Finn (formerly known as FN-2187) is the deuteragonist of the Star Warssequel trilogy. He is a First Order Stormtrooper until witnessing the attack at a village on Jakku and deciding to desert, not wanting to be a participant in the atrocities committed by the order. He saves the Resistance pilot Poe Dameron from the First Order, and later meets the scavenger Rey on Jakku. However, he becomes wanted by the First Order for defecting and ends up joining the Resistance.
Raised to be a soldier, Finn is inexperienced to the world outside of the First Order, and knew nothing else but to be dutiful to his officers and trust in the First Order's goals. Compared to most Stormtroopers, he is still protective, intelligent, and strong enough that at one point he was considered to be one of the best Stormtroopers. Despite this regard, Finn is friendly and cared about his comrades enough to risk his own life for their safety. But Finn's loyalties changed when he witnessed his first field operation on Jakku watching the destruction and massacre of many innocent villagers by the First Order, including the death of a fellow Stormtrooper he had known personally. Seeing the true nature of his superiors caused Finn to start questioning who he was and wanted to abandon the life he had with the Order from this disillusion.
This decision, among most of his negative actions, stems from Finn's greatest shortcomings; the fear and stress that he had sustained from the First Order. These traits can lead him to sudden panic, deserting others out of cowardice, or refusal to keep fighting a conflict where he knows how dangerous the First Order can be.
However, Finn is good-natured and has a sense of justice, honor and empathy. Though he can be influenced by his past fear, Finn goes out of his way to rescue others who are less fortunate, including Poe Dameron and Rey when the two were captured by the First Order. When learning of the bravery of the Resistance in the face of the First Order's brutality along with the influence of his friends' altruism, Finn becomes more confident in himself and officially joins the Resistance to protect the galaxy from the First Order.
Powers and Abilities
Powers
The Force: Although Finn's in Force skills are barely developed, he eventually discovered to be Force-sensitive. Having come to recognize his initial decision to disobey the First Order to have been influenced by the light side, which allowed him to resist the mental conditioning undergone by Stormtroopers and eventually defect to the Resistance.
Force Sense: Finn can sense other sentient beings' emotions, the future, ripples in the Force caused by momentous or traumatic events, impending danger and the presence of other light or dark side Force-users. He was notably able to instinctively identify the Resurgent Star Destroyer, the Steadfast, as the source of the signal controlling the Sith Eternal's fleet, the Final Order, on Exegol and after the battle was over, felt Rey's brief death inside the Sith Citadel.
Abilities
Expert Marksman: As a former Stormtrooper, Finn is extremely skilled in utilizing blasters.
Expert Pilot: Finn is highly skilled in piloting various speeders and all types of flying crafts.
Weapons Proficiency: As a former Stormtrooper, Finn is extremely skilled at using several different types of weapons, such as riot batons and blasters.
Expert Combatant: As a former Stormtrooper, Finn is an extremely skilled hand-to-hand combatant.
Skilled Lightsaber Duelist: Despite Finn's lack of training and his untested Force-sensitivity at the time, he is a gifted duelist. Although he was defeated, Finn was able to able to hold his own against a Stormtrooper with a riot baton. Later, Finn was even able to hold his own against the unbalanced and injured Kylo Ren, despite the dark warrior being far more skilled and experienced in lightsaber combat then he was. He was able to hold his own reasonably well for a relatively short period of time, even managing to lightly wound Ren's right shoulder. However, ultimately, Finn was defeated by Ren, who disarmed him of Anakin Skywalker's lightsaber and dealt him a severe wound to his back.
Glie-44 blaster pistol: Finn utilizes a Glie-44 blaster pistol that has a power cartridge as ammunition and a reactant gas port cap in its stock. He used it as a sidearm during his mission to Canto Bight and a mission to Kijimi.
Former Weapons and Equipment
First Order stormtrooper armor: Finn utilized First Order Stormtrooper armor to protect himself from his enemies in battle.
F-11D blaster rifle: Finn utilized a F-11D blaster rifle as his weapon of choice. Finn lost this weapon during his crash landing on Jakku, as it was inside the TIE Fighter and ended up sinking with it.
Z6 riot control baton: Finn utilized a Z6 riot control baton during his duel with Captain Phasma on the Supremacy. He managed to struck Phasma down with the weapon, just before the deck below her collapsed and she fell into the fire.
Skywalker Lightsaber: Finn first used Anakin Skywalker's (later Luke Skywalker's) lightsaber against a Stormtrooper with a riot baton, he later used it against Kylo Ren, Anakin's grandson, but he was disarmed of this lightsaber (albeit Kylo did not destroy or damage it).
Among his stormtrooper comrades, Finn is deployed into a battle on Jakku as his first field mission to find information on the whereabouts of Luke Skywalker through a map. In the dawn of the battle, one of the stormtroopers is shot down, Finn seeing this holds up the dying stormtrooper in his arms before the soldier passes away. Panicking, Finn becomes overcome with stress over the heat of battle and finds himself unable to fire at the captured villagers. Back on the Resurgent-class Star Destroyer Finalizer, Finn suffers from the trauma but is ordered by Captain Phasma to return to his duties. Knowing that he will be sent to re-evaluation and his loyalty in the First Order broken, Finn chooses to rescue the hostage pilot Poe Dameron to desert the Order. The two manage to steal a TIE/sf fighter, during which Poe gives the trooper the new name Finn, but the TIE fighter is shot and spirals down to Jakku's surface.
Surviving the crash thanks to the TIE's ejection seats, Finn witnesses the TIE imploding with no trace of Poe to be found. Believing Poe to have died from the explosion, Finn discards his armor and treads through the desert, eventually finding his way to a settlement. There, he finds the BB-8 unit that belonged to Poe along with Rey, a desert scavenger. Immediately, the First Order appears and targets them, forcing the trio to escape the planet aboard the Millennium Falcon.
Once in space, Finn convinces BB-8 to tell him where the Resistance base is to continue his facade. After the Falcon breaks down, they are abducted in a larger ship by the Falcon's previous owners, Han Solo and Chewbacca. Rey accidentally releases some rathtars which prove useful in their escape, as Han's dealings with a couple of gangs did not go so well, though she did rescue Finn at one point from one of the monsters. Han explains to them that Luke Skywalker attempted to rebuild the Jedi Order, but went into exile after one of his students turned to the dark side and destroyed all that Luke built up.
Han and Chewbacca take the trio to Takodana to meet with Maz Kanata. When Finn refuses to help the Resistance, Finn reveals his true identity as a stormtrooper to Rey and asks her to leave with him so they can escape the conflict. When Rey declines, Finn wishes her luck and prepares to leave with a pirate away from Takodana. However, the First Order locates and attacks the group on Takodada, with Kylo Ren capturing Rey as well. Maz gives Finn the lightsaber that once belonged to Luke Skywalker and his father, and instructs him to give it to Rey. Finn, Han, and Chewbacca then travel to the Resistance base on D'Qar, where he discovers Poe alive and well, having survived the crash on Jakku. Due to his knowledge of the Starkiller Base superweapon, Finn gives vital information on planning the attack. To rescue Rey and disable the shield generator, Finn infiltrates the base with Han Solo and Chewbacca and capture Phasma, forcing her to deactivate the shields.
When the trio reunite with Rey, she and Finn plant thermal detonators inside the base while witnessing Han confront Kylo, who is revealed to be Han's son, Ben Solo. After seeing Kylo murder his father, Finn and Rey fire at the base in rage and try to escape, but are confronted by Kylo in the woods. After Kylo uses the Force to knock Rey unconscious, Finn uses the Skywalker lightsaber and engages in a fight against him, much to the Dark Jedi's anger. An infuriated Kylo calls Finn a traitor because of his defection, and demands the former stormtrooper to return his grandfather's lightsaber. They engage in combat and Finn holds his own for much of the fight. However, Kylo defeats and grievously injures Finn with help from his crossguard, but not before getting a shoulder wound. Rey claims the lightsaber and continues the fight for the unconscious Finn. She ultimately defeats Kylo and leaves him for dead as the planet falls apart. They are rescued by Chewbacca and escape to D'Qar.
Due to his severe injuries, Finn is put onto intensive care at the Resistance base while under a coma. Before leaving on her journey to find Luke Skywalker, Rey wishes him a heartfelt goodbye and kisses the comatose Finn, thanking him for everything.
When Finn wakes up from recovery, he calls Rey's name, thinking he is still on Starkiller Base. He finds himself that he is in the MC85 Star Cruiser Raddus and wearing only a Flexpoly bacta suit. After freeing himself, he wanders unto the Raddus' hanger and meets Poe who he asks, where Rey is. Poe replies that she left to find Luke Skywalker. When Poldin LeHuse destroys the Raddus' primary bridge, many Resistance members are killed, including Admiral Ackbar. Finn, Poe, and Kaydel Ko Connix help Leia who only survived due to her Force abilities taught by her brother, and bring her to the infirmary. Finn finds Leia's beacon which indicates to Rey their location.
Finn made his way to the escape pods, but he was intercepted by Rose Tico. She intended to turn him over for attempted treason, but Finn revealed to her that the First Order was tracking the Resistance through lightspeed. Shocked, Rose tells Finn that she might be able to disable the tracker, and Finn says that, having worked aboard a Star Destroyer, he would be able to find where the tracker is. Rose and Finn run their plan by Poe, who contacts Maz Kanata for help, but she claims that she is too busy and instructs them to find a "master code breaker" on a casino on the city of Canto Bight, located at the planet Cantonica. Operating against Vice Admiral Holdo's wishes, Finn and Rose, along with BB-8, steal a ship and go to Canto Bight.
Finn is initially entranced by the lavish lifestyle of the casino, but becomes disillusioned when Rose tells him that most of the people there have become wealthy by dealing arms to the First Order. While they find the master code breaker, they are unable to recruit him as they are arrested and jailed for a parking violation. In their cell they meet DJ, an otherwise unnamed thief and codebreaker who offers to help them; they refuse, but he nonetheless breaks them out of their cell. Finn and Rose escape from the prison where they set free a horde of horse-like racing creatures called Fathiers, escaping atop one of them. Outside the casino they are greeted by BB-8 and DJ, having stolen a ship together. DJ agrees to help them, and while Finn is untrusting of his shady nature, DJ tried to insist to Finn that there isn't such thing as "good guys" and "bad guys" in a war.
Eventually, Finn, Rose, and DJ arrive aboard the Mega-class Star Dreadnought Supremacy and disguise themselves as First Order officers; Finn finds the location of the tracker and DJ breaks them in, but before Rose is able to disable the tracker they are caught by Captain Phasma. Upon being captured, DJ, having overheard the Resistance's plan of escaping to Crait via transports, secretly tells the First Order of the plans in exchange for money and a ship for freedom, and Finn and Rose are to be executed. Before they are, Holdo rams the Resistance cruiser into Snoke's flagship at lightspeed, damaging the Mega-Destroyer and sending it into chaos. Finn has a one-on-one fight with Phasma, ending with him proudly declaring himself "rebel scum" before Phasma falls to her demise. BB-8, aboard a First Order AT-ST, rescues Finn and Rose from stormtroopers and the three of them very narrowly escape to Crait aboard a damaged shuttle.
As the First Order prepares an attack on the formerly abandoned Rebel base on Crait, Finn recognizes the weaponry that they plan to use to destroy the blast doors and leads a small strike on the First Order with the intention of disabling the superlaser siege cannon. The attack goes poorly, and Poe orders all fighters to retreat, but Finn is determined to destroy the cannon and flies directly into the blast, planning to sacrifice himself to defeat the First Order. At the last second, Rose stops him by ramming her speeder into his, pushing him out of the blast. Finn asks her why she stopped him, and she tells him that wars are won "not by fighting what we hate, but saving what we love;" she then kisses him before falling unconscious. Finn brings her body back to the Rebel base and summons a medic for her. When Luke Skywalker presents himself on Crait, Finn's first instinct is to send forces to help him, but Poe realizes that Luke is stalling to give the Resistance time to escape from Crait. Finn and Poe lead the Resistance off the planet, and Finn finally reunites with Rey, and embraces her before boarding the Millennium Falcon. Finn is last seen putting a blanket over the still unconscious Rose.
A year later, Finn along with Poe, Chewbacca, Klaud, and R2-D2 take the Millennium Falcon to Sinta Glacier Colony under the orders of General Organa to uncover information on the Emperor Palpatine after the presumed deceased Sith Lord broadcasted his revenge throughout the galaxy. Arriving at their destination, Finn meets with the Resistance's contact, Boolio who informs him that there is a spy in the First Order who gives him information on Palpatine's return.
Prior to John Boyega's casting in the film, Finn was portrayed as Caucasian in many pieces of pre-production concept art.
During the global casting call for Episode VII, Finn was referred to as "Thomas" in the audition scripts.
Pre-release marketing for The Force Awakens falsely implied that Finn would be the main character, as he was the only character other than Kylo Ren to be shown wielding a lightsaber. This was done to hide Rey’s role as the true protagonist.
Finn's stormtrooper name FN-2187 is a reference to the cell serial number that Princess Leia was imprisoned in in Star Wars: A New Hope and the short film 21-87.
In Legends, Kyle Katarn shares similarities with Finn as he is a former Imperial Stormtrooper who discovered his Force-sensitivity and used a lightsaber.
Before this reveal, some fans believed that Finn was trying to make a love confession to Rey, despite Finn telling Poe in the canon novel Resistance Reborn (set before the events of The Rise of Skywalker) that he has no romantic feelings for her as they are just friends.[6][7][8] John Boyega later also clarified this on his twitter account, stating that Finn was not trying to say "I love you" to Rey before sinking in the quicksand on Pasaana.[9]
John Boyega on his twitter, and Naomi Ackie (Jannah's actress) in an interview, confirmed that Finn and Jannah have a romantic interest in each other in Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker.[3][4]