This Finn the Human Explainer Will Kick Your Buns
The land of Ooo is full of a lot of monsters, magic creatures, and sentient candy. But there is only one human: Finn the human.
Hero, weird kid, and totally normal human, Finn was the main character and hero of Adventure Time. But where did he come from? Why is he the only normal-ish person in Ooo? And how did he become a hero? We have the answers and they are mathematical!
The Finn Basics
Finn Mertens, usually known simply as “Finn the Human” is the main character and one of the protagonists of Adventure Time. At the start of the series, Finn is a twelve-year-old boy, but over the course of the show we see him grow through his teen years, and even see Finn as an adult and in his old age. This means that Finn is one of the few children’s cartoon protagonists whom the audience watches grow up, mature, and have realistic character development. He was also designed to ‘age up’ with the target audience for the show.
For much of the show, Finn’s biological parents are unknown. Instead, we know Finn’s adopted family of andromorphic dogs, parents Joshua and Margaret, and brother, Jake. Jake serves as the show’s other primary protagonist and Finn’s big brother. While his choices aren’t always more wise or mature, Jake (and Finn) usually try to do their best.
“I’ll slay anything that’s evil! That’s my deal!”
– Finn “the Human” Mertens, Adventure Time
Series creator, Pendleton Ward, has said that he designed Finn and the entire show as if he were writing or playing a game of Dungeons and Dragons. Finn is a character with a long backstory and pure, noble motivations. He wants to help people, fight monsters, defeat evil, and explore dungeons. And eventually, these motivations and adventures bring him closer to the overarching plot of the series as well as unlocking the mysteries of Ooo and the universe around him.
READ MORE: Return to Ooo With These Adventure Time Characters
Finn Throughout Time… and His Past Lives
When we first meet Finn at the beginning of Adventure Time‘s, fun, he is a headstrong, adventurous kid who dives right into adventure and danger and doesn’t often think things through. But as we watch him grow up, he becomes a mature and wise young man and eventual adult. But Finn’s life-long character growth is pretty normal for any coming-of-age story. What’s a little more interesting about Adventure Time, is that we also see Finn’s past and future lives and how they shape his character.
The first past life we see is the Catalyst Comet, a comet that somehow hits the earth every 1000 years, always heralding some sort of change. This is considered to be the essence of pure good, compared to the Lich’s pure evil.
He’s also shown to have past lives as a blue butterfly, sentient pink goop, and characters called Gunther and Shoko. We also see a future life of Finn in a character named Shermy who looks like a bipedal bunny creature in an orange shirt.
Alternate Finns
Adventure Time and spin-off series Fionna and Cake also take us through a number of alternate dimensions, many of which are where we meet alternate versions of Finn. One of them is Fionna, a gender-swapped version of Finn that was written by Ice King and brought to life by Prismo.
There is also Farmworld Finn, who lives in a normal-ish universe as a farmer. Pillow World Finn is older, has a family of his own, and a prosthetic arm made of quilting material. Dungeon Train Finn is one who chose to stay on the Dungeon Train and continue fighting monsters there forever. Plant Finn is a flower with Finn’s face. Weirdo Finn lives in Grotto World which is full of water nymphs. Baby Finn is Finn as a baby. And finally, Flynn is a gender-swapped version of Fionna, written by the Ice Queen.
Heroic Abilities
Despite being the only known human for a long time in a world of monsters and mythical creatures, Finn is shown as more than able to hold his own, even as a child. He has almost super-human strength and a very high tolerance for pain. And thanks to the magic spring water, he has immunity to electricity.
Finn is also quite strong mentally, able to fight off the Lich’s psychic abilities and attempts to control Finn’s mind. He’s also able to concentrate for a very long time, though this may be closer to normal meditation or even shutting down when faced with trauma too big for his human mind.
Finn is proficient in magic, swordsmanship, and hand-to-hand combat. Which is especially useful for his life as an adventurer and a monster fighter. His style is aggressive and overwhelming and doesn’t often seem to involve a lot of planning or strategy as much as instinct.
Is Finn Fully Human?
Finn is fully human.
Is He the Only Fully Human Character in Ooo?
Yes. But there are other human characters in the Adventure Time universe.
Due to the Mushroom War a millennium earlier, humans on Ooo became something of an endangered species. Though people who were human before are shown as mutated versions of their former selves. The few remaining humans were threatened by vampires and the other many dangers of Ooo, so many of them founded an isolated human civilization on an archipelago.
How are Finn and Jake Brothers?
Finn was adopted by Jake’s parents.
Do We Ever Meet Finn’s Biological Parents?
Finn’s biological parents are both from the human archipelago.
His mother Minerva was a doctor, while his father Martin was a conman who fled the Hub Island with Finn and was eventually separated from his son. While Minerva is kind, caring, selfless, and intelligent, Martin is lazy, selfish, exploitative, and narcissistic. Minerva seems genuinely happy to meet her son, while Martin hardly acknowledges Finn unless his presence can benefit Martin in some way.
Happy adventuring!
