History Main / YoungestChildWins

* Deconstructed in ''WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender'', at first Azula is AlwaysSomeoneBetter for Zuko; a prodigy firebender, a military strategist, and flawless manipulator. Zuko, while no slouch, isn't as good of a firebender, and his held back too much by his own sense of honor to compete in the cutthroat realm of Fire Nation politics and warfare. [[spoiler: Eventually, Zuko even turns against his father and country on the eve of victory to aid the enemy in the war, while Azula is actually handed her father's position as leader of the Fire Nation. ..... At which point it flips. Once Azula peaks, she finds that she's driven away her friends, that she pushed away her Mom when she was young, and that her Dad doesn't love her as much as she thought, leading to a mental breakdown. Meanwhile, the hardships and failures Zuko suffered as the "loser" child have turned him into a better person who's surrounded by people who love and trust him, and they help him dethrone Azula and lead the Fire Nation into an era of peace.]]

*** The royal family of Orzammar has a potential [[SubvertedTrope subversion]] of this with [[WellIntentionedExtremist Prince Bhelen.]] [[spoiler: He coordinates the death of his oldest sibling and causes his other brother/sister to get exiled for it, all so Bhelen can become heir to his father's throne. The subversion comes in with the fact that the main character (who ironically could also be the middle sibling who got exiled) can decide to prevent him from getting the throne.]]

*** The Human Inquisitor is in a similar situation to the Human Noble Warden. As the youngest child, they aren't even the [[SpareToTheThrone spare]] and, if not shipped off to the Circle of Magi, is expected to join the Templars regardless of their personal feelings on the subject. Then the Breach happens and they become the most important person in Thedas.

* Despite being treated as TheUnfavorite by her parents, Misty ends up being this in ''Fanfic/PokemonResetBloodlines''. She's the only one of her siblings to have any talent or skill at battling and the only Bloodliner amongst them. She is also the only one who is naturally beautiful, whereas the Sensational Sisters had to resort to extensive cosmetic surgery. Her sisters wind up in jail (while later being made SexSlaves), while she gets the prospect of reopening her gym as an honorable establishment (after a lot of paperwork).

** In the origin story of the Greek Gods, Zeus was the youngest child of Cronus and Rhea and the only one to not be eaten by Cronus (himself the youngest of Gaia and Ouranos' Titans.) He would eventually free his older siblings, overthrow Cronus, and take his place as the king of the Gods. This makes this trope OlderThanFeudalism, though you can also think of this example as an inversion: when Zeus freed his siblings, they are considered to be "reborn" in the order they are released, making Zeus also the oldest, sort of.[[note]]This is mostly mythologically relevant to Hestia, who is the eldest but also the last to be thrown up; this is related to her being invoked "first and last," receiving the first and last libation at feasts and worship.[[/note]] In any case, it's a JustifiedTrope, since the only reason Zeus didn't get swallowed like his siblings was because Rhea finally figured out how to keep that from happening.
** Cronus was also the youngest of Gaia and Ouranos' children. First they had all the other male Titans, then all the Titanides, then Cronus.

* ''Literature/LittleWomen'': Even though Jo has been dreaming of traveling and has romantic chemistry with Laurie, her youngest sister, Amy, is the one who is chosen to travel to Europe with their aunt, and is the one who ultimately marries Laurie. Downplayed in that the major factor of them falling in love was that Jo rejected his proposal, which spurred him to travel out of the country to recover from the heartbreak. On his vacation, he ended up crossing paths with Amy in Europe, and they were able to become closer.

** Ron Weasley is the youngest of six brothers and is best friend of TheHero. Notable because the other two members (Harry and Hermione) of [[ThreeAmigos the lead trio]] are only children; Ron is the only one of them to have siblings.

-->-- [[Literature/BookOfGenesis Genesis 25:23]]

** In the origin story of the Greek Gods, Zeus was the youngest child of Cronus and Rhea and the only one to not be eaten by Cronus (himself the youngest of Gaia and Ouranos' Titans.) He would eventually free his older siblings, overthrow Cronus, and take his place as the king of the Gods. This makes this trope OlderThanFeudalism, though you can also think of this example as an inversion: when Zeus freed his siblings, they are considered to be "reborn" in the order they are released, making Zeus also the oldest, sort of. In any case, it's a JustifiedTrope, since the only reason Zeus didn't get swallowed like his siblings was because Rhea finally figured out how to keep that from happening.

* There are three Tendo sisters in ''Manga/RanmaOneHalf''. Guess which one gets to be the main character love interest of Ranma? In the sense that the older two foisted the ArrangedMarriage onto the youngest in milliseconds, at least. Despite all three of them growing up in a dojo, Akane seems to be the only one who knows martial arts...

* Inverted in ''Literature/{{Stardust}}'' with relatively noble oldest brother Primus [[spoiler: and sister Una]] and [[MagnificentBastard evil]] youngest son Septimus, who has the added bonus of being The Seventh Son.
** However, also Double Subverted in the plot itself. In the contest to see who will reclaim the royal topaz pendant to become the next Lord of Stormhold, it first appears that Septimus will be the winner by default [[spoiler: since Primus dies while in pursuit of the topaz. But when Septimus is killed soon after, the contest seems for naught, with no heir... until it comes out that main protagonist Tristran is Una's son and the true youngest male heir of Stormhold, who becomes the new Lord almost completely by accident.]]

* Both played straight and subverted in ''Literature/TheTalesOfAlvinMaker'' series, Alvin is the [[MagicalSeventhSon seventh and youngest son]]. Then, [[spoiler: Calvin gets born and is destined to be Alvin's greatest enemy, being the one to kill him.]] So technically, youngest child still wins.

** However, also Double Subverted in the plot itself. In the contest to see who will reclaim the royal topaz pendant to become the next Lord of Stormhold, it first appears that Septimus will be the winner by default since Primus dies while in pursuit of the topaz. [[spoiler: But when Septimus is also killed, the contest seems for naught... until it comes out that main protagonist Tristran is Una's son and the true youngest male heir of Stormhold, who finds the topaz without realizing it.]]

* ''Literature/{{Stardust}}'': Double Subverted. In the contest to see who will reclaim the royal topaz pendant to become the next Lord of Stormhold, it first appears that Septimus, the youngest child of the previous Lord of Stormhold, will be the winner by default since the last of his brothers' die while in pursuit of the topaz (one of whom he killed himself). But when Septimus is also killed, the contest seems for naught... until it comes out that main protagonist Tristran is the son of Septimus's sister Una, making ''him'' the youngest male heir of Stormhold.

%%Needs context about how they compare with their older siblings* In the ''Anime/PrettyCure'' franchise, the only Cures who are the youngest children in their families are [[Anime/FutariWaPrettyCureSplashStar Mai]], [[Anime/YesPrettyCure5 Komachi]], [[Anime/HeartcatchPrettyCure Erika, Itsuki]], [[Anime/SmilePrettyCure Reika]], [[Anime/GoPrincessPrettyCure Minami]], [[Anime/GoPrincessPrettyCure Towa]], [[Anime/MahoGirlsPreCure Liko]], [[Anime/HugttoPreCure Emiru]], [[Anime/StarTwinklePrettyCure Lala]], and [[Anime/HealinGoodPrettyCure Hinata]]. Considering that only females can be Pretty Cures, Komachi, Erika, Liko, and Hinata are the real winners.

** In ''VideoGame/TouhouKoumakyouTheEmbodimentOfScarletDevil'', the BonusBoss is Flandre Scarlet, the younger sister of Remilia Scarlet, the FinalBoss. Flandre's immense power and emotional as well as mental instability has forced Remilia to lock her in the basement for almost five hundred years.

** In ''VideoGame/TouhouChireidenSubterraneanAnimism'', Satori Komeiji is the Stage 4 boss. Her younger sister Koishi is the BonusBoss. Koishi herself even straight out states that her sister never really was all that good at fighting.

%%Administrivia/ZeroContextExample* In ''Literature/DiaryOfAWimpyKid'', Manny has this with ParentalFavoritism.

-->-- [[Literature/TheBible Genesis 25:23]]

* In ''Anime/KillLaKill'', Soichiro Kiryuin's legacy to his daughter Satsuki is a bit lackluster. The experiments performed on her as a child were unable to imbue her with the power of the life fibers since she was too old when they attempted it, her kamui Junketsu (called her "wedding dress") attempts to devour her every time she wears it and strains her immensely to wear it for long, and her sword Bakuzan is able to cut life fibers but is not able to stop them from simply regenerating. His later efforts for [[spoiler: his younger daughter Ryuko, under the guise of Isshin Matoi]] built up on this and are a step up in every way possible; the improved experiments [[spoiler: made Ryuko a life fiber hybrid which gave her the power to face her mother Ragyo]], and also resulted in [[spoiler: her kamui Senketsu being made from a better process that made him safer to wear and able to synchronize with humans for greater power]], and even devised a better weapon in [[spoiler: the Scissor Blade, which instead of one blade was two that could cut from both sides simultaneously and kill life fibers without letting them regenerate]].

* There are three Tendo sisters in ''Manga/RanmaOneHalf''. Guess which one gets to be the main character love interest of Ranma? In the sense that the older two foisted the ArrangedMarriage onto the youngest in milliseconds, at least. Also note despite all three of them growing up in a dojo, Akane seems to be the only one who knows martial arts...

** In others, the hero basically says "All your daughters have proven themselves not to be trusted. I'm not going to take any one of them!"

* In ''Literature/TheLordOfTheWinds'', a tundra village is being threatened by harsh winds, and a father with three daughters surmises that Lord Kotura of the Winds is angered and can only be appeased with a wife. He sends his eldest daughter to Lord Kotura's dwelling with very specific instructions. She ignores every single one, and then when she finally gets to Lord Kotura's dwelling, she also ignores ''his'' instructions; and in the end Lord Kotura angrily casts her out of his home to freeze to death in the snow. The winds grow stronger, and the father sends out his second daughter. Pretty much the exact same thing happens, and when the winds grow harsher once again, the father sends out his youngest daughter, who follows his and Lord Kotura's instructions to a T. Greatly pleased, Lord Kotura makes her his wife, the winds die down, and the village is saved.

* In ''Film/ItsAWonderfulLife'', it initially appears to be in full force; while George stuck in a dead end job and is kept out of the army by the fact that he's deaf in one ear, his younger brother Harry gets a successful job and later goes to war and saves an entire ship of sailors, becoming acclaimed for his heroism. But the [[ItsAWonderfulPlot Wonderful Life]] reveal is that without George's having saved Harry's life when they were young, all those sailors would have drowned when the ship was sunk; and Harry, on hearing that George is in trouble, drops everything -- [[spoiler: including a meeting with President UsefulNotes/HarryTruman to congratulate him on his heroism]] -- to run to his aid. The flashbacks also show that the only reason Harry became a success was because of the sacrifices George made. Harry only went to college because George chose to stay home and run the Savings and Loan instead of going himself and when Harry turned down a job offer from his father-in-law so he could take over for George like he promised, George made him take the job. At the very end, it's shown that Harry considers George the real successful one because of the loyalty the townspeople have towards George for everything he's done to help them.

%%Administrivia/ZeroContextExample* Quite possibly ''Film/{{Scanners}}''. By the end of it, [[spoiler: [[GrandTheftMe they're basically the same person anyway]].]]

* ''Literature/LittleWomen'': Even though Jo has been dreaming of traveling and has romantic chemistry with Laurie, her youngest sister, Amy, is the one who is chosen to travel to Europe with their aunt, and is the one who ultimately marries Laurie. Of course, downplayed in that the major factor of them falling in love was that Jo rejected his proposal, which spurred him to travel out of the country to recover from the heartbreak. On his vacation, he ended up crossing paths with Amy in Europe, and they were able to become closer.

** Daenerys Targaryen is the youngest of three children born to Aerys II to survive infancy. The oldest child, Rhaegar, showed the signs of a successful person, but he died before inheriting the throne. The middle child, Viserys, grew up in poverty and died before achieving anything worthwhile. Meanwhile, Daenerys has three dragons, an army of former slave soldiers, and an entire city under her belt, and is set to claim the Iron Throne and rule the Seven Kingdoms as queen.

** Tyrion Lannister is the youngest of Tywin's three children, and is the one who inherits his shrewdness in political games the most (Cersei, despite her constant bragging, [[KnowNothingKnowItAll sucks at the whole thing]], while Jaime, though plenty of intelligent, is clearly outclassed by Tyrion). However, because he is a dwarf, not to mention the fact that [[MaternalDeathBlameTheChild his mother died giving birth to him]], he is treated as a BlackSheep by his father, who practically disinherited him since the day he was born, even though he is the person best suited to succeed him as Lord of Casterly Rock.

* In fact it goes all the way back to the story of Psyche and Eros, from Apuleius' ''The Golden Ass'', in which Psyche's sisters are jealous both of her beauty and her creepy ability to be happy with a husband who won't let her see him in daylight. (Although, mind you, Psyche is not good at following basic instructions.)
* In Philippine myth, three brothers are looking for the legendary Adarna bird. Halfway through the story, Prince Diego, the middle child, marries Princess Juana, leading more or less a normal life with her; Prince Pedro, the oldest child--who was pretty much a ManipulativeBastard towards his brothers--marries Princess Leonora and inherits his father's throne; Prince Juan, the youngest child, marries the most beautiful and enchanted of the princesses, Princess Maria, and inherits her father's kingdom.

*** Joseph's own children also get blessed counter to the cultural expectation, though this is not too big of a surprise considering Jacob is the youngest. (Joseph thought Jacob was making a mistake, but Jacob knows what he's doing and even crosses his arms so that the Right Hand of Blessing goes to the younger son.)
*** It's actually kind of subverted in the long run. While Joseph and Benjamin were Jacob's favorite sons and the former was blessed to have two lineages by virtue of having two sons (Manasseh and Ephraim), they did not leave much of a mark after the destruction of Solomon's Temple. Both the tribes of Manasseh and Ephraim ceased to exist after the Assyrian invasion, while the Tribe of Benjamin survived the Assyrian invasion but only as a junior partner in the Kingdom of Judah and basically disappeared after the Babylonian captivity. Meanwhile, the tribe descended from Levi, Jacob's third son, begot Moses and Aaron (and by extension the priestly class), while the tribe descended from Judah, Jacob's fourth son, was the one that ''all'' Jews today claim as their ancestor.

** In the parable of the Prodigal Son, the younger son callously asks for his share of the inheritance, runs away from home to seek adventure, and squanders it all on wasteful living, only to be welcomed back with open arms when he decides to slink home. The older son is ''not'' pleased about this, but the attempt to CallingTheOldManOut backfires: Dad points out that the older son has the lion's share of the estate, so can't he be happy that his little brother came back alive? (The point of the parable, of course, is that both sons were in need of serious attitude adjustment.)
** Jesus called a couple of pairs of brothers to be His Apostles: Andrew & Peter and James & John. Peter and John were both the younger of the two, and they were, respectively, the first Pope and the only Apostle to die of natural causes, rather than martyrdom. Also noteworthy is the fact that John was the youngest of the Apostles and that Jesus entrusted to him the care of His mother.

* ''Theatre/TheTamingOfTheShrew'' by [[Creator/WilliamShakespeare Willie "Bubba" Shakespeare]] also zig-zags the trope. It starts off a straight example. The youngest daughter of the family was the one who was beautiful, desired, and had beaus swarming like flies. Much of the drama comes because the other, bitchy one had to marry first. It gets more complicated as the play goes on. Note that by the end, the younger daughter basically enslaved her husband, while the older one submitted to hers. The older one is the focus and ultimately it's implied she is meant to be the more sympathetic one.

* Deconstructed in ''Franchise/AceAttorney'' with [[spoiler:Morgan and Misty Fey. In the Fey clan, the older sister typically has more spiritual power and inherits the title of Kurain Master, while the younger sister becomes a part of the branch family. However, Misty Fey becomes an example of this trope by inheriting the Master title and beating out her big sis Morgan in pretty much everything spiritual. Morgan doesn't exactly take this in stride; she becomes intensely resentful and concocts several twisted plans to kill Misty's daughter so Morgan's own young daughter can reclaim the title of Master.]]

** Suyin Bei Fong, the youngest daughter of Toph and younger sister of Lin, ended up filthy rich and has an entire city at her beck and call.

* On ''WesternAnimation/PBAndJOtter'', Baby Butter gets an entire celebration to herself when she finds a piece of jewelry Mrs. Snootie lost on the beach. Her siblings get grounded on the same day. There's also the fact that Butter rang the bell and helped Mrs. Raccoon avoid a boating accident, and that she befriended the lightning bugs that helped the Otter family get home when it was otherwise too foggy to see. For a 2-year-old, she's very resourceful.

* On ''WesternAnimation/TheBuzzOnMaggie'' tiny maggot Bella is more talented than her sister Maggie, able to breakdance and juggle and would have landed a role in a commercial if Maggie didn't get jealous. She's also the only sibling eldest child Aldrin actually likes, he shows a good deal of BigBrotherInstinct when Maggie loses her at a carnival and even Maggie breaks down and admits she likes Bella by the story's end.