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Wait a Minute: Did Varys Try to Poison Daenerys in ‘Game of Thrones?’

*Warning: Spoilers ahead*

Although we have our opinions on Daenerys’s (Emilia Clarke) turn for the worse and Cersei’s (Lena Headey) kinda boring demise, we can agree that the Game of Thrones creators generally have good reasons for making things play out as they do. So why, pray tell, weren’t we more suspicious when Varys (Conleth Hill) had that seemingly random conversation with Martha the servant girl at the beginning of last night’s episode?

Need a refresher? Varys is writing conspiratorial letters in his chambers when a young kitchen girl named Martha comes in and tells him Daenerys still won’t eat. He tells her they’ll “try again at supper,” and she retorts that the soldiers are watching her. She’s nervous, so Varys tells her, “Of course they are. That’s their job. What have I told you, Martha?” Her answer: “The bigger the risk, the bigger the reward.”

It seemed at first like maybe Varys was just concerned about Daenerys’s caloric intake. But it was the risk-reward comment that made fans’ ears perk up. So, they voiced their concern on Twitter and hypothesized that Varys was trying to poison Daenerys’s food. Honestly, it doesn’t seem like they’re wrong.

As one fan, @JessNicosia, aptly pointed out, “So…everyone else got this too, right?? Lord Varys was having Martha the little kitchen girl poison Dany’s food. She was nervous the guards were watching her, he assured her by ‘Greater the risk, greater the reward.’ #GameofThrones.”

She has a point. Martha wouldn’t be so freaked out that soldiers were watching her if she wasn’t doing anything wrong. Also, Varys is (was?) calculated and perpetually concerned by who the best ruler would be. 

Since Daenerys asks Drogon to torch him, we’ll never know what really happened…Unless little Martha stays true to her mission and nips this Mad Queen business in the bud. (Finger’s crossed.)



lex

Cat mom, yogi, brunch enthusiast

Lex is an LA native who's deeply obsessed with picnics, Slim Aarons, rosé, Hollywood history and Joan Didion. She joined PureWow in early 2017.