Taking Up the Mantle



"[Elisha] took up also the mantle of Elijah that fell from him, and went back, and stood by the bank of [the] Jordan;"

- 2nd Kings 2:13, The Bible, KJV

"But you know what? Some people don't want to be saved. Because saving means changing. And changing is always harder than staying the same. It takes courage to face yourself in the mirror and look beyond the reflection. To find the you that you should have been. The you who got derailed by cruel childhood events. Events that took your life's natural trajectory and twisted it. Changing it into something unimaginable... or even incredible... ...giving you the courage to embrace your birthright, your destiny, and finally realize... that you are BATMAN."

- Dick Grayson, talking to himself at the end of Battle for the Cowl.

So you're two thirds of the way through a book/movie/whatever, when suddenly, the main protagonist dies, is imprisoned, performs a Face Heel Turn, or is otherwise unable to act as the main protagonist. All seems lost, a Take Up My Sword hasn't been pulled! What is to be done?

But wait! A Sidekick, the Love Interest, The Rival, a Mauve Shirt (in theory, even an antagonist could pull this off) steps or is forced into the role of the main protagonist, and the work that you are reading focuses on them for the rest of the time it takes to finish the work. The original protagonist may return near the end. Essentially, it's when someone invokes Legacy Character.

Take Up My Sword is different in that it implies that the protagonist had time to actually say something along the lines of ~I'm Dying, Please Take My MacGuffin~ to his successor, whereas with Taking Up the Mantle, the character has to take the initiative or be shown that it's what they have to do, but ultimately, they have to make the decision themselves.

In so far as it applies to sidekicks, it's a relative to You Are in Command Now, which applies to more rigid situations where the Big Hat Of Command lands on a person's head whether they want it to or not, based on their level in the hierarchy.

May or may not be related to and/or overlap with Legacy Character, All Up to You, You Are in Command Now, Field Promotion, or It's The Journey That Counts.

The Trope Namer comes from a line in The Bible where Elisha takes up the mantle of Elijah the prophet- literally.

Due to the nature of this trope, spoilers are bound to follow.

Examples:

Comic Books

 * After Batman's "death" during Final Crisis,Dick Grayson is forced to become Batman because Bruce Wayne never appointed a successor, and Gotham City was descending into chaos without Batman's presence to strike genuine terror into the hearts of criminals. Dick was reluctant to become Batman because Bruce left specific instructions not to don the cowl. But Bruce was a bit shortsighted on the matter so Dick eventually wound up doing so anyway. Specifically, it comes from the above quote.
 * Of course, Battle for the Cowl was about several people trying to become the new Batman. Dick Grayson, Tim Drake, Jason Todd, Two-Face, and Michael Lane, the new Azrael, all heeded the call to become Gotham City's new Dark Knight.
 * The Battle for the Cowl example works another way, in that for the first two issues of the mini-series, the story mostly focused on Tim Drake, but in the final issue, it mostly focused on Dick Grayson.
 * In the first arc of Batman, Inc., Jiro Osamu steps into the role of his deceased mentor Mr. Unknown to prove himself to Batman.
 * Another one from the Batman mythos: Tim Drake, when he was set to become Robin, actually had the nerve to don Jason Todd's Robin costume and to go out with Alfred to rescue Batman and Nightwing. And he managaged to pull it off.
 * Of course, this example is older than any of that. After The Death of Superman, four heroes appeared on the radar ready to take Superman's place; the Cyborg Superman, Steel, the Eradicator, and Superboy, each having an equal stake in the name and each having his own motives to want to be the Man of Steel.
 * In V for Vendetta, Evey winds up doing this.
 * Ultimate Spider-Man: After Peter Parker, a tiny black/hispanic kid with Spider-powers named Miles Morales decides to pick up the slack and become Spider-Man.

Film- Animation

 * Transformers: The Movie has Hot Rod spending much of the movie trying to find someone to take over for, only to finally take the mantle of leadership of the Autobots himself and save the day.
 * In Twice Upon a Time, when Synonamess Botch attacks the region of Din, the Fairy Godmother is stretched so thin that she's run out of heroes. Ralph and Mum, incompetent workers desperate to be known, are hired on the spot to stop Botch.
 * In the 2007 TMNT movie,  briefly takes over for Leonardo just prior to The Climax.

Literature

 * The short story Aftermath, taking place just two hours after Changes in The Dresden Files,, there is no one to protect Chicago from the supernatural baddies, until
 * The Trope Namer comes from a line in The Bible (specifically, the book of 2nd Kings) which states that the prophet Elijah's protégé Elisha literally took up Elijah's mantle after Elijah was taken up into heaven. Elisha was automatically endowed with a significant portion of Elijah's power, and assumed his place as the de facto leader of all of the prophets of God residing in Israel, as well as becoming one of the greatest prophets ever.

Live Action TV

 * The Scoobies combine their talents and abilities to hunt vampires in Buffy's absence . They don't seem to be very good at it judging from the one occasion we see.

Toys

 * This happened once in Bionicle, specifically in the third Direct to Video movie, Bionicle 3: Web of Shadows, when Vakama, the leader of the Toa Metru, and The Hero of the previous film, performs a Face Heel Turn about half way through the movie. Matau steps into the role of The Hero, and wages a successful I Know You Are in There Somewhere Fight with Vakama, after which he becomes co-Lancer with Nokama.

Video Games
": "This is the Shadow Broker, the situation is under control. We experienced a power fluctuation while upgrading hardware. We are back online, resume standard procedures.""
 * In Persona 3 FES, when Aigis gains the "Wild Card" ability, she also gains the "field leader" status from the This does cause some resentment from another Designated Love Interest Yukari.
 * In Mass Effect 2, Liara is trying to find the Shadow Broker, an information dealer who is possibly the most powerful individual in the entire galaxy, who hides on a ship drifting inside a storm on an uninhabitable planet and never shows his face to anyone and communicates with his top agents only through digital voice synthesizers. While trying to free Liaras assistant, who has been captured, the Shadow Broker and all his personal guards are killed in his office. After the fight dozens of agents call in to inquire about the disrupted connection.

Western Animation

 * When  abruptly disappears during the series finale of Avatar: The Last Airbender,   is forced to step into the leadership role of the Gaang.
 * Tron Uprising begins as the young Program Beck is told by the legendary hero Tron that Beck must be a hero to the programs and fight Clu because Tron was severely injured by Clu and will never fight the same way again.