Malcolm Merlyn
Malcolm Merlyn is a male television character who features in Arrow.
Contents |
Biography
Origin
Malcolm Merlyn was the husband of Rebecca Merlyn and father of Tommy Merlyn, a businessman and owner of Merlyn Global Group.
During one Christmas, a young Tommy would go to his father and asked for a puppy that he wanted to name Arthur. His wife would at some point establish a free clinic to help those in need. (Episode: Trust but Verify) On one such occasion, Malcolm was at his office in work when he received a call from his wife Rebecca but he did not like being disturbed during such hours and did not answer. When he got a second call, he simply shut off his phone and later in the day he was visited by two officers from the Starling City Police Department who informed him that his wife had been shut by muggers in the Glades. Malcolm became consumed with grief as he listened to the messages left from his dead wife and came to believe the corrupt criminal elements within that part of Starling City was responsible for her death. (Episode: The Undertaking) After his wife's death, his son Tommy was eight and he became distant from him whereupon he went abroad for a year or two for parts unknown. (Episode: Trust But Verify) In those two years away, he travelled to Nanda Parbat where he met a man who helped Malcolm make sense of things and find a purpose for his life where Merlyn intended to make Starling City a place for everyone. (Episode: Dead to Rights) One of his first acts was killing the man responsible for the murder of his wife unaware that he killed the wrong person and that the true killer known as Brick remained free. (Episode: Uprising) In Starling City, he would have regular meetings with other rich individuals that included Robert Queen and Frank Chen that sought to help stop the corruption affecting the city. Their efforts were focused on the Glades that was rampant with crime and everyone that was part of this group had suffered a loss due to the Glades. During one such meeting, Merlyn stated go the group that they abandon their current efforts that were proving fruitless and instead believed that they should engage in a new Undertaking. He instead proposed that they help create a natural disaster to destroy the Glades and rebuild it anew. Initially, the group hypothetically believed such a thing was not possible but Malcolm stated that such a feat was achievable thanks to theoretical work being conducted by Unidac Industries that could create earthquakes. He would ultimately convince the group and Robert Queen to follow this plan with Robert later informing his wife Moira Queen about this new Undertaking. In time, Robert and other members of the group began to hold doubts over Merlyn's plans with them not wanting to engage in large scale murder. Thus, Robert Queen and Frank Chen concocted a plan to disrupt Malcolm' rebuilding effort as Merlyn had been using his offshore Sagittarius company to buy the entirety of the Glades to rebuild it with him owning a third of it at this point. Both Chen and Queen sought to secretly buy the remaining hoping that this would dissuade Merlyn from his plan but after learning of this plan Malcolm had he Queen's Gambit sabotaged in the plan to kill Robert Queen. (Episode: The Undertaking) Robert would die during the incident with only his son Oliver Queen being the only survivor after he was stranded for five years on the island of Lian Yu. (Episode: Pilot)
The Undertaking
After noticing the activities of the Vigilante, he noticed that the masked hooded figure was targeting individuals from the List such as Warren Patel, Adam Hunt and Jason Bodeur. He would meet privately with Moira Queen and get her to notice the pattern. (Episode: An Innocent Man) Merlyn later met Moira when charges were made against Oliver Queen that he was the Vigilante with Malcolm believing that he was targeting the people on the List. As a he result, he secretly hired an assassin to kill Oliver Queen at his home mansion but this attempt on his life was thwarted by the intervention of Detective Quentin Lance. After the attempt, Moira met with Malcolm where she threatened to ruin him if he targeted her family again especially when the Hood was sighted in another part of Starling City whilst Oliver was at home thus seemingly indicating that the two were not the same person. (Episode: Damaged) He later arrived at the Queen residence to check on Moira Queen following her wounding during a gun shooting that killed one of Frank Bertenelli's lieutenants. Part of the purpose of this meeting was to ensure that Moira had not changed her mind in ensuring that their plans for the future of Starling City. During this time, he also cancelled his son Tommy Merlyn's financial accounts, credit cards and trust fund. (Episode: Muse of Fire) Douglas Miller would later approach Merlyn informing him that Walter Steele had been questioning him with knowledge of the List. Malcolm would later attend a dinner at the Queen's estate where the police chief attending talked about the vigilante referred to as the Hood at the time. During this time, Merlyn would suggest that the vigilante perhaps be called the Green Arrow. After the dinner, he met with Moira Queen where they had a private conversation with Malcolm informing her of Walter Steele's activities. He warned Moira that he had stayed away from her family but their actions would force Merlyn to get involved to remove those that threatened their plan. Around this time, he was also operated as the masked killer known as the Dark Archer who was killing certain people from the List and orchestrating a frame-up of the Hood. This eventually led to a confrontation between the two when the Dark Archer took hostages in order to draw out the vigilante and despite nearly defeating him the Hood managed to escape. Afterwards, Malcolm after the request of Moira Queen arranged for the abduction of her husband Walter Steele but promised to keep him safe and unaware of his wife's involvement in the kidnapping designed to keep him away from the Undertaking. (Episode: Year's End)
Merlyn would later contact his son Tommy asking to meet him and his girlfriend Laurel Lance for dinner in order to mend fences with him. At the same time, he contacted Moira Queen after it was discovered that Carl Ballard intended to gentrify the Glades that threatened the plan. As a result, he wanted Moira to shut his activities down as he considered her a friend. During the dinner with Tommy, he claimed that it was a pleasure to had met Laurel but ultimately the meeting was for him to get his son's signature to shutdown his wife's free clinic. The act disgusted Tommy Merlyn who left the dinner where he stated that his father would never change. (Episode: Trust But Verify) He would later have a secret meeting with Moira Queen to discuss Carl Ballard who she had convinced to end his activities without damaging the Undertaking. A pleased Merlyn would also task Moira with destroying the remains of the Queen's Gambit kept in a warehouse. (Episode: Betrayal) On Tommy's birthday, Merlyn was invited to an event that honored his humanitarian work that was being sponsored by the Starling City Municipal Group with him going to Laurel Lance's apartment to invite his son but he would refuse to accompany his father. He later met with the group involved with the Undertaking and heralded its coming completion. At the dinner, the event came under attack from an assassination attempt being conducted by the assassin Deadshot who managed to poison Malcolm Merlyn with curare that was coated on the bullets. It was only a blood transfusion from his son being conducted by the Vigilante did Merlyn survive the attempt on his life. He would determine that the assassination attempt on his life was conducted by a traitor within their organization and tasked Moira Queen with finding the person responsible who he intended to kill. (Episode: Dead to Rights) He would trace the funds put for the hit through the Triad and determine that they came from fellow Undertaking member Frank Chen. In his guise as the Dark Archer, he had Moira Queen hold a meeting with Chen where he executed him with several arrows in the chest. Merlyn intended to punish the rest of Frank's family by killing them as a warning but Moira Queen convinced him against this path. (Episode: Salvation) Afterwards, his son Tommy would quit his joint managerial post at Olivier Queen's Verdant Club and instead ask his father for a job. (Episode: Unfinished Business)
Oliver’s defeat at the hands Dark Archer scared him for 5 weeks where he didn't suit up in fear that he would be killed and leave his family behind. However his partner John Diggle manages to make him see reason and he gets over it. (Episode: Burned) when Tommy gets a job at Oliver’s nightclub Malcolm calls to congratulate him and invite him to dinner but Tommy is still angry for his father cutting him off but still goes to dinner anyway with his girlfriend Laurel Lance. However it is revealed to be merely a ploy to get Tommy to sign a document to shut down his mother’s medical clinic which causes Tommy to storm off. Laurel then directly confronts Malcolm about the matter but he reminds her that life isn't fair just like Rebecca taught Tommy when she died. Malcolm also meets with Moira to discuss one of her associates, Carl Ballard, threatening the Undertaking with an investment but both are unaware that Thea sneaked in and sees them together and believes that the two are having an affair. (Episode: Trust but Verify)
At this point, Malcolm was ready for the completion of the Undertaking as the Markov Device had finished its successful beta test and was being shipped to Starling City by Applied Sciences. Merlyn also ensured the continued involvement of Moira Queen by keeping Walter Steele hostage until the Vigilante freed him. (Episode: The Undertaking) He would later be responsible for stealing the Markov Device from Unidac Industries and murdering Brion Markov in his guise as the Dark Archer whereupon he checked on the status of the now freed Walter Steele to determine what he knew from his kidnapping. Merlyn would later learn that the Vigilante had somehow planted a Trojan within his computer systems at Merlyn Global's headquarters and had the Markov Device moved to safety. The Vigilante later confronted Malcolm and after a brief fight he managed to defeat the hooded foe where he unmasked him only to learn that it was Oliver Queen. (Episode: Darkness on the Edge of Town) He kept him chained at an isolated site where he at first attempted to convince Oliver of his cause but after seeing Queen would not be changed - Merlyn left him trapped at the place whist he continued his plan to level the Glades. Malcolm would accelerate his time table for the detonation of the Markov Device but one complication occurred when Moira Queen staged a press conference where she indicated Merlyn's plans. Merlyn's intentions were revealed to the public, police and even his own son Tommy Merlyn though Malcolm managed to evade capture. With the aid of Felicity Smoak, Quentin Lance attempted to deactivate the device underneath Rebecca Merlyn's clinic deep underground whilst the Vigilante battled Malcolm Merlyn on a roof top. Oliver managed to defeat and seemingly kill Merlyn but he revealed that there was a second Markov Device that activated creating an earthquake that was contained to the east side that killed many people. One of the people who died as a result of the catastrophe was Malcolm's own son Tommy Merlyn who was killed from injuries he sustained trying to save Laurel Lance. (Episode: Sacrifice)
League of Assassins
In the aftermath, it became public knowledge that Malcolm Merlyn was the Dark Archer. (Episode: City of Heroes) Merlyn’s history with the League of Assassins is revealed to Oliver when his trainer Al-Owal attacks him looking for Sara Lance wearing the same uniform, minus his bow and quiver. (Episode: League of Assassins) In “State v. Queen”, Moira and Malcolm’s affair was exposed in her trial but was still acquitted of her charges. She was then driven to a field where Malcolm was revealed to be alive and the reason she was acquitted and revealed that he had discovered Moira’s most well kept secret namely that Thea was Malcolm’s daughter. (Episode State v. Queen) Malcolm begins to quietly stalk Moira in her home and keeps trying to get her to tell Thea the truth. It is also revealed that his affair with Moira is what caused him to move away for two years. However instead Moira contacts Ra’s al Ghul himself and informs him of Malcolm’s survival which puts him on the run. (Episode: The Scientist)
Slade Wilson later came to unleash his Mirakuru army on Starling with Malcolm having heard of Moira’s death and decided to return to the city to find Thea. Dark Archer arrives in time to save Thea from one of Slade’s Mirakuru soldiers and tries to convince Thea to go with him to safety but is distracted by another Mirakuru soldier who Malcolm manages to kill but in a moment’s distraction Thea shoots him. (Episode: Streets of Fire) Malcolm survives due to Kevlar in his Dark Archer uniform and admits that he is proud of her and how strong she is. When Thea tries to go back to her boyfriend Roy Harper, Malcolm tries to convince her not to as he has been lying to her like Oliver and Moira. Later Thea discovers that Roy is the Arrow’s sidekick and she leaves Starling City with Malcolm. (Episode: Unthinkable)
Initially, he attempted to gently help Thea in her training but her reluctance led him to determine that the only way she could learn was by an intense harsh training regime that he himself had done. As a result, he stopped treating her as his daughter and instead as a teacher where she managed to learn the skills he taught her. (Episode: Corto Maltese)
When Oliver came to Corto Maltese, he would manage to convince Thea to return to Starling City with him with Malcolm only letting her if she beat him in combat though ultimately allowed himself to be defeated. (Episode: Corto Maltese) He was responsible for using a special drug on Thea Queen putting her into a suggestive state where she would not remember her actions and had her kill Sara Lance. This was seen as an attack against the League of Assassin's who did not know the identity of Sara's killer. Merlyn thus placed Oliver Queen in a position of either challenging Ra's al Ghul to a duel or allowing Thea to be killed by the League for the death of Sara Lance. (Episode: The Climb)
During a training session with Thea, he noted her worry for her brother who had been missing for the last few days with Merlyn offering to consult his contacts about his location. This saw him breaking into the Arrowcave and telling Oliver Queen's friends that the Vigilante was slain by Ra's al Ghul. Malcolm would track Oliver to the fight on the mountain side where he investigated to see whether Oliver Queen was truly dead. He would return to the Arrowcave with the bloodied sword marker stone that was seemingly used to kill Oliver. (Episode: Left Behind)
Overview
Personality and attributes
Whilst among the League, he was given the name Al Sa-Her (Arabic: الساحر) that when translated from Arabic meant 'the Magician'. (Episode: The Magician)
Malcolm stated that he preferred to see someone when he had something important to discuss with them. His experience had told him that when individuals had a brush with death than their deepest held convictions could change. (Episode: Muse of Fire) Merlyn believed that one man alone could not save Starling City. (Episode: The Undertaking) He believed that everyone in Starling City needed to die the same way his own wife was killed and led him to believe it could not be saved. For those deaths he committed, he claimed that he did what he had to do. (Episode: Sacrifice) Malcolm said that any good in him died the day his wife was killed in the Glades. (Episode: Uprising)
Merlyn used to be friends with Moira and Robert Queen where he claimed that he would still remember those ties. He claimed that Moira had a important role in Starling City's future that was a fate that Robert Queen had feared and had lost his conviction as a result. (Episode: Muse of Fire) Malcolm came to believe that the scourge and corrupted heart of the Glades necessitated that the criminal elements that resided there needed to all be eliminated. (Episode: Darkness on the Edge of Town) He made the justification of Robert Queen's murder that steps needed to be taken to ensure the completion of their plan. (Episode: Year's End) Robert claimed that Malcolm had a bit of a god complex. (Episode: The Undertaking) Despite his part in Robert Queen's death, he claimed that there was not a day that passed when he did not miss his old friend. (Episode: Sacrifice)
With his son Tommy Merlyn, he grew to be disappointed with him and saw him as a joke. He said that Tommy's chronic irresponsibility and terminal laziness had lost its humor to him. This chain of events led to him cancelling all his son's financial resources as a form of punishment. (Episode: Muse of Fire) He claimed that his wife Rebecca Merlyn was the humanitarian in the family. (Episode: Dead to Rights) Following the death of his wife, Malcolm came to think of the world as a harsh and unforgiving place with any talk about his murdered wife making him maudlin. (Episode: Trust But Verify) When she died, he listened to the messages she left on his phone just prior to her being murdered again and again. (Episode: The Undertaking) One of the reasons for him closing his wife's clinic in the Glades was to ensure that he did not see it destroyed during the Undertaking. (Episode: Sacrifice) With regards to the plan for Starling City, this initiative would had seen the deaths of thousands and felt a sense of accomplishment. (Episode: Year's End)
He showed no remorse in eliminating threats to himself and arranging for assassins or incidents to target those that endangered his operations. (Episode: Damaged) Merlyn had no hesitation in taking a gun and using it to kill his attackers. (Episode: Dead to Rights) As the Dark Archer, he claimed that the only thing he wanted from he Hood was what any archer wanted namely to see who was better. (Episode: Year's End) For being betrayed by a fellow member of the Undertaking, as the Dark Archer not only did he enact revenge but intended to kill the perpetrators entire family as a warning to others though he was convinced to show mercy in that case. (Episode: Salvation)
Powers and abilities
He practiced fencing at his own estate with special practitioners that helped him in regular training. (Episode: Muse of Fire) Such was the extent of his reflexes that he was able to grab a blade aimed for him in mid-flight. (Episode: Left Behind) From his training in the League, he claimed that there was no prison that could hold him. (Episode: The Magician) He also authored the book containing a list of names of influential people within the Starling City that had a part in the Undertaking. (Episode: The Undertaking) Such was his skill that he managed to defeat Vigilante twice in combat despite Oliver Queen being younger than him. (Episode: Sacrifice)
His financial resources led to him purchasing custom made arrows from a company called Sagittarius. (Episode: Year's End) He also used this company to buy land and estate in the Glades. (Episode: The Undertaking) Malcolm was the CEO of he Merlyn Global Group for years and thus had considerable experience in business ventures. (Episode: Trust But verify) During his time as a businessman, he had hired a man to serve as head of security. (Episode: Betrayal)
Within his office, there was a sealed panic room that was heavily reinforced and contained a room holding his archery equipment. (Episode: Dead to Rights)
Notes
- Malcolm Merlyn was created by Greg Berlanti and Marc Guggenheim where he was portrayed by actor John Barrowman and featured in the setting of the Arrowverse.
- The character was based on his comic counterpart Merlyn but with a different backstory and motivations though retains a link to the League of Assassins.
- Barrowman in an interview commented on the character, "being the itchy rash of Starling City always present even when not seen but also ways knows “He's more like the heat rash of Starling City. No, you know, he's ever present. No matter where he is, he's ever present. When you don't see him, he's got an eye on what's going on. Anybody who comes back with the power and the vengeance and gravitas that he comes back with, he has to have had his on what's going on in order to be able to control and then try and manipulate or change what the situation is. So he's an ever-present person, even though he is not being seen”.
Appearances
- Arrow:
External Links
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