The writers of Game of Thrones picked a curious date to release season 8 episode 4 — May 5, 2019. It is fitting that, on Karl Marx’s birthday, Lord Varys chose to remind Tyrion, again, of where his loyalty truly lies — with the people.
Of course, Marxism, so far into the show, has had few takers in the brutal world of Westeros and its cut-throat monarchs. This is what makes Varys such a unique character. Not since the King Beyond the Wall has the show had a character in any position of power speak of a people’s rule.
In a show where even the most reasonable characters are obsessed with the ridiculous notion that power should be passed down hereditarily, the idea that the people should have some say in picking a government is rarely mentioned. The peasants, farmers, and working class of Westeros are reduced to a single term — smallfolk. Few have campaigned in their name, with the exception of Varys.
In season 7, episode 2, Varys is put in the position of explaining his motivations to Daenerys Targaryen, the Queen who wants to rule over Westeros. She asked Varys why he wanted to serve her. Varys replies with a moving speech that has since been edited over in YouTube with renditions of the Soviet national anthem.
“I wasn't born into a great house. I came from nothing. I was sold as a slave and carved up as an offering. When I was a child, I lived in alleys, gutters, abandoned houses. You wish to know where my true loyalties lie? Not with any king or queen, but with the people. The people who suffer under despots and prosper under just rule.”
Vary’s arguments resonate with a fundamental aspect of the suffering in Game of Thrones — class struggle. The common people in Westeros are constantly caught up in the battles and family fights of the noble houses, with little to gain from the process. Marx would write volumes on how these cycles of oppression perpetuate themselves — and the irony of someone like Daenerys Targaryen claiming she can break with her own despotic rule. But all rulers believe themselves to be the cure, and all of them only cause more suffering with their egoistical campaigns. As Varys says, “Incompetence should not be rewarded with blind loyalty”.
While many would want to co-opt Varys as a Marxist, a would-be voice of the proletariat, one could also argue that he just has simple democratic tendencies. However, Varys has never advocated for an election. The last man to do that in Game of Thrones was burned at the stake — Mance Rayder, AKA the King Beyond the Wall for the Free Folk.
Elections have given the show its noblest as well as its evilest characters. The Nights Watch elected Jon Snow as its leader, the first sign that Jon Snow as the chosen candidate of the people (a huge theme of the latest episode). It was a good decision, one that may well have saved all of Westeros.
However, the Iron Islands also elected Euron Greyjoy as their leader, a character who — as book readers will know — is easily one of the most dangerous people in the world. He has seen the world and lived to tell the tale by being the most ruthless person in it.
While organisations like the Nights Watch and some kingdoms like those of the Iron Islands do conduct elections, the line between democracy and dictatorship tends to get crossed very fast. While Daenerys‘ followers say they bent the knee out of choice, their ability to choose is questionable. Do you really ‘choose’ to follow an unpredictable ruler whose dragons are setting dissidents on fire in front of you?
While it is fun to remix Lord Varys to communist flags and Soviet national anthems, his true leanings are far from communist. He does not work towards a revolution of the people, but rather, for a benevolent dictatorship through Daenerys Targaryen, in the hopes of advocating the cause of the people through a single just ruler.However, this plan may not be working if the latest episode is any indication.
Varys pleaded with Daenerys not to fail the people by blindly attacking King’s Landing in rage. Her willingness to use violence against her own people puts Varys, once again, on a different camp from the ruling power — the side of the people versus being on the side of the ruler. How he deals with this — his foreshadowed betrayal of Daenerys — will have huge ramifications for whether the show ends with the people attaining a greater say in how their affairs are handled. Will he trigger a people's revolution? Or will he stab Daenerys in the back? Only two weeks time will tell.
The historical march towards democracy
Another way of looking at the show would be through the lens of real-world British history. George R.R. Martin is known to have based his War of Five Kings on the Wars of the Roses. Even the names used are familiar: In Game of Throne’s universe, you find Starks fighting Lannisters; in Britain’s history, the great families of Yorks and Lancasters are at conflict.
To summarize a long and brutal war that in many ways was more savage than even Westeros’ most violent moments, the War of the Roses ended with most of the male heirs of the York and Lancaster families dead. The throne was taken by an outsider, Henry Tudor. The war led to the creation of the Magna Carter — the historic charter of rights that forms the basis of British democracy today.
If the historical events that Game of Thrones is based on are any indication, the outcome of all these wars will be a march towards democracy. Building on a popular theory from Reddit that Samwell Tarly will end up writing a history of Westeros (that becomes A Song of Ice and Fire), it may well be possible that he could also draft the Seven Kingdom’s first constitution!
Democracy may or may not benefit Westeros, in the long run. It would be interesting to see whether democratic peace theory — the idea that democracies tend not to wage war on each other — can apply to the Seven Kingdoms. But whether the people of Game of Thrones eventually move towards democracy will ultimately depend on what kind of story George R.R. Martin intended on telling, and how the show will wrap up all its loose ends in the final two episodes.
Interestingly, there are real politicians who champion the cause of democracy in Westeros — Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is one of them!
Speaking about the show on a Yahoo News podcast, AOC remarked, “Could you imagine if no one ends up on the throne and they transition to democracy? Wouldn’t that be badass?”
To answer the senator’s question, it certainly would be.
