- In Fahrenheit Lucas casually mentions that his older brother Marcus "took care of me after our parents died". Sounds sweet enough until you see their grave stones and figures out that Lucas was around eighteen when his parents died (ten years later he has a former girlfriend that used to live with him in his huge loft). I know his older brother became a priest, but come on!
- In Tales of Symphonia, Genis' older sister Raine takes the parental role; at the start she only has a vague memory of her mother Virginia and Genis doesn't remember anything but they do find their mother near the end, but she's insane due to her guilt and nursing a doll whom she named Raine. Raine (the real one not the doll) ends up in a parental role for the group of children sent out to save the world, along with Kratos, the mercenary hired for the job; of course Kratos pulls a Darth Vader.
- In Tales of the Abyss, Van acts like a parent to Tear when Hod is destroyed.
- Chester from Tales of Phantasia was promoted to a father figure for his little sister Ami after their parents died... up until she dies as well, together with other denizens of Toltus.
- Fire Emblem:
- In the Archanea games remake, it's revealed that the cavalier Roderick helped raise his younger sisters after his mom died and became a knight to support the family.
- Juno from Binding Blade raised her sisters, the Pegasus Knights Thea and Shanna, after their parents, who were Ilian mercenaries, were killed together in the battlefield when Juno was a teenager and the others were little girls.
- Other Fire Emblem examples include Fiora (who raised her sisters Farina and Florina), Uther and Hector of Ostia, and Ninian and her little brother Nils, all of them from the Binding Blade prequel Blazing Blade; Tethys from The Sacred Stones (who raised her younger brother Ewan alone until she joined Gerik's group and he went to study with Saleh); Forde from the same Sacred Stones (who became a knight both to follow his Disappeared Dad's example and provide for himself and his little brother Franz (who would become a knight as well), Oscar (Path of Radiance and Radiant Dawn) raising Boyd and Rolf in Greil's group, and Atlas from Gaiden and its remake who raises his younger brothers on his own and joins Celica to rescue them from bandits.
- Going even further back in Genealogy of the Holy War are half-brothers Alvis and Azelle of Velthomer. Azelle's mom was one of the maids working for Alvis' dead mother and died some time ago, and their father Lord Victor was pretty much Driven to Suicide at some point, so Alvis took upon himself the duty of helping raise young Azelle. Alvis was less than an ideal parent, though, since Azelle presumably dies along with the rest of Sigurd's army at the end of the game's first half when Alvis betrays and slaughters all of them. Other sources, however, hint that Azelle may have been spared by Alvis, but died of illness and grief some time later.)
- Radiant Dawn also provides Micaiah and Sothe, at least at the beginning of their relationship. This goes into Not Blood Siblings, however, unless one breaks off their A-support.
- In Fire Emblem Awakening, as the Bad Future takes place, if either a Female Avatar marries Chrom or a Male Avatar marries a lady with a pre-determined child, the Avatar's own child Morgan will be left in the care of his or her older sibling despite him or her being barely a teenager.. Additionally, unless Chrom marries the unnamed Village Maiden, his daughter Lucina is implied to have finished raising her younger sibling (who, depending on the mom, can be either: Male Morgan, Cynthia, Inigo, Brady or Kjelle).
- According to Lissa, Emmeryn aka the Exalt of Ylisse was this to her and Chrom. She ascended to the throne before being ten years old and Lissa says she cannot really recall her parents, so...
- In Fire Emblem Fates, Prince Xander and Princess Camilla were the eldest of the surviving Royal Children in the Deadly Decadent Court of Nohr. As such they took parental roles towards their half-siblings Leo and Elise, and their adoptive sibling the Avatar.
- To a smaller degree, Prince Ryoma did something similar towards his full-blooded siblings (Hinoka, Takumi and Sakura) and his adoptive sister (Azura) after the murder of their father King Sumeragi and the Avatar's kidnapping.
- In Fire Emblem: Heroes, The Brute Helbindi's more sympathetic side is drawn out when he bonds with Princess Ylgr (he's supposed to be her jailer) and it's revealed that he only works for the cruel King Surtr to get enough money to raise his younger sister Menja. Sadly, the slums where he and Menja live are razed by Surtr himself and she's killed. Which leads Helbindi to turn against Surtr.
- In Fire Emblem: Three Houses, Seteth from the Church of Seiros is raising his teenage sister Flayn on his own and even now he's very protective of her. Subverted: he's actually her father, but they pose as brother and sister... because they are actually the legendary heroes Cichol and Cethleann, and now they must hide their true relationship so they won't be found out.
- The Blue Lions student Ashe Ubert was orphaned at an early age, and became a thief to support himself and his younger siblings. That is, until he tried to rob Lord Lonato's mansion and the man, instead of imprisoning him, took him and his brothers and sisters under his wing.
- The Resident Evil series has Chris Redfield to his little sister Claire, as it's stated in the Japanese companion novel that their parents died in a car crash years ago.
- The first Gun Survivor has Lott taking care of his little sister Lilly once their parents are zombified.
- Although they're not related by blood, Terry Bogard adopts Geese Howard's child Rock in his Fatal Fury 3 ending (although that specific scene doesn't take place until the ending of the sequel, Real Bout Fatal Fury, where Geese actually dies). He pretty much had to, though: he (unintentionally) killed Rock's father Geese, who in turn had killed Terry and Andy's father Jeff. There's an implication that Geese refused to let Terry Save the Villain because he knew Terry would be a better parent for Rock than he was (as well as saddling him with the aforementioned guilt).
- The Walking Dead:
- When Lee finds Clem alone in her house in episode 1. He's her foster father for the whole season, realising her parents are gone and most probably dead.
- In the Michonne miniseries, Samantha suddenly finds herself as the adult figure to her brothers after John's death. Paige becomes the only parental figure remaining for James and Alex if Sam dies at the house.
- Clementine takes over as AJ's sole caregiver at the end of season 2 or between seasons 2 and 3 depending on player choices at the end of season 2. Loses this status not long before the events of season 3 when the New Frontier exiles Clem and take AJ, then regains it when she finds him at the McCarroll Ranch between seasons 3 and 4.
- Javier had to become his niece and nephew's paternal figure after the outbreak, as David never came back home. He and Kate has been taking care of the kids since.
- Phoenix Wright Ace Attorney had Chief Prosecutor Lana Skye, who has been taking care of her teenage sister Ema (13 years younger than her) since the two of them were orphaned. Of course, it's Lana's love for her little sister which leads to her being blackmailed by her boss, Damon Gant, into covering up a crime.
- Averted in Final Fantasy IV (DS version), where Golbez/Theodor started to be a good older brother to Cecil, but Zemus started his mind control and Golbez proceeded to kick Cecil's ass to the curb.
- Happens in Crescendo Eien Dato Omotte Ita Ano Koro, with Ayame Sasaki taking care of her adopted younger brother, Ryo, If the player so desires, this can go into Not Blood Siblings.
- Allegretto, from Eternal Sonata, takes Beat in as his adopted little brother.
- This relationship is even further cemented with the orphans living in the sewer. At one point, you can speak to an orphan who will say, "If we're a family, then Beat's the mom and Allegretto's the dad!"
- In Final Fantasy XIII, Lightning decides to raise Serah on her own at fifteen, when their mother dies (their father died when the girls were very small). There's an almost total lack of resentment, and the sisters care deeply about each other. Interestingly, Serah worries plenty about Lightning too, and with good reason.
- Because everyone in Touhou is either Conveniently an Orphan or subject to Parental Abandonment, but there still seem to be a fair number of siblings, even though there are no parents to go with them, this happens in a few places.
- Remilia Scarlet is head of the Scarlet Devil Mansion... even though she looks (and often acts) like a 10-year-old. The actual maintenance of the house is handled by the human Meido Sakuya (at least, as long as her merely human lifespan lasts), Remilia is functionally boss / dictator of the household. Of course, perhaps her most important duty is keeping Enfant Terrible little sister Flandre Scarlet from throwing a temper tantrum that accidentally ends the world in an Earthshattering Kaboom.
- Satori Komeiji heads the household, although her younger sister, Koishi, often gives herself a Poke in the Third Eye to give herself a functional Invisibility Cloak 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 World Domination without her noticing.
- It's worth pointing out that Rin seemed to be actively covering up for Utsuho for fear of Satori finding out.
- In the first and second generations of Pokémon, Blue's sister Daisy seems to be assuming the role of acting mother for him in lieu of missing or deceased parents as she is several years older than him and looks after the house with no other adults present.
- It's stated in FireRed/LeafGreen Versions that Professor Oak lives with them, and even in the first generation, his lab is right next to Blue and Daisy's house. He probably cares for them.
- In Final Fantasy VI, this ends up happening to Terra when she comes across a town in which all of the adults have died.
- Seiko Shinohara's mother disappeared several years ago. As a result, she acts like a surrogate mother to her three younger siblings while their father works.
- Indicated to have happened in Golden Sun Dark Dawn with the Czamaral siblings. They're also the royal family of Morgal, making poor Volechek also the new king of a war-torn nation... still at war. It Got Worse from there for him.
- In the Katawa Shoujo Akira Satou was this to her sister Lilly after their parents moved to Scotland and left them behind until the demands of her job force Lilly to start living on-campus at Yamaku. She loves Lilly to death but is quite bitter toward her parents leaving her with Lilly; she also thinks she didn't do as good of a job as she could, as Lilly ended up learning how to be independent.
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Akira: ...Expecting a nineteen-year-old to be a mother for a blind child. It's ridiculous. |
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- In Xenoblade Chronicles, Dunban is this to his younger sister Fiora, their father having died in a Mechon attack long before the events of the game, and their mother passing away not long after.
- Sweet from Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas became this, being the first born of Beverly Johnson. His younger brother Carl has refered to Sweet as "the man of the house" since he was the one who made money in the absense of their father and he even mentions at one point when their youngest sister Kendl needed shoes he was the one who made it happen. This is all backstory and by the time of the events of the actual game all of the siblings are adults.
- One of the Love Interests of the original Tokimeki Memorial got one of these. Surprisingly, it turns out to be Mira Kagami, the apparent Alpha Bitch of the game: she's the eldest (and only) daughter in a poor household, her father is dead, and she helps her mother takes care of her six younger brothers. As a result she cancels dates because one of the kids is an Ill Boy and she has to take care of him, refuses to let the MC walk her home so he won't find out she's not rich, can't join any clubs because she has to stay home to look after the kids, etc..
- Back to Promotion to Parent