Ideal nematic elastomers can exhibit a soft, shape change without stress. Stripe instabilities and semisoft, response in nematic elastomers are critically dependent on the thermal and mechanical history recorded during cross-linking. Rodlike linkers are shown to harden elastomers if they ape twice-linked, an imposed strain in the second stage seemingly being recorded by the system. This is true if the second stage is isotropic or nematic. Orientation which cannot relax away gives linear terms in the Landau-de Gennes free energy and thus a high-temperature paranematic phase with possible supercritical thermal behavior if sufficiently large stresses are applied during formation.