Nyssa al Ghul, Arrow

Nyssa al Ghul (Katrina Law)

Nyssa al Ghul is a deadly assassin appearing in Arrow and Legends of Tomorrow. Her existence was first hinted at in the Arrow episode “League of Assassins”, when a member of the League of Assassins refers to “the child of Ra’s al Ghul”. She first appeared on-screen in Season 2 of Arrow, when it was revealed that she had saved the life of Oliver Queen’s ex-girlfriend Sara Lance, later recruiting her into the League and becoming her lover. Nyssa spent much of the season attempting to recruit Sara back to the League, before later teaming up with Oliver and his allies to take down their mutual enemy Deathstroke.

Nyssa and Sara

The majority of the romance with Sara occurred completely off-screen and many fans felt that it was handled in an offensive manner. In the first episode in which Nyssa appeared, Sara was made to “choose” between returning to a life of evil with her killer lesbian ex-girlfriend or to stay as part of Team Arrow alongside the straight, male hero love interest.

Despite the fact that Nyssa kidnapped Sara’s mother in order to compel her to come with her, Sara was able to get Nyssa to let her mother go and release her from League by poisoning herself and then convincing Oliver not to kill Nyssa, who then left. In the aftermath of the episode’s events, Sara and Oliver began a relationship, but Sara left him to return to the League with Nyssa in the finale of Season 2. When Sara appeared again in the first episode of Season 3 without Nyssa, she was immediately killed.

Arrow, Seasons 3 and 4

In Season 3, Nyssa raged against Oliver when she found out about Sara’s murder, deciding to train Sara’s sister Laurel Lance to follow in Sara’s footsteps. In episodes 3×21 and 3×22, Nyssa, at that point the show’s only lesbian or bisexual female character, was forced into a marriage with Oliver, as part of her father Ra’s al Ghul’s scheme to recruit a worthy successor.

Learning he wanted her to marry Oliver, Nyssa mentioned she would rather die. However Ra’s said she had no choice in the matter, forced her into the marriage and told her to get pregnant with Oliver’s child. Although the marriage to Oliver was never sexual or romantic, it was never annulled. Nyssa continued to call Oliver “husband” almost exclusively, taking the ancient laws and traditions of the League seriously because of her upbringing, even as she was trying to escape the League.

Arrow showrunner Marc Guggenheim felt the storyline was misunderstood and that fans “read a political statement into that story line where none was intended”.

“I think people were taking umbrage at forcing a homosexual into a heterosexual marriage.  That said, those same people seem to be unable to distinguish between a plot twist and a political statement.” — Marc Guggenheim

Nyssa and Oliver eventually killed Ra’s al Ghul together. In Season 4, she opposed Laurel’s reckless scheme to resurrect Sara using the Lazarus Pit, but was delighted when a resurrected Sara was eventually restored to sanity. Nyssa also took her revenge on Sara’s killer by taking control of the League and disbanding it.

Legends of Tomorrow, Season 1

Nyssa reprised her role in the Legends of Tomorrow episode “River of Time”, where she once again appeared alongside Sara Lance. It was also revealed that Nyssa’s first meeting with Sara was the result of a Bootstrap paradox, as the 2016 version Sara became marooned in 1958 and rejoined the League until 1960, when her friends came to rescue her. Before leaving, Sara told Ra’s to send his yet-to-be-born daughter Nyssa to Lian Yu in 2008, where she knew Nyssa would meet the 2008 version of Sara.

Nyssa was mentioned in episode 2×16 “Doomworld”, in which the Legends were living in an alternate reality in which she was “living a miserable, closeted life somewhere in the middle of Ohio.”

Arrow, Season 5

Nyssa was announced to return for “multiple episodes that culminate in an epic fight between Nyssa and her half-sister Talia al Ghul (Lexa Doig) in the upcoming season 5 finale.” She appeared at the very end of episode 5×22, when Oliver called for “reinforcements” (still referring to Oliver as “husband”).

In the season finale, she helped Oliver, there was an off-hand comment by another character that men weren’t Nyssa’s type, and in the season cliffhanger, Nyssa along with all members of the team Arrow were trapped on an island that exploded.

Appearances:

• 18 episodes. Guest on Legends of Tomorrow, 1 episode 1x14. Recurring on Arrow, 17 episodes

Female love interests:

• Sara Lance (Caity Lotz, bisexual, recurring Arrow, main cast Legends of Tomorrow)

Relationship story arc with a woman: No

Male love interests:

• Oliver Queen (Stephen Amell, main cast Arrow, husband)

Relationship story arc with a man: Questionable

Male love interest after being identified as a lesbian? Questionable - she was forced into a marriage

Filter Relationship Arc:

• None

Storyline during sweeps? Yes

[1] A relationship story arc is defined as explicit, developed on screen, and lasting more than 3 episodes. It is listed as questionable or subtext if romance is only implied, mentioned instead of shown on screen, part of a dream sequence, or otherwise not explicit for the viewer.
[2] Sweeps episodes air in February, May, July and November, the periods when advertising rates are set. A character is marked as "sweeps" when there is a very limited number of episodes that address their sexuality, all air during sweeps period, and the storyline is otherwise ignore/dropped.