Laurel Lance (Earth-1)


 * For her mother of the same name, see Dinah Lance.

"We don't need to go outside the law...to find justice."

- Laurel Lance

Dinah "Laurel" Lance (born 1985) is one of the main characters of the TV series, Arrow. Formerly a legal aid attorney as well one of two assistant district attorneys working under District Attorney Kate Spencer, Laurel is the daughter of Dinah and Quentin Lance, the older sister of Sara Lance, the ex-girlfriend and main love interest of Oliver Queen and the ex-girlfriend of the late Tommy Merlyn, and the best friend of fellow lawyer Joanna De La Vega. Laurel had a romantic relationship with Oliver for quite sometime, up until he cheated on her with her sister.

Previously, Laurel was a part of a group called the City Necessary Resources Initiative, or CNRI, that helped people in need. She was a former supporter of The Arrow, but was working with the DA's office to capture him and held onto this until she and her father were rescued by The Arrow after they were captured by Barton Mathis.

Biography
Laurel is a lawyer and worked for a legal aid office until she became an assistant district attorney. Five years prior to the Pilot, her younger sister Sara, is assumed to have died in the same shipwreck that strands her boyfriend Oliver on a remote island. After he returns, she forgives him and they become friends again. She became involved with Oliver's best friend Tommy Merlyn while Oliver was assumed dead, and they became a couple for sometime after Oliver returned. Tommy broke up with her when he find out that she and Oliver still had feelings for each other.

Season 1
In the "Pilot", she is initially very angry at Oliver for cheating on her with her sister and partially blames him for Sara's death. She is also working on the same case as The Vigilante - Adam Hunt. Though her methods are legal and his are not. She apologises to Oliver for telling him she wished him dead but becomes angry when he goes out his way to be horrible to her. She and Tommy talk about sleeping together while Oliver was gone unaware that the Vigilante (Oliver) is listening.

In "Honor Thy Father", Laurel is trying a case against Martin Somers (also a target of the Vigilante) who murdered her clinent's father, a honest man. Oliver comes with ice cream to apologise with her and try to reconnect but they are attacked by the Triad at Somers' behest. After the Viglante forces a confession out of Somers, Laurel is able to use this to help win for her client.

In "Lone Gunmen", she and Tommy give their relationship another try. She also takes out Max Fuller after he threatens Tommy and Oliver with his goons. Thea reveals to Oliver that Lauel and Tommy were sleeping together while he was gone infront of them. Laurel tells Oliver he has no right to have an opinion on the matter.

In "An Innocent Man", after the Vigilante appraoches her Laurel investigates and tries to defend a man who is wrongly charged with his wife's death, Peter Declan. While Iron Heights Prison Laurel is attacked by the bodyguard of the man who actually killed Declan's wife, but she is saved by the Vigilante. However she is so horrified by the Vigilante's violence that she later describes him as a 'monster'.

In "Damaged", Laurel and Oliver kiss. She admits that she still has feelings for him but makes it clear that nothing can ever happen between them. Moira Queen requests her to be Oliver's lawyer on his insistence. She argues with her father when she chooses to defend Oliver in his trial. She tells her father that he can't blame Oliver for Sara's death, or the fact that her mother left them afterwards.

In "Legacies", Laurel's legal aid office CNRI loses it's biggest sponser so Tommy suggests throwing a fundraiser for them. Laurel is initially suspicious of his motives but CNRI needs the money desperately so she goes along with it. After seeing Tommy caring for the drunk Thea, Laurel indicates to Tommy that she might be interested in a relationship.

In "Muse of Fire", Laurel agrees to go on a date with Tommy. When his father cuts him off she comforts him and tells him it's not his money she finds attractive.

In "Vendetta", Laurel encourages Tommy to ask Oliver for a job and they argue over his insecurities but make up soon afterwards.

In "Year's End", Laurel goes to the Queens' Christmas party with Tommy. After Adam Hunt is killed, Laurel realises that the Vigilante was only trying to protect her in 1x04.

In "Burned", After Joanna's brother, Danny, dies suspiciously in a fire, Laurel asks her father for help. He refuses on the grounds that the death isn't suspicious so she steals his phone to the Vigilante. She calls the Vigilante for help investigating Danny's death. They work together and discover that Danny's murderer was a man otherwise believed to be dead, Garfield Lynns. Lynns attacks a fundraiser being held for the fire station and Laurel is briefly trapped inside with Oliver. Later Quentin tells Laurel she should keep hold of the Vigilante's phone as she'll find better use for it (while really planning to use her to capture the Vigilante).

In "Trust but Verify" Laurel has dinner with Malcolm Merlyn and Tommy.

In "Vertigo", When Thea gets in legal trouble to get her out of a long jail sentence, Laurel gets her father to get her a deal by reminding him of the trouble that Sara got into in her youth. As part of her plea bargain, Thea will work at CNRI with Laurel.

In "Betrayal", Laurel finds out that the criminal, Cyrus Vanch. has been released from prison and so she asks the Vigilante for help fiding evidence against him. When the he has something to offer he calls her and she leaves a date with Tommy to meet him on the rooftop, not knowing her father is tracking her to capture the Vigilante. Later Laurel argues with Tommy about her putting her life in danger. He is furious at her for contacting the Vigilante and she is furious with her father for setting her up. Laurel is then kidnapped from her apartment by Vanch who uses her as bait for the VIgilante. After her father and the Vigilante rescue her she tells her father to stay away from her for his earlier actions. The Vigilante tells her he sees how much danger he put her in now and tells her he's going to stay away.

In "The Odyssey", during a flashback, Oliver is seen calling Laurel but Oliver doesn't respond, just listens to her voice. Before he can say something Slade stops the call, leaving Laurel none the wiser about who called her.

In "Dodger", Laurel and Thea are on a break while working at CNRI and are walking through the Glades when Thea's purse is snatched. Laurel attempts to chase down the man (Roy Harper) but he escapes. Later when Thea tracks Roy down, Laurel helps by passing on the information to her father so he can arrest Roy.

In "Dead to Rights", Laurel helps Tommy celebrate his birthday and comforts him when his father turns up and encourages him to attend a ceremony giving his father an award. At the end of the episode, she gets a visit from her mother, telling her that she thinks Sara may still be alive.

In "The Huntress Returns", Laurel invites her father to breakfast not telling him that her mother, Dinah, will also be attending. She encourages her father to help Dinah investigate whether or not Sara survived the sinking of the Queen's Gambit - in order to prove to Dinah that Sara really is dead.

In "Salvation", Laurel gets caught up in the investigation but ultimately manages to prove that the photo Dinah has found is not actually Sara. Dinah's confession that she alaalowed Sara to go on the Gambit with Oliver is ultimately what allows Laurel to reconcile with her. Laurel asks her mom to keep in touch when she goes back to Central City. Tommy finding out Oliver's secret in an earlier episode means that, unable to share what he knows, he distances himself from Laurel when she needs him.

In "Unfinished Business", Laurel is furious when her father tries to prove Tommy and Oliver were selling Vertigo at Verdant.

In "Home Invasion" Laurel is trying to help a family when the couple is murdered by the assassin, Mr. Blank. She takes in their orphaned son, Tyler, but then makes herself a target when the assassin comes to tie up loose ends. She, Tommy and Tyler temporarily stay at the Queens. Laurel and Moira discuss the past briefly. Later Oliver comforts Laurel which Tommy sees and misconstrues though he doesn't say anything immediately. The assassin is killed by Oliver so Laurel and Tommy are safe to go home while Tyler's grandparents have been found and can take him away with them. Tommy leaves Laurel lying and telling her that he wasn't ready for a relationship.

In "The Undertaking", in the flashbacks Laurel says that she wants to move in with Oliver as they've been together a while. This causes Oliver to panic and take Sara on board the Gambit with him while Laurel is unaware anything is wrong. In the present Laurel confronts Tommy over him leaving her, saying that she still loves him and believes he loves her so whatever the problem is they can work to overcome it. He tells her that Oliver is still in love with her and she should be with him instead. When Laurel goes to Oliver and asks him to tell Tommy that he doesn't love her he refuses saying that he has too many lies in his life and that he still cares for her.

In "Darkness on the Edge of Town", Oliver goes to Laurel and tells her he hoes he didn't wait too long. She kisses him and tells him he didn't. They end up sleeping together - which Tommy witnesses from the street below. Laurel is unaware that Oliver had previously encouraged Tommy to reconcile with her and he'd been on his way to do just that.

In "Sacrifice", Laurel visits Oliver at the Queen Mansion because he left while she was sleeping (to investigate the Undertaking) He tells her to stay out of the Glades that night. But when Moira confesses in a press conference about the Undertaking, Laurel foes into CNRI to try and save valuable files for her clients livelihoods. While she's there her father calls her and tells her to get out. She leaves during the earthquake but is trapped under falling rubble when the building collapses. Tommy arrives to save her life but is tragically killed in the attempt while her father prevents her from trying to get back to him.

Season 2
In "City of Heroes", Laurel is now assistant district attorney, because CNRI was destroyed in the Undertaking. During the mayor's event, it is interrupted by The Hoods. One of the members threatens the DA, but Laurel takes him down. Immediately after, one of them points a gun at her before she can do anything else. Her father, now demoted to officer rank, tries to ask her questions about the attack but his boss intervenes. Oliver arrives and they talk about how she regrets sleeping with him, feeling that she cheated on Tommy. Later, Laurel meets Oliver again at Tommy's grave. They agree on being friends, and she tells Oliver how she is going to help the DA take down The Hood, still unaware that The Hood and Oliver are one in the same.

In "Identity", Laurel makes plans to catch The Hood, determined to bring him to justice for his crimes. When he comes to talk to her, she reveals that she is also angry because it looked like he had the opportunity to save Tommy life, but didn't. When he comes to talk to her again she reveals that she's set a trap for him.

In "Broken Dolls", The Canary rescues The Arrow from Laurel and the police. When Quentin angers the serial killer his is hunting down, the Dollmaker, the man targets Laurel, kidnapping her and attempting to kill her while Quentin watches. The Arrow arrives just in time to save Laurel's life and The Canary kills the Dollmaker. Laurel realises her misplaced guilt is aimed at the wrong person and that she really blames herself.

In "Crucible", Laurel is having a hard time from recent events, and is drinking heavily and taking anti-depressants, almost getting arrested for a DUI. Both Oliver and Quentin attempt to get through to her but fail. The Canary, who is revealed to be Laurel's younger sister Sara, is shown to be watching over her older sister.

In "League of Assassins", Laurel is put on Moira's prosecution and she's able to convince the DA to offer Moira a plea bargin - life in prison as opposed to the Death Penalty (if she's decalred guilty). Oliver later takes her out for dinner in order to protect her from the Assassins pursuing her sister Sara. Afterwards, she makes a pass at Oliver, who gently refuses her and makes clear that he just wanted to be there for her as a friend, not reignite their romance. Tearfully, she then asks him why everyone in her life seems to end up running away from her. Laurel notices that her apartment is open and when Oliver investigates he finds a knife which he hides from her. After Oliver leaves, Laurel takes some anti-depressants.

In "State v. Queen", Laurel is appointed lead prosecutor in the Moira Queen case to replace ADA Donner, who had been poisoned with Vertigo. While reviewing the case notes, she discovers Donner's "trump card" (that Moira had an affair with Malcolm Merlyn). Disturbed by what she found, she tries to convince Moira to protect her family by not taking the witness stand, warning that she is obligated to prosecute the case to the best of her ability and will be forced to present Donner's evidence in court if Moira testifies.

When Moira does testify, Laurel reveals the affair and makes a strong case for a guilty verdict. When she encounters Oliver immediately after mercilessly cross-examining Moira, she tries to avoid him, and is distraught and guilt-ridden at her actions in court.

In "Three Ghosts", Sin and Thea seek help from Laurel about Max Stanton. Laurel discovers that the Blood drive Max donated blood in required a psych test which is  unusual but not illegal meaning that she cannot help Sin further.

In "Blast Radius", Laurel has begun investigating Sebastian Blood, whom she finds suspicious. She questions him about his past and his connection to Cyrus Gold, and asks her father to help her get more information on Blood. In the course of her investigation, she comes upon the name of Maya Resik, Blood's aunt who is confined in a psychiatric institution. Eventually she visits Maya, who reveals that she is not Blood's aunt, but his mother, and that Blood murdered his father and had her committed to hide his crime.

In "Blind Spot", after getting a call from St. Walker's Hospital learning Maya Resik passed away, she believes she was murdered by Sebastian Blood in fear Maya would tell anyone else that he murdered his father. She would ask Donner to help investigate the case but Donner refuses as he doesn't believe she was murdered as Maya was sick and there was no evidence that Blood did murder his father. Though Laurel tells Donner that she was told by Maya, Donner believes she said that as she was insane. Laurel then seeks help from The Arrow and helps him to search for the files that would prove Blood's guilt. They are succesful but learn the files have already be removed. Laurel arrives home find her appartment ransacked and is arrested by Officer Daily. She tries to pin it on Blood but the father doesn't believe her as she was in possession of prescribed drugs which she stole from her father. Oliver helps Laurel clean up her apartment after she is released but is knocked unconscious by Daily who then kidnaps Laurel. The Arrow goes to Starling Cannery to save Laurel, where she is apparently being held by Blood. She ends up being the one to shoot the man in the mask but when The Arrow removes the man's mask it turns out to be Daily. Later she is fired by Donner for her drug use and for seemingly being wrong about Blood.

Personality
Her anger towards Oliver for getting her sister killed made her harsh towards him, at first.

Laurel is hard working, and fights hard to get what she wants. She is a great lawyer and lives to stand up for the innocent and what is right, despite the corruption in Starling City. She can be feisty and doesn't like to be told what to do. Laurel is attracted to troublemakers, as shown when she dated both Oliver and Tommy. She gets annoyed when her father tries to get in the way, always forming his opinion of her boyfriends, even though it almost never changes her mind. Laurel is tough and knows how to take care of herself. She takes risks, like contacting Arrow, and can't resist saving people from tough situations, from when Tommy and Oliver were going to get beat up in the night club Poison, to innocent people on trial.

However, she has a big heart and tends to see the best in the people around her. This is shown in where Oliver states that she should hate him for what he did to her and her sister, but she did not. She even wants to get along with her father again, after he used her as bait for The Arrow, even though stating that it will take some time. She is also one of the few people seeing the good person Oliver is inside, even through the snob-front he presents on the outside, the other one being Raisa, his housemaid.

Sadly the events at the end of season one and the starts of season two (Tommy's death, being kidnapped by the Dollmaker, having to try Moira Queen, the games Sebastian Blood plays with her) are enough to break her. She starts using drugs and alcohol - like her father - to her cope with her pain.

Abilities

 * Skilled hand-to-hand combatant: Laurel received extensive hand-to-hand combat training. This is because her father made her take self-defense classes. Still, she is nowhere near the level of Oliver and all the other felons he goes up against as The Arrow.
 * Expert lawyer/Detective: These help Laurel to use the system of the court to her knowledge. It also makes her look at every aspect before making up her mind, and to see the bright side of everyone.

Appearances
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Arrow
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 * Chapter 1: "Time's Arrow"
 * Chapter 14: "Call to the Bar"
 * Chapter 18: "Keep 'Em Coming"
 * Chapter 26: "Lapse"

Trivia

 * She is efficient with firearms as she has a gun permit, and also has used a shotgun to protect herself in .
 * Being the daughter of a police detective, she learned how police badges were serialized.
 * Dinah Laurel Lance is Black Canary in the original comic. She possesses the meta-human ability of a super sonic scream, which she can deploy to shatter objects and incapacitate her opponent. This ability is called the "Canary Cry". This has not happened in the show yet, though Sara produces a mechanical version of it.
 * In the DC Comics, she is Oliver Queen's wife.
 * During San Diego Comic Con 2012, the show's producers said that Laurel will become Black Canary "later than you hope, but sooner than you expect".
 * In, When Oliver and Laurel go alone to talk, Laurel mentions to Oliver that she wore fishnets to a Halloween party they attended together in 2005. This is a reference to Laurel's comic book alter ego's costume, Black Canary.
 * At first, Laurel has mixed feelings about The Arrow, stating that he goes against everything that she was taught, but she feels he is still doing good. This is evidenced when she, in a moment of shock, calls him a killer with no remorse.
 * When she sees The Arrow in, Oliver (under the guise of The Arrow) tells her that he heard what she said to her father, calling him a killer, with no remorse. She apologizes to The Arrow for what she said.
 * She begins to trust The Arrow later, shown In, where she's more frightened by her father charging out with a gun than with The Arrow for holding a blade to her neck.
 * Laurel is mentioned to be a bad cook, with the only thing she is actually capable of making is macaroni cheese.
 * Her sister, Sara, owned a black canary when they were children, which references to her comic book alter ego's costume, Black Canary.
 * In, Laurel and Oliver become a couple again, briefly.
 * Laurel sometimes calls Oliver by his nickname "Ollie".
 * Laurel's substance abuse stems partly from the traumas she's been through and partly because she believes she's guilt for Tommy's death.
 * Laurel started dating Oliver after she got Sara grounded when Sara had a crush on Oliver.