Finn

"Your father's life-long dream was to see the war-torn Thracian Peninsula united. You must keep his dream alive, for you are the only one who can pull it off now."

- Finn to Leif

Finn (フィン, Fin in the Japanese version) is a playable character from Fire Emblem: Genealogy of the Holy War and Fire Emblem: Thracia 776. He is a knight of Leonster who serves Quan during the events of the first generation. He is the only character in Genealogy of the Holy War who appears as a playable character in both Sigurd's and Seliph's tales.

Profile
In Genealogy of the Holy War, Finn makes his first appearance alongside Quan and Ethlyn when the three of them arrive in Chalphy to aid Sigurd in his war against Verdane. In the early chapters, he receives advice from Quan, who gifts him with the Brave Lance, which serves as his personal weapon in Thracia 776. After hiding in Silesse for one year, Finn returns to Leonster along with Quan and Ethlyn, who decide to bring reinforcements back to Sigurd. During the Yied Massacre, he watches over Quan and Ethlyn's infant son, Leif, and later escapes with him during the fall of Leonster. Due to this, he is not present at the fateful Battle of Belhalla, which concludes with the decimation of Sigurd's forces.

For the next sixteen years, Finn raises Leif and Nanna in hiding in order to protect them from the Grannvale Empire's soldiers, while taking refuge in several cities along the way. If Lachesis was not paired up during the first generation, he takes in a seven-year-old Jeanne after her adoptive father is murdered by imperial soldiers. He is accompanied by Lachesis until she begins her journey back to Isaach to reunite with her son, Diarmuid, during which she vanishes without a trace. It is mentioned in Genealogy of the Holy War that he often went without food to make sure that Leif and Nanna had enough to eat. Eventually, he arrived at the village of Fiana with wounds, and Leif and Nanna convinced Eyvel to aid him. Up until the beginning of Thracia 776, he and the two children took residence in the village with Eyvel and the Fiana Freeblades.

After Nanna and Mareeta are captured by Raydrik during the Grannvale Empire's invasion of Fiana, Finn accompanies Leif on his mission to save them. When Leif and Eyvel surrender to Raydrik after he uses Nanna as a hostage against them, Finn and the rest of the Fiana Freeblades escape. They are eventually captured by General Hannibal's men, but Finn escapes and meets up with Safy, who decides to accompany him in his efforts to save Leif.

After Eyvel mentions that she lacks any memories of her youth at the end of Chapter 24x, Finn reveals his belief that she is Brigid from Sigurd's army due to their strong resemblance. However, Eyvel refuses to believe him because she lacks the holy markings of Crusader Ulir on her body. After the liberation of Manster, Finn continues to accompany Leif and joins up with Seliph's army alongside him.

During Seliph's invasion of Thracia, Finn notices Altena from a distance and recognizes the Gáe Bolg in her grasp. Realizing that she survived the Yied Massacre, he informs Leif about this and asks him to reveal the truth to her. After Altena enlists in Seliph's army, Finn has an optional conversation with her in which he cries due to his shame for never thinking about searching for her. In his scene, it is also revealed that Altena always desired Finn's attention during her early childhood.

In the ending of Thracia 776, Finn vanishes for three years after Leif's coronation as the king of the New Kingdom of Thracia. It is hinted that he spends three years searching for Lachesis in the Yied Desert, but his attempts prove to be futile.

Personality
Finn is a loyal and dutiful knight with undying loyalty to both Quan and Leif. In the first generation, he is quite inexperienced, but still receives attention from Quan, who eventually entrusts him with Leif's safety. In Thracia 776, he is portrayed as being very unemotional, as Leif states that he has not cried or laughed in years. Like Leif, Finn desires to have revenge against Travant for his murders of Quan and Ethlyn.

Growth Rates

 * 70%
 * 30%
 * 5%
 * 40%
 * 30%
 * 50%
 * 30%
 * 5%
 * }

Overall
Finn is unique in that he is a playable character in both the first and second generation. In the first generation, he joins you on the very first map along with Ethlyn and Quan. Finn will run into some difficulty early on and require some extra care from Ethlyn because enemy armies are comprised mostly of Axe wielding units that have a much better chance of landing blows on Finn than most of your other units. Finn, however, has solid enough stats to take a few hits while fighting through this awkward stage of his growth and still be useful. After gaining a few levels, Finn should hit his stride with above average growths and base stats as well as enemy diversity turning more toward his favor by Chapter 2. Unfortunately, this will be somewhat short-lived as Finn will only be with you until the end of Chapter 3.

Finn will return to you in the second generation just as you left him in the first. If Finn takes a lover in the first generation, it will jeopardize Finn's ability to protect Nanna and Leif when he rejoins you in the second generation as he will only come equipped with an Iron Lance. Similarly, if you chose not to level Finn at all in the first generation, it will negatively impact his ability to protect them substantially. Assuming you level Finn as normal, he will arrive in the second generation being similar in strength to Oifey. However, Finn is very likely to pale in comparison to the children of the second generation once they catch up to him in levels. While he is perfectly capable of taking care of himself and is not a poor unit, much of his usefulness will hinge on whether he has retained his Brave Lance.

Father Overview
Finn as a father is a bit awkward to accomplish as he has a shorter time frame to fall in love since he will leave Sigurd's army at the end of Chapter 3. Finn also carries the unique drawback as a father in that not only are there no children that can actually inherit his Lances, but the Lances he has on him will be stripped from him regardless of his children's inability to inherit them. Meaning he comes back to you in the second generation with only an Iron Lance on a map where he is required to help defend Nanna and Leif and his kids are also stuck with a basic Iron weapon.

For these reasons, not pairing Finn at all is a fairly common strategy. Beyond all of those reasons, Finn does not offer anything particularly special if you do choose to pair him, as his children will never inherit any weapons, he has no Holy Blood, and his growths are just slightly above average. His skills are pretty good, but Pursuit is ubiquitous, and Prayer requires pretty specific circumstances to be excellent and is usually only of marginal use outside of meticulous ranked play.

If you insist on pairing Finn, he is best paired with Lachesis or Edain. Brigid is another pairing that has potential, but accomplishing this is a task in and of itself, as Brigid and Finn must gain 320 love points by the end of Chapter 3. The rest are poor pairings due to no inheritable weapons, children being Magic-oriented units, the children already having Pursuit, or all of the above.
 * Lachesis: Many players also choose this pairing since it is canon according to the events of Fire Emblem: Thracia 776. Diarmuid will gain suitable stats as well as Pursuit which is vital to him. Unfortunately, Diarmuid will inherit no weapons and should immediately try to purchase some Swords from Ulster, Larcei, or Seliph in Chapter 6. Nanna will turn out pretty well other than her Magic growth suffering a bit with Finn as her father. She will gain 5 Speed from a conversation with him, ensuring that it will cap. This pairing is not really exceptional and Lachesis definitely has better choices for a husband, but both children will at least be well-rounded.
 * Edain: Lester will benefit well from Finn's physically-oriented stat growths and Pursuit skill, but will inherit no weapons and it may be a while before Lester can upgrade his Iron Bow. Lana will be well-rounded other than her Magic growth. Her poor Magic growth can be offset by a conversation in which Finn will give her +5 Magic. This pairing is not really exceptional, but both children will at least be competent units.
 * Brigid: Febail will have all-around good stats and growths and exceptionally high Luck alongside the Miracle skill. Meanwhile, Patty will obtain Pursuit early which should improve her performance before Promotion, but will lack inherited weapons unless Finn lands the killing blow on Jacoban to obtain the Levin Sword in Chapter 3. In the end, this pairing is fringe, but will result in decent children.

Conversations
In Chapter 1, if Quan speaks to Finn, Finn will gain one point of strength, one point of skill, and one point of defense.

In Chapter 2, after Heirhein Castle is captured, Quan may speak to Finn, and Finn will receive the Brave Lance.

In Chapter 7, after Darna Castle is captured, if Finn is the father of either Nanna, Lana, or Larcei, he may then speak to his daughter. This will result in Nanna gaining five points of speed, Lana gaining five points of magic, and Larcei gaining five points of skill.

In Chapter 8, Finn may speak to Leif, and Leif will gain three points of strength.

In Chapter 9, after Grutia Castle is captured, Finn may speak to Altena, resulting in her gaining three points of HP. This conversation may not be initiated if Hannibal speaks to her beforehand.

Love
Finn is unable to fall in love in the Second Generation, but is a potential father for the female playable units of said generation.


 * Deirdre: N/A
 * Ethlyn: N/A
 * Edain: 0+2
 * Ayra: 0+2
 * Lachesis: 50+2
 * Erinys: 50+2
 * Sylvia: 0+3
 * Brigid: 180+10
 * Tailtiu: 180+10

Base Stats
* This weapon is only usable when dismounted.

Growth Rates

 * 60%
 * 35%
 * 5%
 * 30%
 * 35%
 * 45%
 * 30%
 * 10%
 * 1%
 * }

Supports
Supported by
 * Leif - 10%
 * Nanna - 10%

Overall
In this game, Finn starts off with the Brave Lance, a weapon that is now made exclusive to him. With this weapon on hand, Finn has the potential to evolve into an extremely powerful unit, due to his ability to double attack and the bonus luck (10) he receives from said weapon. Furthermore, this weapon is extremely useful in employing enemy-capturing strategies in the game.

SpotPass
*Enemy only, joins unequipped

Genealogy of the Holy War (Mitsuki Oosawa)
Like his game counterpart, Finn serves Quan as a knight of Leonster. After Lachesis is saved from Elliot by Sigurd's army, Sigurd discusses his next course of action on helping out Eldigan with Quan and Finn. Finn compares Elliot with Lachesis, though the former is a spoiled child, while the latter was far more refined, but admits that he never met Lachesis in person and would like the chance to meet her.

When Lachesis enters the conversation and expresses her desire to join Sigurd's army, she is soon given permission by Eldigan's wife, Iria. Despite still being reluctant, with Quan's insistence, she is allowed in, and Finn is assigned to be her bodyguard, which he accepts, much to his embarrassment.

As Sigurd's forces need a way to invade Mackily castle, but could not due to Clement's Sleep Staff, Deirdre proposes a plan where Lachesis, Ayra, and herself would go in alone, and Deirdre would use the Silence Staff to defeat Clement. However, the plan requires Lachesis to go alone with Ayra and Deirdre, which Finn spoke out against in a conversation with Lachesis, as he could not come due to being a man, which would endanger the plan.

Finn speaks that it was his duty to protect her, but Lachesis remarks that she does not need anyone protecting her, and that she only accepted him as her guard so she would be allowed into the army. Finn grabs her wrist and tries to reason with her that she should not overestimate herself, but Lachesis angrily shakes her hand free, and coldly states that Finn is the one overestimating himself and there is only one person that could truly protect her. The statement makes Finn question who she had been referring to, and he remains silent as Lachesis continued with the plan. Finn grows upset that he could not fulfill his master's orders, but tries to keep his heart from being burdened.

Later on, when the army prepares to sleep outdoors and sets up tents, Lachesis attempts to tie a proper knot for the tent, but keeps failing, much to Ayra's amusement. Finn takes the rope from Lachesis and advises her that Ayra would continue to tease her if she did not learn, so he would teach her. Lachesis states that she only needed to see it once to know how to do so, to which Finn replies that if she failed again, then he would tease her, much to her chagrin. Finn works on tying the knot on the tent silently as Lachesis begins to talk about feelings of love with Ayra, when Lachesis notices Ayra's feelings towards Lex, and Lachesis remarks that Ayra has a chance, unlike Lachesis, where her feelings cannot be realized.

After Eldigan is freed from his imprisonment and left to return to Chagall, he tells Sigurd to tell Lachesis to return to Nodion. Sigurd is adamant with the decision and insists that Lachesis follows as well when he passes the message, and even states that Finn had to return to Quan as well. However, Finn defends Lachesis and insists that she merely wanted to see her brother, and to forcefully return her to Nodion was too cruel, before Lachesis storms off out of grief and anger, with Finn following.

When the autumn of Gran Year 757 passes, Finn is with Lachesis as she stays behind in Augusty castle while Sigurd and the others departed to Silvail. Finn speeks to Lachesis, knowing that she wanted to speak to Eldigan, and suggested that perhaps she should go with Sigurd. Lachesis suddenly says that her birthday would be coming the next month, to which Finn congratulates, but then Lachesis tells Finn that she was having Sigurd give a letter to Eldigan. She admits that she is also scared of meeting Eldigan, as he might turn her away in person and make her return to Nordion. Finn expresses that he felt jealous by Lachesis' words, as the way she spoke of Eldigan was almost as if she was in love with him. She denies the claim, but Finn easily sees through her lie, and understood that she is, in fact, in love with Eldigan.

After Sigurd returns, he gives Lachesis an item to her that had been given to him by Eldigan, and she quickly hurries off. Finn tries to follow, but Sigurd tells him not to, making Finn realize that Sigurd was also aware of Lachesis' feelings for Eldigan. He tells Sigurd that continuing on like that would only cause her sorrow, but Sigurd questions exactly who would feel sorrow, which quickly made Finn become more aware of his own growing feelings towards Lachesis.

Upon confronting an army in Madino, Finn and Lachesis participate in the battle. As Lachesis is about to be attacked, Finn rescues her by carrying her onto his horse. As she thanks him, he expresses surprise by the praise, saying that he is capable of protecting her. When she speaks of wanting to talk to Eldigan, Finn remarks how despite everything, Eldigan is still on her mind, expressing some sadness that was noticed, but Finn shrugged it off, reminding her of the battle.

Preparing to depart from Madino, Finn speaks with Lachesis to inform her of this, but questions if she truly will not return to Eldigan's side and would instead face him in battle as an enemy, fearing that such a thing would be hard on her, but she confirms that she has to do this. However, despite her pleas to Eldigan when Sigurd's army finally confronts Eldigan's, Eldigan orders his men to attack, and Sigurd orders Finn to take Lachesis from the front lines, which he did. As he guids her further back, Lachesis pleads with Finn to take her back so she could stop Eldigan, but is met with Indech, who came to forcefully take Lachesis back to Eldigan. Parrying a strike from him, Finn's arm grows slightly numb from the blow. Lachesis adamantly refuses Indech's attempts to retrieve her, and Finn is forced to hold him back as she hurried back. However, Finn grows horrified when he witnesses Lachesis take an injury to the neck from Eldigan's Mystletainn, and screams her name as Eldigan hurriedly took her away and retreated.

Later that night, Finn encounters Ethlyn after he had completed treating the other wounded soldiers. When he notices that she was crying, Finn panicked when he believed that Ethlyn was crying because Quan's condition took a turn for the worse, but Ethlyn managed to ease Finn's worries by saying that Quan is all right. Ethlyn then questions how Finn is feeling, since he is always together with Lachesis, and he admits that he was worried about her. When Ethlyn reprimands herself at how she could only cry and scream while Lachesis risked her life to stop Eldigan from nearly killing Quan, Finn questions how Ethlyn could do that. He expresses his great respect for her, how despite young she was, she was in a war-ridden land like Leonster, and how her mere presence raised the spirits of the other soldiers. He also says that was something only Ethlyn could do, before noting that stopping Eldigan was something only Lachesis could do. He then thinks to himself at how that scene with Eldigan and Lachesis made him realize how helpless he was.

After Lachesis returns and Eldigan is later executed, his severed head was sent to Sigurd's army, and Finn goes into the tent that Lachesis was in and tells her about Eldigan's fate. Lachesis immediately tries to go see Eldigan, but Finn restrains her and says that it was best she does not see, but she believed that Eldigan was still alive. Finn tells her to calm down and realize that Eldigan's head being severed meant that he was dead, which makes Lachesis have a breakdown as she screams in despair.

Finn later speaks of Lachesis' condition with Ethlyn after the event, before going into Lachesis's tent to see her, only to find her holding the Earth Sword in her hands, which he quickly knocks away, believe that she had been attempting suicide. However, she tells him that the Earth Sword could not kill her, as the weapon absorbed the life force of the one stabbed and transfers it to the holder of the weapon, so the weapon killing her would be impossible. She then tells Finn that she wants to know what it felt like to die, and asks him what she should do now, much to his horror.

After Agustria is captured and Chagall dies, Eldigan's body is soon to be buried. Finn finds Lachesis with the coffin that held Eldigan's body, and tells her that Eldigan would be buried the next day. He tries to tell her to take better care of herself, as she still had a fever, but she simply shrugs him off, saying that she would remain as the coffin as cold to bring her fever down. Finn states that she would end up killing herself if she remained in that state of mind, to which she suddenly asks him to kill her. In a sudden burst of anger, Finn slaps her and declares that he would leave her alone, before leaving, but is still upset by her words after he left the room.

Moving to Silesse to escape Grannvale's pursuit, Finn continues to try and get Lachesis back to proper health, trying to get her to eat, but she always refuses, a worry that he shared with Ethlyn. When Lachesis opens the window and screamed out in despair, before Finn closed the window, reprimanding her for doing such things yet again, and how she was making everyone worry about her, and how she was not touching her food. Lachesis asks him if he brought her a white rose, to which he states that it was impossible as they would not grow in the current season. Lachesis states that she wants a white rose, and tells him to bring her one, before Finn leaves, telling her to try to eat something. As he left, he pulls out a small picture he had drawn of a white rose, but believes that it was not very good, only for Ayra to suddenly show up behind him and say that it was well drawn, much to his surprise, and he hurriedly put the picture away. Finn then speaks to Ayra about Lachesis' condition.

Later on, Finn contemplates how to get Lachesis to eat something, speaking to Ethlyn when she arrives. When questioning her presence in the kitchen, she said that she was going to switch with him in giving Lachesis the food, but he says that its his job since Quan had given him the task of watching over her. Ethlyn tries to take the tray and insist that Finn take the break, only for Finn to move the tray out of her reach. Quick to catch on, Ethlyn immediately picks up on Finn's feelings for Lachesis, much to her amusement. Admitting his feelings for Lachesis, he knows that their ranks separates them, but doesn't care if his feelings do't reach her, but he simply desires that Lachesis cheer up again.

Ethlyn denies such a notion and believes that Finn should not settle for anything less for his love with Lachesis, as it was his feelings towards the princess that pushed him as far as he had gotten, and that Lachesis needs to realize that as well. Ethlyn states that Finn's sincere feelings need to open the wall around Lachesis' heart. Finn then asks how he could do that, wanting the viewpoint of a woman to aid him, to which she says that making a sudden confession to Lachesis will only backfire, but Finn denies the idea of doing such a thing. However, with some other advice, Finn understands that he has to do something different, before remembering the white rose.

The next morning, Finn brings Lachesis her breakfast and tells her that starting today, he would make sure that she was eating again. When Lachesis asks if he brought a white rose, he says he did, only to suddenly be rejected, as she knows he couldn't have. She says that Finn was an annoyance and tells him to leave her alone, and that she didn't need the food. Angered by her words, as despite how he could sense her silent plea for help, she would not allow anyone in, and could no longer accept it.

He suddenly grabs her, reminding her that he said that he would make sure that she eats something, before taking a bite out of a loaf of bread, indicating that he would forcefully feed her via mouth to mouth, an action that makes Lachesis violently lash out and try and escape from him, making the tray of food and the Earth Sword fall onto the floor, as Finn restrains her. He tells her that she has to eat, as Eldigan would have wanted her to live, only for Lachesis to angrily question how he could know, when Eldigan did not care for her at all, as he would never have left her alone to suffer if he did care. This makes Finn slowly release her as she breaks down in tears.

Finn says that he does know that Eldigan wanted her to live and that he did care for her, the proof being the Earth Sword that he had given her, before speaking of the life-draining abilities the weapon carried. Lachesis confirms that and that it was worthless as it couldn't even let her take her own life. However, much to her shock, Finn moved quickly in front of her, put the weapon into her hands and made her stab him, the weapon immediately beginning to drain his life force to help Lachesis. Finn tells her that the fact the weapon taking the life of others to save her own meant that Eldigan wanted her to live, so that she could continue living and seeing her smile. Lachesis, horrified by the act, pleads for Finn to pull away, or he would die. As Finn lets go and falls back, he began to bleed profusely, making Lachesis try and use the Live Staff to heal him.

As she questioned why he would do such a thing, she tries to remove his clothes to help heal him, before seeing the white rose drawing of his, that was stained red by Finn's own blood. Finn admits that he drew it to try and help her, but states that it was poorly drawn and now was worthless because of his blood making it turn red. Finn's actions had managed to touch Lachesis' heart and made her finally be able to move on. After the ordeal was over, Finn accompanied her outside in the snow, where she bottled the picture of the bloodied rose drawing, before she threw it to the ocean to show she moved on, before she looked back at Finn and smiled. Seeing her smile again made Finn tear up, but he quickly lied that the salty breeze was affecting his eyes.

When Lachesis states that she wants to train to obtain the title of "Master", where she would master all the weapons of knights, Finn offered to train with her in lances. The two trained together and grew closer, much to Ethlyn's delight as she teased Finn about it, and even told Quan about it.

After spring arrives and Lachesis becomes a "Master", she thanks Finn for his help and asks for him to continue to look after her. Quan also notes that Finn had improved remarkably and that he should promote too, which they would do as soon as Finn returned to Leonster. When Lachesis questions this, Quan informs her that he would have to check on things back in Leonster, to which Lachesis believed that Finn would return as well, but Finn admitted that he would be staying in Leonster. That night, when Lachesis was training, she noticed Finn watching her when one of the sticks she had been cutting with her lance struck Finn's hand.

When Lachesis questions how long he had been there, he admits that he was there for a while, as he had been watching her. When she questioned this, he admitted that it was because he wanted to engrave her into his mind so that he would not forget her. As his hand began to bleed from earlier, he began to lick it, only for Lachesis to take him to get treated. As she bandaged his hand, she speaks to Finn when he would leave, to which he says it would be when Ethlyn would be strong enough to move around with her baby, being around the time of the next snowfall. Finn listens as Lachesis expresses her gratitude towards him for bringing the color back into her world after Eldigan's death, but when she expresses that Finn had only remained by her side because of his orders, she asks that he doesn't forget her, before she finished bandaging his hand and begins to leave.

Those words, however, made Finn grab her arm and tell her that she was wrong, saying that he did not stay with her because of his orders from Quan. He confesses that he only used that as an excuse the entire time, before suddenly pulling her into an embrace, declaring that he could no longer lie to himself, and that a memory of her just wasn't enough, before he professed his love to her. She tells him to not leave her then, which he agrees, though it was an obvious lie and she tearfully questions why the people she falls in love with ultimately leave her, before the two share a kiss that is quickly followed by a night of passion. Lachesis asks how Leonster was, to which Finn explains, and expresses his desire to take her with him. When she tells him to do that, he says that he could not, as the land he owns there and his own current rank were unworthy of her. Despite her saying that she didn't care for that, he says that he did. He promises her that when he would become a man worthy of her, he would come back for her, to which she says that she would place her faith in him.

When it was time to leave, Finn accompanied his lord, before spotting Lachesis through a window, waving to him, which Ethlyn noticed and immediately began to tease him, much to his embarrassment, though Finn quickly warns Ethlyn to watch the road in front of her.

The night that they spent together resulted in Lachesis becoming pregnant with her son Diarmuid, though Finn was unaware of it.

Quotes
"...my apologies. I cannot fight with this wound, so I shall return to Leonster at once."

- Finn's defeat quote in Generation 1 of Genealogy of the Holy War.

"...Lord Quan... ......Lady Ethlyn... Please forgive me..."

- Finn's death quote in Generation 2 of Genealogy of the Holy War.

"Lord Leif, I shall retreat first!"

- Finn's retreat quote in Thracia 776.

"Lord Leif... Please...fulfill...your father's...legacy..."

- Finn's death quote in Thracia 776.

Boss Quotes
-Chapter 9, Against Travant


 * Travant: Finn, isn't it? It's been a while. So you're still alive...how stubborn of you.
 * Finn: King Travant, today I will take my revenge for what you did to my lord!
 * Travant: Hahaha, don't make me laugh. What do you think you can do to me!? You're the one who's going to die!!

Possible Endings

 * Finn - The Legendary Lance Knight (伝説の槍騎士 Densetsu no Yari Kishi lit. Spear Knight of Legend''')
 * "After seeing Leif take the throne, Finn disappeared. Three years passed before he showed himself again. There are no records on what he was doing in the time he was gone. Some claim to have caught a glimpse of him in the Yied Desert, but these are only rumors."

Fire Emblem 0 (Cipher)
Finn is illustrated in the trading card game with the following cards:

Etymology
Finn derives his name from that of Fionn mac Cumhaill, who was a was a mythical hunter-warrior of Irish mythology.

Trivia

 * Due to having a huge amount of love growth with Brigid and Tailtiu, Finn can have either of them listed as his lover after several turns in Chapter 3, even if they do not come in close proximity with each other.