Shows Like Arrow

Frequently asked about Arrow

Common questions people search for, with answers written by us at MoviesPack.

• Why did Oliver Queen spend five years on Lian Yu instead of simply being rescued?▾

  Oliver's time on Lian Yu was not entirely involuntary — after his initial shipwreck survival, he became entangled with intelligence operative Amanda Waller and the A.R.G.U.S. network, which kept him operational in various covert missions across the globe. The show's flashback structure gradually reveals that the 'five years on the island' story Oliver tells publicly is a cover; he actually spent time in locations like Hong Kong and Russia, returning to Lian Yu only at the end of each year to maintain the fiction. He couldn't simply go home because his survival would have exposed ongoing covert operations and endangered people he'd come to protect.

• What is the Undertaking and why did Malcolm Merlyn believe it was justified?▾

  The Undertaking was Malcolm Merlyn's plan to destroy the Glades, Starling City's impoverished and crime-ridden district, using a seismic device called the Markov Device. Malcolm's motivation was rooted in the murder of his wife Rebecca in the Glades, an event that convinced him the neighborhood was irredeemably corrupt and that destroying it would purge the city of its rot. He believed the casualties — thousands of lives — were an acceptable sacrifice to save the rest of Starling City from the criminal decay spreading outward from the Glades. This utilitarian, grief-warped logic is what separates him from a simple villain; he genuinely believed he was acting as a savior.

• How did Slade Wilson go from Oliver's ally on Lian Yu to his most dangerous enemy?▾

  Slade Wilson and Oliver formed a close bond while both were stranded on Lian Yu, working together to survive against Edward Fyers' mercenaries. Their relationship fractured irrevocably when Slade was injected with the Mirakuru serum — an experimental super-soldier compound — which, combined with the death of Shado (a woman both men cared for), drove him into psychotic rage, particularly after he misattributed blame for Shado's death to Oliver. Mirakuru amplified Slade's grief and anger into an obsession with destroying everything Oliver loved, culminating in his Season 2 siege of Starling City. Oliver ultimately defeated him by injecting him with a Mirakuru cure and imprisoning him back on Lian Yu.

• What happened to Ra's al Ghul's offer and why did Oliver eventually accept becoming his heir?▾

  Ra's al Ghul offered Oliver the position of his heir and leader of the League of Assassins after Oliver survived their duel — an outcome Ra's interpreted as a sign of destiny rather than mere luck. Oliver initially refused, but Ra's escalated his pressure by framing Oliver for murders across Starling City, systematically dismantling his life to leave him no alternative. Oliver ultimately staged an acceptance of the offer as a long-game deception, intending to destroy the League from within. His apparent transformation into 'Al Sah-him' was a ruse co-ordinated with his team, allowing him to dismantle Ra's operation and ultimately kill Ra's himself during a final confrontation.

• What is the significance of 'the List' that Oliver uses to target criminals in the early seasons?▾

  The List is a black book that Oliver's father Robert Queen gave him just before dying on the life raft after the Queen's Gambit sank — Robert shot himself to conserve resources for Oliver's survival and made Oliver promise to right his wrongs. The List contains the names of wealthy Starling City elites who had corrupted the city through crime, exploitation, and collusion, representing the hidden rot that Robert and his associates had participated in or witnessed. Early-season Oliver treats it as a near-sacred mission directive, hunting down each name methodically, though over time he evolves beyond the List's rigid framework as he grapples with the morality of killing versus rehabilitation.