Arrow Season 4: 10 Characters That Absolutely Cannot Die

Over the three seasons that have aired thus far, The CW’s flagship superhero series Arrow has proved that it’s not afraid of a bloodbath. Major characters have been dying from the very beginning, and fans are often now wary of becoming too attached to anybody on screen. Heartbreak is practically a certainty.

Well, it was practically a certainty.

While there’s no denying that the producers have not shied away from culling the cast in the past, they have gone on record that Arrow is the story of Oliver Queen’s journey from ruthless murdering Hood to the hero Green Arrow. After three seasons of varying levels of misery, the happy ending in the final moments of the third season finale indicates that Oliver is finally on the upswing. His crucibles have had crucibles, and he’s been broken down to the basics. 

To become the Green Arrow, he’ll need to start being built back up, and that can’t happen if his world is continually turned upside down by the deaths of those around him. Some characters just can’t be killed without completely sabotaging the storytelling of the entire series.

Not all of those necessary characters are favorites whose survival is only prolonged to prevent audiences from rioting. Some characters - major and minor - need to survive because their deaths would amp up unnecessary melodrama. Here is a look at ten characters aside from Oliver that absolutely cannot die for logical, practical, or narrative reasons on Arrow.

Not anytime soon, anyway.

Who She Is: Nyssa al Ghul – also known as Nyssa Raatko – is the daughter of the former Ra’s al Ghul and a deadly member of the League of Assassins. She fell in love with Sara Lance after rescuing her from Lian Yu, but her father viewed her affections as a weakness and used them to pass her over as his heir. Although she's proved willing to play by Oliver’s “no killing” rule in Starling, Nyssa has never been afraid to cross the line if it suited her.

Why She Cannot Die: Nyssa is an antihero at best and a villain at worst. Her motives are almost always murky, but she’s only fought against Team Arrow if she had a legitimate grievance. 

With her father now out of the picture as a vengeful force, former lover Sara unlikely to turn against her friends and family in Starling, and herself short enough of allies in Nanda Parbat that her forced wedding to Oliver went off without a hitch, there would simply be no point or far-reaching narrative consequences to killing her.

Katrina Law is a recurring guest star, and it’s hardly necessary for Arrow to kill off its most prominent surviving LGBT character and yet another woman for the sake of spectacle. She certainly cannot die without first enacting some vengeance on Malcolm Merlyn.