TL;DR: Everyone knows Aaron Burr is a Seer, not everyone knows he sees how people die when he touches them. Aaron Will Not Tell A Lie because of his massive influence as the Seer, and when he sees how Alexander dies (by Aaron's gun) he resolves not to kill him. Follows musical canon from "Pardon me, are you Aaron Burr, sir?" to Aaron and Alexander's civilian life and friendship shortly after winning the Revolution.
Canon equivalent: "Aaron Burr, Sir" to "What Comes Next," and includes the beginning of "Non-Stop."
Summary: Aaron Burr is an extremely well-known and influential public figure because he is a Seer: he can see the future. Because of his massive influence, he's extremely cautious about voicing opinions and won't lie. The public doesn't know any more about his powers besides "can see the future," but Alexander does since Aaron confided in him: the first skin-to-skin contact he has with a person forces him to see how they die. Otherwise, this chapter closely follows the Hamilton musical events from "Aaron Burr, Sir" to "What Comes Next," and includes the beginning of "Non-Stop." It ends with the Revolution won, and Alexander and Aaron as lawyers, friends, and men married to their wives.
Longer summary
Alexander Hamilton meets Aaron Burr, who is a well-known public figure due to his Seer status. He sees how people die when he touches them skin-to-skin, so he's reluctant to shake Alexander’s hand. He does anyways and sees himself shooting Alexander in a duel. Alexander surprises by not asking the Seer to tell his future, instead asking about his college education. Hercules Mulligan, John Laurens, and the Marquis de Lafayette enter, they and Alexander taking issue with Aaron not taking a stand on the Revolution. Aaron storms out and Alexander follows, asking more gently why he's staying neutral. Aaron admits he wants to live as a normal citizen instead of as the Seer whose every word has weight, so Alexander promises to fight so he can be free. Aaron feels bad knowing he’ll kill Alexander, but reasons that means he won't die before then and Aaron can just choose to not shoot him.
Alexander agitates for revolution, increasing British scrutiny on Aaron. Aaron waits for a rare flash of insight, which tells him the British are coming for him, and enlists in the Continental Army. He's sent to Quebec to avoid risking his capture. He tells General Montgomery he dies in an upcoming battle, but Montgomery goes ahead with it anyway valuing a possible victory over his own life and sends Aaron back safe to Washington to avoid risking his capture. For the first time, he feels useless and guilty about his ability. Aaron meets Washington, thinks of gaining military intelligence by shaking soldiers’ hands to get glimpses of battles if they die in them, doesn't share the idea, and gets dismissed. He goes through with this idea, but doesn't get much information since the soldiers whose hands he shook die after the war. Still, because the Seer chose the Revolution, the revolutionaries get hope and more supporters. Charles Lee makes a military mistake, and as Aaron rushes to help he recognizes a location from death visions, which replay repeatedly, making him collapse. Laurens picks Alexander as his second when he challenges Lee to a duel. Aaron tries to talk Alexander out of it, only for him to almost fall over and throw up because he sees men dying on battlefields and for Alexander to blame it on Lee. Aaron corrects him, telling him about the handshaking for military info and (implying nobody stopped him because) most know he's the Seer but few know the specifics of his power. (Alexander knows the specifics, Aaron told him.) This makes Alexander, Washington's chief aide, worry over Aaron, so Aaron resigns from the Continental Army citing bad health to stop his worries, though Aaron still contributes to the war effort. The Laurens/Lee duel occurs and nobody dies, Washington sends Alexander home to Eliza, and Alexander comes back and gets a command.
The war ends. Aaron and Theodosia Bartow Prevost (now Theodosia Bartow Burr) fall in love and marry, as do Alexander and Eliza Schuyler (now Eliza Hamilton). Alexander and Aaron are friends and lawyers who confer frequently on cases. To Aaron’s delight, America is too busy riding the high of winning the war and gaining independence to want to bother him for predictions.
Alexander agitates for revolution, increasing British scrutiny on Aaron. Aaron waits for a rare flash of insight, which tells him the British are coming for him, and enlists in the Continental Army. He's sent to Quebec to avoid risking his capture. He tells General Montgomery he dies in an upcoming battle, but Montgomery goes ahead with it anyway valuing a possible victory over his own life and sends Aaron back safe to Washington to avoid risking his capture. For the first time, he feels useless and guilty about his ability. Aaron meets Washington, thinks of gaining military intelligence by shaking soldiers’ hands to get glimpses of battles if they die in them, doesn't share the idea, and gets dismissed. He goes through with this idea, but doesn't get much information since the soldiers whose hands he shook die after the war. Still, because the Seer chose the Revolution, the revolutionaries get hope and more supporters. Charles Lee makes a military mistake, and as Aaron rushes to help he recognizes a location from death visions, which replay repeatedly, making him collapse. Laurens picks Alexander as his second when he challenges Lee to a duel. Aaron tries to talk Alexander out of it, only for him to almost fall over and throw up because he sees men dying on battlefields and for Alexander to blame it on Lee. Aaron corrects him, telling him about the handshaking for military info and (implying nobody stopped him because) most know he's the Seer but few know the specifics of his power. (Alexander knows the specifics, Aaron told him.) This makes Alexander, Washington's chief aide, worry over Aaron, so Aaron resigns from the Continental Army citing bad health to stop his worries, though Aaron still contributes to the war effort. The Laurens/Lee duel occurs and nobody dies, Washington sends Alexander home to Eliza, and Alexander comes back and gets a command.
The war ends. Aaron and Theodosia Bartow Prevost (now Theodosia Bartow Burr) fall in love and marry, as do Alexander and Eliza Schuyler (now Eliza Hamilton). Alexander and Aaron are friends and lawyers who confer frequently on cases. To Aaron’s delight, America is too busy riding the high of winning the war and gaining independence to want to bother him for predictions.
"mister burr, sir" contains examples of:
- Adaptational Context Change:
- Aaron doesn't understand how Alexander throws himself into things passionately and seems to "always win" "no matter how high the stakes," which is a reference to the same sentiment expressed in "Wait For It" which also uses "he keeps winning anyway... he raises the stakes." The usage here still contrasts Alexander's approach with Aaron's self-admitted tendency to wait for the perfect opportunity, which he admits to in the song and right before and after these lines in the fic, and still expresses that he can't understand why Alexander is like this. However, this is much earlier in the musical, around the time of "My Shot" at the beginning of the musical whereas "Wait For It" is in the middle of the first act, and this usage is less about resentment and jealousy towards Alexander's success with this strategy as opposed to his own and more about his concern for Alexander, where he admits Alexander using this approach instead of Aaron's more cautious one would have made him worry for Alexander's life if he didn't already know how he dies.
- Overlaps with Adaptational Heroism. Aaron says the same things to Washington before Alexander shows up in his tent and Washington kicks Aaron out. However, he didn't approach Washington with suggestions out of raw ambition, as implied in the musical. He’s motivated by having tried to save General Montgomery and failing, and by the possibility of sharing an idea (or not, he’s unsure about whether to go ahead with sharing it at this time) that he certainly did not have in Hamilton proper: shaking soldiers’ hands to see how they die, and putting together all the battle deaths to gain military information.
- Adaptational Heroism: Overlaps with Adaptational Context Change. Aaron has a new reason for equivocation (all the influence he holds as the Seer, combined with the fact nobody else can fact check him on what he says about the future), he doesn’t approach Washington with suggestions out of raw ambition. He’s motivated by having tried to save General Montgomery and failing, and by the possibility of sharing an idea (or not, he’s unsure about whether to go ahead with sharing it at this time) that he certainly did not have in Hamilton proper: shaking soldiers’ hands to see how they die, and putting together all the battle deaths to gain military information.
- Affair Letters: Aaron exchanges love letters with Theodosia while she’s still Theodosia Bartow Prevost; married to a British officer and not him.
- all lowercase letters: Like every other chapter title of this fic, this chapter's title is in all lowercase letters.
- Anger Born of Worry: Implied. After Aaron collapses on the field and wakes up in a medical tent, Alexander tells him the army is worried he died. Aaron tells him he survives the war, and Alexander angrily replies that nobody else had a way of knowing that. When Aaron tells him that now he knows, Alexander storms out. Given how protective and worried Alexander gets when Aaron almost throws up and falls over in this chapter, and that he only gets angry after Aaron says he survives the war and leaves when Aaron says now he knows, it's probably because he was worried and just found out he could have been saved the pain if Aaron had just told him earlier about his survival.
- Double Meaning:
- The last line of the chapter says Aaron "fought for himself to be free, and he was proud of it, just a little." This could refer to Aaron fighting in the Continental Army to gain freedom from British rule. It could also refer to Aaron fighting in the Continental Army to gain freedom from the expectations placed on him due to his Seer status: before he joined the army he wished the colonies would gain independence so people would stop bothering him for visions and so he could have control over his own life and live as a normal citizen.
- Aaron says "All I see is death." He's worried people will take one meaning from this: that he foresaw many people die in some upcoming event. He thinks of a second meaning for it, that his Seer abilities are limited to seeing how people die, so all he (fore)sees is death. At the time he speaks this, he is unaware that he has more abilities beyond just seeing how people die, one being the ability to experience new lifetimes starting as a baby from the time he was born, and another being perfect memory of previous lifetimes. Another possible meaning for this statement is that all he recognizes of his Seer abilities is the death-seeing powers, all he sees (of his abilities) is death.
- Duel to the Death: Aaron sees a vision of his duel with Alexander Hamilton when he shakes his hand. A Duel To The Death actually occurs between John Laurens and Charles Lee, with Alexander Hamilton and Evan Edwards as their respective seconds.
- Fainting Seer:
- When he collapses after he rushes to help Charles Lee, given what made him collapse was “memories of death,” prompted by him recognizing the location.
Word of God confirms
the memories were prompted by him recognizing the location from death visions, specifically visions of soldiers dying at the battle of Monmouth, the battle he rushes to help Lee in. - When he tries to talk Alexander out of dueling Charles Lee, since at least some of the death visions that make him nearly double over, throw up, and fall over are ones he’s seen because of his power.
- When he collapses after he rushes to help Charles Lee, given what made him collapse was “memories of death,” prompted by him recognizing the location.
- Idiosyncratic Episode Naming: Following the convention of naming every chapter title after a Hamilton lyric, this chapter takes its title from the line "Mister Burr, sir" from "The Room Where It Happens." In Hamilton proper, that line is meant to fit with Aaron often being addressed as "Aaron Burr, sir," which itself is a song title from Hamilton. That song gets directly quoted in the first sentence of this chapter: "Pardon me, are you Aaron Burr, sir?" and is the song where Alexander and the audience are introduced to Aaron Burr. The audience has met him before as a narrator of "Alexander Hamilton" who says he's "the damn fool that shot [Alexander]," but only gets to know his personality in "Aaron Burr, Sir". Fittingly, this chapter has Alexander and the readers' introduction to Aaron Burr. This time, what the readers already know about Aaron is everything from the musical, and the new part is that this is a Seer version of Aaron Burr, who has a somewhat different personality and new reasons for familiar actions seen in the musical because he's the Seer.
- Insists on Paying: Despite Aaron’s comfortable position and trust fund, many people insist on paying for the Seer’s meals. It’s implied this is less about generosity and gratitude than this trope is usually meant as, but instead about people wanting to be able to brag about association with him.
- Instantly Proven Wrong: Alexander says he heard Aaron’s name at Princeton, making Aaron expect Alexander will ask to have his future told like so many others have. The very next words out of Alexander’s mouth prove Aaron wrong, much to his relief, instead showing that Alexander wants to talk about his education, to him as a person and not him as the Seer.
- Irony: Aaron realizes a conversation where he talked about why he’s not forthcoming and is careful when he does speak, is one where he confided more in a stranger than in anyone else and where he spoke more than he had in the entire past month.
- Neutral No Longer: Aaron has been staying neutral on the issue of the independence of the 13 colonies vs. loyalty to Britain, despite his personally favoring independence. When he realizes the British are coming for him, he stops being neutral and sides with the 13 colonies, signing up for the Continental Army.
- Making the Choice for You: First-lifetime Alexander argues this is why Aaron shouldn't stay neutral on the issue of American independence: if he doesn't choose a side himself, someone will choose for him.note
- Maybe Magic, Maybe Mundane: Aaron tells Alexander "We'll run into each other soon again" after their first meeting, with Aaron saying it's because he knows Alexander's too stubborn to leave Aaron alone. They do meet soon enough in Washington's tent when Aaron tries to give Washington suggestions. Aaron thinks Alexander falsely interpreted his words as a Seer prediction. In later chapters, Benjamin Franklin and Alexander express that they think things Aaron says tend to be true as part of his power. There have been many cases where Aaron didn't think he was making a prediction, even where he thought he was lying, but his words were true anyways. However, in chapter 14 Aaron makes predictions on the British's war movements "not because of some vision, some supernatural flash of insight, but because he knows war" and it reads as if Aaron is truly correct about those predictions not being supernatural but purely informed by knowledge of war, though it's possible those were still unknowing predictions. So it's ambiguous if Aaron got "We'll run into each other soon again" right because of his power, like Alexander thinks, or because of regular human means.
- Meaningful Echo: Very subtle, with Aaron noticing Alexander's thin frame and hungry eyes and thinks "not a hunger that can ever be sated" in the equivalent of "Aaron Burr, Sir" which is reminiscent of Angelica noticing Alexander's "hunger-pang frame" and that "he will never be satisfied" in the song "Satisfied" that comes far after "Aaron Burr, Sir." Alexander even flirts with Aaron, who loves him, but they never get together in this lifetime on account of not hurting Eliza, just like Angelica did. Just barely misses being an Adaptational Context Change since the time and observer changes, but the recipient and meaning stays the same even if Alexander's hunger and ambition are made explicit by someone much earlier in the story.
- Real Event, Fictional Cause:
- The real Aaron Burr really was assigned to Quebec in the Revolutionary War, but not because he was a Seer who the army really didn't want captured.
- He also really did resign from the Continental Army due to health concerns, and specifically had a bad health episode at the Battle of Monmouth. The real Burr's Monmouth episode was heatstroke, in the fic it was collapsing because of death visions. Real Aaron Burr also never almost threw up because of death visions which were at least sometimes and partly because of his power to see death upon touching people. He also likely did not resign to stop Alexander, Washington's important aide-de-camp, from wasting time or being less effective at his job by worrying about him, but that's part of why he resigned in this fic.
- Rewatch Bonus: "All I see is death" already has a Double Meaning Aaron reveals to us, the meaning he hopes people don't take (prophecy) and a meaning he thinks is true (his powers are limited to seeing how people die, all he foresees is death). Upon a reread, a reader knows he has more abilities than just death-seeing ones, adding a third meaning: all he recognizes of his Seer abilities is the death-seeing powers, all he sees of his abilities is death.
- Shown Their Work: Aaron Burr resigned from the Continental Army because of his bad health, took on intelligence missions afterwards, and rallied Yale students in a skirmish against the British in real life and in the fic, though none of this is shown in the musical.
- Speak in Unison: Alexander and Aaron reply to Washington's question if they've met with "We keep meeting" at the exactly the same time.
- The Stations of the Canon: Hamilton meeting Burr, Burr's neutrality being rejected by Hamilton and his new revolutionary friends, the publication of Farmer Refuted, Burr and Hamilton meeting in Washington's tent as Burr gets dismissed and Hamilton is welcomed in, the duel with Lee, most details of the Revolutionary War covered in Hamilton, Hamilton's marriage, Hamilton being sent home and called back to war, the end of the war, and practicing law with each other.
- Title Drop: The chapter title gets titledropped when Hamilton says “I’ll fight so that you can be free, Mister Burr, sir.” In Hamilton proper, tthe line "Mister Burr, sir" is meant to fit with Aaron often being addressed as "Aaron Burr, sir," which itself is a song title from Hamilton. "Aaron Burr, Sir" gets titledropped and directly quoted in the first sentence of this chapter: "Pardon me, are you Aaron Burr, sir?"
