Arrow Season 3 Finale: Who Dies?

With executive producer Marc Guggenheim recently saying that the third season finale of Arrow, airing tonight, will feature at least one character who will die -- and that the character in question will remain dead -- the question becomes: who might it be?

This season, the show's cast has swelled, even while losing characters along the way (some of whom will apparently be back soon, since Sara Lance is expected to appear on DC's Legends of Tomorrow).

So...who might be on the chopping block this time around? Let's look at some of the suspects.

Ra's al Ghul

A big bad so big that he was mentioned in hushed tones all last season, effectively being built up for a year before he took center stage in Season Three? One who literally killed your main character and ultimately drove Team Arrow apart to such a spectacular extent that producers say it will carry through a chunk of next season?

Yeah, that seems like a guy you'd like to keep around.

The downside? The whole premise of his master plan to make Oliver take over as Ra's revolves around the notion that he's dying. So what if the big, lasting death in question is this version of Ra's leaving? With Maseo now dead and his succession plan for Oliver in shambles, what happens to the League of Assassins? How would Damien Darhk, who previously believed himself to be deserving of the title of Ra's, respond to his opposite number's death? It seems like this death has a lot of potential to drive story and, of course, the death of Ra's would almost certainly just lead to somebody else rising to the rank of Ra's al Ghul, effectively keeping much of that menace alive.

Malcolm Merlyn

During a number of recent interviews, producers have promised a satisfying, surprising and definitive conclusion to the season-long storyline that's been brewing between Thea and her biological father, Malcolm Merlyn.

He's also somebody who, from a storytelling perspective, is due for a comeuppance. Everything bad that has happened this season to our heroes and Starling City originated with him.

All that adds up to somebody who seems like a good candidate to die -- but when it happened before, it didn't take. How many chances like that can a guy have?

Katana

A character whose season-long arc has been defined in relation to her family, taking up a costume (and then having it stripped from her) just after she's forced to kill her husband, the last surviving member of said family?

That may be enough to send somebody on a suicide run if she found something worth dying for.

Quentin Lance

Disappointed that he was unable to hold Oliver Queen responsible for what he sees as The Arrow's crimes, Lance has a weak heart, the promise of resolution with his daughter this week, and seems if the last several episodes are any indication to have run his course as  a character the Arrow writers are interested in.

As the one who drove away Roy and drove Oliver into hiding, he's been a secondary antagonist to Ra's al Ghul for the second half of the season -- so if Ra's doesn't go, it seems even more likely that Lance will.

Team Arrow

I don't believe that any of the key members of Team Arrow are in serious danger right now. There's just more and better story to be had dealing with how they deal with Oliver's betrayal than there is in losing another team member when we've already dealt with them losing Oliver and then losing Roy.