Thomas Jefferson/Marquis de Lafayette: Daveed Diggs
George Washington: Christopher Jackson
Angelica Schuyler: Renée Elise Goldsberry
Peggy Schuyler/Maria Reynolds: Jasmine Cephas Jones
(King) George Frederick III: Jonathan Groff
Sam Seabury: Thayne Jasperson
Charles Lee: Jon Rua
Added Characters
John Church: Javier Mu~noz
Tasha Tilghman (aka Tench Tilghman, one of Washington’s wartime aides): Alysha Deslorieux
America Washington Reed (GWash’s adopted daughter - OC): Julia Jones
Adrian de Lafayette: Andrew Chappelle
Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz: Lea Michele
Anna Strong (revolutionary spy, in au works for John Church): Carleigh Bettiol
Selah Strong (Anna’s husband): Austin Smith
Emma Stevens (AHam childhood friend Ned): Vanessa Nadal
Sally Hemings: Ariana DeBose
Bethany Franklin (genderswapped Benjamin Franklin): Kamille Upshaw
Theodosia Prevost Burr: Nicolette Robinson
Martha (Martie) Washington: Mandy Gonzalez
Dolley Madison: Sasha Hutchings
Abigail Adams: Elizabeth Judd
Benjamin Tallmadge (George Washington’s adopted son head spy): Gregory Haney
John Adams: Rafael Casal
Baron Von Steuben: Steven Pasquale
Martha Skelton Jefferson (deceased): Jalene Goodwin [Disclaimer: Admin is not sorry]
Philip Jeremiah Schuyler (Jeremy in this AU): Sydney Harcourt
Sam Adams: Nicholas (Nik) Christopher
John Hancock: Voltaire Wade Greene
John Jay: Ephraim Sykes
AU-Canon Relationships
Elams - Eliza/Hamilton/Laurens (though, at time of writing this post, Eliza and Ham are more platonic than anything)
Angelica/Jefferson
George Washington/Martie Washington
George III/Charlotte
Peggy/Maria
Burr/Theo
Anna/Selah
Adams/Abigail
Madison/Dolley
Sam Adams/John Hancock
Occupations (in no particular order)
Ham: Lawyer, economist, activist. Currently working for the Washington 2016 campaign, mostly as a news surrogate. Set to be Treasury Secretary come January
Eliza: foster mom (#queenofthemoms), piano instructor, member of NY Board of Education, former kindergarten teacher, actual saint
Burr: New York DA, currently running for Senate. Probs gonna win. Has now won and will be Philip Schuyler’s successor. Ham’s former roommate.
Laurens: nighttime talk show host. They took the Richard Rodgers and made it for TV. They always dress in period clothes. Under his employment:
Peggy: second-in-command, gives Laurens shit for everything, secretly tied for his #1 fan w/Ham. Gives improv lessons to high school kids, which is how she met Maria.
Lee: human punching bag. Everyone picks on him b/c he makes the best hurt puppy faces, but he gets snuggles after the cameras turn off. Pretends to hate/be annoyed by George III on and off camera, but secretly is quite fond of him.
Seabury: human cinnamon roll. Non-gender conforming. Little teensy weensy bit super duper in love w/George III. Everyone adores him.
George: Has an (pre-Late Show) Colbert-like persona that he stays in 88% of the time. Only instead of being wildly republican, he’s trying to brainwash the US and reconquer us. Highkey in love with wife Charlotte, but mercilessly flirts with Lee. No one is sure if it’s ironic or not.
Tasha: boss-ass bitch beloved by all. Won’t stand for racism. Wears all the pretty things.
Herc: runs a fashion industry called Locoparentis with Laf’s husband, Adrian. Bffls w/Laf
Laf: semi-retired model (only does shoots for his boo and bff). Does activism work and occasionally volunteers at shelters.
Madison: in Congress. Tired of everything. Mildly terrified of authoritative women, which is often used against him.
TJeffs: former US ambassador. Currently going around and giving speeches about the importance/advantages of being multilingual. Come January, will be Secretary of State (shhhh, don’t tell Ham)
Angelica: Runs a f*****g news EMPIRE. Called Never Satisfied News, is on every platform available. Occasionally gives talks or guest-lectures about the impact of the written word
John Church (JC): co-founder of NSN [^^^]. Has a whole instagram account for his dog, which he named after a Harry Potter character (who may or may not be admin’s mother’s favorite). Everyone’s best friend.
Anna Strong: John Church’s right hand. Does a lot for him, but also does her own shit. Red lipstick sales spike whenever she walks into a room.
Selah Strong: trophy husband (jk he’s a lawyer) (jk his main job is trophy husband)/tavern owner
Charlotte: International pop star, occasionally dabbles in acting
Maria: high school sex ed teacher. Fosters kittens. Speaks out against domestic abuse and sexual assault. Met squad through one of Eliza’s foster kids, who was her student.
Emma Stevens: doctor af. Ham’s substitute mom and all-around best friend.
Abigail Adams: in the House of Representatives for Massachusetts. Everyone loves her. She’s like a younger Elizabeth Warren. Took a term off from the house of reps to be a mom to baby John Quincy*
Bethany Franklin: Used to be Washington’s campaign manager, but was a little too crazy, so she was demoted to consultant status. Occasionally does surrogate work, but people are :/ so she tends to avoid it. Makes lots of puns and does weird things like naming her cat Turkey. Will be working as a political analyst/professional weirdo come Jan.
Dolley Madison: works in art restoration for the Smithsonian. A docent at the Museum of African Art.
America: has a podcast every Wednesday and every other Saturday, does news surrogate work for Washington.
Martie: real estate agent. Eye for detail. 100% supportive of George. Struggling to find a 1st lady mission.
Tallmadge: the Toby Ziegler to Washington’s Jed Bartlet. If you don’t know what I’m talking about, GOOGLE IT #WestWing [Aw shit I gotta use him more]
Von Steuben: keeps Washington’s staff in line by yelling at them in various languages
Sally Hemings: author, activist, performer. Another human cinnamon roll. Speaks openly about racism, sexism, and rape (gave Brock Turner a tongue-lashing like you wouldn’t believe)
Jeremy Schuyler: pretty sibling. That’s it.
Sam Adams: bartender/owner turned brewer. Has his own company, which has just partnered with Strong Tavern for promotional events and control groups and crap.
John Hancock: Former wall street exec, now one of the top economic advisers in the nation
Little Philip is in this AU, but he is a baby, and said baby that admin is using will not be named for privacy reasons. Most likely, baby Philip will evolve into Sebastian. Philip lives with Eliza, as she is the one that adopted him. Alexander is a legal guardian/godfather type thing.
Eliza has had quite a few foster kids over the years (admin does have a list), and she refers to them all as her babs.
Eliza’s teenage daughter, Kloe, will be played by Auli’i Cravalho (Moana) and her elder foster son Alexander will be played by Jake T. Austin.
John Quincy Adams, who is a wee sprout at the moment, will be generally referred to as Junior or JQ
thank you so much. y’all made my mom so, so happy. i would like to thank all of you. i honestly even’t seen my mom smile in forever. i loved seeing her smile. again, thank you so much.
Severus Snape never stood a chance. When we met him at the age
of 9, he was thin, small, with sallow skin, too long hair, and wearing
mismatched clothes that were either too small or too big. He was clearly
neglected by both parents. I’ve seen some people claiming that we have no proof
that he was abused and that just because Tobias was abusive towards Eileen
doesn’t mean Severus was also abused. Bullshit. Not only is neglect abuse,
there’s a link between
spousal abuse and child abuse.
He went to Hogwarts and became a target for 4 boys who had
more than he did but were determined to destroy what little he had for the
crime of existing. The teachers did nothing to help him, in fact years later
they fondly remember his bullies even after one of them was convicted for mass
murder. It’s quite obvious whose side they took. The Headmaster went out of his
way to silence him after he was almost murdered to protect them. His House was filled
with boys and girls who were being radicalized to hate people like him, muggle-borns
and half-bloods. He was not safe for 9 months out of a year for 7 years
in a place he dreamt would give him security and belonging. So he did what he
could to survive. He made ‘friends’ with the unsavory kind who could
provide him with some protection and he started to speak their language. Maybe
he even believed what they were saying, someone had to take the blame for all that
has had happened to him.
Lily could never have
saved him. For one, she’s a teenage girl who didn’t have a similar background
and she lived with his bullies who would make themselves seem better they were
(remember when James told Lily he saved Severus’ life without mentioning the
real reason why his life was in danger). Two, it’s not her job. It’s the job of
his parents, his school teachers and government officials. They were the
ones who were meant to protect him, not her.
No adult intervened on
behalf of Severus though, instead they ensured his abuse continued until it was
taken advantage of by Voldemort and his Death Eaters. I never understand people
who claim that Severus could have easily chosen not to join Voldemort. If you
think about it, no one extended a hand towards him but this group. No one else
validated his experience, as they must have to convince him to join. No one else
gave him the opportunity to further develop himself out of the hell hole that
was his life. It wasn’t an easy choice, for Severus it was his only choice. Of
course, like almost everyone in the Wizarding World, Severus didn’t know what
Voldemort was really about until it was too late and he was thrust into a war.
Still Severus did what he always did, he survived.
At the age of 20, he delivered a half prophesy
that would seal his former best friend’s fate. He tried to save her life by
bargaining with Voldemort. That still wasn’t enough so he went to Dumbledore
and endured his scorn and manipulations to become a double agent for a full
year. A year where he had to lie to the best Legimens, a year where he had do
everything he could to gain information for Dumbledore, a year where he was
basically condemning people he grew up with to Azkaban or death. In the end,
Lily still died. While he was so grief-stricken about this that he wanted to
die, Dumbledore uses this to gain servitude from Severus before dismissing his
pain like he had ever since he met Severus as a boy.
Trauma and abuse affect the way a person’s
brain develops and the brain continues to develop until the age of 25.
Severus has had so much happen to him by the age of 21 that it was impossible
for him to abide by rules of Good Victimhood. He cannot show kindness,
compassion, understanding, etc., both because his brain has been wired for
survival and so he displays more negative traits like paranoia, self-neglect,
anger, and he lashes out quite often, and also because he had not been on the
receiving end of those positive traits enough to imitate them. Remember you are
socialized to be kind and polite otherwise kids wouldn’t be nasty towards
others. Severus wasn’t even given proper early socialization from his parents let
alone being taught how to be decent towards others. He can’t just spontaneously
demonstrate traits he hasn’t been exposed to.
For the next seventeen years, he taught at Hogwarts
as its youngest teacher. He copied McGonagall and became a strict and competent
teacher with a short fuse. His students were often ahead of the syllabus
because they learnt from what he taught himself. His mental health continued getting
worn down because he was right back where he tried to escape from. There was no
part of the castle that didn’t come with bad memories and he was subjected to
this for 17 years. Dumbledore continuously discredited him, sometimes in front
of an audience, his colleagues remembered his tormenters fondly, one of whom
was a celebrated hero so he would get mentioned often, his students hated him,
and his House was widely despised by both teachers and students. It’s all one
unending nightmare.
Despite all of this, he did what he could to
help people. He saved Katie Bell, the students Petrified by the Basilisk, Remus
Lupin, and the Wizarding World at large. He conjured a stretcher for Sirius
Black instead of levitating him and ‘accidently’ whacking his head everywhere.
Later Severus tried to ensure Sirius was safe before looking for Harry and his
friends. He tried to teach the art of Occlumency to Harry, which requires that
he attacks Harry’s mind so Harry can learn to compartmentalize. He tried to
keep students away from the demented Carrows siblings. He endured torture and suspicion
to gain Voldemort favour so he can spy on him on behalf of Dumbledore. He
killed Dumbledore to spare both Draco and him pain. He kept Slytherins out of
Voldemort’s grasp as much as he could (I mean compare Slughorn’s tenure where
nearly every Slytherin student we encounter in both Severus’ and Slughorn’s
memories became Death Eaters to a handful during Severus’ time). He saved Harry
multiple times and helped bring about the destruction of Voldemort and the
Death Eaters.
In spite of the abuse, trauma, bullying,
manipulations and disregard he went through, Severus Snape still managed to do
good. He had everything stacked against him but he still performed noble acts.
Many people are alive because of his sacrifice.
I
don’t love him because he loved Lily, I love him because he did what he could
with what little he had.
