The members of Hamilton's ensemble play the roles of various minor characters throughout the show, from Charles Lee to Philip Schuyler, but there's one character that most audience members probably won't notice at all: The Bullet. Played by Ariana DeBose, The Bullet represents death's slow march towards Alexander Hamilton throughout the show, and interacts with characters in key moments of foreshadowing.
Hamilton and The Bullet first interact in the opening number, "Alexander Hamilton," when she takes a book from him as Aaron Burr sings about his education marking his first step to the mainland. When Burr warns that "Fools who run their mouths off wind up dead," she passes by Lafayette, Laurens and Mulligan and sits down at the table next to theirs. The Bullet herself is killed after King George III's number "You'll Be Back," when she's discovered acting as a spy. She first acts as a bullet coming for Alexander Hamilton at the start of the song "Stay Alive"; fired by a redcoat soldier, the bullet narrowly misses Hamilton as he's writing correspondence about their dire position in the war.
As DeBose explained in an interview with The Great Discontent (h/t Digital Spy), she initially auditioned for the role of Angelica Schuyler before joining the ensemble. Her character was then worked out during choreography:
"I didn’t know I was going to be 'The Bullet' until one day in rehearsal when [choreography Andy Blankenbuehler] said, 'Ari, come here and trace this line - you’re going to make the bullet miss Hamilton.' That was the first phase of creating the character of 'The Bullet.' He said, 'You do it twice: the first time, the bullet misses him, and the second time, it doesn’t.'"
Later, The Bullet clasps hands with John Laurens after he kills a redcoat, and Laurens himself dies shortly thereafter. When Anthony Ramos returns in the second act as Hamilton's son, Philip, The Bullet once again heralds his character's death by telling Philip where to find George Eacker, the man who kills him in a duel. Most of the time, though, The Bullet appears to be just another member of the ensemble.
Of course, the fact that the audience never notices The Bullet is by design. During the early number "My Shot," Hamilton expresses his fears of death, wondering, "When's it gonna get me?/In my sleep, seven feet ahead of me?/If I see it comin', do I run or do I let it be?" The lyric "I imagine death so much it feels more like a memory" recurs throughout the show. Conceptually, the presence of The Bullet on stage represents the idea that death is always coming for Alexander, but he (and the audience) won't see it until it's too late.
It's only at the end of the show that Hamilton actually becomes aware of The Bullet. She steps in as Aaron Burr fires his gun and time suddenly slows down. Here, Hamilton echoes his earlier line with, "I see it coming, do I run or fire my gun or let it be?" Speaking to The Great Discontent, Debose said of her role throughout the show, "It’s really intense for me because I always know I’m aiming for him - even if the rest of the ensemble members don’t." Rather than simply being a harbinger of death, however, The Bullet's appearance in the final duel can actually be interpreted as an intervention to slow the bullet down, rather than a vehicle to carry it to Hamilton:
"You can look at the final duel in a couple different ways. We’re slowing the bullet down to give Hamilton time to say everything he wants to say, or we’re saying, 'This is it. It’s inevitable. It’s happening, so you can stare it right in the face.' There are a lot of different ways to interpret it. It was really special to create something like that, because it’s inspired by a lot of different pieces we’ve already seen; it’s very Matrix-like. I’ve never seen a moment on stage like it."
With Hamilton now available on Disney+, fans have an opportunity like never before to properly study the choreography of the critically-acclaimed musical, and to pick out what individual members of the ensemble are doing at any given moment. It's well worth watching (and rewatching) the show not just for the songs, but for fascinating details like this.