Sergeant Odafin "Fin" Tutuola is a sergeant and the second-in-command of Manhattan's Special Victims Unit. He is the second-longest serving character on the show, as well as in the Law & Order franchise.
Early life[]
Not much is known about his past, though Fin stated he lived with his parents and brother. His father was a con artist who tried to con criminals. They promptly retaliated, leading to Fin witnessing his mother get murdered as a child. (SVU: "Diss")
Fin later placed his maternal grandfather in a retirement home, where the latter died because of inadequate care given by the facility. Fin never forgave himself because of it. (SVU: "Disabled")
Fin went onto serve in the US Army in 75th Ranger Regiment and once was deployed to Mogadishu, Somalia, during the conflict there. He experienced flashbacks due to trauma endured while in service. (SVU: "PTSD")
He later married Teresa Randall and they had a son named Ken Randall. Fin became a cop and served in Narcotics, though the stress of the job often butting heads with his wife and being distant from his son. Their marriage later fell through and they divorced sometime later.
He later had a relationship with Phoebe Baker, a fellow detective in Narcotics. Eventually, however, they broke up due to trust issues on Fin's behalf.
During one undercover assignment, he threatened a woman who came to retrieve her troubled daughter. This would later come back to haunt him in the future. (SVU: "Haunted")
In his time with Narcotics, his partner Luis Montero, lost his job after taking a bullet meant for Fin during an undercover operation to oust a drug lord named Benito Escobar. Since then, he struggled to forgive himself and wound up transferring to SVU to distance himself from the trauma unaware of the troubles that Montero later faced. (SVU: "Manhunt", "Poisoned Motive")
History[]
Fin came from Narcotics where he was an undercover often for months. He transferred to SVU for a fresh start, having an awkward moment with his predecessor. (SVU: "Wrong Is Right")
During a killing and rape spree, Fin reunited with the son of an old friend and made sure to help with the investigation. He eventually found the culprit, though the latter eluded arrest. Fin is implied to have set up a scenario to get DNA from the suspect but his denies doing so. When the suspect has more evidence against, Fin declared that the only deal he'd be getting is a free last meal. (SVU: "Rooftop")
He was partnered with John Munch from 2000-2007, until Fin was switched to Chester Lake in the middle of that year. After Lake killed a crooked cop, both Elliot Stabler's and Lake's betrayal convinces Fin to consider transfer out of SVU in early 2008. (SVU: "Cold") But in September 2008, Fin's transfer proposal was scrapped because of an ex-friend back in Narcotics was now dealing with handling transfer papers. Seeing the transfer as a bust, Fin returned as Munch's partner. His relationship with Stabler after this was somewhat hostile for a time, but it appeared to have warmed again after Stabler had beat up a pedophile and was sent home. (SVU: "Trials", "Confession")
In November 2004, Tutuola took sick leave. Fin's relationship with Det. Olivia Benson is better. At one point, Benson posed as an inmate in a women's prison to investigate an alleged rape by a corrections officer. While there, she discovered Fin was undercover to keep watch over her. When the corrections officer attacked her and attempted to force her to perform oral sex on him, she is rescued by Fin who got there just in time to stop the rape. (SVU: "Undercover") In Season 10, Benson is seen struggling with now being a victim of sexual assault herself. She is attending group therapy, something she has not shared with anyone but Tutuola. At another time, Fin snaps at Benson. His son was found digging in an empty lot and was arrested. Instead of calling his father, he called Benson, causing friction between the two.
In December 2004, while off-duty in a convenience store, Fin got caught in the middle of a robbery that left the clerk dead. Fin shot and killed both teenage robbers and was wounded himself. Though it initially appeared Fin had shot an unarmed kid, Ruben Morales was able to find security camera footage showing where the robber's gun had gone, exonerating Fin. Fin was hailed as a hero for protecting a young boy, but he was left haunted by the fact that he had killed two teenagers. The shooting also caused Fin to be briefly reunited with Ken for the first time in years. However, the mother of Tricia Knowles, a young woman Fin knew from his undercover days, accused him of being a crooked cop for not helping her daughter. Fin decided to find Tricia for her mother, only to learn that after turning on her drug dealer boyfriend, Tricia was murdered. Fin helped return Tricia's body to her mother, and with the help of Warner, he discovered that Tricia had a son named Austin that she had turned her life around for. Fin and his rookie partner, Mike Sandoval, located Austin and returned him to his grandmother's care which earned him her forgiveness. (SVU: "Haunted")
In June 2009, Fin and Elliot were chasing Peter Harrison. Harrison set a gas trap that nearly killed Fin and Stabler. Ryan O'Halloran told them they were lucky to be alive. (SVU: "Zebras")
In one case, Fin wished to stop a serial killer of immigrant kids, despite it not being in his jurisdiction. His reason for it was because he was disgusted by the slaughter of child. He later came under scrutiny by an immigrant televised lawyer Randall Carver, since he was not putting in much effort. However, he found the killer and was unfazed by his blatant racism and taunted him with the incriminating evidence against him only to be stunned with Carver defending him. He was later disgusted the killer got off only to find him being murdered by Carver after the latter learned he would continue the killing. (SVU: "Anchor")
In February 2015, Fin's gaming expertise came in handy when three gamers decided to enact a real-life version of Kill or Be Slaughtered. Fin was able to help predict their moves, including a planned ambush on the cops as part of the "final level". Fin rescued Rollins and Carisi from an ambush and was forced to kill one of the teenagers in self-defense. In the aftermath, he was put on unpaid administrative leave for a few days due to the shooting, but Benson told Fin to keep his gun and badge as it was a good shooting. (SVU: "Intimidation Game")
One child he particularly grew close to was a boy named Andre Fuller, who witnessed his mother be physically abused and raped by his father, which resulted in Andre calling the police. (SVU: "At Midnight In Manhattan")
Concerned that Andre's father would return, Tutuola gave Andre a phone and told him to call him in case he did turn up. Eventually he did and Tutuola fatally shot Andre's father in an attempt to save Andre when his father held him at knifepoint. Fin is later sued by the family for wrongful death.(SVU: "The Things We Have To Lose") After a summer of bad public relations for law enforcement, he was sued again along with Benson by Jayvon Brown for wrongful arrest. Fin was warned by Chief Garland to tread lightly because of these events. (SVU: "Guardians and Gladiators")
Fin's suit with the Fuller family ended when the city abruptly settled the lawsuit with Andre's mother, Joelle Fuller, for $2 million. Fin said the city settled because of "the optics". (SVU: "Ballad of Dwight and Irena")
Fin and Tonie Churlish interrogated Joe Velasco after Grace Muncy found a recording of him confessing to a criminal that he had committed a murder before. Both Tutuola and Churlish were tough with Velasco, with Tutuola discovering that Velasco had witnessed a murder take place years ago. Once Velasco was cleared of any charges and that it was made clear that Velasco had just pushed the boundaries of getting a criminal's trust so they would confess to a crime, Tutuola told Velasco firmly that he didn't have to show his loyalty to him or Churlish but rather to Benson, who was disappointed in Velasco's unprofessional interrogation methods. (SVU: "King of the Moon")
Family[]
Fin was estranged from his son, Ken, for five years, though they briefly reunited after Fin was shot in a convenience store robbery. (SVU: "Haunted") Fin has slowly gotten on better terms with Ken, even asking for help on cases. (SVU: "Strain") After Ken's fiancé, Alejandro Pavel, was severely beaten in a homophobic attack by the BX9, Fin was left reeling by both the news of his son's engagement and the situation in which he first got to meet his future son-in-law. Despite this, Fin was extremely supportive of Ken, even intervening on his behalf with Alejandro's estranged father. Fin later welcomed the still-hospitalized Alejandro to the family, wishing they had met under better circumstances. (SVU: "Learning Curve") While having lunch with Ken, it was revealed that Ken and Alejandro found a surrogate and were expecting a baby boy. (SVU: "Intersecting Lives") A year later, he became a grandfather to a boy named Jaden. (SVU: "Send In The Clowns")
Tutuola mentioned his father tried to con criminals who promptly retaliated and this led to him witnessing his mother get murdered as a child. (SVU: "Diss")
He mentions to having a brother but it is unknown if he's older or younger. (SVU: "Friending Emily")
He mentioned that his maternal grandfather died inadequate care of a retirement home. (SVU: "Disabled")
Fin mentioned his paternal grandfather, Iggy Tutuola, is alive and described as "95, healthy as a horse", despite suffering from diabetes, while living in a retirement home. (SVU: "Mood")
In 2021, Fin got engaged to Phoebe Baker. (SVU: "Sightless in a Savage Land"). They decided to get married around Memorial Day weekend of that year. However, at the ceremony, they decide to call of the wedding, but remain together. (SVU: "Wolves In Sheep's Clothing")
Personality[]
Initially, he was not an open individual, he doesn't tell Munch about his previous partner taking a bullet for him until after a year of working with him. He also withheld the fact that he had a son from his squad, something that was later discovered.
Fin is shown to be calm in the interrogation room, such as when a racist killer calls him a slur. He only says back "That the best you got?".
Tutuola gets emotional during cases with children, particularly those involving African American children which is a result of his own traumatic childhood. He also has a strong hatred towards men who abuse their wife and children, often referring to them as scum. He once assaulted a trafficker who smuggled Nigerian children.
Officer-involved shootings[]
- November 29, 2004: Two unnamed robbers (SVU: "Haunted")
- December 12, 2007: Henry Chanoor (non-fatal) (SVU: "Outsider")
- August 11, 2014: Angel Perez (SVU: "Girls Disappeared")
- January 27, 2015: Brandon (SVU: "Intimidation Game")
- May 21, 2018: Diego Diaz (alongside Carisi and ESU) (SVU: "Remember Me Too")
- April 21, 2020: Leon Fuller (SVU: "The Things We Have To Lose")
Name[]
Odafin is a Yoruba (Nigerian) name, the literal meaning is "establisher of laws" can loosely translate to lawmaker.
Tutuola is a Yoruba (Nigerian) name meaning "a gentle man". (SVU: "Legacy")
Appearances[]
- Law & Order: Special Victims Unit (25 seasons, 495 episodes):
- Season 2: "Wrong Is Right" • "Honor" • "Closure (Part II)" • "Legacy" • "Baby Killer" • "Noncompliance" • "Asunder" • "Taken" • "Pixies" • "Consent" • "Abuse" • "Secrets" • "Victims" • "Paranoia" • "Countdown" • "Runaway" • "Folly" • "Manhunt" • "Parasites" • "Scourge"
- Season 3: "Repression" • "Wrath" • "Stolen" • "Rooftop" • "Tangled" • "Redemption" • "Sacrifice" • "Inheritance" • "Care" • "Ridicule" • "Monogamy" • "Protection" • "Prodigy" • "Counterfeit" • "Execution" • "Popular" • "Surveillance" • "Guilt" • "Justice" • "Greed" • "Denial" • "Competence" • "Silence"
- Season 4: "Chameleon" • "Deception" • "Vulnerable" • "Lust" • "Disappearing Acts" • "Angels" • "Dolls" • "Waste" • "Juvenile" • "Resilience" • "Damaged" • "Risk" • "Rotten" • "Mercy" • "Tortured" • "Privilege" • "Appearances" • "Dominance" • "Fallacy" • "Futility" • "Grief" • "Perfect" • "Soulless"
- Season 5: "Tragedy" • "Manic" • "Mother" • "Loss" • "Serendipity" • "Coerced" • "Choice" • "Abomination" • "Control" • "Escape" • "Brotherhood" • "Hate" • "Ritual" • "Families" • "Home" • "Careless" • "Sick" • "Lowdown" • "Painless" • "Bound" • "Poison" • "Head"
- Season 6: "Birthright" • "Debt" • "Obscene" • "Scavenger" • "Outcry" • "Conscience" • "Charisma" • "Weak" • "Haunted" • "Contagious" • "Identity" • "Game" • "Hooked" • "Ghost" • "Rage" • "Pure" • "Intoxicated" • "Night" • "Blood" • "Parts" • "Goliath"
- Season 7: "Demons" • "Design" • "911" • "Ripped" • "Strain" • "Raw" • "Name" • "Starved" • "Rockabye" • "Storm" • "Alien" • "Infected" • "Blast" • "Taboo" • "Manipulated" • "Gone" • "Class" • "Venom" • "Fault" • "Fat" • "Web" • "Influence"
- Season 8: "Informed" • "Clock" • "Recall" • "Uncle" • "Confrontation" • "Infiltrated" • "Underbelly" • "Cage" • "Scheherazade" • "Burned" • "Outsider" • "Loophole" • "Dependent" • "Philadelphia" • "Sin" • "Responsible" • "Annihilated" • "Pretend" • "Screwed"
- Season 9: "Alternate" • "Avatar" • "Impulsive" • "Savant" • "Harm" • "Svengali" • "Blinded" • "Fight" • "Paternity" • "Snitch" • "Streetwise" • "Unorthodox" • "Inconceivable" • "Undercover" • "Closet" • "Authority" • "Trade" • "Cold"
- Season 10: "Trials" • "Confession" • "Swing" • "Lunacy" • "Retro" • "Babes" • "Wildlife" • "PTSD" • "Smut" • "Stranger" • "Hothouse" • "Snatched" • "Transitions" • "Lead" • "Ballerina" • "Hell" • "Baggage" • "Selfish" • "Crush" • "Liberties" • "Zebras"
- Season 11: "Unstable" • "Sugar" • "Solitary" • "Hammered" • "Hardwired" • "Users" • "Turmoil" • "Perverted" • "Anchor" • "Quickie" • "Shadow" • "P.C." • "Savior" • "Confidential" • "Witness" • "Disabled" • "Conned" • "Beef" • "Torch" • "Ace" • "Wannabe" • "Shattered"
- Season 12: "Locum" • "Bullseye" • "Behave" • "Merchandise" • "Wet" • "Branded" • "Trophy" • "Penetration" • "Gray" • "Rescue" • "Pop" • "Possessed" • "Mask" • "Dirty" • "Flight" • "Spectacle" • "Pursuit" • "Bully" • "Bombshell" • "Totem" • "Reparations" • "Bang" • "Delinquent" • "Smoked"
- Season 13: "Scorched Earth" • "Personal Fouls" • "Blood Brothers" • "Double Strands" • "Missing Pieces" • "True Believers" • "Russian Brides" • "Educated Guess" • "Lost Traveler" • "Spiraling Down" • "Theatre Tricks" • "Official Story" • "Father's Shadow" • "Home Invasions" • "Hunting Ground" • "Child's Welfare" • "Justice Denied" • "Valentine's Day" • "Street Revenge" • "Father Dearest" • "Learning Curve" • "Strange Beauty" • "Rhodium Nights"
- Season 14: "Lost Reputation" • "Above Suspicion" • "Twenty-Five Acts" • "Acceptable Loss" • "Manhattan Vigil" • "Friending Emily" • "Vanity's Bonfire" • "Lessons Learned" • "Dreams Deferred" • "Presumed Guilty" • "Beautiful Frame" • "Criminal Hatred" • "Monster's Legacy" • "Secrets Exhumed" • "Deadly Ambition" • "Funny Valentine" • "Undercover Blue" • "Legitimate Rape" • "Born Psychopath" • "Girl Dishonored" • "Traumatic Wound" • "Poisoned Motive" • "Brief Interlude" • "Her Negotiation"
- Season 15: "Surrender Benson" • "Imprisoned Lives" • "American Tragedy" • "Internal Affairs • "Wonderland Story" • "October Surprise" • "Dissonant Voices" • "Military Justice" • "Rapist Anonymous" • "Psycho/Therapist" • "Amaro's One-Eighty" • "Jersey Breakdown" • "Betrayal's Climax" • "Wednesday's Child" • "Comic Perversion" • "Gridiron Soldier" • "Gambler's Fallacy" • "Criminal Stories" • "Downloaded Child" • "Beast's Obsession" • "Post-Mortem Blues" • "Reasonable Doubt" • "Thought Criminal" • "Spring Awakening"
- Season 16: "Girls Disappeared" • "American Disgrace" • "Holden's Manifesto" • "Pornstar's Requiem" • "Chicago Crossover" • "Spousal Privilege" • "Pattern Seventeen" • "Forgiving Rollins" • "Agent Provocateur" • "Padre Sandunguero" • "Decaying Morality" • "Intimidation Game" • "Undercover Mother" • "Devastating Story" • "Granting Immunity" • "Daydream Believer" • "Parents' Nightmare" • "Surrendering Noah"
- Season 17: "Devil's Dissections" • "Criminal Pathology" • "Transgender Bridge" • "Institutional Fail" • "Community Policing" • "Maternal Instincts" • "Patrimonial Burden" • "Melancholy Pursuit" • "Depravity Standard" • "Catfishing Teacher" • "Townhouse Incident" • "A Misunderstanding" • "Forty-One Witnesses" • "Collateral Damages" • "Unholiest Alliance" • "Sheltered Outcasts" • "Fashionable Crimes" • "Assaulting Reality" • "Intersecting Lives" • "Heartfelt Passages"
- Season 18: "Terrorized" • "Making a Rapist" • "Imposter" • "Heightened Emotions" • "Rape Interrupted" • "Broken Rhymes" • "Next Chapter" • "Chasing Theo" • "Decline and Fall" • "Motherly Love" • "Great Expectations" • "No Surrender" • "Net Worth" • "Know It All" • "The Newsroom" • "Real Fake News" • "Spellbound" • "Conversion" • "American Dream" • "Sanctuary"
- Season 19: "Gone Fishin'" • "Mood" • "Contrapasso" • "Complicated" • "Unintended Consequences" "Something Happened" • "Intent" • "Gone Baby Gone" • "Pathological" • "Flight Risk" • "Info Wars" • "The Undiscovered Country" • "Chasing Demons" • "In Loco Parentis" • "Dare" • "Send In The Clowns" • "Service" • "The Book of Esther" • "Guardian" • "Mama" • "Remember Me" • "Remember Me Too"
- Season 20: "Man Up" • "Man Down" • "Zero Tolerance" • "Revenge" • "Accredo" • "Exile" • "Caretaker" • "Hell's Kitchen" • "Mea Culpa" • "Alta Kockers" • "Plastic" • "Dear Ben" • "A Story of More Woe" • "Part 33" • "Brothel" • "Facing Demons" • "Missing" • "Blackout" • "Exchange" • "Diss" • "Assumptions" • "End Game"
- Season 21: "I'm Going To Make You a Star" • "The Darkest Journey Home" • "The Burden Of Our Choices" • "At Midnight In Manhattan" • "Murdered at a Bad Address" • "Counselor, It's Chinatown" • "We Dream Of Machine Elves" • "Can't Be Held Accountable" • "Must Be Held Accountable" • "She Paints For Vengeance" • "The Longest Night Of Rain" • "Redemption In Her Corner" • "I Deserve Some Loving Too" • "Swimming With The Sharks" • "Eternal Relief From Pain" • "Dance, Lies and Video Tape" • "Garland's Baptism By Fire" • "Solving For The Unknowns" • "The Things We Have To Lose"
- Season 22: "Guardians and Gladiators" • "Ballad Of Dwight and Irena" • "Remember Me In Quarantine" • "Sightless in a Savage Land" • "Turn Me On Take Me Private" • "The Long Arm Of The Witness" • "Hunt, Trap, Rape, and Release" • "The Only Way Out Is Through" • "Return Of The Prodigal Son" • "Welcome to the Pedo Motel" • "Our Words Will Not Be Heard" • "Trick-Rolled At The Moulin'" • "Post-Graduate Psychopath" • "What Can Happen In The Dark" • "Wolves In Sheep's Clothing"
- Season 23: "And The Empire Strikes Back" • "Never Turn Your Back On Them" • "I Thought You Were On My Side" • "One More Tale Of Two Victims" • "The Five Hundredth Episode" • "They'd Already Disappeared" • "Nightmares In Drill City" • "People Vs Richard Wheatley" • "Silent Night, Hateful Night" • "Burning With Rage Forever" • "Tommy Baker's Hardest Fight" • "Video Killed The Radio Star" • "Promising Young Gentlemen" • "Sorry If It Got Weird For You" • "Once Upon a Time in El Barrio" • "Eighteen Wheels a Predator" • "Did You Believe in Miracles?" • "Confess Your Sins to Be Free" • "A Final Call at Forlini's Bar"
- Season 24: "Gimme Shelter" • "The One You Feed" • "Mirror Effect" • "The Steps We Cannot Take" • "Breakwater" • "Controlled Burn" • "Dead Ball" • "A Better Person" • "And a Trauma in a Pear Tree" • "Jumped In" • "Soldier Up" • "Blood Out" • "Intersection" • "Dutch Tears" • "King of the Moon" • "The Presence of Absence" • "Bubble Wrap" • "Debatable" • "Bad Things" • "All Pain Is One Malady"
- Season 25: "Tunnel Blind" • "Truth Embargo" • "The Punch List" • "Duty to Report" • "Zone Rouge" • "Probability of Doom" • "Third Man Syndrome" • "Combat Fatigue" • "Prima Nocta" • "Marauder" • "Duty to Hope"
- Season 26: "Fractured" • "Excavation"
- Law & Order (1 season, 1 episode):
- Law & Order: Organized Crime (2 seasons, 2 episodes):
- Chicago P.D. (3 seasons, 3 episodes):
- Season 1: "Conventions"
- Season 2: "The Number of Rats"
- Season 3: "The Song of Gregory Williams Yates"
Trivia[]
- The origin of his name (Tutuola) is of the Yoruba people of Southwest Nigeria.
- It is said Tutuola was six during the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr., making his birth year either 1961 or 1962, which means he is at least 62 years old as of 2024.
- In "Scorched Earth", he mentions having a grandmother who was a maid.
- His name is taken from the book The Palm Wine Drinkard by Amos Tutola.
- His badge number is #3198.
- Fin's political party is Republican, as mentioned in "Secrets".
- He is currently the second longest running character still on SVU after the retirement of Captain Cragen in 2014. The longest running is Olivia Benson.
- Ironically, Ice-T, the actor who plays Fin, produced a song titled "Cop-Killer" in 1990 and released it in 1992, which was a song about killing police officers. The song was widely controversial, even being criticized by President George H.W. Bush.
- When Det. Amanda Rollins arrives as his new partner in "Scorched Earth", they soon develop a good relationship, as seen throughout the following seasons.
- He was the first person to whom Det. Amanda Rollins revealed her gambling addiction.
- It was revealed in Net Worth by Dominick Carisi, Jr. that Fin has taken the Sergeant's exam. It was revealed a few episodes later that he had passed it.
- Tutuola is the only main character in the Law & Order franchise who was not credited for his first appearance.
- Tutuola is the second-longest running main character in the Law & Order franchise as well as the longest running male character.
- Tutuola was initially meant to appear in only 4 episodes.
Law & Order: Special Victims Unit - Main Characters | |
Senior Detectives: Elliot Stabler • John Munch • Odafin Tutuola • Olivia Benson • Amanda Rollins Junior Detectives: Olivia Benson • Monique Jeffries • Odafin Tutuola • Chester Lake • Amanda Rollins • Nick Amaro • Dominick Carisi, Jr. • Katriona Tamin • Joe Velasco • Grace Muncy • Terry Bruno • Kate Silva Squad Supervisors: John Munch • Olivia Benson • Odafin Tutuola Commanding Officers: Donald Cragen • Olivia Benson • Christian Garland Assistant District Attorneys: Alexandra Cabot • Casey Novak • Kim Greylek • Rafael Barba • Peter Stone • Dominick Carisi, Jr. Others: Melinda Warner • George Huang |