Talk:Finn Collins/@comment-26396827-20150513201455

Yes. Okay, I get it. Finn killed 18 Grounders out of cold-blood. He murdered them. But we need to take a long look at his actual character, actions and all.

Finn only got sent to Earth because he took the blame for something he didn’t do, in order to save the love of his life from being executed. Even though he knew that he was only a year away from being Floated himself. All he wanted to do, and he risked so much to make this happen, was give his girlfriend the one thing she wanted most; a Spacewalk, because it was her birthday and she had failed her practical test and he was not going to let that stop her.

So Finn wasn’t even supposed to be on Earth- he was there, not because he was a criminal, but because he saved someone.

During Season One, I think we can all agree Finn was the peacekeeper. He was the one that constantly sought peace, and tried to prevent multiple fights. Hell, he even tried to save Murphy! And everyone knows what Murphy was like in those first few episodes! Finn was the one person who somehow managed to make everyone smile; he saw the good in people, when they didn’t see it themselves and he was always the one to concoct brilliant plans that often worked amazingly.

But the reality of The 100 isn’t quite that easy. We’re talking about children going to war, when they weren’t built for fighting. These children had to maintain order in a post-apocalyptic world, whilst believing that their friends and family had given up on them back home. They were not fit for war.

And Finn represents that. Finn, the sweetest spark of the whole group, was reduced to a numb, emotionless monster.

He had PTSD (Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder), which can be caused (according to the NHS) by multiple things, including:

-serious accidents

-violent personal assaults

-prolonged sexual abuse, violence or  severe neglect

-witnessing violent deaths

-military combat

-being held hostage

Now, how many of these can we relate to Finn? The answer? Pretty much all of them. The first two are obvious. The third I highlight severe neglect. I can’t remember being told much about Finn’s early life with his parents, but the one person he had was Raven. One person. How would you cope with having only one person who really cared whether you lived or died? And then, to make matters worse, your own people send you down to a planet that is supposedly unstable and uninhabitable as a test.That, my friend, is neglect at it’s finest.

He has witnessed countless violent deaths, as have they all, and military combat is, again, obvious.

But I will not play stupid. They all have. And I’m not going to sit here and act as though Finn was the only poor soul who had to experience this.

<p style="margin-bottom:0px;color:rgb(68,68,68);font-family:'HelveticaNeue',HelveticaNeue,Arial,sans-serif;font-size:15px;line-height:24px;">But each person reacts differently to different situations and it turned out that Finn, that sweet and funny boy from the very first episode who was always quick to see hope and to stop inner conflict, just couldn’t cope. And that is the sad truth. He could not cope.

<p style="margin-bottom:0px;color:rgb(68,68,68);font-family:'HelveticaNeue',HelveticaNeue,Arial,sans-serif;font-size:15px;line-height:24px;">So, in his desperation to find the one person who he had grown to love, and who had grown to love him and keep him grounded among all of the chaos, he wrongly murdered 18 innocents. Because, yes, it was wrong. And yes, they were innocents.

<p style="margin-bottom:0px;color:rgb(68,68,68);font-family:'HelveticaNeue',HelveticaNeue,Arial,sans-serif;font-size:15px;line-height:24px;">But the point is, if you watch the scene carefully, you can see that there is no hatred on his face as he actually shoots them. Beforehand, of course- he has just found the belongings of all of his friends. What more evidence (however misguided) do you really need?

<p style="margin-bottom:0px;color:rgb(68,68,68);font-family:'HelveticaNeue',HelveticaNeue,Arial,sans-serif;font-size:15px;line-height:24px;">He shoots those people because he is scared. He sees them run. And he shoots.

<p style="margin-bottom:0px;color:rgb(68,68,68);font-family:'HelveticaNeue',HelveticaNeue,Arial,sans-serif;font-size:15px;line-height:24px;">There is no malicious intent, but there is intention all the same.

<p style="margin-bottom:0px;color:rgb(68,68,68);font-family:'HelveticaNeue',HelveticaNeue,Arial,sans-serif;font-size:15px;line-height:24px;">And afterwards, he knows what he has done. And he hates himself more than Clarke does. He truly hates himself for becoming a monster.

<p style="margin-bottom:0px;color:rgb(68,68,68);font-family:'HelveticaNeue',HelveticaNeue,Arial,sans-serif;font-size:15px;line-height:24px;">And yet, Finn Collins was not a monster. Because monsters do not feel emotion and they definitely do not feel love, and Finn felt love the way others feel fear; with every fibre of his body and every beat of his heart. And monsters do not give themselves up to create peace and save the people that abandoned him and left him to die.

<p style="margin-bottom:0px;color:rgb(68,68,68);font-family:'HelveticaNeue',HelveticaNeue,Arial,sans-serif;font-size:15px;line-height:24px;">Even in the end, Finn Collins was the peacemaker. Yes, he was a murderer. But they all were. He still felt remorse. And he suffered from a legitimate disorder; PTSD. There is no doubt about it; I will mourn Finn as the loving boy he was, not the monster he is perceived to be.

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<p style="margin-bottom:0px;color:rgb(68,68,68);font-family:'HelveticaNeue',HelveticaNeue,Arial,sans-serif;font-size:15px;line-height:24px;">This is just my opinion and my personal response to other people's opinions who don't seem to care about him. I'm shocked people preferred Bellamy and Murphy to Finn in the first few epsiodes- Bellamy and Murphy were downright sadistic, power-hungry arseholes! Finn showed remorse and tried to control things in camp like a normal person who just wants to make things easier for everyone. Bellamy and Murphy liked exerting their power and showing that they were in charge. Yes, they both changed, but so did Finn. Everyone changed. Some for the worse, some for the better. That's what hardship does to people. Even the innocent.