One ‘Ship to Rule Them All: Oliver and Felicity From ‘Arrow’ 

You are using an outdated browser. Please upgrade your browser to improve your experience.

Valentine’s Day is over, but love’s still in there air — it’s because of our Greatest Love of All Bracket Tournament. Throughout the fan-vote tournament, we’re profiling some of our favorite couples in the competition. This week, we look at the ‘ship from hit TV series 

The pairing started setting Tumblr and Twitter on fire back in Season 2, and fans were delighted in Season 3 when the two of them finally got together. Olicity has continued to be one of the strongest superhero romances in live-action today, never once wavering in its intensity (unless you count mind control or alternate timelines, 

Oliver Queen is the stoic but tortured protector of Star City. In his alter ego, as the vigilante Green Arrow, he keeps his city safe by… pretty much putting arrows into everything that is not safe. Queen spent most of his life as a drunken playboy, until he was stranded on a war-torn island. This experience forced him to learn how to survive, and he spent five years training to become a ruthless killing machine. In the beginning of 

, Oliver was portrayed as a remorseless murderer who believed the ends always justified the means. He’s gone through a lot of character development in four seasons, largely thanks to his relationship with Felicity, and has taken a vow to never kill again. Happier now that he’s in love, he sticks mostly to impalement, maiming, and torture. The biggest change Oliver has made is learning that he does more good when he works together with the people who love him, instead of trying to do everything himself. His hobbies include shirtlessness and not failing this city.

Felicity Smoak is a computer expert and hacker who graduated M.I.T. before moving on to Queen Consolidated. Her father is the villain, Calculator. Felicity is the only member of Team Arrow without combat expertise, but her genius and inventiveness save the day just as often as Oliver’s arrows. Felicity is an awkward nerd who frequently makes accidental innuendo, usually when she is distracted by Oliver not wearing a shirt. Despite appearing clumsy and unsure of herself in her early appearances, Felicity knows how to stand her ground. She says what she wants, and she’s not afraid to speak her mind and stand up for what she thinks is right. In a recent episode, Felicity was paralyzed from the waist down, implying that she’ll be in a wheelchair for the rest of her life. Despite this, she has continued to help save lives, taking the codename “Overwatch,” because the obvious (comic-inspired) choice “Oracle” couldn’t be used for legal reasons.

TANGENT WARNING: Because it’s my article, and dammit this is America… Honestly, I don’t think Felicity gets enough credit for being the true lynchpin of the Arrowverse. “Arrow” may be the title, but Felicity is the most important character. Without her, the show does not work.

 was a boring mess of a show before Felicity, and it started to work because she made it 

. The snark and grounded attitude that allowed her to call the more serious characters out on their ridiculousness is now a template for the best shows DC is making. She’s why we have Cisco Ramon on 

without Oliver Queen… they tried that when he was left for dead by Ra’s al Ghul, but you can’t do 

was a dark time indeed. It feels like remembering a bad dream, but we all lived through it, and you can’t see the scars but we know they’re there. It was a time when Laurel subplots ruled with an iron fist, somebody thought grease paint would look less stupid than domino masks, and the only thing that kept us going was Stephen Amell’s weekly shirtless workouts on the salmon ladder.

Felicity Smoak began as an employee at Queen Consolidated who helped Oliver out when he needed a computer expert. Initially, she was supposed to be a single-appearance character, but her bumbling awkward charm was so popular that they brought her back… and they kept bringing her back. After a series of increasingly less believable lies, such as claiming a bullet-riddled laptop was broken because he “spilled a latte on it,” Felicity eventually figured out Oliver’s secret identity. She made the decision to work with Oliver and his partner John Diggle full-time, drastically increasing his effectiveness and also giving him a greater voice of conscience.

They had a long drawn-out courtship with both of them dating other people, but Felicity never really took her eyes off Oliver on the salmon ladder. (Yes, it’s okay, you can go back up and look at it again. We’ll wait. We’re gonna do it too.)

After an extended period of will-they-won’t-they, including riding off into the sunset together and then 

, it all paid off this year when Oliver finally popped the question.

I tear up and start to quiver just watching that clip! BRB, have to go punch an endangered animal just to feel like a man again…

What makes Olicity so great, and sets them apart from so many other superhero romances, is that they’re true 

. Superhero romance, especially on television, tends to stick to a limited number of cheap drama tropes. The hero has a contrived reason why they can’t let their romantic interest know about their secret identity, usually because it would “put them in danger” for some reason. They’re both in love, but the love interest wants the hero to stop saving lives because it’s “too dangerous.” One of them is an alien, and the other is a man from ancient Greece trapped in the body of a super-powered horse. We’ve seen these play out a million times.

Oliver and Felicity are so great because they work together and they’re both all-in. Felicity started working with Oliver long before they became a couple, because they both believe in sacrificing themselves to make the world a better place. That’s not to say that either one of them is okay with the other taking needless risks, but they understand that their lives are dangerous and that’s unavoidable. It’s the life they’ve chosen.

Oliver and Felicity are very different people, but the show doesn’t use that as a source for cheap tension. Like a real relationship, their differences are part of what makes them strong. They’re both completely realized adults who have separate interests and draw strength from each other, but aren’t co-dependent. They’re both incredibly supportive and understanding of each other, aware of each other’s flaws, and kindly assertive when they need to address a problem. I’m getting all melty. The point is, Oliver and Felicity deserve to win this tournament because they are an excellent model of how healthy adult relationships can function to make the two people in it even stronger.

Do you love Oliver and Felicity as much as we do? Go vote for them in the Greatest Love of All Bracket Tournament now! 

Would you like to be part of the Fandom team? Join our Fan Contributor Program and share your voice on Fandom.com!

People are sharing and discussing this article – join them!

Antoine Fuqua Will Not Direct CBS 'Training Day' Pilot

'Star Wars' Fan Film Awards 2016 Now Open

The Pack Is Back in the 'House of Lies' Season 5 Teaser

You Can Rent the 'American Horror Story' Murder House on Airbnb

Jennifer Aniston, Jason Bateman to Star in 'Office Christmas Party'

What's Next for Metal Gear's Hideo Kojima?

Titan Comics Unveils New 'Sherlock' Manga Series

Crash Course: Everything You Need to Know About Deadpool

Five Silly Superhero Films to Prepare You for ‘Deadpool’

Six Best ‘Walking Dead’ Moments of Season 6 (So Far)

Why ‘Walking Dead’ Fans Are Freaking Out About Negan

How Will ‘Rogue One: A Star Wars Story’ Be Different?

\'Rebels\' Cast in \'Rogue One\'? Get to Know the Ghost Crew

Want Your Story Highlighted Here? Become a Fan Contributor Now!

One 'Ship to Rule Them All: Oliver and Felicity From 'Arrow'

First Poster for Disney's Remake of 'Pete's Dragon'

'Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt' Season 2 Trailer Debuts

See the First Photo of 'Supergirl' Villain Silver Banshee

'Ferris Bueller' Gets A 30th Anniversary Festival

Daigo and Luffy Complete the Red Bull Kumite Field

Harper Lee, 'To Kill A Mockingbird' Author, Has Died

The Rock and Kevin Hart to Host the 2016 MTV Movie Awards