History Characters / ArrowMajorVillains

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'''Notice: Due to the sheer volume of spoilers on these pages, all spoilers before Season Four are uncovered. If you are not at that point please be aware you will be spoiled.'''

'''Also be aware that some character's names are spoilers and these are also uncovered.'''

The main antagonists of the series. Their schemes tend to be the focus of an entire season.

[[Characters/{{Arrow}} Return to full character list]]

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[[foldercontrol]]

!Tempest

[[folder: Tropes that Apply to the Whole Group]]
* AboveGoodAndEvil: They are a WellIntentionedExtremist group that is willing to kill hundreds, if not thousands, of people.
* ArcSymbol: Their logo is for Season 1. Said logo is the map of the Glades, and it is what clued Oliver about their EvilPlan.
* BlueAndOrangeMorality: Eradicating crime would be a noble goal... but they want to achieve it by KillThePoor.
* DarkMessiah: The group claims that they'll save Star(ling) City by destroying The Glades, the part of the city that has the highest crime rate.
* EvenEvilHasStandards: They want to save the city, so they don't want it destroyed like others do.
* EvenEvilHasLovedOnes: Malcolm formed the group after the tragic fate of his late wife. Frank Chen joined after his daughter was raped and left for dead.
* HeKnowsTooMuch: If anyone catches on to their existence, they'll dispatch them.
* KillThePoor: Their main objective.
* TheMainCharactersDoEverything: Malcolm, Moira and Chen are the only active members of the group.
* NebulousEvilOrganisation: They are not a very open group.
* RewardedAsATraitorDeserves: Betray the group and its cause and you'll end up as worm food.
* RichBitch: A group that has a KillThePoor mentality? Yeah, they qualify as this for sure.
* ScrewTheRulesIHaveConnections: The group has several connections.
* TwoGirlsToATeam: The group only had two female members; Moira Queen and an unnamed woman.
[[/folder]]

[[folder: Malcolm Merlyn]]
!!Malcolm Merlyn
[[quoteright:300:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/malcolm_merlyn_arrow_183.jpg]]
[[quoteright:300:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/dark_archer_arrow_6321.jpg]]
->'''Known Aliases''': The Dark Archer, Al Sa-Her (الساحر, Arabic for The Magician), Ra's al-Ghul (رئيس الغول Arabic for "Head of the Demon")
->'''Played By:''' Creator/JohnBarrowman

Father of Tommy, CEO of Merlyn Global Group, former member of the League of Assassins, and leader of Tempest, a group of wealthy and powerful Starling City citizens plotting to "save" the city by destroying the Glades.
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* AbsurdlyYouthfulFather: He's played by 45-year-old John Barrowman, while Tommy is 27-28. He probably wasn't intended to be 16-17 when he fathered his son, though it's not outside the realms of possibility; it's more likely though that he's older than the actor portraying him.
* AbusiveParents: To Tommy and to Thea. His abusive tendencies have gotten to a point where it can be hard to watch how cruel he is to his children.
* ActionDad: He's Tommy's father. It's revealed in "State v. Queen" that he's Thea's dad as well.
* AdaptationNameChange: From Arthur King (a.k.a. Merlyn) To Malcolm Merlyn (a.k.a. Dark Archer).
** [[spoiler:Subverted; the Dark Archer comic mini-series penned by Barrowman himself has revealed Arthur King to be his birth name]].
* AdaptationalAttractiveness: In the comics, Merlyn is depicted as either a middle-aged man with receding hairline or one with a "ComicBook/{{Wolverine}}-like" WildHair, DependingOnTheArtist. Here, he's still middle-aged but is portrayed as a TallDarkAndHandsome man with a good amount of head hair that is always properly groomed. Also, it's [[MrFanservice John Barrowman]].
* AdaptationalHeroism: His comic book counterpart was a ProfessionalKiller and PunchClockVillain with no particular ambition beside being paid for his kills. This version has a more sympathetic motivation making him closer to a TragicVillain, and even becomes a SixthRanger and TokenEvilTeammate to Team Arrow in Season Three, but...
* AdaptationalIntelligence: In the comics, he's mainly just a ProfessionalKiller. Here, he's a [[TheChessMaster Chess Master]] bordering on MagnificentBastard.
* AdaptationalVillainy: His plan in Season One still involves a gratuitous mass-murder his comic book counterpart never would have done.
* AffablyEvil: Out of all the villains, he is usually the most friendly and charming to Oliver. His motivations are quite understandable, and he does evil things in a thoroughly misguided effort to save the city. He veers toward FauxAffablyEvil in "Sacrifice" after his VillainousBreakdown, but in Season Two, he seems to be back to the former.
* AgeLift: Commonly depicted as a BadassGrandpa or at least [[YoungerThanTheyLook an older looking middle-aged man]] ([[VagueAge It's hard to tell]]) in most works. Here, he's portrayed by [[Creator/JohnBarrowman an actor]] in his mid-forties who is OlderThanTheyLook.
* AintTooProudToBeg: When Ra's '''finally''' gets a hold of him, he begs for life. Ra's merely tells him to face his death with honor.
* AlliterativeName: '''M'''alcolm '''M'''erlyn. For AddedAlliterativeAppeal, he's [=LoA=] CodeName is "The '''M'''agician.
* AlmostDeadGuy: His wife. She tried to call him, he let it go to voicemail. Twice. She left a message as she lay dying.
* AlphabeticalThemeNaming: He and his late wife '''R'''ebecca were good friends of '''R'''obert and '''M'''oira Queen.
* AlwaysSomeoneBetter: To Oliver in Season 1. During both their fights, he comes away victorious. In their first fight, it's only overconfidence on his part that lets Oliver get away. In the second, he mostly succeeds in his plan to level the Glades and fakes his own death. Given that he has ''twenty'' years of League of Assassin training to Oliver's six years (five in hell, one in Starling), their every fight is a Curb Stomp. This has stopped as of Season 3, either already at the start (as he manipulated Oliver to go fight Ra's, something he didn't dare), or at the latest at the end of Season 3, where Ollie actually defeated Ra's.
** [[spoiler: In season 4, it's made clear that Oliver is now the superior combatant of the two. Malcolm also ends up being manipulated by Oliver into losing his title of 'The Demon's Head']].
* AnArmAndALeg: [[spoiler: Oliver cuts off his left hand in Season 4's "Sins of the Father" to extract the Demon's Ring, to give to Nyssa in exchange for a potion that can save Thea's life]].
* AndStarring: After he gets PromotedToOpeningTitles in Season Three. Even then, he gets this citation during his guest appearances in the first two seasons.
* ArchEnemy: To Oliver, and later to Nyssa. With Oliver, it's so personal that [[spoiler:during their duel in season four, Malcolm makes it clear that the only way their war will end is when one of them is dead]].
* ArcherArchetype: Unlike other members of the League, the bow is the only weapon we see him using, apart from when he's training Thea.
* ArchnemesisDad: Played with. He has an adversarial relationship with Tommy, but they do resolve some differences and it looks like they may end up working together. But when Tommy finds out what Malcolm has planned, he's horrified and ends up heading to the Glades to help out.
** Played with for quite some time in his relationship with Thea. [[spoiler:Thanks to his refusal to give up leadership of the League for her and handing Oliver's son William over to Damien Darhk, she appears to have rejected him and he to have gone full-blown villain. They do face off in combat, but he won't kill her.]]
** In a way, you could say he's this to Oliver. Oliver grew up with Tommy as his best friend and had Malcolm as a constant presence in his life until the island -- Malcolm was an honorary uncle or even a second father to him. And as detailed in LikeASonToMe below, Malcolm himself held fatherly affection for Oliver thanks to their similarities, and it's implied that these feelings stem from the time ''before'' Oliver was stranded on Lian Yu. Him being the biological father of Oliver's sister is just icing on the cake. Of course, any sort of affection they had for each other died a long time ago, and they're now the most bitter of enemies.
* ArrowCatch: Fully capable of this. When he does it the second time, it blows up in his face, literally.
* AsskickingEqualsAuthority: Thanks to his ability to play as his own dragon.
* AwesomeMomentOfCrowning: "My Name Is Oliver Queen" results in him having one, named as the new Ra's al-Ghul.
* BadassInANiceSuit: Well, he is badass and wears nice suits.
* BadassDecay: InUniverse. Not only does Oliver thoroughly beat his ass in Season 4 but he's also morphed into a DirtyCoward, a far cry from his "Dark Archer" persona in Season One.
* TheBadGuyWins:
** Thanks to very carefully hiding the existence of two {{Earthquake Machine}}s, he managed a half-victory with [[KillThePoor the Undertaking]], since Oliver and his allies were only able to stop one of them from going off.
** While he admits to Nyssa that he never intended to become the next Ra's Al-Ghul, his ascension to the position means that he gets exactly what he wanted since the start of Season Three: to be off the League's hit list.
* BigBad: Of Season One's present day, and the most consistent one in the whole series.
* BigBadEnsemble: With Ra's Al-Ghul in Season Three's present day. Ra's completely takes the role from him in the episode "Nanda Parbat".
** [[spoiler:In the fourth season, he takes it quite poorly when Oliver cuts off his hand and takes rulership of the League of Assassins from him, so he joins H.I.V.E., albeit he quickly gets DemotedToDragon.]]
* BlueAndOrangeMorality: According to Barrowman, Merlyn genuinely sees himself as a misunderstood hero. It explains a lot of his erratic moral behavior. [[spoiler: He even tries to rationalize kidnapping Oliver's son William as an act of fatherly love.]]
* BitchInSheepsClothing: He's able to go from charming injured guy to sociopathic murderer in the same conversation.
* BondVillainStupidity:
** During the Season One finale, he lets Oliver live despite having him completely at his mercy before leaving him alone with no other guards in the room. The first half is justified due to his personal connection to Oliver and a desire not to upset Moira, but the second is just plain ''dumb''. Most likely justified because he had beaten Oliver twice, and because he had a second earthquake machine ready to go. In fact, given how everything turned out, his actions only backfired in a minor sense.
** In Season Four, he keeps Nyssa alive he though he knows she wants to kill him for orchestrating Sara's death but he keeps her around because he believes she keeps him on his toes. He regrets it when [[spoiler: she destroys the Lazarus Pit.]]
* TheChessmaster: One of the biggest on the show. The Undertaking succeeded because he believed in redundancy and kept the second earthquake device a secret. But Season Three really showed off how good he can be: he orchestrated Sara's murder, having Thea kill Sara to force Oliver to take the fall for her and duel Ra's al Ghul. He planned it so if either Oliver or Ra's killed the other, he would always [[XanatosGambit come out on top.]]
* CelebrityParadox: Ray Palmer is apparently a fan of ''Series/DoctorWho'', a show which his actor has appeared in.
* ComplexityAddiction:
** His plan to destroy the Glades would have gone off without a hitch if he had merely kept it to himself instead of forming a secret organization to help him (made up of very unwillingly blackmailed accomplices who were ready to betray him at the first opportunity).
** In Season Three his gambit to get himself off Ra's hit list by brainwashing Thea to kill Sara so Oliver will face Ra's for him should have failed by all logic and yet it worked.
* CorruptCorporateExecutive: Considering he wants to KillThePoor, he definitely qualifies.
* TheCorrupter: Implied. Since Roy was using Malcolm's bow and arrows, it seems that the latter planted these items to convince Thea to leave with him.
* CrazyPrepared: Proves it via WhamLine:
-->'''Malcolm:''' "If I've learned anything as a successful businessman, it's...''redundancy''." ''[cue second EarthquakeMachine going off, destroying half the Glades]''
* CreateYourOwnVillain: Inversion. By sabotaging the ''Queen's Gambit'', Malcolm facilitated the events that made Oliver into what he is today, and subsequently turned him into his greatest enemy. Oliver made this pointedly clear when they finally confronted one another in the season one finale.
* CrusadingWidower: Albeit an evil version, he's willing to try and save Starling City in his own way: by destroy the Glades. By Season Two, however, he seems to have abandoned the idea after it had cost him so much and decided to train his daughter in the wake of her mother's death.
* CurbStompBattle:
** His first fight with Oliver goes almost entirely in his favour. The latter only gets away after stabbing him with a flechette and running away.
** He massacres a SWAT team that try to arrest him.
** In "Uprising", he utterly batters Danny Brickwell, who beforehand had bested almost every character that fought him. Though it should be noted Brick was previously battered up by Wildcat and shot by Roy.
** [[spoiler: Ends up on the receiving end of one by none other than Oliver Queen himself during Season 4. He does not take it, and the loss of the League of Assassins, well.]]
* DarkIsEvil: In his Dark Archer persona, he wears all black and fires black arrows.
* TheDarkSideWillMakeYouForget: Before joining the League of Assassins, Malcolm was a decent man and loving father. These days, he's a cold-blooded schemer willing to kill anyone he needs to, any love he has for his children is exceptionally twisted, and he has all the morality of a pit viper.
* DebtDetester: [[spoiler: Subverted. Even though Oliver saved his life via CruelMercy in Season 4, Malcolm is determined for petty vengeance and strikes up an alliance with Hive...until Darhk goes off the deep end and Malcolm paddles back to Team Arrow to save his own skin.]]
* DecompositeCharacter: In the New 52 comics, Tommy is the Dark Archer.
* DemotedToDragon: Goes from the BigBad of Season 1 to Damien Darhk's attack dog in Season 4.
* DirtyCoward: First only in regards to Ra's Al Ghul. Because he is scared shitless of fighting Ra's Al Ghul himself, he forces Oliver to do it by brainwashing ''his own daughter'' into killing Sara and thus forcing Ollie's hand to protect her. In Season 4 after [[spoiler: getting his ass kicked by Oliver and losing a hand, he runs to Damien Darhk and gives up the existence and location of Ollie's son for petty retribution. When he hold's Thea captive, he acts all smug and taunting as lang as he is in control, when he loses it he tries to run. And in the finale, when everything around him comes crashing down, he has yet ''another'' change of alignment and helps out Team Arrow out of self-preservation.]]
* TheDragon:
** ''To himself.'' The other members of the Undertaking don't know that he's the Dark Archer, so he threatens them with a visit from "our associate" if he needs to coerce them.
** He was also this to Ra's Al-Ghul as his "Horseman".
** [[spoiler:He's seemingly become one for Darhk after joining H.I.V.E.]]
* DrunkOnTheDarkSide: He enjoys the power that comes with being Ra's Al-Ghul, immensely [[spoiler: and when Team Arrow arranges it so he loses the title of the Demon's Head he ''loses'' it completely and becomes even worse than he was in Season One.]]
* EasilyForgiven: Zig-zagged in Season Three. While Thea is willing to forgive Malcolm for his past crimes, Team Arrow is not (except for Oliver and Roy but ''only'' for Thea's sake). However, when it turns out Malcolm is behind Sara's death, Oliver keeps him safe ''only'' so the League won't come after Thea. Thea, however, is '''furious''' and pretty much disowns him. Eventually , Ra's stabs Thea in one final gambit to get Oliver to join the League -- even Oliver can't tolerate Malcolm any more after that.
* EnemyMine: Oliver is willing to work with him in order to defeat the League and Merlyn accepts in order to free the two of them from the League's sights. However, they are united for the sake of Thea and the two can barely tolerate each other otherwise.
* EvenEvilHasLovedOnes:
** Despite his completely {{Jerkass}} actions towards his son (calling Tommy a loser, cutting him off entirely from his trust, tricking him to dinner just so he could sign off on closing his wife's beloved free clinic), it is shown he does indeed love his son. When Malcolm realizes the Triad is trying to assassinate him, his first and only concern is to get Tommy out of danger. Of course, that's partly because he knows he himself isn't in any danger thanks to his League training.
** His love of his wife and despair from her death is what ultimately pushed him over the edge into the villain he is today.
** Also his daughter Thea. He comes back to protect her from the Mirakuru army in "Streets of Fire" despite the League's ContractOnTheHitman. This is partially due to the fact that she is all he has left. Seems to be horribly subverted come "The Climb", where it turns out he was just using her as a pawn, but afterwards even though he put her in great danger he keeps showing that his love for her is genuine.
* EvenEvilHasStandards:
** He helps somewhat against the Mirakuru army in Season Two's three-part finale because while he did want the Glades destroyed as vengeance, he didn't want the ''entire city'' destroyed, especially not for a one-on-one vendetta.
** He's also ''vehemently'' against using the Lazarus Pit to bring back loved ones since they usually ComeBackWrong.
** He's also against H.I.V.E.'s Genesis plan, but rather than work to stop it, he becomes Darhk's [[TheDragon Dragon]] so Thea will be spared (and himself of course). [[spoiler: But when Darhk wants to destroy the whole world and not rebuild it, Malcolm goes back to Team Arrow.]]
** Even after siding with Damien Darhk, Merlyn doesn't reveal Oliver's identity (probably because doing so would endanger Thea). [[spoiler:This doesn't stop Darhk from working it out on his own.]]
* EvilCounterpart: To Oliver as the Dark Archer and perhaps to Walter as a businessman.
* EvilMentor: Takes in Thea at the end of the Season Two finale, and we see his mentorship of her early in Season Three. By the middle of the season, Oliver asked to be thought by him in order to fight Ra's Al-Ghul and the League of Assassins.
* EvilSoundsDeep: Uses a voice changer when in his Dark Archer persona, at least before he and Oliver learn of each other's true identities.
* ExactWords: He says ''he'' didn't kill Sara. In the literal sense, he didn't. He had a BrainwashedAndCrazy Thea kill her on his orders.
* FaceDeathWithDignity:
** Averted in Season 3, where he's brought before Ra's Al-Ghul and is begging for his life, and Ra's tells him to accept his death with honor.
** Played straight in Season 4, where after Oliver disarms him after their duel, Malcolm merely tells Ollie to GetItOverWith. [[spoiler: Oliver opts for CruelMercy and cuts off his hand instead.]]
* FaceHeelTurn: [[spoiler:While he was never exactly a good guy to start with, Merlyn abandons any pretense of being Oliver's ally after losing his hand and the League of Assassins, throwing his lot in with Darhk and re-establishing himself as Oliver's ArchEnemy]].
* FakingTheDead: In Season Two. He returns in "State v. Queen", much to Moira's shock.
* FamilyThemeNaming: His children, '''Th'''omas (Tommy) and '''Th'''ea.
* FeelsNoPain: Due to his training with the League of Assassins, this comes as a requirement. Subverted in that he does ''feel'' pain, he just ignores it. He shows this ability to Thea during their five months of training.
* {{Flanderization}}: He was never good to begin with, but in Season One he could at least present himself as a WellIntentionedExtremist and understandably wanting vengeance for Rebecca's death. In Seasons Three and Four however he has no justification and his evil plans are just a combination of him being selfish and petty and just being evil for evil's sake.
* FreudianExcuse: His wife's death is his StartOfDarkness. Subverted in that all of his actions post Season One can't remotely be justified by this in the least.
* FriendToAllChildren: Flashbacks show he would perform magic tricks for children as a way to connenct to them. This trait does ''not'' carry over in the present day however.
* FriendlyEnemy: To Team Arrow, until [[spoiler: he loses control of the League and Oliver cuts off his hand. Then he's back to being their ArchEnemy.]]
* AGodAmI: He believes the evil he does is necessary for the "bigger picture".
* GoneHorriblyWrong: From the League's perspective. He used all of his training to plot the destruction of an entire neighborhood.
* HandicappedBadass: [[spoiler: In the second half of Season 4, Oliver cuts off his hand. Despite this, he's able to break into Samantha's house and kidnap William without any fuss. Later Hive provides him with a prosthetic hand so he can wield a bow and sword like nothing changed.]]
* HateSink: As the series going on his horrible actions vastly out weigh his sympathetic backstory: in Season Three he brainwashed Thea to kill Sara, which set off a chain of events that nearly got her killed, and in Season Four he [[spoiler: resurrects Vandal Savage, refuses to forfeit his title of Ra's Al-Gul in exchange for a cure for Thea's bloodlust. When he loses control of the League, he tells Darhk about Ollie's secret son in Central City, cementing his status as selfish bastard who will always care only for himself and nobody else.]]
* HazyFeelTurn: In Season Three. He doesn't seem to bear any ill will towards Team Arrow and even saves their lives a few times, but he has no qualms whatsoever about manipulating them. [[spoiler: It doesn't stick and in "Sins of the Fathers" he betrays them since their goals no longer align with his. But then he goes back to them in the Season 4 finale, since even he doesn't want the whole world destroyed.]]
* HesBack: Much to Moira's shock at the end of "State v. Queen". Looks like he recovered from his VillainousBreakdown as well as that arrow to the chest.
* HeelFaceDoorSlam: In Season Four [[spoiler: After losing control of the League, Merlyn ends his status as Team Arrow's TokenEvilTeammate and strikes up an alliance with Darhk out of pure spite, but he goes back to Team Arrow in the finale, though.]]
* HeelFaceRevolvingDoor: He's going from being an AffablyEvil TragicMonster who may have a shot at redemption to a CardCarryingVillain who tries to figure how he can manipulate each situation to benefit himself at a drop of a hat. It doesn't help, that after his main arc in Season One, he suffers immense MotiveDecay.
* HeroKiller: Brainwashed Thea to kill Sara in Season3 and later [[spoiler: is indirectly responsible for Laurel's death.]]
* {{Hypocrite}}: Rants at Oliver in season 4 about how Nyssa would be unworthy of being Ra's Al-Ghul due to acting on her emotions. This coming from the man whose hatred for the Glades lead him to kill the poor. [[spoiler: Then after being spared proceeds to reveal Oliver's son to Darhk out of spite.]]
* ILetGwenStacyDie: Rebecca called him on his phone at least twice the night of her murder. He was busy working so he just let the phone ring the first time. She called a second time and this annoyed him so much that he shut down the phone. Past midnight, the police call to tell him she had been shot. [[AlmostDeadGuy She left him a message as she was dying.]]
* IgnoredEpiphany: Any lesson he learned in Season Three is gone by Season Four. Case in point: his "solution" to help Thea with her bloodlust? Tricking her into killing some of his men so it'll be satisfied for a few weeks.
* ImpaledWithExtremePrejudice: Though apparently non-fatally.
* IrrationalHatred: Merlyn wants to destroy the Glades, killing innocent people, as revenge for his wife's death, never mind that most of them had nothing to do with it.
* ItIsBeyondSaving: Part of the reason he wants to KillThePoor, though it's mostly because his wife's death cemented this in his mind.
* ItsAllAboutMe: For all his WellIntentionedExtremist rhetoric and claims to love his children, Merlyn's goals never veer away from what ''he'' wants. Destroying the Glades is about personal revenge for his wife's death, reaching out to Thea is about mitigating his guilt over Tommy's death, opposing Ra's al Ghul is all about saving his own skin, and his war with Nyssa in Season Four is about keeping the power he wields as Ra's al Ghul, to the point that he's willing to let Thea die rather than step down.
* ItsPersonal: The grudge between him and Oliver is incredibly personal -- Malcolm is, indirectly or not, responsible for the deaths of at least three important people in Oliver's life, and that's not even going into his manipulation of Thea.
* {{Jerkass}}: Towards his son and later [[spoiler: Thea when she breaks off all ties with him after she finds out he was the one who helped Darhk kidnapped William.]]
* JerkWithAHeartOfJerk: Aww, he takes in Thea when it seems like she's got nowhere else to go! He brainwashes her into killing Sara and therefore sets up a XanatosGambit to guarantee he gets off scot-free from death by Ra's al Ghul!
* JumpingOffTheSlipperySlope: He started out wanting to clean up the Glades. Then he decided to destroy the neighbourhood and everyone in it.
* KarmaHoudini:
** He has yet to pay for any of his crimes, with the possible exception of his defeat in the first season finale. He even has Oliver defending him now. It gets taken further when his only major consequence for his involvement in the events of Season Three, which primarily involved him staining his daughter's hands with Sara's blood, is being given an AwesomeMomentOfCrowning as the replacement for Nyssa (Sara's lover)'s father, the prior Ra's al-Ghul. On the flip side, he did receive a brutal torture at the hands of the League, he can never reclaim his old life in Starling City, and his villainous actions left him estranged from his children Thea and Tommy.
*** Until Season 4 rolled around at least. Thea has now let Malcolm back into her life with open arms despite everything he put her through.
** Finally subverted in Season Four; in "Sins of the Fathers", he is curb-stomped in a duel with Oliver, has his hand cut off, loses the League of Assassins to Nyssa, who permanently disbands the group, leaving a now crippled Merlyn with nothing. Then when he acts out in petty revenge by kidnapping William to help Darhk blackmail Oliver, it costs him any and all last remains of his daughter's love.
** [[spoiler:....only to be DoubleSubverted in the finale ''again''. This seems to be his real superpower.]]
* KickTheSonOfABitch:
** In "Uprising", it turns out that he murdered a random street thug who he thought had killed his wife. The guy was actually innocent of that, but still had it coming.
** He later gives a vicious beatdown to Danny Brickwell, but given that man's prior actions, it's downright cathartic.
* KillThePoor: He wants to kill everyone in the Glades partly out of revenge for the murder of his wife and partly out of frustration at his organization's previous attempts at improving the area.
* KneelBeforeZod: Or, in this case, kneel before Ra's al Ghul.
* LateArrivalSpoiler: The reveal of his identity was the SeventhEpisodeTwist of the first season.
* TheLeader: He is a natural born leader. Aside from heading his own company, he also lead and created a NebulousEvilOrganization. When Oliver is absent to infiltrate the League of Assassins, he immediately takes charge and becomes the de-facto leader of Team Arrow whether they like it or not. At the end of Season Three, he becomes the new Ra's Al-Ghul.
* {{Leitmotif}}: [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xnj1wqcOvEk "The Dark Archer/It is I Who Failed This City."]]
* LikeASonToMe: Admits that there was a time that he thought of Oliver as another son -- after all, he had more in common with him than he did with his own flesh and blood son. Of course, whatever fatherly affection he had for Ollie is long past -- these days, there is no one they despise more than each other.
* LoveMakesYouEvil: He admits that if Rebecca were alive, things would have been different. Her death causes him to join the League of Assassins and later plot the death of everyone in the Glades. He finally gets closure when he gets the chance to beat up and humiliate her actual murderer, Brick.
* LoveRedeems: Averted, his "love" for Thea did't get him to change his ways at all.
* MaddenIntoMisanthropy: Formerly a philanthropist and well-meaning dad, the murder of his wife made him go unhinged and try to murder an entire section of the city.
* TheMagnificent: His League of Assassins codename is "The Magician," matching his sobriquet from the comics, as well a qualifying for a punny nickname and NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast; if a group of ninja assassins feel you're slippery enough to be called "The Magician", that's saying something!
* ManipulativeBastard: Malcolm really is ''the Magician''; he successfully turned [[TheHero Oliver]] and [[TheDreaded Ra's Al Ghul]] against each other. Never mind that both men knew he was still alive and a suspect in Sara's death. Never mind that Oliver knows him as a monster who killed his father and his best friend/Malcolm's own son as well as stranding Oliver on an island for five years.
* MeaningfulName: At first, his League codename, "The Magician", seems like a reference to his last name, Merlyn. We later learn that Nyssa gave it to him because he performed a magic trick in front of her when she was a child.
* MisplacedRetribution: Quite obviously, destroying the Glades and everyone in it is a case of this. It turns out that when he murdered a random street thug in revenge, the guilty party was actually Danny Brickwell.
* MoralMyopia: In Merlyn's own mind, he is a heroic WellIntentionedExtremist. As such, he sees Nyssa as being in the wrong for trying to depose him as leader of the League of Assassins.
* MotiveDecay: He originally wanted to avenge his dead wife, and save Starling in a very twisted way. After that all went to hell, his main goal became surviving and getting off the League's Hit List. When he gets that accomplished, he just settles into his role of Ra's Al-Ghul and acting as a TokenEvilTeamMate to Team Arrow. However once [[spoiler: he loses control of the League due to Oliver's machinations, he strikes up an alliance with Darhk out of pure spite.]]
* MundaneUtility: Malcolm uses the Lazarus Pit, the magical water capable of raising the dead and unnaturally extending one's life, to heal a small cut on his cheek from a sparring match with Nyssa.
* MyGodWhatHaveIDone: In Season Three, he slowly begins to realize how bad the choices he made were with the revelation he killed the wrong man in vengeance for his wife's death. But it isn't until Ra's stabs Thea that it dawns on him how horrible the consequences of his actions have been.
* NebulousEvilOrganization: Runs one called Tempest.
* NeverMyFault:
** He refuses to accept any responsibility for the deaths of either his wife or his son. In particular, it's pretty clear that his blazing hatred of the Glades is at least partially a matter of projecting his guilt onto an easy target. Even after he finds out who really killed his wife, he still can't accept responsibility for his actions.
** In Season Four's "Sins of the Fathers", he treats [[spoiler:Thea's impending death as an unavoidable tragedy, ignoring that it's his own refusal to give up leadership of the League that has seemingly doomed her.]]
** When confronted with his crimes, he's always rationalizes them as acts of fatherly love and he seems to genuinely believe it.
* NobleDemon: He has a strong sense of honor and won't reveal Oliver's secret because it's not his to tell.
* NonindicativeName: Despite his moniker being the Magican he doesn't have magic powers.
* NotMeThisTime: He's a self-admitted killer, but he didn't kill Sara on the principle that she's the lover of the daughter of Ra's Al-Ghul, who's already chasing him as it is. That would make it ''much'' worse and draw attention to the city where his daughter is. Turns out he's lying; he had Thea do it while under a form of MindControl.
* TheOathBreaker: He was released from the League, but was made to promise that he would still follow their Code. Then he went back to Starling so he could destroy the Glades.
* OffingTheOffspring: While it is ultimately a tragic accident, Tommy's death can be traced to the fact that Malcolm financed the creation of the EarthquakeMachine that led to the CNRI building collapsing onto him and [[ImpaledWithExtremePrejudice staking him with a rebar]], meaning that if their was anyone to blame for his death, it was Malcolm.
* OutlivingOnesOffspring: Tommy at the end of Season One. Very narrowly averted with Thea near the end of Season Three; she is saved with the Lazarus Pit.
* PapaWolf:
** Despite their stormy relationship, the ''instant'' Tommy is in danger in "Dead to Rights", Malcolm leaps into action to protect his son and doesn't hesitate to kill a mook threatening him. In "Streets of Fire", he pulls off a VillainousRescue to stop a Mirakuru soldier from killing Thea and insists on protecting her from then on, despite her hatred of him.
** Cruelly subverted in "The Climb" when it is revealed that Thea killed Sara under the influence of a plant that can be used for mind control. Malcolm admits to Oliver that he made her do it so that Oliver would have to fight Ra's Al-Ghul to protect Thea, which if he succeeds would erase Malcolm's blood debt to the League and give him back his freedom. Ultimately Thea was just a tool to him, proof that Malcolm Merlyn loves himself more than his own children. That said he cares for Thea enough to [[spoiler: have Hive kidnap her and brought to the dome before they tried to nuke the world.]]
* ParentalNeglect:
** Pretty much ignored his son completely after his wife died.
** Even more so with his daughter Thea, but to be fair, that wasn't his fault. He ''tries'' to help her in his own way, but she dislikes his aid.
* PlotArmor: The ''only'' reason he's still alive, is because Oliver adopted a ThouShallNotKill policy and had no desire to see Thea become a killer like him.
* PromotedToOpeningTitles: In Season Three.
* PutOnABus: In Season Two, he appears at the end of "State v. Queen", then leaves again in the next episode, "The Scientist". However, over fourteen episodes later, he returns in "Streets of Fire", [[BackForTheFinale just in time for the season finale]].
* PyrrhicVillainy: Even though Malcolm has succeeded in his two major goals: he managed to destroy half the Glades and escape the League's justice they ultimately brought him down. He used to be a wealthy, influential businessman but his plan to destroy the Glades ruined that thanks to Moira outing him. Later he became Ra's Al-Ghul himself after escaping the League's justice, until he lost it as a direct consequence for the way he went about achieving it. Everything he did cost him his respect, his wealth, and his family. Now he's little more than a thug for hire with delusions of grandeur.
* RedemptionRejection: His love of Thea could ''have'' made him a better person, but he's just too selfish to change.
* RelatedInTheAdaptation: In the comics, Merlyn is not Mia Dearden's (Thea's comic counterpart) biological father.
* RichesToRags: Twice. He lost control of his company after Moria outed him in Season One, and again in [[spoiler: Season Four, when he loses control of the League to Nyssa.]]
* SharpDressedMan: Up until his name was revealed, he was known and credited only as "The Well-Dressed Man", making him a walking in-joke to fans of a certain [[Series/{{Torchwood}} sci-fi show]].
* SinkOrSwimMentor: His idea for trying to train Oliver and Thea into "regaining killer instinct" is to send them to Lian Yu before setting Deathstroke free to fight them.
* SmugSmiler: Not once does he ''NOT'' smile. He always has a subtle grin somewhere on his face. [[OOCIsSeriousBusiness Until he doesn't.]]
* TheSociopath: He has no problem manipulating and lying to literally everyone around him. That said, he does love Thea -- he just doesn't express it healthily at all. One suspects that he was ''always'' like this - his wife's death just brought it out of him.
* SoreLoser: [[spoiler: He swears revenge against Oliver in "Sins of the Father" after he cut off his hand and cost him leadership of the League of Assassins, and teams up with Darhk to take his petty vengeance.]]
* StartOfDarkness: His wife Rebecca's death in the Glades broke something in him, and after his affair with Moira, he left only to wind up in Nanda Parbat, where ComicBook/RasAlGhul himself gave him a new sense of purpose...
* StealthHiBye: He's ''really'' good at this, to the point even Damian Darhk is impressed. The only place he can't do this is Nanda Parbat.
* StillWearingTheOldColors: Still wears his League of Assassins uniform after leaving the organization.
* SuddenlyShouting: In the Season One finale, and quite jarring because it's the first time in the series he's been anything other than confident and poised.
--> '''Tommy:''' So you kill them all--\\
'''Malcolm:''' YES! THEY DESERVE TO DIE! ALL OF THEM! THE WAY SHE DIED!
* TallDarkAndHandsome: He stands six feet tall and doesn't have much gray in his hair.
* TallDarkAndSnarky: He stands six feet tall while his snarkiness stands even taller.
* TaughtByExperience: In "Year's End", he misses a perfect occasion to learn the Hood's true identity by just [[KickTheDog kicking him to make him suffer]], which allows Ollie to knock him out and escape. In "Darkness on the Edge of Town", Malcolm is in the exact same situation, but remembers to knock Ollie out, allowing him to learn his nemesis' true identity.
* ThirdActStupidity: See BondVillainStupidity above for his actions in the season one finale.
* TokenEvilTeammate: Oliver made him Team Arrow's SixthRanger to fight against the League of Assassins in Season Three, much to everybody else's (sans Roy) dismay. He continues to be this in Season Four until he [[spoiler: he loses control of the League, and throws his lot in with Darhk.]]
* TookALevelInDumbass: He's a wanted man by the League of Assassins. So what does he do? He drugs and hypnotizes Thea to kill Sara, both a member of the League and the girlfriend of the leader's daughter. This is something even he realizes would be [[ViolationOfCommonSense utterly idiotic for him to be involved in]], to boot. Furthermore, this was all in the belief that Oliver would be able to kill Ra's for him... despite also feeling that he did not have the killer instinct he once did and knowing [[TheDreaded just how dangerous Ra's is]]. The brainwashing eventually comes back to bite him in the butt when Thea sells him out to the League after she finds out what he did.
** Subverted when he ends up becoming the next Ra's Al-Ghul because he killed Sara. Of course, there are several times where he's nearly killed, but he still comes up on top.
* ToughLove: What he says cutting off his son is. What he considers training his daughter, by beating her senseless to get to understand he was trying to train her not as his daughter, but as a student.
* TragicVillain: He lost his wife to a murderous thug, then made one '''very''' bad choice that led to his whole world coming apart. Even Oliver is beginning to feel sorry for him in Season Three -- though he later takes it back. Averted in Season Four, since it's made perfectly clear that he is and always will be a horrible person who will only care about himself.
* TrainingFromHell: He went through it from Ra's Al-Ghul just like everyone who joins the League of Assassins, and puts Thea through the same, though he does go comparatively easy on her at first.
* UnderestimatingBadassery: The only reason Oliver is able to achieve a modicum of success in his fights against Merlyn is because of the latter's overconfidence. After delivering a complete Curb Stomp in their first fight, Oliver manages to stab him with a flechette and run away. In the second, he makes an ArrowCatch...on an exploding arrow.
* UngratefulBastard: [[spoiler:After being shown far more mercy than he deserved upon being defeated by Oliver, Merlyn bitterly swears revenge and betrays the location of Oliver's son William to Damien Darhk.]]
* UnwittingInstigatorOfDoom: By brainwashing Thea to kill Sara, he sets off a train of events that lead to Oliver joining the League and unleashing a greater threat to Starling than he ever was -- Ra's wants Oliver to use the Alpha/Omega Virus on Starling since it's the final step for the Heir to the Demon to fully embrace being Ra's Al-Ghul.
** [[spoiler: He takes on this role again in Season 4, where he collects Vandal Savage's remains so he can resurrect him so [[YouOweMe he can cash in a favor]] from him in the future. But the audience knows it makes him indirectly responsible for [[Series/LegendsOfTomorrow an apocalyptic future.]] ]]
* UsedToBeASweetKid: As flashbacks in ''Uprising'' show, he was a much kinder person and a better father to Tommy before his wife died. Everything went to hell after that.
* VillainousBreakdown:
** In "Sacrifice", after Tommy confronts him about the Undertaking and Moira holds a press conference announcing his involvement to the world. He goes from calm and poised to SuddenlyShouting and throwing the laptop on which he watched the press conference in a rage.
** He has another one in "Restoration" after [[spoiler: Nyssa destroys the Lazarus Pit]].
** He has another in "Sins of the Father" after [[spoiler: he loses control of the League to Nyssa, and loses his hand to boot. He's so pissed he forms an alliance with HIVE out of pure spite.]]
* VillainDecay: His threat level goes down each season, where he's more of a hinderance to Team Arrow (when he's not working with them) than a pressing concern. Best exemplified in Season Four, where he gets his butt kicked by Oliver (and loses his hand), loses the position of Ra's Al-Ghul to Nyssa, and when he joins H.I.V.E he's treated as just another thug.
* VillainForgotToLevelGrind: [[spoiler:Oliver improved dramatically since his defeat at Merlyn's hands in Season One, while Merlyn's skills hadn't grown at all. As such, when he and Oliver duel in "Sins of the Fathers", Merlyn is badly beaten and loses his hand.]]
* VillainsNeverLie: Manages to manipulate Oliver many times through half-truths and outright lies. He claims that he didn't kill Sara Lance, but he drugged Thea with a substance that turned her into a living weapon, murdering Sara by using her as his proxy. He claims that Ra's Al-Ghul disapproved of his daughter's "deviant" relationship with Sara, but Ra's only had reservations about it because he could tell that Sara wouldn't want to devote her life to the League. He blackmails Oliver into confronting Ra's by threatening to make Thea an even larger target for the League by recording her part in Sara's murder. But when Thea comes clean to Nyssa, who had already had instances of instability where Sara was involved, Nyssa forgives her immediately because Thea's will wasn't her own at the time.
* VillainWithGoodPublicity: He was able to maintain the image of an honest businessman and philanthropist.....until Moria oughted him with her press conference. And there's no way he'll ever get it back.
* VisionaryVillain:
** Very much so; he views destroying the Glades as necessary to making Starling City a better place for everyone. In "Uprising", he realizes it was all for nothing when he learns his wife's killer is still alive.
** In Season Four he keeps ranting about how nobody else can see "the bigger picture".
* WalkingSpoiler: From about Episode Seven of Season One onwards, plus a good chunk of Seasons Two and Three.
* WellIntentionedExtremist: A flashback in "The Undertaking" reveals him as one, complete with FreudianExcuse, and a little dash of AGodAmI for seasoning. However subsequent seasons show him to be a petty bastard interested only in himself and not even pretending to be benign.
* WeUsedToBeFriends: Claims this with Moira and Robert.
* WildCard: General rule of thumb is that he'll be working ''against'' Team Arrow ....until shit hits the fan then he works with them.
* WoobieDestroyerOfWorlds: He became this way after his wife was shot and killed in the middle of the street. Subverted as the series goes on and shows that his most cruel and ruthless actions outweigh the tragedy and pain he suffered.
* WouldHitAGirl: Willing to elbow and punch his own daughter in the face to train her. It wasn't out of malice or hatred, but still, his ''daughter''.
* WouldHurtAChild: Even ignoring the children who no doubt lived in the Glades, [[spoiler:a vengeful Merlyn tells Damien Darhk about Oliver's son]].
* YouAreInCommandNow: Becomes the new Ra's Al-Ghul at the end of Season Three.
* YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness: When he starts tying up loose ends, he ''really'' starts tying up loose ends.
[[/folder]]

[[folder: Frank Chen]]
!!Frank Chen
->'''Played By:''' Chin Han

A wealthy businessman who joined Tempest after his daughter was raped and beaten in the Glades.
----
* CelebrityParadox: Thea alludes to ''Film/AvengersAgeOfUltron'' in the second annual {{Crossover}} with ''Series/TheFlash2014'' which WordOfGod would later confirm. This means that the ''Franchise/MarvelCinematicUniverse'' exists in the Franchise/{{Arrowverse}}. His actor plays Councilman Yen in ''Film/CaptainAmericaTheWinterSoldier''.
* FrameUp: Moira makes it seem like he was the sole conspirator to hire assassins to kill Malcolm, while they were actually plotting together.
* HeelFaceDoorSlam: He finally starts actually turning on Malcolm, just in time to be killed by him when Moira frames Frank for their mutual assassination plot on Malcolm.
* KarmicDeath: Frank ratted out on Robert Queen's misgivings to Malcolm, setting off a chain of events that would lead to Frank's own demise when Moira frames him for trying to kill Malcolm.
* PapaWolf: Joins Tempest to get revenge for his daughter, who was raped and beaten by thugs in the Glades, leaving her paralyzed.
* WellIntentionedExtremist: Although as the Undertaking comes closer to fruition, he begins having serious doubts about the morality of the plan.
[[/folder]]

!Fyers Mercenaries

[[folder: Edward Fyers]]
!!Edward Fyers
[[quoteright:300:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/news_illustre_1352670459_1873.jpg]]
->'''Played By:''' Sebastian Dunn

A ruthless mercenary hired by an unknown woman to set up camp on the island of Lian Yu and carry out a FalseFlagOperation to cripple China's economy. Unfortunately for him, Oliver washes up on the island and begins interfering with his plans.
----
* AdaptationDyeJob: His counterpart from the comics had brown hair.
* AdaptationalVillainy: In the comics, he was an ally of Green Arrow's. Here... well, see FauxAffablyEvil.
* BigBad: Of Season One's island flashbacks.
* DecompositeCharacter: Since he underwent AdaptationalVillainy, his canonical role as Oliver's friend with a badge was given to Quentin Lance.
* TheDragon: Turns out there's another BigBad out there — Fyers was working for a mysterious woman, later revealed as Amanda Waller.
* EvilBrit: Judging from his accent and his actions, yes.
* EvilCannotComprehendGood: Possible justification for his sudden acquisition of a rather large VillainBall in the finale. He doesn't seem to understand that Oliver would be unwilling to sacrifice Shado in exchange for a way off the island.
* EvilWearsBlack: Along with the rest of his men.
* FauxAffablyEvil: He starts off amiable enough, but when Oliver refuses to hand over Yao Fei's location, he stops being polite and hands him over to [[TortureTechnician Billy Wintergreen]]. Later, we discover he's kidnapped Yao Fei's daughter to force Yao Fei's cooperation. That's before we even learn his reason for being on the island: He acquires a missile launcher with the express purpose of using it to shoot down civilian aircraft, and [[YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness executes poor Yao Fei in front of his daughter]] after forcing him to take the fall for said shooting down of civilian aircraft.
* HiredGuns: He was hired to crash China's economy by shooting down all air traffic in and out of it. The identity of the woman who hired him was revealed to be Amanda Waller.
* ImpaledWithExtremePrejudice: Oliver shoots an arrow through his neck in "Sacrifice".
* LockedOutOfTheLoop: Believed that he was hired to crash China's economy by shooting down a specific airliner in order to slow down air traffic. In reality, Waller wanted him to shoot down that specific airliner to get rid of one person -- Chien Na Wei (China White).
* ManOfWealthAndTaste: He gives off this air.
* OnlyInItForTheMoney: As he himself says, he doesn't care one way or the other about the goal -- he's just doing what he was hired to do. Still, that doesn't excuse his crimes in the least.
* RiskingTheKing: He allowed himself to be taken captive by Yao Fei (and Oliver to an extent) just so he can lure him to his men. Sure it worked, but the plan involving the person in charge of the whole operation is undoubtedly very risky.
* SociopathicSoldier: He may be OnlyInItForTheMoney, but he clearly takes sadistic delight in torturing his enemies.
* VillainBall: He grabs it ''hard'' during the Season One finale. With the missile launcher destroyed and his team dead, he has no reason at all to remain hostile to Oliver and Slade. It's in his best interest to simply disappear and call for a way off the island. What does he do instead? Why, grab Shado, put a gun to her head, and walk right up to a very pissed off Oliver and Slade. This results in pretty much what you'd expect. Shortly before [[TooDumbToLive the inevitable]], Oliver even [[LampshadeHanging points out]] that there's no reason to continue and he should just cut his losses and leave.
* YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness: Why he executes Yao Fei.
[[/folder]]

[[folder: Billy Wintergreen]]
!!Billy Wintergreen
[[quoteright:300:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/billy_wintergreen_arrow_14.jpg]]
->'''Played By:''' Jeffrey Robinson

A member of Australian Secret Intelligence Service, he was partners and close friends with Slade Wilson. They were sent to Lian Yu to rescue Yao Fei, but after their plane was shot down, Billy sided with Edward Fyers and became a mercenary.
----
* AdaptationalVillainy: In the comics, Billy Wintergreen was Slade Wilson/Deathstroke's loyal butler. Alternately, this could be something of a subversion, since his employer in the comics underwent a case of AdaptationalHeroism.
* AgeLift: He's commonly depicted as Slade's, a BadassGrandpa who also got hit with this trope, ''much'' OlderSidekick.
* AwesomeAussie: Like Slade, he's a former Australian intelligence operative.
* CompositeCharacter: Billy Wintergreen is Slade Wilson's butler. Here, he's the first Deathstroke.
* CoolMask: Referred to as "the operational equivalent of a balaclava". As an early version of the Deathstroke mask, it still has both eyeholes.
* DecompositeCharacter: He and Slade divide the Deathstroke character. Both Slade and Billy get the mask (though only Billy wears it at first) and fighting ability, but Slade is Deathstroke's occasional AntiHero portion, while Billy is Deathstroke's villainous and mercenary nature. Slade Wilson is Deathstroke's real name in the comics, and Billy Wintergreen is his butler. And then things get subverted when Slade takes on ''all'' of Deathstroke's characteristics later.
* TheDragon: To Edward Fyers.
* EvilFormerFriend: He was the godfather to Slade's child. Didn't think twice about turning on him, though.
* EyeScream: Slade kills him by jamming a sword through his eye.
* FaceHeelTurn: He betrayed his friend and partner to join up with Fyers' men.
* KnifeNut: He uses them in both combat and torture.
* {{Leitmotif}}: [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TjRPSHseMpI "Inhospitable Island/Deathstroke".]] Shares it with Slade.
* MalevolentMaskedMen: Though he wasn't initially malevolent, he was after his FaceHeelTurn.
* MovieSuperheroesWearBlack:
** Deathstroke (though Billy's never actually called that) has his trademark blue and orange costume changed to all-black body armor. His mask, however, remains yellow-orange on one half, making it look closer to the one used in ''WesternAnimation/TeenTitans''.
** Elaborated on in [[http://www.comicbookresources.com/?page=article&id=43730 this interview]].
* TortureTechnician: He's the one who gave Oliver some of the first of many scars gained during his time on the island.
* TheVoiceless: Until "The Odyssey", which features his only line immediately before the climactic fight:
--> '''Billy:''' Slade. Come back to die?
* WalkingSpoiler: But only if you read the comics.
* WeUsedToBeFriends: He was Slade's best friend, and was even godfather to Slade's son. None of that stopped Billy from throwing Slade under the bus when push came to shove.
[[/folder]]

[[folder: Edward Fyers' Benefactor/Amanda Waller]]
!!"The Benefactor"

[[HeWhoMustNotBeSeen An unseen female benefactor]] of Edward Fyers who hired him to head an operation on Lian Yu. Her identity has been revealed as of the third season, and you can find most of her tropes in the list of Characters/ArrowRecurringCharacters.
----
* GreaterScopeVillain: She gave Fyers the go ahead to perform an operation, thus inadvertently causing Oliver to become the man he would become.
* NonActionBigBad: In Season One, she only appeared to be working in an office somewhere and never confronted Oliver in-person.
* ShesGotLegs: Whomever she is, the most defining feature was her legs.
* TwoAliasesOneCharacter: Season Three's fourth episode, "The Magician", reveals that she is Amanda Waller.
[[/folder]]

!!Slade (Deathstroke) and associates

[[folder: Slade Wilson]]
!!Slade Wilson / ComicBook/{{Deathstroke}}
[[quoteright:300:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/slade_wilson_arrow_6663.png]]
[[quoteright:300:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/deathstroke_arrow_3499.png]]
->'''Played By:''' Creator/ManuBennett

An ASIS agent sent to Lian Yu with his partner Billy Wintergreen to save Yao Fei, he was betrayed by Billy during the mission and left to fight against Edward Fyers alone, until Oliver washed up on the island. The two began a fight against Fyers in an effort to stop his plot and leave the island, but continued to become embroiled in conflicts and conspiracies that revolved around it.

Later, his and Oliver's involvement in these conflicts with the mad scientist Anthony Ivo got him killed, leading to Oliver injecting him with a "miracle" serum developed by WWII-era Japan called the Mirakuru. As a result, Slade came back to life with superhuman abilities, but went completely insane and tried to make Oliver suffer. He continues this crusade into Season Two's present day, where he becomes the main villain for that arc.
----

* ActionDad: Has a son named [[ComicBook/TeenTitans Joe]]. However, come the present day, he denies he's ever been married.
* AdaptationDistillation: His backstory is greatly simplified, and more [[AdaptationalIntelligence heavily entwined with Oliver's]]. Rather than being experimented on by the government, he was simply one of the Mirakuru victims. The story behind how he lost his eye was also changed, instead of his wife shooting it out after he endangered their son, Oliver merely stabs it out during the climax of a fight. And he was active for a much shorter time as a mercenary before running into Oliver, than the comics.
* AdaptationOriginConnection: In the comics, Deathstroke and Green Arrow's origins have nothing to do with each other. Here, Oliver's actions inadvertently create Deathstroke, and Slade's training is a big part of what got Oliver on the path to becoming Green Arrow.
* AdaptationalHeroism: This Slade Wilson is more an AntiHero than a villain, whereas his comics counterpart is mainly a villain who occasionally will veer into AntiHero territory. [[FaceHeelTurn No longer the case]] as of the present-day scenes in "Three Ghosts".
* AdaptationalIntelligence: While Deathstroke is typically quite intelligent, he's usually muscle for hire rather than a [[TheChessmaster chessmaster]].
* AgeLift: He's commonly depicted as a BadassGrandpa. Here, he's in his 40s (in the present day scenes at least).
* AmbiguouslyBrown: Manu Bennett is part Maori, though there's no indication that Slade Wilson is. Slade in the show is [[RaceLift Australian]] so it's possible if not confirmed.
* AppropriatedAppellation: A.R.G.U.S. designate him Deathstroke. [[OneManArmy It's a]] MeaningfulName, and he quite likes it.
* ArchEnemy: To Oliver Queen. Next in line after Malcolm Merlyn, and one of Oliver's most personal enemies. He dedicates all his efforts in Season 2 to destroying Oliver in every way possible.
* AsskickingEqualsAuthority: TheLeader and most powerful member of the Mirakuru army.
* AwesomeAussie: He works for ASIS.
* AxCrazy: Another side-effect of the Mirakuru, warping his psyche into a very unstable and twisted one.
* BadassBaritone: Often to GutturalGrowler levels.
* BadassBeard: Started out with PermaStubble. Now it's a full-fledged BeardOfEvil in Season Two's present day and in the flashbacks.
* BadassBoast: "Death would be a release from this life, and his sentence is yet to be carried out. I am going to tear everything he cares about away from him. Destroy those who choose to follow him. Corrupt those he loves. Once he has lost everyone and everything he values, I will drive an arrow through his eye."
* BadassInANiceSuit: In his civilian guise in the present day he is seen wearing a fancy suit, a far cry from his military fatigues on Lian Yu.
* BadassInCharge: See AsskickingEqualsAuthority above. He is not only a [[SuperStrength physically]] [[SuperToughness unstoppable]] [[ImmuneToBullets superhuman]] being, but he is in charge of both Queen Consolidated AND Starling City as a whole via his CoDragons, and himself leads the Mirakuru army.
* BadBoss:
** At the end of "Blind Spot", after Blood nearly lets Laurel expose the truth, he slaughters all three of Blood's bodyguards and threatens to kill him if he screws up again.
** In the island flashbacks, once he has taken over the ''Amazo'', he is killing crew members for not finding Oliver, Sara, and the others.
* BecameTheirOwnAntithesis: Slade pre-Mirakuru is a loyal, [[DeadpanSnarker gruff]], [[ChronicHeroSyndrome generally]] [[GoodIsNotNice good]] guy who served as a mentor to Ollie. As Deathstroke, he is a ruthless villain with a nasty vendetta.
* BigBad:
** While Brother Blood is TheHeavy for Season Two's present day, [[TheDragon he's working for Slade]], who is aiding Blood in mass-producing the PsychoSerum running through his own veins. He also has a desire to completely ruin Oliver's life, then finally "drive an arrow through his eye".
** As of "The Promise", he has become this for Season Two's flashbacks as well, killing the ''Amazo'''s captain and taking over, not to mention ''[[AnArmAndALeg hacking off Ivo's hand]]''.
* BigBadSlippage: In the Season Two flashbacks, he starts off stranded with Oliver, trains him, and eventually becomes mentally unstable from a drug, eventually becoming the BigBad of Season Two's entirety.
* BrainwashedAndCrazy
* BroughtDownToBadass: Even BroughtDownToNormal he's still one hell of a tough opponent, and keeps Oliver on his toes until he's finally restrained to a pillar by a couple of trick arrows.
* BroughtDownToNormal: In the Season Two finale, "Unthinkable", Felicity gets close enough to inject him with the Mirakuru cure, finally evening the playing field between him and Oliver.
* CameBackWrong: Granted, he didn't fully die, but he was on the verge of death when he is injected with Mirakuru. From there in, he BecameTheirOwnAntithesis.
* CelebrityParadox: Since ''Film/TheTerminator'' is acknowledged in an episode of ''Series/TheFlash2014'', it likely means that [[Franchise/{{Terminator}} the film franchise]] exists in this universe. Over a month after its SeasonFinale, ''Film/TerminatorGenisys'' made its world premiere and one of its leads is played by his former ''Series/{{Spartacus}}'' co-star Creator/JaiCourtney.
* TheChessmaster: Slade has become quite the manipulator since the island, and is always a few steps ahead of Oliver. Then in "Deathstroke", he [[XanatosGambit takes it further]]. By the end of the episode, Queen Consolidated has been taken over by Isabel Rochev, Oliver has lost the trust of several friends, Detective Lance has been arrested, and Slade is about to turn a busload of prisoners into an army of super-soldiers.
* ChewingTheScenery: Manu Bennett is clearly having a blast.
-->'''Slade:''' '''I KEEP MY PROMISES, KID. I KEEP MY PROMISES!'''
* ChronicHeroSyndrome: Though he'd probably kill you before he admitted it.
* ColdSniper: When using a firearm.
* CombatPragmatist: He was willing to kill Oliver purely because he thought the dumb rich boy would trip up and get him killed.
* CoolMask: He finally puts it on in "Blind Spot", where we first see him in the new Deathstroke outfit, metallic upgrade of the mask included. In "The Promise", we see him don the original mask for the battle of the ''Amazo''; he wears it one last time in "Unthinkable" when he's fighting Oliver aboard the sinking ship.
* CynicalMentor: He's not overly confident in Oliver's ability to survive...at first.
* DeadpanSnarker: [[UpToEleven More so than Oliver.]] At least we know where he gets it from.
* DecompositeCharacter: As we've learned by "The Odyssey", Slade's Deathstroke persona went to his partner, Billy Wintergreen. Slade is the anti-hero to Wintergreen's villain. No longer the case after Wintergreen's death and the events of "Three Ghosts", but especially starting in "Blind Spot", when we finally see him in full Deathstroke gear and mask.
* DentedIron: His first bullet wound gets infected, and in Season Two, he requires a Mirakuru injection in order to survive his burn wounds.
* DisappearedDad: He is one.
* DisproportionateRetribution: For what he feels is Oliver's role in Shado's death, he is determined to make Oliver suffer by gradually killing off his friends and family and destroying his entire city. See also MisplacedRetribution.
* DoomedByCanon: While initially heroic, anyone familiar with the comics [[FaceHeelTurn should know]] [[ComicBook/{{Deathstroke}} what happens.]]
* DualWielding: Thus far, every weapon he can duel wield, he has. Stops doing so once he loses his right eye, in a bit of RealityEnsues.
* TheDreaded: He terrifies both heroes and villains. Amanda Waller actually gets ''tears in her eyes'' upon learning he's alive.
* DystopiaJustifiesTheMeans: He wants to give Starling City a slow, painful destruction through his Mirakuru army [[DisproportionateRetribution just so he can psychologically hurt Oliver]].
* EmpoweredBadassNormal: He finally becomes one after being injected with [[PsychoSerum Mirakuru]].
* EtTuBrute: In Season One, he has a big case of this towards Billy Wintergreen.
* EvenEvilHasStandards: Upon finding out that Malcolm Merlyn brainwashed his daughter Thea into killing Sara, he sounds subtly disgusted and even sympathetic, at least for a moment before [[EvilIsPetty finding a way to turn even that into a]] KickTheDog at Oliver.
* EvilerThanThou: Not only is Brother Blood his [[TheDragon Dragon]], but after his FaceHeelTurn, he takes over the ''Amazo'' by killing its captain, then terrifies Dr. Ivo and ''cuts off his hand'' before locking him in his own prison.
* EvilCounterpart: Both Oliver and Slade were captives on the island and subjected to it's punishing influence, and both lost someone close during that time that haunts them for years to come. But while Oliver went on to become a heroic vigilante who dedicated himself to saving his city, Slade became a brutal mercenary who dedicated his efforts to bringing Oliver's city down.
* EvilFormerFriend: In the present-day scenes in Season Two, to Oliver. Granted, he doesn't see it that way.
* EvilIsNotWellLit: His scenes in the present are shot in very low-key lighting until "Time of Death," when he shows up in the Queen Mansion to confront Oliver.
* EvilSoundsDeep: Just when you thought that his BadassBaritone couldn't get any more intimidating...
* EyepatchOfPower: He wears one in the present-day scenes. Underneath, [[EyeScream his right eye is just]] ''[[EyeScream gone]]'', as we discover at the end of "The Promise".
* EyeScream: Torn between injecting him with a cure or stabbing him with an arrow, Oliver stabs Slade with the arrow after Slade promises his revenge.
* {{Expy}}: Shares similarities with Bane from ''Film/TheDarkKnightRises'', with both being obsessed with destroying a hero in every way possible and making them suffer before killing them, in order to get revenge on something the hero did in the past. Which includes; corrupting the hero's home city, taking away those he cares about, freeing and recruiting criminals, and finally trying to kill all civilians. He also gives a [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YB9EfqlB8oM very similar speech]] to Bane's "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5pBUcXmyRGI then you have my permission to die]]" speech.
* FaceHeelTurn: Initially a gruff but friendly Obi-Wan, after losing the woman he loved and the Mirakuru serum driving him insane, he becomes a PsychoForHire assassin obsessed with destroying Oliver.
* FauxAffablyEvil: While in his civilian guise, he gives off a WickedCultured vibe and ''seems'' fairly reasonable, even going so far as to still call Oliver "kid", but he's trying to create an army of PsychoSerum {{Mook}}s and is an international PsychoForHire, and his whole revenge plot is driven by a hallucination of Shado [[BelievingTheirOwnLies lying to him about how she died]]. When he's in his Deathstroke outfit, he comes off as even more coldly sinister.
* {{Foil}}:
** Of a sort to Yao Fei. While Yao Fei is a SinkOrSwimMentor, Slade is a very harsh, less outwardly compassionate, but more straightforward and honest mentor.
** Also one to Oliver himself. Both had the same origin of being subjected to the island, and both are haunted over failing to save a loved one. But both ended up going very different paths, Oliver trying to save a city, while Slade trying to bring it down. In the Season 2 finale, Oliver reflects that Slade's turnout was not so different from his own, being so distracted that he cannot see the real threat that was right in front.
* FreudianExcuse: In "The Promise", when Ivo gets him to blame Oliver for her death, he hits the DespairEventHorizon in addition to making his FaceHeelTurn.
* FromNobodyToNightmare: From an [[UsefulNotes/AussiesWithArtillery ASIS agent]] tasked with rescuing a man on an island in the North Chinese Sea to an armored, superpowered mercenary that brings Starling City to the brink of destruction.
* GeniusBruiser: While his genius side isn't seen much in the flashbacks, it takes a certain kind of intelligence to engineer his entire plot in the present, and to [[XanatosSpeedChess constantly adapt to changing scenarios]]. The bruiser part is pretty much self-explanatory.
* {{Hallucinations}}: As shown in "Deathstroke", his extensive use of Mirakuru has led to a LadyMacbeth hallucination of Shado telling him to do evil acts.
* HandicappedBadass: After he was burned by firing from the ''Amazo'', his hands and the right side of his face were damaged. He later healed due to a PsychoSerum, but in Season Two's present day, he's lost the use of his right eye, like his comic book counterpart, due to Oliver stabbing an arrow into it. Even when depowered, he's a good fighter.
* HeartbrokenBadass: After learning that Shado was killed by Ivo, he became this.
* HeroKiller: Barring actual murders, he is treated as an ''extremely'' serious threat, being the chronologically first truly superhuman villain on ''Arrow''. Technically speaking, Slade is a ''villain killer'', but that doesn't do much to make the heroes any less fearful.
* HoistByHisOwnPetard: After a fashion. Telling Laurel that Oliver was the Arrow did almost nothing to set any of the protagonists back for more than a brief period, and indeed [[NiceJobFixingItVillain allowed Laurel to understand Oliver and his motivations better]]. This directly leads to Laurel snapping Oliver out of his funk when he was fully willing to just throw himself to Slade's mercy to make him stop tormenting his loved ones. Oliver tells Slade to his face that, while he trained him to be a killer, he actually made him a hero, and thanks him for that. Slade's response is he'll keep his promise to him.
* IGaveMyWord: He makes sure to fulfill promises he makes to anyone he does, albeit [[ExactWords to the letter]]. This includes promises made to Oliver and members of the Blood Cult high command. He still intends to keep it, even though he's unlikely to ever escape from the ARGUS supermax prison on Lian-Yu.
* IJustWantToBeFree: In "Deathstroke", Slade admits that after escaping the island, he tried to put it all behind him, presumably starting up his occupation as a HiredGun. However, he still feels stuck on that island, especially since the warped hallucination of Shado lingers with him. Thus, while he wasn't compelled to destroy Oliver during Season One, he returns with a vengeance in Season Two.
* ImmuneToBullets: A side-effect of the Mirakuru, and first demonstrated in the past during his rampages against Ivo's troops. However, in the present day it seems his armor offers an additional layer of protection in this regard.
* ImplacableMan: Thanks to the Mirakuru, anything thrown at Slade will, at best, inconvenience him. His sheer willpower also allows Slade to keep fighting through the otherwise debilitating Mirakuru cure.
* InsaneTrollLogic: How his vendetta against Oliver comes off in the present day; he's still focused on Shado's death instead of the whole "Oliver nearly killed me and took my eye" thing, and even acknowledges how obsessed he is, but he made "a promise". Oliver only seems to fully grasp how far Slade's gone when Slade reveals his Shado hallucination in the present day. He also extends his targets from Oliver's family to the entirety of Starling City under similarly insane logic, constantly expanding his definition of those Oliver loves.
* {{Jerkass}}: Completely justified by the circumstances on the island. He then descends back down once the Mirakuru takes over.
* JerkWithAHeartOfGold: Kind of, after Oliver actually accomplishes something. And, even in the present when he's evil, he's still shown to have ''some'' heart, given his decision to save Isabel rather than let her die, and his admiration of Moira's bravery.
* KatanasAreJustBetter: He now carries one when he's suited up. [[ThrowingYourSwordAlwaysWorks It throws pretty well, too.]]
* KickTheSonOfABitch: His first action as a villain was to cut off Ivo's hand. The writers knew that this would make him too likeable, so his next villainous act was [[KickTheDog to torture Oliver]].
* KnightOfCerebus: Once he shows up in the present day, Oliver's life gets considerably darker very quickly.
** The island flashbacks take on a darker tone when Slade [[FaceHeelTurn becomes a bad guy.]]
* {{Leitmotif}}: He has an instantly recognizable distorted guitar hum whenever he appears.
* LightningBruiser: Even before being injected with Mirakuru, he is very agile despite his bulky frame.
* MadeOfIron: Throughout the course of the show, he's shot twice, caught in the wake of a missile, and burned alive by a second missile, but keeps on powering through. And that's ''before'' he becomes superhuman.
* TheManBehindTheMan: To Brother Blood. And to Isabel Rochev, though she says [[DragonWithAnAgenda she's more working ''with'' him]].
* MaskOfSanity: As shown in his brief moments of breaking down, his FauxAffablyEvil WickedCultured act is just that: an act. In "Seeing Red", when giving Oliver a MeaningfulEcho SadisticChoice between his mother's life or his sister's, he starts raving about how [[CynicismCatalyst Shado]] [[LadyMacbeth told him what happened on Lian Yu with the]] SadisticChoice that led to her death, even though Oliver and everyone else present knows [[{{Hallucinations}} that nobody is there]]. Fittingly enough, it falls altogether in the finale; see VillainousBreakdown.
* MasterSwordsman: His WeaponOfChoice is a sword, and he teaches Oliver close quarters combat skills with one.
* MisplacedRetribution: He feels that Oliver is responsible for Shado's death and should suffer (along with his city) for it, despite Ivo being the one who killed her.
* MonsterProgenitor: In the present day, his blood is the source of Mirakuru for the Blood Cult. He might also fit the "strongest" part, as he's clearly stronger than Roy. Further evidence of this is seen in "Streets of Fire"; since the Mirakuru soldiers have even fewer apparent enhancements than Roy and Cyrus Gold, it seems that the more the Mirakuru is passed from user to user, especially when diluted to split among many, the less effective it is.
* TheMusketeer: Is equipped with [[DualWielding two swords]] and a gun, but he never wielded them [[SwordAndGun simultaneously]].
* NinjaPirateZombieRobot: First, he's a highly trained special forces warrior who carries swords into modern battles, uses stealth, and wore a balaclava to hide his features, ergo, ninja. Then, when he takes the Amazo from Ivo, [[FridgeBrilliance he commits a literal act of piracy while also establishing a preferred drink of rum]] and wears an eyepatch in the present day. And while he's not a zombie, he is the nightmarish hybrid of Wolverine and Captain America's powers. Hell, given he technically ''came back from the dead'' when he was given Mirikuru, he could actually count as a zombie to some extent.
* NoSell: Slade isn't fazed by a sucker punch to the face by Roy. Keep in mind that Roy also has the Mirakuru in him.
* NotBrainwashed: While the Mirakuru is likely a significant factor to his FaceHeelTurn, he does not lose any of his psychopathy after finally being cured of it.
* NotQuiteDead: Believed to have died after being injected with Mirakuru, but soon recovered. Later, he's believed to have died on the island after Oliver stabs him in the eye. Then we see him in "Three Ghosts".
* PermaStubble: Even on an island with no electric razors of any kind, Slade keeps his stubble in-check. Given his skill with blades, he probably shaves with one of his many knives, maybe two at the same time.
* PetTheDog: He seems genuinely concerned about Thea's growing darkness in Season Three.
* ThePowerOfHate: Even after getting the Mirakuru removed from him, Slade still manages to hold his own against Oliver evenly, and spouts off this as to why.
* PromotedToOpeningTitles: Got promoted to series regular for Season Two. It should be noted, however, that Slade's role in Season Two was more of a FakeGuestStar, much like how Creator/MishaCollins and Creator/MarkSheppard are billed as series regulars on Series/{{Supernatural}} but used similarly in tone.
* PsychoForHire: True to his comic book incarnation, he works as an international assassin; unlike his comic book self, he uses the funds for a specific purpose, namely his grand plan of revenge against Oliver, though it seems the revenge part is a recent move, given he supposedly tried to put things behind him once he escaped the island.
* PsychoSerum: He got dosed with Mirakuru and survived, becoming the first character chronologically to gain super strength from it.
* APupilOfMineUntilHeTurnedToEvil: Inverted. He was Oliver's mentor prior to his FaceHeelTurn.
* PutOnABus: At the end of Season Two, he is locked away into a A.R.G.U.S. supermax prison [[IronicHell built in Lian Yu]] and hasn't been seen since... [[TheBusCameBack until "The Return", anyway]].
* RaceLift: Slade Wilson in the comics is white. Here, he's AmbiguouslyBrown.
* RevengeByProxy: He plans to get back at Oliver by gradually destroying everyone and everything he loves.
* ScarsAreForever: Has a couple of notable ones on his face, including his right eye being ruined in the present day.
* SealedRoomInTheMiddleOfNowhere: At the end of Season Two, he is locked inside an A.R.G.U.S. "supermax" within Lian Yu, as it was the only place he wanted to escape from and did, but felt he never left.
* SharpDressedMan: He is one in Season Two's present day, when he's not [[MalevolentMaskedMen wearing the Deathstroke outfit]].
* SmugSuper: He truly believes he is unbeatable thanks to the Mirakuru, and he ain't quiet about it either.
* StartOfDarkness: Losing Shado seemed to lead to this, and being injected with a PsychoSerum didn't help either.
* SuperStrength
* SuperToughness: He got both post-injection.
* TragicVillain: If it weren't for the Mirakuru and losing Shado, Slade might never have been a villain at all. He even admits that he tried to put what happened on Lian Yu behind him, but felt that he couldn't escape it.
* {{Troll}}: Apparently, the PsychoSerum weaponized this previous trait. While "Time of Death" has him subtly trolling Oliver all throughout his polite conversations with Moira and later Thea, "Deathstroke" largely consists of Slade using both this and SchmuckBait to take Oliver's company, turn Thea against him, and run Oliver ragged on a wild-goose chase.
* TwoFaced: A rare non-villainous case after being too close to an explosion, with his head completely black on its right side due to an ointment, [[http://wac.450f.edgecastcdn.net/80450F/comicsalliance.com/files/2013/11/Arrow_2_7_3.jpg which makes his face look like Deathstroke's mask]]. It is played completely realistically, as he is shown to be in constant agony, and appears to be dying from it as of "State v. Queen". He later recovers and loses this feature, though.
* TwoFirstNames: His last name is actually a more traditional given name than his first.
* VillainDecay: In Season Three, to the point that [[WordOfGod Manu Bennett himself voiced his disappointment]].
* VillainousBreakdown: Granted that he's not the most stable adversary, but his MaskOfSanity finally drops in "Unthinkable" after Felicity injects him with the Mirakuru cure; he engages Oliver in a brutal one-on-one battle, ranting and raving the whole time, until Oliver restrains him with a couple of trick arrows and gets Amanda Waller to call off the drone strike. Later, Oliver imprisons him on Lian Yu and rebukes his BreakingSpeech by ''thanking'' him for helping to make Oliver a hero; he takes this ''very'' badly, and the last we see of him (until Season Three, that is), he's yelling that he will find a way to escape and keep his promise to destroy Oliver's life, even though there's no evident way for him to do so.
* VillainOverForDinner: At the end of "Time of Death", Oliver arrives at the Queen Mansion to find Moira in the middle of a meeting with... oh, take a wild guess.
* VillainWithGoodPublicity: So good that at the end of "Birds of Prey", Thea is willing to accept a ride from him. ''Big'' mistake.
** Subverted by the next episode; most of Starling City seems to not actually know who he is until he's accused of kidnapping Thea (given he's an international HiredGun known only by the codename 'Deathstroke', that's not surprising), and the police let him go because they have no evidence to imply he's actually responsible, until in the end, when Thea confirms that it was him. Given Laurel's reaction, it seems the city now know that he's a villain, they just don't know ''anything else'' about him.
* WeUsedToBeFriends: With Billy Wintergreen. And post-Island, with Oliver, though he doesn't see it that way.
* WholeCostumeReference: To [[Franchise/FridayThe13th Jason Voorhees.]] True to the reference, he prefers sword to gun. The suit also seems to resemble the outfits Deathstroke wore in both ''VideoGame/InjusticeGodsAmongUs'' and ''VideoGame/BatmanArkhamOrigins''.
* WickedCultured: He gives off this vibe in the present-day scenes of "The Promise" while talking amiably with Moira and Thea in the mansion.
* WouldHitAGirl: His vendetta against Oliver is to gradually take down the important women in his life. He only succeeded with one thankfully, though he initially thought he killed Sara. He also showed no signs of restrain when chasing down [[Series/TheFlash2014 Caitlin Snow]].
--> '''Flashback!Slade:''' Sara was only the first, she was only the first! Your sister! Laurel! [[CallForward Your mother!]]
* YouAreWhatYouHate: Post FaceHeelTurn, he embodied many characteristics of the villains he and Oliver faced;
** He becomes an EvilFormerFriend without thinking twice, much like Bill Wintergreen. The Deathstroke mask they both have is just a bonus.
** He starts mass producing the Mirakuru, much like Dr. Ivo's apparent original goal. Him hijacking the Amazo is just a bonus.
** After his and Oliver's battle in the Amazo, he becomes a mercenary much like Edward Fryers.
** He starts wearing a mask and recruiting people to join his cause, much like Oliver did when he came back to Starling (officially at least). Speaking of which, he was also returned to Lian Yu after initially "escaping" from it.
[[/folder]]

[[folder: Isabel Rochev]]
!!Isabel Rochev
[[quoteright:300:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/isabel_rochev_arrow_7235.jpg]]
[[quoteright:300:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/isabel_rochev_wearing_a_deathstroke_mask_2666.png]]
->'''Known Aliases''': Ravager
->'''Played By:''' Creator/SummerGlau

Vice president of acquisitions at Stellmoor International, Isabel comes to Starling City to purchase and liquidate Queen Consolidated. She ends up having joint ownership of the company with Oliver, and the two begin a reluctant working relationship.

It turns out that Isabel is working with (not ''for'' as she insists) Deathstroke as part of a plan to get back at Robert Queen's family, as she was once his mistress, but Robert decided that his family was more important and left her. This lead to her planning her revenge on the Queens by taking over their company and destroying their family.
----
* AdaptationalEarlyAppearance: She's introduced at the time Mia Dearden (Thea) had long replaced Roy Harper as Speedy. Here, she appeared at the time where Roy was not even an ally of Oliver yet.
* AdaptationDyeJob: In [[http://images.wikia.com/marvel_dc/images/b/ba/Isabel_Rochev_003.jpg the comics]], she was blond. Here, she's the brunette Summer Glau.
* AloofDarkHairedGirl: She's an IceQueen to the core.
-->'''Felicity:''' [to Oliver] She looks angry in all her photos.
* TheBadGuyWins: Though she doesn't get to live to enjoy it, she tears the Queens apart just like she wanted, and tells Oliver she doesn't care what happens to her afterwards.
* BestServedCold: So cold, in fact, that the person she's actually trying to take revenge on is long dead by the time she starts enacting it.
* CelebrityParadox: An episode of ''Series/TheFlash2014'' mentions the ''Franchise/{{Terminator}}'' franchise. Summer Glau was one of the main characters of ''Series/TerminatorTheSarahConnorChronicles''.
* CharacterDeath: Nyssa kills her off in "Unthinkable".
* CoDragons: With Brother Blood to Slade.
* CompositeCharacter: Of her comic book counterpart and Rose Wilson, aka Ravager.
* CorruptCorporateExecutive: It turns out she's been working for Slade the whole time and is now devoting the company's resources to his EvilPlan, making her very much this.
* CurbStompBattle: Her fight against Nyssa and Sara lasts for about ten seconds, before they both overpower her. To add insult to injury, neither of them had Mirakuru.
* DarkActionGirl: She gives Oliver a run for his money when he finds out she's working with Slade, and it's very likely she threw the fight as part of Slade's plan. However, Oliver beats her in their second round, though Diggle is the one to (temporarily) finish her off.
* DefrostingIceQueen: As of "The Scientist," she seems to be this towards Oliver. Turns out it was an act.
* DisproportionateRetribution: Despite Robert Queen being long dead, she's trying to punish his family because he chose them over her.
* DragonWithAnAgenda: Isabel insists that she's working ''with'' Slade and not ''for'' him, and only because her own goals benefit from his assistance.
* EvilAllAlong: And unlike with Brother Blood, we don't find out until "Deathstroke", Episode Eighteen of Season Two. Also, she's fully in the loop with Slade and amused that Blood isn't.
* FemmeFatale: Uses seduction and manipulation to work her way into Oliver's trust, because even when he didn't like her, she made him believe she wanted the company to run well.
* FoeYay: Subverted in that it isn't UST, her and Ollie straight up have sex. Of course it happened before he learned she was evil.
* HonestCorporateExecutive: While she's certainly no Walter, we've seen no indication of corruption so far. The worst you can say about her actions so far is that she's an incredibly ruthless pragmatist.
* {{Hypocrite}}: She calls Felicity "smug".
* IceQueen: ''Nothing'' appears to be able to shake her. Except alcohol, which gets her to warm up. In general, she's nicer outside of the office. Except she's not -- when her true colors are revealed, she proves incredibly icy, though she shows more emotion and is deeply vengeful against the Queens, wanting to punish Oliver for "the sins of the father".
* ItsAllAboutMe: As her quest for petty revenge can demonstrate.
* {{Jerkass}}: Downplayed example. She begins her meeting by saying Oliver, the man who she's doing business with, "majored in dropping out of college". But after TheReveal in "Deathstroke", it's not downplayed at all -- she really ''is'' a {{Jerkass}}. The most evident part of this is mocking Oliver and threatening Felicity and Diggle ''at Moira Queen's wake''.
* JerkassHasAPoint: She seems to have a considerable dislike for Oliver because he's making her job difficult, resisting the takeover of Queen Consolidated. He also has no real background in business, so she dislikes him as a CEO. Except that's just an excuse -- she hates him for being Robert Queen's son.
* KickTheDog: Turning up to gloat to Diggle and Felicity at Moira Queen's wake is just one of many examples.
* KickTheSonOfABitch: On the receiving end. It's really hard to feel bad for her when Nyssa snaps her neck.
* KilledMidSentence: Nyssa does the deed while she's in the middle of EvilGloating that she's already gotten her revenge and doesn't care if she dies.
* TheMistress: Formerly to Robert Queen.
* MoralityPet: She's one of the few things Slade still cares for after going off the deep end, to the point that he saves her even though he didn't really need her at this point.
* NeckSnap: Nyssa offs her with one.
* NiceJobFixingItVillain: She tells Oliver that Robert Queen was aware that Thea wasn't his and loved her anyway, not realizing that it might help the situation in the Queen household. A SubvertedTrope, sadly — hearing this doesn't make Thea any less angry.
* PerpetualFrowner: When briefing Oliver, Felicity mentions that in every single photo she found, Isabel looks angry.
* PsychoExGirlfriend: She's this for Robert Queen, believing herself to have been his soulmate and unable to stand that he chose his family over her in the end, hence why she's so snide towards them.
* PsychoSerum: Granted that she was already a psychotic bitch, but she gets a Mirakuru injection after Diggle shoots her in "The Man Under the Hood".
* PutOnABus: Despite being billed as a recurring guest star, as of "The Scientist", she quietly disappears from the scene, not reappearing until ten episodes later. This gets lampshaded after Oliver returns to the office and she scolds him for being absent.
* RelatedInTheAdaptation: Inverted. The Ravager is Slade's illegitimate daughter in the comics. Here, she's merely his [[TheDragon Dragon]].
* RedAndBlackAndEvilAllOver: Her Ravager costume is mostly black with red accents.
* SinsOfOurFathers: At one point, she was Robert Queen's mistress. According to her, Robert was about to leave Moira for her, but ultimately chose to remain with his family and cut her out of his life. With Robert long dead, Isabel now takes out her vengeance on his son and surviving family.
* SmugSnake: She is competent, but ultimately her ego is disproportionately large. Nyssa and Sara promptly deal her a CurbStompBattle.
* SuperhumanTransfusion: Slade is seen having rolled down his sleeve, showing that he personally injected Isabel with his own blood.
* TheDragon: To Slade Wilson
* TrainingFromHell: Apparently, she's been through this at Slade's hands.
* WalkingSpoiler: We learn a ''lot'' about her in "Deathstroke".
* WomanScorned: Robert choosing his family over her is what drives her to take {{Revenge}} on his family after his death.
[[/folder]]

!Blood Cult

[[folder: Tropes that Apply to the Whole Group]]

* {{Cult}}: With how members (except the high command) call each other "Brother", it gives off this image.
* DegradedBoss: The Mirakuru army, compared to [[BossInMookClothing Cyrus Gold]]. A JustifiedTrope due to not getting nearly as much Mirakuru as him through the dilution of the serum.
* EliteMooks: The Mirakuru army in the Season Two finale.
* GangOfHats: The Mirakuru soldiers all wear some variation on Deathstroke's mask.
* NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast: A group calling themselves "Blood Cult" are obviously up to no good.
* UndyingLoyalty: The rank and file have this for their commanders. The Mirakuru soldiers, on the other hand, have loyalty only to Slade Wilson, and not to Sebastian Blood.
[[/folder]]

[[folder: Sebastian Blood]]
!!Sebastian "Brother" Blood
[[quoteright:300:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/sebastian_blood_arrow_6642.jpg]]
[[quoteright:300:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/brother_blood_arrow_5326.jpg]]
->'''Played By:''' Kevin Alejandro

A charismatic city alderman, Sebastian Blood ran for the position mayor and is an advocate for those affected by the Undertaking. However, he is also the secret leader of the Blood Cult, injecting both his followers and unwilling subjects with a mysterious serum to create a superpowered army.
----
* AbusiveParents: As part of his RedemptionEqualsDeath, it's revealed that his father, who he was earlier vilified for killing, was actually horribly abusive.
* AdaptedOut: No mentions of his mystical BloodMagic or other supernatural powers that his comics counterpart possesses.
* BigBadWannabe: At the offset of the season he initially acts as the [[TheHeavy main threat]] Team Arrow faces, with his army of loyal soldiers working for him and his access to Mirakuru, however as soon as Slade returns it becomes apparent that Blood is nothing more than his pawn. By the end of the season Isabel takes over as Slade's primary enforcer, the new Mirakuru soldiers become loyal to Slade instead of him and his dream of taking over the city in his own image becomes moot since Slade [[DisproportionateRetribution intends to destroy all of it to get back at Oliver]].
* BitchInSheepsClothing: While waiting for Oliver at a party that he had funded for Blood, the man went on a rant in front of people, accosting him and the Queen family. Not only that, when Oliver went to the Glades after his exiled return, Blood took great glee in putting Oliver down. And let's not forget that he's secretly Brother Blood, the leader of a cult seeking to "save" the city by taking it over.
* BreakTheHaughty: At the end of the season when Slade's plans come to fruition and he learns they never shared a goal. Blood actually wanted to rebuild the city, Slade just wanted to destroy it. The Mirakuru soldiers only listened to him insofar as his plans were in line with Slade's.
* CompositeCharacter: His skull mask appears to be taken from Black Mask, a Batman rogue.
* ConsummateLiar: Most if not all of what this guy says to people, Laurel in particular, is a lie to make himself look better.
* CoolMask: It looks like a monstrous brown skull. He was willing to let one of his subordinates die wearing it to throw our heroes off the scent. According to "Streets of Fire," it's based on how he saw [[AbusiveParents his father]] and was made as his way of coping with his distress.
* CorruptPolitician: According to "Deathstroke", his reason for helping Slade Wilson is that he was promised he would be mayor. He is ''not'' happy when their plan leads to that becoming a less than likely prospect. Ultimately, he abandons this, as he truly does love his city, but his willingness to blackmail in order to keep his part in things unknown makes him still fall under this regardless.
* DarkMessiah: His followers seemingly worship him, almost like a god. As seen in "Blind Spot", they're even willing to die for him. Except it's all a sham. They don't give a damn about him or his mask, and are actually following Slade.
* DeathBySecretIdentity: In addition to the RedemptionEqualsDeath trope below, the last time we see him before Isabel jams her blades right through his body, he's threatening to blackmail Oliver by exposing his identity as the Arrow in case Oliver tries leaking his involvement with Slade as Brother Blood to the public.
* TheDragon: He ''thinks'' he's TheDragon, but he's just there to provide another distraction for Oliver.
* EasilyForgiven: Averted. Although he does give Oliver the Mirakuru cure at the crucial moment, Oliver makes it clear that one act isn't enough to completely overlook all his previous crimes.
* EatTheRich: Seems to invoke this mentality in his supporters, using the Undertaking to justify it.
* EvilAllAlong: Revealed at the end of "Crucible", though it shouldn't come as a real shock to the audience.
* EvilSoundsDeep: Like Malcolm Merlyn as the Dark Archer before him, he wears a mask and uses a voice changer in his Brother Blood persona.
* FlunkyBoss: He's always accompanied by his {{Mook}}s.
* TheHeavy: Of the first half of Season Two's present day. He seemed to be the BigBad at first, but "Three Ghosts" revealed that he's actually TheDragon to Slade Wilson. Then we learn that that's actually Rochev, and Blood is just another pawn.
* HeroKiller: Not necessarily him personally, but Ollie is clearly terrified of the implications of his work.
* HollywoodAtheist: Shows nothing but disdain for Maya Resik's religious devotion, and tells her that "your gods are dead" in his skull mask to scare her to death.
* LegacyCharacter: Implied by Slade, claiming anyone can wear the mask.
* LockedOutOfTheLoop: Unlike his cohort, Isabel Rochev, Deathstroke didn't tell him about the Arrow's true identity. Or the true plan.
* MalevolentMaskedMen: Masked? Check. Malevolent? ''Check.''
* MookLieutenant: While he thinks he's TheDragon, he's more of a mouthpiece and notable face with a personality.
* NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast: Come on. The man's name is ''Mr. Blood''. Although "Brother Blood" does have a creepiness all its own...
-->'''Felicity:''' His last name is "Blood". That can't be a good sign.
* NiceJobFixingItVillain: He himself judges hiring the Count to kill the Arrow to have been this, since it not only failed, but also led to the Arrow killing again.
* NoPartyGiven: Though it's not explicitly stated, Blood's remarks at a debate imply that he is a Democrat.
* ParentalAbandonment: According to him, his mother killed his abusive father in self-defense, then ran off. In reality, he's a SelfMadeOrphan who killed his own (actually abusive) father and put his mother away in an asylum, under the lie that she was his aunt, to get rid of her. Then he kills her, too, when he learns she spilled the beans to Laurel.
* PowderKegCrowd: He is speaking to one when Oliver first meets him and, possibly intentionally, sparks a small riot that breaks Oliver's car window.
* RaceLift: Brother Blood was from a Baltic country in the comics, but on the show, he's played by a Hispanic actor and it's implied that he has mixed Baltic-Hispanic heritage: his mother Maya is Hispanic, but her married name is Resik.
* RedBaron: In his own personal circle, he's known as Brother Blood.
* RedemptionEqualsDeath: He gives Oliver the Mirakuru cure to stop Slade, for which Ravager kills him.
* RoguesGalleryTransplant: In the comics, Brother Blood is a Teen Titans villain.
* VillainWithGoodPublicity: He seems to be adored by everyone, including usually suspicious people like Oliver and Quentin. Only Laurel and his mother Maya Resik see through the facade, and he kills the latter to keep her quiet and makes the former look and feel like she's just delusional from taking drugs.
* WellIntentionedExtremist: He's horrified to learn Slade's true plan is to destroy all of Starling City, which prompts him to turn against Slade and deliver the Mirakuru cure to Oliver. Blood thought the plan was to tear down the "worst" parts of the city and rebuild.
* WithUsOrAgainstUs: Even though Oliver's fundraiser is actively raising money for the Glades after the Undertaking, his failure to show up gives Blood the opportunity to paint him as the face of the RichIdiotWithNoDayJob problems the city has.
[[/folder]]

[[folder: The Acolyte]]
!!Cyrus Gold / The Acolyte
[[quoteright:300:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/cyrus_gold_arrow_658.png]]
->'''Played By:''' Graham Shiels

A follower of Brother Blood, and the first one to survive being injected with his mysterious formula.
----
* AdaptationalWimp: Not remotely as strong as his comic counterpart, who in some instances can take on Superman.
* AnnoyingArrows: Literally in his case.
* BadassPreacher: According to Blood, Cyrus was once a preacher.
* BaldOfEvil: Lex Luthor would be proud.
* TheBrute: The powerhouse of the Blood Cult.
* ComicBookMoviesDontUseCodenames: In the comics, Cyrus Gold is much better known as [[Characters/Earth2GreenLantern Solomon Grundy]]. This gets a nod when Diggle finds a book containing the character's iconic rhyme in Gold's apartment, which is later referenced again in a BondOneLiner.
* EmpoweredBadassNormal: Through the use of [[PsychoSerum Mirakuru]], he develops:
** ImplacableMan: Super-strong and nigh impossible to bring down.
* MalevolentMaskedMen: He wears a flat black mask.
* PsychoSerum: The source of his power. Ironically, he appears to be killed when Oliver destroys the centrifuge containing it, spraying his face with a large amount.
* RoguesGalleryTransplant: In the comics, Solomon Grundy (Gold) is usually a Green Lantern or Batman villain.
* SuperStrength: He's able to hit Oliver so hard that he bounces off the ceiling.
* SuperToughness: Oliver's arrows ''crumple'' when they hit him.
* TheEndOrIsIt: Gold's body shows signs of movement after he's doused in chemicals. Given his [[Characters/Earth2GreenLantern comic book counterpart,]] this may be a sign of {{Foreshadowing}}.
* WholeCostumeReference: Pretty clearly takes inspiration from [[Franchise/FridayThe13Th Jason Voorhees.]] Fitting, considering the comic version's resemblance to FrankensteinsMonster.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Brother Daily]]
!!Officer Daily / Brother Daily
->'''Played By:''' Jesse Hutch

A police officer who assists Brother Blood by covering up his crimes and disposing of evidence.
----
* BitchInSheepsClothing: He serves as a mole in the police department for his "brothers".
* CharacterDeath: Courtesy of a few bullets to the chest from Laurel.
* TheDragon: To Brother Blood.
* GoOutWithASmile: After successfully TakingTheHeat for Brother Blood, he gave Oliver and Laurel a [[SmugSmiler smug grin]] and then dies.
* TheMole: In the SCPD for the Blood Cult.
* TakingTheHeat: In death, for Brother Blood.
[[/folder]]

!League of Assassins

[[folder: Tropes that Apply to the Whole Group]]
* AboveGoodAndEvil: Goes hand in hand with their BlueAndOrangeMorality.
* AncientConspiracy: They've been around a while, that's for sure.
* BlueAndOrangeMorality:
** If a member of the League is killed and that killer can't be brought to "justice," the League has no problem slaughtering innocent blood until the killer is found.
** Even ''challenging'' Ra's Al-Ghul is considered a grievous crime worthy of death at least by Nyssa's standards (although Ra's really doesn't care). That said, [[BadassInCharge that might just be the result of challenging him in the first place]].
* TheChosenOne: Those who [[ExactWords survive the Demon's blade, are the ones who take the Demon's place as Ra's Al-Ghul.]]
* ConservationOfNinjitsu: Played with. When there are more of them they become seemingly easier to deal with, but this is partly due to a lack of ranged weaponry; at close range they become significantly harder to fight. They are also able to successfully ambush and capture Oliver simply by virtue of numbers.
* TheCorruption: Certain members are put through an intense brainwashing process to make them 100% loyal to the League. Candidates to be the next Ra's Al-Ghul also have to destroy their home towns to ensure their past identity is dead and they are only Ra's Al-Ghul.
* {{Cult}}: ''Definitely'' has the vibe of one. Members are required to discard all connection to their former lives, to be brainwashed into loyally serving Ra's Al-Ghul, adopt new names, and leaving the group is all but impossible without Ra's' say-so.
* CurbStompBattle: In "My Name is Oliver Queen", the Flash storms Nanda Parbat with more or less no effort, breaking out Team Arrow and going an extra mile to humiliate the ninjas he took out.
* DidntSeeThatComing: They probably didn't have reason to expect the Flash storming Nanda Parbat and breaking out Team Arrow.
* DoomedHometown: The candidates to be Ra's Al-Ghul are required to personally destroy their hometown and kill everyone in it to completely sever their ties to their previous lives.
* EnemyCivilWar: [[spoiler: Nyssa manages to build enough of a power base against Merlyn.]]
* EvenEvilHasStandards: The League of Assassins, whatever else they might be, have a code of honor, and ComicBook/RasAlGhul himself was so disgusted by The Undertaking in Season One that he wants to kill Malcolm personally as of "The Scientist". They also send reinforcements to help against the Mirakuru army in "Unthinkable", albeit in reaction to [[DealWithTheDevil a deal with Ra's]] from Sara.
* EvilPlan: ''Presumably'' they have one, but we never find out what their long term goals are. Though Ra's' comments in "Al Sahhim" seem to imply that they're roughly similar to HIVE's - albeit less extreme (for a given definition of less).
* EvilVersusEvil: The result of Moira siccing Ra's Al-Ghul on Malcolm.
* EvilWearsBlack: Standard League wear is pure black.
* ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin: Lampshaded by Felicity.
* FrameUp: They've been tainting Oliver's reputation as the Arrow to Starling City after he refuses to be Ra's heir near the end of Season Three.
* GratuitousForeignLanguage: Named assassins are given codenames in Arabic, and members converse in it regularly, even when neither participant is Arabian. Translations are a hit and miss affair, mostly correct with the occasional gaff of translating a Western phrase into Arabic even though it sounds awkward, or the rather liberal translation of Canary. Delivery is mostly poor, with Ra's himself being unintelligible.
* HighlyVisibleNinja: For all of their talk of disappearing without a trace, they make some pretty flash-bangy entrances, and in the case of Nyssa, wear extremely flashy, attention-drawing costumes.
** Possibly [[JustifiedTrope justified.]] They only really do that for high-priority targets – or for people who might notice them anyway (ex. Merlyn). For example, when they capture Oliver to bring him to Ra's, they pretty much come out of nowhere. Notably, Sara and Merlyn, who they trained, don't notice them.
* KarmaHoudini: [[spoiler: Nyssa dissolves the group and the members go their separate ways without being punished for their crimes.]]
* ALighterShadeOfBlack: Against H.I.V.E., since they have [[EvenEvilHasStandards more standards]].
* LoweredMonsterDifficulty: Early in the show, just one member gives both Sara and Ollie ''combined'' some serious trouble. Fast forward a few seasons to 3x22 "This Is Your Sword", and the much less experienced Laurel is single-handedly able to take on three at once. After losing to a mugger in the prior episode, then getting a whopping two weeks of training from Nyssa.
* McNinja: Despite the strong {{Ninja}} motif, the group is a MultinationalTeam, meaning there are non-Asian ninjas.
* MultinationalTeam: The group is quite diverse.
* MurderInc: The group is ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin, though they don't get paid for it (so far as we know), but rather abide by their own moral code.
* MyKungFuIsStrongerThanYours: Sara describes their combat ability as "making Special Forces look like a kindergarten class."
* MyMasterRightOrWrong: What Ra's al-Ghul says goes, even if that means the dissolution of the League itself. Subverted as the Heirs of Ra's Al-Ghul are brainwashed to be 100% loyal to the League so it'll never happen.
* NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast: Gee, a "League of Assassins" doesn't sound terrifying at all...
* NeverHurtAnInnocent: This is what they ''claim'' but League Law allows numerous exceptions such as when Nyssa attempted to kill Sara's family since Sara went AWOL, when Nyssa threatened to kill half of Starling to coerce Oliver to hand over Sara's killer, and of course the ritual where Heirs of Ra's Al-Ghul must destroy their hometowns in order break any connection to their old lives and fully become the Demon's Head. Small wonder why Malcolm thought leveling the Glades was a perfectly good way to help Starling.
* {{Ninja}}: Their rank and file.
* NotSoDifferent: They're disgusted at Merlyn's massacre of the Glades (due to all the innocent blood that was shed), yet they have no qualms about doing the same to Starling since Sara was killed. A DownplayedTrope, as even though they do seem to have few qualms, their methods seem to involve minimal fatalities outside of those they explicitly set out to kill. However when Oliver turns down Ra's offer to be his heir, Ra's orders a killing spree in Starling City on both criminals and then on innocents all to make Oliver join the League. Then we find out that the Heir to the Demon must wipe out his home town to truly become Ra's Al-Ghul: which in this case means using a biological weapon on Starling City.
* ThePiratesWhoDontDoAnything: Mixed with OffstageVillainy. Despite being called the League of Assassins, they never actually assassinate, as in kill for money, anybody during the show. And despite their mantra of "replacing evil with death" they don't get involved with or try to stop any of the corrupt and evil individuals in Starling or Central City. In fact, they only ever get involved in internal affairs related to the conduct of current or former members. Makes you wonder if everybody exclaiming how evil they were was full of it.
* PutThemAllOutOfMyMisery: Most of the League members have suffered some great personal tragedy in their life that caused them to pass the DespairEventHorizon and join the League. To become Ra's, this is an InvokedTrope by the prior Ra's, forcing the successor to kill his entire people with a biological weapon to erase the successor's history.
* RealityEnsues: The League may be pretty badass, a competent threat even for most highly-trained badasses, and even capable of taking on Mirakuru soldiers with relative ease, but when Barry Allen, aka the Flash turns up unannounced, it becomes clear that skill with mundane weapons can only do so much against a powerful metahuman. Their "fight" is hilariously one sided.
** This is justified by them being a League of '''Assassins''' who are primarily trained in subterfuge and stealth, not direct combat.
* ResignationsNotAccepted: Unless Ra's says so, you '''don't''' leave the League. Ever. Malcolm Merlyn technically was allowed leave to do his own thing, but had to swear to follow their code of honour. Violating it put him on their radar.
* ShroudedInMyth: How the rest of the world sees the "existence" of the group.
* StealthExpert: As shown by Sara and Al-Owal.
* SuperReflexes: Al-Owal is the most obvious demonstrator, being able to catch an arrow from behind. All the onscreen Assassins demonstrate it, being able to casually dodge bullets and arrows.
* ThatManIsDead: Everyone who joins the League has to leave their old identity and life behind and embrace a new one. And that includes Ra's Al-Ghul himself.
* TrainingFromHell: Required to undergo this to be a member.
* TwoGirlsToATeam: So far, only Nyssa and Sara are the only known female members. With Sara's death and resurrection as White Canary, only Nyssa remains.
* {{Ubermensch}}: The group has their own code of morality -- a very ''twisted'' morality.
* UniquenessDecay: Malcolm's masked archer costume? Turns out it's fairly standard garb for the whole of the League. A potentially JustifiedTrope, as, if the connection were found out, Malcolm could use them as a convenient {{frameup}}.
[[/folder]]

[[folder: Ra's Al-Ghul]]
!!ComicBook/RasAlGhul
[[quoteright:350:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/rsz_ras_al_ghul_4262.png]]

->'''Known Aliases:''' رئيس الغول (Ra's al-Ghul, Arabic for "Head of the Demon")
->'''Played By:''' Matt Nable

The immortal renowned, dreaded, ruthless and mysterious leader of the League, "Ra's al Ghul" is Nyssa's father. In Season Three, Ra's wants Oliver Queen to be his successor as leader of the League, to be the next "[[LegacyCharacter Ra's al Ghul]]".
----
* AbusiveParents: After Nyssa deserts the League and tries to kill him for choosing Oliver as his heir over her, he acts outright cruel to her.
* AdaptationalHeroism: This version of Ra's is ''somewhat'' less villainous than his comics counterpart. He doesn't show any of the outright contempt for humanity that the comic version does while at the same time never showing any of the genocidal intentions that version exhibits, barring the end of the third season where it's based not in an active desire for said genocide and in rather disturbing morality.
* AffablyEvil:
** True to his comic book self, Ra's is never less than polite and even sympathetic to Oliver, and when he's stabbed the latter through the chest, he offers up a sincere prayer for his soul.
** When he gets a hold of Malcolm Merlyn, who rather pathetically begs for his life, Ra's calmly replies he should accept his death with honor.
** However, he shows off a FauxAffablyEvil nature later in the season, best seen when he's talking to his daughter or Oliver's friends. Ra's sounds like he's seconds away from killing them all.
* AgeLift: The comics' version of Ra's is around 600 years old. This one, while unnaturally long-lived, isn't even 200.
* ArchnemesisDad: He isn't exactly the best father to Nyssa.
* ArcherArchetype: While he prefers bladed weapons, Ra's displays quite the skill with a bow.
* AuthorityEqualsAssKicking[=/=]AssKickingEqualsAuthority: He is called the Demon's ''Head'' for a reason.
* BadassBoast: And he lives up to it.
-->'''Oliver''': You're unarmed.\\
'''Ra's Al-Ghul''': I'll take your blades when you're through with them.
* BadassBeard: Sports a goatee and is definitely a badass.
* BadassGrandpa: Given his extremely long life and the hints of silver in his hair, this applies.
* BadassInCharge: The leader of the League of Assassins, and definitely their most formidable member.
* BadassTeacher: He personally teaches the League members.
* TheBadGuyWins: Subverted; while Oliver does take his position as the new Ra's after slaying him, it's only long enough in order to obtain his ring and give it to Malcolm to become the new Demon's Head instead.
* BenevolentBoss: Implied. While he's usually stern, he's never shown mistreating his subordinates...unless they betray him.
* BerserkButton: He's usually very collected, poised and astute, but Ra's does ''not'' take betrayal or defiance lightly.
* BigBadEnsemble: Of present day Season Three, opposite Malcolm Merlyn. He eventually takes the role completely in "Nanda Parabat".
* BreakThemByTalking: He does this in "The Offer" to Oliver when he is offering him the position as his heir and says that everyone he knows and loves will either die or turn on him and he will wind up dying alone.
-->'''Ra's Al-Ghul:''' Your city will turn on you. And your closest allies within the police department will call you a criminal. You will be scorned. And hunted. And then killed. Dying as you began your crusade. Alone.
* BrokenPedestal: Ra's' actions in the latter half of Season Three destroy Nyssa's esteem for and loyalty towards him. By the end of the season, Nyssa's only regret about her father's death was that she didn't kill him herself.
* CharacterDeath: Slain by Oliver in the Season Three finale.
* CharacterTics: Ra's tends to stand with his arms folded behind his back, especially when he's talking to someone.
* TheCorrupter: He tries to convince Oliver to become his heir in part by convincing him he could do so much good as the new head of the League.
* CurbStompBattle: He pretty much kicks Oliver's ass without a second thought.
* DeathByAdaptation: While Ra's Al-Ghul in the comics [[DeathIsCheap is no stranger to dying]], WordOfGod confirms this Ra's is permanently dead. [[spoiler:And with Nyssa destroying the only known Lazarus Pit, this isn't likely to change.]]
* DeathByIrony: Oliver ends up killing him with the exact same moves Ra's used on him in their first fight, including taking the latter's sword.
* DecompositeCharacter: Since "Ra's Al-Ghul" is only a title for TheLeader of the League of Assassins, many characters have assumed its mantle such as Malcolm Merlyn [[spoiler: and briefly, Nyssa Raatko]].
* DesignatedVillain: [[InvokedTrope Invoked]]. He has absolutely nothing against Oliver, his family, or anything he's ever done. Malcolm set him and Oliver to collide to save his own skin. Ra's remains largely uninterested, with his daughter providing the more active driving force behind his threat. That is until he decides he wants [[WorthyOpponent Oliver]] to be his successor as he believes in the prophecy that he who survives the blade of Ra's will ascend to "Ra's". To this end, Ra's begins killing people disguised as the Arrow so Starling City will turn against Oliver as part of a plan to make him accept his offer to become the next Ra's Al Ghul.
* TheDreaded: Everyone who has knowledge of him seems afraid of him; even Oliver and Sara, who both lack any fear of death, are terrified of what he could do to the people they hold dear.
* EvenEvilHasLovedOnes: DownplayedTrope as shown in "Nanda Parabat". His reason for disapproving of Nyssa's relationship with Sara was purely out of concern for his daughter's feelings, knowing that Sara would likely leave the League and result in Nyssa's heartbreak. However, according to Oliver, he is unwilling to break League law to save her if the option came up for a hostage trade between her and Malcolm Merlyn. Also once Oliver becomes his heir he disinherits her; he even orders Oliver to kill her since she would be the rival for leadership of the League. But at the last minute he has Oliver stay his hand... and instead decrees she should marry Oliver instead.
* EvenEvilHasStandards: He's the head of an organization whose sole purpose is to PayEvilUntoEvil.
** He puts a death mark on Malcolm Merlyn due to his indiscriminate destruction of the Glades which violated the League's principles.
** He believes the work of Damien Darkh and HIVE is dangerous and must be stopped.
** Subverted in that he orders Oliver to use the Alpha/Omega Virus on Starling City, not because the people of Starling City have comitted any crime but because it's Oliver's home town and if he is to become the next Ra's Al-Ghul he must ''destroy'' anything that remains of his former identity.
* EvilMentor: Is one of sorts to Oliver, as he grooms him to be his heir, turning him into Al Sah-him. Of course, Oliver was faking it the whole time.
* FaceDeathWithDignity: Before torturing Malcolm, Ra's insists that his former servant face his impending death with honour, or at least dignity. Ra's later shows that he practices what he preaches; his reaction to his own death is somber and collected, with no hint of resentment or fear.
* FountainOfYouth: His first appearance is him emerging out of a pool of suspicious-looking water. It's later revealed that this is indeed the infamous Lazarus Pit and the secret of his unnaturally long life.
* GreaterScopeVillain: While he doesn't get directly involved with anything until Season Three, his influence is constantly present with several Leaguers and ex-Leaguers causing trouble for the Arrow.
* HeirClubForMen: Even though Nyssa was raised and trained from birth to be his heir, he disinherits her in favor of Oliver. It's unknown if he always planned this, or if Nyssa's obsession with Sara was the deciding factor.
* HeroKiller: Every single person who knows him is terrified of him, with the possible exception of his daughter, Nyssa. This is shown to be a completely justified reaction in "The Climb".
* HoistByHisOwnPetard: The first time Oliver faces Ra's, Ra's brings him to the brink of death, and he only survives thanks to Maseo and Tatsu. The second time they face each other, Oliver successfully kills Ra's. The difference? In the interim, Ra's had personally trained Oliver. Whoops.
** Possibly [[JustifiedTrope justified]], given that Ra's had intended to pass the title on to Oliver anyway, and [[KlingonPromotion Oliver finally triumphing over such a huge badass]] could be considered proof that he's ready to take over the mantle. Of course, Oliver [[TakeAThirdOption takes a third option and let Merlyn have the mantle instead]].
* HollywoodOld: 42-year-old Matt Nable portrays the father to 30-year-old Katrina Law. Justified: Ra's is at least 160 years old in-universe and uses the Lazarus Pit, and if his backstory of taking his first life at 11 is any indicator, he may have entered fatherhood at a particularly early age.
* ILied: Promised Oliver that his city would be spared judgment if he joined them, but when Oliver does he demands that ''he destroy it himself''.
* ItsPronouncedTroPAY: Both the "RAYSH" and "RAHZ" pronunciations are used by different characters. It could be excused as those characters having only read the name and thus having no idea how it's pronounced, but Nyssa, his daughter, uses "RAYSH", and two of his subordinates Malcolm Merlyn and Sara use "RAHZ", or at least recognize it. Kreisberg explained that it was an intentional decision to use the two different pronunciations because of how it was meant to be said and how Christopher Nolan decided to say it in the Batman film trilogy. It breaks down by allegiance. If you side with him then you say Raysh, while those who oppose him say Rahz.
* ImmortalsFearDeath: Averted. Unlike other incarnations, this Ra's doesn't seem to fear death. Instead of finding ways to cheat death, he seems more concerned in finding a worthy heir for the title of Ra's Al-Ghul.
* ImpaledWithExtremePrejudice: Inflicts this fate on Oliver and Thea. Ra's himself dies in the same way at the end of Season Three.
* InsistentTerminology: When Thea meets him, she calls him the Demon, and he corrects her; he's the Demon's Head. The implication is that the League itself is the Demon.
* IWantGrandkids: He makes an ArrangedMarriage between his daughter Nyssa and Oliver so they can create a dynasty.
* KnightOfCerebus: Ra's is one of the deadliest villains in the series, and all humour flies right out the window when he shows up. Case in point, he came within a hair's breadth of killing Oliver, and would have succeeded if Maseo hadn't helped Oliver survive.
* LegacyCharacter: Ra's Al-Ghul is a title, not a name. He wants Oliver to be the next Ra's.
* LoveIsAWeakness: Played with. Personally he doesn't see anything wrong with love, unless it causes League members' judgement to be clouded. It's one of the reasons why he disinherits Nyssa.
* MaritalRapeLicense: It is heavily implied that he believes in this. After he made an ArrangedMarriage between Nyssa and Oliver so they can create a dynasty, the former voiced her displeasure saying that she won't bear Oliver's child. Ra's dismisses her saying that she doesn't have a say on the matter, and neither did ''her'' mother.
* MoralMyopia: When Malcolm tried to destroy the Glades, it was an act that went against the League's Code of Honor that was punishable by death. But when Ra's ordered Oliver to destroy ''all'' of Starling, it was a necessary part of the ritual to become Ra's Al-Ghul.
* MyGreatestFailure:
** Letting Malcolm Merlyn leave the League, which is something he has ''very'' good reason to regret.
** His hesitation in killing Damien Darhk is something he instantly regretted as Darhk was able to escape with some followers and Lazarus Pit water and formed Hive, an organization more extensive and dangerous than the League ever was.
* MysteriousPast: What his life was like before he joined the League is unknown -- all we know is that at some point, he was forced to abandon his family.
* MythologyGag:
** His first onscreen appearance is him emerging from a bath, clearly meant to invoke the Lazarus Pit. Then it turns out to ''be'' the Pit itself.
** Actor Matt Nable bears a not-inconsiderable resemblance to Creator/LiamNeeson's [[Film/BatmanBegins portrayal]].
* NoNameGiven: Since Ra's Al Ghul is a title, we have no idea what his real name is, and with his death at the end of Season Three, it's unlikely we ever will, unless Damien Darhk feels like enlightening us.
* OlderThanTheyLook: Played by an actor in his 40s, yet his references to his past all imply a considerable greater age. It's eventually confirmed that he does use Lazarus Pits, and true to Batman fashion, their waters are running out on him. As for his actual age, the reference in ''Al Sah-him'' to his immediate predecessor becoming Ra’s al Ghul in 1609 implies that each Ra’s rules for approximately 200 years, placing his age somewhere between 220 and 240 years old.
* OldMaster: To the League members, apparently. Put a lot of emphasis on old.
* OrcusOnHisThrone: For a good chunk of Season Three he doesn't really do anything against the heroes, nor is he particulary interested in Oliver or Starling City. When he duels Oliver it's only because Oliver challenged him. It's only during the last quarter of Season Three, when he decides he wants Oliver to be his heir, that he takes a more active role in the plot -- by going on a killing spree to tarnish the Arrow's reputation and ultimately stabbing Thea, which leaves Oliver determined to destroy the League from within.
* PapaWolf: According to Oliver, if Sara were to kill his child, they (presumably at least Team Arrow) would ''all'' pay for it.
* PetTheDog: When Oliver is about to (forcibly) join the League, Ra's tells Felicity that she should have a chance to say goodbye to Oliver, and advises her to tell Oliver whatever she needs to.
* PoliticallyIncorrectVillain: Zig-zagged and played with. Its implied early on that he's homophobic and disapproved of Sara and Nyssa's relationship (and doesn't care that Sara ws killed), but then he claims his problem was how Sara's loyalty and devotion to the League, and by extension Nyssa, was unreliable and so would only bring heart-ache to Nyssa (and in spite of it, he still "avenges" Sara's death). However, its then made quickly apparent he doesn't actually care about Nyssa's feelings all that much and disowns her when he has the chance at a male heir, then as a 'mercy', forces Nyssa to marry a man against her will so she can give him grandchildren, consent be damned. So, he might not be homophobic, but he is ''definitely'' sexist.
** Played with. In "The Magician", Malcolm Merlyn claims that Ra's disapproved of his daughter's "degenerate" relationship with another woman, and may even have killed Sara for it. Sure enough, it's all a lie on Malcolm's part; he orchestrated Sara's murder and used Thea as a pawn. Additionally in "Nanda Parbat", Ra's himself explains the reason he never approved of Sara was not because of the nature of their relationship, but the fact that he knew Sara would eventually desert the League and leave his daughter heartbroken.
** In "Al Sah-him", Ra's orders a marriage between Nyssa and Oliver just for the sole reason of creating a dynasty. When Nyssa objects he point blanks tells her that he's no longer concerned with her happiness after she "betrayed" him. That said, he did this as an alternative to having Oliver kill her as a rival to his position as Heir to the Demon.
** When Nyssa refuses to bear Oliver's child, Ra's bluntly tells her that ''her'' mother didn't have a say in conceiving her, and neither shall she.
* RaceLift: Ra's is Arabic in the comics, though here he's visibly Caucasian. PlayedWith though, since he is not the ''original'' Ra's Al Ghul, but one of his successors.
* ReallySevenHundredYearsOld: Per the norm, he is centuries old and cheats time via the Lazarus Pit. Judging from his own comments, this version of Ra's is well over 150, while his immediate predecessor was alive in the early 17th century.
* RelatedInTheAdaptation: He becomes Oliver's father-in-law in this version after his ArrangedMarriage to his daughter near the end of Season 3. The only superhero Ra's has relations in the comics is Batman due to being the father of his grandson (to Talia) [[ComicBook/{{Robin}} Damien]].
* RiskingTheKing: As shown by "The Offer", he's a variation. He goes out to deal with direct slights to his face personally, such as Oliver Queen refusing to be his successor, despite the fact that he already had sent League of Assassins members out to the same city.
* RoguesGalleryTransplant: In the comics, Ra's Al-Ghul is a Batman villain. Granted, he and his subordinates ''have'' come up against Green Arrow a few times.
* SecretTestOfCharacter: He provides a few. He orders Oliver to kill Diggle, only to reveal that it was a drug-induced hallucination, and the dead man just some random criminal. He orders his daughter killed for defying him, but stops Oliver before he can actually go through with it.
* TheStoic: Ra's is generally very reserved, calm, and confident. His composure [[NotSoStoic falters at times]], but he always returns to stoicism.
* ThisMeansWar: He declares that because Oliver Queen/the Arrow has sworn to protect Merlyn, he has incurred the wrath of him and the League; although he really doesn't act on this for the most part.
* TheUnfettered: Ra's allows ''nothing'' to stand in the way of his goals. The lives of innocent people, his own minions, and even his own daughter mean very little to Ra's if they get in his way.
* UngratefulBastard: While Ra's is true to his word, if you happen to disagree with him, as "The Offer" shows, he will do everything in his power to destroy your life. Oliver declined the offer of being the new Ra's, so Ra's framed him for crimes he didn't commit, turned the entire city against him, and then killed his sister to force Oliver to join him in order to bring her back.
* VillainousBreakdown: It's subtler than either Malcolm's or Slade's, but Ra's is ''furious'' when he discovers that Oliver has been playing him since joining the League.
* VillainsNeverLie: He seems like a straight example until we find out what being Ra's Al-Ghul ''really entails''. He tried to entice Oliver by saying that he could disband the League under his leadership if he so chose. In truth, the process of becoming Ra's Al-Ghul involves an intense, torturous brainwashing or conditioning process so the Heir is a loyal agent of of the League and its values, thus ensuring the League's continued existence.
* WeCanRuleTogether: Offers Oliver a place at his side as his Heir.
* WeUsedToBeFriends: With Darhk, before Ra's was made the Demon's Head over him.
* WithGreatPowerComesGreatInsanity: Quite subtly, but the centuries Ra's has been the Head of the Demon and using the Lazarus Pit have taken a toll on his sanity.
* WorthyOpponent: During his duel with Oliver in "The Climb", he compliments the latter on lasting longer than most of the warriors Ra's has fought before. He respects Oliver so much that he wants him to be his heir.
* WouldHitAGirl: Implied that he will shows no signs of restraint on putting Nyssa in her place. He also curb-stomps and fatally wounds Thea to goad Oliver into succeeding him.
* YouAreTheTranslatedForeignWord: He is often referred to as "Ra's Al-Ghul, the Demon's Head." Ra's Al-Ghul is Arabic for Demon's Head.
[[/folder]]

[[folder: Al-Owal]]
!!Al-Owal
[[quoteright:300:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/al-owal_arrow_6106.jpg]]
->'''Played By:''' Navid Negahban

A high-ranking member of the League of Assassins, he comes to Starling City hunting a rogue member of the League.
----
* AndStarring: Gets this billing in the guest star lineup.
* ArchaicWeaponForAnAdvancedAge: He mocks Oliver's choice of weapon for being primitive, which is odd since he never uses anything more advanced than a sword.
* ArrowCatch: Can pull one off ''[[BadassBack from behind]]''. He even has a bored look on his face, suggesting he knew Oliver was in the building the second he walked in.
* BadassBeard: Fitting for a master assassin.
* TheDragon: To Ra's Al-Ghul.
* EvilMentor: To Malcolm Merlyn.
* MilesGloriosus: For all his talk of superiority to Oliver, the two seem to be on an about even level of skill. It's obvious that while fighting Sara, while putting up a fight better then the average leauge member, she is far better than him.
* NeckSnap: How he goes out, courtesy of Sara.
* RedBaron: He goes by Al-Owal, which means "The First".
* SmugSmiler: He's always displaying a smirk of overconfidence.
* WithCatlikeTread: His methods of catching Sara seem to be crashing through the nearest window and drawing as much attention to himself as possible. Considering Nyssa likely wants her to return of her own free will, this is likely on purpose to some degree.
[[/folder]]

[[folder: Nyssa Al-Ghul]]
!!Nyssa Al-Ghul
[[quoteright:300:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/nyssa_al_ghul_arrow_500.jpg]]

->'''Known Aliases:''' The Heir to the Demon, Nyssa Raatko, رئيس الغول (Ra's al-Ghul, Arabic for "Head of the Demon")
->'''Played By:''' Katrina Law, Taylor Dianne Robinson (young)

Daughter of Ra's Al-Ghul who comes to Starling City seeking to bring back her lover to the League of Assassins.
----
* AdaptationalHeroism: While by no means a heroic figure, this iteration of Nyssa seems to have her fair share of moral scruples and cares deeply for the woman she loves, likening her more to the comic adaptation of her sister Talia, who often finds herself stuck in the HeelFaceRevolvingDoor. This is in stark contrast to her publication counterpart Nyssa Raatko - Ra's illegitimate daughter from 19th-century Russia who, while initially disagreeing with Ra's genocidal 'cleanse the earth' mentality, comes into possession of a Lazarus Pit, survives into modern times, deposes her father to take over the League, uses the Lazarus Pits to drive her sister to the point of insanity by killing and reviving her countless times in an attempt to kill two birds with one stone by both punishing Ra's and depleting the Lazarus Pits of their power so that he can never use them again, and turns the League of Assassins from a sect of ideological extremists into a terror-for-profit organization.
* AdaptationalSexuality: She's a lesbian in this incarnation.
* AdaptationNameChange: ZigZagged. Her comic counterpart goes NomDeMom, while she occasionally uses her father's surname as an alias. Here, it's the other way around.
* {{Adorkable}}: Surprisingly, she proves this when trying to compliment Laurel on her improved combat skills. It comes out in a slightly awkward way. Later Laurel has to explain the appeal of milkshakes and fast food to her.
* AffablyEvil: She actually seems to be a pretty nice girl, all things considered. About as friendly as ruthless assassins tend to get.
* AloofDarkHairedGirl: She's tall thanks to her heels. Has long, well kept raven hair. Is an attractive young lady. And is an AffablyEvil person.
* AntiVillain: She doesn't actually want to hurt Sara, Oliver or their families -- she just wants her ex-girlfriend Sara back. [[SugarWiki/HeartwarmingMoments In the end, she even releases Sara from the League when she realizes how much Sara cares for her friends and family]] and how badly Sara does not want to return to killing. Notably, the same can be said of all involvements of the League in Season Two: The only incursions they have are in the purpose of bringing Sara back to the League, and though they do follow orders, they do not aim to harm anybody outside of those parameters unless deemed necessary.
* ArrangedMarriage: Her father puts her into one with Oliver. She doesn't like it one bit. Though oddly in season four she constantly refers to Oliver as husband.
* BadassGay: She's in love with Sara and a downright deadly fighter.
* BestServedCold: She's really taking a long time to have her revenge on Malcolm.
* CatchPhrase: "I am Nyssa, daughter of Ra's Al-Ghul, Heir to the Demon."
* CelebrityParadox:
** Tommy mentioned ''Literature/{{Twilight}}'' in the pilot episode. Nyssa's [[TimeShiftedActor child actress in the flashbacks]] had a role in ''Twilight'' playing the child of that film's OfficialCouple.
** Since ''Film/TheTerminator'' is acknowledged in an episode of ''Series/TheFlash2014'', it likely means that [[Franchise/{{Terminator}} the film franchise]] exists in this universe. Over a month after its SeasonFinale, ''Film/TerminatorGenisys'' made its world premiere and one of its leads is played by her former ''Series/{{Spartacus}}'' co-star Creator/JaiCourtney.
* ChildByRape: Heavily implied by Ra's in "This is Your Sword", as despite Ra's telling her how much he loved her mother, when she objects to having Oliver's child, Ra's tells her that she will have no more choice in the matter than her mother did.
* CompositeCharacter: The extent has yet to be shown, but she shows various traits of Talia Al-Ghul, her half-sister in the comics, including romantic interest in a hero(ine) and loyalty split between said love interest and her father. Her status as a bow wielding assassin, romantic interest in a hero, and the mouth-covering veil she wears in battle give her more in common with comics Shado than TV Shado holds. Later, Ra's decrees that should marry Oliver -- like comics Ra's wishes for Talia and Batman. Unlike Talia, however, Nyssa is '''very''' unwilling.
** ''Legends of Tomorrow'' reveals that Talia does exist in the 'verse, but is ''much'' older than Nyssa and it's unclear just what her own characterization is yet.
* CrusadingWidow: She wants to avenge Sara's death by killing Merlyn. [[spoiler: The fact Sara has been revived and her soul restored doesn't change things in the slightest.]]
* DaddysLittleVillain: She works directly for her father, and constantly seeks his approval. In season four she struggles with wanting to preserve his memory and move from under his shadow.
* DarkActionGirl: She is something of a dark twist on Oliver.
* DefrostingIceQueen: Progressively to Team Arrow, or at least Laurel, in Season Three.
* EvenEvilHasLovedOnes: She seems to genuinely love Sara. In fact, Sara indicates their relationship was the only good part of her time with the League.
* EvenEvilHasStandards: She's against using the Lazarus Pit to try and bring people back from the dead. [[spoiler: When Sara is brought back with it, she destroys the Pit to spite Merlyn and to make sure that when she kills him, he'll ''stay'' dead.]]
* EvilBrit: She sports a spiffy British accent.
* FateWorseThanDeath: She considers being forcibly married to Oliver Queen to be this.
* {{Foil}}: To Oliver being an archer and martial arts badass with a penchant for pulling off a StealthHiBye and a romantic connection to Sara. In season four she becomes this to Malcolm Merlyn, they both want to be Ra's Al-Ghul, but Nyssa is willing to negotiate were Merlyn just wants to win. Ultimately Nyssa sees the error of her ways but Malcolm becomes obsessed with revenge.
* FriendlyEnemy: To Team Arrow, though mostly just to the Queen family. She's definitely their enemy, but is on relatively good terms with the members of the teams, at least enough to work together without much protest if [[MoralityPet Sara]] wants it.
* FriendToAllChildren: Well, we don't know about ''all'' children, but she smiles warmly and winks playfully at a little boy while strolling through airport security.
* GenderFlip: [[spoiler:In Season Four, she becomes Ra's al Ghul for a very brief time. In the comics, as well as all adaptations including this series, the name has always been attached to a male character.]]
* GreenEyedMonster: Towards Sara Lance.
* HazyFeelTurn: She leaves the League not because she lost faith in their mission, but because Ra's chose Oliver to be his heir over her. It later becomes a full HeelFaceTurn when spending time with Laurel makes her realize what kind of man her father really is. Not that it stops her going back to the League after Merlyn takes over if only so she can take her revenge.
* HellBentForLeather: She has quite the leather assassin getup.
* HiddenInPlainSight: Despite being on A.R.G.U.S.'s most wanted list she's able to make frequent trips to Starling and walk around town without any trouble.
* TheHypocrite: [[spoiler: She chews Laurel out for wanting to revive Sara with the Lazarus Pit saying Laurel's only doing it to relieve her own grief. Given that Nysaa was willing to kill all of Star City in retaliation of Sara's death in Season Three this falls rather flat.]]
* ImprobableAimingSkills: Like Oliver, she's a crack shot with a bow. Special mention must go to her ''shooting off his quiver and breaking his arrows''.
* InadequateInheritor: Unknown to her, Ra's actually prefers Oliver to be his heir since he's become impressed by his strength, determination and will power.
* IWantMyBelovedToBeHappy: She would rather release Sara than risk her beloved trying to kill herself again.
* JerkWithAHeartOfJerk: [[spoiler: She tries to blackmail Oliver to kill Merlyn for her by withholding the antidote to Thea's blood lust.]] Though she eventually, thanks in large part to Laurel, realizes she has become no better than her father and [[spoiler: disbands the league]].
* KarmaHoudini: [[spoiler: Change of heart, or no change of heart she was still a brutal assassin who's still wanted by ARGUS. Dissolving the League and being less evil than Ra's or Merlyn doesn't change that.]]
* LadyOfWar: She has an elegant and composed demeanor, as well as a flamboyant fighting style that employs theatrics.
* ALighterShadeOfBlack: Compared to Malcolm; Nyssa might be a ruthless assassin, but she's much more trustworthy and reasonable than Malcolm (himself a largely unrepentant mass murderer with an endless manipulative streak).
* LipstickLesbian: Somewhat downplayed, as she also has aspects of ButchLesbian, due to her clothing choice which hides most of her body, and the fact she's a ''very'' skilled fighter.
* LockedOutOfTheLoop: [[spoiler: She's unaware that Sara's soul has successfully been restored.]]
* LoveAtFirstSight: Nyssa tells the story of how she first met Sara to Laurel in "Nanda Parbat":
-->'''Nyssa:''' "When Sara was first brought before my father, the moment he weighed her apprenticeship or her execution, she bore witness to a demonstration of his power, one that inspired terror in all who had come before, but Sara…laughed. It was so innocent, so genuine. That was the moment I fell in love with her, I think."
* TheMentor: She decides to become Laurel's mentor in order to better her quest to take up her sister's legacy.
* MissingMom: Her mother is never mentioned until late in Season Three.
* MyGodWhatHaveIDone: [[spoiler: The look on her face when Quentin comes to see her and begs her to use the Lazarus Pit to revive Laurel shows how regretful she is for destroying it. The fact that she did it just to spite Merlyn probably doesn't help either.]]
* MythologyGag: She uses "Miss Raatko", her official surname in the comics, as an alias.
* TheNicknamer: She was the one who gave Malcolm his codename -- the Magician. Turns out it was because he performed the coin behind the ear trick for her when he met her as a child.
* OddFriendship: She and Laurel starts bonding more in Season Three.
* OhCrap: Has this reaction when Ra's announces her "engagement" with Oliver.
* OohMeAccentsSlipping: Her accent is mostly consistent, but occasionally Katrina Law's real accent slips through.
* PetTheDog:
** It takes a while, but she ultimately lets Sara stay in Starling with her family upon realising it's what she wants.
** Even after declaring war on Team Arrow, she doesn't seem to hold it against Laurel. She even gives her some fighting advice before heading back home.
** Once Thea tells her the truth as to Sara's death, Nyssa surprisingly doesn't choose to kill her as requested and outright refuses to hold her responsible.
** Despite strong arming Oliver into killing Malcolm by holding onto a cure for Thea, she willing accepts him trying to peacefully negotiate a bloodless outcome. She also takes Laurels advise to heart and moves away from the shadow of her fathers legacy, by [[spoiler: disbanding the League of Assassins.]]
* PsychoLesbian: She might have spared Sara in the end, but she did attempt to kill her family in the process and has no trouble beating up innocent civilians. On the other hand, her love for Sara also serves as a humanizing/redeeming trait.
* RedAndBlackAndEvilAllOver: Her assassin outfit has a snazzy black color scheme with red accents.
* RelatedInTheAdaptation: She and Oliver are married near the end of Season 3, and legally still are by League law. In the comics, Oliver has only been married to Dinah Laurel Lance, while Nyssa has always been single (as far as we know).
* {{Revenge}}: After Sara dies for real, avenging her death by killing Malcolm Merlyn becomes Nyssa's reason for existing. When Ollie confronts her about this, she replies that vengeance ''is'' justice. Later when Merlyn becomes the new Ra's Al-Ghul, she makes it very clear that she will kill him eventually, and [[spoiler: she destroys the Lazarus Pit for good measure to make sure her revenge is permanent.]]
* RevengeBeforeReason: Unknown to her, her obsession might cost Nyssa her inheritance as her father grows to prefer Oliver instead as a possible successor.
* RoguesGalleryTransplant: In the comics, Nyssa is a Batman villain.
* SingleTargetSexuality: Implied by Katrina's comment: "Sara is the love of Nyssa’s life and Nyssa would do anything for her."
* TheSmurfettePrinciple: Nyssa is the only known female member of the League after the other known female, Sara Lance, left. Sara rejoins them in the Season Two finale, but is killed at the end of the following season premiere. Near the end of the season, Nyssa herself seemingly leaves, only to return when her father is dead. Season four introduces a female lieutenant for Nyssa.
* TheStarscream: Tells Merlyn point blank that she hasn't forgiven him for murdering Sara and she will have her revenge. That being said she still kneels before the new Ra's Al Ghul. [[spoiler: All the while, building a power base against him.]]
* StatuesqueStunner: She stands 5'9. Also counts as TallDarkAndSnarky given her blunt demeanor.
* TroublingUnchildLikeBehavior: Nyssa had no trouble killing people at a very young age.
* UnholyMatrimony: Invoked and Subverted. Ra's demands that she'd be punished by being forced to marry Oliver in order to establish a legacy. However, Nyssa hates this concept for [[LipstickLesbian obvious]] [[FateWorseThanDeath reasons]].
* {{Tykebomb}}: Trained for combat at a very young age.
* VillainousBreakdown: When she figures out that Sara poisoned herself, she goes into a homicidal, grieving rage.
* VillainousRescue: Saves Laurel from Murmur and his gang.
* ViolentlyProtectiveGirlfriend: To Sara. Nyssa shot an arrow to a man's neck when he grabbed Sara by the hair.
** She storms straight into Arrow HQ with an arrow drawn when Sara goes missing after a mission in Season Three.
* {{Yandere}}: Kidnapped Sara's mother and poisoned her sister in order to get her to come back.
[[/folder]]

!''Amazo'' Mercenaries

[[folder: Dr. Anthony Ivo]]
!!Dr. Anthony Ivo
[[quoteright:300:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/anthony_ivo_arrow_4113.jpg]]
->'''Played By:''' Dylan Neal

A ruthless scientist who comes to the island of Lian Yu seeking the remnants of a World War II Japanese project which created a serum called Mirakuru, which Ivo believes he can use to advance and "save" the human race.
----
* AnArmAndALeg: In "The Promise", Slade hacks off the hand with which Ivo shot Shado.
* AssholeVictim: Between mutilating a number of people for his experiments, killing Shado ForTheEvulz, deliberately destroying Slade and Oliver's friendship to save his own skin, and being a DirtyCoward with a strong NeverMyFault attitude in general, Flashback!Oliver might have been merciful enough for giving him quick death.
* BadBoss: He pointlessly murders a lot of his crew for very stupid reasons with no real gain for him. The only logical answer for this management style is that he's an asshole.
* BigBad: He replaces Edward Fyers as this for Season Two's island flashbacks. That is, until "The Promise", when Slade takes over.
* DirtyCoward: Like a true SmugSnake, he acts almighty if he has the upper hand. The moment shit happens, he'll probably beat Franchise/TheFlash (metaphorically speaking) when he's fleeing for his life.
* EvenEvilHasLovedOnes: He wants the Mirakuru to cure his wife of Alzheimer's disease.
* EvilutionaryBiologist: The way he says "I'm going to save the human race" and his expression show that underneath this seemingly normal, even kind guy, there is somebody with a drive and ambition that isn't quite right.
* FateWorseThanDeath: Slade drops him on Lian Yu with Oliver and Sara. Subverted by the revelation that his severed hand has become infected and is slowly killing him anyway, then by Oliver shooting him.
* FauxAffablyEvil: Like Edward Fyers before him, he surely acts quite polite to Sara and Oliver while they were on the ''Amazo'', [[BaitTheDog until]] he uses Sara in finding out where Shado and Slade are by letting Oliver radio them so he could kill them. That's not even mentioning how he treats Oliver when they're trying to find the hosen, or his killing of the Captain for failing to catch Oliver's friends. He does save Sara from harsher imprisonment, torture, and implied gang rape when they first meet, only to later force Oliver to choose between her death and Shado's, or at least make Oliver blame himself for Shado's death. And when Sara refuses to let him sway her back to his side, since she can no longer ignore how he tortures and murders people ForScience, he shows his true vile colors, calling her an "ungrateful bitch" and vowing to show her ''real'' torture before she switches the radio off.
* HeelRealization: In his last moments, he reflects on his life and the evils he has done in the hunt for Mirakuru.
* ItsAllAboutMe: He cares for absolutely ''nothing'' but obtaining the Mirakuru and testing it out for his own purposes. Even knowing that he sought to heal his wife with it doesn't help.
* KilledMidSentence: Oliver does this to him in "The Man Under the Hood", rather than put the onus on Sara.
* LoveMakesYouEvil: Ivo sought the Mirakuru so that he could save his wife. By the time he actually gets the Mirakuru, it's become clear that Ivo's wife is probably better off without him.
* MadScientist: He's a doctor obsessed with his goal of saving the human race (and his wife), and he kidnaps people in order to advance his goals.
* ManipulativeBastard: He gladly takes advantage of Sara's StockholmSyndrome for his own benefit.
* NeverMyFault: He takes absolutely ''no'' responsibility for [[BoomHeadshot shooting Shado in the head]], blaming the whole thing on Oliver -- even after Sara [[LampshadeHanging calls him out]] on the fact that he says she was never in danger, proving he was going to shoot Shado anyway, and that he [[TheDeadHaveNames didn't even know her name]]. He denies any responsibility in the action up until Slade [[AnArmAndALeg chops his hand off]]. Oddly, neither Slade nor Oliver call him on it; they both go on blaming Oliver for Shado's death (although they're partly justified in doing so; Oliver has a GuiltComplex while Slade is far from stable).
** He also blames the Mirakuru for his actions. As it's well established as TheCorruption, this seems to put his actions in a new light... then he adds that he never took it himself, and Oliver shoots him in disgust.
* RoguesGalleryTransplant: In the comics, Ivo is a Justice League villain.
* SadisticChoice: In "Three Ghosts," he forces Oliver to choose whether Anthony kills Sara or Shado, seemingly just to KickTheDog, as he already had what he had come for. A later conversation with Sara over the radio shows that this was just a lie to tear Oliver down, that he was going to kill Shado all along. In "The Promise", he winds up solidifying Slade's FaceHeelTurn by blaming Oliver for it, though Slade [[AnArmAndALeg chops off his hand]] at the end of the episode.
* StupidEvil: He idiotically and constantly murders people for no real reason or gain. This works against him, because his crew gladly switches allegiances to Slade, a rather more reasonable psychopath, once the opportunity presents itself.
* UnwittingInstigatorOfDoom: His actions in the past fuel Slade's rampage against Starling City in the present.
* WellIntentionedExtremist: "The Promise" reveals that Ivo's reason for finding the Mirakuru is to cure his wife of Alzheimer's disease, not to save the world after all.
[[/folder]]

[[folder: The Captain and the Butcher]]
!!"The Captain" (Jimmy Jean-Louis) and "The Butcher" (Ronald Selmour)

Two prominent crew members on the ''Amazo'' who serve under Ivo.
----
* BoomHeadshot: Ivo shoots the original Captain when [[YouHaveFailedMe he fails to capture Oliver and the others]], then promotes his subordinate, "The Butcher", to Captain.
* TheDragon: Both were this to Ivo.
* LegacyCharacter: After the original Captain is killed by Ivo, "The Butcher" becomes the new Captain. In "The Promise", Slade kills him rather gruesomely, effectively becoming the new Captain of the ''Amazo''.
* OnlySaneMan: At least work-wise. The original Captain seems to think either Ivo or Sara is really in charge.
* ScaryBlackMan: Both qualify.
* YourHeadAsplode: Slade kills "The Butcher" in "The Promise" by crushing his skull.
[[/folder]]

!The H.I.V.E.

[[folder: Tropes that Apply to the Whole Group]]
* AboveGoodAndEvil: Goes hand in hand with their BlueAndOrangeMorality.
* AdaptationalBadass: The previous television incarnation of HIVE was [[WesternAnimation/TeenTitans an evil school that trained teenage villains]]. Here, they're a powerful secret organization determined to conquer the world.
* AncientConspiracy: They've been around a while, that's for sure.
* AnimalMotifs: Bees: organized workers working in harmony for one specific goal.
* BlueAndOrangeMorality: Its founder's plan for bettering the world involves at least one entire city's destruction.
* BrainwashedAndCrazy: Several of the troops are taking pills that control their minds.
* CoolShades: The foot soldiers are all seen wearing sunglasses. Strangely, even at night.
* {{Cult}}: ''Definitely'' has the vibe of one. Much more than the League of Assassins.
* EvenEvilHasStandards: They like neither chaos nor Nazi ideals.
* EvilPlan: It's revealed in, the appropriately named, episode "Genesis" [[spoiler: the H.I.V.E. intends to use a device called Rubicon to control the worlds Nuclear Arm supply in order to [[NukeEm nuke the planet]] and rebuilt it in their own image. In order to survive the blast they created a bunker underneath Star City the size of a small town with a breathable artificial environment.]]
* EvilVersusEvil: They have run-ins with The League of Assassins in the past.
* EvilWearsBlack: They mostly dress in black suits.
* {{Expy}}: A NebulousEvilOrganisation whose agents encounter the hero before he comes into direct conflict with them. They're also led by a mysterious man with a penchant for inventive YouHaveFailedMe executions. Not unlike [[Franchise/JamesBond SPECTRE]]. [[LampshadeHanging Ray even compares H.I.V.E. to SPECTRE at one point]]. In what seems to be a ShoutOut, Darhk's appearance in ''Series/LegendsOfTomorrow'' has him dressed in a grey Nehru suit, much like Ernst Stavro Blofeld.
* FiveBadBand: Darhk and his primary associates form a core team combating Team Arrow.
** GreaterScopeVillain: The Partners
** BigBad[=/=] TheEvilGenius : Damien Darhk
** TheDragon: [[spoiler: Malcom Merlyn]]
** TheBrute: [[spoiler: Andy Diggle]], Murmur, and Brick
** TheDarkChick: Ruve Adams
** SixthRangerTraitor: [[spoiler: Detective Lance]] and Anarky
** EleventhHourRanger: Brother Eye
* FunWithAcronyms: Assuming that they follow the comics, then their group name stands for "'''H'''ierarchy of '''I'''nternational '''V'''engeance and '''E'''xtermination".
* GreaterScopeVillain: They were subtly causing trouble for Team Arrow, long before they decided to full on invade Star City.
* ImperialStormtrooperMarksmanshipAcademy: The mooks can't shoot for crap.
* KillEmAll: [[spoiler: After their underground city is destroyed by Anarky, Darhk orders his organization to destroy the entire world [[DeathSeeker with them on it]].]]
* MalevolentMaskedMan: The Ghosts are all disguised in masks.
* MildlyMilitary: Their trained troops act like a professional military unit rather than terrorists.
* MultinationalTeam: The group is quite diverse.
* NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast: If their aforementioned FunWithAcronyms are true.
* NebulousEvilOrganisation: They're an illicit criminal organisation of ambiguous purpose.
* NotBrainwashed[=/=] MoreThanMindControl: [[spoiler: The civilians living under HIVE's new secret society reveal to team Arrow that they are not being manipulated by Darhk, but actuals do view him as their savior.]]
* NukeEm: They attempt to blow up multiple cities across the globe, but naturally Team Arrow stops them.
* OmnicidalManiac: [[spoiler: They plan to destroy the entire planet in order to rebuild it from the ashes that remain. Even after Team Arrow destroys their entire underground bunker, Darhk still chooses to destroy the entire world with HIVE on it.]]
* RedshirtArmy: The Ghosts are all expendable soldiers who get frequently killed by Team Arrow. Even their own BadBoss thinks of them as disposable.
* ShoutOut: The troops working under Darhk are all highly-trained, terrorist foot soldiers who are BrainwashedAndCrazy donning heavy armor and mysterious masks called [[VideoGame/CallOfDutyGhosts the Ghosts]].
* StartMyOwn: Darhk created the group after he failed to become the next Ra's Al-Ghul.
* StepfordSuburbia: [[spoiler: HIVE has prepared one underground to rebuild the world after the surface is nuked. However, Anarky destroys it.]]
* TheSyndicate: An AncientConspiracy that is also a criminal organisation.
* TakeOverTheWorld: Their EvilPlan.
* {{Ubermensch}}: Much like The League of Assassins, the group has their own code of morality.
* WesternTerrorists: They're terrorists from the western hemisphere.
* WhyDontYouJustShootHim: The troops carry guns on them all the time and usually have victims in their sights, but not once do they ever take the shot and instead resort to fist fighting.
* ZergRush: In the season 4 finale, the troops decide to physically rush Team Arrow.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Damien Darhk]]
!! Damien Darhk
->'''Played By:''' Creator/NealMcDonough
[[quoteright:350:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/damiendarhk.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:350: ''"Oh, you don't know who I am, do you? I’m Damien Darhk."'']]

The presumed leader of the H.I.V.E. organization. He was once a part of the League of Assassins, but when his ambitions got too great, he narrowly escaped execution and formed the H.I.V.E. along with water from the Lazarus Pit and a faction of the League. He possesses mysterious mystical abilities apparently originating from a blood ritual. His past self will is a main villain in Season Two of Series/LegendsOfTomorrow. Tropes specific that show go [[Characters/LegendsOfTomorrow here]].

----
* AGodAmI: He just loves to show off his superpowers and brag about how powerful he is.
* AdultFear: He is terrified when Anarky holds his wife and daughter hostage, with the intent to burn them.
* TheAgeless: Implied, given that [[Series/LegendsOfTomorrow he appears in 1975]] looking the same as he does in the present day.
* AgeLift: Comics Darhk is a young man comparable in age to several of the older Teen Titans members. In the series, he's played by 49 year old Neal [=McDonough=]--and that's without getting into the fact that this Darhk is a peer of Ra's al Ghul.
* AllOfTheOtherReindeer: He's not highly respected by the "partners" in HIVE, and most dismiss his magic powers believing him to be a mere charlatan.
* AlliterativeName: '''D'''amien '''D'''ark.
* AlwaysSomeoneBetter: To Ra's Al-Ghul. Ra's is always hunting him, yet he's able to slip away at the last minute.
* AndStarring: Is credited with "Special Guest Star" citation.
* TheAntiChrist: [[spoiler:He presented himself to Quentin Lance as a savior with money and resources to save Star City, when he actually wanted to destroy it. Turns out he has plans for a new world order, Star City is merely where it's going to happen first.]]
* AuthorityEqualsAsskicking: The leader of H.I.V.E. and a former member of the League of Assassins.
* BabyTalk: He likes to talk down to his enemies in order to belittle them. Especially towards Team Arrow.
* BadassGrandpa: He's a tough fighter and Really700YearsOld.
* BadassInANiceSuit: And he looked quite fashionable while doing it.
* BadassBoast: See quote above.
* BadBoss: He does not take failure well. This ends up coming back to bite him; [[spoiler:after his arrest, the rest of H.I.V.E. are content to let Darhk rot in prison for (in Merlyn's words) "killing other members when you get miffed". Darhk is forced to strike a deal with Merlyn to secure his escape.]]
* BadPowersBadPeople: Of course the guy who drains peoples souls to power his magic is a bad dude.
* BerserkButton: Messing with his family or even just insulting them is a surefire way to drive him to personally and painfully kill someone. Failing him is another, smaller one, though the family button is the major one here.
* BigBad: He's been set up as this for Season Four.
* BigBadDuumvirate:
** He has "partners" inside HIVE. And they're not happy about how Green Arrow's vigilante activities are interfering with their plans for Star City.
** [[spoiler:He strikes up a partnership with Merlyn in the second half of Season Four.]]
* BloodMagic: His superpowers are enhanced by the blood of his victims.
* BondVillainStupidity: Oh boy. It's hard to keep tally on how often he could have finished Team Arrow off, but didn't because of being a gloating idiot.
* BreakTheHaughty:
** In "Brotherhood" he finds out that [[spoiler:his magic has no effect on Thea (in fact trying to use it on her ''hurts'' him) and that Mayoral Candidate Oliver Queen is not that man who breaks under threats.]]
** He was very dismissive of Anarky, a big mistake of his part since he's the only person outside of Team Arrow to be a serious threat to him.
** [[spoiler:His wife's death causes him to turn into a DeathSeeker who wans to destroy everything in the world, including himself.]]
* BrokenAce: [[spoiler:He loses all his suave, cool nature upon hearing of his wife's demise and turns into a DeathSeeker.]]
* BroughtDownToNormal: [[spoiler: In "Taken", [[WesternAnimation/{{Vixen}} Mari McCabe]] destroys the idol that fuels his magical abilities. He's still able to [[BroughtDownToBadass fight Oliver in combat fairly well]], but is ultimately defeated. He manages to rebuild the idol and reclaim his magic in "Eleven Fifty-nine".]]
* CardCarryingVillain: When he pulls a YouSaidYouWouldLetThemGo on Oliver at one point and Oliver calls him out, Darhk simply replies, "Bad guy, remember?"
* CelebrityParadox:
** Thea alludes to ''Film/AvengersAgeOfUltron'' in the second annual {{Crossover}} with ''Series/TheFlash2014'', which WordOfGod would later confirm. This means that the ''Franchise/MarvelCinematicUniverse'' exists in the Franchise/{{Arrowverse}}. His actor plays Dum-Dum Dugan, who is heavily associated with the ''ComicBook/CaptainAmerica'' films series.
** An episode of ''Series/LegendsOfTomorrow'' mentions the ''Franchise/StarTrek'' franchise. His actor was on ''Film/StarTrekFirstContact''.
* CompositeCharacter:
** He's named after a minor Teen Titans villain, but his motives are similar to that of Ra's Al-Ghul; his belief that Star City is beyond saving and must be allowed to die is not unlike Ra's attitude towards Gotham in ''Batman Begins''. Fittingly, he was a member of the League of Assassins himself, and so likely took on their ideology.
** He seems to be an amalgamation of his comic namesake and Dr. Ebeneezer Darkk, who is the only other person other than Ra's Al-Ghul to lead The League of Assassins. Both Darrk and Ra's also had a fallout.
* ControlFreak: He resents his "partners" making plans to take out Green Arrow without his approval.
* DarkIsEvil: [[MeaningfulName Darhk's]] fondness for dark suits and BlackMagic certainly help demonstrate that he isn't one of the good guys.
* DarkMessiah: His own men view him as a savior and [[spoiler: Andy]] goes out of his way to compare him to Jesus Christ.
* DebtDetester: Green Arrow saved his family from Anarky, something he's ''really'' not happy about, so he goes to ground for a few weeks as "gratitude".
* DeadpanSnarker: He shows a dry sense of humor in his dealings with Quentin.
--> '''Darhk''': Are you sticking around for a cupcake or something?
* DeathSeeker: [[spoiler:After his wife dies and entire remodeled underground society is destroyed, Darhk orders HIVE to destroy the entire world anyway with him on it.]]
* DespairEventHorizon: [[spoiler: His wife's death results in him becoming a full on DeathSeeker attempting to kill everything, including himself.]]
* DiabolicalMastermind: Runs a NebulousEvilOrganization that operates worldwide with a goal of a "new world order."
* TheDreaded: Even John Constantine (a man who deals with demons and angels) is scared stiff of him telling Oliver to flat out leave Star City when he can.
* EvenEvilHasLovedOnes: Reveals to Quentin that he has a daughter, [[spoiler: and that if she was brought back from the dead without a soul, as Sara was, the most loving thing a father could do is put her out of her misery]].
** Somewhat unique among Arrow villains, in that his family seems to love him just as much as he loves them. Since this is after [[spoiler:Oliver reveals Damien's identity]], it can be assumed they know what he does. [[spoiler: His wife turns out to not only know, but also be an active supporter for H.I.V.E. When Ruve perishes in his underground city thanks to Anarky, Darhk intends to destroy the entire world by bringing Hell on Earth ''knowing'' that he would die in the process.]]
* EvenEvilHasStandards: He fires Lonnie Machin after [[spoiler:he kidnaps a mayoral candidate's daughter, though it's more a case of PragmaticVillainy; he chides Machin for prizing anarchy while H.I.V.E. believes in order, discipline, and refinement]].
** He also believes the Nazis are "monsters," although he sees them as a sort of NecessaryEvil.
* EvilIsFunny[=/=] EvilHasABadSenseOfHumor: Sure he's evil, but he is still a hilarious DeadpanSnarker, and is generally outright gleeful at times, especially when using his powers.
* EvilIsHammy: While he's a WellIntentionedExtremist and a VisionaryVillain, it's clear that Darhk really enjoys being the bad guy.
* EvilIsPetty: [[spoiler:He guts Laurel with an arrow as payback for her father double-crossing Darhk and getting him sent to prison.]]
* EvilOverlord: He's trying to be seen as the hero of his new world order once his EvilPlan comes to fruition.
* EvilerThanThou: To Ra's Al-Ghul and the League of Assassins -- they at least have a sense of honor and morality, however twisted. Darhk's motives seem to be fueled by Social Darwinism -- Star City can't be saved, so just let it die.
* FauxAffablyEvil: He's remarkably civil in conversation, but he's trying to destroy Star City, and murders one of his own men without remorse when the man fails him. Darhk also demonstrates a certain playful, gregarious humour with people, even when he's obviously ready to kill them and has no problem threatening the people they love. By "Genesis", he admits he's gotten sick of "being nice".
* {{Foil}}: To Ra's Al-Ghul. They're both KnightTemplar masterminds who are Really700YearsOld, and they were even friends when they first joined the League of Assassins. There are quite a few differences between them, as well: Ra's' order uses ancient trappings and traditions, while Darhk's is clearly on the cutting-edge of technology; unlike the AffablyEvil Ra's, Darhk is plainly FauxAffablyEvil; Ra's was the unquestioned master of his group, while Darhk has unidentified "partners" who can override his authority; Ra's was stoic and reserved, while Darhk is more emotional and demonstrates a sense of humour; Ra's had no intention of killing Oliver unless he had to, while Darhk is fine with killing him at the earliest opportunity; aside from his use of the Lazarus Pit, Ra's preferred more mundane methods to accomplish his goals, while Darhk freely uses sorcery. Even their appearances contrast: Ra's was dark-haired, bearded, and dressed in ancient-looking robes, while Darhk is blond, clean-shaven, and prefers modernly-sharp business suits.
* GreaterScopeVillain: Similar to Ra's prior to Season Three, he has never gotten directly involved with the Arrow and his allies beforehand, but he's had quite a bit of influence throughout the series.
* HeartIsAnAwesomePower: Despite everything Team Arrow has faced up until this point, they are hopelessly outmatched against someone with telekinesis.
* TheHeavy: He drives the plot in Season Four, but Mina Fayad's comments reveal he doesn't have full control of HIVE.
* HeroKiller: [[spoiler:He personally kills Laurel, in order to get back at Captain Lance for betraying him.]]
* IcyBlueEyes: His cold blue eyes are quite terrifying.
* InsistentTerminology: When HIVE operative Mina Fayad tries to address him as Damien, he makes it quite clear to her that he's '''Mr.''' Darhk.
* KarmicDeath: [[spoiler: He dies exactly like how he killed Laurel; helplessly immobilized and stabbed with an arrow.]]
* KilledOffForReal: [[spoiler: In the ''Schism'', Darhk ends up finally killed by Green Arrow.]]
* KnightTemplar: Darhk describes his goal as "a new beginning for the world".
* KryptoniteFactor: Two so far. 1) He's got an unexplained weakness to Thea, where his DeathTouch affects him instead and 2) is vulnerable to surprise attacks. He can seemingly teleport and has MindOverMatter abilities to stop bullets and arrows, but only if he knows they're coming. He's been beaten twice by unexpected blows. Also it has been shown that disabling his arms keeps him from using his telekinesis.
* LaserGuidedKarma: [[spoiler:His allies are content to let him stay in prison for killing their members when angry.]]
* LeaderWannabe: Considered himself worthy of being the next Ra's when he was with the League, but the previous Ra's instead chose his friend as he had less pride.
* MadeOfIron: He's quite tough, he was able to shake off a close-range explosive arrow from Malcolm once and he also withstood getting two arrows in the torso from Thea, when he didn't have his magic.
* {{Magitek}}: Darhk utilizes both magic and scientific warfare in his quest to take over the world.
* ManOfWealthAndTaste: He wears fancy suits and has a chauffeur driven limousine.
* MeaningfulName: His first name [[Film/TheOmen Damian]] is a big clue about what his evil plans are.
* MindOverMatter: He telekinetically stopped several arrows Oliver fired at him, and shows the same capability with Double Down's cards, to the point of telekinetically tossing one from one hand to the other and back again as a demonstration of his abilities.
** The power of his telekinesis is quite impressive. "Code of Silence" shows him mentally killing someone he's in a teleconference with... while the other man is ''all the way in Madrid''!
* MistreatmentInducedBetrayal: After he is arrested and the source of his magic destroyed, HIVE just leaves him there due to his tendency to [[YouHaveFailedMe kill members]].
* MoralMyopia: He sees hurting Oliver's loved ones as an acceptable way to defeat his enemy. If ''his'' family however is put in danger? Absolutely unacceptable.
* MurderSuicide: [[spoiler: On a ''global'' scale. After crossing the DespairEventHorizon, Darhk attempts to destroy the entire world with himself on it.]]
* MyNaymeIs: "Darhk" is pronounced the same way as "dark".
* NearVillainVictory: He was about to kill Oliver, but luckily for Oliver, Flash interfered.
* NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast: [[Film/TheOmen Damien]] [[DarkIsEvil Darhk.]]
* NiceJobFixingItVillain: His initial dismissal of Anarky results in [[spoiler: his fired underling destroying his entire underground city and murdering his wife.]]
* OffingTheOffspring: [[spoiler: His evil plan in the fourth season finale is to provide a peaceful death for him and his daughter.]]
* OffscreenTeleportation: Almost literally, if other characters (and the camera) look away for a second he can disappear.
* OmnicidalManiac: [[spoiler:"Genesis" reveals he plans to ''destroy the entire world'' with nuclear annihilation. Becomes even more so following his wife's death.]]
* OrcusOnHisThrone: Zig-zagged. In "Green Arrow" he personally carries out a mission to orchestrate a train crash, but after that he seems content to let his agents do the dirty work. But once Ollie ousts his existence to the world he's decided to take a more direct approach.
* OutsideGenreFoe: His abilities aren't even in the same category as the metahumans Central City has been dealing with, but straight-up magic.
* PetTheDog: On hearing what happened to Sara Lance regarding [[spoiler:the Lazarus Pit]], he seems sincere in telling her father that [[spoiler:he should put her out of her misery, since she is TheSoulless]].
** After Team Arrow saves his wife and child from Anarky, he tells the Green Arrow he will give him a month to spend time with his own loved ones.
* PowerAtAPrice: Despite having an advanced magical level, Darhk is seen performing a blood magic ritual that seems to imbue him with magic. This indicates his powers come from a high and mortal price.
* PragmaticVillainy: Why kill your competition in the villain game when you can just drug them to be your foot soldiers instead? Just ask [[spoiler: Andy Diggle.]]
* PsychopathicManchild: Has moments of childish glee, usually related to messing with, hurting, or killing someone, such as when he just can't resist trying to "take a peeksie" under the Green Arrow's mask. His portrayer also describes him as "a 9-year old throwing a tantrum" when he doesn't get his way. As it turns out, he is capable of some insanely violent temper tantrums.
* PsychoticSmirk: He gets ''too'' carried away in his villainous actions.
* Really700YearsOld: He's roughly the same age as Ra's due to stolen water from the Lazarus Pit.
* TheRival: To Ra's. He was just as capable as his fellow heir was and wanted to become the leader of the League, but was considered too prideful and later became a bitter rival to his former friend.
* RoguesGalleryTransplant: He and his organization are generally antagonists towards the ''ComicBook/TeenTitans'' in the source material.
* SharpDressedMan: As the image shows, Damien Darhk favours dark, stylish suits.
* SmugSmiler: Just look at his profile image.
* SmugSnake[=/=] SmugSuper: He's very high up on the horse compared to other villains. This is mainly because he has amazing superpowers to back up his skills as a villain.
* SquishyWizard: Averted, he's a heavy-hitter in the ring and the first two times has beaten up a slightly rusty Oliver with his bare hands.
* TheStarscream: [[spoiler:He takes control of the HIVE council himself.]]
* StartMyOwn: He created H.I.V.E. after he failed to become the next Ra's Al-Ghul.
* TheyLookJustLikeEveryoneElse: Darhk looks more like a kind old man rather than the complete monster he actually is underneath his gentle facade.
* TouchOfDeath[=/=]VampiricDraining: His touch drains the life of his enemies and heals[=/=]restores his magical power him at the same time.
* VillainousBreakdown:
** It's subtle, but he's not taking Team Arrow's constance interference with his plans, or his operatives' inability to stop them, well at all. He doesn't lose his cool, but he kills any one of his own men who fails at anything regarding Team Arrow.
** In "Dark Waters" he has a full blown one when Oliver holds a press conference telling Star City about Darhk and HIVE's existence and he uses his magic to blow up the TV he's watching it on in a fit of rage.
** Upon hearing of [[spoiler:his wife's death, he transitions into a suicidal maniac who wants to destroy all life, including himself.]]
* VisionaryVillain: If his comments on "breath[ing] a new life" into Star City and the world are any indication, he's one of these.
* WeaksauceWeakness: His powers come from a totem. When it gets destroyed, not only does he lose his telekinesis, he also loses a large chunk of his fighting prowess and ends up swinging like a tired old man, unlike the fighting machine he was in his first few episodes. [[spoiler: But once he gets it back...]]
* WhiteHairBlackHeart: Extremely fair blond hair, but he's as nasty as you'd expect with a name like "Damien Darhk".
* WorfHadTheFlu: If his fight with Green Arrow in "Blood Debts" is any indication, he's so used to relying on his magic that his combat skills aren't what you'd expect from a former top member of the League of Assassins. He was too pissed off at Anarky kidnapping his family that he got sloppy with rage.
* WouldHitAGirl: [[spoiler:Murdered Laurel.]]
* WouldHurtAChild: He abducted Oliver's son and threatened to execute him if Oliver didn't give in to his demands. [[spoiler:He later attempts to kill John Diggle's ''infant'' daughter.]]
* YouHaveFailedMe: Pretty common with him. If someone fails to either kill Team Arrow or to [[CyanidePill die when they're supposed to instead of being caught]], he kills them. This ends up biting him in the rear when [[spoiler: he's arrested and informed that the rest of HIVE is tired of losing guys just because he gets a bit miffed and leaving him in jail.]]
[[/folder]]

[[folder: Mina Fayad]]
!! Mina Fayad
[[quoteright:350:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/mina_fayad.png]]
[[caption-width-right:350:''"'''Who are you?''' Merely a drone. A piece of a larger entity. We exist as one organism. As you might say, a hive."'']]
--> '''Played by:''' Carmen Moore

The HIVE agent who gave Deadshot the contract to kill Andy Diggle.
----
* AlmightyJanitor: Her exact position in HIVE is unknown; she calls herself a "drone", but she doesn't answer directly to Darhk. That said, her rank is still low enough that Darhk can still punish her for failure.
* BackForTheFinale: In the season 4 finale, she shows up in Oliver's flashback escorting the cursed idol to Darhk.
* TheCameo: She appears in Oliver's flashback during the closing minutes of the finale, taking the idol to Darhk.
* EarlyBirdCameo: Appears in Deadshot's flashback in Season 3 when she tasked him to kill Andy Diggle.
* MouthOfSauron: She shows up in Star City, on behalf of Darhk's "partners" to take care of Team Arrow.
* MysteriousPast: Has enough of a history of illegal actives to be on the TSA's watch list.
* SmallRoleBigImpact:
** She gave Deadshot the contract to kill Andy Diggle.
** She's also the one to steal Darhk's magic idol for him.
* WeHardlyKnewYe: Darhk kills her in her second appearance since he lost valuable men he assigned to protect her while she was in Star City.
[[/folder]]

[[folder: The Partners]]
!! The Partners
[[quoteright:350:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/arrow409_01881.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:350: "''We came here to check on your progress with Genesis, not to watch you exercise a personal vendetta.''"]]
--> '''Played by:''' Lynda Boyd (Ms. Nixon) and James Kidnie (Milo Armitage)

Darhk's partners in HIVE. Together they have enough power to make decisions without his approval, and are getting concerned about Green Arrow's interference with their plans for Star City. One of them, Milo Armitage was the one who tried to acquire Merlyn's earthquake machine in Season 2.
----
* AssholeVictim: [[spoiler: Armitage and Ms. Nixon are executed by Darhk for betraying him.]]
* BaldOfEvil: Armitage has no hair.
* BigBadDuumvirate: They run the organization with Darhk and rank close enough to him that they can make decisions without his approval.
* BoomHeadshot: [[spoiler: Armitage ends up killed with a bullet through the head.]]
* EarlyBirdCameo: Armitage made an appearance in Season 2 as the man who hired Bronze Tiger to acquire Merlyn's EarthquakeMachine.
* GenericDoomsdayVillain: Unlike Darhk, they have very little characterization outside being business minded super villains.
* GreaterScopeVillain: Armitage hired Bronze Tiger to steal Merlyn's EarthQuakeMachine in Season 2 and orchestrated an attempt to steal ARGUS files in Season 3 for the organization.
* KarmaHoudini: Armitage managed to escape justice for his actions in Season 2.
* KarmaHoudiniWarranty: [[spoiler: Armitage ends up executed for attempting to betray Darhk in Season 4.]]
* LivingProp: Apart from Nixon and Amritage we know nothing about the other three, not even their names.
* NonActionGuy: None of them are combat proficient. They'll immediately flee the scene if any of the heroes show up armed.
* NoNonsenseNemesis: Compared to Darhk. They are business-like and have little patience for his "games" and chastise him for letting his petty feud with Oliver get in the way of their EvilPlan.
* RewardedAsATraitorDeserves: Armitage and Nixon are killed off by Darhk after he escapes prison. Genesis is far enough in progress, that they're no longer necessary to the project.
* TheOmniscientCouncilOfVagueness: Vaguely menacing with a hidden agenda.
* TheStarscream: [[spoiler: After Darhk is arrested they leave him in jail to rot and move on with their evil plan without him.]]
* TheStoic: None them really express much emotion.
* TheTeamBenefactor: It's implied their main role in the organization is to fund it - via organized crime and the like.
* TooDumbToLive: [[spoiler: Instead of giving into Darhk's leadership, Armitage tries shooting the superpowered AxeCrazy psychopath despite ''knowing'' about his powers. Darhk lampshades this before killing him. Meanwhile, Ms. Nixon attempts to ''run away'' from the man who's harnessed PeoplePuppets before. She ends up crushed to death by his power over her body.]]
* UnderestimatingBadassery: Sure Damien's their founder, but they think he's an immature, impractical buffoon to be patronized. And he is, but he's an impractical buffoon with MAGIC. When he "force chokes" a senior member with the others as witness, they decide to show a lot more respect.
* VisionaryVillain: Just like Darhk they share his vision for a new order, and believe Genesis is greater than any one man.
* WhatHappenedToTheMouse: The rest of the council suddenly vanish by the season 4 finale.
* YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness: [[spoiler: Armitage and Ms. Nixon are no longer required by Darhk, so he executes them.]]
[[/folder]]

[[folder: Ruvé Adams]]
!! Ruvé Adams
[[quoteright:350:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/arrow_412_18_600x401.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:350:"''Genesis is almost ready. We're much too close to play games.''"]]
-> '''Played By''' Janet Kidder

The wife of Damien Darhk. She aides his evil plans by becoming Oliver's competitor in the mayoral election.
----
* AloofDarkHairedGirl: She displays a graceful demeanor in public but she's really an unpleasant person.
* AssholeVictim: [[spoiler: Considering what a smug, egotistical bitch she was, you'd probably wouldn't shed any tears when her own overconfidence gets her killed.]]
* DroppedABridgeOnHim: [[spoiler: She dies getting stabbed by Anarky and having her own city crumble on her.]]
* EvenEvilHasLovedOnes: She deeply cares for her husband and daughter. [[spoiler: Her last words are asking Green Arrow to take care of her daughter.]]
* {{Jerkass}}: She shows nothing but disdain for her own coworkers.
* KarmicDeath: [[spoiler: She ends up murdered by one of Darhk's underlings who she completely disregarded and dies trapped under her own crumbling utopia.]]
* LadyMacbeth: To her husband. She is actively pushing him to kill the Green Arrow as soon as possible, regardless of the fact that the hero had just saved her life. She later takes a direct approach by running against Ollie in the mayoral election.
* TheMaidenNameDebate: To the public she uses Adams as her last name, but anyone who knows her true alliance refers to has Mrs. Darhk or Ruvé Darhk.
* MayorPain: Aspires to be one to aide HIVE's evil plan.
** [[spoiler: Finally succeeds in "Eleven Fifty-Nine", though it was somewhat of a ForegoneConclusion three episodes earlier when Oliver dropped out of the race]].
* MoralityChain: Believe it or not, but she's the only one who keeps her husband sane. [[spoiler: After her death, he flips out.]]
* UngratefulBastard: Scolds Damian for not taking the chance to kill Green Arrow not seconds after he just saved her and her daughter.
* SpannerInTheWorks: She throws a major wrench into Oliver's plans to help Star City when she decides to become a candidate in the mayoral election.
* VillainWithGoodPublicity: She has false credentials so nobody can make any connection between her and Darhk.
* VisionaryVillain: Just like her husband, she too has grand visions of a new world order.
[[/folder]]

[[folder: Spoiler Character]]
!! Andy Diggle
[[quoteright:340:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/arrow_andydiggle_8.jpg]][[caption-width-right:340:"''I'm not anybody's bitch.''"]]
-> '''Played By''' Eugene Boyd.

John Diggle's brother. Thought to have been killed by Deadshot on behalf on H.I.V.E. his death was merely faked and he was recruited into the organization as a foot soldier.
----
* AssholeVictim: [[spoiler: After all of his backstabbing, double crossing bullshit throughout the season, along with his hand in Laurel's death and threats against John's family, the only person you'd feel sorry for when John finally shoots him is John himself.]]
* TheAtoner: As of [[Recap/ArrowS4E11AWOL A.W.O.L.]], he slowly seems to be heading this route. [[spoiler: It's all a facade.]]
* BrainwashedAndCrazy: Subverted. Darhk gave his foot soldiers some kind of drug to ensure their loyalty, but when they were off Andy is still dedicated to the cause.
* BrokenPedestal: John is '''not''' happy to find out that his brother was a minor crime lord in Afghanistan and is now a foot soldier for HIVE.
* TheBrute: [[spoiler: He's promoted to Darhk's chief enforcer.]]
* CainAndAbel: The Cain to Diggle's Abel.
* DoubleReverseQuadrupleAgent: [[spoiler: He is still on HIVE's side, as Malcom Merlyn contacts him at the end of [[Recap/ArrowS4E17BeaconOfHope Beacon of Hope]]. He plays his card's so good that he is able to tell John about this and still gains his trust. He even takes an arrow for Oliver, though the latter suspected him from the very beginning, but is unable to convince John until it is too late.]].
* FaceHeelTurn: From military hero to petty crime lord and now thug for a terrorist organization.
* FakeUltimateHero: Every thought he was a war hero, when in reality he was a petty crime lord in Afghanistan.
* FakingTheDead: H.I.V.E. supplied Deadshot with special ammo to ensure he wouldn't die, not even Deadshot knew.
* FalseFriend: [[spoiler: He's this to Team Arrow.]]
* FauxAffablyEvil: [[spoiler: He genuinely laughs in Diggle's face about how he plans to kill him and his family.]]
* FightingFromTheInside: Zig-zagged. Dedicated as he is to the HIVE cause he can't bring himself to kill John in a fight, though he will fight him to a draw and will kill anyone else without hesitation.
* HeelFaceTurn: As of "A.W.O.L.", he seems to have thrown his lot in with Team Arrow. [[spoiler: As it turns out however this was all a façade as he [[DoubleReverseQuadrupleAgent had never stoped working for HIVE in the first place.]]]]
* InsistentTerminology: Andy is quick to take offense at John calling HIVE a cult.
* JerkWithAHeartOfJerk: He starts to come around and befriend his brother. [[spoiler: Only to screw him over and laugh about killing his family later.]]
* TheMole: [[spoiler: For Darhk. His redemption was just an act.]]
* ThatManIsDead: John tells he's going to treat him like he's a ghost as long as he's loyal to HIVE.
* MoreThanMindControl: Even after Darhk's mind control drugs were off he's still loyal to Darhk.
* ParentalAbandonment: John is enraged that Andy would let his wife and children think he's dead.
* StrawNihilist: While John sees the world as something to be fixed, Andy merely sees it as broken and he just wants to survive.
* UndyingLoyalty: [[spoiler: To Darhk, much to John's immense disbelief and sorrow.]]
* WalkingSpoiler: A major one since he was thought to be dead for the first three seasons.
[[/folder]]


!Shadowspire and Associates

[[folder: Baron Reiter]]
!!Baron Reiter
[[quoteright:340:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/baronreiter.jpg]][[caption-width-right:340:''"The difference between insanity and belief lies all in the number of believers!"'']]
->'''Played By:''' Jimmy Akingbola

The leader of the mercenaries that forces a group of captured labourers to harvest Slam on Lian Yu. His true goals however are to collect magical artifacts from the island.
----
* AGodAmI: Once he finds the idol, Reiter declares that sacrificing all of the labourers will make him a god.
* AffablyEvil: His friendly behaviour sometimes makes you forget that he is also the leader of a mercenary group that has no problems with slave labouring.
* AristocratsAreEvil: Assuming that "Baron" is a legitimate title, he certainly qualifies.
* BaldBlackLeaderGuy: He's in charge of Shadowspire unit and assures that they understand that.
* BeardOfEvil: A thin goatee.
* BenevolentBoss: He treats his men quite well and even lets John Constantine go when he takes Conklin and Oliver hostage (the latter only being in his group for a few days or so).
* BigBad: Of the Season 4 flashbacks.
* BloodMagic: He kills numerous people to enhance his superpowers.
* DarkAndTroubledPast: [[spoiler: Reiter lived in a war-torn African nation, and his home was destroyed by raiders for guns, medicine, and women.]]
* DeathGlare: His entire facial expressions are all cold stares.
* DullSurprise: Barely reacts to Oliver betraying his trust.
* EvilSorcerer: Shades of this following Constantine's appearance.
* FreudianExcuse: See DarkAndTroubledPast.
* HeWhoFightsMonsters [[spoiler: He doesn't care, as long as he gains power so he won't be helpless anymore.]]
* InTheBack: [[spoiler: Oliver throws a knife into his back, putting an end to him once and for all.]]
* KickTheDog: During the finale, he [[spoiler: destroys the plane with a lot of former slaves on board who tried to escape to further fuel his power.]]
* KilledOffForReal: [[spoiler: When Taiana starts overpowering him, Oliver seizes the opportunity and throws a knife in his back, finally killing him.]]
* MildlyMilitary: He acts like a general, but he uses prisoners of war as new recruits.
* NotSoStoic: In ''Unchained'' he loses his cool for the very first time while torturing Oliver. [[spoiler: He also has a big OhCrap moment when Taiana starts overpowering his magic with her own.]]
* OneDegreeOfSeparation: [[spoiler: In Afghanistan he met Andy when he started out as a crime lord.]]
* PragmaticVillainy: Instead of killing Oliver, he recognizes that he would be far more valuable alive and offers him a spot in his group. He also scolds Conklin for wasting an innocent, ''valuable'' worker's life.
* RaceLift: His namesake in the comics, Baron Blitzkrieg (real name: Reiter), is German, while he's African in this show.
* RoguesGalleryTransplant: He's a Franchise/WonderWoman villain in the comics.
* ScaryBlackMan: While he is [[AffablyEvil on the more pleasant side]] for a Big Bad, Reiter's presence and unsettling demeanor are quite intimidating.
* StartOfDarkness: [[spoiler: He decided to never be weak again after his village was destroyed.]]
* TheStoic: He rarely loses his composure, even when Constantine has a gun trained on two of his men.
* TortureTechnician: He personally tortures Oliver for information after Oliver is outed as a spy.
* WouldHitAGirl: Throttles Tiana with his magical abilities.
[[/folder]]

[[folder: Conklin]]
!!Conklin
[[quoteright:340:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/conklin.jpg]][[caption-width-right:340:''"Stone cold killer."'']]
->'''Played By:''' Ryan Robbins

A mercenary under Baron Reiter's command. He grows increasingly suspicious about Oliver from the start and eventually discovers his kit supplied by A.R.G.U.S., which proved his suspicions. After Reiter still refuses to deal with Oliver, he decides to take matters into his own hands.
----
* ATasteOfTheLash: On the receiving end of this from Oliver due to trying to kill him, and later when he is proved to be right, instead of killing Oliver, he opts to pay him back by doing the same.
* AintTooProudToBeg: When he is on the receiving end of getting punished by Oliver.
* AndYourLittleDogToo: Gloats about his intention to afterwards kill Taiana and the rest of the prisoners during his last fight with Oliver.
* AssholeVictim: Oliver stabs him to death in cold blood, claiming it was self-defense, in [[Recap/ArrowS4E14CodeOfSilence Code Of Silence]]. Needless to say, no one really mourns his loss.
* BeardOfEvil: A shaggy, scruffy beard on the face of a mercenary and cold-blooded killer.
* CardCarryingVillain: Is a self-proclaimed stone-cold killer.
* CharacterDeath: Stabbed to death by Oliver in "Code of Silence".
* CurbstompBattle: He receives one from Oliver and winds up getting shanked with his own knife.
* DeepSouth: Speaks with a quite noble southern accent.
* DemonicPossession: [[spoiler: His corpse is used to hold some... Demon kind of creature, that seems to want to kill everyone... But Oliver.]]
* HypercompetentSidekick: See above.
* {{Jerkass}}: Even aside from being a mercenary working for a drug lord and a self-described cold-blooded killer (although that certainly doesn't help), Conklin is very clearly not a pleasant person.
* KilledOffForReal: Gets knifed by Oliver.
* ManipulativeBastard: Tells Ivan that Ollie killed his sister, which makes him attack Ollie and forces the latter to kill him.
* NumberTwo: For Reiter.
* SmugSnake: Smart, but not as smart as he thinks.
* SociopathicSoldier: A textbook example. Has absolutely no qualms about executing workers to get information out of them.
[[/folder]]

[[folder: Joyner]]
!! Joyner
[[quoteright:350:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/ltjoyner.png]]
->'''Played By:''' Erik Palladino

The Ex-Lieutenant of Andy and John during their time in Afghanistan, revealed to be under Reiter's command.

* BadassInCharge: He can put up quite a fight.
* BitchInSheepsClothing: During his time in Afghanistan, he pretends to be a nice and upstanding man, but is really just a criminal out for his own gain.
* BoomHeadshot: Delivers one to Amanda Waller.
* ColdBloodedTorture: Has Agent Chang brutally tortured, his eye ball removed and afterwards killed.
* TheCorrupter: He convinced Andy to become a drug lord.
* KickTheDog: Executes A.R.G.U.S. in order to get what he wants and threatens Lyla that he will kill John in front of her eyes.
* KickTheSonOfABitch: Really, killing Waller was something many were looking forward to.
* NothingPersonal: Claims that he doesn't resent Waller and A.R.G.U.S. for crippling Shadowspire, as vengeance and retribution don't pay, he just want's their access codes.
* SociopathicSoldier: An immoral, ruthless murderer.

[[/folder]]

The presumed leader of the H.I.V.E. organization. He was once a part of the League of Assassins, but when his ambitions got too great, he narrowly escaped execution and formed the H.I.V.E. along with water from the Lazarus Pit and a faction of the League. He possesses mysterious mystical abilities apparently originating from a blood ritual.

* AdaptationDistillation: His backstory is greatly simplified, and more [[AdaptationalIntelligence heavily entwined with Oliver's]]. Rather than being experimented on by the government, he was simply one of the Mirakuru victims. The story behind his eye was changed so that it was Oliver who stabbed it out, rather than his wife shooting it out due to endangering their son. And he was active for a much shorter time as a mercenary before running into Oliver, than the comics.

* ArchEnemy: To Oliver Queen. Next in line after Malcolm Merlyn, and one of Oliver's most personal enemies. He dedicates all his efforts in Season 2 of destroying Oliver in every way possible.

* AdaptationDistillation: His backstory is greatly simplified, and more heavily entwined with Oliver's. Rather than being experimented on by the government, he was simply one of the Mirakuru victims. The story behind his eye was changed so that it was Oliver who stabbed it out, rather than his wife. And he was active for a much shorter time as a mercenary before running into Oliver, than the comics.

* PutOnABus: Was last seen in a Nanda Parbat prison asking Sara not to rescue her.

** Despite strong arming Oliver into killing Malcolm by holding onto a cure for Thea, she willing accepts him trying to peacefully negotiate a bloodless outcome. She also takes Laurels advise to heart and moves away from the shadow of her fathers legacy, by [[spoiler disbanding the League of Assassins.]]

* EvilPlan: ''Presumably'' they have one, but we never find out what their long term goals are. Though Ra's' in "Al Sahhim" comments seem to imply that their roughly similar to HIVE's - albeit less extreme (for a given definition of less).

* GenericDoomsdayVillain: Compared to the other Big Bads, Ra's is a very shallow villain. He only comes into conflict with Oliver and Team Arrow because League law and tradition guide his actions instead of any personal grudge or vendetta he holds against Starling City or Oliver himself.

* TheyLookJustLikeEveryoneElse: Darhk looks more like a kind old man rather than the complete monster he actually is underneath his gentle façade.

* ThePiratesWHoDontDoAnything: Mixed with OffstageVillainy. Despite being called the League of Assassins, they never actually assassinate, as in kill for money, anybody during the show. And despite their mantra of "replacing evil with death" they don't get involved with or try to stop any of the corrupt and evil individuals in Starling or Central City. In fact, they only ever get involved in internal affairs related to the conduct of current or former members. Makes you wonder if everybody exclaiming how evil they were was full of it.

* ThatManIsDead: Everyone who joins the League has to leave their old idenity and life behind and embrace a new one. And that includes Ra's Al-Ghul himself.

* ArchEnemy: Next in line after Malcolm Merlyn, and one of Oliver's most personal enemies. He dedicates all his efforts in Season 2 of destroying Oliver in every way possible.

* DebtDetester: [[spoiler: Subverted. Even though Oliver saved his life via CruelMercy in Season 4, Malcolm is determined for vengeance and strikes up an alliance with Hive...until Darhk goes off the deep end and paddles back to Team Arrow.]]

* PyrrhicVillainy: Even though Malcolm has succeeded in his two major goals: he managed to destroy half the glades and escape the League's justice they ultimately brought him down. He used to be wealthy, influential businessman and later he became Ra's Al-Ghul himself. But everything he did to achieve the above cost him his respect, his wealth, and his family. Now he's little more than a thug for hire with delusions of grandeur.

* GreaterScopeVillain: They were subtly causing trouble for Team Arrow, long before they decided to full on invade it.

* DebtDetester: [[spoiler: Subverted. Even though Oliver saved his life via CruelMercy in Season 4, Malcolm is determined for vengeance.]]

** Cruelly subverted in "The Climb" when it is revealed that Thea killed Sara under the influence of a plant that can be used for mind control. Malcolm admits to Oliver that he made her do it so that Oliver would have to fight Ra's Al-Ghul to protect Thea, which if he succeeds would erase Malcolm's blood debt to the League and give him back his freedom. Ultimately Thea was just a tool to him, proof that Malcolm Merlyn loves himself more than his own children.

* PlotArmor: The ''only'' reason he's still alive, is because Oliver adopted a ThouShallNotKill policy and had no desire to allow his sister to become a killer like him.

* GreaterScopeVillain: Armitage tried to steal Merlyn's EarthQuakeMachine in Season 2 and orchestrated an attempt to steal ARGUS files in Season 3 for the organization.
* HiddenAgenda: While Darhk wants to establish a new world order, it's unclear if they share the same goal.

* EvenEvilHasLovedOnes: She deeply cares for her husband and daughter.

* DecompositeCharacter: In the (reboot) comics, Tommy is the Dark Archer.

* YouAreInCommandNow: Becomes the new Ra's Al-Ghul at the end of Season Three. [[spoiler: He later takes control of HIVE in Season Four after Darhk is arrested.]]

* EvilPlan: ''Presumably'' they have one, but we never find out what their long term goals are. Though Ra's' comments seem to imply that their roughly similar to HIVE's - albeit less extreme (for a given definition of of less).

* MyGreatestFailure: Letting Malcolm Merlyn leave the League, which is something he has ''very'' good reason to regret.

* EvilPlan: ''Presumably'' they have one, but we never find out what their long term goals are.