The southern revenge saga has a dirty job to do. It needs contain the horror, violence, and hatred bound up in civil strife between constantly warring factions — or families — who have no idea how the odium began nor how it will end. It must balance all of these cups at once, while at the same time making perhaps some profound observation on the human condition. Or maybe others are more suggestive. So it goes.
The southern revenge saga can trace its roots back to the concluding books of the Odyssey — books 22-24 in particular — where after Odysseus carries out the slaughter in his palace, the rest of Ithaca declares war on him and his family.