APPLICATIONS -- 2010; 001

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Kevin Flynn | Tron | Reserved | 4/?

[kadath.livejournal.com]

Personality: The Zen Kevin Flynn of Legacy has changed a great deal from the impulsive Kevin Flynn of Tron, and understandably so. The movie is fuzzy about the rate of time passage on the Grid, but the fans, bless their obsessive little hearts, have done the math (http://tron.wikia.com/wiki/Kevin_Flynn#Flynn.27s_Chronological_Age.2FContinuity_of_Existence), and a conservative estimate for how long he's been alive, subjectively, is over a thousand years. This certainly explains the calm, patient Flynn of the sequel--any human who lived that long would have to reach enlightenment, or go insane.

Flynn retains his programmer's zeal, and it dovetails with the joy that is said to come with enlightenment. He's still fascinated by the ISOs and the Grid itself, and still quick to hack his way to a solution--when he fights, he does so as a User, and ultimately as the Creator, not in the physical way the programs and Sam do. In less tense moments, Flynn is laid-back and informal, doing things like tell Sam that he's "harshing my Zen thing," or referring to the work he was doing in the Grid before CLU's purge as "bio-digital jazz."

In keeping with the idea that he is, if not a buddha--and he's probably not, since he displays attachment both to Quorra and Sam--at least a Zen master, Flynn shows a great deal of equanimity and good humor. While not denying them, he's accepted the mistakes he made in the past, and holds no anger at CLU for his actions, horrific as they were. This doesn't mean Flynn is resigned to what CLU has done to the Grid, just that he is willing to wait until the end of time, if necessary, for the chance to set matters right. It takes Sam's impetuousness to stir Flynn to action, but when he acts, he does so without hesitating, and appears to hold no grudge against his son for forcing his hand and thereby endangering both the Grid and the real world.

With enlightenment, on the other hand, comes detachment. Flynn is moved by Sam's arrival, and by danger to his son and his apprentice, but his reactions are all more subdued than one would expect from a man who hasn't seen his son in a subjective millennium, or who is watching the potentional death of the last surviving member of a sentient race. Flynn has checked out from the world, to a degree--he remains cognizant of his responsibilities and friendships, but is not affected by them in the way the average person would be. This comes with neither coldness nor cruelty; Flynn is simply a man at peace.

Other: Flynn is basically Obi-Wan Lebowski. I could have just put that for the personality section, really.
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