Is This The End of Arrow? [SPOILERS]

[WARNING: FULL SPOILERS FOR SEASON 3 FOLLOW]

Those of you who watched the Mid-season finale of Arrow titled "The Climb" all know by now that our dear Oliver is not in the best of situations. Stabbed in the chest and thrown off a cliff may be little  a problem for The Flash, But The Arrow is just a man. We knew going in that facing the leader of League of Assassin's and one of Batman's biggest villains could have only ended in one of two ways and Oliver isn't best known for his sword fighting skills, Although this wasn't his first appearance in the series Ra's al Ghul had yet to prove his worth as this seasons big bad, and so it seems as Oliver was set up for failure from the get go.

"Did I leave the oven on?

...But it's even worse considering

These events were immediately preceded by Ray Palmer's big superhero set up. After enlisting Oliver's right hand Felicity Smoak and showing off his Atom Suit. He proclaims "I will protect this city". Is it possible that all this set up and new characters is priming us for the loss of our founding hero? What if CW pulled the biggest middle finger to Arrow fans and changed their title mid-season to "The Atom" as Ray Palmer seeks justice from Ra's Al Ghul.

"Superman Who?"

Shows spoiling themselves for the sake of viewers is no new sin. So your first reaction may be to check out the promo for the next episode, if they even show Oliver Queen you can tell yourself that it's all a just a hoax and a very effective cliffhanger to keep our attention until the shows return. However there's no such luck, if your unable to watch the clip below allow me to save you the trouble, we have about 20 seconds of ominous scenery followed by the solemn words "Oliver is dead".

The Flash is now a big ratings success, compared to Arrow which has steadily losing viewers (with a few exceptions) since it's premiere. In Fact, Arrow only reached it's premiere numbers again due to the Flash crossover episode.  Although Arrow has a loyal and vocal fan base the group is still small in terms of ratings. CW could now be thinking that we need some new heroes,  Could they be building they're TV universe on the death of they're biggest character? This could explain all the budding new heroes in Starling City alone. Could Roy Harper become the Red Arrow taking Oliver's place and leading Diggle, "Black Canary" and Wild Cat as the new Team Arrow?

"Newp!"

The Short Answer is No...

Anyone who has read seen or even heard about a Ra's Al Ghul story line is most likely familiar with the Lazarus Pit. Think of it as DC's answer to the fountain of youth, which has revitalized and revived countless DC characters over the years. In the episode Ra's states "I haven't been challenged in 67 years." This basically confirms the existence of the pit in my eyes, as Al Ghul definitely does not appear to be 80+ years old.

So weather Oliver has fallen directly to this pit or is dragged there by a remorseful Nyssa Al Ghul, i'm willing to bet that our hooded vigilante is safe and is merely trying to keep viewers interested among the slew of new comic book TV shows. So I guess we should commend Arrow for putting all this effort in a quite convincing fake out.

What did you think about "The Climbs" big twist? Let us know in the comments below!