Moira Queen

"I will burn your entire world to ashes."

- Moira threatening Malcolm Merlyn

Moira Dearden Queen (born 1964) is the wife of the late Robert Queen, the mother of Oliver Queen and Thea Queen, the ex-wife of Walter Steele, a former friend of both Malcolm Merlyn and the late Frank Chen, and an old friend of Jean Loring. After Walter was kidnapped by Malcolm, she became the new acting CEO of Queen Consolidated. In "Sacrifice", after Oliver convinces her to do the right thing, she holds a press conference and confesses her involvement in a conspiracy to destroy the Glades and everyone in it, against her free will, she testified that the mastermind of this conspiracy was Malcolm. After this, she is arrested for conspiracy to commit murder. In State v. Queen Moira was released from prison, by Malcolm's help, and it was revealed that Thea is the daughter of Malcolm Merlyn.

Season 1
In "Pilot", When her son returns, she goes to the hospital and is told by Doctor Neil Lamb that "the Oliver you lost, may not be the one they found". After Oliver is abducted, she voices concern over his safety and hires John Diggle to be his bodyguard. However, at the end of "Pilot", she is shown to be the one behind Oliver's abduction, after his arrival.

In "Honor Thy Father", she is first seen accompanying Oliver with the rest of her family and Tommy Merlyn to go to court to get Oliver legally resurrected. Later on, as Oliver is taken to his father's company, Walter and Moira try to convince Oliver that he needs to be the one to run the company though they do so unsuccessfully. After Oliver ditches his body guard, Diggle once again she expresses to Oliver that she lost him once and doesn't want to do so again, so she wants Diggle to accompany him when he goes out. As the episode ends she is seen getting into a limousine with a unknown man, it is here revealed that the ship Oliver and his father were on didn't shipwreck but was sabotaged by Moira and the unknown man.

In "Lone Gunmen",

In "An Innocent Man", Moira is further questioned by Malcolm Merlyn, who points out to her that The Hood isn't going after the rich, but is actually going after the people on "the List".

In "Damaged",

In "Legacies",

In "Muse of Fire",

In "Vendetta",

In "Year's End",

In "Burned",

In "Trust but Verify",

In "Vertigo",

In "Betrayal", she burned the book that held "The List". She later had a brief meeting with Malcolm Merlyn which Diggle eavesdropped on and recorded, learning about the Undertaking that they have planned. Oliver who earlier was hesitant to believe Moira had such a undertaking planned, believes so after hearing a recording. Oliver confronts Moira as The Hood to ask her about the Undertaking.

In "The Odyssey", She shot The Hood in self defense and nearly killed him. Later, Moira is questioned about The Hood confronting her by Quentin Lance.

In "Dodger", She tries to leave The Undertaking. At the end, she asks the Chinese Triad, represented by China White, to kill Malcolm for her.

In "Dead to Rights", Malcolm charged Moira with discovering who tried to have him killed.

In "The Huntress Returns",

In "Salvation", When Malcolm seemed on the verge of being able to determine who paid the Chinese Triad, Moira betrayed her co-conspirator Frank Chen and set him up to be killed by Malcolm so that Malcolm would not discover she was the one behind the assassination attempt. She then begged that the life of Frank's daughter be spared, and Malcolm, as the Dark Archer, agreed.

In "Home Invasion", Moira welcomes Tommy and Laurel into her home, while they are hiding from the assassin who is trying to kill the child they are watching over. When she is talking to Laurel later, she admits that she liked who Oliver was when she was dating him.

In "The Undertaking", during flashback sequences, Robert confides in Moira about the Undertaking and she tries to convince him not to do it. In the present, she is online shopping with Thea when Oliver comes in to tell them that Walter was dead. She goes straight to Malcolm and is furious with him for having Walter killed. Malcolm calls someone to turn on the camera, and she is shown that Walter is actually alive. Oliver hears her admit that she was part of the Undertaking.

In "Darkness on the Edge of Town", Walter is distant from Moira as he realizes that she was behind his kidnapping. He files for divorce soon after. Oliver later talks to her, and they are both kidnapped by John, disguised as The Hood. She confesses her involvement in the Undertaking, after John hits Oliver multiple times.

In "Sacrifice", Oliver convinces Moira that she had to do something. She holds a press conference where she admits her culpability in the Undertaking out of fear for her family's life. After a statement in front of the Starling City press, she is arrested for conspiracy to commit murder.

Season 2
In "City of Heroes", Moira is serving time in Iron Heights Prison, and awaiting trial for her involvement in the Undertaking. Thea outright refuses to visit her at first, as she is still angry with her. After his return, Oliver visits Moira in prison, where she warns him not to trust Isabel Rochev. It is also implied that she suggests to Oliver to go to her ex-husband, Walter Steele, for help to save the company from falling into Isabel's hands. After being kidnapped by The Hoods, Thea realizes Moira was only trying to protect her and Oliver from danger, and visits her and they share a tearful exchange and hug.

In "Broken Dolls", Thea visits Moira in Iron Heights prison and picks out a few clothes for her court appearance. Later that day she appears in court and then is threatened with the possibility of the death penalty however it was not decided. Later in her prison cell talking to her lawyer she says that her Thea and Oliver are in a good place and that she should stop digging into it as there are some questions that must never be answered.

In "League of Assassins",

In "Keep Your Enemies Closer",

In "State v. Queen", Moira is put on trial for her involvement in the Undertaking and the resulting deaths of 503 people in the Glades. Laurel Lance tries to dissuade Moira from testifying in her own defense after discovering ADA Adam Donner has a "trump card" that will swing the jury against her. Moira later confesses to her children that Donner's trump card is the fact that she once had an affair with Malcolm Merlyn.

During the trial, Moira decides to take the witness stand. Laurel cross-examines her and reveals the affair with Merlyn in open court. However, the jury finds Moira not guilty on all counts despite the apparent strength of the prosecution's case. After she is released, Moira is taken by her driver to meet a very alive Malcolm Merlyn, who informs a stunned Moira that it was he who manipulated the jury to get her acquitted, and that he knows Thea is his daughter. It is implied that hers and Malcolm's affair was not as brief as she claimed it to be.

In "The Scientist",

In "Three Ghosts",

In "Blast Radius", Moira and Thea attend Alderman Blood's unity rally for the citizens of Starling City. When the bomber Shrapnel attacks the rally, a lighting tower falls and nearly crushes Moira, but she is saved by Roy Harper, revealing his Mirakuru-enhanced strength to Thea.

In "Tremors", she has dinner with Walter and one of his colleagues, who try and convince her to run for mayor against Sebastian Blood, whose policies they believe would threaten the corporations of Starling City. At first, she believes both of them are in way over their heads as she doesn't believe anyone in Starling City would vote for her as a result of the Undertaking. However, Walter later points out that 43% of the people in Starling City do not blame her for the Undertaking, and that everyone loves a redemption story. After talking with Thea, who agrees with Walter and believes that Moira would make a great mayor, Moira soon agrees to run, but tells Walter (who is revealed to be aware that Thea is not Robert's daughter), that her OBGYN knows about Thea's true parentage and must be silenced throughout her campaign.

Personality
Moira is oftentimes ruthless, in an ends-justify-the-means sense. She had her own son kidnapped, but tried to justify it as doing to so prove he knew nothing about the Undertaking, and thus save his life. She attempted to have Malcolm Merlyn killed, so that she would be out from under his thumb, she and her children would be safe, and to prevent the deaths of innocent thousands. When the attempt failed, she betrayed her co-conspirator, Frank Chen, to avoid her own implication and so she and her children would not be killed. Malcolm, as The Dark Archer, killed Frank. Despite evident and prevalent flaws, it should be noted that Moira convinced The Dark Archer to spare Frank's daughter.

It becomes increasingly evident, as the series progresses, that Moira is in way over her head. After Oliver revealed how Robert really died, and how he sacrificed himself so he could live, she finally does the right thing, realizing she cannot live with the guilt of being an accomplice in killing innocent people in the Glades.

Appearances
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Comics
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 * Chapter 1: "Time's Arrow"
 * Chapter 2: "Prey"
 * Chapter 5: "Fathoms"
 * Chapter 25: "The Pieces Missing" (flashback)

Trivia

 * Moira's true intentions throughout the series was unknown, until it was revealed in Dodger, that she's been trying to get out of the Tempest organization for years, and trying to find a way to stop The Undertaking.
 * Moira knew the Queen's Gambit was sabotaged after she recovered the remains of the Queen's Gambit, but did not report it to the police in fear that Malcolm would kill her and her family.
 * In the comics, both of Oliver Queen's parents die during a hunting accident in the safari, when they are both mauled by lions.
 * On Smallville, the name of Oliver's mother was Laura.
 * In the comics, Mia Dearden is the name of the second Speedy.