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Why did Varys kill Kevan Lannister? | In Deep Geek | YouTubeToText
YouTube Transcript: Why did Varys kill Kevan Lannister?
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Varys orchestrates the murders of Ser Kevan Lannister and Grand Maester Pycelle to sow chaos and division within King's Landing, thereby weakening the existing power structure and paving the way for Aegon Targaryen's claim to the Iron Throne.
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After vanishing at the end of a storm of
swords, Varys reappears in the epilogue
of A Dance with Dragons to assassinate
Sir Kevin
Lannister. Why? What does Varys expect
to gain from the murder? Hi everyone,
this is Robert. Welcome to InDeepge
Geek. On this channel, we cover A Song
of Ice and Fire in nerdy depth, as well
as other great fantasy worlds like The
Lord of the Rings and The Witcher. Welcome.
Welcome.
This is another collaboration with the
wonderful history of Westeros. Please do
check out their excellent YouTube
channel and podcast. There's a link in the
the
description. In the epilogue to A Dance
with Dragons, Kevin Lannister is having
dinner with Cersei and Tommen when a
message arrives from the Grand Maester.
Kevin excuses himself and is escorted
into Pycel's chamber by a silent child,
who we can only assume is one of Varys's
little birds. Moments after he enters
the room, Varys shoots him with a
crossbow. The similarity to his brother
Tywin's murder comes to mind immediately
for him, and he blurts out the name
Tyrion. But instead, Varys emerges from
the shadows, clutching the murder
weapon. And in true Varys style, he
apologizes, telling Kevin it's not
personal. He says, "Sir Kevin, forgive
me if you can. I bear you no ill will.
This was not done from malice. It was
for the realm, for the children. This
pains me, my lord. You do not deserve to
die alone on such a cold, dark night.
There are many like you, good men in
service to bad causes. But you are
threatening to undo all the queen's good
work, to reconcile High Garden and
Castly Rock, bind the faith to your
little king, unite the seven kingdoms
under Tommen's rule.
So, so Varys kills him. Most of Kevin's
epilogue chapter earlier is spent at
council. A number of issues are
discussed by hand of the king Ma Tyrell,
Master of Laws, Randall Tarly, Grand
Maester Pycel, and Kevin Lannister
himself serving as regent. The most
prominent topic is the invasion of the
Stormlands by a young man claiming to be
Aegon, son of Rhaegar Targaryen at the
head of the famously dangerous Golden
Company alongside John Conington. Though
they don't agree on much, the small
council does agree that this threat
requires an immediate military response
lest the danger grow. Aegon could win
castles, allies, reputation. Time to
spread word of his arrival and his
identity. Best to stop him as soon as
possible. Mace decrees that he will
march south with his army as soon as his
daughter Marjgery's trial is complete.
Waiting for the trial to be over isn't
exactly immediate, however. Not to
mention the possibility that Marjgerie
could lose. Would Mace still march his
army south in that case? Probably not.
Thus, the threat of violence hangs over
the scene and the capital, even without
considering Aegon in the south. Some
members of the small council are
concerned that they themselves might be
targets. For example, Pycel expresses
concern to Kevin that Mace Tyrell
mislikes him, so he needs guards.
Kevin is diplomatic but inwardly scoffs
at the notion that Mace would have Pycel
killed. While many on the council are
more concerned with their own lives or
families, Kevin is more concerned about
other matters, namely the aforementioned
invasion by Aegon. Of course, Kevin will
find Pycel dead only a few pages later.
It turns out they both had a piece of
the truth, but neither of them had the
hole. Simply put, Pycel was not terribly
worried about the danger in the
Stormlands, but very concerned about the
danger in house. Kevin was more
concerned about the danger in the
Stormlands, while not terribly worried
about the danger in house. It turns out
that the danger in the Stormlands and
the danger in house are one and the
same. Bars is back after nearly two full
books missing, and he's with Aegon. He's
also no longer the Varys of the past 20
years. He's no longer pretending to be
squeamish or neutral. No longer trying
to keep the realm at peace while his
plans and his young king mature. The
time is nigh. Instead of order, Varys
wants chaos so Aegon can save the realm
to win the throne. As Stannis himself
put it. Stannis was of course referring
to himself saving the realm to win the
throne at the time. But it's just as
true for any other claimment. The realm
wants peace and stability most of all
and will favor a king who brings them
that. That is the core reason for the
murder of Kevin, creating chaos to help
Aegon win the throne. But let's get more
specific. Varys tells Kevin as he's
dying who will take the blame for his
murder. We read, "Your niece will think
the Tyrells had you murdered with the
connance of the imp. The Tyrells will
suspect her. Someone somewhere will find
a way to blame the Dornishman. Doubt,
division, and mistrust will eat the very
ground beneath your boy king while Aegon
raises his banner above Storm's End and
the lords of the realm gather around
him. This is the heart of the matter.
Driving a wedge between Lannister and
Tyrell, the houses who are the biggest
obstacles to Aegon's claim. For Varys's
young king to win the throne, it's
better if the Lannisters and Tyrells are
not on good terms. Better still if they
turn on one another and become enemies.
Even better than that if the Tyrells are
an enemy of the Lannisters and an ally
of Aegon. Perhaps Marjgery could marry
Aegon instead of Tommen. It's not clear
what exactly Varys has in mind for the
Tyrells. It might be that he's offered a
different house in the Reach the seat of
High Garden in exchange for their
support. We can only be certain that
Varys wants to break the Lannister Tyrell
Tyrell
alliance. Like Tywin before him, Kevin
was doing a good job at uniting
Lannister and Tyrell at forging them
into a unit that might hold the throne.
So, he had to die. And by killing him
with a crossbow, Varys is attempting to
accomplish the opposite, to pit the two
allied great houses against each other.
Kevin was also keeping Cersei in check
and was preparing to send her back to
cast Lero. Kevin's death put Cersei back
in charge as regent for Tommen. It's
another important part of the plan. This
effectively replaces someone competent
with someone who will play right into
Varys's hands. It is no secret that
Cersei hates the Tyrells. Her lies are
the entire reason Marjgery is on trial
in the first place, and we can be sure
she will continue to find ways to
manipulate those proceedings. Varys
knows this and knows that Marjgery's
fate is tied to Mace's army. As we and
Mace himself established, as long as
Marjgerie is in danger, the Tyrell army
will not march south to face Aegon. Not
to mention Cersei being in charge in
general is good for Aegon's chances.
Many prospective allies might think
twice about joining her. In fact, her
leadership may give some noble houses
good cause to choose Aegon, including
many who would have unquestioningly
followed Tywin. Mace Tyrell is not an
example of exemplary leadership either.
Not to mention, there's a very good
chance some members of the small council
and other houses in general are likely
already in league with Varys and Aegon,
but simply haven't made their move yet.
Many noble houses will use that all too
common strategy of waiting, delay, and
proaricate and dissemble until one side
appears to have the upper hand and then
join that side. Varys is nothing if not
convincing, meaning many may join Aegon
because Varys will seduce them with his
silver tongue. Of course, Aegon is
winning, he'll say. He might even be
telling the truth. We should mention
Pycel here as well. Kevin was
technically the second murder that day.
Varys killed Pycel first and used him as
bait, but it wasn't just bait or revenge
for all the insults Pycel heaped on
Varys over the span of two decades on
the small council. Though Varys might
have enjoyed murdering Pycel given all
that, it actually fits his plan
perfectly when we scrutinize it. With
Kevin, Varys used the crossbow so people
would think of Tyrion. With Pycel, there
was no need to be particular with the
murder weapon, so he simply smashed his
head in from behind. We can be fairly
sure it was him and not one of the
little birds, since they are children
and not likely to be capable of crushing
his skull. Plus, they're likely too
short. Varys spent 20 years pretending
to be soft, effeminate, afraid of blood,
barely capable of witnessing violence,
let alone personally dispensing it. Now
he is killing people with his own hands,
but still keeping it a secret. For the
moment, only us readers know. Now we see
how this long cultivated image fits into
his overall plan. Many will overlook him
as a culprit until it's too late. They
will be too busy fighting each other,
which is exactly what he wants.
The death of Pycel adds to the suspicion
that Tyrion is responsible. It was Pycel
who accused Tyrion during his trial of
stealing poisons from him. More
importantly, the trial was seen by many
and widely discussed afterwards. Tyrion
and Pycel's animosity towards one
another was on display for all to see.
The motive is plain for all to see. Even
though Tyrion is innocent of Joffrey's
death, though technically Tyrion did
steal those poisons from Pycel, Pycel
was right about that. Pycel has long
been an open Lannister toad as well.
When sides are taken, he always takes
Tywins or Cersei's. Since Varys wants
Aegon to take the throne, this removes
an enemy from the small council. Pycel
would clearly support Tommen over Aegon.
And there's also the matter of his
replacement. When Tyrion stripped Pycel
of his office earlier in the story, the
Citadel were apparently on the verge of
sending a Maester Gorman to be the new
Grand Maester. It's an open secret that
Maester Gorman was born Gorman Tyrell,
Ma Tyrell's uncle, no less, another
Tyrell on the small council. It's easy
to see that Cersei might immediately
conclude that the Tyrells were behind
Pycel's murder. So the murders of Kevin
and Pycel are intended to seow chaos and
discord in the Red Keep that Aegon can
exploit in his invasion. They were done
in a way to divert attention away from
Varys and onto Tyrion and the Tyrells
and maybe even the Martell's. Cersei
will very obviously react strongly.
Removing the competent Kevin and
replacing him with the less competent
Cersei will, I'm sure, have explosive
consequences. And maybe those murders
are just the beginning. Now that Varys's
20-year plan is culminating, now that
Aegon has landed to push his claim for
the Iron Throne, Varys can operate more
aggressively and openly. How else do you
think he might weaken King's Landing's
defenses? Will there be more murders?
Let me know what you think in the
comments below. Even more importantly,
will it work? Will all of Varys and Yo's
planning finally lead to Aegon, Young
Griff, ascending the Iron Throne? We'll
look at that in a future video. If you'd
like to see more videos like this,
diving deep into the lore of A Song of
Ice and Fire, there's a link to my
playlist on the left of your screen now,
or to support this channel, thank you.
There's a link to my Patreon page on the
right of your screen. That's all for
this time. Thanks for watching. I'll see
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