Harold Finch often uses an alias when investigating a person or a location.
While his true birth name is unknown, he commonly uses Harold as a first name and frequently uses the common name of a bird species as his surname. His earliest records (“Wolf and Cub”) list him as Harold Wren, which is also the name known to his best friend Nathan Ingram. Reese, Fusco, Carter, Alicia Corwin, Leon Tao, and Sameen Shaw know him as Harold Finch.
So far, all of Finch's bird aliases are from birds which are present in North America, either as native species (e.g Winter Wren, Sandhill Crane, American Black Swift) or as introduced species (European Starling, Gray Partridge).
Image | Episode | Name | Occupation | ||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
“Ghosts” | Arthur Bellenger | Insurance agent | |||
Acts as an insurance agent of Liberty State Mutual to talk to Theresa Whitaker's aunt in order to find out more about her disappearance. | |||||
“Mission Creep” “Cura Te Ipsum” |
Norman Burdett | Paralegal | |||
Works at Marmostein Ribner. He gives this name to the police when they interview him about the evidence locker robbery he witnessed when he went there to warn Reese about being set up. (“Mission Creep”) He also meets Carter for the first time face to face under this name. | |||||
“Judgment” | Walt Trowbridge | IT technician | |||
Poses as IT staff at OneState Bank who checks account data after the bank's database was allegedly hacked. | |||||
“The Fix” | Mr. Partridge | Investor | |||
Uses this alias to meet with Mark Lawson of Virtanen Pharmaceuticals to talk about his recent investments in the company and to plant a bug in their office. | |||||
“Number Crunch” | Thomas Paine | Blogger | |||
Uses this alias to confront Jim Hallen about the Cayman charities and the money that has been embezzled by Hallen and Davis Bannerman. | |||||
“Legacy” | N/A | DFS tech support | |||
Gains access to the office to alter the function of the office's shredder so that it scans documents instead of destroying them allowing him to get proof of suspected misconduct. | |||||
“Wolf and Cub” “Shadow Box” “Liberty” “The Perfect Mark” “The Devil's Share” “Provenance” |
Harold Wren | Insurance underwriter | |||
Finch has been using this alias since 1976 (“Wolf and Cub”) when he studied at MIT. He is currently working under this name at Universal Heritage Insurance. Nathan Ingram and his son both know Finch under this alias. Finch also uses this name to check Root into a psychiatric hospital, posing as her uncle. (“Liberty”) Finch poses as the patient of Hayden Price to learn more about him. | |||||
|
“Risk” “Triggerman” “Critical” “Til Death” |
Harold Crane | Investor, donor, assistant surgeon | ||
First used when Finch posed as a secret investor to help Adam Saunders get back the money he lost by initiating a buying frenzy at Baylor Zimm. Finch uses this alias again when he visits Elias in prison to ask for his help in calling off the hit on Riley Cavanaugh. When Dr. Madeleine Enright's number came up, Finch used the alias to gain access to the hospital where she worked and also helped her to save a patient's life. When the Machine produced Daniel and Sabrina Drake's numbers, Finch used the alias under the guise of investing in a new imprint and sent Reese posing as his employee to keep an eye on the couple in their publishing company. | |||||
“Risk” | N/A | SEC investigator | |||
Talks to Adam Saunders' uncle about his investments in a company called Tritek. | |||||
“Baby Blue” | Dr. Tillman | Pediatrician | |||
Uses the name of a former person of interest as an alias to gain access to Leila Smith, a new PoI at St. Raymond's Clinic. Eventually he takes the baby and protects it from being abducted. | |||||
“Baby Blue” | Lucas Bennett | DFS agent | |||
Poses as an employee of the Department of Family Services to talk to the grandparents of Leila Smith and to find out more about her mother. | |||||
“Identity Crisis” | Harold Crow | Private investigator | |||
Approaches the female Jordan Hester under this alias because he thinks that she might be in danger because someone who stole her identity. He tells her that he had been hired by another victim of identity theft. | |||||
“No Good Deed” | N/A | Delivery Man | |||
Delivers a bugged coffeemaker to Henry Peck's office in order to monitor his activities in the office. | |||||
“The High Road” | Harold | Technician | |||
Works for John Campbell's private security systems company and installs a camera on Graham Wyler's house. | |||||
“2πR” | Harold Swift | High School teacher | |||
Goes undercover as a math teacher in a school in Brooklyn to keep an eye on Caleb Phipps. | |||||
“Booked Solid” | Harold | Concierge | |||
Started to work as concierge at the Coronet Hotel when one of their maids' number came up. | |||||
“Proteus” | Harold Gull | Storm chaser | |||
Has been a certified member of the National Storm Chasers and Spotters Association for over ten years. He also has a pilot's license. | |||||
“All In” | Harold Quail | IRS Agent | |||
Uses this alias when Lou Mitchell realizes that he is being followed. | |||||
“Trojan Horse” | Harold Starling | IT Guy | |||
Is an IT guy at Rylatech, a technology firm plagued by espionage. | |||||
“Allegiance” | Mr. Kingfisher | Lawyer | |||
Is a lawyer trying to help Omar Risha. | |||||
“Beta”, “Karma” | Harold Martin | Freelance Software Engineer, Docent | |||
Finch had been using this alias during his entire relationship with his fiancee Grace Hendricks. This alias is only actually confirmed when Grace was standing at his funeral after he faked his death (“Beta”) | |||||
Season 4 | Harold Whistler | Professor | |||
Harold, along with the team, was forced to take on a new identity to hide from Samaritan. | |||||
“Wingman” | Mr. Egret | Professor | |||
Famed terrorist leader who wants to buy a missile. | |||||
“Prophets” | Harold Cardinal | Reporter | |||
Finch poses as a New York Journal reporter to confront Simon Lee about his suspicions of a government conspiracy. | |||||
“YHWH” | Harold Admin | Package Recipient | |||
The Machine has 15 laptops shipped to this name. | |||||
“A More Perfect Union” | Ralph O'Brien | Groom's uncle | |||
Harold assumed the identity of the Irishman Ralph O'Brien, an estranged uncle of Will, the groom of the wedding number the Machine had given him and Reese, in order to get an invitation. He paid the real Ralph 500€ to ensure that he would not come. Due to not having seen his uncle in a while and Finch's impression of him, Will did not suspect that he was an imposter and even immediately assumed that he was Ralph. | |||||
“Synecdoche” | Harold Osprey | Kentucky citizen | |||
An alias he used to avoid suspicion for driving a car (that matches one reported stolen) without plates and a license. The Machine was able to quickly add him to the Kentucky Police database. | |||||
“.exe” | Mr. Barnett | Chauffeur (possibly) | |||
An alias Harold used to charter a private plane to D.C., and is possibly the same identity he used to kidnap Emile Bertrand. | |||||
“.exe” | Emile Bertrand | NATO Defense Minister of Intelligence | |||
An identity Harold took, after tranquilizing the real Emile, to infiltrate Fort Meade. Finch chose him because they were the same height, hair, and eye color and hoped it would be enough to resemble Emile's passport photo, though the Machine momentarily changed the existing digital records for Bertrand to more exactly match Finch's appearance and distracted the guard checking the passport. |
Notes[]
- While discussing Harold's engagement with Grace Hendricks, Nathan Ingram suggests "Mr. Ostrich" as another possible bird-themed alias. (“Zero Day”)
- Finch used the alias "Mr. Swan" to give a false tip to the NYPD about an illegal gambling ring. (“Reasonable Doubt”)
- “Lethe” and “Aletheia” include a series of flashbacks that cover Harold's relationship with his father, and the progression of his father's early onset Alzheimer's disease as Harold's motivation to build memory systems. They also explain Harold's use of bird names: in two scenes we see Harold and his father identifying birds, an ability his father loses as his disease progresses.