Arrow: Ragman Returns and Gets a Major Upgrade in Series Finale

Tonight’s series finale of Arrow saw Oliver Queen’s family and friends say one final goodbye to the Green Arrow. With the world saved thanks to Oliver’s sacrifice in “Crisis on Infinite Earths” all that was left was to honor the hero who had given them all a new chance, a new reality, a new life. As a result, “Fadeout” saw the return of a number of figures from Oliver’s journey over the show’s eight season, including the return of Rory Reagan/Ragman. While the character’s return was revealed in episode photos ahead of the finale, there’s more to his return than simply saying goodbye.

Spoilers for tonight’s Arrow series finale, “Fadeout”, below.

Tonight’s series finale featured a final paying of respects to the fallen Oliver Queen, but before everyone said goodbye to the hero there was one final mission to undertake. Ahead of Oliver’s funeral, William is kidnapped in Central City and while Felicity is able to track the boy to Star City there are too many locations to for the handful of heroes to check on their own. That prompts Diggle to call in everyone – Roy, Thea, Curtis – to help. That includes Rory. He shows up and suits up to help find William, pairing up with Rene/Wild Dog to do so.

You’ll note that we said “suit up” and indeed, Rory does don his rags. Ragman returns and not only is he dressed for the rescue, we soon see that the mystical rags of the Devarim work once again. He is back as a vigilante, revealing to Rene that he has continued to fight for justice, carrying on Oliver’s legacy in his own way. It’s a huge development for the character.

That Rory’s rags have been restored is a significant change from the last time viewers saw the character. In Season 5’s “Bratva”, Oliver and the team head to Russia to stop Lieutenant General J.G. Walker from selling bombs to the Markovians. However, the team is tricked by Walker and he had activated the nuclear weapon that would explode to great destruction. Having survived the blast on Havenrock because of his rags, when Felicity suggests that she can fly the bomb to a less populated area, Rory opts to wrap the bomb in his rags with the idea being that if he survived Havenrock because of them, he could save everyone and survive this bomb.

Rory is successful. He does survive and he does save others from the bomb, but it’s too much on his rags. They appear to lose their powers with Rory ultimately choosing to leave the team to figure out how to fix it. When he departs, he promises Felicity that he will one day return. Prior to the events of “Crisis”, though Rory’s status is unknown after becoming a target of vigilante-hunter Chimera in Season 7. His fate is left a question mark and while the finale doesn’t exactly explain what happened there – the rebirth of the world may have reset Ragman’s fate, it’s unclear – Rory’s appearance in tonight’s finale makes good on his promise to Felicity. He did, indeed, return to Team Arrow, even if only for one last mission.

Were you excited to see Ragman return complete with functioning rags in tonight’s finale? Let us know in the comments below.