when fern says "but i'm not you" and renames himself, he is not enthusiastically asserting himself as his own person. he's not telling the audience hey look, i'm both a separate character and a separate person. he's renouncing his identity bc he has lost all sense of self. he does this at the end of an ep where he tries to do the "finn stuff" that he's loved, but can't enjoy anymore. he can't enjoy eating or making art (just like....................that's right babbyyyyy, someone with depression aw yes)
in "the music hole", finn finds closure after breaking finnsword by talking to the titular ms. hole, who tells him that friends are "people to observe you, to enjoy your song". finnsword- one half of fern- is the manifestation of finn's knight complex, the way he sees himself fitting in the world. in that episode, he learns that he has friends to see him for who he is, who care about him beyond the role he put himself in, and he can return that favor. unfortunately, finnsword is stuck as just an observer. he cannot be seen beyond the role he literally is shaped by, as a sword, a tool used for good (that got broken when used to hurt ppl). his sentience is only confirmed in the episode he's broken, and sentience defined- someone who can observe- in the episode where finn rediscovers the joy of being part of the world and so other people's lives. he extends this to the music hole, by giving her the recognition she's never received. but finnsword cannot get that. his only way of interacting with the world is as a tool that's broken and that finn is moving beyond, anyway. through fusing with the grass sword, finnsword regains the ability to interact with the world, but can't in the same way. he doesn't feel or act the same. just like.............someone with trauma. the only thing he can still do is fight, but it's not for the same reasons or with the same mindset as before. it's not right. he's not a hero. finn learned he's more than that, but how can fern? how could he still call himself finn?
when finn calls fern his brother, he's not literally saying hey this is his canon relationship to me, he's a separate character and also my brother. he calls fern "brother" as a way of respecting fern's assertion of himself as different (not realizing fern does so as a way of denying himself), while also saying he's as close to finn as possible. bc finn has a very different concept of what a brother is compared to most ppl. jake is his best friend, his mentor, and primary support system. the show can be split between part 1: finn being a joint unit with jake and part 2: finn learning how to be independent from him. the clearest divide of this is when finn discovers his bio dad is alive, and then gets abandoned by him all over again, losing his arm in the process. he has a physical reminder that he's different, that he had a different family and home. especially because this physical reminder is a disability, and his brother is a shapeshifter. oh, and this is also around the time where jake has his whole dad arc. they're more opposite than ever.
but they stay just as close, even when they don't relate in the same way, or jake can't help finn in the same way as he could before. finn and jake refer to each other primarily as best friends in the early seasons, when finn relies on him more yet they're also the most similar. then after this shift, when they learn more about both their intrinsic and developed differences, they use "brother" more. jake also strengthens his bond with jermaine after acknowledging their vastly different experiences, and oh learning that he's literally an alien. they connect the most as brothers when jake is no longer identical to jermaine. wtf does that have to do with finn? it emphasizes what the term "brother" means to jake, and finn by extension as the one he's closest to. friends in all their similarities but brothers in all their differences.
and then ofc at the end they assert that they'll always be best friends despite how much they or the world changes.
fern feels so alienated from the world and himself that he calls himself a different person. finn respects that as much as he can while also using the language that he has (ex calling him "like a brother, or closer") to tell him hey, this is an experience we share no matter how differently we go about it. different yet the same.
tl;dr: once while i was high, i watched the scene in "the wild hunt" where finn tricks his brain into thinking he's saving fern and therefore himself. working with his trauma to save the manifestation of his unresolved trauma. yeah and i think that's beautiful. they are the same lil guy
baratheonpilled
stormborns
jacobvanloon
yousharknotpass
2087
