Cersei Lannister famously said in Season 1 of Game of Thrones, “When you play the game of thrones, you win or you die”. Those who play the game see the precariousness of their lives as they struggle to remain in power. There is no better symbol for power in the show than the Iron Thrown, and no character who wants power more than Lord Petyr Baelish.

An excerpt from Season 3, Episode 6, “The Climb”:

Lord Varys: A thousand blades, taken from the hands of Aegon’s fallen enemies, forged in the fiery breath of Balerion the Dread.

Lord Baelish: There aren’t a thousand blades, there aren’t even 200. I’ve counted.

Varys: Huh, I’m sure you have. Ugly old thing.

Baelish: Yet it has a certain appeal.

Varys: The Lysa Arryn of chairs; shame you had to settle for your second choice.

Baelish: Early days, my friend. It is flattering, really—you feeling such dread at the prospect of me getting what I want.

Varys: Thwarting you has never been my primary ambition, I promise you, although, who doesn’t like to see their friends fail, now and then?

Baelish: You’re so right. For instance, when I thwarted your plans to give Sansa Stark to the Tyrells, if I’m going to be honest, I did feel an unmistakable sense of enjoyment there. But your confidante, the one who fed you information about my plans, the one you swore to protect, you didn’t bring her any enjoyment. And she didn’t bring me any enjoyment. She was a bad investment on my part. Luckily, I have a friend wants to try something new, something daring, and he was so grateful to me for providing this fresh experience.

Varys: I did what I did for the good of the realm. 

Baelish: The realm? Do you know what the realm is? It’s the thousand blades of Aegon’s enemies, a story we agree to tell each other over and over, ‘til we forget that it’s a lie.

Varys: But do we have left, once we abandon the lie? Chaos, a gaping pit waiting to swallow us whole. 

Baelish: Chaos isn’t a pit. Chaos is a ladder. Many who try to climb it fail, and never get to try again. The fall breaks them. And some are given a chance to climb, but they refuse. They cling to the realm, or the God’s, or love. Illusions. Only the ladder is real. The climb is all there is.

This conversation takes place in the throne room, where Varys enters to find Petyr Baelish sitting, admiring the Iron Throne. The beginning of the conversation has an air of lightheartedness, as Varys teases Baelish about his ambitious nature, but quickly turns ugly when Baelish quips back about seeing friends fail, focusing first on Varys’ failed attempt to marry Sansa off to an ally, before discreetly revealing that he knows about Ros, Varys’ spy within his service, alluding to having her killed in a gruesome manner. Varys, clearly troubled by Baelish’s words, asserts that his actions were for the good of the realm, implying that Baelish’s actions were self-serving. Baelish scoffs at the notion that the “realm” is anything more than a lie to keep from falling into existential despair. This lie is one that Varys values, as once it is gone, all that remains is “chaos, a gaping pit waiting to swallow us whole”. This brings us to the climax of the episode, where Baelish counters that chaos is not so much a pit as it is a ladder, allowing those ambitious enough to rise to the top, stating “Only the ladder is real. The climb is all there is”. During this scene, the conversation between Varys and Baelish is laid over imagery of Joffrey, who we now know to be the recipient of the spy Ros, coolly admiring Ros’ body stung up from a bedpost by her wrists, her body riddled with arrows from his cross bow, as well as a tearful Sansa as she watches Baelish’s ship sail away along with her hopes of ever escaping the capitol. As Baelish gives his final line about the climb, the scene transitions to Jon Snow heaving himself over the top of the Wall, exhausted from The Climb.

The subtleties of the scene can best be understood by analyzing the literary devices being used. Each writing, acting, and directing choice was deliberate; by examining those choices, we can better understand the scene and the episode as a whole. The lighthearted tone at the start of the conversation was unmistakable, but it wasn’t genuine. Both characters were well aware of the nature of their relationship. The use of disingenuous niceties can be seen in all interactions at King’s Landing, conveying the complexity of communication in such a dangerous place. In this scene in particular, the lighthearted tone masks the sinister turn the conversation is about to take before it is revealed. The imagery of Joffrey admiring Ros’ corpse and Sansa watching Baelish’s ship depart overlaid with Baelish’s monologue trigger a sense of horror in the viewer. While this horror is not uncommon when watching Game of Thrones, the image of Ros’ strung up, arrow filled body filled me with a much deeper horror than I had experienced when watching the show, at least the first time I saw it. In combination with Baelish’s speech, the imagery of this scene reveal just how far Baelish is willing to go to climb Chaos’ ladder, and how little remorse for who he throws back into the pit on his way to the top.

The metaphors given by Varys and Baelish in this scene are very telling of their characters. For Varys, chaos is an unescapable pit, and his notion of the Realm is his solace that he has a purpose within the world. Varys sees himself as serving the Realm and preventing it from being swallowed by Chaos’ pit. Baelish sees opportunity within chaos; while others fight each other amidst the chaos, Baelish uses their distraction to climb the ladder, often creating even more chaos to serve his own ambition. The Iron Thrown becomes a metonymy for power. As there is nothing Petyr Baelish desires more in the world, he sees the Throne as a symbol for what he can achieve if he climbs to the top of Chaos’s ladder. This is why he sits for hours looking at it, counting the blades of Aegon’s fallen enemies. This lust for power will eventually be his downfall, but not before he sacrifices countless others to the pit on his climb to the top.

The subtleties of this scene can be unpacked by analyzing the tone, imagery, and symbolism at play. This scene isn’t one of the most important for story development, but it is for character development. Juxtaposing the perspectives of Varys and Baelish, this scene uncovers the nature of two of the main players of the Game of Thrones, as well as their motivations and intentions. Above all else, this scene reveals just how villainous Baelish is, setting the stage for Little Finger’s climb to power.