Game Of Thrones: 10 Most Believable Fan Theories

Ned Stark is still alive, Varys is a merman, and Roose Bolton is an immortal being who steals the skin of his heirs. 

They're just some of the craziest theories fans have cooked up for Game of Thrones, or the book series it's based on, A Song of Ice and Fire. While they're almost certainly never going to come true, it does show the extent to which this world, so vividly created by George R.R. Martin, has been poured over for hidden meanings and secret identities. 

Not all of the theories are crazy; in fact, quite a few of them make a lot of sense, especially when you really begin to dive into the astonishing amount of thought and details put into them. Not everyone is who they say the are, and not everything as it seems. 

By now pretty much everyone has heard of R=L=J, which posits that Jon Snow isn't Ned Stark's bastard but instead the son of Rhaegar Targaryen and Lyanna Stark. You can read more about it here (and here), and by this point it's not so much a theory as it as a plot point waiting to be confirmed. 

There are many others besides that though, which are just as well thought out and would have similarly major consequences if they're true. With potential spoilers, these are the most believable fan theories from the world of Westeros and beyond. 

Varys operates in the shadows, the Spider spinning his webs and attracting little birds to spill their secrets, which he uses to suit his own ends. But what exactly are his own ends? 

The character he's most alike, Littlefinger, clearly wants power and will play everyone and anyone to get it. Varys, however, does not seem to want power. He says he wants to help the people, and bring peace and order to the realm, but is that really all he's doing? 

Since book/season 1 we have known that he and Illyrio Mopatis have had some secret plot cooking, which we've seen more of in the way the eunuch smuggled Tyrion out of King's Landing, and set him on the path to meeting Daenerys Targaryen. He also helped warn the Mother of Dragons about King Robert sending assassins after her, while it was Illyrio who arranged her marriage to Khal Drogo and sent her the dragon eggs.

However, also in the books it seems that Varys is backing Aegon, the man claiming to be Rhaegar Targaryen's presumed dead son, to claim the Iron Throne. Then, when Kevan Lannister is doing his best to keep order in the Seven Kingdoms, the Spider murders him. 

It seems clear that despite what he says, Varys wants to spread chaos throughout Westeros, in order to prepare for a Targaryen invasion, and has been plotting this ever since Robert's Rebellion. As it stands this is Dany in the show, and Aegon in the books, although the why of his steadfast Targaryen support still isn't completely obvious.