Huntress is a recurring villain in the live action television show Arrow. She is a supporting antagonist in Season 1 and a minor antagonist in the second season of Arrow. In contrast to the mainstream Helena Bertinelli, who though violent, cynical, and bitter is ultimately still prone to acts of heroism and made serious attempts to better herself, Huntress in Arrow is shown to be a brutal, merciless and psychotic individual, who is even more violent than her mainstream counterpart and is even willing to endanger and hurt innocents in the name of her vendetta.
She was portrayed by Jessica De Gouw.
History
The daughter of crime boss Frank Bertinelli, Helena disapproved of her father's lifestyle and attempted to see him put behind bars, attempts that saw her fiancee Michael Staton killed. Enraged, Helena vowed to punish her father on her own, becoming the vigilante known as Huntress. As Huntress, Helena planned to kill everyone that was close to her father, eventually crossing paths with the Hood (Oliver Queen) in the process. The Hood attempted to persuade Huntress to seek a less violent and vengeful path, but she refused to listen. After the two learned each other's secret identities, Oliver attempted to see Helena out of costume, but she shut him out after realizing that he retained feelings for Laurel Lance. When Oliver as the Hood stood between Helena and her vengeance on her father, she denounced him and left Starling City, threatening to expose his secret identity if he attempted to find her.
Huntress would later return to Starling City with the intent of starting a gang war between her father and the Chinese Triads so as to at last get vengeance on him and keep him from escaping jail time (Frank Bertinelli had cut a deal to expose other criminals in exchange for leniency). Threatening to hurt Thomas Merlyn if Oliver did not help her, Huntress tracked her father but was arrested by Detective Quentin Lance. Still feeling some measure of sympathy for Huntress, Oliver broke her out of jail but also ordered her to leave the city. Refusing, Huntress sought out Oliver's ally Felicity and forced her to track down Frank Bertinelli's location. Tracking him down, she murdered the US Marshals guarding him but was headed off by Arrow. After an intense battle, Huntress was ultimately forced to flee, but not before shooting McKenna.
Huntress would later return again upon learning that her father was returning to Starling City. Taking over the Court House where he was being held, Huntress took hostages in the building and threatened to kill them if her father was not handed over to her. As Laurel was among those trapped in the court house, her sister Sara, as Black Canary, infiltrated the building to free her, in the process battling Huntress. Huntress was able to escape with Laurel however, and threatened to kill her if Arrow and Black Canary did not give her her father in exchange. The two heroes met Huntress at a designated spot where an overzealous SWAT officer tracked them down also. In the ensuing firefight, Helena's father was killed while she was defeated by Black Canary, also falling into despair over how she was not the one to kill her father.
In prison, Helena was visited by Oliver, and admitted that he had been right about how her killing her father would not make her feel any better. Oliver in turn admitted that he had also failed to help Helena, but assured her before she was taken away that she was not alone.
Years later, Helena's cousin and new leader of the Bertinelli syndicate, reveals to the Green Arrow that Helena has gone underground.
Personality
Cold, bitter, cynical, ruthless, nihilistic, and completely bereft of a conscience, Huntress was in many ways a dark perversion of the Hood. Though the Hood could sometimes be violent and did on occasion kill criminals, as time wore on he attempted to temper his violent methods and began delivering criminals to the authorities in the hopes of building bridges with them. Huntress by contrast not only firmly believed that killing criminals was the only way, she also showed a complete and total willingness to hurt and sacrifice innocent lives in such amounts that in the end there is little moral disparity between her and her father. Huntress was heedless to the consequences of her actions, and to a certain extent could not even seem to understand why they were considered morally wrong.
Though Huntress was prone to justifying herself by claiming that she was fighting for "justice", in light of her consistent willingness to hurt and endanger innocent lives and also being very clearly motivated only by revenge, this claim holds little merit. Huntress was also shown to be paranoid and unreasonable, instantly assuming the worst of a well-meaning Oliver Queen the second she realized that he retained feelings for Laurel.
However, despite everything that she did, Huntress still retained her humanity and remained capable of love, as she still loves Michael years after his death and simply does not want to be hurt again, such as when she and Oliver were dating, she only becomes angry when she realizes that he still loves Laurel. She is also shown to be sympathetic and compassionate towards Oliver's cause as she hates being the daughter of a crime lord just as Oliver was the son of a billionaire businessman expected to take over the company. Despite knowing the truth about Oliver, Helena also seems to have residual romantic feelings for him as she has kept his secret from the police even after he attempted to kill her. Ultimately, in the end, after her father was killed, Helena finally realizes that Oliver was right; that killing her father would not change anything and would not make the pain of him killing her fiancé go away. She began to feel guilt and remorse for her immoral actions and seems to seek redemption. However, she maintains her isolation attitude, at least for the time being.
Trivia
- Huntress is similar to Regina Mills from Once Upon a Time; their parents are the reason they turned evil in the first place, but ultimately, their attempts at revenge were fruitless.
