Arrow Season 4: 13 Questions We're Asking After Eleven-Fifty-Nine
6. How Does Malcolm Fit Into Things?
The League of Assassins has been disbanded, but Malcolm Merlyn still has a few loyalists left, as they show up in Star City to help him retrieve the mysterious idol.
Quite how Merlyn fits into everything at this stage is a little bit murky. While it seems as though he's definitely a full-on antagonist again for Oliver, he did seem to want to get Darhk out of the prison without further bloodshed, and he's still determined to keep his daughter alive, which in his warped mind probably means he's doing a good job as a parent.
Although he was Ra's al Ghul, he now seems to be very highly involved with H.I.V.E., in a move that hasn't really been explained apart from mentioning the fact that he was once Ra's al Ghul. Maybe that's enough.
Anyway, it seems as though he will be fully involved in the season endgame, and it could be that they're setting him up to be the big bad of Season 5. Unless he has another change of heart, because you never quite know with Merlyn.