(no subject)

[iniquiticity]

Anonymous asked
What does Washington's side of the Ironflint reunions look like? During the trial, is he trying to intimidate Alex to get him on his side? Or is he just fucking with him because he enjoys watching him struggle? Post-prison, is he bitter that Alex has moved on and now he's the one chasing when it's always been the other way around?

I don’t think it goes like that, and I run with that for a few reasons:

1. I don’t think Washington ever saw Hamilton as well he would always be able to go back to. Even in original Ironflint, Washington sees Hamilton as this candle burning at both ends, and he’ll just use it until there’s nothing left, and then when it’s gone he just discards the rest of the ashes. So it was well within his plans that eventually he would no longer have this ultra-resourceful, ultra-chaotic person for him to just squeeze every drop of usefulness out of of him. And he made the choice to maximize Hamilton’s usefulness at the time, rather than manage the resource for the long-term, because he felt that Hamilton would destroy himself either way, so it was best for him to use as much of him as he can.

2. I also think that Washington knows Hamilton very completely, because he’s capable of acknowledging his many fuck-ups and saying “so what does this mean for his behavior?” Because many of Hamilton’s responses and interactions are very completely tied to his unresolved trauma and untreated mental illness, it’s actually quite easy for Washington to guess how different causes create different effects for Hamilton. While this hunch is a little less reliable now that he’s seeking treatment, it’s still pretty close. Washington is the best at being a leader and understander of people, and their long, close tenure means that Washington has a pretty good guess of what Hamilton will do in most circumstances, and vice versa.

3. Washington has always known and accepted the possibility that Hamilton could turn on him. (In canon Ironflint, I believe i wrote that Washington sees Hamilton more like a hyena than something like a gun or trained animal.) It was well within Washington’s reasonable considerations to think that Hamilton could be used against him, or fight against him. And of course because Washington knows how pointless determined and stubborn Hamilton can be, he has a pretty good understanding about things Hamilton can be convinced to do, and things he can’t.

4. Above all I think Ironflint Washington is ultra pragmatic, and in many ways represents the pure capitalism that leads to suffering of those who are not traditionally ‘useful.’ This is why Hamilton feels like he succeeds around him despite the laundry list of issues, because he has always seen the only way to be successful is to be ‘useful.’

So to answer your questions now that I’ve laid that groundwork:

A) I think that Washington knows very completely that Hamilton is his enemy at trial, and any attempt he might make to turn Hamilton to his side would only be acknowledged for the point of betrayal. Hamilton’s done this for him before, and Washington knows that Hamilton’s mind is very hard to change, especially in this case where many of the boundaries are very clear. I think he wants Hamilton to suffer, but of course it’s more important to him to come off as a sympathetic criminal, so he can only make those overtures in subtle ways. But Hamilton and Washington have long since spoken languages other people don’t understand, and Washington does intend to distress Hamilton in these little ways, and he does derive joy from Hamilton’s obvious distress. That being said, Washington is confident he would be guilty with or without Hamilton’s testimony, so while there is a grudge, it isn’t the sort of significant grudge that would lead to Washington ordering a hit on Hamilton, or some kind of complete destruction that he’s laid on other people who have done him harm.

B) I think Washington understand quite well the force of Hamilton when he wants to bring it forward, and to him taking revenge on Hamilton isn’t worth whatever damage he would sustain in the process, because it could be substantial. He thinks he would win, if him and Hamilton went head-to-head, but it wouldn’t be a victory without small defeats along the way, and in his ultra-pragmatic mind there’s no reason to suffer those little defeats when the large victory isn’t really useful for anything. So I think there’s an uneasy ‘I never want to speak to you again’ truce between them, that Washington occasionally bends but never breaks.

C) Washington would say he has never “chased” anything, and certainly not Hamilton. In this case, Hamilton exists now as a significantly less valuable resource, so there wouldn’t be any real reason for Washington to want him back. Washington is certainly not thrilled that Hamilton helped send him to prison, but he also acknowledges that while revenge is lovely, it isn’t that useful, and when he does get out of prison he has way, way, way more important things to do, like rebuilding his base of power.