A Child Shall Lead Them / Video Games

• The unattainable character Himiko from AkaSeka is a young girl, but is the queen of the Inishie country.
• Battle for Wesnoth: The protagonist of Dead Water campaign, Kai Krellis, became the leader of his mer-people because his father, the previous kai, dies in the prologue when he was young. This inexperience is reflected in the gameplay by him starting out as a level 0 unit (most campaign leaders starts out in level 1).
• Happens often enough in Crusader Kings as rulers often die in battle or from a dagger in the back. In the first game, this could be catastrophic, as children haven't developed their stats yet. In the second game, a regent rules until they are sixteen and become adults.
  • Specifically, The Old God DLC added an event where, if the Shia Caliphate does not exist, a large adventurer-type host might spawn and rebel against a random Sunni ruler. The host is led by a very young (usually between 3 and 6 years old) Sayyid who claims to be the Shi'ite Caliph, now emerging after years of hiding.
• Diablo III has Hakan II, emperor of Caldeum. He was found as an infant and declared by the leaders of the local religion to be the reincarnation of his predecessor. He is well-spoken for his age and seems to have at least some idea of his duty, despite spending his entire life in a palace. In fact, he's the demon lord Belial in disguise. It's unclear whether a living child ever really existed.
• Laharl of Disgaea: Hour of Darkness. He's only 1313 years old. By demon standards he's barely into his teens.
• Corvo's primary objective in Dishonored is to save the ten-year-old daughter of the late empress and clear the path for her to ascend the throne.
• This is basically the premise of Dragalia Lost. A naive, teenage prince named Euden is exiled from his kingdom after it was overtaken by a tyrant, so it’s up to him to establish his own small kingdom. Since his siblings are siding with the tyrant, he is the only member of the royal family worth following. Although Euden isn’t too good at leading a kingdom at first, as the game progresses, he starts to become someone worthy of being a king, until he is officially crowned the king of New Alberia.
• Dragon Quest V: Subverted. Prince Wilbur takes over for King James after the latter's death at the ripe old age of 5 and proves to be as competent of a leader as you'd expect a little boy -who ever never wanted to be king for a start- to be, and is clearly just a puppet for his mother. Later on, while he continues to rule, it's pretty clear his brother and advisor Prince Harry's doing most of the work for him.
• In Drawn: Dark Flight, your ultimate goal is to drive out the shadows over the kingdom so that the child Iris can take her place as rightful ruler.
• Lord Kalrathia from Dungeon Siege II is a Wise Beyond Their Years ruler of the town that bears his name, despite being in his early teens. At least until he is poisoned by one of his advisors who sympathizes with Valdis.
• Adulthood in Dwarf Fortress starts at twelve. Since children don't work, they tend to spend a lot of time socializing and making friends. Twelve-year-olds getting elected mayor (determined by friends and social skills) are not uncommon.
  • Memetic Badass Cacame Awemedinade apparently became King of the Dwarves at the age of sixteen. Despite being an elf.
• In The Elder Scrolls series' backstory, Reman Cyrodiil, the founder of the Second Cyrodiilic Empire, was no older than 13 when coronated. According to the in-game book Remanada, he was still an infant. This proved to be well-justified, as Reman was a Child Prodigy who, along with his status as The Chosen One (having been born possessing the Amulet of Kings), quickly brought both halves of Cyrodiil back together (Colovia and Nibenay) and then the other kingdoms of Men, High Rock and Skyrim.
• Final Fantasy:
  • Final Fantasy Tactics had Princess Ovelia and Prince Orinas, each set up with a regent and sent to lead troops. Ovelia was not quite 18 at the time while Orinas was 2 years old. Though the game kept an active calendar, and with a little grinding, you could age the boy prince into his teens, twenties, or even sixties, thus destroying the story.
  • In Final Fantasy VIII, Balamb Garden trains students from the age of 5 to become mercenaries, with several students taking on positions of leadership by the time they reach their late teens. The results of this practice are VERY mixed. It eventually turns out that the reason for this practice is because Edea Kramer knows that Squall will, in his teens, defeat an incredibly dangerous Sorceress from the future, so they have to train these kids into leadership positions at a young age to keep the time loop stable.
  • Final Fantasy IX has Princess Garnet, who turned 16 at the start of the game and by the end, she is ruling her kingdom after the death of her mother. She seems to handle the job quite competently, as it's implied she was able to rebuild her destroyed Alexandria in the span of only a few years.
  • Final Fantasy XII has Larsa Solidor, who was picked to be the next emperor by his dying father because his older brother Vayne was Obviously Evil. Once both his brother and father realize that the Evil Chancellors would try to manipulate him, they decide to have Vayne murder dear old dad and frame the council in order to protect him. Which causes Larsa to not become the emperor until the very end of the game.
  • In Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: My Life as a King, you play as a 10-year-old king who took the throne after his father's disappearance.
• Fire Emblem has several examples:
  • Prince Marth of Altea, The Hero from Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon & the Blade of Light, is merely 14 when he is exiled from his country, 16 when he fights in the first war, and by the end of Fire Emblem: Mystery of the Emblem, he becomes the king of Archanea as well.
  • One of the rare villainous examples is Prince Julius from Fire Emblem: Genealogy of the Holy War, who at the tender age of 15/16 is pretty much the one holding the power instead of his father, Emperor Arvis. He also directs the horrible child hunts and is the Dragon-in-Chief to Manfroy. And then we have a straighter example in his half-brother and rival Seliph, who at the end of the game becomes a benevolent Emperor at the age of 17/18 - with the help of his somewhat younger girlfriend/wife (if he's paired up) and Julius's more benevolent twin sister, Princess Julia.
  • There's Leif, who at age 15 is the leader of La Résistance in the interquel Fire Emblem: Thracia 776, and then joins Seliph's own group in the second half of Genealogy. If he makes it to the end, he becomes the King of Leonster ( and later, of the New Kingdom of Thracia which includes Thracia and Leonster) and rules peacefully alongside his older sister Altena (who is just 20) and his also-around-16 girlfriend/wife ( his childhood friend Nanna).
  • Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance and Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn has Sanaki, the 10- to 13-year-old empress of Begnion. Despite her youth, and love of toying with people for her own amusement, she's one of the few good people in the Begnion ruling government, and is perfectly willing to be and capable of being a force to be reckoned with to make sure that the senate of evil aristocrats doesn't go around freely causing misery and atrocious war crimes.
  • Fire Emblem: Awakening provides a backstory example in that, while she's an adult now, Emmeryn of Ylisse (A distant descendant of the aforementioned Marth, along with her brother Chrom and sister Lissa) initially became the Exalt before she was even ten years old, after the sudden death of her father in the war against the Grimleal. Technically she was a bit younger than even Sanaki when she started ruling. It is played darkly in the "Future Past" DLC maps, which showcase the Bad Future. The Hero Chrom's daughter/Emmeryn and Lissa's niece Lucina (at most 20, if that) is the Exalt now, but she and her friends are fighting a hopeless war against Grima. The team must help them win said war so they can rebuild their Ylisse and earn their happy ending.
  • Fire Emblem Fates has Prince Leo (age not fully stated, but no older than 17), who becomes the King of Nohr at the end of the Hoshido-centered Birthright path, after the deaths of his siblings Xander and Elise. His surviving older sister Camilla should become Queen, but she abdicates on him because she knows Leo is far more fit to reign than her.
• Galaxy Angel: The first game starts out with the entire Transbaal Royal family wiped out, leaving the 10-year-old Shiva as the Sole Survivor and only legitimate heir to the throne. Once Eonia is defeated, she ascends to the throne and leads the empire for the rest of the series, albeit with some help from Luft as Primer Minister.
• Prince Roan from Grandia II. Who spends most of his time as a main character in the hero's party and who continues to fight with them even after circumstances have forced him to take the throne.
• Horizon Zero Dawn: The Mad Sun-King Jiran had three sons who could inherit his throne. Jiran killed his eldest Kadaman for speaking out against him, and then his second son Avad raised a rebellion and killed Jiran. But due to Divine Right of Kings, killing the Sun-King tainted Avad in the eyes of many of his people, so they decided to follow Jiran's youngest son, Itamen, instead. They became the Shadow Carja. The idea was that Itamen was a pure vessel, ready to be filled with the Sun's will. Unfortunately, the priests quickly turned Itamen into a Puppet King. When Aloy rescues Itamen and brings him to Avad, it's pointed out that the Shadow Carja have lost what little legitimacy they had, and will be re-absorbed into the Sundom soon. Unfortunately, until that happens, they're still dangerous, and they remain the primary antagonists for the rest of the game.
• The mechanics of succession in Imperium Nova can cause this to happen. Most notable is Hogan Galle, who became head of house at age five, head of faith at age eight, and emperor of the galaxy at age fourteen.
• Lord Vitiate in Knights of the Old Republic became the Sith leader at just 12 years old after starting his evil ways at just age 6.
• The Legend of Zelda:
  • Whenever Princess Zelda is the sole ruler of Hyrule, as in Spirit Tracks or A Link Between Worlds, she is never portrayed as being any older than 17. Though in the two cases, she at least had some chancellor, councilors, or other advisers to help her out. Averted in The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess as Zelda is twenty and was about to be crowned Queen before Zant's invasion.
  • The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker: While the Great Fairies in the game all resemble grown women, their Queen takes on the form of a little girl, though Really 700 Years Old applies in this case.
  • Also in The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess, the child Prince Ralis becomes ruler of the Zora after the premature deaths of his parents.
  • In The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, Riju became the Chief of the Gerudo tribe after the untimely death of her mother. Supplementary material pins her exact age at twelve, and in-game she still plays with stuffed Sand Seals in her free time. In spite of her age, several Gerudo NPCs describe her as a wise and powerful leader.
• Little King's Story: The basic plot is a boy becoming a king expanding his kingdom.
• In Long Live the Queen, the age of majority is fifteen, and player character Elodie is abruptly thrust into ruling at the age of fourteen when her mother dies at the beginning of the game. While her father is nominally acting as her regent until she is of age, she is given almost complete freedom to make whatever decisions she wants, and most of the other characters in the game treat her as if she is already queen.
  • Also present in a friend of Elodie's named Gwenelle, who reaches her fifteenth birthday in the second half of the game and inherits her deceased biological father's title. At her birthday party she gets in a fight with her mother, who was previously acting as her regent and wants to remain Gwenelle's adviser, and it's not made completely clear who is in the right; Gwenelle is still very young and has only just come into her title, but in this society she is now a legal adult and is expected to be ruling on her own.
  • Elodie's cousin Charlotte is around Elodie's age and in line for the thrown after her father Laurent, Elodie's uncle. It turns out that her mother Lucille is trying to invoke this by bumping off Elodie and Laurent, thus leaving Charlotte to inherit. It's set up in one ending wherein Elodie absconds from the throne to go be an evil minion, if Laurent was killed before this point, but the nobility rebels against the idea of another underage princess, and civil war breaks out.
• Deconstructed in Lost Technology. Agnes, the Empress of the Reinald Empire, is only fourteen years old at the start of the story. As a result of her age, she reigns as a puppet to her ministers. Oddly, even though all of her administration is run by her prime minister, she can make a rather effective battlefield commander.
• In Marco & the Galaxy Dragon, the mayor of Gold Cord is a young girl. She means well, but she's not terribly good at her job.
• In Medieval: Total War and Medieval II: Total War, it is entirely possible, through extremely nasty bad luck, to end up with a fourteen-year-old king/sultan. This usually only happens if all other eligible faction heirs get killed and the king kicks the bucket, leaving only a young, untested son as the last available option. Alternately, the king could be batty and simply designate the boy as his heir over more eligible options because he's completely nuts. If the king is really nutty, the heir won't be a blood relation but a captain who was adopted as a son after he killed a single-unit company of brigands.
• Melfand Stories: If you finish the game with El, he is crowned the new king of Melfand. He just so happens to be 13 years old.
• In Might & Magic VI, Prince Nicolai, who seems to be only ten years old or so at the start of the game, is the monarch of Enroth, technically, while King Roland is missing^note Queen Catherine is out of play as she went away for her father's funeral just before Roland went missing — which put her across an ocean and deep into fighting a separate war by the time she finds out her husband has gone missing. (His advisor, Regent Wilbur Humphrey rules in all but name; Nicolai feels he's in a Gilded Cage where he is and convinces the Player Party to "kidnap" him to let him get out for a while, a major part of the plot.)
• This is the core plot of Ni no Kuni II: Revenant Kingdom. The hero, Evan, is a young boy about to ascend to the throne of the kingdom of Ding Dong Dell when there's a coup and he's forced to flee. Rather than try to reclaim his kingdom, he instead decides to found a new kingdom with the aim of bringing the major nations of the world into alliance.
• The Magius in Magia Record: Puella Magi Madoka Magica Side Story, with Touka and Nemu are elementary schoolers, and Alina is the only leader who's older than them by five years, but is still a high-schooler and has yet to reach adulthood. Justified since Magical Girls who survived until adulthood is a rarity, and all three of them are Child Prodigy who are Wise Beyond Their Years.
• Mercedes from Odin Sphere takes up the throne after her mother, the fairy queen, dies from battle. She is quite overwhelmed by her responsibilities early on, but in time grows to be an extremely capable ruler.
• Prophet Cha Dawn of the Cult of Planet in Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri. Also, several shorts by Michael Ely, one of the game's writers, have Cha Dawn being carried into battle on shoulders.
• Lymsleia is installed as a puppet ruler in Suikoden V. Unfortunately, even though the bad guys keep her aide hostage as leverage, they don't count on her actually exerting her power as Queen.
• Tales of the Abyss: Fon Master Ion, who is roughly fourteen, is head of the religion that governs the entire world. The predecessor he was cloned from also counts.
• In Undertale this is implied with the Fallen Child character you play as well as the king's own adopted child Chara. Asgore asks Frisk to be their ambassador to help human and monster relationships. He may have also planned to do the same with Chara based on what he said on their death bed, "You are the future of humans and monsters..."
• In the first part of Virtual Villagers, the birth of the Golden Child signals a new era for the villagers, as he guides them to a new area on the island (continuing on the next game).
• World of Warcraft had Anduin Wrynn lead Stormwind while his father was missing in action. He was assisted by Lady Katrana Prestor and Bolvar Fordragon. While he was indeed the offical ruler everyone knew that he was more or less blatantly controlled by his advisors... And Bolvar usually deferred to Lady Katrana until it turns out that she is Onyxia in disguise and has charmed him (the magical way) to agree always with her opinion.
• In Xenoblade Chronicles 2, Emperor Niall of Mor Ardain is just a kid but is still considered a Reasonable Authority Figure whose good leadership and even temper are considered to be primary factors in war with Uraya being averted for so long. He does at least get a lot of guidance from his Blade Aegaeon, his older sister Mòrag, and Mòrag's Blade Brighid. He admits a few times that he feels overwhelmed, though, not least because Mòrag would have been Empress if he hadn't been born.

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