Steven Finn

### Affiliation

104.6 FM Emergency Broadcast Station, Pinehaven Forest Rangers, Pinehaven Police

## Steven Finn, "Finn"

Steven Finn, more commonly known by simply his last name, is the part-time 30th Operator of the Pinehaven Emergency Broadcast Station. He is also a member of the Pinehaven Forest Rangers.

## Description

Finn's physical appearance is not often described in great detail, aside from the fact that he is very intimidating and quite large. He is described as being tall, broad, and strong enough that Daniel worries he could easily be "picked up and thrown into the woods". Evelyn later describes him as having graying hair, though his exact age is never given. He has facial hair. He has an intense face, rarely smiles, and sports a heavy brow. His clothes often smell like cigarette smoke.

In personality, Finn is a man with two very distinct sides. Although he is usually described as being straight-forward, logical, harsh, and cold, he also features moments of genuine tenderness. He rarely joins in with the jokes and teasing of his co-workers, and when he does, his rare moments of humor are surprising. During his shifts as a part-time Operator, he is known for being scarily efficient at the job. As he grows more fond of Evelyn and Daniel, Finn begins to take on a protective role. He shows examples of this when he gently confronts Evelyn about her alcoholism and when he grows legitimately scared of Daniel's sleepwalking.

As of "Dead Air", Finn has a burn scar on his left side that spreads from his cheek down to his upper arm. Although his eyes are unaffected, he lost the corner of his lip, one earlobe, and has scar tissue down his neck.Part of his head and his beard are now shaved.

## Early Life

Finn describes growing up in a farmhouse just outside of Pinehaven, which he now owns. Although he has not mentioned what happened to his father, his mother passed away from illness during his adult life, leaving him the homestead. Of the three main characters, Finn has spent the most amount of time as an active citizen of Pinehaven.

Finn has had a long trail of law enforcement jobs, from being a security guard to joining the police academy, and finally being transferred back home to Pinehaven's police department, where he remains at the start of A Lonely Broadcast. Not much else is known about his personal life or childhood, as Evelyn notes that he "doesn't tell them shit".

## Pinehaven Police Department

Finn only spends roughly two years as a member of the Pinehaven police force. During this time, he is one of the authorities who arrives to take Evelyn in for questioning after Jennifer's corpse has been found in the forest. He is also one of the officers on 'Forest Duty', who is tasked with locating Jennifer Cook and two other missing people, Pamela and Gordon Richman. Along with his partner and a group of medical personnel, they find a tree full of blood, Jennifer's cell phone, and one half of both Pamela and Gordon's corpses, with Gordon's upper body already being claimed by the roots of a tree and coming back to life.

Shortly after this event, Finn "pulls the short straw" and is tasked with bringing groceries to the broadcast station after the former delivery man was killed. He later reveals that he is no longer working for the Pinehaven police force.

## The Forest Rangers and 104.6 FM

After being dismissed from his job as a small-town police officer, Finn becomes a part-time employee at 104.6 FM. Almost immediately, he shows a competency for the job and an acute attention to detail. Evelyn herself claims that he makes the cleanest, most perfectly-timed lineups of the three of them, making every second count. He also continues to run deliveries, handle repairs and fixes to the structure, and guards the place during times of suspicion, such as when Elijah was stalking Evelyn. He makes several improvements to the station, such as fixing up the old shed and adding a video security system.

Later, Finn is recruited into the Pinehaven Forest Rangers, a specialized sect of the town's law enforcement that is tasked with controlling and eradicating the spread of the forest's supernatural anomalies. This job includes performing controlled burns and off-site executions of dangerous creatures that are causing extra difficulties to the citizens of Pinehaven. During a routing burn, the entire squad of Forest Rangers are killed by an amalgamate known as The Hydra, with Finn being the only survivor. He is rescued by Daniel and Evelyn.

## Relationships

### Evelyn McKinnon

Evelyn is the first Operator that Finn meets, and the one he has the roughest start with. At first, Finn dislikes Evelyn, finding her to be abrasive, chaotic, and incompetent. However, he begins to respect her motives over time and considers her to be surprisingly capable, even if her methods are odd.

Despite his prickly demeanor, Finn begins to show moments of friendliness during his first year as Operator 30. He agrees to take extra hours so that Evelyn and Dan can take a short vacation, and quickly comes to their rescue when they are attacked in the woods by the Root-Faced Man. He worries enough about Evelyn to stand guard when she is being stalked by Elijah, and is the first person she calls when she feels threatened.

During the events of "Dead Air", Finn has taken a much more paternal role in Evelyn's life. On New Year's Eve, Evelyn even hallucinates that Finn has turned into her father during a moment of fear. He confronts her about her alcoholism, but in a way that is gentle and supportive, telling her to call him any time she needs someone to talk her through moments of trauma. He sees Evelyn as a troubled young woman who needs guidance, but who has the potential to be much stronger if she accepted help from the people around her. Similar to how Evelyn feels about Finn, Finn finds camaraderie in speaking to someone who has also grown up in Pinehaven, unlike Daniel. During the first invasion of Pinehaven, Finn calls Evelyn to speak to her while his home is being breached, and later he chooses to open up to her about the loss of his mother.

### Daniel Esperanza

Similarly to Evelyn, Finn's first impression of Dan is that he is foolish and incompetent. However, over time he learns to appreciate Daniel's gentle and cheerful disposition as a much-needed part of their team. During the events of "We're Always on the Air at 104.6FM", Finn shows the first glimpse of his friendlier side when he agrees to take over the station while Dan and Evelyn attend a wedding, but only if Evelyn agrees to dance with Dan at least once. While Finn does not treat Daniel with the same paternal instincts as he has for Evelyn, Finn sees himself as a sort of mentor toward Dan. He encourages him to make bolder choices, educates him about the history of Pinehaven, and genuinely believes that Daniel has a lot of hidden potential that he's avoiding because of insecurities.

Like with Evelyn, Finn shows a great deal of concern for Daniel's safety and well being. He rushes him to the hospital after Dan is attacked by the Root-Faced Man, he is worried for him when he begins sleepwalking, and is upset over the thought of leaving him behind during the Second Invasion of Pinehaven. During the First Invasion of Pinehaven, when the broadcast goes down and both Evelyn and Finn assume Daniel has died, he calls Evelyn to say goodbye and is genuinely choked up over the loss. Dan is the first to learn what Finn's real first name is. By the end of "Dead Air", Finn is the one to rush Daniel to the hospital and stay by his side with Dan's family while he is revived after dying on the table. He remains while he undergoes emergency medical treatment. By New Year's Eve 2022, Finn is back to teasing Daniel at work, claiming he has "one half a brain cell he shares with Evelyn". It would appear that Finn's new-found sense of humor is mainly inspired by Dan's goofball behaviors.

### Nancy

Finn's former partner at the Pinehaven police station, Nancy is the fellow officer that Finn accompanies into the forest to find Jennifer Cook. He respects Nancy, who he remarks is older and more experienced than him, albeit not by much. She is a new arrival to Pinehaven, however, and is not a local, which Finn believes is the reasoning behind her rash decisions and misunderstanding of the exact situations she's gotten herself into. Finn's relationship with Nancy is transient, as he does not keep in touch with her after moving on from his work with the police force.

### Finn's Mother

Finn's mother, who is unnamed, was the owner of the farmhouse in which Finn now lives. He tells Evelyn about his mother during the events of "Dead Air", where he opens up about his regrets. While his mother was on her deathbed, Finn was busy at work and did not pick up the phone when she called to talk to him for the last time. During the Second Invasion of Pinehaven, before the 104.6 FM tower is about to fall, Finn hears his mother's voice over the phone reciting the last voicemail she left before she died. In the voicemail, she tells him that she loves him and she's proud of him.

## Trivia

* Finn is the only main character whose eye, skin, and original hair color have never been mentioned in the official text. His age is also never mentioned. This vagueness not only leaves his physical description up to readers, but also represents how little he is willing to open up to the people around him.
* In "I Hate Collecting Bodies from the Woods", Finn remarks that he was there for the call when Evelyn was pulled out of the bathtub after drowning. He does not state whether or not he was present on the scene, however.
* Each of the Operators represent a different aspect of heart, brain, and soul. Finn, being the most knowledgeable and level-headed person in the main trio, represents the brain.

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1. ↑ During "Accounts from a Lonely Broadcast Station", Daniel comes face-to-face with Finn for the first time when he arrives to take Evelyn into custody.
2. ↑ During "Dead Air", Dan is overjoyed when Finn makes a deadpan sexual joke out of nowhere. Evelyn is not.
3. ↑ During "Dead Air", Finn opens up about his mother's death and remarks that he'll tell Evelyn one more fact about himself in another three years.
4. ↑ Finn gives his personal account of what happened to the Richmans in the short story, "I Hate Collecting Bodies from the Woods".