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If Oliver Queen is a master swordsman, why doesn't the Green Arrow carry a sword? Wouldn't it come in handy for all of those fistfights he loses?

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    He's the Green ARROW. He doesn't need a sword because his strongest skill is archery. And besides, he uses his bow in his fights as well. A sword would weigh him down.
    – krishna
    Oct 18, 2016 at 21:01
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    Is this question about the TV show, or Green Arrow in general?
    – Adamant
    Oct 18, 2016 at 21:05
  • @Adamant Since I am only familiar with the TV show, I tagged it as tv, but it may apply to other formats.
    – Paul
    Oct 18, 2016 at 21:10
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    OK. I removed the TV tag, since that would imply that answers were restricted to the TV shows (arrowverse and arrow would be better in that case, though). I also added the DC Comics tag, which is for questions about any DC comics properties.
    – Adamant
    Oct 18, 2016 at 21:11
  • @krishna It is not clear to me that archery is his strongest skill as he did defeat Ra's al Ghul in one-on-one sword combat, as well as Malcolm Merlin (with ease). Do you have any citations that the he does not carry the sword because it would weight him down, or is that just speculation?
    – Paul
    Oct 18, 2016 at 21:16

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In-Universe

It's not unknown for Green Arrow in the comics to carry a sword.

enter image description here

From the Wikia

In a flashback sequence encompassing issues 66-68 (while he was recovering from said injuries on an island), he hired some of the best martial arts instructors in the world to come and train him and his companions.

While initially an inferior fighter and prominent non-martial artist, in recent continuity he has trained to become a proficient martial artist in several forms of hand-to-hand combat including judo, kickboxing and karate, although not on a level with Black Canary. He is proficient with a sword, as evidenced by a battle with Deathstroke in issue #62 and by a battle with Red Hood in issue #71

Obviously in the TV series he's shown as having then necessary skills to defeat well-trained swordsman but it's not his primary skill and his unarmed combat skills seem more than adequate.

Would a sword be useful, undoubtedly, but he got quite a lot to carry around already.

It's also, arguably, worth stating that Oliver has tried to desist from killing enemies in recent times and using a sword on someone while not necesarily lethal does do a fair amount more damage than a well placed punch.

Out-of-Universe

I suspect that the producers writers want to keep the emphasis on his archery skills. The show is called Arrow after all.

Oh, and this is so much better than a boxing glove sword.

enter image description here

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