Talia al Ghul


 * For the Talia al Ghul from an alternate reality, see Talia al Ghul (alternate reality).
 * For the Talia al Ghul from Earth Fifty, see Talia al Ghul (Earth Fifty).

"Hello, Mr. Queen. My name is Talia."

- Talia to Oliver

Talia al Ghul (Arabic: تاليا الغول) is a female Human who lives in the 24th century, she is the daughter of the late Ra's al Ghul and the paternal older half-sister of Nyssa al Ghul. A worldly and cultured elite warrior that never stays in a place very long, Talia is the leader of her own cult of combatants, similar to the League of Assassins, as well as the mentor of Yao Fei Gulong, Oliver Queen and Adrian Chase. She is also the former close ally of Typhuss James Kira and the Birds of Prey. Although she had a strained relationship with her father, after his death at the hand of one of her former students, Oliver, Talia allied with another one, Prometheus, in order of getting revenge on him. In 2390, Talia and Typhuss become allies again after one year of not being allies. Talia and Typhuss currently spy on Lex, because Talia promised him she would help him.

Early life
In 1960, Talia and her father, Ra's al Ghul, passed Sara Lance training with the best performance. Her father advised her to learn from Sara's skills. As she grew up, Talia's relationship with Ra's became strained, and because of that, she left to her own path, eventually becoming the leader of a cult of warriors of her own.

Over the years, Talia maintained her youth due to the Lazarus Pit's waters. At some point in her life, she trained a young member of the People's Liberation Army of China, Yao Fei Gulong, whom years later became the first mentor of Oliver Queen.

In 2373, after learning of the death of her disciple, Talia decides to track down Oliver, uncovering evidence about him for the following four years, including the roles he had in stopping General Matthew Shrieve and Baron Reiter.

In Russia
Decades later, in 2378, Talia found her way to Russia, saving Oliver Queen from Bratva Pakhan Ishmael Gregor. She took and had Oliver recover at her place, then she offers to help him take down Kovar by targeting one of his main suppliers, Misha Yurievich who was behind human trafficking in Kovar's organization. Oliver accepts Talia's help and they raid and kill Yurievich and his men. After this, they return to their hideout, where Talia convinces Oliver to rekindle his determination to complete his father's mission reminding him that he has left him a list of "all the Kovars" of his Starling City and giving him a green hood and suit, along with a bow. Then she offers to train him and teach him to come to terms with the monster inside him.

Later, Talia helps Oliver to track down and kill Hideo Yamane, an individual on his father's list and one of the main drug lords of Starling City, while he was in Russia for his business. After this, she encourages him to talk to Anatoly in order to leave Bratva and come back to his city to begin his mission.

Connection to Prometheus
After 2378, Adrian Chase, prior to the beginning of his crusade against Oliver Queen as Prometheus, was trained by Talia and learnt several specific moves that she taught to the aforementioned. When Oliver found out about a possible connection between Talia and Prometheus, he tried tracking her down in the hopes of discovering the latter's identity, though he mentioned to Diggle that she never stays in one place very long.

Eventually Oliver finds the location of Talia's monastery and goes to it in order to enquire her about Prometheus, only to find out that she knew Prometheus's plan all along and helped him. When she and Oliver meet, she reveals to him her full name and that she is the daughter of Ra's al Ghul, stating that she helped Prometheus because of her father, who was killed by Oliver two years prior, and yearns to make him pay by making him suffer. Talia then reveals to Oliver that Prometheus' real identity is "Adrian Chase".

Following a heated battle between Adrian and Oliver, Talia injected the latter with a tranquilizer arrow and the two kidnapped him, taking him to an unknown location and chaining him in a cell. After Oliver reminds her that her father was a man of honor while she allied with a psycho, Talia replied that both she and Oliver have disappointed their fathers, then left telling Adrian to make him suffer which he happily agreed to.

In New Gotham City
Years later, in 2389, Talia found her way to New Gotham City, saving Typhuss James Kira from Tabitha Galavan and Lex Luthor. Birds of Prey team member Helena Kyle didn't trust Talia because of her father Ra's al Ghul. Her father almost killed Batman a number of times. (Birds of Prey episode: "Tabitha's Revenge")

Personality
Talia is highly intelligent, calculating, calm, level-headed and patient, as she rarely loses her composer, however, as an assassin, she can be cold, cruel and ruthless. Talia is also extremely vengeful, as she holds a grudge against her former apprentice, Oliver Queen for killing her father, and has aligned herself with Adrian Chase in order of getting revenge for Ra's al Ghul's death.

Talia apparently had a much better and closer relationship with her father, Ra's al Ghul, than her half-sister Nyssa did, however, at some point in her life their relationship became strained and, because of this, she left the League of Assassins to find her own path. Despite what happened between the two, she still loved her father, and was devastated upon learning of his death.

Despite being Ra's daughter, she apparently lacks his sense of honor, as Talia has aligned herself with Adrian to get revenge, knowing full well that the former is a psychopath. Talia doesn't hate Typhuss James Kira but she does respect what he has.

Powers

 * Longevity: Despite being a child in 1960, Talia still possesses the health, performance, and appearance of her prime. It is likely that she uses the Lazarus Pit to maintain her youth like her father.

Abilities

 * Genius-level intellect/Master tactician/Expert detective: Talia is an exceptional investigator as she was able to uncover evidence of the last four years of Oliver's life including the list that his father left him. She is highly tactical, both in preparation and while in action, able to quickly analyze the situation and how best to handle it.
 * Peak of human physical condition: As a highly skilled assassin, Talia is in top physical condition with fast reflexes and strong enough to swiftly incapacitate men much larger than she is such as Oliver Queen.
 * Honed senses: Talia has excellent senses, she is able to pick up danger quickly, showing noticeably sharp hearing and sight, as well as keen skills of perception.
 * Acrobatics/Free-running: Talia is an accomplished acrobat, capable of scaling buildings, and running from rooftop to rooftop with ease.
 * League of Assassins training: Talia had undergone the same training like most League members do. Being the daughter of Ra's al Ghul, meant that Talia was subjected to a higher level of training unlike most members.
 * Expert interrogator/torturer: Talia is a very effective interrogator and torturer. She taught Oliver how to use a Mongolian skinning technique on men and apparently trained Adrian Chase in various torture techniques, which he began to use on Oliver himself.
 * Master archer: Talia has proven herself to be a proficient archer, firing an arrow in to Ishmael Gregor's hand holding a firearm, forcing him to drop it and the arm to be pinned against a wall.
 * Master hand-to-hand combatant/Martial artist: As the daughter of Ra's al Ghul and a member of the League of Assassins since childhood, she has been extensively trained in combat, able to effortlessly subdue Oliver Queen in their first meeting. She is also an exceptional teacher as her known students Yao Fei Gulong, Oliver Queen, Adrian Chase and the members of her cult are exceptional fighters as well.
 * Medical knowledge: Talia knows much on human anatomy, she teached to Yao Fei pressure point manipulation, able to paralyze a person into a seemingly dead state and undo it. For healing, Talia can patch up most injuries on herself or others, she was able to nurse Oliver back to health after he was tortured for several days first by Kovar's and then by Gregor's men.
 * Multilingual: Talia is capable of fluently speaking English, Russian and Arabic.
 * Stealth: Talia was able to sneak into and retrieve Oliver's belongings from the Bratva which she notes is hardly a testament of her skills. Talia's stealth is further shown against Oliver as she was able to shot him with a dart from a close distance without him to notice her.
 * Network: Talia has established many connections with various organizations over the course of her life, gaining aid for various natures. According to Oliver she is very hard to track down.

Equipment

 * Lazarus Pit: Talia used the Lazarus Pit's waters to live well beyond her lifetime and maintain her youth over decades.
 * Customized hunting arrows: Talia used a number of arrows as her weapon of choice.
 * Customized PSE Chaos AD Compound Bow: Talia wields a personal compound bow, similar to that of her half-sister Nyssa or Malcolm Merlyn. It is possible that this bow is the signature bow to the League of Assassins.
 * Darts: Talia was shown using a dart to poison Oliver Queen and make him pass out.
 * Sword: Talia carried a double edged sword as her sidearm.
 * Quiver: Talia wore a quiver to carry her arrows.

Season 1

 * "Left Behind" (1960)

Season 5

 * "What We Leave Behind" (indirectly mentioned)
 * "Who Are You?" (flashback)
 * "Second Chances" (flashback)
 * "Bratva" (flashback)
 * "Checkmate"
 * "Kapiushon" (mentioned)
 * "Dangerous Liaisons" (mentioned)

Season 7

 * "Tabitha's Revenge"

Season 8

 * "Alternate Lives, Talia al Ghul is my Wife" (An alternate reality )
 * "Talia Captures Typhuss"
 * "Uneasy Alliances"
 * "We Could Still Be Allies"

Behind the scenes

 * In the DC comics, Talia is a daughter of Ra's al Ghul and lover of Bruce Wayne, also known as Batman, and the mother of their son, Damian Wayne, the fifth Robin.
 * Though Talia is Nyssa's older sister in the shared multiverse, in the DC comics Nyssa is in fact Talia's older sister.

Trivia

 * It is unknown if Talia was still a member of the League of Assassins by the time it was disbanded.
 * Talia taking vengeance and blaming Oliver for killing Ra's al Ghul has some similarities to the plot of The Dark Knight Rises. In the film, Talia blames Batman for not choosing to saving her father which in her eyes, Batman killed him. She swore revenge and attempted to kill him. In both works, Talia also keeps her identity as the daughter of Ra's a secret and works with another male villain who more openly antagonizes the hero, while Talia operates mostly behind the scenes.
 * Despite having an apparent closer relationship with her father Ra's al Ghul, it is unknown what kind of relationship Talia has with her half-sister Nyssa.