When it comes to shows that were absolutely beloved by their fans, it’s hard to find one with a more passionate fan base than Adventure Time. It told a wide-ranging story filled with mystery and magic, all with the surprisingly subtle backdrop of humanity being mostly destroyed by a nuclear disaster.
The main protagonist was a boy named Finn. Alongside Jake, his talking, shapeshifting dog/brother/friend, Finn fought to defend everyone in the Land of Ooo from all of the evils around them. In the early days, that was primarily the Ice King, though the bad guys got more and more dangerous as the series went on. But the life that Finn lived meant that he had to grow up fast, and he changed a lot.
10 Not The Last Human Anymore
For a large portion of the series, Finn and all of his friends believed that he was the last human alive. He was adopted as a baby when Jake’s parents found him lying on the ground in the woods. This raised a lot of questions, specifically where he came from and what happened to his birth parents.
By the end of Adventure Time, this was no longer the case. Finn eventually found out that humans were living on a chain of islands off of the mainland and had built an incredibly advanced civilization there. This was a change for Finn as being the last human was a big part of his identity.
9 Realized Fighting Didn’t Solve Every Problem
When fans first met Finn, his method of operation was to leap into every situation, swinging his sword. He was pretty much of the opinion that fighting could solve almost every problem. To his credit, a lot of problems in Ooo could be solved with some sort of violence.
What Finn learned over the course of his adventures was that violence couldn’t fix every problem, though. Finn realized that sometimes the best option was to talk a situation out and try to be more diplomatic. That being said, he certainly wasn’t afraid to draw his sword and go to work.
8 Stopped Being Afraid Of The Ocean
One of the few things Finn was afraid of was the ocean. The problem wasn’t every body of water nor was his ability to swim an issue. He was just afraid of the ocean itself, which came as a bit of a surprise to Jake as Finn usually wasn’t afraid of anything.
Finn was forced to face his fear when Jake was put into a dangerous ocean-related predicament. A being called the Fear Feaster also played a role in that whole situation. Finn overcame his fear and the Fear Feaster, saving Jake and becoming a stronger warrior.
7 Adventure Meant Something Different To Him
Early on in the series, Finn was obsessed with finding what he saw as an adventure. To him, this basically boiled down to saving a princess from a scenario often related to the Ice King. That guy was always kidnapping princesses, sometimes several at a time.
Over the years, Finn learned to appreciate the quiet moments and that there was an adventure in all parts of life. By the end of the series, he realized that his time with Jake and his family was an adventure in and of itself.
6 Learned The Value Of Imagination
Finn was 12 years old at the beginning of Adventure Time. He aged as the series went on, and was 17 years old when the show came to an end. But despite his young age and living near a kingdom made of candy, Finn had to grow up fast to survive in a rough world.
The reality of his life was that he really didn’t have a traditional childhood, and grew up believing that imagination was a worthless distraction. But Finn learned that there was value to indulging his imagination, and started putting it to good use.
5 Moved On From His Father
While Joshua and Margaret did an amazing job raising Finn, that didn’t change the fact that they weren’t his birth parents. Finn had a lot of questions about where he came from and who his parents were. There was a lot of uncertainty lurking around his mind.
Eventually, Finn would meet both his mother and father. While his mother Minerva was a selfless healer, his father Martin was a con man whose actions resulted in Finn being abandoned in Ooo. Finding out the truth about his dad and moving on from it was one of Finn’s greatest tests.
4 Became A Lot Less Impulsive
Finn had a lot of great qualities, including his selflessness and strong desire to help others. But that doesn’t mean that he was perfect by any stretch of the imagination. In particular, Finn was often incredibly impulsive, something that infuriated Jake to no end.
What changed in Finn as he got older was that he started taking a moment before rushing into situations he didn’t fully understand. Even that extra few seconds gave him a chance to plan things out better. That being said, most plans still involved swinging a sword.
3 Had A Better Relationship With Jake
Finn and Jake grew up together as adoptive brothers and best friends. It was honestly hard for anyone who knew them to imagine one without the other. But as Jake’s relationship with Lady Rainicorn got more serious and they had kids, the bond between Finn and Jake was tested.
Sharing Jake with his family wasn’t easy for Finn at first. But over time he learned how to re-establish their relationship within the confines of Jake’s new normal. It took a lot of maturity on his part to change how he thought about Jake.
2 Forgave The Ice King
In the early seasons of Adventure Time, the main villain of the series was Ice King. His fantastic freezing powers combined with his malevolent penguin sidekicks made him a fearsome force, particularly since he couldn’t seem to stop himself from kidnapping princesses.
Finn initially hated the Ice King. But as he learned more about Ice King, Finn came to view him as more of a tragic figure. They became frequent allies and almost even friends. This was particularly true after Ice King permanently reverted to his human form, Simon Petrikov.
1 Stopped Obsessing With Women
As previously mentioned, Finn started the series at the age of 12 and ended it at the age of 17. Keeping that in mind, it shouldn’t have surprised anyone that Finn was quite girl-crazy throughout much of the series. Princess Bubblegum and Flame Princess were where his affections were often directed.
Being so obsessed with women definitely caused him some personal and professional problems. By the time the show came to an end, Finn was able to leave that phase behind to an extent and started having more mature relationships with the women in his life.
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