GAME OF THRONES SPOILERS! Don’t read this if you haven’t seen the latest episode!!
If you weren’t paying close enough attention, you perhaps didn’t recognize that Varys had been trying to poison Daenerys via the little girl who reported that Daenerys wasn’t eating. When we next see the Mother of Dragons, looking exhausted and physically ill, that’s the cue that she’s being poisoned by degrees, through her food.
The poison in her system is what drives her mad and spurs her fiery revenge.
While viewers are quick to point out the speed and broad strokes of this season’s episodes, they MISSED the big point of this episode. It’s NOT that Varys was right. It’s that Varys, in poisoning Daenerys, created a self-fulfilling prophesy. He turned her into the Mad Queen he had feared.
ADDITIONAL THOUGHTS: Remember the phrase “Mad as a Hatter?” Or the Mad Hatter in Alice in Wonderland? Hat makers really did go crazy. The chemicals used in hat-making included mercurous nitrate, used in curing felt. Prolonged exposure to the mercury vapors caused mercury poisoning. The same thing happened to Daenerys.
And a chilling final thought: Poisoning was Varys’ favorite way of killing. Is it possible he was also responsible for the first Mad King? That would bring the series full circle.
