I’ve been meaning to do this for awhile. Ever since I realized that there were some remarkable similarities between the brooding hero of my own creation and my favorite superhero on TV. Some might think that I was influence by Arrow, but I thought of Dakotashi (Dakota) Bennett in 2010. The first novel was entirely written by the end of 2011. So it’s no wonder that I love Arrow so much. The show and its main character speak to my subconscious.

This is about to get long, folks. Also, spoilers for Arrow. Don’t read if you care about that.

 First, let me say that I have no intention of making Dakotashi a “superhero,” nor will he ever have a secret identity. He becomes a hero for sure, one who will deal with increasingly bigger problems as the books go on (I hope) and he takes on more responsibility, but this is a series of fantasy novels, not comic books. That said, because of their similarities,  there could be similar themes and my hero might deal with some of the same issues as Oliver Queen.

So how similar are they? And what if anything have a soaked up from Arrow in later revisions?

Heritage

Dakota is actual royalty. His father was a king. His brother is the king. He is illegitimate, but an acknowledged part of the royal family, even if he lives apart from them. Oliver’s “royalty” is more symbolic or metaphoric and the show plays up on that. The Queen family is rich, powerful and owns a lot of Starling City. Even after Moira is involved in the plot of destroy the Glades and goes to prison, the name lends her such authority that she is able to run what most likely would have been a successful bid for Mayor, had she not, you know, died. They both come from a powerful line with oodles of legacy to deal with.

(Known from the beginning, 2010.)

Fame

Or rather infamy. Oliver Queen was a billionaire playboy before the island. After he comes back, although he is changed, he plays into that infamy, keeping up appearances to hide his true self. He’s constantly a subject of gossip and the media. He’s famous enough to be one of the people to end up on random girls’ lists of people they can sleep with without actually cheating. Dakota doesn’t have a before, but his existence was well rumored before it was confirmed. At the start of my story, he is infamous at court, has built a reputation for being dangerous, is gossiped about and noticed wherever he goes in polite society. There is a play about his life. He could actually be termed notorious. Given that there were no cameras or the internet, he can still find anonymity if he tries, unlike Oliver, who is one of those people you have to be living under a rock not to know about and recognize.

(Known from the beginning, 2010.)

Mysterious and Painful Past

Oliver was away for “five years… five years, where nothing good happened.” He shares very little detail about what happened with anyone, except perhaps Diggle. The audience knows more, because…flashbacks, but we’ve only seen a little into the third year so far. He hasn’t learnt Russian yet. Or used a gun much. He has learned to survive, to kill, to fight, to shoot with bow and arrow, to torture, is tortured, to become a killer, to meditate, to speak some Chinese and to do laundry. All very important skills. He matures from boy to man and becomes the brooding bad ass that we know and love. He also becomes untrusting and a cold-hearted, relentless killer without remorse. Although he starts transitioning from that under the influence of Diggle and Felicity during season 1. He has strong feelings about the things he did during these five years. Some of it is guilt. Some of it is shame. We don’t know all yet.

Dakotashi was never “away.” He was always gone. Until he was 16, he spent his life in various states of misery, in captivity, scraping by on the streets, or under the thumb of a sadistic man who threatens the two friends who are everything Dakota has left in the world. He learns to fight, to steal, to lie, to kill or be killed, to intimidate, to inflict pain. He is conflicted about the things that he had to do and is generally determined to keep the past in the past. There are no flashbacks, but Dakota’s past is crucial to who he is in the present. My original concept was for a character who had so much backstory that there could actually be a novel(s) about it, but instead things keep coming up that invade his present life. There are no flashbacks, but the point is to create emotional resonance between the past and the present story.

(The concept of his past being filled with trauma has been integral since the beginning, 2010, but the details of everything he did and feels about it are still being developed.)

Isolation

Both Oliver Queen and Dakota are isolated, although for different reasons. Oliver purposefully pushes people away because he thinks it will keep them safe. He hides his true self from almost everyone, especially those who were close to him before. However, he does make connections over the course of season 1 (Diggle, Felicity, even Helena) who know him and what he is doing. As the series progresses more and more people find out and support him as his mission changes to something more heroic. Even in Season 3, however, he still pushes people away, believing he can’t be both Oliver Queen and the Arrow at the same time, leaving little space in his life for anything else. He tells even those closest to him (except maybe Diggle) very little about what has happened to him, because he is afraid what he had to do and the choices he had to make will push the few closest too him even further away.

Dakota is isolated from almost everyone except his family both because of his reputation, his position and where he came from. His best friend is his niece. He finds it hard to make connections and trust people. But over the course of the series I hope he will develop a circle of friends and allies. His uncle and his brother know almost everything that happened in his past, although he doesn’t like to talk about it and in general doesn’t want most people to know. But he’s glad that they know and love him anyway.

(Known since at least 2011. Dakota’s isolation is woven into Book 1, but I don’t think I necessarily planned it that way.)

Deadly Skills

Oliver is deadly with a bow and arrow (if he chooses) as well as many other weapons. Dakota uses throwing stars, but prefers the sword, but has skill with many other weapons. They’ve both killed a lot. Oliver on the island and then as an assassin. Dakota in a gladiatorial-style ring. Oliver probably has more formalized training, even though he picked it up from various sources and certainly more military-style training. Dakota started younger, learning the basic sword-fighting skills he needed to survive while still a captive as a young boy. He has never lost a duel. He picked up other training while working for a criminal organization. They both consistently try to improve, although Oliver might be more obsessed about that. Both are highly skilled killing machines when they need to be.

(Known since the beginning, 2010)

Scars

Both character’s bodies are covered in scars from what they have endured in their pasts. They were both tortured. Oliver has more variety in scarring, but Dakota probably has even more, including lash marks. Oliver is self-conscious about his scars with people who haven’t seen them and especially people who knew him before. Dakota is self-conscious about the scars with everyone. They are a reminder of not only his torture, but of what he had to do to survive.

(I may have been influenced by Arrow in this. I think the first scene where I dwell on the scars was written in 2013, after I had already started watching Arrow, but it wasn’t a conscious decision.)

Love Interests

Oliver and Dakota both have multiple love interests, and while I believe Oliver might sort out his love life by the end of this season, he’s had to figure some things out and grow as a person before he could find the woman truly right for him. He has also had to deal with letting go of a past love, just as Dakota does in Book 1. I don’t even know for sure what I want to do with Dakota’s love life, although I have a pretty good idea. I do want to introduce the character I think he will end up with in a way that will build tension and angst and he has a lot of growing to do before he’s ready to have a real relationship. Neither of their love stories are the main focus of their journeys, but play an important part.

(I’ve known about the past love since the beginning, 2010, but Dakota’s love interests are ongoing. I’m going to have to be careful not to be too influenced by Arrow because I love where it is heading right now. Just because Felicity is the right woman for Oliver does not mean a similar-type woman would be right for Dakota. They are on very different journeys.)

Purpose

Both characters are driven by family. Oliver comes home from the island to right his father’s wrongs and save the city. He embarks on a vigilantism fueled killing spree, crossing names off his father’s list, but in the end that doesn’t help save the city as half the Glades are destroyed. So in Season 2 he embarks on a journey to something more heroic, still saving the city, but he doesn’t kill. He helps wherever he is needed the most.

When Dakota was rescued he was taken from a life and violence and crime and given a family who loved him no matter what he did in the past. All he wants is to repay his brother. He would do anything to protect his family and help his brother. His brother, however, for various reasons is reluctant to give Dakota too much responsibility, so it is up to Dakota to prove that he is worthy. This relationship is at the core of the series, especially in the beginning. So while Dakota might take on confrontations that have wide-ranging consequences to the city and the kingdom at large, anything he does is really for his brother. In the future, he may develop a sense of responsibility for his brother’s faceless subjects, but he’s not there yet.

(It took me a little while to figure out how important Daktoa’s relationship to his brother was, but I knew from the beginning that whatever he got into would be because it touched on people he cared about. He doesn’t care about random strangers much, unless he identifies with them on a personal level.)