| “ | Everyone has a demon inside of them. The "dao de jing" recognizes the yin and the yang, opposing forces inside all of us. The darkness and the light. The killer and the hero. | „ |
| ~ Shado to Oliver Queen |
Shado is a character appearing in the flashbacks of the CW TV show Arrow. She is a lawyer, skilled archer and fighter. She is the daughter of Yao Fei. She was also a mentor and love interest of Oliver Queen.
She is portrayed by Celina Jade, who also interprets her sister Mei.
Biography[]
Shado was the daughter of the former general of People's Liberation Army of China, Yao Fei. During her childhood, her father taught her how to fight and defend herself. Shado told Slade that the reason her father taught her was because he had wanted a son, which led to Slade retorting "He got one". As she reached adulthood, she became a lawyer while retaining her skills in martial arts that she had trained in during childhood, honing them further. After her father went missing, Shado spent many years looking for him until some men came to her house claiming that they had information about her father's whereabouts. She was caught off-guard as the men were actually employed by Edward Fyers' employer and was brought to the island where her father was located, being used as Edward's prisoner and leverage against her father.
Shado made her first appearance at the end of the "The Odyssey", being kept alive by Edward as leverage against Yao Fei. Fyers rewarded Yao Fei for remaining loyal and let him see her for 5 minutes.
In "Salvation", she was used again by Edward to threaten Oliver and Slade into giving him the guidance chips. The meeting broke into a fire fight, and Shado managed to free herself, taking down several of her captors and quickly dispatching Edward. As they made their escape, Yao Fei was shot in the leg. He then volunteered to stay behind and cover their escape. She joined Oliver and Slade's group.
In "Unfinished Business", she started training Oliver to use her father's bow by making him hit the water inside the bowl with his palms repeatedly.
In "Home Invasion", Shado began to train Oliver in archery. Oliver made numerous attempts in shooting his target but each attempt ended in failure. In the course of their training together, she and Oliver shared a kiss. They stopped each other from going farther, with Oliver reasoning that there is someone (Laurel Lance) waiting for him back home. Back at their base, Yao Fei revealed himself after having been presumed to be captured by Edward again. However, several of Edward's men burst in afterwards with Yao Fei claiming that he led them to their base. Oliver, Slade and Shado were recaptured.
In "Darkness on the Edge of Town", Shado, Oliver, and Slade were brought before Edward. After Yao Fei started to disobey Edward's commands, he proceeded to shoot Slade in the leg, punch Oliver on the face, and shoot Shado in the shoulder to force Yao Fei to follow his orders. After recording the footage of Yao Fei taking the blame for being the man who led the Ferris Air bombing, Edward shot Yao Fei in the head, killing him and leaving Shado in despair.
In "Sacrifice", Oliver managed to free himself using the knife given to him by Yao Fei and attacked Edward, proceeding to free Slade and Shado. After taking down several soldiers, Shado and Oliver made their way towards the missile launcher in order to stop it from hitting the plane. Shado managed to find the control panel only to be distracted by a soldier. Both leaped out of the missile launcher, leaving Oliver to dismantle the missile's guidance device. He was successful in diverting the missile, but it landed on Edward's base of operations and destroyed it. In the aftermath of the destruction, she was recaptured by a supposedly deceased Edward who used her as a bargaining chip for Oliver's freedom. With his bow notched with an arrow pointing directly at Edward, Shado gave him an assuring nod and Oliver fired, hitting Edward in the neck and killing him for good.
Season 2[]
In "City of Heroes", she wears the hood her father wore as a way to honor him. Five months after Fyers's death, she and Oliver are shown to be in an intimate relationship. They split up when going to look for intruders that their proximity device did not detect, where Shado was quickly taken captive. She was later rescued by Oliver and Slade, but not before seeing Oliver pummel the leader of the group with a rock. After the event, the three realized that they are no longer alone on the island.
In "Identity", Slade convinced her that she needs to talk to Oliver, after he appeared to be suffering severely from the guilt of killing the mercenary. She talked to him alone, trying to comfort him and referring to some eastern philosophy to help him overcome his guilt. They kissed passionately and promptly made love by the river. Slade spotted them in the river, calling them back to continue following the track. The three of them used the map and images, leading them to find a small cave with the corpses of Japanese soldiers from WWII.
In "Broken Dolls", Shado investigated the corpses while Slade and Oliver got to higher ground for a vantage point. When Oliver and Slade finally got a view, they saw a ship firing towards their shelter and rushed back to save Shado. While the two were running towards the plane, they see that it was still under-fire and in flames. The explosions eventually knocked them unconscious. In "League of Assassins," Shado was mentioned by Sara Lance, allowing for the assumption that she had somehow survived.
In "Keep Your Enemies Closer", Shado and Slade were alive in the remains of the base where Shado was tending to the facial burns that Slade had endured due to the bombing. She is happy to hear Oliver's voice again after having a heart-to-heart conversation with Slade, holding onto him to help cool him down due to the fever he was fighting.
In "State v. Queen", Shado and Slade were under attack by Anthony Ivo and the crew of the Amazo after they held Oliver at gunpoint, with him yelling for them to run. She then disarmed the bomb they had tossed into the plane. When they were about to execute Oliver after he had refused to tell them where they fled, Shado and Slade got the jump on them and told them to release Oliver or they would kill them. Ivo agreed but Oliver punched The Captain in the face, grabbing his friend Sara Lance and running away with his friends. Though the crew were in pursuit, Shado had armed the bomb and let it detonate on them. Once they had reached cover, Shado revealed that she had the hōzen due to the Buddhist inscription on the one side which reminded her of her father, discovering the other set of coordinates to a World War II Japanese submarine that housed something capable of saving the human race. Oliver asked if the cure could save Slade who was feeling the pain of his injuries.
In "The Scientist", Shado is heart broken when she discovered who Oliver really was before the island, as he was on the Gambit with Sara and had Laurel back in Starling City waiting for him and she questioned who Sara was to him. They arrived on the submarine and went with Oliver and Sara to find Mirakuru that could help Slade who was dying quickly. Right before they injected him, Slade revealed that he had developed romantic feelings for her which caused Oliver to feel heartbroken as he had realized earlier they had gotten closer while he was being held captive. He was soon injected by Oliver and Slade screamed out in pain, blood coming out of his eyes and his pulse was gone, she was soon held by Oliver as she cried for their friend but their mourning was cut short as the crew of the Amazo and Ivo had burst through the door and captured them at gunpoint.
In "Three Ghosts", after being captured, she was shot in the head by Ivo after Oliver jumped in front of Sara to protect her. Shortly after her death Slade recovered and killed Ivo's men before finding Shado's body and vowing revenge on Ivo. In the present day when Oliver was experiencing a psychological break down and began to see hallucinations of Shado, Slade, and Tommy Merlyn. Shado warns Oliver of a coming darkness, urging him to abandon his mission and live his life, or else everyone he loves will die.
In "Blast Radius", Shado was buried by Slade next to her father and Robert Queen's graves as Oliver hoped Shado was with Yao Fei. Shado's death began to cause aggression from Slade towards Oliver and Sara.
In "The Promise", on the night before Oliver, Slade, and Sara attack The Amazo, Oliver dreams of Shado but it soon turns into a nightmare when she questions him why it is he didn't save her but saved Sara and killed him in his dream.
In "Suicide Squad", in the present day after Oliver discovers Slade to still be alive, he had nightmares of Shado again and his guilt re-emerges. Later when Oliver found Slade's office he also found there was a video of Shado in her younger years playing on a projector.
In "Deathstroke", Slade began hallucinating a vision of Shado on the island. However, she is more malevolent than Shado was in life, urging him to abandon Sara and Oliver on the island and pursue his vendetta by killing Oliver's family. The hallucination is shown to persist to the present day, when she is shown watching a meeting between Slade, Sebastian Blood, and Isabel Rochev.
In "Seeing Red", Slade took Oliver's mother Moira and sister Thea hostage and set them up in the same situation that Ivo had Shado and Sara and claimed that Shado told him, pointing at her ghost. However, Oliver didn't see anyone, as she was in his head.
Personality[]
Shado was shown to be kind and mature for her age, often giving Oliver wisdom and guidance during his training with her. She did not refrain herself from hurting or killing anyone if the need arises, such as when she was rescued by Oliver and Slade; she quickly took down several of her captors, including Fyers, and killed the soldier that was attacking Oliver by snapping his neck. Shado was incredibly caring for her friends as she risked her life more than once to save Oliver and Slade, not expecting to make it out herself. She also developed an attraction to Oliver almost immediatley after meeting him and despite knowing that Oliver was already in love with another woman, she and Oliver had an intimate relationship despite knowing it may end if they ever did get off the island. Her mentoring and her father's, as well as their friendship's and sacrifices, also had a deep impact on Oliver's life who wore the hood as Green Arrow to honor them both.
