Big Brother Instinct: Difference between revisions

{{quote|''Big brothers...you know why they're born first? To protect the little ones that come after them!''|'''Ichigo Kurosaki''', ''[[Bleach]]'' }}

The '''Big Brother Instinct''' serves to explain why fan attraction to [[Moe]] tropes and devices can be an ''emotional'', [[Perverse Sexual Lust|rather than sexual]], response. There seems to be something inherently comforting to an awkward male about being looked up to by a younger girl for support. Therefore [[Moe]] can be wish fulfillment about taking a "big brother role" instead of about being a [[Love Interest]] (although that version is common too).

Compare [[Cool Big Sis]], [[Mama Bear]], [[Papa Wolf]] and [[Promotion to Parent]]. Contrast [[Big Brother Bully]]. Can overlap with [[Sempai-Kohai]] when the older person acts in a way to protect the younger person's best interests.

Has nothing to do with the TV show ''[[Big Brother]]''. The ''[[Nineteen Eighty-Four|1984]]'' meaning of "Big Brother" is covered under [[Big Brother Is Watching]].

* ''[[HokutoFist noof the North Star]]'': Ken|Kenshiro IS''is'' this trope]]. While usually brooding and serious, one of the few things that makes him genuinely crack a smile is being around Bat and Lin. ''Hurt or threaten'' Bat and Lin and, well, [[You Are Already Dead]].

** In the 7thseventh book, Mikuru is kidnapped. Kyon flies into a rage (for the second time in the novels), and immediately calls up Haruhi for help, forgetting she still doesn't know she's a [[Reality Warper]]. He claims it was a failed practical joke to cover up.

** In the 10thtenth novel after {{spoiler|Yuki is incapacitated by the Sky Canopy Domain}} Kyon completely loses it and runs out to track down Kuyo Suou and personally make her fix it. To reiterate, he actually went out of his way to get into a confrontation with an alien interface who he ''knows'' has god-like powers. Naturally, he's totally out-classed but it's the thought that counts.

* ''[[D.Gray-man|D Gray Man]]'':

* ''[[Jungle wa Itsumo Hale Nochi Guu|Haré+ Guu]]'': Haré has a big brother instinct towards his frequently irresponsible ''mother''. Guu teases him about his "Mazacon" (mother complex) from time to time.

** Sesshoumaru has a complex, evolving relationship with his brother [[The Hero|Inuyasha]] {{spoiler|due to feeling like the [[The Unfavourite|victim]] of [[Parental Favouritism]]}}. Prior to the story's start, it appears Sesshoumaru [[Big Brother Bully|bullied]] and [[Aloof Big Brother|ignored]] Inuyasha for not being [[Half-Human Hybrid|pure-blooded]] [[Youkai]], and his first few story arcs revolve around Sesshoumaru's efforts to obtain the [[Cool Sword]] that their father left for Inuyasha - by [[Cain and Abel|murdering Inuyasha]] if necessary. As the story progresses and Sesshoumaru's [[Character Development|character develops]], however, Sesshoumaru's motives become more ambiguous, taking on more of a flavor of "[[I Was Just Passing Through]]" and "[[The Only One Allowed to Defeat You|Nobody kills my brother but me]]." The conflict between them is eventually resolved {{spoiler|when Sesshoumaru finally understands what their [[Sink or Swim Mentor|father]] was [[Tough Love|trying]] to [[Cruel to Be Kind|teach]] him: no matter how strong Tessaiga makes Inuyasha, his half-human nature means he'll always need Sesshoumaru's strength and [[Big Brother Mentor|support]].}}

*** Although the exact nature of Sesshoumaru's protective instincts can be debated in one-or-two cases (notably Jaken {{spoiler|and Kagura}}), his instinct to protect expands throughout the series more-or-less as follows: [[The Igor|Jaken]] (who really doesn't [[Bumbling Sidekick|feel the love]] most of the time), [[Morality Pet|Rin]], [[The Only One Allowed to Defeat You|Inuyasha]], [[I Was Just Passing Through|Kagome]], {{spoiler|[[Implied Love Interest|Kagura]], [[Designated Victim|Kohaku]], until he's eventually openly protecting [[Protectorate|both his group and Inuyasha's group together]].}} Sesshoumaru's development is finally [[Lampshade Hanging|lampshaded]] in the final chapter {{spoiler|when Kagome openly calls him ''onii-san'' (using the kanji for 'brother-in-law') and notices the [[Not So Different|disturbed expressions on both brothers' faces are identical]].}}

* ''[[Kyo Kara Maoh!|Kyo Kara Maoh]]'': Shori has a certain obsession with protecting his younger brother at all costs.

* In ''[[True Tears]]'' Jun displays this kind of attitude toward Noe, his younger sister. Hiromi even comments on it. In fact, {{spoiler|he seems to be rooting for a romantic involvement with her, making it a case of [[Brother-Sister Incest]] even if it is one sided and never actually accomplished}}

** Ed sacrificed his arm to keep his brothers soul in existence. {{spoiler|andAnd later his use of alchemy all togetheraltogether.}} If that's not Big Brother Instinct, what is?

** The Elrics both have this dynamic towards each other. Edward was more than once willing to die for Al (until he realized that if he died no one else would be able to put Al back to normal) -- and Al did NOT approve of Edward's plan to let himself killed by Scar so latter one would leave Al alone. Later in the first anime Al {{spoiler|sacrifices his recently Philosopher's Stoned self to revive his brother. Edward answers this with sacrificing himself to bring Al back}}. And at the ultimate end of the first anime, in the movie, they spend much time, stress and tears to find each other again, succeed, {{spoiler|Edward decides to leave his brother for good by sealing the Gate in order to protect him and Amestris - and Al replies with following him.}}—that's FMA for you...

** Scar's older brother. {{spoiler|When Kimblee attacked, he jumped in front of Scar even though the effort was... well, fruitless. Afterwards, as Scar lay dying with one arm gone, his brother sacrifices his own arm and bleeds to death in his place.}}

** [[Moe Anthropomorphism|Switzerland]] is like this with his [[Token Mini-MoeLoli]] sister Liechtenstein.

* ''[[Narutaru]]'': Female-female example: {{spoiler|[[Action Girl]] Shiina has a [[Mysterious Protector]] in the form of one of the "Otohime" or "Virgin Princesses". It turns out that said protector is actually her dead older sister, Mishou, who was transformed and reincarnated into an Otohime after her death.}}

* ''[[Basilisk]]'' has [[Master of Disguise|Saemon Kisaragi]] and his younger sister, [[Amazonian Beauty|Okoi]]. Even when Okoi is quite able to defend herself, all of the Koga Manjidani know that upsetting her is a ''bad'' idea not just because she'll punch them immediately, but because the ruthless Saemon will be NOT amused as well. {{spoiler|When Okoi dies ''very'' messily, Saemon throws all his possible reservations about the Iga/Koga showdown away and fights ''furiously'' and ''without any mercy'' (except to Hotarubi, and that's ONLY''only'' after he's fatally injured her) to avenge his [[Dead Little Sister]].}}

* ''[[Fairy Tail]]'': Mirajane and Elfman are a weird example of this: Elfman (technically the younger brother) is extremely protective of Mira, probably due to {{spoiler|their [[Dead Little Sister]], for whose death he blames himself}}, [[Berserk Button|flying into a rage when she's in danger]] and threatening anyone who flirts with her. However, Mira is also deeply protective of ''him'', and rightly so, considering that {{spoiler|she's about a million times more badass}}.

* In ''[[Umineko no Naku Koro ni]]'', Battler behaves this way both towards his actual younger sister, Ange, and to his little cousin Maria. He bonds with Maria early on in most of the arcs despite not having seen her in six years, and is very protective of Ange. After Ange {{spoiler|reveals her identity to him and performs a [[Heroic Sacrifice]]}}, Battler snaps out of his funk and goes up several levels in badass and sets his mind back on track to defeating Beatrice and making it back home to her.

* In ''[[Getter Robo]]|Getter Robo: Armageddon]]'', Go immediately adopts this attitude towards Kei upon encountering her. It's eventually revealed that the reason for this is that {{spoiler|he ''is'' her older brother -- or rather a ([[Opposite Gender Clone|male]]) memory-retaining clone of her older ''sister'', Michiru, who died when Kei was a little girl... known as Genki Saotome. Sort of}}. It's complicated.

* Subverted in ''[[Death Note]]'' where [[Villain Protagonist]] Light Yagami in an early [[Motive Rant]] claims that part of the reason he wants to make a better world is to protect innocents like his little sister, Sayu, and he has a [[Pet the Dog]] moment early on helping her with her homework, but {{spoiler|later in the series considers killing her when [[Hostage for Macguffin|she becomes a hostage]] so that the source of his power doesn't fall into the hands of criminals (Though ultimately he doesn't).}}

* In ''[[Naruto]]'', {{spoiler|Itachi Uchiha wanted his little brother Sasuke to be strong enough to be safe from [[Big Bad|Madara]].}} Shame he went about it in the most [[Mind Rape|fucked up]], [[Nightmare Fuel|traumatizing]], and [[Nice Job Breaking It, Hero|ultimately futile]] way possible.

** Actually, according to the story we're told, his goal was to make Sasuke a hero of Konoha. The only way he'd be allowed to continue to live there after {{spoiler|the entire Uchiha Clan planned a rebellion. Itachi was supposed to kill all of them, but he couldn't make himself kill Sasuke. That's one for the "Nice Job Breaking Your Little Brother, Hero" category.}}

* ''[[Darker than Black]]'': There is a ''reason'' Hei goes [[Berserk Button|completely nuts]] when his <s>[[Dead Little Sister|<s>Dead]]</s> [[Dead Little Sister|Disappeared Little Sister]] is brought up. {{spoiler|Namely, the reason he came to be a [[Badass]] martial artist in the first place was to protect his Contractor sister. That's right, the normal sibling wanted to protect the one with superpowers. [[Badass Normal|And did a pretty good job]] up until [[Reality Is Out to Lunch|Heaven's Gate]] somehow fused them.}} In the second season, {{spoiler|he starts treating Suou as a substitute little sister.}}

* Seto from ''Heavens Will'' has one of the weirdest Big Brother Complexes ever. {{spoiler|Basically, his younger twin sister died protecting him from a malicious spirit and her soul was sealed in a fan which Seto now uses to perform exorcisms himself. He then grew out his hair, [[Wholesome Crossdresser|began wearing woman's clothing]], and is saving his money to ''get a sex change operation''. After he gets it, he plans to kill himself so his sister's soul to inhabit his body and live again, and he does it all because he believes that he should have died instead of her. 'Seto' isn't even his real name, it's his sister's.}}

* ''[[Baccano!]]'' has two examples: Maiza, who serves as a sort of [[Big Brother Mentor]] to the young gangster Firo (who is supposedly somewhat similar to his biological younger brother, who {{spoiler|was murdered in a conflict over the Elixir of Life}}), and Dallas, an unrepentant [[Jerkass]] whose one redeeming trait is his kindness towards his little sister. The three Gandor brothers are also very protective of one another.

* Baskerville has this towards Mingchao in ''Et Cetera.'' Partially because he's dealing with {{spoiler|his own little sister's death.}}

* In ''[[One Piece]]'', Portgas D. Ace is very protective of his {{spoiler|adoptive}} little brother Luffy. This goes from {{spoiler|taking on Blackbeard to sacrificing his life against Akainu.}}

* In ''[[Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha]]'', Cinque of the Numbers is quite protective of her younger sisters, staying behind to fight Subaru and getting badly injured in the process to allow Nove and Wendi to escape. Even though her crimes are more severe than the other Numbers and she does not expect to ever be completely free, she decides to atone for them and cooperate with the investigation so she can help her younger sisters.

* ''[[Durarara!!]]''{{'}}s Shizuo Heiwajima is rather protective of his little brother Kasuka (aka [[Teen Idol]] Yuuhei Hanejima). The mere act of namedropping Kasuka is enough to make him suspicious of your intentions, while insulting him or attempting to poke into his personal life results in an instant [[Unstoppable Rage]]. In the [[Light Novels]], he eventually goes on to develop another Big Brother Instinct towards a young [[The Runaway|runaway]] [[Mafia Princess|Yakuza Princess]].

* Toki from ''[[Code Breaker]]'' is part of the Code Breaker group in order to keep his sister Nenene safe (though she's apparently older than him, and doesn't remember who he is).

* Shannon Casull plays this trope straight in ''[[Scrapped Princess]] '' {{spoiler|even if Pacifica isn't his biological sister.}} In fact most of his [[Crowning Moment of Awesome|best moments]] this trope.

* Grumpy, cynical Sanzo in ''[[Saiyuki]]'' is this towards Goku, despite voicing his annoyance about Goku constantly. Hurting Goku is a [[Papa Wolf|whole different matter.]]

* In ''[[Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann]]'', Kamina has this towards Simon. Expressed elegantly with this line:

* ''[[Soukou no Strain]]''. After Ralph Werec has his [[Freak-Out]] in the backstory (brought about by {{spoiler|unknowingly brutally killing a bunch of aliens who look and act like little girls}}) he views the only survivor of the aliens as a substitute little sister, and is more than willing [[Knight Templar|to do anything to avenge her race]], and I mean ''[[Kill All Humans|anything]]'', to the point of wanting to kill his actual younger sister when she stands in his way.

* Guache of ''[[Tegami Bachi]]'' has this for his little sister, Sylvette. {{spoiler|Until he looses all of his memories, anyway.}}

* Kanba Takakura from ''[[Mawaru Penguindrum]]'' has such a strong one towards his and Shoma's little sister Himari—that it borders on [[Brother-Sister Incest]].

* ''[[Ouran High School Host Club]]'' plays with this with a few of its members, most notably in the episode where Nekozawa's little sister Kirimi wanders up to the high school, putting both Nekozawa and Tamaki in the big-brother spotlight in turn.

* In ''[[Persona Trinity Soul]]'', Ryou used to be like this 10 years ago.After their family reunited he turned out to be {{spoiler|[[Aloof Big Brother]]}}.His younger brother Shin also have this toward their youngest brother Jun.Shin is really worried about Jun,he really worried when Jun came back home 30 minutes late than usual,including {{spoiler|[[Date Peepers|peeking]] him on his date}}.But it turns out {{spoiler|that it was not really a date}}.

== [[Comic Books]] ==

** However, after Loki accidentally (YMMV) brought about the near-total destruction of Asgard, was killed in a last-ditch heroic sacrifice to save what was left(that may have been part [[Xanatos Gambit]]) and reincarnated as a kid with only his childhood memories, he appareciatesappreciates this protection a lot, since the only reason most people in Asgard haven't killed him yet is because they know Thor would go on a [[Roaring Rampage of Revenge]] on them and the city if Loki is harmed.

* In a ''Star Wars: Tales'' series, mercenary Darca Nyl comes across a mentally handicapped GIANT of a man and his petite sister fleeing from pursuers. One night, while camping, the girl is set upon by a huge and vicious predator. Darca knows that he can't reach them in time to save her, when the man leaps at the beast with a large rock in his hands. Several minutes later, [[Extreme Melee Revenge|the creature has long since stopped moving and he keeps smashing at it with the rock]].

* In the ''[[Batman]]'' fic ''[http://www.fanfiction.net/s/6587438/1/The_Choice_of_Family The Choice of Family]'', it was inverted when Tim and Damian angrily called out Jason for putting Dick in danger and having him end up at the hospital. But it was played straight in the sequel ''[http://www.fanfiction.net/s/6653515/1/Antidote_for_the_Poison Antidote for the Poison]'' where Jason was [[Papa Wolf|furious]] when he found out Tim was injected with a dangerous amount of heroin by some drug dealers. When he cornered said drug dealer, who knows what he might have done if Damian wasn't there.

* An odd goblin example of this trope (though with the sister being the protective one) can be found in ''[[Travels Through Azeroth and Outland|Travels through Azeroth and Outland]]''.

* Raonar, the [[Guile Hero]] dwarven prince in ''[[Dragon Age: The Crown of Thorns]]'', develops some advanced protective tendencies towards the dwarven commoner, Faren, as evident when the former finds the latter {{spoiler|trapped in his worst nightmare during the Broken Circle questline in the Fade.}} The resolution with the sloth demon can be seen as a partial subversion, however, because it's {{spoiler|Faren}} himself who, ultimately, {{spoiler|curbstomps the demon}} before the protagonist {{spoiler|sends him over to Justice to be dealt with properly.}}

* A female example in ''[[The Legend of Spyro: A New Dawn|The Legend of Spyro a New Dawn]]'' is Cynder towards Ember. Ember is ''slightly'' younger than her, but is very childish and naive. Despite the fact Ember has her characteristic crush on Spyro (though in this case, it's due to being to socially naive to realize Cynder and Spyro are mates), Cynder ends up having this mentality towards her, even describing her as being like "an annoying little sister" at one point. This makes hurting Ember in front of Cynder one of her [[Berserk Button]]s, which [[Evil Diva|Cyros]] finds out the hard way when she {{spoiler|performs a [[Break the Cutie]] on Ember and gets her kidnapped.}} Cynder [[Roaring Rampage of Revenge|reacts]] [[Super-Powered Evil Side|violently]].

* Fanon often have Gaara and Kankuro of ''[[Naruto]]'' threatening Shikamaru in Shika/Tema Fanfics or any other Ficsfics that involve Temari getting hooked up with someone. They're technically ''little'' brothers as Temari is the Eldesteldest Siblingsibling.

* In the ''[[Death Note]]'' fanfic ''Xanatos'', Matt shows this toward Linda, most notably in chapter 3.

* In ''[[For Good]]'', [[Buzz Lightyear of Star Command|Buzz Lightyear]] has a very serious [[Berserk Button]] in his adopted little sis.

== [[Literature]] ==

* In the ''[[Belisarius Series]]'' it is exhibited by several characters. One Persian princess (who later marries the Roman Emperor), is vainly protected by his brother from Hun mercenaries under Roman pay after the Persian army is defeated (though she is rescued when the Roman general's bodyguard arrives). The best example of big brother instinct though is Rajiv Sanga. He is a [[Beware the Nice Ones|nice polite]] teenage killing machine and is very protective of his siblings and to a lesser degree family servants and allies (though he will make concessions to [[Combat Pragmatism]] if he can't protect someone he wants to protect). Interestingly he extends that even to nominal enemies when he realizes that they were untrained sheep for the slaughter unless he intervenes to get them a chance to surrender.

** Harry becomes this to Molly when {{spoiler|her magical talents manifest}}. He also does it to his half-brother {{spoiler|Thomas}}, despite the fact that {{spoiler|Thomas}} is the older brother.

* ''[[Dragonlance]]|Dragonlance Chronicles]]'': Critical to Raistlin Majere's backstory. He spent his youth under the overprotective influence of his twin brother, Caramon. [[Different As Night and Day|While Caramon grew up tall, handsome, muscular, and a bit dense, Raistlin was intelligent,]] but [[Loners Are Freaks|sickly and alienated, with no friends but his brother.]] Seeking to prove his worth to his smothering "big brother" and the world at large, Raistlin [[A God Am I|seeks the power to topple Gods, and gets it.]] Deprived of a little brother to protect, Caramon falls into alcoholic depression.

* Ron Weasley reveals this in ''[[Harry Potter/Harry Potter and Thethe Chamber of Secrets (novel)|Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets]]'' while nearly cursing Malfoy (with a broken wand that has already backfired once on him) for being mean to Ginny. Basically, the two best ways to get Ron angry are to insult either Ginny or Hermione.

** Ron gets a bit of this from Percy after the Second Task in ''[[Harry Potter/Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (novel)|Goblet of Fire]]''. Percy, who's supposed to be acting as an impartial judge give Harry full marks for rescuing Ron and hovers over Ron until Madam Pomfrey drags Ron off for treatment.

* The ''[[Darkest Powers]]'' series gives us Derek. He has a Big Brother Instinct that's [[Up to Eleven]] when it comes to his foster brother, Simon. Derek is also a werewolf. So on top of the fact that he is, personality-wise, very protective of Simon (and anyone else he cares about), he also has the wolf's "protect my pack" instinct to deal with. Assaulting one of his "pack" is his [[Berserk Button]]. Unfortunately for Derek, since he can't usually control his reaction when his brother is in danger no matter how much he's tried to coach himself, his supercharged Big Brother Instinct has led to at least one [[My God, What Have I Done?]] moment.

* ''[[Chalet School|]]'': Len Maynard]]. Oh, ''Len Maynard''. Practically ever since she is a baby, she is pigeonholed as the 'responsible one' and as the oldest Maynard child, she is often put in charge of the other Maynard children. She has a major one where Margot is concerned, protecting her from Jack's wrath and even ''lying'' to cover up for her in ''Triplets of the Chalet School'' after the bookend incident. Miss Annersley even calls her on it.

* In "''[[Watership Down]]"'', [[Beware the Nice Ones|Hazel is usually calm and collected]], but god help you if you mistreat Fiver or Pipkin.

* Kaladin from ''[[The Stormlight Archive]]'' develops one of these for ''every'' relatively (around 14) young male he comes across in the course of the story. This stems from his feelings of guilt over failing to protect his actual younger brother in the course of a minor border dispute between rival lords of his nation. {{spoiler|Every one of these individuals ends up dead.}}

* The ''[[Cal Leandros]]'' series gives us Niko, who loses his characteristic cool when someone so much as implies that his brother is a monster, and literally goes berserk with rage when he thinks Cal is dead. Cal is no better, going to extreme lengths to protect his brother.

* Although Damon Salvatore of ''[[The Vampire Diaries]]'' likes to make his brother's life hell, he does go out of his way to save or protect Stefan.

* Katniss Everdeen of ''[[The Hunger Games]]'' will go to any lengths to protect her younger sister Primrose, including volunteering for the titular [[Deadly Game]] in her sister's place, a seemingly suicidal gesture.

* Alan and Nick Ryves in ''[[The Demon's Lexicon]]''.

* [[Nightrunner|Lynn Flewelling]] is fond of using this in her ''[[Nightrunner]]'' books:

* In the ''[[In Death]]'' series, Roarke tends to harbor protective instincts toward Eve's female colleagues, though they're not particularly weak. This is probably due to his [[Dead Little Sister]].

* Mr. Darcy towards his younger sister Georgiana in ''[[Pride and Prejudice]]''.

== [[Live -Action TV]] ==

* ''[[The Colbert Report]]'': Stephen Colbert has admitted he sees [[The Daily Show|Jon Stewart]] as something of an older brother figure in [[Real Life]]. It's one of the few [[Real Life]] traits that bleed through into the characters' lives, most recently{{when}} in the [[Melee a Trois]] crossover with Conan O'Brien, which Stewart only got involved in because he was protecting Colbert.

** Angel actually iswas a big brother, and his evil alter ego Angelus killed his little sister.

* ''[[Everwood]]'' has a lot of that: Bright starts off being a bully in the pilot, but later on in the same episode it's revealed he cares a lot about his younger sister and her comatose boyfriend. That's also expanded throughout the first season, to the point that his friendship with Ephram stems from his desire to keep her sister happy (in real life, Bright's and Amy's actors actually dated). It could also be mentioned that Ephram was protective of Delia, and Dr Abbott also became sort of a father figure to his sister after their father died (even though they were both already adults).

* Justin, from ''[[Wizards of Waverly Place]]'', always fixes Alex's mistakes and saves her from impending doom. She even admits that she always expects him to do so.

*** And a serious one due to the fact that the fans have started asking the producers if Justin and Alex are going to end up together. It's [[What Do You Mean It's for Kids?|Disney]] [[Disney Channel|Channel]], ''after all''.

* ''[[Inspector Lynley|]]'': Barbara Havers]] is a cranky, foul-mouthed junk food addict who can't seem to work well with anyone in the police force except her partner Thomas Lynley. On the other hand, she is incredibly good with children and will [[Friend to All Children|go to any lengths to protect them]].

* ''[[Prison Break]]'': Linc toward Michael, and Michael - though the younger brother - to Linc.

* ''[[NCIS]]'': McGee to his sister. Abby to her brothers. Everyone to Abby.

* To the great suprisesurprise of those who watched the movie Troy, Agamemnon in the origialoriginal [[Classical Mythology]] has this in spades. Paris fucked with Menelaus, Agamemnon will make Troy ''burn''

* More "little sister instinct" for [https://www.catholic.org/saints/saint.php?saint_id=21 St. Angela Merici], waswho grieved when her older sister died without rites. Then she received a vision telling her that her sister was in heaven. In gratitude she devoted the rest of her life to religion and service to the poor. [[Crowning Moment of Heartwarming|Ah...]].

** Rock himself is the same way. When Wily reprogrammed his brothers, he became Mega Man, took them down, sent them back to the lab to be reprogramed back to normal, and Then defeated Wily with a BIG''big LOUDloud CRUNCHcrunch''!

* Axel of ''[[Kingdom Hearts]]'', towards Roxas, after he started essentially [[Promotion to Parent|raising]] the amnesiac Nobody. Sort of a [[Knight Templar Parent|knight templar big brother]], given how much of a [[Poisonous Friend]] he is. Often misinterpreted as [[Ho Yay]] since the whole "raising Roxas" wasn't shown until a sequel released several years after the game where the Big Brother Instinct was initially shown.

* ''[[Final Fantasy XIII]]'': Lightning Farron - [[Knight in Sour Armour|soldier]], [[Badass Abnormal|all around badass]] and (most importantly) [[Mama Bear|big sister]]. Her protective relationship with [[Squishy Wizard|Hope]] also serves as the plot device that sets up her [[Defrosting Ice Queen|defrosting]] [[Character Development|process]].

** Arguably {{spoiler|[[Tall Dark and Bishojo|Fang's]] overwhelming desire to save Vanille from [[And Then John Was a Zombie|turning into]] a [[Body Horror|Cie'th]] can be interpreted this way; bonus points for Vanille being visibly much younger and weaker in addition to being the [[Token Mini-MoeLoli|cheeriest]], [[The Cutie|cutest]], and [[The Woobie|most tragic]] character of the cast.}}

** [[Final Fantasy XIII-2]] has a ''very'' dark take on this. {{spoiler|The [[Big Bad|main antagonist]] of the game is an immortal guardian, [[Blessed with Suck|imbued with the Heart of Chaos]]. He is sworn to protect the Farseers' Seeress, [[Token Mini-MoeLoli|Yeul]] - who is reincarnated in every generation after the previous one dies ([[Power Degeneration|which happens at a very young age due to the damaging nature of having visions]]). After several centuries of seeing her die and be reborn, Caius snaps, and hatches a plan to [[Time Crash|destroy the timeline]] - [[Alas, Poor Villain|all so Yeul can live without worry or pain]].}}

=== [[Visual Novels]] ===

* In ''[[Fate/stay night|Fate Stay Night]]'', ''Heaven's Feel'' route, Shirou states that he wants to save Ilya just because "older brother protects his younger sister". {{spoiler|In the route's end, Ilya herself does a [[Heroic Sacrifice]] to save Shirou, who actually is her ''younger'' brother.}}

* Lana Skye from ''[[Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney|Phoenix Wright Ace Attorney]]'' comes across as an [[Aloof Big Brother|Aloof Big Sister]] to Ema, but as it turns out, {{spoiler|she's been acting as a reluctant accomplice to Gant for years, all to protect Ema from the [[Awful Truth]]: that she accidentally killed Neil Marshall during the SL-9 Incident}}. However, {{spoiler|Gant actually staged the scene to frame Ema and killed Neil himself, all so he could [[Invoked Trope|manipulate Lana's protective instincts]] and blackmail her into forging evidence for him whenever he saw fit.}}

** Ellen has shown she's just as willing to stand up for Elliot when he's threatened/hurt as viceversavice versa. In [[Alternate Universe|other life]], this is more or less how she befriended [[Shrinking Violet|Tedd]]. She got more of this than Elliot with his [[Chronic Hero Syndrome]]. She's ''very'' uninhibited and shows [http://www.egscomics.com/?date=2002-09-25 extreme] [http://www.egscomics.com/?date=2004-04-12 protectiveness] [http://www.egscomics.com/?date=2008-01-08 toward] [http://www.egscomics.com/?date=2011-02-28 everyone] [http://www.egscomics.com/?date=2011-09-14 close] to her.

* Arthur from ''[[The Adventures of Wiglaf and Mordred|Wiglaf and Mordred]]'' has got a bad case of this for his little brother Mordred - so much so it tends to get in the way of his evil villainy. His staff often enjoy pointing out the brother complex he claims doesn't exist.

* ''[[Catena]]'': It would be unwise of you to mess with [[Catena|Bear]]'s younger sister Patches.

* Clark from ''Gold Coin Comics'' really shows this side when Tonya, his sister, [http://www.goldcoincomics.com/?id=127 runs into trouble]...

* ''[[Homestuck]]'': Equius is extremely protective of his [[Morality Pet|moirail]], Nepeta. In fact, this is the first thing that shows us that maybe he's not that bad a guy.

== [[Web Original]] ==

* ''[[Decembersville]]'': Nutty Jimmy is like this to his sister, Sarah. As illustrated [http://countandra.deviantart.com/art/Sarah-and-Jimmy-PART-ONE-122644605 here].

* ''[[The Simpsons (animation)|The Simpsons]]'': Bart Simpson usually couldn't give a damn what happens to Lisa on a mundane basis, and the two have an intense sibling rivalry, but his instinct does kick in every time something serious happens.

* Loopy's older brother Larry on ''[[KaBlam!]]''{{'}}s ''"Life with Loopy''" shorts is like that towards her.

** In the movie ''[[Phineas and Ferb The Movie: Across the 2nd Dimension|Across the Second Dimension]]'', Candace-2 from the alternate dimension is fiercely protective of her brothers Phineas and Ferb. {{spoiler|To the point she is willing to abandon the alternate Phineas and Ferb to protect her own. Though she eventually came back for them.}}

* ''[[Franklin]]'': Turtle, without a doubt, seen in the third season in "Big Brother Franklin" when Franklin took to looking after a little kid named Squirrel. He also became a "best friend big brother" to Bear's little sister, Beatrice. Eventually, Paulette Bourgeois finally made him a big brother for real in the book "Franklin's Baby Sister" and the film ''Franklin and the Green Knight'' soon followed.

* ''[[Wild Kratts]]'' has the Kratt Brothers, who both play it straight and invert it. Most obvious in episode 20 when, even though Martin's been turned into a tree, he's still worried for little bro Chris and how his current small size makes him a target for many, many predators.

* In ''[[Generator Rex]]'', Rex's older brother Cesar instantly goes into protective mode after their reunion and tries to 'rescue' Rex, even though Rex isn't in any danger. He later knocks out a bunch of Providence agents and jumps down from a ship to help Rex fight an Evo.

* In ''[[Thundercats 2011|ThunderCats (2011 series)]]|the 2011 ''ThunderCats'']], Tygra often struggles with his deep [[The Resenter|resentment]] of his younger brother Lion-O, but when Lion-O is protecting some [[Stock Punishment|stockaded]] prisoners from an [[Angry Mob]] and has challenged them to [[Go Through Me]], Tygra immediately comes to his aid informing the crowd "You better be sure you want to do this because ''I've'' [[I Am Your Opponent|got his back]]."

* James Mc NeilMcNeil, age 17 saw his autistic ten -year -old brother climbing to the top of an 120 -foot electrical tower. Though fearful of heights he climbed after him and held him in place until a rescue crew arrived. The story is described in the November 1997 ''Reader's Digest''.

* In 2009, [https://web.archive.org/web/20091112210036/http://news.aol.com/article/9-year-old-malik-medford-foils/759223 9 nine-year -old Malik Medford recently rescued his brothers from a car thief.]

* Another inversion, an 8 eight-year -old boy [https://web.archive.org/web/20100301032529/http://rt.com/Top_News/2009-02-06/Boy_who_died_saving_sister_from_rapist_awarded.html was killed after wounding a burglar who was attempting to rape his older sister].

* In a [[Crowning Moment of Heartwarming|real-life example]] of big ''sister'' instinct [httphttps://todayweb.msnbcarchive.msn.comorg/idweb/4222800620190710235340/nshttps:/today-today_people/?fb_ref=story_header&fb_source=profile_onelinewww.msn.com/ a nine-year-old girl risked her life to push her five-year-old sister out of the way of an oncoming truck.]

* [http://news.yahoo.com/video/honolulukitv-18211460/11-year-old-hero-attacks-kidnapping-suspect-protects-his-younger-sister-27404186.html This 11eleven-year-old], who protected his younger sister from a carjacker.

* Members of a fraternity are supposed to develop this, as the house is set up for a ''"big brother''" to look after a ''"little brother''" (pledge).

* A 12 twelve-year -old Florida boysboy saved his four siblings from a [https://web.archive.org/web/20120524053001/http://usnews.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/05/15/11718000-my-hero-12-year-old-florida-boy-saves-4-siblings-from-burning-house?lite fire.]

[[Category:The Big Valley{{PAGENAME}}]]