The character made his debut in the original pilot, where he is named Pen and voiced by Zack Shada, Jeremy's older brother.

Prior to the start of Adventure Time, Finn was adopted as an infant by two anthropomorphic 1980s type dogs named Joshua and Margaret, who found him in the woods.

His best friend and adoptive brother Jake the Dog (John DiMaggio) accompanies him on many of his adventures in Ooo, the fictional world that the series is set in.

Adam Muto, former showrunner for Adventure Time, has stated that Finn's progression from an aggressive and reckless boy into a more mature person was one of his favorite character arcs to write.

Series creator Pendleton Ward has stated that he wrote Finn, and Adventure Time as a whole, as though he were playing a session of Dungeons & Dragons, a tabletop role-playing game.

[4] The character first appeared in the short film "Adventure Time", which centers around rescuing Princess Bubblegum (Hynden Walch) from the evil Ice King (John Kassir).

[7] Zack Shada was too old for the role when the series was picked up by Cartoon Network, and his younger brother Jeremy, 12 years old at the time, auditioned.

[11] Like other Adventure Time characters, Finn is drawn with rubbery "limp noodle" limbs and a simple but expressive face.

[16] Over time, the show's creators decided to further develop Finn's backstory, including his parents and whether he was truly the last human left in Ooo.

[10] A major theme of the series is that Finn begins to see the world in more nuanced terms, rather than the naive outlook he demonstrated in earlier seasons.

[19] Adventure Time showrunner Adam Muto stated that this progression is part of the reason why Finn did not have a sword for much of the finale.

[15] Finn the Human is the main character of Adventure Time and often appears alongside his best friend and adoptive brother Jake the Dog.

He is originally believed to be the only human left in Ooo after the "Great Mushroom War", a mysterious conflict that occurred 1,000 years prior to the start of the series.

[24] Finn's biological father Martin (Stephen Root) is a conman, while his mother Minerva (Sharon Horgan) is a doctor.

[33] He loses his control of his regrown arm, which transforms into a grass doppelgänger called Fern in the eighth season two-part episode "Preboot / Reboot".

[35] The miniseries Islands, which aired as part of season eight, sees Finn search for the surviving humans who left the continent and moved to an archipelago centuries after the Great Mushroom War.

[37] In the series finale "Come Along With Me," Finn and Jake help Princess Bubblegum fight her dictatorial uncle Gumbald.

[38] Realizing that violence is not the answer to the conflict, they ally with Gumbald to defeat the evil deity GOLB, who is intent on destroying Ooo.

[42] The Adventure Time: Distant Lands special "Together Again" takes place sometime after the end of the series, when Finn has died of old age.

[3] Finn's life with Jake is modelled after the archetypal knight-errant, as they frequently explore dungeons, fight evil creatures, rescue various princesses, and save the world.

[71] Finn ends up developing a close friendship with Marceline the Vampire Queen (Olivia Olson), despite her initial role as an antagonist.

[79] The season six episode "Breezy" deals with Finn's depression after losing his arm, being disappointed by his father, and breaking up with Flame Princess.

[80] During the episode, he explores a complicated relationship with a honeybee named Breezy, who falls in love with a flower sprouting from where his arm was cut off.

[37][25] Various critics have interpreted the portrayal of Finn and Minerva's opposing views as a commentary on the repression of emotions, overreliance on technology,[82] the sacrifice of freedom in exchange for safety,[83] an exploration of Nietzschean philosophy,[37] and an allegory for "American self-absorption.

"[36] Finn the Human's character arc has been highlighted by critics for its honest realistic portrayal of adolescence and universal struggles associated with coming-of-age.

[84] Brandon Zachary of Comic Book Resources described Adventure Time as "one of the most expansive fantasy series in modern history, centering around a kind but unassuming boy growing into a noble young man.

[36][87][88] Zach Blumenfeld of Paste contrasted Finn's rootless and heroic existence to the passionless, technology-dependent lives of the other human survivors in Islands.

[37][Finn] affirms life as it happens (both the good and the bad), constantly creates a value system and exists completely unfettered by society or the past.

[...] He's grown up without the weight of human history and custom, has guided his own way through a flood of adolescent emotions and has become a hero in a dangerous land of his own free will.

[89] Finn's narrative and impact on younger audiences has been compared to that of Harry Potter, the titular character in J. K. Rowling's book series of the same name.