Possible Identities of Mystery Killer in Arrow Season 3

Before we get into discussing the shocking events of the Season 3 premiere of Arrow, this is a reminder that there will be MAJOR SPOILERS AHEAD. If you have not seen the season premiere from this week, then stop reading right now.

Still with us? Okay, let's move on.

Sara (Caity Lotz) returned to Starling City in the premiere and helped Oliver (Stephen Amell) defeat The Count (Peter Stormare). She had a nice reunion with Laurel (Katie Cassidy) and just when it seemed like everyone was reasonably happy, an off-screen assailant with a disguised voice fired three arrows into Sara's torso. She fell off the roof, hit a dumpster on the way down and hit the ground, dead.

But who was this mystery killer? Who had reason to kill Sara? Let's look at some possible candidates.

Ra's Al Ghul: Ra's is the main villain for Season 3, so it would be almost too obvious if he were the one to have killed one of his League of Assassins members. But it would be a logical way to introduce Matt Nable's character and would immediately give Oliver a reason to want to bring him to justice. Ra's would likely be upset that Sara deserted the League in the first place, and if he wants to take out Oliver or attack Starling City, then this would be the way to start. Sara also looked shocked that her attacker was even there, and she would more than likely be stunned to see Ra's in Starling City.

Malcolm Merlyn: The Dark Archer has taken his daughter and Oliver's sister, Thea (Willa Holland), under his wing, but his motivations remain unclear. He likely wants revenge on Oliver for the events of Season 1, and what better way to take it than to kill his former love and close ally? Sara did die from arrow shots, after all.

Nyssa Al Ghul: This one is less likely because Nyssa and Sara were lovers at one point, but it would certainly make for an interesting twist. Perhaps Ra's demanded that his daughter prove herself after she let Sara go in Season 2. Or maybe she was brainwashed into doing it.

Regardless of the killer's identity, it seems clear that Sara's death will reverberate throughout Season 3. Executive producer Marc Guggenheim told TVLine that the characters will deal with this loss for a long time.

"The story implications for this development are so far-reaching for the show and affect all of the characters," he said. It begins the mystery of "Who killed Sara?" which "will drive us for at least the first half of the year."

"It will set Laurel on a trajectory that she's never had before on the show," Guggenheim continued. "It will create all these other complications and dynamics that I can't talk about because it would spoil stuff. It buys us a lot of story, and it speaks to all the things that we wanted to do this year in terms of Laurel's character, in terms of Oliver's character, in terms of Felicity's character."

Guggenheim also previewed next week's episode, simply entitled "Sara."

"There's the question of, what should be done with Sara's body?" he said. "There's the question of, who do they tell? Do they tell Lance, for example, that his daughter died a second time? There's emotional repercussions for everybody, but it definitely has repercussions for Oliver and Felicity. And it has repercussions for Felicity and Ray Palmer. And obviously, for Laurel. Laurel's very much at the center of that episode. We're also going to turn to a suspect in the killing."

Who do you think killed Sara? Are there any candidates we missed? Let us know your thoughts and guesses in the comments section.