History Main / PromotionToParent

* Related: In ''MagicalGirlLyricalNanoha'', there is a discussion between the two children adopted by Fate Testarossa-Harlaown regarding adoption and how they view their guardians. Admiral Lindy Harlaown became Fate's adoptive mother, but Caro decides that after being adopted by Fate that she's like an older sister. When Erio is asked whether he considers Fate more like his mother or his sister, he can't decide.
** Well, strictly speaking Erio thinks of Fate as a mother from his reaction. He's just too embarrassed to say that to Caro. Especially given that she's his aunt by adoption (due to Fate being too young at the time to adopt her officially) and he's attracted to her.

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* Lt. Green in the original ''Series/{{Captain Scarlet|AndTheMysterons}}'', [[AllThereInTheManual according to promotional material]].

* In ''Manga/FullmetalAlchemist'', Ed in the first place. He's as much of a father to Al as he is an older brother.

* In ''Manga/FullmetalAlchemist'', the better members of the Amestrian military embody this trope for Ed and [[IronWoobie Al]]. These relationships are more emphasized in fanfiction, where some stories have one of them, usually Roy, who gets paired with Riza, eventually adopting the Elrics and such.
** And then there's Ed in the first place. He's as much of a father to Al as he is an older brother.

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*** [[http://www.onemanga.com/Magical_Girl_Lyrical_Nanoha_StrikerS/4/06/ In the ''StrikerS'' manga]], he occasionally calls Fate "Fate-[[JapaneseSiblingTerminology nee-san]]," but exclusively refers to her as "Fate-[[JapaneseHonorifics san]]" in the anime.

* In ''[[TheFlash Impulse]]'', Impulse's friend Carol is being raised by her adult brother after their parents died in an auto accident.

* In {{Franchise/Batman}}'s absence, [[{{Nightwing}} Dick Grayson]] is forced to take both [[LegacyCharacter his mantle]] and responsibility for the Bat-Family, specifically his little adoptive brother [[AntiHero Damian]].

* Mario in TheMovie of ''Film/SuperMarioBros''

* There are several examples in Elinor M Brent-Dyer's ''ChaletSchool'' series, most notably Madge Bettany, the school's founder, and her twin brother Dick, who are responsible for their IllGirl little sister Joey (the series heroine) after their parents die, and Gillian Linton, who takes care of her BrattyHalfPint sister Joyce while their mother is ill.

* In ''Series/{{Supernatural}}'', Dean was the one who looked after Sam when they were kids since their dad John was too busy going around trying to find the demon that killed their mother. Hell, Dean was the one who pulled Sam out of the fire that killed Mary, and he even uses the BecauseISaidSo line, like in "Bedtime Stories." Dean arguably replaces their mom even more when the three are reunited, as he regularly acts as peace-keeper between Sam and John.
** [[ArchangelMichael Michael]] also claims that he was this to his younger brother [[ArchangelLucifer Lucifer]].

* The Falcoknight [[ActionMom Yuuno]] in ''Franchise/FireEmblem: The Binding Blade'' raised her sisters, the Pegasus Knights [[DefrostingIceQueen Thite]] and [[GenkiGirl Thany]] after their parents, who were Ilian mercenaries, were killed together in the battlefield when Yuuno was a teenager and the others were little girls.
** Other ''Franchise/FireEmblem'' examples include [[LadyOfWar Fiora]] (who raised her sisters [[{{Tsundere}} Farina]] and [[ShrinkingViolet Florina]]), [[TheStoic Uther]] and {{H|otBlooded}}ector of Ostia from the same game as well as [[MysteriousWaif Ninian]] and her little brother Nils; [[{{Stripperiffic}} Tethys]] from ''The Sacred Stones'' (who raised her younger brother [[MagikarpPower Ewan]] alone until she joined Gerik's group and he went to study with [[BadassBookworm Saleh]]); [[spoiler: Forde]] from the same ''Sacred Stones'' (who became a knight both to follow his DisappearedDad's example and provide for himself and his little brother [[spoiler: Franz (who would become a knight as well)]] and Oscar (''Path of Radiance'' and ''Radiant Dawn'') raising Boyd and Rolf in Greil's group.

** Also happens in FireEmblemAwakening: [[spoiler: Morgan, the Avatar's KidFromTheFuture, can have or not an older brother or sister depending on who the Avatar marries. (If a female Avatar marries Chrom, or if a male Avatar marries a first generation girl who ''also'' gives birth to another KidFromTheFuture). If this happens, in the Bad Future the parents will die and the Avatar will become the Vessel for Grima, leaving little Morgan in the care of his/her older brother or sister, barely a teenager themself.]]

* Happens in ''{{VisualNovel/Crescendo|EienDatoOmotteItaAnoKoro}}'', with Ayame Sasaki taking care of her adopted younger brother Ryo (the male lead) after their parents die in an accident when Ryo was in junior high and Ayame was in college. She drops from college and becomes an OfficeLady to support them both., taking care of Ryo devotedly [[GreaterNeedThanmine and neglecting her own needs.]] [[BrotherSisterIncest They can potentially fall in love]].

** Satori Komeiji heads the household, although her younger sister, Koishi, often gives herself a PokeInTheThirdEye to give herself a functional InvisibilityCloak and live essentially as a hobo, stealing food and trespassing for shelter. Regardless, the household has many "pets" that have grown up into full-fledged humanoid {{youkai}} that live with Satori in the Komeiji household, although the events of ''Subterranean Animism'' imply she wields little control over her "pets" or "family" if one of them can make a crack at WorldDomination without her noticing.

* Lt. Green in the original ''CaptainScarlet'', [[AllThereInTheManual according to promotional material]].

* In ''VideoGame/DragonAge'', the Dwarf Commoner Origin implies they were effectively raised by their elder sister Rica due to their mother's alcoholism.
* In ''VideoGame/DragonAgeII'', Hawke became the sole breadwinner after the death of their father, three years prior to the game. Most of Hawke's actions for the first part of the game are simply trying to find a way to provide for their mother and younger siblings.

** After the death of Varric's father a few years after their exile to the surface, Bartrand took over as head of House Tethras and busied himself with running the family business. Varric ended up being left to raise himself and [[TheDutifulSon look after]] his alcoholic mother.

* In ''Theatre/TheMostHappyFella'', Marie has been mothering Tony, who is her ''older'' brother and now middle-aged, since their real mother died back in TheOldCountry. Her attempted ParentalMarriageVeto fails to stop Tony from marrying Rosabella.

* In ''TheMostHappyFella'', Marie has been mothering Tony, who is her ''older'' brother and now middle-aged, since their real mother died.

* Ian gets this in {{A Cruel God Reigns}} after his father, Greg, and stepmother, Sandra, die. Although his aunt Natasha is around to help, she runs away due to a guilty conscious for not telling anyone that [[spoiler: she knew Greg was sexually abusing Jeremy.]]

* Lyddie in ''SavingSarahCain''. Interestingly there is a special quirk. Sarah is the official guardian of an Amish family despite being an "Englisher" (non Amish). However Lyddie is jealous of her, quite justifiably because she is obviously a supremely competent mother whereas Sarah is selfish (which is of course why she needed to be saved) and unfamiliar with Amish ways.

* In ''TheOutsiders'', the main character Ponyboy and his brother Sodapop are under the legal guardianship of their older brother Darryl after the death of their parents.

* In JohnCWright's ''Literature/ChroniclesOfChaos'', the older children, Victor and Amelia, frequently took on a parental role because they knew none of the adults about could be trusted.

* ''TheFirstShopOfCoffeePrince'': Eun Chan's dad died, so she helps to support her mom and sister by working several jobs. She's also rather protective of her sister.

* In ''Series/{{Heroes}}'', it's strongly implied this was the case for Nathan and Peter Petrelli: in the pilot, their mother Angela quite casually confessed to Peter that she never paid him much attention in favor of supporting Nathan's ambitions (and frankly, she thought Peter was too needy and she didn't have the energy to deal with it) and you find out at various points in the series that Peter was their father Arthur's [[TheUnfavorite Unfavorite]], leaving him to turn to his older (by about twelve years) brother Nathan every time he needed help or support.

* Happened recently in Aussie soap ''{{Neighbours}}'' when a new family (or rather, part of an old family, the Ramseys) were introduced, but before they even got introduced properly, the single mother died in a car accident. With the father missing, oldest child Katie steps up to the plate as year-12 student and bread-winner for her marginally younger brother Harry (who repeatedly undermines her authority, not always deliberately, because he is only a year younger than her) and little sister Sophie (who's about 10 and looks up to both her older siblings - which causes problems if/when they clash).

* In ''Webcomic/{{Homestuck}}'', [[OnlyKnownByTheirNickname Dave's Bro]] plays it straight while John's Dad is simply a [[MissingMom Single]] [[AvertedTrope Parent]], with no insight into the rest of their respective families. Later, thanks a complicated series [[CloningBlues Ectobiology]] [[TimeParadox Shenanigans]] and [[StableTimeLoop Weird]] {{Time|yWimeyBall}} [[RunningGag Shit]], we learn that [[spoiler: [[InvertedTrope Dave's Bro is his biological clone-father,]] [[DoubleSubverted John's Dad is his genetic half-brother and his grandmother is actually his biological clone-mother,]] [[RuleOfThree and]] [[TrulySingleParent John is unwittingly responsible for cloning both the parents and the kids]] [[ZigZaggingTrope just before they all got launched throughout time and space to become those very people.]]]]

* In ''WesternAnimation/YoungJustice,'' [[ShapeShifter M'gann]] and [[{{Animorphism}} Gar]] consider themselves "[[BloodBrothers blood siblings]]" after she saves his life with a SuperHumanTransfusion. After his mom dies during the TimeSkip he moves to Mount Justice with her.

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* In ''Manga/{{Bleach}}'', Sora Inoue, who is 15 years older than his baby sister Orihime, protects her from their AbusiveParents and runs away from home with her as soon as he reaches legal age, bringing in a paycheck and raising her until his death in a car accident three years before the main plot, at which point Orihime lives on her own with some relatives' financial support. He even {{lampshade|Hanging}}s this by saying Orihime is "more like a daughter (to him) than a sister."

!!Examples

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* Yakko in the ''WesternAnimation/{{Animaniacs}}'' movie ''WesternAnimation/WakkosWish''.
** Pretty much Yakko anyways, given their situation.

** Kaien Shiba was this to Ganju and Kukaku. And then when ''he'' "died" (seeing a trend here?), Kukaku was this to Ganju.
*** Similarly, Kaien and Rukia's leader Junshiro Ukitake supports not only himself with his high-ranked work in the Gotei, but [[MassiveNumberedSiblings his five younger brothers and two little sisters]]. Unlike the others, he's still alive -- though as he's a Shinigami, you could say he ''is'' dead. (And he also has one nasty IncurableCoughOfDeath)

Compare to BigBrotherInstinct. If this trope is a KlingonPromotion to parent, the promoted will also be a SelfMadeOrphan.