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[[quoteright:350:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/queen_oliver_6297.jpg]][[quoteright:350:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/arrow_thegreenarrow.jpg]][[caption-width-right:350:''"My name is Oliver Queen. [...] But by night, I am someone else. I am something else. I am the Green Arrow."'']]

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[[quoteright:350:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/queen_oliver_6297.jpg]][[quoteright:350:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/arrow_thegreenarrow.jpg]][[caption-width-right:350:''"My name is Oliver Queen. [...] But by night, I am someone else. I am something else. I am the Green Arrow."'']]"'' [[note]]Click [[http://static.srcdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/Arrow-Season-5-Green-Arrow-2.jpg here]] to see the version with sleeves from Season 5[[/note]]]][[note]]Click [[http://static.srcdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/Arrow-Season-5-Green-Arrow-2.jpg here]] to see the version with sleeves from Season 5[[/note]]
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* TookALevelInDumbass: Oliver's intelligence takes a hit once Felicity joins the team, as he's no longer the one required to do any of the analytical thinking. In Season 1, Oliver manned his high-tech computers himself to track criminals, by Season 4 he says he has difficulty even logging on.

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* TookALevelInDumbass: Oliver's intelligence takes a hit once Felicity joins the team, as he's no longer the one required to do any of the analytical thinking. In Season 1, Oliver manned his high-tech computers himself to track criminals, by Season 4 he says he has difficulty even logging on. This in particular is possibly a JustifiedTrope, as Felicity is skilled in HollywoodHacking and thus would have upgraded some of the software.
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** There's also the fact he ''is'' the very first hero of the Franchise/{{Arrowverse}}. This is highlighted numerous times during the very first {{Crossover}} with ''The Flash''. When Barry was struck by Bivolo's HatePlague and was required to be stopped by Oliver, their respective team members except Felicity (who is close to both and thus more concerned about the situation happening than the possible outcome) had an argument with Diggle invoking this very trope in the discussion.

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** There's also the fact he ''is'' the very first hero of the Franchise/{{Arrowverse}}.Series/{{Arrowverse}}. This is highlighted numerous times during the very first {{Crossover}} with ''The Flash''. When Barry was struck by Bivolo's HatePlague and was required to be stopped by Oliver, their respective team members except Felicity (who is close to both and thus more concerned about the situation happening than the possible outcome) had an argument with Diggle invoking this very trope in the discussion.



** To date, he's the only member of Team Arrow whose given name starts with a vowel. There's John (Diggle), Felicity, Roy, Sara, Laurel, [[TokenEvilTeammate Malcolm]] and Thea. This gets more noticeable when his titular show is ''also'' the only show [[note]]''Series/TheFlash2014'', WesternAnimation/{{Vixen}}'', ''Series/LegendsOfTomorrow'' and retroactively ''Series/{{Constantine}}''. [[/note]] in the Franchise/{{Arrowverse}}'' which starts with a vowel.

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** To date, he's the only member of Team Arrow whose given name starts with a vowel. There's John (Diggle), Felicity, Roy, Sara, Laurel, [[TokenEvilTeammate Malcolm]] and Thea. This gets more noticeable when his titular show is ''also'' the only show [[note]]''Series/TheFlash2014'', WesternAnimation/{{Vixen}}'', ''Series/LegendsOfTomorrow'' and retroactively ''Series/{{Constantine}}''. [[/note]] in the Franchise/{{Arrowverse}}'' Series/{{Arrowverse}}'' which starts with a vowel.



** Inverted with Connor Hawke, who is not his son in this version (though the Franchise/{{Arrowverse}} made Connor and his biological son here a DecompositeCharacter, anyway).

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** Inverted with Connor Hawke, who is not his son in this version (though the Franchise/{{Arrowverse}} Series/{{Arrowverse}} made Connor and his biological son here a DecompositeCharacter, anyway).

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* LivingEmotionalCrutch: Laurel was this to him during his five years away from home. She gave him a picture of her to always keep her close right before the voyage, and Oliver never once parted with it -- in times of hardship, he would always look at it to remind himself that he needed to survive, to live and get back to her. [[spoiler:Hence, when Laurel dies a few years after he returns home, he does ''not'' take it well. Her death is the one that affects him the most, causing him to regress back to killing and pushing him that much closer to a breakdown. It is made very clear that, with her gone, Oliver really can't take much more tragedy in his life before he falls apart completely]].

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* LivingEmotionalCrutch: Laurel was this to him during his five years away from home. She gave him a picture of her to always keep her close right before the voyage, and Oliver never once parted with it -- in times of hardship, he would always look at it to remind himself that he needed to survive, to live and get back to her. [[spoiler:Hence, [[spoiler:For example: after Kovar drugged him during his final year on the island, Oliver was given a pistol with a single shot, and was dangerously close to pulling the trigger on himself, no thanks to the hallucination of Yao Fei egging him on. It was the image of Laurel that stopped him; she reminded him that he had people waiting for him at home, and that if he pulled that trigger, it would spitting on the deaths and sacrifices of everyone who endured with him on that journey -- including that of his father and Sara. Hence, when Laurel dies a few years after he returns home, he does ''not'' take it well. Her death is the one that affects him the most, causing him to regress back to killing and pushing him that much closer to a breakdown. It is made very clear that, with her gone, Oliver really can't take much more tragedy in his life before he falls apart completely]].


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* OneTrueLove: [[spoiler:Laurel Lance. It was the image her that kept Oliver going through those five years in hell, straight to the end. Regardless of whatever Laurel believed on her deathbed, Season Five makes it clear that even when he was with Felicity, Oliver still loved Laurel. He loved Laurel so much that he stopped pursuing her, because he never once believed that he deserved her. And considering that it was ''Laurel'', not Felicity, that was his ideal lover in the perfect fantasy the Dominators cooked up with their LotusEaterMachine, it all but confirms that she was the love of his life, just like he was for hers]].
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[[quoteright:350:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/queen_oliver_6297.jpg]][[caption-width-right:350:[[labelnote:Click here to see him as The Hood]]http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/7b29a620a3139771856f5ac5a086a9b7.jpg[[/labelnote]]]][[caption-width-right:350:[[labelnote:Click here to see him as The Arrow]]http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/28decc954e85ab7cf0bb9b690042993f.JPG[[/labelnote]]]][[caption-width-right:350:[[labelnote:Click here to see him as Al Sah-Him]]http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/26a3b67d379645634dbece18200bf456.jpg[[/labelnote]]]][[quoteright:350:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/arrow_thegreenarrow.jpg]][[caption-width-right:350:''"My name is Oliver Queen. After five years in hell, I returned home with only one goal: to save my city. Today I fight that war on two fronts. By day, I lead Star City as its Mayor. But by night, I am someone else. I am something else. I am the Green Arrow."'']]

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[[quoteright:350:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/queen_oliver_6297.jpg]][[caption-width-right:350:[[labelnote:Click jpg]][[quoteright:350:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/arrow_thegreenarrow.jpg]][[caption-width-right:350:''"My name is Oliver Queen. [...] But by night, I am someone else. I am something else. I am the Green Arrow."'']]
[[caption-width-right:350:[[labelnote:Click
here to see him as The Hood]]http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/7b29a620a3139771856f5ac5a086a9b7.jpg[[/labelnote]]]][[caption-width-right:350:[[labelnote:Click here to see him as The Arrow]]http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/28decc954e85ab7cf0bb9b690042993f.JPG[[/labelnote]]]][[caption-width-right:350:[[labelnote:Click here to see him as Al Sah-Him]]http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/26a3b67d379645634dbece18200bf456.jpg[[/labelnote]]]][[quoteright:350:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/arrow_thegreenarrow.jpg]][[caption-width-right:350:''"My name is Oliver Queen. After five years in hell, I returned home with only one goal: to save my city. Today I fight that war on two fronts. By day, I lead Star City as its Mayor. But by night, I am someone else. I am something else. I am the Green Arrow."'']]jpg[[/labelnote]]]]
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** He's often referred to as "the vigilante" harkens to the crime-fighting LegacyCharacter in the comics. His shooting skills and use of motorcycles specifically match those of Greg Saunders, the first Vigilante.

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** He's often referred to as "the vigilante" vigilante", something that harkens back to the crime-fighting LegacyCharacter in the comics. His shooting skills and use of motorcycles specifically match those of Greg Saunders, the first Vigilante.
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** He's often referred to as "the vigilante" harkens to the crime-fighting LegacyCharacter in the comics. His shooting skills and use of motorcycles specifically match those of Greg Saunders, the first Vigilante.


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** In the comics, Slade's eye was shot out by his wife. Here, Oliver stabs it with an arrow.

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* TheLostLenore: He's had several. All the times he lost Sara, Shado, Taiana[[note]] while they weren't in a relationship, there were definitely hints of UST between them[[/note]], but undoubtedly, the one who affects him the most is [[spoiler:Laurel, who was his FirstLove and may very well have been the love of his life. While he had something with Felicity at the time, it's made clear that Oliver never stopped loving Laurel, and never will. Her death is one of Oliver's main motivations in Season Five, which Prometheus takes advantage of by having Black Siren impersonate her Earth-1 counterpart to pile more grief onto Oliver]].



** Post-Season Four, [[spoiler:it's the death of his FirstLove, Laurel Lance, the aforementioned sister of Sara. To compound the guilt, Laurel was also the woman Tommy loved and died for -- in the end, Oliver lost the woman who had been the love of his life, which would render the sacrifice of his best friend ultimately meaningless, since she would die only 2-3 years later]].

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** Post-Season Four, [[spoiler:it's the death of his FirstLove, Laurel Lance, the aforementioned sister of Sara. To compound the guilt, Laurel was also the woman Tommy loved and died for -- in the end, Oliver lost the woman who had been the love of his life, which Laurel's death would render the sacrifice of his best friend ultimately meaningless, since she would die only 2-3 years later]].

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** On the giving end of this during the "Invasion!" crossover. [[spoiler:When the Legends sans Amaya and Nate plus Kara, Thea and Diggle were brainwashed by the Dominators, Oliver was able to hold off Sara, Thea, and Diggle at the same time, with the former being the only one that was even remotely close to a genuine challenge for him]].

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** In Season 4, he seemed to suffer from this whenever encountering Lonnie Machin, who would be able to hold off him and multiple members of Team Arrow, while always giving Oliver the slip. This finally gets corrected in the first episode of season 5, where Oliver takes him down on his own.
** On the giving end of this during the "Invasion!" crossover. [[spoiler:When most of the Legends sans Amaya Legends, Team Arrow, and Nate plus Kara, Thea and Diggle Supergirl were brainwashed by the Dominators, Oliver was able to hold off Sara, Thea, and Diggle at the same time, with the former being the only one that was even remotely close to a genuine challenge for him]].

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** In fact, a person could argue that his life ever since the ''Queen's Gambit'' went down has been nothing more than an endless line of pain, despair, and loss, with very few bright spots in-between. Even a quarter of what he went through during those five years would've been enough to break lesser men. It seems Oliver's only purpose in life is to suffer.

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** In fact, a person could argue that his life ever since the ''Queen's Gambit'' went down has been nothing more than an endless line of pain, despair, and loss, with very few bright spots in-between. Even a quarter of what he went through during those five years would've been enough to break lesser men. It seems Oliver's men, and what he's suffered in the last five years since returning only purpose in compounds it. With how horrible his life has been the last decade, Oliver Queen resembles a CosmicPlaything whose misfortune is only equalled to suffer.that of Barry Allen's (who is a ''literal'' CosmicPlaything).


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* TheWorfEffect:
** As the ''premier'' BadassNormal in the Arrowverse, he is an occasional victim of this to showcase how dangerous metahumans and/or aliens are in comparison to normal humans.
** He was also a victim of this during the first four seasons of ''Arrow'' when it came to each season's BigBad, each of whom had a significant advantage over him (Malcolm and Ra's had more training and experience, Slade was dosed with the Mirakuru, and Darhk had magic). Season Four also had him on the giving end when he casually curb-stomped Malcolm Merlyn in a sword duel, to showcase how far Oliver had come as a combatant.
** On the giving end of this during the "Invasion!" crossover. [[spoiler:When the Legends sans Amaya and Nate plus Kara, Thea and Diggle were brainwashed by the Dominators, Oliver was able to hold off Sara, Thea, and Diggle at the same time, with the former being the only one that was even remotely close to a genuine challenge for him]].
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* AffectionateNickname: Ollie. The only people to ever use it on the show are those who knew him pre-island (Laurel, Tommy, Sara, and Thea), the sole exception being Barry Allen. Not even Diggle and Felicity use it. [[spoiler:Prometheus aka Adrian Chase also calls him this occasionally, just to mock him]].
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* ArchEnemy: He's this to nearly every season's BigBad -- if he isn't in the beginning, he is by the end. The only major villain he doesn't have this sort of relationship with is Ra's al Ghul (since their conflict was mainly Malcolm's fault).

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* ArchEnemy: He's this to nearly every present day's season's BigBad -- if he isn't in the beginning, he is by the end. The only major villain he doesn't have this sort of relationship with is Ra's al Ghul (since their conflict was mainly Malcolm's fault).
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** Unlike many other heroes, as soon as Oliver starts his vigilante activities, he's already very well trained, thanks to his five year away.
** Also, he ''is'' the very first hero of the Franchise/{{Arrowverse}}, after all. This is highlighted numerous times during the very first {{Crossover}} with ''The Flash''. When Barry was struck by Bivolo's HatePlague and was required to be stopped by Oliver, their respective team members except Felicity (who is close to both and thus more concerned about the situation happening than the possible outcome) had an argument with Diggle invoking this very trope in the discussion.

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** Unlike many other heroes, as soon as who had a great deal to learn before beginning to fight crime, Oliver starts is already extensively trained when he begins his vigilante activities, he's already very well trained, activities. This is all thanks to his five year away.
years spent missing, where he had a long line of [[TheMentor mentors]] to teach him how to fight.
** Also, There's also the fact he ''is'' the very first hero of the Franchise/{{Arrowverse}}, after all.Franchise/{{Arrowverse}}. This is highlighted numerous times during the very first {{Crossover}} with ''The Flash''. When Barry was struck by Bivolo's HatePlague and was required to be stopped by Oliver, their respective team members except Felicity (who is close to both and thus more concerned about the situation happening than the possible outcome) had an argument with Diggle invoking this very trope in the discussion.



* TheMentor: Being an ExperiencedProtagonist, Oliver has taken it upon himself to trains younger emerging heroes as well.

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* TheMentor: Being an ExperiencedProtagonist, Oliver has taken it upon himself to trains train younger emerging heroes as well.



** Once Barry Allen becomes the Flash, Oliver gives him some BoxingLessonsForSuperman. Barry being too reliant on his speed, tending to charge blindly into battle, was taught by Oliver to be more cautious and analyze the situation before engaging enemies.

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** Once Barry Allen becomes the Flash, Oliver gives him some BoxingLessonsForSuperman. Barry being too reliant on his speed, tending tends to charge blindly into battle, was battle. So Oliver taught by Oliver him to be more cautious and analyze the situation before engaging enemies.
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* BadassNormal: Oliver became the first known superhero of the Arrowverse with nothing but weapons, gadgets, intelligence, and pure skill. After killing Ra's al Ghul at the end of Season 3, he is in serious contention for being the best non-meta warrior in all of Earth-1 -- rather than it being impressive he can match up to certain people in one-on-one combat, it's impressive when someone matches up to ''him''.

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* BadassNormal: Oliver became the first known superhero of the Arrowverse with nothing but weapons, gadgets, intelligence, and pure skill. After killing Ra's al Ghul at the end of Season 3, he is in serious contention for being the best non-meta non-super warrior in all of Earth-1 -- rather than it being impressive he can match up to certain people in one-on-one combat, it's impressive when someone matches up to ''him''.



* WorldsBestWarrior: Possibly. Oliver has almost been consistently portrayed as the best "normal" combatant in the Arrowverse following Season 3. This was after being trained by and later killing Ra's al Ghul, who was stated to be the best assassin on the ''planet'' -- Oliver was chosen specifically because Ra's believed that he had the potential to surpass him. He outright curb-stomped Malcolm Merlyn, another Ra's al Ghul, (who was curb-stomping ''him'' in Season 1), and this was while he was holding back to ''avoid'' killing Malcolm. In Season 5, the only people who manage to get the best of him mainly lucked into an advantage, such as superior firepower or a distraction. The only opponent that actually manages give him a decent fight in a fair setting is Prometheus, [[spoiler:who was trained by Talia al Ghul (a former member of the League of Assassins and a candidate for Ra's herself, not to mention one of Oliver's former mentors)]], and even then one could make the argument that in a fight to the finish Oliver would still win. In short, Oliver Queen is very likely the top BadassNormal in all of the Arrowverse.

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* WorldsBestWarrior: Possibly. Oliver has almost been consistently portrayed as the best "normal" combatant in the Arrowverse following Season 3. This was after being trained by and later killing Ra's al Ghul, who was stated to be the best assassin on the ''planet'' -- Oliver was chosen specifically because Ra's believed that he had the potential to surpass him. He outright curb-stomped Malcolm Merlyn, another Ra's al Ghul, (who was curb-stomping ''him'' in Season 1), and this was while he was holding back to ''avoid'' killing Malcolm. In Season 5, the only people who manage to get the best of him mainly lucked into an advantage, such as superior firepower or a distraction. The only opponent that actually manages give him a decent fight in a fair setting is Prometheus, [[spoiler:who was trained by Talia al Ghul (a former member of the League of Assassins and a candidate for Ra's herself, not to mention one of Oliver's former mentors)]], and even then one could make the argument that in a fight to the finish Oliver would still win. Despite lacking any powers, he is also capable of engaging metahumans, mystical enemies, or other individuals who should have clear advantages over him, yet Oliver still comes out on top. In short, Oliver Queen is very likely the top BadassNormal in all of the Arrowverse.

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* TheCape: In Season 4, he no longer wants to be TheCowl, having grown disillusioned with being a dark AntiHero and he becomes the Green Arrow to become a symbol of hope they way the Flash is to Central City since Star City ''really'' needs one.

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* TheCape: In Season 4, he no longer wants to be TheCowl, having grown disillusioned with being a dark AntiHero and he becomes the Green Arrow to become a symbol of hope they the way the Flash is to Central City since Star City ''really'' needs one.one. Though he goes back to being TheCowl after [[spoiler:Laurel dies]] and he rationalizes that his ThouShaltNotKill policy was too soft.



--> '''Oliver:''' I'm sorry, but nobody can know my secret.

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--> '''Oliver:''' I'm sorry, but nobody can know my secret.\\
''Oliver [[NeckSnap snaps mook's neck]].''



* CharacterDeath: Loses the duel to Ra's Al Ghul in "The Climb", and after being stabbed through the chest, he is kicked off the edge of the mountain. ''Averted'' as the fall was cushioned by snow and he was kept alive through the cold slowing down his blood loss.


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* {{Leitmotif}}: The theme song, of course.


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* NotQuiteDead: Loses the duel to Ra's Al Ghul in "The Climb", and after being stabbed through the chest, he is kicked off the edge of the mountain. The fall was cushioned by snow and he was kept alive through the cold slowing down his blood loss.

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* ImprobableAimingSkills: Given the premise of the show, Oliver's skill with the bow is to be expected. However, he is also a master knife thrower.

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* ImprobableAimingSkills: Given the premise of the show, Oliver's skill Oliver is quite possibly the best marksmen in the Arrowverse. Some of his feats include:
** Shooting several bouncing tennis balls
with arrows and pinning them against the bow is wall.
** While in the middle of a gunfight with Deadshot having take constant cover, he manages
to be expected. However, he is also shoot an arrow into Deadshot's eyepiece.
** Severing the detonation cord held by Shrapnel.
** Shooting an arrow into the tip of
a master knife thrower.civilian's handgun.



* JerkWithAHeartOfGold: He's been pretty deeply damaged by his time on the island, but he's been reconnecting with people thanks to Diggle, Felicity, his family, and now Barry. He's rediscovering his humanity, using more gentle methods in his vigilantism, and evolving from a phantom of dark justice to a truer hero with each passing season. (i.e. Adopting a ThouShaltNotKill policy in the second season, being pushed not to torture people by Barry in the third, learning to trust his teammates and adopt a more hopeful, humane and responsible ethos in the fourth…)

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* JerkWithAHeartOfGold: He's been pretty deeply damaged by his time on the island, but he's been reconnecting with people thanks to Diggle, Felicity, his family, and now Barry. He's rediscovering his humanity, using more gentle methods in his vigilantism, and evolving from a phantom of dark justice to a truer hero with each passing season. (i.e. Adopting a ThouShaltNotKill policy in the second season, being pushed not to torture people by Barry in the third, learning to trust his teammates and adopt a more hopeful, humane and responsible ethos in the fourth…)fourth...)
* JudgeJuryAndExecutioner: As The Hood, this was his main characterization. Passing judgement on those who were outside the law's jurisdiction due to their power. Diggle even calls him this word for word in a flashback of the fifth season.
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* AdaptationalBadass: Perhaps the most competent depiction of the character to date. On top of his ImprobableAimingSkills, this version of Oliver Queen is one of the best hand-to-hand combatants in the world.

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* AdaptationalBadass: Perhaps One of the most competent depiction depictions of the character to date. On top of his ImprobableAimingSkills, this version of Oliver Queen is one of the best hand-to-hand combatants in the world. The only thing less impressive than his comics incarnation is a less variety of trick arrows, but that is slowly being changed.

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** As the Hood. Disappears with his turn to the Arrow, at least until season 3.

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** As the Hood. Disappears with his turn to the Arrow, at least until season 3. He's picked it up again by season 5.



** Oliver also has a tendency to say "Suit up!", which was lampshaded by Curtis in season 5.

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** Oliver also has a tendency to say "Suit up!", which was lampshaded by Curtis in season 5.who [[BorrowedCatchphrase tries to use it himself]].
** Whenever a {{mook}} finds out Oliver's secret identity:
--> '''Oliver:''' I'm sorry, but nobody can know my secret.



* TheMentor: Being an ExperiencedProtagonist, Oliver has taken it upon himself to trains younger emerging heroes as well.
** The first student he takes in is Helena Bertinelli/Huntress, training her to shoot and providing her trademark crossbow, although she turns out to be a APupilOfMineUntilSheTurnedToEvil
** Roy Harper/Arsenal is his next student and Oliver's first true sidekick. He takes him in after Roy gets subjected to Mirakuru, where Oliver teaches him to control his strength and how to shoot arrows.
** Once Barry Allen becomes the Flash, Oliver gives him some BoxingLessonsForSuperman. Barry being too reliant on his speed, tending to charge blindly into battle, was taught by Oliver to be more cautious and analyze the situation before engaging enemies.
** In Season 5, Oliver takes in a whole new batch of recruits for Team Arrow, including Curtis Holt/Mr. Terrific, Evelyn Sharp/Artemis, Rene Ramirez/Wild Dog, and Rory Regan/Ragman. His first lesson for them is teaching them to function as a team, before gradually honing their individual skill sets.



* MoralMyopia: Oliver doesn't seem to notice that he applies this often. He's capable of cold-blooded murder in taking out his targets but doesn't allow anyone else the same leeway. No longer the case in Season Two, as he's trying to avoid killing.

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* MoralMyopia: Oliver doesn't seem to notice that he applies this often. He's capable of cold-blooded murder in taking out his targets but doesn't allow anyone else the same leeway. No longer the case This is somewhat justified as he wants to keep others from turning down his path of darkness, from which there is no return. He adopts a ThouShaltNotKill policy in Season Two, as he's trying 2, only to avoid killing.fall right back into actively killing by Season 5.

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* GutturalGrowler: If he's in he's suited up but without his voice changer, he tends to speak like this. In particular back in his days as the Hood where he didn't have a voice changer.

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* GutturalGrowler: If he's in he's suited up but without his voice changer, he tends to speak like this. In particular back in his days as the Hood where he didn't have a voice changer.



* HurtingHero: Oliver is one of the grimmest heroes in the Arrowverse, constantly on the receiving end of the worst life has to offer. He repeatedly has to deal with the deaths of his family and friends, to date including: Robert, Tommy, Moira, Sara[[note]][[BackFromTheDead who got better]][[/note]], and Laurel. He's also had to deal with immense guilt over the BlackAndWhiteMorality of his [[VigilanteMan vigilante]] actions throughout the series. But what really pushed Oliver over the edge was getting broken by Prometheus in season 5.



* WorldsBestWarrior: Possibly. Oliver has almost been consistently portrayed as the best "normal" combatant in the Arrowverse following Season 3. This was after being trained by and later killing Ra's al Ghul, who was stated to be the best assassin on the ''planet'' -- Oliver was chosen specifically because Ra's believed that he had the potential to surpass him. He outright curb-stomped Malcolm Merlyn, another Ra's al Ghul, (who was curb-stomping ''him'' in Season 1), and this was while he was holding back to ''avoid'' killing Malcolm. In Season 5, the only people who manage to get the best of him mainly lucked into an advantage, such as superior firepower or a distraction. The only opponent that actually manages give him a decent fight in a fair setting is Prometheus, [[spoiler:who was trained by Talia al Ghul (a former member of the League of Assassins and a candidate for Ra's herself, not to mention one of Oliver's former mentors)]], and even then one could make the argument that in a fight to the finish Oliver would still win. In short, Oliver Queen is arguably the biggest BadassNormal in all of the Arrowverse.

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* WorldsBestWarrior: Possibly. Oliver has almost been consistently portrayed as the best "normal" combatant in the Arrowverse following Season 3. This was after being trained by and later killing Ra's al Ghul, who was stated to be the best assassin on the ''planet'' -- Oliver was chosen specifically because Ra's believed that he had the potential to surpass him. He outright curb-stomped Malcolm Merlyn, another Ra's al Ghul, (who was curb-stomping ''him'' in Season 1), and this was while he was holding back to ''avoid'' killing Malcolm. In Season 5, the only people who manage to get the best of him mainly lucked into an advantage, such as superior firepower or a distraction. The only opponent that actually manages give him a decent fight in a fair setting is Prometheus, [[spoiler:who was trained by Talia al Ghul (a former member of the League of Assassins and a candidate for Ra's herself, not to mention one of Oliver's former mentors)]], and even then one could make the argument that in a fight to the finish Oliver would still win. In short, Oliver Queen is arguably very likely the biggest top BadassNormal in all of the Arrowverse.

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* TheSoulSaver: After he takes his ThouShallNotKill policy he goes out of his way to convince others to not kill those who've wronged them as he knows firsthand what killing does to the human psyche, [[spoiler: since all of his constant killing has given him a test of blood.]]

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* TheSoulSaver: TheSoulSaver:
**
After he takes his ThouShallNotKill policy he goes out of his way to convince others to not kill those who've wronged them as he knows firsthand what killing does to the human psyche, [[spoiler: since all of his constant killing has given him a test of blood.]] ]]
** Even before he adopted that policy, he tried to do the same for the people he cared about. When Sara was about to MercyKill Ivo, Oliver took the gun from her and did the deed himself. He had no desire to make the little sister of his FirstLove and a woman he loved stain her soul like that, and told her as much. Unfortunately, circumstances separated them, and Sara ended up becoming a killer anyway.

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* LivingEmotionalCrutch: Laurel was this to him during his five years away from home. She gave him a picture of her to always keep her close right before the voyage, and Oliver never once parted with it -- in times of hardship, he would always look at it to remind himself that he needed to survive, to live and get back to her.

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* LivingEmotionalCrutch: Laurel was this to him during his five years away from home. She gave him a picture of her to always keep her close right before the voyage, and Oliver never once parted with it -- in times of hardship, he would always look at it to remind himself that he needed to survive, to live and get back to her. [[spoiler:Hence, when Laurel dies a few years after he returns home, he does ''not'' take it well. Her death is the one that affects him the most, causing him to regress back to killing and pushing him that much closer to a breakdown. It is made very clear that, with her gone, Oliver really can't take much more tragedy in his life before he falls apart completely]].
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* LegacyCharacter: In an odd example, he's actually a Legacy Character to ''himself'', as he [[FakingTheDead fakes his death]] as his Arrow persona, before returning to his city as the Green Arrow under the guise that he was a different man taking up the mantle.
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** Franchise/{{Batman}}, particularly the [[Film/TheDarkKnightTrilogy Nolan-movie Batman]], including a past history with Ra's Al Ghul. This portrayal of Oliver is far more serious, driven, obsessive and mission-orientated than his comic book counterpart and much more bent on cleaning up a corrupt city, and is more of a night-time hero who sneaks around in the shadows, all traits owed more to the Dark Knight than the Emerald Archer. His darker, more complex and more lively backstory along with his season 1 insistence that the "Arrow" persona is the real him and that [[ThatManIsDead Oliver Queen died on the island]] also sound more Batman-ish. His ArchEnemy Slade Wilson is hell-bent with making him lose everything he cared about, which sounds very similar to the plot of ''Film/TheDarkKnightRises''. Season 3 even has Ra's al Ghul seeking to make Oliver his heir. That and the fact that a lot of his enemies are RoguesGalleryTransplant from Batman's RoguesGallery [[note]][[ComicBook/RasAlGhul the Al-Ghuls]], Solomon Grundy, Firefly, Dollmaker, ComicBook/{{Anarky}}, the ComicBook/SuicideSquad[[/note]]. Furthermore his headquarters gets nicknamed the "Arrowcave" by a few characters.

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** Franchise/{{Batman}}, particularly the [[Film/TheDarkKnightTrilogy Nolan-movie Batman]], including a past history with Ra's Al Ghul. This portrayal of Oliver is far more serious, driven, obsessive and mission-orientated than his comic book counterpart and much more bent on cleaning up a corrupt city, and is more of a night-time hero who sneaks around in the shadows, all traits owed more to the Dark Knight than the Emerald Archer. His darker, more complex and more lively backstory along with his season 1 insistence that the "Arrow" persona is the real him and that [[ThatManIsDead Oliver Queen died on the island]] also sound more Batman-ish. His ArchEnemy Slade Wilson is hell-bent with making him lose everything he cared about, which sounds very similar to the plot of ''Film/TheDarkKnightRises''. Season 3 even has Ra's al Ghul seeking to make Oliver his heir. That and the fact that a lot of his enemies are RoguesGalleryTransplant from Batman's RoguesGallery [[note]][[ComicBook/RasAlGhul the Al-Ghuls]], ComicBook/{{Huntress}}, Prometheus, Solomon Grundy, Firefly, Deadshot, Dollmaker, ComicBook/{{Anarky}}, [=KGBeast=], the ComicBook/SuicideSquad[[/note]]. Furthermore his headquarters gets nicknamed the "Arrowcave" by a few characters.
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* GeniusBruiser: Being one of the top {{Badass Normal}}s in the Arrowverse is a given. In terms of intelligence, while he's a long way off from the many nerds in the franchise, but he has amassed an extensive amount of skills and knowledge during his 5 years away from his home. He's a master tactician, proficient at scanning the environment to draw conclusions, and a master of psychological manipulation to goad enemies into defeat. He can also fool a lie test, has a very strong resistance to pain, and an expert torturer. Plus, Oliver's initial BookDumb nature can be attributed to being BrilliantButLazy as he learns exceptionally quickly.

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* BadassNormal: Oliver became the first known superhero of the Arrowverse with nothing but weapons, gadgets, intelligence, and pure skill. After killing Ra's al Ghul at the end of Season 3, he is in serious contention for being the best non-meta warrior in all of Earth-1 -- rather than it being impressive he can match up to certain people in one-on-one combat, it's impressive when someone matches up to ''him''.



* BadassNormal: Oliver became the first superhero of the Arrowverse with nothing but weapons, gadgets, intelligence, and pure skill. After killing Ra's al Ghul at the end of Season 3, he is in serious contention for being the best non-meta warrior in all of Earth-1 -- rather than it being impressive he can match up to certain people in one-on-one combat, it's impressive when someone matches up to ''him''.

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* BadassNormal: Oliver became the first superhero of the Arrowverse with nothing but weapons, gadgets, intelligence, and pure skill. After killing Ra's al Ghul at the end of Season 3, he is in serious contention for being the best non-meta warrior in all of Earth-1 -- rather than it being impressive he can match up to certain people in one-on-one combat, it's impressive when someone matches up to ''him''.



** In season 5 after Prometheus' tortures him and forces Oliver to admit that [[spoiler:he secretly likes killing]] Oliver is left in a HeroicBSOD and returns to the team to inform them that [[spoiler:he's done being the Green Arrow and he's shutting down the entire Team Arrow operation.]]

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** In season 5 after Prometheus' tortures him and forces Oliver to admit that [[spoiler:he secretly likes killing]] Oliver is left in a HeroicBSOD and returns to the team to inform them that [[spoiler:he's done being the Green Arrow and he's shutting down the entire Team Arrow operation. While he does get better by the end of the next episode, he still feels he needs to earn back the right to wear green again.]]



* WorldsBestWarrior: Possibly. Oliver has almost been consistently portrayed as the best "normal" combatant in the Arrowverse following Season 3. This was after being trained by and later killing Ra's al Ghul, who was stated to be the best assassin on the ''planet'' -- Oliver was chosen specifically because Ra's believed that he had the potential to surpass him. He outright curb-stomped Malcolm Merlyn, another Ra's al Ghul, (who was curb-stomping ''him'' in Season 1), and this was while he was holding back to ''avoid'' killing Malcolm. In Season 5, the only people who manage to get the best of him mainly lucked into an advantage, such as superior firepower or a distraction. The only opponent that actually manages give him a decent fight in a fair setting is Prometheus, [[spoiler:who was trained by Talia al Ghul (a former member of the League of Assassins and a candidate for Ra's herself, not to mention one of Oliver's former mentors)]], and even then one could make the argument that in a fight to the finish Oliver would still win. In short, Oliver Queen is arguably the biggest BadassNormal in all of the Arrowverse.



** Technically, he officially starts a relationship with Felicity while still married to Nyssa.

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** Technically, he officially starts a relationship with Felicity while still married to Nyssa. It's justified because the marriage was under coercion -- neither him nor Nyssa had any desire to marry the other.

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* BadassBaritone: As the Arrow, seeing how he uses a voice changer. But Stephen Amell's natural voice is pretty deep.

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* BadassBaritone: As the Arrow, seeing how he uses a voice changer. But Stephen Amell's natural voice is pretty deep.


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* GutturalGrowler: If he's in he's suited up but without his voice changer, he tends to speak like this. In particular back in his days as the Hood where he didn't have a voice changer.
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[[Characters/Arrowverse Return to Arrowverse characters.]]

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[[Characters/Arrowverse [[Characters/{{Arrowverse}} Return to Arrowverse characters.]]
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[[Characters/Arrowverse Return to Arrowverse characters.]]
----

!![[ComicBook/GreenArrow Oliver Jonas Queen]]
[[quoteright:350:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/queen_oliver_6297.jpg]][[caption-width-right:350:[[labelnote:Click here to see him as The Hood]]http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/7b29a620a3139771856f5ac5a086a9b7.jpg[[/labelnote]]]][[caption-width-right:350:[[labelnote:Click here to see him as The Arrow]]http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/28decc954e85ab7cf0bb9b690042993f.JPG[[/labelnote]]]][[caption-width-right:350:[[labelnote:Click here to see him as Al Sah-Him]]http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/26a3b67d379645634dbece18200bf456.jpg[[/labelnote]]]][[quoteright:350:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/arrow_thegreenarrow.jpg]][[caption-width-right:350:''"My name is Oliver Queen. After five years in hell, I returned home with only one goal: to save my city. Today I fight that war on two fronts. By day, I lead Star City as its Mayor. But by night, I am someone else. I am something else. I am the Green Arrow."'']]
->'''Known Aliases:''' The ComicBook/GreenArrow, The Starling City Vigilante, The Hood, The Arrow, سهم (Al Sah-Him, Arabic for "The Arrow"), "Tommy"
->'''Played By:''' Creator/StephenAmell, Jacob Hoppenbrouwer (young)
->'''Appearances:''' ''Series/{{Arrow}}'' | ''Series/{{The Flash|2014}}'' | ''WesternAnimation/{{Vixen}}'' | ''Series/LegendsOfTomorrow''

A billionaire playboy more interested in girls, drinking, and partying than doing anything with his life until becoming stranded on a (supposedly) deserted island for five years, during which he became a hardened killer. Oliver returned to Starling City and began a crusade to save the city as a vigilante, drawing in several allies to his cause.
----
* TenMinuteRetirement: Oliver stops being the Hood for a few months while recovering from his fight with Dark Archer, and then again between Season 1 and 2.
** Ollie retires from crimefighting after season 3 and was absolutely happy to stay that way for good, but it's only six months before he's back in action at the beginning of season 4.
* ActionDad: He certainly fits the "action" part, although he doesn't actually know he's a father until Season 4 during the second {{Crossover}} with ''The Flash''. The pregnancy was accidental and he was later told (falsely) that the mother miscarried.
* ActionHero: Considering he's a comic book superhero adaptation.
* ActionSurvivor: When trapped on the island, before he TookALevelInBadass through TrainingFromHell.
* AdaptationalAngstUpgrade: Unlike most Green Arrow stories, the toll the time he spent five years away from home was more emphasized on this version, particularly his struggle to reconnect properly with his loved ones. Said five years is also portrayed more bleakly compared to other versions.
* AdaptationalAttractiveness: Green Arrow is canonically very physically fit and is noted to be handsome, but this version of him is blatantly portrayed as MrFanservice in any given chance.
* AdaptationalBadass: Perhaps the most competent depiction of the character to date. On top of his ImprobableAimingSkills, this version of Oliver Queen is one of the best hand-to-hand combatants in the world.
* AdaptationDyeJob: Somewhat. In present time, his hair is closer to brown than his comics blond. On the island, it looked lighter.
* {{Adorkable}}:
** While asking out [=McKenna=] Hall. Justified:
-->'''Oliver:''' I don't know if you heard, I was on a deserted island for five years and I'm totally out of practice with this whole...
** Even more so when he's asking Felicity out; as she points out, usually ''she's'' the one speaking in sentence fragments.
* AesopAmnesia: He still persists on keeping secrets in Season 4 despite the fact that it cost him Diggle's friendship at the previous season. This time, [[spoiler: keeping his son's existence from Felicity cost him their relationship]].
* AlwaysSaveTheGirl: Something that is actually addressed as a problem, Oliver has a big weakness towards women, he even chose to help Laurel over Diggle in the first season which nearly led to a team breakup, and despite having put arrows in people who have done less he can't ever bring himself to kill or really even harm Helena. He nearly gets himself and Slade killed trying to save Shado, who was just fine on her own. If there is a woman and Oliver has feelings for her, you can bet he won't be thinking too straight.
* AlwaysSomeoneBetter:
** His first two fights with the Dark Archer see him get [[CurbStompBattle summarily trounced]].
** Which becomes nothing when compared to his fight with ComicBook/RasAlGhul.
* AmicableExes: [[ChickMagnet Several examples]]:
** He and Laurel "struggled" to be this throughout the first two seasons, they succeeded near the end of Season 2...and then switched back to a turbulent relationship throughout Season 3. [[spoiler: They do finally succeed during Season 4, after Oliver has [[HeroOfAnotherStory John Constantine]] restore a revived Sara's soul.]]
** Played straight with Sara, who is probably the only of Oliver's previous lovers to not hold any form of grudge or resentment over him.
** Double Subverted with Felicity. After they break-up, there are issues mostly on her part but they are eventually able to put their issues aside during the time of [[spoiler: Laurel's death]].
** Played with concerning Samantha: She's polite but extremely harsh concerning [[spoiler: their son, including refusing to let Oliver tell ''anyone'' about William when discovers him and only lets Oliver interact with him as "Mommy's friend". Given she doesn't know Oliver is the Green Arrow and about his dangerous life her demands are never explained. She and Oliver also have a fallout on her part when William is kidnapped by Damien Dahrk]].
* AntiHero: Starts off as [[Analysis/{{AntiHero}} an]] UnscrupulousHero, but gradually develops into a PragmaticHero. His death count is a lot higher in the earlier episodes, he wasn't above torturing targets for information, and his mission is mostly about stopping the people on the list his father gave him and bringing them to hard, cold justice. As the series goes on, he kills less often and helps out people who aren't necessarily part of his mission. But there is a reason most of the bad guys roll over and do as he tells them to when he comes for them.
* AntiVillain: During his third and fourth years when he was 'dead', he was forced to work for ARGUS.
* ArcherArchetype: One of the best archers in the world.
* ArcNumber: The number "5" is heavily attached to him, specifically;
** He was away from home for five years after the yacht incident.
** He has five prominent identities throughout the series; his actual identity (Oliver Queen), The Hood, The Arrow, Al Sah-him and Green Arrow.
** His team is a FiveManBand for most of the series.
* ArcSymbol: Boats/Ships are heavily associated to him in the flashbacks, signifying his journey to become a better person and hero.
* ArcWords: "I must/have to become someone else. I must/have to become something else." Details his [[TheHerosJourney gradual journey]] in a nutshell. Season Five finally reveals where this phrase came from: his last mentor before returning home, [[spoiler:Talia al Ghul]].
* ArchEnemy: He's this to nearly every season's BigBad -- if he isn't in the beginning, he is by the end. The only major villain he doesn't have this sort of relationship with is Ra's al Ghul (since their conflict was mainly Malcolm's fault).
** Malcolm Merlyn. Oliver's first personal enemy, and the one who was most similar to him as an EvilCounterpart. Malcolm plays a huge role in ruining Oliver's life and setting him on the path of becoming the vigilante he is today. Malcolm was responsible for sinking the ''Queen's Gambit'', leaving Oliver stranded on the hell that is Lian Yu for several years (and also making him indirectly responsible for what happened with Slade as well), the deaths of at least three important people in Oliver's life (Robert Queen, Tommy Merlyn, and Sara Lance), indirectly or not, and manipulating Thea so he could use Oliver to end his debt to Ra's al Ghul. One has to wonder why Oliver ''hasn't'' killed him yet. The only reason he's still alive aside from JokerImmunity, appears to be he's Thea's biological father along with Oliver adopting a ThouShaltNotKill policy in the wake of Tommy's death. Even then, the former reason barely holds any weight because Thea hates his guts too, and after everything Malcolm has done, it's highly doubtful anyone would hold it against Ollie for making an exception to the rule. On the other hand, despite his numerous attempts to redeem himself and justify his action to Oliver and Team Arrow, [[HeelFaceDoorSlam to no avail]], Malcolm's hatred for Oliver rekindles after he gets humiliated, by beating him in a League challenge, resulting in him cutting off his hand and stripping him of the title of Ra's al Ghul.
** Slade Wilson. While Oliver probably hates Malcolm more, Slade is a much more personal enemy. Slade was set on a [[ImplacableMan never-ending vendetta]] to ruin Oliver's life, after he blames Oliver for causing Shado's death. While Slade ''did'' kill his mother in front of him, the biggest personal blow to Oliver at that point, Oliver has more-or-less accepted the fact that what happened with Slade was partially his fault (for not telling him the truth about Shado's death at first and not curing him of the Mirakuru when he had the chance), and can at least justify imprisoning him instead of killing him due to that and their formerly close relationship.
** Damien Dahrk. Although he's the ''Arrow'' BigBad with the least personal connection with Oliver Queen/Green Arrow, his treacherous acts towards his friends and family earned him this status. He attempted to gas all of Team Arrow in front of Oliver, crippled Felicity and left her paralyzed from the waist down, [[spoiler:kidnapped Oliver's illegitimate son William]], and [[spoiler:killed Laurel out of spite.]] It doesn't take long for all of Team Arrow to bitterly hate him and want him dead above all else.
** Prometheus. He may very well be the frontrunner for Oliver's most personal and hated enemy, and (as of Episode 16 of Season Five) he hasn't even killed any of Oliver's loved ones yet, in direct contrast to the above three. [[spoiler:He terrorizes Star City and kills several innocent people, subverts recruit Evelyn into turning against Oliver, manipulates Oliver into killing Felicity's boyfriend Billy Malone, psychologically tortures him by breaking out Black Siren and having her impersonate the deceased Earth-1 Laurel (who was Oliver's FirstLove and arguably the love of his life), and eventually forces Oliver to turn the city against his superhero identity, branding him a criminal. And all this while under the guise of FalseFriend DA Adrian Chase, who buttered him up to gain his trust, aiding him as one of his closest confidants within his administration and even helping Diggle get out of military prison. Once Oliver learns the truth, he is ''not'' happy, and with the charade gone the two don't even try to hide how much they hate each other. He then proceeds to set himself up as Oliver's greatest enemy, as he manages to do something that no villain preceding him had come even close to: breaking Oliver. He broke him so badly that Oliver no longer wanted to be Green Arrow and continue his crusade. And even as broken as he was, Oliver has come to hate Adrian ''so much'' that he was willing to let the Bratva establish a presence in Star City in exchange for killing his enemy. While Diggle snaps him back to his senses eventually, it becomes very clear that Oliver and Adrian's war only ends when the other is dead]].
* AssassinOutclassin: Done on multiple occasions, though most of the assassins aren't after him.
* TheAtoner: For both his own and his father's mistakes.
* AwesomenessByAnalysis: His appearance during the very first {{Crossover}} with ''The Flash'' involves him attributing his being still alive to this and trying to teach Barry how much being in their line of work requires it. He points out that Barry has the potential to be even better at it than he is, because his superspeed gives him all the time in the world to case out and analyze any given situation.
* BadassBaritone: As the Arrow, seeing how he uses a voice changer. But Stephen Amell's natural voice is pretty deep.
* BadassBeard: At least on the island, given how he didn't shave for five years. Off the island, not so much. However, by "Year's End", he seems to be growing it out more and more.
* BadassBiker: Occasionally ride bikes on both his civilian and vigilante life.
* BadLiar: Oliver can be this at times, particularly when it comes to Felicity before he just gives up and lets her in on the secret. He is somewhat better at deceiving his family and friends (not to mention the police) but mostly that's because they write his odd behavior off as PTSD from the island.
* BatmanGambit:
** Oliver realizes that eventually someone will put together the timing of his return home and the arrival of the Hood. So he purposely staged his supplies in front of a security camera, suspecting that he would get arrested on 'mostly' circumstantial evidence. Then, after being arrested and forced to wear a security anklet he throws a large party (ensuring multiple witnesses) and has Diggle appear as the Hood on the other side of town.
** He does it again in the Season Two finale, taking Felicity's advice to make Slade overthink things. He takes it to mean distracting Slade by telling her she's the one he loves most in full view of the former's surveillance. Slade falls for it, and is hit by the cure Oliver gave her.
** During the Arrow/Flash crossover, Oliver points out that this and experience are really the only advantages he has over Barry. It really levels the playing field between them.
* BattleCouple: Oliver/the Hood and the Huntress are this very briefly. Ollie and The Canary become this in Season Two.
* BeautyIsNeverTarnished: Subverted with Oliver himself, who most definitely suffered a great deal of cosmetic damage and scarring during his time on the island (though played straight in that he somehow avoided any lasting damage to his face, and none of the injuries he's sustained since returning home have left any noticeable scars).
* BeautyMark: He has a mole on his lips much like his mother.
* BelligerentSexualTension: With Laurel in the beginning, much to her annoyance.
* BigBrotherInstinct: Towards Thea.
** Also towards Barry. When Barry asked for help to take down Thawne, Oliver rushed over to Central City, despite being busy taking care of the League of Assassins. [[spoiler: When Team Legends and Team Arrow intend to make a move on the Dominators and want to go without Barry because they don't trust him after making a CosmicRetcon, Oliver is the one who firmly stands by Barry's side and stays with him.]]
* BigBrotherMentor: From "Tremors" onward, he is this towards Roy. He initially tries to be harsh and secretive, but it doesn't work out for him. He also becomes this to Barry when he revealed that he gained superhuman speed, inspiring him to become the Flash and offering advice about being a hero every now and then.
* BigDamnHeroes: Too many times to even count. Oliver loves making a dramatic entrance to save the day. Roy even lampshades this in "Unchained".
* BigGood: A role he shares with Barry Allen. They're both the first public superheroes in the Arrowverse, and set examples for many heroes after them, while leading their respective teams. They are the two vital heroes of the Arrowverse, and without them, all hell would break loose.
* BlastingItOutOfTheirHands: Oliver does this twice in "Honor Thy Father" once by throwing a kitchen knife and knocking China White's dagger out of her hand, and later he knocks the gun out of Detective Lance's hand with a throwing dart/arrow thing. And a variant in "Dodger", when he severs a nerve in the Dodger's arm to stop him using his ExplosiveLeash. Since he's started killing fewer people, this has become more of his signature.
* BlatantLies: He tells some real whoppers particularly to Felicity and Diggle. Possibly because he's testing them to find out if they can be trusted, but mostly because he isn't a great liar.
-->'''Oliver:''' I'm having some trouble with my computer and they told me that you were the person to come and see. I was at my coffee shop surfing the web and I split a latte on it.\\
'''Felicity:''' ...Really?\\
'''Oliver:''' Yeah.\\
'''Felicity:''' 'Cause these look like bullet holes.\\
'''Oliver:''' My coffee shop is in a bad neighborhood.
* BreakoutCharacter: CW's version of Green Arrow really put the character on the map for non-comic readers. He is one of the most popular live action TV superheroes to date, with Creator/StephenAmell receiving critical acclaim for his portrayal. This version of the character has also been included in various video games as downloadable content for ''VideoGame/InjusticeGodsAmongUs'' and ''[[VideoGame/LegoBatman Lego Batman 3: Beyond Gotham]]'' with Amell providing the voice.
* BreakTheBadass:
** In season 1 after falling to stop the Undertaking, which lead to the deaths of countless innocent people including his best friend Tommy, Oliver shuts down, saying that he should have died instead, and returns to Lian Yu in solitude for several months.
** In season 2 Slade's efforts to destroy Oliver's life, ending with him shoving a sword through Moira's back, cause Oliver to breakdown to the point that he was willing to give himself up to Slade before Laurel and the team talked him out of it.
** In season 5 after Prometheus' tortures him and forces Oliver to admit that [[spoiler:he secretly likes killing]] Oliver is left in a HeroicBSOD and returns to the team to inform them that [[spoiler:he's done being the Green Arrow and he's shutting down the entire Team Arrow operation.]]
* BrokenBird: The island was... unpleasant. First, he buried his father. Second, he got shot with an arrow. Third, he got tortured. Then it got worse. And he had to actually break a bird himself (literally -- it was dinner).
-->'''Oliver:''' These were ''FIVE YEARS!'' Five years. Where ''nothing'' good happened!
* BrokenPedestal: Has happened to him a few times.
** For Laurel at the end of "Blind Spot" when her drug addiction is revealed.
---> '''Oliver:''' She nearly had me believing that Sebastian Blood was a criminal mastermind. And the only reason I nearly believed her was because it was Laurel. I do have a [[TitleDrop blind spot]] where she's concerned. Not anymore.
** Moira is also on the receiving end of this twice: first when her involvement in the Undertaking is revealed, and again when he finds out that she was covering up that Thea is Malcolm's daughter.
** A ''huge'' one for Quentin Lance in Season 4, after he discovers the latter's DealWithTheDevil with [[BigBad Damian Darhk]], as Quentin was the one of the people who inspired him to run for mayor.
* BroodingBoyGentleGirl: The Brooding Boy to Felicity's Gentle Girl. Oliver is TheStoic and the StraightMan who is very cynical, sullen and brooding most of the time but Felicity, who is a GenkiGirl and ThePollyanna who is very optimistic and upbeat in personality and temperament, has a habit of bringing out the much lighter and happier side of him. She always manages to make Oliver smile and laugh.
* BruceWayneHeldHostage: On a number of occasions he has been kidnapped as Oliver Queen, with his captors having no idea about his secret identity.
** The "Pilot" probably has the most notable example, where Oliver and Tommy both get kidnapped. However, Oliver kills the kidnappers and makes up a story of a man in a green hood saving them. This was before Oliver had first donned the costume and started his vigilante activity, so it was actually this story which pushed him to begin his career as a superhero.
** In "Darkness on the Edge of Town", Oliver pulls a fake one, by having Diggle pretend to be the Hood and kidnap both him and Moira, in order to get his mother to talk.
** In "City of Heroes", the Hoods attempt this on Oliver Queen, but end up taking his sister instead.
** In "Legacy", Mayor Oliver Queen gets kidnapped by Tobias Church's gang and taken hostage, ironically so Church could lure out Green Arrow and kill him.
* BulletproofVest: His costume seems to include this as a feature. Either that or the mooks are just [[ImperialStormtrooperMarksmanshipAcademy that bad at aiming]]. Despite this, Moira manages to do quite a bit of damage at close range with a handgun, and the Dark Archer gets a couple of arrows through into Oliver's back.
* ByronicHero: Initially, he was a far more darker, more violent anti-hero, a distant Jerkass riddled with PTSD and survivor's guilt. Over the years, he has been reconnecting with people who have pulled him back more firmly into heroic status with a ThouShaltNotKill ethic.
* TheCape: In Season 4, he no longer wants to be TheCowl, having grown disillusioned with being a dark AntiHero and he becomes the Green Arrow to become a symbol of hope they way the Flash is to Central City since Star City ''really'' needs one.
* CartwrightCurse: Cheated on his then girlfriend Laurel with her sister Sara, who was survives two near death experiences only to finally die after getting shot three times, falling 6 stories and smashing her head. On the island, he started a romance with Shado that ended when she was killed by Ivo. After he gets back, his first steady girlfriend, Helena, is a mobster's daughter who turns into a [[{{Foil}} psychotic vigilante]]. And when it looks like he finally catches a break with [=McKenna=] Hall, she gets shot by Helena and moves to another city to get the best physical therapy she can. When Oliver and Felicity get a RelationshipUpgrade, the restaurant they are in gets blown up by an RPG. They end it soon after. In short, poor Oliver just can't catch a break with women. Lampshaded in the first episode of season 3.
-->'''Oliver:''' Last girlfriend? She's in the League of Assassins. My girlfriend before that shot my girlfriend before that. Not exactly a catch at the moment.
* TheCasanova: Oliver was one as well before he got lost on the island. He slept with Laurel's sister. That should be a giveaway. Sara also claimed that he was sleeping with ten other women, though that may have been an exaggeration.
* CatchPhrase:
** As the Hood. Disappears with his turn to the Arrow, at least until season 3.
--> '''Oliver:''' [Name]! You have failed this city!
** Oliver also has a tendency to say "Suit up!", which was lampshaded by Curtis in season 5.
* CelebrityParadox: Cisco mentions ''Franchise/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles'' during the second season of ''Series/TheFlash2014''. Stephen Amell plays Casey Jones in ''Film/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtlesOutOfTheShadows''.
* CharacterDeath: Loses the duel to Ra's Al Ghul in "The Climb", and after being stabbed through the chest, he is kicked off the edge of the mountain. ''Averted'' as the fall was cushioned by snow and he was kept alive through the cold slowing down his blood loss.
* CharacterDevelopment:
** The producers have said his main arc is transforming from the Arrow into ''Green'' Arrow. He initially starts out as The Hood (and is referred to now and then as The Vigilante), who kills those who he deems "have failed this city." The death of Tommy shifts him into The Arrow, where he adopts pacifist methods to honor his friend's memory. After his TenMinuteRetirement in Season 3, he decides to become a beacon of hope and be TheCape, similar to the Flash, becoming the Green Arrow.
** The whole purpose of the flashbacks to Oliver's time on the island is to show how he went from "[[RichIdiotWithNoDayJob the male Paris Hilton]]" to the hardened, effective vigilante we meet at the start of the series.
** At the start of the series, Oliver's reasons for becoming a vigilante were to honor his father's memory and seek justice against those who had exploited the under-privileged of Starling City, and was perfectly willing to kill to accomplish this. Over the course of the first season, he begins to actively fight crime in the city and goes from being a lone vigilante to working with Diggle and Felicity. By the start of the second season, he's primarily fighting crime and his motives for his vigilantism are no longer to honor his father's memory, but to provide a symbol of hope for the people of Starling City, even renaming himself the Arrow; furthermore, he has taken up a ThouShallNotKill stance to honor Tommy's memory. Starting with Season 4, his relationship with Felicity and a few stress free months help him become a happier and more understanding person, and he runs for Mayor in order to work to help Star City during the day in addition to his vigilante activities.
** Outside of his vigilantism, Oliver starts the series closed off to his loved ones, and gradually begins to open up to them as he readjusts to his old life.
** His arc over the first three seasons focused on him losing his IWorkAlone attitude and allowing other people to join in his crusade to save Starling City. By the Season 3 finale he's content to go on a vacation with Felicity, knowing that Diggle, Thea (Speedy), Laurel (Black Canary), and Ray (the Atom) are more than capable of looking after Starling in his absence.
* CharlesAtlasSuperpower: True to his comic book counterpart, Oliver gains his expert archery skills while trapped on a deserted island for five years. Furthermore, training with Slade Wilson, Yao Fei, and Shado has given him near unstoppable fighting skills.
* ChickMagnet: The women he's been involved with so far are (in no particular order); Laurel, Sara, Felicity, Shado, Isabel, Helena, [=McKenna=] and Samantha Clayton whom he got pregnant and Moira exiled to Central city. Said women are the only ones who appeared on-screen -- it's implied that there are a ''lot'' more.
* ChildhoodFriends: He, Tommy, Laurel, and Sara all grew up together.
* ChildhoodFriendRomance: With Laurel [[YourCheatingHeart and, technically, Sara]].
* ClarkKenting: He covers his face with paint and a hood, keeps to the shadows, and uses a voice changer if talking to someone who might recognize him. However, it isn't impenetrable and he isn't always careful with his targets.
* ColorCharacter: He finally dons his canonical CodeName starting Season 4.
* ColorMotif: Green obviously.
* CombatPragmatist: He doesn't hesitate to kill when need be, but he also leaves a few living so they can talk about what he did. Really lends into his reputation as a TerrorHero.
* ComicallySerious: Oliver can have these moments at times, especially when he's teaming up with one of the more [[{{Adorkable}} enthusiastic]] superheroes of the Arrowverse such as Barry, Ray, Curtis, or Kara. Not surprising since he's the closest thing Arrowverse has to Batman.
* CompositeCharacter: He combines aspects of other DC characters with the comic book Oliver Queen, namely;
** Franchise/{{Batman}}, particularly the [[Film/TheDarkKnightTrilogy Nolan-movie Batman]], including a past history with Ra's Al Ghul. This portrayal of Oliver is far more serious, driven, obsessive and mission-orientated than his comic book counterpart and much more bent on cleaning up a corrupt city, and is more of a night-time hero who sneaks around in the shadows, all traits owed more to the Dark Knight than the Emerald Archer. His darker, more complex and more lively backstory along with his season 1 insistence that the "Arrow" persona is the real him and that [[ThatManIsDead Oliver Queen died on the island]] also sound more Batman-ish. His ArchEnemy Slade Wilson is hell-bent with making him lose everything he cared about, which sounds very similar to the plot of ''Film/TheDarkKnightRises''. Season 3 even has Ra's al Ghul seeking to make Oliver his heir. That and the fact that a lot of his enemies are RoguesGalleryTransplant from Batman's RoguesGallery [[note]][[ComicBook/RasAlGhul the Al-Ghuls]], Solomon Grundy, Firefly, Dollmaker, ComicBook/{{Anarky}}, the ComicBook/SuicideSquad[[/note]]. Furthermore his headquarters gets nicknamed the "Arrowcave" by a few characters.
** His animosity with Slade and (brief) relationship with the Huntress also makes him parallel to [[ComicBook/{{Nightwing}} Dick Grayson]], whom Stephen Amell is actually a fan of. Him being Slade's "{{Sidekick}}" on the island flashbacks and him using eskrima sticks (at the time) for melee combat also supports this.
* CoveredWithScars: [[InformedFlaw Over about 20% of his body.]] Doesn't stop many a ShirtlessScene, and is discarded altogether by Season 2.
* TheCowl: Very much so, especially in the second season.
** Made especially clear in his cameo from the pilot for ''The Flash'', where he says Barry can be TheCape, a figure that inspires people rather than staying in the darkness like him.
** The two-part crossover of "Flash vs. Arrow" on ''The Flash'' and "The Brave and the Bold" on ''Arrow'' is an extended look at how Barry's city is clean and nice and had to be bombarded with metahumans before it needed a hero, one like Barry, who's optimistic, sweet and kind. This is contrasted with Star City and Oliver, a violent city on the brink of destruction that needed a violent hero.
*** Barry also rebuts it at the end, saying that while the Arrow may not be able to inspire people, Oliver Queen certainly can.
** The third season ended with Oliver taking yet another TenMinuteRetirement, because he was tired of being the Cowl. When he comes back at the start of season four, he rebrands himself the Green Arrow, hoping to be a symbol of hope, rather than of fear, for the people of Star City. He also adopts this in his civilian life and [[spoiler: decides to run for mayor.]]
* CrazyPrepared:
** To the point where he decided to store his blood in his hideout, in case he ever needed an emergency transfusion.
** If that wasn't enough, it's established in Season Two's "City of Blood" that if the Foundry was ever compromised or destroyed, he had another lair just in case. Felicity and Dig find him there, sulking, through Amanda Waller's help after Slade had murdered Moira.
* CrimefightingWithCash: He uses his companies wealth to amass high-tech equipment in his crusade to fight criminals. However he can take a less direct approach as well, such as using his family's fortune to buy a priceless jewel to serve as bait for a jewel thief.
--> '''Oliver''': "You know us billionaire vigilantes... we ''do'' love our toys."
* CrouchingMoronHiddenBadass: As part of his SecretIdentity. "I'm shallow!"
* CynicismCatalyst: Being trapped on the island and going from an easygoing, womanizing party boy to a vigilante [[TheAtoner atoning]] for his family's sins.
* DatingCatwoman:
** Helena -- In season 1. Even after he discovers that she's the mysterious assassin who injured his mother and is trying to instigate a bloody war among the city's criminal factions.
** Also in season 1, Oliver starts a relationship with Detective [=McKenna=] Hall, who immediately after gets assigned to help catch the Hood. She doesn't know Oliver's the Hood, though.
** With Isabel Rochev. Though granted Oliver didn't know Isabel was evil at the time, and he didn't actually have feelings for Isabel, treating it as only a fling.
* DeadpanSnarker: Most of Oliver's humor is more subdued.
* DecompositeCharacter: ''Series/LegendsOfTomorrow'' reveals that his role as Connor Hawke's father in the comics is given to [[spoiler: Diggle]].
* DentedIron: With over 20% of his body covered in scars, he's still capable of fighting off super-powered monsters and running down a motorcycle on foot.
* DespairEventHorizon: [[spoiler:Six days of extensive physical, emotional, and psychological torture at Prometheus' hands, followed by the soul-crushing realization that he ''enjoys'' killing people utterly breaks Oliver's spirit to the point that, after crawling back to the team, he tells them that he's shutting everything down and giving up being the Green Arrow.]]
* DidNotThinkThisThrough: Agrees to Samantha (who lied to him for years) and her terms that William be kept secret despite the fact that a) she would never know if he told the team (people he can actually trust) the truth, b) contacting any lawyer, including the ''one on his team'' would get him ''some'' rights beyond being "Mommy's friend" and no longer at Samantha's mercy especially if he revealed he never knew William existed and c) His fiancee and his enemies would eventually notice him popping down to Central City to visit a random child.]] Rather predictably it all blows up in his face.
* DisappearedDad:
** His father was DrivenToSuicide right in front of him.
** Oliver himself is an example, though he's not even aware of it. His mother paid the girl off to say the baby died.
* DominoMask: He finally starts wearing one at the end of Episode Nine of Season Two, recognizing the need to better conceal his identity.
* DrivenToSuicide: At one point he contemplated suicide during his stay on the island while hallucinating an image of his dad talking to him. While Oliver isn't actively suicidal, his lack of fear of death and disregard for his own safety in certain instances suggests that some part of him wishes he actually had died on that island.
* EmpoweredBadassNormal: In season 4 he learns [[LightIsGood light magic]] to counter Damien Darhk's dark based magic.
* ExperiencedProtagonist:
** Unlike many other heroes, as soon as Oliver starts his vigilante activities, he's already very well trained, thanks to his five year away.
** Also, he ''is'' the very first hero of the Franchise/{{Arrowverse}}, after all. This is highlighted numerous times during the very first {{Crossover}} with ''The Flash''. When Barry was struck by Bivolo's HatePlague and was required to be stopped by Oliver, their respective team members except Felicity (who is close to both and thus more concerned about the situation happening than the possible outcome) had an argument with Diggle invoking this very trope in the discussion.
-->'''Caitlin:''' I just hope they (Wells and Joe) can turn Barry back before he ''kills'' Oliver. \\
'''Diggle:''' Me, I'll be more worried with what Oliver might have to do to Barry. \\
'''Caitlin:''' Barry has super powers. Oliver [[UnderestimatingBadassery has a bow and arrow]]. \\
'''Diggle:''' Do you have any idea how many people Oliver killed with that bow and arrow?\\
'''Cisco:''' Recurve bow arrows can travel up to 300 feet-per-second, so, like, 200mph? Barry can run three times that fast.\\
'''Diggle:''' Whatever. Oliver's been doing this a lot longer; my money's on [[LampshadeHanging experience]].\\
'''Cisco:''' My money's on speed. \\
'''Felicity:''' Please tell me you're not actually having this conversation right now?!
** It is subsequently lampshaded in the 2016 crossover, where everyone votes in Barry as leader (including Oliver himself), only for Barry to keep stuttering and Oliver to unsubtly tell him what to do.
* FakeDefector: Fakes joining the League of Assassins near the end of Season 3 in an attempt to destroy it from the inside.
* FishOutOfTemporalWater: After five years fighting for his life on a remote island, Oliver has trouble reconnecting with his friends and family whose lives moved on without him. He also doesn't get most pop culture references.
-->'''Oliver''': What's ''Literature/{{Twilight}}''?
-->'''Tommy''': [[TakeThat You're so better off not knowing]].
* FriendlyRivalry: With [[Series/TheFlash2014 Barry Allen]].
* GoodCannotComprehendEvil: His mother notes that he always tries to see the good in everyone even if they don't deserve it.
** This caused trouble when he failed to realize how obsessed Helena was with avenging her fiancé
** Possibly subverted with Isabel Rochev, whose vendetta meant that she would do anything to spite the Queen family with or without Oliver's trust.
** Again with his vow to protect Malcolm Merlyn when he said he didn't kill Sara, but still is a mass murderer and had a drugged, groomed Thea kill Sara.
** He also underestimated how far Ra's al Ghul would go to force Oliver to succeed him as the head of the League of Assassins
* GoodIsNotNice: As the Arrow, and before that, the Hood. In the words of Barry Allen, the Arrow is "kind of a douche". He tries to get better as of Season 4, but slips back into it in Season 5 falling [[spoiler:[[DespairEventHorizon Laurel's death]]]].
* GoodVersusGood: In the first crossover, "Flash vs. Arrow", Oliver is the only one capable of stopping a BrainwashedAndCrazy Barry, resulting in the two having a battle.
* GoshDangItToHeck: One of Oliver's less obvious traits is he never curses, despite other members of Team Arrow frequently slipping around terms like "bitch" and "bastard".
* GreenEyedMonster: He's not happy when Barry turns up and hits it off with Felicity, being noticeably grumpy about her visiting him in Central City. Lampshaded by Diggle.
--> "I think you didn't have a problem with Felicity's performance until she met Barry Allen."
** Crops up again when Felicity starts dating Ray in Season 3. His reaction when he sees them kissing can only be described as a temper tantrum. (This case is less sympathetic, as Oliver had refused to start a relationship with Felicity himself and she was only trying to move on from his rejection).
* HeWhoFightsMonsters: [[spoiler:By the Season Five flashbacks, Oliver has progressed to the point where he's willing to torture a helpless man (a criminal who was an accessory to the use of sarin gas, but still helpless) to death as "practice". This was ''after'' the man gave up the information that Oliver wanted. A sickened Anatoly compares him to the likes of Slade or Ivo. He eventually did managed to rein himself in by the time Season One happened, but a person can still see shades of it even back then]].
* HeartbrokenBadass: On the island, Shado's death puts him in this territory. Off the island, Laurel's life falling apart, the death of Moira, his mother and Sara's murder puts him back there. [[spoiler:After Laurel dies, he breaks even more, even regressing a bit on his ThouShaltNotKill stance]].
* HellBentForLeather: His Green Arrow costume is very leather-y compared to his original gear.
* TheHeroDies: Averted. He does comes BackFromTheDead the following episode.
* HeroicBSOD:
** After nearly being killed by the Dark Archer, Oliver suffers from a form of PTSD, too afraid of losing his family and friends to fight effectively.
** He goes through an even worse one near the end of season two after Slade Wilson murders his mother right in front of him.
* HeroWithBadPublicity: Progressively subverted over time, especially after "Year's End", but he still isn't this [[VigilanteMan without reason]].
* HeterosexualLifePartners: With Tommy and Diggle. Roy and Barry to a lesser extent.
* HollywoodHealing: For some reason, he has a very rapid time on healing himself. This is notable during his fight with a {{Hate Plague}}d Barry where the latter gave him multiple RapidFireFisticuffs which he did suffered for quite a while but appears fine after Bivolo's capture, and, of course, his duel with Ra's where he was ImpaledWithExtremePrejudice and kicked-off from a cliff and it only took him about two weeks to fully recover, where in real life said injuries are fatal. However, given that Maseo said that he asked Tatsu "to come there so, she could bring Oliver back from the dead," it's unclear how much of this is HollywoodHealing and how much of it is due to other, as yet unknown, factors.
* HonestCorporateExecutive: In Season Two when he assumes control of Queen Consolidated.
* HonorBeforeReason:
** His teamup with Malcolm in Season 3, lampshaded by everybody.
** He dropped out of the mayoral election late in Season 4, to stop Darhk from killing William. Once William is returned to his mom and Darhk is arrested, it's pointed out he could rejoin the race, but he declines on the flimsy premise that voters hate flip-floppers.
* HouseHusband: Between Season 3 and 4, he became this to Felicity. Though they aren't married.
* {{Hunk}}: As MrFanservice and WalkingShirtlessScene...
* {{Hypocrite}}:
** During the first season, he condemns Helena and the criminal in "Salvation", Joseph Falk ('the Savior') for killing criminals without giving them a chance to change... despite him started out his crusade doing the exact same thing. To his credit, he seems to have realized this, as in Season Two he's trying to avoid killing, though he isn't always successful.
** In Season Two, he criticizes Barry Allen for keeping his reason for being interested in paranormal cases a secret. Felicity immediately calls Ollie out on keeping pretty much everything a secret.
** In Season Two, Oliver yells at his mother about keeping Thea in the dark about her parentage - despite the fact that he is lying to his family about more than a few things.
** He tells Laurel in Season 3 she can't be on Team Arrow because she's untrained. Laurel went to him for exactly that a few episodes before that and Ollie refused to train her. In fairness however he and Sara went through TrainingFromHell that nearly destroyed them and neither of them would wish it on anyone else. Add in that Quentin has already lost one daughter so training Laurel up to put herself in danger is clearly something to avoid. [[spoiler: His reluctance to let her join up is proved to be justified in Season 4 when Laurel is killed.]]
* IDidWhatIHadToDo: During the five years he was legally dead, he had to lose conventional morality in order to survive. Coming back after this, he was so used to killing people to live that he was mostly running on instinct when fighting.
* ILetGwenStacyDie:
** Blames himself for Sara Lance's death. Ultimately subverted as she's not actually dead, though he thinks so for a while.
** Tommy and Shado, as of Season Two.
** [[spoiler:Laurel. Part of why he starts killing again in Season Five is due to the belief that if he had killed Damien Darhk sooner, she would still be alive. Also, his complicated feelings regarding Black Siren (such as his desire to trust/redeem her) stem from his guilt of failing his Laurel]].
* IWantMyBelovedToBeHappy: Pushed Tommy and Laurel together, even though it was obvious he was still in love with Laurel himself.
* IdiotBall: Dating Susan Williams, a very tough and thorough reporter who makes life hell for politicians [[spoiler: so much so she discovers that he was in the Bratva and is in Green Arrow]]. Lampshade repeatedly by Thea.
* ImpaledWithExtremePrejudice: Courtesy of Ra's al Ghul.
* ImportantHaircut: After coming home from Lian Yu. Officially speaking. Also after falsely joining the League of Assassins.
* ImprobableAimingSkills: Given the premise of the show, Oliver's skill with the bow is to be expected. However, he is also a master knife thrower.
* InformedAbility: Oliver is multilingual, being fluent in English, Russian, Cantonese, Mandarin, Japanese, Spanish, Tibetan, and Arabic. While this is shown onscreen, what's informed is Oliver's Mandarin accent was so perfect it fooled a blinded Chinese guy into thinking Oliver was actually Chinese. To anyone who [[BilingualBonus actually speaks Mandarin]], Creator/StephenAmell sounds more-or-less like any average Westerner speaking the language.
* InformedAttribute: Oliver's {{Jerkass}} party boy image, which seems to have been very true before the island but not carried over no matter what assumptions people make.
* InformedFlaw: Pretty much every character in the beginning of the first season repeatedly calls him a selfish jerk who is completely ambivalent and unapologetic to his friends and family, despite almost all of his interactions showing him expressing his gladness to be back, his sorrow for the people he's hurt and his concern for Thea's party-life. It's implied they were trying to project the image of who he used to be before the island so they could take their anger and grief out on him rather than dealing with it themselves.
* InSeriesNickname: Frequently gets nicknamed "[[Main/{{ROBINHOOD}} Robin Hood]]", unsurprisingly considered who he's based off.
* InTheHood: The source of his AppropriatedAppellation.
* {{Irony}}: He laughed at the prospect of being called Green Arrow during his first year of being a vigilante. Now, he adopts the moniker as a shift from being TheCowl into TheCape.
* InsecureLoveInterest: It's heavily implied, if not outright stated that the reason why Oliver cheated on Laurel so much is because he felt she was too good for him and she would one day see that, and eventually leave for someone else. His infidelity was an attempt to speed this up. What didn't help was that Laurel was already pushing for them to settle down, something that pre-Island Oliver clearly wasn't ready for (post-Island Oliver wasn't either, but for entirely different reasons). Laurel stuck by him regardless, and it was only after the ''Gambit'' did she really sour on him. This trait continues throughout Season 1 due to his vigilante activities, hence why he was supportive of her relationship with Tommy, even though he was still in love with her himself. [[spoiler:In the 100th episode celebration, he tells "Laurel" via LotusEaterMachine that, while he loves her, he isn't the good man she loves, and that she always deserved so much better than him. Judging by how "Laurel" begs him to stay even after that, it's possible that even though Oliver doesn't see it himself, he has always been the good man she thought he could be, the man she loved]].
* InstantExpert: Downplayed. Oliver doesn't instantly master any particular skill, but he still has a really fast rate on both learning and improving them. It only took him three weeks to progress far enough in his League training for Ra's to declare he was ready to ascend and take his place as the Demon's Head.
* ItsNotYouItsMe: After Hong Kong, he didn't return home because he feared the darkness within him would corrupt his family. [[spoiler:His torture at Prometheus' hands and the admission that he ''enjoys'' killing makes his reasoning all the more clear -- the person Oliver feared the most has always been himself. After torturing General Shrieve, Oliver realized what he was capable of should he ever fully give in to the darkness, and didn't want to put his friends and family through that. He didn't want to face the possibility that the good man they all saw in him, the good man that Laurel had loved, Tommy had cherished, and Thea had admired, had died on the shores of Lian Yu]].
* ItsPersonal: He had this type of conflict with every season's BigBad, barring Ra's al Ghul. [[spoiler:Season 5 in particular embodies this; Prometheus has basically dedicated the rest of his life to ruining and destroying Oliver's, and unlike Slade, he's not bothering with the city, going for a more...''intimate'' approach. The entire season is nothing more than a prelude for what is arguably the biggest grudge match in the history of the Arrowverse]].
* {{Jerkass}}: As a result of his time on the island (and elsewhere), Oliver is pretty seriously broken and traumatized, he pushes people away, often roughly, has great difficulties trusting people and deals with them harshly as a default. However, some of it is a...
* JerkassFacade: As when he pretends to be a drunken playboy to get out of working at Queen Industries. When he does so...
* JerkassHasAPoint: ...he does make a fairly valid point: He's not even ''remotely'' qualified to manage an international corporation. However, we also know that he's a...
* JerkWithAHeartOfGold: He's been pretty deeply damaged by his time on the island, but he's been reconnecting with people thanks to Diggle, Felicity, his family, and now Barry. He's rediscovering his humanity, using more gentle methods in his vigilantism, and evolving from a phantom of dark justice to a truer hero with each passing season. (i.e. Adopting a ThouShaltNotKill policy in the second season, being pushed not to torture people by Barry in the third, learning to trust his teammates and adopt a more hopeful, humane and responsible ethos in the fourth…)
* JustLikeRobinHood: Discussed. He's been accused of this but hotly denies it. In fact he's not actually in this to redistribute the wealth of his victims but to get 'their' victims justice and prevent them from hurting more people.
* KeepingSecretsSucks: He has dealt with the consequences of this numerous times, [[AesopAmnesia but keeps repeating it]].
* KnightTemplarBigBrother:
** Oliver's sister takes drugs and drives under the influence, causing her to crash. As a civilian, Oliver pulls all the favors he can to try and get Thea out of jail time. As the Hood, Oliver hunts down The Count and ... Don't even indirectly mess with Oliver's sister, or it's going to go down very badly for you.
** Lampshaded in "Darkness on the Edge of Town":
-->'''Oliver, to Roy:''' Hi, I don't know if we've met. I'm Thea's disapproving older brother.
** At the beginning of Season Two, Oliver is unwilling to hood up again, because he doesn't want to increase his body count and dishonor Tommy's memory, even after Hood copycats kill the mayor and threaten Laurel. Then, they kidnap Thea. Cue one pissed-off Arrow (non-lethally) beating the living crap out of the copycats.
** This ends up being his FatalFlaw and downfall. See NiceJobBreakingItHero below.
* LeaningOnTheFourthWall: In "[[Recap/ArrowS4E15Taken Taken]]", when Oliver introduced Vixen in her live-action debut, he says that [[WesternAnimation/{{Vixen}} he'd met her in an "animated" adventure]]. Bonus points for Steven Amell [[{{Corpsing}} barely being able to keep a straight face]] while uttering the line.
* LegallyDead: Oliver is this during his five years on the island. The second episode even features him going to court so he can be legally revived.
* LeParkour: He makes frequent use of this.
* LetsYouAndHimFight: During the very first {{Crossover}} with ''The Flash'', Barry has been hit with the HatePlague and they get into a fight. It ends in a draw.
* LightIsGood: After returning in Season 4 and becoming the Green Arrow, Oliver vows to be a [[HopeBringer symbol of hope]] and to fight during the "light of day". Late in the season he also learns light based magic called "Light of the Soul", to counteract Damien Darhks's [[DarkIsEvil dark based]] BloodMagic.
* LivingEmotionalCrutch: Laurel was this to him during his five years away from home. She gave him a picture of her to always keep her close right before the voyage, and Oliver never once parted with it -- in times of hardship, he would always look at it to remind himself that he needed to survive, to live and get back to her.
* LongLostRelative: He has a child with a woman whom he cheated Laurel on. He did not know that his mother bribed the woman to stay out of his existence and Ollie only finds this out when his child is already nine years old.
* LooksLikeJesus: Mostly around the late [[TurnOfTheMillennium 2000s]]. More so after the yacht incident.
* TheLostLenore: He's had several. All the times he lost Sara, Shado, Taiana[[note]] while they weren't in a relationship, there were definitely hints of UST between them[[/note]], but undoubtedly, the one who affects him the most is [[spoiler:Laurel, who was his FirstLove and may very well have been the love of his life. While he had something with Felicity at the time, it's made clear that Oliver never stopped loving Laurel, and never will. Her death is one of Oliver's main motivations in Season Five, which Prometheus takes advantage of by having Black Siren impersonate her Earth-1 counterpart to pile more grief onto Oliver]].
* LoveMakesYouStupid: He is very prone to making dumb decisions when loved ones are involved.
* MadeOfIron: The amount of injuries Oliver sustained while on the island would have probably crippled most people. Likewise, in the premier he cuts his way through Adam Hunt's cadre of bodyguards, defeats his TheDragon, leaps out of a skyscraper, ziplines to safety... and reappears at his party a scant three minutes later looking none the worse for wear. Reaches its apotheosis, perhaps, in his fights with Cyrus Gold. The Mirakuru-powered villain literally bounces Oliver off walls and kicks/punches him hard enough to play pool with him in rooms, yet all he gets is a few dented ribs.
* TheMafiya: The third episode reveals that Oliver has the rank of captain, because he saved the life of Anatoli Knyazev (who in the DCU is the [=KGBeast=]), who was a prisoner of Ivo's on the Amazo. Whether Oliver's relationship with the Bratva was damaged beyond repair by the events of the Mirakuru attack in the second season remains to be seen.
* TheMasqueradeWillKillYourDatingLife: Dates the Huntress, she leaves due to his disapproval of her methods. Dates [=McKenna=], she leaves after being shot during a confrontation between Oliver and Helena. Attempts to date Felicity in the season 3 opener, but when they're attacked, he takes it as a sign that he could never live a happy life as Oliver Queen and they tearfully call it off...for while.
* MasterApprenticeChain:
** Yao Fei Gulong, Slade Wilson, Shado, Maseo Yamishiro, Ra's al Ghul --> Oliver Queen --> Helena Bertinelli, Roy Harper, Team Arrow recruits (Curtis Holt, Evelyn Sharp, Rene Ramirez, and Rory Regan).
* MasterOfTheMixedMessage: He alternates between telling Laurel to stay away, and having ice cream with her. Also does this to Felicity, to the point that when their UnresolvedSexualTension comes to a crossroads in the season 3 premiere, she demands he stop "dangling 'maybe's" with her.
* MeaningfulRename: In Season 4 he finally becomes the Green Arrow.
* MetaphoricallyTrue: His five years on Lian Yu also included time in Hong Kong and Russia which happened because of events on the island so in a sense he never left.
* MoralDissonance: Oliver's methods can sometimes be extreme, especially at the start of the series. He also has a habit of taking out mooks but leaving their bosses alive.
* MoralMyopia: Oliver doesn't seem to notice that he applies this often. He's capable of cold-blooded murder in taking out his targets but doesn't allow anyone else the same leeway. No longer the case in Season Two, as he's trying to avoid killing.
* MoralityPet: Thea. Tommy. Laurel. Diggle. Felicity. Roy. Barry. Oliver's the Crazy Morality Pet Lady of the DCTV Universe.
* MovieSuperheroesWearBlack: Averted. He wears a variation of his costume from the comic in a darker shade of green.
* MrFanservice: Especially with many a ShirtlessScene.
* MultiRangedMaster: Throwing knives and a bow and arrow.
* MyGreatestFailure:
** Originally, it was watching Sara Lance die -— while he was cheating on his girlfriend with her. His girlfriend, Sara's sister. As of Season Two, this has been surpassed by best friend Tommy's death during the Undertaking and rendered moot when Sara turns up alive and well as the Canary.
** Post-Season Four, [[spoiler:it's the death of his FirstLove, Laurel Lance, the aforementioned sister of Sara. To compound the guilt, Laurel was also the woman Tommy loved and died for -- in the end, Oliver lost the woman who had been the love of his life, which would render the sacrifice of his best friend ultimately meaningless, since she would die only 2-3 years later]].
* MyGreatestSecondChance: After learning that there could be a way to cure Mirakuru, he still chose to try and kill Slade anyway, even though curing him could have potentially prevented most of the events of the second season, or at least greatly diminished how much of a threat Slade could be. Oliver now working to get the antidote made so it can be used on the similarly addled-up Roy seems to be him making sure something like that doesn't ever happen again.
* MySisterIsOffLimits:
** Tommy gets a nonverbal version, over Thea. Which becomes HilariousInHindsight considering how, in the following season, it's revealed post-mortem that Tommy was Thea's half-brother.
--->'''Tommy:''' Have you noticed how ''[[SheIsAllGrownUp hot]]'' your [[SheIsAllGrownUp sister's gotten]]?\\
''(Oliver gives him a DeathGlare)''\\
'''Tommy:''' Because I have not!
** Subverted with Roy, though. In fact, he's counting on Thea being a MoralityChain for him.
* NeverFoundTheBody: During his five years on the island, he was presumed dead.
* NiceJobBreakingItHero: His forcing Roy to break up with Thea inadvertently causes the last bit of Season Two, which includes Thea finding out her parentage, Isabel Rochev taking over Queen Consolidated, the creation of Slade's Mirakuru army, Roy going on a Mirakuru rampage, the death of his mother, Deathstroke's army destroying Starling City, the city almost being nuked by ARGUS, and Sara going back to the League of Assassins.
* NiceToTheWaiter: Even as the spoiled party guy he was before the island, Oliver seems to have a good relationship with his family's staff. Prior to letting her in on the secret he is also nothing but charming towards Felicity despite his odd requests.
* NoHoldsBarredBeatdown:
** Delivers one to Brodeur's bodyguard after the latter almost kills Laurel.
** Oliver's modus operandi. While he has softened over the years (mainly on the killing front), he isn't nearly as squeamish about crippling and/or severely harming enemies as his super-powered counterparts, especially if he's angry. If a villain managed to the avoid this fate, they were either: a) skilled combatants in their own rights, b) had superpowers, or c) ''very'' lucky.
* NonIdleRich: Besides his nighttime activities, he also runs a nightclub in the first season and takes over as the co-CEO of Queen Consolidated in the second. As of Season Five, he's become the mayor.
* NotQuiteDead: His loved ones find this out at the start of the show, much to their relief.
* NotSoStoic: He can be quite frightening when he loses his cool.
* NotSoDifferent: [[spoiler:Oliver and Prometheus are distorted, mirror images of each other. Their respective crusades are driven by the desire to avenge their fathers, they both went through hell to become skilled combatants, and they both take pleasure in killing. However...]]
* NotSoSimilar: [[spoiler: In the end Oliver isn't that similar from Prometheus -- he became a killer out of a need for survival, the fact that he liked it being irrelevant, and once he recognized how far he was falling, he tried to stop, with mixed results, and he still actively tries to atone for his sins. Prometheus became a killer by his own choice, out of his desire for revenge, and when he realized how far he was falling, rather than pulling back, he went all in, as evidenced when he killed his wife for trying to convince him to stop; and just to sink the point in further once his cover his blown he murders the agents assigned to protect him, and cheerfully whistles as he makes his escape.]]
* NotWearingTights: Oliver's first costume, in the opening minutes of the Pilot, is essentially a dark green leather hoodie. When he starts his vigilante work, it's expanded to basically a full-body leather outfit, with a hood and green face paint.
* ObfuscatingStupidity: Upon his return from the island, he immediately tries to hide that he's changed by acting like he did 5 years ago. Whilst he drops it as it becomes more apparent to those around him that he's no longer that guy, he still invokes this trope to help hide his vigilantism. It's gradually faded out over the years, especially during his campaign for mayor.
* OddFriendship: With Barry Allen, AKA The Flash. Surprisingly, they're close in age, but Oliver's age and experiences make him the older, gruff, almost unwilling mentor to Barry's eager kid. In their first crossover (not the backdoor pilot), they both feel out of place in one another's series, as Oliver is the brutal cowl and Barry the idealistic cape. They're the DC Television Universe equivalent of Bruce Wayne and Clark Kent.
* OddNameOut:
** To Thea's blood relatives; '''M'''alcolm (her father), '''M'''oira (their mother) and '''Th'''omas aka Tommy (her paternal half-brother).
** In the island Flashbacks, especially in Season 2, with '''S'''lade, '''S'''hado and eventually '''S'''ara (Yao Fei was never with them when they were a group).
** To date, he's the only member of Team Arrow whose given name starts with a vowel. There's John (Diggle), Felicity, Roy, Sara, Laurel, [[TokenEvilTeammate Malcolm]] and Thea. This gets more noticeable when his titular show is ''also'' the only show [[note]]''Series/TheFlash2014'', WesternAnimation/{{Vixen}}'', ''Series/LegendsOfTomorrow'' and retroactively ''Series/{{Constantine}}''. [[/note]] in the Franchise/{{Arrowverse}}'' which starts with a vowel.
* AnOfferYouCantRefuse: Ra's wants him to be his successor and won't take "No" for an answer.
* OhCrap: Has a damn near perfect expression when he sees Laurel has set him up in a police sting at her office at the end of "Identity".
* OOCIsSeriousBusiness: After having been captured, tortured, and both mentally and emotionally shattered by Prometheus, Oliver becomes briefly broken enough that he makes a deal to allow [[spoiler: the Bratva to come to Star City, steal pharmaceutical drugs to create their own addictive street drug, and try to assassinate Prometheus/Adrian Chase]].
* TheParagon: He eventually inspires Roy to follow in his footsteps, leading to Roy becoming a part of his team.
* PermaStubble: Once he was back home, he developed this, both mustache and beard versions.
* PhraseCatcher: "You Missed" is said when he shoots trick arrows, often a moment before the arrow explodes.
* PlatonicLifePartners: Oliver had sexual/romantic tension/relations with almost every female he met and bonded with during his five years away from home -- except for Tatsu Yamashiro. Mainly because Tatsu was already married to his friend and handler Maseo. After she defrosts on him, they become close friends and confidants, with Tatsu even trusting him with her son Akio.
* PoisonousFriend: While it certainly wasn't his intention, he has a tendency to bring out the bad/worst/{{Wangst}}y sides of the women he's involved with.
* PopCulturalOsmosisFailure: While he did read a few of the ''Literature/HarryPotter'' books, he's surprised to learn that there were movie adaptations (this can't be entirely put down to his five-year absence, either; five of the movies had been released by the time he shipwrecked on Lian Yu).
* ThePornomancer: Formerly. He was a [[ReallyGetsAround notorious]] ChickMagnet and [[TheCasanova Casanova]] before the yacht incident.
* PragmaticHero: In Season 3 he has no problem forming a temporary alliance with Malcolm in order to defeat Ra's Al-Ghul. This causes alot of friction with the rest of Team Arrow.
* {{Pride}}: He admits to Diggle that the reason why he tried to protect Malcolm even after he was taken by the League of Assassins was because of pride.
* PrivateEyeMonologue: Provided by Oliver [[EarlyInstallmentWeirdness for the first few episodes]]. It's dropped after he has someone to listen to his plans.
* ProperlyParanoid: At one point on the island, he came across someone tied up in a cave who claimed to be a student stranded on the island. Out of fear that he might be working for Fyers, Oliver leaves him there to die. In the penultimate episode of Season One, we find out he was right to be worried.
* TheProtagonist: As the eponymous Arrow... duh. However, the show has become much more an ensemble vehicle than it was initially.
* PunnyName: Oliver is evocative of "Olive", a shade of green.
* ReallyGetsAround: Mostly before the yacht incident. Not so much in the present day scenes.
* ReasonableAuthorityFigure: Oliver naturally takes up the mantle of leadership, it becomes very obvious in the third crossover with the other Arrowverse shows, where even after appointing Barry as leader, Oliver keeps giving him cues on what to say next. Sara even asks if they're ignore how Oliver is telling Barry what to say.
* RelatedInTheAdaptation:
** While his comic counterpart later adopted Mia Dearden, she's not related to the Queens by blood. Mia's counterpart Thea is his biological half-sister in this edition.
** He also becomes Walter Steele's stepson in this version.
** He is married to Nyssa near the end of Season 3, and technically they still are by the laws of the League of Assassins. In the comics, he's only been married to Dinah Laurel Lance.
** Inverted with Connor Hawke, who is not his son in this version (though the Franchise/{{Arrowverse}} made Connor and his biological son here a DecompositeCharacter, anyway).
* RelativeButton: You'd think Malcolm would have [[TooDumbToLive known better than to press his.]]
* RenamedTheSame: When he joined the League of Assassins he was given the codename "Al Sah-him", which means Arrow in Arabic.
* RichIdiotWithNoDayJob:
** Oliver invokes this to hide his activities as the Hood. He further cultivates the image (and other related aspects of his SecretIdentity) by claiming to want to start a night club in an old Queen Consolidated warehouse...then doing absolutely nothing/making zero progress towards actually turning it into anything. Eventually, RealityEnsues when Tommy steps in to assist with the renovations, having noted that no progress is being made. At which point the night club actually gets finished. This is even lampshaded in the second season, when Moira dismisses Ollie's involvement in the club as just being a hobby.
** Averted in Season Two when he takes over as CEO of Queen Consolidated. In "Deathstroke", it bites him on the ass when he mistakenly lets Isabel Rochev become temporary CEO, allowing her to become full-time CEO of Queen Consolidated as he hasn't been to his job. He would find out she was actively working with Slade Wilson.
* {{Sadist}}: [[spoiler:After nearly a week of torture at Prometheus' hands, Oliver admits that he kills people because he wants to and because he likes it. He's devastated by the realization, which utterly breaks his spirit.]]
* SadisticChoice: Thrice so far. On the island, Ivo forces Oliver to choose between Shado and Sara. Slade later forces Oliver to choose between Thea and Moira. The second is an InvokedTrope, as it is a deliberate reconstruction of the first choice. Near the end of Season 3, Ra's Al-Ghul has been framing him up and gradually turned the city he tried so hard to protect against him to push his back against the wall just to make Oliver so desperate to accept Ra's' offer to be his heir.
* SavvyGuyEnergeticGirl: The Savvy Guy to Felicity's Energetic Girl. Oliver is more serious and stoic while Felicity is more upbeat and energetic. Due to their opposing personalities and temperaments, they balance each other out nicely.
* ScreamsLikeALittleGirl: For being a BadassBaritone, Oliver has a surprisingly high-pitched scream, best displayed when he's kneecapped in "Seeing Red."
* SecretIdentity: And at first, he [[HeKnowsTooMuch maintained]] one [[NeckSnap ruthlessly]]. He's gotten softer about it, though. By Season Two, he is assisted by Diggle and Felicity and states that they both need secret identities, since he is now CEO of his family's company.
* SensitiveGuyAndManlyMan: Everytime he and Barry are together, his "tough-as-nails" demeanor/personality is often highlighted. The same can be said towards his best friend Tommy Merlyn, especially after Oliie returns from Lian Yu. Interestingly, he [[NaiveNewcomer was]] the Sensitive Guy to [[RatedMForManly Slade's]] Manly Man during the island flashbacks.
* SerialRomeo: Even when he's not in [[TheCasanova Casanova]] mode, he still has a tendency to end up falling quickly in-love with women, especially after he officially came home from the island. This, coupled with his AlwaysSaveTheGirl mentality above, got called out by Diggle way back in Season 1.
* ShellShockedVeteran: Oliver definitely suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder. And although he's trying to maintain his guise as a SpoiledBrat, his family can tell that his act is [[StepfordSmiler not very genuine]].
** In "Identity", Slade comments on this after Oliver had killed his first person on the island that wasn't in self-defense.
* SinkOrSwimMentor: Much to Barry's initial resentment. Comes with it being [[TrainingFromHell how he was taught, too]].
* SleevesAreForWimps: His Green Arrow costume has this look, though he later re-added sleeves into it.
* SlidingScaleOfIdealismVersusCynicism
** Oliver starts out on the cynicism scale, and slowly moves into the idealism scale in seasons 1 and 2. an example would be in the eighth episode of the first season, Vendetta. where Oliver thinks he can save Helena Bertinelli from her path of rage, hatred and vengeance (much to Diggle's objection). Oliver fails though. by season 3, he is full on an idealistic hero. making use of his "The Arrow" alter-ego to be a symbol of hope for Starling City.
* TheSoulSaver: After he takes his ThouShallNotKill policy he goes out of his way to convince others to not kill those who've wronged them as he knows firsthand what killing does to the human psyche, [[spoiler: since all of his constant killing has given him a test of blood.]]
* StealthHiBye: Oliver loved doing these as the Hood in Season 1, seemingly vanishing into thin air after having conversing with someone.
* TheStraightAndArrowPath: Lampshaded by the police, who find using a bow and arrow in the modern day pretty ridiculous and insane.
* StrongAsTheyNeedToBe: Had this problem in Season Four. While it was justified at the beginning of the season since he had been out of the game for six months at that point, it became increasingly less so as the season wore on. It was especially egregious considering the fact that he and Thea were having problems with the likes of Anarky when Oliver killed ''[[WorldsBestWarrior Ra's al Ghul]]'' by himself last season, with no aid whatsoever. Thankfully corrected in Season Five -- Oliver is depicted as the best combatant currently on the show that season, with the only villain managing to fight him on even keel without any help/handicap being season BigBad Prometheus.
* TheStoic: Oliver is really damn good in keeping his emotions in check.
* StopHavingFunGuy: Scolds Barry for nicknaming his criminals, not casing the scene before rushing in and in general, treating crime fighting as a game.
* SupportingProtagonist: On the island, at first. He started to grow up a bit more and meet some interesting people along the way.
* TattooedCrook: Both variants.
** He has a tattoo over his heart marking him as a captain in the Russian mob; a gift from Anatoli Knyazev for saving his life. [[spoiler:After sadistically torturing him, Prometheus burns it off, turning it from a symbol of a great victory into one of failure and defeat]].
** The dragon tattoo on his left shoulder is a copy of the one Shado had. Slade branded him with it to remind him of his crime. [[spoiler:During the six months he spent with Felicity, he has it removed, as a sign that he has finally moved past what happened and no longer feels the need to bear that cross on his back]].
* TerrorHero: Thanks to the influence of his ''many'' {{Morality Pet}}s, he appears to be toning this down. Heck, Barry even got him not to torture Captain Boomerang for information on the locations of his bombs!
* TheyKilledKennyAgain: He supposedly died three times already. First during the Queen's Gambit accident. Second during his loss to Ra's Al-Ghul where he was revived by Tatsu. Third and last was at the hands of Vandal Savage which was negated by Barry Allen via TimeTravel.
* ThouShaltNotKill: Adopts this starting in Season Two. He was forced to break it in "State v. Queen" to save Felicity from Count Vertigo, and he was visibly shaken after the deed. ''Totally'' averted in season 1, especially in the first few episodes, where he had no problem killing villains or [[WhatMeasureIsAMook any of their guards or underlings]]. The season 1 island flashbacks also detail his transformation from sheltered playboy to ruthless killer-by-necessity.This causes problems for him in Season 3 when Malcolm manipulates Thea to kill Sara. Naturally ''everyone'' wants to kill Malcolm, except Oliver.
** After he's adopted this policy there have been two major exceptions: Ra's Al-Ghul, who had to be killed to stop him from destroying Starling City as part of an arcane ritual and Damian Darhk who was an OmnicidalManiac, murdered thousands of innocent people and made it personal for Oliver after [[spoiler: he killed Laurel.]]
** As of Season 5, he seems to have gone completely back from that stance, killing mooks left and right, because he feels [[ItsAllMyFault had multiple chances to kill Darhk and prevent Laurel dying]], though he resolves this into being willing to kill as a last resort.
* TokenWhite: Becomes this in Season 3's flashbacks. Justified as he's in Hong Kong.
* TookALevelInBadass: Before the wreck of the Queen's Gambit, Oliver was a useless playboy. He came back a hardened killer and excellent fighter. Since then, he's continued to grow and improve. In the first season, his every fight against Malcolm Merlyn was a CurbStomp with Merlyn the victor. By the fourth season, Oliver has grown to the point that he's capable of taking down Merlyn without breaking a sweat. Which makes sense, considering that in Season 3, Oliver managed to kill Ra's al Ghul in a one-on-one sword fight -- the same Ra's al Ghul that was outright stated to be the best technical fighter on the planet, and who Malcolm pitted Oliver against because Malcolm himself was ''terrified'' of facing him in any way.
* TookALevelInDumbass: Oliver's intelligence takes a hit once Felicity joins the team, as he's no longer the one required to do any of the analytical thinking. In Season 1, Oliver manned his high-tech computers himself to track criminals, by Season 4 he says he has difficulty even logging on.
* TortureTechnician: Oliver is trained and skilled in the use of torture to break down and terrorise particularly intransigent crooks when the situation calls for it. He starts to grow out of using this thanks to [[MoralityPet Barry's influence]].
* TrainingFromHell: How is a SpoiledBrat able to hold his own against...everyone? Oh, right, five years alone (except for a few mentors) on an island against an army of merciless killers, some of whom are bonafide supervillains in their own right. And if you thought the Island was bad, wait until you see what the League does to him after he leaves.
* TraumaCongaLine:
** Season 3 is hell for Oliver. He ends up getting killed for defending Malcolm by Ra's al Ghul, brought back and then offered his job. He refuses and ends up framed with his secret identity exposed, having his apprentice arrested and needing to fake his death, and his sister being stabbed, forcing him to take the offer to save her.
** Season 5. See ArchEnemy above. Let's just say Prometheus ''really'' hates Oliver Queen, and leave it at that.
** In fact, a person could argue that his life ever since the ''Queen's Gambit'' went down has been nothing more than an endless line of pain, despair, and loss, with very few bright spots in-between. Even a quarter of what he went through during those five years would've been enough to break lesser men. It seems Oliver's only purpose in life is to suffer.
* TwoGuysAndAGirl: He loves being part of this dynamic for some reason. [[note]] Him, Tommy and Laurel. Him, Slade and Shado, later him, Slade and Sara on Lian Yu. Him, Maseo and Tatsu in Hong Kong. Him, Diggle and Felicity as the original Team Arrow. Him, Roy and Sara later him, Roy and Laurel as Team Arrow's main combatants. [[/note]]
* TheUnfettered: He may not kill any more but there's still plenty he'll do to keep his city safe, like destroy his friendship with Team Arrow in order to make sure his plan to destroy the League of Assassins goes unhindered.
* UnflinchingWalk: In "A Matter of Trust", Oliver slowly walks out of Derek Sampsons' base as explosions go off behind him.
* UnresolvedSexualTension: With Felicity. Until ''The Fallen''.
* UnstoppableRage: Briefly enters one when Brodeur's bodyguard/hitman almost kills Laurel.
* UptownGuy: Technically to every girl he was linked with. The only woman who ''may'' have been "in league" with his family's social status is Helena Bertinelli, who came from a mafia family. The Lance sisters, [=McKenna=], Samantha and Taiana all appear to be from middle-class families. Felicity apparently was poor but is a SelfMadeMan, while both Isabel and Shado apparently came from families that are "between upper and middle class".
** Inverted in his relationship with Felicity in Season 4, as he lost his family fortune back in Season 2 while she's become the owner and CEO of multi-billion dollar company Palmer Tech.
* VigilanteMan:
** His role as "the Hood", which gives many an AppropriatedAppellation including the word "vigilante". However, he rarely stoops to VigilanteExecution, if ever (though, him and Diggle did plan on one to Deadshot, but that got scrapped).
** In Season Two, he realizes how fundamentally screwed up everyone else considers this, and decides not to act in a VigilanteMan manner anymore, instead simply helping the police do their jobs without killing if possible.
* WalkingShirtlessScene: At least OnceAnEpisode. All the better to show you he's CoveredWithScars, my dear.
* WeUsedToBeFriends:
** Slade -- at one point they considered each other brothers, much like Oliver and John Diggle's relationship in the present day. This past friendship is one of the two major reasons why Oliver ultimately spared Slade's life after his defeat.
** Anatoli, in Season Five.
** [[spoiler:Subverted with Adrian Chase, who was a FalseFriend straight from the beginning, even if it took several episodes for Oliver to learn the truth]].
* WeaponOfChoice: [[ArcherArchetype Does it really need to be said?]]
* WellDoneSonGuy: Surprisingly, or perhaps not, he feels this way toward Detective Lance.
* WhatMeasureIsAMook: In the first season, Oliver had no qualms about killing mooks as he preferred to leave the villains themselves alive. He tries and fails to communicate this policy to the Huntress, both on his own poor communication and Helena's crusade against the mob. Eventually, after he swears off killing for good, he admits that this policy wasn't much better than just killing indiscriminately.
* WhatTheHellHero:
** Oliver gets a few about his actions from the people who find out his secret, and from Detective Lance while in costume.
** About half of season 3 consists of his team yelling at him for his tunnel-vision when it comes to protecting Thea, especially regarding the hypocrisy of his lies and his dealings with both Ra's al Ghul and Malcolm Merlyn.
* WhereDoesHeGetAllThoseWonderfulToys: From Queen Consolidated at first. He later gets more fancy tech from Felicity or Ray Palmer.
* WillTheyOrWontThey: With Laurel during Season One: They Do only to call it off. He moves into this territory with Felicity from Season Two onwards; They briefly do in the season 3 premiere before an RPG attack on Oliver on their first date spooks him into calling it off with her too, but the door is still ambiguously open as the season progresses and even after Felicity gets in a relationship with Ray Palmer... Then TheyDo in [[CoitusEnsues "The Fallen" and end the season together]]. In late season four however, they too call it off.
* WorkingWithTheEx: Several times, with [[ChickMagnet several women]].
** He frequently approaches Laurel to be his legal intel during the beginning of his vigilante career up until the Season 1 finale. After a tense start at Season 2, they were able to work with each other again during the middle of the season. Throughout Season 3, their relationship gets a little rocky again when Laurel repeatedly tries persuading Oliver to let her become a vigilante and join Team Arrow. Fully in play in Season 4 [[spoiler: until her death]].
** After their bitter breakup, Helena blackmails him on working with her to kill her father. Oliver grudgingly complies when she took Tommy and the people at Verdant hostage.
** Technically with Nyssa as they are still married by League of Assassins law despite the fact that Oliver does not recognize their vow. It did not stop her in helping him take down her father during the Season 3 finale.
** Double Subverted with Felicity. She leaves Team Arrow late in Season 4 specifically because of her lingering feelings for him. It takes [[spoiler: Laurel dying]] for her to get back on the team [[spoiler: for payback]].
* WorthyOpponent: In a deliberate contrast to every other major villain on the show, Oliver seems to view Ra's al Ghul in this light and doesn't hold any strong personal enmity against him, [[spoiler:despite how he attacked Thea, manipulated Oliver into becoming his heir, and tried to destroy Star City (all of which would've never happened if it hadn't been for Malcolm's machinations). When Talia helps Prometheus capture him, Oliver straight up tells her that Ra's would be deeply disappointed with what she's done, despite it all being done to avenge her father]].
* WouldHitAGirl: Oliver has faced off against plenty of female enemies that he gives no special treatment for, including [[ProfessionalKiller China White]], [[KnightTemplar Helena]], [[ClingyJealousGirl Nyssa al Ghul]], and [[ManipulativeBitch Isabel Rochev]].
* YouCantGoHomeAgain: He was stuck on Lian Yu for "five" years in-order to survive. While working with Waller in Hong Kong, he willing allows himself to shut himself off from Starling City and his family, after seeing the deep pain they are all in. Previously, he was about to come back home and announce he was alive and well, but decides not to.
* YourCheatingHeart:
** Oliver was cheating on Laurel with her sister Sara. He also cheated on Laurel with other women before.
** Technically, he officially starts a relationship with Felicity while still married to Nyssa.

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