On Sunday night's episode of Game Of Thrones, the two most cryptic characters in Westeros had a chat. Varys (Conleth Hill), whose little birds feed him secrets from all over the realm, and Melisandre (Carice van Houten), a conduit for and follower of the Lord of Light, met on a cliff while The Red Woman was hiding from Ser Davos (Liam Cunningham) and Jon Snow (Kit Harington). Following Varys' teasing, and his suggestion that she high-tail it out of there, Melisandre announces that she's headed to Volantis.
"I’ve done my part," she explains. "I’ve brought ice and fire together...My time whispering in the ears of kings has come to an end."
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Varys takes things a step further, advising her to never come back to Westeros — but this is when things get interesting.
"Oh, I will return dear Spider," she replies. "One last time. I have to die in this strange country, just like you."
The two share a dark look, and the scene is over. Game of Thrones leaves us hanging yet again, but Vanity Fair thinks they might know what lies underneath those meaningful glances.
While much of the past few seasons has focused on the rulers, season 3 gave us some much-needed backstory to Varys that might just be coming back into play. In the fourth episode of the third season, Varys explains how he became a eunuch, as well as the all-knowing confidant he is now.
"I still dream of that night," he told Tyrion (Peter Dinklage). "Not of the sorcerer, not of his blade—I dream of the voice from the flames. Was it a god, a demon, a conjurer’s trick? I don’t know. But the sorcerer called and a voice answered and ever since that day I have hated magic and all those who practice it."
While we still don't know who the voice belonged to, we heard about it again last season when Kinvara (Ania Bukstein), the red priestess who found Varys and Tyrion in Meereen, made it clear that she was well aware of what it said.
"Do you remember what you heard that night when the sorcerer tossed your parts in the fire?" she asked him. "You heard a voice call out from the flames, do you remember? Should I tell you what the voice said? Should I tell you the name of the one who spoke?"
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Vanity Fair's guess is that Melisandre also knows what the voice says, and that her last sentence suggests that the voice foretold Varys' death. After all, all men must die — and that includes Spiders.