I can't remember if I replied here before, but whether Varis lived or died (I'm hoping for lived; Gaius obviously will and he's less armored), I imagine the Ascians are going to manipulate the Garleans into summoning a Primal based on Varis (something that'll be a reference to Final Fantasy II) given the commentary from the latter Stormblood patches that mentioned him being revered like a god.