Blog #2

One of my favorite TV shows is Game of Thrones, which is nice for this prompt because it can essentially be boiled down into a family drama. There are also a lot of very different portrayals of family, with probably the only healthy one being the Starks. The show basically involves the great families of Westeros as they fight to maintain power and/or gain more power. As I said, the Starks are probably the only family with a decent dynamic. I say decent because it is certainly not perfect. The main patriarch is Ned Stark, a highly honorable man who does his best for his bannermen and family. Although a stoic and sometimes emotionally distant man, he is a good father, teaching his children honor and how to be good people in a not-so-good world. He has 6 children, but a lot of family drama comes from particularly Jon Snow, who is Ned's illegitimate child (later, it's revealed that Jon is actually Ned's sister's child whom he promised to keep secret and take care of). Ned's wife, Catelyn, is particularly harsh on Jon, as he reminds her of Ned's (supposed) infidelity. Jon is generally looked down upon by the other people in the Northern Kingdom, while no one holds Ned accountable for his (again, supposed) infidelity. It is a strange reminder of how powerful men were never held responsible in medieval times. By the end of season one, Ned is killed, and his eldest son, Robb, goes on a quest for vengeance. His sheer determination demonstrates his great love for his father and anguish for his death at the hands of the new king, Joffrey Baratheon. I'd love to get into all the other intriguing stuff, but this is the heavily abridged SparkNotes version. Robb leads his northern army to victory one by one and appears to be well on his way to seeking revenge when he is betrayed by one of his allies and murdered at a wedding feast. This is one particularly tragic look at family, but it is interesting. Robb shared a great love for his father, and Ned's honor was clearly passed down to Robb. Unfortunately, honor and (in Robb's case) naivety became their undoing.