Favorite Characters: Finn (Star Wars)

The second lynchpin in our new Star Wars trio.  Finn is a definite “unlikely hero” type, but even as some of the nuts and bolts of his character feel trope-ish, he himself manages to stay grounded and relatable.  I really enjoy seeing him begin to come into his own in The Force Awakens (Finn-related spoilers.)

As I said in my Rey write-up, all three new trio characters have some similarities with members of the original trio.  While Rey (obviously) leans heavily on the Luke vibes, Finn has a little Han going on.  Now, from a character standpoint, I’d say Poe hits the Han resemblance a lot harder, but for Finn, it’s more in the setup of how the character is positioned within the story.  It ties into the “unlikely hero” description because, like Han, Finn doesn’t start out with any intention of helping the resistance, but it winds up happening, anyway.  Anyone in the story that knows who Finn is and where he’s come from assumes he’s not the hero type, and Finn wouldn’t be in any hurry to disagree with that sentiment.  I really don’t think he would buy that he has it in him, but because he has reason to like the way it looks on him, he thinks he has to fake it.

Pretending his motivations are more heroic/admirable than they really are is a bit of a common thread with Finn.  When he’s sent out on his first hot mission as a stormtrooper and realizes just how completely he needs to get out of there, he frees the captured Poe as a prelude to his escape.  But although he talks a good game about releasing Poe because it’s the right thing to do, Poe twigs his actual reason right away:  he needs to run away, and to do that, he’s gonna need a pilot.  Similarly, Finn ends up spinning the whole story about being a member of the resistance after Rey infers a connection between him and BB-8 and figures he must be in on the action.  He wants to impress her, he doesn’t want to contradict the much more flattering image she’s just painted of him, and he really doesn’t want to admit to being an ex-stormtrooper on the run, so he goes along with the lie.

But that’s the thing.  Due to the intense, crazy, dangerous situation in which Rey makes this false assumption, Finn gets swept up in a daring-escape-turned-desperate-mission, crossing the galaxy in a stolen ship to get BB-8 (and the vital information he’s carrying) back to the resistance.  Any time Rey or someone else makes a reference to Finn being a resistance member, he acts shifty and doubles down on his story because he knows that’s not who he is, but in the midst of all this, he’s starting to become an actual hero, almost despite himself.  Maintaining his cover helps him become what he’s pretending to be:  braver, quicker, more strategic, a better fighter, and someone who puts the good of others before himself.  In a situation like this, at what point do you cease to be “playing a part” and just become the actual thing you’re masquerading as?

For me, I’d have to say it’s when things start getting way too real and Finn nearly talks himself into running.  He almost leaves, but ultimately, he can’t do it.  He stays with his new friends, and he stands his ground when everything hits the fan.  This, I think, is where the change really starts, what sends him down the path that ends with him sneaking way behind enemy lines to rescue Rey.  Not that she really needs rescuing, but I’m cool with that.  Rey being awesome works for me, and in terms of Finn’s characterization, heroic choices, like endangering himself to help a friend, say just as much as heroic actions, like kicking butt in a battle.  Most definitely excited to see how he continues to grow in the coming films.