why would finn, an angel, ever be in a relationship with kylo, an ain't shit bitch?
Okay so I think I originally said I wouldn’t Discourse(TM) on this blog, well I lied. Mild Discourse ahoy. And I’mm going to treat this as a legitimate question Anon, if that’s alright with you?
Return question, why not? Why should Finn of all people be protected from shipping? Because this fandom really has a problem with desexualization and infatanlization of Finn. He’s seen as too pure, too good, put on a pedestal so writers don’t have to deal with him.
You see, Finn isn’t an angel, or a ball of sunshine, or a cinnamon roll. He’s a complex character and I wish fandom would start treating him as such. Because it is really notable how everyone else have their opposite explored - be it redeemed Kylo, Dark Side Rey, First Order Poe, I’ve even come across good guy undercover agent Hux fics - and being shipped across the party lines. Everyone, except Finn.
Because he’s written off as too pure and precious or something as dirty as sex, or falling to the Dark Side.
Yes Finn has a lot of kindness and warmth to him. He also have a strong protective streak and a die hard sense of loyalty to his friends. And that’s where Phasma fucked up, she wouldn’t let him be loyal. Because Finn isn’t loyal to ideals, he’s loyal to people and if Phasma had let be loyal to his squad mates Finn might not have defected. Or it would have taken him much longer to get to the point where he felt he needed to leave, because his loyalty to his squadron and his need to protect them would have warred with his need to protect others and do good.
And this is where Kylo could come in. What if in world where Finn’s Force abilities woke earlier and he was taken and trained as a Knight of Ren. Perhaps under Kylo. Or maybe Snoke trains them both, thinking they will keep each other in check.
Except instead of becoming rivals, they become friends.
TFA sets them up as narrative opposites, but they have a lot in common too.
Both have doubts about the FO, though their answers to their doubts take them in opposite directions in canon.
Finn’s Light and generosity with himself would draw Kylo in. As for Finn, he’d find someone whom he could share his thoughts with, who’s respect he could gain (I think he’d be as good with Force skills as he is with everything else, but he’s not competitive and hence not a threat to Kylo).
They could become the ultimate Dark Side power couple. Overturning Snoke and Hux and ruling the First Order together.
Or in a universe where Kylo does redeem himself. Where he makes the sacrifices that brings him back to the Light, to be Ben Solo once more. Where he’s held accountable for his actions, accepts the responsibility and does what he can to fix things - though there are things that can never be fixed and he knows he’s going to have to live with that too?
Finn might be the one who most readily forgives Ben. Not that it would magically be okay, and fluffy sunshine. Both Finn himself and his friends suffered too much as Kylo’s hand for Finn just to dismiss that and he would hold Ben accountable for that too.
But he also knows the First Order like no one else. He knows what it’s like to believe them, because for a long, long time he himself did that.
This isn’t a fluffy romance. It’s conflicted and sometimes contentious. Finn’s trauma and Ben’s clashing, both wanting to help the other, both of them knowing that they’re part of the other man’s pain so they can’t, except in being there.
This btw only works if Ben is truly sincere. Finn has an excellent bs detector and if he isn’t Finn would likely be the one who knows before anyone else.
Or maybe, maybe there isn’t anything good or healthy about it?
Maybe Finn is drawn to Kylo knowing the man is dangerous and unapologetically devoted to the Dark Side, but he still wants him. Kylo in turn is drawn to Finn, despite him being everything he loathes and looks down on, but he cannot deny Finn’s strength or skill, or ability in opposing him making him intrigued.
In this universe it’s entirely fucked up and in no way good, but it’s funny how no other character than Finn is by and large viewed by fandom as if he should be protected from this, or seen as too simple and pure to be involved.
So rather than ask why Finn would ever be in a relationship with Kylo, I think the right question to ask is why this fandom thinks Finn is too pure and angelic to be shipped?
No need to answer that, I know why.
