Oliver Queen's bows

"You take out bad guys with a bow and arrow."

- John Diggle to Oliver Queen

Oliver Queen began using a bow as his weapon of choice, beginning with his shipwreck on Lian Yu, up until the present day during his crusade in Star City as The Hood, The Arrow and Green Arrow. As a master archer, he used the somewhat primitive weapon in his efforts to save Star City.

Chronologically, Oliver has used 5 bows; a traditional carbon fiber longbow, a recurve bow, an Oneida Kestrel compound bow, which was later modified slightly, and a League of Assassins takedown recurve bow.

First bow
The first of Oliver's bows, a longbow, was originally Yao Fei Gulong's, and he used it frequently during his time on Lian Yu, as a way of hunting, surviving and attacking, and also as a way for him to hunt and provide food for himself and for Oliver. After Yao Fei's capture and Shado's rescue, the bow was then brought to Oliver, so he could assist in Yao Fei's rescue. Shado began training Oliver on how to shoot and she proved to be, like her father, an expert archer. However, also much like her father, Oliver struggled to learn to shoot the bow. Later on, as Oliver showed more interest in the bow, and Slade realized that Oliver was not able to draw the weight of the bow. Shado took it upon herself to strengthen Oliver by making him slap water, and by the end of it, he was easily able to draw the bow. He eventually used it to kill Edward Fyers. After Yao Fei's death, however, Shado mainly used the bow until her death at the hands Antony Ivo. The bow was then inherited by Oliver Queen and used during his time on the island and in Hong Kong. After this, it was recovered by Talia al Ghul, who gave it to Oliver to use in Russia. After his primary bow he used as The Hood was destroyed by Malcolm Merlyn, he reverted to the first bow during the Undertaking and used it to defeat Merlyn.

Second bow
During his time in Russia, Oliver was given a new, recurve bow by Talia al Ghul. It featured standard recurve limbs and a riser that had a metal enclosure for the hand. This likely was for increased damage when hitting targets with his bow hand. Its design was short for a man of his size.

Oliver began using the bow after he returned to Starling City. He used this bow to great effect, but it met its end when it was destroyed by Malcolm Merlyn.

4 years later, after the Dominators kidnapped Oliver, Thea, Diggle, Sara and Ray, Cisco Ramon used his "Vibe" powers on a fragment of the bow to find out where they are.

Third bow
After his previous bow was destroyed, Felicity Smoak had a bow custom-made for him, an Oneida Kestrel compound bow. It featured lever-style limbs, meaning it used compound cams to store energy from bending the power limbs, but transferred this power to the arrow using the recurved outboard limbs. The resulting bow made for a great-looking weapon as well as a very functional one in a small 43" size. When Oliver first handled the bow, he remarked it to be perfect.

Fourth bow
Following their defeat of Slade Wilson's army, The Arrow began using a newer bow, which uncurled to its full length when needed, but was otherwise "curled" into a smaller size. The bow itself was still an Oneida Kestrel compound, but with extra modifications. Following Oliver's apparent demise at the hands of Ra's al Ghul, John Diggle began suiting up as The Arrow and using the bow. After Oliver returned to Starling City, he began using his bow again. After Oliver joined the League of Assassins as "Al Sah-him", Oliver started using a new bow (his fifth bow). However, after he left the league and became the "Green Arrow", Oliver began using his fourth bow again.

However, after the Dominators kidnapped Oliver, the statue of the bow remained unknown. However, after Oliver escaped, he got himself a new, similiar bow in the fabrication room of the Waverider.

Fifth bow
After he had given in to Ra's al Ghul, Oliver traveled to Nanda Parbat and became Al Sah-him. Oliver was then given an all-black, Martin Saber Takedown Recurve Bow, which had more power and efficiency than his previous bows.

Oliver started using the bow after he "embraced" the identity of "Al Sah-him". However, after he returned to Star City and started using the identity of the "Green Arrow", Oliver began using his previous bow again.

Sixth bow
Oliver's sixth bow is looks and works exactly like his fourth bow. He got the bow from the Fabrication room of the Waverider after he was kidnapped by the Dominators.

Future bow
Sometime before 2046, in a possible future, Oliver got a new bow. It's unknown when he got the bow and what material it is constructed from. It might be his sixth bow, but it was never confirmed.

In 2046, in a possible future, Oliver used the bow to take down Grant Wilson. After that, he gave the bow to Connor Hawke.

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Trivia

 * The bow used by Oliver at the end of his tenure on Lian Yu in 2012 is the same as the bow he used as the Hood in first season.
 * So far, the sixth bow is the only bow (not including the future bow) that didn't make her debut on Arrow. The bow first appeared on DC's Legends of Tomorrow 's Invasion!