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“ | Once a horse is broken to the saddle, any man can mount him. Once a beast’s been joined to a man, any skinchanger can slip inside and ride him. Orell was withering inside his feathers, so I took the eagle for my own. But the joining works both ways, warg. Orell lives inside me now, whispering how much he hates you. And I can soar above the Wall, and see with eagle eyes. | „ |
~ Varamyr to Jon Snow. |
Varamyr Sixskins is a minor antagonist in the A Song of Ice and Fire novel series. He also serves as the protagonist of the prologue of the fifth book, A Dance with Dragons. He is a skinchanger of the Free Folk who was part of the army of Mance Rayder.
Biography[]
Early Life[]
Varamyr was born a month premature, and as such was very fragile, was not believed to survive the harsh conditions beyond the Wall, and was often ill. The baby was named "Lump" by his sister Meha. Lump was just the boy's temporary "milk name", as per tradition of the free folk. Because infant mortality is so common in the harsh environment beyond the Wall, the wildling tribes believe to be bad luck to officially name a child before they reach two years of age.
Due to the boy's weakness, his mother waited until he was four to name him properly, by which time it was too late and everyone in his village only called him Lump. By then, Lump had a younger brother, who had been given the milk name Bump by Meha. Unlike his older brother, Bump was healthy, more vigorous, and showed promise to grow strong, causing Lump to grow resentful and envious of him. What made it worse was that Lump had to keep his own milk name, whilst his mother decided she would name Bump after the two boys' father, as soon as he would reach the age of three.
When he was six, Lump skinchanged into one of his family's three dogs (Loptail, Sniff, or the Growler) and killed his little brother, who was three days short his third nameday. Lump's father found the dogs sniffing around Bump's body and, not knowing which one killed his son, put down all three with an axe. Loptail, who was the oldest, came to Lump's father as soon as he was called by him. Right before the man killed Loptail, Lump skinchanged into the dog and thus felt his father splitting Loptail's skull. That was the first time Varamyr felt death, and was the first of his multiple "deaths" in other animals' bodies. When the dog died, Lump's reaction in his human body was a scream, which informed his parents he was a warg, which is the term used to describe skinchangers who enter the bodies of wolves and dogs, and other canine creatures. As a skinchanger, Lump could no longer stay in his village and his father meant to force him out. The boy would forever resent how his mother only wept for Bump, but not for him after he was driven away from home. He would also been haunted by the village's woods witch who assured his mother that Bump was with the old gods of earth and trees then. Two days after Bump's death, Lump's father dragged him through the woods until he came to an elderly, tall, grim, and rough warg and hunter named Haggon, who informed Lump that he belonged with his own kind.
After his family abandoned him, Lump was raised by Haggon for years, and was eventually introduced to a tribe of skinchangers. Haggon taught the boy how to skinchange and how to live in the ways of the forest and its basic survival skills. He instructed him the differences between animals and which were better and how to survive, listing each animal's strengths and weaknesses. According to Haggon's teachings, dogs are the easiest to bond with, as they live so close to humans that they are almost human themselves. As such, a warg connection with a dog does not change a skinchanger's life much and they can continue living without problems about becoming more animal than human. Warging into dogs was compared to wear clothes; the older they become, the softer and easier to wear are. To the dogs, it is no different than being shaped to accept an invisible collar. Both owner and beast get used to each other in harmony. Wolves are harder than dogs, as no man can truly tame a wolf. Haggon taught Lump that "wolves and women wed for life", in the case of female skinchangers. The wolf becomes part of his warg, and both man and animal change. Haggon advised Lump to leave certain beasts alone, such as cats, whom he considered vain and cruel, always ready to turn on the skinchanger. Elk and deer were prey, thus if a man wore their skins for too long, they would inevitably become shy and cowards, even if they were the bravest person in the world. Haggon told Lump, "some skins you never want to wear, boy", when referring to bears, boars, badgers, and weasels, telling him he would not like what he would become as an affected person. But the worst of the lot were birds, in Haggon's opinion, for making humans forget to like the earth. If a skinchanger spends too much time in the sky and clouds, they will never want to come down again. Haggon said he had known skinchangers who tried hawks, owls, and ravens, and ended up spending their time just sitting and staring at the sky as humans.
Lump used to dream of a day when bards would sing about him and pretty girls would kiss him. He had promised himself that he would become the new King-Beyond-the-Wall. Haggon also taught him that the world beyond the Wall (to the wildlings "beyond the Wall" is south of it) is not meant for skinchangers, where the "kneelers" of the green lands are known to hunt them down to kill them, while the free folk, despite fearing skinchangers, honor them as well. Yet at the same time, it was Haggon that caused Lump to develop an interest for the green lands, where it is not always snowing all year. Haggon was a friend of the Night's Watch and often traded with the black brothers, favoring Eastwatch-by-the-Sea over Castle Black, as the former is the place where many ships from various places in the world come. The Night's Watch always welcomed the news of the free folk's life that Haggon had for them. When Lump was around ten, Haggon brought him along during one of his trading trips to Eastwatch, and the boy witnessed various ships at the fort, with sailors from different ports exchanging unique goods from the Seven Kingdoms and the lands of Essos beyond the narrow sea. It was that day that Lump began to dream of living in the green lands south of the Wall.
When Lump was ten, Haggon had taken him to a gathering between skinchangers, where he introduced him to them. They all had their own specific animal each. The majority of the skinchangers were wargs, as wolves and dogs were the most common choice of animal. Lump, however, found those with other animals more unique, stranger, and fascinating. He met Borroq with his boar, Orell with his eagle, Briar with his shadowcat, and Grisella with her goat. Both Grisella and Briar are long dead in present day. Always at the age of ten, Lump named himself Varamyr.
Haggon also believed in certain rules that he taught to his community. He called both skinchanging into mating animals and into another human an "abomination", a word that would always haunt Varamyr, who never had much respect for such traditions, growing to resent all of Haggon's rules. He was also taught about a skinchanger's "second life" after their death, in which they enter the body of their beast, and their consciousness (or called spirit) still lives within it. However, Haggon, a few weeks prior his own death, told Varamyr that every day the person's memory and identity fade, and even the beast stops feeling the connection with the skinchanger, returning an ordinary animal, until there is nothing human left in it and "only the beast remains".
During the days Varamyr was calling himself Varamyr Threeskins, Haggon was dying, but wished to live his second life through his own wolf and long-time partner, Greyskin. Instead, the resentful Varamyr repaid him for everything he did by killing him completely. He took over control of Greyskin and forced Haggon from his body, preventing him from ever having his second life and letting him die naturally. While in the wolf's skin, Varamyr ate Haggon's heart and drank his blood. He started to call himself Varamyr Fourskins then. As Greyskin was old too, he did not long outlive his old master and died by natural causes as well.
As years passed, Varamyr died eight more times while wearing the skins of other creatures. The once sickly and unpromising boy became a powerful warlord of the free folk, Varamyr Sixskins, known to ride into battle on the back of a 13-foot tall female snow bear. He eventually attempted to find his parents, to tell them that their Lump had then become the great Varamyr Sixskins, but by the time he located them, both were already dead, their bodies burned.
Varamyr was the leader of the wildling village for skinchangers, living in a hall of moss, mud, and hewn logs, which had been Haggon's before he died. He was known as a lord, with a dozen villages paying him homage and bringing him gifts. According to Varamyr himself, he was living like a king by the standards of his people. He was dreaded by many, and became one of the greatest wildling chieftains, on the same league as the likes of Styr and Tormund Giantsbane, and fearsome raiders such as Alfyn Crowkiller, the Weeper, the Lord of Bones, Harma Dogshead, and more. Varamyr also defied his mentor's rules against being an "abomination", as he skinchanged into mating animals as well, including often slipping into the skin of the female wolf Sly while One Eye mounted her, whenever she was in heat. He also warged into any of his wolves to taste raw human flesh, which tasted rich and sweat, like the meat of any other prey, tasting much better to the wolf than to the human.
Anytime he came to desire a woman from the villages, he would have his shadowcat stalk the women until they came to him, whether they wanted it or not, and then they were forced to have sex with Varamyr. If someone, like a relative, spouse, or friend, tried to rescue the woman, Varamyr would kill him, and a few times that happened, when instead of the desired women, their loved ones rushed to Varamyr's home in the attempt to kill him, only for them to meet that fate at Varamyr's hands. However, Varamyr claimed not to harm the women and only took a hank of hair from each before letting them head back to their homes again. Some of the women became pregnant, but all of Varamyr's children turned out to be small and weak, just as he was as a child, and none of them showed to have the ability to skinchange, despite Varamyr's wish to have a successor to name.
At some point, Mance Rayder, who was attempting to unite all the free folk tribes, as other past Kings-Beyond-the-Wall had done before him, offered an alliance with Varamyr. Varamyr agreed and became a part of Mance's huge host assembling at the mountain range called the Frostfangs, planning to eventually march to the Wall to conquer it, in order to flee from the Others before the arrival of the next winter. Varamyr was often seated at Mance's right side.
Varamyr's huge female snow bear hates him, and rages every time he skinchanges into her or climbs upon her back.
A Storm of Swords[]
After the black brother and steward Jon Snow killed Orell at the Skirling Pass, the eagle kept stalking and opposing him ever since, being the reason why Qhorin Halfhand's party was found by Rattleshirt's warband, and even attacking Jon and scarring him at the Fist of the First Men. At some point, Varamyr takes Orell's eagle, which still maintains a remnant of Orell's consciousness inside of it. Since Orell was killed by Jon, a strong hatred for the boy steward persists in the eagle, meaning Orell is living his "second life" within the animal.
Mance Rayder launches a wildling invasion, sending war bands all along the entire Wall and near several castles of the Night's Watch. Varamyr remains as part of his main host, which includes thousands of thousands of non-combatants, warriors, children, and many giants with their mammoths, all gathered to flee from the threat in the north. Mance's host eventually arrives at its destination, which is Castle Black's Wall gate, and makes camp at the edge of the Haunted Forest. After days of multiple fights and attacking waves from the wildling parties that Mance sent ahead - with major battles being the Attack on Castle Black led by Styr and the Fight at the Bridge of Skulls led by the Weeper - Mance and his army continue their assault by attacking Castle Black again in the Battle Beneath the Wall. Varamyr uses his eagle to scout for Mance, reporting anything developing along the Wall, in case the Night's Watch's men from the other two garrisoned castles are making a surprise charge to rescue Castle Black's garrison.
After the wildlings are repelled once more, days later the Night's Watch sends its envoy and turncloak to the wildlings, Jon Snow, to negotiate with Mance, the latter having requested a parley. Varamyr is sitting outside Mance's tent, surrounded by his beasts as he is inside Orell's eagle and keeping an eye on Castle Black and the Wall from the sky. He encounters Jon when Tormund escorts the steward in the free folk camp, and immediately feels the hatred coming from the part of Orell now inside him. As Orell hated his killer Jon, Varamyr hates Jon as well. He instantly recognizes Jon as another warg the moment he sees the silent direwolf Ghost by his side. The raider knows a skinchanger can always sense one of their own. He desires to have the white direwolf for his own main partner, so he might even live his second life through the beast. He feels that the gift of skinchanging is strong in Jon Snow, but the boy is completely untrained and untaught. Varamyr can also feel Jon is still fighting his nature as a warg, when he should glory in it instead. Varamyr tells Jon that he knows the latter is a warg, informs him that he is now using Orell's eagle, and tells him that Orell hates him even now.
With his eagle, Varamyr takes early notice of enemies approaching from the east, reporting to Mance that they are mounted rangers. While Mance and Jon are treating in the former's family's tent, Varamyr continues to scout above Castle Black and the northern lands around the Wall. He alerts his people that the force of mounted rangers from Eastwatch-by-the-Sea are coming for them, interrupting the parley and prompting Mance to rush outside with his commanders. Presumably at this point, while Jon is held inside Mance's tent, Varamyr tells Mance that he wants to kill Jon so he can claim Ghost for himself, but Mance refuses him. As the enemies from Eastwatch are approaching, Mance's host prepare their defenses, and their forces, both foot and horse, as well as the giants, ride out of the forest to face the rangers.
Only after Mance's main forces are lured outside the edge of the Haunted Forest, Varamyr finds out with Orell's eagle that a larger army of southron knights wearing plate armor are coming from them. Before he can sound the alarm and inform his people about the arrival of King Stannis Baratheon, he is suddenly interrupted with an extreme level of pain that he has never felt before in his life. While still in the eagle's body, Varamyr shrieks like a madman as he feels his own insides catching fire from within. Orell's eagle is burned to death by Melisandre's fire magic, causing Varamyr to go insane for a while and lose control of all his animals. The beasts rampage through the camp, much to the terror of the free folk, especially with the snow bear and the shadowcat. While the shadowcat immediately races into the woods, the snow bear flies into a rage and starts attacking everyone around her, ripping four men apart before getting killed by a spear.
While Mance's forces and Stannis's combined force of southron knights and rangers from Eastwatch are fighting, Varamyr and all the non-fighters and children begin running away after realizing their side is losing, and they flee within the forest, as warriors also start retreating, whilst many other men, women, and children are getting surrounded by the knights and captured by them, and the giants keep fighting riding their mammoths, until they also retreat last.
A Dance with Dragons[]
The destruction of Mance Rayder's mighty host at the hands of Stannis Baratheon caused the majority of the thousands of gathered wildlings to scatter and disperse in terror in the Haunted Forest, back to the north. Varamyr has lost control of all of his animals except his three wolves, as wolves and wargs share a lifelong bond. The wolves are somewhere else, far away in the forest from where Varamyr is, but thanks to the bond, he still skinchanges into one them every night, leading their hunts. The weakened and shivering Varamyr flees with a small group of other free folk; the spearwife Thistle, two twins, a big man, and a youth. He hides his real identity and introduces himself to them as Haggon. None of his group have any idea he is the mighty Varamyr Sixskins and only think he is a weak starving man.
Wherever they run in the Haunted Forest, the numerous scattered groups of wildlings often meet each other, all of them reporting different news and plans, and going to their own destinations beyond the Wall. The free folk are frightened of heading back to the Wall, convinced that Stannis will kill them all with his southron knights and the Night's Watch. The wildlings believe that anyone who has been captured and could not flee is likely dead already, including Mance himself. All the wildlings agree that Mance has fallen, regardless if he was killed or captured. So now thousands of them are running and starving in the woods, and while some of them talk about returning to their abandoned villages, others wish to attempt a second assault upon Castle Black's gate, but the majority are lost and have no idea what to do. Wherever they go, Varamyr's group find trails of corpses of their own people, as many died of hunger, some froze to death, others died of sickness. Wildlings are also fighting and killing each other.
Varamyr is stabbed by a boy when he attempts to take a squirrel-skin cloak off the dead body of the boy's mother. Feeling his strength is abandoning him every day, Varamyr is tempted to skinchange into one of his companions, but he is too afraid of the others realizing what is happening and then killing him. Furthermore, he is haunted by his old mentor Haggon and how he used to call such act an "abomination". Eventually, all of Varamyr's group leave him, one by one, except the old woman named Thistle, causing Varamyr to bitterly regret not trying to take the body of one of them.
Thistle treats Varamyr's wound, but he knows he is dying anyway. As he laments how the boy knifed him over a mere squirrel-skin cloak, Thistle tells him she saw the boy's mother was killed by a savage (a member of a free folk tribe seen as savage by the other tribes). The spearwife tells Varamyr that the free folk are all doomed, giants included, but promises that so is the Night's Watch, as she is convinced none of these groups will survive the Others. Varamyr is still conflicted about whether skinchanging into another human to take over their body or not, and also worries he does not have the strength.
One day, a rider gallops through the woods, shouting to any wildlings within the trees that they should all head to the river Milkwater, as the Weeper is gathering warriors to attempt to cross the Bridge of Skulls once more, and this time attack and take the Shadow Tower from the Night's Watch's garrison stationed there. Many of the free folk follow the rider, but many more do not join. Later, a dour warrior goes from cookfire to cookfire, telling all survivors to head north and take refuge in the valley of the Thenns, and hundreds follow him. Varamyr, however, wonders why would anyone think the valley of Thenn is a safe place from the Others, when the Thenns themselves had to flee the land and join Mance's host. Hundreds of people, with the numbers growing more each day (will become thousands later) follow the woods witch Mother Mole to head east to the coast, to the abandoned ghost town Hardhome. Mother Mole cried out that the sea is the free folk's salvation, and numerous people are desperate enough to follow her. Varamyr wishes to join them, but he feels so weak that he knows he would die before reaching the coastline. Many others are simply losing themselves in the woods to die. In the nights, some places are invaded and haunted by the Others.
Varamyr and Thistle wander on their own in the Haunted Forest, until they stop at an abandoned village. Thistle puts the dying Varamyr in a hut, with snow to drink as water, and tells him to wait there, as she is going to hunt in the woods to try find some food for both of them. A few days pass, and Thistle does not return to the village, leaving Varamyr to shiver and starve there. He spends those days reflecting about his life and deeds, while in the nights he hunts as part of his pack of wolves in the forest. One night, while in One Eye's body, he leads the pack in chasing down and killing a party of wildlings for food.
Still haunted by the "ghosts" of Haggon and his little brother Bump, by the words of the woods witch about Bump being with the gods, and bitterly thinking how his mother never wept for him like she did for Bump, Varamyr reflects on his actions, such as how he violated Haggon's rules many times by skinchanging into animals while they were mating or eating human flesh. He justifies himself while speaking to no one present, as if Haggon were there with him and judging him. He thinks about how Haggon taught him so much and how much Varamyr had resented his rules. He laments that Mance should have let him take the direwolf Ghost from Jon Snow, as he believes his consciousness living within the beast would have been a second life worthy of a king. He reflects how his choice to follow Mance led him to end up dying in the abandoned village now, and regrets listening to him, thinking how he should have tore him to pieces with his snow bear.
Desperate, Varamyr starts shouting for Thistle during the night, after around three days of waiting. He receives a familiar howl in reponse, which is that of his wolf One Eye, who is distant, yet nearby the abandoned village and slowly approaching him along with the other wolves of the pack, Stalker and Sly. As he lays dying, Varamyr reacts with excitement at the wolves returning to him, then goes back to think how he would like to skinchange into Thistle, in the attempt to live a second life, regardless if he would be forced to be an elderly spearwife. He thinks how Haggon would call it an abomination and the "blackest sin of all", and how Mance would have cursed him as well, but both the former is dead and the latter is either also dead or captured, Varamyr reasonates. So if he tries to take Thistle's body, no will ever discover the fact. He decides he will do it, if she comes back.
The cold begins to increase more and more, causing Varamyr's suffering to also increase and him fearing he will die freezing before Thistle returns. He ends up injuring himself again when he drags himself out of the hut to eat snow and to try find abandoned old food left from the villagers. After laying on the snowy ground for a while, he thinks how at least he will able to warg into one of his wolves for his second life, as he feels they are coming closer. He thinks Stalker would suit him better, but he wants the large and fierce wolf, One Eye. He ends up finding himself beneath the village's weirwood heart tree of the old gods, its face staring down at him menacingly. It makes Varamyr think the gods are judging him for all his terrible sins, causing him to reflect on how much he killed, stole, raped, and ate human flesh. He starts justifying himself as he speaks to the gods, claiming it was "the beast" which ate people, not himself who warged into his wolves when they ate their prey.
The whole village is freezing and the wind is slowly rising. Varamyr feels weaker and concludes he is dying from the cold. He falls asleep and dreams of the day he killed his younger brother Bump, recalling his father's wrath, his mother's tears, and his father's three dogs, Loptail, Sniff, and the Growler. Recalling in his dream his first death in Loptail's body and how his father put the dogs down in grief, Varamyr thinks with sadness how those dogs were his friends.
Varamyr's dreaming and reminiscing are interrupted by Thistle shaking him violently and screaming at him wake up, and that they have to go away from the village immediately, saying "there are hundreds of them", and "they're coming". Numb and half-frozen, Varamyr struggles to move, but as soon as he gathers a bit of strength, he skinchanges into Thistle in the attempt to take over her body. She reacts madly, understanding his power and violently twisting, hysterically shrieking at him to get out. Varamyr's shadowcat used to fight him wildly, and his snow bear temporarily went half-mad, but Thistle's reaction is much worse. He briefly manages to take over her body, enjoying the strength and energy of it, until he suddenly feels Thistle's teeth snapping and biting off her own tongue. Varamyr fails to control Thistle's hands as she ends up tearing her own eyes out, causing Varamyr to feel both pain and her madness, and be expelled from her mind. Maddened and blinded, she continues to move around as if she were dancing, ripping at her clothes, with a bloody mouth and weeping blood.
Feeling himself back to his own freezing wounded body beneath the heart tree of weirwood, Varamyr dies, his last thoughts about himself becoming the earth with the gods, as part of the belief in the old gods. Despite freezing to death, Varamyr still finds himself able to think and look around. He immediately understands that his mind has managed to live and he is now living his second life inside One Eye's body. As One Eye, he now finds himself on a hill, not too far away from the abandoned village where Varamyr's body lies beneath the heart tree. Varamyr's mind then remembers Thistle, and part of him feels bad for losing his chance to live again as a human, while another part grieves for what he did to her.
The three wolves observe how the unnaturally freezing village has now turned to ice completely. An army of Others and wights is now occupying the wildling settlement. One Eye sees that the wights are both corpses of wildlings and black brothers of the Night's Watch, and some of them are naked and with flesh as white as snow. The cold wind is heavy with the scents of wights, and the pack can smell their dead flesh, dry blood, mold, rot, and urine. Sly starts growling, and the three wolves understand these are not prey, that they are not alive and are just moving, and they do not identify them as human beings. One by one in the distance away, all the wights raise their heads toward the three wolves on the hill. Varamyr's mind in One Eye sees that Thistle has died (either of her wounds, or finished off by the undead) and has now become a wight. The hollow pits where her eyes were not too long before have now two blue lights. With her new magical blue eyes, Thistle stares at One Eye, whose mind understands she sees Varamyr in him. The pack presumably retreat and leave the place.
Later, within the Haunted Forest, One Eye's pack come across multiple corpses of deserters of the Night's Watch (five of the nine mutineers that killed Craster and Lord Commander Jeor Mormont, including the latter's killer Ollo Lophand), who have just been killed by the friendly undead Coldhands. As One Eye, Stalker, and Sly are eating the men's remains, they are encountered by Summer, the direwolf of the warg Bran Stark. Summer, who has Bran inside his body, sees that the pack leader One Eye is not afraid of him, despite the fact the direwolf is twice the wolf's size. Summer and Bran realize that One Eye also has a warg (Varamyr) within him, and they fight. Summer defeats One Eye and makes him submit, along with Stalker and Sly, and takes over the leadership of the pack.
Varamyr's consciousness remains inside One Eye, and along with Sly and Stalker they now follow Summer and are part of Bran Stark's party, with his companions being Meera and Jojen Reed, Hodor, and their guide Coldhands. The three wolves follow the rest in the distance, and Bran still fears them, as they remain wild predators even under Summer's leadership. They all travel to the north-east of the Haunted Forest (some leagues west of Hardhome and the coastline), until they reach a big hill containing the cave of the last greenseer, which is inhabitated by the children of the forest. The wolves and direwolf struggle to find food in the woods, as there are no signs of living things and they keep only coming across countless wights, and in the end the pack resorts to attack and eat the undead. Later, near the cave, Summer, One Eye, Stalker, and Sly find a wight snow bear and fight it. They manage to tear it to pieces and devour it, although the rotten meat still moves while they eat it.
Later on the same year, Tormund Giantsbane leads 3,000 wildlings back to the Wall, where the Night's Watch granted them passage through Castle Black's gate (many giants and mammoths are also allowed to cross via sea through Eastwatch's edge of the Wall). Among them, a rat-faced son of Varamyr is made a hostage of the Night's Watch. While recalling the missing Varamyr with Lord Commander Jon Snow, Tormund comments he was a "vicious little runt". Among the wildling refugees is also Borroq, the skinchanger who used to be part of Haggon's community along with Varamyr and Orell many years ago, and he takes residence at Castle Black with his massive boar.
Trivia[]
- Like many other characters, Varamyr was omitted from the television series Game of Thrones. His manner of talking, nearly murmured voice, skinny appearance, and his attitude toward Jon Snow were given to Orell, who is also a character from the novels.