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| “ | Better than living as a Queen. | „ |
| ~ Emiko expressing her deep hatred of the Queen family after revealing her true colors - her famous qoute. |
| “ | This is for my mother. Rot in hell. | „ |
| ~ Emiko killing Dante as revenge for killing her mother. |
| “ | I wanted to be a Queen. | „ |
| ~ Emiko's last words to Oliver before dying. |
Emiko Adachi, also known as Emiko Queen, is the main antagonist on Season 7 and a minor character in Season 8 of the TV series Arrow.
She was the estranged paternal half-sister of Oliver Queen and the leader of the Ninth Circle, as well as the third Green Arrow following Oliver's incarceration. She was bent on destroying Oliver and Team Arrow's legacy as vigilantes and heroes, and killed anybody who stood in her way.
She was portrayed by Sea Shimooka, who also portrayed Sophon in 3 Body Problem.
Biography[]
Early life[]
Emiko was born to Robert Queen and Kazumi Adachi, she has a paternal older half-brother, Oliver queen. Robert knew about Emiko's existence, but ultimately chose Moira, Oliver, and Thea over Emiko and her mother. He abandoned them and cut off all contact with one another. Before Robert's death, he wrote a letter to Walter Steele, apologizing for walking out on Kazumi and Emiko and showing a lot of remorse for what he did. He also asked Walter to take care of them. But it was too late, as Walter never received it, and Moira found out about it and hid the letter.
Shortly after Robert abandoned her at the age of eleven, Emiko met a man named Dante who began training her on how to protect herself and made her join the criminal organization, the Ninth Circle, which Emiko would become the leader of years later. However, before that, in 2007, Emiko was told by Dante of Malcolm Merlyn's plans to sink the Queen's Gambit, which was funded by the Ninth Circle. Since Robert didn't let Emiko be part of his company and chose Oliver as his successor despite his lack of business skills, she didn't tell him about Malcolm's plot and let the yacht get sabotaged. She then destroyed the evidence that the Ninth Circle had helped orchestrate Malcolm's attack on the Gambit.
After Emiko's mother was murdered by an unknown perpetrator, her house in the Glades burnt down, Emiko embraced the darkness and swore to avenge her mother's death. Five months after Oliver Queen's incarceration, Emiko showed up in Star City (seemingly) taking up her half-brother's mantle as the Green Arrow. Little did she know, Dante was the one who hired Kodiak, one of the Longbow Hunters, to assassinate Kazumi.
Becoming the new Green Arrow[]
Emiko's first known target was Jason Stent, ambushing and delivering him to the Star City Police Department. She then attacked some weapons dealers, saving Rene Ramirez and another kid before leaving. When Stent was released, Emiko went after him again at an arms deal. As she attacked him, Emiko quoted Oliver by telling Stent that he failed the city. However, before she could shoot him, the S.C.P.D., led by Captain Dinah Drake, rushed to the scene, trying to arrest Emiko. However, thanks to Rene, she was able to escape. In a secret location, Emiko crossed Stent's name off a list, similar to Oliver's method from his time as the "Hood" in 2012.
Emiko also stopped thieves from robbing a store. Afterward, when arsonists led by Jon Cortez set fire to a community center in the Glades, she arrived in time to rescue Zoe Ramirez and looked on from the building's roof at her, Rene, and Dinah before leaving. Later, she runs into Rene again and informs him of Cortez. When Dinah appears in an attempt to arrest her, Rene helps Emiko escape again. She returns when Cortez resurfaces to set fire to a movie theater and worked alongside Rene and Dinah stop them. With the fire still spreading, Emiko climbed up a water pipe and pulled it to put out the fire, hurting herself in the process. Rene and Dinah then help her in getting away.
Emiko showed up again to help John Diggle, Dinah, and Rene take down Ricardo Diaz, who was just about destroy all of Star City with a bomb. She struggled against Diaz until Diggle took him by surprise and knocked him out, after which he was finally sent to Slabside Maximum Security Prison for his crimes.
Emiko meeting her half-brother, Oliver[]
After Oliver's release from prison, Emiko became more determined to hunt down names from her list to get revenge for her mother's death, eventually getting wounded and ending up as a partner of Rene Ramirez. Rene and Emiko worked to find the presumed killer of Kazumi and to kill him justly. On her watch she decreased all of the crime and corruption down that Mayor Emily Pollard failed to do on her watch.
Soon after, while visiting her father´s grave, Emiko was confronted by Oliver who asked for forgiveness for his father's sins and his abandonment of Emiko and her mother. While initially rejecting him, Emiko eventually met up with Oliver at S.C.P.D. where she asked to start a better relationship with her half-brother.
While Emiko reluctantly agrees to let Oliver aid her and Rene on her crusade on avenging her mother's death and after some setbacks, Emiko was visited by Dante, who has come to convince her to return to the Ninth Circle as its leader.
Emiko's true colors revealed[]
That night, Emiko murders Diaz by pouring gasoline into his cell through the sprinklers and burnt him alive at Slabside Maximum Security Prison, while being seen passing the cell block by Ben Turner. Turner then exchanges information about this to Laurel Lance in exchange for time with his son. When confronted, she arrogantly scolded Laurel about how Oliver would never believe her because of the former's past, and possibly also because of Emiko being his half-sister.
Emiko started doing weekly sparring sessions with Oliver in which they learnt more of each other's pasts, although while Oliver explained he was trained by Talia al Ghul, she did not tell him about Dante training her. Later, she met up with Dante at Palmer Technologies where they stole drones that a technician unwillingly built for them, and then blew up the lab.
Oliver confronted her about it since he was actually following them. She easily convinced him that Dante forced her to help him. She and Dante then later stole sarin gas, and when they were confronted by Team Arrow, he pretended to try and kill her until Oliver intervened which successfully sold her story and allowed her to infiltrate the team and get brought to the Bunker. Learning about the Archer program, she placed a jammer. After Oliver found out about it, she revealed her true colors and they fought, while she also explained that she didn't want to be a part of the Queen family or Team Arrow. She then threw a smoke-bomb and escaped.
Emiko and Dante later tested the drones but was once again confronted by Team Arrow. She ordered Dante to activate the drones, which he did despite hesitation. She then briefly confronted Oliver and then fled the scene after ordering her minions to kill him. Emiko then met with Laurel and taunted her of her predicament, as she was the one who framed her for murder and leaked a photo to the media of her working with Diaz. She later threatened to kill Dante if he ever disobeyed her again. Dante calmly reminded her that other people in the Ninth Circle expected her to deliver on.
Trying to destroy Oliver and Team Arrow's legacy[]
A week later, she and Dante lead the Circle to steal the Cygnus X-1 bioweapon from a D.O.D. vault, which would be capable of eating through anything in its path. After the stolen ARCHER program detects Team Arrow, the two of them make their escape with the bioweapon. Emiko sends off Dante with it while she fights off her brother. During their fight, Oliver tells her that Dante was the one who killed her mother just before the latter returns to exfiltrate her. Although she initially didn't believe it, she later shoots him with arrows about it. After he confessed it and that he only did it so she would fully embrace her role and life in the Ninth Circle, she finishes him off and assumes full control of the Ninth Circle's leadership.
Following her revenge on Dante, Emiko continued her plans to enforce the Ninth Circle's plans and also enact her own revenge scheme on her brother. She made her deal with the CEO of Aerodyne, Jason Toth, to collect a device needed to expand the bioweapon. After the Arsenal intercepted, Emiko escaped with the device needed. After they attempted to target the Metro station, Emiko was confronted by Rene, who still refused to believe she had gone too far. Even though this failed, Oliver found the device and destroyed it. However, during this, Arsenal killed two guards due to being secretly resurrected by the Lazarus Pit and now had a blood lust.
After Emiko escaped, she used this as an opportunity for her revenge plans by seizing the footage and erasing it before Felicity could find it. Drawing Team Arrow to an abandoned warehouse, she was confronted by Oliver and revealed she took the footage and sent it to the S.C.P.D., therefore effectively destroying the reputation of Team Arrow. She then revealed to Oliver, much to his horror, that she knew that the Queen's Gambit was rigged to blow and had the chance to warn their father, but didn't and let him die. She declared to destroy her brother's legacy before detonating explosives hidden inside the entire building. As she quickly escaped, she let the building fall on top of the team.
After believing that she had killed her half-brother, Emiko arrived at the Bunker to kill Felicity along with her friend Alena Whitlock. However, after learning she was pregnant, she had second thoughts and left. Still wanting to destroy Team Arrow's legacy and continue the Ninth Circle's plans, she led her men to massacre the SCPD precinct and retake the bioweapon. After Team Arrow arrive and stop them, Emiko is confronted on the rooftop by Oliver. After he fails to reach out to her, she tries to tempt him into killing her, only for him to refuse. She then escapes just as Team Arrow arrives.
Downfall and death[]
Emiko's revenge against the Queen family resulted in the Ninth Circle existence being revealed to the public, which lead to the falling of her leadership. Emiko's position was given to Beatrice; who would later kill her for insubordination, believing that Emiko's "family drama" had already ruined the circle itself.
However, this betrayal lead to Emiko deciding to protect Oliver, coming to the realization that if she had chosen a different path for herself he would been her brother earlier once he knew about her. As Oliver held a wounded Emiko in his arms, she apologized to him and told him that he needed to hide his family from the Ninth Circle. Emiko then stated to her half-brother that despite her hatred, she truly wanted to be part of the Queen family before dying in Oliver's arms.
New multiverse[]
Emiko was brought back from the dead in a new timeline after Oliver saved the multiverse and created Earth-Prime during the Anti-Monitor Crisis in 2019. Several days later, she attended her brother's funeral and got to meet her adoptive sister, Thea Queen and her father's wife, Moira Queen, who tells Emiko she is welcome to the family, for the first time.
Erased future[]
Emiko was buried next to her father's tombstone, as her tombstone read "Emiko Adachi Queen", signifying her redemption; albeit partially.
After Emiko's demise and burial, and under her advice she gave Oliver with her last dying breath, Oliver and Felicity went into hiding into a well protected neighborhood where former federal agents live, because of this, they were safe from the Ninth Circle. Even though Oliver would be later lost in a crisis because of Emiko, Mia Queen, Oliver and Felicity's daughter, would grow up and with allies, she would save Star City.
Personality[]
Initially, Emiko was shown to be stubborn with a driven nature regarding corruption of society, similarly to her half-brother's early days as a vigilante. She was also shown to not be a team player and relied on the benefits of working alone, therefore didn't trust anybody. She is similar to Helena Bertlinelli and Dinah Drake. She also appeared to be prejudiced, wanting nothing to do with Oliver due to being his son, but later came to the belief that the two of them are not the same.
However, Emiko's traits were proven to be nothing more than a facade. When Emiko's true nature was revealed, she showed herself to be a cold, sadistic, ruthless, spiteful and vindictive individual; who had no shame, guilt or remorse for any of her actions. She even lacked any form of sympathy and compassion, especially when betraying her own half-brother and blackmailing others to do what she demands. Emiko proved to be blindly loyal to Dante, stating that she owed him everything for give her a life. Emiko resented her father and even worse becoming just like him. However, after finding out that he was the one; who killed her mother, she didn't hesitate to execute him for it.
Emiko was proven to be quite arrogant; to the point of being delusional; for example, when Black Siren confronted her for killing Diaz and believing that Oliver would never believe a criminal; only for the former to find out that she was wrong. She also demonstrated a complete hatred for the Queen family after Robert disowned her from the family and their company, despite being more capable of running it better than Oliver and possibly Thea. She proved this after deliberately allowing Merlyn to destroy the family yacht to kill him before burning the evidence of his action afterwards.
After Emiko killed Dante for killing her mother, she lost all ties to her humanity and continued leading the Ninth Circle regardless of her discovery. She became more ruthless as she coldly and smugly confessed to Oliver that she alerted of the S.C.P.D. of what Arsenal did as well as that she let their father die, claiming that he deserved it. She even lost respect for Rene as she attempted to kill him while revealing she was the Ninth Circle's leader the whole time. Her insanity and lust for vengeance against the Queen family went so far to the point that she tricked Team Arrow and dropped an entire building on them.
However, despite all of her negative traits that involve violence, hypocrisy and anger, Emiko demonstrated some forms of empathy as when she found out Felicity was pregnant when she was about to kill her, she had second thoughts and refused to kill an innocent unborn child. In the end, as she was betrayed by Beatrice and left dying, Emiko showed remorse and guilt over how she had caused Felicity and her children, who were innocents, to become targets for the Ninth Circle and made peace with Oliver, even stating she wanted to be a part of his family and warning him to get his wife and daughter to safety.
After Earth Prime was created, Emiko seems to have lost all hatred and anger for the Queen Family, as she attended her brother's funeral and even accepted happily Moira's offer to become a Queen.
Victims[]
- Dave Hackett (indirectly caused)
- Robert Queen (caused)
- Ricardo Diaz/the Dragon
- Gustavo Hernandez
- Dante
- Multiple S.C.P.D. officers
- Numerous unnamed citizens
Quotes[]
| “ | The world is not a fair place. Innocent people die while the guilty go free. The system is broken, filled with corruption, greed, and apathy. The people who are supposed to protect us are failing us. Criminals continue to walk the streets because no one is willing to stop them. The world may not be fair, but everyone deserves justice and someone looking out for them. People say that revenge corrupts the soul... that if you go down that path, you'll never come back. But sometimes, embracing the darkness is the only way to get justice. My name is Emiko Queen. I will get justice for my mother, and no one will stand in my way. | „ |
| ~ Emiko's monologue at the end of "My Name is Emiko Queen". |
| “ | I had the chance to warn our father about the Gambit, that it was rigged to explode, and I knew about it. I let our father die because he didn't deserve to live, and neither do you. Bye, brother. | „ |
| ~ Emiko confessing to Oliver that she allowed the Queen's Gambit to sink and cause their father's death. |
| “ | We are not family! | „ |
| ~ Emiko declaring herself and Oliver as not being family. |
| “ | You need to hide. Your family's gonna die. I made sure of it. You need to hide Felicity and the baby. | „ |
| ~ Emiko's telling Oliver to hide. |
Trivia[]
- Emiko is based on the DC comics superhero/former villain of the same name where she was the illegitimate daughter of Robert Queen and Shado, the foster daughter of Komodo and also a former member of the Ninth Circle.
- Her comic book counterpart was originally created as an adaption of Thea Queen due to the fact that Thea was an original character that was created exclusively for the show. Emiko was originally introduced in the comics around the end of Arrow's first season.
- While her comic book counterpart was originally a minor villain in her first appearance, the TV series version is portrayed as a bigger bad as she served as the leader of the Ninth Circle in the series, unlike the comics where she was merely used as a pawn by both Komodo and later Shado during DC Rebirth before she reformed.
- Her personality and second costume for the series are instead based off Shado's comic book counterpart.
- Also like her comic book counterpart she killed the person that lied to her Dante about her mother's death, similar to how Emiko killed Komodo after learning her true father was Robert Queen. However one major difference is that the TV series version of Emiko remained a villain despite knowing the truth (unlike her comic book counterpart who already reformed), and did not actually reform until the very end just before she died.
- She is the series' only female main antagonist.
- It was revealed that she was directly involved in the Queen's Gambit is sabotaged that resulted in both Oliver and Sara Lance becoming vigilantes. She also let it happen and didn't warn her father after he chose to give Queen Consolidated to Oliver instead of her, despite that she possibly would've been a better CEO than him.
- Dante was thought to be the main antagonist in Season 7 of Arrow after it was revealed that Dante was the one who loaned the Longbow Hunters to Diaz, until the episode "Inheritance" revealed that he was working under the leadership of Emiko Queen, who is revealed as the true big bad of Season 7.
- This bioweapon that she was carrying might be the one that started the potential distopia.
- She is similar to Savitar from The Flash; both were abandoned and driven down a dark path and want revenge on those who wronged them.
- Emiko also has a few similarities with Willis Stryker/Diamondback from Marvel's Luke Cage, both resent their fathers (James Lucas, Robert Queen) who mistreated them due to being the byproduct of an affair and take their anger out on their paternal half-brothers (Luke Cage, Oliver Queen) seeing them as the cause of their misfortunes (Willis being solely convicted of grand theft auto when he and Luke were teenagers, Emiko not being accepted as a member of the Queen family).
