Damien Darhk

"Oh, you don't know who I am, do you?... I'm Damien Darhk"

- Damien Darhk Damien Darhk (born before 1864) is the leader of H.I.V.E., and a former member of the League of Assassins. He is the ex-best friend/rival of the late Ra's al Ghul, as well as a former "Heir to the Demon".

Heir to the Demon
At one point, Damien Darhk and an unnamed man were horsemen of Ra's al Ghul. The former thought himself worthy of taking the mantle, though the latter was the chosen one. Damien was to be killed but managed to escape, taking with him waters of the Lazarus Pit and some loyal followers.

H.I.V.E.
Damien founded his own organisation called H.I.V.E. to continue the league's ways the way he saw fit. He also became accustomed to the ways of sorcery and learned how to kill simply by touching his target, and telekinetically control objects with his thoughts.

In early 2014 Damien attempted to gain possession of Malcolm Merlyn's prototype earthquake generator, sending Milo Armitage to obtain it using Ben Turner/Bronze Tiger to acquire the device itself. Then gave Gholem Qadir safe haven in Markovia to purchase it from Armitage, presumably for Qadir to take the fall in case the plan was compromised. However Damien's plan failed when The Arrow and Roy Harper destroyed the device.

In late 2014 Damien hired A.R.G.U.S. operative Mark Shaw to steal a secret file from A.R.G.U.S. detailing a list of all their field operatives and their families, but this plot was foiled by John Diggle. In early 2015 Damien visited Starling City and stayed in at a hotel of which he had the entire top floor shut down and guarded by his operatives. It's unclear what his intentions were but Damien caught on early that Ra's was planning to destroy Starling City with the Alpha-Omega bio-weapon to kill him, and Damien left leaving behind his assistant to take the fall.

Attacks on Star City
Later in 2015 Damien returned to Starling City, renamed "Star City" now, with a mission to see the city destroyed and sent his operatives to rob banks and jewelry stores to build up enough wealth for the operation. After accomplishing that Damien had his men steal weapons and munitions mainly from Kord Industries and begun a killing spree that saw many civilians killed. Damien also managed to force the co-operation of police Captain Quentin Lance, using his daughter Laurel as leverage should he disagree, to aid him wherever he needed.

As the surviving city leaders, Quentin included, held a private meeting to discus how to combat H.I.V.E., known publicly as "The Ghosts", but Damien intruded and made his intentions clear to them. He and his organisation intended to let the city die and told them all to call their loved ones and say goodbye, as they would all be dead soon and left. True to his word Damien organisation coordinated attacks which left D.A. Susanna poisoned and the other leaders either shot or stabbed, but deliberately had his men leave Quentin alive but with a broken arm to take suspicion off himself. Darhk later assembled his men to discus the heist of cluster bombs and the recurring problem of Team Arrow and demanded Alvarez, the leader of the heist, to explain himself. However upon being unsatisfied with his excuse Damien killed him then Black Canary, Speedy and Diggle attacked but Damien was able to escape.

Damien later continued his plan to blow up the reopened train station by placing the cluster bombs on the train itself and destroyed the brakes after departure. A few miles away from their target Damien was unable to get a response from one of his men, Slater, but was confronted by an apparent impostor of The Arrow. However Damien was surprised and confused since Roy Harper/The Arrow was killed in prison months ago but regardless "The Arrow" demanded Darhk stop the train. After Damien introduced himself to "The Arrow" he immediately tried to kill him but none of "The Arrow"'s shots made contact and Damien quickly subdued him, but before he could kill him Diggle intervened and knocked Damien out. However Damien vanished from the train before the two men blew it up. Damien later watched "The Arrow"'s public broadcast with him declaring his intentions to fight for the city and to be the symbol of hope The Arrow never was, and proclaimed himself the "Green Arrow". Damien later performed a blood ritual with a goblet, apparently to heal his wounds, as Quentin came to see him on his request and ordered him to make sure Green Arrow was dead before the rest of H.I.V.E. arrived.

Damien and H.I.V.E. later hired Lonnie Machin to stop Jessica Danforth from running for mayor of Star City and though Damien was impressed by his skills of masquerading, he was unimpressed by his sloppiness. However Machin begged for another chance to ensure Jessica did not run for mayor which Damien reluctantly agreed, but reminded him there would be no 3rd chance. However Machin kidnapped Jessica's daughter Madison and Damien was outraged that Machine had gone too far and terminated their partnership. Later Quentin barged in to tell Damien he was done with him but Damien reminded him of his daughter and provided him with Madison's location, but also reminded him the next time they meet to mind his tone.

Seeking to kill Green Arrow Mina Fayad, a operative of H.I.V.E., hired meta-human mercenary Jeremy Tell to kill him though Darhk was skeptical of Jeremy's abilities, and ordered him to prove himself by killing an operative who was almost captured rather than kill himself. Tell then literally pulled a card out of the tattoo's on his arm and killed the operative and despite knowing to kill Green Arrow would be costly, Damien agreed. After Tell's first failure he scolded him and Fayad for being compromised on a mission of her own earlier and ordered Tell to kill him, as a demonstration, but Damien intercepted Tell's card and used it to kill Mina and gave Jeremy once last chance to accomplish his task.

Quentin then met with Damien in private, seeking advice on restoring Sara Lance's humanity after being revived in the Lazarus Pit. Damien gave Quentin father-to-father advice, warning him that he needed to put down Sara and send her back to the grave, the two not knowing Oliver Queen and Felicity Smoak had discovered their alliance from a surveillance photo.

Darhk then tasked Quentin with using a device that would delete the names of everyone H.I.V.E had a hand in assassinating, including Andy Diggle. After the task was finished, Quentin began to question Darhk about Andy, which surprised and amused the latter, who wondered why Quentin was so interested in a crime lord but nevertheless giving him a classified folder about Andy.

Team Arrow soon learned that Darhk had been holding Ray Palmer captive after intercepting his distress call to Felicity in order to use his technology for their plans, even threatening to harm Felicity if he didn't cooperate. Quentin met with Darhk to request magic to help Sara after her recovery with a frustrated Darhk saying that he would help but that it was the last time he would ever summon him. Quentin gave the directions to Team Arrow, who had John Diggle capture Oliver in disguise as a "Ghost". They managed to successfully rescue Ray, although Oliver barely managed to escape being strangled to death by chains under control from Darhk's telekinesis.

As Oliver Queen stepped up his mayoral campaign, Darhk took a more active interest when Queen announced his plan to restore the Star City Bay area. At a Police black-tie function, Darhk approached Queen and offered his financial and PR backing in exchange for Queen scrapping his Bay restoration project but Queen politely rebuffed him. The following evening Darhk met with Commissioner Lance to question him about his supposed disloyalty, which Darhk expressly warned him against. In the meantime, the Green Arrow and his team continued to plague Darhk's operations in Star City culminating in a surgical strike against the HQ of the Ghosts by the Green Arrow and his team in an effort to rescue Andrew Diggle. Darhk quickly became aware and sardonically confronted Thea Queen in a hallway, throwing her off with his magical powers before attempting to siphon the life out of her. To his horror, Darhk's power had no negative effect whatsoever on Thea (it is later revealed that it in fact temporarily removed her bloodlust) and instead caused Darhk to release her and double over in severe pain as dark patterns spread across his face before disappearing.

Personality
Damien apparently used to be arrogant and overconfident as he believed himself to be the worthy successor to the then Ra's al Ghul. He is immensely intelligent, cunning and calculating as he managed to stay ahead of Ra's for years, evading him every time his ex-best friend tried to kill him. According to his late assistant he is not a person who can be caught off guard so easily.

Damien is also a perfectionist carefully planning out all his schemes and expects his subordinates to follow through without any mishaps. He will ruthlessly killing them for such failures if he believes they have not performed their duties to an adequate standard.

Damien believes that the world is resistant to change and sees himself as one who brings about progress. He views his attacks on Star City as an act of mercy comparing it to putting down a dog on the street. He believes that to build something new and great the old must first be torn down first. Despite being marked for death by his old allies in the League of Assassins he has continued to follow the philosophy of the League and carries on with his own interpretation of it through his organisation H.I.V.E.

Like many assassins Damien is cold and ruthless but does have a sense of honor. For example Damien has morals against kidnapping innocent children and says it is a line he would never cross. He became disgusted with Lonnie Machin for kidnapping Jessica Danforth's daughter Madison. Although he hired Lonnie to stop Jessica from running for mayor of Star City he never told him to kidnap her daughter. He ended their partnership after this. Part of this might be related to Damien having a child of his own and understanding the pain of having a child in danger. He also advised Quentin Lance to put his daughter back to her final rest as he believed that was more merciful than her enduring the consequences of her resurrection from the Lazarus Pit. He advised Quentin to do this as "one father to another".

Powers

 * Magic: Damien's powers come from a form of mysticism. It appears to be derived from a blood ritual to a ancient statue he has in his office, speaking an incantation and bleeding into a goblet, which apparently can heal his wounds. His mysticism is so advanced that even John Constantine, a master sorcerer himself, dreads the very idea of facing off against Damien.
 * Primordial energy manipulation: Damien can siphon the life force from people's bodies and kill them, by simply touching them. However, he is unable to siphon the life force of those healed by the Lazarus Pit as he withered in pain when trying to absorb Thea Queen's life force.
 * Telekinesis: Damien was able to stop multiple arrows in mid-air, flip them around, and propel them back at Oliver. He also demonstrated the same skill with Jeremy Tell's cards and was able to casually move them back and forth, then shoot it, effortlessly into a woman's throat, killing her near instantly. He described this ability as a mere parlor trick and slight of hand, saying that it is weaker than other abilities he may have. This appears to be why he cannot harm others and him seemingly being only able to use it on small objects. Damien was also able to use this power to control the chains Green Arrow broke free from to strangle the latter during the rescue mission to save Ray Palmer.
 * Enhanced strength: In his scuffle against Green Arrow, Damien showed deceptive raw strength being able to plow the vigilante into a metal pole with enough force to dent and bend it. He was also able to snap one of Oliver's arrows in half, using only one hand, and pin Oliver against a wall with one hand.
 * Teleportation: Damien is capable of teleporting himself from one place to another. He used this to instantly appear in front of Thea when she turned away, and to escape from Green Arrow and John Diggle.
 * Longevity: It was revealed by Ra's al Ghul that Damien had taken some of the waters from the Lazarus Pit when he left the league. This has allowed Damien to live for over a hundreds years and still maintain the appearance of a middle aged man. The water is also capable of healing any wound and he is also able to quickly recover from toxins disappearing mere seconds after he was incapacitated by a tranquilizer. However like Ra's the waters of the Lazarus Pit may have begun to lose their potency on him over time forcing Damien to find alternative ways to prolong his youth. The blood magic he practices and siphoning other peoples life force may be how he has achieved this.

Abilities

 * Peak of human physical condition: As a highly skilled fighter and assassin, Damien is shown to be in top physical condition.
 * League of Assassins training: Damien has gone through the training all League members do, possessing skills with a variety of melee weapons.
 * Master hand-to-hand combatant/Martial artist: Being a former member of the league of assassins and more specifically an "heir to the demon" Damien is a master hand-to-hand combatant and martial artist. He was easily able to gain the upper hand in his first confrontation with Green Arrow.
 * Genius level intellect/Master tactician/Leader: Damien is able to lead an organization in complete secrecy. He was able to stay ahead and avoid both Ra's al Ghul and Oliver when they came for him. Due to his extended lifespan he has presumably gained the wisdom of the ages.
 * High tolerance for pain: Due to his League of Assassins' training Damien has a high tolerance for pain as seen when he was able to cut his own arm in order to perform a blood ritual while barely flinching.
 * Occult knowledge: Damien has knowledge of magic and mysticism.

Equipment

 * Lazarus Pit: Damien used the Lazarus Pit's waters to live well beyond his lifetime and run H.I.V.E..
 * Dagger: Damien uses a dagger to cut his arm in order to perform a blood ritual.

Behind the scenes

 * In the DC comics, Darhk is an enemy of the Titans responsible for reforming the H.I.V.E. into a more cohesive terrorist organization, as opposed to being a generic robe-wearing cabal. He had no magical powers like in the show, but was instead a business savvy manipulator, glued to his cell phone. He did however gain immortality after receiving blood from Deathstroke's ex-wife, Addie Wilson.
 * In the DC comics, a character named Dr. Ebeneezer Darkk was the first person other than Ra's al Ghul to lead the League of Assassins.
 * Ironically, Doctor Darrk had a falling out with Ra's al Ghul, similar to the show's version of Damien Darhk, making it possible that the character is actually an amalgamation of the DC comic versions of Damien Darhk and Doctor Darrk.