Board Thread:Character Discussion/@comment-25176701-20150119013621/@comment-25869525-20150415011527

Skyzy wrote:

Kane was also not the one who made the ultimate call on the culling: that was Jaha, as he very specifically pressed the button to kill all those people himself. And if it weren't for Jaha originally abstaining from the vote, those people would have already died 10 days earlier before the radio even came into play on earth. In fact, it would have only been 100 people who died instead of 320 if Jaha hadn't waited.

One other thing that I think a lot of people might have missed at the end of Season  1 is Finn's reaction when he killed the Reaper. That was the start of his downward spiral/PTSD/whatever you want to call it. He was traumatized by his first kill and he wasn't ever really the same again after crossing that line. In that moment, he went from being a pacifist to a killer (regardless of it being done in self-defense). To Finn, killing one person was just as bad as killing hundreds so after that point, what difference would it make to him if he also killed Delano and massacred an entire village? He wasn't ever able to properly come to terms with killing that Reaper (not enough time or therapists on the ground) so he lost an integral piece of who he was (a pacifist) and it broke him.

I believe it would have been 300 to die if Jaha hadn't stalled. And the fact is, Jaha wanted to prevent the culling if possible. It was Kane that forced him into finally agreeing to it.

And you're right about the effect on Finn. It can change a person dramatically, taking a life. Frankly, I would not feel safe around anyone who wasn't affected by such an act.