‘Arrow’ Character Spotlight: John Diggle

After last week’s airing of
the Arrow episode ‘Eleven-Fifty-

Nine’, we know that of all characters to feel the most guilt about the

death of Laurel Lance aka our beloved
‘Black Canary’, it would be John
Diggle. After all, he chose to disregard
Oliver’s suspicions about
Diggle’s
brother, Andy being a spy for the treacherous and diabolical Damien
Darhk. After Andy betrayed
Diggle and Oliver, Damien used his
mystical
powers to disarm Team Arrow, and stab Laurel; ultimately killing
her. We saw the
grief and guilt
in Diggle’s face as Laurel laid in the hospital bed. It’s
clear that he is
blaming himself for her death.
That’s the kind of character
Diggle is. He’s like our protective, big
brother, who always feels the need to

take on more responsibility than he needs to.

From the very beginning

of Arrow, Diggle
has been a significant part of Oliver’s life. He
originally started as
Oliver’s bodyguard, and eventually
joined Oliver in his
mission to better Starling City. With every mission
that passed and with every
fight
that was fought, Diggle was always right by Oliver’s side. He grew to
love
Oliver as a partner, a best
friend, and a brother. He even asked Oliver to
be his best man in his
wedding. He stuck by Oliver through all
of his
heartbreaks and hardships, especially when Slade Wilson murdered
Oliver’s
mother in Season
2.

In Season 3, their friendship was put to the test and
seemingly
lost. In a plan to overthrow Ra’s
Al Ghul, Oliver pretended that he
was under Ra’s influence, and kidnapped
Diggle’s wife and daughter to
convince
Diggle to turn over Ra’s Al Ghul’s daughter, Nyssa. When Diggle
discovered
that it was all an
act, he grew infuriated with Oliver. Not just because Oliver
kept the plan
to overthrow Ra’s a secret (to
which he only confided in their
former rival, Malcolm Merlyn) but because Oliver nearly jeopardized Diggle’s

family, unintentionally or
not.

Despite his anger, Diggle still sided
with Oliver and helped him
overthrow Ra’s. At the
conclusion of Season 3, their
status of their friendship was questionable as
Oliver drove off into the sunset

with Felicity.

In the beginning of this season, Diggle
finally debuted
his costume. After their first
run-in with Damien Darhk, Diggle
finally found himself forgiving Oliver.
Since then, their friendship has

continued to find its way back to where it once was. However, this past week
had
me quite concerned. When
Oliver continued to make attempts to prove Andy guilty,
angering Diggle, I
was afraid they were going to find
their ways back to square
one. Now that Diggle knows Oliver was right all
along, he’s feeling more guilty

than he ever could have possibly felt in his life.

Diggle has always
been
a favorite character of
mine, and I think that is because he and I have a lot of
commonalities. We
are both Soldiers, and I can
relate to Diggle’s constant want
to look after and protect everyone close
to him.

I also love
Diggle’s
willingness to forgive and his strong sense of honor and
integrity. If John
Diggle has proven
to us one thing for sure, it is that there is always room to
forgive. When
Diggle first found out that Floyd
Lawton aka ‘Deadshot’ was
responsible for the ‘murder’ of Andy, Diggle
had his mind set on hunting him

down and killing him. John had several opportunities to kill Floyd, but
somehow,
Diggle found a way to
forgive him. Rather than kill Deadshot in cold blood as a
means of revenge,
he let him walk away. Deadshot
joined Amanda Waller’s suicide
squad, and eventually wound up doing a few
missions with Diggle

himself.

If there is one thing that Diggle loves, it is
his
family. He is a loving husband and
father, and he plays the role of the big
brother when it comes to Team
Arrow. Whenever there has been a point
or time
when one of the team members was feeling low, or wounded on the
field of battle,
Diggle was
always the first one there. Even in Oliver’s absence, Diggle made
sure to
look after both Thea and Oliver.
Despite what complications or hardships
may come his way, Diggle will always
have a place in his heart those
close to
him. Quite simply, he and Oliver need each other in their lives.
Diggle has
always been the
voice of reason for Oliver, helping him keep a clear head on his
shoulders.
Oliver has always been that
brotherly figure to Diggle, giving him
someone to confide it.

Diggle
is extremely tactically gifted,
and his
skill set make him a fantastic addition to Team Arrow.

What
can we expect
from Diggle for
the rest of this season? Well, after this most recent episode, I
expect to
see an extreme amount of struggle
on Diggle’s part. Especially when
it comes to his morals. Yes, Diggle has
always found a way to forgive.
Heck, he
found a way to forgive the man who even admitted to firing the shot
that
‘killed’ Diggle’s
brother, Andy! However, I think Diggle will be coming very
close to the
breaking point. Damien Darhk murdered
a member of Diggle’s family,
and his own brother betrayed him. That’s a
heavy beating for someone to take.
I
suspect Diggle will once again go on a search for Andy, and will confront
him
about his actions.
Perhaps he will try to bring Andy back in. Despite Andy’s
actions, Diggle
still views Andy as his brother
and I believe he always will.
He’s going to do all he can to get Andy out
of Darhk’s clutches.

I’m

hoping Oliver brings Diggle back to the light, before Diggle ventures down a

dark path to which there is
no return. Oliver’s been down that path, he knows
darkness. I think Oliver
would rather die than see Diggle
turn to
darkness. Diggle needs Oliver now, more than ever before. There is
nothing more
dangerous, or
more deadly than a heart full of revenge.

Arrow is
on a
brief hiatus, and will return
Wednesday April 27th.