As a former Decathlete myself, I don't know what the hell Peter Parker is supposed to be doing in Homecoming in D.C., but it sure isn't Academic Decathlon, and I've been reading enough MCU fics lately that I felt the need to make a post about how AD actually works. 

First, though, my credentials to make the argument. 

In high school (I attended in New York State, but not in the city), I did actually participate in Academic Decathlon. We called it AD for short, but AcaDec also works. The site with all of our resources is called DemiDec. 

The movie depiction is just totally wrong, so let me explain how AD works from scratch.

TEAMS

Each team is composed of nine students with alternates. You have to have three students with A-level grades, three students with B-level grades, and three students with C-level grades. All of their scores are tallied at the end, and the school with the highest score wins. Alternates take part in the competition, but their scores don't count. You can have schools without full teams compete, but they're unlikely to win the competition. A school like Midtown probably wouldn't have a full team because it's a competitive STEM school, so they might struggle to find C-average students.

My school always has A and B slots full, but we have trouble finding C-average students willing to participate in the competition (I had a conversation with our coach about this when I saw him the other week, and the problem has persisted since my graduation a few years ago).

Including alternates, our team usually has around ten people. The year we participated, we probably would have won if we had had a full team, but we only had A and B students. The school that won did have a full team, but my team's individual scores meant we won more medals and trophies (more on that later). 

TURNOUT

Typically for the AD competition you have regionals, states, and then nationals. The Academic Decathlon turnout in NYS is small enough that it only merits states, so we don't do regionals. I believe when I went only four or five schools in the entire state competed, and all of them were central/upstate; none of them were from the city. None of the schools that participate, including mine, are particularly competitive or STEM schools like Midtown. 

TOPIC AND EVENTS

It's not a competition in the truest sense of the word, like it's depicted in the movie. There are also no buzzers or yelling out answers.

Academic Decathlon lasts a full day, and it is a full day of testing. As in, paper tests. 

Every year, there's a different topic. For example, the topic the year that I participated was the American Revolutionary War. The competition then revolved around that topic. In 2016, the year that Homecoming takes place, the topic was World War II.  

The competition itself has ten events. Seven are exams. The three that are not are the interview (a set of random structured questions), essay and the speech. The essay is straightforward; you get a time limit (I don't remember how long, somewhere between half an hour and an hour and a half) and a couple of prompts related to the topic to pick from. 

SPEECH

The speech is four minutes long and must be memorized, but unlike any of the other categories it can be on any topic you'd like. If it falls short of or goes over the time limit points are deducted, and it's given in private. For example, my speech explained how the Jacobites could have won the Rebellion of '45, and then I connected that to how if they had won, America would have lost the Revolutionary War. I only connected it to the overall topic because I wanted to. My friend did a speech on some conspiracy with paperclips and an AI takeover of the world, and another teammate did a speech on the Lion King and racism.

INTERVIEW

The interview is a set of structured structured questions. I did mine immediately post-COVID so we did it with our coach and sent in recordings (not typical). You're also graded on appearance and demeanor - i.e., wear a suit and have a firm handshake and you're golden. Before the competition or when you go in, you hand in a resume. 

There are eight basic questions for the interview:

the competition (what event did you find the most challenging/interesting, what would you change, what have you learned, etc.)

preparing for AD (why did you join, how did you and your team prepare, what will you remember most, etc.)

school and extra-curricular activities (favorite subjects, what do you do besides study and lunch, etc. Judges will probably look at resumes and probe for this)

post-high school plans (do you plan to attend college, join the army, go on a religious mission, etc., and if so why) 

long-term goals (what are they? why?)

values (what do you admire in other people, why; what values have most influenced you; did they belong to parents/peers/etc.)

influential figures and role models (person who has most influenced you, person you most resemble, fictional character/historical person who's had an impact, etc.) 

life outside of school (what do you do?)

For the interview it's always good to elaborate. Not ALL of these questions will be asked, but typically each or most of the categories will be represented in the questions. Sometimes judges might ask questions beyond the Basic Eight, but that's more rare. Like odd enigmas (i.e., why is a manhole cover round, political/social issues or current events (i.e. do you think evolution should be taught in schools), and out of the blue (like what is one question you least expected us to ask in the interview). But this is the gist of the interview. 

THE OTHER SEVEN EVENTS

The other seven events are exams. Literature, economics, math, science, social sciences (history), art, and music. Unlike the essay, speech, and interview these are straightforward multiple-choice tests, and they explicitly revolve around the topic.

For example, in 2016 art questions could have been anything from art processes used during World War II to World War II propaganda to European art during the war to American abstract expressionism. Part of the art questions includes memorizing ten or so paintings that they'll show on the screen (you won't see all of them, they pick a couple), and you have to identify them. 

The same goes for music; they play a couple of songs, and you have to know the name. You have to know basic music theory elements, which feature on practically every music exam, and then for 2016 music questions could have been anything from wartime jazz and broadway to wartime performances and composers to music between the wars (including classical, blues, jazz, etc.). 

The lang-lit exam includes a novel everyone has to read, and questions are based off of that. In 2016 the novel was Transit (Anna Segher). The quiz would have included questions on broad themes like women and war and theatres of World War II, the author's biography and the book's reception, religion, loyalty and generosity vs betrayal and abandonment, exile, refugees, and the fate of civilians in wartime, etc.

Math, science, social sciences, and economics are all fairly straightforward, but again in 2016 the questions would have revolved around World War II. 

The six tests are all fifty multiple choice questions. BTW you don't get any reference materials (no cheat sheet, book, etc). 

THE COMPETITION 

So, there you have it. AD is a full day of testing (at rotating host schools in NYS). But what about once the testing is over? 

Scores for the individual schools are revealed, and students can get medals for their performance. There are three types of medals awarded for each event (gold, silver, and bronze) per level (a students, b students, and c students) so nine medals per event. I don't remember what the awards for c students are called, but for a and b students it's honors and scholastic respectively. It goes honors gold, honors silver, honors bronze, scholastic gold, scholastic silver, scholastic bronze, etc. 

You can win multiple medals across the competition, but it should go without saying that you can only win one medal per event. Alternates don't get medals, but each event does have an outstanding alternate award. 

If you win regionals (which some states like NYS might not have depending on attendance) you go to states. The states competition happens in March. Nationals happen later in the school year and rotates between states. I believe this year and last year nationals were held in California and Iowa. 

STUDY MATERIALS 

The site DemiDec provides all the resources for teams to study. We fundraise in order to buy the materials (which is how AD gets its money to host events and such). Materials include the Novel Resource, practice exams for each event, a Crash Kit (condensed study guide) for each event, a Power Guide (another type of condensed study guide) for each event, DemiDrills (shorter quizzes), etc. Materials from past years can be accessed and downloaded on DemiDec. 

WHAT WOULD HAPPEN IN HOMECOMING?

1. As freshmen, Peter, MJ, and Ned would probably be alternates because older students would already be established team members. If there were open spots on the team, then they would take tests (usually based off of past questions) given by the coach and team captain and the kid with the highest score would get the spot on the team as a competitor. 
2. Any homecoming dance, like in Homecoming, would actually happen before an AD competition, since states are in March and nationals are later in the school year.

 

Yes, I know. People think Varys is a Blackfyre.

He shaves his hair like Aegon IV, he's invested in the Young Griff plot, a Targaryen is easy to hide in Lys where people have the Valyrian look, the sorcerer picked Varys because he wanted royal blood (looking at you, Mel) and so on. 

But there's no real contextual evidence to support Varys being a Blackfyre.

People want Varys to be a Blackfyre because of the Young Griff plot. But whether Young Griff is Aegon or fAegon Varys doesn't need to be a Blackfyre. People want him to be a Blackfyre to give him a reason to be involved with Illyrio, but we already have a reason: they're friends. 

I've been rereading the books and came to a new conclusion. 

Varys isn't a Blackfyre. 

VARYS IS THE LAST LORD OF HOUSE TARBECK.

Especially for fans more familiar with the show than the books, House Tarbeck is a name that has been almost forgotten in the shadow of House Reyne and Castamere. Bear with me as I provide evidence and then justification.

The following quotes are the two most essential conversations in ASOIAF that let us understand Varys's background.  

>The eunuch paused a moment. “My lord, you once asked me how it was that I was cut.” 

>“Nor do I, but . . .” This pause was longer than the one before, and when Varys spoke again his voice was different somehow. “I was an orphan boy apprenticed to a traveling folly. Our master owned a fat little cog and we sailed up and down the narrow sea performing in all the Free Cities and from time to time in Oldtown and King’s Landing. 

>"One day at Myr, a certain man came to our folly. After the performance, he made an offer for me that my master found too tempting to refuse. I was in terror. I feared the man meant to use me as I had heard men used small boys, but in truth the only part of me he had need of was my manhood. He gave me a potion that made me powerless to move or speak, yet did nothing to dull my senses. With a long hooked blade, he sliced me root and stem, chanting all the while. I watched him burn my manly parts on a brazier. The flames turned blue, and I heard a voice answer his call, though I did not understand the words they spoke. 

>“The mummers had sailed by the time he was done with me. Once I had served his purpose, the man had no further interest in me, so he put me out. When I asked him what I should do now, he answered that he supposed I should die. To spite him, I resolved to live. I begged, I stole, and I sold what parts of my body still remained to me. Soon I was as good a thief as any in Myr, and when I was older I learned that often the contents of a man’s letters are more valuable than the contents of his purse.” 

>“Yet I still dream of that night, my lord. Not of the sorcerer, nor his blade, nor even the way my manhood shriveled as it burned. I dream of the voice. The voice from the flames. Was it a god, a demon, some conjurer’s trick? I could not tell you, and I know all the tricks. All I can say for a certainty is that he called it, and it answered, and since that day I have hated magic and all those who practice it. If Lord Stannis is one such, I mean to see him dead.” 

>When he was done, they rode in silence for a time. Finally Tyrion said, “A harrowing tale. I’m sorry.” 

>- Varys and Tyrion, ACOK (Tyrion X) 

This is the second longest conversation we have about Varys's background, although it is between Illyrio and Tyrion rather than coming from Varys himself. 

>“How is it that the Spider became so dear to you? 

>“We were young together, two green boys in Pentos. 

>“Varys came from Myr.” 

>“So he did. I met him not long after he arrived, one step ahead of the slavers. By day he slept in the sewers, by night he prowled the rooftops like a cat. I was near as poor, a bravo in soiled silks, living by my blade. Perhaps you chanced to glimpse the statue by my pool? Pytho Malanon carved that when I was six-and-ten. A lovely thing, though now I weep to see it.” 

>“Age makes ruins of us all. I am still in mourning for my nose. But Varys …” 

>“In Myr he was a prince of thieves, until a rival thief informed on him. In Pentos his accent marked him, and once he was known for a eunuch he was despised and beaten. Why he chose me to protect him I may never know, but we came to an arrangement. Varys spied on lesser thieves and took their takings. I offered my help to their victims, promising to recover their valuables for a fee. Soon every man who had suffered a loss knew to come to me, whilst city’s footpads and cutpurses sought out Varys … half to slit his throat, the other half to sell him what they’d stolen. We both grew rich, and richer still when Varys trained his mice.” 

>“In King’s Landing he kept little birds.” 

>“Mice, we called them then. The older thieves were fools who thought no further than turning a night’s plunder into wine. Varys preferred orphan boys and young girls. He chose the smallest, the ones who were quick and quiet, and taught them to climb walls and slip down chimneys. He taught them to read as well. We left the gold and gems for common thieves. Instead our mice stole letters, ledgers, charts … later, they would read them and leave them where they lay. Secrets are worth more than silver or sapphires, Varys claimed. Just so. I grew so respectable that a cousin of the Prince of Pentos let me wed his maiden daughter, whilst whispers of a certain eunuch’s talents crossed the narrow sea and reached the ears of a certain king. A very anxious king, who did not wholly trust his son, nor his wife, nor his Hand, a friend of his youth who had grown arrogant and overproud. I do believe that you know the rest of this tale, is that not so?” 

>“Much of it,” Tyrion admitted. “I see that you are somewhat more than a cheesemonger after all.” 

- Illyrio and Tyrion, ADWD (Tyrion II)

So, this is what we know of Varys up until his recruitment by Aerys.

• Grew up a slave orphan in a mummer's troop that went between the FC, KL, and Oldtown 
• Sold to a sorcerer which led to his castration and his utter hatred of magic 
• Sorcerer abandons Varys to die; Varys lives in spite of the sorcerer
• Varys becomes a thief and starts building his reputation
• Varys is kicked out of Myr and ends up in Pentos, where he meets Illyrio
• By Illyrio's admission he and Varys were "young together" in Pentos 
• Aerys recruits Varys after the death of Steffon Baratheon but before Harrenhal, likely c. 278 or more probably c. 279 AC, so several years have passed since he arrived in Pentos

 

Timeline of House Tarbeck:

43 AC: 

• Lord Alyn Tarbeck, m. Jeyne Westerling, "dies with the rebels at the Battle Beneath the God's Eye" (AWOIAF)
• His wife, Jeyne, gives birth to a posthumous Tarbeck son

47 AC

• Jeyne is courted by Tyman Lannister, Lord of Casterly Rock 
• Jeyne marries Maegor I - becomes Queen Jeyne
• Jeyne births a "stillborn monster" and "does not survive the child for long" (AWOIAF); child and Jeyne were poisoned by Tyanna of the Tower

 

130 AC

• Ser Adrian Tarbeck led a Lannister host during the Dance, but the Tarbecks supported both sides in the Dance (AWOIAF)

 

c. 130-134 AC: 

• An unnamed Tarbeck led a host against the Ironborn at Lady Johanna Lannister's will
• He was beheaded, his remains sent to Casterly Rock

 

c. 239 AC 

• Lord Walderan Tarbeck marries Lady Ellyn Reyne, ex-wife of Tion Lannister (AWOIAF)

c. 239-260 AC

• Rise of House Tarbeck; Ellyn uses her Reyne brothers to get gold from Casterly Rock to fund renovations to House Tarbeck and restore the castle (AWOIAF)

260 AC

• War of Ninepenny Kings; Walderan does not answer the call for banners and remains home (AWOIAF)

261 AC (AWOIAF)

• By now Tarbecks and Reynes are two most powerful vassels of House Lannister thanks to Walderan and Ellyn's wedding 
• Tywin demands loans to be repaid; those who could not had to send hostages
• Lord Reyne laughs and refuses to do anything
• Lord Walderan rides to CR, expecting to treat with Lord Tytos (who is terrified of his wife, Ellyn, who had a rivalry with Tytos's wife Jeyne) 
• Tywin puts Walderan in the dungeon 
• Tytos commands Walderan to be released unharmed, apologizes, and forgives his debts 
• Hostage exchange; Walderan freed at Castamere 
• Lannister and Tarbeck feast at CR; vow to be friends forever
• "Late in the year 261 AC, he [Tywin] sent ravens to Castamere and Tarbeck Hall, demanding that Roger and Reynard Reyne and Lord and Lady Tarbeck present themselves at Casterly Rock “to answer for your crimes.”" - AWOIAF, House Lannister Under the Dragons 
• Reynes and Tarbecks revolt 
• Tywin calls banners without his father's leave or informing him
• Tarbecks "broken and butchered" (AWOIAF), LW and sons beheaded, Ellyn and son die when castle collapses under attack from seige engines. Castle burns for a day and a night. Cyrelle and Rohanne sent to Silent Sisters, their husbands beheaded with LW
• Destruction of House Reyne

"Lady Ellyn’s elder daughter, Rohanne, was mother to a three-year-old son, remembered in the songs as “the last Lord Tarbeck.”  The boy disappeared the day of the battle, never to be seen again. Those of a romantic bent believe that he was smuggled from the burning castle in disguise, grew to manhood across the narrow sea, and became a bard famed for his sad ballads. More reliable reports suggest that he was thrown down a well by Ser Amory Lorch, though whether this was done at the behest of Ser Tywin or without his knowledge remains in dispute."

- AWOIAF sample, unabridged

THE TIMELINES PUT TOGETHER, IF VARYS IS THE LAST LORD OF HOUSE TARBECK

258 AC:

• Varys, the unnamed son of Rohanne Tarbeck, is born

261 AC:

• Reyne-Tarbeck revolt
• Both houses decimated
• Varys smuggled to Essos

c. 261-269:

• Varys in slavery in Lys & Myr
• the mummer's troop; going between the FC, KL, and Oldtown

c. 269:

• The sorcerer

c. 269-272:

• Begging, prostitution, and thievery

c. 272:

• Forced out of Myr to Pentos
• Meeting Illyrio

c. 272-278/279:

• Pentos; building spy network and reputation

c. 278/279:

• Aerys brings Varys to KL

TIMELINE JUSTIFICATION

By 269, Varys would have been eleven; young enough for Varys to still be a "boy" as he calls himself when speaking to Tyrion about the sorcerer's ritual. Say Varys spends three years or so perfecting his skills in Myr, before he's pushed out of the city and goes to Pentos. That makes him around fourteen when he meets Illyrio in 272.

We know Aerys brings Varys to the capital before Harrenhal but not until after Steffon and Cassana die, so say he doesn't come to Westeros until 278 or 279 AC. That gives Varys around seven years to build his thieving business with Illyrio and his spy network, and for rumors about his reputation (which would have started in Myr, so ten years of reputation building) to spread to Aerys.

The dates aren't ironclad, because we just don't know a lot about Varys's background, but they work out well enough here.

BEYOND THE TIMELINE:

CONNECTING VARYS TO HOUSE TARBECK WITH TEXTUAL EVIDENCE

>"The eunuch’s apartments were sparse and small, three snug windowless chambers under the north wall."

- Tyrion, ASOS, Tyrion II

Varys is constantly associated with underground places. Castamere was underground.

>"With a long-hooked blade, he sliced me root and stem, chanting all the while. I watched him burn my manly parts on a brazier. The flames turned blue, and I heard a voice answer his call, though I did not understand the words they spoke." 

- Varys, ACOK, Tyrion X

Blue is an oddly specific color for the fire to turn ... and the sigil of House Tarbeck is the seven-pointed star in blue and silver.

The connection to fire, which burned Tarbeck Hall to the ground.

The phrase "sliced me root and stem" means exactly what it means but could also refer to the utter destruction of House Tarbeck and House Reyne. Varys truly is the last lord of House Tarbeck; since he clearly can't have a child, the male line dies with him.

And then there's this quote from ASOS:

>"He [Tywin] had extinguished the proud Reynes of Castamere and the ancient Tarbecks of Tarbeck Hall root and branch when he was still half a boy."

- Tyrion, ASOS, Tyrion III

Root and stem is VERY similar to the phrase root and branch.

>
“I was an orphan boy apprenticed to a traveling folly. Our master owned a fat little cog and we sailed up and down the narrow sea performing in all the Free Cities and from time to time in Oldtown and King’s Landing.”

“Yet I still dream of that night, my lord. Not of the sorcerer, nor his blade, nor even the way my manhood shriveled as it burned. I dream of the voice. The voice from the flames. Was it a god, a demon, some conjurer’s trick? I could not tell you, and I know all the tricks. All I can say for a certainty is that he called it, and it answered, and since that day I have hated magic and all those who practice it. If Lord Stannis is one such, I mean to see him dead.”

- Varys, ACOK Tyrion X

Varys hates magic. So do another group that we know of: the Maesters.

Already we have an in-text connection between Varys and the Faith/the Citadel. GRRM specifically calls out Varys's presence in Oldtown.

House Tarbeck, again, has the seven-pointed star as their sigil. House Tarbeck is also noted to have married into House Osgrey, which is a Reach house. Oldtown is in the Reach.

>"The boy disappeared the day of the battle, never to be seen again."

- AWOIAF Sample, unabridged

When you think of disguises and mummers, you think of Varys.

>"More reliable reports suggest that he was thrown down a well by Ser Amory Lorch, though whether this was done at the behest of Ser Tywin or without his knowledge remains in dispute."

- AWOIAF Sample, Unabridged

Who else was killed by Amory Lorch?

RHAENYS TARGARYEN.

As we know, Varys is associated with the Young Griff plot. It would be the height of irony for Varys to fail/choose not to save a Targaryen child from his own would-be killer.

Other things to note:

• House Tarbeck supported both sides in the Dance, something not uncharacteristic for Varys to do until he knew who would come out on top.
• Varys is called a lord because he's on the small council, but he could ACTUALLY be a lord
• He clearly wants Tywin dead. He literally tells Tyrion "No, don't kill your father, but hey, here's exactly how to get to his chambers." Tywin's chambers, where Shae is in his father's bed. Which results in the death of the man who destroyed House Tarbeck and House Reyne, and chaos for House Lannister.
• It's odd that GRRM specifically specifies that the Last Lord of House Tarbeck could have potentially survived and then does absolutely nothing with the character.

Conclusion:

Varys could very well be the Last Lord of Tarbeck.