Escape from the Finalizer The stormtrooper FN - 2187 and Resistance pilot Poe Dameron carried out an escape from the " Finalizer " during the cold war . Prelude . Shortly after the First Order ' s invasion of the sacred village of Tuanul on the desert planet Jakku , Commander Poe Dameron was locked up on the " Finalizer " by Kylo Ren . There , he was tortured and interrogated by the latter for information about what he did with the map to Jedi Master Luke Skywalker . The Escape . Stormtrooper FN - 2187 , who had just decided to desert the First Order , later helped Poe Dameron escape . After sneaking through several chambers , the two stole a TIE fighter , though they learned too late that it was connected to a wire . Thanisson informed his colonel that they were trying to escape , but it was too late . Other stormtroopers began firing at it , but they did not succeed in bringing it down , as it fired on the observation tower and broke free of the wire . From there , they were attacked by turbolasers . Poe brought the fighter into view , and FN - 2187 fired , destroying them entirely . As they flew back to Jakku , Kylo Ren was informed of the situation by General Armitage Hux . Although Hux did not know which stormtrooper had turned , Kylo remembered FN - 2187 ' s behavior during the attack on Tuanul . He then ordered that missiles be deployed , but FN - 2187 shot one of them down . There , FN - 2187 was rechristened as Finn , as the stormtrooper was never given a different name . Finn insisted they could not return to the planet , believing they both had to escape from the First Order , but Poe insisted he had to come back for his droid , BB - 8 . Finn claimed that no droid could be so important , but Poe insisted he had a map to Luke Skywalker himself . Finn was appalled , but before he could reply , their fighter was shot down by missiles , bringing the escape to a sudden end . Aftermath . The blast had knocked Dameron unconscious . Whereas FN - 2187 , dubbed " Finn " by Dameron , ejected from the TIE shortly before it crashed on the planet ' s surface , Dameron recovered consciousness just in time to set the craft down more or less intact , and got out of the cockpit before something blew , leaving his jacket behind . Suffering from a concussion and a brief period of memory loss , he moved away from the crash . When he awoke , Dameron found himself alone and set off to find a ship and contact the Resistance , sure that he would be able to reunite with BB - 8 with their help . During his journey , he encountered a Jakku native , the Blarina Naka Iit , whom Dameron managed to impress with both his sheer audacity and his piloting skills , such that he agreed to get Dameron to a ship in Blowback Town that would get him back to the Resistance . Meanwhile , Finn found Poe ' s jacket , but no other sign of the man , and the fighter sunk into the sand . Believing Dameron to be dead , he discarded his armor and eventually arrived at the nearest settlement , looking for BB - 8 to carry on Poe ' s mission . Once at the settlement , he found BB - 8 along with Rey , a desert scavenger , after witnessing her save the droid from two thugs . Soon after , BB - 8 pointed him out to Rey , identifying Dameron ' s jacket , prompting the woman to chase after him . Finn attempted to outrun her but Rey outflanked him . Held under questioning and accused of stealing Dameron ' s jacket , Finn falsely claimed to be with the Resistance to get them to trust him . The three were immediately targeted by the First Order , looking for Finn and BB - 8 , but they managed to escape Jakku aboard the " Millennium Falcon " . Finn and Poe were later reunited at the Resistance base on D ' Qar .