Roy Harper

"Last year you saved my life, and I don't mean from the guy who kidnapped me, I mean you saved me, you gave me purpose."

- Roy Harper to Oliver Queen

Roy William Harper, Jr. (born 1991), referred to as simply Roy Harper, is a street-savvy teenager from the Glades. He is the son of the late Roy Harper, Sr. and an unnamed woman, the ex-boyfriend of Thea Queen, a good friend of Sin, and the current protégé of Oliver Queen. When he first appeared, Roy was a street criminal who was resentful of everyone until he met Thea, who showed him another way of life and helped him become more calm as he fell in love with her. Roy also used to be one of The Arrow's main supporters, until the Arrow shot him in the leg with an arrow, telling him that the life he was trying to live was dangerous. However when Roy discovered the reason why the Arrow shot him in his leg in the first place, and discovered his identity, Roy regained respect for Oliver, and became one of Oliver's main supporters again. He was one of a number of people kidnapped and injected with the Mirakuru serum in an attempt to create a superhuman army for Slade Wilson's Blood Cult. He was training under Oliver in an attempt to control his powers, but after Oliver forced Roy to break up with Thea and her subsequent kidnapping at the hands of Slade, Roy left Starling City but was captured by Slade and used to create more Mirakuru soldiers, whilst the drain left Roy insane and went on a city wide rampage. However, in. Roy was cured of the Mirakuru by the S.T.A.R Labs cure created by Caitlyn Snow and Cisco Ramon.

Season 1
In, Roy first encountered Thea Queen when he stole her purse. He was later caught by the cops after being chased, and was taken in for questioning by Detective Quentin Lance. When asked, he admitted to stealing, because his mother was addicted to Vertigo and they desperately needed the money. Thea, moved by Roy's story, decided not to press charges, feeling compassion for his situation. She later visited him to get her purse, and the two had a brief chat.

In, Thea again met with Roy outside of a coffee shop in the Glades, She promised him a job at her brother's club, Verdant, provided he showed up for the job. In spite of Thea's kindness, Roy decided not to show up, prompting Thea to go and question him. He admitted that he didn't want any charity from a rich girl, a comment which annoyed Thea greatly. As she walked off, two men approached her, but before she could be mugged, Roy stepped in and beat the men, receiving a stab wound from one of them. Thea took Roy to the hospital, where he got stitched up and had to receive an injection, which made him nervous. Thea kissed him to distract him from the injection.

At some point, Thea and Roy began an intimate relationship.

In, Thea visited Roy at his place in the Glades, which consisted of intimacy. A man visited partway through and gave Roy a gun, much to the shock of Thea, causing her to storm out, despite him trying to justify himself. She later came back to apologize, but Roy was kidnapped by Joseph Falk. He was taken below Starling City, onto a train running on the abandoned subway. While Joseph broadcast him on Glades Betrayed, Oliver, as The Hood, intervened before he could be killed. The Hood distracted Joseph as Roy untied himself, which was just in time considering a bullet was sent at him mere seconds before he'd ducked. Joseph was shot with an arrow through the stomach. Roy later reunited with Thea at her brother's club, where he reached into his pocket and pulled out an arrowhead.

In, Roy steals a police radio, and waited until the dispatch mentioned the vigilante. But when he arrived at The Hood's supposed location, he instead found squad cars waiting for him. After, Thea bailed him out, Quentin showed him one of the corpses of The Hood's victims, and attempted to convince Roy that he's just a cold blooded killer. Roy later confessed to Thea that he wanted to find The Hood, because he felt he owed him.

In, Roy and Thea stake out Unidac Industries, where the Dark Archer had massacred the entire staff. Their search soon led them to Merlyn Global Group, where they ran into Thea's brother, Oliver. When told of their search for The Hood, Oliver firmly warned Roy to abandon his search. Later returning to his home, Roy rationalized that his Vertigo contacts may help them. Thea then had second thoughts on the search. Roy stated that he wants to find The Hood so he can train him, so he can stop other family tragedies from happening. That was the last straw for Thea, who threatened to break up with him if he didn't give his search. Thus, Roy chose to end things between them.

In, During the evacuation, Thea saves him from being shot. Soon after, a man stops their car to ask them to help get people outside of a bus nearby. Letting Thea escape so he can save them, they kiss, and he goes to help the people stuck in the bus.

Season 2
In, shortly after the destruction of the Glades, Roy spent nights patrolling the streets, fighting with street thugs, in order to suppress the absence of The Hood. He also went to work at the club Verdant, which was now being run by Thea. When Roy tried to prevent a rape one night, he was surprised by the appearance of The Canary, who knocked out all of the bad guys in a few moments.

In , Roy continues his efforts to patrol the night, however he discovers the medicines that are being delivered to the Glades Memorial Hospital were being stolen, which makes him engage in a car chase, where he has an accident due to the attack from the Chinese Triad. Roy gets arrested and he was threatened with prosecution, which goes away due to Laurel, and after he revealed that the medicines being delivered to glades memorial hospital were being stolen by unknown thieves to Oliver. Roy and Thea got into a fight, and she threatens to break up with him if he continues patrolling. However Oliver (under the guise of The Hood), confronts him and at that moment Roy becomes his informant in the Glades, out instead to continue patrolling.

In, Oliver (under the guise of The Arrow), asks Roy to track down The Canary, Roy discovers that the vigilante, is always accompanied by a woman named "Sin", Roy manages to find her, however after questioning her on The Canary, she flees causing Roy to run after her to a abandoned site, which he is knocked out. When he wakes up he finds himself tied up and forward with The Canary, who initially questioned him but released him after he received a text from Thea (which mentioned that Laurel had been kidnapped).

In, Roy is giving in his guns at the "Guns for Cash" Charity Drive but he does not want the money. Thea questions him about the guns but he tells her that it's an old part of his life. Sin appears and Roy introduces her to Thea. He saves Thea from an attack from The Mayor and then goes to Sin who has been shot. He is at the hospital looking over Sin and when she wakes up she tells him that since he saved her life, she will keep his secret of being involved with The Arrow. She calls Roy a moron to which Thea agrees to and Sin begrudging admits that she likes Thea to Roy.

In, Roy informs The Arrow that the funny money guys, are getting ready to make a, he stops one of the thugs attempting to escape, but gets arrested by Officer Quentin well doing so, Roy tells Quentin he is Working for The Arrow, and he is on his team so Quentin lets him go,

In, Roy, Thea, and Oliver were present at Moira's opening trial. Later at the club, Roy notices that Thea is in distress and tries to bring out Thea's anger by giving her boxing gloves and told her to punch him to release the anger.

In, Sin asks Roy for help (because of his contact with The Arrow) when Sin's friend Max goes missing. Roy is determined to help her and searches for Sin's friend alongside with Thea, who joins in on the investigation which takes Roy by surprise. However while investigating, Roy discovers a blood drive that was hosted by Sebastian Blood that occurred on the last day Max was seen and Max is later found dead. Roy takes a picture of Max's body specifically that Max's eyes bled out, he meets The Arrow and informs about what he had found but The Arrow tells him not to look into it. Roy angered by this, tells The Arrow that he wouldn't be his eyes and ears anymore and that he and his friends are going to look into it. The Arrow shoots Roy in the leg to slow him down as he is following the same trail albeit from a different perspective and knows that Roy can't fight the robber associated with the drug (and probably also that "his friends" likely included Thea.)

In, he is captured and injected with The Miracle, where he is then declared a failure by Brother Blood but he survived and was at least a partial success as his wounds The Arrow gave him seemingly recovered.

In, Roy gets cut by some glass but quickly heals. Later on when a light platform was about to fall on Moira Queen Roy quickly ran to her and blocked the light platform.

In, Roy continues to struggle with revealing his new found powers to Thea, creating a rift between him and her. Instead he decides to tell Sin, telling her he would "tell Thea when he got it under control". Afterwards the two plot to take down a rich lawyer who cut up prostitutes for a living, with Sin as the bait. Before Sin could become the next victim, Roy ripped the car door off its hinges and beat the man to a pulp, despite pleas that he would pay him to stop, putting him in the hospital and striking Sin in a rage. He comes to regret this and at the hospital, away from prying eyes, Roy breaks down into tears. Not long after that he is contacted by the Arrow, who promises to train him and hone his abilities, to which Roy responds with: "When do we start?".

In, The Arrow is training Roy on how to control his super strength. When Roy breaks the bowl of water, that he is meant to be slapping, The Arrow states that's how he placed someone in the hospital the week before. Roy asks how he knew and tells him that it is none of his business. The Arrow says it is his business when Roy agrees for help. The Arrow starts telling him of the story of Slade Wilson. Roy finally asks if there is anything he can tell him about Slade, after asking other questions which The Arrow couldn't answer, The Arrow says he had to put an arrow in his eye. The Arrow is defeating a dummy quickly with direct hand movements. It is now Roy's turn which The Arrow says go slowly. Roy stars throwing punches at the dummy. The Arrow tells him that it isn't about throwing a punch, but to control his strength, Roy starts doing what The Arrow demonstrated whilst complaining about what The Arrow has had Roy do, Roy then throws a punch at the dummy which tore the top half completely off. The Arrow explains that anger is energy which Roy needs to learn to control it in a positive way. Roy then explains his idea on being The Arrow's sidekick for one night to which he agrees. Roy comes in late and explains that he tried to get his girlfriend to leave town. The Arrow says not to get her into this. Roy says he can't lie and protect her at the same time. Roy asks how The Arrow does it to which he doesn't reply. The Arrow tells Roy to calm down to which Roy disagrees and says he needs to save Thea trying to run off, The Arrow grabs him and tells him to get control, if not for The Arrow or for himself, do it for Thea. Without knowing The Arrow is Thea's older brother, Roy asks how he knows Thea. He throws three punches towards him, which were all blocked. Arrow grabs him and asks if he's done to which Roy replies with a push which sends The Arrow across the room and telling him he isn't done, and if he wants to top him, put another arrow in his leg. Upon saving The Arrow from Bronze Tiger with his enhanced strength, he continued to beat him until an unmasked Oliver stopped him. Shocked that his girlfriend's brother was the vigilante he admired, Oliver managed to convince Roy to use his love for Thea as a focus for his strength. They managed to destroy the Earthquake Device before it discharged. Still stunned by this discovery, he thanked Oliver of saving him, but not from the Savior, but from himself by giving him purpose. The next day, Oliver brought him to the Arrowcave to meet Diggle and Felicity, officially making him a part of the team.

In, when Sara Lance returned after being presumed dead for 6 years Roy attend a party for her at the Queen Mansion. When Sin ran up to hug her Roy because confused to see that the knew each other. Roy then introduced himself to Sara but was unaware that she was the Canary.

In, Roy was trying to learn archery, but was unable to hit anything, but Sara mentions Oliver makes it look easy. When Slade was revealed to be alive, Roy teamed with Sara and Diggle to help kept Oliver's family out of harms way. He met Slade and shook hands with him, but it was indicated that Slade was much stronger than he was.

In, Roy gave Thea a present: A simple silver band, but he was pulled away to learn that Helena Bertinelli was back in town. Oliver invites him back into the field, but when the driver shoots Roy in the hand, he lost control of his rage and Oliver had to resort to calling him 'Speedy', Thea's nickname. Back at the Arrowcave, Roy tries to explain he had it under control, but Oliver was skeptical as he had to resort to using Thea again to stop him. Knowing the danger Roy possessed, Oliver asked him to stay away from Thea for her own safety, but Roy was not impressed. Later, he tried to break up with Thea, which she wouldn't accept, leaving to do a job, telling him that they would continue the discussion later. He was then seen making out with a random girl from the club as Thea walked in, leaving her heartbroken. Roy was then seen in the Arrowcave, watching her leave the club after talking to Oliver, he then crushed the gift he gave her.

In ,

In, it is revealed that Roy's been taking his breakup badly and was captured by Isabel Rochev and Slade Wilson who use him for the blood transfusions because of the Mirakuru inside him. However, he is soon rescued by Oliver who takes a critical Roy back to the Arrowcave to give him blood and help him recover.

In Seeing Red, Roy becomes insane with the Mirakuru and starts on a rampage across town. In a vision, it is explained that his hopes are to kill Thea. Along the way, he attacks many people, including Sin. He also kills a police officer. He eventually sees that Thea is at Verdant. He goes there to kill her. However, Sara shoots him in the leg and is about to kill him, but Oliver comes in and sedates him.

As of City of Blood he was in an inducted coma until Oliver could find a cure for the Mirakuru in his system.

In Streets of Fire, still in coma, Oliver gets the cure for mirakuru but doesn't want to inject Roy with it at first, wondering if it goes wrong. After a conversation with Amanda Waller, Oliver decides to save Roy by injecting him with the cure.

In, Roy wakes up and fights with Oliver in an ambush by Slade's Mirakuru Army. He then calls Thea and says he wants to meet her at his house. When he arrives, he tells her that he has one thing left to do, after which they can start a new live together. Roy fights the Mirakuru Army with Oliver and The League of Assassins. When he is back home he finds a letter which Thea left him, stating that she is gone and never returning, leaving him heartbroken.

Personality
Roy does not like to steal and only does it because he is in a bad situation. He resents rich people because he believes most of them are greedy, arrogant and selfish, and he is not above taking things for free, particularly from rich people. Despite his initial dislike of Thea at the time, he saved her from two thugs before they can steal from her, showing that he tries to do the right thing. He has a fear of needles (but it is mentioned that this fear may stem from past experiences and a fear of becoming a drug addict). He has stated he will never beg for his life because his enemies do not deserve the satisfaction.

He is shown to be grateful, as after The Arrow saved his life, he seeks to find out his identity. Roy states that he owes him everything, and possibly worships The Arrow, because he believes him to be a hero. Roy later says the reason he wants to find The Arrow is because he lost someone and wants The Arrow to mentor him, so he doesn't lose anyone else ever again.

He is impulsive, shown when he steals a police radio, in order to help himself find The Arrow, and gets arrested for it. He later broke up with Thea, because he would not give up on his search for The Arrow, but he regretted it and got back together with her. He is also shown to be a selfless person, rescuing and helping people.

In Season 2, like Oliver, Roy has a sense of justice and honor, and he has morals and remorse for his actions, Roy at times can be short tempered and hot-headed.

Despite his rough start with Thea, Roy is shown to genuinely love Thea and was only able to keep the Mirakuru from completely twisting his mind by focusing on his romantic feelings for Thea. Later on when he trained in archery, he didn't lose his temper when he repeatedly missed his mark and simply commented he thought he would have hit one. However, when he was shot in the hand, he lost control of his rage and Oliver to resort to using Thea's nickname, "Speedy", to snap him out of it.

Physical appearance
Roy is a physically fit male with brown hair and blue eyes. He stands at around 5"9' in height with a toned and muscular physique. He has a solid jaw line with strong bone structure and cheekbones.

Since his arrival, Roy is often shown wearing a red hooded jumper, which is a definite nod to his comic alter egos, Red Arrow, and Arsenal.

Powers and Abilities
Free running/Acrobatics: In, when attempting to flee from Thea and Laurel, Roy showed he could easily scale a fence multiple meters high in one fluid movement, making use of a nearby wall to provide leverage. In, Roy is shown to be fast enough to catch up with Sin.

Advanced hand-to-hand combatant: Roy is very skilled in martial arts, due to being trained by Oliver and Sara. He has great mastery in battle, that allows him to fight with Mirakuru-enhanced soldiers of Slade army in.
 * Skilled street fighter: Having grown up in the Glades all his life, Roy had taught himself to fight back. In, Roy was able to hold out on his own while fighting three thugs, even using the wall to build up centripetal force, jumping over one the thugs and strike him down. In , he took out two thugs without taking a hit from them, by flipping the second thug onto the then down first thug. In , he has shown an ability to fight more than three opponents simultaneously, including when they wield weapons.

Skilled marksman: In, Roy is shown to be skilled enough to throw a flechette, straight at Oliver's face (under the guise of The Arrow), which Oliver managed to catch, Roy has good accuracy despite the fact that he was not trained in archery.

Beginner archer: When he joined Oliver's vigilante team, Roy was trained in archery by Oliver, although not being any good at first he improves and manages to get lucky a few times he needs more coaching sessions from Oliver and fighting lessons.

Peak of human physical condition: Roy is shown to be in top physical condition from his intense exercises in the Arrowcave. He has rapid reflexes, which allowed him to catch an arrow shot at him by Oliver Queen, though he was under the influence of the Mirakuru.

Equipment

 * Roy Harper's Flechette: Roy received this Flechette after The Arrow, saved his life from the psychotic Joseph Falk aka The Savior, Roy keeps it as a reminder that The Arrow saved his life, and he owes him everything. He later painted it red so he would not get this Flechette confused with one of The Arrow's flechettes, which are green. Roy used it as a way to contact The Arrow before they went their separate ways.
 * Customized Recurve Bow: Roy was trained in archery and use in battle his own bow, red in color. He has a great shooting speed, and can successfully use this in close combat. Despite that he recently became trained, Roy already has quite a serious success, which is enough to fight against the army of Slade. Roy demonstrated greater accuracy and speed shots.
 * Customized Hunting Arrows: Like his teacher, Roy uses customized arrows.
 * Trick Arrows: In battle with Slade Wilson's army, he uses trick arrows with Mirakuru cure heads. It is possible that he uses other arrowheads.
 * Red jacket with hood/Red Arrow/Arsenal costume: As an outfit, Roy uses a red jacket with a hood that hides his face. This is a reference to the comic book, where Roy uses red outfit, which distinguishes it from the Green Arrow.
 * Red Arrow Mask: Roy hide his eyes under the mask, like Oliver and Sara. His mask is a dark red/brown in color to match his hoodie
 * Quiver: Roy has brown arrow container, to carry his arrows with him.

Appearances
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Season 2
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Trivia

 * In the original Green Arrow comics, Roy Harper is Green Arrow's sidekick, and is the first to take on the codename Speedy, which happens to be Thea Queen's nickname in Arrow. He later left Green Arrow due to drug abuse, but returned to take on the monikers Arsenal, and Red Arrow. This is frequently foreshadowed.
 * As shown in, Roy has a fear of needles. This is likely a reference to his comics alter ego's struggle with heroin addiction. This is referenced again when Brother Blood injects him with the Mirakuru serum.
 * In a deleted scene for, Roy's first appearance, Thea calls him Speedy.
 * In, Roy claimed he had lost someone and they were not coming back. It is possible this someone was his mother and/or father.
 * He is often shown wearing a red hoodie, a nod to his comic alter ego, Red Arrow, and finally in Oliver presents him with a red mask.
 * Unlike his DC comic version, Roy does not seem to have a good relationship with Oliver, However Roy does get along with his alter ego until The Arrow unveils his identity so he can help Roy control his newfound powers.
 * In the DC comics, Roy has no superhuman powers and abilities.
 * Roy is referred to by his first superhero name "Speedy" in, by Oliver, attempting to snap Roy out of killing an innocent man by using Thea's nickname. Ironically, he incredibly dislikes the name.
 * Roy is the first person ever to be cured from the Mirakuru.