SPOILER WARNING: This article contains major spoilers for "Purgatory," the latest episode of Arrow Season 8.
Harbinger has arrived. In "Purgatory," the latest episode of Arrow, Lyla Michaels underwent a transformation that turned her into her counterpart from the comics. Along the way, she also revealed how she came to work with the Monitor and what her early tasks for him involved.
"Mar Novu made it clear that silence was a requirement of the mission," she explained to John Diggle, her husband, when he demanded to know her connection to the Monitor. "We couldn't risk interfering with the journeys of the other players... He didn't give me details. He just told me that when the time comes, I would know what to do."
"You remember that IED that took out my unit in Afghanistan?" she asked, referring to a story she told Laurel Lance in the season's second episode.
"I remember that. Of course I do," Diggle replied. "You were the only survivor. Took you years to stop having nightmares about that blast."
"Mar Novu -- when he first came to me, he told me he rescued me that day because I have a greater purpose," she said. "A grown man in costume prophesizing the apocalypse? I thought it was a joke, but then he came to me again and he showed me us, our future, just wiped away -- gone, as if it never existed... We would work together to find heroes strong enough to face this crisis. He told me it was the only way I could protect our family."
From there, she instructed Diggle and the rest of Team Arrow on how to build a weapon for the Monitor. William Clayton-Queen was critical to the building process, while everyone else protected him and the project. As he brought it to completion, he realized it could only be unlocked with a certain DNA sequence: Lyla's.
"Does this mean you're the weapon?" Diggle realized, then added, "I understand why you have to do this."
When she held the device, it began to flash with light. With a whir, it emanated a flash so bright the others had to cover their eyes. Lyla's eyes went wide as it powered down. Diggle stepped forward, concerned, and asked, "Lyla, are you alright?"
"I have to go," she replied simply. She stepped away from him and a portal opened before her. With a cursory glance behind her, she stepped forward and disappeared for the rest of the episode.
She reappeared to Oliver and Mia at the end of the episode, when the sky suddenly went red and crackled with thunder. This time, she wore the blue and silver costume of Harbinger. "Lyla?" Oliver inquired, only for her to reply, "Not anymore. I'm now a harbinger of things to come. And yes, the crisis has begun."
In Marv Wolfman and George Pérez's Crisis on Infinite Earths maxiseries, Lyla was saved by the Monitor as a child and imbued with immense powers. The comic book event saw her summoning the heroes he required to protect the cosmic tuning forks, though she was later possessed by a Shadow Demon. This allowed the Anti-Monitor to corrupt her into killing the Monitor.
Airing Tuesdays at 9 p.m. ET/PT on The CW, Arrow's final season stars Stephen Amell as Oliver Queen, David Ramsey as John Diggle, Rick Gonzalez as Wild Dog, Juliana Harkavy as Black Canary, Katie Cassidy as Black Siren, Katherine McNamara as Mia Smoak, Joseph David-Jones as Connor Hawke and Ben Lewis as William Clayton-Queen.