He was reinstated as a detective by lieutenant Frank Pike when Slade Wilson a former ASIS operative, launched an assault on Star City with the intent of destroying everything Oliver Queen loved. Quentin was the ex-husband of Dinah Lance and the father of the late Laurel Lance and Sara Lance. Whilst working with Team Arrow, he was frequently referred to as "Detective", due to his initial police rank, eventually sticking as a code-name. Quentin had originally sworn to take down the Hood by any means necessary, even using his daughter as bait once. After helping the Hood take down Malcolm Merlyn he began to see the law can only do so much but the Hood can go outside the law to compensate for the law's limits.
Publication Information
- Arrow : Quentin Lance
- Version : Arrowverse
- Label : Timeline
- Multiverse : Earth-1
- Known As :
- Type :
- Relative :
- Affiliation :
- Gender : Male
- Origin : Star City, United State
- Season : Arrow
- First Appeareance : Arrow Season 1 Episod 1 : Pilot
- Last Appeareance :
- Number of Appeareance :
- Potrayer : Paul Blackthorne
- Main View : Full Episod
- Main Article : Quentin Lance Timeline
Before the "death" of his daughter Sara Lance, Quentin Lance was a happy and kinder person. He was strict as he punished Sara for her constantly screw ups and getting in trouble with the law. But he was a loving husband and father, but after the apparent death of his younger daughter Sara, he became an alcoholic and buried himself in his work to the point where his wife Dinah Lance, couldn't handle it, she left and divorced him, as well as the fact that he publicly embarrass himself and his daughter Laurel Lance, Quentin eventually sobered up, but he was never the same. When he raised Sara, he was a strict parent on her but he couldn't control her when she gets herself into a lot of trouble and punish her a lot of times.
Quentin was described as a "gruff, determined city police officer" who believed that true and justice could only come from law and order. He could be arrogant to the point where he seems to think he could 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 hated the Hood because he believed he is strictly a murderer who doesn't answer to anyone but himself. He even once coldly used Laurel as bait. He was a hypocrite in this manner as he threatened to drag him down to hell himself if he scratched Laurel.
Despite his occasional abrasiveness, he was not above apologizing or admitting when he was wrong, evidenced by Quentin apologizing to Oliver Queen, and warning him against dating Helena Bertinelli because of how dangerous her family is. Quentin rarely jumps to conclusions before he gets his facts straight, except when he was emotionally involved in the case. While he reluctantly worked with the Hood occasionally to get solve cases, he still makes it his goal to apprehend him. Possibly the reason why he helped the Arrow, was because Quentin knows the Arrow stands for something, that the police should do but cannot because they are bound by the law.
Quentin's morals and beliefs center around true and justice coming from law and order, and his beliefs about the Arrow being a menace to Starling City begin to change after being told by the Arrow himself, that Malcolm Merlyn plans to destroy the Glades and everyone in it. After being demoted to a beat cop for five months following the Undertaking, seeing how powerless the police is in dealing with the various crises in the city and knowing how effective the Arrow is with dealing with them, his beliefs about law and order have changed. While he still holds himself as an enforcer of the law, he now believed that the law isn't omnipotent and that justice should prevail over doing what was strictly legal.
As such, he was 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. He also defended the Arrow by asking Laurel if she was just blaming the Arrow when she said it was his fault Tommy Merlyn died, a statement that later turned out to be true. Quentin also had developed a high opinion of Oliver as well, still, unaware that Oliver and the Arrow are one-and-the-same. He chose to remain willfully ignorant of the Arrow's identity, telling Laurel that knowing the identity of the man under the hood would endanger the Arrow and diminish his effectiveness.
Quentin had a sense of justice, honor and good morals, even during the time when he despised the Arrow, he refused to let him take the heat for a murder the Dark Archer committed, even when his commanding officer gave him an order to blame it on the Arrow, even though it resulted in him being taken off the case. Even when he got demoted for associating himself with the Arrow, he never blamed him and continued to work with him, especially after the Arrow is trying to avoid killing unnecessarily.
Over time, Quentin began to realize what the Arrow has to give up in exchange for maintaining his identity a secret while at the same making Starling City a better place. Even when Laurel learned Oliver was the Arrow, Quentin told her to not speak about it and said he would rather spend 18 months in prison than uncover the Arrow's identity for his freedom even though he was attacked by a prisoner he and the Arrow previously put away. The first thing he did after being promoted to police captain disbanded the Anti-Vigilante Task Force so the Arrow could continue his work uninhibited to make his job and life easier.
Quentin was displayed to genuinely care about the well being of innocent people and catching criminals. Even after he was promoted to a police captain, the purpose of which was to remove him from the field because of the medical condition he developed from fighting Slade Wilson's army, he still continued to go on the field to help the Arrow. Quentin was also displayed to have a sarcastic sense of humor. When the Arrow told Quentin he had to cut their meeting short cause he had to be somewhere, Quentin sarcastically asked if he had a "hot date", which was actually true.
Quentin also sarcastically asked if there was a "spare earthquake machine" after a break-in at Queen Consolidated, but quickly apologize after realizing the joke was inappropriate. Quentin was very sharp but at the same time very dull. He was able to deduce that Roy Harper is Arsenal based on his clothing patterns and habit, but he wasn't able to tell "Sara" was in fact Laurel based on behavioral differences. However, he was displayed to be quite accepting of his daughters' decisions. Although he was mad at Laurel for not telling him she was now a vigilante, he took it pretty well, only mad that Laurel didn't tell him about it.
When Quentin found out from Laurel that Sara is dead, this time for real, he was devastated over his daughter's death, however, unlike before, he was able to handle Sara's death, he did not become an alcoholic again, although he was tempted to drink a bottle of wine. His relationship with Laurel had become estranged due to the fact that she knew that Sara was dead for months, but she did not tell him, as Quentin had every right to know that Sara had died. He was also furious and feels immensely betrayed towards the Arrow for knowing Sara had died but kept it secret from him, and returns to his original "law and order" mindset, deciding that he was done with the Arrow.
When the Arrow was framed by League of Assassins, Quentin orders a manhunt against him, refusing to acknowledge him being framed saying it wouldn't be happening if "he weren't out there dressed like Robin Hood in the first place". As noted by Laurel, Quentin was letting his personal feelings towards the Arrow cloud his judgment. When he discovers Oliver is the Arrow, he blamed Oliver for all his family and the city's problems, and his opinion for Oliver became low again, as he had stated to the latter that he is "no hero, he is a villain". Quentin relapsed and had become an alcoholic again, though he tried to downplay it that "it's two drinks a day". However, when called out by Laurel that they're alcoholics, told by her he can continue blaming her, Oliver and the rest of the world if he wanted for Sara's death, but falling off the wagon was on him and now he had a choice to make; keep drinking or make his daughters proud and help save the city during the League of Assassins' biological attack on Starling City.
Ultimately choosing the latter as he assists Team Arrow once more, and while his opinion of Oliver was not at all what it once was, he admitted he doesn't want Oliver dead when he was trying to protect the city; hinting that he still had some respect for Oliver left. Six months later, while keeping Oliver's new identity as "Green Arrow" a secret and willing work with him again, at the same time, Quentin still blamed Oliver for making the city become so dangerous. But after Oliver discover his secret alliance with Damien Darhk, he was criticized by Oliver for his action, just as he was acting superior to him. He would have turned himself in for atoning his crimes if Oliver didn't convince him to act as a double agent for him.
Quentin loved Laurel very much to the point that believed that he could make her Earth Two counterpart more like her even though she stated that she was nothing like her. This began to cloud his judgement as he began to go against the team's wishes and trying to connect with Earth Two Laurel. Ultimately, he was proven to be correct as Earth Two Laurel stood up to Ricardo Diaz and did what was right. In his final moments, he took a bullet for her, proving that he loved her as much as he loved his Laurel.
Abilities
- High-level intellect / Expert detective : As a previous police detective of the Star 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.
- Expert hand-to-hand combatant : Quentin is shown to be a skilled fighter even for a police captain, but he is not as adept a fighter as Oliver, Sara and Laurel. In spite of this, he knows to take his time during skirmishes to strike where his opponent is most vulnerable, as seen when he managed to subdue a member of the League of Assassins who Oliver and Sara were fighting at the same time. He is also skilled enough to briefly hold his own against a highly trained assassin such as Sarab but was ultimately beaten
- Expert marksman / Firearms : As a former police detective, Quentin is shown to be an expert marksman and profident user of guns.
- Explosives training : Quentin has received at least enough training to use grenades against a mirakuru soldier.
- Police training : Quentin has received training, as all Star City Police Department members do.
- Peak of human physical condition : As a police captain, Quentin is in top physical condition for a man of his age. Quentin is shown to quite fast for a man his age as he was able to keep up with a League of Assassins member and came out on top. However, after he was injured by one of Slade Wilson's soldiers, he developed a chronic heart condition.
- Heart condition : After being attacked by one of Slade Wilson's men, Quentin developed a heart condition that acts up if he strains himself too much. This could possibly be lethal if left untreated. As seen when he attempted to fight Werner Zytle, this has limited Quentin's ability to fight on the field. Since then, he has mostly been relegated to informant and does not go out in the field unless absolutely necessary.
- Guns : Quentin was very proficient in using guns, keeping at least two on him most of the time.
