Oliver Queen (Arrowverse)

"You have FAILED THIS CITY!"

- Arrow’s catchphrase, including right before he murders his victims. "I WANTED TO! AND I LIKED IT!"

- Prometheus has Oliver reveal his true motivation for killing.

Oliver Jonas "Ollie" Queen, also known as Green Arrow, is the overall deuteragonist of the CW's Arrowverse series. He is the main protagonist of the 2012 CW series, Green Arrow.

Despite being the protagonist though, Oliver has repeatedly resorted to incredibly vicious, brutal and murderous methods throughout his career, making him a far darker and more ethically sketchy protagonist than any of the other ones in the Arrowverse shows, though subsequent seasons did try to amend this by having him temper his violence. However, such attempts are never complete or lasting, as Oliver, again and again, returns to a more extreme approach to crime-fighting.

Early life
Oliver Queen was born on May 16, 1985 in Starling City into the esteemed Queen family to his parents; billionaires Robert and Moira Queen. When he was seven years old, Oliver met and befriended Tommy Merlyn and later, Laurel Lance, both who would become his lifelong best friends. Oliver had a younger sister, Thea, whom he was very close to and protective of. He nicknamed Thea "Speedy" since he always chased after her when she was a kid. Every Christmas, Oliver and Thea would race to see who could eat the holiday candy canes the fastest. While learning how to drive, Oliver once chipped the side paint off of his father's Maserati.

Once Oliver entered his late teens and early 20s, he started sleeping around with other women and got into multiple social scandals by himself or with Tommy, including assaulting a paparazzi bystander, driving while intoxicated, stealing a taxi, urinating on a police officer, and using a helicopter to impress Maria Sharapova at the U.S. Open. At some point, Oliver and Tommy became acquainted with McKenna Hall and met Laurel's sister, Sara. Oliver's education was chaotic as well; he dropped out of four Ivy League schools, not even bothering to tell his parents about the last one until sometime after. Additionally, he mentioned that the only book he ever bothered to read in college was The Odyssey. However, Oliver did have some engineering skills due to working with his father, who was an aspiring pilot and sometimes performed his own maintenance with his son. Robert also taught Oliver how to fly a plane. As a teenager, Oliver used these skills to hot-wire Malcolm Merlyn's car four times, which resulted in him getting grounded for an entire summer.

At some point in 2004, Oliver indirectly ran into Simon Morrison when he successfully stole the latter's girlfriend, though he would later forget about this. In 2005, Oliver would begin dating his longtime friend Laurel, and they fell in love with one another. However, Laurel's father, Quentin, disapproved of their relationship and once threatened to use a taser on Oliver after catching the two in bed together. Despite this, Oliver enjoyed spending time with Laurel and her family as he felt unburdened from being Robert Queen's son, according to Moira. Oliver also held Quentin in high regard, secretly wanting to earn his validation. In 2007, after Moira caught Laurel sneaking away to Oliver's room in the Queen Mansion, Laurel suggested that she and Oliver could live in their own home, bringing up how their friends, Ray and Jean, had recently decided to get an apartment together. Oliver initially agreed to moving in with her, but he quickly began having doubts.

Rather than talk to Laurel about his doubts, Oliver panicked, causing him to start cheating on her in an effort to back out of the commitment. First, he slept with a college classmate, Samantha Clayton, and accidentally got her pregnant. Distressed, Oliver shared the news with his mother, worried about his future. Unbeknownst to him, Moira stepped in and paid off Samantha to raise the child in Central City, lie to Oliver that she miscarried, and never speak to him again. Oliver was both saddened and relieved upon learning of his dashed fatherhood, unaware of the truth. Confiding in his mother once more, Oliver thanked her for being there for him, to which Moira promised that her son was never without her.

Afterwards, Oliver only continued to hurt his relationship with Laurel by sleeping with Sara, who before had a crush on him, and eventually inviting her to join him on his father's three-week trip on the Queen's Gambit.[3] Before Oliver boarded the Gambit, Laurel visited him to say goodbye and gave Oliver a photograph of herself for when he got lonely overseas.

Shipwrecked on Lian Yu
While on the Queen's Gambit, Oliver was in bed with Sara when the yacht (having been sabotaged) suddenly sank. He witnessed Sara being swooped away by the rushing water before being pulled under. Oliver eventually resurfaced from the ocean with Robert and a crew member, Dave Hackett, dragging him into a life raft, the three of them being the only known survivors. Oliver tried to go back and look for Sara, but Robert told him it was too late, much to his devastation. After days of drifting at sea and running low on provisions, Robert realized that there was enough for maybe one person and chose to give his son a chance at survival. He revealed to Oliver that their family's wealth had been built on the suffering of others and he was not the man his son thought he was. Robert urged his son to right his wrongs and be better than he was. He then took out a gun and proceeded to shoot Hackett, much to Oliver's horror, before turning it on himself. Robert told Oliver once last time, "Survive" before shooting himself amidst his son's pleas.

Sometime later, Oliver washed ashore upon an island, where he built a makeshift hut to spend the night in. The next morning, Oliver spotted birds descending on his father's body and rushed to shield him, only to suddenly vomit upon touching Robert's hand. While burying his father, Oliver found a notebook with a strange symbol filled with seemingly blank pages in his pocket. Immediately after, a hooded man named Yao Fei Gulong ambushed Oliver and shot an arrow into his shoulder. Oliver screamed in pain before collapsing and passing out. Yao Fei frees Oliver

Oliver awoke some time later in Yao Fei's camp, where he tended to Oliver's wound. Later, when the man fell asleep, Oliver tried to flee, only to trigger a snare. Yao Fei soon arrived, cutting him down and leaving Oliver with a warning of the island's dangers. Oliver was left with no other choice but to follow him. Shortly after they left, trap which Oliver sprung unknowingly attracted the attention of a group of armed masked men, who examined it.

Over the next few days, Oliver spent most of his time gazing at his picture of Laurel until Yeo Fei brought him a bird trapped in a cage. Oliver was confused, to which Yao Fei simply repeated, "Shēngcún", gesturing him to kill the bird if he wanted to eat. Horrified at the thought, Oliver refused at first but later, driven by hunger, he reluctantly broke the bird's neck. While eating, Yao Fei told Oliver that his mantra, "Shēngcún", means to survive. Yao Fei warned that Oliver would be forced to take more lives in the future, and advised him to forget about Laurel if he wanted to survive on the island.

Oliver accompanied Yao Fei hunting one day. When Yao Fei killed a rabbit for dinner, Oliver refused to touch the body and tried to shoot with Yao Fei's bow as per his instructions. He managed to successfully launch an arrow but missed his intended target, a tree. Oliver then went to retrieve the arrow and dead rabbit, but was ambushed and captured by a group of armed men, who imprisoned him in an underground cage. Terrified, Oliver attempted to beg for his life, to no avail. They brought Oliver to their camp, where he was then interrogated by their leader, Edward Fyers. Fyers showed him a picture of Yao Fei, asking if Oliver had seen him, revealing the man's name as well as the island's: Lian Yu (meaning "purgatory" in Mandarin). Oliver denied any knowledge of Yao Fei in order to protect him. Not believing him, Fyers ordered an an employee of his to extract information from Oliver. The man tortured Oliver by slicing his torso with a katana. Despite the pain, Oliver refused to divulge anything. After a period of time, Yao Fei barged in, rescuing a severely injured Oliver and bringing him back to the cave. He then left to lead Fyers' men away from their hideout, but not before telling Oliver to survive, and sealing the entrance to prevent Oliver from following him.

Injured and alone in the cave, Oliver began began burning the pages of his father's book to keep a fire going. He suddenly experienced a hallucination of Robert telling him to survive despite Oliver's contemplating suicide, otherwise Robert's sacrifice would have been for nothing. After awakening, Oliver tore another page out of the book, but just as he was about to throw it onto the fire, the heat from the flames causes letters to appear on the paper. He proceeded to do the same with other pages, and various names began to appear on the pages. Oliver then promised the hallucination of his father that he would live up to this responsibility.

Yao Fei returned a while later, bringing with him a captured Fyers. He told Oliver that Fyers had a plane that could take them off the island. They made their way through the woods until they were ambushed by Wintergreen and Fyers' men, with Fyers admitting how convenient it appeared to be that Yao Fei captured him so easily. Yao Fei told Oliver to run and began fighting the men. Unfortunately, he was defeated and knocked unconscious by Billy. From a safe distance, Oliver watched them take Yao Fei and then ran away.

One of Fyers' men continued to search for Oliver after Yao Fei was captured. Armed with only a knife, Oliver was eventually forced to confront him. The skirmish resulted in them tumbling and falling down into a stream. The soldier landed hard on a rock while Oliver ended up in the water. He managed to swim out and donned the uniform of the dead man, finding a set of keys and a map of the island in one of the pockets.[21] Using the map, Oliver found his way to the camp where Fyers and his men were based. There, unfortunately accompanied by Fyers (who didn't seem to recognize him due to wearing a balaclava) he managed to make his way to where Yao Fei was being held prisoner, but once there, Fyers knocked down Oliver and put him in one of the cells. When he came to, Fyers told him he'd known who he was because of his eyes, which tell everything about a person, which was the reason why his men all wore balaclavas. Fyers then rebuked Oliver for putting his trust in the wrong people, specifically Yao Fei. He motioned to the soldier next to him, who had been the first to talk to Oliver upon his arrival in the camp. The soldier took off his balaclava and revealed himself to be in fact Yao Fei, who had began working for Fyers.[5] Yao Fei proceeded to seemingly kill Oliver in a fighting circle, however he secretly used a technique in order to fake Oliver's death. As he hit the water, Oliver was revived and swam to shore. In his pocket, he found a map with a route marked out. Oliver proceeded to follow the route, leading to an abandoned plane.

Before he could do a thing, a man jumped down, threatening to kill him. Oliver told him that he was sent by Yao Fei, and the man seemed to drop his suspicions, introducing himself as Slade Wilson. Slade then told Oliver that there was an airfield, and he and Yao Fei had been observing it for months, that they were going to get off the island together. He then threw a sword to Oliver and told him of his belief that Yao Fei sent Oliver to him because he knew that he could not take the air field alone. Slade then challenged Oliver to a brief sword fight in order to gauge Oliver's fighting skills. He was unimpressed, significantly beating Oliver, and told him how he fought much worse than a girl. Slade then knocked him out. Oliver woke, tied to a chair. Slade, in order to keep his location secret, decided to kill Oliver, however Oliver managed to escape his bonds by breaking his hand, and then punched Slade in the face. Amused, Slade thought that there might have been a fighter inside of Oliver after all and decided to train Oliver instead. As Oliver went to choose a weapon, he found a bi-colored solid black and orange fabric mask, identical to the one worn by the man who had tortured him under Fyers' orders. When questioned about this, Slade explained that he and his old partner, and former friend, wore the same mask, that they had come to the island to rescue Yao as a mission from the Australian Secret Intelligence Service. Oliver and Slade review a map of Lian Yu

The two progressively fought over an unspecified amount of time. Oliver almost gave up, though was quickly re-motivated by Slade. When the time came, the two of them made their way to Edward's camp, and ultimately the airstrip to a ride home. They set up camp, and Oliver tried to start a fire for several hours, before Slade pulled out a lighter and helped, bemused at Oliver's anger. In return, Slade reminisced about his and his partner, Billy Wintergreen's, arrival on the island. A day or so later, Oliver accidentally stepped on a land mine left over from a previous war. Slade ran to hide as a group of soldiers approached a masked Oliver. Oliver explained his situation, as Slade had deserted him, and they surveyed the mine. Suddenly, Slade jumped from his hiding spot, slicing through the soldiers with his sword, replacing Oliver with one of them. They continued towards the camp, finally reaching it at dark. Oliver, aided by Slade's sniping, raced stealthily to the communications tower. He attempted to quietly take out the only man in there, only resulting in having a gun pointed at his face. He tried to remove it, but his technique failed. Luckily, Slade reached him just in time, stabbing the man through the gut. They were able to contact the plane, allowing it clearance to land. Slade left Oliver on his own and Oliver, seeing his chance, grabbed a phone and called Laurel, hoping to make up for his wrongdoings. Before he could speak, Slade returned and stopped him, reminding him that it could be monitored. After a short argument, Oliver went to find Yao Fei and rescue him. Yao Fei explained that he was only staying for a person. Fyers and Wintergreen entered the tent, leading Yao Fei to knock out Oliver. When Oliver came to, he was forced into the middle of a circle. After questioning Fyers, he discovered that he meant for Wintergreen to kill him. Before this could happen, Slade caused a distraction so that he could snipe several soldiers and Oliver could run to safety. Oliver watched as Slade and Wintergreen faced off, with Slade overpowering his former friend. As they were leaving, Slade was shot. Oliver helped to protect them as they left, finally knocking out his first soldier with the move Slade had shown him earlier. When they reached Slade's plane, Oliver helped remove the bullet in Slade's arm. He then joked that his only friend on the island was named "Wilson".

Later, Oliver checked Slade's wound and found that it was infected. He recalled the herbs that Yao Fei had given him that prevented infection from his arrow wound and offered to go get them. Slade said that he wouldn't last an hour out there, and Oliver believed that he could get them in 45 minutes. He then went to Yao Fei's cave, discovering a man tied up there. The man explains that he was the only survivor of a shipwreck, like Oliver, and had discovered Fyers' soldiers, whom had beaten and taken him to the cave. Oliver, believing it to be a trap, grabbed the herbs and left the man there, returning to Slade with the herbs.[22] Oliver began working on a broken down radio transmitter to find a way to get off the island with Slade. After working on it for a while, they were able to hear conversations between radios, but unable to communicate back. After listening for a while, the two learned that Fyers had ordered the shipment of a missile launcher big enough to destroy an entire army.[11] Oliver and Slade were able to sneak in to Fyers' compound, where they stole the launcher's ignition chip. They called Fyers on his radio and told him that they would return the chip in exchange for a way off of the island

Oliver and Slade soon met with Fyers, who quickly backed down from their deal by revealing to them that he would kill Shado, Yao Fei's daughter, if they did not give him the chip. Oliver then realized that it was because of Shado that Yao Fei joined Fyers' cause. Oliver and Slade escaped with Shado in tow, but soon learned that Fyers' men had found the chip whilst they had rendezvoused with Fyers, and had taken it back. Shado then told them how she knew of Fyers' plan.[24] Shado decided to begin teaching Oliver archery so that he could help them defeat Fyers. She proceeded to get him to fill a bowl with water, and then continuously slap it. After a while, Oliver became frustrated and asked Shado the purpose of the exercise, and she showed him that because he had spent so long slapping the water, he then had the strength in his hands to pull back a bow.[25] She then told him that he had to learn how to shoot, during which the two grew closer romantically despite Oliver confessing that he was in love with Laurel despite it being complicated to Shado. After learning how to shoot, the three were shocked to see Yao Fei arrive at their compound. However, he was promptly forced to reveal that he had brought Fyers' soldiers along with him.

The soldiers brought the three of them to Fyers' compound, where Oliver saw that one of the soldiers was the young man who he had met in the cave who had claimed to be trapped there. Fyers revealed that the reason he was on the island was because he and his men were hired to shoot down a Ferris Aircraft on its way to China, thus destroying China's economy. Fyers then threatened to kill Shado if Yao Fei did not film a video taking responsibility for the terrorist attack. After reluctance, Yao Fei agreed, but subtly handed Oliver a knife. After filming the video, Fyers shot Yao Fei in the head, killing him. Just as Fyers and his men prepared to fire the missile, Oliver cut himself free using Yao Fei's knife, and he, Slade, and Shado, fought Fyers and his men. Fyers, however, was able to get the missile fired at the plane, and Oliver and Shado went to manually redirect the missile while Slade covered them. Just as Shado was about to place the chip inside the switchboard, she was attacked from behind, and Oliver managed to redirect the missile, which hit Fyers' compound instead, with both Slade and Shado still there. Oliver went to search for them, and found Slade alive, but then turned around to see that Fyers was still alive and had Shado in his custody. Oliver found Yao Fei's wooden compound bow and arrow, and pointed it at Fyers, who mused about how his meticulously-executed plan over the past two years was undone by a shipwrecked boy, and admitted that he would've gotten him off of the island if Oliver had stopped messing with Fyers' plans. Before Fyers could make a move, Oliver shot an arrow at his throat, killing him.

Months later, Oliver had noticeably improved in his combat tactics, as noted by both Slade and Shado. The three of them soon discovered another group of people on the island, and went to track them down. However, Shado was soon abducted by the group, forcing Oliver and Slade to try and rescue her. They soon found her being interrogated by a group of pirates, who were asking her where to find "bodies." Slade told Oliver to wait for his signal to attack, but Oliver, unable to watch Shado be tortured, attacked them impulsively. While Slade fended off the other pirates, Oliver brutally murdered their leader out of rage, shocking both Slade and Shado.

Slade promptly suggested Shado talk to Oliver, worried that he would lose his mind. This leads to the latter two making love, to the clear annoyance of Slade, who told Oliver that Shado was simply a distraction that would lead to his death. The three of them soon found skeletal remains of Japanese soldiers from World War II, determining that they were the very same bodies that the pirates were looking for. They also deduced that more people were likely to follow, and so they took one of the bodies back to the plane. As Shado examined the body, Slade and Oliver went to find a strategic point to watch from, if more pirates were to appear. Slade emphasized his point about Shado, though Oliver ignored him. When finally the two reached the top of a mountain, they discovered that the pirates had come from a large ship just off the coast of Lian Yu. They soon spotted a number of missiles coming from the ship, clearly aimed for their compound. Oliver and Slade raced back to the plane, however as soon as they approached, they were both knocked out by the explosion of missiles. Oliver quickly saw Slade some distance off with his hands and face on fire, then fainted.

Oliver woke up sometime later, imprisoned in a cell, surrounded by several other people. As he awoke, Oliver was approached by the surviving pirate that interrogated Shado. The man asked him who his friends were and whether any of them knew the location of the graves. Refusing to answer, the man gave him two options: he could give him answers, or he could be tortured, though both would ultimately end in death. Oliver obstinately refuses to reveal anything, and the man shot him in the stomach. Oliver was soon given tools and medicinal tools to remove the bullet. Oliver was prompted to ask a nearby prisoner, later revealed as Anatoly Knyazev, as to why the incident occurred. He explained that it was to see if he was strong enough to survive, and showed a scar from the identical injury. Oliver eventually removed the bullet, to immense pain, and the pirate soon came back to find Oliver surviving. "The Captain" asked him again if he knew of the location of the Japanese bodies and although Oliver didn't say a word, the Captain inferred that they were in fact on the correct island. Later, the crew brought Oliver out of his cell, being told that his days of screaming had just begun. He was thrown in to a room, followed through the opposite door by a woman. Oliver sees that, much to his shock, the woman is Sara Lance, somehow having also survived their shipwreck.

Oliver, surprised to see Sara alive, tried talking to her, but she quickly kicked him in the stomach, claiming that "prisoners don't speak." A man entered the room, introducing himself as Ivo, and asked for Oliver's name in return. Sara signaled to Oliver not to give his real name, so Oliver began to lie, firstly stating that his name was Tommy and secondly that he was the only survivor of a shipwreck that occurred near the island. When Ivo asked if he had come by a Japanese submarine while exploring the island, Oliver informed him that he hadn't. Ivo then revealed that during World War II, the Japanese created a serum called "Mirakuru" that increased the physical strength and allowed rapid cell regeneration in humans. He explained that the serum was transported via a submarine that came under heavy fire, running aground somewhere in the chain of islands containing Lian Yu, and it was finally thanks to Oliver that they knew it was Lian Yu itself. Oliver angrily told Ivo that he'd killed Oliver's friends, and Ivo replied, telling him that due to his friends being dead, it was up to Oliver to help Ivo find the sub. Later, Sara came to visit Oliver in his cell, advising him not to reveal their knowing each other, otherwise they would both be killed. Oliver wished to warn his friends, believing them to still be alive, so later that night, Sara unlocked Oliver's cell, telling him to follow her. As he left, the prisoner he previously talked to asked him to not forget about them, followed by Oliver promising that he would return. Sara brought him to a room with a radio transmitter inside it and showed him that she could operate it. Oliver called for his friends and Shado answered, but before he could reveal his location, Sara disconnected the radio. Ivo and the Captain entered the room, with Ivo revealing that Oliver has confirmed that his friends were alive, and thus still a threat, for which they would be killed. The Captain believed Oliver to be of no more use and pointed a gun towards his head. However, Sara interjected, stating that Oliver could still be useful. Ivo agreed, telling Oliver that he would be going back to the island and calling him by name, revealing that Sara had seemingly been manipulating him the whole time. Oliver was soon take back to the island and led to the plane wreck, where the Captain laid charges to blow up the compound. However, Shado was successfully able to diffuse the detonator in time, initially unbeknownst to them. As they reached the grave site of the Japanese soldiers, Ivo questioned Oliver about the hōzen he had previously found at the site. Oliver didn't reply, causing Ivo to get angry and send him outside to be tortured. As the Captain was about to torture him, Shado and Slade appeared to save Oliver, shooting one of the men and grabbing Sara and Oliver before running away from Ivo and his men. Once they were a good distance away from Ivo, they stopped and Oliver mentioned the hōzen, which Shado kept as a pendant because it reminded her of her father. They realized that the etchings on one side of the hōzen were coordinates to the shipwrecked submarine, where the Mirakuru serum was being kept. When Sara explained that the serum could save the human race, Oliver asked her whether it could Slade, who was slowly dying due to his collective injuries from the previous missile explosions.

Presumably agreeing that the serum could save Slade, the four of them began to trek through the island towards the inscribed coordinates. During their journey, Shado questioned Oliver on how he knew Sara and he admitted that she was Laurel's sister. Dismayed at his response, Shado began to distance herself from him. They eventually found the submarine and entered it, leaving a weakened Slade near the entrance to find the serum. When they did, Sara revealed that they needed to give Slade a sedative before injecting him with the serum, but another scan of the area revealed that there were no sedatives in the sub. Oliver made the decision to use the serum on Slade anyway, and before he was injected, Slade revealed that he had been in love with Shado the whole time she and Oliver were together. That said, Oliver gave him the serum, and he, Shado and Sara were horrified when it only seemed to kill him faster. Before they could begin to mourn Slade, Ivo and his men arrived, taking the three of them captive. Once they collected the serum, Ivo had his men take them back up to the island, where Sara played on Ivo's affection for her to cajole him into letting Oliver and Shado go.

But while Ivo admitted that he cared about her, he forced Oliver at gunpoint to choose who he wanted to live more, Sara or Shado. Given thirty seconds, Oliver tried to get Ivo to leave them alone but was forced to kneel behind Sara when Ivo moved to shoot her. Taking this as Oliver's decision, Ivo shoots Shado, causing Oliver to be overcome with shock and guilt. Slade suddenly appeared, attacking everyone standing. Ivo ran off, leaving his men to die, and when Slade discovered Shado's body and asked why she died, Sara lied because of Oliver and said that Ivo shot her without reason.

Oliver, Slade and Sara later buried Shado next to Yao Fei and Robert Queen. During her funeral, Oliver stated his hope that she was with her father. Slade gave Oliver Shado's green hood, and initially he did not want it, but kept it after being reminded by Slade of their relationship prior to her death. Later as they were walking, Oliver was close to telling Slade the true reason why Shado was killed, when Sara approached him, advising him not to, as Slade still had Mirakuru in him, and they had no idea as to the effects of it. They asked Slade where they were headed and he responded that they were heading back to the plane, in order to get geared up before they killed Ivo and his men. Before Oliver could stop him from continuing his plan of killing Ivo, Slade lifted Oliver a foot off the ground, choking him. Sara promptly hit Slade with a branch, making him let go of Oliver and causing him to realize what he'd done. Oliver simply assumed that that the Mirakuru was messing with his head. Later that night, Ivo contacted them through a radio, telling them they had ten days to deliver the Mirakuru to him, in turn giving them safe passage off of the island. They turned to consult with Slade, only to realize that he had disappeared. After a number of heart to heart conversations, Oliver and Sara made their way to the cave that they’d found the Japanese soldiers in. Slade was nowhere to be found, though Oliver spotted some calculations on a wall. He recognized them, telling Sara how he'd seen identical calculations on Edward Fyers’ missile launcher, and Oliver could therefore deduce that Slade was going to destroy the Amazo with the missiles. The two rushed to the missile launchers as quick as they could and found Slade inputting the calculations. Oliver attempted to stop Slade, however he threatened to shoot him if he got in the way. Before he could, Oliver admitted that Shado had indeed loved Slade, perhaps not romantically but indeed platonically, and would have wanted him to return home. Knowing this, Slade decided not to fire, so as to not let Shado die in vain, and Oliver reassured him that he would help his friend along the difficult road. Once Slade had got his senses back, the three of them surveyed the freighter and brainstormed ideas on how to board it. As they were talking they heard a plane. When it came in to sight they began to make noise to signal it, though it was quickly shot down with a missile. They ran to find it and discovered its dying pilot. Sara suggested Oliver get medical supplies from their compound and so he and Slade went back to retrieve some, but they returned too late to save the man. In the midst of this, however, Oliver noticed a bagged parachute, remarking how it could get them on to the freighter. For some time, Oliver trained around the forest, improving his archery and various strengths, progressively getting much better as time went by. Slade commended Oliver on his skills, though Oliver reminded him that trees were nothing compared to live enemies. He later discussed plans to attack the ship, while Sara concocted some cocculus indicus, to counteract sodium pentathol, which Sara assumed Ivo would use on Oliver. Outside, Oliver suggested destroying the Mirakuru, to which Slade overheard and agreed. While burning it, Sara explained that Oliver had to be the one to kill Ivo, not Slade, so there were no repercussions. Later that night, Slade produced some alcohol for the three of them, one of the few things that survived the plane's crash, and they drank to respective things. Oliver asked for Sara to reassure his mother of his moral changes, should he have died the following day, and she agreed. Slade suggested they get some rest and Oliver soon went to sleep. Through the night, Oliver had nightmares.

He woke up to Sara and Slade ready to go and donned Shado's old hood. They trekked to a hill on the shoreline and Oliver prepared to shoot a flaming arrow at a bonfire they’d built. He initially failed the first time but hit it point blank the second. Slade remarked that they were leaving the island as brothers (in contrast to them meeting as strangers) and Oliver bid him farewell. Down on the shore, two of Ivo's men spotted Oliver. He began to run along the beach, only to trip over a tree root and be captured by the men. On the ship, Oliver was placed back into a cell. He began talking to a man who introduced himself as Thomas Flynn. Not long after, Ivo summoned Oliver to his room. Refusing to answer Ivo's questions, Oliver was injected with sodium pentathol or truth serum. Seemingly dazed, Oliver began to answer Ivo's questions and apparently reveal their entire plan. He was taken back to his cell, but along the way he knocked the guards out and took their keys. Oliver rendezvoused with Sara and Slade outside and was given his bow and arrows. They let the prisoners go and Oliver made his way to Ivo. Aiming an arrow at him, Oliver blamed Ivo for Shado's death. Ivo tried to explain how it was, in fact, Oliver's fault. When Oliver finally admitted his feelings of guilt, he threatened to kill Ivo, however, Ivo alerted him to Slade's presence in the room, and he turned to face a horrified Slade. Oliver finally admitted to Shado's death being his fault and Slade began to fight him, letting Ivo escape. Before Slade could choke him to death, there was an explosion that sent Slade flying. Oliver took the chance to run, jumping off the side of the ship just after Anatoly, Thomas and Sara, only to be grabbed by the ankle by Slade. Slade then put him in a cell, announcing that he was the new captain of the Amazo, after killing the previous one. Later Slade ordered Oliver to be brought out. He gave Ivo a gun, asking him to kill Oliver just as he had killed Shado. When he did not do it straight away, Slade sliced his arm off. Ivo was taken away, and Slade claimed that he would not let Oliver die until he had known complete despair, as Slade had, reassuring and promising him that it would eventually come.

While in custody, Slade had Oliver severely tortured by the ship's crew, zapping him with electricity before finally branding him with the same tattoo that Shado had. Later as part of an exchange deal between Slade and Sara, Oliver was returned to the island with Ivo in exchange for Hendrick, a former cellmate of Oliver's. Oliver intervened when Slade aimed his gun at Sara, and Slade predicted that they would spend the rest of their life on the island, before leaving. As he left, he threatened that once he had the ship moving, he would go to make Oliver's family suffer.

A little while after, Oliver was being attended to by Sara for his heavily damaged eye, after being punched by Slade. Anatoly attempted to torture Anthony Ivo, only to be stopped before he could. Ivo proceeded to tell Oliver that there was, in fact, a cure to the Mirakuru, a possible way to stop Slade. Ivo offered to help them find it if they could provide him with a quick death due to the gangrene travelling in his system due to his arm stump. They agreed to the deal and after being told where the cure was, Oliver shot Ivo, rather than Sara doing it. Anatoly, Peter (another former prisoner), Sara and Oliver all returned to the Japanese submarine.

Oliver suggested to Anatoly that he pilot the submarine, having been in the Russian Navy, and he reluctantly agreed. When they tried, they were unable to get away. Oliver suggested they blast their way out, so Anatoly retrieved blueprints for the ship's torpedoes. However, it became apparent that the torpedoes could only be directed by someone in there with them, therefore whoever directed it would die. Peter was quick to volunteer, pointing out that he had inevitably fatal radiation poisoning, and it was a generally heroic action as he would be saving a number of lives. Anatoly soon directed Peter as to what would be happening while Oliver instructed Sara to wait outside for his call. Oliver came to talk with Peter before he prepared himself, and Peter remarked that he believed Oliver would be particularly compassionate one day. The two shook hands and Peter got into the torpedo hole. After Sara was clear, they fired the torpedo. As it directed back and hit the submarine, the two were knocked off their feet. Oliver was able to stand back up, moving the submarine around. Successful, Oliver proceeded to notify Sara, only for her to desperately shout his name through the radio. Oliver went above the submarine to find Sara and returned with her walkie talkie, concluding that Slade's men had taken her. Anatoly mentioned that he'd seen the Amazo moving, so Oliver suggested that they fire a torpedo right at it. He decided that he'd swim across if they could get close enough. This confused Anatoly who asked what the torpedo was for. Oliver requested that he fire it at the Amazo if he and Sara were not back within an hour, much to the shock of Anatoly.

When they got close, Oliver and Anatoly said farewell to each other, the latter remarking that the former had made a lifelong friend, warranting any favors happily given. They hugged, Anatoly promising he'd teach Oliver Russian, and Oliver hurried up the ladder and out towards the Amazo. He sneaked aboard and opened Sara's cell. He made her leave without him, explaining his plan to cure Slade's Mirakuru, though she refused and they both made their way to Ivo's quarters. Before Oliver could go for the Mirakuru cure, they were ambushed by Slade who revealed that he had the cure. Slade took Oliver and Sara to watch him inject numerous prisoners with Mirakuru, though it had clearly failed on several already. Oliver tried to reason with Slade, stating how Shado would have wanted them both to survive and return home. Before Slade could shoot Oliver, Anatoly fired the torpedo at the Amazo. The ship began to flood and Oliver grabbed an arrow, killing Slade's men where he could. Before Slade could grab the Mirakuru, Oliver was able to, however, he was able to grab Sara. Slade threw Sara down the hole in the ship, seemingly killing her again.

The two started to fight and soon Slade was able to lift up Oliver by choking him. Oliver took off Slade's mask, but Slade simply knocked him down. As Oliver stood up, they started to run at each other, but they were knocked off balance and large bits of debris fell on to Slade, trapping him. Being given a choice between curing or killing, Oliver decided to kill Slade by stabbing an arrow through his eye. A further explosion knocked Oliver over. A day or two later, Oliver awoke in a bed. Two men in suits ordered him to follow them, and once outside Oliver was greeted by Amanda Waller, who revealed that he was in Hong Kong.

Working for A.R.G.U.S.
Over the next five months, Oliver made a large number of attempts to contact friends and family, but he was finally stopped by Maseo Yamashiro after trying to email his mother, informing her of his survival. He was taken to Waller, who threatened to kill him if he escaped, though Oliver didn't care. Considering this, Maseo was given custody of Oliver, threatening to kill his entire family if Oliver did not comply. Shortly after, Oliver was tasked to execute a target, to which Oliver was shocked to see his best friend, Tommy Merlyn, through his scope. Oliver quickly learned that Tommy was in Hong Kong due to an account alert going off when Oliver logged into his email account. Maseo told Oliver that Tommy needed to be "off the board" as Waller couldn't risk Tommy flashing his picture all over the place. Oliver would suggest to Maseo that they could find a Tommy Merlyn look-a-like at a local morgue but Maseo reasoned that it would be easier winning the lottery and paying Waller off.

Oliver decided to kidnap his best friend, telling Tommy that he hacked Oliver's account hoping his mother or sister would come to Hong Kong in search for him. He told Tommy that he was more than happy that Tommy came, as he's the son of the CEO of Merlyn Global Group. He threatened that Tommy pay a ransom or he would join Oliver, before Maseo intervened as a police officer and "rescued" him. Days later, Oliver was tasked to kill a "terrorist" which Oliver believed didn't look like one. Maseo told Oliver that those were the best terrorists and ordered Oliver to proceed to kill him. Oliver proceeded to kill the man in the open though and due to the crowd, it went unnoticed, as Oliver retrieved a USB which Waller required to be acquired. At Maseo's home, Oliver questioned what it was needed for, though Maseo refused to answer. While Maseo was busy, Oliver convinced Akio to lend the laptop, to which Oliver plugged in the USB and learned the man he was sent to kill was Edward Fyers' handler. Oliver requested a meeting with Waller as he realized she was the true perpetrator behind the attempted shooting of the Ferris air jet. Oliver learned from Waller that the true reason why she wanted the plane shot down was to eliminate Chien Na Wei, as it was their only opportunity. Sometime later Oliver and Maseo waited in a street for an hour (after having also circled the block five times). Maseo updated Oliver as to who their target was, telling him that he only needed to get information and not kill him. They spotted the man and Oliver attempted to inconspicuously follow him. However, the man was able to knock him down as he ran off. Oliver began to run after him, stopped by various roadblocks he had caused. As he rounded a corner, the man was struck down by a car. Maseo caught up, trying to find the envelope they were looking for on his person, though he concluded that it had been stashed on the way. He reasoned that Oliver mightn't consciously remember, but likely still saw him stash it. They headed back to Maseo's apartment, where Akio helped Oliver to concentrate with a game. The game was interrupted by Tatsu, who offered her help upon encouragement from her husband.

She sat opposite him, lighting a candle, instructing him to close his eyes and breath deeply, trying to recall the memory. From this exercise, Oliver remembered what he needed to. At the dead drop, they found the envelope, inside a random photo. Initially confused, Maseo explained that it was concealing a hidden message. They examined the image with a computer and came across the message, "Contact Li Khuan Hui". Oliver thanked Tatsu, who simply asked for him to leave their lives as soon as possible.

Days later, Oliver was attempting to learn Cantonese as Tatsu angrily brought him his washing, and he claimed to not know how to do it. Maseo began to leave, explaining that he had a contact at the docks but a "gaijin" like Oliver would stick out, so he couldn't accompany him. However, after he didn't return 9 hours later (claiming he'd only be 1), Oliver and Tatsu decided to go searching down at the docks. They headed to the docks, where Tatsu explained that Maseo had called him a foreigner (gaijin in Japanese). Oliver decided to go and ask some men if they'd seen Maseo, though they began to beat him up. Tatsu intervened, killing them all with a katana. She questioned a man with the katana at his neck and he claimed to have heard of three A.R.G.U.S. men being killed by the Triad. Heading back to the apartment, Tatsu worried about having to tell Akio what had happened. As they entered they happened upon Maseo playing with Akio. Tatsu ran to embrace him and he had explained how they'd been in lockdown due to the A.R.G.U.S. deaths. Oliver watched on as the entire family embraced, and soon went to do his laundry. Following that, Oliver was taken by Waller to a warehouse, where she introduced a tied up Katsu Chang, who had planted a bomb somewhere in Hong Kong. Waller revealed that they'd salvaged Oliver's old bow and arrow from the Amazo's wreckage, and she asked Oliver to torture out the location of the explosive device.

He pointed the bow and arrow at Chang, though he suggested correctly that Oliver wasn't keen on actually torturing a man. In wasting this time, a massive explosion occurred in the city, which Oliver witnessed. Angered, Waller lectured Oliver, reasoning that extreme people could only be dealt with using extreme measures, therefore he should have just shot an arrow instead of waiting. Allowing him to make an attempt at redemption, Waller brought him Li Khuan Hui, asking him to torture him for details on Chien Na Wei's agenda in Hong Kong. Waller left, allowing Oliver to get ready his bow. Oliver returned to Maseo's apartment after his torture of Li Khuan Hui. He was handed food but claimed to have no appetite. He revealed what he'd learned from his torture, that a biotechnology company had created a super-virus, Omega when initially attempting to create a super-antibiotic, and that one vial could wipe out an entire city. Following that, the two men headed to the initial company, BTHK Biotech. Maseo headed off to watch the security footage. Unable to find any vials of it, Oliver told Maseo, who checked recent footage, finding a scientist from the inside who'd stolen it for Chien Na Wei. They found the man, who claimed to have absolutely no knowledge of what they were talking about. Getting no answers, Oliver threatened him with a bow and arrow. After much torture, they were confused as to how he would not confess. Maseo finally suggested that he was perhaps under the influence of a hypnotic drug called Vitura. They decided that as they had Chien's "inside man," their biggest problem could have been her finding them. They returned to Maseo's apartment, finding blood on some paper and Akio, claiming that the "white-haired woman" had taken Tatsu.

Oliver and Maseo took their concerns to Waller who told them of the second half other the virus, Alpha, and ordered Oliver and Maseo to retrieve it, and was noticeably unconcerned with Tatsu's disappearance. On the rooftop of the nearby building, Maseo compromised the glass and Oliver attempted to grapple by arrow into the building. However, he got stuck and almost fell to his death, before eventually getting in. Once in, he, Maseo and other agents engaged the Triad but Oliver used this chance to discreetly plant a tracker on one of them and let him get away. Oliver later explained his reasoning to Maseo, wishing to have the man lead him to Maseo's wife. Maseo expressed his gratitude and told him he would forever be in his debt. The Yamashiro's decided to go to Shanghai, to escape from China White. As Oliver made his attempts to call home, Amanda's men capture him and tortured him to uncover Maseo's location. Later on, Maseo is captured and revealed that being captured was his plan all along, and him going to Shanghai was a lie. The two are then knocked out cold. They later wake up in a car where Amanda revealed China White has fled Hong Kong. Oliver was then shocked to find himself back home in Starling City, where they had tracked Chien Na Wei.

Oliver was briefed, learning that an executive was in town, Peter Khang, a man who worked for Queen Consolidated. Oliver recognized Khang because he'd been over at the Queen's household for Christmas. Waller gave Oliver strict orders not to make any contact with family or friends, or she would kill them off. Oliver began to keep a watchful eye over Thea from a distance, learning Thea had begun a drug addiction, much to his dismay. That night, Oliver snuck into his family's company, hacking into Peter Khang's computer. Oliver then found files from his father that were intended for him and his sister. As he was uploading the files to the computer, Felicity Smoak walked in, though Oliver managed to hide in time. While Maseo and Waller were tracking down the location of the OMEGA auction, Oliver snuck off to Tommy's party. After watching Jordan Kern selling drugs to his sister once again, he approached him, threatening him to stay away from Thea. When Jordan noticed his identity, Oliver shoved him and told him to stay away once again. Jordan pulled a knife, though Oliver snapped his neck and threw him off the balcony. Maseo then found Oliver and told him they found the location of the auction. Oliver told Maseo he needs to return home and fix what's broken since he left. Maseo reminded Oliver that thousands could die if they don't stop the auction but Oliver told Maseo he doesn't care for those people. Oliver returned home, though no one was there. Oliver used a tablet to view the file sent to him. He listened to his father's message to him, a similar one that his father gave him before he committed suicide. Motivating, him, Oliver came to assist Maseo in stopping the auction. The following day, Oliver thanked Waller for the ride home, though to his disappointment, General Matthew Shrieve required him to be debriefed back in Hong Kong. After Oliver explained several times what happened, Matthew released Oliver, Maseo and his family from A.R.G.U.S and let them go anywhere in the world. As Oliver, Maseo and his family walked to the boat, an engineer walked by and began shooting at Oliver, Maseo and his family. Oliver, confused, ran to cover along with Maseo and his family. Maseo debunked that Waller didn't like General Matthew's decision, and it would be better if she had them killed. While running to the boat, Maseo told Oliver to take Akio and run, while Maseo protected his wife.

Oliver requested her help as she hid them in her house. Oliver lied that his name was Tommy, and he knew Shado in medical school. However, his lies were revealed as Mei saw Oliver's dragon tattoo on his back, the same tattoo Shado had. Before Oliver is given the chance to explain, Waller's men began shooting. The men stormed in, but Masao and Tatsu arrived in time to take down the remaining men. Oliver then revealed Shado and Yao Fei's fate to Mei, and she thanked him for telling her the truth. Still, on the run from A.R.G.U.S., Maseo had them all stay at a run-down residence with an acquaintance, Li Ling who was in debt to them. While Waller's men were looking for them all over Hong Kong, Maseo told Oliver they'd be found even if they'd left the city. Oliver decided to "find Waller first." He infiltrated the main field office with Maseo's pass-card to the main office. He was then cornered by a man who was shot from behind by an injured Waller. She informed Oliver that she'd been usurped, and had been kept hostage there for weeks. She dropped her gun, allowing herself to be held at gunpoint by Oliver. She then told Oliver it was General Shrieve who targeted them for death, not her, and that he planned to distribute and unleash the Alpha-Omega bioweapon all over Hong Kong as he believed China to be an economic threat and pin it on the Triad. He also learned from her his men developed a vaccine so he and his men don't die along with all of Hong Kong. She warned him to run, to get as far away from Hong Kong as he can. He later returned to the Yamashiros and conversed with them. Maseo warned them Shrieve had Waller's resources and his contacts said he had men all over Hong Kong. Oliver proposed they steal some of the vaccines. They broke into a supposed army base and successfully found the vaccine and manage to make it out. Oliver also stole a phone which was revealed to have plans for how the virus was going to be distributed.

After the three of them and Akio were all inoculated, Oliver decided he would stop the virus from spreading. He told Maseo and Tatsu to take Akio and get out of Hong Kong. Tatsu replied that she and Maseo would help him. Oliver protested, but she replied that he needs to learn to let people help him. Oliver, Maseo, and Tatsu later located General Shrieve and his men. They looked on as the Alpha and Omega components were mixed and the virus armed. Oliver also noted a food cart was at the scene, thinking they were having dinner. They followed a truck supposedly carrying the virus leaving the area in a car Oliver "borrowed." Down the road, they were spotted and a gunfight ensued. Oliver and Tatsu managed to commandeer the truck and searched it but the virus wasn't there. Tatsu interrogated a soldier for the virus' actual whereabouts. He replied the virus was actually in the food cart seen earlier. They tracked down the cart and another firefight ensued. While Maseo and Tatsu dispatched the rest of the soldiers, Oliver managed to snatch the vial containing the bioweapon but he was engaged in combat with the soldier handing the phial out, and in the struggle, the phial fell through the air and shattered over the ground and the bioweapon was released. Very little time later, multiple civilians were already immediately infected, dying and a public announcement was made. Oliver was guilt-ridden as he'd had the phial in his hand, but Maseo told him it wasn't his fault, it was that of General Shrieve. After Tatsu says she couldn't get through to Li Ling who was watching Akio, they decided to regroup and head back. In the later morning, they came across an Army truck that was supposedly handing out a cure for the supposed chemical attack, but the three of them figured out what was actually being handed out was the virus.

Oliver walked up to the van, firing off his gun, scaring off the crowd, the three of them dispatched the soldiers and Oliver angrily stated "all of it" destroyed. Setting off a bomb, the truck imploded supposedly destroying all of the bioweapon. However, unbeknownst to Oliver, Maseo had secretly stole a sample intending to use it on Shrieve for revenge. They immediately ran back to Li Ling's apartment, and gathered Akio but Li Ling was found dead from the virus. Oliver told them both that the chaos will give them cover from general Shrieve, so they decided to leave Hong Kong. After hotwiring a car, they began to set off, unfortunately, Akio was bleeding from his mouth and was feverish - he'd been infected. Later on in the day, Oliver and the Yamashiros had arrived at a pharmacy to find something to help Akio. Maseo had surmised that Akio's immune system wasn't strong enough for the vaccine due to his young age. Out of desperation, he surmised that maybe Shrieve and his men had made a cure, but he had to try. Oliver decided to come along with him.

Oliver managed to locate a "rogue Army base" and the both of them stormed through the base, killing their way through to General Shrieve. Maseo shot him in the shoulder. Shrieve relented pointing to a safe, but the cure had to be administered subcutaneously. Oliver roughed Shrieve saying he was coming with them to administer it. With Shrieve held hostage, they made their way back to the pharmacy. Unfortunately, Akio was already dead. Shrieve revealed he had played them revealing "the cure" was insulin for his diabetes. His intention was to learn their location and he'd had soldiers following them all along and laser sights were immediately pointed at them.[27] Oliver, out of rage, attacked Shrieve catching him off guard, pummeling him to a pulp, while Maseo shot the incoming soldiers. Oliver subdued Shrieve burrowing an arrow in his leg. Three days later, the bioweapon had been contained. Akio's body had been burned with his ashes held in three metal containers. In revenge, Oliver returned to the pharmacy where he was holding Shrieve and, using his arrows and all the tools he got his hands on, tortured Shrieve for hours until the general was unconscious. Maseo and Tatsu came back and Tatsu was horrified by what Shrieve had done but Oliver simply stated that he'd "failed this city" and Maseo shot Shrieve dead. Oliver looked on and listened as Maseo left Tatsu.

Oliver met with Tatsu at the port. He told her he wasn't going back to Starling City, because of his torture of Shrieve and he didn't want that darkness around his sister and mother, and said that he "needs to be alone". Oliver gave Tatsu a hug, wished her well and boarded a ship for Coast City.

Returning to Lian Yu
Oliver spent some time as a hooded vigilante, targeting corrupted businessmen at random. At one night, while pursuing an armed man who was responsible for the death of 5 people, 4 of them children, Oliver ran into Amanda Waller. She said Oliver needed to embrace the killer instinct he used to torture Shrieve.

Waller then drugged Oliver and forced him back on Lian Yu to infiltrate a drug lord's cartel. Shortly after landing, Oliver was found by one of the men but easily killed him. He then dirtied his clothes and threw the man's body over a landmine to make it look like he had been stranded the entire three years he was missing and that the man accidentally stepped on a landmine.

He easily infiltrated their ranks due to the dead man leaving a vacant position for Oliver to take.[28] He was later forced to torture a slave to psychologically torture the other prisoners who had stolen the drug. After a woman called Taiana Venediktov took the blame of the stealing, Oliver was tasked to execute her. Instead, he took her elsewhere to hide her somewhere safe but was accompanied by one other man. This forced Oliver to trick him into stepping onto a landmine, gradually gaining Taiana's trust. After showing to Conklin he "killed" Taiana, Conklin found out Oliver's communication device and started accusing him as a spy.

When they returned to Baron Reiter, he was interrogating a man called John Constantine about the maps he had. Before anyone could do anything, John made a spell to escape from handcuffs and took Oliver to show him the spot on the maps. After he took John there, John sought and performed a spell to uncover the hidden passageway, much to Oliver's shock. Once inside, they explored the cave where John explained that there are areas of the world as old as it including Lian Yu, possessing things corrupt men aren't supposed to have such as Reiter. John eventually found what he sought and retrieved it but set off a trap which Oliver saves him from being killed by, insisting he's not one of Reiter's men. After exiting the cave John thanked Oliver for saving his life and broke off the crystal off the rod to give to Reiter, as the rod itself is what contains the magic. John also warned Oliver about Reiter, insisting his narcotics aren't his only interest for being on the island. As insurance John also used the rod to transfer a spell on his arm onto Oliver's torso, insisted he'd know what to do when the time came and on Oliver's request, John punched him out cold as part of his "escape" and left on his boat, but the two would keep in contact.

After Oliver took Reiter and Conklin to the cave, where he and John found the Orb of Horus, Reiter tasked Oliver to find out the spot the runes told him about with some workers. Conklin went with him and tasked Taiana's brother Vlad to drown Oliver. Oliver managed to kill him before that and he went back to Reiter with Conklin. Baron Reiter managed to find out the truth from Conklin and after they went away, Oliver stole a map him. He then punished Conklin by whipping him and went to Taiana with the maps and news about her brother. He encouraged Taiana to help him stop Reiter, by first going to Amazo, to find maps that covered the whole Lian Yu. He fought with a shark after diving to get the maps, but after coming back to land, Conklin appeared, promising to enjoy taking pieces out of him. Conklin then took Oliver and Taiana to Reiter, and let Conklin to whip Oliver as a payback.

Before Conklin could kill Oliver, his tattoo's started to glow near Orb of Horus and Reiter made Conklin to stop. Oliver made a deal with Reiter, as long as Taiana would stay alive, he would cooperate. Conklin took them to an old Chinese cell where they kept the prisoners and there Taiana started to heal Oliver from his fever and wounds. Oliver hallucinates of Shado after being tortured

Oliver hallucinates of Shado due to the torture and the fever. Reiter would then torture Oliver to find out why he needed the maps from Amazo. Oliver passed out from the torture and the fever and hallucinated that Shado would kill Reiter, his men and save him. Shado encouraged Oliver to let go of his inner darkness and tell the truth about Vlad to Taiana. After waking up from the fever, Oliver told the truth about Vlad to Taiana and noticed he had the artifact in his hand from the hallucination. Taiana took the artifact from him and tried to use it as leverage to get out from the cell. Reiter took the artifact from her and forced her to take care of Oliver.

She did that and they started talking about the losses in their life. Taiana told him that he could be the man his father wishes, by saving the workers from Reiter, but couldn't do that as lost, shattered man. Oliver promised her that he would save the workers. Baron Reiter later informed Oliver and Taiana that the stone was the last piece to his puzzle and they will dig at daybreak as the Heaven he seeks is below them.

Oliver conspired with the Slam cultivators to kill Conklin in order to prove that he was there to save them and take out Reiter. After Conklin was left alone watching over Oliver when Reiter departed from his office, he noticed Oliver attempting to stab him through his reflection in the mirror and engaged in a fight, vowing to kill Taiana after he is done with Oliver. During the fight, Oliver stabbed Conklin in the chest as he warned Oliver that Reiter was going to kill everyone on the island before dying. The following day a passage is discovered that leads to Reiter's desired "ultimate power" but a primordial energy takes the form of the deceased Conklin, standing in front of the cave entrance and spoke in tongues that everyone was going to die. After Reiter left Taiana and Oliver alone in the room the force, noticing the spell on Oliver's torso, deemed him worthy to pass before disappearing. In the depths of the cave, Oliver, Taiana, Reiter and two of his mercenaries, finally succeed in finding the Khushu Idol, a mystical object that allows the user to tap in to the power of dark magic harnessing him enhanced physical attributes and psychic abilities by killing others. Oliver steals it and runs off into the tunnels with Taiana followed by Reiter's mercenaries, which they managed to incapacitate acquiring their guns. However, the path they took lead nowhere so they had to return to the cave where they came from. Reiter waited them there and due to the Idol, he was empowered by the deaths of his mercenaries and managed to defeat Oliver when he tried to fight him.

His powers soon vanished and Oliver took the opportunity to knock him out and rushed to Taiana who was unconscious. While Oliver checked on Taiana, Reiter managed to disappear meanwhile with the idol. Taiana started to have second thoughts to kill Reiter's men while looking and old picture of her and Vlad. Oliver encouraged her again, telling that he used to watch picture of Laurel to remember who he once was, but stopped since he wouldn't survive on Lian Yu and neither would Taiana by being the person they once were. Coming back to the prison side, Taiana tricked Reiter's men to the caves where Oliver shot them and distracted the remaining ones while Taiana free the prisoners. They armed themselves to kill all Reiter's mercenaries and trapped Reiter in the caves. While having a brief break, Oliver showed Laurel's picture to Taiana, and they both promised to each other that if one of them wouldn't survive, the other would go to his/her loved ones and tell what happened on the island.

While coming back to the surface, the island had changed to a warzone between the armed prisoners and Reiter's men. Oliver took his communication gear that Conklin had taken and more weapons to fight Reiter. He told the others to go to the plane while leaving himself to fight Reiter. A few hours later, Reiter came to the surface empowered by the idol even more and while Oliver tried helplessly to fight him, Reiter's powers made him too powerful while Oliver's efforts being too "mortal". With the help of Taiana, Oliver managed to keep Reiter down by shooting constantly with an assault rifle, while Taiana took the idol with her. They ran to the forest but after wandering in the forest for few hours, the idol started to affect Taiana, giving her powers while also corrupting her. Continuing their journey, two of Reiter's men found them and shot Oliver and Taiana. While Oliver was pushed back, Taiana was unfazed and mercenaries death made her even more powerful and corrupt. Oliver tried to talk her out of using the Idol too much, but Taiana didn't listen to him. They found some prisoners fighting mercenaries and after taking them out, Taiana wanted to kill a harmed prisoner, since it would make her more powerful. Oliver tried again to talk some sense to her, but she didn't listen and threw Oliver away. He then took the idol from her, claiming that she would have to kill him if she wanted it back. However Reiter appeared, claiming to kill them both.

While they started to fight, Reiter destroyed the plane that the prisoners had used to escape the island, empowering him and Taiana even more. However, Taiana managed to suck Reiter's life-force and make him vulnerable. Oliver then threw a knife to his back, killing Reiter. Taiana managed to take control of herself and pledged Oliver to kill her before she kills everyone on the island and becomes worse than Reiter; Oliver fulfills her wish and the prisoners saw him, claiming he is a killer. Oliver however, manages to talk them down and calls on Amanda Waller and A.R.G.U.S. to save them.

After they had come, Amanda says how the mission was never to make Oliver reject his inner darkness but to put him through it and show how sometimes killing can be the only option there is. She tries to recruit Oliver for different missions across the globe but he rejects, saying he has to keep his promise to Taiana.

Hunting Konstantin Kovar
Due to the promise he made to Taiana, Oliver traveled to Russia to try and find Konstantin Kovar. He fought in an underground fight club connected to Kovar, where he ended up killing the local Bratva champion. In retaliation, the Bratva kidnapped him and tried to kill him. Before he could get shot, Oliver was saved by Anatoly Knyazev. When Oliver confessed his plans to him, Anatoly told him that the only way to get Kovar was getting the help from Bratva. That meant that Oliver had to become a member, going through a very dangerous process. Oliver accepted and passed the three steps of the initiation, becoming a member of Solntsevskaya Bratva. After being accepted by the Bratva bosses in Krasnoyarsk, Oliver became a full-time member, nicknamed "Kapot".

Viktor, another high-ranking member of the Bratva still disliked Oliver, considering him an outsider and tried to have him killed at the following party at Cafe Lyublyu by goading the American into a trap, a staged rape attempt by his two thugs. Oliver was saved by Christopher Chance AKA Human Target, who was hired by Anatoly on the belief that Oliver was still in danger. After an attack from Kovar, Oliver was send by the godfather of the Bratva on an undercover mission to destroy one of his casinos. Oliver was discover and Kovar men's tortured him for an entire week. Oliver did not break, forcing Kovar admiration. He invited him at his table, revealing that Taiana's mother was one of his employees. Oliver tried to escape by taking Kovar hostage but he was too weak to do so and end up challenging him into a fight in front of his men. Oliver was incapable of keeping up with the fight and Kovar beat him violently.

Just as the fight finished, Bratva men appear, revealing that they made a deal with Kovar while Oliver was prisoner. Kovar use this to taunt Oliver about the nature of truth and loyalty, mocking his naivety about the Bratva and their business.

Outraged, Oliver told Bratva Pakhan Ishmael Gregor that his deal with Kovar betrayed the organization, the latter responding that his decisions were law and offered him a choice between swearing loyalty to him or dying. Oliver refused, but before Gregor could kill him, Talia al Ghul intervened, saving Oliver's life.

She took and had him recover at her place, before she offered to help Oliver take down Kovar by targeting Misha Yurievich, who happened to be Kovar's primary revenue. Oliver accepted Talia's help and they raided and killed Yurievich and his men. Upon returning to their hideout, Talia reminded Oliver that his father has left him a list of "all the Kovar" of his city and that he had to set a mission for himself to make them pay, telling him that he had to come to terms with the monster inside him, as she presented him with a green hood and suit, along with a bow.

Later, Talia helped Oliver to track down and kill Hideo Yamane, an individual on his father's list and one of the main drug lords of Starling City, while he was in Russia for his business. After this, she encouraged him to talk to Anatoly in order to leave Bratva and go back to his city to begin his mission; however, after Oliver discovered that Pakhan Gregor had Anatoly severely beaten just because he disagreed on his deal with Kovar, he proposed to his friend a plot to kill the Pakhan. However, before the two could decide their moves, Gregor and his men attacked them in the hospital where Anatoly had recovered. As they were about to be killed, Anatoly invoked the "spros dopros", a Bratva trial in which the Pakhan is asked to answer for his deeds. Before the process, Oliver broke into Kovar's home finding evidence of Gregor's corruption, therefore the majority of the Bratva captains decided to vote for Anatoly as the new Pakhan; then Gregor's men opened fire on them starting a mutiny.

After the shootout most of the captains are killed and Gregor escaped with some of his men intending to promote new captains loyal to him; however Oliver, dressed in his green suit, and Anatoly, attacked Gregor during the meeting with his loyal Bratva members. After a confrontation on a hockey rink, Oliver managed to stop Gregor, badly injuring him. Before passing, Gregor reveal to Anatoly that Kovar was planning a coup to overthrow the Russian government. As the Hood, Oliver attack a shipment containing sarin gas destined to Kovar and torture one of his men to gain information. He learned that Kovar was planning to use the gas in his casino to kill government officials and military. He attacked the casino with the help of the Bratva, freeing them after they got betrayed by Viktor and preventing the gas from leaking. Oliver gets his Bratva captain tattoo

He confronted Kovar in a single fight, seemingly killing him. As a reward Anatoly granted him with the title of Bratva captain, and the black sun tattoo. Oliver then asked Anatoly if he could get transportation back to Lian Yu, as it was the one alibi that could explain why he had been gone so long. Anatoly asked him to reconsider, wanting him to become a full-time Bratva member. After Oliver refused the request, Anatoly asked him to visit a hospital with him. They saw many sick children and Anatoly revealed that he wanted to steal medicine from a warehouse to help the kids and have their faith in the Bratva. This heist would also act as a goodbye celebration for the both of them. After stealing and distributing the medication, Anatoly once again tried to persuade Oliver to stay. Again, he kindly rejected the offer. Anatoly relented, wondering what he would become without Oliver at his side.

Oliver and Anatoly returned to Lian Yu together to enact Oliver's plan to be found there. Upon the shore, he found Slade Wilson's mask and impaled it with an arrow, believing that it was a sign. He then bring Anatoly to the graves of all the people he buried on the island, explaining why he has to complete his mission, once he will return home. Before leaving, Anatoly tells him that he bribe some fishermen to come to the island in 48h to rescue him and made it look like it was just a coincidence that they found him. He also gave him a fake beard and wig from one of his KGB's friend to further complete his story as a castaway. Just after Oliver set up his bonfire, he was taken down by Kovar and his men, telling him that he is going to miss his boat home.

Oliver was brought to Reiter's old prison. When he woke up, he asked Kovar how he survived, and Kovar simply replied that nothing really dies. Kovar then injected Oliver with an interrogation drug right where his Bratva tattoo was. Oliver then told Kovar that after he will kill him, he'll make sure he's dead. However, Kovar told him that later he will want to kill himself. Kover then said that pain is not a new experience for Oliver, and when Oliver asked him to stop wasting his time, Kovar touched Oliver's scars, and Oliver suddenly had flashbacks of the time he got them: after Yao Fei shot him 5 years prior, when he was tortured by Billy Wintergreen in 2007 and when he was whipped by Conklin. Oliver was then brought to a cell, and Kovar told him that the drug makes him remember the times he did something wrong. As Kover talked, Oliver had flashbacks of him killing Taiana, of Ivo killing Shado, and of him torturing General Shrieve. Kovar then gave him a gun with only 1 bullet, and presented him with a choice: to kill himself or to kill Kovar. Oliver didn't shoot Kovar, so he left to give him the choice.

Oliver then started to hallucinate Yao Fei, who told him that he deserve to die. Oliver realized that Yao Fei is not really there, and pointed the gun on him. He then said "shengcun", referring to the first time they've met; as Oliver apologized for him about what happened to Shado, Yao Fei said that it won't bring her back, such as it won't bring back Taiana, Akio, Sara, or any other person he lost for the past 5 years back; however, Yao Fei told Oliver that he can save them by sacrifice himself like he did. Oliver then pointed the gun on his head, but as he was about to shoot himself, he experienced a hallucination of Laurel. She urged him to stop as his friends and family love him and need him at home. Laurel begged Oliver to come home, because if he didn't, then his father and her sister's deaths would be for nothing. Laurel then disappeared, and Oliver used the gun and shot the lock of the cell, opening the door and walking out.[31] However, Oliver is chased by several of Kovar's men, but he outwits and kills them all before encountering a wounded Kovar. They both brawl it out, with Kovar saying that he didn't need to kill Oliver, but to rather prevent him from catching the boat. Luckily, Oliver is able to gain the upper hand and snap Kovar's neck.

With the 48 hours done, Oliver ran to grab his gear and wig. He arrived at the shore, and shot an arrow at the bonfire, igniting it on fire and alerting the duo of nearby Chinese fishermen, who then rescued him.

The fishermen also gave Oliver a phone, which he used to contact his mother Moira and assure her that he was alive and coming back home in a brief tearful reunion.

At his return to Starling City, Oliver vowed to either extort or kill everyone on The List who was poisoning his home in a crusade to right his father's wrongs.

Crusade begins
Upon arriving home, Oliver was given several medical exams at Starling General, where Dr. Neil Lamb revealed to his mother that he had multiple scars, burns, and bone fractures which never properly healed. Oliver returned home with his mother to the Queen Mansion, where he reunited with his sister, Thea, and met his new step-father, Walter Steele. While struggling with signs of post-traumatic stress and reintegrating into his home, Oliver spent time with his family and best friend, Tommy.

The next day, Oliver paid a visit to Laurel, now a lawyer prosecuting Adam Hunt, at CNRI, to apologize for cheating on her and his role in Sara's death. Laurel did not care for his apology, as she was still angry over his betrayal. Just then, Oliver and Tommy were taken hostage by three men wearing red skull masks, who killed a bystander in the process. The men used a taser to interrogate Oliver, demanding to know whether his father survived the accident or told him anything. However, Oliver managed to break his zip ties and killed two of the kidnappers to save himself and Tommy. When one of the skull-masked men tried to escape, Oliver pursued him through rooftops before disarming him. The man tried to plead for his life, but Oliver pointed out he killed a civilian. He snapped the man's neck, declaring that "nobody can know my secret".

Oliver later claimed to the police, including a very hostile Detective Quentin Lance, that "a man in a green hood" saved him and Tommy. With Oliver's kidnapping accelerating his plans, he quickly began his crusade as a vigilante, but Moira's concern for her son's safety after the incident led her to hire John Diggle as his bodyguard. Oliver had to continually ditch Diggle to proceed with his vigilantism. Oliver set up his lair in the abandoned Queen Industrial Inc. factory in The Glades, where he trained and forged his arrows. His first target was Adam Hunt for stealing many people's homes and life savings. Oliver ambushed Hunt and demanded that he transfer $40 million into Starling bank account 1141, but Hunt refused to comply.

Using Tommy's welcome back party for him as a cover, Oliver waited for the deadline to confront Hunt. He was upset upon seeing Thea buying drugs at his party and secretly threw away her stash. Oliver then ran into Laurel again and lied about how the island did not change him, claiming he was still a careless playboy and she was wrong to try and see the good in him. Oliver then stormed Hunt Multinational, using a grappling arrow to break into the executive floor, where he took out Hunt's security team. Upon cornering Hunt, Oliver was confronted by Constantine Drakon, who he managed to kill after some struggle, though was knocked out. Oliver managed to escape and return to the party just as the Starling City Police Department arrived.

Using a trick arrow with a transmitter he left at Hunt Multinational, Oliver untraceably withdrew $40 million from the company's bank account and anonymously returned it to those it was stolen it from. He then crossed Adam Hunt's name, the first of many, off The List. The next night, Oliver kept watch over Laurel, only to learn she'd moved on with Tommy.[3]

A week later, Oliver had his death in absentia revoked at the courthouse. He targeted another notable individual on The List, Martin Somers, whom Laurel was also prosecuting on behalf of a client whose father, Victor Nocenti, had been murdered on Somers' orders. Wanting to help Laurel and her client, Oliver broke into Starling Port and threatened Sommers into testifying at the trial and confess to having Victor killed.

The next day, Oliver rebuffed Moira and Walter's request that he take a position at Queen Consolidated. That night, at Thea's urging, he visited Laurel at her apartment, apologizing for his earlier behavior and trying to reconnect. Suddenly, they were attacked by the Chinese Triad, sent by Somers to kill Laurel. Diggle, who was guarding Oliver at the time, barged inside and shot one of the assassins. Diggle then battled and was almost killed by Chien Na Wei, but Oliver saved him by throwing a knife to disarm the assassin. Oliver's intervention was the first hint Diggle had that his client was much more capable than he let on. Oliver, as the Hood, then attacked Somers at the Starling City Docks as retribution for the hit on Laurel. Oliver pursued Somers, killing his men and taping his confession of Victor's murder. After a battle with Chien, Oliver encountered Lance, but managed to escape. He left behind Somers' confession, allowing Lance to arrest him.

After crossing Somers' name off the List, Oliver made a "drunken" scene at the groundbreaking of the Robert Queen Applied Sciences Center, voicing his belief of never wanting to be like his father. Oliver then visited and spoke to Robert's grave on the mansion grounds. Believing he couldn't uphold his father's name and honor his wishes at the same time, Oliver regretfully admitted he would need to dishonor Robert's memory for the sake of his crusade.

Sometime after this, Oliver targeted James Holder and confronted him over selling defective smoke detectors. Suddenly, Holder was killed by a sniper, who wounded Oliver with a poisonous bullet. Oliver managed to heal his injury using herbs from Lian Yu. After analyzing the bullet, Oliver discovered it was laced with curare, a modus operandi belonging to an assassin known to Interpol as "Deadshot". After retrieving a bullet from the crime scene, Oliver discovered Deadshot was once hired by the Solntsevskaya Bratva. Using his rank as a Bratva captain, Oliver tracked down Alexi Leonov, whom he asked to find the identity of the sniper.

Meanwhile, to provide an alibi for his vigilantism, Oliver planned to turn the top floor of Queen Industrial Inc. into a nightclub. While at Poison with Tommy, he got into an altercation with Max Fuller's men, who held a grudge against Oliver for sleeping with his wife, until Laurel came to his and Tommy's aid. Later that night, from the Bratva's intel, Oliver learned that Deadshot's real name was Floyd Lawton. He tracked Lawton down to Papp Motel but after a brief shootout, the sniper escaped. Oliver managed to recover a laptop ridden with bullets.

The next day, he took the laptop to Queen Consolidated's I.T. department and was directed to Felicity Smoak. Oliver asked her to salvage information from the laptop, with a poor excuse. Amused, she agreed. With the information Felicity pulled up, Oliver discovered that Lawton was employed by Warren Patel to attack an auction for Unidac Industries and kill the other bidders, including Walter. Realizing he couldn't protect the bidders by himself, Oliver approached Lance, passing on the information about Deadshot's incoming attack and leaving the laptop behind as evidence.

At the auction in the Exchange Building, Oliver kept an eye on his family while the SCPD arrested Patel and searched for Lawton. He was shocked to see Thea at the auction and tried to persuade her to leave with their mother and Diggle. Suddenly, Lawton attacked the event and tried killing the occupants. Oliver retrieved his suit from the stairwell and personally dealt with the assassin. He eventually shot an arrow in Lawton's right eye, almost completely blinding and seemingly killing him. Just then, Oliver discovered that Diggle, who was following him, got shot with a curare-laced bullet. He immediately brought Diggle to his lair to heal him with the Lian Yu herbs. Once Diggle woke up, Oliver revealed himself to be The Hood.

Oliver asked Diggle to join his crusade to protect the city as "a fellow soldier", only for Diggle to furiously decline. That night, Oliver had trouble sleeping due to experiencing nightmares about missing Laurel whilst on the island. The next morning, he learned Diggle had resigned and was replaced with Rob Scott, whom Oliver immediately ditched via motorcycle.

After hearing of the Peter Declan case, Oliver grew suspicious upon realizing the man's wife worked for Jason Brodeur, who was on The List. As The Hood, he approached Laurel and asked her to help him clear Peter's name, ultimately convincing her by emphasizing how an innocent man's life was at stake.

The next night, Oliver met with Diggle at Big Belly Burger to try and convince him to reconsider his offer. He told Diggle the truth of his father's sacrifice and explained his goal to right his family's wrongs. Revealing how he took down Floyd Lawton, who murdered Diggle's brother, Andy, Oliver stated he wanted to help those who were harmed by the injustice and corruption in Starling City.

Oliver then met with Laurel, who revealed Peter's wife's supervisor lied in the case. After interrogating the man, Oliver obtained a file of incriminating evidence against Brodeur, to which Laurel thanked him, much to his joy. When Peter wasn't freed due to insufficient evidence, Oliver decided to go to Brodeur directly and get a confession. Upon confronting him, Oliver discovered Brodeur was arranging for a prison riot at Iron Heights in an effort to silence Laurel and Peter. Sneaking into the prison after stealing a guard's uniform, Oliver rescued the two and managed to prove that Brodeur framed Peter for his wife's murder. However, he became despondent at how The Hood's methods alienated Laurel.

The next day, Diggle arrived at the mansion to see Oliver, agreeing to be his partner. Just then, Oliver was arrested by Detective Lance and the SCPD under suspicion of being The Hood.

Oliver was taken into custody at the SCPD precinct. After being processed, he was questioned by Lance. Lance brought up the footage of Oliver retrieving The Hood's costume during the shooting at the Unidac auction, to which Oliver claimed he ran into the stairwell to take cover and stumbled upon the costume by chance. When Moira and Walter arrived, Oliver asked for Laurel as his attorney, reasoning she knew knew him the best and would be able to get her father to drop the charges.

Later at Oliver's hearing, he was prepared to represent himself and pleaded not guilty. However, Laurel interrupted to file herself as Oliver's defense, much to his elation. Laurel managed to get Oliver posted on bail but fitted with a GPS ankle monitoring device under house arrest, perturbing him. Oliver was nonetheless glad Laurel had his back, trying to joke how it would be "like old times". Laurel retorted that Oliver could not be The Hood since it wasn't like him to help others, silencing him.

Later, in attempt to prove his innocence, Oliver suggested taking a polygraph in front of Lance. Oliver managed to beat the polygraph, but admitted to being tortured and that he got Sara killed. Oliver then discovered Leo Mueller had infiltrated Starling City with plans to sell rifles he stole to gangs, effectively turning The Glades into a war zone. Knowing that the police would eventually make a connection to him being the Vigilante, Oliver revealed his plan to have Diggle disguised as The Hood and attack the weapons sale to "prove" his innocence. As a cover, Oliver threw a prison-themed party at the mansion while under house arrest. During the event, this Oliver shared an intimate moment with Laurel as he revealed his scars to her. The two shared a kiss before Laurel left in shame, saddening Oliver. Oliver had Diggle, disguised as The Hood, attack the initial sale, "proving" Oliver's innocence. Oliver then attacked the sale himself and killed Mueller shortly after.

Sometime after that, Oliver targeted Justin Claybourne, an individual on The List whose company acquired the rights to and raised the price of Dycloseral, a Tuberculosis-curing drug. After his initial warning, Oliver learned of Claybourne's ties to AK Desmond Group, who deliberately caused a Tuberculosis outbreak in Lamb Valley, and decided to kill Claybourne. Diggle tried to warn Oliver that his actions might have consequences, but he didn't listen. Oliver asked Felicity to find AK Desmond Group's location, claiming that he wanted to surprise a friend of his who worked there. Felicity discovered the headquarters to be at 1852 West Maple, 30th floor. Oliver went there as The Hood and took down many men before killing Claybourne.

A while after this, the Royal Flush Gang robbed Starling Trust Bank and shot an off-duty police officer, Stan Washington. Diggle attempted to persuade Oliver to branch out from The List by taking down the Royal Flush Gang, barely succeeding in doing so when he brought Oliver to Starling General, showing him the comatose Stan. Oliver then agreed to take down the Royal Flush Gang. After gathering the needed information to track them, Oliver quickly identified the Royal Flush Gang as a family, not a gang. Further research by Felicity revealed they were one of the many families who lost their homes because of Robert selling Queen Industrial Inc., where the patriarch, Derek Reston, worked. Oliver offered Derek another job at Queen Consolidated, but was ultimately turned down. Oliver then decided to take down the Royal Flush Gang as they attempted to rob Redwood United Bank, resulting in a security guard fatally shooting Derek. Oliver revealed his identity to Derek before he died. Diggle assured a despondent Oliver that Robert would be proud of him for trying to give the Reston family a second chance. Afterwards, Oliver took his mother out to dinner at Big Belly burger to reconnect.

A short while after, Oliver saw Moira get shot by a motorcyclist and attempted to track the biker, but failed. Oliver then visited Frank Bertinelli on behalf of Moira for a business deal, who sent his daughter, Helena, to have dinner with Oliver at Russo's to solidify the deal. Oliver and Helena ended up connecting over their pasts. Afterwards, a gang extorting Russo's attacked the owners, but Oliver intervened. He ran into the biker who shot Moira, only to discover it was Helena. Afterwards, they were captured by Frank's right-hand man, Nick Salvati, who had Helena's fiancé, Michael Staton, murdered because he believed the latter was feeding evidence against the Bertinelli crime family to the F.B.I., but it was actually Helena. Oliver and Helena killed all the gang members there to keep their secret identities safe. After a talk with Thea, Oliver visited Helena at her apartment, where she revealed she knew Oliver is The Hood. They then slept together.[33] Oliver then tried to help Helena focus her abilities for justice instead of vengeance. Helena seemed to be making progress, but Oliver's still apparent feelings for Laurel drove her over the edge. Helena then tried to kill her father, but Oliver stopped her. After Frank shot Helena, Oliver brought her to his base and patched up her wound. Frank was arrested while Helena left the city.

With Christmas approaching, Oliver planned a Christmas part for his family, who have not celebrated the holiday since his and Robert's apparent deaths. However, his holiday plans were interrupted when a copycat archer appeared, killing all of Oliver's old victims. After realizing he couldn't track the new archer without evidence in the police's ownership, Oliver sent an untraceable, encrypted phone to Lance, which masked his voice. Lance complied and gave Oliver an arrow from the new archer. Oliver asked Felicity to find out the arrow's details, but it was a dead end.

The new archer eventually kidnapped hostages and threatened to kill them if The Hood didn't meet him. Oliver eventually arrived and freed the hostages. He battled the archer, but was nearly killed in the confrontation. Oliver barely escaped by knocking the archer out. Diggle brought Oliver to the hospital, with the official story being he had a motorcycle accident.

Six weeks later, a fireman was killed on the line of duty, although it was debatable whether he died from the fire or was actually killed. Laurel passed this information to The Hood. Diggle then tracked the car the killer was using and Oliver infiltrated a burning building to safeguard one of the firemen. The killer, a rouge fireman named Garfield Lynns, managed to escape Oliver. He then attempted to killed a fireman in Verdant, where Oliver was hosting a firefighter fundraiser. Lynns then appeared but Oliver prevented him from doing anymore killings. Lynns then committed suicide by stepping into a fire.

Oliver then targeted someone on the list who is not a wealthy individual, Ted Gaynor, who had a history with Diggle in the military, who Oliver suspected of being part of a heist. Oliver then interrogated Gaynor, only for Diggle to intervene, resulting in a heated argument between them. Diggle eventually discovered Gaynor was in fact, corrupt, like everyone else they've faced on The List, once saved him and Carly from Gaynor's men.

Afterwards, Thea was arrested for driving under the influence of a drug called Vertigo. With help from an old friend, Detective McKenna Hall, Oliver learned Vertigo's manufacturer was Cecil Adams, known as "The Count". Pretending he wanted to give his club partygoers some Vertigo to make them more excited, Oliver asked the Bratva to arrange a meeting with Cecil. However, the police failed to capture Cecil during the meet and Oliver was drugged with a dose of Vertigo. He brought a sample of the drug to Felicity and she discovered where it was manufactured. Diggle was reluctant to let Oliver go since he was still suffering the effects of the drug. Oliver, defiant, chose to go after Cecil without the bow and in a fit of rage, overdosed him. Oliver also went to great lengths to get Thea's DUI charges dropped and eventually succeeded with Laurel's help, allowing Thea to do community service while on probation.

Oliver then targeted career criminal Cyrus Vanch, who was heavily guarded at his manor after being persuaded by Laurel to. Oliver, as The Hood, contacted Laurel to give her a piece of information. However, Quentin bugged the phone he had given her and attempted to set a trap for The Hood, but failed. Afterwards, Quentin contacted The Hood because Laurel had been kidnapped by Vanch. Oliver agreed to help him retrieve Laurel, succeeding in doing so. Afterwards, Diggle found evidence Moira was involved in Walter's disappearance and possibly something else as well. Oliver then interrogated his mother as The Hood.

Moira however, unknowingly preyed on Oliver's sympathy by bringing up her children, creating an opening for her to shoot him. Oliver managed to drag himself away into Felicity's car. He then asked her to drive him to the Queen Steel Factory where he can be treated. Oliver awakened the following day, and Felicity became an official member of the team.

Shortly after this, a thief known as The Dodger appeared in Starling City, catching the attention of Oliver and his team. They decided to use a Queen family brooch as bait to draw him out. However The Dodger, using his MO, rigged Felicity with a bomb collar and forced her to steal the jewel for him. Oliver then confronted The Dodger after a motorcycle chase and severed his medium nerve to prevent him from activating the bomb to decapitate Felicity. During this period, Oliver also began a relationship with McKenna.

Around Tommy's 28th birthday, Oliver caught word the Chinese Triad were targeting someone, eventually discovering it to be Malcolm Merlyn. Once the attack began, Oliver infiltrated the event honoring Malcolm as a humanitarian, but was too late as Floyd Lawton poisoned Malcolm with two bullets, knocking him out. Oliver, as the Hood tried to convince Tommy to do a blood transfusion to dilute Lawton's poison to buy him time to get to the hospital. However, Tommy refused to listen, forcing Oliver to show his identity to Tommy to gain his trust. At the hospital, Tommy wondered if his friend ever planned to tell him the truth, to which Oliver admitted he didn't.

Afterwards, Helena returned to Starling City, having discovered that her father made a bargain with F.B.I. to testify against the East Coast family in exchange for witness protection, granting him a new identity and allowing him to disappear. Refusing to let that happen, Helena blackmailed Oliver into helping her find Frank by threatening Tommy. Oliver reluctantly agreed. They attacked the vans, one carrying Frank and one a decoy. However, both were decoys and Helena was arrested. Oliver then freed Helena from the SCPD precinct and offered her the opportunity to start a new life elsewhere. However, Helena refused and again went after her father by threatening Felicity to find the location of his safehouse. Oliver rescued Felicity and angrily pursued Helena, allowing Frank to escape once again. During the battle, Helena shot McKenna in the femur after the latter arrived at the scene, leaving her temporarily paralyzed. McKenna subsequently had to move to Coast City to receive physical therapy and broke up with Oliver. Oliver then talked with Tommy, feeling he will never have a normal life as long as he's a vigilante.

Throwing himself into his vigilantism, Oliver targeted John Nickel, a real estate developer on The List who built poor-quality and dangerous homes in The Glades. However, Nickel was kidnapped by Joseph Falk, a wannabe vigilante, and executed while filmed on a video via a website called Glades Betrayed. The next day, Falk captured ADA Gavin Carnahan. Felicity failed to track them, resulting in Carnahan's death. Afterwards, Falk targeted Thea's boyfriend, Roy Harper, who didn't have the will to live and agreed to die. Diggle realized Falk was operating in the decommissioned Starling City Subway, allowing Felicity to find him. Oliver's intervention saved Roy's life, but he was forced to kill Falk in the process as the latter refused to be reasoned with. Oliver ended up saving Roy in more ways than one by giving him purpose. Following this experience, Oliver began to rethink his lifestyle choices in regards to keeping a distance from those around him; he assured Felicity she could always talk to him anytime she struggled with the weight of being a vigilante and began reaching out to Laurel.

Word spread that Cecil Adams had escaped from his psychiatric hospital, having feigned mental instability, and started selling Vertigo again. It was eventually revealed that Adams' doctor, Webb, faked his escape in order to use his blood to reproduce Vertigo to make some extra money. Webb incapacitated Oliver and discovered his identity. He attempted to kill Oliver with an overdose, an incident not many would raise an eyebrow in. However, Diggle intervened and saved Oliver, who killed Webb.[25] Afterwards, an assassin disguised as a lawyer named Mr. Blank killed a young couple on orders from Edward Rasmus, who was on The List. However, their son Taylor Moore escaped and was placed in Laurel's care until his grandparents could be reached. Mr. Blank eventually tracked Taylor to Laurel's apartment and attempted to kill them and Tommy. However, The Hood arrived just before Mr. Blank could kill Laurel, forcing him to flee. Tommy suggested they stay at Oliver's house, knowing his identity as The Hood, would be the best place to stay but lied saying they Queen Mansion is a heavily fortified place. Mr. Blank eventually infiltrated the mansion and was quickly killed by Oliver without his disguise, who gave the credit to a bodyguard Mr. Blank killed. Tommy also confronted Oliver, who realized he was still in love with Laurel. Oliver admitted this was true but due his vigilantism, it didn't matter what he felt.

Oliver decided to try to track down Walter once more by interrogating people. He eventually tracked the information to a corrupt casino, where Felicity volunteered as bait to get to the manager, who had information where Walter is. He said Walter was killed and Oliver passed this information to his mother. It was revealed he suspected Moira had a role in Walter's disappearance and tracked her to a meeting with Malcolm, where he eavesdropped with an arrow equipment and used Felicity to use phone records to track down Walter and free him and heard of the term "The Undertaking". Oliver and Laurel also confronted each other after Tommy ended his relationship with Laurel, while visiting Oliver in the hospital to check on Walter, Oliver reluctantly admitted to Laurel that he did still love her.

In order to figure out what the Undertaking is, Oliver had Diggle disguise himself as The Hood and "kidnap" him and Moira to question Moira for information. When Moira refused Diggle pretended to attack Oliver to get Moira to talk and learned they plan to use a man-made earthquake to level The Grades. Oliver and his team successfully infiltrated Merlyn Global Group to hijack the information of where the Markov device was located. While waiting on Felicity to find the location, Oliver realized to his that his father's mission was to stop the Undertaking and once he does that he is free. Knowing this Oliver went to Laurel's apartment were he admitted that she is more important to him than anyone eventually causing the two to passionately kiss as they began having sex. Unknown to them, Tommy witnessed the two together. Once, learning of the device's location, Oliver left Laurel's bed to confront Malcolm who then revealed himself as the Dark Archer who nearly killed him last Christmas, where the two fought, with Malcolm eventually knocking Oliver out and unmasking him.

Malcolm spared Oliver, deciding to hold him captive in exhange for Oliver saving his life a few months ago. However, Oliver eventually managed to escape thanks to Diggle's help. Oliver then confronted his mother, now knowing about the Undertaking and reluctantly confessed to his mother about his father's suicide. Laurel later arrived at the Queen Mansion, worried Oliver was getting scared of their relationship again Oliver then explained how that wasn't the case and told her that she always saw the best in him and the island brought out the person she always saw; as they kiss Oliver then asks her to stay out of the Glades tonight. Oliver and Diggle then attempt to stop Malcolm while Felicity aids Detective Lance in locating and disarming the Earthquake Device. As the three men fight, Malcolm injuries Diggle and Oliver and Malcolm fight once more. After putting Oliver in submissive hold, Oliver takes one of his arrows and impales himself with it to kill Malcolm. As Malcolm dies, it reveals that he had a second machine as a backup causing it to set off in order causing destruction to the Glades. Oliver races to save Laurel at CNRI, but finds Tommy who is pierced with a piece of metal. As the two friends reconcile, Tommy admits that he was jealous of Oliver for his dedication to saving people and asks if he killed his father, which Oliver lies about as Tommy dies. Leaving Oliver to tearfully blame himself believing he should have been the one to die instead.

While preparing for Tommy's funeral, Oliver stayed up all night writing a eulogy for his friend, but ultimately could not bring himself to say anything at the event. Oliver attended Tommy's funeral from afar and watched Laurel give his eulogy. After the funeral, a despondent Oliver visited Laurel at her apartment, confessing his failure in Tommy's death and wasting his second chance in saving the city. A week later, Oliver visited Laurel again and they reminisced about their happy memories growing up together with Tommy. Laurel suggested that she and Oliver could still save the city together, and they kissed. Ultimately overwhelmed by his guilt though, Oliver left to return to Lian Yu in a self-imposed exile. He left behind a letter for Laurel, along with the picture of herself she gave him before he boarded the Queen's Gambit. In the letter, Oliver explained he is leaving to take some time alone in order to cope with his grief, feeling he would only hold Laurel back in her desire to help raise the city back up.

Crusade 2.0
Oliver is seen to have left Starling City for some time and returned to Lian Yu. Tommy's death and Oliver's failure to prevent the city's total destruction left an impact on him. Diggle and Felicity travel to the island to find Oliver. After he saves Felicity from a landmine, they convince him to return. Oliver agrees, but refuses to become the Hood again. After Thea is kidnapped by a copycat group known as The Hoods, Oliver dons on his mask once more and rescues his sister before handing The Hoods over to the police.

Oliver resumes his vigilante crusade, but to honor Tommy's memory, will no longer kill. He also realizes that he no longer wants to be called "The Hood".

Oliver discovers through Roy that drugs that are distributed to the public hospitals Glades, are being stolen by the Chinese Triad, thus causing it to go into confrontation with China White, and her new partner Bronze Tiger. Amidst this, Oliver is attacked, by the people and Sebastian Blood, due to the involvement of his family in the earthquake provoked by Malcolm Merlyn. Thus making him a bountiful feast, to help people injured in the quake. Later Sebastian visits Oliver's office where Oliver offers to host a charity event for the Glades which Sebastian agrees to, but Oliver doesn't show as China White sighted which provokes Sebastian to publicly crucify him. After capturing China White and her accomplices, Oliver asks Roy to help him, and to be his informant in the Glades, and decides to convince Laurel that he is not a criminal, however ends up being trapped in the building of the prosecution due to a trap set by Laurel.[38] The Canary invades the building prevents Oliver from getting caught. Oliver then returns to the Arrow-cave where he confesses his wrong choice to talk to Laurel and tasks Felicity with finding the Canary. The criminal Barton Mathis aka The Dollmaker, kidnapping and killing, random women, escapes from prison, due to earthquake damage. This makes Quentin ask for help from The Hood, now named The Arrow. Oliver also asks Roy to track The Canary. The team tries using Felicity as bait to trap the Dollmaker but this is unsuccessful and the Dollmaker captures Laurel instead. The Arrow comes in and rescues Laurel. Then The Canary steps in to lend her help in the fight and despite The Arrow's protests she kills the Dollmaker and makes her escape.

Felicity gives Oliver the idea that The Canary may not be following The Arrow, but Laurel instead. He was able to catch her, only for him to be shocked that she not only knows his identity, but she was actually Sara Lance, Laurel's presumably dead sister. While shocked by this new information, he pursues an arms dealer called "The Mayor" who was getting his hands on military weapons. After he attacked a gun rally hosted by Oliver and Sebastian Blood, Felicity managed to find him and Oliver recruits Sara to help him. Meanwhile, he insists on telling Laurel about Sara, even though it would cost him his friendship with her and Laurel's recent drinking problem, but agrees to keep her secret.

Oliver and Sara are attacked by a man who was dressed like Malcolm Merlyn. Sara reveals to him that she used to be a member of the League of Assassins, something that clearly shakes Oliver. They confront the assassin Al-Owal, revealing himself to be Malcolm's trainer, only to see he wasn't alone as two more appeared, and being outmatched, The Arrow and The Canary retreated. After a threat against her family, Oliver kept a watch over Laurel until Felicity called, revealing the assassins were going after Quentin. The Arrow intervenes and while two were killed, Sara left a warning with the last one alive that her family was off limits.[41] After dealing with counterfeiters that Roy found, Oliver and Felicity offered to help Diggle rescue his friend, Lyla Michaels, from Russia, who was searching for Deadshot. However, it gets complicated when Isabel shows up and comes along, thinking that Oliver was taking the corporate jet for a weekend with Felicity. Oliver introduces Diggle to his old friend, Anatoly Knyazev, who reports Lyla is in prison, but he can get them into the prison thanks to a guard he paid off. After securing transport to get him out, he bonded with Isabel and they ended up sleeping together, something that hurt Felicity. Back home, she asks why he hooked up with Isabel, Oliver responds by saying that he shouldn't get involved with anyone he might actually care about, but Felicity he deserves better than her.

Oliver, Thea and Moira are present for her trial, only for Oliver to learn Diggle has been poisoned with Vertigo and see the same thing happen to the assistant District Attorney. After a televised broadcast by Cecil Adams, Oliver managed to save the ADA, but couldn't stop Adams himself. The next day, Moira revealed to both of them a serious threat to her defense; in a moment of weakness, she had an affair with Malcolm Merlyn. Back the trail, Oliver received a call from Cecil Adams, who had not only revealed his identity, but also had Felicity hostage. At his office, clad in his Arrow costume, Adams fires at Oliver, but he manages avoid all of the gunfire. However, Adams threatened Felicity with his injector, which got him co-operate at first, but when tries to kill her anyway, Oliver delivered three arrows to his chest, making him fall to his death and breaking Oliver's no killing rule. When Felicity thanked him and tried apologize, Oliver assured her that there was no other choice because he was going to hurt her.

Queen Consolidated is invaded by a mysterious figure. After a brief investigation police, Oliver stumbles upon arrival at the forensic expert Barry Allen, from Central City, and claims to be working with similar cases, and that the suspect theoretically possesses superhuman abilities. Oliver initially feel disturbed by the presence of Allen, due to its proximity to Felicity. After research results, Oliver goes behind the suspect, that this was in possession of a truck. During their confrontation, the opponent is proved, as having an enormous strength and endurance, and easily beats Oliver, whilst driving the moving vehicle. Oliver later revealed that during his stay on the island, he had faced enemies with such skills, however the serum that gave these powers, was destroyed. Oliver throws a party to celebrate the release of his mother, and also discovers that Barry is actually an assistant forensic scientist and that was not sent to Starling City by his superiors. After analyzing the blood of the criminal, Oliver is goes to a warehouse where the individual would commit a new theft. During the confrontation, Oliver is overcome and seriously injured.

Oliver ends up being saved by Barry, who was brought to him by Felicity, he initially disapproves of the decision of Felicity, by revealing his true identity. Oliver goes home and sees Roy after hearing from Moira that Thea wouldn't leave her room, seriously injured by the arrow which he shot earlier, he then pulls it out and tells Roy that Diggle will patch it up. He then proceeds to hallucinate with Shado, where she tells him that their attitudes as overseer, are unnecessary. Oliver asks Barry to analyze his blood and find out if the poison used to save him causes him to have hallucination. Through a digital of Oliver's neck, they discover that the enemy had nearly killed Oliver, is actually Cyrus Gold. Diggle then goes to Cyrus' house to search for him, stumbling across the poem about Solomon Grundy, and is attacked by Cyrus. After Diggle escaped from Gold, The Arrow went to Quentin and gives him the location of Gold, asking to kill him. Later, Oliver decides to practice with his bow, however he has hallucinations of Slade, one that calls him a coward, and begins a fight with Oliver, in which he breaks several things in the Arrow-cave. After that, Barry tells Oliver that hallucinations are purely psychological, and Diggle tells him that this is a message in which he should understand. After the unit Quentin is almost all killed by Cyrus, Oliver receives permission from Quentin to kill him without success. Oliver goes to the supposed location of Cyrus, and finds Brother Blood injecting a dose of Mirakuru into Roy who had been captured. Initially, Cyrus Gold was winning the fight, but a hallucination of Tommy helps Oliver regain his strength and motivation, and by violent blows he drops Cyrus, and the supply of Mirakuru explodes, seemingly killing him. Oliver manages to resuscitate Roy, who was almost dead due to Mirakuru.

The Arrow spends the next 5 weeks searching for Brother Blood by interrogating as many criminals in the Glades as he could, while during the day as Oliver he continues to support Sebastian in his campaign, unaware that his friend and his enemy were one in the same, but is forced to deal with the bomb threats of Shrapnel who blows up two buildings before targeting Sebastian's unity rally. Oliver also has a falling out with Felicity, who spent most of the 5 weeks visiting Barry as he was struck by lightning and was in a coma, but eventually came to make peace with her. The Arrow visited Sebastian later and tried to get him to call off the rally but the alderman refused and Arrow was forced to head to the rally to stop Shrapnel himself. He later met with Sebastian who offered an alliance to the Arrow believing that together they could save the city and the Arrow agreed.[46] The Arrow continues to hunt down thugs who may know of Brother Blood's whereabouts but has no luck again, but later learns from Laurel that Sebastian knew Cyrus Gold and she claims that he killed his parents. Wanting proof of Laurel's speculations he tasked Felicity to find any files possible which she did, but only a hardback copy which only an A.D.A like Laurel could access. Arrow then enlisted Laurel's help to retrieve it but found it empty as Oliver visited Sebastian himself to see if he could see any hint of Laurel's speculations from his personally to no avail. Oliver also visited Roy to keep a secret eye on his Mirakuru problem. Laurel was later arrested for drug use and Oliver attempts to talk to her about it at her apartment only to be knocked out by Brother Blood as Laurel was kidnapped. When waking up he noticed a text on the wall to come to the steel-mill. Arrow went to the steel-mill where he found Blood keeping Laurel hostage. He engaged Blood into hand-to-hand combat but ended up defeated and held at gunpoint. Laurel shot and killed Blood but when they took off the mask, they were surprised to see not Sebastian but Officer Daily, and Oliver later blamed himself for nearly believing him just because Laurel said so. He also learned from Thea that Roy hospitalized a man out of rage and approached him as Arrow to train him to use his abilities.

Arrow continued to train Roy in the same techniques Shado used on the island but this only enraged Roy, and Oliver told Diggle and Felicity about his story with Slade, and his Mirakuru incident and why it was so important that he not fail Roy. Later Ben Turner aka Bronze Tiger escaped prison and broke into Malcolm Merlyn's house for his prototype Earthquake machine, and at Roy's insistence agreed to take him along with. However once there Roy lost control on one guard while Arrow was stuck fighting Turner before he used the opportunity to escape with the machine. Later Roy lost control against Oliver and headed out to stop Turner himself. Oliver later got wind of where Turner was heading but was told by Thea on the phone that Laurel was losing it in Verdant. Oliver went to reason with her and learned that she had been disbarred from her job, and she starting flirting with him and Oliver patiently told Thea to call a cab for her, he also discreetly called Sara and told her that Laurel needed her. Later when Arrow found Turner and his employer Milo Armitage he was ambushed and stabbed by Turner from behind, but Roy arrived and attacked Turner while Armitage activated the machine forcing Oliver to reveal his identity to Roy to make him stop attacking Turner and help him destroy the machine. Oliver later introduced Roy to Felicity and Diggle in the lair.[47] Oliver was present when Walter and Mark Francis were discussing Moira's upcoming campaign, against Sebastian Blood but was called to the hospital after Laurel was admitted with Quentin and Dinah, and noticed Laurel's eyes were strangely discolored. Oliver later met up with Sara in the Arrow-cave and tried to convince her not to leave again, and received a call from Quentin telling him to put Sara on. Later Sara met up with Quentin but Oliver secretly tailed her, as the Arrow, and saw Nyssa al Ghul, the daughter of Ra's al Ghul, arrive and saw the two kissing and when he approached them Sara begged him to back off for Nyssa's sake. Later Oliver discovered that Laurel was actually poisoned by Nyssa to draw Sara back to bring Starling City, and to bring her back to the league. The Arrow and the Canary later tailed Nyssa and her lackey in a van and discovered that they had abducted Sara's mother. Later at Moira's campaign announcement Felicity told Oliver that Malcolm Merlyn was Thea's biological father. Later Sara agreed to rejoin Nyssa but took the snake poison assuming that Sara was going to kill Nyssa with it, but when the Arrow found her she had actually poisoned herself and the Arrow fought Nyssa and defeated her and saved Sara with special herbs from the island. Later, Oliver confronted Moira about keeping the secret of Merlyn being Thea's father from them and disowned her.

Oliver then went to train in the Arrowcave when Sara showed up, revealing Laurel's less than positive reaction to her being alive. Oliver admitted to Sara that his mother wasn't who he thought. After the two had a moment, Oliver and Sara passionately kissed each other before having sex. Oliver geld a welcome home party for Sara at the Queen Mansion and has to pretend that he was unaware of her survival as do the others. Oliver also calls Laurel to ask her to come but Quentin tells him that she isn't coming and confesses to Oliver that he was too harsh and out of line on Oliver last year and the two reconcile. Oliver also does his best to avoid Moira but Thea begins to notice the two not talking. Later the Arrow and the Canary meet with Quentin about a criminal who stole a device called a "skeleton key". The Arrow and the Canary following a lead on its location found a bank already robbed but their communications were interrupted by an unknown individual who told them that a bus was about to collide with a train, forcing the Arrow to stop the bus while the Canary went after the man in question and got his blood when she hit him, later discovering this to be William Tockman aka Clock King. The Arrow and the Canary followed another lead on Tockman's whereabouts but it was a diversion while Tockman hacked into the Arrow-cave's security and fried the computers.

As Felicity worked to repair it Oliver accompany Sara to a family dinner at Laurel's house, which was awkwardly broken up by Laurel after she figured out from looks that Oliver and Sara were together again and stormed off, but Oliver stopped her and directly confronted her on her issues but when she ignored him (finally having enough of her attitude) Oliver coldly criticizing and corrects Laurel on her actions, and he stated that he didn't love her anymore and went back inside. Later Oliver, Sara and John went after Felicity who decided to head out alone after Tockman and Oliver was faced with his guards while Sara and Felicity stopped Tockman. Later when Oliver and Sara were talking at the bar he got a text from Thea stating that there was an emergency at the house but it turns out it was a trick to get Oliver and Moira to talk. Before Oliver could leave Moira introduced him to Slade Wilson who was alive and well, much to Oliver's horror.

Slade continues to socialize with Oliver and Moira but secretly taunts Oliver about events from the island before Thea gives him a tour of their art collection. Oliver indirectly calls Felicity. Roy and Sara later show up at the house, forcing Slade to leave, but Oliver decides to escort him to his car as Diggle was meant to take a head-shot on Slade, but was apprehended. As they were walking, Oliver figured out that Cyrus Gold and Brother Blood worked for him and Slade vowed to fulfill his promise as he left.

Oliver begins to have nightmares of Shado dying and enlists Alexi Leonov's help to find Slade but he refuses unless he helps him with a favor. Oliver then beats his two guards and forces his co-operation. Felicity then tells Oliver about a robbery in progress which Arrow pursues but finds the robbers dead and on a nearby rooftop sees Slade's island mask mounted to a roof. Oliver eventually receives Alexi's tip but he tells him that they are finished, but Sara follows Oliver and tries to reason with him. After learning of his Shado nightmares Sara attempts to comfort him but he tells her to stay away from him. When Oliver, against Felicity's advise to bring Sara and Roy, arrives in Slade's office he sees Alexi dead and a video of Shado in her youth and returns to the cave to apologize to Sara and confesses his fear and the two make up. Oliver later visits and old friend: Amanda Waller and requests any information on Slade and Amanda tells him of a mercenary named "Deathstroke" who Oliver realizes is Slade. Oliver helps Sara with watching over Quentin as he starts a police raid against Hugo Mannheim. A gun fight starts and the Arrow helps with taking down Mannheim's henchmen. The Arrow sees Frank Bertinelli run away from the gun fight but he stops him by shooting an ensnarement arrow on his legs. Oliver then escapes when police reinforcements arrive. In the Arrowcave, Oliver explains why Helena wants her father dead. In a flashback, Oliver gets tortured by the Amazo's crew. Back in the present, Oliver and the team finds out that Helena has rented a car is heading to Starling City. Oliver asks Roy if he's ready to get back in field. Oliver tracks down the car and stands in front of it with his bow aimed at it. The driver turns out to be someone else and Oliver stops Roy from killing the driver by calling him "Speedy". Oliver interrogates the driver and finds out that Helena payed the driver to drive the car. Back in the cave, Oliver continues to investigate Helena and Sara nods to him as a sign to check how Roy is doing. Oliver expresses his concern about Roy's rage and asks him to stay away from Thea. Felicity shows Oliver the news about Laurel will lead the prosecution against Bertinelli. Oliver heads to the courthouse to meet Laurel. The Huntress arrives to kill her father and Oliver tries to talk her out of it. The Huntress had brought her henchmen and a gun fight starts between them and the police. Oliver pulls Laurel and Frank away from the gun fight. Oliver gets a phone call from officer Quentin to speak with the Arrow. Oliver calls Arrow-cave to bring him his costume and equipment. The Arrow tells the Canary to bring Laurel out of there but Laurel refuses. In a flashback, Oliver tells Sara to not comply to Slade's demands, which results in Oliver getting electrocuted. Back in the courthouse, The Huntress defeated Sara and throws her out of a window, Oliver manages to save her as Helena is about to shoot her. However Helena has captured Laurel and demands Oliver to bring her father. During the trade, several policemen starts shooting at the vigilantes. A policeman aimed at the Arrow but Quentin saved him by knocking the policeman out.

Oliver visits Helena at the police station and talks about how he failed Helena. During a flashback, Oliver has been tattooed on his back, the same tattoo that Shado had and Slade explains to him that this is how the Romans reminded the criminals of what they've done. At Verdant, Oliver meets Thea and she tells him about Roy cheating on her. Oliver also meets up with Sara there, he kisses her and compliments her on what she did back at the courthouse. Oliver continues to train Roy in the skills of archery to control his rage until Felicity tells him about a meeting with Isabel and the board which he needs to attend. Once there 30 minutes before the meeting Moira visits Oliver to confirm if he is indeed showing up to the debate between her and Sebastian Blood but he assures her that he will keep up public appearances as promised, and he coldly tells her ("I gotten pretty good at, pretending to be someone I'm not, i learned it from you"). Later at the debate he tries to get in touch with Thea who hasn't shown up and wishes Sebastian luck. However, during the debate a video tape of Thea being held captive is shown and Slade in his Deathstroke costume appears much to Oliver's horror. Oliver later meets with Isabel at the company and appoints her temporary CEO so he can focus more on finding Thea, and also yells at Police Lieutenant Frank Pike for not getting any further in the investigation. After Felicity finds Slade's whereabouts the Arrow, the Canary and Roy head out and sedate him until Officer Quentin arrests and questions him but Slade has his tracks covered and is released and Quentin is discriminated. Later Oliver and Moira reconcile over their recent disagreements in the wake of Thea's abduction and Oliver arrives in the Arrow-cave just in time to see Roy strangling Diggle and Sara with an arrow pointed at Roy's chest. Oliver was forced to break up the tension. Roy then declared that he is done and leaves the team.

To make matters worse, Felicity discovers that Isabel has taken control of the company after an emergency board meeting and becomes the 60% shareholder. Oliver confronts her about it in the office and Isabel reveals that she knows his secret and is working with Slade. When Oliver wonders why, she replies, "The sins of the father are the sins of the son" before attacking him. However Oliver overpowers Isabel and gets Thea's location out of her. Isabel warns Oliver to come alone or Thea dies. The Arrow then attacks the warehouse but doesn't find Thea and Felicity tells him that Thea just walked into the SCPD and when he arrives Diggle and Sara tell him that Slade hijacked an Iron Heights Prison transfer bus, meaning that Thea's abduction was a diversion. Oliver and Moira arrive and tearfully reunite with Thea, who reveals that Slade told her that Malcolm Merlyn is her father and storms off, their relationship now shattered. Later in the Arrowcave, Oliver begins to doubt himself for letting Isabel steal his company, Slade kidnap Thea and tell her about Malcolm, Quentin getting arrested, and failing Roy. However, Diggle and Felicity snap him out of it and Oliver declared that they are taking the fight to Slade.

On Felicity's advice, Oliver leads his team to Queen Consolidated's applied sciences division to blow it up to prevent Slade from replicating the Mirakuru. After witnessing Isabel's press conference on the matter the others were relived that they hurt Slade but Oliver knew he would press on through other means. Later Ned Foster met with Oliver and his mother to discus saving their family's wealth from Isabel's seizing of the company, and he also learned from Moira that Isabel was previously his father's lover much to his shock. Also that Thea needs to sign a document that protects their assets so Isabel cannot access the rest of their wealth. As Team Arrow arrived at the cave discussing Quentin's arrest and Roy's departure Deathstroke was waiting for them in the cave and attacked them, throwing Sara against a table, tossing Diggle into the glass container and engaging Oliver in a sword fight which Deathstroke easily won. Oliver and Sara were briefly hospitalized but soon discharged and Oliver went to Thea to talk her into helping him and Moira against Isabel but she refused, further learning that Deathstroke had stolen the Skeleton Key from their lair. Arrow and Canary, unaware they were being followed by Laurel whom Slade told about Oliver's secret, headed to Star Labs to stop Deathstroke stealing a bio-transfusor but arrived only in time to see Caitlin Snow and Cisco Ramon in panic telling the clerk of the thief. Later at Laurel's request the Arrow met with her and she began to show signs of being onto his identity. Oliver soon visited Isabel to get Slade's location and learned from her that Robert was aware of Malcolm being Thea's true father but still loved her anyway and attempted to tell Thea only to have Felicity call and inform him of the transfuser's location. When Arrow arrived he saw that it was not Slade rigged to it, but Roy. Slade and Isabel then arrived and Arrow engaged both of them and rescued Roy as John seemingly shot Isabel several times, taking Roy back to the Arrow-cave with a formula of Mirakuru. Oliver stated that they were going to make a cure with it and later against talked to Thea about Robert being aware of her true parentage but she didn't care. Laurel then showed up to hug him for being important to her, unaware she was now fully aware of his real identity.[52] Oliver and Sara spent some time together in a motel room where he asks if she wants to move in, but is interrupted by Felicity calling telling them Roy woke up but is now on a rampage. Arrow, the Canary and Diggle searched the city for Roy on his rampages throughout the city but only arrived to see the victims of his wrath. Oliver also assigned John to bodyguard Thea during this time, much to her annoyance, and learned that Sin had been attacked which sent Sara on the warpath. Later the Arrow and the Canary found Roy in Sara's hideout where he attacked them, broke Oliver's leg and killed a police officer and left the other critically injured. Arrow and Canary then went to Glades Memorial Hospital where a doctor, previously harassed by China White's medical thefts, helps him. Later Oliver, injured but on his feet, is informed by Mark that his mother is dropping out of the election against Sebastian. While discussing the matter of Roy, Oliver tries to convince Sara that they don't need to kill him but she doesn't see any way around it. He attempts to talk her out of it for Thea's sake and she reveals that she is aware of his identity as the Arrow, telling him that she is proud. Oliver witnessed Moira's rally speech and saw Thea give a brief speech to draw Roy in and Oliver injected himself with medicine to get back up and arrived in time to stop Canary from shooting Roy in the head. Oliver then had Roy put under with snake-venom keeping him down and Sara decided to leave disgusted with herself to wanted to kill Roy and Oliver and left with Moira and Thea where Thea said she knew Oliver was aware of Roy's problem, and Moira stated that she was going to make things right. However, as she was about to tell them something about Malcolm, their limo was rammed by a truck. When Oliver awoke he saw Moira and Thea tied up with Slade holding a gun, similar to Ivo holding Sara and Shado hostage on the island, and forced Oliver to choose one.

However, Moira volunteered and Slade stabbed her with his katana killing her and sending Oliver into a state of shock as Slade vowed one more person would die.[18] Oliver went missing and hid in his secret secondary lair for days, missing Moira's funeral, even when informed Isabel was alive. Diggle and Felicity searched hours, eventually needing Amanda Waller's help, and found him where he declared his plan to surrender to Slade. He visited Thea where Walter was unsuccessfully trying to convince her not to leave but Oliver encouraged it and called Isabel to tell her he's surrendering. Oliver waited at the pier but was hit by a drugged Flechette and woke up in the lair, with Laurel. Laurel and Oliver were finally able to make amends over losing Tommy as Laurel begged Ollie not to surrender telling her that Sebastian is in fact Brother Blood as she originally believed.

Oliver then met with Sebastian and revealed his identity to him in an attempt to convince him that Slade is merely using him, Sebastian not believing him. Later Arrow arrived at the location of Brother Blood's Mirakuru army as Diggle was attempted to set a bomb to blow them all but Arrow was distracted by a Mirakuru soldier attacking him as Laurel arrived to save him but were pursued by 7 more. Arrow decided to blow the roof to save themselves.[53] As the attack on Starling continued Arrow woke up he guided Laurel through using his bow and arrow to blow herself out of the debris. When they got clear Arrow, Felicity and Diggle were informed by a S.T.A.R. Labs courier that the cure Cisco and Caitlin produced is now on-route and they set out in the van to retrieve it, but also hear from the courier that his car has been flipped and he's trapped. Arrow wanted Laurel to come with them to keep her safe but she insisted she could make it back to her father on her own and insisted the city needed him more and he, reluctantly, agreed to let her go.[54] Along the way Arrow saw a soldier attacking a group of civilians and saved a young woman from being killed, unaware that this woman had just developed an unstable fixation on him.[55] On the way Arrow is called by Quentin who informs him the police have rallied behind him and he requests they hold off the soldiers until they retrieve the cure. Midway through the trip the van was attacked by Mirakuru soldiers forcing Arrow and Diggle, with Felicity knocked out, to head out on foot but arrived too late as the cure was stolen. Oliver and Felicity hide in Sara's hideout, as Diggle went to retrieve Roy, where he confessed to having failed the city and the people he wanted to avenge but Felicity stressed that he defeated Malcolm, The Triad, The Count, Clock King and so many others and he will beat Slade and hugged him. Oliver then received a call from Sebastian that he had the cure and will give it to him. Oliver and John arrived at his office where he confessed his childhood trauma of his abusive father and having nightmares even after his death, also confessing his mask was created as a means to combat his fears, and confessed he only ever wanted to help Starling and gave him the cure. However, when Sebastian told Oliver his intention to redeem himself by rebuilding the city Oliver scolded Sebastian for believing he would still be mayor and was un-phased by Sebastian's threat to expose his secret should Oliver expose his. Oliver brought the cure to the tower but saw on the TV, after Quentin told him, that there were army trucks surrounding the city which Oliver knew was Amanda Waller's. He call her to call off that attack but refused prompting Oliver to use the cure on Roy to test it.[54] The Mirakuru soldiers attacked the tower as Roy awoke but the 4 escaped through a cable just as Lyla arrived in time to destroy the tower and the soldiers within. The team arrived in the cave, finding it wrecked, and Oliver ordered John and Lyla to stop or distract Waller long enough for them to succeed.

As Felicity and Roy gathered injection arrows Sara returned with Nyssa and 6 assassin archers to assist Oliver against Slade. Before departing for Queen Consolidated Oliver presented Roy with his own mask, using Sebastian's remarks about crucibles to inspire him, and headed to the building where Arrow and Canary confronted Deathstroke and Ravager along with several soldiers. Nyssa and the league soon arrived with the other assassins and killed Isabel but Deathstroke escaped. Arrow, Canary, Felicity and Quentin then discussed Slade's army leaving the city and was informed that Laurel had been abducted. Arrow then secretly stressed his few options to defeat Slade to Felicity beside killing him, which she gave him the idea to make him over-think his plan. Oliver then took Felicity to his house to hide and pretended to confess to being in love with her, as a ruse to deceive Slade as Oliver had previously discovered his hidden cameras. Arrow then lead Canary, Nyssa, Roy, Quentin, several police officers and the League against the Mirakuru army and defeated them but Slade contacted Arrow and told him that he had taken Felicity also. Arrow confronted Slade at the steel-mill where he also had Laurel hostage, and like Sara and Shado, had planned on making Oliver choose who to save between Felicity, the woman he supposedly currently loved, and Laurel, the woman whom he had loved for half of his life. Oliver expressed his deepest hatred for allowing Shado to die but Felicity used this distraction to inject Slade with the cure and Arrow fought him, both of them losing their masks and Slade taunting him to kill him and prove he is just a murderer but Oliver eventually restrained him with Trick arrows.

Some time later Oliver had Slade incarcerated in a Supermax on Lian Yu itself and visited him to thank him for teaching him his skills and left as Slade vowed to get out. Oliver, Diggle and Felicity then walked back to the plane where Felicity commented on how Oliver sold the love story between them but was also asked how he knows to fly a plane.

Return of the Church of Blood
Not long following his defeat of Slade, the Arrow and Roy grappled on to a "drug plane" and climbed up on top. They struggled to hold on while Felicity, back at their base, tried to hack the plane's WiFi. Unable to get a clean signal, Dig suggested to go with "plan B". Oliver proceeded to stab an arrow in to the plane. The arrow exploded and the two of them jumped in to the plane. As the occupants began shooting at the men, they began fighting back. Oliver fired an arrow at the pilot, which opened up at the end to reveal a ball, hitting the man in the face. As Roy mused over the new "boxing glove arrow" (a term Oliver claimed to hate), Oliver started to fly the plane back to stability. He placed an autopilot device on to the controls and busied himself with fighting back the remaining occupants of the plane. Roy was momentarily distracted by a comment from Oliver calling him Speedy. In this moment, one of the Spanish-speaking men attempted to fire his gun at Roy, only to get an arrow to the chest from Oliver. However, Roy was hit by a bullet and began falling from the plane.

Oliver confirmed that Felicity's autopilot gadget was working before jumping from the plane. As he free-fell, he asked Diggle to prep for surgery for Roy's bullet wound. As he got closer he caught Roy and enabled a parachute. Back at the foundry, Oliver reasoned that their base was much closer than a hospital, so it was the smartest move. While Diggle fetched the appropriate blood, Oliver fixed his dislocated arm in order to help with the surgery. After the surgery, Oliver believed that all they could do was wait. He began to blame himself for making Roy take on such a high-risk mission. Diggle then decided to leave in order to help out his pregnant partner, Lyla. Felicity, meanwhile, told Oliver that he needed a new place to live as the foundry was comparable to a cave. She proceeded to accidentally imply that she wanted him in her bed, as opposed to her intended message of a bed owned by her. Eventually Roy's condition stabilized, though still being in a fairly bad way, and were his condition to worsen then Oliver would personally take him to Starling General. They communicated with Dig who had just received supplies from their supplier, Lodai. Felicity noticed a hostage situation on the top of Winick Tower. As The Arrow arrived there, he threw small arrows at the man, Hoshaw Tolibao, knocking him down. Before he could harm Oliver when he got up, he kicked him back down. On the ground, Hoshaw claimed to be a prophet for Brother Blood, despite Oliver apparently killing Sebastian Blood. After Laurel talked to Hoshaw, she relayed his claim to be following the word of Brother Blood. The team determined that, as the original Brother Blood, Sebastian Blood, was dead, there had to be a new person taking up the mantle. Oliver decided to suit up and head over to St. Walker's Church, an abandoned orphanage in which Sebastian had grown up.

He came across some followers of the Church of Blood, who began crowding around him. Suddenly, Brother Blood appeared. The Arrow requested to know Brother Blood's identity, passing his followers off as lost souls and homeless people. This angered the followers, who began encroaching on him, trying to beat him up. Among them was Werner Zytle, who injected him with some of his enhanced Vertigo. Before they could pull his mask off, he pulled away, throwing down an explosion of smoke. While he was escaping, he found Diggle being dragged by some men to Brother Blood. He hid in the shadows, following them, as they took Dig to their leader. Brother Blood revealed himself to be Clinton Hogue, but not before The Arrow could shoot numerous flechettes in to his back, enabling Oliver to grab Diggle and run. On his way out, The Arrow beat up Clinton. They found some more followers, though Oliver once again used an explosion of smoke, and they began climbing out of the underground. As they reached the top, Oliver came across The Huntress, whom he believed to be in prison.

She claimed to be there to pay him back, and to have put a bolt in Diggle's heart. She began beating him up, getting annoyed at him for apparently forcing her to make her wear her outfit. She knocked him to the ground, while meanwhile the followers had reached the surface, causing him to warn her. He got up and went to turn round, instead finding his apparently dead father standing there. He mentioned how Oliver knew several people who had already practically been resurrected, so it was his turn. His father then turned in to his mother, who believed that she should also get a turn. She expressed her disappointment in Oliver. His mother soon turned in to Tommy Merlyn, who knocked him down. He also judged him for not saving him, suggesting that he probably wasn't even his best friend, that title going to John Diggle. Tommy turned in to his father again, who reminded him that he had killed himself to save his life, not to "play dress-up".

His father became Slade Wilson, who claimed to be able to beat him easily in a fair fight, which was why Oliver didn't even bother saving his mother, whom Slade's form changed in to. She suggested that Oliver had only let her die so Thea wouldn't find out his vigilante identity. All of these hallucinations from Zytle's Vertigo concoction, The Canary appeared, and he was unsure whether she was real or another hallucination. However, as she was indeed real, she knocked Ollie out in order to take him back to the Arrowcave. Back at the cave, Felicity drew some blood from Oliver and began running tests on it, finding traces of psychotropic drugs in it. He suddenly woke up, no longer hallucinating. Diggle gave him some "magic herbs" from the island and revealed how Oliver had given him plenty of bruises during their brawl. Oliver went on to determine that he'd been injected with something from one of Blood's followers, also revealing to Felicity the true identity of the new Brother Blood, Clinton Hogue. Though determined to take down Hogue, Sara cautioned restraint, offering to help but only after Oliver had some rest to recover.As he rested, he dreamt of fighting Thea, ending with her pushing him off of a rooftop. He suddenly awoke and left Thea a voice mail to call him back. As he began to walk around, Roy also woke up. Oliver explained to him what had happened and checked to see if he was okay. A day later, Oliver met with Ned Foster at Queen Consolidated. He hoped that Oliver was spending his money wisely, rather than wasting all of it partying, and mentioned how he'd found a solution to his financial instability. They entered the conference room to find Walter Steele. He mentioned how, as part of Starling National Bank, he believed he could find significant backers to help Oliver buy back his company, despite his terrible business ethic. Walter assured him that their plan could work, but it all depended on Oliver, due to his notability as a Queen. Oliver left the office on his way to check on Felicity at her office. On the way, he received a call from Diggle, who mentioned his trip to Kahndaq with the Suicide Squad and Oliver wished him luck, and to be careful. Oliver arrived at Kord Industries and asked for Felicity. The man who attended to him recognized him, noting that his friend had yet to turn up in the past two days, on top of a full month of missed days and lost time. Due to this, he fired her and wished Oliver to give her the news. He left for Felicity's apartment, but found it damaged and everything overturned. He returned to the foundry and began to suit up. He and Roy viewed Felicity's security footage, discovering that she'd been kidnapped by Brother Blood's men. Left to the two of them, Oliver unveiled a kevlar-lined suit for Roy, and the two of them left.

They arrived at St. Walker's Church, the Church of Blood's hideout, arriving through the sewers. They crashed through a door, hoping to find Felicity, but there was no one. They proceeded to search the room, suddenly finding an explosive in a desk drawer. They ran for their lives, before the bomb exploded, collapsing the entire building. As they climbed from the rubble, Oliver and Roy noticed a member of Slade Wilson's Mirakuru-powered army. As they did, Oliver's phone rang. Over the phone, Felicity tried to warn them, but was interrupted by Brother Blood. He promised to exchange Felicity for The Arrow, that night on top of Kord Industries. Later on, Oliver was working out when Roy interrupted, asking for any hint of a plan. Oliver expressed some sort of feelings for Felicity, but denied them being actual feelings. That night, they arrived atop Kord Industries. Oliver left his weapons behind and they patted him down, before allowing him to board their helicopter. Once aboard, Oliver asked to commence the trade. However, refusing to do so, as Oliver had predicted, Oliver knocked almost everyone but Brother Blood out, taking his gun. He threatened to kill for Felicity if he was not taken to her. They soon arrived at the drop zone, but Hogue assured him that his men would be waiting for him, outmatching him four to one. However, Oliver was sure that this would in no way hinder him.

Oliver began to threaten Hogue, attempting to find Felicity's location. However, he suddenly jumped at Oliver and stole his gun, though Oliver quickly kicked it out of his hand and pinned him to the ground, right as Arsenal arrived with The Huntress, much to his surprise. They surveyed the interior, Helena suggesting that she kill all of them, but Oliver disagreeing. They crashed in from the ceiling and Oliver took Felicity from her captor, Bartek Kuranski. Felicity kicked him in the crotch, as she'd promised, but everyone was soon electrocuted by Lyle Bolton, despite Oliver's attempts to thwart him, who then took the two women hostage. Given a choice, Oliver chose Helena. Stopping Vanch from intervening, he waited for Bolton to let Helena go. As he did, she turned around and knocked him out. Oliver called in an anonymous tip for the mercenaries to the police, then they left. Before they left, he admitted to Helena that he'd let her choose where she felt she deserved to go. As Oliver began to take off in the helicopter, Hogue came up from behind and attempted to kill Roy. Oliver jumped to the back and tried to grab Roy, but both Roy and Clinton fell out of the helicopter, though Roy was able to grab on to the side while Clinton grabbed on to Roy himself. Oliver attempted to pull Roy up, but Roy first kicked Hogue and made him fall to the ground. They took Helena back to prison, which she'd decided on. While there, Helena suggested that Oliver keep a hold on Felicity. Back at the base, Felicity presented Oliver with a bed in thanks. In return, he gave her a bottle of wine he'd promised her nearly two years ago, and he opened it by shooting an arrow before they shared it.

Sometime following, Oliver met Walter Steele and Ned Foster at Queen Consolidated, who notified him of a board meeting on the 8th of October, and their future plans following that, he thanked Walter before leaving. Before Oliver could hail a cab, he was attacked by an angry man. He was able to miss each of the man's punches, but was soon thrown in to Champions Sports, a sporting shop. He soon came back out, wearing a hockey mask and wielding a baseball bat. The man broke the bat, but Oliver pulled a recurve bow from his back, lodging an arrow in his shoulder. However, he was able to withstand it, due to his Mirakuru enhancement. Luckily, Roy Harper was able to intervene. The man tried to attack them both, but was distracted by police, who he was forced to flee from. On suggestion from Diggle, Roy grappled up a building with his bow and arrow, holding Oliver as well. They crashed through the window, before heading down the stairs, only to be stopped by police. They were promptly handcuffed and made to face a wall. However, Felicity called and used a voice imitation program to act as the police chief, forcing them to be freed. The two of them headed back to the Arrowcave, where they found the identity of the man, Caleb Green. Discovering that he had in fact been after vengeance on Robert Queen for his father, and having no Mirakuru cure, Oliver determined that he still had one sin to atone for, planning to leave for Lian Yu with Roy.

War with the League of Assassins
Over the next several months Oliver, Diggle, Felicity and Roy began a clean up mission of Starling City, with the legal help of both Quentin and Laurel, to put away dozens of criminals, severely crippling the criminal network and leaving the rest of them desperate. Arrow, Diggle and Roy pursued a truck carrying illegal RPG's He exploded the back of it, allowing Diggle to sort out the RPGs, then directed the truck towards Roy. The driver, Vincent Steelgrave, made a run for it, but Oliver captured him, commenting that he'd failed the city, before knocking him out. They headed back to the foundry, where Oliver crossed off yet another name from his new list of criminals. He noticed a fern, which she explained as an attempt to liven up the dull surroundings. Oliver promptly received a text from Thea, leading to Roy leaving quickly to do a patrol. As he left, Oliver complimented him on how well he had been doing. Felicity and Diggle also left, though before the latter did, Oliver gave him a gift to celebrate his coming baby. Dig urged Oliver to talk to Felicity, as he believed him to be blatantly in love with her. Oliver denied this trying to remind him that he only said that he did to fool Slade, though Diggle quickly made him realize that over time he had begun to love her for real. Later that day, Oliver met with Laurel Lance as Vincent Steelgrave was being taken away by police. Laurel guided him over to a group surrounding Captain Quentin Lance, who was ready to make an announcement. Laurel claimed that it was his surprise. Captain Lance began to announce that, using his new position as a police captain, he was formally recognizing The Arrow as a hero, as well as disbanding the task force created to hunt him down. After that, Oliver rushed on over to the foundry, where he caught up with Felicity. He awkwardly asked her out on a dinner date, which she accepted. That night they were on another mission, going after a member of Steelgrave's crew. Dig patched Oliver over to Felicity, and despite being in the middle of a high speed chase, he asked her as to her interests in Italian food, agreeing on it. The Arrow intercepted Calvin Nico, the man in question, just as Captain Lance also did. He thanked him for what he'd done, excusing himself as he claimed to have somewhere to be. He headed to the restaurant, changing in to a suit and stashing his bag in a compartment. He met Felicity, just as nervous as her. Unable to find anything to talk about, he admitted that he hadn't been on the island for the entirety of his five years away, specifically he'd gone to Hong Kong, for one. He went on to describe how he learnt to stop trusting people, only to begin to do so again when he first met Felicity. Oliver began to suggest that they had the potential to begin a relationship, but the conversation was cut short by a rocket launched aiming for The Arrow. The two of them were knocked out, and Oliver awoke to a badly battered Felicity. He picked her up and took her and his bag back to the base, where he lay Felicity on a table. Roy discovered a GPS tag on Felicity's jacket, Oliver inferring that it had been meant for him, hence the explosive. He gave Lance a call, alerting him as to the situation, and wishing to find the leader of the gang. Felicity suddenly woke up and was comforted by Oliver. Oliver suited up and headed to where they assumed Steelgrave's men to be, where he also found Quentin, who told him of the suspect, Werner Zytle. Werner suddenly appeared, introducing himself and throwing a dart at his neck. He called himself Vertigo, despite The Arrow's claim that The Count was dead. The two began fighting, though The Arrow began to stagger. As Oliver started to hallucinate, Werner explained that he had brought back the Vertigo drug with an addition that made one see their greatest fear. Werner began to turn in to Oliver himself, and resulted in him fighting The Arrow and even winning, holding him up against a wall. Quentin began shooting, distracting him long enough for The Arrow to run off. However, Quentin collapsed and Werner started to walk to him. Before he could do any harm, he was shot with an arrow and fled. The Arrow requested Felicity call an ambulance for the captain. Oliver returned to the base, checking that Felicity was okay. He sent Roy out to patrol for Werner's men and instructed Dig to go home to look after Lyla. Felicity and Oliver headed to Queen Consolidated for Oliver's meeting with the company's board. Surprising them, another bidder for the company, Ray Palmer, arrived. Oliver began a heartfelt speech to the board members in a hope to win the bid for the company, only to quickly be squashed by Ray's motivational speech regarding "QC" transforming the city in to a "Star City". They left and Oliver decided that, clearly having lost to Ray, he had previously made a decision to put aside "Oliver Queen" anyway, and so it was likely for the best. Back at the base, Diggle updated Oliver on Werner's next targets, three crime bosses. Oliver and Roy suited up, while arguing that Diggle had to stay at the base as he was a soon-to-be father. Once at the Rockets Arena, where Werner and the crime bosses were, Roy was sent to deactivate the bomb while Arrow chose to go after Werner, heading to the roof. Werner threw a Vertigo-laced dart at him, though Arrow was able to overcome it. Suddenly, Canary appeared to help keep down Werner's accomplice. Arrow was surprised to see Canary back, but quickly made sure to tie up Werner. They went for a walk and caught up. Sara suggested that she might return permanently to the city, but advised that Oliver needed to have non-vigilantes in his life. Soon after, Oliver headed to the hospital to find Diggle and Lyla, the latter of whom had given birth. John thanked Oliver for giving him the right advice and the two hugged. Out in the hallway, Felicity and Oliver briefly talked about their situation, before kissing and Felicity walking off upset. Suddenly Oliver received a call from Barry, who had woken up from his coma.[57] Meeting on a rooftop, Barry explained his powers of super speed, how they'd come to be and how there were others like him, one of whom killed a man and Barry screwed up the chance to save him. He also expressed doubts, as Dr. Harrison Wells had told him that he was just a man struck by lightning, but Oliver promised that his power was a gift to be used in ways Oliver's could not, to be an unseen guardian angel, saving people "in a flash". As Arrow departed he told Barry to listen to his own previous advice and wear a mask. Barry was impressed by Oliver's exit, as was Oliver likewise of Barry's speeding away.

The following morning, Oliver headed to the base with Felicity and Roy, where they horrifyingly found Sara lying on a table, dead. Laurel attempted to explain what had happened, before Oliver closed her eyes and comforted Laurel. Oliver met Laurel upstairs, where she told Oliver of a stuffed shark that Sara was fond of. Oliver promised to find Sara's killer, to which Laurel attempted to suggest that she would also help, though Oliver recommended that she had helped enough thus far. Laurel left, leading to Oliver calling Thea, wishing to simply hear her voice, though he only got her voice mail. Felicity approached, letting him know that they had no video surveillance to go off, so he instead decided to go and survey the area. At the scene, Oliver was only able to find a piece of metal, but meanwhile imagined Sara's murder. Diggle approached, having learnt of Sara's death. He attempted to get Oliver to take some time off of work, but Oliver claimed his vigilante work was all he could do, and proceeded to dissect what he could take from the scene, leading to Dig offering his help. Suddenly, Oliver was called by Felicity, who alerted him to Quentin wanting to meet. Despite initially fearing it would be about Sara, he was told of a corporate financier named John Burke who'd been killed through seemingly similar means to Sara. Back at the foundry, Dig and Oliver brainstormed possible archers, Oliver suggesting only 10 he knew of, most of whom were in the League of Assassins (counting out those, as they didn't target their own). Felicity alerted them to a new attack by the archer, so Oliver had Diggle check A.R.G.U.S.'s database for potentials while he went to question a likely witness. At the crime scene, The Arrow prevented the man from escaping, before finding out that the man he was looking for wore a black hockey mask. Contacting Diggle, he found out a likely suspect was Simon Lacroix/Komodo. Patching through to Felicity, she was able to pinpoint Lacroix. As Komodo almost shot an arrow at a victim, Arrow intercepted. They began driving at each other on motorbikes shooting arrows though Komodo won the match and escaped. Back at the base, they decided on a new tactic - rather than searching for Lacroix, they would attempt to search for his targets. The search took a while, causing Oliver to become impatient and Felicity to become annoyed at him in return. She proceeded to question how Oliver could act so coldly, yet Oliver claimed he could never have that luxury living the life he did. Felicity simply got more upset and stormed out. Following that, Oliver attempted to call Thea again. Not replying, Roy decided to reveal that she'd left him a note upon her leaving, promising to never return to Starling. Oliver read the letter while Roy apologized, and Oliver simply accepted the apology. Laurel came to the team with information regarding Lacroix and determined his next target, Tom Weston, and Oliver left to Ray Palmer's Star City pledge, despite Laurel's attempts to join him. At the event, Komodo inevitably attacked Weston but the Arrow and Roy intervened. Despite his efforts, Komodo was eventually pinned to a wall and unmasked. Laurel appeared aiming a gun at Lacroix. She accused him of killing Sara, though he explained where that he was in Bludhaven to night of Laurel's claim. Oliver dragged Laurel off after she'd realized the gun wasn't loaded. The following morning, Oliver reassured Laurel that Lacroix's alibi was authentic. He promised to eventually find Sara's killer, but he had no clue when that will be and urged her to tell her father of Sara's death. That night, they buried Sara in her previously empty grave, and they all payed their respects. Back at the foundry, John decided that he would re-join the team, as long as it took to find Sara's killer. Following on from that, Oliver decided that they would have to go find Thea and bring her home. Oliver expressed that he didn't want to die down in the basement, before John told him not to and left.

The Arrow ran down a man, questioning him on Sara's death, giving him a piece of evidence from the scene containing his DNA. The man confessed to having been up there drinking but left when Sara showed up after she told them to get lost. Oliver headed back to the base, frustrated that the trail had gone cold. Felicity revealed to have found Thea's true location: Corto Maltese. The three men decided to head to the country. Once in the country, Diggle and Roy settled in to their hotel while they allowed Oliver to find Thea. Oliver found Thea, working at a cafe who was surprised to see him. They began talking, and he revealed to have two plane tickets home: one of them for her. He empathized with her, asking her to come back home with him. Despite claiming to love him, she refused to return at all. Oliver left to help Diggle with a job for Lyla, finding an A.R.G.U.S. agent who was unresponsive, Mark Shaw. Diggle approached as Oliver stayed to watch from afar. After all was clear, they headed to a site, Oliver still observing as backup. When Shaw double-crossed Diggle, Oliver revealed himself, running after Shaw, but he drove away before he could be stopped. They conferred with Lyla, who promised to be sending a wet team to back them up, asking them to keep their powder dry. However, they chose to disregard her message, going after Shaw instead. They called Felicity, who they asked to ping Shaw's phone and determine his location. Meanwhile, Oliver decided to tell Thea "the truth" in order to get her to come home with them. Diggle reasoned that he'd likely lose Thea if he did, though Oliver further reasoned that he'd already lost her to Corto Maltese. Oliver met with Thea, expressing his fear that he would indeed lose her, but she explained that the lying about her own life, particularly her birth father, was what had driven her away. In hearing this, Oliver revealed the truth about their father's suicide, which Oliver had always mentioned as an accidental drowning. He explained that both of their parents had sacrificed themselves so both of them could live, so they had to stick together. Oliver met back up with John and Roy at the scene of Shaw's buy. As the buy was going down, a group of hired men arrived and began shooting at the three spies. They began shooting and firing back with homemade bows and arrows. After he'd ran out of arrows, Oliver grabbed Diggle's gun and shot numerous soldiers, much to the surprise of Roy. Oliver took out the buyer and his guards, taking his laptop of A.R.G.U.S. names, right as Diggle knocked out Shaw, allowing him to go and effectively leave A.R.G.U.S.. They later waited at the airport, disappointed that Thea had not arrived. However, she shortly arrived, much to the particular delight of Oliver. A nearby passenger spilled his coffee all over Thea's hand, though she was unfazed, which weirded out Oliver. Back in Starling, Oliver came across Laurel, who had been injured in a fight. She expressed her wishes to train and help people like Sara had, but Oliver shot her down as he didn't want her to get hurt. Down in the cave, Oliver and Roy talked about Thea, as Oliver seemed to believe Thea was acting differently. However, they were quickly interrupted by Nyssa, who was looking for Sara.

After explaining that Sara had been killed and eventually buried, Nyssa left. Believing she knew something, Oliver asked Roy to follow Nyssa while he met Thea. At the restaurant, Oliver offered to pay, despite being broke, but Thea revealed that she would be buying back Verdant with the help of investors, allowing her to spend a bit of money herself. Following dinner, Oliver left to follow Nyssa, finding her in an abandoned building which she revealed to be Sara's old place. Nyssa went on to reveal that Sara had been in Starling to confirm rumors that Malcolm was alive much to Oliver's shock. They headed back to the base, where Roy expressed his skepticism. However, Oliver confirmed that he was indeed alive, showing photos they'd found on a camera from Sara's safe-house, dating back only a few weeks. Following that, they inspected some paper Sara had left in her boot, which Nyssa determined had ghost ink on it, revealed only with heat from a fire. Finding pieces of information regarding an individual named Jansen and that Sara had gone to her father for help, Laurel was sent to talk to Quentin. Oliver, Roy, Diggle and Nyssa headed to the monastery of Ken Zhi Jansen, a Buddhist monk who had helped Malcolm, and whom Sara had been tracking down. Nyssa found who she believed to be Jansen, though it was in fact Malcolm himself, who quickly got away, despite an attempt by The Arrow to stop him. Back at the base Oliver revealed to Laurel that Malcolm was still alive and was a likely suspect. He went on to mention how he'd tagged him with nanites, traceable via GPS. Laurel got angry that Oliver didn't kill Malcolm when he had the chance, though he reasoned that he would forever be able to trace him, before Laurel stormed out. Nyssa offered to speak to Laurel. Oliver sent Roy to watch over Thea, in case Malcolm contacted her, and had Diggle monitor the tracer program in place of Felicity, who was out of town. Oliver was guided by Diggle to an air conditioning factory, where Oliver was discreetly called by Malcolm, explaining how he'd outwitted him. He asked him to come, unmasked, to Nelson Plaza, an extremely public place, in order to talk completely alone but assured that if even one member of Team Arrow were to show he won't come. At the plaza, Malcolm reasoned that, as he already had a blood debt with Ra's al Ghul, it was illogical to have killed Sara. He also went on to mention how he'd only come back to Starling City for Thea, as he'd saved her the night of Slade's siege. He swore on Thea's life that he wasn't Sara's killer, before walking off. The following morning, Oliver met Thea at The Grind & Jolt Cafe, revealing that she'd previously been saved by Malcolm Merlyn, thinking that she had no clue. Despite being seemingly skeptical, Oliver reassured her that it was true. Heading back to the cave, Oliver told Nyssa of Malcolm's motives. As Nyssa walked off angrily, Diggle reasoned that although Oliver had made a vow not to kill, Nyssa made no such vow. Soon after, Nyssa kidnapped Thea in order to lure Malcolm. Oliver and the team were able to notice the smoke signals she'd sent up and the former headed to the warehouse while the rest secured the perimeter (sans a post-tranquilized Roy). Arrow shot down a tied up Thea, allowing her to escape, before engaging in combat with Nyssa. Dark Archer quickly intervened, the three fighting each other. Before long, Dark Archer pinned Nyssa against a wall and before Arrow knocked Dark Archer down. Claiming to have not killed Sara, Malcolm gave Arrow the simple choice to kill him or not. However, despite Malcolm being a killer, Arrow wished to not break his vows and let Malcolm go. Back at the base, Oliver claimed protection over Malcolm, warning Nyssa not to let any League members near him so long as he is in Starling while she threatened that he'd made an enemy. As she left, Felicity arrived back from Central City. Oliver soon headed upstairs to make sure that Thea was okay, before leaving her and Roy to talk.

Oliver fought with Roy using bo staffs. Roy claimed to have had little sleep, causing Oliver to knock him over. Following that, Oliver went to see Thea at her new place. He believed that she could never afford the loft, though Thea explained that she'd inherited the remains of Malcolm Merlyn's estate. Despite his attempts, Thea refused to let Oliver convince her to throw away the supposed "blood money". Thea left to upstairs when suddenly lights all over the city began going out. Thea rushed downstairs to find Oliver, but he'd already left over the balcony. In the streets, Oliver promptly saved a woman from being hit by a car. He walked past a store of TVs when a man claiming to be part of "Brother Eye" explained that they would be bringing the city to its knees. After the transmission, the city's lights were switched back on. Oliver met with Diggle and Felicity at Verdant where they were introduced to Felicity's mom. As they went to go downstairs, Oliver expressed his hesitation to Diggle taking his daughter downstairs. Felicity assured Dig that her mother loved babies and so they handed her over and headed down to the cave. Unable to find them as the previous virus had deleted itself, Oliver wished to find the group before there was a "next time". Brother Eye soon made another broadcast, which Oliver had Felicity trace through breadcrumbs. Learning of the SCPD's dispatch of a riot squad to the Starling National Bank after a threat from Brother Eye, Oliver and Roy suited up before heading over. They shot arrows which released tear gas, dispersing the rioting crowds. During this, Oliver talked to Felicity, who eventually determined that she couldn't stop the virus as she'd written it 5 year prior. Back at the cave, Felicity attempted to explain herself before getting flustered. Oliver calmed her down, asking her to start at the beginning. After she'd explained herself, Felicity looked in to Myron Forest, a potential suspect, while Oliver took care of Thea upstairs, leaving via the alleyway entrance. Thea was trying to get in to the sub-level, while Oliver lied that he'd been told it was completely flooded. He claimed to be there as he was concerned about her, while Thea wished to reconnect with her brother despite their earlier dispute, as she believed family was always family. After this, Oliver and Roy went to interrogate Myron Forest. He reasoned that he was the exact image of what the activists hated, so it was clear that he wasn't part of Brother Eye. They headed back to the Arrowcave, where Oliver made sure that Felicity's former boyfriend wasn't behind it. Not knowing why she was so adamant, she explained in detail how he'd hung himself in prison, absolving him completely, before she stormed off crying. When she came back and ran a tracer hack, Oliver made Felicity leave again, this time for an hour to make amends with her mom. After she didn't return, Diggle had an A.R.G.U.S. agent go to check out Felicity's house while Oliver attempted to call her, though she didn't respond. Meanwhile, Felicity had been kidnapped, though she'd allowed Oliver to trace her. Once he'd found her in an abandoned building, The Arrow brought down motion-sensored machine guns facing him and pointed an arrow at Cooper, who'd taken Felicity hostage. Before he could shoot Felicity, she grabbed his gun and beat him down. They soon returned to the base, where Oliver assured Felicity that her rocky experiences shaped her into the person she is today. Felicity thanked Oliver for his advice on loving one's family and left to talk to her mother.

Arrow, Diggle and Roy begun pursuing a series of murders involving numerous mob bosses all with the words "Guilty" inscribed in blood on the floor. Later Arrow follows another trial to Ted Grant's Wildcat Gym and found another body and when Ted returned moments later Arrow pulled out an arrow ready to interrogate him but saw Laurel with him who quickly got between them. As Ted was being questioned Arrow questioned Laurel's involvement with him and realized that she was following in Sara's footsteps as he had previously advised against but Laurel still insisted that Ted was innocent as they were at dinner when the murder happened. Arrow broke into Ted's gym and found a secret room where Ted jumped him though Arrow quickly overpowered him, questioned him and learned that he too was once a vigilante but after accidentally killing a man he retired. Arrow and Ted then went to the scene of the supposed murder Ted committed but were jumped by a masked man who Ted knew but the cops showed up and arrested Ted. When Oliver and Laurel went to the Arrow-cave for an update Roy confessed a horrible truth that he believes he killed Sara from a Mirakuru endued episode leaving Laurel distraught and Oliver unsure of what to do, though Diggle advised that they cut Roy out of the team which Oliver was against. Later Laurel and Ted were kidnapped by the mask man, Ted's former protégé Isaac Stanzler, and through a fight Issac was pulled from the car but Arrow was distracted by saving Laurel and Ted while Roy fought and beat Issac begging for Oliver not to abandon him. Later Roy told Oliver that Issac claimed he was just another "weapon in his arsenal", leaving Oliver to think that "Arsenal" should be Roy's code-name. He also used Tatsu's mind technique to uncover why Roy was having visions of killing Sara but this only made him remember the cop he murdered while high on Mirakuru, only seeing Sara because she and Oliver were present when it happened.

Arrow was called in by Quentin after Isaac was murdered by another archer, using spade shaped arrows, though Oliver was told by Felicity that she was unavailable for the night as she had a business dinner with Ray Palmer and other associates. Diggle advised to Oliver that he if he wants to be with Felicity then he should make a move before Palmer does, having seen him and her on TV announcing QC's transition into Palmer Technologies, but Oliver found a location on a piece of paper in the arrow. When they got there they found the apartment room strapped up with numerous pictures of Arrow with hearts around them before getting a call from the woman in question, he told him that she wanted him and gave him a photo of another mob boss she would kill if he didn't meet her. Felicity later learned her identity, Carrie Cutter/Cupid, (former SWAT) who seemed familiar to Oliver and learned she had been stalking all his crime scenes since Slade's attack. Arrow and Arsenal later followed Carrie to Sherwood Florist where Cupid knocked out Arsenal and told Arrow that all she wanted was him, declaring her love for him. However Arrow denounced it and Cupid got away as Arrow tried to save the mob boss. Oliver later helped Roy, still guilty for killing the cop and for letting Carrie get the best of him, and talked to Carrie's doctor who told him her illness and also diagnosed Arrow as needing treatment, as per using a Robin Hood costume. Arrow followed Cupid's trial but received a call from Carrie that she was in Verdant, where Thea was, and told him to meet her. When Arrow arrived, he realized that Carrie was the same woman he saved during Slade's attack, and tried to reason with her love sickness but this only provoked her into fighting him into the train tracks below where she almost killed them both but Arrow saved her before having her sent to Waller and the Suicide Squad. Acting on Diggle's advise Oliver went to tell Felicity of his feelings, only to see her and Ray kissing, highly enraging him so he and Roy instead went to John's apartment where he and Lyla were having dinner.

Following a murder involving a boomerang that same night, Felicity tracked its material origins to Central City[55] where Oliver learned that Barry had in fact been saving people with his powers, under the code-name: The Flash. Arrow later went to a crime scene with Flash and saved him and Detective Joe West from a crazed cop before Barry dashed off to meet Oliver's team, startling Diggle who Oliver hand't told of Barry's powers. Oliver told Barry of the murder as Barry told Oliver of his meta-human incident and suggested a team-up to catch both but Oliver was hesitant due to their different approaches but Felicity was in favor as S.T.A.R. Labs had the skills to track their criminal faster. Later Oliver decided to help Barry anyway by getting the name of the meta-human but was annoyed by Diggle discussing what Barry can do with his super-speed, rather than cover him, but found a suspect whom Arrow interrogated and learn the culprit's name: Roy Bivolo. Oliver and Felicity met Barry in a cafe and told Barry of Bivolo's identity where Iris West served them coffees and showed signs of affection for Oliver, much to his amusement, but was hesitant against Felicity's suggestion of a team up until she persuaded him. Later Oliver took Barry to their meeting site to train where Oliver scolded Barry for the collateral damage caused at his sites of action, particularly Leonard Snart. Oliver also showed little amusement in Barry's code-name for Snart: Captain Cold calling it silly before Barry sarcastically reminded him of his enemies code-names: Deathstroke and The Huntress. Oliver however told Barry that he needed to study a situation before rushing in. He ordered Barry to run back and fourth once and that he would be hit with an arrow. However, as Barry caught Oliver's arrow shot from his bow, two rigged up crossbows shot Barry in the back. The next day Barry met Oliver for more training where Oliver told him that he needed to take his advise if he ever wants to help more people then hurt them but Barry, having been earlier affected by Bivolo, came to believe that Oliver was jealous. He then mocked him as he may have money, girls and gadgets but he'll never be as fast as he is before storming off. Felicity later told Oliver that Barry had gone crazy and Arrow arrived in time to stop Flash from killing Iris's boyfriend Eddie Thawne and tried to reason with him but Flash forced him into a fight utilizing all of their skills, proving to be evenly matched until Joe and Dr. Wells arrived and use a device which snapped Flash back. After Flash apologized they took down Bivolo and locked him up in their jail, Oliver noting that he has one also in Lian Yu before addressing Team Flash, Joe, Dr. Wells, Cisco Ramon and Dr. Caitlin Snow the importance of keeping his secret and was admired by Dr. Wells for his actions which though Oliver thanked him for, noting an odd vibe from Wells. Later Oliver warned Barry at the cafe that he and Iris wouldn't work out (subtly referencing his situation with Felicity). He then before running into the woman whom he got pregnant 8 years ago. Felicity wondered who she was, to which Oliver simply replied, "someone I used to know". Following the boomerang weapon's trail, Arrow and Arsenal broke into a house where he was supposedly help up, but also encountered A.R.G.U.S. agents and insisted they needed to keep looking into it. Oliver later tasked Diggle with learning more form Lyla, but Felicity later appeared with the surprise visitors of Cisco and Caitlin and Oliver became frustrated, repeatedly telling Cisco not to touch the weapons and mocking Felicity for letting his secret get out to all of Team Flash. Oliver was told by Diggle that A.R.G.U.S. was being attacked and Arrow and Arsenal went and engaged the attacker but he almost killed Arrow with his boomerangs but was saved by Flash. Arrow, Arsenal and Diggle learned from Lyla that the attacker, Digger Harkness/Captain Boomerang, who was a member of the Suicide Squad on a mission gone south lead by Lyla, she opted to eliminate the team as Waller couldn't be reached but surmised that Harkness's bomb must have malfunctioned and now he's after her so Arrow takes Lyla to the Arrowcave where both Team Arrow and Team Flash used their skills to find Harkness. Following a lead from Quentin, Arrow and Flash found the boomerang maker Klaus Markos and Arrow used his torture methods to interrogate Markos and get a phone from Harkness. However Barry scolded Oliver for his brutality but Oliver reminded Barry of what he'd lost: His best friend, girlfriend and mother all murdered, the latter of which was in front of him but Barry retorted that his mother was murdered in front of him too and still scolded Oliver for his tactics. Later Arrow, Flash, Arsenal and Diggle followed another lead, but realized that Harkness had mislead them and attacked the Arrowcave where Lyla was severely injured. Oliver confided in Barry that his experiences on Lian Yu and elsewhere between shaped him into who he is and believes that he traded away Oliver Queen and there isn't anything left inside him except The Arrow. Barry however believed that he didn't lose his humanity to survive by rather his humanity is what kept him alive and shaped him into The Arrow. Arrow and Flash eventually found Captain Boomerang as he was leaving but he had planted bombs forcing.

Flash to leave while Arrow engaged Boomerang. However Arrow was unable to torture Boomerang into disarming the bombs, haunted by his own previous actions, but Barry, Caitlin, Cisco, Felicity and Roy where able to stop the bombs and Harkness was sent away for good. Oliver later had another suit-case built for Barry whenever he shows up and Cisco gave Oliver an upgraded uniform with more armor and more equipment space. Later Oliver and Barry went to a private place to prove once and for all who is better: The Flash or The Arrow. At the beginning of the fight, Oliver shot arrows on Barry, and Barry catched the arrows with his hands. Oliver kept shooting arrows on Barry, even when he started running towards him.[61] However, Barry won the fight.[62] Ra's al Ghul lost his patience in Oliver's failure to find Sara's killer and sent Nyssa a few members of the League to threaten Oliver if he did not find the person within 48 hours, the League would carry out its tradition and kill 50 people a day until the killer is weeded out. Oliver eventually discovered Malcolm Merlyn, in reality was the culprit behind Sara's death, but he used a plant on Thea to make her susceptible to suggestion while not remembering anything that happened while she was under the plant's influence and had her kill Sara. Malcolm threatened to show the League the recording of Thea killing Sara if Oliver told the League Merlyn was behind this.

Instead he told Oliver to tell Ra's he did and will be given a right to a trial by combat in order to kill Ra's and erase any blood debt from Ra's rule, including Malcolm's Undertaking and Thea's "killing" Sara. Oliver complied and climbed up a mountain and dueled with an initially unarmed Ra's al Ghul with two swords. However, Ra's skills were too advanced and he defeated Oliver by stabbing him and pushing him off a cliff. Fortunately, thanks to the cold slowing down Oliver's blood loss, Oliver remained clinically alive, but unconscious.

Oliver's body laid on a cliff-side for 4 days until Maseo returned for him and took his body to a cabin in the mountains where Tatsu revived him, much to his shock. After awakening from a nightmare of him being killed in front of Felicity, Oliver tried to walk with difficulty and Tatsu denied still being in contact with Maseo as Oliver suspected, and Maseo informed Oliver he would return to Nanda Parbat. Oliver tried to talk Tatsu into convincing Maseo to return to Starling with him but she claimed she could convince Maseo, but not Sarab, as the events of Hong Kong made him overwhelmed with grief. Later as Oliver prepared to leave League members showed up looking for Maseo who discovered Queen alive but Maseo killed them and injured himself to allow himself back into the League and for Oliver to return to Starling. After Maseo's departure, Oliver decided to leave for Starling City, much to Tatsu's dismay that she wanted him to stay and rest. Oliver recommended that Tatsu come with him, but she said that to the world, she's dead. Oliver proclaimed that he wants to kill Ra's, but in order to do that he needed to think and act like him, and all that can be attained with the proper training. Oliver left and returned to Starling, as Arrow, that night where he narrowly stopped Malcolm from killing Danny Brickwell. After Brick's arrest, Arrow publicly announced to his city that he will never fail them again. After that, Oliver goes with Malcolm back to Thea's loft where she greeted them. While she is busy making tea, Malcolm agreed to train Oliver. However once Felicity heard this, she was unhappy that Oliver is going against his vows, vows that Felicity swore to Malcolm that Oliver would never break. Arrow and Arsenal pursued a culprit throughout the city but as they closed in on him Laurel, heading out as Black Canary again, took him down and Arrow scolded the new Canary for her actions but she told him to back off. In the Arrowcave itself Oliver scolded Diggle and Roy for letting Laurel pursue her recklessness but they were soon interrupted with another visit from Malcolm in the cave. He insisted that Ra's had seen his televised return and they need to inform Thea of Oliver's secret if she will survive but Diggle opposed it, believing Oliver will lose Thea if he does. Later Oliver brought Thea into the cave and showed her but rather than get angry for not telling her, Thea thanked Oliver for all the times he saved her life and the people in Starling. However Thea became angry at Malcolm after Oliver revealed he already knew about his secret, but Oliver was later concerned with a the more pressing issue of Werner Zytle's escape, and that Laurel went after him alone. Arrow and Arsenal distracted Vertigo's men long enough to pull Black Canary out of the battle and treat her vertigo infection, which caused her to see Sara. Thea came down stairs to ask about Laurel but Oliver demanded that she leave, but Roy stood up to Oliver, telling him she has the right to see the situation and that she makes her own choices, but Oliver becomes mad that Roy stood up to him until Diggle and Felicity calmed the situation, with Felicity telling him off, saying that he was gone, and they had to move on without him, and that he does not get to question people's choice. Later, Diggle counseled Oliver on the fact that his idea has outgrown himself and the team is beginning to branch out on its own, as they had to accept his death, which Oliver accepts before he and Black Canary headed out to confront and take down Zytle. However, Oliver got call from Thea and when he arrived he saw a dead man on the floor and Roy and Malcolm, and Malcolm told him that he was an agent of Ra's. He also told them that to beat Ra's they needed to train in their most feared environment: Lian Yu. He parted ways with the team again, with reassurances that Laurel and Roy would keep the city safe in his absence, as they more than proved themselves capable of.

After arriving on Lian Yu, Oliver begun training Thea using Slade's methods with the bamboo sticks from years ago, though Thea also used Malcolm's tactics and both proved evenly matched. While eating dinner, Oliver confessed that he'd been back to he island previously, but didn't answer Thea's question in regards to if he ever thought he'd make it home while stranded. Later that night when sleeping, Oliver had a nightmare about Sara, which Thea woke him up from. Thea asked why he didn't tell her about Sara before and Oliver simply stated that Sara led a complicated life. After taking a walk, Oliver decided to visit Slade, only to find his cell door open and the guards dead. After finding Thea and telling her about Slade, Oliver receives a call from Malcolm confessing that he released Slade as a lesson for them to regain their will to be killers and also disables Oliver's phone. Oliver and Thea head to the grave sites of Robert, Yao Fei, Shado, and another individual to retrieve hidden weapons but are ambushed by Slade and imprisoned in his cell, where he informs them that he plans to fake their deaths and leave them in the prison. Despite Oliver begging to let Thea go, Slade coldly informed him she's lucky to be alive and not buried next to Shado. Slade asked Thea if she knew the story between himself, Slade and Shado but she simply called him a "sick, son of a bitch". Slade was unsurprised, reminding Oliver he likes to have secrets. Slade also tells Oliver that had he told him about Shado really dead events could have been different and Moira may still be alive before leaving. As Oliver looked for a way out Thea accused him of keeping secrets from him again but Oliver again avoided the issue as Thea was able to get them out, as the cells are built for men and not women. After escaping, Oliver is accidentally wounded by one of his set up booby traps and Thea again confronts him about his secrets, why he didn't tell her about Sara and Oliver finally told her the truth: Malcolm killed Sara but used her under the influence of a drug, so she wouldn't remember it, to do kill her. However, before Thea can process this horrible revelation, Slade ambushes them again but after sometime the two are able to overpower him, but when Thea tries to kill Slade in revenge for killing Moira Oliver convinces her not to but she still shoots him in the shoulder. After putting Slade back in his cell he notes to Oliver that she has been corrupted and knows it was Malcolm, and also observes that he's lost both his parents and his sister and asks about Felicity and how many more people can Oliver lose before it breaks him to which Oliver doesn't answer. After returning home Oliver asks Thea not to tell Laurel as they need Malcolm, despite the monster he is, as it would complicate their situation. When Malcolm appears, Oliver scolds him for using Slade as a weapon and almost killing them and witnessed him and Thea argues over using her to kill Sara and her disowning him as a father.

Oliver and Thea continue to train with Malcolm but he easily overpowers them and remarks how far they have to go to beat Ra's, and suggests that they move into the Arrowcave so the league doesn't find them but they refuse to leave the loft. Later as Oliver trains with his sword, Laurel confronts her about lying to her, revealing that Thea told him about Sara, and how he could be keeping Malcolm safe after what he's done. Oliver goes to the loft to confront Thea about telling Laurel the truth reminding her of the danger they face, but learns that Thea has informed the league of Malcolm's whereabouts. Arrow arrives in time to see Nyssa and other League members kidnapping Malcolm and attempts to free him to no avail but manages to capture Nyssa. In the Arrowcave Oliver learns Laurel attacked Malcolm and scolds her for being so reckless and deciding they need to get Malcolm back, but Laurel and Felicity rule against this. Oliver however insists it's really because Thea will eventually begin to feel guilt over what she's done, but also secretly because Oliver really wants to fight Ra's again. He interrogates Nyssa but she immediately tells him where to find Nanda Parbat, and as Oliver is packing Thea tries to persuade him also to no avail. When Oliver is leaving Diggle approaches him and tells him that he's going with him, both because he needs backup and because Oliver doesn't even have his own jet anymore. Eventually the two arrive but are quickly noticed and attacked but manage to subdue and kill some of the guards and eventually find Malcolm being tortured, but are trapped in the same room with him by Ra's personally who welcomes them. Oliver and John are held in a cell where Diggle reveals that he knew Oliver really only wanted to come to beat Ra's, and Oliver reveals that he has nightmares about his almost death and was ruled by his ego. John then remarks that if he ever married again he though Andy would be there and despite losing his brother, he gained another and asks Oliver to be his best man at his and Lyla's wedding to which Oliver accepts. When Maseo brings Oliver before Ra's he begs him to spare Diggle and Ra's, impressed with his bravery in the face of death, reveals that he has no intention of killing Oliver and instead wants him to take his place as the next Ra's al Ghul.[65] Oliver is given a tour of Nanda Parbat and shown the league train and they discussed the matter over dinner. Ra's reveals that he is aware of Oliver's duel-identity struggle how he desires to protect his city but loves a woman he can't have, but tells him that he is destined to be alone and Starling City would turn on him and that being the next Ra's he will be able to expand his crusade beyond Starling to the whole world. Ra's also reveals that the bath he bathes actually has a rare water that has cell regenerative abilities and has allowed Ra's to live for centuries beyond the average lifespan. However the waters have begun to lose their effects and Ra's is in fact dying and in addition to being immortal, at least for a few centuries, the league can even adopt Oliver's principle of not killing much to Oliver doubt. When Oliver asks what happens if he declines Ra's tells him they'll simply let him go and releases Diggle and Malcolm as a measure of good faith.

Oliver returns Malcolm back to Thea's loft much to her anger but he begs her to let him stay, insisting it's the only place he can recover with minimal trouble. Back at the Arrowcave the others welcome him back but express frustration in bringing Malcolm back and question why Ra's let them go. Oliver then releases Nyssa who questions why he's releasing her but he simply tells her to talk to her father and she'll know, but refuses to answer to team. Instead he insists on finding a criminal to take down and find Murmur who is in the process of stealing diamonds. Arrow, Arsenal and Black Canary engage Murmur but he is able to get away. Arrow asks Quentin to find a lead on Mumur's men and he agrees but tells Arrow that he can read about it in the papers and belittles him for keeping Sara's death from him, and tells him they're done. Oliver stops by Palmer Technologies where he learns that Felicity and Ray have become lovers and asks her to give him a lead on Murmur and gives him his real identity, Michael Amar, and apologies for not telling him about her and Ray. Oliver visits Thea to check up on her, and to make sure Malcolm is still alive, and she confesses the guilt she feels for almost killing her father but doesn't love him or believe he can love anyone. When Malcolm wakes up Oliver tells him of Ra's offer and Malcolm tells him of a prophecy which states that the one who doesn't perish at Ra's al Ghul's hand will become Ra's al Ghul and Malcolm warns Oliver not to think he has a choice. Later when Oliver is alone with Diggle he reveals Ra's offer to him which Diggle doesn't believe Oliver would ever accept. But since he's been back Quentin is shutting him out, Felicity and Ray are together, and every criminal they faced was released in Brick's campaign and believing that neither Oliver Queen or The Arrow is making a difference begins to think it may be best. Later Roy learns that Amar stole the diamonds to make into bullets so use against cop's protective armor to massacre the police force, payback for being sentenced for a crime he didn't commit but Arrow, Arsenal, Laurel and Nyssa are able to take down his men and personally saves Quentin from Murmur. After talking to Felicity, Oliver remembers why he is pursuing his crusade, to save people, and informs Maseo that he's declining Ra's offer. However Maseo informs Oliver that they're will be consequences. Oliver accompanied Barry to Detroit to confront a possible meta-human named Mari McCabe and confirm whether or not she is a threat. Arrow and Flash arrived at the house of Mari's foster father Chuck but when she saw the two vigilantes she immediately ran and they gave chase. As Flash chased after her on foot Arrow followed on his bike as Mari displayed incredible speed even faster than Flash, even able to run up a building forcing Arrow and Flash to take the fight to the rooftops. Arrow used his grapple arrows to travel between rooftops as Flash continued to chase after Mari on foot, eventually Arrow caught up and told Mari to stop but she simply sarcastically mocked him “I know I know, I’ve failed my city” and used her speed to avoid him. Despite the combined efforts Mari continued to dodge Arrow's shots, crushing his arrows with her bare hands, and outrun Flash. Mari also displayed the ability to camouflage but Arrow attempted to restrain her with a jettisoning arrow but she outran it, only to slip off the side of the building but then displayed the ability of flight. As Mari attempted to fly away Arrow convinced her to come back as they just wanted to talk, though Flash wanted to handle the talking claiming to be better at it but Arrow simply reminded him he just puts metahumans in the pipeline. However Mari shot down Arrow and Flash's claim that she was a metahuman claiming that she wasn't in Central City when the particle accelerator exploded, which Felicity was able to confirm. Though Flash was unconvinced Arrow offered their help to Mari to understand what she can do but she turned them down as she was uninterested and warned them that if they ever showed up at Chuck's house again, she'd kill them and flew off. Ignoring Mari's warning, The Flash and Arrow returned later to her house, where they discovered she'd become a vigilante herself, and The Arrow questioned her intentions to take on Detroit's criminals without training. Mair was able to convince them to let her try things on her own for a while, and they offered their help if she required it. After Mari asked if they had an idea of a name for her, The Flash mentioned Cisco's one, "Vixen", before quickly trying to cover up mentioning Cisco. This led to The Arrow learning that Barry had kissed Felicity, causing him to speed off in worry. Before leaving, The Arrow reminded Mari that the life of a vigilante wasn't an easy one, though he was sure she'd handle it.

Oliver arrives, late, for John and Lyla's wedding and stands as his best man during the ceremony and partakes in the reception where he talks to Laurel but notices a hand cast on her and she claims it to be her new trainer. He also talks to Felicity, who caught the bouquet flowers, but they are horrified to learn from a news app on their phones that someone is impersonating the Arrow and killing criminals. In the Arrowcave Oliver realizes the culprit is Ra's al Ghul trying to persuade Oliver to take his place by forcing the city against him and sends everyone out to find leads but convinces John and Lyla to resume their honeymoon, despite their wanting to help. After learning of a drug trade the Arrow was there, knowing it' the league's next target, and engages 4 assassins all wearing his uniform and is confronted by Maseo who tells Arrow to accept his destiny but he refuses. Later as Oliver examines the arrows used, realizing they're identical, is told by Felicity that Ray knows who Oliver is and plans to stop him using an exosuit he built, as he has his own mission to protect the city. Oliver confronts Ray, learning his hero name "Atom", to persuade him that he's hunting the wrong person but he refuses to listen and vows to stop Oliver. Later, Arrow and Arsenal respond to a 911 call, but find no one and are ambushed by Atom, revealing he faked the call, and attacks them but after a swift battle Arrow overpowers Atom and holds an arrow to him. He challenges Arrow to kill him, proving Felicity wrong, but he hesitates and tells Ray to trust her judgement and leaves. When John returns, after being forced on a Suicide Squad mission, he holds a toast to Deadshot's heroic actions, as he sacrificed himself to get John, Lyla, and numerous hostages to safety. However Oliver also notes that if Maseo may start changing his tactics to include innocent civilians.

After Maseo and the league kill Mayor Castle and badly wound Ray, Quentin reopens the anti-vigilante taskforce and Oliver begins hunting Maseo himself to end the conflict. After learning from Laurel that Nyssa is still in Starling, he asks her for help in finding Maseo and they follow her lead to a building top, where Arrow, Arsenal and Black Canary engage Maseo and league members. After defeating them Ra's al Ghul himself appears and makes the same offer again claiming that otherwise he will be imprisoned for the rest of his life as Quentin leads an S.C.P.D. raid against them, forcing them to run through the building and barely escape. Oliver, Laurel and Roy make it back to Felicity, Diggle and Thea in the Arrowcave where Oliver calls Quentin to reason with him but he refused and demanded he turn himself in. Later overhears Roy and Thea talking, Roy expressing guilt over having to shoot more cops, Oliver offered his apologizes for his predicament but their talk is cut short when the police storm the building looking for Oliver, now aware that he is Arrow because Ra's told Quentin, and escapes and flees to Diggle's apartment where he sees Quentin on TV tell the city of his identity. Oliver then heads to the police precinct and turns himself in, then Felicity, Diggle, Laurel and Roy meet up with him and demanded to know why he's turning himself in and Oliver reveals he made a deal with Quentin to get full immunity for them if he turns himself in. When Oliver was being brought to Iron Heights in the prison bus with Quentin, he reveals that he is also aware Sara was on Lian Yu and Oliver lied to him, reminding him of his failures to stop Malcolm and Slade's plots, and getting Tommy, Sara, Hilton and Moira killed, and he angrily tells him that he's not a hero he's a villain. Before Quentin could belittle Oliver further, the bus is ambushed by Roy wearing the Arrow suit and turning himself in and taking the fall for Oliver's actions.

Due to Roy being arrested for being the Arrow, the District Attorney decided not to charge Oliver with any crime, but Oliver felt guilty that Roy has taken the fall for him. He tried talking Roy out of going to prison, but Roy was insistent on staying to make up for his past sins and to make up for the times Oliver has saved him. Oliver was determined to get Roy out of prison, but he got his hands full when Quentin, sent a squad to investigate Oliver's hideout, only to be disappointed that all of the stuff inside had Roy's fingerprints. With Quentin and the police keeping a close eye for him in the city, he enlisted Ray Palmer's help in defeating a meta-human in the city, Jake Simmons. Initially Oliver was set on taking down Simmons himself, but Ray convinces him he can't because of Quentin and goes out in his place, but is defeated by Simmons. When Ray returns Oliver teaches him that he has to rely not on his tech but his instincts or he'll get killed. Thea then walks in and tells Oliver that Roy was attacked by inmates and Oliver decides to break him out, but Diggle reminds him he could wind up in prison to, but Oliver was still dead-set on it. Diggle attempted to stop him which almost lead to a physical confrontation between them as Diggle tried to stop him from losing everything, but Oliver simply declares he's already lost everything and won't lose Roy. When Oliver leaves the building Felicity chases after him and tries to talk sense into him also and manages to convince him he can't be the Arrow anymore because of Ra's, leaving Oliver to become frustrated with himself believing now there was no Oliver Queen or The Arrow. The second time confronting Simmons, Ray used a neural network system so that Oliver could control Ray's movements from Ray's office, and assisted Ray in defeating Simmons and rescuing Felicity. When Oliver returns to his home he sees Thea in tears and Quentin informs him that Roy has been killed, leaving Oliver distraught and feelings guilty for, but his team revealed that Roy was alive as it was a ploy to fake Roy's death as well as the Arrow's so the police could stop coming after them. Roy parted ways with the team to start a new life shortly after.

When Oliver returned home, he found Thea bleeding to death following her getting stabbed in a fight with Ra's al Ghul and rushed her to the hospital. The doctors informed Oliver they cannot save her. After being contacted by Maseo he angrily confronted him on a rooftop as Maseo told him that if he accepted Ra's al Ghul's offer, then Thea could be resurrected in the Lazarus Pit. Despite Malcolm's warnings that the Pit could change Thea's soul, Oliver is determined to keep his sister alive. When she is dipped into it, she came out mindlessly attacking Oliver before she was put down. When she woke up she had a hard time remembering Oliver, and while it saddened him, he was glad that she is alive. As it was the last time he will supposedly see his friends, Felicity had sex with Oliver and drugged him so they could sneak him out. It failed, but Oliver convinced the League not to kill his friends before saying good-bye to all of them. Oliver renounced his old life, taking on an apprentice role in the League with a new uniform and the name "Al Sah-him" until he is ready to take over as the new "Ra's al Ghul." However unknown to anyone, even his own friends, Oliver had secretly begun working with Malcolm to disable the league from within.

Oliver's psyche was supposedly broken down over the course of the next few weeks so he could embrace his new identity as "Al Sah-him" and that Oliver Queen was supposedly dead to him. He dueled a man who he hallucinated as John Diggle, quickly killing him. Ra's and Oliver then walked through the ruins of a destroyed city where to told him the tale of his ascension. He and his best friend Damien Darhk were the horsemen of the previous "Ra' al Ghul", and heirs to his legacy. Though Damien believed himself worthy to ascend the current Ra's was chosen by his predecessor and ordered to execute Darhk, but hesitated and Damien fled with his followers taking samples of the Lazarus Pit and sought to kill Ra's ever since. Oliver also learns that Darhk is the leader of H.I.V.E., the organization that killed John's brother, and learns that Armitage and Shaw's plans were the work of Darhk. Not wanting Oliver to be burdened by the same mistake he made Ra's assigns Oliver to kill Nyssa, as she is a threat to his ascension. After arriving in Starling City Oliver meets her on the rooftop where Sara was killed and battles her but before he can defeat her, he is stopped by Black Canary and Diggle. Oliver meets with Maseo and informs him of Nyssa's escape and the assassins instead kidnap Lyla while she was looking over her daughter and offered to trade her for Nyssa, much to John's rage. Lyla attempts to get through the Oliver reminding him of the pain John endured when he lost Andy and that meeting Oliver was the only thing that made it go away. Team Arrow arrives and the trade goes successfully but a fight soon breaks out and Oliver wounds and disarms Diggle, only to be shot in the arm by a hooded Thea and Oliver reluctantly leaves with Maseo and a captive Nyssa. However rather than killing Nyssa, Ra's orders Oliver to marry her to connect their families and ensure Ra's bloodline remains in the league, and reveals his plan to use the Alpha-Omega virus Oliver encountered in Hong Kong years ago to wipe out all that remained of Oliver Queen.

After receiving a call for help from Barry to transport his metahuman prisoners to Lian Yu, Oliver left Nanda Parbat to Central City to help him. He arrived too late to help with the prisoners but did arrive in time with Firestorm, armed with nanite-infused arrows from Ray to help Barry defeat Harrison Wells, who is revealed to be the Reverse-Flash. As Oliver attempted to get a clean shot Flash and Reverse-Flash engaged in combat, and Reverse-Flash eventually subdued Flash and used his tornado abilities to send Firestorm blocks away. But with this distraction Oliver was able to shoot Reverse-Flash with an arrow and temporarily eliminate his speed and engaged him in hand-to-hand combat, but Reverse-Flash eventually vibrated the nanites out of his systems and subdued Oliver. Before Reverse-Flash could kill him Flash intercepted him and after they and battled atop S.T.A.R. Labs, Firestorm forced him off the rooftop and Oliver finished him with another arrow knocking him out. Flash thanked Oliver for his help, noting his haircut and new uniform, and Oliver told Barry he might need the Flash to do a favor for him in the near future before leaving.

After returning to Nanda Parbat, Oliver learns that Maseo provided Ra's with the virus from their time in Hong Kong and was secretly shocked but kept this to himself. Oliver later attended a dinner with Ra's and Nyssa and learned that after their marriage Oliver learned that after his marriage and ascension Nyssa was to bare Oliver's child. Oliver secretly met with Dark Archer and informed him of what was to come, with the bio-weapon planned to be unleashed via a F-35 jet. Malcolm was shocked, believing Oliver was months away from being the next "Ra's". With the plan to poison Starling City coming up fast, he had Malcolm tell the team of his true intentions. Maseo eventually found Oliver sitting by the fire, alone, and talked with him about the virus and Maseo reveals even before Akio's death he intended to get revenge on Shrieve. However, despite Oliver's offer to release him upon his own ascension Maseo firmly states that the league is his "prison" and escape is no longer an option. Team Arrow, consisting of Diggle, Laurel, Felicity, Malcolm, Ray and Tatsu, arrive in Nanda Parbat to stop Ra's jet and take out numerous league members and eventually the jet itself, but Ra's appears and reveals that he has the virus. With no choice the team surrenders. Ra's interrogates them but they claim Maseo, killed earlier in the conflict, informed them of the virus but Ra's is doubtful. During the imprisonment, Oliver tried to talk to Diggle privately about how his actions were only done to convince Ra's al Ghul he was on his side, but Diggle was still angry nonetheless. Malcolm tries to tell Ra's that Oliver is the mole in his League but Oliver convinced Ra's that Malcolm was lying, though this is also part of an elaborate scheme to convince Ra's that Oliver is still on his side. Ra's locked Oliver's team in a cell and supposedly killed them with the virus as Oliver watched his friends scream. He was then married to Nyssa despite her resistance.

During the plane ride to Starling City, Oliver revealed his deception and he and Nyssa take out the assassins in the plane, but Ra's escapes with the canister of the virus as he and Nyssa managed to land the plane. Oliver and Nyssa reunite with the team, where Diggle punches Oliver in the face for his actions. In a brief talk, Oliver revealed that he was sabotage the plane and was going to sacrifice his life when he infiltrated the League, determined to stop Ra's at any cost. While looking for Ra's the team learned that Damien Darhk is in Starling City and decide to use him as leverage to force Ra's into handing over the virus. Oliver, Malcolm, John and Nyssa manage to secure the hotel but learn Damien had left hours before and left a decoy in his place, who was soon dispatched by a league assassin. Ra's then contacted Oliver and informed him that the virus had already been activated. Oliver meet with Felicity and she told him that the way to beat Ra's wasn't be expending to die but fighting to live, and Oliver regained his will to live and prepared for the fight, arming himself with the sword that almost killed him. The team begun searching for the virus but a lone assassins met Oliver atop a rooftop and informed him Ra's awaits him atop a bridge, to fight to the death. With little choice Oliver met Ra's and battled him while Team Arrow saved the city from the virus but Ra's eventually gained the upper hand, but Oliver managed to impale him with his blade (while giving Ra's a departure similar to the words Ra's gave him when he was defeated), and Ra's succumbed to his wound. However Oliver is shot by a police sniper off a bridge. He is rescued by Felicity in the A.T.O.M. suit.

Afterward, Oliver decided to stop being a hero for the city as the Arrow is "dead", instead deciding to have a life with Felicity knowing that there are other masks, heroes who can take his place. He gave the title of Ra's al Ghul to Malcolm in return for Malcolm's help in defeating Ra's. Nevertheless, Oliver warns Malcolm that he will never forgive him for Sara's death and turning Thea into a killer but, is willing to let him go if he doesn't come after him or his friends again. He also gives Thea the vigilante name "Speedy" and bids her farewell. Later, Oliver drove off with Felicity, feeling happy for a change of pace.

Fighting H.I.V.E.
Oliver spent 5 months happily living with Felicity. The two of them traveled a lot, during which Oliver learned how to cook, before eventually settling down in Ivy Town. He revealed to his new friends, Adam and Laura Hoffman, of his plans to propose to Felicity that evening over a romantic dinner. However, he was interrupted when Laurel and Thea arrived, needing his help. Although reluctant, Oliver agreed to come back this one time but upon arriving, Diggle made it clear he didn't want Oliver on the team, not having forgiven him for kidnapping Lyla. Cisco had designed Oliver a new suit before knowing he was retiring. Initially, Oliver decided to only wear the suit once then go back into retirement. After learning his enemy was Damien Darhk and realizing he and Felicity actually missed this old life, Oliver decided to return to his crusade to help Star City once more.

Since everyone believed Roy was the Arrow, who was "killed", Oliver adopted a new alias, "Green Arrow", and vowed to be the symbol of hope that the Arrow never was.

When the Star City Dam was under attack from H.I.V.E., Oliver and the team saved it from them and stopped the bomb before it could explode. The team started looking into Lonnie Machin, who was hired by Damien Darhk to kill mayoral candidate Jessica Danforth, an old friend Oliver and Thea's late mother. When the team were able to locate Machin, Diggle and Laurel took and injured Madison Danforth to safety while Oliver and Thea go after Machin managing to arrest him. After the experience, Jessica withdraw her candidacy but Oliver tells Felicity that in order to really do things differently, he's going to run for Mayor.[28] Oliver and Diggle were forced to work together as Thea and Laurel were away. The two track two members of H.I.V.E. but both got away before they could be interrogated. When Oliver was attacked by metahuman Jeremy Tell Oliver and Diggle finally talked and the latter told Oliver that one A.R.G.U.S. informant found out the name of the person who hired Lawton to kill his brother, Mina Fayad, and asked for his help. However, when they were able to track Fayad she had been killed by Damien Darhk. The pair took on Tell and where able to defeat him.

Oliver told the team that he planned to run for Mayor and then show the new Arrowcave to the rest of the team. When a team of rogue police officers killed two police officers and started stealing drugs from dealer, Team Arrow track them and were able to arrest them with the help of Captain Lance.

When the resurrected Sara started killing muggers in town with no recognizable pattern, Green Arrow and the team encountered her when she attacked a nightclub. Oliver and Felicity realized that Sara was trying to find Thea as she was the one who killed her originally. Sara attacked Thea in her home, but she was able to escape and, after Sara attacked her again in the hospital, Oliver and Laurel fended her off. Then the team lured her to Verdant and managed to captured her so John Constantine, an old acquaintance of Oliver, performed a ritual on her that gave her back her soul.

As Oliver works on his campaign, Felicity discovered Ray was alive and has been captured by Damien Darhk, who wanted the A.T.O.M. suit but couldn't use it while it's small. Her determination to find Ray and guilt over not being there to receive his messages caused Oliver to have some insecurities and doubts on their relationship, though Diggle assured him otherwise. Later Team Arrow (also including Curtis Holt) was able to break into the facility where Ray was being held, released him and restore him to his normal size, although Green Arrow barely managed to escape being strangled to death by chains under control from Damien's telekinesis. After Ray was rescued, Oliver and Felicity made up.[72] As Oliver stepped up his mayoral campaign, Damien approached him and offered his financial and PR backing in exchange for Oliver scraping his Bay restoration project but Oliver politely rebuffed him. In the meantime, Green Arrow and his team continued to plague H.I.V.E.'s operations in Star City culminating in a surgical strike against the HQ of the Ghosts by Green Arrow and his team in an effort to rescue Andy Diggle, who is apparently working for H.I.V.E. willingly. After the team extracting Andy and held him prisoner at their hideout, Oliver encourages Diggle not to give up on his brother and later make a public presentation where he didn't decline his previous proposal much to Damien's annoyance. When H.I.V.E. attacked A.R.G.U.S. to obtain a chemical bomb Green Arrow, Speedy and Spartan engaged them and managed to overpower the soldiers, after Green Arrow uses a magnetic arrowhead to forcibly draw their weapons away from them but Green Arrow is confronted by Damien Darhk. Darhk almost drained the life-force out of Green Arrow but is saved by the narrow intervention of Flash who transported him, Speedy and Spartan to safety, but Flash asked for their help protecting a friend of his, Kendra Saunders. After agreeing Team Arrow brought Team Flash and Kendra into the new Arrowcave, much to Barry's awe, but Kendra is unable to explain why her attacker is after her, claiming to have never seen him before, which aggravates Oliver and Barry's decision to bring her into the lair and putting them all in danger. However Felicity suggested drinks at Oliver's apartment to calm the mood which he reluctantly agreed to. At the party, Barry and Oliver reconcile for their earlier difference and Barry noticed a change in Oliver which he admitted to now that he's with Felicity, he admitted he's happy and admitted that his claim last year (that guys like them don't get the girl) was wrong.

However admitted their socializing Kendra's attacker stormed the apartment and attacked the teams but Barry sped Oliver's bow and arrows into his hands and he engaged the intruder, managing to shoot two arrows into his shoulder but Thea intervened and shot him in the chest and caused him to fall over the balcony, but the intruder is nowhere to be seen.

After returning to the Arrowcave Oliver called Quentin for any leads on the intruder and Cisco revealed to Kendra he has powers, the power to see visions of people and past actions they have committed and saw Kendra with wings. At that same moment Malcolm and several league members arrived in the Arrowcave and confirmed the identity of their attack, Vandal Savage, an immortal who was Genghis Khan's most trusted advisor and guided Julius Caesar through the Gallic Wars, and Malcolm stated that nothing can be done to save Kendra. After Kendra is abducted by Carter Hall Green Arrow and Flash set out to find her. After finding him Green Arrow engaged Hawkman with little success, even Flash is outmatched against Carter Hall's flight. After a coordinated effort however Green Arrow and Flash are able to subdue Carter Hall and bring him back to the Arrowcave where he revealed his identity, the reincarnated form of the Egyptian Prince Khufu while Kendra is also the reincarnated form of the Egyptian Priestess Chay-Ara. Both of them are soulmates who were cursed by Savage to reincarnate upon their deaths to Savage could continually kill them and harness their life-force to retail his own immortality and has succeeded 206 times over 4000 years, and claimed that nothing could kill him. Furthermore, Malcolm returned to inform them that Savage had left Star City to retrieve the Staff of Horus to kill Carter and Kendra. To force Kendra's powers to emerge the teams brought her to a rooftop where to embrace her powers she was to jump, and the fear would awaken her powers. Barry was skeptical but Oliver was persuaded by Carter's words but Barry prevented Kendra from falling much to Oliver's annoyance and he tells Barry he needs to trust in his team, and let Kendra embrace who she is. Oliver realized that Savage was headed to Central City for the same reason Kendra was drawn there, to locate the Staff of Horus and Green Arrow and Flash went ahead to stop Savage. After arriving at the chapel it was located in, Green Arrow and Flash engaged Savage but with the staff his power was amplified and neither hero was able to so much as get close. However, before Savage could finish them, he sensed Kendra finally embracing her destiny and he leveled the chapel to escape, though Flash sped himself and Green Arrow to safety. Knowing that Savage would continue to go after Carter and Kendra, Oliver and Barry called both their teams to Central City. While they awaited their arrival Oliver and Barry had drinks at CC Jitters where a child bumped into Oliver and dropped his Flash action figure. Oliver returned it to him but saw the child run towards Samantha, a woman Oliver had an affair with 8 years ago, and begun to suspect that Samantha's child is the same child she claimed to have lost in a miscarriage.

After the teams arrived, they held up in a farmhouse on the outskirts of Central City. Shortly after arriving while Felicity, Cisco, Caitlin and Barry begun working on gauntlets to limit the staff's power and Carter trained Kendra, Oliver headed into town to follow up on Samantha's son. After tracking her down Oliver confronted her about her son, William Clayton, but she claimed that she met William's father 2 months after their affair and Oliver accepted her claim, but discreetly collected a hair of William's. While leaving Oliver was contacted by Malcolm who informed him of a meeting arranged between them and Barry with Savage to negotiate a ceasefire and with little choice, Oliver and Barry agreed. At the meeting, Savage made his demands, to hand over Kendra and Carter or he would vaporize both Central City and Star City and left, but Green Arrow was steadfast in his choice to protect them, which Flash agreed. However, Malcolm opposed their plan, but unable to sway his choice. He then informed Green Arrow that should his plan fail and get Thea killed, he would kill him. After leaving the meeting, Oliver presented Barry with the hair sample, claiming to be hunting a lead on Damien Darhk in Central City and told Barry not to say anything to anyone else.

Oliver returned to Samantha's to confront her again and she finally admitted that she was paid 1 million dollars by Moira to lie about the miscarriage, and Samantha didn't want William to grow up a playboy like his father before him. Oliver, however told her it is his right to know his own son and begged Samantha not to keep William's existence from Felicity, but Samantha made it clear that if Oliver wanted to be involved in William's life, he would keep this secret. When Oliver returned to the house, however Felicity already knew about William and is enraged when Oliver tried to lie to her about the matter and told him that things were over between them. Despite being distraught, Oliver ordered Barry, Kendra and Carter to the meeting point, where Kendra and Carter will attack Savage while Barry obtains the staff and use it against Savage, but orders Thea, John and Laurel to remain behind. At the meeting however, Hawkgirl's conflicted emotions prevent her using her powers and Savage succeeds in killing Hawkman and Hawkgirl, and when Flash attempted to use the staff it being to kill him and Green Arrow intervened and told Flash to run. In this moment of distraction, Savage regained the staff and used it to produce a blast wave that killed Green Arrow instantly and everyone in Central City, but Flash ran back in time back to the meeting with Green Arrow and Malcolm with Savage. After the meeting, Oliver asked Barry what's bothering him and he revealed that he already lived the events of the next day and traveled back in time to reluctantly change it, telling him that everyone died because neither Oliver and Kendra are emotionally ready for the conflict because he just found out that he has a son and Felicity broke up with him for not telling her the truth about it, and Kendra is resistant to embrace who she is. Oliver confronted Cisco and told him to talk to Kendra and help her embrace who she is and succeeds and she gained the knowledge of how to beat Savage, a material in the meteorites that destroyed Egypt 4000 years ago which also powers Savage's staff. Speedy, Green Arrow, Black Canary, The Flash, Spartan, Hawkgirl and Carter Hall after facing Vandal Savage

After Barry retrieved a sample of the meteorite, Oliver ordered everyone, Laurel, Thea and Diggle included, to the meet up point to take down Savage. At the meeting, Green Arrow and Flash "hand over" Carter Hall and Hawkgirl, but before he can attack, Green Arrow freed them from their restraints and they attacked Savage. Black Canary, Speedy and Spartan then flanked him and in the distraction Flash grabbed the staff and used it against Savage. However, Flash struggled to use the staff and Green Arrow assisted him and together they use the staff to vaporize Savage to dust.

After parting ways with Carter and Kendra, Barry talked to Oliver about William and telling Felicity, but Oliver is unsure if he should even be involved in William's life, but Barry convinced him, having grown up without his own father, to be involved. Oliver later visited and confronted Samantha about William's existence, but promised not to tell Felicity or anybody about William and Samantha allowed Oliver to talk to William. Oliver went to his son and they bonded playing with Flash and Captain Cold action figures. After returning to Star City, Oliver kept his vow to not to tell Felicity about William.

After Damien sent a drone to attack the Star City Bay, Oliver revealed to the public his identity and connection to H.I.V.E., much to the latter's annoyance. In an act of revenge, Damien attacked Oliver's mayoral holiday party and kidnapped John, Felicity, and Thea. Later, as Oliver attempts to trade himself for his friends, Damien decides to kill them in a gas chamber to take away what Oliver had to fight for. However, Black Canary and Green Arrow (Malcolm Merlyn) interfered and saved Oliver's compatriots. Damien immediately left the scene and fought with Green Arrow, only to be attacked by Oliver. Malcolm destroyed the facility while Oliver and his team escaped. Later at the restored bay, Oliver held a tree lighting and proposed to Felicity. Damien, who escaped the facility, sent Ghosts to attack Oliver's limo as he and Felicity were heading home. After the driver was killed, Oliver leaves Felicity in the back as he drives them to safety. As he opens the back door of the limo, he finds an injured and unresponsive Felicity with a slight of blood coming out of her mouth.

While Felicity undergoes multiple surgeries, eventually remaining paralyzed from the waist down, an infuriated Oliver and the team track down Darhk's location, but find only several dead Ghost soldiers and an anarchy symbol, deducing that Machin is back and out for revenge against the leader of H.I.V.E., Green Arrow managed to caught and interrogate Machin before freeing him to go after Darhk, tracking him until Darhk's family house; the team arrives and saves Darhk's family, but Machin managed to escapes. Damien showed no gratitude towards this, only mentioning that he would spare Green Arrow a few more weeks to enjoy time with his family. At the hospital, Felicity tried to give Oliver an out due to her condition but he refused and returned the ring onto her finger, affirming their future together.

After Felicity returns home from the hospital, trying to figure out her place on the team now that she is a paraplegic, Oliver pressures Felicity for help trying to convince her that "her superpower is her brain". When Shadowspire infiltrates A.R.G.U.S. looking for the access codes to a project known as "Rubicon", killing Waller when she refuses to help, Oliver and the team, with Felicity's assistance, enter A.R.G.U.S. and stop them. At home, Oliver and Felicity reflect on their pasts and he vows to look for a way to cure Felicity's paralysis.

A few days later, Roy Harper returns to Star City and began raiding various tech companies for parts since The Calculator is threatened to expose his identity if he didn't comply with his demands, having a camera contact lens attached to his right eye. Oliver discovered him after visiting with Thea, though it wasn't until a second encounter did he and the team manage to fake Roy's death to the Calculator and remove the lens. Meanwhile, Thea's bloodlust is beginning to kill her and she slips into a coma. Nyssa showed up at Thea's hospital room, offering Oliver the Lotus elixir, which counters the effects of the Lazarus Pit, on the condition he kills Malcolm.

Oliver later approaches Malcolm and informs him about everything proposing him to surrenders his ring (and thus his role as Ra's al Ghul) to save Thea. However Malcolm isn't convinced beginning instead a "civil war" between his faction of the League of Assassins and a rogue one lead by Nyssa. Later, Malcolm returns to the Arrowcave to say goodbye to Thea remarking to Oliver of the first time he met her when she was four months old, and how he always sensed a deeper connection to her. With no options left, Oliver suggested a way where Malcolm could keep the ring and obtain the Lotus in a trial by combat with Nyssa. At the location of their fight however, Oliver stepped in and volunteered to take Nyssa's place, which she agreed to. Oliver and Malcolm then fought and, after a brief but intense duel, Oliver subdued Malcolm and instead of killing him, cut off his hand and gave the Demon's Head ring to Nyssa in exchange for the Lotus. The rest of the elixir is administered to Thea, curing and reviving her, much to Oliver and the team's relief.

Later, Oliver, Laurel, and Malcolm visited Nyssa, now Ra's al Ghul, witnessing as she took off the Demon's Head ring and threw it into a fire, informing them that she had disbanded the League of Assassins and released its members from their vows. Malcolm then angrily promised Oliver retribution. Back at the loft, Oliver and Felicity comforted each other about Felicity's struggle with turning in her father and Oliver's with betraying Malcolm. Oliver suggested to Felicity they move up their wedding, pointing out they may not get another opportunity like this when everything seems to be going right. She agreed.

Darhk hires a group of mercenaries known as The Demolition Team in order to assassinate Quentin by destroying the building in which he was drawn, but Laurel is able to save him. Later, The Demolition Team sets up an elaborate attack on a mayoral debate between Ruvé Adams (Darhk's wife) and Oliver with the intention of killing everyone inside and leaving Ruvé as the only survivor. However, Team Arrow managed to stop them. Oliver won the debate, putting him ahead in the election. Afterwards, he and Felicity enjoyed their engagement party, where Curtis revealed an implantable bio-stimulant chip that could cure Felicity's paralysis.

Oliver accompanied Felicity as she tested her legs at the gym following the operation with Paul, but with minimal results. While leaving the gym Oliver and Felicity were confronted by Darhk who revealed he had William kidnapped and demanded that Oliver drop out of his mayoral campaign by Friday 6:00 pm. When Darhk left Oliver was forced to tell a confused Felicity that William was his son. At the Arrowcave Oliver tried to explain to Felicity that he hadn't told her about William because of Samantha's conditions. When Laurel, Thea and John arrived he explained William's situation to them to and Thea admitted to Felicity that she knew about William and Felicity was more upset when Oliver admitted that Barry and Malcolm also knew. Oliver went to his office to meet with Samantha who explained that William had simply vanished from their house without leaving a note or signs of a struggle. Oliver tried to reassure Samantha that he'd find William but she didn't believe him and with little choice Oliver told her he was Green Arrow, and showed her the Arrowcave and introduced her to the team. However John reminded Oliver that fighting Darhk was the bigger concern because of his magic and Oliver admitted they needed to adjust their strategy.

Green Arrow traveled to Detroit to seek her help as Vixen was engaging 3 armed gunman and after they took them down, he asked for her help. Back in Star City Oliver introduced Mari to John, Thea, Laurel, Felicity and Samantha and using her powers, she found William's scent and Oliver ordered his team to follow. As Vixen followed his scent Oliver asked Dig if what happened was his fault but John reminded him not to blame himself or contemplate what would have happened, as being a parent was not considering the what ifs but focusing on keeping their child safe. Another part of being a parent is knowing where their child is at all times like John does with Sara and told Oliver to consider keeping William close, to keep him safe. After Vixen found William's location Green Arrow and Vixen confronted Darhk and despite the added strength and managing to hurt him, Darhk still proved stronger than them. He also revealed that he had William moved minutes before their arrival. Darhk used his magic to throw Green Arrow out a window but Vixen was able to catch him and stop him falling to his death, but by the time Black Canary and Speedy showed up Darhk was gone and Vixen was unable to track William. After returning to the Arrowcave Oliver promised a panicking Samantha they'd find William but was contacted by Darhk telling him that, in order to prevent "Green Arrow" from ruining things he was to drop out of his campaign immediately. Mari apologized for being unable to fight Darhk but Oliver reassured her it wasn't her fault that they don't even know where Darhk's powers come from. Mari however suspected that Darhk must use an amulet of some kind the same way she draws her powers, which Quentin confirms having seen an idol in his office from time to time.

As per the agreement, Oliver held a press conference declaring his withdrawal and giving his full support to Ruvè Adams and afterwards apologized to Alex for wasting his hard work, but he asked for an explanation which Oliver wasn't able to give. Oliver was called by Mari and informed that Darhk's power was indeed drawn from an idol but was interrupted when Darhk called telling Oliver to meet him at Nelson Plaza in 3 hours but Felicity was able to track his current location. Instead Oliver, with Samantha's consent, led the team to Darhk's estate. Before leaving however Mari talked to Oliver about William and that keeping William out of his life could be what's best for him. Mari explained that she grew up in a foster home because her parents gave her away because of the evil they were surrounded by, and maybe he should do the same.

At the estate Green Arrow, Black Canary, Spartan and Speedy attacked Darhk's men while Vixen stole the totem. During the assault however Darhk confronted the three and begun to chock them to death in front of William but Vixen was able to break the idol and cut off Darhk's access to his powers. Green Arrow then overpowered and defeated Darhk and fled as the police found William. At the police precedent Quentin told Oliver and Thea what William told the detectives, that Darhk didn't kidnap William that Malcolm did. Later Oliver talked to Mari as she was leaving town who reminded him of what she said earlier, that staying out of his life is what's best for him and he agreed. Oliver then made a recorded message to William for him to view after his 18th birthday telling him that he is William's biological father and that he has remained absent from his life, because he is the Green Arrow. After recording the message Felicity stops by and puts her ring on the table and tells him she can't be with him if he can't trust her. At that very moment, her spinal implant activates and she is able to walk again but leaves in tears.

A week later, Cupid, heartbroken by Deadshot's death, returned to Star City and started targeting celebrity couples on their wedding day in an "anti-love crusade". Green Arrow and Speedy managed to save her latest victims, but failed to apprehend her. To lure her into a trap, Oliver and Felicity set up a fake wedding at the Hochman Hotel. Despite the circumstances, Oliver attempted to salvage his relationship with Felicity by reiterating in his vows how much she means to him, having helped him see the light again, and declared Felicity to be his "always".

Just then, Cupid arrived and shot Oliver in the chest with an arrow, mocking their love. However, Oliver was unharmed, having wore a Kevlar vest underneath his suit. Cupid then showed them a detonator, revealing she rigged the hotel with C4 bombs. When Cupid attempted to undermine the couple's relationship, Felicity countered that she and Oliver became the best possible versions of themselves due to their love, as it gives life meaning. Using the distraction, Speedy and Spartan engaged Cupid. Oliver eventually used Diggle's gun to shoot Cupid with a stunning dart. She was then delivered to the SCPD. Afterwards, Felicity broke up with Oliver for good and decided to leave Team Arrow, explaining that while she loves him, she can't trust that he won't lie to her again after what happened with William. Oliver pleaded Felicity to reconsider, not wanting to let her go, saying he needs her in his life. Felicity sadly replied she's "already gone".

Following his breakup with Felicity, Oliver begins to throw himself into training the team. Later, Brie Larvan launches an attack on Palmer Technologies trapping Thea, Felicity, and Donna. Oliver and the team launches an assault on the building to rescue them but he is injured during the attack and has one of Larvan's robotic bees slowing multiplying inside him until it eventually kills him. Using an idea from Curtis Holt, Laurel uses the Canary Cry to cancel out the frequency that Larvan is using to control her bees and save Oliver's life.

Later, Oliver grew frustrated at Curtis' excitement to be helping the team, angrily reminding him that people could die in their line of work. When Laurel pulls him away, Oliver tries to explain that his life as a vigilante is what ruined his relationship with Felicity and took him away from the happy life he had with her, and it isn't fair that he could save his city, but not his relationship. While sympathetic, Laurel points out that Felicity left Oliver because he lied to her as himself, not Green Arrow. She also reminds Oliver that life is never fair whether he's in Star City or Ivy Town, but he can save the city as he is a beacon of hope to the people and she wishes that he would save some hope for himself. Later, Green Arrow burst into Felicity's office, where Larvan has taken her hostages. Oliver fought a humanoid manifestation of Larvan's bees and eventually fired an arrow at her army, which held a virus developed by Curtis. After her bees were shut down by the virus, Larvan shot Oliver with her gun and began to threaten everybody in the room. However, Curtis reactivated the bees himself and used them to incapacitate Larvan. Afterwards, Oliver apologized to Curtis and decides to take Laurel's advice.

After Malcolm manages to recapture Damien's Khushu Idol and a failed attempt to recapture it, Oliver grows suspicious of Andy. He interrogates Andy at Diggle's apartment but Diggle angrily stops him. Later as Oliver and Laurel begin discussing how the team is falling apart, Oliver supports Laurel becoming Star City's district attorney, even if it means she might have to give up being Black Canary. Later, Damien stages a prison riot to escape and as Oliver and the team go to confront him, Andy betrays them by revealing his allegiance to Damien, who reveals that he knows the team's identities and regains his mystical powers from the idol. While using his powers to restrain Team Arrow, Darhk, still enraged over Quentin's testimony against him, takes one of Oliver's arrows and stabs Laurel with it. Oliver takes Laurel to Starling General, where Dr. Schwartz and her team attend to Laurel. Schwartz makes Oliver leave, promising to take care of Laurel.

Oliver waits at the hospital and is eventually joined by Diggle, Thea and Felicity, who comforts him. Schwartz then allows the group to see Laurel, whom she assures will recover. Laurel tells team that that night was supposed to be her last mission as Black Canary, but she could never give the mantle up as it makes her feel alive and she loves them so much. As Oliver and Laurel speak privately, Laurel assures him that she is glad that he found Felicity and hopes that he find his way back to her, but admits that he will always be the love of her life. Oliver was stunned and confused as to why she's telling him this now. Laurel explains that this night was a reminder to her that anything can happen. She asks him to promise not to make her the last Canary and give the identity to someone else so that way, there will still be a part of her fighting beside him and the team.[30] Suddenly, Laurel starts seizing and passes away at 11:59 pm, leaving Oliver and the team devastated.

After Laurel's death, Oliver told a eulogy in her honor at her funeral, where he reflected on his relationship with Laurel and her desire to help the city as a lawyer. He revealed to the people attending that Laurel was the Black Canary. After the funeral, Barry rushes to the grave site, having missed the funeral due to dealing with Zoom. He said he no longer blames himself for this, but he still is responsible and plans to hunt down and kill the person responsible (Darhk). After the funeral, Oliver returned to his limo, where Felicity was in tears and told Oliver he needed to kill Darhk for Laurel's death. Oliver responds that he doesn't know how but Felicity reminds him that he has never given up trying to find a way to defeat their adversaries, and must do so now in honor of Laurel to avenge her death. In the Arrowcave, Oliver discussed with the team a strategy going forward, with avenging Laurel's death now their top priority. He also tells them he finally got back in contact with John Constantine, who told him that he found a way to counteract Darhk's powers by traveling to Hub City and meeting with someone who could assist them in their current situation. Oliver also makes it clear to everyone that he doesn't want to risk another attack on Darhk until they have found a permanent solution to take down him and nobody is to move on him until then, much to Diggle's chagrin.

Later as he was packing, Felicity convinced Oliver to let her come along. After arriving in Hub City, they met with Esrin Fortuna in a casino, who led them into a secret chamber. To counteract his Darhk's magic, Oliver learned to use light magic, known as the "Light of the Soul", the opposite of the magic Darhk was using. Oliver initially failed Esrin's test after being overwhelmed by the darkness inside him, but Felicity encouraged him to keep trying. Oliver was later able to use light magic against Darhk by thinking about the positive things in his life, including Felicity, as hope was the way the light magic was triggered, like with the tattoo he was given by Constantine on Lian Yu.[83] Once Oliver and Felicity returned to Star City, the team found out Darhk's endgame, Genesis, which would completely decimate the Earth with nuclear fire and start over, as he believed mankind was destroying the world. With Felicity's help, Oliver also rescued Thea from a town built underneath The Glades called Tevat Noah, where Darhk and H.I.V.E.'s followers would stay to protect themselves from the nukes.[84] In Tevat Noah, Oliver and Diggle battled Malcolm and some Ghosts. They also met some of Darhk's followers, causing Oliver to question if his work was really accomplishing anything. He learned Thea had been drugged with a H.I.V.E. suggestion pill by Malcolm and helped her overcome the brainwashing by reminding her how they always fought together. Upon learning Lonnie Machin was trying to destroy Tevat Noah, Oliver, Diggle, and Thea confronted him while Malcolm evacuated the citizens. Ultimately, Tevat Noah was destroyed, with Ruvé dying in the process. She pleaded Oliver to save Nora, which he did.

As Darhk activated the nukes, Oliver gave a public speech to the citizens rioting in Star City. He got everyone to calm down and Felicity with the help of Curtis disabled the nuke heading for the city. Oliver fought Darhk in public in front of a mob of Star City citizens. The mob helped the Green Arrow as they charged the ghosts and fought them. Oliver used the light magic to take away Darhk's magic and the two traded many punches with the fight evenly matched. Oliver picked up an arrow off the street and stabbed Darhk through the stomach, killing him, similar to the way he killed Laurel. After defeating Darhk and H.I.V.E., Oliver returned to the Arrowcave, where Diggle and Thea quit the team and retired, both they needed some time to find themselves after everything that has happened. The next day after Oliver visited Laurel's grave, he got a call from the city council announcing that he was voted to be the new mayor of Star City.

Sins of the past
For the next 5 months, Oliver began fighting crime in the streets on his own again with only Felicity helping him from her computer. Additionally their relationship became complicated as they had slept together once but Felicity stated that nothing had changed as she still felt that Oliver did not trust her, however, they mostly tried to stay friendly to one another. Additionally, the crime rate in Star City began to increase so Felicity suggested that they put together a new team of vigilantes together. However, Oliver quickly dismisses the subject, hoping that John and Thea would return soon. Oliver occasionally neglected his mayoral duties when protecting the city with Thea, his newly-elected Chief of Staff, covering for him. Oliver's public victory over Darhk also caused many new vigilantes to appear and sometimes get in Oliver's way while operating as Green Arrow. Oliver also met Nate Heywood, whom he helped find the Waverider when he noticed that Legends were missing.

To honor Laurel's memory, Oliver commissioned a statue of her as the Black Canary. During the memorial ceremony, Oliver was taken hostage by Tobias Church's men. Oliver eventually managed to escape with Thea's help but she was shocked when she saw Oliver killing his captor. Oliver resorted back to killing when necessary, as he blamed himself for Laurel's death knowing that if he had killed Darhk earlier she would have not died; this ultimately caused Thea to leave once more because killing was not what she or Laurel would want. After rescuing the rest of Church's hostages, Oliver decided to put together an Anti-Crime Unit as the Mayor and eventually relented and agreed to put together a team together as could not take on all crime by himself anymore.

Oliver recruited and began training Curtis, Rene Ramirez, and Evelyn Sharp; however, the training was so brutal and Oliver's belittling of them eventually cause them to caused them to quit. While facing Church, Oliver recruited Rory Regan who he found very similar to himself as they were both were trying to fight to honor their father's sacrifices. Eventually the recruits also returned once Oliver revealed his identity to them.

After learning from Lyla that John has been wrongfully imprisoned but is allowing himself to stay inside prison due to the guilt he still feels over Laurel's death and killing his brother, Oliver decides to break him out prison despite Felicity and the recruits objections. Once meeting John, Oliver convinces him to not abandon his family and to seek redemption as "Spartan", causing John to rejoin Team Arrow.[87] Oliver eventually managed to defeat Church once Church discovered he was the Green Arrow, by having Christopher Chance posing as himself and publicly faking his death to apprehend Church; once captured Church confessed that there was someone much worse coming for Oliver, a mysterious figure named Prometheus, and that he was going to end him. Oliver and John began investigating into Prometheus after he had killed Church and over a dozen prison guards transferring Church.[88] Prometheus had also begun killing innocent civilians, whose names were anagrams of people on The List whom Oliver had targeted in the beginning of his vigilante crusade. Once this was discovered, Oliver confessed to the recruits his actions as the Hood. Most of them unnerved by this, particularly Evelyn who called Oliver a hypocrite for preventing her from seeking vengeance for her parents' deaths. Additionally, another vigilante calling himself Vigilante appeared whose methods were to extreme as he called every criminal in his path not caring if civilians got caught in the crossfire seeing it as collateral damage, causing Oliver to confront him due to his extremities. Oliver also began to develop a close relationship with reporter Susan Williams, who had initially been hostile to him during his mayoral campaign.

As Oliver and Diggle were tracking down Vigilante, who engaged them in a shootout and as he was about to shoot them Barry Allen came to their aid and super speed them to Felicity's apartment. Barry told Oliver that aliens known as the Dominators, have invaded the Earth for unknown reasons, with insisting on Team Arrow, the Legends, and Supergirl's help. Oliver had learned that Barry had changed timeline by creating and undo Flashpoint, where he changed the lives of his friends including John's, Oliver wanting everybody focused on the Dominators opted Barry to keep this a secret until it was over. However, Cisco eventually found out leaving most of the alliance distrustful of Barry. Oliver reminds Barry that he needs to stop blaming himself for Flashpoint as he wanted his parents back something that Oliver admits to understanding even admitting that he would do the same thing to have a different life confessing to Barry his mother's murder and his father's suicide. When the Dominator's successfully mind-controlled all the assembled heroes with the exception of Oliver and Barry, the two proceeded to fight their friends. Oliver faced Thea, John, and Sara but his situation became more perilous when he ran out of arrows and was forced to carry Wally West to safety. Ultimately, Barry was able to trick Supergirl into destroying the device that was controlling them freeing them from the Dominator's control; with the heroes regaining trust in Barry. Suddenly, Oliver, Thea, John, Ray, and Sara were teleported up to the Dominator's mothership.

In order to extract information on meta-humans, the five were placed in a shared artificial reality where Oliver never got on the Queen's Gambit while the Dominators secretly probed their minds. In this reality Oliver's parents, Tommy, and Laurel were all alive. Oliver was also happily engaged to Laurel and their wedding was imminent; it is also assumed that he never cheated on her with her sister or Samantha. Gradually, Oliver along with the others began to slowly realize that this was not their reality and Oliver tearfully hugged his parents goodbye and had to convince Thea to leave much to her disappointment. In order to escape the reality they had to go to Smoak Technologies, Oliver and the others had to face simulations of their greatest and most personal enemies, with Oliver fighting and defeating a simulation of Deathstroke. Once, defeating the simulations, Oliver was forced say goodbye to Laurel admitting that he loves her but that he never deserved her love and that she always deserved better. As Oliver was leaving the virtual world, he saw images of the real versions of his parents, Laurel, Tommy, Roy, and Felicity reminding him of his purpose and that his mission is not finished. Oliver and the other eventually escaped the Dominators' mothership by hijack a small pod and managed to get on to the Waverider. Eventually, realizing that the Dominators' plan was to exterminate all meta-human life on Earth, Oliver, Barry, and Kara lead the everyone and defeated the Dominators saving the Earth. Oliver and Barry eventually had a drink together were they discussed how while their lives are weird, they are fulfilling.[62]

During the night of the City Council Christmas party at City Hall, Curtis and Paul were attacked by Prometheus who then sliced Curtis's neck with a shuriken laced with a drug that Oliver was familiar with. Learning that the drug had ties to Claybourne Pharmaceuticals, Oliver and the team assumed that Prometheus was Justin Claybourne who was seeking to kill Oliver and now knows Oliver and his team's identities. Following the clues that Prometheus was leaving for Oliver to find him, Oliver faced Prometheus and the two were evenly matched in battle. Eventually Rene came and had a clear shot Prometheus but his guns were shot out of his hands by Evelyn who secretly aligned herself with Prometheus believing that Oliver is not a hero but fraud who needs to be stop to save Star City; both Prometheus and Evelyn escaped using a smoke diversion. The team stunned by Evelyn's betrayal and uncovered ashes of human cremation that were Justin Claybourne, leading them to ponder Prometheus's identity.

Felicity's boyfriend, Detective Billy Malone, doing his own investigation sent a photograph of a baby to Felicity and the Team before being abducted by Prometheus. Oliver learns from Felicity and John, that the baby is Claybourne's illegitimate son whose birth records are sealed who Oliver now realizes is coming to kill him for revenge; even going so far as to learn from his from teacher Talia al Ghul based on one of Prometheus's moves that he used on Oliver. While lamenting on how his actions caused the creation of Prometheus, Oliver realizes where Prometheus is located. Oliver arrives in the very location where he killed Justin Claybourne and discovers that Prometheus had recreated the scene where Oliver killed Claybourne's bodyguard's to get to Claybourne himself using various corpses. Meeting Prometheus, he asks if Oliver hesitated at all when he killed his father but also states that this is not about revenge. As the two fight, Prometheus taunts Oliver from the shadows telling him that he knows everything about Oliver and is going to show him how everything Oliver touches dies. Seeing Prometheus behind him, Oliver fires three arrows into his chest killing him but then notices his swords taped to his hand and voice speaker device on his chest, pulling the mask off him Oliver sees that it is Billy Malone whose mouth was duct taped leaving Oliver devastated over killing an innocent man. Oliver then arrives at the bunker and confessing to killing Billy due to Prometheus setting him up, Felicity tearfully not blaming him instead blames Prometheus. Oliver wondering if Prometheus is right asks the team to stay away from but John tells them that they are not going to. After an intimate visit to Susan William's apartment, Oliver returned to the Arrowcave and is shocked to find Laurel alive and well.

Oliver was stunned by Laurel's presence, who claimed that she was saved by Sara and the Legends using the Waverider's advanced technology to fix her embolism. She also explains that from Oliver's perspective, it has not happened yet. Overjoyed, Oliver hugs Laurel as Felicity arrives, also stunned by Laurel's presence. Felicity reveals to Oliver that John has been recaptured and is incarcerated. While visiting John, Oliver is glad to know that his friend is planning to fight the charges against him. Oliver proceeds ask Adrian to defend John. Later, Oliver attended a party at Felicity's apartment with Team Arrow to celebrate Laurel's return. However, Felicity suspicious of Laurel's return, comes to realize that she not their Laurel but her doppelgänger from Earth-2, Black Siren. As Black Siren uses her sonic scream to attack Rory and Felicity, Oliver intervenes, forcing Black Siren to escape. Oliver learns that Black Siren was freed by Prometheus, who broke into S.T.A.R. Labs. Later, Black Siren contacts Oliver, asking him to meet with her at the Black Canary memorial statue. While she offers a device that will allow him to discover Prometheus's location, Felicity orders the recruits to take Black Siren down. A battle breaks out, during which Laurel's statue is destroyed, and Oliver eventually sedates Black Siren with a dart. While interrogating Black Siren, Oliver learns that she was in love with his Earth-2 doppelgänger and after he died, she move to Central City, where she gained her powers and made a series of bad choices. While Oliver tries to convince Black Siren that she is not beyond redemption, Felicity tells Oliver that he is letting his personal feelings for Laurel and her death cloud his judgement about her doppelgänger. After Felicity releases Black Siren after secretly placing tracking nanites in her to lead Team Arrow to Prometheus, Oliver confronts Prometheus and the two engage in a fight, with the latter ultimately gaining the upper-hand after kicking Oliver through a wooden wall. Oliver witnesses Black Siren attacking Felicity and tries to talk her out of it, to no avail. Curtis manages to use a dampener device inhabit Black Siren's powers and Felicity knocks her out. After imprisoning Black Siren in A.R.G.U.S., Oliver still believes she can be redeemed but accepts that she wasn't really Laurel. While Oliver and Felicity watch the cleanup of the Black Canary statue, Oliver decides to honor Laurel's final promise and find a new Black Canary.

After turning down all the possible recruits for the Black Canary, Oliver decides to look into former police detective Tina Boland due to her combat skills and possessing a meta-human sonic scream like Black Siren. Traveling to Hub City with Curtis and Rene, Oliver meets Tina offers her membership on the team but Tina refuses. Oliver once again offers her help even revealing his identity and some of his history to her, as well as aiding her against getting Sean Sonus who killed her partner. Once Tina kills Sonus, she arrives in Star City to meet Oliver and accept his offer to join the team; she also reveals that Tina Boland was her alias for undercover work and that her real name is Dinah Drake.

After John is released from prison, Oliver and his team head to Russia after learning that J.G. Walker who framed John was located there as well. While in Russia, Oliver receives an unfriendly greeting from Anatoli and the Bratva due his involvement that lead to the death of Alexi Leonov when Oliver was searching for Slade. Ultimately to stop John from torturing one of Walker's man, Oliver agreed to due an assignment for Anatoli which then give him information towards Walker's location. After completing the assignment with Dinah, Oliver then told John and Felicity not to seek to his level as he wants them to be better than because they are and to prove Prometheus wrong that he is not beyond redemption. Oliver and the team eventually apprehended Walker and stopped the nuclear bomb, they returned home.

At City Hall, Oliver and Adrian discuss the Green Arrow's murder of Detective Malone before a masked James Edlund broke into and shot up City Hall, killing seven people. While looking for the assailant Green Arrow runs into Vigilante and has a brief fight with him. Oliver struggles to deal with the situation but with encouragement from Quentin, he speaks with a council woman of the city trying to convince her to enable the Gun Law Registry. He then receives a call about Edlund at Starling General Hospital about to attack again and goes to confront him. After talking with Edlund, Oliver gets him to stand down and surrender to the SCPD. While searching for Prometheus's identity, Oliver meets his mother, Amanda Westfield. Begging her to tell him her son's real name, Amanda refuses citing the man who killed her son was a real monster. After discovering that Oliver had talked to his mother, Prometheus released information of the Green Arrow's involvement in Detective Malone's death causing the ACU to try to capture him while Green Arrow tries to capture Liza Warner, China White and Cupid who escaped custody. Oliver eventually managed to convince Captain Frank Pike to drop the manhunt after telling Pike that Green Arrow was set up by Prometheus and was assisted by Pike and the ACU in capturing the women. Once this occurred, Prometheus began attacking Oliver's administration that he was involved in the coverup of Malone's death.

With the City Council now potentially calling for an impeachment because of Oliver's recent decisions as mayor, Vigilante begins targeting Oliver now believing that his administration is corrupt attacks him, Quentin, Thea, and Dinah during a limo drive. Seeing no other choice to save his position, Oliver decides to publicly throw the "Green Arrow" under the bus by denouncing him as a cop killer and admits that he did so because he still wanted to believe that Green Arrow was a hero. Eventually the City Council drops the impeachment hearings allowing Oliver to stay in office, but Oliver is now wanted by the authorities as the Green Arrow due to his announcement as a criminal. Thea later resigns from Oliver's administration due her acting like their mother, blackmailing and damaging Susan Williams's reputation and career once she gathered enough evidence to prove that Oliver was the Green Arrow; this also greatly damaged Oliver and Susan's relationship.

After discovering Talia's possible location by Curtis, Oliver visited her temple where she revealed that she knowingly trained Prometheus so that he could get revenge for the death of his father and Talia's father as well, where she revealed her full name to Oliver who did not know she was Ra's al Ghul's daughter. Talia also revealed Prometheus's identity as Oliver's recent friend and collaborator: Adrian Chase. Returning to Star City, Oliver confronted Adrian where he revealed that he kidnapped Susan and that she would die if Adrian did not visit her time to keep her fed and hydrated. While searching for Susan, Oliver visited Adrian's house and confronted his wife, Doris, soon afterward Star City Police arrived on Adrian's orders believing the Green Arrow was attempting to kill the District Attorney's wife. Adrian's actions ultimately forced Oliver to issue a shoot on sight order for his alter-ego limiting his actions as Green Arrow even further. Oliver decided to give Captain Pike a USB drive containing information on Adrian as Prometheus including his birth identity as "Simon Morrison" that Felicity put together, however, Adrian then hospitalized Pike caused him to be sent into a coma. While there, Adrian taunted Oliver and reminded him of all the people who have died because of him and that he was only one loss away from being completely destroyed. After Felicity eventually discovered were Adrian has kept Susan, Oliver eventually rescued Susan. Confronting Adrian, he reveals to Oliver he placed explosives on the building and Oliver reveals that he brought John and Adrian's wife to stop him. As Doris begs him to Adrian fatally stabs her, John takes to her out of the building to resuscitate her while Oliver and Adrian enter a violent fight which ends when Talia arrives shooting Oliver with a sedative arrow. Oliver is then held captive by Adrian and Talia who intend to make him suffer, Oliver ask what game Adrian is trying to play if he does not intend to kill him. Adrian replies that when Oliver killed his father he helped show Adrian who he really is and Adrian promises to do the same thing to Oliver.

For over a week, Adrian had begun torturing Oliver in various ways to get Oliver to confess to a secret that he had kept from John, Felicity, and even from himself. As Adrian reminds of Oliver of his victims, as well as threatening the lives of his loved ones revealing that he sneaked into Felicity's apartment and knows about his son, William. Adrian then brought Evelyn into the prison where he gave them a choose and knife deciding which one would live or die. Evelyn showing signs of physical abuse, apologizes for betraying him to which Oliver says its alright and tries to convince her to help him escape but she ultimately decides to attack Oliver who takes the knife away from her. Adrian appears and grabs Evelyn, then seemingly breaks her neck right in front of Oliver. Angered by Evelyn's death, Oliver tells Adrian that he will kill him which Adrian ask why wants to kill him because it is not because he has too. Ultimately after a week of physical and psychological torture, Oliver breaks down and screams that he kills because he wants to and because he likes it, much to Adrian's smug satisfaction. Adrian tells Oliver that his father's crusade was an excuse so that he could justify a killing spree and that those he loves such as his mother, Tommy, and Laurel have paid the price for his actions. It is revealed that Evelyn is still alive as she was in on Adrian's plan. Before letting Oliver go as he promised, Adrian burns off Oliver's Bratva tattoo as a reminder of his time with Adrian and what he confessed to him. Returning to the Arrowcave bruised and broken, much to John, Felicity, and Curtis's shock, Oliver announces that he is done being the Green Arrow and is shutting his crusade down.

Believing Adrian to be correct, Oliver decides to push everyone in his life away, refusing to let them act as vigilantes so that they do not pay for his sins. While in his office Adrian offers Oliver the chance to kill him but Oliver refuses and knows that Adrian is under private security detail making extremely difficult for him to be capture. Still seeing Adrian as a danger to the city, Oliver contacts Anatoli and the Bratva and him to kill Adrian, Anatoli agrees to this but in exchange for supplies from Star City to make drugs to sell in the Bratva. John and the team eventually discover Anatoli's actions, leaving John to meet Oliver who then demands that he stay out of the Bratva way. Worried about what has happened to Oliver, John confronts him and Oliver confesses that Adrian helped him realize that he is a monster who enjoys killing and that his father's crusade was a justification to do so. Eventually, John and the Team manage to save Adrian from the Bratva assassination attempt believing that Oliver will come to regret it later but also puts Adrian in Witness Protection. Oliver arrives home and punches John for this and is about to leave before John states he will never be done with Oliver or believe what Adrian has made him believe as he truly knows what kind of man Oliver is bad and all. As John reminds him of when Oliver talked him out rotting in prison for Andy's death he convinces Oliver to become the man who is worthy of being the Green Arrow if he thinks he doesn't deserve it. John's word partially get through to Oliver, as he goes to visit Anatoli and asks him to call off their arrangement to which Anatoli refuse and reveals that he has hostages in case Oliver decide to back out of his deal. Asking Team for help, Oliver manages to save the hostages but decides to let Anatoli go; later the two meet up where they discuss how much Anatoli has changed and that he is now no different from Gregor. Later, Oliver is overjoyed to learn that Felicity and Curtis found a video proving that Adrian is Prometheus and reveals it to the police and the press, causing Adrian to flee Star City.

Over the next few weeks, Oliver and the team began searching for Adrian to no avail. Eventually, frustrated with their inability to capture Adrian, Felicity decides to go rogue and perform an operation for Helix, a hacktivist group that she been secretly employed with for months to gain a device that will pinpoint Adrian's exact location. In exchange, Helix wants Felicity to break out their leader, Cayden James, who is being held at an A.R.G.U.S. facility. Oliver confronts Felicity, believing that she is making a mistake doing this favor for Helix and begs her not to but she refuses. citing on how Oliver is willing to do anything to protect the city and asks him to stop her if he still feels that. Felicity and Helix ultimately prevail in freeing Cayden with Felicity purposely standing Oliver's way to ensure their escape. Later while arguing with Felicity in the bunker, Oliver and Felicity become trapped due to Adrian planting and activating an electromagnetic pulse that completely shuts down the bunker. With oxygen running low and Felicity unable to walk, Oliver is pushed physically to get themselves out of there. Believing that they could very well die, Oliver reveals to Felicity what Adrian made him confess: his fear that he actually enjoyed killing people. He also tells Felicity that despite believing that he doesn't trust her he does and always will and if anything, he doesn't trust himself. They’d then have “bunker sex”. Eventually, Oliver and Felicity manage to escape the bunker with John and the team's help. While recovering, Felicity visits Oliver and apologizes for her hypocrisy as of late, having started to understand his past decisions. She also reiterates her statement from their time trapped together, telling Oliver about how he is not a monster and that he should figure out what kind of man he is.

When Oliver arrived at City Hall, Quentin arrives telling Oliver that there is a crate delivered to him by Adrian under his birth name. The crate later is revealed to contain the remains of Councilman Henry Goodwin, who possesses DNA of his father, Robert, according to Dinah. Believing Adrian is now trying to torment him by destroying his father's reputation, Oliver goes after Chase but uncovers that he trying to recreate his father's weaponized version tuberculosis with Derek Sampson's help. Oliver and Thea, later talk to Justin Claybourne's former lawyer, Darren Coffman. Coffman reveals that Adrian had contacted him and left him a flash drive for Oliver; the drive contains video footage that his father was directly involved in Goodwin's death and proceeded to cover it up. Oliver is in shock after watching it, and ultimately comes to the decision to no longer continue his crusade for his father's sake. Making a return as the Green Arrow, Oliver faces against Adrian alone and eventually the fight ends when Oliver tells Adrian what Coffman told Claybourne; Adrian's father secretly planning to disown him for his apparent psychopathy. This ultimately causes Adrian to become disheartened and surrenders to Oliver who knocks Adrian out. With Chase now in custody, Oliver decides to show Thea their father's message for her in which he asks her to always watch over her brother. Oliver later decides to publicly announce Robert's involvement in Goodwin's death but also reveals the true circumstances of his father's death including sacrifice so that Oliver could live.

On his birthday, Oliver is relieved that Adrian is off the street, that he now has 70 percent of the people's approval as mayor, and has a surprise party thrown to him by Felicity. Eventually, Oliver learns that Rene, Dinah, and Curtis have been kidnapped by Adrian's people; Adrian claims that his allies have orders to kill them unless Oliver releases him which he refuses to do so. Later, Quentin and Thea are kidnapped by Evelyn and Black Siren forcing Oliver to send John and Felicity away so that Adrian's people cannot figure out where they are. After interrogating Adrian, Oliver goes back to the bunker were Malcolm reveals himself, but Oliver is still angry at him over kidnapping William. Later, Oliver learns that John and Felicity where taken by Talia's forces. While witnessing Adrian's prison transfer, Oliver receives an unknown video message of William being held captive by Adrian and Talia's forces. With Malcolm's help, Oliver knocks out all the prison guards demanding wanting to know why Adrian had to involve his son which Adrian replies that Oliver involved his wife; to keep his son and his friends alive Oliver reluctantly decides to let Adrian escape via helicopter. Oliver later contacts Nyssa for her help and eventually discover where Adrian is headed to with his friends: Lian Yu. After arriving on Lian Yu with Nyssa and Malcolm, Oliver goes to meet Slade asking for his help.

While in Slade's prison, Oliver notices Slade's differences to which Slade replies that the psychological effects that the Mirakuru had on him had worn off a long time ago. Oliver offers Slade the freedom from his cell and all the information Oliver has on his son, Joe, in exchange for helping save his friends, his sister, and his son. As Slade agrees, Oliver also goes to release Digger Harkness promising him freedom in exchange. Oliver, Slade, Malcolm, Nyssa, and Harkness eventually come across Felicity, Thea, Curtis, and Samantha in wooden cages; as Oliver tries to free them Harkness turns on them revealing that Adrian already visited him and convinced him to join him additionally Talia and Evelyn appear as well aiming at Oliver. When Harkness offers Slade the chance to join them, Slade pretends to accept telling Evelyn to put a gun to Oliver's head but Slade quickly turns against Harkness allowing Oliver to quickly disarm and neutralize Evelyn and save Samantha from an arrow shot by Talia. After freeing everyone, Oliver is questioned by Thea for working with the men who killed their parents but Oliver replies that Adrian has everyone they love and he is out of options. Sending Malcolm with Felicity, Thea, Curtis, and Samantha, Oliver goes with Nyssa and Slade to track Talia and Harkness who escaped. While searching with Nyssa, Slade and Oliver discuss how Oliver's past keeps coming back to haunt him because he suffers from survivor's guilt as he blames himself for his father's suicide and everything else that has happened to him he been more weight that has been added on to him. Slade also tells Oliver that in order for him truly move forward he needs to forgive himself for his sins, even if it is hardest thing for him to do.

After discovering Adrian's hideout, Slade and Oliver come with plan in which Slade knocks Oliver out causing him to be delivered to where John, Rene, Dinah, and Quentin are being held by Black Siren and Slade. Oliver then gives Dinah a sonic amplifier collar that will allow her to use her powers despite the sonic dampener jamming them, allowing Dinah to break the chains shackling them. Meeting up with Slade, Oliver asks if he has seen William to which Slade replies William is not in their location. Adrian, Black Siren, and Talia's students then appear with Oliver demanding to know where his son is, to which Adrian smugly comments that Oliver is still ten steps behind him even at the end. As Oliver's force battle Adrian's, Oliver personally fights Adrian who tries to goad him into killing him to show everyone who he truly is. Oliver, having Adrian at his mercy, replies that it is who he was before not who is now and that he will never be that person again even as Adrian lies about killing William. Curtis and Felicity later contact Oliver that Adrian has planted bombs all over Lian Yu linked directly to him, thus if Adrian dies the island will blow up. Adrian manages to escape with a smoke bomb causing Oliver to pursue him. As Adrian escapes from Lian Yu by boat, Oliver gets on the boat and severely beats Adrian demanding to know where William is. While distracted, Adrian then shows that William is on the boat with him and puts him in a choke-hold. Adrian then tells Oliver that he can kill Adrian and save his son but in doing so will cause the bombs on Lian Yu to explode or he save everyone on the island by not killing him but Adrian will then kill William; ultimately proving Adrian's point that everything Oliver loves dies because of him. Hesitant at first, Oliver lowers his bow but shoots Adrian in the leg and grabs William to safety. Realizing that Oliver would never truly kill, Adrian congratulated Oliver on winning and told him how lonely it was going to be for him and his son as he pulled a gun on himself and pulled the trigger. Oliver and William then helplessly watch Lian Yu explode with everyone they know and love trapped on the island caused by Adrian's suicide. After the blasts died down, Oliver and William raced to the shore while Oliver reassured a confused William to wait by the shore while he went to find his friends on the island. As he raced through Lian Yu, he bumped into Slade, which reassured him that most of his friends survived and he, Nyssa, Dinah and Quentin went looking for survivors. However, he also told him that Thea was severely injured, leaving Oliver distraught over her. As Slade pushed Oliver to get her off the island, Samantha appeared to Oliver before collapsing and dying in his arms, but not before asking him whether William was safe and making him promise to be his father, which Oliver promised. Oliver was able to get everyone off the island, Thea was put in a coma due to her injuries, and they faked Samantha's actual death as a car accident. Oliver then took in William and revealed to the public that he has a son, he would then hire Raisa to help look after William.

Being a father
Five months after the explosion and Samantha's death, Oliver along with Diggle, Rene and Curtis were able to stop a terrorist attack by Alex Faust, despite this the explosion reminded Oliver of Lian Yu. Oliver attempted to bridge a relationship with William, but is unable due to William blames Oliver for Samantha's death. Soon enough Alex Faust escapes with help from his employer, Black Siren, who had survived Lian Yu. Oliver and the team discovered that Black Siren was going to attack City Hall, and set up the area to await her. He also discovered that Quentin had shot Black Siren to save Dinah, and tries to help Quentin get over the guilt but Quentin isn't able to forgive himself. It is soon discovered that the attack on City Hall was a ruse, as the actual target was the Arrowcave. Oliver gets back to the base before the others and saves Diggle, but they are unable to capture Black Siren and Alex Faust who escape. Oliver visits the comatose Thea, and talks to her when he is approached by Slade. Slade thanks him for his help and that he is going to find his son and says goodbye. Oliver then talks to William and they start to build a relationship with each other. Oliver then receives a call from Felicity who tells him to put on Channel 52, there is reveals a picture of Oliver as Green Arrow. Oliver tries to throw the picture as a fake and that he is not Green Arrow, unfortunately this does not placate some people and the FBI sends Samanda Watson to investigate Oliver. The revelation also strains his relationship with William, who becomes angry with Oliver when he leaves him half-way through a conversation to deal with the latest threat; the return of his old ex-friend Anatoly Knyazev, and the Bratva. After a confrontation with Anatoly, Oliver realizes that he can't be Green Arrow, and guarantee that he will be there for his son. He decides to ask Diggle for him to be Green Arrow and retires as a vigilante. Unfortunately, despite the revelation that the picture is actually a fake, agent Watson continues her investigation on Oliver. After retiring as Green Arrow, Oliver had to deal with Emily Pollard who drafted up an Anti-Vigilante Legislation Bill so that the SCPD would be actively hunting down any vigilante and arresting them. Oliver would oppose this when he invoked a chapter of the city charter in order to turn the bill into a citywide referendum. His relationship with William also improved by his association with Felicity who was asked to tutor him, this would lead to Oliver and Felicity restarting their relationship. Despite being retired as a vigilante, Oliver was at a loss at times when Felicity would leave to help Team Arrow, and he ended up helping Felicity when he acted as Overwatch when she was on a mission. Oliver would also console Felicity after they discover that Cayden James is the newest threat against Team Arrow. Oliver was then contacted by Slade Wilson, who requested Oliver's help with his son. Slade revealed that he was not looking for the Green Arrow, but Oliver Queen, the Mayor. Despite hesitation, Oliver agreed to help Slade, where he and Slade attempted to release Joe, from prison. Unfortunately it turned out that Joe had been kidnapped by an organization called the Jackals and Slade knocked out Oliver and when he recovered he found a note from Slade telling him to be with his son. After a talk with William, Oliver decided to help Slade, only to discover that Joe is the leader of the Jackals. Oliver and Slade agreed to work together to stop Joe, but when he was captured, Joe forced Slade to kill Oliver but he freed him instead and the two escaped together. Oliver and Slade would then try to stop Joe, but Slade stopped Oliver from killing Joe allowing Joe to escape. Slade and Oliver parted ways as Oliver returned home to William. On Thanksgiving, Oliver and William was helping with the food drive and announced to the public of the new SCPD building, but he was then arrested by Samanda Watson who accused him of being the Green Arrow. Angered by being arrested in front of his son, Oliver threatened to sue Agent Watson when he was cleared of all charges. Oliver was placed in confinement until his trial, but it was delayed and Oliver was released on bail by Felicity. Oliver would also be informed of John Diggle's nerve damage, Oliver confronted Diggle in which the two argued with each other, after some time, Oliver returned to Diggle and apologized. Oliver decided to take over as Green Arrow for Diggle until he got better and Oliver returned to the field. During a Billy Joel concert, Oliver would be confronted by Cayden James who revealed that Oliver's actions led to the death of his son, though he didn't reveal how. James then had Black Siren knock him down with her scream and before escaping. It was then revealed to Oliver that the whole attack was to get video of Team Arrow beating up fake police officers which led to the Anti-Vigilante Legislation Bill passing. Oliver would then announce that the police was to capture anybody who acted as a vigilante, before being confronted by Agent Watson, who proclaimed that the time of vigilantes is over.

Crisis on Earth-X
Oliver was fighting a group of Ninjas when Felicity called him asking if they were going to Barry and Iris's wedding as they had not RSVP’d. Oliver told her that they indeed were. Arriving in Central City along with The Legends and Kara (who brought her sister Alex) Oliver assisted Barry in tux fittings and the two talked about finding true love with Barry telling Oliver that like how he was finally able to marry Iris the same thing was true for him and Felicity and encouraged Oliver to “put a ring on her”.

At the rehearsal dinner Oliver and Felicity talked about having a rehearsal dinner, and when Felicity asked why they would have one, Oliver informally proposed to her. Felicity however quickly turned it down, explaining that they did not need a piece of paper to show their love to each other, and when the two started quietly arguing, Felicity ended up yelling that she did not want to marry Oliver, which made everyone else at the rehearsal dinner turn around. The next day both Oliver and Felicity woke up still a little frustrated about last nights argument. With everyone Arriving at the Congregation at the Church for Barry and Iris wedding Oliver and the others watched as Barry and Iris exchanged vows. However, before the minister could pronounce them man and wife he was killed by the evil Earth-X counterpart of Kara who was accompanied by the an Earth-X doppelgänger of Oliver and numerous Nazi soldiers. Oliver, Barry, Kara, and the Legends proceeded to fight them off with Oliver taking on the Dark Archer. The fight ended in the Heroes favor as Sara and Alex defeated Prometheus X and Kara defeated her doppelgänger causing the Dark Archer to pick her up and order a retreat. The group recovered at S.T.A.R. Labs, and tried to figure out the motive of their attackers it was. It was at this point Harry revealed the existence of Earth-X: the worse earth in the multiverse where Hitler and the Nazis won World War Two. Discussing their next steps, Oliver stepped forward to say they should interrogate Prometheus-X for answers. Going down to interrogate Prometheus X Oliver was shocked and stunned when Prometheus X removed his mask and revealed self to be none other than the Earth- X version of Tommy Merlyn. Oliver asked for a second alone Tommy, and the rest of the group abided and went upstairs to the main area. Earth-X Tommy explained to Oliver that he was born into the Reich, and the Fuhrer would kill his parents if he deserted. When Oliver attempted to assure Tommy that he and his allies would stop the Reich Tommy laughed and proceeded to taunt Oliver for his foolishness telling Oliver that the Earth-X Nazis would kill all of heroes before He then bit down on a cyanide capsule, committing suicide. Oliver walked on as Felicity called Curtis and asked him to find out what he could on the Nazis. He approached Felicity about the situation they found themselves in the previous night at the rehearsal dinner and Felicity reiterated her stance on not wanting to get married claiming they had something great going and wanted to keep pushing forward. Oliver told her again that he wanted marry her but Felicity urged him to respect her decision. When an alarm went off at Dayton Opticals, Oliver, Kara, and Barry raced there in the hopes of stopping the Nazis, and we’re greeted much to their shock and horror by Overgirl, Dark Arrow. who revealed their identity to the Earth-Prime heroes as evil doppelgangers of Kara and Oliver while Dark Flash turned out to be Eobard Thawne wearing Harrison Wells face. Oliver, Kara, and Barry faced off against their evil counterparts with Oliver managing to harm Overgirl with a Kryptonite arrow he had had in place in the event an evil version of Kara ever showed up. Eventually they were forced to let the villains escape when Overgirl used her heat vision to cut apart the beams to a nearby skyscraper under construction. Kara held up the heavier top part while Barry and Oliver managed to stabilize the rest of the skyscraper and get the workers to safety. Back at S.T.A.R. Labs Barry and Iris talked about Thawne's return when Oliver walked in and assured them that they would stop the Reich and to hold onto the love they had for each other. Felicity walked in to tell them they had a location on the Earth-X Reich. Felicity wanted to talk to Oliver about their conversation before on marriage but Oliver told her he had to have his head in the game and that they would talk after it was all over. Suiting up Green Arrow, Flash, Supergirl, White Canary, Firestorm, and Alex headed to the Earth-X Nazis location and were ambushed by numerous soldiers along with Thawne and Overgirl. As they fought off their opponents Oliver and the others questioned where Dark Arrow was. As the battle continued Oliver was knocked out briefly by Overgirl. When he awoke he witnessed Overgirl about to kill Sara and shot another Arrow at her only for Overgirl to catch and break it in half. However, when she tried to kill him with her heat vision Oliver dodged and reflected it right back at her. The group eventually defeated all the henchmen, but they were the approached by Metallo who knocked most of the team out including Oliver. Oliver and the group awoke to find out they had all been restrained with power-dampening necklaces by the group of Earth-X Nazi. Overgirl walked in to address the heroes but doubled over in pain. Her husband came to her aid (who had taken over S.T.A.R. Labs and defeated the others including Team Arrow) convinced her to be strong and stand and assured her that everything would be okay. It was revealed to the heroes that Overgirl needed a heart transplant, and Kara was the only person capable of donating that organ. They had taken the prism to replicate a red sun that would weaken Kara enough to cut into her and take the heart. Before being knocked out again by Metallo, Oliver told his Earth-X counterpart that he would kill him which Dark Arrow doubted.

When Oliver's and the others awoken they woke up on Earth-X in one of the Reichs concentration camps. Oliver and group began to think of ideas on how to get escape their current predicament when they realized that the necklaces the Reich put power dampening necklaces on all of them including Oliver, Sara, and Alex who lacked powers. A siren then started going off and as the heroes tried to find out what it meant the prisoners there before them huddled closer to the fence as the Earth-X doppelgänger of Detective Lance walked in. Lance and his Nazi henchmen round up the heroes and took them out to an open field, where they were going to use a firing squad to kill them all. As soon as the firing squad got ready to execute the heroes they were saved by the Earth-X doppelgänger of Snart, who froze their weapons. The group was joined by a prisoner they met within the fence earlier, and he mentioned to Snart that he had taken his time — his identity being The Ray, and he and Snart two work together on Earth-X against the Nazi regime. Snart freed The Ray from his necklace and the heroes as well allowing them to escape the concentration camp and go back to the Freedom Fighters’ base.

The Ray revealed that Oliver's evil doppelganger was the Fuhrer of the regime and then revealed he was from Earth-1 as well like the rest of them (sans Alex). He shared a schematic of the breach the Nazis took the heroes through, and they ask for directions but we're interrupted by the Earth-X version of Winn, who wanted to blow the breach up. Snart greeted Winn as General Schott, who explained that this was the only opportunity they had to separate the Fuhrer from his army, and says the final order was to blow up the gate. Alex tried too Winn to the side and persuade him to let them go back to Earth-1 through the breach, but the Freedom Fighter General disagreed and prohibit them from traveling through the breach. At the end, Oliver and the team returned to Earth-1 where they fought the Nazis. At the end of the fight, Oliver shot Dark Arrow, killing him.

Divided
After the defeat of the New Reich and getting married to Felicity. The two throw a wedding reception which all their friends and family attend. During the reception Lance pulled Oliver aside and gave him a watch that his father gave to him on his wedding day. When Felicity threw the bouquet Curtis caught it and proceeded to give a speech —whilst inebriated— before he was eventually cut off by Rene. Rene finished out the speech before giving the couple a toast as they headed to the dance floor for their first dance. After they finished, Lance accidentally bumped into Felicity's mother and an awkward moment, Lance got a phone call from Oliver's lawyer and quickly rushed to find Oliver revealing to him that the prosecution had a star witness who was willing to testify that Oliver was the Green Arrow. With Lance feeling that it was somebody on the team. At the Bunker Oliver and Felicity discussed the possible mole when they were approached by Diggle. Felicity shared that she was running surveillance on Dinah, Curtis, and Rene — a move that Diggle did not agree with as it basically would be shattering the trust between them. While monitoring them Oliver, Felicity, and Diggle caught Dinah's talk with Vigilante. With this Oliver suspected that Dinah was the culprit. Thea then walked in with the cellphone which instantly begins ringing. Cayden James was on the other end and he demanded Team Arrow to retrieve something from ARGUS for him, otherwise he would kill Quentin. At ARGUS, Diggle used his relationship with Lyla to convince the security guard to allow him to get into her office. Using Lyla's laptop to get a location on the amplifier, which the rest of the team — who were staking out around ARGUS — used to get closer to the amplifier. Oliver was able to successfully sneak into the amplifier's room and take it without getting noticed, and the team headed back to their lair. There, they discussed that the amplifier could enlarge the blast radius of Cayden's thermonuclear bomb. When Dinah walked in and realized the team just got back from the field she was upset she wasn't called. Oliver then told her he suspected her as the mole that was going to turn Oliver into the authorities. In the ensuing argument that followed, Diggle lets it slip that Oliver and Felicity had been surveilling Dinah, Curtis, and Rene. Curtis took Dinah's side and backed her up in the argument when Rene finally stepped in and told everyone to stop. When Oliver ask Rene revealed that he was the witness that was going to testify against Oliver. Rene revealed that he was approached by the FBI who claimed they had proof that he was Wild Dog, and in exchange for his testimony against Oliver, they would let him walk. Furious over the betrayal Oliver ordered Rene to leave the premises immediately. Thea talked to Oliver, who was having second thoughts about kicking Rene off the team. Taking into account that he would do anything in his power to make sure William was safe just like Rene would took the deal to secure his daughters safety. Thea convinced Oliver to order Diggle to call in the whole team, including Rene, to help save Lance from Black Siren and Cayden James. The reunited team suited up and went to the meeting point to make the exchange with Cayden James. Felicity mentioned that the meeting location was a digital black hole where she would not be able to see or hear them. Oliver instructed Rene, Curtis, and Dinah to act as his eyes and ears while he made the exchange. Entering Oliver handed over the amplifier, but Cayden instantly recognized that it's been sabotaged. Cayden ordered Black Siren to kill Lance while his men tried to kill Oliver. Dinah came to Oliver's aid while Rene and Curtis went rogue to try and find Lance by themselves. Black Siren took Lance outside, and, instead of killing him, she released him of his handcuffs and told him to run as Oliver arrived. Back at the Bunker, Oliver asked Rene why he and Curtis left their post at the warehouse disobeying his orders. The two proceed to argue with Rene claiming that he was attempting to find Quentin. While Oliver pointed out things could have gone worse. In the end Oliver officially removed Rene from the team. Dinah stepped up however and told Oliver she no longer believes in him, and tells the group that she's leaving the team as well. Back at the lair, Curtis approached Oliver, Felicity, and Diggle and told them that he could trust them any longer after finding out they spied on him, Rene, and Dinah and quit the team as well. Unaffected by the lost of their comrades Oliver told Diggle and Felicity that they would still move forward.

With the team now divided with John, Oliver, and Felicity forming one faction while Rene, Dinah, and Curtis formed another. While at first the two groups tried to keep an amicable relationship as they fought against Cayden James who revealed that he wanted revenge on Oliver due to believing Oliver has indirectly murdered Caydens son. However things eventually came to a head when Black Siren murdered Vincent James. Dinah's lover who was acting as a mole to stop Caydens plans. While Oliver, Diggle, and Felicity along with Quintin wanted to protect Laurel so they could obtain information on James operation from her Dinah and the others wanted Laurel brought to justice. In the ensuing fight Rene was hospitalized after a brutal beating from Oliver and Dinah and Curtis decided to cut all ties with the three as a result.

Switching lives
One day, Oliver woke up in an unfamiliar place. Then, he heard Iris West-Allen, Barry's wife, calling him for breakfast. He realized that he is in Barry and Iris's apartment and got confused. When he approached Iris, she kissed him, much to Oliver's surprise. He muffled out of confusion, and then asked where Barry is. Iris, confused because of the question, asked him if he got enough sleep. Thinking that Oliver acts weird because of the fact Team Flash failed to catch Cicada, Iris reminded him that Caitlin's immunity to Cicada's dagger can help them, but Oliver didn't know who Cicada is. She asked him if he's okay while calling him "Barry", which made Oliver realize that Iris thinks he's Barry. Until he figured out what to do, Oliver decided to play the part, and said that he indeed didn't get enough sleep. When Iris advised him to call Captain Singh and not go to work, Oliver asked if he should go to S.T.A.R. Labs. She then said that she loves him, and Oliver, still playing the part of being Barry, said that he love her too.

Suddenly, Iris got an emergency call that a break in at Ivo Labs has occurred and that Cisco is on comms to help him deal with the situation. Oliver, now that he realized that everyone thinks he's Barry, wonders if he also has his powers. Suddenly, he sped up and almost hit the wall. Iris then threw him the Flash ring, expecting him to suit up as The Flash. Oliver put on the ring and activated it, which made him put on The Flash suit. He looked at himself in the mirror, and after seeing himself as The Flash, talked to himself and thought if Barry messed with time again.

Oliver ran to Ivo Labs, but due to the fact he still isn't used for Barry's speed, missed it by a few blocks. He entered the building, where one of the robbers pointed a gun at someone, and said to Flash that if he wouldn't let them leave with the diamonds, he'll kill the guy. Out of confusion and not knowing what to do, Oliver shouted "You have failed this city" to the robber. Cisco, who heard him through comms and also thought that Oliver is Barry, said that that's not his line (but the Green Arrow's line). He tried to catch the robber, but accidently ran into a wall. The robbers surrounded him, and after they shot him, Oliver put his hands on his head as he doesn't know what to do. Thankfully, he entered Flashtime and began running circles around the robbers in order to shoot a lightning at them. Due to him not controlling Barry's speed, the lightning hit the walls which unintentionally hit the robbers, and then a device. Due to him causing enough damage, Cisco advised Oliver to return to S.T.A.R. Labs and let the CCPD handle the rest. Oliver ran away, without knowing that the lightning activated a powerful robot named A.M.A.Z.O

Back at S.T.A.R. Labs, Caitlin checked Oliver to his request in order to see if he's fine. She didn't find anything and said that he's in better shape than ever. Realizing that he needs to find Barry, Oliver left the room, but the team followed him. Iris asked him what's wrong, and Oliver said that he's going to talk to "Oliver Queen" (referring to Barry, who the entire world thinks is him).

Oliver ran to Star City and rescued Diggle and Barry (who suited up as the Green Arrow) while they were in the middle of an operation. As Diggle threw up (as he usually does when a speedster run with him), Barry said that he's glad to see him, and gave him a compliment for his suit.

Back at the Bunker, Oliver tried to realize what happened to them, as Barry used the salmon ladder. Although Oliver tried to take the situation seriously, Barry kept joking around and was excited about the fact that they switched places, calling it "a little cool". Oliver said that he'll be calm when he wakes up in his own bed, which made Barry realize that Oliver woke up with Iris. That made him take the situation seriously and try to find a solution.

The two headed to S.T.A.R Labs where they told Team Flash about the situation. However they didn't believe them, especially Iris who refused to believe that she's married to Oliver Queen. When the team were on their way out to discuss the situation, Iris said to Oliver (who she thinks is Barry) that she only got eyes for him, which made the real Barry mad.

Oliver gave up on the idea that the team will help them, but Barry said that all they need to do is to convince Iris. Barry said that Oliver needs to be the one to convince her, as they got no other choice. Oliver went to talk to her while drinking, and Iris (who still thinks that he's Barry) explained to him that Felicity told her about the time Oliver made a deal with the FBI behind her back, which made her realize that he's full of vengeance and that there's no way that she is married to him. Suddenly, Oliver fainted because of something that she put in his drink.

When he woke up, Oliver found himself locked in the Pipeline with Barry. He said that it will be hard to convince the team because everyone in the world thinks that they're each other. This gave Barry the idea to find an extrapolator and go to Earth-38 in order to recruit Kara, as she possibly can tell that they've switched due to her being from another earth. After some time, Oliver got angry at the fact that the cell doesn't have a toilet, as even in Slabside every cell had one. Barry kicked the wall and revealed a hidden toilet, and Oliver asked Barry to unplug the wires in order to fry the machine that blocks his powers so they could escape. Because Barry had handcuffs on, Oliver taught him to dislocate his thumb to remove them. After the machine fried, Barry told Oliver that he now needs to phase himself out of the handcuffs and then the both of them to escape. At first Oliver couldn't do it, but after he laughed at Barry's thumb he succeeded.[99]

The two searched the extrapolator, but Iris got it first. Barry tried to convince her that they're telling the truth by reminding her something that happened when they were kids. It worked, and the two traveled to Earth-38.

When they arrived, they accidentally terrified Lois Lane, who demanded that they will tell her who they are. Kara came to calm her and said that they are friends. She called them by their real names, which made Oliver relax as Barry's theory turned out to be true. Kara introduced them to her cousin Clark Kent, who Barry recognized as her "super cousin" (as Clark is a well known superhero called "Superman"). Oliver puffed his chest next to the muscular superhero.

Later, Oliver trained Barry to shoot arrows because he thought that he needs actual training. To prove him that he's ready, Barry offered that Oliver will run far and he will try to hit him with an arrow. Realizing that he's trying to have his revenge on him after he shot Barry 4 years prior, Oliver asked where are the remote control bows, but Barry said that he's not like him. Oliver accepted the challenge, and when Barry was ready, Oliver ran to him and caught the arrow. Thinking that he won, Oliver said "nice try", before getting shot in the back by the remote control bows. Barry got excited that he finally got his revenge, shot a few pictures, and then pulled the arrows out. Oliver became angry at him for doing this just to get a laugh, and began saying that he can't do anything without Iris telling him how to. As Barry walked away, Oliver ran at him trying to attack, but Barry made him fall. Barry then said that he couldn't lay hands on him if Oliver really knew how to control his speed. Later, Oliver came to apologize. He explained that his skills are a result of years of loss and darkness, and Barry and Oliver agree to help take down A.M.A.Z.O.

that every time he uses those skills he channels his darkness, and seeing Barry using those skills for fun makes him angry. In response, Barry told him that whenever he run he feels joy and happiness, which makes him faster. It made them come to a conclusion that need to start acting more like each other in order to benefit the most from each other's powers. Kara, who used her super hearing and heard the entire conversation, came and was glad that they finally realize it. She added that they need to "act the parts" and convinced Barry to talk in a deep voice like Oliver. He jokingly said as his Green Arrow impression "wear a mask" (which is the same thing Oliver said to him when he first became the Flash). As Oliver tried to say that that's not how he sounds, Cisco came through a breach and informed them that Team Flash now believe them and that a dangerous robot called A.M.A.Z.O. is attacking the city and they need their help. The two, along with Kara and Clark, agreed to help.

Oliver and the gang arrived at the place through Cisco's portal. Once again, Oliver suited up as The Flash while Barry suited up as the Green Arrow. In order to keep A.M.A.Z.O. off balance, Flash shot as many lightning as he could on him. When he was weak enough, Superman fought there and punched him through the ground. At first they thought that they won, but A.M.A.Z.O. quickly came back and copied all of their abilities, including Oliver's speed.

A.M.A.Z.O. used that speed to run away, so Green Arrow commanded Flash to bring him back by running after him and luring him back to the scene. As he chased after him, A.M.A.Z.O. tried to shoot him using Supergirl's heat vision and stop him from running using Killer Frost's cold blast. But Flash used it to his advantage and lured him into a construction site, where A.M.A.Z.O. tried to blast him which resulted in the build falling on him. Because A.M.A.Z.O. couldn't run and phase at the same time, Green Arrow asked Flash to lure him back to where they were in order to give Superman and Supergirl an opportunity to punch him. The plan worked, and Supergirl laid the punch at the end. The cousins held him while the Flash countracted his phasing and let Green Arrow shoot him with a virus arrow. After A.M.A.Z.O. was completely defeated thanks to the virus arrow, Oliver gave Barry a thumbs up.

Back at S.T.A.R. Labs, Team Flash celebrated. Ralph Dibny pointed out that the switch might not be so bad after all, but Iris disagreed and decided that they need to find out who did this to Barry and Oliver. After that, Clark returned to Earth-38.

Later, Cisco told Oliver, Barry and Kara that he saw through vibe a mysterious figure. Oliver said that they need to see what he saw. Cisco vibed him and Barry to a talk between the individual and another man. After the vibe, Oliver used his speed to drew what he saw, and in his drawing the a Wayne Enterprises tower was seen at the background. After that Oliver announced their next step: Travel to Gotham City.

Trying to contact the Legends
Sometime after that, Oliver, along with Barry and Kara, tried to call the Legends in order to get their help with the situation. However, none of them received an answer.

Traveling to Gotham
Back in Star City, Oliver, Barry and Kara came to get the help of Team Arrow with the situation. When they arrived, Diggle was in the middle on an A.R.G.U.S. operation to take down Joe Wilson. Due to Wilson almost succeeding in killing Diggle, the three intervened. Oliver, who still has Barry's super speed, used it to push Wilson on a truck, while Barry, who still has Oliver's skills, shot arrows near his head, defeating him.

Back at A.R.G.U.S. headquarters, Barry and Oliver tried to explain Diggle and Curtis about the life swapping situation, but the 2 were barely able to understand it or believe it. But when Barry made a movie reference while answering to Curtis, the latter realized that it isn't Oliver. Because the red sky and the lightnings in the air began around the same time as the reality swap, the three theorized that those 2 things are related, and asked the team to investigate it while they travel to Gotham City to follow a lead. Curtis suggested calling Felicity, and Oliver replied that he already did, which made Diggle even more confused due to still being unable to get used to the fact he's talking to Oliver. When Felicity shows up, Oliver reminded Barry that they decided not to tell her about the life swap due to Team Flash not believing them, and because Oliver and Felicity already had relationship problems. When Diggle asked if the swap is gonna be permanent, both Barry and Oliver answered that they hope it isn't at the same time.

As the three heroes get ready to head to Gotham, Oliver suggested Barry to remain in Star City, since the world still thinks that he's him and his fame and well known identity will draw unwanted attention. Barry countered his suggestion by reminding Oliver that if Gotham could handle the presence of Batman they could handle the Green Arrow. However, Oliver insisted that Batman doesn't really exist, which surprised Barry and Kara. Oliver insisted that Batman is a myth made up by the Gotham City Police Department and that he himself is in fact the original vigilante, which made Barry and Kara laugh at him. They decided to continue the conversation later, but in the meantime Barry urged Oliver to put on his mask, because walking around without it will give up his identity (as the world would see him in the Flash suit and believe that he's Barry Allen). Oliver argued that it isn't necessary because it isn't his real face, but Barry insisted that if they don't fix the life swap it will remain his face. Oliver decided to stop arguing, put on the mask, and sarcastically asked Barry if he's happy now. Kara then grabbed Barry away to bring him to Gotham, and Oliver realized that he's running there along before speeding up.

The three arrived in Gotham City, although Oliver was late to their meeting place on a rooftop because he still had a hard time control Barry's speed. They then discussed how to find the people from Cisco's vibe, and Oliver mentioned knowing a local reporter in the city named Vesper Fairchild who can help them find the two. He told Barry and Kara that years ago he tried to persuade her that his company Queen Consolidated was above board. Barry guessed that he slept with her, But Oliver highly denied it before admitting he was not sure about that. Kara commented on the fact he slept with a lot of women back then, and Barry told her the story of when he cheated on his girlfriend with her sister, which made Oliver mad that he said it and made Kara more discuss. Kara suggested coming up with a Plan B in case his relationship with the woman is bad. Suddenly, Barry found a Bat-Signal on the roof, covered by a blanket. Seeing that as a proof that Batman exist, he asked Oliver if he still thinks the Dark Knight is a myth, to which Oliver replied that he still does.

In their civilian clothes, Oliver, Barry, and Kara walked towards the radio station where Fairchild worked. As they saw a couple getting out of a black track with an armed guard accompanying them, Oliver explained that because of all the crime in Gotham nobody talks about it, to a point that the city might as well be dead. Suddenly, a gang of thugs walked up and attempted to rob them. Oliver tried to talk them down, suggesting that they just talk, but then the main thug put a gun on Oliver's head. He then pulled the trigger, but luckily for him Kara used her super speed and simply caught the bullet. The thug thought the gun was broken, and as he was about to check it, Barry used Oliver's skills to disarm the guard, put him on the ground and then aim at him the gun he stole. Out of nowhere the police arrived and told everyone to get on the ground. However, Barry didn't listen, and the officer recognized him as the Green Arrow. Knowing how dangerous the vigilante can be, the officer called for backup. Knowing that they were captured, Oliver told Barry to stand down (by calling him "Oliver"), which he did.

As they went to jail, Oliver asked the officer to try contact Laurel, who is the D.A. in Star City. When they arrived, Oliver asked the officer if they were able to contacted her, but she responded that Laurel though a night in jail will be good for them. Giving up, Oliver confronted Barry and highly criticized his actions. However Barry thought he did good as he saved him from the thug. However Oliver didn't accept that, saying that he was de escalating the situation. Kara then figured out that they tried to act like each other the same way they did with A.M.A.Z.O., but insisted it won't help them at those times: Oliver would be able to talk out of a mag, and Barry was acting to quickly. Barry asked what she would have done, and Kara said that she would have speed them out of there. Oliver then conceded that she should be in charge next time. Suddenly the officer came to inform them that their bail was posted.

They went outside and found a man at the door in front of a car. They realized he worked for the person who bailed them out, but thought they experienced enough distractions for the night. Oliver thanked the man for the early release but insisted that they would simply go to wherever they headed, but the man informed them that his boss "insists" as he showed them a gun. Barry lightly chided Kara by pointing out they she said they would not be confronted again before they all went with him.

He dropped them off at Wayne Tower, the former home of Bruce Wayne. Inside they were greeted by a tattooed woman who recognized Barry as Oliver the Green Arrow. Introducing herself Kate Kane Bruce's cousin and the current inheritor of Wayne Enterprises. Kane told them that she wanted them to leave her city as soon as possible.

On the roof, Kate talked to Kara and Oliver. Kara asked why Bruce Wayne and Batman both went missing at the same time – three years ago. Kate told them that Bruce couldn't live with what Gotham became after Batman left.

Barry showed up, revealing Vesper won't help them due to Oliver indeed having slept with her. Kate gave them the wifi password and headed inside to work while Oliver revealed he stole police data from the station.

Oliver searched facial recognition and found out about John Deegan. A former doctor at Arkham Asylum he experimented on his patients, but was acquitted due to technicalities. However he could not find Deegan's current address or employment so Kara decides to search the city. Thanks to information from Kate the duo learn of the location of Arkham

Outside of Arkham, Kara, Oliver, and Barry discussed how to break in when Cisco and Caitlin breached in through with Diggle to pass the message that they were contacted by an alternate Flash. Kara then came up with an idea to get them in.

Kara pushed Caitlin in a wheelchair and told the administrator that she was delivering a new patient from the hospital, using Killer Frost's powers to bolster the lie. Meanwhile, Oliver used Barry's CCPD credentials and Diggle uses his A.R.G.U.S ones to infiltrate their way into an inspection. They walked down the hall, seeing the names of many of the Asylums inmates names on the door, before they found Deegan's lab.

Deegan recognized Oliver for who he was, but refused to undo the damage he had caused and pushed a button which triggered an alarm and released all the patients so he could escape.

Diggle, The Flash, Supergirl, Killer Frost, and The Green Arrow worked together to help recapture the patients. When a few almost got away, Batwoman showed up and stopped them.

Meanwhile, Killer Frost faced off with Nora Fries, who was using the cold technology of Victor Fires. Killer Frost called for help as she was being overpowered and both Oliver and Barry hurried to assist her.

Deegan grabbed the book from a hiding place inside the walls, but was found by Kara who took the book from him.

The two showed up to find Caitlin knocked out. Oliver attempted to throw a lightning bolt, but due to still not having good control over his speedster powers he ended up knocking over several vials labeled "Crane" which spill and release a gaseous agent into the air.

In front of Oliver laid Eobard Thawne: Barry's most hated enemy, While Barry himself saw Oliver as Malcolm Merlyn. This led to them both fighting each other.

Barry and Oliver while fighting were constantly taunted by their hallucinations until. Batwoman appeared and stopped them, recognizing the vials and explaining they were exposed to a serious hallucinogen.

Outside of Arkham Batwoman orders them all out of her city.

With the book now in their hands at A.R.G.U.S., Felicity was eager to translate the cryptographs inside. Barry and Oliver talked about their hallucinations and acknowledged each other's burdens with Barry encouraging Ollie not to wait to talk things out with Felicity.

Oliver took Barrys advice to heart sat with Felicity and assured her they will be okay because while recent events have shown him that they might have changed as people, he will always love her no matter what and they made up.

Finally, the other Flash was able to breach into Argus. Another doppelgänger of Barry Allen hailing from Earth-90 which was destroyed by The Monitor – the other man in Cisco's vibe. Earth 90- Barry revealed the Monitor uses the Book of Destiny throughout the multiverse to test worlds for an unknown crisis coming.

Cisco then told the others that the The Monitor was on the street being confronted by authorities. Kara, Oliver, and both Barry Allens confronted him. Earth- 90 Barry Allen headed towards The Monitor who made him vanish with a snap of his fingers. The Monitor told the three that he was trying to save the multiverse from a crisis. He summoned the book from Argus and disappeared. Reality was then changed again with Oliver and Barry now in matching black and leather attire and with Kara seemingly gone. Escaping from a police unit headed by Ricardo Diaz the two found themselves confronted by seemingly Superman but in all black.

Deegan is crying when The Monitor appears before him and hands the book back over, telling Deegan to think bigger and do better.

Suddenly, Barry and Oliver realize they are dressed identically, and a newspaper headline says they are wanted criminals known as The Trigger Twins. Kara is nowhere to be seen and neither of them is a speedster. A cop car pulls up and three police officers emerge. Joe Wilson, Malcolm Merlyn, and Ricardo Diaz. Diaz starts to arrest Oliver, who fights back and he and Barry run. Only to be stopped by a version of Superman who is dressed all in black.

The two Supermen proceed to fight, while the Book of Destiny is retrieved by Kara, Barry, and Alex from the Time Vault (now called the Fortress of Solitude). Kara intervenes with the fight, knocking the evil Superman back, while giving the Book to Clark Kent who manages to restore reality to normal, giving Oliver and Barry their proper powers back. All of the heroes then proceed to fight Deegan, during which Oliver shoots a metaphysical trick arrow at the Book, causing the Book to overload and be rendered powerless, thereby restoring reality back to normal.

External link

 * Oliver Queen on Villains Wiki