Malcolm Merlyn

Revision as of 09:13, 12 November 2014

Malcolm Merlyn is a male villain that features in Arrow.

Biography

During one Christmas, a young Tommy would go to his father and asked for a puppy that he wanted to name Arthur. His wife established a free clinic but she would die at some point afterwards when she was murdered where she was left dying in the street with a bullet in her head. 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)

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)

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)

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 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) 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)

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) 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) From his training in the League, he claimed that there was no prison that could hold him. (Episode: The Magician)

His financial resources led to him purchasing custom made arrows from a company called Sagittarius. (Episode: Year's End) 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

• The character of Malcolm Merlyn was played by actor John Barrowman.
• Malcolm Merlyn was based on his comic counterpart Merlyn but with a different backstory and motivations though retains a link to the League of Assassins.

Appearances

• Arrow:

External Links

• Arrow Wiki Entry

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