Finn

In 1 BBY, over a decade before Finn's birth, the Jedi Padawan Ezra Bridger heard the voice of Rey swearing to Finn that they would see each other again, during his visit to the World Between Worlds—a realm that existed beyond time and space.

The boy who would become Finn was taken at the age of three from his family to serve the First Order. Finn later reflected that he had been too young to even remember who his family was. The child received the designation FN-2187 and was made a stormtrooper of the First Order, a military junta that continued the ideals of the fallen Galactic Empire in the decades after the Galactic Civil War. During FN-2187's childhood, FN-1971 was somehow able to sneak in Kade Genti comics. Even though they were not regulation and the First Order would have sent the children to reprogramming if they learned about the contraband, FN-2187 enjoyed the comics.

FN-2187 served under Phasma as a cadet, alongside fellow troopers FN-2199 "Nines," FN-2000 "Zeroes," and FN-2003 "Slip." FN-2187, known to his fellow troopers as Eight-Seven, was seen by his comrades and superiors as an ideal First Order stormtrooper, and consistently scored top marks as a cadet. As a cadet, he appreciated and understood his squad's Stormtrooper armor, but took pleasure in the moments when he could see their personalities and diverse faces.

Following this aboard the Finalizer, groups of stormtroopers went on Atmospheric Assault Landers to investigate GUHL-JO387O, a planet in the Outer Rim Territories. GUHL-JO3870 was known to be muddy and FN-2187 complained about scrubbing assault landers. While scrubbing the assault landers, a creature from the surface of GUHL-JO387O, came aboard one of the assault landers. The multi-armed, purple, furry creature lunged at Finn, causing him to stop cleaning, and run towards a Special Forces TIE fighter, knocking off his helmet and sending the creature away. Remembering Phasma's strict training, Finn noticed the creature stealing his helmet, and gave chase.

He chased the creature all around the Finalizer, preventing its discovery even as it shut off the lights on a formal meeting with Kylo Ren, General Armitage Hux and other First Order officers, and Ren used his lightsaber to illuminate the room. Concerned about Ren's reaction, FN-2187 continued to chase the creature into the a chamber. There, it found Phasma's helmet, for which it discarded Finn's. As he realized this was her quarters and she was showering, Ren knocked on the door. Using the helmet, Finn went to the length of impersonating Phasma in order to fool the fallen Jedi as he gave orders to find the creature.

Later, arriving on GUHL-JO387O with the rest of the First Order, Finn thought he finally had a chance to release the creature, but discovered it escaped its box and took control of the AAL. It lifted the transport into the air and drove it straight at Captain Phasma, crashing into the mud and sending Finn out the front ramp. Phasma ordered FN-2187 to eliminate the creature, but Finn, envisioning betraying Phasma and facing the consequences, decided to leave the creature be. Especially considering the larger and more fearsome members of its species closing in on the First Order squad from all directions. Lambasting FN-2187 for his lack of helmet, Phasma ordered a retreat from GUHL-JO3870.

Sometime after, FN-2187 and a group of stormtroopers including am officer were deployed to a sunny jungle planet. While patrolling, a yellow and blue Kowakian monkey-lizard got on Eight-Seven's shoulder and pulled off his helmet. This yet-again revealed his face, and made Finn lose grip of his blaster, causing the other stormtroopers from the squad look at him. The monkey-lizard laughed furiously from the prank he made, while Eight-Seven looked rather uncomfortable. At some point later C-3PO told this story to some visitors and described it as "comical."

FN-2187 was also once in charge of sanitation duties at Starkiller Base. At one point, he and another trooper were cleaning the Base, and FN-2187 was enjoying himself, being playful with his mop. Suddenly, Kylo Ren and Phasma passed by. Confused on what to do, Finn saluted with the mop. Staring down Kylo Ren directly, the mop dripped on Finn and Ren passed by. After a short relief, he was then ordered to help a group of stormtroopers clear out a 'blockage' in a tunnel. Joining a cleaning crew of armed Stormtroopers and Flametroopers, Finn spoke to a terrified man who described the infestation as full of rage and fury. The group made their way into the tunnel before being halted by a deafening screech, following by the decapitation of one of the troopers. The group engaged the purple tunnel bats, Finn even saving the captain, Bray (stormtrooper) by using a flamethrower against the swarming bats.

After questioning the captain's decisions, Finn was criticized for complaining, and punished with an order to trash escort duty, which took three weeks. During trash escort duty, Finn stumbled upon a crack in the tunnel's wall, leading to a chamber full of blue, glowing, flower-like structures. Realizing this wasn't an infestation as was in fact the creature's native home, FN-2187 attempted to convince the captain to save the tunnel bats, to no avail. Hatching a different plan, Finn accompanied the 'trash' to the junk planet Garbage Moon of Maher, where he revealed to the garbage barge pilot, Marialew, that he had smuggled the tunnel bats out of the Base. She decided not to turn him in, saying that compassion was dangerous to a stormtrooper, but a little rebellion was good.

During the time FN-2187 was stationed aboard the Finalizer, his destroyer occasionally docked with the First Order's massive spacefaring capital, the Mega-class Star Dreadnought Supremacy. While aboard the Supremacy after his defection, Finn felt guilty that he was unable to tell the Resistance that the First Order possessed a starship with capabilities as deadly as the Supremacys. While serving the First Order, FN-2187 was selected a few times for executioner trooper duty, and hoped he would never be ordered to carry out any executions.

During his time as a cadet, Eight-Seven and his fellow troopers underwent a training simulation in which they assaulted a New Republic bunker, with the intention of destroying a heavy repeating blaster manned by Republic soldiers. During their advance on the bunker, Slip fell behind—a common occurrence—and Eight-Seven intended to rescue him. Over the objections of Zeroes and Nines, who wanted to complete their objective and felt that rescuing Slip would lead the Republic to take them all out, Eight-Seven ordered them to rescue their fellow soldier. Eight-Seven sent Zeroes and Nines in different directions in order to divide the Republic's attention, while Eight-Seven himself went for Slip and successfully rescued him. Though Zeroes and Nines were pinned down, their diversion gave Eight-Seven a clear path into the Republic bunker, into which he threw a grenade and destroyed the blaster before the Republic could react to his attack.

The simulation was monitored by Captain Phasma and General Hux. After the training session ended, Phasma spoke to the troopers and told them that their performance was adequate. Each was given a review of their performance, with Eight-Seven being commended on his kill rate and the completion of his objective. She further said that his fellow soldiers should follow his example. The other troopers were dismissed, but Eight-Seven was ordered to stay so Phasma could question why he rescued Slip, as it was not the first time Eight-Seven had to help him. Phasma ordered him to stop, as she said the First Order was only as strong as its weakest link. Rather than fixing the problem, Phasma said he was allowing it to persist and weaken the group. Phasma sensed hesitation on his part, but he assured her that he would stop helping Slip.

Following this incident, FN-2187 and his fellow troopers were deployed to a mining colony in an artificial asteroid field known as Pressy's Tumble in the Pressylla system of the Outer Rim Territories. Captain Phasma informed the Stormtroopers there that the purpose of their visit was to 'restore order' after Republic agents had allegedly infiltrated the mining operations, sabotaged equipment and created dissent among the miners there. In reality, the miners had staged a strike to protest the harsh working conditions. Upon arrival, Captain Phasma took FN-2187's unit to a room of negotiators. Captain Phasma then gave the order that the troopers execute the negotiators. FN-2187 aimed his rifle at an Abednedo negotiator, yet couldn't bring himself to shoot—Slip attacked the negotiator instead. Upon returning from Pressylla, FN-2187 and his fellow troopers were officially recognized as full-fledged Stormtroopers. Captain Phasma decided that FN-2187 ought to be deployed in an upcoming battle on Jakku, thinking that he would understand what it meant to be a Stormtrooper and fight back when brought face-to-face with those attacking him back.

Soon after, FN-2187 and his fellow troopers were assigned to a mission to the desert junkyard planet of Jakku, where Lor San Tekka, a former explorer and devout member of the Church of the Force, allegedly held part of a map that would lead to the location of Luke Skywalker, the last of the Jedi.

FN-2187 was onboard the Star Destroyer Finalizer, heading towards Jakku, when he underwent another training program in a simulation room, accompanied by fellow Stormtroopers FN-2199, FN-2003 and FN-2000. The program was set in a village in Jakku, setup to prepare them for their oncoming mission. During the course of the program, FN-2187 managed to take out most of the enemy targets that presented themselves, with his whole squad making jokes about his perfect marksmanship and how he wasn't leaving anything for the rest of them to do. The simulation finally came to a stop when FN-2187 ordered them all to get down upon wrongly believing that one of the 'targets' had been holding a grenade, when in fact it had been a civilian holding a harmless object. Most of them showed relief that they had not fired upon the civilian as they considered that it posed no threat. A nameless voice then sounded over the intercom ordering them to assemble in the hangar for deployment.

The First Order's intimidating AALs arriving on the surface, FN-2187 was deployed along with 4 elite First Order squadrons of Stormtroopers, to the village of Tuanul. The village was populated by members of the Church of the Force, and they began to put up a fight against the invaders. The First Order assaulted the village looking for San Tekka, and during the fighting, 2187's friend FN-2003 was killed by Resistance pilot Poe Dameron, wiping his blood on FN-2187's helmet. This incident affected the Stormtrooper deeply, opening his eyes to the horrors of war. Later, after San Tekka's death, and when ordered by Kylo Ren to kill the villagers, 2187 refused to fire, of which Ren took note, staring him down.

Returning to the Finalizer, Eight-Seven felt significant stress from the mission, taking off his helmet inside an AAL to breathe. Captain Phasma quickly noticed his distress and lack of helmet, and told him to submit his blaster to be checked, making sure he fired a shot. Knowing he would be discovered and subjected to reconditioning for not firing on the villagers, and with his faith severely shaken in the First Order, he decided to desert. Needing a pilot, 2187 secretly freed the imprisoned Poe Dameron, and the two stole a Special Forces TIE Fighter. FN-2187 manned the guns, killing several of his former comrades in the hangar, and then disabling the Finalizers turbolasers.

During the escape, Dameron asked the Stormtrooper his name, to which he replied with his number. Not content with calling a man a number, Dameron named the trooper Finn, from the FN in his number. Finn liked the name and went on to use it. Dameron also told him that the map vital to the Resistance was located in his white and orange BB-series astromech droid, BB-8. Finn demanded not to return to Jakku, insisting that they would be killed, but Dameron pressed on, revealing to Finn that the map led to Luke Skywalker. The TIE was hit immediately afterward by a missile, sending it spiraling down to a crash landing in the Goazon Badlands.

Finn ejected from the TIE when Dameron triggered the ejector seat. Unfortunately, Dameron's jacket was caught in the ejector mechanism for the ship, which prevented him from escaping. Left with no choice, Dameron piloted the TIE to a crash landing in the aftermath of which he was thrown clear of the crash and knocked unconscious.

Waking up alone in the desert, Finn was shocked and breathing very heavily, before noticing a trail of smoke in the distance. Making his way to the crash, Finn found Poe's jacket, but no other sign of the man, and the fighter sank into the sand. Believing Dameron to be dead, Finn discarded his armor as he wandered through the desert, eventually arriving at Niima Outpost, looking for BB-8 to carry on Poe's mission.

Once at the settlement, he found BB-8 along with a scavenger named Rey, after witnessing her and the droid be attacked by a pair of thugs. He attempted to aid them but stopped when the young woman was able to defeat them with her quarterstaff. Soon after, BB-8 pointed him out to Rey, identifying Dameron's jacket, prompting the woman to chase after him. Finn attempted to outrun her but Rey caught up to him and smacked him with her quarterstaff. Held under questioning and accused of stealing Dameron's jacket, while also being on the receiving end of a couple of electric shocks from BB-8's arc welder, Finn explained that he and Dameron had escaped from the Finalizer, and falsely claimed to be with the Resistance to get them to trust him. The three were immediately targeted by the First Order and fled, initially hoping to commandeer a quadjumper, but after the quadjumper was destroyed by orbital fire from First Order TIE fighters, decided to commandeer an old freighter: the Millennium Falcon. Finn operated one of the Falcons quad laser cannons while Rey piloted the ship. Despite the cannon getting stuck in forward position, Finn managed to destroy one of the pursuing fighters after Rey managed some clever maneuvering.

Once in space, the Falcon was in need of major repairs, so Rey and Finn attempted to fix the aging ship. Finn then confessed to BB-8 that he wasn't with the Resistance and tried convincing the droid to tell him where the Resistance base was. After some consideration, BB-8 revealed that the Resistance base was in the Ileenium system. Just after Rey had completed the repairs, the ship was caught in a tractor beam. Finn initially believed them to be captured by the First Order, and thus had Rey undo her repairs to flood the Falcon with poisonous gas, explaining that stormtrooper helmets filter out smoke, not toxins. Putting on breather masks, Finn, along with Rey and BB-8, hid in the maintenance duct.

Instead of the First Order, the Millennium Falcon was boarded by the smuggler Han Solo and his Wookiee co-pilot Chewbacca, who reclaimed their vessel after it had been stolen from them years earlier. Solo initially mistook Finn and his companions for thieves and questioned them. Finn and Rey quickly recognized Han Solo as the Rebellion general and the famous smuggler and owner of the Falcon. Having found his stolen ship, Solo told Chewbacca to put Finn and his traveling companions in an escape pod and drop them off in the nearest inhabited system. However, Finn and Rey convinced Solo and Chewie not to do so by explaining that they needed his help to take BB-8 to the Resistance because the droid had a map that would lead them to Luke Skywalker.

Unfortunately, Han's freighter, the Eravana had been boarded by two notorious criminal factions, the Guavian Death Gang and Kanjiklub, whom Solo was indebted to. Not wanting Rey and Finn to be involved, Han placed both of them in the lower corridors of the freighter while he and Chewie went to meet with the criminals, with BB-8 accompanying them. The smuggler tried but failed to convince both parties that he would fix things eventually.

The Guavian Death Gang negotiator Bala-Tik recognized the BB-8 astromech droid from a First Order bounty placed on it and demanded that Han hand over the droid and any stowaways he might have on board. As the scuffle continued, Rey accidentally released three rathtars that Solo had been transporting for King Prana while trying to separate the gangs from the smugglers using the blast doors. Finn was briefly captured by one rathtar and dragged off, but Rey managed to sever the rathtar's tentacles by closing a blast door on it. They successfully escaped the gangs and jumped into hyperspace in the Falcon. Bala-Tik then ordered his men to inform the First Order that Han Solo and the droid unit had fled aboard the Falcon.

Upon entering hyperspace, Finn tended to Chewbacca's injuries but the Wookiee proved a challenging patient to treat. During the journey, Solo got BB-8 to display the map that he was carrying. However, the map was incomplete and turned out to be a portion of a much larger map. Finn and Rey learned from Solo that Luke Skywalker had been trying to restore the Jedi Order. However, a male apprentice had turned against Skywalker and undone his efforts. Skywalker had since vanished from the galaxy completely. Solo believed that Luke had gone to find the legendary First Jedi Temple. Not wanting to deliver Finn, Rey, and BB-8 to the Resistance directly, Solo planned to take them to the planet Takodana where he could find suitable transportation for them.

On the trip to Takodana, Finn stayed with Chewbacca while Rey worked with Solo in the cockpit. At some point during the trip, the Millennium Falcon suddenly sputtered out of hyperspace. As Rey ran to Finn and Chewbacca, Finn asked Rey what was happening. She explained that there was a potential tracking device somewhere on the ship and conversed with Chewbacca on where the tracker may be located. Finn asked what Chewbacca was saying and Rey clarified that Chewbacca believed that the tracker could be near the active sensor pulse generator but Finn was confused and apologized for asking. Finn then followed Rey and Chewbacca to the generator with the latter discovering the tracker hidden behind a panel. Finn rushed over and removed the tracker, unknowingly beginning a countdown on the tracker's self-destruct mechanism. Rey quickly exclaimed that the tracker was rigged with an explosive and they had to expunge it through the airlock as Finn asked how much time they had. Chewbacca suddenly grabbed the tracker out of Finn's hands, running for the airlock as Rey explained that the tracker had only twenty seconds until detonation. Finn now realized how fast they had to move and ran to the cockpit to warn Solo. As Finn entered the cockpit, Solo informed him that the hyperdrive was back online but was quickly interrupted by Finn telling him that there was a bomb aboard the ship and he needed to get the hyperdrive ready for a quick jump. Rey and Chewbacca managed to remove the tracker and as the Millennium Falcon entered hyperspace, the tracking device exploded behind. Shortly after reentering hyperspace, Finn joined Solo, Rey, Chewbacca, and BB-8 in the cockpit as Rey turned to everyone and remarked at how great of a team they made.

After landing on Takodana, Finn and his companions visited the pirate and tavern keeper Maz Kanata's castle, which served as an inn and bar for space. Finn also managed to meet Maz herself, who counseled him to stop running and fight. Finn was then asked to join the Resistance in its struggle against the First Order, but Finn initially refused, believing the First Order to be too powerful. He then confessed to Rey his true identity as a stormtrooper and stated that he was never going back to the First Order. After she declined his offer to join him in escaping the conflict, he wished her well. He planned to leave with pirate Captain Sidon Ithano, who offered him transportation to the Outer Rim Territories in exchange for work.

While loading the Meson Martinet for his departure with Captain Ithano, Finn looked up and witnessed the Hosnian Cataclysm, realizing that the First Order had finally launched its attack on the New Republic. After he ran back to the castle and reunited with Han, Chewbacca, and BB-8, Finn and his companions went to find Rey. Venturing into the basement of Maz Kanata's castle, they found Maz, who gave Finn the lightsaber that had once belonged to the Jedi Knights Anakin and Luke Skywalker, which she had been holding on to. She instructed Finn find his friend Rey, who had previously discovered the object and fled into the surrounding forest after experiencing a Force vision.

Shortly later, Maz Kanata's castle was attacked by the First Order, who had been alerted to the presence of BB-8 by the spy Bazine Netal. During the ensuing battle, Finn questioned himself having a weapon, but was reminded by Maz that he had one. Finn wielded the lightsaber, killing at least one stormtrooper and engaging in a duel with FN-2199, who brandished a Z6 riot control baton. He was unable to defeat Nines, his old friend, who was shot by Han Solo wielding Chewbacca's bowcaster. Finn, Solo, and Chewbacca were then captured by First Order Stormtroopers, but made an escape when the Resistance's X-Wings arrived across Nymeve Lake and counterattacked. Finn witnessed Kylo Ren carrying off Rey into his command shuttle and ran to rescue her, but could do little to help as Ren left the battlefield.

In a Resistance transport, Finn traveled with Solo, Chewbacca, and BB-8 to the Resistance base on D'Qar, where he was reunited with Poe Dameron, who had survived the crash on Jakku and was surprised to see Finn. Poe remarked that his old jacket fit the former Stormtrooper and told him to keep it. Finn also met General Leia Organa who praised him for renouncing the First Order and helping Poe escape. Finn then discussed the details of Starkiller Base to Admiral Ackbar.

Finn was later present during the meeting held to discuss the attack on Starkiller Base– which needed to happen before the battle station recharged its weapon. His knowledge of the superweapon proved invaluable in planning the attack, as he spoke about its thermal oscillator being a weak point. He volunteered to go with Solo and Chewbacca on the Falcon to shut down the shield generator on the planet's oscillator, but was secretly more interested in rescuing Rey.

After hyperspace jumping through its shields, and crash-landing on the planet, Finn revealed to Han and Chewie that he used to work on sanitation on Starkiller Base, much to Solo's annoyance. Finn devised a plan to lower the shield around the planet, which would allow the Resistance pilots to attack the thermal oscillator and destroy the weapon. While sneaking around the secretive facility, Chewbacca captured Captain Phasma, and the three, including an overly confident Finn, forced her to lower the shield. She warned them that her troops would storm in and kill them all, but Solo shrugged off her warning, asking Finn if there happened to be any convenient trash compactors in the base and they were able to dump her into one via garbage chute.

The three then discovered Rey, who had escaped by herself by using her burgeoning Force powers. Escaping outside and needing to reach the oscillator, Finn and Rey stole one of the First Order's Light Infantry Utility Vehicle snowspeeders, using it to traverse the long distance. Finn gave Rey the jacket to keep her warm, and they set off. Quickly pursued by several more snowspeeders being flown by First Order Snowtroopers. Rey began to shoot at their pursuers from her seat, but the two switched places as they drove into the cover of a forest. Finn shot a pile of snow, knocking it on one of the snowspeeders and disabling it, while targeting the others' engines. Finn's blaster was shot out of his hand just before Rey jumped their snowspeeder over a large chasm, ridding them of their pursuers. The two then decided that from then on, Rey would fly and Finn would shoot.

At the oscillator, Rey and Finn went to set charges, and upon their return, witnessed Han Solo confront Kylo Ren, who was revealed to be Han's son Ben Solo. After witnessing Kylo murder his father, Rey and Finn attempted to escape through the woods, but were met with Kylo again, blocking their path. Rey attempted to use her blaster against Kylo, but he threw Rey back with a Force push and knocked her out. Finn, horrified, rushed to Rey's side while Ren angrily called him a traitor. An enraged Finn then ignited the lightsaber, which Ren claimed rightfully belonged to him. Finn challenged him to "come and get it" before engaging him in a duel. Though Finn briefly held his own, even with him having no training with a lightsaber, he was ultimately no match for the dark warrior, though he did manage to stab Ren in the arm. In his defeat, Finn was disarmed and suffered wounds to his shoulder and spine. Badly injured, Finn was overcome by pain and his muscles went limp. He could hear lightsabers clashing around him, but as the pain increased, he could no longer fight the darkness overcoming him. As he fell into unconsciousness, his last thought was of Rey.

After Finn was disabled, Rey regained consciousness and used the Force to retrieve the lightsaber and defeat Kylo. Rey took Finn to Chewbacca aboard the Millennium Falcon, and left him in intensive care at the Resistance base in a coma. Rey wished him a heartfelt goodbye, kissed his forehead, thanked him for everything, and declared that they would meet again before she departed to find Luke Skywalker.

Finn awoke in a flexpoly bacta suit onboard the star cruiser Raddus after the Resistance fled D'Qar. Greeted by Poe, he asked where Rey was, and learned that she had gone to Ahch-To to retrieve Master Skywalker. The First Order intercepted the Resistance fleet when it emerged from hyperspace in the Crait system, attacking and destroying the bridge. General Organa survived, but was gravely injured and taken to the medbay. Finn picked up the transponder beacon that Organa was using to let Rey know their location, and decided he was going to flee so she would not get caught up in the First Order's attack. He then made his way to one of the escape pods where he was intercepted by Rose Tico, a former flight engineer and current maintenance worker whose sister Paige had perished in the First Order's attack, and had been assigned to guard the pods from deserters.

Rose was initially enamored with Finn, who she saw as a Resistance hero, but noticed that he had packed a bag and realized he was planning to desert. Rose stunned Finn and placed his body on a cart to try to haul him to the brig. When Finn awoke, he told Rose about Rey and that the First Order could track the fleet through hyperspace. The two then began to devise a plan to shut down the tracker aboard the Supremacy and allow the fleet to jump away, saving both the Resistance and Rey.

The two presented their plan to Poe, who agreed to sanction it without the knowledge of the fleet's new commander, Vice Admiral Amilyn Holdo. Needing clearance codes to board the Supremacy, they contacted Maz Kanata, who directed them instead to the Master Codebreaker, who they would find at the casino in Canto Bight, a city on the planet Cantonica. Finn gave Poe Leia's tracker.

Finn, along with Rose and BB-8 departed for Cantonica. As they began their descent near the planet's atmosphere however, they were interrupted by the passing of an unknown floating tentacled alien that emitted electric currents around its body. As it ascended above them, some of the tentacles hit the shuttle, causing a surge of electricity to travel within the ship and temporarily disable BB-8, who had been helping steer the shuttle. Rose then asked Finn to take over as she busied herself with the task of fixing the droid. Finn voiced his concerns regarding his own piloting abilities, but Rose pointed out that they didn't have much of a choice. As they descended further, Finn then saw and pointed out to Rose that there appeared to be more of the unknown alien creatures. As he did his best to navigate them through the flock, Finn saw one of the creatures quickly appear on an apparent collision course. Finn called out to BB-8. Luckily for him, Rose was just about done fixing the droid. BB-8 then resumed control of the ship which allowed them to avoid coming into contact with any of the creatures. As they floated off into safety, Finn inquired about BB-8's condition, which the droid replied to by way of extending his built-in torch. Rose and Finn then complimented the droid as well as each other before proceeding to the rest of their mission.

They crashed their shuttle on a private beach and entered the casino, despite an Abednedo businessman named Slowen Lo trying to stop them. Finn was amazed by the luxury of the casino, but Rose showed him the animal abuse, child labor, and war profiteering that went on behind the scenes. Rose told Finn that she and her sister came from the Otomok system, which was used as a testing ground by the First Order, and that many of the casino's patrons had become wealthy selling weapons to the First Order.

BB-8 located the master codebreaker, but Slowen Lo reported them to the police for parking illegally, and Finn and Rose were arrested and stunned. Finn tried to pick the lock to their cell, yet his actions only succeeded in making another panel slide over the mechanism. Hearing their debate about their plans, their cellmate, DJ, offered to help them break onto the Destroyer, but Finn refused, believing DJ to be a mere pickpocket. DJ then used a manufactured passkey to open the cell door, allowing Finn and Rose to escape as well.

Finn and Rose escaped into the Canto Bight stables, where the stableboy Temiri Blagg helped them escape, riding on the back of one of the casino's fathiers. They initially guided the fathiers towards their shuttle, but the police officers destroyed it. The fathiers rampaged through the casino and town, causing major damage, before losing the police by running through tall underbrush. Rose and Finn were then picked up by BB-8 and DJ aboard the stolen yacht Libertine.

DJ demanded Rose's medallion as a deposit. Despite Finn's objections, Rose gave it to him. DJ showed Finn that the yacht's previous owner was an arms dealer who sold weapons to both the First Order and Resistance. DJ attempted to convince Finn that the entire galaxy was a machine, and that he should stay away from causes and live free.

DJ partially lowered the Supremacys shields, allowing the Libertine to slip aboard. Finn, Rose, and DJ stole uniforms to disguise themselves as First Order officers in order to sneak through the ship and reach the tracker. They also encountered 926, a stormtrooper who recognized Finn, as they had been in the same stormtrooper batch together. However, 926 was unaware of Finn's defection, and believing that Finn had been promoted to officer, congratulated him and told him that he didn't think the former stormtrooper was captain material.

Finn, Rose, and DJ made it to the tracker, but they were captured by Phasma, who feigned delight at seeing Finn again. However, DJ cut a deal, exchanging information about the Resistance's escape plan he had gleaned from Finn and Rose, which was to use cloaked transports to reach the surface of the mineral planet Crait, for payment and his freedom, much to the fury of both Finn and Rose. The First Order began to fire on the Resistance transports, destroying most of them .

Phasma ordered Finn and Rose executed, deciding to make them suffer and have them executed via laser ax, but before the executioner troopers could deliver the killing stroke, Holdo used the Raddus to ram the Supremacy at light speed, causing the hangar to erupt in flames, and knocking Finn unconscious. Finn and Rose attempted to reach a Xi-class light shuttle to escape the heavily damaged Supremacy, but they were cut off by Phasma.

Phasma extended her baton, and Finn picked up a riot control baton, with which he dueled Phasma, but he could not hold out against her for long. Phasma beat him back and eventually knocked him off of his feet and into a pit. However, a rising platform below him saved his life. This allowed him to get behind Phasma and deliver a blow that cracked her helmet and sent her tumbling to unstable footing. Finally seeing his corrupt superior's actual flesh in a solitary eye staring up at him, Finn proudly identified himself to Phasma as a rebel before her platform gave way, sending her to her demise into the fire below.

After seeing this, Finn noticed BB-8 and Rose, whp gave Finn a lift to the shuttle with a hotwired AT-ST. As the shuttle took off, Finn remarked that they were going where they belonged, and they turned towards Crait to reunite with the Resistance.

Pursued by two TIE fighters, Rose barely managed to pilot the shuttle under the closing bunker door of the abandoned Rebel outpost where the Resistance was hiding out. The Resistance opened fire on the shuttle, but Finn convinced them to stop.

The Resistance planned to lay low in the bunker until they could send a signal to their allies in the Outer Rim. However, the First Order quickly deployed All Terrain MegaCaliber Sixs, AT-ATs, and a weapon Finn recognized as a battering ram cannon to infiltrate the bunker. Finn suggested to Poe that they use the base's complement of speeders to launch an assault against the siege cannon, in order to buy the Resistance time to get the message out. Finn piloted one of the speeders in the battle, and was able to exercise more control over the speeder after dropping his monoski. The First Order deployed TIE fighters which destroyed many of the speeders. However, the timely arrival of Rey and Chewbacca in the Millennium Falcon drew the fighters away from the Resistance speeders.

Finn's speeder drew near the cannon, but Poe called off the attack, realizing that they were too late: the cannon was about to fire, and the cost of life was already too high. Finn disobeyed Poe's orders, and began the route to sacrifice, straight down the barrel of the cannon. But before he could sacrifice himself for the Resistance, Rose crashed her speeder into his, knocking them both out of the line of the cannon's fire and to the salty ground below. Just in front of the First Order's line, Finn ran over to an injured Rose, asking why she stopped him. Rose told him that the Resistance would win the war by saving what they love, not by fighting what they hate. Rose then kissed Finn, and collapsed unconscious as the siege cannon fired, destroying the bunker door.

Later, Finn dragged Rose's body through the obliterated bunker door and turned her over to Resistance medics. Following this, Finn witnessed the projection of Luke Skywalker arrive at the Resistance's base and head out to confront the First Order, and believed that they should help him. However, Poe convinced him that Skywalker was distracting the First Order so the Resistance could survive. Poe and Finn then realized that the vulptices that had previously infested the base had disappeared. Finn, along with the rest of the Resistance, followed Poe through the caverns of the outpost until they reached an unmapped natural entrance that was blocked by boulders. However, Rey, on the other side of the wall, used the Force to move the boulders aside. Finn shared an embrace with his friend Rey and the Resistance survivors finally escaped aboard the Falcon .

Safe on the Falcon, Finn looked around for a blanket to place over Rose's body while Rey watched. During his search, Finn quickly glanced over the Sacred Jedi texts Rey had hidden in a drawer on the freighter. At some point after she came to, Rose and Finn discussed what had happened and decided to just be friends.

During a rare moment of peace onboard the Millennium Falcon after departing Crait, Poe told an audience of Finn and Rey the story of what had happened to him since his and Finn's crash on Jakku. Finn listened eagerly, but the trio was interrupted by General Organa, who was pleased that they were getting to know each other. Finn continually checked on Rose Tico during this time to make sure she was recovering well from her injuries. During a conversation with Poe about saving her, Finn explained the First Order's cruel philosophy on leaving behind those who were injured. Poe then explained to Finn what had happened while he was unconscious during the evacuation of D'Qar, and what happened to Black Squadron following it. Finn reassured Poe on his faith and positive attitude, and the two were subsequently interrupted by C-3PO with news on the status of Black Squadron in a data transmission that led to Poe and Black Squadron's involvement in the Battle of Grail City.

Soon after, a damaged and decimated Resistance aboard the Millennium Falcon found its way to the Ryloth Defense Authority base, where Leia's ally Yendor Brethen, a former Rebel pilot, took them in. During a gathering of Resistance assets on Ryloth, Finn proved to be a powerful example to Pacer Agoyo that even those with dubious beginnings can make a choice to be different. After deciding that the Resistance needed more ships and personnel, General Organa looked at a list of First Order prisoners also delivered by Maz Kanata, and spotted the familiar initials R.C. on the list. Thinking this was former rival and Centrist New Republic Senator Ransolm Casterfo, Organa decided to send Poe and a team to Corellia in search of the man, because Casterfo was believed to be imprisoned on the shipbuilding world.

Later, Finn and Rey had a deep discussion onboard the Falcon that Poe interrupted, and asked about Finn's relationship status with both Rey and Rose, receiving a negative on both. Then, Poe asked Finn to accompany him undercover to a secret auction at the birthday party of Nifera Shu, the wife of a wealthy Corellian businessman, using an invite given to him by Maz Kanata. Finn joyfully accepted, and Poe reminded him of his home and value in the Resistance, and the two went to continue preparing for the mission.

Arriving in Coronet City, Finn and Poe pretended to be rich Canto Bight businessmen at Shu's birthday and auction, while the second team went to break Casterfo out of the Corellian Command Base. Narrowly avoiding a First Order Stormtrooper checkpoint with Finn's suggestion that Poe was a celebrity, the two made their way in to give Shu a gift, given to Dameron by Suralinda Javos, who also accompanied the team to the party with Charth Brethen.

At the party, Finn pointed out to Poe that a large chunk of the guests were First Order. This made sense to Dameron considering the city's First Order occupation, but still surprised him. The two flirtatiously introduced themselves to Nifera and Hasadar Shu, and Poe gave Nifera the gift, a miniature Lylek from Ryloth. She had been an entomologist in her youth, so the gift meant a lot to her, earning the two digital passage into the secret holographic auction. Poe began spending the Resistance's credits in the auction, and dispatched Finn to find other bidders, to no avail. Soon, the Resistance was outbid, but screaming started as the First Order suddenly raided the party.

The celebration quickly turned to chaos, as Finn and Poe scrambled to find Suralinda and Charth amidst the First Order's raid. After find the two, the room's lights were shut off, and Nifera, having lost her husband to a Stormtrooper's blaster fire, ran away. Poe decided to follow her to get the list, sending Finn to escape with the other two. Dameron was able to retrieve the list, as he and Nefira dove over the balcony and into the water below. Finn helped the two climb out of the pool, and they made plans to escape Corellia, and Shu revealed her loyalty to the Collective, a techno-activist underground movement.

Poe's team was eventually able to meet up with the second group, who had successfully broken Casterfo and several others out of prison. The two groups caught up, and immediately formulated a new plan to gain access to the hangar. Wedge Antilles and Norra Wexley decided to create a distraction, which allowed Finn and the others into the hangar and to the ships, but their distraction generated too much attention from the stormtroopers. Antilles was shot by blaster fire and was unable to continue fighting, but Norra insisted on staying with him. When they both thought it was the end for them, at the last minute, Poe, in a stolen starfighter, gunned down the remaining stormtroopers. With everyone safe, they all made their way back to the Resistance onboard a CR90 corvette.

After the mission, Finn, Poe, and the others gathered with the escaped prisoners in a Collective safehouse on Helmaxa, where Poe gave a rousing speech to the Resistance. Finn congratulated him on the speech, and together with Rey, the three set off, hopeful, to save the galaxy together.

Soon after at Horizon Base, Finn called Poe Dameron to report that there was a larger First Order presence on the base than he'd expected. Worried that the First Order were after the same objective they were, Dameron told Finn that he and his partner Gannis Ducain would have to figure it out, and that the Resistance was counting on them on this mission. Finn and Ducain argued about Ducain stealing the Millennium Falcon, as a First Order stormtrooper stopped them and ordered them to show their identification. In response, Finn shot down several barrels held over the stormtroopers, knocking them down and allowing the two to escape.

Inside the base, Ducain apologized to Finn, and told him that he joined the Resistance to make himself a better person, considering his past mistakes. But Finn was more worried about fighting the First Order, not able to gather necessary allies. While they talked, Finn and Ducain heard a loud noise approaching them, and were suddenly surprised by a candori. The beast picked them up and tried to eat them, while a man emerged and claimed the candori as his, and said it was there to protect him and his fellow Oruans from the First Order, which he believed Finn and Ducain to be. Finn tried to tell him that they were Resistance, but the man had heard that the Resistance was destroyed. Finn told the man and his group that he knew what the First Order had done to their planet and that now they're alone, just like the Resistance. Hearing this, the man ordered the candori to release the two.

Finn let the group know about the First Order threat on the base, but they were already aware. Mezlo, their leader, knew the First Order well, as he was almost able to them off his planet with a small force, but failed. He assumed that Finn was their to recruit him, but refused to join because he wanted to fight for honor, and saw the Resistance as just attempting to be heroes. This upset Finn, who told Mezlo about his past as a First Order stormtrooper, and how he's with the Resistance because they honorably do what's right. Ducain explained why he fights for the Resistance too, and Mezlo attempted to apologize for judging the Resistance– but was interrupted by a group of stormtroopers. The stormtroopers ordered them not to move. Ducain thought that they were done for, but Mezlo's plan kicked in when another candori came out from the ceiling and grabbed the stormtroopers. Finn then Contacted Poe to pick them up as they all opened fire on the now distracted stormtroopers.

After escaping the base, Finn again asked Mezlo to join the Resistance, but he once again refused telling him that he and his people will fight against the First Order on their own, after being made refugees. Back at the Falcon, Mezlo promised to help the Resistance if they ever truly needed it, and Finn promised to do the same. Onboard, Dameron was disappointed that the Oruans did not accept the offer, and he believed that the Resistance was still alone. But having learned otherwise, Finn explained that while First Order had an army, they did not have honor. Finn believed that the Oruans would fight with them one day, and they would not be alone.

At the Wayward Comet refueling station, Finn got into a brawl with a Dashade, exchanging blows. In a doorway nearby, Poe Dameron reprimands BB-8 for not staying out of trouble while he met with a contact there. BB-8 beeps that it wasn't his fault, and Poe asks the droid to intervene in Finn's fight. BB-8 trips the Dashade, starting a raucous bar fight that allows Finn to talk to Poe in the doorway. Poe tells Finn that his contact came through, and they have the coordinates of a secret, decommissioned New Republic impound on the moon of Avedot, allegedly holding weapons that were confiscated from pirates. Finn then goes to fetch Resistance agents Norik and Oron to meet Poe at their shuttle in the hangar.

As Finn is leaving, he unknowingly bumps into the changeling Clawdite Remex Io. Io recognizes Finn, and contacts Kendoh Gang leader Kendoh Voss, who tells Io to follow Finn back to his ship and place a tracker on it. Voss then contacts a First Order Lieutenant, requesting to claim the bounty on Finn's head. After conferring with General Hux on the Finalizer, who is pushed into chasing the sighting by the newly Supreme Leader Kylo Ren, the lieutenant is ordered to authorize a down payment on the bounty.

With the Kendoh Gang unknowingly in their pursuit, Finn and his team entered Base 354-23X to find all of the security systems to be dormant. Finn exclaims that this is shaping up to be his easiest mission ever, to which Poe chides him. The group doesn't find much, and grows doubtful of their info, but Finn does find a very run-down T-47 airspeeder. Poe does not give up, though, and they continue deeper into the base. Finn tells Tonkins to stay back and guard the entrance, but the man is quickly dealt with by the large Aqualish Wooro.

As the team further explores the impound, Tonkins approaches them, to Finn's confusion. Tonkins the begins to fire, and reveals himself to be Remex Io in disguise. The Gang and the Resistance begin to exchange fire, with the Resistance losing two agents, and Finn narrowly escaping, making his way to Poe, who's finally found the weapons cache with BB-8. Finn then shoots a control panel, closing the door to the room he and Poe are in, but sealing off their only exit. But to Finn's advantage, the bounty hunters don't know Dameron is on the mission as well. Wooro then used a heavy blaster to try to cut through the door, as Finn explained his plan to Poe.

The Kendoh Gang finished cutting through the door, and entered the room, finding nobody as Dameron hid behind a large crate. But during his sneaking, Finn fell out of a ceiling air duct onto Io. The two began to fight, with the changeling shifting between various strong species' to land harder hits on Finn. Wooro then attempted to stun Finn, but missed and stunned his own Clawdite companion, to Kendoh Voss's chagrin. This mistake allowed Finn to narrowly escape, while Poe loaded the newly obtained materials onto the Resistance's transport. Leading the bounty hunters around the base, Finn thought he lost them until he ran straight into Wooro. The large Aqualish punched him down once more, but Finn did not give up, continuing to run until he reached the T-47 from earlier. Utilizing its harpoon gun to shoot his enemy through the shoulder, Finn was injured and knocked out by the recoil.

Waking up to Dameron's desperate transmission, Finn finds Wooro still alive but pinned to the wall, and Poe cornered by the bounty hunters' ship. Finn dove out of the way of the bounty hunters' blaster fire, as BB-8 used a crate of thermal detonators to allow Poe to escape in the Resistance's transport. Telling Finn to meet him outside, Poe flies away, leaving Finn with just the T-47. Finn hopped in the airspeeder, and used it to crash into the bounty hunters' ship, ejecting himself just in time to be caught by Dameron, the two managing to escape the Moon of Avedot with most of the weapons they came there for.

Sometime after the Mission to the Moon of Avedot, Finn and Chewbacca departed from the rest of the Resistance to deliver bacta that he and Poe retrieved on their mission to the planet Tevel. During the time they were gone, Rose, Rey, and Poe expressed missing Finn and Chewbacca shortly before they went on a mission to Minfar.

At oe point, Finn, Rey, Chewbacca, and BB-8 were escorting black market smuggler Moebin Faltus to Prahvin on the Millennium Falcon in exchange for information regarding people attempting to escape the First Order. Finn and Faltus argued about the freighter at its dejarik table, with the smuggler believing it was old, ugly, and too slow. Suddenly, the two hear a rumble, followed by a bleeping alarm, and rush to the cockpit. There, Rey tells them that it's probably misaligned engine couplings, and they go off to find out. While attempting to fix the Falcon, Finn expressed his distaste for working with Faltus, while Rey argued that his contacts would be worth it– and that the ship would need to land nearby for repairs.

Rey and Chewbacca then landed the Falcon on the local planet Choss, to retrieve a new static charge dissipator. Rey headed off towards a city with BB-8 and Moebin, while Finn and Chewie stayed back to work on fixing the ship. While Rey was in town, gallivanting her way away from the bounty hunter Kief Varris, hired by the First Order to capture Faltus, Finn and Chewbacca took the Falcon for a test flight after attempting some repairs, but found that it was still hopeless.

After Rey and BB-8 fought Varris, they snuck aboard his shuttle to rescue Faltus, before crashing it into the forest below. There, they met up with Finn and Chewbacca one more, with Finn informing Rey of their continued issues and his lack of faith in repairing the Falcon. Then suddenly, BB-8 revealed that he took the necessary part from Varris's shuttle, and that's what caused it to crash. With the whole crew reunited, Moebin saved, and the ship repaired, the Resistance departed Choss, with Faltus agreeing to tell them about his operation.

Deep in the Outer Rim Territories, Finn, Poe, and R2-D2 constructed a Jedi training course for their friend Rey on the rocky moon of Noaxson. Finn and Poe noted that this was the perfect location because of its irregular light cycle and shifting surface terrain, and were very excited to show Rey, blindfolding her before the reveal. The two men tell a surprised Rey that they want her to get trained faster so she can join them on more missions, and that they also just wanted to be helpful. Rey then excitedly began to run the obstacle course.

After running the course a bit, Rey fell into a cave full of pirates led by the Quarren Algron, and Finn began to get worried about Rey, and citing a feeling that she was in trouble while searching the horizon with macrobinoculars. Just before going to search for her, Finn and Poe are surrounded by more pirates and taken to their ship and questioned. The pirates recognized Rey, and wanted to claim her and their bounties from the First Order. They're then approached by an older pirate named Corrin, who tells the pirate Lannix that he was supposed to be at their long-range comms. The two got into an argument, and Lannix declared that he was the new leader. During this argument, Finn and Poe are able to slip out of their ties, and tackle Corrin just as more pirates arrive and the situation escalates. Finn and Poe are able to run away from the pirates' blaster barrage, taking Corrin with them.

Pinned down, Finn makes a plan to run for the pirates' ship, hoping to disable their long range comms, but is interrupted by a Weequay pirate giving them the option to peacefully surrender. As he's speaking, Rey threw her staff at the yelling Weequay, charging in to take on the pirates. From the other side, Finn and Poe charged in blasters blazing, and they take down the pirates together. Rey then cracked a joke about whoever built the training course not knowing about the pirate presence, and Lannix let off one last threat of contacting the First Order. But with the knowledge that the long-range comms are shut off, Lannix laid his head down and admitted defeat. The Resistance then once again safely left in the Millennium Falcon, as Rey thanked Finn, Poe and Artoo for their effort, but stated that it was probably best that they leave the Jedi training up to Rey's master, Leia.

Later, General Leia Organa deployed Finn and Dameron to the Wild Space planet Kamil to secure livestock for the Resistance. During the mission, Dameron and Finn spent at least 5 days waiting for their animals, and Dameron felt underused, while Finn felt lucky to lay low, and explained that the food the livestock would bring is very important. After trying some food, they attempted to buy the animal it was from, but it was far too expensive, leading the two to the The Lucky Whistle Saloon. There, they attempted to find leads on cheap livestock, but failed at the socialization required to do so, and thus went for a dance as a break. While dancing and talking to some Octani, they got a lead on Dhar Wat, someone who was selling spare parts that might be useful for the Resistance.

Following this new information, the two ditched the livestock plan and tracked down the train Wat was on. Boarding the train, Finn sat in an incredibly crowded car before he and Poe pretended to be food servers, which they used to look for War. Upon Poe finding him, he helped the Octani fight a First Order officer in his cabin. Wat then revealed that the First Order had taken his parts and moved them to another car. Dameron and Finn set out to locate the parts while making an agreement with Wat for him to be a continuous supplier, and quickly ran into First Order officers and Stormtroopers. A chase and fight then ensued throughout the train, with Finn crushing an officer's comlink so he couldn't call for help. It wasn't long before Finn and Poe were cornered by First Order forces in a storage car, where fight then broke out with Finn and Dameron able to knock out the First Order forces in close hand-to-hand combat. During the fight, Finn found a Wookiee doll, and even used it to hit an officer. Finn then located the spare parts and unlocked the car from the rest of the train. The two also found lots of livestock on their car, which they returned to the Resistance, and Finn gave the doll to Rey.

After Darth Sidious' broadcast of revenge announced the Final Order and the return of the Sith, General Organa sent out agents to uncover information about this development. Dameron, Chewbacca, Finn, Klaud, and R2-D2 took the Millennium Falcon to Sinta Glacier Colony. On the trip there, Finn and Dameron played Chewbacca in a game of dejarik, remarking at how good the old Wookiee was. Arriving at the colony, Finn facilitated the transfer of data coming from a new First Order spy into R2-D2 from the Ovissian mine overseer Boolio. Soon after the transfer began, the First Order arrived with many TIE fighters, closing in on the Resistance's location. As the transfer completed, Boolio snidely told Finn to "win the war" in return, and Finn rushed to confidently man one of the Falcon's turrets to shoot down TIE fighters as they escaped.

During their escape, Dameron hyperspace skipped the Falcon to, to Finn's concern, many dangerous locations to lose the tracking TIE fighters. The old freighter was able to limp its way back to the Resistance's base on Ajan Kloss, Finn reuniting with Rey and joking about Poe's anger. Finn and the team were then able to share the spy's information to the Resistance: somehow, Palpatine had returned.

Rey then decided to journey off and find a Sith wayfinder in order to locate Sidious. Rey and her friends then went to Pasaana, where they found Ochi of Bestoon's dagger. Chewbacca and the blade were presumed lost during the mission when a First Order transport he was believed to be on was destroyed by Rey's Force powers during a confrontation with Kylo Ren.

C-3PO's programming forbade him from translating the Sith inscription on Ochi's dagger, which revealed the location of another Sith wayfinder device leading to Exegol, so the team traveled to Kijimi, where Poe knew a droidsmith. They were caught by Zorii Bliss and the Spice Runners of Kijimi, which Poe used to be a member of, but Bliss agreed to help them after a brief scuffle with Rey. The droidsmith Babu Frik bypassed C-3PO's forbidden databank, and they learned that the Emperor possessed a wayfinder device in his throne room on the second Death Star in the Endor system. Meanwhile, the Knights of Ren tracked down the Resistance to Kijimi, and Ren with his Resurgent-class Star Destroyer Steadfast and launched a massive manhunt for the Resistance in the city. Rey sensed Chewbacca through the Force on the Star Destroyer, so the team decided to mount a rescue.

Using a captain's medallion provided by Bliss, Poe, Rey, and Finn infiltrated the Steadfast. Poe and Finn rescued Chewbacca until they were captured by stormtroopers and brought before General Armitage Hux to be executed, but Hux saved their lives, revealing himself to be the spy. Hux brought them to the Millennium Falcon. Rey escaped aboard the Falcon with Poe, Finn, Chewbacca, and the droids.

In the waning hours leading up to the final battle, Rey, Finn, Poe Dameron, Chewbacca, and the droids C-3PO, BB-8, and D-O crash landed on Kef Bir, the ocean moon of Endor. Upon finding the ruins of the Death Star in the moon's seas. The Resistance members were surrounded by Jannah and her tribe of Orbak riders, but after learning they were with the Resistance, Jannah agreed to aid them in their mission. She warned that they would need to wait until the next day for the tides to calm, and the team went to repair the Falcon, during which time Finn learned that Jannah and her tribe were actually a company of First Order stormtroopers who refused to fire on civilians and promptly deserted like he did. Rey impatiently took a skiff and piloted to the Death Star ruins anyway. Finn and Jannah decided to find Rey when she fought Ren in a duel among the Death Star ruins; Finn and Jannah tried to intervene, but Rey pushed them away.

After Rey left on her own, Finn, Dameron, Chewbacca, the droids, Jannah, and her tribe returned to the Resistance base on Ajan Kloss, where they learned of Organa's passing away and that Poe was named acting general in her stead. After grappling with this promotion, Dameron named Finn general with him, and—through the information Finn found was contained within D-O while talking to the droid in Rey's workstation—the Resistance gathered enough intel on Exegol to develop a plan of attack while Calrissian and Chewbacca were sent to the Core Worlds on the Falcon to call out for allies.

Finn took part in an impassioned speech to the members of the Resistance gathered below the Tantive IV before the battle, claiming that the Resistance had been on the run for long enough, and the time to take the fight to the First Order was now. He claimed to have an idea for the Resistance's ground attack on the Final Order's Navigation tower, and boarded the YC-123B transport hauler Fortitude as the group took off and departed for the homeworld of the Sith.

During the Battle of Exegol, Finn opted to launch a ground assault over an air assault in order to disable the navigation tower while at the same time avoiding Sith Eternal tracking. Unbeknownst to the Resistance, General Pryde had had the source of the navigational signal switched to his ship to guide the Sith fleet out themselves while the Resistance was approaching the surface tower. Finn, through the force, realized that the communications signal was transferred to the Steadfast and decided to lead the ground team to knock out the signal tower before help arrived; Dameron and the air team covered the ground team as they ascended and landed on the Steadfast's hull to knock out the tower. The ground team boarded the surface Pryde's command ship, with the Orbak Tribe, led by Jannah and Finn, covering the Resistance troopers as they exchanged fire with Sith troopers and Sith Jetpack Troopers sent from the Xyston-class Star Destroyers of the Sith fleet. Finn and Jannah shut down the beacon by tossing thermal detonators down a reinforced hatch, but the setback was only temporary as Pryde's crew reset the antennae. Realizing that they had to destroy the Resurgent Star Destroyer, Finn and Jannah stayed on board the vessel's hull while Rose Tico, Beaumont Kin, Kaydel Ko Connix, and the rest of the ground team retreated.

While they chose to stay, Sidious was just overpowering Rey and and newly-redeemed Ben Solo, using Force drain to rejuvenate himself. When Lando suddenly arrived with a huge fleet of civilians to take on the Sith Eternal forces, Finn's morale was boosted as he proclaimed that Lando did it. Finn and Jannah took control over the turbolaser cannons on the command ship and fired them at the bridge of the Steadfast, killing Pryde and destroying the tower just as Rey harnessed the power of the past Jedi to kill Sidious once and for all. The Steadfast then began to explode and descended towards the ground of Exegol with Finn and Jannah still on board, but they were rescued by Calrissian and Chewbacca on the Falcon at the last second. On the Falcon, Finn intensely sensed Rey's death through the Force, but found out she was alive when the latter used Luke's X-wing to fly out of the ruined Sith Citadel after being revived by a redeemed Ben Solo. He later informed Poe that people were rising against the First Order and that they finally did it.

Later he, along with the rest of the crew on the Falcon, returned to Ajan Kloss to celebrate their victory over the Sith Eternal and the death of Sidious. Walking around he was pleased to see everyone happy and reuniting with other people in their collective victory. He reunited with Poe Dameron and they hugged. When Rey arrived afterwards, she, Finn, and Dameron embraced each other, Finn becoming overwhelmed with emotion as they held onto one another. Later, Finn and Dameron discussed the possibility of Sidious' return; they concluded, however, that even if he did return one day, it would not be for a long time.

An artist—possibly the Ithorian Gammit Chond—drew Finn, along with many others who had played an important role in galactic history, and his actions during the hunt for Luke Skywalker into a series of planetary maps. The Graf Archive published the maps—including the images of Finn and descriptions of his actions—long after the conflict against the First Order.

Finn was a male human. During his time with the First Order, he wore the standard-issue stormtrooper armor. Following his desertion, he discarded his armor, but continued to wear the armor's body glove and shoes, and took to wearing Poe Dameron's jacket as a way to remember him. Upon discovering that Dameron was alive, Finn offered him his jacket back, but the pilot insisted he keep it.

While in service to the First Order, Finn was seen by his training cadre and his fellow soldiers as one of the best stormtroopers that the First Order had to offer. His instructors saw him as loyal to the First Order, as well as dutiful, brave, intelligent, and possessing the strength necessary to be a great stormtrooper and perhaps even eventually one of the group's officers. Finn was trained to believe that the New Republic was depraved and that the First Order was necessary to bring law to a lawless galaxy, and everything he had seen of the galaxy was filtered through his training; the First Order showed him only what they wanted him to see, but he did not doubt its truth. Though as a cadet he was eager to be deployed and see the galaxy so he could serve the First Order and Supreme Leader Snoke, he was nevertheless plagued by doubt. His confidence in the First Order was severely shaken after his squad's execution of miners on Pressy's Tumble. His doubt came to a head on Jakku, witnessing his friend FN-2003 killed by Poe Dameron and refusing to fire on unarmed villagers. This destroyed his faith in the First Order, inspiring him to desert and free Dameron, and eventually help Rey and BB-8 and side with the Resistance.

At his core, Finn was a righteous, caring, empathetic, fundamentally good person despite how he'd been raised. He was protective of others, such as nearly jeopardizing a training mission in order to save FN-2003. This empathy extended to strangers; he ran to help Rey when he witnessed Unkar Plutt's thugs attack her, stopping when he saw her quickly handle them by herself. He was not afraid to stand up for himself, pointedly telling Maz Kanata that she had no right to judge who he was.

The most important friends in Finn's life were Poe and Rey. They were his first real friends, and as such, he developed an unbreakable bond with each of them. Finn helped Poe escape the First Order as his first act of defection and Poe was the one who gave him a new name. Finn formed a bond of deep trust and care with Poe, and they showed to be great partners working together. After their crash in Jakku, Finn was relieved to see that he had survived as the two of them ran to embrace each other.

While they were infiltrating the First Order's Star Destroyer to rescue Chewie, Finn immediately stopped firing at the group of stormtroopers at the corridors out of concern for Poe after he was shot in the crossfire, and went to check if he was fine, which led them to be surrounded and captured. Likewise, Finn also developed a strong bond with Rey, and the two of them trusted each other implicitly. His plan to infiltrate Starkiller Base was driven by his desire to rescue Rey, and, as soon as he awoke from his comatose state, he shouted her name in concern, and inquired Poe about her wellbeing.

He remained concerned for her until they were reunited on Crait, hugging her tightly upon their reunion. Finn was also able to feel her death and subsequent revival through the Force because of their bond. After the end of the war against the First Order, Finn was reunited with his two best friends and embraced them both tightly as they celebrated the Resistance's victory.

Due to a lifetime of abuse at their hands, Finn feared going back to the First Order in the days after his desertion. He was reluctant to join the Resistance; he believed that it was a lost cause, and it would soon be destroyed by the First Order. He initially planned to escape to the Outer Rim and disappear, which he almost achieved at Kanata's castle on Takodana. His conscience won out, however, after seeing the destruction of the Hosnian System, inspiring him to join the subsequent battle against the First Order.

Finn was courageous in battle. Even though he had witnessed Kylo Ren's power time and again, he would be more than willing to fight him if it meant saving Rey. He immediately ran to confront Phasma when he and Rose were faced with her contingent of Stormtroopers on board the Supremacys hangar, using the first weapon he could find, a Z6 Riot Control Baton. Once he'd committed to the cause, he was ultimately willing to go into battle and die for the Resistance without regard to his own life; he would rather die than let the First Order win.

By the time of the Battle of Exegol, Finn had become a calm, confident, and collected fully-fledged member of the Resistance, dedicated to destroying the First Order once and for all. He showed himself to be quite level-headed, often having to mediate arguments between the more impulsive and stubborn Rey and Dameron. Finn remained the only one of his friends unshaken in the face of the Final Order. He believed fully in the Resistance and in General Leia Organa.

As a stormtrooper, Finn consistently scored top marks in his training and was seen as someone who could become an ideal First Order trooper. His First Order training made him an effective marksman with a high kill rate.

This skill with a blaster translated well into skills as a gunner. During the escape from the Finalizer aboard a stolen TIE, Finn managed to kill dozens of stormtroopers, destroy the contents of the Finalizers hangar bay, knock out several turbolaser batteries and ventral cannons on the underside of the ship, and even destroy an incoming missile despite having no experience with flying starfighters. In fact, it was only Finn's distraction by an argument with Poe Dameron that led to the stolen TIE being struck by an incoming missile and disabled. The next day, Finn would man the ventral quad-laser cannon turret aboard the Millennium Falcon during the escape from Jakku, destroying one TIE on his own and one with assistance from Rey. His shooting proved to again be valuable in vehicular combat as he shot at pursuing First Order snowspeeders on Starkiller Base while Rey drove a stolen snowspeeder. He further demonstrated his marksmanship against TIE fighters while escaping the Sinta Glacier Colony with Dameron and Chewbacca.

Finn was able to pilot ships if he needed to, but doubted his abilities and tended to prefer operating as a gunner. Besides that, he was also able to pilot a ski speeder during the Battle of Crait.

Finn's stormtrooper training included melee combat, which he similarly excelled in. This likely transferred into his skill with a lightsaber, despite a lack of training with this particular weapon. He was able to hold his own against a stormtrooper with a riot baton, and despite being defeated, managed to inflict a shoulder wound on the more experienced Kylo Ren.

Aboard the Supremacy, Finn tested all his skill against his former superior officer, Captain Phasma. Unfortunately, it wasn't enough in a stand-up fight; he had only been able to knock her down with the element of surprise and the high ground.

Finn showed excellent leadership and teamworking skills throughout his time with the Resistance. On the Millennium Falcon, Rey expressed how good of a team Finn, her, Han, and Chewbacca were. Later on, Finn helped to take charge during operations and rally Resistance troops with inspiring words on multiple occasions. When Dameron became General of the Resistance, he promoted Finn to General as well, noting that he could not lead without Finn.

Like most other First Order stormtroopers, Finn was trained in dealing with wounds incurred on the battlefield. He made use of this training to aid a wounded Chewbacca.

Prior to his defection from the First Order, Finn was considered officer material.

Though untrained, Finn was Force-sensitive, which was part of what fueled his defection from the First Order. By the time of the Battle of Exegol, Finn was able to sense people and objects with the Force; he sensed Kylo Ren's presence while on Pasaana, and later on knew where the Final Order's navigational signal was based on "a feeling." He also felt Rey's death and reached out to her with the Force to try to help her return.

Finn is portrayed by John Boyega in Star Wars: Episode VII The Force Awakens, Episode VIII The Last Jedi, and Episode IX The Rise of Skywalker. Boyega's casting was first made known on April 29, 2014, and his character was first revealed in the first teaser trailer for The Force Awakens on November 28, 2014. His first name was revealed by Entertainment Weekly in an exclusive digital trading card. The Force Awakens and The Rise of Skywalker director J.J. Abrams stated prior to the sequel trilogy's start that it was "completely intentional" that no last name was provided for the character, the film itself revealing that "Finn" was a name given to the character following his desertion from the stormtrooper ranks. During pre-production, Abrams used the placeholder name "Harry" up until they decided on the name "Sam," which was finally changed to Finn.

The writers of Episode VII decided to make Finn as a deserting stormtrooper as Lawrence Kasdan felt it would be "incredible" to have their protagonist be from a group of previously "faceless, indistinguishable automatons." Co-writer Michael Arndt remembered that an exasperated Kasdan blurted out his idea when they were struggling to decide on a unique background for their male lead.

Boyega, whom Abrams described as one of the biggest Star Wars fans in the cast, auditioned nine times for the role. Unlike his costar Daisy Ridley, Boyega performed with an American accent as Abrams felt his London one was not right for the role, and it was only by switching his accent that Boyega was able to land more auditions. Boyega said he considers Finn to be the audience's surrogate, explaining, "During the auditions I found that my niche for this character was definitely in the more humor and fear. So he just represents us in the film — just finally having a Star Wars character that goes, 'This is really dangerous.' Finn is a part of myself, just magnified a tad." Conversely, he also feels Rey is the lead who gets stressed out by her journey, while Finn is the one having fun.

In The Rise of Skywalker, Finn proceeds to tell Rey something before they're swallowed by quicksand, and afterwards declines to bring it up again. Co-writer Chris Terrio commented, "There are some people who read it as Finn having feelings for Rey; there are some who read it as Finn trying to make that Force-related confession [that he's Force-sensitive]." Boyega himself appeared to have the latter interpretation of the moment, tweeting, "No… Finn wasn't going to say I love you before sinking!"

Terrio elaborated, "What's undeniable is that in the middle of the battle [on Exegol], when the source of the navigation signal is changed, Finn has a very strong sense of where it is, and that's knowledge he couldn't really have unless he was using the Force. So, the story is certainly pointing that way, and then, in the moment of Rey's death… I shouldn't use the word death because death is a complicated word there… But in the moment — it's not a death per se — when the life is going out of Rey, Finn can feel her and her last breaths. He stops and feels Rey. Chewie and Jannah don't understand it as they're in the frame behind him. When Rey is breathing what seemed to be her last breaths and almost all of the life is drained out of her, Finn can feel it." He also said the development was meant to reinforce The Last Jedis theme that "you don't have to be a Skywalker or a Palpatine in order to be strong with the Force."

According to The Art of Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, among the storylines considered for Finn were having him reunite with a long-lost sibling during an intelligence gathering mission.

Following the conclusion of the sequel trilogy, Boyega gave an interview in 2020 in which he was critical of the treatment of his character, believing Finn had been pushed in marketing for a role the character was not given. As a black actor, he felt insulted by the difference in how Finn was marketed and how the character was used in story. In 2023, Boyega gave another interview in which he touched on his Star Wars experience, declaring that the "good" and "ugly" times both shaped him into who he was as he moved throughout the industry. He stated he had become "comfortable" with the character's end point in The Rise of Skywalker, stating "I feel like the arc that JJ tried to tie up, that's where I feel comfortable with the release of him." He also confirmed that, since The Rise of Skywalker, he had been able to enjoy further Star Wars releases, such as The Mandalorian and Obi-Wan Kenobi, as a fan.

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