Arrow Season 7: 5 Major Questions That Must Be Answered Before The Finale

Arrow's seventh season has been quite the return to form for the show. With a multitude of different storylines all leading in intriguing and unexpected directions, it has undoubtedly been its most complex offering yet.

Fresh off his own imprisonment, Oliver Queen had to learn how to survive inside the walls of a maximum security prison. However, with the support of his friends, he managed to make it out alive and, in doing so, return to his heroic duties as the Emerald Archer. Speaking of which, a new Green Arrow surfaced in a bid to exact revenge on criminals during his absence, but she soon turned out to be a surprisingly big thorn in his side.

Since returning for its midseason premiere, the show has really upped the ante, allowing us to see just how Oliver can be a crime-fighter and work with the police at the same time, while teasing us with an evil new threat that is a lot closer to home than Team Arrow expected.

Having said all that, the season finale is on the horizon and, with the show set to return for its final selection of episodes this week, there are still a number of unanswered questions that must be addressed.

When Ricardo Diaz managed to evade death and/or imprisonment in last season's finale, his return in Season 7 was a certainty. Infuriated over losing the city, the Big Bad resurfaced at the beginning of this season and made it his mission to destroy everything and anything that Oliver Queen loved. However, he didn't come alone.

With the Longbow Hunters backing him up, it soon became clear that he wasn't working alone and, as the season progressed, we discovered that he had connections in the Ninth Circle. With that, it looked like the writers were setting him up to have an even larger role this season, but after getting imprisoned at Slabside (for the second time), he was shockingly burned alive by Emiko Queen. Now that we know Emiko is actually the leader of the Ninth Circle, it begs the question: Is Diaz really dead and if so, why did she kill him?

If he is dead, then she may have been seeking revenge on him for his temporary alliance with A.R.G.U.S. However, the hush-hush manner (not to mention the sheer randomness of it all) in which it was dealt with does suggest that we may not have seen the last of him after all.

In the comics, the Ninth Circle was renowned for burning its captives with lava so that they could be reborn. Thus, there is a strong possibility that they have the exact same intentions for Diaz.