Quentin Lance

"I swore to uphold the law because the law is steady, the law is unchanging, the law needed to be protected. But what good are laws, rules. if they don't protect people? Now listen, I know I'm throwing away my career by telling you this but I'm willing to sacrifice capturing this guy if it means saving peoples lives!"

- Quentin Lance to Frank Pike

Officer Quentin Larry Lance (born in 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 the late Lucas Hilton before being demoted, as well as Lucas, good friend. He is the ex-husband of Dinah, and the father of Laurel Lance, and Sara Lance. He had originally sworn to take down The Hood by any means necessary, even using his daughter once as bait. This changed after The Arrow told him about Malcolm Merlyn's plan to level the Glades and everyone in it. He finally came to see The Arrow as a good person, not as a menace to the city.

Quentin is now one of The Arrow's supporters.

Loss of his daughter
In 2007 his youngest daughter Sara went on a boat trip with Oliver Queen, she was presumed dead when the boat sank. The loss of Sara hit his family very hard and as a result he became an alcoholic. Both he and his other daughter Laurel buried themselves in their work, but his wife Dinah couldn't handle it so she left and divorced him. About a month after Sara's death a serial killer called the Dollmaker (Baron Mathis) emerged in Starling City and Quentin was assigned to case. In a way every girl Mathis murder reminded him of Sara and how he could not save her. At last Quentin captured Mathis and put him away.

At some point after five years Quentin became sober and joined a support group for alcoholics and other addicts.

Season 1
In, he is told by Oliver Queen about a man in a green hood who saved his life. At first he believes he is 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. There he finds the evidence that proves Somers is guilty.

In "Lone Gunmen", Quentin is at the scene of James Holder's death, correctly assuming that 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 suspects 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", Quentin is seen on the television report about the robberies, telling the press that he's giving the same statement as last time, "No comment".

In "Vertigo", Laurel speaks to him about Thea, seeing if he can help get her out of trouble, and maybe help her get a better deal. Quentin later interrupts a "drug deal" between The Count and Oliver Queen. He is then seen at Queen Mansion with McKenna Hall to speak to Oliver after he was noticed at the drug deal. Quentin is then seen at The Counts hideout, where The Hood has The Count, and has injected him with 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", Quentin is seen at Queens Mansion, after being with Moira and Thea after the Vigilante attacked her.

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

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. He initially believes Dinah's idea that Sarah may still be alive, but soon learns that Dinah's evidence is based on another woman, not on Sarah. 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", Quentin arrests Felicity Smoak, suspecting she is working with The Hood, 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 Quentin to try to tell his superiors about the Undertaking, despite the fact that it would reveal that he has had contact with The Hood 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 Malcolm Merlyn, Oliver calls Detective Quentin 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 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.

In "Identity",

In "Broken Dolls", Quentin responds to an emergency in a tunnel but is ordered not to by Frank Pike but Quinten arrives anyway, his partner Lucas tries to stop him and Quinten 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's 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.

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 The 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 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.)

In "Three Ghosts", 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.

In "Blast Radius",

In "Blind Spot",

In "Tremors",

In "Heir to the Demon",

In, 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 coincidently, 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, the police opens fire against the vigilantes and one of the policemen aimed his gun at the Arrow but Quentin saved him by knocking out the policeman. After the drama, Quentin quickly arrests Helena.

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". He initially hates The 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. While he reluctantly works with The Arrow occasionally to get cases solved, he still makes it his goal to apprehend The Arrow.

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 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. Quentin even told Felicity to inform Arrow of a breakin to Queen Consolidated and even referred to him as a "mutual friend". 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. Later on, when The Arrow killed Count Vertigo, Quentin apparently gave him the benefit of the doubt and assumed The Arrow didn't have a choice evidence by the fact he continued to work with The Arrow. Quentin also has developed a high opinion of Oliver as well, still unaware Oliver and The Arrow are one and the same.

Quentin is a man of honor, even during when he dispised The Hood, he refused to let him take the heat for a murder Malcolm Merlyn committed, even when his commanding officer gave him an order to blame it on The Hood, even though it resulted in him being taken off the case. Even when he got demoted for associating himself with The Hood, he never blamed him and continued to work with him, especially after The Hood is trying to avoid killing unncessarily.

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.
 * Advanced hand-to-hand combatant: Quentin is shown to be a formidable fighter for a cop, but he is not as adept a fighter as Oliver and Sara,

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, The Arrow. After viewing CCTV footage (left deliberately by Oliver) in . However, this discovery was later legally disproven when John Diggle dressed up as The Arrow, unbeknownst to Quentin, absolving Oliver.
 * 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 Arrow in many occasions especially after he found out that his daughter Sara is a vigilante too.
 * 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.
 * In "Heir to the Demon", 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 comics resulting from the Flashpoint crossover.

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".