“Redemption isn't a destination. It's a journey. I wasted years running away from all the bad things that I had done because I didn't want to face the pain that I had caused because I didn't want to be that person. And then I realized the only way to stop being that person was to come home and own up to the things that I had done, and, yeah, it was painful, and it took a long time. But it was the only way to become someone else, someone better than who I was.”
―Sara Lance
Sara Lance is the tritagonist of the Arrowverse, serving as a supporting protagonist in Arrow, the main protagonist of the CW television series DC's Legends of Tomorrow and a minor character in The Flash, Supergirl and Batwoman. She is a close friend and ex-girlfriend of Oliver Queen who is an assassin turned vigilante who was once a member of the League of Assassins under the alias of Ta-er al-Sahfer (yellow bird), or The Canary. Sara was later recruited by Rip Hunter to become a member of the time-traveling vigilante team known as the Legends, this time as the White Canary meant to compliment her sister's title. She is the surviving daughter of Quentin and Dinah Lance, the younger sister of the late Laurel Lance, the ex-lover/good friend of Oliver Queen, and Nyssa al Ghul, the wife of Ava Sharpe, one of the two mothers of their unborn daughter, and the arch-enemy of Damien Dahrk.
During the Anti-Monitor Crisis, Sara was identified as the Paragon of Destiny.
Sara is based on Dinah Drake and Dinah Lance/Black Canary. She is also loosely based on the White Canary from the comic book series due to the original character being a supervillain and the opposite of the Black Canary
She appears as one of the two deuteragonists of Season 2 and a supporting protagonist in Seasons 3-8 in the 2012-2020 series Arrow, the deuteragonist turned main protagonist of the 2015-2022 series DC 's Legends of Tomorrow and a minor character in The Flash and Supergirl.
Early Life[]
Sara Lance was born in 1987 to Quentin and Dinah Lance. According to Laurel, Sara was once a rebellious teenager whose father was a police officer, her mother was a professor and Laurel became a lawyer. She grew up with Oliver Queen and his sister, Thea, and Tommy Merlyn. She was extremely close with her sister, but soon drifted apart when they grew older.
At one point, she went and shop-lifted, but the charge was dropped when Quentin found a way to "Make it go away", according to Laurel. She often partied and went out past after curfew. She snuck into a party that Tommy was hosting just to get close to spending time with Oliver despite Sara being underage at a rave only meant for people over the age of 18. However, Laurel called their dad, the cop on Sara to break up the party to protect her. However, at the time, Sara thought Laurel did this because she was aware of her sister's crush and did this to hurt her. When Laurel and Oliver became a couple, this further supported Sara's idea her sister ratted her out to Quentin just to spite her.
Shipwreck[]
In 2007, she soon began having an affair with Laurel's boyfriend, Oliver. Unfortunately, Sara was shipwrecked when the Queen's Gambit was caught in a storm.
Dominator Invasion[]
Doomworld[]
Personality[]
"I've lost a lot, most recently, my dad. The world needs a protector, someone to keep it safe. And it doesn't matter if someone's wearing a mask. All that matters is no one should have to lose their family or anyone they love.
Sara Lance was perceived as the outlier within her family during her teenage and young adult years. Frequently engaging in rebellious behavior such as attending unauthorized parties and committing acts of theft, her demeanor bore a resemblance to that of Oliver Queen. Despite being aware of Oliver's existing relationship with Laurel, Sara chose to pursue a romantic involvement with him, showcasing a self-centered and superficial motive to retaliate against her sister for supposedly being aware of Sara's feelings for Oliver. It was only after the tragic incident involving the sinking of the Gambit that Sara underwent a significant transformation.
Following her shipwreck, Sara experienced a significant change. Initially overwhelmed by feelings of vulnerability and fear, Sara relied heavily on Anthony Ivo, the individual responsible for rescuing her from the wreckage. It later came to light that she had participated in Ivo's cruel treatment of his captives out of fear of becoming a victim herself if she refused. Despite her allegiance to Ivo, Sara took measures to ensure Oliver's safety and shielded him from harm caused by others. While she attempted to justify Ivo's actions to Oliver, Sara eventually came to regret her involvement in his schemes. She became disillusioned with Ivo following his fatal actions towards Shado, injuring Slade Wilson, and Ivo's threats that he would torture her and Oliver if she didn't return to his side. As she spent more time with Oliver, Sara rekindled her feelings for him and regained her loyalty and admiration.
1Upon joining the League of Assassins and undergoing warrior training, Sara quickly developed a sense of independence, determination, and self-assurance. Nevertheless, she remained deeply connected to her roots, cherishing her family and never losing sight of her true identity. Despite this, Sara harbored a fear of disclosing her survival to her loved ones, apprehensive of their potential rejection of the person she had transformed into. However, Sara later revealed herself to her parents and sister and gradually earned their trust. After Sara told Laurel she was a "monster" and beyond saving after unmasking herself as the Canary and what her Arabian name meant "the Canary", Laurel told her sister that if she were so far gone, then she wouldn't have chosen a name that was so beautiful and a reminder of Sara's love for her pet canary from her father.
After being indirectly killed by Malcolm via Thea and being brought back through the Lazarus pit, Sara was resurrected without her soul, turning her bloodthirsty, uncontrollable, and animalistic. However, when John Constantine restored her soul with help from Laurel and Oliver, Sara was restored to her old self. She and Thea both suffered a blood lust and the latter became horrified when she nearly beat a Kord Industries security guard to death. Sara left Star City and Team Arrow to find her path and eventually, she agreed with Nyssa and Laurel's encouragement to use her second chance at life to be a hero in the light. Over time, she even became close with Rip Hunter, who would come to regard her and Ava Lance as his best proteges, being like a brother-like figure to her.
Sara, devastated by the murder of her sister Laurel, seeks revenge by attempting to bring her back in time and kill Damien's younger self. Despite her teammates' attempts, Sara chooses to spare Damien and reunites with Laurel's spirit using the Spear of Destiny. She embraces her role as a Legend, embracing her rebellious disposition and time-traveling to different eras. However, Sara could still be highly hypocritical, as she criticized Barry for going back in time to save his mother and create Flashpoint, despite Sarah doing the same thing trying to save her sister. While Barry did fix his mistake by freeing Eobard Thawne so he could kill his mother, the new timeline had a few minor changes including John having a son, John Jr. instead of a daughter, baby Sara. However, Sara eventually forgave Barry after he offered to turn himself over to the Dominators so they wouldn't take over the Earth and realized she was being judgemental of him.
She has developed a distaste for authority and opposes the Time Bureau's attempts to fix anachronisms, generating a rivalry with Agent Ava Sharpe. However, their relationship improved over time when Ava offered her condolences to Sarah about Martin Stein's death, which took place during the crisis on Earth X crossover event. They eventually became lovers after Sara got encouragement from Zari Tomaz and even married each other in Season 6. Ava is still something of the jealous type, becoming envious of John Constantine after learning he and Sarah were each other's one-night stand s and sometimes becoming uneasy whenever people brought up Sarah's past relationship with Oliver Queen. To Ava, it felt like she was still competing with them because Constantine was an attractive, British man and Oliver was not only Sara's ex-boyfriend but also one of her childhood best friends. After the disbandment of the Time Bureau, Ava became a full-fledged member of the Legend and was there for Sara more. Over time, Sara also embraced her role as the leader of the Legends, becoming the most authoritative figure on the Waverider.
After Sara's mind is transferred to a human-alien hybrid clone body, Sara still retains her original personality. However, Sara was initially desperate to become human; to do so, she tried to create a human clone body for herself with Bishop's technology until Mick convinced her to accept her new body.
Powers and Abilities[]
Former Powers[]
Human-Kriblix Alien physiology: When Bishop abducted Sara, he cloned her body and merged her DNA with an Krblix in an attempt to make her a perfect human, transferring her consciousness into a new body. He previously tried to do the same thing to Amelia Earhart, but unlike that incident, Bishop was successful with Sara. Gary suspected that half of Sara’s DNA was to be a Wafter until she was confirmed to be Kriblix. When she and Ava discussed the possibility of having a child together. They decided they would go to a sperm donor and Ava would become pregnant. However, Sara ovulated at the thought of becoming a mother and, because of her cloned alien physiology, Sara became pregnant with her and Ava’s baby and her powers transferred over to her child
Regenerative Healing Factor: Kriblixes are effectively unkillable due to their ability to regenerate from any wound. Being half Kriblix, Sara also has the ability to immediately heal from her wounds. Sara discovered she she had this ability when she healed from a wound after getting hurt on Pliny X19. She also regenerated from a gunshot wound to the head and another gunshot wound after Bishop shot her with Spooner's gun. However her pregnancy negates her abilities, as her child was absorbing her powers.
Self-Resurrection: Being half Kriblix, Sara would presumably resurrect herself, as she was able to do so after being shot in the head because such wounds will not permanently kill a Kriblix.
Abilities[]
Combat/Defense Skills: Sara and Laurel were later taught the basics of defending themselves because their father had them sign up for fight class. Sara's combat skills increased when she was trained by Ra's al Ghul and the League of Assassins.
Acrobatics
Archery: Although specializing in the use of a staff that can separate into two sticks, Sara shows expertise with a bow the times she uses one. She used a bow and arrow when she and Oliver swapped weapons while they were fighting the mayor's men.
Aviation: Being the Captain of the Wave-Rider, Sara can pilot the ship with little trouble, provided with advanced technology.
Firearms
Indomitable Will
Interrogation
Leadership
Martial Arts: Due to her training with the League of Assassins, Sara is a master martial artist, having skill in several fighting styles.
Eskrima
Jeet Kune Do
Stick Fighting
Multilingualism: After being trained by Ra's and Nyssa al Ghul, Sara learned to speak in the English, Chinese, and Arabic languages.
Peak Human Condition
Stealth
Swordsmanship
Tactical Analysis
Toxicology
Weaponry
Weaknesses[]
Blindness: Sara temporarily lost her eyesight when she was first empathically linked to Atropos, but after the latter's death, Sara regained her eyesight.
Possessions[]
Sonic Device: Sara's sonic sound device emits a high pitched frequency sound that overwhelms the hearing of everyone in the immediate vicinity, and is also capable of shattering glass. The device wasn't called the canary cry until Laurel gave it to Cisco to modify it since she took over Sarah's role as the Black Canary. He later turned the device into the Canary cry, a choker like Sonic device that allowed Laurel could emit a super sonic scream.
Green Arrows bow: When Sara and Oliver fought the mayor's men in Season 2, Sarah temporarily wielded Oliver's bows while she gave him her bo staff. They later swapped back instantly.
Expandable Baton: When she became a member of the League of Assassins Sara's signature weapon became her white, metallic batons, which could also turn into a bo-staff. She would later use it on missions during her time as a member of the Legends.
Sonic bracelet: When Sara briefly returned to Team Arrow to help Felicity Smoak, she used a sonic bracelet (an upgraded version of the Canary Cry) that emitted sound waves. Sara later passed on the weapon to Dinah Drake, one of her successors.
Voice filter: Sara disguised her voice with a voice filter whenever she was talking to individuals who do not know her true identity. She stopped using this device after becoming White Canary.
Blonde Wig and Mask: To conceal her identity, she wore a beach blonde wig and a black mask as the Canary. However she ditched them both after Laurel insisted she no longer had to live in the shadows.
Death Totem
League of Assassins suit
Scarf: Like her ex-lover, Nyssa al Ghul, Sara used a scarf to descend from ceilings in an acrobatic manner.
Transportation[]
Waverider: As the captain and leader of the Legends, Sara uses the Waverider to travel through time to protect the timeline and provide vigilantism when the need calls for it. She used it the first year of their time as a team, long before she became a member of the Legends.
Time Courier: Sara will occasionally use a time courier to travel through time when she doesn't have access to the Waverider or needs to time travel somewhere without her teammates noticing.
Motorcycle: Sara used to drive a motorcycle when she was a member of the Team Arrow.
Sara is a combination of several characters from DC Comics.
She is an adaptation of her sister's comic book counterpart, Black Canary from DC Comics. Similar to her counterpart, Sara has a daughter (Sin in the comics and an unnamed girl in Arrow
In the original comics, the White Canary was an enemy of Black Canary And completely unrelated to Dinah Drake or Laurel Lance.
Sara is the second main protagonist to be introduced on Arrow and later becomes the lead in the TV series. Both she and Berry debuted on Arrow, and Barry went on to become the main protagonist of The Flash and Sarah went on to become the main protagonist of DC's Legends of Tomorrow.
In a sense, Sara is nearly similar to Jason Todd from the comics: both of the characters are killed by the heroes' arch-enemys (Oliver/Malcolm and Batman/the Joker) and later brought back through the Lazarus pit with terrible consequences and side effects (Jason becomes a murderous outlaw known as the Red Hood and Sara was resurrected without her soul) intact. However, they manage to overcome this; however, Sara and Jason have anger issues but learn to fix them. To allude to this further, Felicity tells her boss there's been a "death in the family," which was the name of the comic in which Jason was murdered by the Joker.
Apparently, Sarah is also the inspiration behind Lancelot.
