OK, we’re in agreement that Finn doesn’t have to be the “love interest” to be a whole character. The person who said that was wrong. Both Finn and Rey are developed characters in their own right. Which makes a potential romance between them even better, because neither are merely “love interests.”
So we’re on the same page with that.
Reylo DOES erase the relationship between Finn and Rey, though, which is part of each of their heroes journeys. It’s so uncommon to have two protagonists on heroes journeys where there are no love interests whose sole purpose is to be the love interest.That’s something Tumblr should celebrate, but instead they push it aside to focus on Kylo Ren being Rey’s soul mate.
Reylo doesn’t erase Finn as a character because he’s nothing without Rey. It erases him because it makes Kylo, the white villain, the heroic center of the universe, not just for Rey, but for the story itself. There’s no room for Finn if Kylo gets his journey, his abusive backstory, his moral center, and his relationships. Kylo has his own journey. He doesn’t need Finn’s.
Just to clarify why saying “reylo doesn’t erase Finn” triggered the reaction it did. I get where you’re coming from when you put it into context, though.
-Mod HQ
Finn and Rey are revolutionary in being dual protagonists (though Finn has the clearer arc in TFA) with interlocking character arcs. Finn’s story doesn’t make sense without Rey’s and vice versa. Denying the centrality of their relationship, whether its nature is romantic or not, denigrates both characters in favor of Kylo Ren, making Finn a side character with no unique story and Rey a means of Kylo Ren’s redemption. It’s not even a true redemption but a get-out-of-jail-free card. This is why so many fans have concerns about the insistence on canon Reylo.
Reylos: Rey will forgive Ben for everything they were enemies in wartime! He did nothing wrong! They’ll have babies and be in love forever. Isn’t forgiveness sweet? 🙂
Also Reylos: There is no way Rey can forgive Finn for lying to her and abandoning her. Sure maybe she was a little starry-eyed at first but that was based on a dirty L I E and there’s no way to make up for that none no way no how
@firebour here’s a reylo saying just that, actually (underline mine).
@firebour None of that contradicts the attitude I mocked in the op, especially the double standard with Finn where Finn telling a fib (and then recanting it) while on the run for his life is evidently a deal breaker for romance but Kylo’s torture, mass murder, and patricide are not. And Reylos do, in fact, frequently argue that Kylo was brainwashed and not responsible for his actions.
Also you might want to rethink that statement comparing Rey’s possible forgiveness to Han’s. Not only is Rey not Kylo’s parent, Han was literally dying of a stab wound when he touched his son’s face one last time. Is that really what you want Rey’s forgiveness to look like? Just how much more do you want her to suffer at Kylo’s hands in the name of romance?
Oh yeah, but you don’t want her to die, I guess, she has to have Kylo’s Skywalker babies first. How generous of you!
Finn, Han and Chewie take cover, Chewie pulling some explosives out of a duffel. Blast doors nearby.
FINN: We’ll use the charges to blow that blast door. I’ll go in and draw fire, but I’m gonna need cover.
HAN: You sure you’re up for this?
FINN: Hell no – I’ll go in find and try to find Rey – (improvising, fast) – The troopers’ll be on our tail. We have to be ready for that. There’s an access tunnel that’ll leads –
made me think about how unique it is that Finn allows himself to be emotionally vulnerable with Han and how it shows how deeply he trusts Han on an emotional level.
Because it sure as hell isn’t something he’s used to doing with an adult, as most if not all adults in Finn’s life so far would have been authority figures who would have condemned him at the very least for such a “weakness” as the one he so readily shows to Han.
Contrast this on how he acts with Phasma, an important adult figure in Finn’s life.
After his return to the Finalizer after the massacre of Tuanul Finn is having a breakdown. He seeks out a private place to have it, knowing that it wouldn’t be an acceptable reaction to have.
As he walks into the darkened corridor he even looks over his shoulder to make sure he’s unobserved and unfollowed before removing his helmet and allowing himself to panic over what just happened.
Enter Phasma.
Finn’s behavior changes the moment she’s there. Despite still very much being traumatized and in a state of panic, he immediately straightens and tries to get a hold of himself. Phasma is not emotionally safe for him, he knows this.
But Han on the other hand has earned Finn’s emotional trust over the course of the story by actions such as:
Thanking Finn for bandaging Chewie. Finn’s reaction here makes it clear that he never expected thanks for it and he’s both pleased and uncertain when Han does.
Not only not condemning Finn when he decides to leave on Takodana, but telling him to keep the blaster rifle he just lent him. This might be a bigger deal to Finn than it appears to be on the surface, remember how afraid Finn still is and how he frantically searched for a weapon on Jakku? By giving him the means to defend himself Han might have been giving Finn a bigger gift – from an emotional perspective – than a blaster rifle might normally seem to be.
Asking Finn if he’s okay after saving his life during the First Order’s attack. Finn is not used to others looking out for him or checking how he’s doing outside of a purely functional perspective. But Han’s concern here has nothing to do with Finn’s ability to perform, it’s purely emotional.
So when Han asks him if “he’s up for this” (i.e. the attack) Finn does something that for him must be very usual, even unique. He lets his highly competent soldier side step aside for a moment and lets Han see the frightened, vulnerable young man that he also is.
It’s only for a moment and then the soldier side of him is back to planning their assault, but that Finn – willingly and knowingly – lets Han see that side of him at all, does nothing to hide it… that says a lot of how much he’s come to trust Han emotionally in the short he’s know him.
It also makes me wonder how losing Han in the way he did, seeing him murdered by his own son, will affect Fin’’s journey going forward.
I HAD NOT EVEN THOUGHT ABOUT THIS OMG and I’m really kicking myself here for fixating on Han and Rey’s bond to the exclusion of the much more understated but also crucial relationship between Han and Finn. Smh at my own sexist and racist biases here.
I agree with all the instances you mentioned, plus there’s also another crucial interaction: when Han saw through Finn’s lie about being a big deal in the Resistance and told him as much but chose to let it slide, even handing Finn a blaster nevertheless.
This is huge for someone who grew up abused. Not only do many victims turn to deception protect themselves, being discovered in a lie is often the ultimate nightmare because you’re now going to be mistreated for the truth you were trying to hide and be punished for lying.
Instead Finn is given a message he probably never had been before: I know you’re lying but I’m not going to pry because I respect your boundaries. I’m sure you have your reasons and you’re smart enough to handle your own business. But you know, just fyi, she’s going to find out. Also have a deadly weapon while we’re at it because why not?
I respect you. I believe in your capabilities. I know you’re a good person. I trust you with my life.
Those four sentences are, at minimum, the basis of a damned good friendship and a solid familial relationship as well. I’m pretty sure most of us can name at least one family member we couldn’t convincingly say all four to.
This also ties together in interesting ways with Finn’s distrust of authority, since Han never approached Finn as any kind of authority except in the sense of being older and more knowledgeable. He treated Finn as an equal, one he trusted and respected, and I think it was just what Finn needed at that point in his life. Han should have taken Finn a little more seriously than he did, though, because Finn was right about there being First Order spies at Maz’s and taking BB-8 out in public was a huge mistake.
I wonder if, in addition to suffering from the loss of Han and feeling a lot of rage at Kylo Ren, Finn will end up adopting some of Han’s style toward those who look up to him? Finn is probably not going to be a conventional authority figure given his experiences and the ways he reacted to them. I think treating those who look up to him as friends and equals, trusting their judgment and letting them make their own mistakes like Han did, would be more suited to who Finn is. I look forward to seeing if his relationship with Rose bears this theory out.
Kylo Ren: *tries to read my mind* *sees 20 Porgs dancing in a circle and holding up signs that say “Finn is Force sensitive” and “Finnrey is canon”* Where is the MAP? *sees Porg that holds up a sign with a hand on it that flips Kylo off* *Porgs continue to dance*
Finn stanning: the porgs version!
“But we don’t erase Finn from his own scenes!”
Yeah. Bull-fucking-shit. Here’s a random example I found like within seconds:
I think you can tell where Rey’s smile comes from, but here’s a reminder:
Why hello there Finn! I mean blurring him out and pretending Kill a Ram is in his place doesn’t even make sense because, in case you haven’t noticed, Adumbrate Screwdriver who plays him is a fucking giant and no way could Daisy look him eye to eye so close up unless she were standing on a conveniently placed crate.
But thanks for confirming Rey looks at Finn lovingly, I guess. It’s funny how in EVERY SINGLE SHIP whose shippers regularly shit on Finn and Rey’s chemistry, those same shippers also take Finnrey moments and “repurpose” them for their own ship.
And no, when I took the screenshot this post had over 200 notes and no one had said a damned thing. A sizeable number of shippers don’t know or don’t care about the whitewashing.
Your ask reminded me of this meta I read a while back. While it is written about the characters in the Dragon Age games its point – that characters of color will always be read in the most negative way possible, while white characters can literally get away with murder and still be seen as sympathetic – is applicable to all fandoms. And certainly to the Star Wars fandom with respect to Finn and Kylo.
Personally I’ve always found offense to be the best defense. I suggest that all Finn fans that see the movie start writing meta about him from the premiere and on.
Because the fandom doesn’t need a reason to hate him. I still have not forgotten the ton of bs written about him just after TFA. In particular “fond” memory are: Finn the benign misogynist, Finn is a coward, Finn was responsible for Han’s death and Rey’s kidnapping.
So my best advise would be that we try to be preemptive and start controlling the way Finn’s story is written in fandom as much as we can from the start. When TFA came out it was harder because we all had to find each other first, something made harder by the general “fascist white boy stanning” in the general tags and the Finn tag being flooded by racists so finding Finn positive content was very difficult.
This time we already know each other, so we’re one step ahead of the last time.
But make no mistake. The fandom as a whole will try to vilify him even if Finn turns out to be a damn paragon in the movie, and yes if he’s the least bit morally ambiguous or can – no matter how absurdly – be held accountable for another character’s death, fandom will come for him.
So be prepared to fight. Don’t take on more fights than you can manage, but they will be there and they’ll likely drag out for months.
L.J.'s Obsessions 