FN-2187

FN-2187, also known as Finn, is a fictional soldier-turned-freedom fighter and one of the main characters in the Star Wars multimedia franchise. Played by actor John Boyega, he appeared in the 2015 movie Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens.

Early life
The early life of the man who would one day become known as Finn is something of a mystery. He was born of a human family, but taken as an infant by the First Order where he was raised to become part of their Stormtrooper division. Per the edicts of General Hux, Stormtroopers underwent intense behavioral conditioning to insure obedience during their development. Like all troopers, this man was not given a name, but a serial number: FN-2187. 2187 served under Captain Phasma on the Finalizer. In addition to his duties as a Stormtrooper, FN-2187 also worked on the ship as a janitor.

FN-2187 was a little different from his peers however, and believed that human life held great value, even beyond the discipline governed by the First Order. Captain Phasma regarded him as an exceptional trooper, but also sensed that he needed to be watched rather closely. She made it a point to remember his designation (as she did with all the troopers under her command) and could identify him on sight. FN-2187 became friends with another trooper designated FN-2003.

Massacre on Jakku & Defection
"I was raised to do one thing... but I've got nothing to fight for."

- Finn

The First Order sent a squadron of Stormtroopers, led by First Order commander Kylo Ren to the village of Tuanul on the planet Jakku. They were tracking a member of the Republic Resistance who had made contact with a villager named Lor San Tekka, who had a portion of a map leading the way to the last of the Jedi, Luke Skywalker. The Resistance pilot, Poe Dameron, retrieved the information from Lor San Tekka and placed it within the safety of his astromech droid, BB-8. Kylo Ren slew Lor San Tekka, and captured Poe Dameron, but not before he could hide the data chip. Afterward, he ordered the stormtroopers to slaughter every remaining member of the village.

The squadron opened fire on the innocent villagers without hesitation, some of whom, even used flame weapons to incinerate them. Poe Dameron fought back, firing at the troopers, and dealing a lethal shot to FN-2003. FN-2187 knelt at the body of his dying friend, who wiped a bloody hand-print upon 2187's helmet. This awakened something inside of 2187 and from that point on, he knew his conscience could not allow him to continue following the murderous ways of the First Order.

When 2187 returned to the Finalizer, he knew he had to escape by any means necessary. He freed Poe Dameron and asked him if he could pilot a TIE fighter. In exchange for freeing him, 2187 wanted Poe to help him defect from the First Order. The two sneaked into the fighter wing bay and stole a TIE fighter with Poe piloting it, and 2187 serving as gunner. The ship was still moored down however, so 2187 had to shoot the cable line, as well as several troopers who were ordered to stop this unauthorized launch. Once freed, Poe and 2187 zoomed out of the ship.

Return to Jakku
Flying back towards Jakku, they had to avoid pursuing fighters. Poe asked FN-2187 what his name was, but after he told him, he said that he wasn't going to call him that. Instead, he opted to call him Finn - a name that 2187 took a liking to. Poe told him that he left an orange and white droid behind on Jakku, which contained information that was vital to the Resistance, and had to be returned to them. Their TIE fighter was then hit by a missile and spiraled down through Jakku's atmosphere, crashing somewhere near the Goazan Badlands. Finn emerged from the wreckage, but it appeared as if Poe had been killed. Finn shed his Stormtrooper armor and took Poe's flight jacket. After which, the ruined fighter collapsed into a massive sinkhole and was gone forever.

Finn traversed the arid desert wasteland until the came to Niima Outpost. Exhausted, and suffering from dehydration, he had to fight his through a crowd to get to a water trough, which was currently being used by a giant happabore. The creature did not care to share his repast with Finn, and knocked him away.

Finn righted himself and then took note of a young woman fighting off a band of thugs. What caught his interest even more than the woman's skill however, was the small orange and white astromech droid at her side. Finn knew this had to be the droid that Poe Dameron spoke of. The droid, BB-8, saw Finn and recognized Poe Dameron's jacket. It pointed this out to the young woman, whose name was Rey, who caught up with Finn and questioned him. Not wanting to reveal that he was formerly a Stormtrooper, he lied and said that he was an important member of the Resistance. When prompted about how he came to acquire the jacket, Finn solemnly told BB-8 that his master did not survive the crash. Finn recounted to Rey what Poe had told him about the map inside of BB-8 and how they had to get it back to the Resistance.

Shortly thereafter, the First Order TIE fighter squadrons tracked them down, and began pursuing them. Finn, Rey, and BB-8 fled, racing out of Niima Outpost towards a large starfighter. The ship they sought to escape on exploded as TIE fighter fire rained down upon them, so they were forced to make do with a less attractive looking freighter craft - the Millennium Falcon.

Rey piloted the craft, while Finn and BB-8 struggled to keep hold. The TIE fighters kept after them as Rey threaded the Falcon through the innards of a downed Imperial Star Destroyer left behind from the Battle of Jakku thirty years earlier. As she exited the cruiser, she made the jump to hyperspace and they were safely away.

Settling down for a bit, Finn convinced BB-8 to help him maintain his lie about being a member of the Resistance. BB-8 found himself trusting Finn and agreed to help. He told Finn that the Resistance base was located in the Ileenium system.

The Eravana
Shortly thereafter, the Falcon was overtaken by a larger freighter craft, the Eravana. Piloting the Eravana was the original owner of the Millennium Falcon - Han Solo, and his wookiee co-pilot, Chewbacca. Rey recognized Han Solo by name and reputation and Finn explained how the droid had a map to Luke Skywalker. This brought back a wave of memories for Solo who understood why finding Skywalker was so important, and gave them a quick explanation as to the nature of the Force. As such, they agreed to help them get to the Ileenium system, once they effected some repairs on the Falcon.

The Eravana was boarded by two criminal gangs at this point: The Kanjiklub and the Guavian Death Gang, both of whom had unfinished business to settle with Solo. Han didn't want Rey and Finn involved in this mess, so he placed them inside a lower hold in the ship while he dealt with the rival gangs. Bala-Tik, leader of the Guavian Death Gang saw BB-8 and knew that a bounty had already been placed upon the droid - a bounty he meant to collect.

Finn and Rey made their way through the underbelly of the ship to avoid detection, but they knew that Han and Chewie were in serious trouble. Rey accidentally opened a cargo hold, releasing three immense creatures called Rathtars that Han had acquired. The Rathtars wreaked havoc through the ship, killing most of the Kanjiklub and Guavian gangsters. One of the Rathtar tentacles wrapped itself around Finn and began dragging through the corridors towards certain doom. Rey managed to save Finn by closing one of the blast doors, severing the tentacle.

Once they met back up with Han and Chewie, they raced back to the Falcon and escaped.

Takodana
"Listen, "Big Deal". You've got another problem. Women always figure out the truth. Always."

- Han Solo

Han took the group to the planet Takodana to meet with an old friend of his, Maz Kanata. It was at this point that Finn finally confessed the truth to Rey, stating that he was not a member of the Resistance, and that he was actually a Stormtrooper who had betrayed the First Order. He was asked to become a member of the Resistance for real, but turned it down, seeking only to escape from all of this craziness. He consulted with a pilot at Maz's castle named Sidon Ithano, and tried to book passage off-world.

As luck would have it, a spy in the lounge recognized BB-8 and secretly contacted the First Order. The First Order sent in a ground assault unit of Stormtroopers as well as an aerial assault squadron of TIE fighters. The Resistance likewise learned of the skirmish about to take place and sent in their own X-wing fighter squadron as a counter-offensive. Leading the Resistance attack was Poe Dameron, who had miraculously survived the crash on Jakku and somehow made his way back to the Resistance.

During the skirmish, Maz Kanata handed Finn a very unique weapon - the lightsaber once owned by Luke Skywalker himself. Finn did not possess any obvious ties to the Force, and had no idea how to wield a lightsaber, but he brandished it anyway and even fought up against one of his old squadmates, FN-2199, who used a Z6 riot control baton. Finn was unable to defeat this old colleague, but Han Solo took him down using Chewbacca's bowcaster. Finn, Han and Chewbacca were captured by the First Order, but were liberated after Poe Dameron's flight group repelled the invaders. During the fighting however, Rey was captured by Kylo Ren and taken back to the First Order's headquarters at Starkiller Base.

The Battle of Starkiller Base
"We'll figure it out. We'll use the Force."

- Finn

Finn accompanied Solo, Chewbacca and BB-8 aboard the Falcon back to the Resistance headquarters on D'Qar. It was here that Finn was reunited with Poe Dameron. The data chip from BB-8 was retrieved and given to Resistance leader, General Leia Organa. A meeting was held, in which the Resistance planned an attack against Starkiller Base, which had now targeted D'Qar with their super-weapon. Finn's expertise provided valuable insight into the layout of the base as well as how the weapon operated.

Finn was part of a two-pronged campaign to destroy the base, hough his primary objective was to rescue Rey. The strategy involved Han, Chewbacca and Finn entering the base to place explosive charges at key points, whereby a fighter squadron could then target select areas within a thermal oscillator, which would cause the base to explode while it was powering up it super-weapon. Finn, Solo and Chewbacca landed on the planet and infiltrated the base. They encountered Finn's former superior officer, Captain Phasma and captured her. Finn delighted in taunting her, shouting "I'm in charge now, Phasma! I'm in charge!" After getting the information they required from her, they decided to discard her inside of a trash compactor.

Finn, solo, and Chewbacca reunited with Rey, who had managed to free herself from captivity. While placing the charges, Finn watched as Han Solo confronted Kylo Ren, who was his son. He watched in horror as Kylo slew solo with a lightsaber. After the charges were placed, Finn, Rey and Chewbacca had to make a hasty exit from the base.

Outside in the snow-capped forests, Finn ran into Kylo Ren. He ignited Luke's lightsaber and dueled with him, but Kylo Ren was a much more able-bodied combatant, and also had the benefit of the Force on his side. Kylo swung his saber across Finn's back, dealing him a crippling blow that rendered him unconscious. Rey, who had come to discover that she was strong in the Force, took Luke's saber and fought with Kylo Ren, ultimately defeating him. She took the comatose Finn back to the Falcon, and they flew off as Starkiller Base was destroyed.

Finn was brought back to D'Qar to be nursed back to health and was placed in intensive care. Rey was greatly distressed by his condition, having formed a strong bond with Finn through their short time together. She tearfully kissed him upon his forehead before embarking upon her own personal journey - the search for Luke Skywalker.

Notes & Trivia



 * Finn's Stormtrooper designation 2187, was also the number of the prison cell in Cell Block AA-23 in Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope. This was the cell that Princess Leia was kept captive in. Han Solo references the number with the line, "Now we just have to find out what cell this princess of yours is in. Here it is. 2187. You go and get her, I'll hold them here".


 * The 2187 designation is also taken from a 1964 independent film short by Arthur Lipsett called 21-87. Franchise creator George Lucas was deeply impacted by this film back when he was a student at the University of Southern California (USC) Cinema School.


 * Andre Meadows provided the voice for Finn in the Star Wars: The Force Awakens sketch on How It Should Have Ended.


 * Finn was the first human character featured in the first teaser trailer for Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens.


 * This is actor John Boyega's fifth film role, and his second work in the science fiction genre. Boyega's first professional film work was the 2011 sci-fi/comedy, Attack the Block, in which he played the leading male role of Moses. In fact, it was Boyega's work in Attack the Block that attracted J.J. Abrams to approach him about being cast in a Star Wars movie.


 * At the time of the release of Star Wars: The Force Awakens, many fans have speculated whether there might be some family connection between Finn and Lando Calrissian from the original trilogy, or perhaps even going further back to Mace Windu from the prequel trilogy. The Lando theory is also derived from the fact that he is the only main original series cast member who was not included in Episode VII, nor is there any reference made to his character. Aside from the obvious fact that both characters are black, there is also an indirect tongue-in-cheek point of commonality between the two. At the end of Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back, Lando ditches his traditional attire in favor of wearing Han Solo's clothes (a point that is really driven home by Brian Griffin/Chewbacca in the satire film Family Guy: Something, Something, Something, Dark Side). In the beginning of Episode VII, Finn discards his Stormtrooper armor and begins wearing Poe Dameron's jacket. Perhaps taking other people's clothes runs in the family?


 * Finn only referred to Chewbacca as Chewie, mostly because this is the only name he knew him by. At no point is he ever referred to as Chewbacca in the film.