This character is the hero's good friend. The hero (or whoever his protege may be) can goof around with him, go to the bar with him for a drink and talk about some good old man-business with him. Additionally, the character, being older (though mental age matters more than physical age) and wiser than the hero, also acts as a mentor to the hero in times of need or advice.
However, just because the Big Brother Mentor cares about the hero doesn't mean that he won't rebuke him if he gets out of line, and he would even go as far as to deal with him physically. He only wants the best out of the hero, but won't hesitate to educate him the hard way if the hero shows reluctance to learn or has a tendency to run headlong into danger. In essence, he's the ideal big brother figure who knows when to get friendly or strict.
Female variants of this trope, or examples where the protege is female, are much less common but not unheard of.
In anime, this kind of character is often addressed using the more informal "aniki" instead of "onii-san".
Often, this character is doomed to die—both to bring the hero out of the character's shadow and to give the character an emotional buildup.
This is a subtrope of the Mentor Archetype.
If he and The Hero are romantically involved, or just have enough Ho Yay or Ship Tease, this can become Lover and Beloved or a Mentor Ship. Differs from Aloof Big Brother in that the Big Brother Mentor doesn't have to be a literal big brother and actually gives a damn about his "little siblings" (or shows it quite more often than a merely emotionally repressed Aloof Big Brother). Compare with the Stern Teacher, tough and strict but loved by everyone. Contrast with Disappointing Older Sibling. Not to be confused with Draco in Leather Pants.
Examples:
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Anime & Manga
- Ango from 7 Seeds is this to several people, mostly because he is somewhat of a control freak. He originally took Shigeru under his wing, helping him improve his physical abilities and making sure he got up in time, but also making him independent. He eventually becomes this to Natsu, too, though his forceful way of helping intimidates her a lot.
- Sora is this to Ikki in Air Gear, even going so far as to teach him how to properly utilize the Wing Road. This attitude changes when Sora announces his Face Heel Turn and reveals that he was using Ikki and helping him become better so that the Wind Regalia can be made for him to take. All of this is just step one of his plot to become Sky King. This quickly leads to Ikki having a Heroic BSoD moment.
- As Setsuna's sempai, Kira in Angel Sanctuary often acts this way towards him. Yue Katou too to some extent. Sara Mudou calls Setsuna "aniki," but his behavior towards his own sister is more along the lines of Brother–Sister Incest.
- Kannagi of Arata: The Legend takes on this role towards Hinohara and the rest of the group. Yataka as well, though to a lesser extent.
- Attack on Titan:
- Reiner Braun mixes this with Cool Big Sis since his mentoring isn't all that prominent/important, but it's definitely there. He mostly mentors Eren, helping shape him into a capable soldier. It ends up resulting in Eren noting that one of Reiner's mistakes as The Mole was teaching him to fight. However, he's not Eren's only mentor; Annie also has this job, thanks to Reiner introducing the two of them (more apparent in the manga, but the anime seems to be trying to rectify this by making a movie devoted to adapting manga scenes that were initially cut from the anime). Annie being Eren's mentor is also far more important than Reiner's brief mentorship of him. After the Time Skip, Reiner's become one to the younger Warrior Candidates competing to be his successor.
- Word of God reveals that Zeke was one to the other Warriors in the past, though he's perfectly willing to remind them of their place should they challenge him.
- Maiza Avaro to Firo in Baccano!. Firo reminds Maiza of his younger brother and guides him into the Camorra and fittingly enough, after devouring Szilard, Firo obtains Maiza's brother's memories along with those of Szilard's other victims.
- Banished from the Hero's Party: Red, a.k.a. Gideon, serves as this to his younger sister Ruti and Al, a boy in the village he retires to. At the start, Ruti knew nothing. Nowadays, she is an expert in fighting and information gathering, all of which her brother taught her. She even imagines a Helpful Hallucination of him when she needs to think. Al, meanwhile, is trained both by Rit and Red. While Rit is an expert with Al's weapon of choice, Red also has so much experience that Al is in awe of Red's strength.
- Berserk: Guts is the big mentor for Ricket and Isidro. Especially for the latter, Guts even gives him lessons though he overlaps with father figure.
- Bleach: Via Character Development Byakuya Kuchiki has become this to both his adoptive sister Rukia and his lieutenant Renji. Until the Soul Society arc, Byakuya had retained a rigid, formal distance from both of them. After taking Ichigo's advice to put compassion before duty if they ever clash again, Byakuya's become much more open about his affection for the two and much more openly protective of both. By the final arc, he's someone both Rukia and Renji clearly look to for support and guidance.
- In Blue Exorcist, one of Rin's mentors is his twin brother, Yukio. The thing is, technically Yukio is the younger brother.
- Played quite literally in Bomberman Jetters. Mighty, as White Bomber's older brother, was also a mentor to him, teaching him important lessons on how to be a good Bomber. Such as the importance of being strong, but also having a very kind heart.
- Case Closed:
- Toyed with when, years ago, a man named Shuichi Akai promised his now-deceased girlfriend Akemi Miyano that he'd help her younger sister, who has since become Ai Haibara. He's currently fulfilling his word (Declaration of Protection included), and he also helps Ai's friends (including Conan)... under the fake identity of Subaru Okiya.
- It's played straight with Detective Wataru Date, who took his younger partner Wataru Takagi under his wing and called him his little brother. Sadly, this case did include the death part.
- When the Detective Boys want to beat Conan and solve a mystery before he does, Heiji Hattori steps in and helps them out by secretly giving them hints to the mystery. When they fail to beat Conan to the solution, he gives them encouragement and turns it into A Lesson in Defeat, telling them that they need to start doing the work themselves. Hattori also convinced them to let him help by showing them a picture of what looks like Conan bowing to him and suggesting he was this to Conan.
- Seigi says Richard of The Case Files of Jeweler Richard is like an older brother he never had to him, always giving him advice.
- In A Cruel God Reigns, Lindon acts as this for Ian, giving him advice on how to deal with first getting Jeremy to confess (though not Mind Rape him as Ian would like) and later on how to deal with his romantic feelings for Jeremy.
- Valentine also acts as a sort of Big Brother Mentor for Jeremy, despite being the same age, if not younger.
- Albert/004 in Cyborg 009. His "little brother" Jet/002 later also has some Big Brother Mentor moments in the Little Psychics mini-arc.
- Tsukushi from DAYS gets one in the form of his team captain Mizuki. Mizuki teaches him how to properly kick a soccer ball (even when his leg was injured at the time) and other techniques to become a better player. He sees potential in Tsukushi becoming an amazing soccer player and team captain someday.
- Dragon Ball:
- Yamcha could be seen as this to Kid Goku early on in Dragon Ball, but definitely not in the later series.
- Tien for Chiaotzu big time even without Master Crane, Chiaotzu still follows Tien with question and he dies (twice) Tien tends to go apeshit.
- Piccolo towards Gohan during Dragon Ball Z, though it mostly overlaps with Parental Substitute. Technically speaking Piccolo is only being four years older than Gohan at the start of Dragon Ball due to rapid aging.
- Krillin plays older brother/uncle figure to Gohan in Z.
- Nail/Piccolo for Dende.
- Gohan is to kid Trunks in both timelines, future Gohan teaching and inspiring future Trunks and who Trunks still remembers long after his death. Teen Gohan does the same to Trunks in the main timeline as seen in the Buu saga, Bulma evens muses in Dragon Ballz Wrath Of The Dragon that Trunks is jealous of Goten for having an older brother.
- Tapion fills this role for kid Trunks as well in said movie, especially since he lost his own younger brother.
- Fist of the North Star:
- Kenshiro towards Bat as stated when he calls him his "irreplaceable little brother."
- Also Toki and Raoh towards Kenshiro.
- Bat to his fellow orphans.
- Fullmetal Alchemist:
- In Fullmetal Alchemist (2003), Hughes is Roy's Big Brother Mentor, hitting pretty much every single qualification for one listed above at some point. He is one year older, but he has a family whereas Roy doesn't, and thus a very different perspective on life. He has one notable moment of snapping out of his easy-going attitude.
- In an evil example of this trope from the manga, the oldest homunculus Pride acts as this towards the youngest Wrath. This becomes quite ironic when you learn Pride masquerades as his son, Selim Bradley.
- Future GPX Cyber Formula:
- Osamu, Kaga, and Johji to Hayato as they dispense their racing wisdom to help him. Kaga in particular, since he helps Hayato hone his driving skills in a crash race.
- Lope is this to Hiyoshi as he helps the latter to get back into racing again after leaving the Sugo team.
- Sisterly example with Yomi Isayama to Kagura Tsuchimiya in Ga-Rei -Zero-.
- Great Teacher Onizuka: Onizuka dips into Sensei for Scoundrels occasionally, but he's a genuine mentor to Noboru all through the manga series. Even if his methods are somewhat extreme.
- The Gundam franchise has several examples.
- Mobile Suit Gundam has Ryu Jose, who doesn't actually teach Amuro how to pilot a Gundam, but how to be a man and soldier; he of course performs a Heroic Sacrifice.
- Lieutenant Sleggar Law would've been one of these, had he gotten more screentime. He does get the death part, though.
- Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam has Quattro Bajeena, aka Char Aznable, as the main character's mentor; however, he neither dies nor holds back from kicking ass himself.
- Zeta Gundam also has Amuro Ray act as a mentor to the main character during one important story arc.
- Villainous example: Kacricon Cooler is this to Jerid Messa. And he gets a Family-Unfriendly Death early in the series.
- Mobile Suit Gundam Unicorn has Marida act as a female variant to both Banagher and Audrey/Mineva. Flaste Schole is also a bit of one to Banagher.
- The closest to a Big Brother Mentor in Mobile Suit Gundam Wing would be Trowa Barton, the Genius Bruiser Big Guy of the Five-Man Band. His interactions with The Smart Guy Quatre Raberba Winner walk the line between this and straight-up Ho Yay, but he also helped Heero Yuy sort his thoughts after his infamous suicide attempt and gave Wufei support after he loses to Treize.
- Mu La Flaga from Mobile Suit Gundam SEED. He's actually referred to as Kira's sempai on one occasion.
- In Mobile Suit Gundam SEED Destiny, Athrun Zala tries to do this for Shinn Asuka. It doesn't really work, as Shinn is too messed up to listen, and Athrun doesn't really have the people skills to pull it off.
- Mobile Suit Gundam 00's Neil Dylandy aka the first Lockon Stratos was some kind of advisor to not only Setsuna but the most of CB. Even if he's dead he'll probably return as a spiritual advisor. Still, Tieria Erde seems to fit a bit better in the second season, even dealing some Bright Slaps when needed.
- Also, Lyle, Neil's twin younger brother and the second Lockon isn't necessarily the Big Brother Mentor but has his moments as well, specially in episode 18 where he counsels two of his teammates when they had romantic problems.
- And Mobile Suit Gundam AGE gives us Woolf Ennacle playing the role for Flit Asuno and Flit's son Asemu. He survives the first season, then epically and tearfully kicks it in the second one.
- Played straight and subverted in Mobile Fighter G Gundam. Argo Gulskii is the oldest, more mature of the Shuffle Alliance and plays the role straight towards Domon and Sai Saici, whereas Schwarz Bruder subverts it by being Domon and Rain's own BBM and a clone of Domon's Aloof Big Brother Kyouji, who specifically created him with some DG cells and the dead body of the real Schwarz Bruder to play this role before he was fully brainwashed by the Devil Gundam.
- Mobile Suit Gundam has Ryu Jose, who doesn't actually teach Amuro how to pilot a Gundam, but how to be a man and soldier; he of course performs a Heroic Sacrifice.
- England was this to America (and most likely to Canada too) in Hetalia: Axis Powers. China is considered the older brother of the rest of the Asian countries, such as Japan, South Korea, Macau, Vietnam, Hong Kong, and Taiwan, but except for Korea, they don't always acknowledge this.
- And Switzerland dotes on his adorable adopted sister Liechtenstein.
- Subverted with Latvia and Sealand. The first tries to be this but soon finds out that he needs the support of the latter.
- Austria begins as an Aloof Big Brother to young Italy but is this towards Germany.
- Prussia tries to be this to Germany as well but is too wild and kinda... immature to do it fully. He succeeds a little more with a young America, however.
- France considers himself one to all of Europenote , but only North Italy and Monaco (and possibly England, at least when he was young) consider him one in return enough to actually call him "big brother".
- Denmark acted as this to young Iceland, combined with Parental Substitute. He taught him how to make friends, for one, and proclaims that he raised him.
- The Netherlands, despite being an Aloof Big Brother for the most part, taught his younger siblings Belgium and Luxembourg a lot about trade and making money.
- JoJo's Bizarre Adventure:
- In Part 4, the previous arc's hero Jotaro Kujo takes this role towards the new protagonist Josuke. Curiously, Jotaro is actually Josuke's nephew, although still eleven years his seniornote .
- An evil example comes in Part 5 with the two mafia members Pesci and Prosciutto. Pesci is the little brother and ironically like other mentors, Prosciutto dies by getting run over by a train and getting lodged in the wheels before Pesci gets how to be a good mafia worker. Then he dies by getting his head unzipped from his body and thrown into a lake.
- In Part 7, Gyro Zeppeli's position as Johnny's friend and a teacher could fit this trope as well.
- Gareki is this (somewhat) to Nai in Karneval.
- Big Sister Mentor example: Freya to Kisara in Kenichi: The Mightiest Disciple. Kisara calls her "Freya-nee", even when they were on opposite sides.
- Macross:
- Roy Fokker in Super Dimension Fortress Macross/Robotech is maybe the Ur-Example for anime. And midway through the series, he kicks it. Damn pineapple salad and inner bleeding.
- He also plays this role in the prequel Macross Zero.
- Ozma Lee in Macross Frontier is ultimately played as a subversion of the archetype. He's an older mentor, and even flies Skull One, but it's usually the other characters who give the most useful advice, he's made lots of mistakes, and he completely fails to die, even when pineapples are involved.
- Roy Fokker in Super Dimension Fortress Macross/Robotech is maybe the Ur-Example for anime. And midway through the series, he kicks it. Damn pineapple salad and inner bleeding.
- Chrono is this for Fate in Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha A's. Although he's only shown in this role before she became his sister.
- Nove is both this and a Cool Big Sis for Vivio and her friends in ViVid (even if she claims otherwise). They even call themselves "Team Nakajima" in tribute.
- Yashichi, to his followers Sasuke and Hanzo in Mirumo de Pon!.
- In My Monster Secret, Ryou initially seems to be this, giving his younger sister Nagisa seemingly profound advice, but it quickly becomes clear that he's just a lazy bum who makes crap up on the spot.
- Naruto:
- Itachi is a huge one for Sasuke until he killed their whole clan, but since the clan was planning war anyway, Itachi was doing the right thing and above all, he couldn't kill his younger brother Sasuke and left the latter alive. Itachi still looked after Sasuke afterwards despite Sasuke believing he was evil, urging his younger to become stronger and be a better person (which Sasuke didn't listen to).
- Kakashi's relationship with Obito and his male students, Naruto and Sasuke, can be seen as this. Some fans believe this strongly since Minato (Naruto's dad) looked after Kakashi like a son, making him a metaphorical big brother, but since Minato is dead Kakashi can also be seen as a father figure to Naruto.
- Madara towards his younger brother Izuna, though he was not above taking his brother's eyeballs.
- Konohamaru considers Naruto and Shikamaru to be Big Brother Mentors.
- Shisui Uchiha was apparently this for Itachi during their childhood. Itachi, in turn, played this role briefly for Naruto when he was resurrected.
- One Piece:
- Zoro to Luffy. Given that he's the Lancer and Fan Speak sometimes denotes him as the First Mate of the crew, he often steps in to help Luffy make the tough choices given Luffy's personality. This was especially obvious when Usopp temporarily left the crew and Zoro both supported Luffy's decision to fight Usopp and later forced him to wait for Usopp's apology when it became apparent that Usopp wanted to return to their crew.
- Chopper also looks up to Zoro in this fashion.
- Sanji, to Usopp. Though the former makes it clear at times he doesn't care as much about Usopp as he would Nami, Robin, or Chopper, Sanji still cares for Usopp greatly and gives Usopp vital advice when he needs it. Sanji explicitly showed his care for Usopp when Luffy almost told him to leave the crew but was stopped by Sanji kicking him across the room and telling his captain not to say something "he couldn't take back". When Usopp did leave, Sanji chased after him along with Nami and Chopper. During the battle at Enies Lobby, Sanji was the one to make Usopp see his self-worth by stating only he could save Robin by using his skills.
- Sanji also gives Chopper lessons on being "a real man" and did so twice in Enies Lobby: when Robin was not telling the truth about her past, he tells Chopper that "a real man forgives a woman's lies". And when Usopp was left beaten and bloody by Luffy, Sanji had to physically restrain Chopper from helping Usopp, saying Luffy had already shown pity to Usopp in the face of defeat and Chopper would've stomped on Usopp's pride by treating his wounds.
- From what we see in flashbacks, it seems that Marco was this to Ace when he was first captured by the Whitebeard crew and had trouble accepting Whitebeard as his captain and father.
- For that matter, the relationship between Ace and Luffy plays this almost completely straight. Luffy obviously looks up to Ace, who's older, stronger, and more mature.
- Though he was very bitter and angry with Franky, Iceberg still invoked this trope and gave Franky his biggest life lesson when Franky's battleships were used by the government to frame Tom Worker's... that whether you want it or not "weapons are made to hurt people". Iceberg also cried upon learning Franky was alive, saying he was grateful.
- Trafalgar Law had one in Rocinante aka Corazon, who showed him genuine empathy when he was brought into the Doquixote Family by Doflamingo. After Rocinante's death at the hands of his own brother Doflamingo, Law swears to make Doflamingo pay for it.
- Charotte Katakuri is one for all his siblings, they all hold him in high regard and call him "big brother". Brulee especially gloats to Luffy about how untouchable her older brother is and she's mostly right.
- Zoro to Luffy. Given that he's the Lancer and Fan Speak sometimes denotes him as the First Mate of the crew, he often steps in to help Luffy make the tough choices given Luffy's personality. This was especially obvious when Usopp temporarily left the crew and Zoro both supported Luffy's decision to fight Usopp and later forced him to wait for Usopp's apology when it became apparent that Usopp wanted to return to their crew.
- In the anime of Planetes, Hakim Ashmead fills this role for Hachimaki, at least until his Face–Heel Turn when he is revealed to be The Mole for the terrorist Space Defense Front.
- Pokémon: The Series:
- Whenever he's around, Brock is this to Ash and anyone else who is in the main traveling group.
- Ash eventually takes up this role towards May in the Advanced Generation saga, and towards Dawn in the Diamond and Pearl saga.
- During Pokémon the Series: Black & White, Charizard became this to the rest of Ash's team (Pignite in particular).
- Pokémon Adventures: A female example would be Crystal to Emerald.
- Puella Magi Madoka Magica: Mami Tomoe is a veteran magical girl who often mentors rookies and is also their big sister figure. In both the main storyline and the A Different Story spin-off, she shares tea and cake with her juniors. In the former, she dies in episode 3.
- Played for tragedy in the third timeline in episode 10 of the main series after Sayaka turns into a witch. Mami becomes so terrified of the Awful Truth about the fate of magical girls she decides that mercy killing everyone would be better than everyone becoming a witch. She gets as far as shooting Kyoko's Soul Gem and taking aim at Homura before Madoka has to shoot Mami in order to stop her.
- Sakuragi of Rainbow might as well be the king of this trope. Seriously, his nickname is even An-chan ("Bro").
- In Rurouni Kenshin, the title character had three of these in his backstory: Kogoro Katsura
was the leader of the ishinshishi group Kenshin was a part of, Shinsaku Takasugi was the one who brought him into the group in the first place, and Iizuka was his monitor/lookout. Too bad that Takasugi died of illness, Iizuka was The Mole, and Katsura was later disgraced.
- Sailor Moon: Kunzite, by far the oldest member of the Shitennou, is this to Zoisite, the youngest, in the manga and Crystal. However, since he has the personality of the Aloof Big Brother, he's not a very good one. In the manga, he flat-out doesn't seem to care about Zoisite until after he dies and still isn't very emotional or open in Crystal. Averted in the 90s anime which made the two Lover and Beloved, but kept Kunzite's aloof personality, if not exaggerated it. This resulted in him becoming an abusive older boyfriend who jerked the much younger man around for kicks. He again only showed emotion for Zoisite after he died.
- In Saint Beast, Goh is occasionally called "big brother" by Shin, Rey, and Gai for being The Leader of their group.
- Though Tomohiko Yamada of Satou Kashi no Dangan wa Uchinukenai mostly subverts this, he has his moments of wise advice for his younger sister Nagisa before going back to his room and tuning out the world around him. He plays it heartbreakingly straight towards the end, however, when Nagisa's best friend Mokuzu disappears and Nagisa believes that her abusive father murdered her and, for worse, turns out to be right.
- In Slam Dunk, a big part of Takenori Akagi's Character Development involves him becoming this towards Hanamichi Sakuragi. Once Sakuragi grows into his own skin and his basketball role as well, he says that he considers himself "the Gori's little brother".
- Kamina to Simon in Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann. Simon even calls him "aniki". The dub uses "bro" and Kamina even refers to the two as "Blood Brothers" a few times.
- In Speed Racer the mysterious Racer X, who is secretly Speed's older brother Rex Racer, will frequently give Speed advice for upcoming races, warn him of danger, and has saved Speed's life on numerous occasions. However, he also does his best to win his races against Speed, and Speed sees him as a rival.
- Tiger & Bunny has an interesting example; instead of giving the protagonist a Big Brother Mentor, they made the protagonist himself play this role where a number of younger characters were concerned. It's even invoked in the third episode, where Kotetsu's boss suggests he take this approach with Barnaby.
Lloyd Alexander: He's young, so why don't you try to lead him? You've been doing this for much longer after all.
- Subaru Sumeragi becomes this to Kamui Shirou in the X/1999 manga and TV series, specially after Subaru takes a very dangerous Journey To The Center Of The Mind to bring Kamui back from an Angst Coma and realizes that deep down both are Not So Different.
- Two prominent pairs on Yu-Gi-Oh! GX: Sho adopts Judai as his "aniki," whom he prefers to his biological Aloof Big Brother (until Judai dumps him for Johan). Manjyome also looks up to Asuka's brother Fubuki. Though he does also call Fubuki master as well as big brother. The big brother part seems to be more because of his crush on Asuka since if he ever married her, they would actually be brothers.
- Zoids: Chaotic Century: Irvine is this to Van. And Van himself is one to Prince Rudolph.
- Jaeha in Yona of the Dawn. At 25 years old, there's a significant age gap between him and the rest of the party (the closest to his age is Kija, who is 20). Aside from calling himself "big brother," Hak especially comes to confide in him, and Yona learns how to give one hell of a kick from watching him. He considers it his job to take care of the others and gently tries to steer everyone in the right direction, whether it's checking in with Hak after he confessed his feelings to Yona or preventing them from triggering an act of war.
Comic Books
- Batman:
- Richard "Dick" Grayson decided early on to take a more active role in the mentoring of the third Robin, Tim Drake, than he did with the second, and the two developed a sibling-like relationship in the process. This was so well-liked by fans that Nightwing writer Chuck Dixon chose to devote what is normally a landmark issue - #25 - of that series not to a major battle or character death, but to Tim and Dick discussing life, Batman, and Dick's seemingly endless parade of hot girlfriends for an entire issue (although they were doing that while blindfolded, fighting bad guys, on a moving train).
- Damian Wayne also sees Dick Grayson like this, genuinely respecting him and Dick is one of the few people who believe in him and helps steer Damian in the right direction. In Rebirth, Damian himself seems to want to take this role to the newest Superboy, Jon Kent. While stern and derisive to the point of getting into numerous arguments and scuffles with the Half-Kryptonian, many of his actions can be seen as overprotective of the younger superhero and he insists on imparting lessons and advice into almost every conversation they have.
- Bruce himself is sometimes treated as this to the Robins, although it's far more common for him to be a Parental Substitute. Under Grant Morrison, Dick Grayson specifically called Bruce his brother.
- In Batgirl (2009), Barbara Gordon -the original Batgirl- helped and mentored Stephanie Brown, who was determined to take up the title and the Batgirl mantle.
- Empowered: Maid Man and Cyndablock act like this to Empowered, showing her that not all superheroes are assholes. That it's the transvestite and the literal blockhead who actually are nice to her must say something about how much being a low-tier superhero sucks.
- Mindf*ck as well, in her own way. She showed Emp that no matter how screwed up she thinks she is, there are capes out there who make her look like a Golden Age heroine.
- The Flash: Although he initially played the role of the older brother who didn't want to be around the younger one, Wally West eventually grew quite fond of Bart "Impulse / Kid Flash" Allen (who's technically his cousin, once removed).
- Green Lantern: Unlike many of their colleagues in the Justice League of America, who are typically played as Parental Substitutes to their younger allies, Hal, John, and Guy act as big brother mentors to Kyle, Simon, and Jessica.
- Spider-Man: Spidey tends to act like this for the younger heroes, especially those who feel they can't really trust the adult superheroes. A large reason is that Spidey started his superheroics at their age so he can relate to the struggles of balancing superheroism and teenage life. As a result, a lot of the young superheroes look up to him and he in turn tries his best to advise them on what he has learned as a former teenage superhero.
- Superman:
- Superman was this to Supergirl in the Silver Age. He took care of his cousin and trained her until Kara was ready to go solo.
- Subverted post-Crisis. Kara was actually older than Superman, and she expected to take care of her baby cousin, but after her ship launched, it was stuck in a Kryptonite debris field for 30 years, during which she was in a coma. Although she eventually reached Earth, her cousin was now older and wanted to be her mentor and caretaker.
- Subverted in the New 52. Superman thinks he must help and guide his teen cousin. Everyone thinks she would be better off with him... but Supergirl protests that she doesn't need or want any help.
- In Red Daughter of Krypton Superman has to tell Guy Gardner he can't keep his cousin with him if she doesn't want to stay. So Guy became Kara's brotherly mentor, helping her find herself and manage her anger.
- In Many Happy Returns, Linda Danvers becomes this to Kara Zor-El, taking care of her and teaching her how to be a hero.
- New Super-Man: Superman is this to Kenan, though he's old enough to be his father.
- In the Supergirl/Batgirl story Elseworld's Finest: Supergirl & Batgirl, Barbara Gordon's parents got murdered, and the Waynes took her in. Bruce helped her and mentored her while she was growing and preparing to become Batgirl.
- Teen Titans: Arsenal attempted to be one to teen hero Damage the second time they were with the Titans. Roy nominated Grant for membership to make up for how things went during Roy's tenure as Titans leader. It was during this time Roy and his daughter Lian were able to help Grant address the severe sexual abuse he'd endured at the hands of his foster father. Roy then offered to bring Grant to the reservation Roy grew up on, so Grant would have a safe place to deal with these emotions without being judged. This desire to help the younger Titan stemmed from abandonment issues Roy endured back when he was growing up with Green Arrow and had grown savvy enough to not do what his mentor did.
- Wonder Woman:
- Pre-Crisis, Diana acted as this to Donna Troy, who was literally her adopted sister. Post-Crisis, the two eventually came to view one another as sisters, but Donna was never raised by Hippolyta or mentored by Diana in that continuity, making this trope no longer applicable.
- Much like the Batman / Nightwing / Robin relationship above, however, Donna did serve as an older sister to Cassie Sandsmark, the second Wonder Girl, until Flashpoint.
- X-Men:
- Wolverine to practically any younger female character. Most notably Kid Sidekicks Jubilee and Kitty Pryde. In Wolverine #16, a reporter is going around asking people what they think of Wolverine. Jubilee says he's an amazing big brother. Kitty takes it a little further — she admits that she'll probably never get married because she always compares the guys she meets to Wolverine, and they never measure up.
- Gambit is this to Wolverine's clone/daughter X-23 in her solo self-titled series. Although they are on more equal terms than some of the other examples. Played straighter with Gambit's relationship with kid Storm and Jubilee.
- Laura herself becomes one to her younger "sister"/clone, Gabby, in All-New Wolverine.
Fan Works
- A Crown of Stars: TJ plays this role to Shinji during the last half of the story, counselling Shinji and helping him to make a decision when he is feeling insecure and wary.
- Advice and Trust: Asuka -and Shinji- became this to Rei after the former realized the latter was being treated like a puppet. Asuka convinced her to stop taking a medication regimen tailored to turn Rei into an emotionless doll, and she and Shinji helped Rei to move into a decent apartment and improve her social skills. Rei started to model her behaviour patterns after Asuka, and Asuka and Shinji became very protective of Rei.
- Ragna becomes this to Jaune in BlazBlue Alternative: Remnant. He mentors Jaune to help him improve his fighting abilities and through this, learns to open up emotionally to him. Jaune, in turn, grows to look up to Ragna as a result and even function as a Morality Pet. Ragna comparing Jaune to his younger brother, Jin, helps add to this.
- Doing It Right This Time: Ritsuko becomes a mix of this and Cool Big Sis to Rei after discovering Rei is a clone of her mother.
- The dwarven noble in Dragon Age: The Crown of Thorns assumes this role in relation to the dwarven commoner.
- A rare female example of this trope: In the Death Note AU Point of Succession Naomi Misora is this to Light (who in this fic is a rookie criminal profiler with a Dark and Troubled Past). Naomi takes him under her wing at the FBI but she also frequently teases him in a "big sis" kind of way.
- Hail to the King (Thuktun Flishithy): Zone Fighter teaches Shinji to fight and to be more confident, assertive, selfless, and courageous. Through this process, Shinji grows a spine and becomes a hero.
- Another female example in Ace Of Spades where Harley Quinn is this to Harry Potter.
- Child of the Storm has this happen a few times, owing to the number of teenage characters.
- Clint Barton has elements of this towards Harry early on, teaching him how to fly a Quinjet, sparring with him, and basically being the cool big brother that Harry never had. This is in large part because he's the youngest Avenger and can relate best to Harry - Steve is younger than Clint by a couple years, not counting his time in the ice, but he's such a Living Legend that it takes Harry, who's at first quite shy, longer to connect.
- Despite there being a roughly forty-year age gap, Warren Worthington III and Sean Cassidy have this kind of relationship, with an edge of Vitriolic Best Buds (one of Warren's earliest lines is to snark that Sean is much older than he looks, "but refuses to have the decency to look it", thanks to a Noodle Incident). Sean guides Warren, encouraging him out of his self-imposed shell, based around fears involving his Razor Wings, and nearly kills Wisdom when he realises that the other man set Warren up so that he'd end up having to kill someone and would therefore be easier to mould into a soldier.
- Betsy Braddock is noted to be acting as a big sister figure and psychic therapist to Ginny Weasley in the first and second books because Ginny's psychic trauma from the Diary Incident is much more obvious and extensive.
- Jean-Paul Beaubier takes this role, initially to Harry (a little bit), and later rather more extensively to Clark, who's much more of a Naïve Newcomer, who Jean-Paul is correspondingly protective of - it gets to the point where his rationale for keeping Clark away from their superpowered peers is startlingly cold even to the highly protective Jonathan Kent (Harry attracts trouble, therefore Harry attracts attention, therefore if Clark stays away he can fly under the radar until he can protect himself, while all the Big Bads will be dealing with Harry). Clark sometimes bridles at this, particularly at Jean-Paul's selective attitude to the truth.
- Harry later becomes one to Clark in the mini-arc they share in the sequel, with both seeing a lot of themselves in each other - and not just looks.
- Carol, prone to Big Sister Instinct as she is, becomes a big sister type figure to Diana - on an emotional level rather than a physical one, as while Carol is larger than Diana (who is initially small enough for Carol to snuggle like an oversized teddy bear), Diana could literally tie her in knots.
- She later demonstrates this both of her actual little brothers, especially Steve 'Stevie' Danvers in Bloody Hell, and towards Peter Parker in Unfinished Business.
- Kingdom Hearts Familia Myth: Sora plays this role to Bell, being the much more experience warrior of the two despite being a newcomer to Orario. He frequently doles out advice and praise to the young adventurer as needed, helping his progress along immensely and reinforcing his self confidence.
- Main focus of The Next Dragon Warrior where Po helps out the younger Jo.
- Yet another female example: Twilight Sparkle is this to Trixie in Pony POV Series.
- Likewise in Getting Back on Your Hooves. Trixie even admits later Twilight's like a sister to her.
- Rainbow Dash behaves this way toward Medley in Ace Combat: The Equestrian War. By the end, Rainbow herself admits that, to her, Firefly is like an older sister she never had.
- In Ah! Archfall!, Jago is a literal version; his brother (Bob) is sent to him to learn anger management. Jago encourages him to learn how to control himself in a fight, eventually culminating in Bob's disastrous duel with Skuld, after which Jago delivers swift justice in a beating so severe that he BREAKS HIS OWN HAND in the process. He also secretly supports Bob's tentative relationship with Chrono, despite the fact that she is training to be a Valkyrie and must therefore remain celibate.
- In Neon Genesis Evangelion: Apotheosis Echo, Daniel Theisman acts as one of these to Shinji and Asuka, eventually becoming something of an unofficial therapist and support structure for all of the pilots.
- Reggie to Brandon in Pokéumans, training him and helping him with different things he needs throughout the story.
- Thousand Shinji: Deconstructed. Shinji is this to Rei. When they met she behaved like an emotionless doll. He helped her to discover emotions and feelings and find a purpose to live, and she became a more self-reliant, more confident, happier person. However he did this for converting her to dark gods of Chaos, and she became creepier than before. Additionally, her mind was not ready yet to deal with her new emotions and powers, so that when Shinji and Asuka got together she was so consumed with jealousy -because Shinji was happy with Asuka- and despair -because Shinji's brotherly love was insufficient to her- that she became a Yandere.
- Kosuke the Eternal Genin becomes one for Naruto in Memories Of Others after the latter becomes a genin without a team. He spends their wall patrols teaching Naruto various things that aren't taught in the academy such as international politics and nonverbal communication.
- Empathy features a female version of this, as Riley Andersen (Inside Out) quickly comes to admire Go-Go (Big Hero 6) after they meet, with Go-Go in turn appearing touched that Riley thinks of her as "the coolest person [she's] ever met".
- Kerlongsj could act like an example for some women in Infinite Stratos: To the Other End of the World. Despite being A Father to His Men, in Anaton's case, it's literal because the boy is his son by adoption. Still, because of their not-so-small age difference, Kerlongsj being twenty-two and Anaton being twelve, they're more like this. It would feel a bit awkward for the two to act like they're supposed to. Kerlongsj will scold Anaton when he messes up, but he isn't as strict with him as Chifuyu is with Ichika, and won't tease him like Tatenashi.
- In Total Drama fanfic Unbreakable Red Silken Thread: Cody is shaping up to be one of these in relation to Cameron, whom he has admitted reminds him of himself when he was younger. Slightly played with in that they are the same age, Cody just happens to be more mature and experienced in life on account of Cameron having been a bubble boy for most of his life.
- Edward in My Master Ed is this toward Hohenheim, despite only being a year older and (unknowingly) his Kid from the Future to boot.
- In Amazing Fantasy, Peter acts as a playful, almost brotherly mentor to Izuku, walking him through the motions of being Spider-Man and helping him whenever he stumbles. He's plenty willing to poke fun at Izuku's expense, but he cares deeply about him and his success. At the same time, his fatherly side comes out from time to time and he worries that he's using Izuku as a Replacement Goldfish for his daughter, Mayday.
- Platinum Angel provides a villainous example in Daniel Cross, whose idea of getting to his target is to recruit her boyfriend into their ranks and train him.
- In crossover fanfiction Echoes of Yesterday, after meeting Glory Girl, Kara realizes Vicky's a well-meaning but reckless and hot-headed girl -not unlike Kara herself when she was a teenager- whose worst traits are being enabled by her family; hence, she decides to mentor the younger girl so she becomes a proper hero instead of ending up as a cautionary tale.
- In Cross Ange The Knight Of Hilda: In addition to his relationship with Hilda, Rio serves as this to Ange, attempting to help guide her to the right path.
- In SilfofinaDragon's Sengoku Basara fanfics, Sarutobi Sasuke acts this way towards not just Sanada Yukimura, but to also his (Yukimura's) grandson Tsukitora (mothered by their son Masa).
- In Three Strikes, it appears Roland played as much a part in inspiring Trigger as their father did. He was the one she first confided in that she wanted to join the air force.
- Danganronpa: The Immersive Learning Program:
- Kaito takes on this role towards Kazuichi. It makes it hard for him to accept that Kazuichi was the Blackended in the second trial.
- Nekomaru takes on this role to Hiro... despite the latter being a few years older than him.
Films — Animation
- Big Hero 6: Tadashi is Hiro's big brother and the one responsible for Hiro getting into robotics. Tadashi also gets him out of the bot fights and inspires him to enroll at SFIT, the tech-focused college he attends. To nail the coffin, he dies for the plot.
- Brother Bear:
- Sitka, who explains to Kenai the significance of their respective totems (guidance and love), and what it means to be a man. The latter bit is elaborated on a bit more in a piece of dialogue that was ultimately cut from the movie:
"It's not about how fast you can run, or how far you can throw a spear [...] People see you as a man because of what's inside you."
- Denahi also takes on shades of this, immediately after Sitka's death; he tries (albeit unsuccessfully) to make Kenai realize that the incident wasn't the bear's fault and that killing the animal out of vengeance would (A) only serve to anger the spirits, and (B) would not make Kenai the man that he so desperately wants to be.
- Sitka, who explains to Kenai the significance of their respective totems (guidance and love), and what it means to be a man. The latter bit is elaborated on a bit more in a piece of dialogue that was ultimately cut from the movie:
- Hector to Miguel in Coco after striking their deal. He guides him through the Land of the Dead, helps him perform, and does everything he can to set him on the right track before learning he’s actually the boy’s distant grandfather.
- In Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse, Spider-Punk (aka Hobie) has this dynamic with Spider-Gwen & Spider-Man: India (2023), and initiates this bond with Miles as well. His connection with Miles goes even deeper, as Hobart Brown in the Prime Timeline was the original Prowler, essentially making Spider-Punk a parallel to Miles' uncle.
Films — Live-Action
- In Battleship, the main character Alex is a directionless loser who's all but forced into the military by his older brother in the hopes that it'll straighten him out. The older brother is successful and straight-laced... and his death early on in the movie motivates Alex into becoming a better soldier.
- Dredd: If Anderson is any indication, Dredd gives his rookie partners both the criticism and praise they need to bring out the best in them.
- In From Dusk Till Dawn, Seth is this to Richard.
- Ken to Ray in In Bruges.
- Shawn, from Rags. He's one of the first people to encourage Charlie in his musical career and constantly works to help him achieve that dream, even hooking him up with his own album, all while also acting in a brotherly position.
- Mr White to Mr Orange in Reservoir Dogs
- See You Yesterday: Calvin is this to Claudette till the day he gets shot dead by police. For example, protecting her from a rude ex-boyfriend.
- Han Solo to Luke Skywalker in Star Wars.
- Obi-Wan Kenobi to Anakin Skywalker in the prequel trilogy. He even refers to Anakin as his brother in Revenge of the Sith, while Anakin says Obi-Wan is like a father to him in Attack of the Clones. Some have argued that Anakin's downfall was due partially to the fact that Obi-Wan was too young to be the father figure that Anakin needed, leaving that role to be filled by Palpatine.
- Marcus and Kyle Reese develop this dynamic in Terminator Salvation.
- In The Way, Way Back, Owen (the owner of the local water park) fills this role for the wayward 14-year-old Duncan.
- X-Men: First Class: Because Charles and Hank share a lot in common, Xavier treats McCoy more like a little brother than the other young recruits.
- Much Ado About Nothing: Benedick looks at Claudio this way.
Literature
- This is Older Than They Think: In The Bible, when the archangel Raphael took a human form to find and fight the demon Asmodeous, he posed as a young man named Azariah who played this role for young Tobias, the youth who was qualified to marry Sarah, the girl whom Asmodeous lusted after and tormented by killing her husbands right after the wedding.
- For the reader's enlightenment: this story is from the Book of Tobit, which is not considered part of the Bible by either Jews or non-Catholic/Eastern Orthodox Christians. Although it is still considered a useful read.
- Jonathan can be considered this to David. He's at least some years older than David, and guides and protects him; he accepts that Jehovah has chosen David to succeed Saul, and David is devastated when he and Saul died.
- Loyal is this to Fearless in Bravelands. Fearless is an adolescent lion cub kicked out of his pride a year ago when his father was killed. Fearless was raised by baboons and thus is clueless about being a lion. Loyal is a rogue male that knew his father. Loyal takes Fearless in and mentors him.
- Deeplight: Jelt took Hark under his wing when they were orphaned in the same harsh winter. He protects the younger, smaller Hark while they grow up in the Shelter and they become literally thick as theives.
- Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Ugly Truth: A company called "Cool Brian" invokes this trope, advertising itself as providing "wholesome mentors for growing boys." Rowley's parents hire a Cool Brian to hang out with him after his fallout with Greg.
- Harry Potter has Sirius Black, his godfather, and Remus Lupin. Too bad that both of them die.
- To elaborate it's worth noting that this is a major difference in Sirius' portrayal in Book 4 and Book 5. In Book 4, he is still on the run and very sharp about potential danger, and acts mostly responsibly toward Harry. He constantly reminds him to lie low, stay out of trouble, and not take risks to see him. Harry on several occasions in GoF expresses relief that he is nearby. In Order of the Phoenix, Sirius, as noted by Hermione, begins to behave more recklessly, mainly because he is stuck at his childhood home (his childhood was pretty crap and actually ran away at 16, so he very understandably does not like being there), subject to taunts about his lack of "usefulness," and there are several hints that he is not mentally stable. It is in Order of the Phoenix that Harry begins to worry about Sirius doing something risky to see him, that Molly accuses Sirius of being unable to tell Harry and James apart, and that Sirius becomes careless about his disguise.
- In the H.I.V.E. Series, benevolent AI H.I.V.E.mind is this to Otto. He guides Otto, normally an Insufferable Genius, to becoming a more tolerable person. He also serves as The Paragon in book three. Once the two begin Sharing a Body, they actually switch roles, with H.I.V.E.mind acting grateful towards Otto for showing him what it is like to be human and effectively taking the role of the Hypercompetent Sidekick.
- Musketeer Space: all three of the Musketeers develop this towards Dana, but especially Athos. He teaches her swordplay, delivers advice (mostly of the "love is for idiots and pretty people aren't to be trusted" variety), petitions for her to be made a full Musketeer and passes on his wealth of knowledge about where to get into the best bar fights.
- Percy Jackson has Luke Castellan, who looks after Percy when he first arrives in Camp Half-Blood in The Lightning Thief, and even gives him some cool magic items to help in on his very first quest. It's just a shame that the items are cursed to drag Percy down to Tartarus and that Luke's the titular Lightning Thief, The Dragon to Big Bad Kronos, and one of the main villains of the series.
- Percy himself is something of the sort towards Hazel and Frank in The Heroes of Olympus.
- Trapped on Draconica: Daniar is this for Erowin; taught her martial arts and tries to keep her away from bad habits like drinking during the day. She's too heavy on the 'stern' and not enough on the 'buddy' for Erowin's tastes.
- In Tales Out of Tallis, this is a reoccurring theme. Koert plays the mentor to Jurgen and Liam, who then in turn are the mentors to the next generation. Though Liam is more of a Trickster Mentor
- Tomcat Blue Eyes' Diaries:
- The first mentor that Blue Eyes (the hero of the story who is a small tomcat) gains is a stray she-cat Green Eyes. She's kindly and teaches Blue Eyes how to climb trees and other useful things (for example, that two-legged creatures are actually called humans). She later becomes distant though.
- White Whiskers Rusty is a friendly tomcat who takes young Blue Eyes (who is barely a grown-up kitten at that point) under his wing and teaches him about the world and their local cat society. Blue Eyes listens to him, adores him, and generally is glad that he has so great a friend.
- Blue Eyes takes the mentoring role when he takes care of Kiki. She's a small kitten that got lost and he and his human decide to adopt her.
Live-Action TV
- Murdock to Face in The A-Team.
- Eric was this to an orphan named Tommy in Boy Meets World.
- Simon Tam to River in Firefly. He is kind of a doting big brother but he also has to extend that role far beyond what that would normally imply due to the extreme situation.
- The Flash (2014): In Flash/Arrow crossover episodes, Oliver acts this way towards Barry, at first helping him hone his powers as the Flash, then later on, giving him helpful advice on juggling superhero life with his normal life.
- In Highlander: The Series, Methos falls somewhere between this and a Trickster Mentor to Duncan. The only problem is that Methos has spent hundreds of years avoiding fights and thus is disinclined towards beating a lesson into the overly stubborn and idealistic Duncan, and thus he often has to hope that his points get through Duncan's thick skull on their own merits.
- Duncan was this to Richie before and after the latter became Immortal.
- Kamen Rider Decade — Kaitou, the series' rival Rider, became one of these to Asumu when the cast visited an alternate version of Kamen Rider Hibiki. It crosses over with Morality Pet, since up until then Kaitou had been more interested in acquiring treasure than fighting villains, and only helped out the good guys when he felt he owed them or that there was something in it for him.
- Gleb Zheglov to Vladimir Sharapov in The Meeting Place Cannot Be Changed.
- Arthur may believe himself to be this in regard to Merlin. He occasionally gives Merlin well-meant advice regarding women or battle, although he often completely misreads the situation due to his ignorance of Merlin's powers and true identity.
- He becomes one to Mordred in Season 5, possibly as a Shout-Out to the original myth where they were father and son. And boy does it backfire on him.
- Don Eppes in NUMB3RS
- In The Sarah Jane Adventures: the Doctor is this to Luke, Clyde and Rani in The Wedding of Sarah Jane Smith & Death of the Doctor.
- Deconstructed in Scrubs with JD. Every time he's in a teaching position he tries his hardest to make his interns/students like him, but usually all it does is cause him to lose authority and respect. This is sharply contrasted with JD's own mentor Dr. Cox, who has a very harsh sink-or-swim approach that is nonetheless generally accepted to be great for teaching. Cox even delivers a Wham Line to JD in regards to this.
Cox: I wanted you to see just how ridiculous you truly are, constantly chasing their approval.
JD: So I'm supposed to be like you, and just "rule by fear"? Perry, they hate you.
Cox: Yes, they do. And sure, I could be a little bit kinder, but that's not going to happen, and here's why: we're creating doctors, not kindergarteners.
JD: They need me.
Cox: Do they? Because I don't ever remember holding your smooth little doll hand, and you turned out to be not too horrible a doctor. - John could possibly count as one for the titular character of Sherlock since he has killed two villains in cold blood and threatened death on one of them when said knucklehead grabs him in a headlock in an attempt to strangle him or snap his neck. He also taught Sherlock about friendship, and his presence humanizes Sherlock which, in turn prompts Sherlock to fake his own death for him.
- Plus, Mary could be seen as this (in a way) since she seems to understand Sherlock as much as his best friend does. And she's the one who shot Sherlock. Basically? Don't screw around with an assassin from the CIA. You WILL get your rear end kicked if you do.
- Dr. Fiscus to Dr. Axelrod in St. Elsewhere.
- Tom Paris to Harry Kim in Star Trek: Voyager, eventually growing into Heterosexual Life-Partners.
- Harvey Specter to Mike Ross in Suits. After Mike impresses Harvey with his intelligence and eidetic memory, Harvey helps him con his way into a job as a lawyer at Harvey's firm despite Mike having never been to law school. Following this, Harvey begins protecting and mentoring Mike as his protégé, and while this is initially self-serving, as Mike getting caught would lead to Harvey getting fired as well, he quickly develops a genuine Big Brother Instinct for Mike and gets personally invested in him succeeding.
- Supergirl (2015): Superman, unsurprisingly. When he shows up, it's generally as "the ultimate supportive big brother". There's a minor twist in that Kara is technically older than him, but spent years in stasis en route to Earth.
- Toby Ziegler to Sam Seaborn on The West Wing
- And President Bartlet to Toby.
- The White Queen: Lord Warwick is technically the first cousin of the York brothers, but King Edward IV and Richard of Gloucester lampshade that he was like a brother to them. Warwick taught Edward "how to fight, how to win," and he also tutored Richard in the art of war at Warwick's castle.
Video Games
- Shu from Arc the Lad functions as this for Elc at the beginning of the second game. Elc handles most things alone, but when he winds up in a jam, he knows where to go for advice and backup.
- Rei is a roguish variant on this to Ryu and Teepo in Breath of Fire 3, teaching them how to mug people and hunt efficiently. Though he appears to die when Balio and Sunder torch the heroes home, allowing Ryu to begin his adventure, he returns after the Time Skip as an Anti-Hero Lancer to the (now more well-rounded and heroic) Ryu.
- In Compilation of Final Fantasy VII, Angeal is this to Zack, who becomes this to Cloud. And possibly Cloud to Denzel.
- Paul in Deus Ex. He will try to encourage the player to use non-lethal tactics and will chew out the player if he/she chooses to do a take-no-prisoners gameplay.
- Given that Ensemble Stars! is chock full of Senpai-Kohai relationships, it naturally has heaps of these, with group leaders in particular usually acting as brotherly mentors to younger members. Nazuna takes it furthest, however, outright requesting that the other members of Ra*bits refer to him as 'oniichan', which they all do happily. (Of course, that might be also his attempt to make it clear that he's two years older than them despite how he looks, but he certainly fits the role regardless.)
- Fire Emblem:
- In Fire Emblem: The Binding Blade, Klein saw both Dieck and the dead Prince Mildain as such. In both cases, Klein's supports can potentially have him find his missing "brothers" serving in The Hero Roy's army: Dieck left to not cause the Reglay House trouble, while Mildain took the identity of Elphin to evade the noblemen who wanted him dead.
- Binding Blade prequel Fire Emblem: The Blazing Blade gives us Harken playing this role to Lowen. And in the past, Marcus was also this to him.
- In Fire Emblem: The Sacred Stones, you can build this link between Ross and Gerik, or between Seth and Franz. Saleh is already this to Ewan. Ephraim's supports with his own sister Eirika and with Myrrh also suggest these dynamics (with what might be bits of Incest Subtext in Eirika's case).
- In Fire Emblem: Awakening, Ricken views Prince Chrom as this ever since he saved his life and protected him from bullies. In one of the DLCs, Libra has a talk with Henry that gives very strong vibes of the trope as well.
- Lily from Hometown Story is both the actual older sister and the smithing mentor of Cling and Clang, who are quite friendly with her and naturally address her as "master".
- Axel is this to both Roxas and Xion in Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days.
- Riku also demonstrates this trope towards the hero, Sora, throughout all of the games. Though he did go through a stint of Aloof Big Brother and Rival Turned Evil in the first game, he quickly grew out of it.
- However, according to one of the character files, Riku thinks that at some unknown point he stopped trying to be Sora's older brother and became something else, also unknown.
- However, according to one of the character files
- Terra in Birth By Sleep is also this to Ventus and Riku, for a brief moment, explaining where he gets it from. Later events and Ven's status as a MacGuffin Super-Person push Terra towards Knight Templar Big Brother territory.
- Riku also demonstrates this trope towards the hero, Sora, throughout all of the games. Though he did go through a stint of Aloof Big Brother and Rival Turned Evil in the first game, he quickly grew out of it.
- The King of Fighters
- Kensou sorta plays the role to Bao, too, even saving his life when the kid almost pulls an Heroic Sacrifice.
- Both Ralf Jones and Clark Still play the trope in regards to Leona Heidern, helping her ease into Team Ikari and learn to express emotions more without fear of her Superpowered Evil Side.
- The Legend of Zelda:
- In The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess, Rusl, the Ordon swordsman and Colin's father, is this to Link. It's stated that he was responsible for teaching Link everything he knows and can be viewed as either a sample of this trope or a straight father figure. Their relationship is more depicted as this in the manga adaptation.
- In the backstory of The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, Link himself served this role to the "Big Bad Bazz Brigade", a trio of Zoras that he mentored in swordsmanship. In turn, Daruk is this to Link, as they are long-time friends and Link is the last to join the Champions. Daruk is the one to suggest formally inducting Link to the group with a traditional ceremony and later on, Daruk advises Link on how to better get along with Zelda.
- In the years between Breath of the Wild and The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, Link became one to Tulin, teaching the young Rito in the ways of combat at the Flight Range.
- Sean Diaz in Life Is Strange 2. When his younger brother Daniel inexplicably develops telekinetic abilities, Sean does everything he can to help Daniel learn to control it. A slight subversion from the norm is that Sean is the playable character, and it's up to player choice to determine how much of a good influence Sean is to Daniel.
- Kyousuke from Little Busters! could almost define this: he's only a year older than the other characters, but he has the sense of competence, charisma, and confidence that makes all of the other Little Busters look up to him. Riki even says early on that he has the air of an older brother and that everyone always listens to what he says. And since what he says normally involves bringing everyone along on wild, fun adventures, they're more than happy to. But if he honestly thinks hurting one of them in the short-term will be better for them in the long run, he will definitely do it. Reluctantly, but surely.
- Commander Shepard, the protagonist of Mass Effect, is this to Garrus Vakarian.
- Shepard also has something of a mentor role to Tali, at least until the second game.
- Minotaur Hotel: Asterion used to have two such mentors that he had strong connections. First is Androgeos, his actual brother, who acted kindly towards Asterion despite his curse and even stopped him from being plunged into Tartarus during his after-life. The other is Phroneos, who, while not a blood sibling, took care of Asterion when he was young, during which they grew a tight relationship.
- Persona:
- Persona 4 can see the Protagonist acting this way toward Shu Nakajima, Kanji Tatsumi, and Naoki Konishi. The latter two are actually his underclassmen.
- In Persona 5, Joker has this dynamic with Shinya Oda, the Tower arcana, who himself notes halfway through his Confidant that he sees Joker as an older brother. Amusingly, the confidant starts with Shinya mentoring Joker on gun-wielding (Shinya being a prodigy at shooting games and capable of fighting professional gamers.) However, this quickly moves to Joker helping Shinya with his personal problems as the boy's abrasive side begins isolating him from his peers and it's revealed that he's encouraged to be bullying by his mother as a result of her being a single parent and her frustration with struggles. She's the Target in his path to have her heart changed and Shinya is not only happier in having his mom back, but also apologizes for his behavior to the group of schoolmates he was antagonizing with earlier.
- In Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney – Spirit of Justice, Simon Blackquill has resumed the mentor role he had with Athena Cykes. He stops Prosecutor Nahyuta from bullying her (joining her at the defense bench to do it), but he also grabs her by the shoulders and gives her a shake when she starts to lose faith in her client.
- Chris Redfield to Claire Redfield, literally, in Resident Evil.
- Sasuke from Sengoku Basara acts like this toward his young master Yukimura, being his friend and advisor and protecting him in dangerous situations. He also acts as emotional support and makes sure he toes the line.
- Shining Resonance: Lampshaded several times in regards to Agnum, who leads Yuma on two separate training missions to build his confidence. Successfully completing the first mission unlocks Agnum's "Big Brother" trait. If you equip it, it allows him to use "Let's go, Bro!" which is a resonance buff that boosts the damage of Yuma's very next physical, or magic attack.
- Sonic the Hedgehog has its titular character be one to his best friend Tails. He's always supportive of him, and helped Tails overcome his timidness and insecurities after this one was bullied during his early childhood by his peers for his twin tails and dorkiness.
- Early in South Park: The Stick of Truth, Both Eric Cartman and Butters Stotch played this role toward the New Kid, giving him advice and guidance in surviving South Park as well as teaching him how the play the fantasy LARP game he gets drafted into playing.
- In South Park: The Fractured but Whole, Cartman (as The Coon) mentors the New Kid again, but in a slightly more downplayed fashion. Scott Malkinson (as Captain Diabetes) plays this trope much straighter though.
- Guy is this to Luke in Tales of the Abyss. He in his own words, "raised [Luke] from a blank slate to a spoiled, selfish kid" and continues to watch out for and offer him advice throughout the game. At one point, he actually DOES punch Luke when Luke says that he will die in Asch's place at the Tower of Rem, and the punch is hard enough to knock Luke flat on the floor.
- Occasionally the line gets blurred between whether Guy is an older brother or surrogate guardian to Luke, given both the little attention and affection Luke's own father, the Duke initially shows towards him, as well as Guy assuming responsibility for shortcomings in Luke's character. Usually this is negligible as Van is a more obvious surrogate guardian.
- In Tales of Symphonia, Lloyd compares Kratos to the big brother he always wishes he had, during one of the sword training scenes. Hilarious in Hindsight.
- In Tales of Vesperia, protagonist Yuri winds up becoming one for Karol, helping him mature from a Cowardly Lion Kid Samurai to a true hero.
- Tears to Tiara 2: Of the big sister variety. The goddess Ashtarte mentors Hamil.
- Sans from Undertale is a laid-back, supportive, funny guy who's popular with the residents of his hometown, takes the Human Child out for friendly dinners and conversation on a few occasions, and is protective-bordering-on-overprotective of his younger brother Papyrus's happiness and innocence, who he's always doing little things for behind his back (while playfully ribbing him to his face). The contrastingly passionate and strict-minded Papyrus seems to find his lackadaisical and goofy big brother more pathetic and annoying than cool on principle, but he still loves, trusts, and cares about him as a person, and isn't above the knee-jerk reaction of turning to him when things aren't going his way here and there.
- Inverted with Hakuoro playing the big brother to Oboro in Utawarerumono. He even uses 'aniki' which gives Hakuoro pause for a moment.
- Jack in Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines, from the first time he opens his mouth, falls squarely into this role.
Jack: Ah hah hah! What a scene, man, whoo-ee! And then they just plop you out here like a naked baby in the woods, heh heh, how about that? Ahhh... Look kiddo, this is probably a lot for you to take in, so why don't you let me show you the ropes, whaddya say?
Webcomics
- Gabe of Beyond The End is this to his little brother, End. While he's more the protective sibling, he's still his mentor, willing to tell him off and correct him, and to cast him down from Heaven himself if he must.
- Wendy of Cwen's Quest is a female version of this trope as well as Cwen's Non-Human Sidekick and the good guys' Only Sane Man. She tends to deadpan snark rather than hit people upside the head when they are doing something stupid due to her small size. When hasn't always returned this consideration. She avoids being the Team Mom by only offering her snarky advice to Cwen and letting most other people make horrible, horrible mistakes or suffer for their ignorance. Might be more of Mentor Mascot.
- Kel'noz from Drowtales is a Uncle Mentor to Ariel. More of a standard mentor to the rest of her classmates, though.
- Rita from the Gifts of Wandering Ice is a sister mentor for her brothers — Rikter and Nikt.
- Finas of Hanna Is Not a Boy's Name seems to fit this role with Casimiro. He seems dedicated to trying to keep the impulsive younger vampire out of trouble.
- The Serpent from HERO, down to the jaw-socking.
- Bro is Dave's guardian in Homestuck in lieu of any parents, and taught him everything he knows, from mixing sick beats to the art of irony to the value of katanas. He also gets killed in Act 5.
- Noel from Least I Could Do is mostly more of a Deadpan Snarker Sidekick, but he's also a voice of sanity that counters the main character's Psychopathic Manchildness, and on one occasion tried to beat some sense into Rayne.
- Tower of God: Rachel to Bam until stuff happens.
Web Original
- Lulu from Cream Heroes becomes this to kittens Toto and Dodo, as they quickly learn all the tricks he uses to steal food or create mischief for Claire. This includes Toto using the hole in the kitchen counter and Dodo copying everything else Lulu does including standing on his hind legs, meowing really loudly, and even stealing any food he can get in his mouth.
- In Noob, Ystos, the healer of Justice guild's main roster, was quite involved in the Noob guild even before he enrolled his second avatar in it. He averts the We Used to Be Friends situation Arthéon has with the other members of Justice guild, gives them an experienced player's advice when he notices that they're at a dead end and occasionally gives a helping hand. He also happens to be a little younger than most of the guild and the trope is reinforced when it comes to Sparadrap, the Noob guild's own healer who happens to be Ystos' older but not-too-bright brother.
- Trick Moon: Prince tries to teach Trickshot and Pocket how to be Moonkeepers. As he's stuck in the Moonstone, he can't really make them listen, however, and in one case his attempts to guide Trickshot nearly led to Pocket getting hit with an arrow.
Western Animation
- Avatar: The Last Airbender:
- Zuko for Aang in the second half of the third season; made all the sweeter by the (sort of) Luke, I Am Your Father revelation that season.
- In flashbacks from earlier seasons, Zuko is implied to have had this sort of relationship with his older cousin, Lu Ten.
- Huey, the main character of The Boondocks is an example to his younger brother Riley (and possibly to his Granddad as well). Considering though that Riley is quite the arrogant jerkass, Huey ends up "educating him the hard way" more often than most Big Brother Mentors.
- Danny Phantom fulfills the role to his younger Opposite-Sex Clone Danielle, constantly protecting her whenever she is threatened.
- Inverted on Family Guy by Stewie Griffin, who functions as a Little Brother Mentor to his older siblings Chris and Meg. He's shown more concern for his brother and sister's welfare than their parents ever have, and tried to help them with their problems.
- The relationship between Scootaloo and Rainbow Dash develops into this in My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic. In the first two seasons, Scootaloo openly admires Rainbow, though Rainbow doesn't take particular notice of her. When a third season episode has Scootaloo confess she wishes Rainbow would become "like a big sister or something", Rainbow agrees to it. Their next spotlight episode shows how this has developed.
- In Ōban Star-Racers, Rick Thunderbolt is this to Molly and Jordan, training them to improve their racing skills.
- Anakin to Ahsoka in Star Wars: The Clone Wars. Anakin is not super great at the "Jedi may not have attachments" thing, and so the mentor relationship he has with his Padawan quickly acquires this dynamic.
- Edward from Thomas & Friends serves as one to the younger engines who often are in need of advice like Thomas and Percy and to keep them in line as he does with Bill and Ben.
- Thomas plays as one to the younger engines in the later seasons, most especially with Billy.
- Toby was often this in early episodes to Thomas and Percy. After his meekness took over his personality, this trait was downplayed or sometimes even reversed, though still pops up every now and then.
- In Thunder Cats 2011, Tygra acts as an interesting combination of this and The Rival to Lion-O. While he makes no effort to hide how resentful he is of Lion-O's status as The Chosen One, he's also shown that he'll always have Lion-O's back when he's in trouble and has even given him some support when Lion-O doubted himself.
- Jack looks after Raf in this way in Transformers: Prime. After getting over his initial concerns about being replaced, Bulkhead takes young rookie Smokescreen under his wing.
- Windblade becomes this to Bumblebee in Transformers: Cyberverse when the latter loses his memories and ability to communicate.
- The Voltron Force, especially Lance, serve as Big Brother/Big Sister mentors to the cadets in Voltron Force
- Shiro serves as this to all the paladins in Voltron: Legendary Defender, but he was already this close to Keith before the start of the series.
Real Life
- Naturally, the name of the volunteer organization Big Brothers is referring to this concept of mentoring boys in need of a positive male influence (and of course, the Big Brothers are symbolic brothers rather than literal blood kin).
- This was the relationship between Michael Jordan and Kobe Bryant. Unlike several other young players who came into the NBA and sought advice from Jordan, Bryant endeared himself to him with his persistence and willingness to emulate Jordan's arduous work ethic. The two became so close that they would talk about basketball at all hours of the day and refer to each other as their "little/big brother". When Bryant was tragically killed in a helicopter crash in January 2020, Jordan was devastated by his death and openly wept as he eulogized Bryant at his public memorial service.
