- NOTE: This article is about the incarnation of Talia al Ghul from the Arrowverse. The mainstream version can be found here: Talia al Ghul.
| “ | There is a monster inside you, yes, but it is not you. No, you need to create one. You need to give the monster an identity. It’s only when the monster becomes someone else—something else—that you're free to be Oliver Queen. | „ |
| ~ Talia inspiring Oliver Queen to be a vigilante. |
Talia al Ghul is a supporting character in Arrow and a minor character in Season 1 of DC's Legends of Tomorrow.
Talia is the daughter of the late Ra's al Ghul, the paternal half-sister of Nyssa al Ghul, and the mentor of the late Yao Fei Gulong, the late Oliver Queen and the late Adrian Chase. After Oliver killed her father, she swore vengeance, thus; assisted Adrian in his crusade against Oliver. Eventually, she even helped Adrian capture Oliver and left him for Chase, her only condition being Oliver suffering for what he did.
Talia is portrayed by Milli Wilkinson in DC's Legends of Tomorrow and Lexa Doig in Arrow.
Biography[]
Past[]
Talia was pivotal in Oliver becoming a vigilante. Despite Talia training Oliver, she never gave him her full name and thus, Oliver never connected her to Ra's al Ghul.
After Talia learnd of the death of her student, Yao Fei Gulong, she tracked down Oliver who had information about it. Talia eventually found Oliver in Russia, prisoner of the Bratva Captain Ishmael Gregor. Talia saved Oliver from captivity and afterwards offered to train him and help him take down the corrupt official Konstantin Kovar.
Together, Talia and Oliver raided, and murdered the organization of one of Kovar's close associates, Misha Yurievich. After Misha's death, Talia convinces Oliver to track down and kill the people on "The List", a document his father gave him before his death, as these people were similar to Kovar and were polluting and corrupting Starling City.
From Talia, Oliver got his green suit and hood and his bow. He was also told by her that the Hood would help him hide the monster inside him so that Oliver would not be tainted by his actions as the Hood.
Together with Oliver, Talia tracked down the drug dealer Hideo Yamane and killed him, as Yamane was a heavy influence on Starling City drug market.
Shortly after her father's death by Oliver's hands, Talia was approached by Adrian Chase, whose father was murdered by Oliver as well. Adrian sought training so that he could match the Green Arrow's combat skills and Talia agreed to train him as she still hated Oliver for killing Ra's.
Assisting Prometheus[]
Five years later, after witnessing that Prometheus, a serial killer in Star City, uses fighting techniques similar to those Talia taught him, Oliver decides that Talia has something to do with Prometheus. Oliver eventually tracks Talia down to a monastery on top of a snowy mountain. Entering it, he finds several of Talia's recruits training. When they see Oliver, they intend to kill him because as a former student, he is not welcome there. The conflict is disbanded by Talia herself; who sends her students away.
Now alone with Oliver, she claims that she would apologize for her student's enthusiasm but Oliver should not have come. She claims that their mutual business concluded five years ago but Oliver claims that this is untrue as one of her former students tried to kill him. Talia claims that the student in question does not mean to kill Oliver but that he wants to destroy Oliver utterly. Oliver realizes that Talia knew of Prometheus and accuses her.
Talia tells Oliver that Prometheus sought her out two years ago but Oliver interrupts her, angrily shouting that Talia should have warned him if she knew of Prometheus' intentions. Talia in turn reveals that she helped Prometheus in his pursuit of vengeance because he killed both Prometheus' and her own father.
Talia reveals herself to Oliver as Talia al Ghul and Oliver realizes that she is Ras' daughter. Oliver expects no help from Talia under these circumstances but Talia claims that she will help Oliver because she wants him to suffer. She then tells Oliver that Prometheus is in truth Adrian Chase.
When Oliver later confronts and fights Chase, the fight is ended when Talia suddenly appears and shoots Oliver with a tranquilizer arrow. She and Adrian bring the unconscious Oliver to an undisclosed location where they chain him up in a cell. When Oliver wakes up, he finds both Talia and Chase standing in front of him.
Talia sarcastically claims that she never taught Oliver to escape from shackles. Oliver replies that while Ra's was an honorable man, Talia allied herself with a psychopath and Ra's would be ashamed of her. Talia tells him that when it comes to the shame of fathers, Talia bows to Oliver's superior expertise. She then turns around and leaves, telling Adrian to make sure Oliver suffers.
Final Project[]
As part of Prometheus' grand scheme, Talia assists in the kidnapping of Oliver's team - personally ambushing and defeating Felicity and Diggle. The team is delivered to Lian Yu, where Prometheus, Talia and the rest of their team wait for Oliver's arrival.
Together with Evelyn, Talia is left to guard the cages Thea, Felicity, Curtis and Samantha, the mother of Oliver's son are imprisoned in. The two climb up into a tree and when Oliver arrives with his allies Slade Wilson and Digger Harkness, they ambush them. As none of the three have their weapons drawn, Talia and Evelyn are at an advantage and force Oliver to drop his bow. Talia aims her bow at Samantha, threatening to kill her should Oliver not stand down.
Furthermore, Harkness is revealed to be an ally of Prometheus as well. Evelyn and Talia then state that they purposely did not attempt to convince Slade to join them, but also give him the opportunity to join them now. Slade seemingly accepts, only to attack Harkness the moment the three villains focus on Oliver. Using the opportunity, Oliver then attack Evelyn and throws her to the ground.
As promised, Talia fires her arrow at Samantha but Oliver hurls a blade into the path, blocking the arrow. When suddenly Malcolm Merlyn and Talia's sister Nyssa turn up, both with drawn bows, Talia realizes that further fight is fruitless and uses a smoke grenade to escape with Harkness. They leave Evelyn behind, who is captured by Oliver and his allies.
While planning the next steps in the former monastery on Lian Yu, Talia is confronted by Nyssa. Talia states that she heard that Nyssa disbanded the League of Assassins and claims that Nyssa has grown into a foolish woman. Nyssa replies that it was Talia's egoism that forced her to grow up alone. Talia claims that she had to carve out her own destiny as she knew Ra's would never leave the League to a woman, Nyssa bitterly responds to that by remembering Talia, that; she left her sister for that.
The two sisters then duel, with Talia ordering her remaining students not to interfere. When Talia falls, the students prepare to engage nonetheless but are slain by Slade. Nyssa holds her blade to Talia's throat and Talia urges her to cut it, stating that Ra's would have wanted her to do so. However, Nyssa merely knocks her sister unconscious.
When Prometheus shoots himself, the island (or at least the surface) explodes as it was was rigged to do so upon his demise, betraying his teammates, and it is unknown if Talia was consumed by the explosions or awoke in time to find shelter underground.
Slabside Inmate and Escape[]
In the fifth episode of the seventh season, it is revealed that Talia has survived from the explosions on Lian Yu but barely. She was caught by "an old foe in Gotham" and sent in Slabside Maximum Security Prison. During her time there, she becomes known as "the Demon" while also being transferred to Level Two, an illegal off-the-books section of the prison where the chief psychiatrist, Jarrett Parker, experiments on the inmates.
Talia arranged an attack on Oliver under Ricardo Diaz's orders. After Oliver gets himself transferred to Level Two, the both of meet up again, with her still being furious that he killed her father. But after Oliver apologizes, Talia and Oliver team up to escape. Oliver remains in jail, to protect his name but buys some time to help Talia to escape. Later, she returns and kills Jarrett Parker in an act of retribution and then escapes.
Gallery[]
Trivia[]
- This is the first tv live-action portrayal of Talia.
- This is also the second live-action portrayal of Talia after her appearance in The Dark Knight Rises film.
External Links[]
- Talia al Ghul on the Magnificent Baddie Wiki.
