The whole time I was listening to this today, I kept shouting “Game of Thrones!!!” at the car stereo. Robb and Catelyn Stark marched south to reunite their family, and they started a war to get Cat’s daughters/Robb’s sisters back from King’s Landing.
It’s funny, when Game of Thrones came up I thought “well, the dad left for work, not the same thing” and I kind of forgot everything that actually happened. I think that because we never really got a distinct moment of separation, I didn’t think it was a good example. But I do now.
Not just that though, especially with this last season you see how meaningful the reunions are. The Stark family wasn’t the tightest, in many way you can see how each of them were always doing their own things. But there’s something about crisis that brings a family together, when John comes back, when Arya comes back, when Sansa Comes back. There’s this sense of finally! Even if the world sucks as a whole they can always count on family to come back to (if your family doesn’t suck) but GOT is all about families because of the very nature of the show. It’s about families and what we are willing to do to keep your legacy afloat. This is especially accurate considering the series’ main overarching plot is about breaking down families and tearing them apart and seeing what each of them do to try to fix the wrongs of their predecessors and enemies.
There’s little things here and there, like the complete opposite relationship between Tyrion and both his siblings. Daenaerys and John atoning for the sins of their fathers. Circe’s fierce toxic motherhood as a consequence of her toxic relationship with her father. Jaime’s struggle between doing what is right and standing by his sister/lover.