Major Varrish
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Overview
Major Burton Varrish is Basgiath’s vice commandant in the Riders Quadrant, brought in to tighten discipline after Aetos claims the quadrant has grown lax. His record already includes three consecutive prisoner deaths during interrogations, making his arrival a threat as well as an administrative change.
Varrish is Solas’s rider, and his public introduction at Basgiath links him to the deadly authority of the one-eyed Orange Daggertail. After Tairn drives Solas off, Varrish directs open hatred toward Violet.
Varrish dies during Violet’s rescue from the brig after Dain stabs him, Xaden binds him with shadows, and Violet drives a dagger through his heart with Xaden’s help.
Aetos later tries to blame Xaden for Varrish’s death, but Violet publicly claims the killing herself, and Dain privately says he shares responsibility for it.
Appearance
Varrish is introduced in a perfectly pressed dress uniform with perfectly combed black hair and shined boots. His polish matches the severity of his new command post.
Personality and Behavior
Varrish smiles cruelly and appraises Violet’s daggers and physical fragility on arrival, giving his discipline an immediately personal edge.
When Solas burns cadets during the first-year assembly, Varrish is unfazed and recasts the deaths as a lesson about riders continuing to earn their leathers. His response treats lethal force as discipline rather than disaster.
Interrogation is Varrish’s stated area of expertise. When standard interrogation protocol fails to break Violet’s squad quickly enough, he takes visible pleasure in their condition and escalates the method.
Relationships
As vice commandant, Varrish answers only to Panchek on discipline while the executive commandant continues handling operations. His authority places Violet and the other riders directly under his disciplinary reach.
Varrish moves in Aetos’s orbit after Aetos pressures Violet, keeping him aligned with the new command pressure on Violet and Xaden.
Solas is Varrish’s bonded dragon, a one-eyed Orange Daggertail. Their bond makes Varrish the rider attached to Solas’s violence at Basgiath.
Varrish fixates on Andarna’s absence from maneuvers and repeatedly pressures Violet to produce the little golden dragon. He questions the suspicious nature of Violet’s feathertail bond, invokes command structure, and tracks Andarna’s missed appearances as grounds for discipline.
Varrish teaches or directs Dain in developing his classified retrocognition and pressures him to use it on Violet. Dain’s refusal turns the interrogation against Varrish’s plan.
Varrish’s interrogation of Violet is also a trap for Xaden. He calls Violet the tool rather than the prize and expects Xaden to break Codex and leave his post to reach her.
Though Varrish is dead, places and sensations that resemble the interrogation chamber still trigger Violet’s memory of his torture. The hidden spiral stairwell beneath the administration building brings his words back to her mind.
Abilities and Skills
Varrish’s classified signet sees weaknesses rather than people. Once Violet is cut off from power, he identifies her weaknesses as the people she loves, including Rhiannon, her squad, Mira, her dragons, and Xaden.
Important Events
Varrish turns Andarna’s absence from maneuvers into a forced lightning session for Violet, supervising while Carr orders repeated strikes. He ignores warnings that Violet may burn out and says Violet and Tairn will be indispensable once they come to heel.
When Varrish attempts another punishment over Andarna’s absence, Tairn attacks Solas and forces Varrish to admit that humans have no authority to summon dragons. Varrish apologizes on his knees to Violet and both her dragons, but he leaves with bitter hatred and continues searching her before leave.
On the day Violet expects to go on leave, Varrish helps intercept her with Xaden, threatens her under his chain of command, and uses the possibility of repeated punishment to force Xaden to stand down. After standard interrogators fail to break Violet’s squad quickly enough, Varrish takes over, brings in Dain to use his classified retrocognition, and when Dain refuses, punches Violet’s injured shoulder and has Nolon mend her so the torture can continue.
Varrish coordinates Violet’s real capture after Nolon drugs her and uses the stolen Lyra journal to question her about the breached royal ward, her helpers, and her interest in a First Six journal. When she refuses to answer, he begins torturing her in the brig and plans to keep using Nolon to repair the damage.
During the rescue, Dain stabs Varrish, and Xaden prevents Dain from finishing him by binding Varrish to the chair with shadows. Violet is too weak to complete the killing alone, so Xaden wraps his hand around hers and helps her stab Varrish through the heart.
Aetos accuses Xaden of murdering Varrish in cold blood, but Violet rejects that accusation in front of him by saying she killed Varrish. Dain privately adds that Violet struck the final blow but that he killed Varrish too.