Board Thread:The Flash discussions/@comment-27050513-20151013103020

I'm up-to-date with The Flash now (including the season 2 premiere) but there were still a few things I was unsure about. This is what I think has happened so far: (please correct me if I'm wrong)

So in the original timeline, Barry Allen grew up with both his parents alive and in 2020 became the Flash after he was struck by lightning as a result of the REAL Harrison Well's particle accelerator. In the same timeline, Eobard Thawne was born in 2151, and went back in time to 2024 where he fought The Flash as Reverse-Flash. In order to remove The Flash's existence altogether, Eobard once again goes back in time to 2000 to kill young Barry Allen. However, he's followed by the future Flash, who stops Eobard from killing young Barry. Eobard then resorts to killing Nora Allen.

In the new altered timeline where Nora Allen is dead, Eobard is unable to travel back home due to being unable to access the Speed Force. In order to get back home, Eobard kills the REAL Harrison Wells, taking his identity so that he can move the particle accelerator event forward. He successfully does this in 2014, and thus allows Barry Allen to become The Flash. Wells/Thawne then repairs the accelerator so that Barry can go to the past and save Nora, and Thawne can go back home to the future. However, the future Barry Allen (from 2024) stops the present Barry Allen (from 2015) from doing so (how?? How does the future Barry Allen from the original timeline know that the Barry Allen from the altered timeline will go back to the past to save Nora??) Barry Allen then comes back to the present and stops Wells/Thawne from travelling to the future (why??). Eddie sacrifices himself in order to erase Thawne's existence which works (surely this must mean that there is only one timeline (which can be altered) as otherwise Wells/Thawne wouldn't be erased?) This would impact the entire present as Thawne would be unable to kill Nora Allen in the first place, but because the timeline becomes so messed up (lol idk), a singularity/black hole is created which is supposed to erase the entire universe. Together, Barry Allen and Firestorm stop this from happening, which results in the present not being altered in anyway whatsoever.

Something else I don't understand is how the article from 2024 comes into play. Was that article showcasing the events of when Reverse-Flash and the Flash were fighting and the Flash then followed RF to the past? Or was it showcasing what would've happened in 2024 if in 2015 The Flash had successfully travelled back to the past to 2000 and saved Nora Allen? Surely the newspaper article would've changed now since the Reverse Flash won't exist anymore, so the event wouldn't have happened altogether? Tbh I'm confused about the article altogether. Is it from the original or altered timeline? Why is Wells/Thawne reassured when the article is about "The Flash vanishing?" Sorry if I'm not being clear enough, the whole concept of time travel really confuses me! And I can't find any consistent answers on the Internet  