Power resides only where men believe it resides. . . . A very small man can cast a very large shadow.

The line is spoken in George R. R. Martin’s fantasy series *A Song of Ice and Fire*, during a political conversation in King’s Landing in which Varys (“the Spider”), master of whisperers, explains to Tyrion Lannister how authority in the realm is sustained. Rather than treating power as something inherent in birth, wealth, or force, Varys frames it as a social phenomenon—dependent on perception, rumor, and collective belief. The remark comes amid court intrigue and shifting loyalties, when competing claimants and factions vie to define legitimacy and control the narrative of rule.

The quote argues that power is not a fixed substance but a shared fiction: it exists because people act as if it exists. Laws, crowns, and titles matter only insofar as they persuade others to obey. The image of a “very small man” casting a “very large shadow” captures how reputation, fear, propaganda, and strategic positioning can magnify an individual’s influence far beyond their actual resources or stature. Martin uses the line to underline a central theme of the series—politics as perception-management—and to suggest that undermining belief (through scandal, doubt, or competing stories) can be as decisive as armies.