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Tropes specific to the fanfic series as a whole
- Alternate Character Interpretation:
- Precia. The reader is not as privy to her inner thoughts compared to other characters, which leads to certain ambiguities such as her actual feelings about Fate, or how much of her interactions with Nanoha are genuine.
- Nanoha. It appears that breaking her utterly is a favorite pastime, and by doing so appears to bring about a whole new character based upon that break. This could be argued as a Author Appeal, though, as the Deconstruction of the retelling as a whole makes her decisions have consequences, and therefore her sense of willing, good-natured kindess and heroism does not go anywhere. Aleph, reasonably so, does like to break down Nanoha.
- Author's Saving Throw: At one point a number of readers expressed concern that the timeline changes could have prevented Quint from encountering and adopting Subaru and Ginga. Earth Scorpion then gave an infodump which promptly alleviated any reader concerns, and it was subsequently noted in-story that Quint is in the process of adopting the two. And then Power Games revealed they were abducted during the events of Game Theory.
- Fridge Brilliance: Nanoha and Momoko are the only members of the Takamachi family with a strong innate talent for Magic. This doesn't seem unusual, considering that magical talent comes from the mother in this fic, but then you realize that Kyouya was from Shiro's first marriage and Miyuki's actually Nanoha's cousin; Nanoha is the only child of the family Momoko actually gave birth to!
- It's mentioned occasionally that Nanoha's telepathic voice sounds almost musical, and it's revealed that she has a good natural singing voice in chapter 11. She also controls The Garden of Time's defenses by singing. Hmm, Lyrical Nanoha?
- Genius Bonus: References are occasionally made, both in-story and in the world building, to computer programming terminology. The name Game Theory itself refers to the study of strategic decision making, which is fitting considering that's Precia's whole shtick in this fic.
- In fact, the battle between Fate and Nanoha during the Jewel Seed activation at the hospital can be considered an example of the Nash equilibrium
of the Prisoner's dilemma. Rather than cooperate to seal the Jewel Seed, Fate and Nanoha each try to stop the other one from sealing it (the "defection" option), which ultimately results in a bad outcome.
- In fact, the battle between Fate and Nanoha during the Jewel Seed activation at the hospital can be considered an example of the Nash equilibrium
- Jerkass Woobie: Precia. She's a selfish, manipulative bitch, but it's hard not to feel sympathy for a grieving mother who wants her daughter back, especially since she's not horribly abusive like in canon.
Tropes specific to Game Theory, first part of the story
- Accidental Innuendo: Yuuno fiddled with his Device in both hands, and sighed. ... It felt wrong in his hands. Eek!
Tropes specific to Power Games, second part of the story
- Les Yay: The third chapter has Vita quoting love poetry to Hayate.
- Spoiled by the Format: The twist that chapter 11, allegedly the epilogue, takes place in a Lotus-Eater Machine could be spoiled one way or another, depending on when you read the fic. If you got updates as they were published, you might wonder why the fic wasn't marked as "complete", and if you read it afterwards, it would stand out that it was chapter 11 of 15.
