Arrow / Tropes E to G

Tropes A to D | Tropes E to G | Tropes H to M | Tropes N to S | Tropes T to Z

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Arrow provides examples of the following tropes:

• Eager Rookie:
  • When Roy Harper is first introduced he wants to be a vigilante just like The Hood. Despite not having superpowers or any formal fight training, he kept putting himself in dangerous situations in attempt to stop the bad guys. Eventually, Oliver has to actually shoot him in the thigh with an arrow just to keep him from confronting the bad guys on his own. Eventually, once Oliver feels comfortable revealing his alter ego, he takes Roy under his wing and trains him as a sidekick.
  • When Laurel takes up the mantle of Black Canary, she routinely gets beat up by the bad guys she's pursuing and has to be rescued. She accuses Oliver of treating her differently because she's a girl, but he reminds her that he fought as equals with the original Black Canary, Sarah, and he only babies Laurel because she literally has no fight training or the necessary skills to protect herself. Once she starts training with Ted Grant, Oliver is more accepting of her in the field.
  • The new recruits (Wild Dog, Black Canary- Dinah Drake, Mister Terrific, Artemis, and Ragman) are brought on as replacement members of Team Arrow. Oliver and Diggle work to train them but they eventually complain of being babied. Oliver challenges them to a challenge to fight their way past him and ring a bell he put on a table. Five on one? Easy enough, right? He summarily puts everyone of them on their asses and isn't even breathing hard afterwards. Afterward, they decide maybe they're not actually ready to be in the field.
• Elaborate Underground Base:
  • In Season 1, Oliver operates out of a base beneath one of his father's old factories, although it isn't particularly elaborate. It has several computer monitors, training facilities, a workshop and storage for Oliver's costume and weaponry. In Season 2 this gets upgraded, making it slightly more elaborate.
  • When this gets compromised in Season 3, Team Arrow, sans Oliver at first, move into a new base underneath Palmer Tech (formerly Queen Consolidated), which was significantly more elaborate. This base also gets compromised when a villain follows Felicity into it after tracking her down, forcing them to move into another base that Oliver and Felicity had privately been setting up with STAR Labs' assistance. The new base is even more elaborate, befitting the larger Team Arrow.
• 11th-Hour Ranger:
  • In Season 2, Laurel joins Team Arrow during the first part of the three-part Season Finale, but she will only be an active member of The Team halfway through the next season.
  • In Season 3, Thea is an inversion of Laurel's case. She becomes an ally of Team Arrow halfway through the season, but only becomes an official member during the Season Finale.
  • Subverted by Tatsu Yamashiro in Season 3, who joins the assault on Nanda Parbat at the penultimate episode, but leaves before the Final Battle. Same goes for Barry Allen, who helps the captive Team Arrow at the start of the Season Finale but also never joins the Final Battle (though given the threat, his pressence would have left everyone else redundant).
• Embarrassing Nickname: Oliver is not a fan of people referring to his bases of operations as the "Arrowcave."
• Enemy Mine:
  • Despite his hatred of him, Detective Lance has asked for Arrow's help on several occasions. By the first season finale, Lance's feelings toward the Arrow have become more ambiguous; by Season 2, Lance becomes the Commissioner Gordon for The Arrow, once it becomes clear he's able to protect Laurel when her father cannot and hasn't led him astray in giving Lance vital information regarding looming threats against the city.
  • Oliver takes on Deathstroke with the help of none other than the League of Assassins, while Diggle and Lyla team up with the Suicide Squad to stop Waller from bombing Starling City in an attempt to stop Deathstroke's army.
  • In the Season 3 episode "Uprising" Oliver asks Malcolm Merlyn to train him to defeat Ra's al Ghul.
• Engineered Public Confession: Arrow gets Somer to confess to murder, then hands the recording of it over to Detective Lance.
• Enormous Engagement Ring: Felicity's engagement ring is a "three-carat, princess-cut, no cloudiness at all".
• Even Evil Has Loved Ones:
  • The late Nick, assistant to the mafia, had a family. Huntress doesn't care.
  • Malcolm Merlyn is an amoral businessman and a Big Bad, but in his own twisted way he seems to genuinely love his son, and definitely his wife. He is also incredibly caring towards Thea, who is actually his daughter.
  • Sebastian's bodyguard remains defiant towards Dig and Felicity as they hack his bank account and forcibly donate 2 million dollars to charity. He only stops when Felicity threatens to do the same with his parents' retirement fund.
  • Deadshot has an account set up for his daughter, and considers it best he has no contact with her.
  • Deathstroke has a son, Joe, who he cared a lot about prior to going off the deep end thanks to Mirikuru. He also deeply loved Shado, and appears to care a great deal about Ravager/Isabel Rochev.
  • Damien Darhk evidently loves his wife and daughter, enough that Lonnie Machin threatening them does not get taken well.
• Even Evil Has Standards:
  • Ra's Al Ghul leads the League of Assassins and is The Dreaded to all who know of him, but even he was disgusted with The Undertaking and now wants to kill Malcolm personally. A similar thing happens with Slade's war against Starling City, although they didn't step in until Sara negotiates a deal to come back to the League in exchange for help.
  • Sebastian Blood was perfectly fine with having Slade's goons terrorise the city and kill whoever they pleased, not realising that's how a city gets destroyed.
  • In "The Return", even Slade Wilson, a ruthless terrorist and mercenary who among other things murdered Moira Queen in cold blood, is visibly shocked by Malcolm Merlyn's manipulation of his own daughter.
• Everybody Was Kung-Fu Fighting: Pick an episode. ANY EPISODE.
• Everyone's Baby Sister: Despite Ollie having an actual sister, this role goes to Felicity instead. She's the only non-combatant on the team, and Ollie and Diggle go to great lengths to ensure her safety and keep her hands clean.
  • Thea herself. At first this is only to Oliver, Tommy, and to a lesser extent Laurel, but she becomes close to the rest of the team in Season 3 and 4.
• Everyone Calls Him "Barkeep": Oliver (as Arrow) and Felicity usually refer to Lance as 'Detective'...even when that's no longer his actual rank. In Season 4, when Lance (now a captain) snarks at his lack of a codename, is simply dubbed 'Detective' by Oliver.
• Everyone Can See It: Anyone who share a scene with Oliver and Felicity (and in some cases, even characters who haven't), will pick up on the fact that the two are clearly in love with each other. Only to be unable to say it (Felicity) or act on it (Oliver). Diggle is a Shipper on Deck.
• Every Scar Has a Story: Coming home from the island, Oliver is examined and the doctor determined most of his body is covered in scar tissue. We often see Oliver shirtless to prove it true, and some particular scars are told through the island flashbacks, including a torture scene for some on his chest. In the modern day, Oliver, Sara and Diggle are training in skimpy clothing and a discussion starts up from all the different scars they have. Humorously, Oliver notes that none of his scars came from a mortar, but "arrows, knives, lots of bullets..." Felicity was feelings left out, but later got a scar on her shoulder from Taking the Bullet for Sara.
• Everything Is Online/Hollywood Hacking:
  • Felicity is able to access absurd amounts of information in short order with little visible effort. Even before she came along, Oliver was routinely gaining access to secure systems and records. Both cases are at least justified later when we learn that Felicity once created a computer virus that can bypass any firewall once infected, implying she's used something similar for all the times she's instantly gotten through security measures, while Oliver spent time being used by ARGUS, implying he got at least some computer training with them.
  • Subverted with "Blind Spot", where old records that are not included on any database have to be retrieved by hand, and her attempts to scramble the security footage are thwarted by the tech-savvy security guards.
  • Most egregiously, in "Restoration," Felicity is able to control a construction vehicle with her computer. The controls inside move, as if there was an invisible driver. What.
• Evil Counterpart: Oliver's got a few interesting variations. In order they appear:
  • Deadshot/Floyd Lawton, due to killing people, specifically bad people, using his incredibly flawless aim, but is motivated by financial gain rather than justice.
  • Helena Bertinelli/Huntress, due to her similar skill level, her tragic back story, her family connections, and the fact she hid her darker side behind the appearance of a content spoiled child. However, she's motivated by vengeance rather than justice, and is far more willing to take lives, including anyone who happens to be in her way.
  • The Dark Archer/Malcolm Merlyn, being a rich one percenter who left the city some time ago, returned with the skills to fight, and is determined to clean the city. However, his idea is to separate the city between the rich and poor, then destroy the latter, using a complex conspiracy and his own archery skills. As such, he is motivated by disgust and hatred rather than justice.
  • Dodger: While he uses lethal means, he only kills if he feels he has to, and insists on only targeting the rich. Because of this, he believes he and the Hood are virtually the same. He's wrong. And for the most part, he's motivated by his own personal interests without any real regard for his pawns rather than justice.
  • The Savior, who is determined to 'save' the innocents stuck in the Glades by executing those who're at fault for its decline. However, he does so via brutal, cold blooded murder, without giving them a chance to change. His targets include a district attorney for not prosecuting enough criminals and a random street criminal. He's lashing out at everyone. He is motivated by anger and grief rather than justice.
  • The Clock King is this to Felicity, being just as good if not better with computers than her, and completely lacking her morals.
  • The role is later filled by The Calculator, aka Felicity's dad.
• Evil Former Friend:
  • Subverted with Yao Fei in the flashbacks.He only allies with Fyers in order to save his daughter's and Oliver's lives.
  • Played straight with Slade's partner and friend Wintergreen (aka the Deathstroke working with Fyers), also in the flashbacks.
  • As of the middle of season two, Slade himself is this to Oliver.
  • Tommy comes to view Oliver as this after Oliver reveals that he's the Hood. He comes around eventually.
  • Seemingly, Maseo in Season 3, who in the present-day, is a member of the League of Assassins. Averted somewhat in that while loyal to the League, he helps save Oliver owing to their past friendship, and while he does do some horrible things for the League, he seems to be doing so under the belief that Oliver becoming the new Ra's Al Ghul would be a good thing.
• Evil Genius: The Clock King. An efficient and precise criminal mastermind who uses his knowledge of computer science and viruses to give the Arrow Family a run for their money, and is also a very well-read and charismatic individual.
• Evil Parents Want Good Kids: Robert Queen wanted his son to clean up his mistakes. Moira Queen is somewhat the same. Subverted with Malcolm, who dismisses Tommy after his death for being weak and encourages/manipulates Thea to darken her soul.
• Evil Power Vacuum: After Huntress' murder of the Triad boss, and Frank Bertinelli's arrest, the leadership of Starling City's organized crime is up for grabs. When Cyrus Vanch gets out of prison, he tries to earn the respect to take over by killing Arrow.
• Evolving Credits: At times, the title card gets customized depending on the episode's theme/plot. Likewise, when characters get killed, their respective actor(s)/actress(es) gets removed in the OBB.
  • The arrow behind the name of the show changes every season. In episode 100, the Milestone Celebration's opening has it shift through every version seen to that point before settling on the then-current one.
• Exactly What I Aimed At:
  • In "Pilot", Oliver shoots an arrow at Adam Hunt, missing him and embedding it in the wall behind his desk. Hunt says "You missed!" and Oliver responds "Did I?". At the end of the episode, the viewer discovers that the arrow that is still stuck in the wall is allowing Oliver to remote-hack Hunt's computer.
  • In "The Undertaking," Felicity is being held at gunpoint by the man who kidnapped Walter. Oliver shoots an arrow into the wall behind him (into the bullseye of a dartboard, no less).
    Bad Guy: I heard you never miss.
    The Hood: I don't. [explosive arrow explodes]
  • In "Keep Your Enemies Closer," Deadshot reveals to Diggle that Diggle's brother Andy wasn't collateral damage from a missed sniper shot, as Diggle believed, but the intended target.
  • Another has the enemy, hit in the shoulder, shrug it off saying it hurts but it won't stop him. ...And then Oliver sets off the electric charge that knocks the enemy out.
• Expansion Pack Past: Oliver doesn't like talking about what happened in the five years he was on the island, and the flashbacks show why. For starters, he was far from alone and had to deal with mercenaries and amoral scientists. To continue, he wasn't on the island the whole time.
• Explosive Leash:
  • How the Dodger coerces his patsies.
  • Also how Amanda Waller keeps the members of Task Force X in line.
• Expository Hairstyle Change: Thea sports an ear-length bob cut in Season 3 to reflect her newfound toughness and assassin training.
• Expy: The entire series borrows liberally from Batman, which is actually appropriate considering Green Arrow from the beginning was a Batman-expy. ("Arrowcave" is not a Batman Shout-Out, it comes from the old comics where at first Ollie was straight-up Batman with a bow.) The series in some aspects makes the connection even stronger, but takes advantage of the differing names to go in its own direction, some to great acclaim. Some cross series comics characters, like Deadshot, Deathstroke and Ra's Al Ghul, end up having a similar relationship to the Arrow as they do in the comics to Batman. The series also adopts a lot of other characters from other comics series. Compare also Composite Character.
  Once the Arrowverse became established, various characters took on roles that mimicked other classic relationships in the overall DC universe. Oliver is, of course, like Batman as The Cowl, but Barry is like Superman in being The Cape to contrast him. Legends of Tomorrow is like any number of Super Teams, including Justice League, Justice Society and Legion of Superheroes. As for more specific examples:
  • Tommy and Malcolm Merlyn for Harry and Norman Osborn, a billionaire family who is friends with the hero. Malcolm's ploy to destroy the Glades is similar to Ra's Al Ghul's plan in Batman Begins. Tommy was set up to go the way of Harry, with the Love Triangle involving MJ/Laurel eventually going Peter/Oliver's way (which would also fulfill his comics destiny: in the comics, longtime villain Merlyn was revealed to have the first name Tommy not long before the series began) but in the end he stays a decent civilian.
  • Laurel is an Assistant D.A. love interest, mimicking Rachel Dawes from The Dark Knight Trilogy. Later she also takes on some aspects of Batgirl.
  • Detective Quentin Lance starts off antagonistic towards the actions of the Vigilante, only to realize his value to the city and shows open support of him, just like The Commissioner Gordon.
  • Felicity takes on the Mission Control role that Oracle does.
  • Roy takes aspects of all the various Robins.
  • Helena Bartinelli and Oliver has a strong Dating Catwoman vibe.
  • Count Vertigo and Sebastian Blood adopt a lot of Scarecrow mannerisms. Blood also has some aspects of Two-Face in being friendly with the hero while dealing with political events.
  • Nyssa al Ghul is in many ways the show's version of her more famous sister, Talia.
  • Ray Palmer is virtually the Tony Stark of this universe - a "billionaire, genius, playboy, philanthropist" who, after a traumatic experience, develops a Powered Armor and becomes a superhero. His relationship with Felicity has shades of the Tony-Pepper relationship from the Marvel films.
• Extremely Short Time Span: The final three episodes of Season 2, "City of Blood", "Streets of Fire", and "Unthinkable", take place over the course of about 18 hours. "City of Blood" begins with Moira's funeral and ends at night, with "Streets of Fire" picking up right afterwards with "Unthinkable" finishing the story and ending at dawn.
• Eye Scream:
  • Deadshot gets an arrow through the eye, seemingly killing him. in episode 3. However, he returns, now blind in that eye, in "Dead to Rights".
  • Slade kills Wintergreen/Deathstroke by stabbing him in the right eye]] in "The Odyssey."
  • Anyone injected with Mirakuru, whether they survive it or not, bleeds from the eyes.
  • Slade lost his right eye back on the island, when Oliver stabbed him with an arrow.
• Face–Heel Turn: Slade betrayed Oliver sometime on the island, eventually becoming the Big Bad in the present in Season Two.
• The Faceless: Fyers’s mysterious employer. She ]is seen from behind and the audience only ever sees her legs.
• Faceless Goons: Edward Fyers' mercenary mooks all wear balaclavas all the time. Fyers can still see straight through Oliver's attempt to disguise himself as a mook.
• Failed a Spot Check: So a random criminal just turns himself into the police... and no-one bothers to frisk him? He had a large, bulky Deathstroke mask in his back pocket (or thereabouts)!
• Fair Cop: Detective McKenna Hall
• False Flag Operation: In "Suicidal Tendencies," Senator Cray stages a fake terrorist attack so he can cast himself as a hero to help his bid for President.
• Fanservice: The show is notable in being very gender-equal in the fanservice. More interestingly, the show is not strictly about putting them in less clothing but ensuring that they are flexing their physical talents at the same time. Oliver spends a lot of time bare chested and doing the salmon ladder (Felicity openly admits she's turned on by it, when she catches Ray Palmer doing the same she muses that she Has a Type). But the majority of the cast has been seen in everything from exercise attire to attractive formal wear.
• Fantastic Drug: Vertigo, which gives a high but has, well, vertigo as a side effect. Both of the Not Wearing Spandex incarnations of Count Vertigo are good at injecting an enemy with it to take the fight out of them. In high doses it stimulates the thalamus region of the brain, causing the user extreme pain until their hearts give out.
• Faux Affably Evil:
  • Edward Fyers, the head of the mercenaries on the island, certainly acts polite to Oliver at first. But when Oliver refuses to hand over Yao Fei's location, Fyers turns him over to Deathstroke. He only gets crueler from there.
  • Mr. Blank is eerily polite when murdering his victims, even apologizing to the man he just killed for the mess he makes when making the hit look like a break-in, not to mention saying it's Nothing Personal to his employer upon giving him a fatal embolism.
  • Dr. Anthony Ivo, the Big Bad of Season Two's flashbacks. Like Fyers, he starts out polite to Oliver...then we see his manipulative and murderous nature, not to mention his inhumane experiments on countless prisoners and his many Kick the Dog moments.
• Female Gaze: The ladies just love the Salmon Ladder scenes. Just ask Felicity.
• Firefighter Arsonist: Garfield Lynns, a.k.a. the Firefly, who appears in "Burned", is a former member of the Starling City firefighting unit "The Fireflies" who was thought to have been killed during a massive building fire due to ignoring orders by the Chief to fall back. Having survived the blaze but being left disfigured, Lynns became a vengeful recluse. After his wife leaves him and takes their children, Lynns dons a firefighter uniform and begins killing his old crewmates by burning them alive in retaliation for them leaving him behind.
• Fist Pump: Oliver and Diggle are impatiently waiting for Felicity to hack a bad guy's computer. "Just for the record, I will pump my fist in the air and scream 'Yes!' if I get in." Later, when she finally succeeds, she does exactly that.
  Felicity: Wow. I really do do that.
• Flashback B-Plot: Every episode divides its time between Oliver's activities in the present as the Hood and the events in his past (mostly on the island) that led up to him becoming a vigilante.
  • The episode "Odyssey" put most of its emphasis on events on the island.
  • The episode "The Undertaking" didn't use the island at all but did focus on events surrounding the sinking of the Queen's Gambit and Moira's involvement with Tempest.
  • "The Promise", like "Odyssey" focuses more on the island than on the present.
  • And in Season 3, these flashbacks focus on his hitherto undisclosed training with A.R.G.U.S. in Hong Kong.
• Flashback Effects: Whereas Starling City in the present is shown in rich colors, Oliver's time in the island is relatively washed out, color-wise. Also, when light is shown, it tends to blow out the picture. Finally, the shutter speed on the camera is changed to emphasize and sharpen every detail (including that of the jitter-cam). Oh, and Oliver's got long hair.
• Flashback with the Other Darrin: In Season Two, Sara Lance resurfaces with Caity Lotz replacing Jacqueline MacInnes Wood in the flashback set aboard the Gambit.
• Foil: Multiple examples.
  • Oliver and Helena Bertinelli. Both became vigilantes as part of crusades sparked off by the deaths of loved ones. But while Oliver sought to bring his targets to justice and only killed when absolutely necessary, Helena basically set out to eliminate her targets. Also, Oliver started his crusade in order to right his father's wrongs, while Helena started out because her father had wronged her and she wished to kill him. Oliver ultimately works hard to stop killing altogether, while Helena slides further down the slippery slope and ultimately resorts to threatening the lives of innocents to achieve her goals.
  • Oliver and Sara Lance. Both went missing, presumed dead, when the Queen's Gambit went down. Both spent some time on Lian Yu. Both spent years away from everything they knew, enduring harsh circumstances and being transformed into Badass Normal killing machines. But while Oliver embarked on a crusade to right his father's wrongs, Sara became an assassin. Oliver eventually worked hard to avoid being a killer and eventually succeeded in becoming a 'hero' in the classic sense; Sara tried, but ultimately ended up returning to the League of Assassins. Also, during his years away, Oliver wanted nothing more than to return home to his family someday, while Sara didn't want to meet her family again because she didn't want them to see the killer she had become.
• A Fool for a Client: Subverted. Oliver plans on representing himself, but Laurel shows up just in time to take his case.
• Foregone Conclusion: Some things can't happen in the flashbacks because of the status of things in the modern timeline. Also, some characters' fates are known to comic fans, but sometimes the show goes a different way, or even teases the comic version and then subverts it:
  • No matter what danger he finds himself facing on the island, Oliver obviously survives since he's running around Starling City in the present. On that same note, we know that no matter what happens in the flashbacks, Oliver will wind up alone on Lian Yu once again prior to his rescue.
  • Also applies to specific characters and plot-lines in the flashbacks.
    • Season 2 in particular, since the island story and the present-day story are closely intertwined. For instance, after "Crucible", we know that no matter what happens in the flashbacks in the end, Oliver will see Sara 'die' again. Following "Three Ghosts", we know that Slade will eventually turn on Oliver and Oliver will be forced to kill him by stabbing him with an arrow in the eye.
    • Season 3 as well. As off "The Climb", we know that something horrible happens in the Hong Kong flashbacks which leads to Maseo joining the League of Assassins.
  • The show also subverts it by using any comics knowledge you have against you:
    • Thea Queen's nickname is Speedy and we find out eventually that her middle name is Dearden. She's gonna be another archer! At first subverted when Roy Harper comes onto the scene, but then double-subverted come Season 4. Folks, meet Speedy. Roy takes the name Arsenal.
    • One of the first things we see on the island is a Two-Faced, one-eyed mask. Oh, Crap!, Slade is in the house! Yes, he is, but he's a decent guy. Deathstroke is actually a much younger Wintergreen. At least until "Three Ghosts," where we learn Slade's the Big Bad of Season Two.
    • Merlyn is one of the Green Arrow's oldest foes, and in the comics, he recently got a first name: Thomas. Sorry to break it to you, Oliver, but your best friend Tommy Merlyn isn't all he seems. Sure enough, enter the mysterious Dark Archer. Three guesses as to who's under his hood. You'll need 'em, 'cause it's subverted quite well. Tommy's innocent. His father Malcolm Merlyn, on the other hand, not so much. But Tommy is put through events that would make for a good Start of Darkness and then finds out what Daddy's up to. Enter a Dark Archer Junior who will be the recurring Merlyn we know from comics? No. He is thoroughly horrified and disgusted when he learns what the Undertaking really is.
    • Laurel Lance's full name: Dinah Laurel Lance. Just in case you missed that, her firm is named the City Necessary Resources Initiative (CNRI). Naturally, the we-won't-call-her-Black Canary in Season Two is her, right? Wrong. It's her "dead" sister, Sara.
  • Sara states the last time she saw Oliver's hood was on Shado and asked if he knew how Slade was doing, this happening before we see Slade reappear and Shado killed while she is still with them, making it obvious that they survive.
  • The trailer for Legends of Tomorrow that debuted shortly after the season 3 finale spoiled a number of plot points about the fates of certain characters in season 4, including Ray Palmer having survived the explosion by shrinking, and Sara Lance being revived by the Lazarus Pit and becoming the White Canary. Thus, the first half of season 4 is exploring how these characters get to their already-known fates.
• Forgotten First Meeting: As off "Midnight City," appears to be the case with Oliver and China White. The two first encountered each other in Hong Kong, roughly two and a half years before they first met on-screen in the Season 1 episode "Honor Thy Father". Neither showed any signs of recognizing the other in that early episode.
• Foreshadowing
  • Season One:
    • If you look closely at the outfit Oliver was wearing when he was rescued in the series premiere, they're military fatigues (sans the greed hood). The Season 4 flashbacks finally show how and where he got them.
    • Numerous ones to Slade's eventual assumption of the Deathstroke persona during the flashbacks; most notably, when Slade is injured by an explosion, the black healing ointments and bandages on the right side of his face makes it resemble the mask, and foreshadows the eventual loss of his eye. In the opening scenes of Seasons One and Two, Deathstroke's mask, with an arrow through the right eye, is seen hanging on a stick on the beach of Lian Yu.
    • Starling City was shown in birds-eye view several times during Season 1. The season's Arc Symbol is actually a map of the Glades.
    • In the episode "Lone Gunman." a drunken Thea Queen furiously lashed out at Ollie for being "barely" her brother. Turns out she's only his half-sister.
    • One of Thea's major Story Arc in Season 1 has her being mad at Moira for allegedly having an affair with Malcolm Merlyn. Well, they had an affair, but there was a product. Guess who? Here's a hint: Robert, Moira, and Oliver are blondes. Thea's a brunette.
    • In the episode "Legacies," Tommy Merlyn rebuffs a drunken Thea Queen's advances due to his feelings for Laurel Lance and remarks that she is like his baby sister due to being close friends with Oliver since childhood.
    • In Deadshot's first appearance, plenty of shots showed the tattoos of every person he killed. One of them (in the line of names on the right side of his chest) is Andrew Diggle. In the same episode we learn Diggle's brother was killed and he's still in contact with Andrew's widow. It's only later that Diggle learns of the connection and forms a rivalry with Deadshot.
    • In a few early episodes it is shown that Laurel is actually a half-decent fighter. This ultimately comes into play in season 3 when she trains to become the Black Canary.
  • Season Two:
    • The fact that Oliver knows his way back to Lian Yu.
    • "Three Ghosts" also includes the Slade hallucination, who shows him acting antagonistic and terrifyingly hostile towards Oliver. He and Ollie clearly came to blows on the island. The hallucination also snaps the arrow he caught in half with one hand, showing that Slade gained super strength from the Mirakuru, which we then see him awake from later.
    • Throughout the first half of Season Two, references are made to a particle accelerator due to be turned on in Central City Once an Episode. This comes to a head in "Three Ghosts" when it's finally turned on and leads to Barry Allen becoming The Flash.
    • The SCPD IT guy's quip about this "being a dead-end job anyway."
    • In "League of Assassins" Al-Owal is sent to retrieve Sara saying "the child of Ra's Al-Ghul awaits your return." He later even refers to Sara as "The Beloved". Both of which are references to Nyssa and her relationship with Sara.
    • In "Keep Your Enemies Closer", Deadshot tells John that he was recruited by an organization called the Hive.
    • In "Unthinkable", during the flashback battle between Oliver and Slade on the Amazo, when Oliver watches Sara 'die' again, Slade taunts him by saying "How many times are you going to watch her die?". This can be considered foreshadowing of sorts after watching "The Calm", at the end of which Sara dies a third time, this time for real. Ironically, unlike the last two times, Oliver isn't present to witness it.
    • The Season Finale shows Oliver taking charge of the league of Assassins. The ultimate plot of the following season involves Ra's Al-Ghul forcing Oliver to take his place, which he did (though as a Fake Defector).
  • Season 3
    • In "Midnight City," Roy confronts Malcolm Merlyn in the loft to tell him that when Thea finds out that he brainwashed her into killing Sara, he would lose her forever. And sure enough that is what happens when she finds out about this in the episode, "The Return."
• Form-Fitting Wardrobe: Utilized mostly with the costumes, which are generally custom made for the individual. But a rather notable use of this trope comes when Thea finally takes up a costume and mask in the third season finale. Her costume fits her perfectly but she adopted the outfit from Roy, who while not much taller than her is certainly much more muscular. It does appear to be modified to better fit her, but it does fall under Changing Clothes Is a Free Action. Although this trope is amusingly subverted when Felicity puts on the ATOM suit, the helmet in particular doesn't fit her properly as it was designed for the much larger Ray.
• Four-Temperament Ensemble:
  • The Queen and Merlyn family members alive at least one season: Oliver (choleric), Tommy (melancholic), Moira (phlegmatic), Malcolm (sanguine), and Thea (eclectic).
  • The fighting members of Team Arrow: Oliver/Green Arrow (choleric), Laurel/Black Canary (melancholic), Sara Lance/White Canary (phlegmatic), Ray Palmer/The Atom (sanguine), and both Roy Harper and Thea as Arsenal/Speedy (eclectic).
• Frame-Up: Ra's al-Ghul offers Oliver his place as his successor, making a threat-veiled-as-a-prediction that Starling City will turn against him if he refuses. When Oliver does refuse, he sends his men to impersonate the Arrow and start killing people, making good on his threat.
• Freeze-Frame Bonus: In a 'blink or you'll miss it sequence', Cupid is seen in several background shots in Season 3's "Guilty", leading up to her actual appearance right at the end of the episode. Also counts as a Meaningful Background Event.
  • In the very first episode of season 1, there's a shot of the list when Oliver is first setting up his lair. Isabel Rochev's name appears two below Adam Hunt. Kind of makes you wonder why Oliver trusted her at all come season 2.
  • We also see the name "Hannibal Bates." Makes you wonder what the eventual Flash Villain of the Week had to do with the Undertaking before he had his Shapeshifting powers as Everyman.
• Freudian Excuse:
  • Rebecca Merlyn's death is her husband's Start of Darkness.
  • Similarly, Shado's death was this for Slade.
  • Brother Blood reveals that his abusive father was the inspiration behind his villainous persona, and that his skull mask was based on how he saw his father in his nightmares. It at least explains why he killed the bastard...
• Friend on the Force:
  • After his realization in the first season finale that the Hood's actions outside the law maybe are better for the city, Detective Lance becomes this for Team Arrow (and gets demoted for his trouble). In Season 3, the now Captain Lance turns on the Arrow again after realising Sara has been dead for 8 months and the Arrow told him nothing.
  • If you take the trope by name, Barry Allen, a police forensic scientist (albeit from a different city), also counts.
• From Nobody to Nightmare: Many.
  • Oliver Queen. Rich brat with no sense for the consequences of his actions and and unlimited sense of entitlement, to dangerous and unstoppable vigilante menace.
  • Malcolm Merlyn: Grieving wreck and deadbeat dad to a man so dangerous and unhinged he had to be expelled from the League.
  • Sara Lance: Bratty teenage girl to master assassin and timeship captain.
• Gambit Roulette: In "Damaged" Oliver put up a plan to push away suspicion from himself in case someone would put together the timing of his return home and arrival of the "hood" by getting himself arrested on "mostly" circumstantial evidence, and forced to wear security anklet, while Diggle posed as vigilante somewhere else. Except that video set up to get him arrested was set before his fight with Deadshot, and he brought Diggle to his hideout and in turn on board, as reaction to him being non-fatally shot by Deadshot. The plan relied on Diggle's reaction to finding out Oliver is the Hood and his agreement to help him with it.
• Gas Mask Mooks: The armored car bandits in "Trust but Verify", although they are actually using tear gas as part of their heists.
• Gender Bender: A strange version in the Elseworlds crossover between three CW series. Deegan has rewritten reality so that he is Superman. However, Kara soon realizes that technically he is not actually Superman, but rather a male version of herself, based on the scans that the AMAZO robot took of her. This is because she is from Earth-38, and the Book of Destiny that Deegan used to rewrite reality only contains information on things from Earth-1. Kara mocks him for being too scared to just go all the way and become her. The three different series and episodes are:
  • The Flash (2014) "Elseworlds Part 1"
  • Arrow (2012) "Elseworlds Part 2"
  • Supergirl (2015) "Elseworlds Part 3"
• Genre Savvy:
  • Diggle, to an extent. He's very much aware of the constant lying Oliver does to his face and whenever Oliver does something to get away from him, the next time around he's prepared for it. ^Example Diggle drives Oliver through Starling City, only for Oliver to pull a Stealth Hi/Bye whilst Diggle's talking and his eyes are on the road; next time around, Diggle's sitting in the back with Oliver and someone else is driving.
  • Kyle Reston brings a riot shield with him to a bank robbery. It is great at deflecting Oliver's arrows and gives Kyle a serious advantage when he fights Oliver hand-to-hand.
  • Quentin Lance might be the savviest of all. He sees right through an attempt to frame Arrow for some homicides, immediately puts his daughter under police protection when a "businessman" threatens her life, and sets his daughter up as a cat's paw to track Oliver.
  • And Malcolm Merlyn, AKA The Dark Archer, who not only figures out that the vigilante is targeting his secret society faster than Moira did, but figures out which part of the story he plays and goes out to fulfill it as much as he can.
  • Helena knew to train herself to catch an arrow just in case Oliver came after her. Subsequently, when Oliver knew he was going to face the Dark Archer again & that he was able to pull the same trick, so brought explosive arrows.
  • Deadshot knew the second he saw Diggle, the brother of a former target of his, at the scene of a potential client meeting that it was a bust.
  • Felicity wasn’t completely fooled by Oliver’s Blatant Lies.
  • Mr. Robbins, one of the Queen Estate bodyguards, knew that the express letter deliveryman wasn't there to see Laurel in "Home Invasion" when he saw his hands were shaking. This, however, got him killed by Mister Blank in a literal home invasion.
  • Barry, the CSI from Central City. His guesses are amazingly close to the truth for all that he's never met the Hood or even knows Felicity is one of his silent partners.
  • Felicity is the only person who points out Sebastian Blood's sinister last name.
• Genre Shift: With the exception of the Earthquake Machine towards the end, Season 1 mostly stayed away from science fiction elements. Season 2 introduced the Mirakuru Serum. It was also revealed that the upcoming Flash series would take place in the same universe. Season 4 introduced magic with the appearance of Constantine and Damien Darhk.

• Girl of the Week: More prevalent in the first season, where Oliver flirted with a lot of different girls. Laurel was his established Love Interest, but he had a fling with Sara in the first episode, flirted with Laurel's co-worker Jo, had sex with Shado on the island and had a multi-episode relationship with Helena Bartinelli.
• Godzilla Threshold:
  • In "Tremors", Laurel's alcoholism and drug addiction gets so bad (as a result of being disbarred), that Oliver has no choice but to call Sara in to help, at risk of attracting the League of Assassins' wrath.
  • The threat of Slade's Mirakuru-empowered army getting loose of Starling City is deemed great enough that Waller decides to bomb the city into a crater.
  • The same army is enough for Sara to call on the League of Assassins (and agree to come back to them).
• Good Is Not Nice: Oliver doesn’t hesitate to kill or injure if he believes it is necessary. He's been holding back on the killing in Season Two, but being crippled by an arrow to the leg is still a far cry from nice.
• Good Scars, Evil Scars: 20% of Oliver's body is covered in scar tissue over the course of five years on the island, and through the course of the series he gradually adds more in his fight for the city, as he is often seen stitching up his own wounds. The scars are mostly from knives and bullets, with the most noticeable scars from being shot with an arrow and being stabbed with a sword.
• Good Stepmother: At the beginning of Season 6, Oliver finds himself a single father to his 12-year-old son William after his mother is killed at the end of Season 5. Fully aware of the dangers his father faces as the Green Arrow, William expresses his fears of losing another parent and being left an orphan, which leads to Oliver making arrangements to retire from vigilantism. However, things change when he and Felicity are married alongside Barry and Iris at the end of the Crisis on Earth-X crossover episode, through which William gains Felicity as a stepmother. The two form a strong bond, and gradually William's fears over being left alone subside. In addition, Felicity helps him see the importance of his father's work as the Green Arrow, which ends up being a main contributing factor in Oliver's decision to reclaim the title permanently.
• Gondor Calls for Aid: The SCPD finally agrees to help Oliver thanks to Quentin's insistence to the chief. Oliver and the city thinks that the National Guard was called in by Blood, only for the latter to find out that the National Guard units on TV were just ARGUS agents with orders to level the city.
• Grappling-Hook Pistol: It was implied earlier in the series (via shooting an arrow into the sky and rocketing off), but later seasons explicitly show that Oliver's custom compound bow comes with a winch for specific trick arrows. Funny enough, this method averts much of the current engineering problems because the bow itself is the delivery system and being larger than a hand gun gives more room for the winch.
• Gratuitous English: Rare Western version. The Super Serum from season 2 is called "Mirakuru," Japanese Ranguage for "Miracle." Japanese has its own words that mean similar things, but it's not uncommon for them to use loanwords instead.
• Great Detective: Quentin Lance is able to easily tell when a crime they come across is or isn't because of the Hood. He's also canny enough to trick the Hood into meeting Laurel and is the one who has come closest to catching him. Given that the Hood is considered an important case in-universe that he was assigned, it shows he's considered this there, as well. In "League of Assassins," from the fact that Sara is alive and wants to warn him that his life is in danger, Quentin deduces that she sent Felicity first with the same warning, she's been working with the Arrow, she's the mysterious blonde vigilante, and that she's already been in town for weeks.
• Grand Romantic Gesture: Oliver publicly proposed to Felicity, after giving a heartfelt declaration about her role in his life.
• Greater-Scope Villain: Season Two contains multiple mentions of Ra's Al Ghul, a figure every criminal is afraid of in the series.
• Green-Eyed Monster: Shows up a few times:
  • When Tommy has a problem with Laurel and Oliver.
  • Oliver's attitude towards Barry Allen's flirtation with Felicity, on which Diggle calls him out in "Blast Radius".
  • Felicity sends some green Oliver's way in response to his time with Isabel Rochev.
  • Nyssa threatens Sara's family to get her to return to the League, and to her halfway through the second season.
• Grief-Induced Split:
  • Dinah and Quentin divorced after Sara's apparent death. He became Married to the Job, and she moved away. She returns three years later to proclaim that their daughter may still be alive.
  • Flashbacks in the third season reveal that Maseo and Tatsu Yamashiro lost their son, Akio, to the plague attack on Hong Kong and divorced soon after.
• Guest Fighter: Thanks to the breakout popularity of the show, a DLC skin with the likeness and voice of Stephen Amell was added to Injustice: Gods Among Us, and the principal cast of heroes and villains also were added as DLC to LEGO Batman 3: Beyond Gotham, with an exclusive island level to boot.
• Guys Smash, Girls Shoot: As in the comics, it is inverted with the Arrow and Canary, although they do a quick swap at one point to show it's their personal preference, rather than necessity.

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