25 Game of Thrones theories fans need to know for season 8

Episode 65 (season 7, episode 5), debut 8/13/17: Peter Dinklage, Conleth Hill.

photo: Helen Sloan/courtesy of HBO

Varys is actually a merman

One of the more ridiculous—and hilarious—theories among Game of Thrones fans is that Varys is actually secretly a merman. And while we’re not necessarily saying we buy it, fans have actually spent a decent amount of time exploring this possibility. Believe it or not, they’ve come up with some fascinating points.

This theory is based more on the A Song of Ice and Fire books than the television series, as it stems from George R.R. Martin’s discussion of dangerous sea creatures, including merlings, living throughout Westeros. There’s also talk of sea creatures who built the Iron Throne itself, an accomplishment that would explain Varys’ obsession with “the realm”—and whoever is sitting on the throne.

Sadly, the HBO series doesn’t ofer much else in the way of Varys secretly being a creature of the sea. There is one scene, which occurs after Varys threatens Shae, that fans have pointed to as evidence. Tyrion threatens to have Varys thrown into the sea, and Varys tells him that he “might be disappointed in the results.” He continues with a metaphor about big fish and little fish, saying that he outlives them all.

Fans have also suggested that Varys could use his identity as a merman to obtain all the secrets that he has become known for finding, though we see that his little birds do most of his bidding for him. Chances are that Varys is just an incredibly clever human, though there’s definitely more to him than meets the eye. We’ll have to wait until season eight to find out what exactly he’s hiding.