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A little young to be the Holy Father, aren't we?
Respect has nothing to do with how long you've been on this Earth... but you're probably too young to understand that.
So you have a group of people, all adults, and probably badasses. Who will you leave in charge of the bunch? Someone even bigger, more experienced, and tougher than they are, right? Not this time—the leader is a person younger than all the rest, maybe even a kid. This usually shows that the young leader is smarter than his or her adult lackies, or that some manner of higher authority (usually their powerful parents) has placed them in charge. In any case, this usually makes for an interesting character dynamic.
Royalty fall under A Child Shall Lead Them, while corporate versions are the Grade School CEO.
Related to Improbable Age and Ensign Newbie.
Tropes:
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Anime
- The Pope in Trinity Blood, pictured above.
- In Bleach, Toshiro is Captain of the 10th squad by virtue of being a Child Prodigy (not quite Improbable Age, since he's still Really 700 Years Old, but he's a lot less physically mature than the other captains). To the point where his lieutenant (who acts a lot less mature than him) was the one who recruited him.
- Hitsugaya is the most stand out example but compared to the other Captains, Byakuya, Soi Fon and Gin also fit. While adults, the flashback arc suggests establishes Byakuya as only barely older than Histugaya is in the present and Gin was still a child, meaning by the standards of their extended lifespans they're only just adults. Her own flashback earlier implies that Soi Fon is only a little older than Byakuya.
- Also among the Vice-Captains, Yachiru of the 11th Division is also there. Pre-pubescent but with the authority to boss the adult members of her Division around.
- The flashback arc also establishes Hisagi and Nanao to be children at the time while other, shorter flashbacks tell us that Momo, Kira, Renji and Rukia are close to them in age as well, making most of the current crop of Lieutenants in the equivalent of their late teens.
- Code Geass has a 16 years old sub-Viceroy in season 1... A Viceroy as old as this in season 2... Someone who tells Zero he doesn't mind him being a student... Should we speak about empress of China? Or Emperor Lelouch? Empress Nunnally?
- Full Metal Panic has sixteen year old Teletha "Tessa" Testarossa as the commanding officer of a high-tech submersible carrier. The given justification is by her being a Teen Genius and a "Whispered" besides. Most of the "Black Technology" that went into the submarine came from the recesses of her brain and are ill-understood by others, making her an essential human resource to its optimal function.
Film
Literature
- Happens a couple times in the Warrior Cats series. Scourge takes over the city cats when he's only a kit, simply because of his fighting skill and being the most bloodthirsty cat. In the first series, main character Fireheart is noted to be an extremely young leader; Bluestar made him deputy at a young age, and the warrior code states that deputy succeeds leader. If his training had taken the usual six-moons length, he would have been a warrior for only two moons at the age he became deputy.
- Animorphs got into this at the end of the series, when the group finally went to the Army for help. The adult soldiers still ended up deferring to Jake, who was the Animorphs' leader and had way more experience with the Yeerks than they did. He was only sixteen at the time.
- It happened even earlier when the kids finally revealed their double life to their parents and forced their whole families into hiding. The adults were kept informed and asked for advice, but the kids made it clear they would act independently.
- Most young leaders in A Song of Ice and Fire get there by means of A Child Shall Lead Them (any boy lord or boy king), or Young Conqueror (Daenerys Targaryen, along with a few in the history books). One of the only exceptions is Jon Snow, Lord Commander of the Night's Watch, who is voted to his position. His friend tells him that he's not the youngest (who was ten when voted in), but he's up there.
Live Action TV
- Doogie Howser, M.D. to his staff.
- One episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation was about Wesley, 15 year old Acting Ensign, being given his first command position as leader of an away mission. Everyone else on the team were actual ensigns, much older than he and have already graduated from Starfleet.
- Game of Thrones is full of this trope. Robb Stark, 17, leader of the army of North, ward of the North, lord of Winterfell. Bran Stark, 10, acting lord of Winterfell. Robin Arryn, 10, lord of the Vale. Joffrey Baratheon, 14, king of the Seven Kingdoms.
- Most of them have been aged up from from where they were in the books.
- Merlin has got into this since Uther's death in season 4. Granted, Arthur is in his early 20s, but he's still younger than all of his knights and advisors and such.
- In Austin & Ally, Ally (15) is head of the mall merchants' association, with no explanation given as to why.
- This happens a lot in the DCLAU - Logan in Shake It Up has the power to hire and fire employees at the kebab shop and in season three of Kickin' It, Jack has been hired as an instructor at the karate dojo. (Both characters played by Leo Howard, coincidentally or not).
Video Games
- Tormod from Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance is the leader of the Laguz emancipation army despite being somewhere between 12-14 when it forms, and only 15-17 by the time the sequel roles around
- Tetra in The The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker, a girl not much older than Link who leads a crew of pirates. It's explained that the adult pirates respect her for having taken on the captain's responsibilities at a very young age, following the death of her mother (their former captain).
- Ion in Tales Of The Abyss was named Fon Master (the equivalent of the Pope) before he was even twelve. Things get even more extreme when it's revealed that Ion is actually a clone of the original Ion who died, making the current Ion mentally two years old.
- By the time of Final Fantasy XIII-2, Hope (whose age ranges from 24-27) has become this. Each time you see him even 400 years into the future he is the unquestioned Director of the Academy (and basically all of humanity by default).
Western Animation
- Master Cyclonis, the Evil Overlord and leader of the Talons, from Storm Hawks. When she and Aerrow first meet, they're both surprised at how young the other is.
- Numbuh 362, or Rachel Mackenzie, from Codename Kids Next Door through out most of the series carries out the title of Supreme Leader of the Kids Next Door, with every KND Operative serving under her.
- Nearly all of her inferiors are about the same age as she is, though.
- In The Simpsons episode "Bart the Murderer", Fat Tony attempts to invoke this trope during Bart's trial for the murder (actually, just the disappearance) of Principal Skinner. (Of course, it was Bart who was working for Tony.) The attempt backfires when Skinner himself comes into the courtroom and explains that he had simply gotten trapped under a pile of his old newspapers while cleaning out his garage.
Real Life
- Luke Ravenstahl, mayor of Pittsburgh since 2006, was first elected to the City Council in 2003 at the age of 23. Two years later he became President of the City Council, and when Mayor Bob O'Connor died in 2006, he became interim mayor. Ravenstahl won a special election the following year at age 26.
- Stevens T. Mason, the first Governor of Michigan, was elected in 1835 at the age of 24—too young to be elected to the federal Congress in Washington. As such, he was called "the Boy Governor", "The Young Hotspur", and "The Stripling", as well as other less-than-salutary nicknames when a border dispute with Ohio delayed Michigan's entry to the Union by a year.
- Joe Biden was elected to the Senate a few weeks before his 30th birthday; 30 is the minimum age to serve in the Senate.
- William Pitt The Younger first became Prime Minister at 24.
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