In "Game of Thrones" season 7 episode 3, "The Queen's Justice", we saw Jon Snow and Daenerys come face to face and Olenna Tyrell drinking poison after Jaime Lannister's successful assault on Highgarden. But we also saw a scene with Melisandre and Varys that seemed to have some major significance. The words exchanged by The Spider and the Red Woman are enigmatic, so let's try to explain them.
The Melisandre and Varys scene
Before we start, you can watch again the scene below:
Melisandre tells Varys that she's going to Volantis and Varys advises the Red Priestess to stay there.
"I don't think you should return to Westeros, I'm not sure you will be safe here", Varys threatens her. But Melisandre is not impressed. "I will return [...] one last time. I have to die in this strange country, just like you" Melisandre says.
Varys and the voice from the flames
Many fans are wondering why Varys was so aggressive towards Melisandre. The reason for Varys' grudge can be found in the Spider's past. Varys was born as a slave and during his stay in Myr, a man offered a large amount of money for him. This man, a sorcerer, cut off Varys manhood and burnt it in a brazier in a blood magic ritual. After that, a voice spoke to Varys from the flames. In "Game of Thrones" season 3 the spymaster tells Tyrion that he often dreams of the voice from the flames.
"The Sorcerer called and a voice answered and ever since that day I have hated magic and all those who practice it," Varys tells Tyrion. (According to a theory, Varys is a descendant of Aerion Brightflame. It's because of his royal blood that a magical event occurred during his castration).
In Game of Thrones season 6 Kinvara, a high-ranking priestess of R'hllor asked Varys if he remembered the voice from the flames.
"Should I tell you what the voice said? Should I tell you the name of the one who spoke?" Kinvara continued. It looks like Melisandre knows about this too. Varys hates magic and anyone who practice it, and he hates the red priest and priestess especially. He was castrated by a man who looks like a follower of R'hllor and he's been terrified by a mysterious magic message apparently known by other followers of R'hllor...
His grudge is quite understandable.
Why Volantis
Volantis is the oldest and one of the greatest of the Nine Free Cities. The city welcomes several religions, but by far the largest is that of R'hllor, which has a great temple in the city. Volantis has a large slave population and the Lord of Light religion is very popular among it. It's probably the most reasonable destination for Melisandre at the moment.
Melisandre will die in Westeros
Let's get back to Melisandre's latest prophecy: "I have to die in this strange country, just like you". A popular theory about the Red Woman's death is based on her encounter with Arya in season 3. Melisandre meets with the Brotherhood without Banners and buys out Gendry to leech his royal blood.
Arya is there and Melisandre stares deeply into the young Stark's eyes. Shortly after, the Red Priestess predicts Arya's future as a Faceless assassin. In the darkness inside Arya, Melisandre sees many eyes staring back at her, eyes of different colors, then the Red Woman says: "We will meet again", and the young Arya obviously adds her to the kill list. According to one popular theory, Arya is the one who is going to kill the old and powerful Melisandre.
In our opinion, this theory may actually be legit, but there aren't enough pieces of evidence to consider it a strong one. According to another and more spectacular theory, Melisandre will be back in Westeros with an army of red priest and priestess from Volantis to help Daenerys and Jon defeat the White Walkers.
R'hllor is the God of fire and fire could be very useful in the war against the dead!
Varys will die in Westeros
We can explain almost every word in the Varys and Melisandre scene, considering that we have a few good theories about Melisandre's death. But what about the Spider's death? Well, this is a huge mystery. We know that Quaithe (also known as the woman with the weird mask) warned Daenerys to "beware the perfumed seneschal" (who is probably Varys), and according to the significance of the scene with Melisandre, we may speculate that Varys' death could play a role in the fulfilling of the Azor Ahai prophecy... But still, we don't know how Varys is going to die.
In our opinion, there are no valid theories about this at the moment.
But the web is dark and full of brilliant "Game of Thrones" theorists, so who knows? Maybe we will be able to explain this part of the prophecy in the next few weeks!
Game of Thrones season 7 episode 4, "The Spoils of War", airs on July 30, on HBO.
