Quentin Lance

"Your luck never seems to run out, does it?"

- Detective Lance to Oliver Queen

Officer Quentin Larry Lance (born 1963) is a police officer, formerly a sergeant and detective (having been demoted after the events of, then after the events of ), of the Starling City Police Department. He was partners with Lucas Hilton before being demoted. He is the ex-husband of Dinah, and the father of Laurel Lance, and Sara Lance. He had originally sworn to take down Arrow by any means necessary. He even once used his daughter as bait. This changed after Arrow told him about Malcolm Merlyn's plan to level the Glades and everyone in it. He finally came to see Arrow as a good person, no longer seeing him as a menace to the city.

Quentin is now one of Arrow's supporters.

Season 1
In "Pilot", he is told by Oliver Queen about a man in a green hood who saved his life. At first he believes he's lying, but then he is later told by Adam Hunt about the same person. He then believes Oliver and begins a mission to arrest The Hood.

In "Honor Thy Father", Quentin is seen visiting Martin Somers after The Hood attacked him the night before, questioning him as to why The Hood would of attacked him. He is later seen at CNRI telling Laurel that she'll be getting protection in case someone tries to attack her. He is later seen thanking John Diggle for saving Laurels life from the Chinese Triad attack. Later he appears at the docks where Oliver is fighting with China White, he is given the evidence that proves Martin Somers guilt.

In "Lone Gunmen", Quentin is at the scene of James Holder's death, commenting on how The Hood wasn't the one that killed him. He is then later seen at the police department getting told about the curare that was found in James Holder's system. Quentin is then seen at the Queen Mansion speaking to Walter Steele about Unidac Industries. Quentin is later called by The Hood, saying that he needs help to protect the people at the auction for Unidac Industries.

In "An Innocent Man",

In "Damaged",

In "Muse of Fire",

In "Year's End", Quentin discovers another archer, who murdered Adam Hunt. He quickly learns it isn't The Hood, but a copycat instead. He is told he can only go after one, but ultimately chooses The Hood over the Dark Archer.

In "Burned", Quentin discovers Laurel stole his only contact to The Hood, but allows her to keep it after placing a bug on it.

In "Trust but Verify",

In "Vertigo",

In "Betrayal", Quentin uses the bug on the phone to know when Laurel will be meeting with The Hood. After The Hood discovers he's coming, he escapes but Quentin follows and is soon knocked out by him. After Laurel is captured, he and The Hood form a rare alliance to save Laurel. He attempts to kill Cyrus but is told by The Hood that he's a cop, and should just arrest him.

In "The Odyssey",

In "Dodger",

In "Dead to Rights",

In "The Huntress Returns",

In "Salvation", he is reunited with his ex-wife, Dinah Lance, who he refuses to talk to but eventually does. As he believes Sarah is alive, he later discovers that Sarah is indeed dead. He confronts Dinah, who reveals that she knew Sarah was leaving with Oliver and allowed her to go with him on the boat.

In "Unfinished Business",

In "Home Invasion",

In "Darkness on the Edge of Town", he is told by his assistant about a hacker who tried to use the same methods as the police technical analyst to infiltrate Merlyn Global Group, who is revealed to be Felicity Smoak.

In "Sacrifice", Lance arrests Felicity Smoak, suspecting she is working with the Vigilante, because of the hacking of Merlyn Global Group and of evidence trail left by the "research" Oliver had her run before he revealed his identity. During her interrogation, Quentin is told by The Hood that the Glades will be destroyed. Felicity alludes the the fact that she knows what the call was in reference to, basically stating "Sounds like you have bigger problems then me" and despite the fact that it may endanger her later, states that her opinion of The Hood was the same as his, but has changed since she realized he has sacrificed a lot for the city and that makes him kind of a hero. This along with the fact that The Glades, is in danger, leads Lance to try to tell his superiors about the Undertaking, despite the fact that it would reveal that he has had contact with the Vigilante and hasn't arrested him. Instead of mobilizing, his superior suspends him and the police take no action until Moira Queen's press conference. When Diggle decides to go with Oliver to confront Merlyn, Oliver calls Detective Lance instead of sending Felicity directly into the impact zone. He assists along with Felicity's help in deactivating the Markov device, though Malcolm had another device that took out half of the Glades, regardless of the deactivation.

Season 2
In "City of Heroes", 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. In "Broken Dolls", he 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 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 Arrow and The Canary.

In "Crucible", 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.

In "League of Assassins", 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.

In "Keep Your Enemies Closer", 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 Arrow.

In "The Scientist", 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 Allen's description of what happened, despite the evidence he presents. He takes Felicity to the side, asking her to get in contact with Arrow, to see if he could help. She assures him with a smile that Arrow is already on the case (as Oliver is still right behind them examining the scene.)

Personality
Quentin is described as a "gruff, determined city police officer" who believes true justice can only come from law and order. He is 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". at first He hates Arrow because he believes he is strictly a murderer who doesn't answer to anyone but himself. He even once coldly used his own daughter as bait, which resulted in her getting kidnapped, and when Laurel was kidnapped, he had to ask The Hood for help.

His morals and beliefs center around true justice coming from law and order, and his beliefs about The Hood being a menace to the city begin to change after being told by The Hood himself that Malcolm Merlyn plans to destroy the Glades and everyone in it. After he realizes that the Undertaking is a bigger problem than catching the Vigilante, he works with The Hood (and Felicity) to deactivate one of the devices. After working as an officer for five months after the Undertaking, his beliefs about law and order have changed. He now believes that the law isn't omnipotent, and that justice should prevail over doing what is strictly legal. He is now pro-Arrow, especially after finding out he is no longer killing his enemies.

Abilities

 * Expert detective: As a former police detective, now a police officer, of the Starling 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.

Equipment

 * Gun: Quentin is very proficient in using guns.

Appearances
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Comics
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 * Arrow #14
 * Arrow #18
 * Arrow #27

Trivia

 * Quentin was originally the second person to discover Oliver Queen's secret identity, Arrow. After viewing CCTV footage (left deliberately by Oliver) in . However, this discovery was later legally disproven when John Diggle dressed up as Arrow, unbeknownst to Quentin, absolving Oliver.
 * In, it is revealed that Quentin threw himself into his work and became an alcoholic after Sara died, which, along with the death, also resulted in his wife Dinah leaving him. Somewhere between 2007 and 2012, he sobered up.
 * Unlike his DC Comic version, Larry Lance, a keen supporter of the superhero known as Black Canary. Quentin Lance was, at first, intolerant of vigilante and a vehement antagonist of the vigilante known as Arrow.
 * Quentin is quite comparable to Commissioner James Gordon, a police commissioner who helps Batman in the comics.
 * Quentin has been demoted twice. After the events of "Year's End", he was demoted from sergeant to detective, for disobeying direct orders from his superior officer Commissioner Brian Nudocerdo. After the events of "Sacrifice", he was demoted again from detective to officer, for associating with a known vigilante.
 * In "Broken Dolls", it is revealed his middle name is Larry, in homage to his DC comics character.
 * While Quentin is a formidable fighter for a cop, he is not as adept a fighter as Oliver and Sara, as he was unable to hold his own too well when fighting a member of the League of Assassins, despite that he was still victorious in the fight due to the Assasins own arrogance which resulted in Quentin pulling a spare gun and shooting him when his guard was momentarily down.

Behind the scenes
In the comic books, Laurel's father's name is Lawrence "Larry" Lance, rather than Quentin. In Arrow this is referenced by Quentin's middle name being "Larry".