In the submarine in City of Blood  – Oliver is with 3 other people. The scene directly mirrors his being in the lab with Felicity, Dig, and Laurel. On the Submarine Oliver sends Sara away. He says to her that he has to know she’s safe. She goes but we know she ends up on the boat in trouble and he has to help her. He’s left on the submarine with Anatoly and Peter. Peter is the one who tells him, when he says he’s not a hero, “Not yet, but you will be.” Anatoly is his friend forever in his own words. So Anatoly is Dig, Peter is Felicity, and Sara is Laurel.

When they’re in the lair Oliver basically tells Laurel the exact same thing he’s told Sara – once again showing he has some seriously weird sister issues – but whatever.

Now let’s look at something else. The episode before.  “Seeing Red” shares the same name with the Buffy episode where Spike at his lowest point leaves so he can get his soul to make himself worthy of Buffy.  In their series finale he famously sacrifices himself to become the hero he never was. Sara left at the end…she went to get help but she left just like Spike. And we see when she comes back in Streets of fire that she doesn’t see herself as a hero but her actions are proving that she is transitioning into one 

Sadly, if the explanations above hold – we are put in a situation where Sara will sacrifice herself to be the hero (Peter’s words on the ship – does Peter have a Felicity connection?).

We have Laurel story in the two episodes mirroring Sara’s story and we all know that at some point in the island flashbacks Oliver sees Sara “die”. Will we see Laurel almost die and have Sara sacrifice herself to save her? There are lots of signs that point to yes, but we also have to throw in the Felicity factor and the picture of Slade holding Felicity hostage.

What if Sara dies to save Felicity and Laurel “dies” like Sara did. When Sara “dies” she is taken in by Nyssa.  What if Nyssa takes Laurel and they train her. Thereby having her follow the exact same path as her sister in becoming the Canary but saddened forever by the loss of her sister she is “black”?

If Laurel “dies” that gives time for the writers to develop Oliver and Felicity just a little bit more. After watching recaps of all the Olicity stuff from YouTubers it is obvious that the writers have seriously chosen to create Olicity moments. So you have Oliver and Felicity just about to explore a real relationship in season 3 when Laurel comes back from the dead as Black Canary – all of a sudden Oliver’s equal/partner in crime. This throws major conflict into the developing relationship with Felicity which everyone knows you have to have to keep a couple successful.

I don’t know…it’s all just a theory and there are lots of them out there.  I personally don’t want it to work out that was because I am not a “Laurel” fan (character wise – I like Katie Cassidy),but it would keep me interested if that’s how it went down. Sara dies a hero, we get to see some Oliver and Felicity advancement and people who want Laurel as Black Canary get a believable story of how she all of a sudden got mad fighting skills. Hmmmm.