

Tyrion seem to like Varys but not so much Littlefinger

the priest lives. the sellsword kills the king and usurpes he's throne, kills the rich man and takes all he's gold while if he killed the priest it would serve him little good, it would only make him hated by the followers of that religion.

When Varys says Power is a shadow on the wall, in the books, he also adds the phrase "Yet shadows can kill". Shame that part didn't make it. It was foreshadowing Renly's death a few episodes later.

I haven't watched the series but based on this scene I can say that Varys seems like a really powerful and smart guy that can defeat you in ways you can't even perceive , interesting character

Politics is indeed downstream of culture.

This is what i feel like am watching a Royal Ancient Drama.You guys should Queen sendeok and Mishil.very nice

Varys is obviously talking about littlefinger. Trying to tell Tyrion how dangerous the man is. And he's well aware of how littlefinger has damaged the realm. Littlefinger is like a mild fever of the realm, yet progressing like cancer. In that scene, I can tell varys has chosen who he believes, and he believes in Tyrion.

It really is all about perception

Love these two and This Scene! Such an Awesome Scene with two well written characters!

A Vary small man can cast a Vary large shadow 🙂

I believe it's whoever pays the Swordman (probably the rich), the answer to this riddle lies in another scene, of Littlefinger and Ned Stark exchange, when he told him "when the queen proclaims one king and the hand proclaims another, who's peace do the gold cloaks protect, who do they follow?" ……. The answer "the man who pays them."
And again " Gold wins wars, not soliders."

This could, in a way, apply for Cersei being the "sellsword" as of season 6's end…..(****Spoiler alert ahead****)…. She indirectly killed King Robert, but also Tommen in a way. Maybe even Joffrey, depending on how you view it (fostering, advicing him, etc. towards evilness). She's also killed the priest (the High Sparrow) and some rich men (Kevan Lannister, Mace Tyrell, etc).

Cersei may be an idiot in her decision making most of the time, but that's also what makes her enemies underestimate her, giving her the clever elements of surprise from time to time. But if Cersei is the "sellsword", will she last now that she's eliminated (some of) her enemies and supposedly has got the power herself? Maybe in the end, no one wins after all.

What season and episode was this again?

''power resides where people believe it resides'' is a very philosophical term that can be applied even today: government and the people, the potential and the power that the people have toward their ruler is really more important but we tend to forget that

Please god let these two make it to the end.

varys is such a cool guy

You know, it'd be pretty funny if Petyr was killed by a White Walker or eaten/burned by a dragon. He holds all the power through information and knowledge, but a predatory force doesn't give a shit about secrets, politics and mindgames. He's just another human to kill to them and all the smooth talking, power playing, lying, political backstabbing in the world isn't gonna save you when one of those gets you in their sights.
Just a thought. I would be thoroughly amused if Baelish were to be killed by a predatory force after working his way up for so long and masterfully setting up the board to make everything turn to his favor and then a dragon comes along and gives him the yum yum face and it's RIP, Petyr Baelish.

He's actually saying the power doesn't reside in any of the four. That's why he didn't accept Tyrion's answer. The swordsman doesn't control who he kills. For anyone's concern it could be his mother who tells him who to kill. It only depends on who controls the swordsman, and that doesn't need to be any of the three men.

Brilliant scene, i wonder if the writers came up with this riddle, if they did it's brilliantly philosophical. I cant remember if its in the books

The essence of politics

THE ANSWER has been told by Varys : Power resides were men belive it resides. As soon as people are backing you up and believe that you're the one holding power they follow you and respect your decisions. That's the case for Varys and Littlefinger they're both no noble men, no kings, no knights and yet they hold tremendous power within their hands, they are always a step ahead by gathering valuable information, they play with people minds, feelings and expectations and when they strike you don't even see them coming. They're both dangerous players hidden in the shadows.

I cant solve that fucking riddle but i believe that riddle is the biggest spoiler in the books and series.

This clip should be played on the first day of every Polical Science 101 class. It sums up a couple different concepts so perfectly

imo tyrion's answer was perfect. It does depend on the sellsword

littlefinger : knowledge is power
cercei : power is power
varys : power is a curious thing