Quentin Lance

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

- Detective Lance to Oliver Queen

Officer Quentin "Larry" Lance (born 1962) is a police officer, formerly a sergeant and detective (having been demoted after the events of "Year's End" then after the events "Sacrifice"), 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 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.

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 Arrow.

In ",Honor Thy Father",

In "Lone Gunman",

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 Arrow, but a copycat instead. He is told he can only go after one, but ultimately chooses Arrow over the Dark Archer.

In "Burned", Quentin discovers Laurel stole his only contact to The Arrow, 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 Arrow. After Arrow discovers he's coming, he escapes but Quentin follows and is soon knocked out by him. After Laurel is captured, he and Arrow form a rare alliance to save Laurel. He attempts to kill Cyrus but is told by Arrow 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 is revealed to be Felicity Smoak.

In "Sacrifice", Quentin is told by Arrow that the glades will be destroyed, changing his stance on Arrow, and decides to drop trying to catch him as he realizes that Arrow is indeed a good person. He assists by 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 good opinion of Arrow, and the pair speak briefly when Arrow delivers his imitators to be arrested.

In "Broken Dolls",

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 hates at first 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 Arrow for help.

His morals and beliefs about true justice comes from law and order, and his beliefs about Arrow being a menace to the city change after being told by Arrow himself that Malcolm Merlyn plans to destroy the Glades and everyone in it. He then stops trying to take down Arrow, when he realizes that Arrow is indeed a good person and does good for the city.

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 in . However, this discovery was later 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 leaving him. Somewhere between 2007 and 2012, he sobered up.
 * 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

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".