Lost Princess Extras

Why Alex and Aaron are Friends

SPOILER FREE

It just occurred to me that my decision to make Alexander and Aaron friends in The Lost Princess might seem odd to some, since Burr is so often set at odds with him in fanfiction. In my opinion, this is often inaccurate and simplifies Burr into an easily digestible villain.

Hamilton and Burr aren't enemies because of some great divide in interests, personality, or morals. They are foils for each other, yes, but if one actually understands what that means in the context of protagonist and antagonist, they would know that it actually makes them very similar. An antagonist is often a foil to the protagonist, showing the dark side to their light. But what makes a foil effective is not those wild differences, but rather the similarities. Showing how easily the hero could become the villain, painting them with the same brush so to speak, is what makes it an interesting literary device. Harry and Voldemort are a very effective example of this. It's remarked upon how exceedingly similar they are, and one doesn't have to read far between the lines to see how Harry really could have become the next great dark wizard.

Now, at first glance, this may seem contradictory to what I already stated about them not having greatly contrasting morals, but it must be taken into account that Hamilton is a more morally complex story than Harry Potter. Hamilton is presented as our hero, but he's far from golden, and we get enough of a look into Burr's head to sympathize with his plight as well. They are each the heroes of their own stories, and the villain of each others.

But are they still foils? Yes. Hamilton is a go-getter, unwaveringly loyal, and cursed with hubris, while Burr is patent and ambitions only to a reasonable degree*, and not opposed to putting his own needs over his moral compass. While contrasting, none of those but the loyalty issue are personality traits that would find their owners at odds without other circumstances at play.

Other circumstances really were the downfall of Hamilton and Burr. They really were the victims of a fanfiction-level tragedy of miscommunication and misunderstanding. Hamilton and Burr remain friends until Schuyler Defeated, when Burr finally crosses a line that Hamilton can not forgive. He runs against Philip Schuyler. This seems like a ridiculous thing to argue about at first, I even thought so, but when considered it makes a lot of sense.

Family is one of the most important things to Hamilton (It's that and legacy which he centers his entire life around). But Burr hasn't just put himself at odds with a member of Hamilton's family. In his mind, this is a betrayal. I would argue that Hamilton considers Burr like family. He looks up to Burr, aspires to be like him, from the moment they meet until the moment they break. It's not unlike the way a younger brother might idolize his older brother. So in Hamilton's eyes, one member of his family has just betrayed another, and he has to choose. Does he choose his wife (by-proxy), or his brother. When given a choice, Hamilton will always chose Eliza**. Granted, he's also starting to see that Burr is willing to hold ambition over morals, but this isn't a major issue yet. Hamilton saw Burr's actions as tantamount to betrayal, while Burr saw it simply as a political move, and they never sat down and discussed this.

Burr's half of this doesn't really come in until later. It really starts with The Room Where It Happens, but he doesn't really put the pieces together and start to dislike Hamilton on a personal level until then. Up until then, I think Burr would have been willing to make up with Hamilton had the opportunity arising. Burr realizes two things then, that Hamilton endorsed Jefferson to prevent him from winning (which is true, but his reasoning was wrong. He did it for his country, not any personal grievance as Burr interprets) and that Hamilton has been the reason for his failures to live up to his ambition (which is false, it was his own flaws and approach to life). He feels as if his life has been stolen by a man who hates him beyond all reason, and Hamilton being Hamilton deals with this in a snarky, temperamental way that helps nothing instead of a calm explanation and conversation, which might have. Their friendship was probably beyond repair, but lives could have been salvaged.

Ultimately, the downfall of Hamilton and Burr was, more than anything else, their inability to understand one another and to navigate the blurry line between personal and political (something that's still a struggle today, perhaps more than ever). My Alexander and Aaron don't have this problem. Aaron has never yet chosen ambition because theirs is currently the same, and Alex hasn't taken anything Aaron perceived to belong to him. They've also grown up together and had to rely on each other much more heavily. Simply put, the circumstances are different, so there has been nothing yet to drive them apart, and they aren't naturally enemies.

*This applies to musical Burr only. Historical Burr thought he could be emperor of Texas, so...

**bUt MaRiA! In Alexander's head he wasn't choosing Maria over Eliza. He didn't love Maria, so he was essentially choosing them both. He was even choosing her in a perverse way by paying Reynolds the hush money, because it saved Eliza the heartache of finding out. As for the Reynolds Pamphlet, there was nothing left for him to do at that point in terms of his wife. Just to be clear, I'm not defending him, just explaining my point.