Helena Bertinelli

"Once you let the darkness inside, it never comes out"

- Helena to Laurel Lance

Helena Bertinelli is the daughter of the late Frank Bertinelli, the former fiancé of the late Michael Staton, and the ex-girlfriend of Oliver Queen. She was set on destroying her father's crime empire. She and Oliver become a couple at the end of her first appearance,. However, they later broke up after she realized he was still in love with Laurel.

She tried to kill her father but Oliver intervened, and she was almost killed by her father with her own crossbow. Luckily Oliver managed to save her, and she left the city after realizing that Oliver wasn't on her side. She later returned to Starling city to kill her father, because he made a deal with the FBI and the justice department to avoid jail time, in exchange for him to testify against the East Coast family, and would go into a witness protection program.

She returned a second time, only to be stopped by Oliver, who was forced to let her go after she shot McKenna Hall.

She came back to Starling City for a final time, now publicly known as The Huntress, when The Arrow arrested her father. She almost killed her father, only for him to be killed in the crossfire caused between vigilantes and a police officer. She was ultimately arrested by Officer Quentin and sent to prison. She was widely considered as the "personal archenemy" of Sara Lance aka The Canary, due to having threatened Sara's sister Laurel and having bested Sara herself during their first confrontation; however it was because Sara was holding back, it was confirmed in their rematch, as she bested Helena very quickly and easily, and would have killed her, if Laurel had not convince Sara to let her live.

Taking down her father
Before the death of her fiancé Michael, Helena tried to turn her father into the FBI. However, her father mistook the evidence collected by Helena with her fiancé and had him killed. Following this, Helena decided to use her skills to take down her father by killing people close to him and taking down his criminal empire.

Season 1
In "Muse of Fire", Helena shoots down Paul Copani, a member of her father's mob, almost shooting Moira Queen, Oliver's mother, in the process. She later met Oliver during a meeting he set up with her father, Frank. Needing to attend to another meeting, Frank asks Helena to go to dinner with Oliver to help him seal a deal with Queen Consolidated. Although both were unwilling, they ended up enjoying the date. After they separate, Nick Salvati goes to Russo's, the restaurant they were just in, to collect protection money. Before her father's crew could hurt anyone, she and Oliver, as the Hood, step in and fight them. When they confront each other, Oliver manages to take off her helmet and sees her face. Later, Helena is at Michael's grave when Oliver drops by. Both are picked up by Nick and Frank's men. Nick found Helena's cross at Russo's and connects her to the Huntress and threatens to kill her the same way he killed Michael. Oliver stops her and, together, they kill Nick and the men with him, snapping all of their necks. Helena realizes that Oliver is the Starling City vigilante and that night, Oliver drops into her room. Both admit that they like being able to tell each other the truth and Oliver sleeps with her.

In "Vendetta", Oliver tells her about him being the Hood and even trains her. seeing that she is bent on revenge, Oliver tries to get Helena down the right path and avoid murdering innocents, but ultimately fails. During their third date, they run into Laurel and Tommy. Things get awkward and the group disperses, with Helena furious at Oliver. Helena, realizing that Oliver is no longer on her side, leaves the city.

In "The Huntress Returns", Helena questions and kills the former lawyer of her father. and She returned to track down her father, who turned state to the F.B.I. She then extorts Oliver in to helping her by threatening to injure Tommy. Attacking the transport carrying her father, Helena gets arrested by Detective Quentin. However, Oliver quickly breaks in and frees her, then orders her to leave the city. Ignoring him, she forces Felicity to track down her father's location. She invaded the safehouse and killed the US Marshals assigned to protect him. Before she can off her father, Oliver interrupts her. After a brief standoff, Oliver tries to shoot Helena and she catches the arrow. Furious that he tried to kill her, she attacks him. She disarms him and temporarily overwhelms him, before Oliver can recover his bow. They were interrupted by McKenna who tried to arrest both of them, but was shot by Helena. Helena promptly fled the scene, not to be seen again.

Season 2
In "Birds of Prey", Helena returns to Starling after her father Frank is arrested. She breaks into the courthouse where he is about to be tried and takes everyone inside hostage, including Laurel Lance. The Canary, attempting to rescue Laurel, faces off with Helena, but is beaten. Helena then contacts the Arrow and proposes a trade: her father in exchange for Laurel. She escapes the courthouse, taking Laurel along with her.

When she and Team Arrow meet to exchange hostages, she prepares to kill her father, but is interrupted by the SWAT team commander, who came to kill the vigilantes. She battles the Canary again, and this time Helena is defeated. Shortly afterwards, she is arrested by the police, lamenting that she was not the one to kill her father (who had been shot by the police).

She is last seen in the police station speaking with Oliver, reflecting about her father and the end of her vendetta. She admits that now that her father and fiancee are both dead, she feels all alone. Oliver reassures her that she isn't, just before she is taken away to jail.

Personality
It can be assumed Helena was once a good, kind, caring, compassionate, reasonable person, who tried to send her father to jail legally and discreetly, because she knows he is a monster and he thrives on other people's suffering. Her personality changed completely after finding out that her father murdered her fiancé Michael whom she deeply loved, even still crying over his death years later. Swearing to take her father's world apart and see him suffer, she snapped and turned cold, unreasonable, unstable, vengeful, ruthless, volatile, and violent. She has no morals or remorse, and she is more than ready to hurt and even kill people, innocent, or guilty, if they get in her way of her exacting her revenge, shown when she would go so far to plan and incite a war between her father and the Chinese Triad, despite knowing full well that innocent casualties by large numbers are unavoidable if she were to do so. She also readily manipulates and threatens innocent people if it means seeing her goal fulfilled, such as going to break Tommy's arm, although she seemed to not want to do so as she begged Oliver not to "make her do something both of them would regret". However it should be noted, that no one is forcing her to commit these immoral actions of hers, unlike The Arrow who tries to avoid hurting innocent people or killing anyone in his quests, and would seek to hand criminals over to the authorities, Huntress considers no alternatives other than to end the lives of those responsible for her suffering, even her father. Tries to justify her killings, she would even cite that her actions are for the sake of justice, despite them being done out of vengeance alone. However, she has shown she is still capable of love, as she still loves Michael years after his death, and simply does not want to be hurt again or even alone in her anger, such as when her and Oliver were dating, only getting angry when she realised he still loved Laurel. Helena also believed that she is obligated to fullfill her quest for vengeance as she claimed "Once you let the darkness inside, it never comes out".

After Frank is killed, not by her hands but by a crazed police captain, she has two feelings; the first is regret that she wasn't the one who killed Frank, the second is that once he was dead she was alone, because she believes that Frank and Michael are together now. Helena is also shown to be sympathetic and compassionnet towards Oliver's cause as she hates being the daughter of a crime lord just as Oliver was the son of a billionaire businessman expected to take over the company. Despite knowing the truth about Oliver, Helena also seems to have residual romantic feelings for him as she has kept his secret from the police even after he attempted to kill her.

After the death of her father, Helena finally realizes that Oliver was right, that killing her father would not change anything, and would not make the pain of him killing her fiancé Michael Staton, go away, she seems to have gained guilt and remorse for her immoral actions.

Abilities

 * Peak of human physical condition: Helena is physically fit, as she managed to break her father's right hand man's neck, and has demonstrated very good reflexes. She caught an arrow Oliver shot at her (a feat demonstrated only by the highly skilled Billy Wintergreen, Slade Wilson, Malcolm Merlyn and Al-Owal).
 * Advanced hand-to-hand combatant/Martial artist: Helena is a very proficient and formidable hand-to-hand combatant. She fought and killed Nick Salvati by snapping his neck. Her martial arts skills seem to rival Oliver's, as she was able to fight and disarm him on 2 separate occasions, but not enough to actually best him. In "Birds of Prey", Helena was even able to disarm and even defeat Sara Lance (as the Canary) in single combat. A noteworthy feat, given Sara's past membership to the League of Assassins. However, Sara later claimed that she took it easy on Helena the first time they fought. And true enough, she easily defeats the Huntress on their rematch.
 * Skilled markswoman: Helena is shown to be proficient with firearms as well as crossbows, though at the beginning only at a rudimentary level as noted by Quentin and Oliver, the former saying that her shots fired at Paul Copani are work of an amateur, and the later giving her a handgun-sized crossbow due to the significantly reduced need of training in using one, unlike a recurve bow. She later became highly proficient to the point that she could take out a team of highly armed US Marshals using a single crossbow.
 * Expert manipulator: Helena has shown to go to great lengths to achieve her goals. She even went as far as to threaten Oliver’s family and Tommy, and tries using his feelings for her to help her.

Equipment

 * Helena Bertinelli's Crossbow: Helena uses a Customized crossbow as The Huntress, to achieve her goals of vengeance against her father, and will kill anyone who gets in her way, it was later taken from her after she was arrested by Quentin and McKenna. It is unknown if it was designed by Oliver.
 * Helena Bertinelli's High-Powered Crossbow: a High-powered crossbow served as Helena's replacement crossbow after her customized crossbow was taken from her by Quentin and McKenna, she received this crossbow after she broke into a sporting goods store, however she lost this crossbow, after being disarmed by Oliver, after attempting to kill another US Marshal. It is unknown if she recovered this crossbow, after Oliver let her go because he had to get McKenna to the hospital. If she did recovered this crossbow, it most definitely would no longer be in her possession, now that it she is incarcerated.
 * Huntress Costume: Helena wears a costume as her villainous alter-ego The Huntress, to achieve her goals of vengeance against her father and stay anonymous, despite her identity eventually being uncovered. It is unknown if it was designed by Oliver, and it is also unknown what materials it is made from. As of "Birds of Prey", this costume of Helena is no longer in her possession, now that it she is incarcerated.
 * Huntress Mask: Helena wears a black mask as her villainous alter-ego The Huntress, to stay anonymous, despite her identity eventually being uncovered. It is unknown if it was designed by Oliver, and it is also unknown what materials it is made from. As of "Birds of Prey", this mask of Helena is no longer in her possession, now that it she is incarcerated.

Comics

 * "Hunters"
 * "The Pieces Missing"

Trivia

 * The Helena Bertinelli of the comics is the third Huntress, created to replace the second, Helena Wayne, daughter of the golden age Batman and Catwoman, after the Crisis on Infinite Earths negated the character. In the comics, Helena Bertinelli became the huntress to avenge the death of her family at the hands of the mafia at the age of 19 (later retconned to 8). While excessively violent, she was in fact a hero, and not the murderer portrayed in Arrow. (Excepting one incident where Batman prevented her from murdering the villain Prometheus, which then led to her being fired from the JLA.)
 * The original Huntress was a golden age villain named Paula Brooks. She was later retconned as being named Tigress and the original golden age Tigress retconned as being her mother. Her daughter, Artemis Crock, is the third Tigress. Much as Helena Bertinelli was rewritten as a villain for Arrow, the third Tigress was rewritten as a hero for the animated series Young Justice, using the codename "Artemis" until she went undercover as "Tigress".
 * She is the first person to leave Oliver's team.
 * In, the stripper costume that Helena wears at the start of the episode are reminiscent of her DC comic book costume, including a purple leotard with a white cross over her chest, exposed legs and thigh-high boots, and long gloves.

Concept artwork
Helena Bertinelli