Fanfic / it feels more like a memory

it feels more like a memory is a Hamilton fanfiction being written by savrenim on Archive of Our Own. It takes place during the same time as the events in the musical, with a key difference: what if Seers existed, and Aaron Burr was a Seer with the power to see how people die when he has skin-to-skin contact with them?

Because about 90% of the fic cannot be discussed without spoiling a vital twist, every page about the fic (sans the recap pages for chapters prior to the twist) leaves that twist unspoilered, so it's recommended you read up to that twist before browsing the fic's trope pages.

This fanfiction is currently on a semi-hiatus: progress will be slow, but hasn't stopped.

In-Universe, the events of it feels more like a memory became historical events and got works based off of them. savrenim gave some of these works at least a synopsis to read in real life. One’s a musical called Hamilton, so it’s necessary to say that when this trope list refers to a musical, or a Hamilton musical, it means the one over at Hamilton unless otherwise specified. Many of these links have extra Word Of God about the In-Universe historical events they were based off of, and tropes gleaned from that Word Of God will be found on the it feels more like a memory pages and not the In-Universe works’ pages unless it also applies specifically in that work.^note For example, the work that contains Burr: An American Musical says that Maria Reynolds wrote a biography in the it feels more like a memory universe that inspired the musical. Since that isn’t said to have happened in the musical, just in Word of God in the work containing it, Maria’s writing a biography goes in it feels more like a memory’s character page for her, but will only show up in the Burr: An American Musical page as the inspiration for the work.

In-Universe works available in real life

• A musical also titled Hamilton (link and mirror), based on events from it feels more like a memory long after everyone in the fic had died and the events became historical ones. The actual musical hasn’t been written out of universe, just a synopsis and various facts about it, which is what’s linked. Spoils up to the end of chapter 27.
• A musical titled Burr: An American Musical (link), based on events from it feels more like a memory that Hamilton didn’t cover, again long after everyone in the fic had died and the events became historical ones. What’s linked is musical, round 3, which has relevant Word of God in chapters 1 and 4. Chapter 2 and 3 have the incomplete script of the musical, along with a few recordings of how songs are supposed to go. Spoils up to the end of chapter 35.
• A fanfic of Burr: An American Musical, titled if there's a reason (link and mirror).^note In real life, savrenim wrote a synopsis of a story based on their own musical adaptation of their fanfiction it feels more like a memory, and thus it’s not actually a fanfic of the musical or it feels more like a memory, but it is still fanfic of the Hamilton musical that wasn’t based on a savrenim work. In-Universe, the In-Universe version of Lin-Manuel Miranda wrote Burr: An American Musical and the In-Universe version of savrenim saw it and wrote if there’s a reason. What’s linked is a synopsis of that In-Universe fanfiction. Spoils up to the end of chapter 35.

it feels more like a memory contains examples of:

• Acceptable Breaks from Canon: This fic sometimes swaps out historical inaccuracies found in Hamilton canon for the historical reality, while still preserving the ahistorical character interactions found in Hamilton canon that the inaccuracies enabled. For example, Hamilton has the inaccuracy of making Aaron Burr Charles Lee's second in a duel instead of Lee's real-life choice of Evan Edwards. This inaccuracy of Burr-as-second enabled an interaction between Burr and Alexander Hamilton. The fic swaps out that inaccuracy for reality, making Edwards Lee's second again. It still preserves the Burr/Hamilton interaction borne of Burr being the second, with the fic giving what is essentially a novelized version of their exchange in the musical. This kind of edit is common and commonly accepted in canon-era Hamilton fanfiction.
• Adaptational Context Change: Many lines from the musical are quoted or paraphrased in different contexts. Usually, it's partially to maintain Original Flavor, and partially to carry over the same meaning from that line to different people at different times and/or juxtapose the original context of that line with how different things are in the fic. This is all over the place, so individual examples are listed on the recap page of the chapter they happen in.
• Adaptation Expansion: Some historical events that made it to the musical are expanded upon in this fic. Those are listed on the Recap page of the chapter where it happens. Also, many characters that are barely mentioned in Hamilton get bigger roles in this fic:
  • Theodosia Bartow Prevost, later Theodosia Bartow Burr. She's mentioned in the musical, but in the fic she gets both mentions and actual appearances in this fic. Her death is only obliquely referenced with "this man will not make an orphan of my daughter" in Hamilton, but gets explicit attention in it feels more like a memory.
  • Theodosia Burr Alston. She’s mentioned in the musical, even making it to the title of a song, but never actually appears. She gets mentioned in the first, second, and third lifetime and appears in the first and third.
  • Dolley Madison. She appears in the musical but is only named in the script. In the fic, Dolley is mentioned by name during her appearances in Aaron's second and third lifetime. Overlaps with Ascended Extra in her case.
  • Downplayed in the case of Hamilton's non-firstborn children. None besides the firstborn, Philip, get an appearance or a mention by name in the musical. All we know is that Hamilton has a daughter and multiple sons by the time of “We Know,” and still has “children,” plural, after Philip’s death. All eight of Hamilton’s real-life children are mentioned by name in Aaron's second lifetime in the fic, and four are in his first lifetime.
  • Downplayed in the case of Hamilton’s parents. They’re mentioned in the musical but go unnamed, whereas the fic mentions them by their real life names.
  • Very downplayed in the case of Aaron Burr's parents. The musical mentions them and that they died before Aaron, but doesn't name them. The fic also mentions them and their deaths briefly, but gives a little bit about their names: it says Aaron's father's was named Aaron, allowing one to infer he's "Aaron Burr," and says his mother's maiden name was Edwards.
  • Downplayed in Benjamin Franklin's case. He was cut from the musical, but still gets mentioned and definitely exists in the musical's universe. He appears in the second and third lifetimes in this fic. Overlaps with Ascended Extra in his case.
  • Downplayed in John Adams' case. He was also cut from the musical, but still gets mentioned and definitely exists in the musical's universe. He gets mentioned in the first lifetime and appears himself in the second and third lifetimes in this fic.
  • Downplayed in Martha Washington's case. She gets a mention in the musical and later makes an appearance, but one wouldn't know it's her (she's not anywhere nearby Washington) unless they looked at the script. In the fic, Martha Washington makes an appearance where she is identified by name.
  • Downplayed in the case of Jonathan Edwards. He's just mentioned once in the musical as Aaron's late "grandfather" and a "fire and brimstone preacher" in the musical whose legacy makes Aaron feel a need to protect his own. The fic has his lessons be a large influence on Aaron, at least in the first lifetime, has him appear and raise Aaron when he starts a new lifetime, and he gets his last name mentioned and an author's note provides his first so he's somewhat Named by the Adaptation.
  • Very downplayed in Dr. David Hosack's case. Shows up in the musical as the doctor Alexander Hamilton has come to his duel with Aaron Burr, but doesn't get named. He gets named in the fic. He shows up in all complete lifetimes so far to practice medicine: to attend to whoever gets wounded in the Burr/Hamilton duel in the first lifetime, to treat Alexander Hamilton and Philip Burr in Aaron's second lifetime after both are shot in duels, and to treat the sickly James Madison in the third lifetime. His overall importance doesn't change much.
  • Very downplayed for the seconds in Aaron and Alexander's duel; William P. Van Ness and Nathaniel Pendleton. Van Ness helps point out the exact clause in a letter that Aaron gets upset with Alexander over, which wasn't in the musical because the entire deterioration between the two (especially Charles D. Cooper's letter and Aaron's governor campaign) wasn't included either. Pendleton brings Aaron a note from the dying Alexander and alerts Aaron about Alexander's duel and takes on pro-bono law cases to help Aaron help others in the second lifetime, both of which weren't in the musical. Their overall importance still doesn't change much.
• Adapted Out:
  • Inverted in most cases, with many characters and events from real life that didn't make it to the musical getting put back in. Not every historically significant person alive at the time was important to Alexander Hamilton's or Aaron Burr's story, and thus probably shouldn't be called "adapted out" if they weren't included, so most characters from real life that weren't in the musical but are in the fic are listed under Historical Domain Character and not Adapted Out. Those who appear in the fic but didn't make it to the musical because their role was given to someone else in the musical, were explicitly cut from the musical, or were very relevant to Hamilton or Aaron Burr are listed here:
    • Sally, Aaron's older sister. The Hamilton musical has Aaron mention that "everyone who loves me has died" before the Revolutionary War ends in 1783, but Sally died in 1794. Unless she didn't love him in the musical's version of events, the musical adapted her out. This fanfiction includes her in Aaron's second and third lifetime.
    • James Monroe and Frederick Muhlenberg. In reality, James Monroe, Frederick Muhlenberg, and Abraham Venable were the ones to confront Alexander about the Reynolds Affair. In the musical, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, and Aaron Burr confront Alexander and Monroe, Muhlenberg, and Venable are not mentioned at all. In the fic, in the first lifetime, Jefferson, Madison, and Burr confront Alexander like in the musical, but Monroe gets to play parts of his historical role in the affair^note investigating the existence of the scandal, sending Jefferson Hamilton's letters to the Reynoldses, and having to get talked out of dueling Hamilton by Aaron Burr and is mentioned by name. In the third lifetime, Muhlenberg gets mentioned by name too, with both he and Monroe playing parts of their historical roles ^note both investigating the existence of the scandal, Monroe sending Jefferson the letters. Unfortunately for Venable, he plays this trope straight, never getting mentioned and staying adapted out in the fic.
    • Baron von Steuben trained the Continental Army to great effect and was a friend of Alexander Hamilton. Though Lin-Manuel Miranda wanted to include him, he never made it to even a draft of the musical, but he made it into this fanfiction.
    • George Clinton was a governor of New York, a rival of Hamilton and the Schuyler family, and the Vice President after Aaron Burr. He made it to the first drafts of the show as a major character before being cut entirely from the musical, but gets a brief mention in Aaron's first lifetime in the fic. However, in the fic, he's definitely not Vice President after Aaron in the first or second life, it's left ambiguous in the third.
    • John Witherspoon, president of Princeton College. Real-life Alexander met with him to talk about a potential accelerated course of study at Princeton without punching anyone. Musical Alexander's quest for education at Princeton never mentions Witherspoon, and involves him punching a bursar. He shows up in the fic in the third lifetime, running the college during the time Aaron and Madison attend and letting Madison study Hebrew and political philosophy under him like in reality. And unlike reality, he mentions Alexander's bursar-punching incident in a letter to him.
    • Evan Edwards, Charles Lee's real-life second in his duel with John Laurens. The musical omits Edwards and makes Aaron Burr Lee's second instead. The fic takes Aaron out of that role and puts Edwards back in.
    • Dr. Charles D. Cooper, who played a role in Alexander and Aaron's fight in the lead-up to the duel. In history and the fic, Cooper writes of mean things Alexander said, and that he could include a "still more despicable" thing Alexander thinks about Aaron but doesn't actually do it. This letter gets published. His letter plays a big role in their disagreement, most notably Aaron wanting to know what this "still more despicable" thing is. The musical does have an allusion to it, with Aaron saying "if you've got something to say" and Alexander saying "Even if I said what you think I said," implying Aaron thinks Alexander said something bad about him that he doesn't know the specifics of that Alexander won't reveal, but it doesn't ever name Cooper or confirm the existence of his letter.
    • One of Eliza Schuyler's brothers. In the musical, Angelica Schuyler sings "my father has no sons" in "Satisfied," but in reality her father had multiple sons, even if you discount the ones who died as infants. The three sons who didn't die in infancy were all born before 1774. "Satisfied" happens in "1780, a winter's ball" at the earliest. Regardless of whether these brothers were born later or flat-out didn't exist in Hamilton, they never get mentioned or appear in the musical. However, in it feels more like a memory, Eliza makes an offhand mention of a brother she has.
    • The New York Manumission Society. “Revolutionary manumission abolitionists” Mulligan and Hamilton belonged to the New York Manumission Society in real life, but the actual society was never namedropped in the musical. It is, albeit without the “New York” part of the title, in the fic.
    • The Battles of Lexington and Concord, the first battles of the Revolutionary War, aren’t in the musical but are namedropped in this fic.
    • Aaron Burr’s treason trial and the events leading up to it involving leased Spanish land, that got him remembered (perhaps accurately, perhaps not, it’s ambiguous) for trying to be Emperor of Mexico. Not in the musical beyond a possible reference when Aaron sings history “paints me and all my mistakes” and that he’s “the villain in… history,” but makes it to his first lifetime.
  • Played straight in the case of...
    • Abraham Venable, who played a role in the Reynolds Affair but doesn't make it to the Hamilton musical or it feels more like a memory.
    • The real Aaron Burr had more children than just Theodosia. They do not make it to the musical or this fic.
    • As part of his Historical Hero Upgrade, Aaron Burr's three household slaves aren't included at all in the fic. They also didn't make it to the musical.
    • As part of Alexander Hamilton's Historical Hero Upgrade, following the musical, his trading slaves for his in-laws doesn't make it to the fic.
    • Alexander Hamilton's support for the Alien and Sedition Acts is omitted, even changed to opposition; and his idea that the president should serve for life until they died or got impeached is not included despite it greatly contributing to the idea of him as a monarchist.
    • Aaron Burr's duel with John Barker Church. It hasn't happened in any completed timeline yet, or in the Hamilton musical.
    • The rest of Eliza Schuyler's brothers, and all her sisters that aren't Angelica or Peggy. Most of the war dates might have changed due to Aaron's actions, but the battles of Lexington and Concord didn't happen earlier or later than the first timeline and thus than in real life. Those happened in 1775. All three of Eliza's brothers who lived past infancy were born before 1774. Only one of these brothers makes it to the fic, as an offhand mention from Eliza. And no Schuyler sisters besides Eliza, Angelica, and Peggy are ever mentioned or even appear.
• Affair Letters: When Eliza cheated on her husband in Aaron’s second lifetime, she and her lover wrote love letters to each other.
• all lowercase letters: Most of the fanfiction is correctly capitalized, except for the title of the fic and the chapter titles which are all lowercase.
• All There in the Manual: Both the works with the Hamilton and Burr: An American Musical musicals include canon details that didn’t make it to the fic about how people in 21st century of the second and third timeline interpret the events of the life Aaron lived in that timeline, the musicals’ production and reception, and other details about their respective timeline that didn't make it to the fic. Burr: An American Musical also details Jefferson’s impeachment trial.
• All There in the Script:
  • This comment names the slave Thomas Jefferson sent to collect Aaron in chapter 30: James Hemmings.
  • The only part of Aaron's grandfather's name found directly in the fic is his surname, Edwards. The author's notes after the end of chapter 36 gives his full name, Jonathan Edwards.
• Alternate History: Tagged with “Alternate History” on Archive of Our Own. Some pre-Aaron Burr real-life historical figures are turned into Seers, and though that change might have left the world looking like it did in real life, Aaron tries to invoke Alternate History and sometimes succeeds with it by making different choices, including different political choices.
• Alternate Universe: When Aaron dies, the world continues without him. He finds himself alive again as a baby, with everything that happened before his birth having played out the exact same way every time. The pre-Aaron history of his first lifetime matches that of his second, third, etc. Events during and after Aaron's lifetime may change based on the choices he makes, but the choices he makes in one lifetime don't erase what happened in others. The worlds of lifetimes he's completed still continue after he's dead no matter what he does in other lifetimes; his actions in every lifetime will always have lasting consequences and cannot be overwritten. In other words, Aaron's birth is when points of divergence between timelines become possible, and choices he makes allow for more points of divergence, for him to attempt to make Alternate Histories. Although these lifetimes are different timelines in-story and not different universes, the Alternate Universe trope applies whereas the Alternate Timeline trope does not, since the Alternate Timeline trope requires choices in one lifetime to overwrite the old lifetimes.
• Alternate Universe Fic: of the What If? variety, altering both a character facet (“What if Aaron Burr was a Seer?”) and taking an Alternate History route (“What if Seers existed throughout history, and some real-life historical figures were Seers?“). Though the historical Seers left the world in this fic looking very similar to our own, which might have made this fic not qualify for Alternate History after all, Aaron tries and sometimes succeeds at invoking Alternate History by changing what choices, including political choices, he makes in lifetimes other than his first.
• Arc Number: 9. Aaron sees how Alexander dies: in a duel against Aaron. When this vision finishes, he blinks and sees Alexander grinning at him and pumping his hand up and down, staring at Aaron like he's made his whole day. When the count in the Burr/Hamilton duel hits 9, Aaron flashes back to this moment. In the second lifetime, in 1799 Philip Hamilton dies in a duel, and counts to nine as he dies in the second lifetime. Aaron also dies in 1799. In the third lifetime, there is a list of 9 things Aaron should have done and a 10th thing he does leading up to a sort of duel in the form of a trial where he'll serve as a defense attorney. Just like the Hamilton musical, 9 is for dueling, dying, and Philip. Sometimes all three.
• Artistic License – History: Chapter-specific examples can be found on that chapter's Recap page.
  • The fic generally uses the Hamilton musical's timeline of events, picking up many of the same historical inaccuracies as the musical.
  • Martha Washington likely did not name a tomcat after Alexander Hamilton, it was probably a rumor spread by his political opponents. But since this is fanfiction of the musical, and the musical version of Alexander Hamilton says it’s true she named a tomcat after him, Martha Washington actually does name a tomcat for Alexander in this fanfiction.
  • An inaccuracy exclusive to this fic is that in every loop, Aaron's grandfather Jonathan Edwards dies when Aaron is 8, and in the fourth lifetime and possibly all the ones before it his grandmother Sarah Edwards dies when Aaron is 4. In real life, his grandfather and grandmother both died when he was 2.
  • Alexander and Elizabeth Schuyler Hamilton’s second daughter is named “Eliza,” not “Elizabeth” in real life. The fic has her named “Elizabeth.”
• Because You Were Nice to Me: Part of why Aaron grows so attached to Alexander Hamilton is because of the times Alexander sees past his Seer identity and prioritizes him over his Seer abilities.
  His entire life, his—his everything, he has built on the axiom that Alexander cared for him, not the Seer, but for him.
• Beethoven Was an Alien Spy: Everyone whose Seer status is confirmed, widely accepted, or widely debated In-Universe is a famous Real Life mythological or historical figure.^note And it's implied that Cassandra, commonly accepted as a Seer, is thought to be an actual person who lived and died In-Universe, although in Real Life she's fictional and not a Historical Domain Character, making this trope still not apply to her. Two characters qualify for sure: Joan of Arc and Aaron Burr, both internationally confirmed and recognized as Seers. No other Seers are directly confirmed, but In-Universe, John the Baptist^note regardless of your perspective on religion, John the Baptist is a real person who lived and died, Constantine, and Apollo’s various Pythias (more well-known as the Oracles of Delphi)^note again, regardless of your perspective on religion, high priestesses of the Temple of Apollo at Delphi who were referred to as Pythia or the Oracle of Delphi existed in real life are commonly accepted as Seers, and John Calvin's Seer status is widely disputed. There are also "a bunch of quacks that no one is quite sure whether or not they were seers", including Nostradamus. Downplayed Trope because their Seer role barely makes them diverge from their Real Life role: everyone's in-universe accomplishments are the same as their mythological or real life accomplishments, with the exception of the fic's main character Aaron Burr.
• Betty and Veronica:
  • Aaron loves his understanding Proper Lady wife Theodosia, and his passionate, fiery best friend Alexander. He stays loyal to Theodosia.
  • In the next lifetime, Eliza deals with one of these triangles, specifically its subtrope The Gentleman or the Scoundrel. She chooses between quiet, controlled Aaron Burr, who tries to matchmake her with Alexander (and unusually for Betties in a Betty/Veronica triangle, he does this without secretly pining for her); and fiery, loud Alexander Hamilton, who has a reputation for sexual interest in many different people. She picks Aaron. She also cheats on him with Alexander.
  • After Eliza and Aaron marry, Aaron again needs to choose between his wife that he cares about, this time Eliza; and his passionate, fiery best friend Alexander Hamilton, this time who he’s had a romantic and sexual relationship with. He chooses to stay loyal to Eliza.
• Birth-Death Juxtaposition: The most common accepted in-universe theory about how who is a Seer gets decided: when one dies another is born. Word of God confirms this theory is correct.
• Call-Back: In the third paragraph of the first chapter, it's mentioned Aaron has been frequently compared to Joan of Arc, a Seer who fought for France against Britain, and the British are hyperaware of this comparison since the American colonies are on the verge of revolution. Second-lifetime Aaron is directly called "American Jeanne D'Arc" by the French Lafayette, and the comparison between Aaron and Joan of Arc is explicitly used to remind the French of their reasons to fight the British to try to convince France to help America in the Revolutionary War.
• The Cassandra: The Trope Namer from Classical Mythology, Cassandra herself, has her story referenced, where she made accurate prophecies that went unbelieved.
• Cassandra Truth: James Madison claims "the curse of Cassandra," where Seers have their prophecies disbelieved or ignored, is common amongst Seers in general.
• Capital Letters Are Magic: A person who can see the future is called a Seer. Note the capital "S."
• "Cavemen vs. Astronauts" Debate:
  • The second lifetime debate on Lancelot's nationality gets carried on out-of-universe with the author posting a tally of the audience’s votes on the issue of Lancelot’s nationality in the author’s notes on every chapter.
  • The third lifetime has Aaron and Madison argue over classical or medieval pronunciation of Latin.
• Character Filibuster: With Alexander Hamilton present, this trope is inevitable. Chapter-specific examples are listed in their recap section.
• Civil War: Specifically, The American Civil War. Aaron has a vision of it that he initially dismisses as a dream in his first lifetime, and his second lifetime has him try to prevent this war.
• Content Warnings: The fanfic is tagged with the "Major Character Death" warning on Archive of Our Own. Individual content and trigger warnings for chapter-specific content is displayed before the start of the chapter if applicable, and sometimes, chapters with content warnings will have a chapter synopsis in the author’s notes located after the end of chapter so those who skipped the chapter due to the content warning can still know what’s happening.
• Courtroom Episode: After all, two main characters, Aaron Burr and Alexander Hamilton, are lawyers. Usually, their time in the courtroom is addressed but not spotlighted, but chapter 33 and 34 focus heavily on two trials they both work on.
• Daddy DNA Test: Way after the fic’s events became historical events In-Universe, one of these was conducted around 1985 where DNA from the descendants of Aaron’s cousins got compared to DNA of descendants of the Burr kids Aaron and Eliza raised, proving the Burr kids besides Angie were biologically Alexander’s. Angie didn’t leave behind any descendants so her parentage can’t be proven In-Universe that way, though Word of God leaves it ambiguous if they dug up her body for another way to test her parentage through DNA. Word of God says she’s biologically Aaron’s. This creates lots of In-Universe controversy over whether the non-biological father was aware the kids weren’t biologically his.
• A Day in the Limelight: The point of the interlude chapters. The fic is mostly from Aaron Burr’s point of view, and the interlude chapters are from other characters’ point of view, albeit still usually showing how their life relates to Aaron Burr.
• Death by Childbirth: Downplayed, Martha Jefferson dies by complications from childbirth.
• Demoted to Extra:
  • King George III gets three entire songs to himself in the musical, albeit one song and two reprises of that song. He’s somewhat important for one chapter and is otherwise a very background character in this fic.
  • In the musical, Samuel Seabury gets the song "Farmer Refuted" mostly to himself and Alexander. This is reduced to a three-line anecdote in which Seabury is mentioned by name, and two mentions of Alexander's The Farmer Refuted pamphlet which the song was based off of.
• Dénouement Episode: Chapter 6 is mostly dedicated to showing what happens after a big story arc concludes. Chapter 35 is entirely dedicated to that.
• Different World, Different Movies: The second and third timeline still have an equivalent to the real-life Hamilton musical (one also titled Hamilton and one titled Burr: An American Musical, respectively). However, the actual events shown are different, given what happened in those timelines differs from what happened in real life. The third timeline also has an equivalent to the real-life Hamilton fanfic written by savrenim titled it feels more like a memory: a Burr: An American Musical fanfic written by savrenim titled if there's a reason. Again, the fic's events are different because what happened in the third timeline, and thus what the musical's events are, are different from what happened in real life.
• Double-Meaning Title: Several chapter titles. Each chapter's example can be found on its recap page.
• Duel to the Death: It's a Hamilton fic, these will show up frequently. Individual examples will show up on the Recap page of the chapter where they occur (or don't occur because the seconds successfully negotiate a peace). And in the third lifetime, Philip Hamilton dies in a duel with George Eacker again.
• Entertainingly Wrong: In Aaron’s second lifetime, Madison figured correctly figured out that at least two of Aaron’s kids are Not Actually His Child, and are instead Alexander’s. This leads him to the incorrect conclusion that Aaron was infertile, so he arranged for his wife Eliza to be impregnated by Alexander so he might still raise children. He is not infertile and did not arrange, let alone know of, Alexander having sex with Eliza.
• Externally Validated Prophecy: The main character is a Seer, so this is all over the place. Individual examples can be found on the Recap page of the chapter where Aaron made the prediction that is externally validated.
• Fan Verse: Has two musical adaptations written by the fic's author, savrenim, one that exists In-Universe in the second timeline and one that exists In-Universe in the third timeline, a synopsis of the fanfiction if there's a reason that the third-timeline version of savrenim writes after hearing the third-timeline musical, and Recursive Fanfiction.
• Fiery Cover-Up: Aaron has Alexander and Eliza burn the love letters they sent each other while Eliza was married to Aaron. This is so they can’t be leaked to the press in an attempt to validate rumors to sabotage Aaron and Alexander’s election chances.
  Aaron: [referring to the letters] You’re going to burn them so that no evidence can be found against us.
• First-Episode Twist: The twist that this is a Peggy Sue fic where Aaron Burr starts a new lifetime after he dies, keeping his knowledge of the previous lifetime, occurs in chapter 7, about 1/10 of the way into the word count of what's been written so far.
• First-Name Basis: One can tell how Aaron is feeling about Alexander Hamilton based off of whether he and his internal monologue address him as "Alex," "Alexander," or "Hamilton." Likewise with how he feels about James Madison, especially when he's "James" or "Jemmy" in the third lifetime instead of "Madison."
• Foreshadowing: The main character is a Seer, so naturally this is all over the place. Specific examples are listed in the recap page for the chapter the foreshadowing appeared in. Not the chapter the foreshadowed event happens in. Justified Trope for foreshadowing that comes from Aaron's dialogue if Benjamin Franklin's idea that Aaron unwittingly blurts out future truths is correct.
• For Your Own Good: This is why people make decisions on the behalf of the very public figure Aaron Burr, the Seer, without his input.
  He hates it, hates taking carriages, hates how much his movements are regulated "for his own good and safety," but he understands the logic behind it and necessity of it.
• The Gentleman or the Scoundrel: Eliza deals with this subtrope of Betty and Veronica in the second lifetime. She chooses between quiet, controlled Aaron Burr and fiery, loud Alexander Hamilton, who has a reputation for sexual interest in many different people. She picks Aaron early in the story. She also cheats on him with Alexander.
• He Knows Too Much: Jefferson blackmailed Aaron into helping him politically, and wants Aaron convicted of treason and executed so Jefferson's crime stays buried.
• Hero on Hiatus: Aaron is not happy to be frequently banned from fighting in the Revolutionary War for being the Seer.
• Hero Secret Service: In Aaron’s second lifetime, he’s provided with a guard detail, having become a British military target for using his Seer powers to help the Continental Army win the war. He also has one post-war for the Treaty of Paris negotiations and the Constitutional Convention. The exact people on the guard change, though Laurens leads the guard in the war and Treaty of Paris, and some of Aaron's Convention guards are the ones from the war that he knows and trusts.
• Historical Domain Superperson: Everyone whose Seer status is confirmed, widely accepted, or widely debated In-Universe are famous Real Life mythological or historical figures. And it's implied the Real Life mythological figures thought In-Universe to be Seers are also thought to be real historical people who lived and died In-Universe, making them qualify for this trope In-Universe. Two characters qualify for sure: Joan of Arc and Aaron Burr, both internationally confirmed and recognized as Seers. No other Seers are directly confirmed, but In-Universe, Cassandra, John the Baptist^note regardless of your perspective on religion, John the Baptist is a real person who lived and died, Constantine, and Apollo’s various Pythias (more well-known as the Oracles of Delphi)^note again, regardless of your perspective on religion, high priestesses of the Temple of Apollo at Delphi who were referred to as Pythia or the Oracle of Delphi existed in real life are commonly accepted as Seers, and John Calvin's Seer status is widely disputed. There are also "a bunch of quacks that no one is quite sure whether or not they were seers", including Nostradamus.
• Historical Hero Upgrade: The author explicitly mentions doing this in a comment here. They attempt to defy these in-story Historical Hero Upgrades turning into real-life misconceptions about these people: many comments bring up what nasty historical facts didn't make it to fic versions of characters, and the author's notes displayed after the end of chapter 35 first discusses how works of fiction can color peoples' interpretations of historical figures portrayed in them. Character-specific examples are listed on the Characters page.
• Idiosyncratic Episode Naming: Well, idiosyncratic chapter naming. Every chapter title is a lyric from Hamilton. A chapter's specific title and which lyric it was taken from can be found on its Recap page. The fic title itself is a lyric from Hamilton, too, from the full line "I imagine death so much it feels more like a memory," which appears in three of the musical's songs ^note "My Shot," "Yorktown (The World Turned Upside Down)," and "The World Was Wide Enough".
• I Just Shot Marvin in the Face: In his first lifetime, Aaron Burr fully intends to duel Alexander Hamilton, but decides not to. His finger twitches unintentionally, setting the gun with a hair trigger off, killing Hamilton. Subverted in his second lifetime where Alexander, not intending to kill anyone, fiddles with the trigger of the same gun while Aaron is nearby, and it goes off. For a brief moment both men think Alexander accidentally shot Aaron, but it turns out nobody was struck by the bullet.
• In Spite of a Nail:
  • In spite of first-timeline Aaron knowing he kills Alexander Hamilton and resolving not to, in spite of not resenting Alexander (at least at first) for endorsing Jefferson in the 1800 election which is what kickstarts the angry letters to Alexander in the musical^note though in real life and the fic Aaron thinks Alexander put negative things about him in the press during his 1804 campaign for governor of New York, before they start exchanging angry letters, in spite of not caring much about being "in the room where it happens," they still write nasty letters to each other that end in a duel, and in spite of his decision not to shoot Alexander, Alexander still ends up dying by a bullet from Aaron's gun. And in spite of his Seer powers in general, the entire first timeline proceeds similarly to real history and the Hamilton musical.
  • In-Universe events pre-Aaron Burr proceeded just like real history, even though Seers existed throughout. Any changes are more akin to Real Event, Fictional Cause, where the event plays out just the same but there's an extra reason for it, like people being even more set on conducting the Salem Witch Trials because when Seers exist and society thinks their power comes from God, impersonating one is seen as more severe. All the new events pre-Burr that happened differently than real life because Seers exist are 1) as a consequence of Joan of Arc, Britain set up a way to confirm someone as a Seer so they might know the next time a Seer comes around and 2) Seers are an object of study, and there are debates about who was a Seer.
• Kangaroo Court: Third-lifetime Aaron's treason trial is very similar to that of his first lifetime, down to a fabricated letter penned in the recipient's own handwriting because they "lost it," though this time with 32 representatives willing to perjure themselves to get him convicted, and his Seer status playing a huge role in the accusations.
  Aaron Burr: In pushing for these three charges to be held against me, the prosecution reveals their true intent: this is a kangaroo court, this is a witch trial, this is a blow against democracy itself as the prosecution openly admits that only one charge they bring against me is legal.
• La Résistance: The Continental Army, a ragtag army rebelling against the British by fighting for the 13 colonies’ independence from them.
• Like Reality, Unless Noted: Aside from “Generally, when having to choose real history or the musical timeline, [the author goes] with the musical timeline”^note Chapter 1 author’s notes and the Alternate History purposely invoked by Aaron Burr, most things proceed like historical reality.
  welcome to the it feels more like a memory timeline, where everything is very similar to our own history except Johnathan Edwards and his wife get a couple more years of life.

  — chapter 36 author’s notes
• Love Dodecahedron: Aaron and his wife Theodosia love each other. Alexander and his wife, Eliza, love each other. Aaron also loves Alexander, who is at the very least interested in him and who possibly loves him back. Aaron avoids acting on his feelings for Alexander, reminding Alexander he is married to Eliza.
• Malicious Slander: It's a fic with characters campaigning for political office, so of course it shows false rumors surrounding them.
• Matchmaker Crush: Inverted. Despite Aaron’s second-life attempts to get Alexander and Eliza together like in his first lifetime, Eliza falls for Aaron and not Alexander.
• Matchmaker Failure: Aaron’s second-life attempts to get Alexander and Eliza together don’t work. Eliza’s all-too-aware of Alexander’s tomcat reputation and wants Aaron instead, and Alexander would rather be with Aaron. Except for the part where Eliza cheats on Aaron with Alexander, and the two genuinely form a bond. So they actually did get together, but at what cost?
• Maybe Magic, Maybe Mundane: Widely Discussed Trope In-Universe. It's widely debated whether certain historical figures, like John Calvin, were Seers or not, and there are "a bunch of quacks that no one is quite sure whether or not they were seers" like Nostradamus. Britain attempts to defy this trope by setting up a council and testing system for confirming seers.
• Meaningful Echo: All over the place. Specific examples are listed in the recap page of the chapter in which the echo occurs. Musical quotes that are used in the fic the same way they were used in the musical, with no extra meaning beyond describing the canon events with Original Flavor, do take on an extra meaning in lifetimes beyond the first: they serve to show the same emotional charge and event in this scene even if so many other things have changed. However, those are extremely prevalent and the reason for the echo is always the same, so they aren't listed on recap pages.
• Mental Time Travel: Part of how the lifetimes work in this story. When Aaron dies and starts a new lifetime, he ends up back on the day he was born, as a newborn baby, and still has a baby brain that needs time to develop before he can walk and talk. Not a perfect transferring of the mind over time. However, he also keeps all his memories from past time loops, including ones that happened in that loop's 1800 or so (Aaron's a 1750s kid). Later experiments with Benjamin Franklin reveal that though his mind doesn't perfectly transfer over time, his memories do: he has perfect recall of every loop he completed before. This mitigates some of the imperfect mental transfer, greatly accelerating his re-learning of things he already knew like how to read and write.
• Minor Major Character:
  • Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette were French monarchs and key figures in the French Revolution which is often considered the most important event of the 1700s. They're background characters, if even that instead of recurring offhand mentions. King George III, a British monarch that the US fought the war against, is an extra. US President Andrew Jackson gets all of two mentions, like French Emperor Napoléon Bonaparte (Napoléon gets three if you count "Napoleon, the Napoleonic Wars" as two separate mentions). US President Abraham Lincoln reliably comes up when Aaron's Civil War vision comes up but he's never named and the only thing he does is get (mentioned to be/seen getting) shot in the back of the head while watching a play, making him an extra at best. US President John Adams gets the most "stage time" in the fic out of everyone else listed here, and he's still a minor character.
  • To a lesser degree, this applies to many other offhand mentions, background characters, extras, and minor characters, given just how many were important politicians or historical figures, if not quite world leaders.
• Named by the Adaptation:
  • The Hamilton musical mentions the Hamilton kids that aren't Philip, but never by name. This fanfic names all 8 kids, including Philip.
  • The musical mentions Hamilton’s parents, but doesn’t name them whereas the fic does: James Hamilton and Rachel Faucette.
  • The musical mentions the doctor Alexander Hamilton had come to his duel with Aaron Burr, but doesn't name him. The fic does: Dr. David Hosack.
  • Downplayed for Aaron Burr’s parents. The musical mentions both of them, but doesn’t name them. The fic doesn’t explicitly give his parents’ full names, but it does say that his father was named Aaron (full name from real life: Aaron Burr Sr.) and that his mother’s maiden name was Edwards (full name from real life: Esther Edwards Burr). One can infer from main character Aaron's last name that his father is Aaron Burr.
  • "Stay Alive" from the musical covers events from Valley Forge, though it doesn't ever say the words "Valley Forge." It used to, in a cut song called Valley Forge that was the original draft for what is now "Stay Alive." The fic actually namedrops the place.
• Nightmare Sequence: Basically all of Aaron’s dreams that are shown to the reader. Specific examples are listed on the Recap page of the chapter they appear in.
• Not in Front of the Kid: Comes up a couple times. Every time it does, it's Aaron wanting Alexander to clean up his language around Aaron's children.
• Official Couple: Aaron Burr/Alexander Hamilton. It's the first-tagged character relationship, and all other tagged relationships come after "many side relationships including:". The author also mentions this being a Burr/Hamilton fic in the author's notes and the comments.
• Officially Shortened Title: Content related to the fic on the author’s tumblr is tagged #ifmlam, refers to it that way in the author’s notes after the end of chapter 36, and in the summary of musical, round 3 which is the work that contains Word of God and the third-lifetime musical Burr: An American Musical.
• One Myth to Explain Them All: Seers. John the Baptist, considered a prophet by many religions? Apollo’s various Pythias, who served as oracles? Joan of Arc’s supposed angels telling her how to win battles? All widely considered Seers In-Universe. John Calvin, who fervently believed in predestination^note that God already chose who goes to heaven and who goes to hell? Nostradamus, author of The Prophecies where he made cryptic predictions for future historical events? Their Seer status is widely debated. And that’s just real humans whose claimed religious experiences are doubted. The very fictional Cassandra of classical mythology, who has the gift of prophecy, is “conventionally accepted as [a Seer]” and a “great seer of the past.” suggesting (most people In-Universe think) she and a good deal of her myth actually exist In-Universe.
• One-Steve Limit: During this period in history it was extremely common to name your child after your relatives or best friends, averting this trope within your social circle and in society at large. The worst violation of the One Steve Limit in this fic comes in the form of the three Aaron Burrs, two of whom are both Aaron Burr Jr.^note Aaron Burr Sr. the Seer’s father, the Seer Aaron Burr Jr., and the Seer’s second-lifetime child Aaron Burr Jr. and there are many, many other less egregious violations. The fic mitigates them in several ways, ultimately resulting in a Downplayed One Steve Limit: most characters who share names in this fic share only their first name; main characters don’t share their first name with other main characters, but with supporting, minor, and extra characters; and it disambiguates these first-name’s-the-same characters by using full names, last names, and character-specific nicknames.
• Original Flavor: Part of the reason the fic uses lines from the musical, sometimes direct quotes and sometimes paraphrases, is to make it have the same atmosphere and tone as the musical when it is used.
• Peggy Sue: When Aaron dies, he starts life again as a baby, remembering everything from his previous lifetime(s). The fic follows his point of view, making this a Peggy Sue fanfiction.
• Perspective Flip: The first lifetime plays out just like Hamilton, except from Aaron Burr's point of view instead of focusing on Alexander Hamilton.
• Positive Friend Influence: Aaron and Eliza are happy to let their son Alex spend time with Georges Washington de La Fayette; after two months with Georges, Alex went from stumbling over his French to practically fluent.
• Power Incontinence: Seers, including Aaron, historically have had no control over their visions.^note Yes, Aaron does find a way to stop his death-seeing powers from activating by avoiding its activation condition, skin-to-skin contact with someone for the first time in that lifetime. But the actual power itself cannot be turned off.
• Prevent the War: A whole story arc focuses on Aaron's attempt to make sure the Civil War is prevented in his second lifetime. Less dramatically, Aaron negotiates America out of experiencing the War of 1812. Downplayed since the War of 1812 doesn't get a big arc, and he calls it "nothing particularly serious, mostly just shipping disagreements."
• Public Domain Character: Cassandra from Classical Mythology gets her story told again in this fic, and it's implied most people In-Universe believe she was a real person who lived and died, and that a good deal of her story was real. Aside from this, classical mythology exists In-Universe the same way it does in real life, and chapter 21 has the Burr family recount stories of characters from classical mythology, including Virgo/Astraea, Chiron, Orion, and Castillo's. As they do that, they namedrop even more characters from classical mythology involved in those four mythological characters' stories.
• Real Event, Fictional Cause:
  • Joan of Arc's real historical accomplishments still have the cause of her and her visions of saints, but those visions are now attributed to very fictional Seer powers, and it's possible her Seer powers were involved in more than just the visions of saints.
  • According to Word of God here, the Salem Witch Trials still happened, there was just an extra reason for the people of the time to think of them as legitimate: Seers are real. Since they saw a Seer’s power as God-given, people impersonating Seers or doing witchcraft would be seen as an even worse thing.
  • Many real-life events that also happened in the Hamilton musical still happen here, for the same reasons they occurred in real life or in the Hamilton musical. Some of these events have an additional "Aaron Burr is a Seer"-related cause that didn't exist in reality. Individual examples are listed on the recap page of the chapter it happened in.
• Recursive Adaptation: The Hamilton musical could be said to have been adapted in the form of this fanfiction, although the fanfiction also involves a great deal of canon divergence. The events of the fanfiction were adapted back into two musicals In-Universe, and they’re also available to read out of universe.
• Recursive Fanfiction:
  • ''this is where it gets me'' by Tyranno. Aaron has looped many times, and this fic focuses on on the aftermath of one where he successfully saves Philip Hamilton's life. It spoils up to the end of the second lifetime in it feels more like a memory.
  • ''IFMLAM musical, round 2'' by thatqrfanficcer. Remember the In-Universe Hamilton musical covering the events of Aaron's second lifetime? This fanfiction is an alternate version of that musical, still adapting from Aaron's second lifetime. Spoils up to chapter 27 of it feels more like a memory.
• Religion is Magic: The only supernatural thing this fic has is Seers, and many people think the Judeo-Christian God gives Seers their power along with a duty to guide humanity.
• Resurrection/Death Loop: After Aaron dies, he’ll wake up again as a baby. He often thinks it's a curse or punishment from God, but whatever it is he's pretty sure that it has to do with having to suffer through a death and remember how the death felt. He thinks it's a finite experience though, and Word of God confirms he's right in the chapter 28 comments.
• Retcon: Chapter 17 originally had a character ask Aaron a question including the phrase "if you were black." Although the real-life Aaron Burr was not black, this is fanfiction of the Hamilton musical, whose original Broadway cast had a black actor portray Aaron Burr. Because original cast members tend to set a precedent for how everyone pictures the character they portrayed, fic readers were thinking of this fanfiction's version of Aaron as a black person, so some of them pointed out this line. Eventually, the author changed the line to remove the reference to Aaron not being black. This entire process can be seen in the comment thread here.
• Retroactive Precognition: Aaron's memories of previous lifetimes allow him to know how certain events will play out, provided he didn't change anything relevant to those events.
• Rewatch Bonus: “Aaron, will you promise me something? Don’t—don’t ever do this to yourself again.” from chapter 1 is pretty clearly meaningfully echoed in chapter chapter 2 and 14 when Aaron thinks of the first time it was said. What isn’t immediately obvious is that the chapter 2 echo is not word-for-word, it’s missing one of the “don’t”s^note chapter 2: “Aaron, will you promise me something? Don’t ever do this to yourself again.”, but the chapter 14 one is a word-for-word quote of the original in chapter 1. Even still, this can seem like a typo or paraphrase until you realize that Aaron has a perfect memory for his past lifetimes but not the current one. In Aaron’s first lifetime, Alexander says the quote (chapter 1) and Aaron misremembers it (chapter 2), and in Aaron’s second lifetime he perfectly remembers Alexander’s quote (chapter 14).
• Ripple-Effect-Proof Memory: Aaron keeps all his memories from past time loops.
• Role Swap AU: The whole fanfiction isn't a Role Swap AU, but the second lifetime fits the idea of one where a few characters are roleswapped. Everyone but Aaron has no idea about the repeating lifetimes and what roles people held in them, so everyone accepts this as normal except for Aaron who worries he’s taken over Alexander’s role starting sometime in the Revolutionary War. He fills a great deal of Alexander’s first-lifetime role from the Revolutionary War to the end of his life. Alexander fills the parts of his own role that Aaron didn't already fill, and also fills some of Aaron’s role. Aaron also takes some of Eliza and Angelica’s roles, while Eliza takes on a bit of Alexander’s.
• Season Finale: Chapters are obvious analogues to episodes, and timelines are the closest thing this fic has to seasons. Chapter 6, 27, and 35 are the last chapters in the first, second, and third timeline. Chapter 5 has most of the dramatic conclusion of the first lifetime story arc, with chapter 6 having the end of the dramatic conclusion and the aftermath, so it counts too. ^note “last episode or episodes of a season” according to the Season Finale trope page, the closest thing this fic has to seasons is lifetimes, and chapters correspond to episodes Chapter 27 has both the dramatic conclusion and aftermath. Chapter 34 has the dramatic conclusion and 35 the aftermath.
• Seers: Aaron Burr can see future events, as could some other Historical Domain Characters who came before him, most importantly Joan of Arc.
• Self-Fulfilling Prophecy: Aaron sees Alexander dies in a duel against him, and resolves not to kill Alexander. Averting the prophecy isn't the only reason these things happen, but it's part of it: Aaron tries to be more patient with Alexander, helping lead to a longer-lasting and deeper friendship with him that involves Aaron confiding he's too dangerous to run for office and what his exact Seer power is to him. It's this confiding that leads Aaron to feel hurt, furious, and betrayed when a public document accuses him of being too dangerous for office in the exact same ways he outlined to Alexander and reveals his exact Seer power, since he thinks Alexander published them. That's a large component of why he goes dueling, which ends in him killing Alexander.^note Without confiding in Alexander, Aaron likely wouldn't have been upset enough to duel him. He successfully ignored other political mudslinging he attributed to Alexander. It's the one revealing his fears and power that made him really upset. And even if Alexander was involved in those accusations like Aaron thinks he was and published the exact same document, if he didn't tell Alexander these things personally, it likely wouldn't feel as personal and big a betrayal to publish them.
• Set Right What Once Went Wrong: When Aaron shakes Hamilton's hand in his first lifetime, he sees that Hamilton dies by Aaron's gun in a duel. He tries to avoid this fate, but it ends up just as he foresaw. In his second lifetime, he's wracked with guilt over killing Hamilton and the consequences it had for Hamilton's family, and actively makes different choices than he did in his first lifetime in order to avoid Hamilton dying a premature death. Hamilton's his main priority, but he also uses his first lifetime knowledge to attempt to improve other outcomes like ending the Revolutionary War with fewer deaths, getting slavery written out of the Constitution and preventing the Civil War from happening, and giving Eliza a happier family life.
• Show Within a Show: Musicals within a fanfiction, and fanfiction within a fanfiction. In the universe of the fanfiction it feels more like a memory, the second timeline has the musical Hamilton, and the third timeline has Burr: An American Musical. In-Universe, people wrote fanfic of that musical, with the In-Universe savrenim of the third timeline writing if there's a reason.
• Shown Their Work: To the point the author's notes at the end of each chapter are often full of citations. Tons of real history makes it into the fic, often as details meant to flesh out and ground the world in its historical setting. The Adaptational Expansion and Adapted Out inversion entries basically catalog real-life historical facts included in the fic.
• Significant Name Overlap: Characters who share names often share it because they were named for someone’s relative or friend, or because they are the relative or friend who a child got named after.
• Spared by the Adaptation: Downplayed. Aaron’s grandfather and grandmother consistently live longer than they did in reality in every single lifetime: instead of both dying when Aaron is 2, his grandmother dies when he’s 4 and his grandfather dies when he’s 8.
  welcome to the it feels more like a memory timeline, where everything is very similar to our own history except Johnathan Edwards and his wife get a couple more years of life.
• The Stations of the Canon: Alexander asks “Pardon me, are you Aaron Burr, sir?” and Aaron buys him a drink each time, at the same time this happened in the Hamilton musical. The Revolutionary War also happens each loop at the same time it did in the musical, and each loop one of the Hamiltons die after getting shot in a duel. Aaron's first lifetime is extra-heavy on this trope, since it has the least amount of divergence from the Hamilton musical timeline except in that it's all from Aaron Burr's point of view. Some of these first lifetime events shared with canon are rehashed in total, and others are given brief descriptions and not near as much focus as they got in the musical, since the reader is familiar with those events or because this is Aaron Burr's life instead of Alexander Hamilton's and some of Alexander's actions are not as relevant to Aaron's story.
• Super Registration Act: At least in America, Seers are required to reveal themselves to their country’s government during wartime, otherwise they’re committing treason, and it’s based off of a similar law in Britain^note Can be found in the fic itself but also confirmed by Word of God here. Word of God also says most countries have a law where Seers have to declare themselves to the government.
• Switching P.O.V.: We mostly follow Aaron Burr's point of view, but the interlude chapters^note chapter 24, "interlude: (have you read this?)" and chapter 35, "interlude: another fifty years" are from other characters' points of view. All of chapter 35 is from James Madison's point of view. Chapter 24 switches point of view many times, from Madison to Eliza to each of the 5 Burr kids from the second timeline (Philip, Angie, Alex, Aaron Jr., and John).
• Titled After the Song: Several chapters. All of the songs the chapters are titled after come from the Hamilton musical.
  • Chapter 2, "dear theodosia"
  • Chapter 8, "right-hand man"
  • Chapter 10, "world turned upside down"
  • Chapter 12, "a winter's ball i"
  • Chapter 13, "a winter's ball ii"
  • Chapter 21, "take a break"
  • Chapter 23, "what we know" (the real title doesn't have "what," but it's close enough to the real title to qualify for this trope)
• Title Drop: The fic title has been titledropped four times so far. Chapter titles getting titledropped are listed on the chapter’s recap page.
  • In Aaron's first lifetime, Hamilton discusses death with Aaron and comforts him about being unable to hold his daughter, with dialogue written so as to paraphrase or quote musical lyrics, including:
    Alexander: I’ve imagined it so much it feels more like a memory, in every possible way, in my sleep or a bullet or something dreary like sickness or some sort of terrible accident—
  • Upon encountering Hamilton for the first time in Aaron's second lifetime...
    It’s the same, it’s so stupidly, terribly the same, that it feels more like a memory.
  • In his second lifetime, telling Alexander his first lifetime experiences and how he perceives them.
    Aaron: I’ve seen my whole life, I’ve seen our whole lives, so... vividly that it feels more like a memory sometimes.
  • In his second lifetime again, right before Philip dies.
    And Aaron has seen death, he’s seen death so much it feels more like a memory, he knows it so intimately, he can see it coming now—
• Tragic Bromance:
  • In the first lifetime, Aaron shoots Alexander. After that, Aaron’s life takes a downturn and his reputation is tainted for the rest of that life.
  • In the second lifetime, Aaron and Alexander are even closer. Alexander dies, leaving Aaron despondent. All his political ambitions disappear in favor of mourning.
  • In the third lifetime, it’s Aaron and James Madison. Aaron dies. Though he goes to his fourth lifetime, the third lifetime still continues without him, leaving James to sort through all the papers and predictions Aaron left behind, including the ones with knowledge of political happenings and passed bills from his past lives.
• Translation Convention: When characters are speaking French, their dialogue is rendered to the reader as italicized English.
• A True Story in My Universe: In-Universe, the events of Aaron's lifetime are historical events. The timeline where Aaron lives his second lifetime and the timeline where Aaron lives his third lifetime are the timelines where the historical events of his life are adapted into a musical that makes a good-faith effort to retain historical accuracy.
• War Arc: Two, both times concerning the American Revolution. The first one starts and finishes in the first chapter. The second lifetime puts a lot more focus on its War Arc, starting in chapter 7 and ending in either chapter 14 or chapter 16 depending on whether you consider peace treaty negotiations after the enemy surrenders to be part of a War Arc.
• Weird Historical War: In the second lifetime, the Revolutionary War now includes a Seer giving military intelligence. In all lifetimes, The The Hundred Years War also had a Seer giving military intelligence, although that war proceeded just like real life with the exception of Britain making a system to confirm Seers as a consequence of the Seer Joan of Arc's military success in that war.
• Untranslated Title: The Russian translation of it feels more like a memory leaves the title exactly as-is: in English.
• Vacation Episode: Chapter 21, fittingly titled "take a break," has the Burr family run away for the summer to an upstate vacation. Downplayed Trope, because most of the chapter focuses on what happens before the vacation and the time Aaron leaves the vacation to check on work, and because the vacation isn't anywhere exotic but at Philip Schuyler's home in Albany where Eliza grew up and where the Burr family vacations every summer. The actual vacation takes up three scenes, only two of which involve the Burr family having fun on their vacation. However, distress over Alexander not coming with them as they wanted shows up throughout.