List of Arrow characters

Stephen Amell

Oliver Queen is the main protagonist of the series and a former billionaire playboy turned vigilante archer. In season 1, Oliver returns to Starling City after being presumed dead for five years. He begins a crusade to neutralize an organization of criminals using a list left to him by his father, willing to kill if needed, as a hooded vigilante. Oliver finds himself facing a larger conspiracy, the "Undertaking", orchestrated by Malcolm Merlyn, that involves Oliver's mother Moira, which eventually destroys the Glades section of Starling City. He also attempts to reconnect with his family but is involved in a love triangle between his ex-girlfriend Laurel and best friend Tommy. He also gains partners Diggle and Felicity to help in his crusade. In flashbacks to the time he disappeared, Oliver is shipwrecked on the island of Lian Yu after his father's boat sinks and he begins to learn the skills needed to survive from various others, including Slade Wilson, while being hunted by mercenaries.

In season 2, after the Undertaking, Oliver reignites his crusade. He is now goes by the alias "Arrow", and vows to never kill again in honor of Tommy. He fights criminals taking advantage of the Glades after its destruction while trying to redeem himself as a hero, but is challenged with this when those closest to him are endangered. He also co-runs Queen Consolidated with Isabel Rochev and becomes friends with Alderman Sebastian Blood. Oliver finds himself investigating a larger plot involving Mirakuru, a strength-enhancing drug, in a plot orchestrated by Slade Wilson, a former ally-turned-enemy of Oliver’s on the island, who intends to destroy everything and everyone Oliver cares for. Also Sebastian and Isabel are also working for Slade and help to bankrupt Oliver, causing him to lose his home and his business. Oliver gains help from Sara Lance, now the vigilante "Canary" and also takes on Roy Harper, Thea's boyfriend, as a protégé. After Felicity injects Slade with the Mirakuru cure, Oliver defeats Slade and locks him up in an underground prison on Lian Yu. In flashbacks Oliver is hunted by armed men seeking the Mirakuru and accidentally causes the death of Shado, his lover on the island. Slade loved Shado, and he targets Oliver for revenge which would lead to Slade's motives in the present. A flashback before the island also reveals that he mistakenly impregnated a girl, Samantha Clayton, but Moira paid Samantha to tell Oliver the child died and move away to Central City, leaving him unaware of his fatherhood.

In season 3, Oliver has become a public hero to the citizens of Starling City and has taken Roy on as a full sidekick, but now lives in his foundry safe house due to losing his mansion. Oliver is faced with the moral question of whether he can be Oliver Queen and live his life while the city needs the Arrow. This is only further challenged when he realizes he is in love with Felicity but she has also caught the attention of Ray Palmer. After Thea returns to Starling City, they decide to reopen their nightclub together. Oliver is also inadvertently embroiled in a conflict with Ra's al Ghul due to Malcolm's manipulations. During a death match with Ra's, he suffers a mortal wound and nearly dies but is saved by Maseo and Tatsu Yamashiro. Ra's demands that Oliver become his heir, due to the fact that Oliver is the only man who has survive a death match against Ra's (and, according to the League‘s prophecy, only the man who survives his assault would succeed Ra's). When he rejects the offer, Ra's begins killing people in Starling City posing as the Arrow to force Oliver to accept his offer. When Ra's nearly kills Thea, Oliver chooses to join the League, abandoning his former identity to become "Al Sah-him" (Arabic: سهم‎; "Arrow") and pretends to be a darker and more cruel version of himself, in order to get closer to Ra's to bring the organization down from the inside. Ra's also has Oliver wed his daughter, Nyssa al Ghul, to keep Ra's bloodline in the reign of the League. Oliver later kills Ra's and inherits the mantle but immediately passes it to Malcolm and decides to retire from being The Arrow, and live a happy life with Felicity knowing that Laurel, Diggle, Ray and Thea will protect the city in his absence. The season's flashbacks explore Oliver's time in Hong Kong, where Amanda Waller forces Oliver to become one of A.R.G.U.S.'s agents after witnessing his combat capabilities on the island, and has the Yamashiros as his handlers.

In season 4, Oliver's retirement was short lived, as Laurel and Thea ask for his assistance in stopping a group known as The Ghosts, who have been wreaking havoc in Star City. He agrees to help, knowing the leader of the Ghosts is Damien Darhk, leader of H.I.V.E. Oliver now goes by the name "Green Arrow", who is ostensibly a new vigilante following in the footsteps of the former Arrow, who Star City believes died. He also plans to propose to Felicity, and to run for the office of mayor. Oliver also has an associate connection with John Constantine. While on a mission with Barry Allen at Central City, Oliver meets a boy, William, by chance in an expresso and discovers that he is Samantha Clayton's son; Oliver ultimately learns that he is William's father after he had Barry run a paternity test. Despite his desire to acknowledge William, Samantha refused to grant Oliver full access; she sees Oliver troubled due to his past as a playboy in addition she still hates his mother. The revelations of his fatherhood and his own mother kept it a secret from him before her death not only complicates his relationship with Felicity and his duty as Green Arrow, but also threatens to jeopardize his mayoral campaign. After an attack from H.I.V.E has left Felicity permanently paraplegic, Oliver becomes vengeful and thus resulting his fight with Darhk becomes a vendetta. Knowing that he is living in a world where impossible things can happen, Oliver vows to search for a way to restore Felicity's mobility. He also discovers that Thea is dying after learning the Pit's restorative effect on her is waning, leaving Oliver to desperately search for a cure for his sister. The season's flashbacks explore Oliver's trainings with A.R.G.U.S. and his infiltration to the Shadowspire organization at Lian Yu.

He is based on the DC Comics character Green Arrow.

• First appearance: "Pilot"

Katie Cassidy

Dinah Laurel Lance is an assistant district attorney, and Oliver Queen's ex-girlfriend and on/off love interest. In season 1, Laurel is a lawyer for CNRI, a legal aid firm, and girlfriend of Tommy Merlyn. She had been Oliver's girlfriend prior to the shipwreck. When Oliver returns she despises him for having an affair with her sister Sara, which apparently led to her death, but gradually comes to accept him upon learning of his suffering on the island and remembering her sister's rebellious faults. She also occasionally works with the Hood/Arrow—unaware that he is Oliver—with cases the courts are unwilling to move on. Oliver and Laurel eventually reignite their relationship after Tommy breaks up with her, out of his own resentment towards Oliver. Tommy dies saving Laurel when CNRI is destroyed along with much of the Glades.

In season 2, Laurel is hired as an assistant district attorney, and is assigned to help prosecute Moira Queen. She is also not dealing well with Tommy's death, and starts taking drugs and drinking, pushing her friends and family away. She is attracted to Alderman Sebastian Blood, but discovers he has a secret; Blood arranges for her drug problem to be discovered, and she is fired. Laurel eventually chooses sobriety after an argument with Oliver and inspiration from her returned sister Sara's vigilante alter-ego Canary, and gets her job back with the district attorney's office. Laurel learns Oliver's secret from Slade Wilson in "Deathstroke". Slade hopes to use her as a pawn against Oliver, but instead Laurel confronts Oliver with this knowledge, and decides to keep his secret. She also learns Sara's secret in "The Man Under the Hood". Laurel is abducted by Slade, who plans to kill her in front of Oliver, but he is defeated.

In season 3, Laurel is working to prosecute the criminals Oliver catches. She also worries over her father's continuing field activities while still recovering from his injury from Slade's attack, and is urging him to use his new political powers to serve the city. When Sara again returns to Starling City, she is killed in front of Laurel. Grief-stricken and vengeful, she makes a disastrous and amateurish attempt to replace her late sister as the Canary. Oliver refuses to train her, so Laurel seeks former boxer/vigilante Ted Grant's help with combat training. She also wears Sara's Canary jacket in remembrance of her and eventually becomes the "Black Canary".^[1] In her new role as a vigilante, she partners with Roy Harper to help liberate the Glades from crime lord Danny Brickwell during Oliver's absence, ultimately working outside of the law while remaining a prosecuting attorney. She eventually learns that Malcolm Merlyn is directly responsible for Sara's murder and tries to avenge both hers and Tommy's deaths. He overpowers her but she is saved by Nyssa, who ultimately offers to help Laurel further her training and gradually she becomes a skilled combatant with familiarity with the League of Assassins' tactics. In addition, Cisco Ramon helps Laurel by providing her an ultrasonic collar using components from both Sara's and Hartley Rathaway’s weapons, improving Laurel's tactics with sonic weaponry.

In season 4, after Laurel learns the details of Thea's resurrection after Ra's attack, she hopes to bring Sara back in the same way by seeking the League of Assassins' help at Nanda Parbat but her sister remains lacking a soul after the revivification. However, with Oliver and John Constantine's help Laurel finally reunites with her sister after retrieving Sara's soul from the afterlife, and later with Cisco's help Laurel refines Sara's costume persona as the White Canary. Laurel discovers that Damien Darhk extorts her father to be in league with H.I.V.E., resulting her own fight against Darhk becoming personal. Laurel is the second person after Felicity to find out her father is dating the latter's mother Donna Smoak, and she gives them her blessing after she sees Donna's positive influence over her father.

Laurel's full name is Dinah Laurel Lance, and she is based on the DC Comics character Black Canary.

• First appearance: "Pilot"

Colin Donnell

Tommy Merlyn is Oliver's best friend, the son of Malcolm Merlyn, and paternal half-brother of Thea, though this isn't revealed until season 2. In season 1, Tommy is a spoiled brat and playboy like Oliver until his father cuts him off, forcing him to find a job and become a more responsible person. Tommy dates Laurel during the first season, though Oliver still has feelings for her. Tommy learns Oliver's secret in "Dead to Rights" when Oliver, as the vigilante, saves Malcolm from assassins. Their relationship becomes strained, with Tommy seeing Oliver as a killer, and when he later breaks up with Laurel, thinking that she belongs with Oliver. Tommy is killed rescuing Laurel from a collapsing building that was damaged by Malcolm's earthquake machine during the Undertaking in "Sacrifice", which through this sacrifice Laurel realizes that she loves Tommy instead of Oliver.

In season 2, Oliver vows to never kill again in Tommy's memory, while Laurel turns to drugs and alcohol to deal with Tommy's death. During Oliver's fight with Cyrus Gold in "Three Ghosts", he sees an image of Tommy, who calls him a hero and urges him to defeat his enemy.

In season 3, Tommy appears twice in flashbacks: he travels to Hong Kong looking for Oliver in "Sara", but fails to find him, and in "The Return", he is in Starling City, throwing himself a birthday party and trying to get Thea away from using drugs but also grows closer to Laurel, showing the start of their relationship.

He shares his surname with the DC Comics character Merlyn. A version of Tommy is introduced as a former friend-turned-enemy of the titular character in the mainstream Green Arrow comics in The New 52.^[2]

• First appearance: "Pilot"

David Ramsey

John Diggle is a former United States Army Special Forces soldier and Oliver's friend and partner. During season 1, John is hired as Oliver's bodyguard and becomes his confidant to help him in his mission to save Starling City, trying to help Oliver balance his normal life and vigilante life, and occasionally helping him in the field. Having been trained in first aid, John would provide Oliver with medical aid, limiting his needs for hospital medical treatment. Already a skilled fighter, John receives additional training from Oliver. John also has a grudge against Floyd Lawton / Deadshot who killed his brother Andy. John also dates his brother's widow, Carly, and being a surrogate father figure to their son, A.J., during this season.

In season 2, John and Felicity continue to help Oliver in his crusade and John continues to be Oliver's adviser and field partner, along with Sara and Roy. John has a relationship with Lyla Michaels (who is also his ex-wife), is an unofficial member of A.R.G.U.S. and is also a member of the Suicide Squad under the codename "Freelancer". He also develops an uneasy alliance with Amanda Waller who occasionally asks John for field assistance with A.R.G.U.S. missions with Lyla. In "Unthinkable", it is revealed that Lyla is pregnant with John's child.

In season 3, John continues to help Oliver and his team but has to devote more of his time to his new baby with Lyla, whom he names Sara after Sara Lance is killed. After Lyla is seriously injured in an attack, he and Lyla decide to remarry. When Oliver is presumed dead at Ra's al Ghul's hands John becomes an acting leader of the team, leading Felicity, Roy, and Laurel until his friend's return. After Oliver's return, John accompanies him to Nanda Parbat to help him free Malcolm, but the two are captured. John and Lyla eventually do marry but after a near death experience with the Suicide Squad, only narrowly being saved when Deadshot sacrifices himself for them, John and Lyla decide to quit Team Arrow and A.R.G.U.S. for their daughter's sake. After Oliver leaves the team to join the League of Assassins, as part of a deal to revive a deceased Thea, John becomes the team leader. He is not yet ready to forgive Oliver for kidnapping Lyla as part of a deception to gain acceptance to the League.

In season 4, John, going by the codename Spartan,^[3] discovers that the organization that targeting Star City is H.I.V.E, who hired Lawton murdered his brother Andy. John is determine to find out the truth behind his brother's death and who was within the organization that ordered the hit, but he is also at odds with Oliver due to kidnapping Lyla and endangering Sara despite Lyla having forgiven him. Eventually, he forgives Oliver after their fight with a H.I.V.E. metahuman operative, Jeremy Tell. With Quentin Lance's help, John learns that Damien Darhk had his brother murdered, and that he was a drug cartel leader and Darhk's territorial rival prior of his death. However, John discovers that Darhk actually faked Andy's death and recruited him as a H.I.V.E. soldier, leading John and his brother to become enemies.

While John Diggle was originally a character created for the show, his popularity led to a character of the same name modeled after Ramsey's appearance to be created for the mainstream Green Arrow comics in The New 52.^[4]

• First appearance: "Pilot"

Willa Holland

Thea Queen is the daughter of Moira Queen and Malcolm Merlyn, though both Malcolm and Thea were unaware of their relation to each other until season 2, and the younger half-sister to Oliver Queen and Tommy Merlyn. In season 1, Thea was battling a drug and alcohol problem which she used to fill the pain of losing her brother. After court ordered community service from taking "Vertigo" she grows to be more responsible. Thea's addiction with Vertigo also causes a bitter animosity between Oliver's vigilante alter-ego and the drug's creator The Count. She also falls in love with Roy Harper, a lifelong street criminal who she meets when he steals her purse. Though Roy initially has no romantic interest in Thea despite an obvious physical attraction to her, mainly out of resentment because of her wealth, Roy later begins to genuinely fall in love with her too.

In season 2, Thea runs the Verdant nightclub in Oliver and Tommy's absences and continues seeing Roy, but is frustrated by Roy's need to save people, though she gradually comes to accept it. She is however the subject of exclusion as most characters keep secrets from her including her true paternity which she eventually discovers when Slade Wilson abducts her. She then breaks up with Roy when he cheats on her, though he only did this to keep her away from him during his Mirakuru problem. Despite reconciling with Roy after having learned of his illness, she breaks up with him again after discovering his allegiance to the Arrow. After her mother's death, she decides to leave Starling City. In "Unthinkable" Malcolm comes to save her and convinces her to leave with him.

In season 3, Thea begins the season in Corto Maltese receiving combat training from Malcolm, though she soon decides to return to Starling with Oliver. She also reopens her nightclub after Malcolm secretly buys the foundry from Queen Consolidated for her. She learns Oliver's secret identity as Arrow when he shows her his hideout under the nightclub and begins to distrust Malcolm after learning that he already knew about Oliver's secret. After Thea is told that her father used her as a pawn against both Oliver and Ra's al Ghul by drugging and manipulating her into killing Sara Lance, she arranges for him to be captured by the League in retaliation. She reconciles with Roy but is nearly killed by Ra's and is brought back to life in the Lazarus Pit in exchange for Oliver joining the League of Assassins. Thea blames herself for letting her brother join the League. Roy breaks up with her when he leaves Starling City after faking his death, hoping that Thea can make a life of her own without him. He also leaves her his red costume which she wears to become a vigilante herself and thus as his successor.

In season 4, Thea works with Oliver and his friends in the fight against the terrorist organization H.I.V.E. Despite enjoy being a vigilante, Thea's behaviors has become increasingly volatile and reckless when in the field, in which Oliver realizes is a side effect of being in the Lazarus Pit. In addition, Thea helps Laurel to bring Sara back from the dead in hopes of making amend towards the Lance family. Because of this, Thea is telepathically linked with Sara after her resurrection upon the Lazarus Pit. It is also revealed that Thea's Lazarus Pit side effect was able to counterattack Damien Darhk's life force drain in addition relieving her bloodlust. Thea is dying as the result of the Pit's effect, leaving Oliver desperately to find a cure for his sister, which happens to be 'Lotus',an elixir use by the Crescent Order that permanently reverse the effects of the Lazarus Pit.

Her brother's nickname for her ("Speedy"), her middle name of Dearden and the alias "Mia" she used during her time at Corto Maltese, are easter egg connections to one of Green Arrow's sidekicks in the comics.^[5] In the fourth season, Thea goes by Speedy for her hero persona.^[6]

• First appearance: "Pilot"

Susanna Thompson

Moira Queen is the mother of Oliver and Thea, the former acting CEO of Queen Consolidated, mayoral candidate and wife of Robert Queen and later Walter Steele. She also had a brief affair with Malcolm Merlyn after his wife's death, which resulted in Thea’s birth. During season 1, Moira is involved in a criminal conspiracy orchestrated by Malcolm to destroy the "Glades", with him forcing Moira to handle all interference and supply him with the resources needed. Her involvement also causes her to keep many secrets from her family which when revealed causes Walter to divorce her and her kids to become distant. Moira eventually confesses her involvement and Malcolm’s in "Sacrifice" which results in her being arrested.

During season 2, Moira is put on trial for her involvement with Malcolm but in "State v. Queen" she is acquitted as Malcolm returns, alive, and forces the jury to acquit her before she makes Malcolm go on the run by informing Ra's al Ghul of Malcolm's survival. Moira eventually becomes a mayoral candidate against Sebastian Blood on Walter’s advice, but the secret of Thea's parentage is revealed, causing a rift between Moira and her children. In "Seeing Red" it is revealed that she had been aware of Oliver's secret identity as the Arrow since the night of her arrest. She is murdered by Slade Wilson as part of his own plot of revenge against Oliver, as she made the same choice as Robert did for Oliver by sacrifices herself to prevent her son from having to choose between her and Thea. In a flashback, it is revealed that she paid a woman, Samantha Clayton, who got pregnant with Oliver's child to tell Oliver she lost the baby and move away to Central City never to speak to him again.

In season 3, Thompson returned to the series to record Moira's voice for when Oliver calls home from Hong Kong.^[7]

In season 4, it is later revealed that Samantha never cashed Moira's check, and the attempted bribe resulting Samantha hating the Queens; as the result, Samantha denied Moira access to her grandson, William, when she was alive and leaving Oliver hurt when he finds out but unable to acknowledge his son due to his mother's actions. This leaves Oliver painfully angered of Moira for deceiving him once more.

She is based on the minor DC Comics character of the same name.

• First appearance: "Pilot"

Paul Blackthorne

Quentin Lance is a police captain, formerly detective, sergeant and officer, the father of Laurel and Sara, and former husband of Dinah Drake-Lance. During season 1, Quentin resents Oliver for causing Sara's presumed death which followed by the deterioration of the relationships with his family, and becomes an alcoholic who throws himself into his work to avoid the pain. When Oliver returns he openly shows his hatred of him and refuses to see through his past mistakes. He also hates the Arrow for being against everything Quentin believes in and tries numerous times to arrest him, one of which involves using Laurel which causes her to become distant for a time. Quentin is from time to time forced to work with the Arrow and eventually comes to accept him for the hero he is.

During season 2, Quentin is demoted to officer but is now an ally of the Arrow and becomes an informant on a number of cases and occasional field partner to him. He also struggles with the relationships with his family. Sara is revealed to be alive and the vigilante "Canary", he helps her adjust to life after returning to Starling City, and also helping Laurel cope with her pain over losing Tommy. However, Quentin discovers that he cannot renew his marriage with Dinah due to she has remarried at some point after their divorce. In "Streets of Fire", Quentin regains his detective title. In "Unthinkable", Quentin passes out from internal bleeding from the battle and falls into a coma.

In season 3, Quentin has survived, albeit now with frequent chest pains and needing a cane to walk, and has been promoted to captain, a power he uses to call off the anti-vigilante task-force. However his frequent assistance to the Arrow in the field continues to strain his condition and forces him to rely on the political connections of his new position and his subordinates to continue serving the city. He is initially unaware of Sara's death as Laurel believed that telling him would cause him a heart attack, but he becomes suspicious after Sara's protégée Sin informs him that the woman in Sara's costume is not her. He ultimately learns the truth about Sara's death and that Laurel has become her vigilante successor, and becomes estranged from Laurel. He irrationally blames the Arrow for Sara's death and becomes determined to bring him to justice. He eventually learns from Ra's al Ghul of Oliver's secret identity. In the season finale, he supports Team Arrow once more when Ra's al Ghul plans to unleash the Alpha/Omega bio-weapon on Starling.

In season 4, it is revealed that Quentin is forced to be in league with Damien Darhk and his organization, H.I.V E., after Darhk threaten Quentin with the lives of his family's. After Oliver discovers his secret alliance, he persuades Lance to play double agent for him while continue working with Darhk, so he can inform what Darhk is really up to. However, in the process Quentin exposes himself and thus Darhk gradually become suspicious of him. He also reconciles with Laurel, and reunites with Sara once more after Laurel, Oliver, and John Constantine brought her back from the dead. He also begin seeing Felicity's mother Donna Smoak, whom Quentin happily to be with and thus start to move on from his divorce and alcoholism, and he receives Laurel's blessing of his new relationship after she finds out. Quentin eventually meets Felicity's father, Noah Kuttler, and he personally arrest Kuttler after Felicity turns him in.

The character is based on the DC Comics character, Larry Lance, husband to Dinah Drake Lance and father to Dinah Laurel Lance.

• First appearance: "Pilot"

Emily Bett Rickards

Felicity Smoak is an I.T. expert, a partner (and eventual love interest) of Oliver Queen and his computer expert. Felicity is a graduate of MIT Class of 2009, ranked second in the National Information Technology Competition at age 19 and holds a master's degree in cyber security and computer sciences. During season 1, she is initially an employee of Queen Consolidated and is asked by Walter to investigate the list and she is asked for occasional favors by Oliver. She learns Oliver's secret in "The Odyssey" when he is shot and has her take him to his lair where she and John patch him up. She stays on as Oliver’s computer expert throughout the season in hopes to find Walter Steele by helping Oliver and ultimately, like John Diggle, she becomes one of Oliver's confidants. Felicity chooses to remain at Oliver's side after Walter is rescued.

In season 2, she continues to serve as Oliver's partner and upgrades his safehouse and even has a new custom bow made for him. Felicity also helps out in the field occasionally as a decoy or to field hack a computer, but sometimes gets herself in deeper trouble. Felicity and Oliver also start to develop romantic feelings towards each other despite the fact that he was in a relationship with Sara Lance at the time.

In season 3, Felicity continues to be Oliver's tech support but has been forced to work for another I.T. company after losing her QC job. She eventually returns to working at Queen Consolidated (renamed Palmer Technologies) under new CEO Ray Palmer as his Vice President. In addition, Felicity is conflicted by her feelings towards both Oliver and Ray. While Ray and Felicity do become a couple, many people see, including her mother, that Felicity is in love with Oliver. Felicity finally admits her love to Oliver and the two consummate their relationship. However, Oliver's decision to join the League of Assassins causes a rift between them. At the end of the season, Oliver retires from being the Arrow and he and Felicity leave Starling to start a new life. In flashbacks, it is revealed that she was a part of the cybergoth subculture and a member of a hacktivist group on her college campus, and she had a crush on Oliver prior to first meeting him.

In season 4, Felicity, as Vice President, becomes Palmer Technologies' acting CEO after Ray's presumed death. After living seemingly happyily in Ivy Town for several months, she and Oliver are called back to Star City to help with the 'ghost' problem. Upon their return, Oliver decides to run for mayor. During Oliver's mayoral campaigns, Felicity is the first person before Laurel and Sara to find out that her mother is dating their father. She and Oliver also become engaged, but are attacked by H.I.V.E shortly thereafter, resulting in Felicity being shot and left permanently paralyzed from the waist down. After coming to terms with her paralysis and her rebellious past, Felicity is given a codename "Overwatch" by Oliver.^[8] Felicity is reacquainted with her father, Noah Kuttler, after the incident. However, after she learns that her father has become a cyber-criminal known as the Calculator and has an ulterior motive, Felicity introduces Quentin Lance to her father and had Lance arrest him.

A character by the same name has appeared in the comics, as Ronnie Raymond's step-mother who runs a software company.^[9] A version based on Rickards' portrayal is introduced in the DC Comics universe in Green Arrow (vol. 5) #35.^[10]

• First appearance: "Lone Gunmen"

Colton Haynes

Roy Harper is a former street criminal, Thea's boyfriend and an Arrow supporter. During season 1, Roy is a small-time criminal who falls in love with Thea after robbing her, but doesn't see any other way to live until the Arrow saves him from a kidnapping. Roy then attempts to find the Arrow to help him. He also gets arrested multiple times by Quentin Lance. After given up his criminal ways, Roy works as a waiter at the nightclub Verdant.

During season 2, he continues to see Thea but often goes out to clean up the streets on his own until the Arrow convinces him not to and instead help him by gathering Intel without engaging. In "Three Ghosts" he is injected with Mirakuru by Brother Blood and becomes super strong but slowly becomes insane. In "Tremors" the Arrow takes Roy under his wing in hopes of saving him from becoming as corrupt as Slade Wilson. The Arrow is forced to reveal his identity as Oliver to convince Roy to stop Bronze Tiger. Roy trains with Oliver to become an archer in order to control his strength but is forced to break up with Thea. Slade kidnaps Roy and uses his blood to create his army which leaves him completely insane and causes him to kill a cop while under the influence of the drug. In "Unthinkable" Roy is given his own mask and partakes in the final battle. However, he is slightly amnesic not remembering anything after breaking up with Thea, including his rampage.

In season 3, Roy is now Oliver's partner and participates in the field with him. He takes on the alter-ego "Arsenal" after a confrontation with Ted Grant's former vigilante protégé Isaac Stanzler, but the media also refers to him as "Red Arrow". He struggles to come to terms with his breakup with Thea. Despite their separation, Thea makes Roy her assistant manager at the night club, though they eventually get back together. After Sara's murder, the manner of her death brings Roy's repressed memories of his rampage to the surface and he later helps support the family of the police officer he killed. When Oliver is presumed dead Roy takes his place as the team's head archer, often teaming with Laurel on missions. After Quentin Lance resumes his manhunt against Arrow, Roy subsequently impersonate Oliver's alter-ego and fakes his own death, leaving Starling City to assume that Arrow is dead so that Oliver can be free. Roy passes on his Arsenal suit to Thea after leaving town, which she later uses as her own vigilante suit.

In season 4, after building a new life at Hub City, Roy is forced to return to his vigilante role after the Calculator extorts him to steal technological components and Thea is out of commission.

He is based on the DC Comics character Roy Harper.

• First appearance: "Dodger"

Manu Bennett

Slade Wilson is a former ASIS soldier who was ship-wrecked on Lian Yu, a mentor to Oliver Queen and is a protagonist/anti-hero in season 1 but becomes the main antagonist of season 2 and a minor antagonist of season 3.

During the season 1 flashbacks, Slade is a combat mentor to Oliver on the island and teaches him most of his fighting skills to fight Edward Fyers and his mercenaries in their combined attempts to escape the island and stop Fyers' plans. Though Slade openly doubts Oliver's abilities to survive or fight, often giving him demeaning nicknames, the two become close friends and fight together well. He also becomes romantically drawn to Shado, though she doesn't return the affection but is aware and amused by it.

In season 2, he appears in the flashbacks as a protagonist turned antagonist and appears in the present day as the main antagonist. In the flashbacks he is severely wounded by Dr. Ivo’s mortar attacks and Oliver injects him with Mirakuru, a strength enhancing serum left on the island in WWII by Japanese, in order to save his life. When Shado is killed, Slade blames Oliver for her death and turns on him. In the present Slade is alive, now operating as the mercenary Deathstroke, and plots to destroy Starling City with an army of Mirakuru soldiers working with Sebastian Blood and Isabel Rochev. He manages to undermine Oliver's life by causing him to lose his money and his business, revealing some of Oliver's secrets to Laurel and Thea and killing Moira before unleashing his army on the city. In "Unthinkable" Oliver defeats him when Felicity injects him with the Mirakuru cure and he is imprisoned in a A.R.G.U.S. supermax on Lian Yu itself.

In season 3, Slade is temporarily released by Malcolm Merlyn and attempts to imprison Oliver and Thea in the supermax and return to Starling but the two are able to beat Slade and re-imprison him.

He is based on the DC Comics character Deathstroke.^[11]

• First appearance: "Betrayal"

John Barrowman

Malcolm Merlyn is a wealthy businessman, member of the League of Assassins, father of Tommy and Thea and one of the main antagonists of the series. During season 1, Malcolm plotted the Undertaking, the destruction of the Glades, after his wife Rebecca was murdered there. When Robert Queen threatened the Undertaking, Malcolm arranged to destroy Robert's ship, Queen's Gambit, resulting in Robert Queen's death and the assumed deaths of Oliver and Sara which indirectly lead to their journeys of becoming "The Arrow" and "The Canary". In the present day he uses Moira to gain access to all resources needed and tries to reshape his son into a better person by cutting him off which works, but causes tensions between them. When the Arrow interferes with his plan Malcolm also becomes a vigilante who similarly uses a bow and arrow but with a black costume, to oppose him and proves to be far more skilled than him. He also suspects Oliver to be the Arrow and is ultimately proven right after defeating him a second time. In the season finale he is seemingly killed by Oliver though he manages to destroy much of the Glades and inadvertently kill Tommy, and is also publicly exposed for his crime by Moira.

In season 2, Malcolm returns alive and in secret to suborn the jury in Moira's trial to find her innocent of the Undertaking. He discovers that he is Thea's biological father after following Adam Donner's investigation of Malcolm's past affair with Moira. In an attempt to keep Malcolm from Thea, Moira informs Ra's al Ghul of his survival, forcing Malcolm to flee Starling City. During Slade's attack on the city, Malcolm returns to save Thea from the Mirakuru soldiers and convinces her to leave Starling with him.

In season 3, Malcolm was revealed to have trained Thea to be a warrior in Corto Maltese. Despite being both the League's target and a fugitive of the law, Malcolm returns to Starling City, though his presence and survival is not known to the general public. He also secretly purchased the foundry from Queen Consolidated, the site of Thea's nightclub Verdant. It is revealed that his name in the League of Assassins is "Al Sa-Her" (Arabic: الساحر), which translates to "The Magician", after Malcolm performed a magic trick for a young Nyssa al Ghul upon his arrival in Nanda Parbat. He also continues to train Thea to the point where she can even defeat him in combat. Malcolm plots to rid himself of Ra's al Ghul and drugs Thea into killing Sara so Oliver will take the fall for her murder and challenge Ra's to a duel, as al Ghul's death will eliminate Malcolm's blood debt. However this plan fails and almost gets Oliver killed, who barely survived his fight with al Ghul and returns only after a whole month. Malcolm learns that crime lord Danny Brickwell was responsible for the murder of his wife, but Oliver persuades him to choose justice over vengeance for Thea's sake, allowing Brick to be tried for his crimes. Malcolm is tasked to train Oliver in swordplay following the latter's return in preparation of them battling Ra's al Ghul together. When Oliver tells Thea that she killed Sara, and that Malcolm is directly responsible because he brainwashed her to do it, she betrays Malcolm to the League; he is captured, taken to Nanda Parbat, and tortured but is freed when Oliver accept his offer to take Ra's place. After Thea is killed by Ra's, Malcolm accompanies Oliver to Nanda Parbat to revive her but Oliver is forced to take Ra's offer and join the League. However Malcolm secretly begins working with Oliver, planning to cripple the league from within and stop Ra's plan to unleash the Alpha/Omega bio-weapon on Starling City. Malcolm subsequently leads Team Arrow to save the city until Oliver's return. After Ra's is killed by Oliver in a final sword fight he hands the leadership of the League to Malcolm, which Nyssa suspects is what Malcolm has schemed all along since Sara's death though he claims he only desired to rid himself of Ra's. Despite their renewed animosity following Ra's defeat, both Malcolm and Oliver harbor deep respect for each other: Malcolm regards Oliver as a surrogate son, and Oliver himself remembers the man Malcolm was before the death of his wife though is unable to forgive him for everything that he has done.

In season 4, Malcolm helps Laurel resurrect Sara in order to have his family's blood debt with Laurel's settled, and helps Thea in controlling her bloodlust. He provides information to Oliver and Barry Allen about Vandal Savage. To keep Damien Darhk from figuring out Oliver's secret, Malcolm occasionally masquerades himself as Green Arrow. However, despite occasionally helping Oliver and his allies, Malcom remains an amoral man and despised by them, and his aiding is either for protecting Thea from Oliver's enemies or his own agendas.

He is based on the DC Comics character Merlyn.

• First appearance: "An Innocent Man"