Quentin Lance

Quentin Larry Lance (born c. 1962) is the Deputy Mayor of Star City. He is a former police captain, sergeant, detective and officer, of the Star City Police Department. He was partners with the late Lucas Hilton before being demoted, and was a good friend of the latter. He was reinstated as detective by lieutenant Frank Pike when Slade Wilson, a former ASIS operative, launched an assault on Star City with the intent of destroying everything Oliver Queen loved. Quentin is the ex-husband of Dinah Lance, and the father of the late Laurel Lance and Sara Lance. Whilst working with Team Arrow, he was frequently referred to as "Detective", due to his initial police rank, eventually sticking as a code-name.

Quentin had originally sworn to take down the Hood by any means necessary, even using his daughter as bait once. After helping the Hood take down Malcolm Merlyn he began to see the law can only do so much but the Hood can go outside the law to compensate for the law's limits. He eventually began to work with him to catch criminals, even knocking out his fellow policemen that tried to attack the Hood, now known as the Arrow. He recently had a falling out with the Arrow, after having held a grudge for his not telling Quentin that Sara was dead. He has decided he's done with the Arrow and issued a city-wide manhunt for him. This also estranged his relationship with Laurel as she hid the secret from him as well. After Ra's al Ghul was defeated, Quentin finally reconciled with Laurel.

Quentin has been dismissed from his department for aiding and abetting Damien Darhk in his illegal activities; despite the fact that Quentin was under duress.

Early life
Quentin was born in 1962. During his younger days, Quentin and Dinah moved into their own apartment when they were Laurel's age. According to Quentin, he repeatedly proposed to Dinah, only for her to turn him down until the right moment. Quentin claimed he spent a year with that engagement ring in his pocket waiting for her to finally accept his proposal.

Having to deal with being a police officer and a father to his partying daughters, Lance was not able to administrate much responsibility into his life. Sometime in 2007, Quentin brought Sara to work to help her research a paper on the criminal justice system. She wanted to see what it looks like on the inside, but she was not expecting her father to walk her through the booking process--including handcuffing her to a desk, with every intention of the inside of a jail cell being next. However, before he could, the Police Department is attacked by a professional assassin who is targeting Sara. The Pilgrim kills every cop but Quentin and before she can manage to make the kill on Sara, a man with a heat gun and a woman with a staff come to her rescue. They successfully defeat the assassin, taking Sara along the process and leaving Quentin behind. However, the assassin (known as The Pilgrim) soon abducts Quentin along with other individuals are threatened as a way of luring the same people who saved Sara earlier. With the Pilgrim having been defeated, Quentin soon encounters the woman with the staff, who reveals she is a future version of Sara. Quentin gladly hugs her, stating that he is proud of the woman she has become. With that in mind, he takes a pill that erases his memory of the events that occurred.

Hunting the Hood
Around the time Oliver Queen returned to Starling City, he told Quentin and his partner Lucas Hilton about a man in a green hood who saved his life from a group of kidnappers. At first, Quentin thought he was joking around and holding something back. However, after the same individual attacks Adam Hunt, he comes to believe Oliver and begins a mission to arrest The Hood. On the same night Oliver holds his "Welcome Home" party next door, Adam Hunt's operation was attacked by The Vigilante in the Green Hood, who forcibly removed the 40 million from Hunt's bank account. Detective Quentin and his police task force were on scene, and arrived at Adam's office in time to see the Vigilante jump out the window and zip-line towards the building where Oliver's party was being held. Soon after, SCPD officers crashed the party as Quentin interrogated Tommy and Oliver about the Vigilante. The two men didn't know anything about the Hood, and Oliver offered $2m for anyone who could find "a guy in a Green Hood". Annoyed and insulted at Oliver's unchanged playboy attitude, Quentin, remembering that Sara fell under Oliver playboy's spell, confronted Oliver by saying "Did you even try to save my daughter?". He was immediately separated by Lucas, and the party continued again.

A week later, Quentin visited Martin Somers in response to The Hood's attack the night before, and questioned him as to why the Vigilante would attack him. Somers didn't tell him anything useful about his confrontation. When the Detective pressed the issue, Somers threatened Laurel. Quentin assured him that he would catch the Hood, but later went to CNRI to give Laurel protection in case someone tried to attack her, as a reaction to Somers' threat. He also thanked John Diggle, Oliver's bodyguard, for saving Laurel's life from the Chinese Triad when they had invaded her apartment. He appeared at the docks when there were reports that The Hood was fighting China White, and he found evidence there that proved Somers's criminal activities.

A few weeks later, Quentin was at the scene of James Holder's death, correctly assuming that The Hood wasn't the one that killed him. At the police department, he was informed of the curare found in James Holder's system. Quentin is then seen at the Queen Mansion speaking to Walter Steele, warning him about the deaths of potential stock-buyers of Unidac Industries by an unknown shooter (later revealed to be Deadshot). Quentin is later called by The Hood, saying that he needs help to protect the people at the auction for Unidac Industries.

Around Christmas time, Quentin discovered Adam Hunt murdered by a black arrow. He quickly realized it wasn't The Hood, but a copycat archer. He was told he could only go after one, and so chose to chase The Hood over the Dark Archer.

Quentin discovered that Laurel stole his only contact to The Hood. He decided to let her keep the phone after placing a bug on it to trace the calls.

Quentin was seen on the television report about The Dodger robberies, giving the press the same statement as last time, "No comment".

After Thea Queen was arrested for driving under the influence of Vertigo, Laurel spoke to him about her to see if he could help get her out of trouble and possibly help her get a better deal. Quentin later led a task force that interrupted a "drug deal" between The Count and Oliver Queen. He then went to the Queen Mansion with McKenna Hall to speak to Oliver about his presence at the drug deal. Quentin and his task force responded to a call at The Count's hideout and were on scene when The Hood held The Count and injected him with "the fruits of his labour".

Quentin used the bug placed on The Hood's phone to find out when Laurel would be meeting with The Hood. When The Hood found out that he was on to him, he escapes. Quentin tried to chase him, but The Hood knocked him out. After Laurel was captured by Cyrus Vanch, he and The Hood formed a rare alliance. He attempted to kill Cyrus, but was told by The Hood to just arrest him.

Quentin was seen at the Queen's Mansion questioning Moira after the Vigilante attacked her.

Quentin questioned Roy Harper after he was caught after robbing Thea. He is then seen talking to McKenna Hall, asking her to work with him on the Vigilante case.

Quentin was reunited with his ex-wife, Dinah Lance, who he refused to talk to initially. He was skeptical, at first, of Dinah's idea that Sara may still be alive, but he soon warmed up to it and helped her in her search. He soon learned that Dinah's evidence was based on another woman and not on Sara. He confronted Dinah, who revealed that she knew Sara was leaving with Oliver, and allowed her to go with him on the boat.

Quentin was informed by his tech assistant of a hacker who tried to use the same methods as the police technical analyst to infiltrate Merlyn Global Group. This hacker was revealed to be Felicity Smoak.

Quentin soon arrested Felicity Smoak, suspecting she was working with The Hood because of the hacking of Merlyn Global Group and the evidence trail left by the "research" Oliver had her run before he revealed his identity to her. In the middle of his interrogation of her, Quentin was called by The Hood and informed that the Glades will be destroyed by Malcom Merlyn. Felicity alluded to the fact that she knows what the call was in reference to, basically stating "Sounds like you have bigger problems then me". Despite the fact that it might endanger her later, she pointed out that her opinion of The Hood was the same as his once, but had changed when she realized he had sacrificed a lot for the city and it made him a kind of hero. This, tied to the fact that The Glades was in danger, led Quentin to inform his superiors about the Undertaking, despite the fact that it would reveal his contacting The Hood and his not arresting him. Instead of mobilizing the forces, Lieutenant Frank Pike suspended him, and the police took no action until Moira Queen held her press conference. When Diggle decided to go with Oliver to confront Malcolm Merlyn, Oliver called Detective Quentin to dismantle the earthquake device, instead of sending Felicity directly into the impact zone. The newly suspended-Detective Lance, along with Felicity's help, searched for, and successfully deactivated the Markov device. Nonetheless, Malcolm Merlyn hid a second device, which activated, and took out half of the Glades. Quentin rushed back through the crowds and towards CNRI, where he found Laurel barely escaping the rubble of her workplace's building. He held her back as she tried to go back in to save Tommy Merlyn, telling her that it was too late. They stood there, watching, as most of The Glades was falling into rubble and ash.

Demotion and dealing with his daughter's return
Quentin has been demoted from detective to officer. He continues to hold a better opinion of The Hood, after the attempt to avert the Undertaking and the fact that policing The Glades is a near impossible task, and the pair speak briefly when The Hood delivers his imitators to be arrested. He later learns that the serial killer Barton Mathis, aka the Dollmaker, whom he had put in jail, escaped during the Undertaking and had begun killing again. He reveals that he has realized after the Undertaking that strict law and order can't solve all the problems in Starling City, reversing his previous position of law solving every criminal problem. He teams up with The Arrow and Felicity Smoak to track down Mathis. Eventually he is captured by Barton and forced to watch as the killer turns Laurel into a doll. Just before this happens, he and Laurel are saved by the intervention of The Arrow and The Canary.

Quentin responds to an emergency in a tunnel but is ordered not to by Frank Pike but Quentin arrives anyway, his partner Lucas tries to stop him and Quentin discovers a girl strung up like a doll and knows it to be the work of Barton Mathis who escaped prison during the earthquake but Pike has been keeping it quiet and has ordered Quentin not to get involved or will be arrested. Quentin disgusted by Pike's actions goes to the Arrow for assistance instead and tells him about Mathis and his history with him. Later Quentin and the Arrow visit Mathis' lawyer and get his location from him but arrive and discover only a phone where Barton tells them that he has another girl and forces Quentin to listen as he kills her. Later Felicity Smoak uses herself as bait to lure Mathis out while Quentin, John Diggle and the Arrow but it fails and Quentin is arrested by Lucas for obstruction of justice but is freed by Laurel who tries to convince him that the Arrow is evil but Quentin realizes that Laurel is still blaming him for Tommy's death. Later Quentin and Laurel are abducted by Barton who forces Quentin to watch as he kills Laurel but the Arrow stops him and with the help of the Canary, kills Mathis. Quentin and Laurel walk out of the facility where Laurel has a breakdown moment to Quentin believing herself to be responsible for Tommy dying.

He has become worried about Laurel when she is nearly arrested for DUI. He even asks Oliver to check up on her, confirming how far he has come in his opinion of Oliver Queen.

He is reunited with his daughter Sara and helps her fight off the League of Assassins members pursuing her. When she leaves Starling City, he agrees to keep her existence a secret from his ex-wife and Laurel in order to protect them.

Quentin arrested Roy after he was caught beating up a gang member. He then releases Roy, saying that it was a mistake after Roy bought up that he was working for The Arrow.

Quentin is seen at Queen Consolidated's Applied Sciences Division, after the break in, joining in on speculation of what happened. He questions Barry Allen's credentials along with Oliver Queen and is extremely skeptical of Barry's description of what happened, despite the evidence he presents. He takes Felicity to the side, asking her to get in contact with The Arrow, to see if he could help. She assures him with a smile that The Arrow is already on the case (as Oliver is still right behind them examining the scene.)

He is informed by the Arrow that Cyrus Gold was responsible for the break in of Queen Consolidated and warned of the threat Cyrus posed. He manages to convince Lucas Hilton to perform a manhunt for Cyrus. They track Cyrus to a warehouse but fail to take down Cyrus, instead resulting in most of the team being killed. During the fight, Quentin manages to steal a key off Cyrus, which he gives to the Arrow when he comes to visit him in the hospital.

Officer Lance leads a raid with policemen and SWAT against Hugo Mannheim. During the gun fight between the police and Mannheim's men, Quentin gets shot but the bulletproof vest protected him. The police arrests the assailants and Quentin has a talk with Arrow and Canary. He tells Canary that she can't toss a guy out of a window but she argues back, saying that the guy shot Quentin. In a brief talk with the Arrow, he realizes that it is a matter of time before The Huntress returns. During the hostage situation at the courthouse, Quentin runs to the scene and screams after Laurel but Oliver tells him she got separated from him. Fearing for his daughter's life and in his rage, he punched Mr. Donner and asked if the hostage situation was his idea. Officer Lance calls The Arrow and coincidentally, Oliver got a call from his "mom". While Oliver walked away, Quentin started to talk to The Arrow about the hostage situation and Arrow replies that he's aware of the situation. Quentin, Arrow and Canary kidnaps Frank Bertinelli to make The Huntress release Laurel. During the prisoner exchange, a crazed S.W.A.T officer opens fire against the vigilantes and aimed his gun at the Arrow but Quentin saved him by knocking out the policeman. After the drama, Quentin quickly arrests Helena.

At the Arrow's request, Quentin arrests Slade Wilson for Thea's kidnapping but is forced to release him for lack of evidence. Because of this, he is himself arrested by his boss for working with the vigilante.

Quentin is in prison. Laurel visits him, and he denies all knowledge of the Arrow's and the Canary's identity. Later, a vengeful prisoner, blaming him and the Arrow for his arrest, manages to break into his cell and beat him up.

While visiting Quentin in the prison hospital, Laurel tells him she knows who the Arrow is, at which point he stops her and says he does not want to know. He says that knowing the Arrow's identity would compromise the Arrow's mission, that the Arrow is more important to Starling City than "the man under the hood," and that doing some jail time is the least he can do for the Arrow. Laurel later manages to get him released from prison and the charges against him dropped.

Quentin is reinstated to Detective after Slade's army attacks the city to help take charge of coordination against the Army and allowed by Frank Pike to call in The Arrow.

Quentin tries to rally the SCPD to stop Slade's army. After a fight with one of Slade's super men, he was thrown across a room. Later, at the very end of the episode, he is shown to have collapsed on the ground and started throwing up blood. It is revealed he has internal bleeding puncturing his lung, as he is coughing up blood and cannot breathe.

Time in a coma
For some weeks following his collapse, Quentin was placed in to a medically-induced coma. He stayed like this until he was visited by his daughter, Sara, somehow causing him to wake up, to the surprise of both of his daughters.

Promotion to Captain
Quentin was eventually promoted to captain in the SCPD.

Quentin publicly declared that the anti-vigilante task force had been disbanded. He had apparently developed a chronic heart condition as a result of the injuries he suffered fighting Slade's army, which required him to take medication. However, he still continued to personally help the Arrow hunt down criminals, which resulted in him being sent to the hospital.

Quentin was kept unaware of Sara's death at Laurel's insistence, as Quentin later called The Arrow to inform him about a series of murders using arrows. After Laurel was nearly killed by Simon Lacroix Quentin went to see that she was fine and told her not to put herself in harms way anymore.

In "Corto Maltese" Quentin attended an AA meeting with Laurel where he listen to a girl who was being abused by her boyfriend. Laurel wanted to help her but he told her not to. Laurel ignored his advice and ended up in the hospital. Quentin went to see her and once again to tell her to stop putting herself in harms way.

Quentins ex-wife Dinah returned to Starling City for Christmas and covered for Sara when Dinah asked about where she was. Oliver later dropped of several criminals for arrest jokingly Quentin accepted it as a Christmas present.

Quentin contacted Team Arrow to give them information on Danny Brickwell that could help them take him into custody. Roy as Arsenal came to pick up the info and tried to keep his identity concealed but failed as he was able to deduct his identity by remembering they're past experiences. After the glades riot Quentin in led the police force back into The Glades where he ran into Sin where he discovered that The Canary was no longer Sara.

Quentin grieved at Sara's tombstone. When his daughter came by, he unleashed his anger toward Laurel and went to an alcoholic anonymous meeting.

Oliver (under the guise of the Arrow) told Quentin that he ran into a new player and needed his help, however, Quentin refused to help him, and revealed that he knows that the Arrow knew Sara was dead and lied to him about it, he also stated that he was done with the Arrow.

Quentin was at a press conference, addressing the media regarding weather or not the Arrow has started killing again, later at the mayor's office, he got into an argument with Laurel, regarding if the Arrow was being set-up. At another meeting, Lance again argued against the Arrow, fighting with his daughter. The meeting was interrupted when the mayor Celia Castle was murdered by an imposter Arrow, who went on to critically injure Ray Palmer.

Quentin, saw the Arrow (unknown to him it was an impostor) escape after mayor Celia Castle's death. Quentin reinstated the Vigilante Task Force, and started a manhunt for the Arrow. Quentin is later captured by Maseo Yamashiro and brought to Ra's al Ghul, the latter revealed that Sara was on Lian Yu with Oliver and reveals that Oliver is the Arrow, at first Quentin didn't believe Ra's, but he soon realized that Ra's is telling the truth. Quentin announced the news on television, leading to Oliver turning himself in at the police station. During the prison transport, Quentin verbally released all his anger on Oliver and blamed him for the city and his family's problems. In order to save Oliver, Roy dressed as the Arrow, stopped Oliver's transport van and gave himself up to the police, insisting that he has been the Arrow all along.

Despite Roy successfully convincing the city he's the Arrow, Quentin still resumed his search for proof that Oliver is the Arrow. He obtained a search warrant for Verdant and uncovered Oliver's hideout, confident that he had him cornered, though he only found Roy's fingerprints. He investigated Thea's apartment for possible evidence as well, warning Thea about the dangers Roy faces in prison. He then visited Roy in prison to try and get him to confess the truth, but Roy refused because he wanted to accept the punishment for the policeman he murdered. Quentin ended the interrogation when he told Roy that he won't make up for it in prison. He later reported to Thea about Roy's supposed death, and when Oliver walked in, once again blames him for the incident.

Quentin assisted Joe West and Cisco Ramon investigate the crash site that resulted in the death of Tess Morgan. While Cisco searched the area with a high-tech scanner, Quentin engaged in small talk with Joe over their daughters. When Cisco announced that he found traces of tachyons just off the road, Quentin was surprised to see the coffee in his cup float in the air. They discovered the true Harrison Wells' corpse at the site, and Joe advised against Quentin reporting it, not wanting to get anyone involved in their dangerous situation. While there, Joe gave Quentin advice regarding his current relationship with Laurel.

When Ra's Al Ghul threatened to kill everyone in Starling with the Alpha-Omega bio weapon, Laurel came to him and asked for his help which he gave. When Oliver faced Ra's he was with the sniper team that was trying to kill him. Quentin was able to save Oliver's life by warning Felicity, hinting that he still had some respect for Oliver.

Star City
Sometime after the Alpha-Omega incident, Quentin was approached by Damien Darhk. Lance began working with Darhk, believing that Darhk could help the faltering Starling City (which was renamed Star City to honor Ray Palmer, who died in an office explosion). Quentin was kept unaware of Darhk's true motives, or that Darhk was responsible for the sudden emergence of armed robbers terrorizing Star City, which earned the press nickname of "Ghosts".

Lance was made a part of the city council to run Star City in the absence of a mayor. Aside from the pressures of trying to reinvigorate his home, Quentin struggled with handling the Ghosts. Eventually, Darhk made his presence known to the council, and explained his plans to let the city die. Darhk then went on to kill three of the council members, and then staging an assassination attempt on Quentin in order to hide their partnership. While Quentin was "saved" by Black Canary, he was shot in the shoulder. Some time later, Laurel came to her father, with evidence that the Ghosts had stolen cluster bombs from Kord Industries. While at the soon-to-be-reopened railway to Central City, Lance ran into Oliver Queen, and took the opportunity to blame him for Star City's condition, claiming that his presence created monsters. Quentin later confronted Darhk about his true agenda. Darhk reminded Lance he had no choice but to work with him, and demanded information on the new "Green Arrow".

When Madison Danforth, the daughter of potential mayoral candidate Jessica Danforth was kidnapped, Lance immediately suspected Darhk. After furiously attempting to end his alliance with Darhk, Quentin was given Danforth's location, as well as a warning to mind his tone. Deciding to accept an offer for help, Quentin gave Oliver the location.

Day's later when two police detectives were found shot dead Lance found himself angry that finding out who the murderers were was not the SCPDs top priority. He then ran into Oliver Queen who told him that he would be running for mayor although Lance was not very supportive of this noting the fates of the other mayors. He then received a text from Laurel and told Oliver to have his team examine the evidence. Following Laurel Lance found Sara, alive but chained up and in a feral state although Laurel assured him that she just needed some time for her senses to come back to her. Later at the police station Oliver revealed to Lance that his detectives were kill by cops, a fact that surprised Lance. Oliver told Lance his plan to lire the cops out with drugs he procured and told Lance to spread the word. When the cops arrived Lance and Team Arrow attacked them but the officers escaped. As they escaped Lance realized that they were part of the Anti- Vigilante task force that Lance had reinstated when he was trying to capture Oliver at the Arrowcave the leader was revealed as Liza Warner one of the original recruits. Later Lance went to Damian for advice for how to fix Sara however Damian only offered the advice that he put Sara out of her misery. Later back at his house Lance found Oliver there who revealed to him he knew he was working with Damian Dahrk. Lance defended himself saying Oliver had no right to judge him only for Oliver to point out that until now Lance was always the one that was more righteous. Lance explained that Damian came to him as a man who simply wanted to help Star City but by the time that he found out what type of person he was that Damian threatened Laurel. Oliver pointed out that Laurel could defend herself although when Lance tries to bring up Sara, Oliver accused Lance of hiding behind his daughters and that both Laurel and Sara would be ashamed of what he is doing. Oliver then told Lance that he was the reason he was running for mayor because he wanted Lance to see what true man he was and left. Lance went to the warehouse where Sara was imprisoned and was tearfully about to shoot her dead until Laurel talked him out of it. Later at Laurels apartment Lance was captured by Liza and the group. Lance was forced to unlock the drug warehouse where he was tied up. Team Arrow arrived and defeated the task force however Warner managed to hold Green Arrow hostage only for Lance to talk her out of it. Later at his house Oliver thanked Lance for saving him Lance told him he meant what he said to Warner and that he would turn himself in only for Oliver to tell him that they needed someone close to Dahrk and convinced him to work as a spy for the team.

After Damien Darhk started a prison riot, Quentin makes his move, trying to gain control over the situation and encourage the actions of the police. His actions became too straight and he sedate one of the policemen. For this, he was handcuffed in the police station. When he asked about the situation in the prison, the police officer replied that, "vigilante in black leather" is wounded. It's shocks Quentin, and he asks to release him under a promise of re-arrest. He also asked to connect him with Lieutenant Pike to get permission from him personally. Finally, he is authorized and rushes to the hospital, but too late. Faced with Oliver in the hallway, he sees an incredible shock, disbelief and pain-filled face of Green Arrow. Realizing that his worst nightmare came true, he silently slips down, unable to stay on his feet.

After a few month leaving Star City, he returned and has a break up with Donna Smoak. He is approached by Oliver Queen to attend the Laurel Lance memorial ceremony. Later on, he gives Oliver personnel files of a police officer that he had trained who could help him rescue the kidnapped Councillors.

Afterwards he is seen grieving Laurel's death and drinking heavily. Thea offers him the Deputy Mayor position and in exchange he would stop drinking.

Future
In a potential future, by the year 2046, Quentin had been killed, due to a takeover of the city by Grant Wilson and his army.

As revealed by Rip Hunter, in the original timeline, had he not recruited Sara, she would have returned to Star City to aid Team Arrow in a battle against Damien Darhk, only to die along with her sister and father Quentin.

Personality
Before the events of the series, as seen in flashbacks, Quentin was a happy and kinder person, he was strict as he punished Sara for her constantly screw ups and getting in trouble with the law. But he was a loving husband and father, but after the apparent death of his younger daughter Sara, he became an alcoholic and buried himself in his work to the point where his wife Dinah, couldn't handle it, she left and divorced him, as well as the fact that he publicly embarrass himself and his daughter Laurel, Quentin eventually sobered up, but he was never the same. When he raised Sara, he was a strict parent on her but he couldn't control her when she gets herself in a lot of trouble and punish her a lot of times.

Quentin is described as a "gruff, determined city police officer" who believes true justice can only come from law and order. He can be arrogant to the point where he seems to think he can go in a person's house without a search warrant or an arrest warrant when he said, "I have a badge and a gun, that says differently". He initially hates the Hood (later known as the Arrow) because he believes he is strictly a murderer who doesn't answer to anyone but himself. He even once coldly used Laurel as bait. He was a hypocrite in this manner as he threatened to drag him down to hell himself if he scratched Laurel. Despite his occasional abrasiveness, he is not above apologizing or admitting when he is wrong, evidenced by Quentin apologizing to Oliver, and warning him against dating Helena Bertinelli because of how dangerous her family is. Quentin rarely jumps to conclusions before he gets his facts straight, except when he is emotionally involved in the case. While he reluctantly worked with the Hood occasionally to get solve cases, he still makes it his goal to apprehend him. Possibly the reason why he helped the Arrow, is because Quentin knows the Arrow stands for something, that the police should do but cannot, because they are bound to the law.

His morals and beliefs center around true justice coming from law and order, and his beliefs about the Arrow being a menace to the city begin to change after being told by the Arrow himself, that Malcolm Merlyn plans to destroy the Glades and everyone in it. In Season 2, after being demoted to a beat cop for five months after the Undertaking, seeing how powerless the police is in dealing with the various crisis in the city and knowing how effective the Arrow is with dealing with these criminals, his beliefs about law and order have changed. While he still hold himself as an enforcer of the law, he now believes that the law isn't omnipotent, and that justice should prevail over doing what is strictly legal. As such, he is now more willing seek extra-legal measures to seek justice and is now pro-Arrow, especially after finding out that the Arrow is now going out of his way to avoid killing his enemies. He also defended the Arrow by asking Laurel if she was just blaming the Arrow when she said it was his fault Tommy died, a stated that later turned out to be true. Quentin also has developed a high opinion of Oliver as well, still unaware Oliver and the Arrow are one and the same. He chooses to remain willfully ignorant of the Arrow's identity, telling Laurel that knowing the identity of the man under the hood would endanger the Arrow and diminish his effectiveness.

Quentin is a man of honor and good morals, even during the time when he despised the Hood, he refused to let him take the heat for a murder The Copycat Archer committed, even when his commanding officer gave him an order to blame it on the Arrow, even though it resulted in him being taken off the case. Even when he got demoted for associating himself with the Arrow, he never blamed him and continued to work with him, especially after the Arrow is trying to avoid killing unnecessarily. Overtime, Quentin began to realize what the Arrow has to give up in exchange for maintaining his identity a secret while at the same making Starling City a better place. Even when Laurel learned Oliver was the Arrow, Quentin told her to not speak about it and said he would rather spend 18 months in prison than uncover the Arrow's identity for his freedom even though he was attacked by a prisoner he and the Arrow previously put away. In Season 3, the first thing he did after being promoted to police captain was disband the Vigilante Task Force so the Arrow could continue his work uninhibited to make his job and life easier.

Quentin is shown to genuinely care about the well being of innocent people and catching criminals. Even after he was promoted to a police captain, the purpose of which was to remove him from the field because of the medical condition he developed from fighting Slade's army, he still continued to go on the field to help the Arrow.

Quentin is also shown to have a sarcastic sense of humor. When the Arrow told Quentin he had to cut their meeting short cause he had to be somewhere, Quentin sarcastically asked if he had a hot date, which was actually true. Quentin also sarcastically asked if there was a spare earthquake machine after a break in at Queen Consolidated but quickly apologize after realizing the joke was inappropriate.

Quentin is shown to be very sharp but at the same time very dull. He was able to deduce Roy was Arsenal based on his clothing patterns and habit, but he wasn't able to tell "Sara" was in fact Laurel based on behavioral differences. He is however, shown to be quite accepting of his daughters' decisions. Although he was mad at Laurel for not telling him she was now a vigilante, he took it pretty well, only mad that Laurel didn't tell him about it.

When he found out from Laurel that Sara is dead, this time for real, he is devastated over his daughter's death, however, unlike before, he is able to handle Sara's death, he did not become an alcoholic again, although he was tempted to drink a bottle of wine. His relationship with Laurel, has become estranged due to the fact that she knew that Sara was dead for months, but she did not tell him, as Quentin had every right to know that Sara had died. He is also furious and feels immensely betrayed towards the Arrow for knowing Sara had died but kept it secret from him, and returns to his original "law and order" mind set, deciding that he's done with the Arrow. When the Arrow is framed by the League of Assassins, Quentin orders a manhunt against him, refusing to acknowledge him being framed saying it wouldn't be happening if "he weren't out there dressed like Robin Hood in the first place". As noted by Laurel, Quentin is letting his personal feelings towards the Arrow cloud his judgment. When he discovers Oliver is the Arrow, he blames Oliver for all his family and the city's problems, his opinion for Oliver becomes low again, as he has stated to the latter that he is no hero, he is a villain.

Quentin's relapsed and has become an alcoholic again, though he tries to downplay it that "it's two drinks a day". However, when called out by Laurel that they're alcoholics, told by her he can continue blaming her, Oliver and the rest of the world if he wanted for Sara's death, but falling off the wagon is on him and now he has a choice to make; keep drinking or make his daughters proud and help save the city during the League of Assassins' biological attack on Starling. Ultimately choosing the latter he assists Team Arrow once more, and while his opinion of Oliver is not at all what it once was, he admits he doesn't want Oliver dead when he's trying to protect the city; hinting that he still has some respect for Oliver left.

Six months later, while keeping Oliver's new identity as the "Green Arrow" a secret and willing work with him again, at the same time, he still blames Oliver for making the city become so dangerous. But after Oliver discover his secret alliance with Damien Darhk, he was criticized by Oliver for his action, just as he was acting superior to him (the only reason why he was in alliance with Damien, was because the latter threatened to kill his daughter if he didn't do as he asked, as Quentin witnessed forehand, what Damien is capable of, as he knows, even with Laurel newly improve skills, she still would be no match for the master sorcerer, as his fears proved to be correct). He would have turn himself in for atoning his crimes if Oliver didn't convince him to act as a double agent for him.

Abilities

 * Expert detective: As a previous police detective of the Star City Police Department, Quentin has proven himself a highly skilled detective. Unlike most of his co-workers, he rarely jumps to conclusions before he gets his facts straight, except when he is emotionally involved in the case.
 * Expert hand-to-hand combatant: Quentin is shown to be a skilled fighter even for a police captain, but he is not as adept a fighter as Oliver and Sara. In spite of this, he knows to take his time during skirmishes to strike where his opponent is most vulnerable, as seen when he managed to subdue a member of the League of Assassins who Oliver and Sara were fighting at the same time. He is also skilled enough to briefly hold his own against a highly trained assassin such as Sarab but was ultimately beaten.
 * Peak of human physical condition: As a police captain, Quentin is in top physical condition for a man of his age. Quentin is shown to quite fast for a man his age as he was able to keep up with a League of Assassins member and came out on top. However, after he was injured by one of Slade Wilson's soldiers; he has apparently developed a chronic heart condition as a result.

Equipment

 * Guns: Quentin is very proficient in using guns.

Arrow
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Season 5
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Arrow

 * "Call to the Bar"
 * "Keep 'Em Coming"
 * "Lone Hunter"

Arrow: Season 2.5

 * "Descent"
 * "Awakenings"

Behind the scenes

 * Unlike his DC comic version, Larry Lance, a keen supporter of the superhero known as Black Canary. Quentin Lance was, at first, intolerant of vigilantes and a vehement antagonist of the vigilante known as the Arrow but eventually he began trusting and working with the Arrow in many occasions especially after he found out that his daughter Sara is a vigilante too.
 * In, it is revealed his middle name is Larry, in homage to his DC comics character.
 * In it is revealed that Quentin's emergency call code is "Delta-Charlie-52". This is a reference to DC 52, the new universe in the DC comics resulting from the Flashpoint crossover.
 * Quentin is one of the few characters in Arrow to not only survive an encounter with the League of Assassins but has also successfully killed a member of the League.
 * It's implied by his late daughter's counterpart that his own counterpart is deceased when she first encountered Quentin in Missing.
 * Quentin was the last person in the main cast of Arrow to learn that Oliver Queen is the Arrow.  This can be seen as irony because he is a detective.
 * Quentin was also the last main character in Arrow to learn of Malcolm Merlyn's survival.