Canarrow

Canarrow is the het ship between Sara and Oliver from the Arrowverse fandom.

Canon
GROWING UP

Sara and Oliver have known each other since they were young, along with Tommy and Laurel. In 2005 Sara snuck out to a party at Tommy's because she had a big crush on Oliver, but Laurel tipped off their Dad about the party because she was only 17 at the time. Sara got grounded for a month, and Laurel and Oliver started dating. Sara felt that Laurel knew about her crush and tried to come between Sara and Oliver. Oliver uses that fact two years later, when he starts up a romance with a besotted Sara to destroy his relationship with Laurel, to whom he has promised to commit. Sara knows all this, but is by then in a bitter rivalry with her sister over Oliver and willingly goes with him on the Queen's Gambit. They sleep together on the boat and when it suddenly flips on the side, Sara is pulled out into the water through a hole.

LIAN YU Oliver believes Sara to have drowned when the yacht sinks, but sees her again a year later, where she is working as muscle for Anthony Ivo on the Amazo. Sara has been slightly taken with Ivo's mission, as it is the only 'stability' she's known for a year, and betrays Oliver by pretending to help him escape, by tricking him into revealing Shado and Slade's position for Ivo, although Ivo could've realised she knows Oliver and threatened her if she didn't help. Shado and Slade manage to ambush Ivo and his men and free Oliver and Sara, after which Sara ask Oliver why after she betrayed him and he replies that she kept them from shooting him on the Amazo. Sara notices Shado and Oliver's relationship and makes a cheeky remark about it to him. Sara helps with Slade, with the medical knowledge she has, and they give him the Mirakuru, from which they think he dies.

Ivo tracks and captures them, and puts a gun on Sara and Shado demanding Oliver choose who will die. When Ivo looks like he's about to fire at Sara, Oliver moves in front of her and Ivo shoots Shado dead right in front of them. Slade comes to their rescue and they bury Shado beside Oliver's father. Sara warns Oliver about Slade's increasing mania and when Slade later steps to her, with Oliver stopping him, he tries to choke Oliver and Sara saves Oliver by hitting Slade with a branch, and Slade later disappears in the night with the Mirakuru. They go looking for Slade and spend the night in the plane. A slightly Stocholm Syndrome afflicted Sara tries to convince Oliver that maybe Ivo is okay, mostly out of hope and somewhat due to Ivo being the only person who Sara was around for a year in a violent, nightmarish torture landscape.

Oliver is aghast, since Ivo killed Shado. Sara sneaks out during the night to call Ivo, but comes to terms with how insane he is and tells him off. Oliver overhears some of the conversation and understands that himself and Sara are now on the same team fully. They continue their search for Slade in the cave and Oliver realises that Slade wants to bomb the Amazo. Oliver stops him, inspired by Sara's words, by appealing to Slade's love for Shado. Though rattled, Sara and Oliver look out for and protect each other, but when they fight a Mirakuru-induced Slade on the Amazo after he finds out how Shado died, Sara is caught in a slipstream on the sinking boat in a horrific mirror incident to the Queen's Gambit 2 years prior.

CANARY Oliver again believes Sara to be dead and it weighs on his conscience as he feels responsible. After believing Sara to be dead for 4 years, Felicity realises that the masked blonde vigilante in black is following Laurel. Oliver keeps an eye on Laurel and finally captures the mystery vigilante. He asks for her identity and she reveals herself, telling Oliver she'll give him some time to let it sink in, after which the sonic device sets off an explosion and Sara disappears.

She turns up at Verdant to ask Oliver if he's told her family that she's alive. Oliver probes into Sara's reasons for being in Starling City still, suggesting that she wants to reconnect with her family. They're interrupted by Det. Lance, who speaks to Oliver, and Sara leaves after glimpsing her father for the first time in 6 years. After "The Mayor" shoots up the city's guns for cash initiative and Sin is hit, Sara watches over her outside the hospital when Oliver recruits her to help stop the influx of guns. Oliver's impressed with Sara's fighting prowess and it's evident from when she first reveals herself that there are lingering romantic feelings for both of them.

He convinces Sara to take the step back towards her real life and reuniting with her family. She stays with Oliver at his mansion, and talks to Oliver in the middle of the night as she wakes from nightmares of the Queen's Gambit sinking. Sara is hesitant to reunite with her family, which Oliver doesn't understand until they are attacked at the mansion. Sara meets Team Arrow in the Foundry and finally reveals why she can't talk to her family: she's a member of the League of Assassins.

Oliver's outraged and angry, showing no understanding for the circumstances under which Sara ended up in that situation. After the team locate the attacker, Al-Owal, Sara and Oliver fight him and other League members but they can't take them. Al-Owal threatens Sara's family, so Oliver sets out to protect Laurel while Sara must reveal herself to her father. Watching Sara deal with showing her father who she has become, he finally understands how scared Sara was that they would hate her. To avoid risking her family's safety, Sara leaves Starling City and Oliver is saddened, indicating he wanted to start something with Sara.

Both feeling estranged from their old lives by their new identities as assassins, they find common ground and start a whirlwind romance. Oliver falls head over heels for Sara and is eager to commit to her longterm, suggesting they move in together. Sara doesn't feel she can escape what she has done with the League of Assassins and leaves a heartbroken Oliver, saying she would pull him back into the darkness.

LOSS

Following their break-up, Sara stays in Starling City and keeps working with the team and Oliver, who moves on to Felicity. When Sara is murdered Oliver is heartbroken, having lost Sara a third time. It becomes a point of contention between him and Laurel, and 6 months after Sara's death, Laurel resurrects her with the Lazarus Pit and brings a blood-lusting, feral Sara back to Star City. When Oliver discovers what Laurel's done he is livid and calls in a favour with John Constantine, who, with assistance from Oliver and Laurel, finds and restores Sara's soul.

HEROES

Sara feels lost after all she's been through and decides to join up with Rip Hunter and his mission. She and Oliver don't really stay in touch, but Sara visits the team 6 months after leaving with Rip and finds her Dad who tells her about Laurel. Sara doesn't blame Oliver and they stay allies, working together on their first mission with different teams in 2016 when they take on the Dominators. After resolving the alien fight, Sara and Oliver have a moment together where they reflect on how the entire group of superheroes started when the two of them snuck away together on the Queen's Gambit in 2008. Their bond is eternal and they will always be fundamental to each other's lives.

In 2017 Sara and Oliver are abducted to Earth-X by the Earth-X Dark Arrow and Overgirl, as well as Eobard Thawne (in Harrison Wells' body). They manage to escape but not before they lose Martin Stein. Oliver tries to talk to Sara about how she's feeling, which she dismisses saying she can mourn after they save the world. Oliver tries to allow her a moment by saying he understands the burden of leadership in times of crisis and that she has a right to hurt.

Moments

 * TREMORS
 * Sara inspires Oliver in both the past and present to reach Slade and Roy, respectively, through their hearts.

Fanon
A common pairing and one of the most significant Arrow pairings for many fans, given that this is the closest fans felt they ever came to seeing a Green Arrow/Canary romance in the series. With Sara moving to another series, it seems unlikely that they would ever be endgame on the show.

Fandom
AO3

FORUMS
 * oliver/sara #3 @FanForum

TUMBLR

WIKIS

YT
 * the princess and the pie

Quotes
"You deserve someone better. You can harness that light that's still inside of you, but I'm not that person and I never will be"

- Sara

"Love's the most powerful emotion"

- Sara, to Oliver

Photos

 * Canarrow/Gallery