Curtain Call: Conleth Hill
By Dan Selcke
Varys is one of several Game of Thrones characters who’s instantly recognizable from a mile away. The bald head, the bulky robe…it could never be anyone but Westeros’ premiere secret keeper, the Spider, the Master of Whisperers, Varys the eunuch.
Interestingly, actor Conleth actually read for the role of King Robert Baratheon before Game of Thrones got off the ground, but knew he didn’t have much of a chance when he saw he was up against the blustering Mark Addy. But Game of Thrones casting director Nina Gold has excellent instincts. She directed him to Varys, who appears in eight seasons vs Robert’s one, and the rest is history.
From the start, the part fit like a glove. Hill brought all the obsequiousness the role demanded, but layered under it a fierce intellect and sense of moral rectitude. In the early seasons especially, Varys is playing a dangerous game: he appears pampered and flighty, weak-willing and weak-bodied, but there’s steel in his eyes. It comes out in moments like Varys visiting Ned Stark in the dungeons beneath the Red Keep, or when he reveals his painful backstory to Tyrion.
That scene in particular, which involves Varys opening up a crate with a live human being inside it, may be the character’s best single moment. We don’t know exactly what Varys plans to do with this man, the wizard who mutilated Varys in his youth, but we know it will not be pleasant. Varys looks timid, but he’s capable of horrible things.
That side would come to the fore in later seasons of the show, where Varys got to drop his dandy act and say more of what was really on his mind. I missed the comic possibilities of Varys leading a double life, but Hill was never less than completely convincing as a man doing everything he could to do what he thought was right, even if that meant flipping allegiances. The irony of Varys was always that despite his frivolous demeanor, he was a man of intense conviction, perhaps moreso than anyone else on the show. He held to what he believed even if he killed him, which it eventually did.
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Varys met his end at the hands of Daenerys Targaryen, executed for conspiring to spread the word about Jon Snow’s true heritage. He met death with grace and dignity, his career as the Spider having finally come to an end.
Goodbye, Varys. You were a slippery man, but a good one, in your fashion.
Oh, and if you’re wondering, when it comes to hair, Conleth Hill is pretty much the opposite of his character:
You can next see Hill on the big screen alongside Keira Knightley, Ralph Fiennes and fellow Game of Thrones alum Indira Varma (Ellaria Sand) in the political thriller Official Secrets.
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