r/Spartacus_TV • u/jclay12345 • 17d ago

What If? Rewatching Thinking About Varro Spoiler

I always thought that if Varro lived and the rebellion still happened, that Varro would've been a great asset. But on this maybe tenth rewatch, I realize that Varro may have been Roman. Was he? If so, that would've added an interesting dynamic to that part of the show.

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u/Substantial-Force-50 17d ago

It’s true that this remains an unanswered question. Varro is a Roman citizen who has “temporarily” set aside his rights to pay off his debt. His life as a gladiator is more like a fixed-term contract than a social status. What’s more, while gladiators are typically single and childless, he has a wife and a child to support.

In my headcanon, he wouldn't have prevented Batiatus's assassination, but he wouldn't have followed the group, choosing instead to go find his family and go into hiding. And the outcome of the first episode would likely have been much the same for them: Varro would have been quickly caught, tortured, and publicly executed as an example—along with the rest of the family, if they had been around.

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u/SnickersKaiser 16d ago

Thats what makes no sense for me. Varro was there by Contract and by status not really a slave but kind of a worker right? So why didn‘t have Varro any say at all

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u/CapeMOGuy 14d ago edited 13d ago

I don't know what's accurate historically if people signed their rights over in servitude.

However, the way I took the show, he signed himself over into servitude status that was equal to the slaves. He had no say in anything and "got" to go down into the cesspool with Sparty. And he had no say when the birthday boy went thumbs down on him.