History PromotionToParent / Literature

** As a child, Amatis Graymark had to care for her younger brother, Luke, after their mother became a Silent Sister, which meant that she had to cut ties with her mortal family.

* In ''Literature/TheDarkArtifices'':
** Julian Blackthorn takes care of his four younger siblings, with help from parabatai Emma Carstairs and teacher Diana Wrayburn, after the deaths of his parents, the kidnapping of his older half-brother, Mark, and the banishment of his older half-sister, Helen. Technically, the Blackthorn children are taken care of by their uncle, but he is mentally unstable and Julian must instead care for the family; in addition, he must keep his efforts a secret, as knowledge of the incompetency of their uncle as a guardian would result in the family being separated.
** In Thule, an alternate version where the demons won the Dark War, Julian's last request before he sacrificed himself to fend off the Endarkened was for Livia to care for their younger siblings. She did her best, but Tiberius and Octavian ended up being killed, while Drusilla disappeared during a scout, leaving her alone.

* In ''Literature/TheDarkArtifices'' Julian Blackthorn takes care of his four younger siblings, with help from parabatai Emma Carstairs and teacher Diana Wrayburn, after the death of his father, and the kidnappings and banishments of his older half-siblings, Mark and Helen. Technically, the Blackthorn children are taken care of by their uncle, but he is mentally unstable and Julian must instead care for the family; in addition, he must keep his efforts a secret, as knowledge of the incompetency of their uncle as a guardian would result in the family being separated.

** Very young Bran then becomes the acting lord in his brother's place and the only role model the even younger Rickon has left.

** In ''Literature/FlowersInTheAttic'', Chris and Cathy Dollanganger become surrogate parents to their younger siblings whilst locked away in the attic. This plays a factor in how their [[BrotherSisterIncest perception of the other changes]], [[spoiler: eventually culminating in what becomes a life-long incestuous relationship]].
** In ''Literature/TheCasteelSeries'', Heaven and Tom become parents to their younger siblings after Sarah walks out on the family.

* ''Literature/TheBridgeOfClay'': When their mother dies and their father leaves the family, Mathew, the oldest of the Dunbar boys and barely eighteen at the time, starts to take care of his four younger brothers.

* In ''L'Assomoir'' by Creator/EmileZola, Lalie has to care for her younger siblings after her mother, Mrs. Goujet, got [[DomesticAbuse beaten to death]] by her [[AlcoholicParent alcoholic]] husband Mr. Gouget. He proceeds to torture Lalie to death afterwards.

** Lord Eddard and Lady Catelyn, parental units of house Stark, head south on matters of intrigue, leaving eldest son Robb to perform the lord's duties. He commands the household, deals with his father's bannermen, holds and scolds his younger brother Bran, and even marches off to war to defend the family honor. Bran even notes that Robb, who normally talks like a playful 15-year old boy, has to start imitating their father's authoritative tone to command their underlings, including his own childhood friend Theon. Given how [[ProudWarriorRaceGuy headstrong and belligerent]] the lords of his land are, acting his age would get Robb killed by his own bannermen in short order (as almost happened with one Greatjon Umber before Robb has his fingers mutilated to re-assert control).

** Lord Eddard and Lady Catelyn, parental units of house Stark, head south on matters of intrigue, leaving eldest son Robb to perform the lord's duties. He commands the household, deals with his father's bannermen, holds and scolds his younger brother Bran, and even marches off to war to defend the family honor. Bran even notes that Robb, who normally talks like a playful 15-year old boy, has to start imitating their father's authoritative tone to command their underlings, including his own childhood friend Theon. Given how [[AsskickingEqualsAuthority headstrong]] and [[ProudWarriorRaceGuy belligerent]] the lords of his land are, acting his age would get Robb killed by his own bannermen in short order (as almost happened with one Greatjon Umber before Robb has his fingers mutilated to re-assert control).

** Lord Eddard and Lady Catelyn, parental units of house Stark, head south on matters of intrigue, leaving eldest son Robb to perform the lord's duties. He commands the household, deals with his father's bannermen, holds and scolds his younger brother Bran, and even marches off to war to defend the family honor. Bran even notes that Robb, who normally talks like a fanciful 15-year old boy, has to start imitating their father's authoritative tone to command their servants, including his own childhood friend Theon.

** Lord Eddard and Lady Catelyn, parental units of house Stark, head south on matters of intrigue, leaving eldest son Robb to perform the lord's duties. He commands the household, deals with his father's bannermen, holds and scolds his younger brother Bran, and even marches off to war to defend the family honor.

* ''Literature/{{Tempest}}'': Tempest's mom, the mermaid Cecily, left the family and returned to the ocean on [[ABirthdayNotABreak Tempest's eleventh birthday]]. After that, Tempest helped raise her younger brothers, Rio and Moku. When Tempest herself moves into the ocean at the end of ''Tempest Rising'', her brothers feel as abandoned as they did when Cecily left.

* In Magda Szabó’s novel ''Tell Sally…'', Dora’s guardian is her older sister Vicky. This changes by the end of the novel, which is at the beginning of the book.

* The novel ''Tex'' (and the movie based on it) has the titular character being taken care of by his older brother Mason, since their mother died and their father tours the rodeo circuit.

* In Michelle Paver's ''The Shadow Catcher'', a pregnant mother, whose husband was away at the army (and later dies) gives premature birth to a girl. Because there was no time to call the doctor and the family's servant had left them without a warning, her daughter Madeleine is left to be midwife. Did I mention Madeleine was ten years old? Then, the mother [[DeathByChildbirth dies]], and Madeleine takes care of herself and the baby with only the assistance of a medical textbook, until some relatives come to take them. Those relatives want to separate the sisters, so Madeleine has to come up with a story to persuade them to keep both of them. (She told them it was her mother's dying wish.) As they grow up, the younger sister develops [[DelicateAndSickly tuberculosis]], so Madeleine basically spends the rest of the novel acting MamaBear and doing various things which fall into the category of GreyMorality to get her sister a chance to grow up healthy and happy.

* ''Chanda's Story'' and its sequel ''Chanda's Wars'' by Allan Stratton follow the story of teenage Chanda who becomes the de facto mother of her two (much) younger siblings and her terminally ill mother. Eventually Chanda's best friend (also a teenager) moves in with her own younger siblings.

* In Nicole Baart's ''Beneath The Night Tree'', [[spoiler:Julia has been raising her half-brother alongside her own son for five years, and struggles with not knowing whether to play the role of "sister" or "mom". Toward the end of the book, she decides to be his mom and officially adopts him]].

* ''Literature/HarryPotter'': Albus Dumbledore, a ChildProdigy, was quite bitter about becoming the parent to his two younger siblings, Aberforth and Ariana, after his mother Kendra died. When he was too distracted by a mysterious stranger who was a prodigy equal, Albus neglected his siblings in his new excitement and unfortunately, [[spoiler:this eventually led to a three-way fight between himself, Aberforth and best friend Grindelwald that accidentally killed poor Ariana, and led to years of bitterness between the two remaining siblings]].
** A happier and {{Downplayed}} example: [[spoiler:Remus and Tonks]] have a baby, Teddy, and ask Harry to be the godfather, despite him only being seventeen. They die in the final battle, and while WordOfGod confirms that Teddy was [[RaisedByGrandparents raised by his grandmother]], the DistantEpilogue makes it clear that Harry has been active in the "dad" role for the now-adult Teddy.

* Hans and Gretchen are [[BrotherSisterTeam co-parents]] to their younger siblings in ''Literature/SixteenThirtyTwo''. They take this to the point of being willing to be cannon fodder and camp prostitute (to a sadistic mercenary) respectively for their blood and adopted siblings. This in fact is what causes Jeff to fall in love with Gretchen as much as her looks.

* In Creator/JamesSwallow's {{TabletopGame/Warhammer 40000}} ''[[Literature/BloodAngels Deus Encarmine]]'', when Rafen and Arkio were sent off to the Blood Angels, their father told Rafen to look after Arkio. Even when they are both Space Marines, he feels responsible for him.

* Eight years prior to ''Literature/SixOfCrows'', thirteen-year-old Jordie Rietveld started having to look after his nine-year-old brother, Kaz, after their father died in an accident on their farm. [[spoiler: They moved to Ketterdam, and were subsequently scammed out of all their money, resulting in them being on the streets when [[ThePlague the Queen's Lady Plague]] hit the city. Jordie died of it, and Kaz [[MeaningfulRename Brekker]] had his StartOfDarkness and became hell-bent on revenge.]]

* In ''Literature/TillWeHaveFaces'', a [[TwiceToldTale retelling]] of Cupid and Psyche, Psyche's mother [[DeathByChildbirth dies in childbirth]], leaving Psyche's sister Orual to raise her. [[spoiler: [[MyBelovedSmother Rather too much so.]]]]

* In ''LightNovel/EndoAndKobayashiLiveTheLatestOnTsundereVillainessLieselotte'', Lieselotte's mother is still alive, but she is [[invoked]][[ReclusiveArtist more interested in painting than in other's company]]. As a result, Lieselotte took the major role in raising her three younger siblings.

* ''LightNovel/AscendanceOfABookworm'': Benno mentions having held off getting married because he needed to take care of his younger sister.