Fridge / Arrow

Fridge Brilliance

• Greasepaint:
  • Why does Oliver have a Domino Mask painted on? So it doesn't fall off or block his vision in the heat of combat. Oliver would later state this as the reason upon being questioned on the matter by Barry Allen in season 2's "Three Ghosts", who proceeds to design & fabricate a domino mask with those reasons as goals in mind.
  • According to this, in the original comics his very first makeshift "mask" was painted on with black grease.
• Why doesn't Oliver have his iconic goatee from the comics? It'd be a big giveaway that he's the Arrow if they had the same distinctive facial hair. To follow up on this, Oliver even shaves off his Perma-Stubble after rescuing Walter, because Walter saw that much of his face, and might have ended up making a connection.
• Ollie's Inner Monologue stops after the first few episodes. In-Universe, this is because Ollie is adjusting to no longer being alone on the island and having only himself for company. Also, he was nearly caught by Diggle speaking his thoughts aloud. Narratively, it's because Ollie now has Diggle and others to confide in and the plot is developed, so the monologue is no longer required to convey his inner thoughts.
• Malcolm Merlyn's plan was to wipe out the Glades and start over. When did he cut off Tommy? Right after Tommy ran a fundraiser for the CNRI, a free legal aid clinic based out of the Glades. It would be much easier to convince the people of Starling City that they could rebuild and improve the Glades after its destruction if he were able to point towards organisations like CNRI struggling to stay open prior to the Glades being wiped off the map. It also adds another reason as to why he closed down the free clinic his wife started - whilst Malcolm states that it was because he couldn't bear to see his wife's work in ruins following the earthquake, it would also contribute to the idea that the Glades was a black hole destroying everything good about Starling City.
• Malcolm's archery skills and fighting ability originally seem to be a bit of an ass pull, but then you remember, he's a very rich man who is shown earlier in the series to be into fencing, a sport often practiced by rich socialites, as is archery. Tommy said that Malcolm disappeared for a few years after his wife died. This happened when Tommy was a child and is when Malcolm went to Nanda Parbat. Whereas Ollie's been training for five years, Malcolm went through a similar training from hell and has been perfecting his abilities for fifteen.
  • It's also entirely possible, though there's no hint either way, that he learned self-defense or martial arts before joining the League. While of course that's nowhere near the same as League training, it would mean that he didn't have to start from the beginning when he joined them.
• Dark Archer and Hood aren't just archetype counterparts of each other. Their lives and histories are that as well. Malcolm lost his wife, an unequivocally good person, and became a dark vigilante. Ollie lost his father, a morally grey person, and become a good one. Their family members who aren't in on the secret are, in many ways, angry and upset about all the secrets. And so on and so forth.
• All of the stories relating to Oliver's time on the island in season one could be pretty much interpreted as Green Arrow: Year One. Though Year One stories from DC tend to be about the first year of a hero's career (and therefore imply that season one is essentially Year One), in the context of the show the island stories end up as Oliver's Year One tales. Year One's often juxtapose our hero from what we know them as to what they were before they began, and the island is considered as Oliver's true beginning.
• Malcolm needed both earthquake devices and element of surprise to fully destroy The Glades, as he intended to. So he succeeded only partially.
• Oliver's not a great liar but the stories he tells Felicity before recruiting her are particularly bad. Why? He's testing her to make sure she is not going to go to the police and to see if she'd be willing to help out.
• "State v. Queen" reveals Moira's case is unwinnable when Laurel discovers Adam's trump card against the defense. After revealing it to Moira, Moira comes clean to her children about her one-time affair with Malcolm Merlyn years prior, after which she admits it in the trial and it becomes the main focus of the prosecution's cross-examination. However, the information about the affair doesn't appear as earth-shattering a reveal as we're led to believe, maybe because it was Moira who chose to reveal it prior to the testimony... That is, until the end, when Malcolm reveals that Moira had been hiding the fact that Thea was his daughter, and therefore Oliver's half-sister. Whilst "Tremors" would later confirm that only Moira, Walter and her OB/GYN knew the truth, it stands to reason that the damaging information Adam had uncovered on Moira and would have used had he remained on the case was that the timetable for the affair made it a very real possibility that Thea was Malcolm's daughter. Out of the family's best interest, Laurel focused her cross-examination on the affair alone, knowing that this fact would hurt Oliver and Thea. This also provides a new depth to her actions after the cross-examination, particularly her reaction when Oliver tries to check if she's okay.
• Why was Laurel made assistant and then lead counsel for the prosecution in Moira's case despite being a clear violation of legal ethics and protocol? Malcolm arranged it as a backup plan to ensure Moira's acquittal. It would have created reversible legal error on appeal if he hadn't been able to sway the jury.
• Oliver's insistence on a bow makes a lot more sense when you learn Shado was killed by a gun.
• If you pay attention in "Three Ghosts," you'll see that Slade doesn't have his swords when he wakes up in the submarine, but he does when running to save Sara, Oliver, and Shado. Perhaps his hatred towards Oliver is less Insane Troll Logic and more for-want-of-a-nail.
• Barry Allen's Freak Lab Accident is turned up to eleven in this. First, the power in his lab shorts out, then lightning takes out a particle accelerator, and as he goes to shut the skylight all the nearby chemicals start rattling and the liquid in them starts floating up. Then a bolt of lightning basically defies natural laws when it ignores any nearby metal, water, or tall buildings and aims right for Barry, knocking him back into the shelf of chemicals. If you're going for the "Speed Force" explanation on how Barry got his powers (as confirmed in the spin-off), the whole build-up is there to make it clear that this is not a normal lightning bolt.
• The comments about Yao Fei being the first Green Arrow make more sense when you take into account Ollie shooting Roy in the leg to protect him and stop him from investigating Mirakuru, and later removing the arrow himself. It has come full circle from Yao Fei shooting Oliver and then nursing him back to health.
• The idea of Mirakuru's insanity coming from a Lady Macbeth hallucination makes a lot of sense when seeing Roy experience Mirakuru rage in "Seeing Red." The hallucination starts off with relatively light demands, which means Roy does things like flipping a table or just beating people up, leaving them injured but alive. Then, the hallucination starts goading him further, making him injure severely or straight up kill people. Eventually, the hallucination will tell him to kill everything he sees. After kneecapping Oliver, Roy looks back, almost like he's thinking, "Oh, Crap!, I just broke my girlfriend's brother's leg!" before being reassured by the hallucination that it's alright. Then later on, when he stabs a police officer, there's an almost relieved look on his face, like he's been pressured from the moment the cops got out of the car. This could also explain why he's never seen attacking inanimate objects - they can't bother him, so the hallucination's saying there's no point.
• Isabel is working for Slade. Summer Glau is working with the original Terminator.
• In "City of Blood", Felicity reveals that she worked her ass off to avoid becoming rich men's eye candy, which explains why she got so pissed when Oliver made her his EA. Everything she had ever done was undone in that one move.
• The familiarity Felicity displayed with card counting in "The Undertaking" makes a lot more sense once we find out in "City of Blood" that she grew up in Las Vegas. And being raised by a single mother who worked as a cocktail waitress would allow her to spend a lot of time at casinos.
• Thea's main character flaw throughout the series is her vindictiveness and holding long, sometimes unjustified, grudges over perceived slights. Those are perfect traits you'd find in a villain.
• Throughout "Sara", we see Oliver being completely focused and driven, not sparing a moment to actually grieve for Sara. The other characters, especially Felicity, comment on his lack of emotion and Felicity comes close to calling him inhuman. But look at it from Oliver's POV. As far as he's concerned, this is the THIRD time Sara has died. Having already seen her "die" twice, and already seen her come back from the "dead" twice; Oliver in all likelihood just cannot process the fact that this woman, who has cheated death twice already, is lying as a corpse on his table...this time dead without a shadow of a doubt. In a sense he's become numb to the idea of Sara being dead. Might double as Fridge Horror too.
• The revelation in "The Magician" that Amanda Waller was Edward Fyers' Benefactor, and therefore the Greater-Scope Villain of the Season 1 island flashbacks puts all her actions in Season 2 relating to Slade Wilson and the Mirakuru in a whole new light: Her determination to make sure Slade definitively dies could be a case of self-preservation; kill him before he gets a chance to find out she was responsible for a significant portion of the crap he and Shado went through. There's also the fact Amanda watched their whole exploits on the island via ARGUS satellites; in other words, she's seen Slade in action, and knows exactly what he can do.
• It's discussed in "The Brave and the Bold" how Caitlin and Cisco feel like their adventures are a game. One reason for this is that at this point, neither of them has been out in the field. They've been playing Mission Control for the guy with the Healing Factor, so of course they've never seen how bad it gets!
• At the end of "The Calm" and again during Roy's dream in "The Secret Origin Of Felicity Smoak," we hear the sound of a bow firing when Sara is killed. That wouldn't have been present if Roy had thrown the arrows via Mirakuru-induced strength, foreshadowing that he didn't do it.
• Felicity joining Team Arrow actually makes a LOT more sense when you consider her backstory in "The Secret Origin of Felicity Smoak". It may have seemed a bit strange to some how a quirky IT girl leading a fairly normal life decides to get involved in a vigilante's crusade, routinely breaking dozens of laws by hacking into secure databases and what-not. But considering the fact that we learn that Felicity was a "hacktivist" who actually wrote a "super-virus" to hack into the Department of Education, it really doesn't at all seem surprising that she's the kind of person who'd get involved with Oliver's crusade.
• Felicity's hacking abilities; originally, it comes off as somewhat strange that a simple IT assistant was so damn good at computer hacking, as you'd expect someone with her skill level to instead have gotten work with the NSA; not only does it get established in The Flash (2014) and in "The Calm" that people like Harrison Wells and Ray Palmer have heard of her skill, but her ex-boyfriend was specifically recruited by the NSA when he took credit for her work, making it clear that she's vastly overqualified for her original position (and, likely, answering why Oliver sought her out rather than her boss or anyone else in the IT department).
• Where did Slade get his vast wealth? Two possibilities: First, he spent the five years since the island working as a mercenary with the sole purpose of getting enough money for his plan. Second, Rochev bankrolled him.
• The Mirakuru users. For a drug that's supposed to kill almost anyone, there seems to be a lot of users. Yet almost all of them get it from Slade, who is an example of a success. Quite a few people die, but about 3 people survive his treatment. Then he uses Roy's blood on the prisoners, having them become Mirakuru users. Had Slade used the drug, maybe 1 or 2 would make it out, if they had Slade give them blood, maybe half of them. With Roy, most likely all of them survived.
  • It also explains why the Mirakuru soldiers were so easy for Oliver and Co. to take down in the Siege, while Slade and Roy were absolute beasts: They got the dulled-down version. Your chances of getting to live are increased, but the strength and other powers and decreased.
• In "Uprising", Oliver learns that in order to defeat Ra's al Ghul he must train under a member of the League of Assassins because "only the student can hope to defeat the master". Now, think back to the Season 2 finale, and remember who defeated Slade.
  • And when did Oliver finally kill Ra's? After he got his Al Sah-Him training.
• People complain that, during the final duel, it's hard to tell who's who: Both men are wearing their League garb, wielding similar-looking swords, and the lighting isn't the greatest. However, it's not poor cinematography, it's actually great: Because Oliver is the next in line to be Ra's al Ghul. The duel is deliberately set up that way to emphasize their similarities.
• Meta example. Both Laurel and her sister Sara are played by actresses with phonetically similar sounding first names; Katie/Caity. This fits their status as the show's different renditions of Black Canary. "Katie" means pure, which fits Laurel being the canonical Black Canary, while "Caity", despite being phonetically similar to "Katie", doesn't have a specific definition, much like how Sara herself is a (sort-of) original character, and her character arcs being mostly unpredictable.
• Instead of using "Speedy" upon being an official member of Team Arrow, Roy uses his second canonical Code Name "Arsenal" instead. Why? Because Thea's nickname is also Speedy and her counterpart is Mia Dearden. And aside from the fact that Mia is only known as "Speedy" in canon, to Oliver (her brother here in the show), Thea is his "original Sidekick".
• Malcolm keeping his LoA attire after leaving them makes sense when you realize they all (sans the Al-Guls) wear the same outfits and thus perfect for misdirection in tough situations should they hunt and outnumber him. It is later stated that the LoA outfit is tougher/thicker than an ordinary outfit, which provides another reason.
  • Speaking of which, Malcolm's League codename was "the Magician", a reference to his name in the comics, "Merlyn the Magician". Now, remember the Season 1 finale? The two devices weren't just a businessman's sense of redundancy; it was misdirection.
• In some way, Roy did faithfully follow his characterization in the comics as he becomes Arsenal after he gets cured from substance problems (heroin in the comics, Mirakuru here in the show).
• Oliver's blatant hypocrisy in season 3 (which he is called out on by everyone) makes more sense as a lead up to the possibility of him becoming Ra's al Ghul. From that perspective, it's all a potential Start of Darkness, with him alienating his allies and compromising his moral code for selfish reasons.
• In the second half of season 3, Oliver is annoyed that the League of Assassins are using arrows identical to his own, making it impossible to prove he's not the one killing people that way. It's his own fault: He attacked Nanda Parbat, leaving plenty of arrows behind for them to study and replicate. They might even be just reusing the exact same arrows he shot at them.
• The Continuity Snarls in the series ^note  the recasting of both Sara(h) Lance and Linda Park as well as Retconning Barry's Origin Story, which actually was part of the goal makes a lot more sense if you watch the Spin-Off show and see how Eobard Thawne heavily screwed up the timeline.
• Malcolm's actions in season three make far more sense if you assume that he thinks he's the only one capable of protecting Thea. Putting her in the line of fire was risky, yes, but the leverage assured that Oliver would throw himself between her (and by extension Malcolm) and Ra's by any means necessary, exhausting every resource he could. It wasn't even that risky, since the League already wanted him dead (in fact Sara was in the middle of hunting him), but they'd dismiss Thea as just the weapon, and thus not actually guilty. The ultimate endgame was Oliver fighting Ra's. If Oliver fights in Malcolm's stead to protect Thea and gets killed, then Malcolm gets to live. If Oliver wins and kills Ra's, no more problems with the League, Malcolm gets to live. If Oliver is defeated and survives, even better, because then Oliver becomes Ra's, Malcolm gets to live, and he's ensured protection from the League just in case they decide to change their minds somewhere down the line. In theory, it's a Xanatos Gambit (no matter what, he's free to have whatever future he wants with Thea), but he underestimated the League and Thea in more than a few ways, resulting in her hating him when she realizes what he's done.
• The prophecy referred to several times is that the man who survives Ra's Al-Ghul's blade will become the next Ra's Al-Ghul. At first, the reveal that Malcolm takes the title because he survived being tortured by Ra's seems like a standard Prophecy Twist because it means there were really two people it could refer to. However, Tatsu never exactly explained how Oliver survived after being defeated by Ra's and tossed off a cliff, so it's entirely possible that she somehow brought him back from the dead, a possibility that's increased with the web series Vixen, the season 4 premiere of Arrow, and the announcement that John Constatine has been added to the Arrowverse that magic is a real thing. Which means he didn't survive Ra's Al-Ghul's blade, so Malcolm is truly the sole person who could claim that.
• Ascending to Ra's al-Ghul requires destroying your home. It's easy to forget since it only half worked, but Malcolm did everything in his power to destroy the Glades, transforming Starling City forever. So he had already fulfilled that requirement before he took over the League. When Nyssa ascends as Ra's, what happens? She destroys the League.
• In the last crossover of Season 3 with The Flash (2014) the Reverse-Flash tells Oliver that the history books say he lives to be 86. Back in Arrow, he says that he always expected his crusade to end with his death, before retiring with Felicity. RF's mocking might have been the first time he even considered he might be able to have a life beyond a few years as a vigilante followed by a shallow grave.
• The YMMV page takes note of Ra's's Badass Decay and Plot Induced Stupidity in the final fight where Oliver kills him. But it isn't because of either of those that Oliver is able to beat him so easily, but rather a case of Villainous Breakdown-induced Sanity Slippage. It's shown even before his first appearance that he does not take betrayal well, and he's clearly furious when he found out that Oliver was playing him. When he and Oliver finally duel on the bridge, he's so livid he isn't thinking clearly, and it's affecting his fighting skills, making it easier for Oliver to beat him. Not to mention consciously or not in that moment, he wanted Oliver to win and become his successor.
• Why is Lyla so quick to forgive Oliver for kidnapping her in bid to take down Ra's? She's probably had to do similar gambits during her stint as an ARGUS agent so she's quick to sympathize with him.
• One of our earliest shots of Ra's involved him killing several men in ritualistic combat. This makes more sense considering the effects of the Pit; he needs to kill every once in a while to sate his bloodlust and keep the healing from fading.
• Laurel's death could possibly make every single member of Team Arrow justifiably say It's All My Fault, as each of them arguably had SOME hand in it:
  • Diggle: The most obvious, as by trusting his brother Darhk was able to regain his magical powers.
  • Quentin: He backed out of the "deal" that he made with Darhk by testifying against him, causing Darhk to follow through on his threat.
  • Thea: She hesitated on two opportunities to kill her father in "Eleven-Fifty Nine", which ultimately led him to delivering Darhk the statue in prison.
  • Felicity: She left the team shortly before Darhk murdered Laurel and was not there to partake in the fateful mission.
  • Oliver: Perhaps less obvious than the others...however, he was originally the one who insisted on rescuing Andy Diggle from H.I.V.E.'s clutches, completely against John's wishes.
  • Even beyond any of those factors, the whole team including Laurel herself is in part responsible. A couple episodes prior, they'd managed to break the idol that gave Darhk his powers with the help of Vixen…but instead of destroying said idol or getting their good friend The Flash to scatter it across the globe, they fixed it back together in their lair and only took off one piece, which they proceeded to hide under John's couch. Had they simply done away with the thing, the whole situation could've been avoided and Darhk would've never found himself in prime position to kill Laurel.
• Thea mistrusts Malcolm and Slade because they made her and Oliver orphans. Thea preferring Robert Queen as a father by blaming Malcolm for his part in his death? Easiest interpretation. Foreshadowing that Malcolm would pull a Heroic Sacrifice later and officially orphaning her? Fridge Brilliance at its finest.
• At the beginning of season five, Curtis ripped into Oliver for his treatment of the new recruits, and blamed him for Diggle and Thea leaving the team. However, those aren't the reason why they left. Something to keep in mind: Curtis wasn't there when Diggle and Thea stated their reasons for leaving the team. Nor was he there when most of the traumatic events of the previous season happened. All he really knows is that Diggle and Thea left for some reason. Add to that Oliver's recent behavior being similar to how he first treated Curtis when he discovered Oliver's secret, and it makes sense that he would come to that conclusion.
• Oliver being terrible at training the new recruits makes sense: he has never really trained anyone to be a superhero before. Diggle, Roy, Helena, Sara, and Thea already knew how to fight by the time any of them joined up with Oliver; Felicity is mostly tech support and doesn't really need to go out in the field; Ray mostly used his suit; Oliver refused to train Laurel, and she had to go elsewhere as a result. He did try to train Roy at one point, but that was mostly to get his Mirakuru-induced anger under control, and that quickly went off the rails. Same thing with Helena. Finally, his attempt to train Barry ended quickly after Barry was hit with an anger-inducing blast, and he also turned out to be a different hero from Oliver, with a very different skillset. In short, Oliver has no real experience training people. There's also who has trained Oliver: assassins, morally ambiguous mercenaries, mobsters, criminals, and cold-blooded black-ops operators. With very few exceptions, the people who have taught him are the people a superhero would normally be expected to fight against.
• Diggle's hallucination of Floyd Lawton in "A Matter of Trust" was a neat Call-Back to "Three Ghosts". In that earlier episode, when Oliver was confronted by hallucinations of Slade and Shado, Diggle told him about how the 'ghosts' were trying to tell him something and only if he figured out what they were trying to tell him would he be rid of them. It seems Diggle decided to take his own advice - he figured out that Lawton's 'ghost' was telling him he was guilty of Andy's murder and deserved to be punished - hence his decision to stay in prison.
• The reveal that Artemis is secretly working for Prometheus explains how she was able to give him a decent fight despite him being more skilled than her. He was pulling the fight and allowed himself to get cut. It also implies that Prometheus getting cut and Quentin waking up with a cut in the same place wasn't Prometheus taking advantage of an injury to attempt to frame Quentin, but that it was planned for him to receive a recognizable injury.
• When Oliver's new team first learned that he was the Hood and he had a list of bad guys that he used to hunt and kill, Artemis and Ragman had the strongest and most negative reaction to his past. Considering how they met Oliver because he went after them when they themselves were on the wrong side, they could be thinking that if he hadn't changed, they could have easily had died by his hand.
• The Big Bad of season 5 is called Prometheus. Midway through the season, Felicity retrieves a large data cache. Its name? Pandora. Given that in Classical Mythology Prometheus and Pandora are two heavily intertwined figures, it's likely there's a connection.
• Following the episode "Kapiushon", it seems like the writers once again may be leaning into the Batman mythos for the show; specifically, the ever-popular The Dark Knight. In that film, The Joker tries to corrupt Batman over the course of the film, and while he succeeds in corrupting everyone around him including the beloved district attorney, he fails to break the hero. The following episode, "Disbanded", shows that Oliver is going to increasingly desperate measures to defeat his nemesis, and thus this story could be seen as "What If? in TDK The Joker had actually succeeded in 'bringing Batman down to his level'? What would happen?".
• Another moment from "Kapiushon." Now that we know that Oliver doesn't kill because he has to, but because he wants to and likes it, suddenly him trying so desperately to keep others from killing makes sense. Before, he just seemed like a massive hypocrite, or a "it's okay if I do it" guy but now it's clear he's trying to stop others from becoming what he already is, a desensitized sadist.
  • It can also be as Diggle and the others suggest, that Oliver was simply tortured to believe something that was completely untrue and Prometheus transferring his own bloodlust to Oliver because he can't understand that someone else especially someone who justifiably killed his father doesn't love to kill like he does.
• The Reveal in season 5 that Adrian Chase is not Vigilante, unlike in the comics. Most fans familiar with the main DCU lore were waiting for the inevitable reveal that the two are one and the same, but realistically, if we consider their actions separately over the course of the season up until this point, it is virtually impossible to reconcile these two characters being one and the same, based on their different personalities. Vigilante is an extremely deranged man who believes that All Crimes Are Equal and punishable by death, with him being the judge, jury and executioner. There is absolutely no way at all someone like that could have a Mask of Sanity as the friendly and helpful district attorney that we've seen throughout season 5, particularly when he's been willing to do relatively shady things himself in order to help Oliver. The reveal that Adrian is Prometheus makes sense, because Prometheus is a flat-out liar and sociopath; thus, much like Iago, Adrian was simply pretending to be Oliver's ally in order to get close to him. While Word of God is that Vigilante is indeed a character we've seen before, it will likely have to be someone whose personality we know can be successfully reconciled with what we've seen of Vigilante's behaviour and characterization thus far.
• It may not be deliberate, but for The Flash, each season's Big Bad has been another speedster, a dark reflection of Barry who manages to stay one step ahead of him. And Season 5 of Arrow gives us Prometheus. Much like the Dark Archer, he's a dark reflection of Ollie who constantly manages to stay ten steps ahead of him.
• When Digger, Talia, and Evelyn have Oliver's friends at gunpoint in the Season Five finale and offer Slade a chance to join them, he tells Evelyn to put the gun to Oliver's head before joining Digger and punching him in the face while Oliver promptly disarms her. Slade knew Oliver would counter the gun, because it's one of the first moves he taught Oliver on that very island almost a decade prior.
  • Similarly, why did Oliver constantly trust Slade, even when it might have been risky? Because he knows Slade wants to get to his son Joe, and will do anything to either help his loved ones...or avenge them, as he was on the receiving end in Season 2.
• In the season six premiere, it turns out virtually the entire main cast ultimately survived the explosion on Lian Yu, with the only confirmed casualty being recurring character Samantha. While this might seem like an anticlimactic cop-out, keep in mind the last time they killed off a member of the main cast was considered one of the lowest points of the series and was met with widespread negative reception. Clearly, the writers listened to this criticism and didn't want to have the same thing happen again, hence why it might seem like they "chickened out" on killing anyone in the explosion.
• So far, John Diggle taking up the mantle of Green Arrow hasn't been too well-received and some fans are saying that the drama feels forced as it's obvious Oliver will go back to being Green Arrow sooner or later. However, Oliver Queen has only just recently received William under his care as his mother had died on Lian Yu. For the first time in his life, Oliver now has responsibility towards another human being who shares his blood and doesn't quite have full personal agency as William isn't an adult. With Oliver now being thrust into a completely different dynamic than he had in past seasons, it's not that unthinkable to believe that Oliver would, for the first time in his life, reconsider being the Green Arrow and pass on the mantle to someone else, especially considering he now has a son to take care of, something he never had to worry about in past seasons. The fact that Agent Watson is now on his case and even threatening to try to interview William would only give him even more incentive to rethink continuing his life as Green Arrow.
• Oliver's No Kill Rule in later seasons makes better sense and after his tendency to kill in season 1 it seems much less hypocritical as well when one considers his weapon. Oliver almost always uses a bow and arrow, however while getting hit by one would hurt like hell arrows aren't actually very lethal unless they hit a vital area like the heart, neck, or head solidly. Due to low relative velocity compared to a bullet even with a bow with great draw strength and greater surface area both meaning they don't penetrate as much the main threat of an arrow is generally either bleeding out or infection, and the first is likely to take a while unless the arrow is pulled out, a stupid thing to do. Thus, as long as they were discovered and got treatment before long it's highly likely that the vast majority of those that Oliver shot during season 1 weren't even killed by it, just put out of the fight and probably knocked unconscious from the impact and pain. Only a very select few people like a few on The List that earned Oliver's animosity and thus Oliver went for the kill shot probably actually died, and all those he's done that with that the viewers have seen went out of their way to show they really deserved it.
• Following the ending scene episode 5x18 "Disbanded" (whereby Prometheus/Adrian Chase gleefully slaughters the witness protection agents in charge of him and then drives off singing along with "It's A Beautiful Morning" while covered in blood), a number of fans made the remark that he appeared eerily similar to Patrick Bateman in American Psycho, due to both his physical resemblance to Christian Bale as well as the character's demeanor in the film. It's possible that Josh Segarra was originally cast as Adrian Chase for precisely that reason. Christian Bale, of course, is also very famous for another particular role, one which has always been noted to be a direct inspiration for much of Arrow. Prometheus is noted to be a dark mirror of the Green Arrow, so it almost seems fitting that they essentially cast an "Evil Batman" for the role.
• In the season 7 finale, the Monitor arrives to collect Oliver, and Oliver says "I thought I'd have more time." He did have more time... until Nora's time travel antics over in The Flash (2014) accidentally moved up the date of the Crisis. Which means that once again everything is ultimately Barry's fault.
• In the series finale, Robert Queen wasn't one of the ones Oliver arranged to live because, as Moira points out, Robert's death was necessary for Oliver to begin his journey to be a hero. However, there's another factor that's different between Robert and the others that did get a chance to live again: Robert's death wasn't due to Oliver's actions. Moira and Quentin were killed by enemies of Oliver as a way of striking at him, Tommy died because Oliver underestimated Malcolm Merlyn's preparations for the Undertaking, and Emiko died as a result of her conflict with Oliver.

Fridge Horror

• Remember when Tommy insinuated that Thea was hot? Well, as of "State V. Queen", he's revealed to be her half-brother. Could double back into Fridge Brilliance.
• A lot of people were mad at Malcolm Merlyn because of The Undertaking, so imagine the reactions of some outraged people/victims when Tommy was among the casualties. A possible In-Universe And There Was Much Rejoicing for a death of a genuinely good person just because many of them might have thought that it's Laser-Guided Karma for his father.
• Mirakuru has, so far, been demonstrated to make you near unstoppable, and so far Oliver has only just managed to kill Cyrus Gold and by his claim, killed a Mirikuru-powered Slade on the island, only for it to be revealed that no, he didn't kill them. Cyrus Gold, in the comics, is better known as Solomon Grundy, and his primary power is that he comes back from the dead every time he's killed. In other words, he could still be out there. Then, lets not ignore the fact that Mirakuru apparently does leave those who take it completely unkillable, and suddenly, the already scary people who take it become even more frightening.
• Slade isn't an archer. So when he puts arrows through peoples' eyes, does that mean he manually shoves them in?
• Slade lost his eye after he had already been injected with Mirakuru. So why didn't it regenerate? Simple: when he pulled the arrow out, it pulled his entire eye along with it. This is referenced in The Flash. In one episode, a weapon is used against Barry which sticks him with a number of blades. Caitlin has to remove them before Barry's healing factor kicks in and the wounds heal around the blades.
• Slade's family:
  • Slade mentioned in season 1 that he has a son, and from the looks of things he's been too busy with his revenge on Oliver to even consider seeing him again. Imagine having your father go missing for six years, and then turn up in a different country as a wanted fugitive who kidnapped one woman and murdered another. Now, remember how Slade used to be, and how his son likely remembers him, to how he is now; if he ever sees his father again, lil'Joe Wilson is NOT going to like what he sees. Made worse given the Mirakuru thing: Slade believes he's on a mission to avenge Shado, and her memory haunts him in a manner that makes it apparent he sees her egging on his more violent actions. Given the way he reacted to having to kill Moira, and his own word about not being able to let it go as much as he wants to, it's very likely that he's tried to go home and reunite with his son, but his hallucinations of Shado have basically forced him to withhold doing so.
  • Legends of Tomorrow reveals that Slade's other son Grant may go on to take over the city to avenge his father as a teenager and essentially rule it for over half his life.
  • Further, Slade finding an old home video of Shado in Season 2 since those type of stuff are usually only held by close friends and family, and the only family Shado (and Yao Fei) has left behind is her twin sister, Mei. God knows what could happen if a crazed madman sees a woman who looks exactly like the deceased love of his life. It does not help that according to Amanda Waller, Slade was in Macau prior to going to Star(ling), while Mei was nearby in Hong Kong. And to add to the horror much further, Grant Wilson appears as someone of Mixed Ancesrty.
  • Now that we have Flashpoint, and Sara has been replaced with John Diggle Junior, like in Star City 2046, it seems that the Bad Future is all but imminent...
• Sebastian Blood killed his father because he was abused by him. Think back to when we met his mother, and how she called him "the devil" for doing so. Meaning she herself was abusively neglectful to him as well at best, possibly because of earlier abuse from or even as a willing accomplice to Blood's father.
• One about S 3 E 1, "The Calm". We learn the exact timing when Ollie talks to Barry in the Flash Pilot. While Oliver is happy to find his friend awake, and admiring his Super-Speed abilities Sara is getting/about to be/has just been killed. Ollie is in for a hell of a Mood Whiplash, and knowing him, is going to somehow blame himself.
• One of the warmer moments of "The Calm" is Lyla and Diggle having their daughter. It's sweet and heartwarming, especially as Diggle thanks Oliver for pulling him off of the field as having his daughter now really puts it all into perspective. But then you remember that 5 years ago, Oliver found himself in Hong Kong, and in order to reel him in, Amanda Waller threatened the family of one of her men, who must now make sure Oliver complies lest he wants his son and wife to get hurt as a consequence. Lyla works for A.R.G.U.S. She and Diggle now have a daughter. Considering their actions regarding the Suicide Squad, Waller will use this to her advantage.
  • And now with Flashpoint, they don't even have a daughter anymore.
• Slade's situation at the end of season 2: Trapped once more on Lian Yu, now in a prison cell, unable to escape, with no idea if he'll be given even remotely humane treatment. It's bad as presented, but reasonable given how dangerous Slade is...except when you realize that, Slade's actions stemmed from being mentally unbalanced thanks to Mirikuru (thus, meaning he's not completely liable for his own actions), and with Mirikuru out of his system, he's both no more dangerous than Oliver (admittedly, that's not saying much, but still), and his sanity is restored. He still hates Oliver, but he's no longer irrationally consumed by it, and probably realizes at this point that it was pretty insane. In other words, Slade's final punishment is not only extreme, but actually rather disturbing considering he's essentially just as much a victim at this point.
• Considering everything Amanda Waller does in Season 3, you wonder how many people at A.R.G.U.S actually work there of their own free will, and how many were press-ganged like Oliver. Just how many innocent people has she killed because someone dared to say they didn't want to work for her or refused to give her intel she wanted?
• As an above post mentioned, to ascend to the title of Ra's Al Ghul, you have to cut off all ties to your previous life and destroy your home. Considering this, it's possible, if not probable, the Ra's portrayed by Matt Nable killed his previous family that he mentioned to Felicity.
• After Laurel's careless and selfish lack of consideration for how to deal with the consequences of reviving Sara through the Lazarus Pit, Damien Darhk stated to Quentin Lance that this doubled the amount of daughters Darhk can now hold over his head before recommending that he put her back down. Quentin didn't do it, and Laurel never told Team Arrow what she did, let alone asked for help, resulting in Pit!Sara breaking free from her chains and killing several innocent women who look like Thea before being stopped and discovered by Team Arrow, and in turn finally finding Thea. Some hospitalization and confrontation later, Oliver was able to call in a favor from Constantine and get Sara back her soul, but the multiple kills she committed as a Soulless Shell are not a team secret at this point, and Darhk and his resources are sure to put two and two together if he hasn't already. Not to mention Sara may have her soul back, but she still has the bloodlust from the Pit to contend with. So not only do we know Sara's gonna leave Star City for the Legends of Tomorrow both to escape being wanted for murder and to get away from Thea before something bad happens, but since Darhk's leverage over Lance has increased from just one daughter to now two daughters and a string of murders, Laurel's only put Quentin further under Darhk and HIVE's control. Instead of fixing the Lance family's wounds, she's only made them worse.
• The moment at the end of "11:59" when Quentin gets to the hospital. All he has to do is look at Oliver's expression and he knows that Laurel has died. Then he collapses against a doorway. For a split second, the half-season Laurel spent worrying about him having another heart attack floods back, and the whole ordeal takes another step towards the visceral... and that doesn't even cover what's going to happen when Sara returns from the Savage mission and finds out.
• To make things worse...consider Quentin Lance's plight in the years leading up to the Bad Future shown in "Star City 2046" over on Legends of Tomorrow. Not only did one daughter, Laurel, die a violent death at the hands of Damian Darkh, but his other daughter, Sara (who'd already died and come back twice before) basically disappeared and was never seen or heard from again. Poor Quentin essentially lost both his daughters. His death may well have been a blessing in that timeline.
• Consider the look of sheer horror on Thea's face in "Genesis" when she realizes that Alex may have drugged her. Then remember that a little over a year ago, she discovered that her father had drugged her and in that state, she'd murdered a friend... And then Malcolm Mind Raped her again. With the same yellow drug.
• Besides Diggle's daughter now being his son, what other changes has Barry making Flashpoint has had on Oliver and his team? Like are some villains he put down now alive which what was implied with Deadshot until revealed otherwise. Does it have anything to do with Artemis being the mole for Prometheus or does Prometheus exist because of it?
  • It's possible Adrian's father wasn't originally on the list.
• What if Amanda Waller had appointed Lyla specifically to be the next leader in the event of her death? And what if she knew Lyla would be forced to make difficult decisions which could affect her marriage? As revenge for trying to undermine her orders.
• When Lian Yu blows up at the end of Season 5, it's mentioned that none of the main characters were killed in the explosion. However, what happened to that ARGUS guard Oliver knocked out? Hopefully, either he would've been underground far enough that the explosions didn't hurt him, or else he could've taken the boat when he woke up and saw that his prisoner was gone, but there's also a possibility that he was killed, and no one from the main cast noticed or remembered.
• Since Cayden James and his team have been spying on Oliver and his team, they know all of their secrets. Meaning, they may also know about Team Flash, the Legends and even Supergirl!
• Based on the recent fracture in Team Arrow, and Dinah's lack of caring when the city was under threat of being blown up, it looks more like Oliver may have chosen his new enemies instead of recruits for his team.
• The simple fact that as of Word of God the state that Team Arrow will find itself in along with Star City 20 years into the future is set in stone and nothing can be done to change it and it’s becoming frighteningly clear that this future is the one that The Legends visited In season one.
  • Not exactly. Since in that other future, Oliver is still alive, he was outted by Grant Wilson instead of publicly confessing, and Conner Hawke and John Diggle, Jr. are the same person and the new Green Arrow.

Fridge Logic

On the headscratchers page.