Baron Reiter

"I grew up in a small village in Africa, a country whose named has changed a dozen times over the years. One day, bandits came to my village. They wanted water and gold and women. Once they left with them, the only thing remaining of my village was ash. My home and everyone I loved was wiped from the earth and I was helpless to stop it and I swore I would never feel helpless again."

- Baron Reiter to Oliver Queen and Taiana

Baron Reiter is the leader of a Slam cultivation operation run by Shadowspire on Lian Yu.

Biography
In 2005, Reiter was in Afghanistan, leading Shadowspire in operations against the Taliban while also leading his unscrupulous men, such as Lieutenant Joyner, in a quietly lucrative drug business. After Joyner successfully gained the assistance of Andy Diggle in this side operation, Reiter showed up in person to congratulate the two men on their profitable shared venture, and then showed the two of them what he had purchased with his cut: a map of an island he claimed had long been lost, and which possessed mystical powers.

Years later, in 2010, Reiter had set up an encampment on this island, which he referred to as "Purgatory". He and his ruthless men ran a drug-harvesting operation, using slave labour to grow, cultivate, and harvest the plants required to make a particularly potent drug called Slam. After Oliver Queen was captured by Shadowspire operatives while roaming the woods of Lian Yu, he was brought before Reiter, who recognized Oliver from his fame as a wealthy playboy and, being a man down, offered Oliver a job in his ranks, over the protests of his second-in-command, Conklin. He let him cut his hair and gave him a uniform.

After Conklin started to suspect Oliver Queen he came in to convince Reiter of his suspicions, but he was too busy interrogating John Constantine. Constantine is able to overpower Oliver and Conklin and took Queen hostage.

Later after Constantine had escaped Queen took to the chamber and Reiter used what Constantine had left behind to find writing on the wall that led them to the body of water on the island and sent Oliver and Conklin to take some workers and see what they could find. It was then that Oliver began to realize that Reiter was interested in something more mystical than just narcotics.

Later on, when Oliver was questioned for killing a prisoner by Baron and Conklin, Oliver maintained his cover by saying Conklin's been hostile to him since he found out the A.R.G.U.S device. Baron then seemingly used a mystical item capable of detecting lies and asked Oliver why he killed the prisoner, which he replied because he attacked him, which apparently showed he was telling the truth. He then asked Conklin did he order the prisoner to attack Oliver to which Conklin said no, but it showed he was lying. He then ordered Oliver to whip him as punishment.

Conklin brought Oliver and Taiana to Reiter, also showing him the maps that Oliver salvaged from the sunken Amazo ship. Reiter told Oliver that he was done trusting him and handed him over to Conklin to kill him, but Conklin instead wanted payback and severely whipped Oliver. Reiter stopped Conklin upon noticing the spell on Oliver's torso was glowing when the Orb of Horus was near him. Despite the pleas of Conklin that Oliver can't be trusted, Reiter spares Oliver and Taiana for now and imprisons them, informing Conklin that there is no part of his plans that require Conklin surviving.

Reiter tortured Oliver with electric shock in order to learn what the markings on his torso meant but Oliver refused to break and ultimately passed out and witnessed a hallucination in which Reiter and his men were killed by Shado, who then rescued Oliver. After Oliver woke up back in his cell with Taiana, Reiter glared at Oliver through his cell door before walking off.

Taiana, angry at Oliver for his confession that he killed Vlad, summoned Reiter and gave him the stone that Oliver had woken up from his hallucination with in hopes for a release. Reiter refused to do so and told her to watch after Oliver as if he was her own brother and care for him because if his health drops then he will kill Taiana too as Oliver is an important piece of his mission. Reiter later informed Oliver and Taiana that the stone was the last piece to his puzzle and they will dig at daybreak as the Heaven he seeks is below them.

Personality
Despite his villainous status, Reiter does possess some nobility in him. One example being he "blessed" his slaves. Another being even though Oliver appeared around the time two of his men died, he still gave Oliver the benefit of the doubt until Conklin gave conclusive evidence Oliver was in fact, a spy.

Trivia

 * In the DC Comics, Baron Blitzkrieg is a supervillain from Earth-2. Also, he is known as Reiter in the comics.