I’m already seeing a lot of portrayals of Finn’s backstory as a Stormtrooper hinging on wanton violence and trauma. But I wonder if anyone has considered that the way Troopers are conditioned might be by an excess of care/attention, not by violence? I mean, we have evidence of that reading in the fact that Finn’s negative reaction is noted and pursued by his commanding officer. That demonstrates a heightened awareness of each of the troopers, not a lack of care. I wonder if maybe the medical care for troopers–as an example–was absolutely the best that money can buy, but not offered with pleasantries. Like, maybe Finn has had medical care thousands of times but usually he was put under sedation at the drop of a hat rather than allowed to stay conscious and engaged with the medical process. Like, maybe the biggest difference between his current medical care and what he experienced as a trooper is that they’re going to explain what they’re doing at every step now and he’s going to have to push himself to heal, not rely on them making it easy on him.
Like, if a trooper got a spinal injury, wouldn’t it make sense for the clearly affluent First Order to simply replace the spine and, like, build new muscle tissue or whatnot, rather than putting a trooper through longterm physical therapy and making him choose which course of treatment he wants.
Also, I think it’s worth thinking about how everything is easy as a trooper, but nothing is personal and that might be another key difference. I totally buy the idea of Finn being chronically touch-starved and unable to assert choices, though. I am loving that trend in the fic. I bet other key differences could include:
- now he has to own things and remember where they are. Like, he takes off his shoes outside and then forgets that, you know, they’re his and he has to come back barefoot to find them later
- also remembering how stuff belongs to other people too. Like, he doesn’t recognize the gesture as significant when Poe gives him the jacket. It’s not until Poe says it, maybe even later when he thinks about it again, that it’s a gift.
- having to remember names is probably very hard. and then finding out people have two names each, that probably frustrates him and blows his mind equally.
- it might take him a while to understand how different people’s backgrounds are. like, maybe he assumes everyone knows how to use a lightsaber because Rey was good at it. If Rey knows it, he just assumes everyone knows it. That’s the way it was for troopers: everyone knew exactly the same things. You never chatted about your childhood because it was exactly identical to everyone else’s. He probably grows to really love hearing people talk about their pasts. He probably makes a lot of friends by being just utterly charmed by the most prosaic of stories.
- i bet the messiness of the base bothers him. i bet he has to keep telling himself it’s fine that no one has scoured that wall over there, it’s totally fine. because he clearly wants to go find a bucket and a sponge and just bleach the fuck out of that mold.
- god, he is actually probably the neatest ever. once he gets a hang of the idea of this being his room, he probably keeps it fucking spotless
