Older Brother Syndrome

I'd like to take a moment to speak about a certain type of character with which I relate in almost every iteration: the older brother. Being the eldest son of an eldest son, I underestimated just how inextricably being such a figure of responsibility and a (for lack of a better phrase) built-in babysitter would affect my personality, my worldview, and, frankly, everything about me. Recently, only because of a connection I made between two characters from two different media that I just-so-happened to be experiencing around the same time, I realized that a lot of the decisions I make, the emotions I feel, and even the words that I use are shared among older brother characters in media.

Portgas D. Ace

The two characters in question are Clive Rosfield (Final Fantasy XVI, released June 2023) and Portgas D. Ace (One Piece, publishing July 1997-present), two characters who immediately have certain themes in common. Aside from both having powers related to creating and controlling fire, both were even imprisoned due mostly to their lineage (Clive being the eldest son of the Duke of Rosaria, and Ace being the only descendant of the Pirate King Gol D. Roger). The titular similarity, of course, necessitates a discussion about the pairs respective younger brothers: Joshua Rosfield, Dominant of the Phoenix and Hier to the Duchy of Rosaria, and Monkey D. Luffy, Captain of the Straw Hat Pirates and aspiring King of the Pirates.

Joshua

Luffy

Joshua Rosfield is the younger brother of Clive Rosfield, and was chosen by the Phoenix to be it's Dominant. A Dominant is a mortal that is tied to a divine Eikon (pronounced "icon") and can only be born after the previous Dominant dies. Clive being passed over by the Phoenix has had several consequences for both brothers. The Duke of Rosaria is traditionally held by the Dominant of the Phoenix (Joshua's father Elwin only holds the throne because of his father's passing before Joshua's birth). Joshua sympathizes with his brother's feelings about being passed over, but their mother dotes on him while scorning Clive, considering him a failure for not becoming a Dominant. Despite Joshua granting Clive the "Blessing of the Phoenix" which allows him a fraction of the Eikon's power, Clive harbors subconscious resentment and jealousy for his brother's status.

Monkey D. Luffy grew up as the grandson of navy general Monkey D. Garp, and was fascinated by pirates from a young age, something his grandfather despised. Ace and Luffy are not brothers by blood, but because Ace's father was executed, Garp took him in out of respect for the Pirate King who had evaded his capture for years. Over time, the abrasive Ace grew to respect Luffy's tenaciousness, and the two of them shared a drink out of each others cups, creating a bond of brotherhood that would stretch across the Grand Line. Ace's first appearance to the audience occurs in the Alabasta saga, where he meets the Straw Hat Crew and is impressed that his younger brother has found such reliable friends. After Ace goes on his way, Luffy remains stalwart in the fact that his brother has his own adventures; even if they have the same goal, Ace would never forgive him if he followed after his older brother.

Without delving too deep into the rich worlds of Square Enix's Final Fantasy XVI or Eiichiro Oda's One Piece, the situations our two pairs of brothers find themselves in could hardly be any more different. Ace and Luffy seem to be on parallel journeys throughout the former half of the story, but Clive and Joshua do not have that same luxury. Until the latter half of Final Fantasy XVI, Clive believes his brother had been murdered, and spent the following 13 years enslaved, desperately searching for an opportunity to escape and track down his brother's killer.

And in that mere stage-setting lies our first theme: responsibility. Clive believes it is his duty to hunt down the man who killed his brother. The attack that led to the murder of his brother and father has world-shattering consequences, yet Clive feels that it is his responsibility to set things right, despite the impossibility of the task on a political scale. Luckily for him, a chance encounter teaches Clive that there are other people who share his ambitions, and he eventually grows to lead a rebellion, using his unique powers to topple the Dominants of other nations and free any and all who suffer under the Brand of the Bearer (a mark tattooed on the face of those who can use magic, marking them as property rather than person).

Ace, likewise, feels this same sense of responsibility, only in a different way. Ace knows that he is the son of the notorious King of the Pirates. He understands the weight of that knowledge, and at first it drove him to self-loathing. Over time, through the efforts of Luffy and others, Ace learns to love himself, and proves to be a capable pirate in his own right.

In the Marineford arc of the story, it is revealed to the world (and the audience) who Ace's father is. Through this announcement, the audience gets to see which characters were already in the know, and are left to examine the relationships Ace has with those characters. Of the two characters already aware of Ace's Lineage, we have the aforementioned Luffy, Ace's younger brother, and Whitebeard, Ace's Captain and father figure.

Herein lies our second theme: self-isolation. Ace knows exactly how dangerous it is for the Navy to know who he is--not just for himself, but for the people he cares about. To this end, the only people in the great wide world of One Piece whom Ace has told are his little brother Luffy and his adoptive father Whitebeard. Luffy is a simple case: they were both young, and Ace still wore a chip on his shoulder about his father's reputation. Whitebeard, therefore, presents the more interesting dynamic.

Only after his crew, the Spade Pirates, are defeated by Whitebeard's crew, and only after Ace joins the Whitebeard Pirates and proves himself a capable leader, does he take Whitebeard aside for a conversation. In hushed and worried tones does Ace reveal his secret, frightened and concerned about what trouble this truth may cause for him, only for Whitebeard to laugh at him. The old man doesn't care who Ace's father is, because it doesn't change who Ace has proven himself to be. He agrees to keep his secret, aware that others may not share so kind a view, but he does not let it trouble him. This only nurtures the tenuous trust between the two men, granting Whitebeard Ace's unfaltering loyalty.

Clive, too, struggles with self-isolation. After being rescued by Cid and taken to the Hideaway, his first instinct is to leave the moment his friend Jill recovers from her injuries. As the game progresses, and certain truths come to light, Clive finds himself back at the Hideaway, working together with the other liberated slaves there to change the world for the better. Even characters in-game begin to note Clive's independence and chide him for it, saying that the whole world need not fall squarely on his shoulders alone. Indeed, overcoming this self-isolation is a theme of the whole plot of Final Fantasy XVI, as Clive uses the powers of the Eikons he has encountered to bolster his own force, as well as the strength of sympathizers around the world.

Piggybacking off of the theme of self-isolation, we also have a theme of self-sacrifice. It is at this point in the article that I must drop all pretense and talk about spoilers, as both Clive's and Ace's story conclude with sacrifices of massive proportion.

After the stage for Ace's execution became a battlefield for his very life, Ace puts his life on the line to ensure the safety of his loved ones, even after their tooth-and-nail fight to rescue him. Despite everything that Whitebeard and his massive crew, Luffy and his allies, and even certain tertiary parties had done to get Ace away from the execution platform and out of his power-suppressing handcuffs, Ace's primary concern is the safety of those who came to rescue him in the first place. This comes to a head when Admiral Akainu of the Navy insults the recently dispatched Captain Whitebeard. Ace stops in his tracks, turning to face the man who would dare belittle his adopted father. In the scuffle, Akainu reveals that his power over magma is able to burn even Ace's own fire, and when Akainu's attention turns to Luffy in the chaos, Ace reacts by putting himself between his brother and his attacker, making the ultimate sacrifice. It was a reaction, not a decision; Ace knew the consequences of continuing to battle Akainu, but when it came to saving his little brother, his own life was a small price to pay.

A similar sacrifice occurs in the final act of Final Fantasy XVI, when Clive and Joshua (revealed to have survived the attack all those years ago) infiltrate Ultima's fortress, Origin. After Ultima reveals his multi-faceted form, Joshua is slain--for real, this time--and imparts the full power of the Phoenix to Clive. After a long and arduous battle, in which Clive and Ultima pit the power of all the Eikons against each other, Clive remains victorious. Standing alone atop Origin, and absorbing the power of Ultima in the same vain as the other Eikons, Clive uses this god-power to extinguish all magic from the world, permanently destroying the class hierarchy that had caused him and his loved ones so much strife. Using such potent magic all at once, and on such a grand scale, leaves Clive literally petrified. The fate of all Bearers is to inevitably turn to stone through use of their magic, and Clive brought about his own end in order to change the world for the people he left behind. Jill, Gav, and even his faithful wolf Torgal shed tears upon the news of his demise.

Through two characters, we have explored three themes with which I can identify: responsibility, self-isolation, and self-sacrifice. While my own life if devoid of such dramatic adventures as described, I still experience these things in my own way. There are hundreds, if not thousands, of other "big brother" characters in stories across all media, comparatively few of which I am even aware of. Not all older brothers are made the same way, however, and some may express only one or two of these traits, or even none at all. What are some other big brother characters who show these qualities like Clive and Ace? What about ones that don't seem to share any of these qualities? What are some qualities of older brothers that we haven't discussed here? Leave a comment to share your thoughts!