Who is Oliver Queen?

A survivor.

If there's a more appropriate term I would like to know it.

People who surround him might also try to claim that title but they simply don't represent the concept as purely as him.

Kal-El? He got two wonderful pair of parents who kept him safe and loved him.

Bruce Wayne? He got lucky, either Joe Chill was too busy running away from his crime or he simply took pity on the poor boy.

Oliver Queen is different.

Born into privilege and becoming one of the most spoiled kids from his city made him a pretty useless human being in his adulthood, either his parents were never there to control him or they simply didn't care for his behavior until it was too late.

Wasting every day like it was worth nothing, Oliver went into a path of self-destruction that was consuming his own self little by little and where people were merely things that he could attract or buy with the resources that came naturally to him whether he deserved them or not.

But still, in spite of such suicidal demeanor that could have ended any other irresponsible child's life pretty soon, he just kept on living.

Then the accident happened.

Either by the actions of others or by his own, it doesn't matter, Oliver Queen finally got what he deserved. He could have died, he should have died, it's what everyone secretly wanted, maybe it's even what himself secretly wanted.

That's not what happened though.

The impossible occurred, fighting against the wrath of nature, Oliver Queen somehow resisted. Despite of all odds, this spoiled boy who never had to fight for anything in his life and whose body was weakened due to the years of excesses survived where stronger and worthier men perished.

If that wasn't enough the world was about to test him one more time. Lost in a lonely island with no hope to be found ever again, he was forced to exploit the latent talents that his father always told him he had if he wanted to get the most basic needs. After a while Oliver mastered them to the level that he could have been even able to take his old man despite of him being also an expert.

It's what allowed him to see another day.

Or maybe it wasn't that? This makes one wonder if he would have been able to make it even without such skills.

Incapacity to give up? No, that would be a goddamn lie, the truth is that it's simply stubbornness.

Due to these reasons he would eventually manage to come back to civilization one way or another, it might never be clear, what is a fact is that he would start to use his newfound techniques to do what he always did best: Endanger himself.

Going onto alarming adventures, fighting menacing criminals and even saving the world from every creature that threatens it. Oliver would continue to live every day like it was his last one.

Did he truly learn anything from his ordeal or is he merely doing what he did before it happened just with a different style?

Nevertheless, Oliver Queen lives on.

He will naturally find people who love him. Despite of all his flaws, the man oozes an unique charm that makes women unable to resist him and anyone who gets close can't help but start to like him.

He will end-up disappointing everyone.

Lies, betrayals and neglect are things that also come pretty easily from him. He could even see people to their eyes and deny them the truth but his own eyes will always be honest no matter what, that's the problem of being so emotional.

Maybe everyone actually knows the truth and pretend to believe him for his own sake.

He will preach to others about how they should live their lives but he will never say such words to the only person who truly needs them.

Because that person simply doesn't listen.

Does he actually cares for his loved ones as much as he says?

Of course he does, the man is no monster. However, there will always be someone who is more important, the one who matters the most for him.

He might say that life is something that should be protected at all cost just like any other hero but if someone he cares about gets hurt you better believe that the culprits will end-up with an arrow between their eyes.

For the sole reason that an attack against his loved ones would be an attack against him and he won't allow that, he can't.

He will continue skirting his responsibilities despite of finding even more with time, that's his manner of dealing with things, that's how he carries on.

Nothing ever affects him for too long, he just continues.

Acting first, thinking last. Consequences be damned.

Mistakes will be regretted but never learned.

Is that a selfish way to live?

Perhaps.

No, it is, it definitely is, he knows it. He just tells himself that to feel better.

Oliver Queen has been surviving all his life, his way. The accident didn't create anything that wasn't already there, he will always be the same man who acts and thinks younger than his true age, the same man who never lets anything gets through his skin too deeply.

For better or worse.

A survivor he remains with all the strenghts and weaknesses the title implies.

No matter if that means that he will end-up being the last man standing.